Fan Casting Erik

Before the Phantom, there was Erik. It starts off in 1854 when a deformed child is birthed from an aristocratic couple. He grows to be a teenager, with a mask constantly on his face, and living in the attic, where he can’t be seen. Due to the torment from his mother, and being unable to leave the house, he runs away during a dinner party that his parents are hosting. He grabs a random coat and leaves. He is then found by gypsies where they find the inscription on the coat to be: Erik, so that’s what they call him. They accept him for who he is, and when he is not performing, they don’t have him wear his mask. He eventually becomes a very skilled musician and illusionist. He eventually gets to play for the Shah, who is vastly impressed with his skills. He has him stay in the palace as an entertainer. Meanwhile, he befriends a man named Nadir, who is sort of a bodyguard for the Shah. He lets him use the library, where Erik learns of construction, just like his father. Years later, he is sick of living in the palace as the Shah never fully accepted him for who he was unlike Nadir, and the gypsies. He yearns to leave, especially after a weary sexual encounter with the Shah’s daughter. Nadir decides he will smuggle him out of the palace and arranges for him to go to France. They leave together, and Erik eventually settles under the catacombs of the Paris Opera House where he builds various routes and traps for himself.