Wouldn't a Swedish girl at the time of Erik's birth have been a Thorsdotter rather than a Thorsson? (Christine Nilsson was originally Kristina Jonasdotter, daughter of Jonas...)

What a coincidence that there was a missing boy of Erik's supposed age with a deformed face - naturally people would assume when Erik turned up that they must be the same person!
The fisherman must be very brave (or desperate) to scream with fear and then immediately embrace Erik - I wonder what he expected to happen, since he was so much taken aback when Erik confirmed the lie? I suppose that if Erik denied ever having seen him before, he could claim that this was because the boy had been too young to remember...

I see that Erik's new employer has the Phantom's stage deformity! :-D

"He was offering me a place to stay, and if my bed was only a worn couch" - "even if"

"I just recovered from Typhoid fever. I must not be close to anything somenone else will eat" - couldn't he have used this excuse as a reason not to accept Ferre's invitation to share his table, thus avoiding the need to take off the nose?

"It was rather comfortable and the gaslight made sure one could work even in the night if it was necessary. Immediately I wondered if it had been such a good idea to accept to live there" - why not, if it was so comfortable and modern?

Naturally as soon as Ferre sees a sample of Erik's work he can tell that he isn't an untaught apprentice...

If Erik is afraid that he might actually be believed and that this will put him in danger, then why does he risk telling Ferre the truth about Persia in the first place? (Presumably he can't just resort to drawing a random oriental fantasy palace in order to avoid giving away the Shah's secrets, because it's the secret of his own continued existence that he wants to keep!)

So this is how Erik acquires his name 'by chance' and ends up as an ordinary building contractor building ordinary houses. But don't the people in society find it rather strange that Ferre takes his office-boy with him to parties and forces clients to discuss their projects with him? I suppose they have no idea whether he is paying Erik as an apprentice draughtsman or as a partner in the business :-p

Erik is lucky that they decide to go through all the labour of treating him for typhoid after all, after discovering that he is simply suffering from a congenital defect and not some fabulous new disease! (Especially given that he was apparently going to go on being a danger to the public for years afterwards - it would have been much easier just to allow him quietly to die in obscurity and then preserve the body as an interesting medical exhibit.)

And Erik's reaction is that he is now delighted to be able to kill people undetectably at will...
I like the suggestion that the only time anyone ever realises that he is laughing is when he is deliberately faking it!

It's ironic that Erik's deformities mean that they can't correctly diagnose how old he is; that certainly helps to explain why they are showing such an unexpected degree of solicitude for his welfare. Naturally after designing palaces for oriental despots he is not terribly grateful for the suggestion that he might be acceptable as an office boy :-p

Wow this is a great story! It really fits in a lot of gaps. Thank you for this story. I would like to read more of this story but it’s sorely depends on you.

I enjoyed your new fanfiction very much and I totally agree to your idea that Erik left Turkey (ans even Persia) without any money. Your described his hard journey and his horrible illness very well, I also liked to read the whole story from bis point of view.
As he once told Christine he took his name by chance, your story about the lost boy fits in... although I am not sure if he used 'Erik' already in Persia, as the Daroga calls him like that.
I would be happy to read more about his life as a normal working man, please continue writing!
Best regards, Nina

I like the image of Erik being able to 'play' Kings and Emperors with as much skill as he plays an instrument...

Being the favourite of oriental potentates may have been a dangerous position, but it was certainly a far more glamorous role than anything he could hope for after his return to Europe :-(

I can't imagine the farmers would be very happy to use their well again after seeing a walking corpse contaminating it!
He is very lucky to have fallen into the hands of people who want to cure him instead of simply making sure that he is properly dead.

This is such a young Erik. It'd be interesting to see this alternative timeline go either towards a bachelor's life or possible pursuit of love...

Given that his experiences have changed, I'm guessing either of those futures would change, also.

I like how Erik came upon his name, very Leroux as he always claimed it "was by accident" or something similar to that. I'd love it if you continued!

I always love how you like to fill in the gaps, just like me, in Leroux. Your version is always much more realistic than Kay's. I wish your stories were published, I'd totally buy them and add them to my POTO collection :) Anyway, I would have never thought Erik learned the fake nose idea from a doctor - an interesting yet much possible turn of events. I also like how you make Erik disappointed at his new looks- he sure thought something else would happen, that he will much better looking finally - and no. He is just a skull with a fake nose. :) Poor guy. Yet I am so happy Erik has a new job. At least his life has a purpose right now, and this had saved him from turning out to be a drunkard on the streets after leaving Persia. Go my dear corpse groom, I love you :)
(Sorry)

I quite liked this fanfiction and was disappointed when it ended; I had assumed it was written a while ago and was one of those abandoned works. However, I felt the urge to make sure and am pleased to note that that is not the case. :) I hope you continue.

Still following! This is just bizarre to me. But in a wonderful way

I love the medical research you put into this chapter. and sure our dear OG always gives the doctors a challange to figure out his condition.

I always find your Eriks interesting, as they humanize him really... bluntly? Your style just is so unique, in my opinion, and I enjoy it very much whenever I read your stuff. I would critique his reaction about the farm girls, though. Would Leroux Erik care about others? But then, Kay had a thing for protecting young girls (sorta?) so if you’re going that way, it’s fine. But this is interesting, seeing him weak and ill is a rare thing in fics. Good luck again!

That was nice of them to help him, even if it is to simply not spread the fever instead of straight up helping Erik out of the kindness of their heart!

"The higher you climb, the farther you fall." - this is such a true statement for Erik! But I like this Erik, and I agree with your statement there at the end- Erik sluggishly walking around would scare me too! Can't wait for more of this.

What's going on?