Ever since a mutual of mine came up with the idea of Cherik working at a flower shop, I've been obsessed. I've been working on this story for months with the help of her art and input. While there's certainly things that could be better, I feel as prepared as I ever will be to post it.
It hasn't been beta-read so there may be some mistakes here and there.
Thank you so much to everyone who's already read the first couple chapters! It truly means the world to me.
I've never been good at promoting myself and didn't post the second chapter update here. I probably should though, especially since I just posted chapter 3.
Inspector Mifroid parallels with Simpsons cops; 'still, perhaps Inspector would not have been quite so pleased with himself if he'd known…' @ravens-repine
that post about how PotO offers crazier explanations than any supernatural stuff would've been - thank you for finding it Alex!
@or-what-you-will's post on the astrakhan/karakul hat; I remember seeing them quite a bit in Soviet films and in general in life back home:
A discussion on how so much information and details were lifted by Leroux directly from real people's lives (some of it referred to in the previous notes, but there is so much more, - Carlotta, the Persian, literal real life people Leroux constantly mentions in the smaller episodes...)
A link to Edward Said's Orientalism from Alex @englishmajorloser - that was an interesting discussion; also, Lindsay Ellis's 'The most whitewashed character in literary history' on this topic
Older book club's notes on chapters 19, 20 and 21
How the Palais Gernier's underbelly's description sounds similar to descriptions of the levels of Hell, and the Persian leading Roul through them - of the trope of a knowling guide leading the hero through the labyrinths of the underworld @paper-faces
On the same note - I thought the desription of the Opera house like a magic dollhouse evoked the settin from the Phantom of the Opera from Theater in Quarantine! (see also their side by side backstage video)
Now, the note from Ribiere's translation regarding the Punjab lasso:
And my favourite - the description of the Communard's road! Here's the historical excerpt from @paperandsong on the mentions of the Commune in the book
I also wrote a short summary of the chronology of building the opera house, because I got confused at which point exactly Erik had his input into building it (and I am still uncertain regarding that part). Anyway, the Palais Garnier was commissioned by Napoleon the III and the construction started in 1861; he ordered to take down the building scaffolds in time fo the Exposition Universelle, the world fair in 1867, though the building was far from finished; then the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war started, and between March and May 1871 the Paris Commune used the opera building as a military camp, prison, food distribution point, shelter, and temporary storage for munitions (I loved the passage about them using the opera room for sending the hot air balloons with their messages). In the aftermath of the war and the massacre of Commune there was little desire for the arts and investing in continuing the building. But, when in the 1873 Salle de Peletier, the main Paris opera house, burned down, and the city desperately needed to rehouse the opera, the building works recommenced, and the Palas Garnier finally opened its doors in 1875. Still would like to know at which point Erik comes into play, - or had he been there the whole time?
I am almost done writing the next chapter, and I am planning on having it up this weekend. Keep an eye out! A Bullet to the Heart and In Silence are also in the works currently, it's just been very slow going.
Thanks everyone for your support! I am really enjoying everyone enjoying these fics.
*A literal series of gifs of me trying to finish anything these past few months.*
Double feature highlights, do her taxes sexual style stream notes
(title courtesy Mary<3)
a pre-stream animatic from Deb <3
@TheEggSaysPLocklyer: back when filmers made dvds
[skip from Carlotta's opening aria] @marumotto: Rik edited the footage
@litloverscorsetlaces: Rebecca Pitcher is also the sister of Rob Pitcher, who was an understudy Rik in the hamburg production and was such a wonderful virginal Rik lol @lit-ari-ture: @Maroo Rob Pitcher's Rik has truly never known the touch of a woman. @maroogaly: it grows back if he doesn't use it @lit-ari-ture: For folks interested in Rob Pitcher, I made some gifs of him a while back
The happy clapper Raoul
@beyond-this-illusion: I saw a video clip recently where Rebecca said she had to try to warn her Phantom of trap doors that were still open from the candelabras during MotN with like just her expression. I have to look for it
@warpweight: respectfully: rebecca. your pitchers @GlassPrism: It's better than her nickname in ye olde days of the phandom, where she was called Rebecca Pitchy for certain, er, qualities of her voice
@warpweight: ugh she has such a fun character design!!! the way it's so recognizably rebecca pitcher even through the haze of years and pixels
@maroogaly: how dare they be mean to this angel, we should probably drop a chandelier over it
@GlassPrism: Oh I just remembered that TMG was called "DnD Raoul" because he decided what emotion he was going to act based on a roll of the dice
@dot-qhost: short king rik and short queen stine
@from-aldebaran: He actually vibrates his coat right off
HIM!
@motelpearl: we hired a male stripper for forests birthday @dimmedghosts: #whoremembers @lit-ari-ture: NATIONAL EMERGENCY @dot-qhost: STRIP! STRIP! STRIP! STRIP THE RIK!
@-Aldebaran-: You can see where he hesitated, he tried to go for the cape first and then remembered his hat had to go first
@AngelofMusicals87614: Peter Lockyer is probably better known for playing Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. He played the role for the Tour back in 2012-13 and then played the role in London around 2015-16 Basically being the defacto Valjean for London's 30th Anniversary
@dot-qhost: excellent choice i feel like im a female bird getting peacocked at . and its working .
@lizzie-boredom: One more thing I love about stream: different people love different riks. Like... this guy's not doing it for me. But i'm into the nakey
@warpweight: HE GOT THAT HARD DRACULA WIGGG
@ravens-repine: With the white I can really see the arm choices @from-aldebaran: It is so intimate in the shirtsleeves....
@GlassPrism: Ah he is a bit of a short king @GlassPrism: I heard 5'8? @maroogaly: 6 inches taller than me....hm. @dimmedghosts: 6 inches. heh @GlassPrism: @dimmedghosts The length of an average penis @-Aldebaran-: Celina
@maroogaly: god there's just something special about a Rik who looks like he could be snapped like a twig for kindling.
@Ravens_Reproach: Barb is the intimacy coordinator
@TheEggSaysPLocklyer: spread her like brie
@maroogaly: okay but why does he move like a perfect Rik - just. his gesturing at her like he really does know it all. He's about to tell her how to do her taxes sexual style.
@GlassPrism: Well at least he got the Mandarin coat on okay
@dimmedghosts: in his stupid little robe with his stupid little hat on @GlassPrism: It'd be funny if he messed that up too @GlassPrism: Phantoms sometimes struggle just to get into the Mandarin coat in the short time they have @backlitmademoiselle: i enjoy how all of the costumes so far are a bit too large. it makes it feel even more like he's playing pretend, putting on a show for her @motelpearl: theres a couple shirtsleeves stydi scenes too which i feel works better than the mandarin coat bc most people seeing phantom are unaware of chinoiserie and i feel like shirtsleeves makes him look more vulnerable even before hes unmasked
@beyond-this-illusion: "Noooo don't unmask me, you're so sexy hahaha."
@warpweight: ben crawford was kept in a windowless room before he started on broadway and it was only by terrible accident he was allowed out of that stimuli-free dungeon
@lit-ari-ture: I love when they put the one knee up lol
@Lizzie_Boredom: Celina do understudies get their own masks made? @GlassPrism: @Lizzie_Boredom Depends on the production. Some make masks that are individually fitted for all their Phantoms. In the US they just used 5-6 molds and whatever fits best is what the actor gets
[on Don Atillo's rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr] @GlassPrism: Yeah thought so, John Kuether was the guy known for that and he was definitely in the tour at this time
[the parts below is likely out of order, i copied in haste]
@paper-faces: swm erik too whimsical, full of hope, promising, and redeemable. @lit-ari-ture: "Don't look like a fridge." @GlassPrism: @paper-faces I can kind of see it because SWM takes a LOT of liberties. He has a TON of freedom in the role. Not quite Saulo levels, but he's getting there @paper-faces: @glassprism that makes sense tbh. and i know most people dont see the show a million times like us, but i just imagine that thats part of the fun of live theater? i know im speaking as a fan and not a business person
@probablynotben: Do you think they were told not to do it like the World Tour because that's the Hal Prince direction, and Cameron Mackintosh doesn't want to pay royalties for that? @GlassPrism: @probablynotben Possibly but I think SWM was also doing more than what was allowed in the Hal Prince direction. Like I feel like he'd be one of the guys Prince would swat for going off-script lol @GlassPrism: Which I know Prince did do to the West End production everytime he visisted @beyond-this-illusion: Hal Prince haunts SWM's dreams confirmed @GlassPrism: Also when he went to see the show in 2012-2013 he got so mad at some of the stuff they were doing apparently lolol. This was the Marcus Lovett era I think
@GlassPrism: So if your goal is to provide a consistent show where the audience will get the same experience, SWM going above and beyond, while great, is not being, well, consistent
@AngelofMusicals87614: According to John Owen-Jones, Hal Prince made him change something in his performance when he came to visit once
@GlassPrism: Hal Prince did hate it lol [the kneel i think?]
GlassPrism: @beyond-this-illusion He died around 2019, yeah, but he only visited the West End production every 5-6 years, so he might have missed Thaxton entirely even if he had survived. Thaxton only had a limited run as well
GlassPrism: But yeah going back to consistency - I will always be for the new and novel but I also get it, because you don't want audience members to, say, visit the US tour and then see snippets of the World Tour and feel like they missed out, ya know? @GlassPrism: And that was what Broadway did - it was very consistently the same, and it meant that it generally gave good performances, vs. the West End which had some high highs and some real lows lol
@AngelofMusicals87614: @Glassprism Hal Prince also lived in New York so he could visit the Broadway Production whenever he wanted? @GlassPrism: @AngelofMusicals87614 Yes and he worked with the new actors personally for Broadway as far as I know, hence how he was able to keep it the way it was
@warpweight: THE ROUGH CRYING OUUGH HE SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE IN THE NEXT STALL IN THE BATHROOM CRYING AT WORK @maroogaly: WARP....Rik and Christine meeting in the all gender bathroom ....he asks for toilet paper under the door to mop up his tears....
[Wishing] @paper-faces: hate to say it but this christine is LOVELY
@paper-faces: IT WAS FAR REACHING FRIENDS
@GlassPrism: What is cool is that the boots were only, what, 6 days apart? This is February 11, the next boot is from February 17, I think
@warpweight: it's so funny how like. in poto proper the phantom has less screentime and is like this kind of mysterious presence that flits in and out. and then LND is just The Erik Show. he's just chilling. it's Erik Hour @opera-ghost: warp exactly it's like if jaws 2 was from the shark's pov
@Bway-Ghost: It’s the mister Y show… @leeringsatyrs: Mister Y makes me so mad because Mister E was RIGHT THERE
@maroogaly: ....what if he was in his shirtsleeves for this..... @paper-faces: @ mary then christine would kiss him right away without the threats probs
@-Aldebaran-: His heart grew three sizes and now fits his suit @Ravens_Reproach: Deb, something else grew three sizes...
@motelpearl: he is NOT making it to coney island @GlassPrism: He is his own emotional comfort item
@-Aldebaran-: He actually has a full head of hair, he has just pulled it all out himself....
@maroogaly: he's bent over like he's trying to repeat his order through the wendy's microphone. but he's at arby's and doesn't know it. He's not making it to Curly Fryland @-Aldebaran-: He's bent over like a man who lived in a cage for part of his life...
Erik on ice!!! (Yes ik of Phantom of the Opera on ice lol, Pinterest has just been subjecting me to some real cool poses. Maybe my will to draw will continue and there will be more ice skating Eriks!)
Ooh, director's commentary for Imprints in Time, please! I am soo curious about everything in it, and thinking of it constantly!! ⭐ 🫶
I am so, so sorry it’s taken me this long to answer, Anon! I’m not sure if you still follow me after all this time, but hopefully this will still reach you!
Imprints in Time came about when I was first developing the plot of Trio Sonata back in mid-2023, not long after I first got into Phantom. I knew that I wanted to base my OT3 fic mostly on the ALW-verse, that I wanted that version of Mme. Giry to be a viewpoint character and play a significant role in the plot, and that I wanted her to begin a romantic relationship with Daroga; all of this meant I needed to flesh her out more as a character and come up with a solid backstory, including explaining why she’s so loyal to Erik.
I admit, the idea to tie her into Erik’s time with the Romani came partly out of spite towards Susan Kay. I know a lot of fanworks have tried to address the problems with Kay’s depiction of Persia, but I’ve never seen any that try to do that for her depiction of the Romani (if anyone knows of any, please share!)
Full disclaimer: I’m not Romani myself, but I’ve tried to do my best with the research sources available online. However, it can sometimes be tricky to know how accurate a source written by an outsider is. This was a big part of Susan Kay’s problem with the main source she used, George Henry Borrow’s 1841 book The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain (a lot of the details she describes, like secretly poisoning a pig so the farmer will let them have the carcass, are lifted directly from there). Borrow does seem to have been genuinely interested in Romani life and culture, and some of what he describes has been corroborated by other sources, but he was still a 19th century white English author writing for a 19th century white English audience, and not above inventing or exaggerating things to make for a better story (he also acknowledges that the Romani people he got his information from were only willing to talk to him because he deceived them into thinking he was one of them, and that some were deeply upset when they found out otherwise, which is a whole other ethical can of worms). Again, I’ve tried to be discerning in my sources (and I did make use of sensitivity readers), but if I’ve gotten anything wrong or if anyone has any further recommendations, please do tell me!
On that note, I’ve also tried to be careful with the use of the word “gypsy”. There isn’t a full consensus among Romani people on how they feel about that word: many do consider it offensive, but others are neutral, and some even embrace it. For my part, I’ve tried to err on the side of caution: when it’s used in the story, it’s either said by outsiders, or in the context of a Romani character talking or thinking about a negative way outsiders perceive them.
One thing that’s often ignored when writing about Romani is that they’re not a cultural monolith: there are multiple subgroups, all with differences in language and culture. The Manouche are part of the Sinti group, who are mainly based in France, Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy, and have a lot of German influence in their language and family names. The Manouche in particular are based in France, so they’re the group Erik would have been most likely to encounter around Rouen.
The Reinhardt and Escoudé families are named after the Manouche jazz musicians Django Reinhardt and Christian Escoudé.
The scene of little Anna bringing some dinner to little feral Erik and slowly earning his trust is one of my favorites :) Tastes Like Friendship trope ftw.
Yes, I borrowed the name Charles for Erik’s father from Kay. Even though I don’t like a lot of things about her book, there are some parts I did like, and other parts where I went “eh, it’s as good a name as any” (though it’s hard to look at the names Charles and Erik now without thinking of X-Men, lol).
There’s a lot going on behind the idea that Charles/Erik was named after his father despite how his parents felt about having a deformed child. Building on Leroux’s line about how Erik’s father never saw him without his mask, I imagine that his father tried for a long time to pretend his son was normal, somewhat out of love but mostly out of stubbornness and denial: naming him after himself, having him wear a mask that somewhat resembles a normal face, educating him, and trying to take him on as an apprentice, but that eventually the social rejection his son (and the rest of the family by association) faced made him give up and consider sending him away. I also imagine that Erik’s parents secretly hoped he would die from some childhood illness and they would have another, normal son to give the name to; when Erik survived and they didn’t have any more children, it made the resentment even worse.
I tried to keep a balanced depiction of how the Romani treat Erik overall. Erik being feared and rejected by most of the people he encounters is a core part of what shapes him as a character (and any situation that involves exploiting a child for money isn’t going to be sunshine and rainbows), but I didn’t want the Romani characters to come across as uniquely awful in that regard. All those who mistreat him have their own reasons for doing so: Mami Thérèse is fearful and superstitious (like a lot of people in that time), Constantin is trying keep his power while financially supporting and protecting the community he’s responsible for, Stéphane is jealous of Erik’s talents and the attention his father gives him, and Brigitte is trying to win favor with the community leader and his son. There’s also a deliberate parallel with how Erik and the Romani children have to perform for a living vs. how the ballet girls have to do the same thing, as well as the children working in mines and factories that Constantin tells Erik about; the “period-typical child labor” tag applies to them all.
Even the way the Reinhardts treat Erik is a mixed bag. They do take him in and accept him, but partly as a replacement for the son/brother they recently lost. The detail about them giving him Mathis’ clothes is kind of controversial: Romani culture has a lot of taboos around the dead, and some sources say that it’s traditional to destroy a dead person’s belongings, but others say that the belongings are distributed to the family first. Given their situation, I think it’s not implausible that the Reinhardts might hold onto some of their dead child’s clothes in case they were needed again.
I know everyone has their own take on how Erik took his name “by chance”. We know he had it by the time he was in Persia, so the change must have happened when he was still fairly young. The story of Erik the Red has some parallels to our Erik (particularly him having to leave home more than once due to a murder), so I couldn’t resist.
Soleá is a form of flamenco music originating with the Calé Romani in Spain. I went with it because I couldn’t find any information on specifically Manouche dances (again, sources are welcome if anyone has them), so in-universe I’ll say it’s a case of cultural exchange between the two groups. The first mention of the soleá in writing wasn’t until 1862 (this part of the story takes place in 1843), but it’s likely it did exist in Romani communities before then.
“À la claire fontaine” is a traditional French song going back to the 1600s, and it’s popular in the phandom for good reason. This is the version I listened to when writing.
Anna/Antoinette’s fascination with ballet and seeing it as a path to a better life is a familiar story. Many ballet dancers came from poor families who supported their daughters going on the stage to earn money, knowing that it would also likely include sex work with the male patrons. By running away to Paris at age 13 with no supports except Erik, Antoinette is very, very lucky she didn’t end up in a much worse situation, something she acknowledges later in the story.
I was bothered by Kay’s depiction of Erik as a god-like genius who learns ventriloquism, hypnotism, and other skills pretty much on his own (even very smart children Do Not Work That Way), so I included a mention of him learning his skills from the community of other performers.
Marime is a concept in many Romani cultures that refers to ritual pollution or uncleanliness. It covers things like menstruation and other bodily functions (for example, the lower body is considered impure and clothes that touch it should be washed separately), as well as handling of food, dead bodies, and how much contact with non-Romani is permissible.
I admit, I do love the detail about young Erik using ventriloquism to make it sound like Stéphane soiled himself. Even our Phantom was once a preteen boy with a gross sense of humor.
The fossil Erik gives Antoinette is based on the Calcaire de Caen, a limestone deposit in Normandy that was the source of much of the stone used to build cathedrals in France and England (the real quarry is nowhere near Rouen, but I thought it was too fascinating not to include). The limestone formed during the Jurassic and is well known for its fossils. In the 1830s-1840s paleontology was only just getting started as a science (the word was invented by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1822), but there were some books written by then that young Erik could plausibly have read.
The Paris Opera Ballet School was founded in 1713. While it does have scholarships and dormitories today, I couldn’t find any information on whether it did in the 1840s (I suspect not), so this is a case of artistic license. Hey, it’s no worse than the 2004 movie having dorms in the Opera itself!
Antoinette dealing with prejudice and microaggressions (especially the scene where she’s told she’d be prettier if her skin was lighter) is a familiar experience for many POC, and as a white person I’ve tried to handle it carefully. The setting and context makes it more complicated: as a lone teenage girl who’s trying to “pass” in the 1800s, Antoinette’s not in a position where she can safely challenge or call out the prejudice she sees, either toward herself or others. The parallel between how she tries to hide her old life and how she slowly turns her back on Erik (a living reminder of that old life) is deliberate.
One thing that’s always bothered me about Erik’s backstory in Leroux is how little music features in it. We know he spent years as a traveling magician and branched out from there into mechanics and architecture, but him becoming so interested in opera that he spends 20 years composing one of his own kind of happens out of nowhere. I’ve tried to address that with this subplot about him spending years working behind the scenes at the Peletier.
It’s clear that Erik’s feelings for Antoniette turn romantic as the two of them grow up (the red rose he planned to offer her is a dead giveaway, and it’s confirmed during Erik’s POV scenes in Trio Sonata), but her feelings are more ambiguous. While she does see him as a friend, the scene where he plays his composition for her late at night hints that there was some attraction and she could have eventually developed romantic feelings for him too. As for whether Antoinette was aware of Erik’s feelings during this time, I think she was deliberately not considering it: she pushed the thought away like she was pushing Erik away in general.
Le Bijou de Málaga is based on two real ballets from the 1840s-1850s, Paquita and Le Corsaire. Paquita has the plot about a Spanish Romani girl who has a forbidden romance and learns she’s really a white girl of noble birth, while Le Corsaire has the plot about the heroine being abducted by pirates and another woman switching places with her (and yes, both plots feature a lot of racism and Orientalism). Imelda Tessaro is based on Carlotta Grisi and Carolina Rosati, the respective female leads of both ballets when they debuted.
Funny detail: Jean-Marc is one of the names I considered for Erik’s birth name before I decided to name him after his father.
I became a fan of the lesbian!Meg headcanon early on, so the detail about La Tessaro’s relationship with her seamstress being an open secret (and the flirty goodbye kiss she gives Antoinette later on) is meant to tie into that as an experience that shapes Antoinette’s later views on same-sex relationships.
The confrontation between Antoinette and Erik was sad and painful to write. While Antoinette was wrong for slighting the friend who’d supported her for so long, Erik’s temper has always been a problem (recall the earlier scene where he bites Constantin after the man had already let him go) and he definitely deserved to be slapped by the end. It doesn’t help that both of them are still confused, hormonal teenagers (they’re both 17 by this point) who don’t have any adults to guide or support them.
Erik running away after their confrontation is a pattern that comes up again in Trio Sonata: when someone rejects him, he flees before they have a chance to talk or work things out. He does it here, he did it in Persia after the night he tried to kiss Nadir, and he did it again when he abruptly sent Christine back after she first unmasked him. Erik really is his own worst enemy when it comes to relationships, and not because of his face.
It doesn’t come up directly in the story, but I decided to have Antoinette reject taking a patron partly for cultural reasons: virginity before marriage is heavily emphasized for Romani women, so even though she’s distanced herself from her people, that’s still a mindset she was raised with and not one that’s easy to let go of.
We’re not told anything about Jules Giry in Leroux, so the character is pretty much free real estate. I liked the idea of him also being somewhat of an outsider (in his case due to being part Jewish) and that being something him and Antoinette connect over, the same way she did with Erik and will later do with Nadir. Leroux seems to imply that their marriage was fairly happy (she speaks of “her poor husband” and Erik wins points by calling her “Mme. Jules”), so I wanted to depict him as a supportive, loving husband whose untimely death will further shape her into the Mme. Giry we eventually see in canon.
I do love the scene where pregnant!Antoinette shows Jules the fossil and remembers how much Erik meant to her, and how she later puts the fossil in Meg’s nursery. If I ever get around to writing that fic about Meg’s eventual relationship with the Baron de Castelot-Barbezac, the fossil will definitely make an appearance.
The scene where Antoinette finds out her parents have died and the Romani community no longer trusts her is important: Erik isn’t the only person she’s lost because of her obsession with becoming a famous ballet dancer, and it’s something that will continue to have consequences for the rest of her life.
Musically-inclined readers might recognize that Erik is singing Mozart’s Requiem when Antoinette hears him at the traveling fair, and the lyrics are narrative foreshadowing for his later misdeeds (Day of wrath, that day / Shall dissolve the world in ashes and What trembling there will be / When the Judge is to come), as well as ones that poke at Antoinette’s conscience (What shall I, a wretch, say then? / Whom shall I call upon as my advocate?).
For all the many issues with the 2004 movie, I do like the idea that Mme. Giry actively helped Erik escape from the fair. The scene where she dreams about how great it will be to bring him home and introduce him to her family, only to have Erik murder Faucher and make her realize how dangerous he’s become is probably my favorite scene in the whole fic (I’m especially proud of the line “he might as well have been speaking of tossing a dead mouse from a trap”).
The brown leather mask Erik finds in the Peletier cellars is the same one he’ll later take with him when he flees the lair in Trio Sonata.
I’ve never seen any fics that include Meg having brothers or sisters, even though there’s no reason to assume she doesn’t (Leroux even calls her “the eldest daughter” of Mme. Giry, implying Mme. Giry has at least one younger daughter). However, I do understand not wanting to clutter a story with too many characters, and the dynamic of Mme. Giry and Meg only having each other is also compelling. I went for a middle ground: the Girys did try to have more children, but they died from diseases and medical complications that could probably be treated (or vaccinated for) now. There’s also the added tragedy that Antoinette named her son after her dead brother, only to have her son die too.
Speaking of medical complications, the description of Antoinette having weakened joints and chronic pain as she gets older (my reason for why she carries her signature cane) is a real problem that many dancers experience later in life. The Paris Opera currently offers a pension for ballet dancers when they turn 42; again, I couldn’t find out if they did in the 1800s, so call it artistic license.
I really like the idea that Jules Giry died in the fire that destroyed the Salle le Peletier (I couldn’t find any evidence if anyone died in the real fire, so again, artistic license). It ties his death into the Opera and its haunted legacy, and it gives Antoinette a very personal reason to resent the Opera management and be willing to help Erik screw with them.
I love the gothic atmosphere of Antoinette and Erik’s final meeting: two black-clad figures in front of the dark, half-finished opera house on a foggy autumn night. I also love breaking the tension a little with Antoinette’s quip about Erik’s new wig; for all that they’ve both changed in the last 30 years, some of the old fondness between them is still there, and it’s enough to make Antoinette believe she can still trust him.
When I was writing, I joked with my beta reader about how Antoinette helping Erik for Meg’s sake is darkly ironic:
Antoinette: If I do this, he can help protect my daughter from predatory men!
*Cue everything that later happens with Christine in canon*
And, that’s my long-delayed director’s commentary for Imprints in Time, and I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any other questions about the fic (or any of my other fics), I’m always happy to answer.
