Raoul has been to sea, and had plans to go on a rescue expedition to the North Pole before falling in love with Christine. Raoul is described as 'having been petted by his two sisters and his aunt' and spoiled as a child, but he is very kind-hearted. Philippe later drowns when he goes looking for Raoul in the cellars of the Opera. His elder brother and former guardian, Comte Philippe de Chagny, is a man of the world who indulges in dalliances with the Opera's ballerinas and is exasperated by his brother's attachment to "the little baggage" Christine. In Gaston Leroux's novel, The Phantom of the Opera, Raoul is described as having a 'small, fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes, and a complexion like a girl's and an air of "just having left the women's apron-strings."' Raoul nearly commits suicide under torture, and, when Christine's marriage promise to Erik saves them, has to be put to bed by Erik because of a poison that has left him "limp as a rag." He and the Persian endure near-drowning and torture in a mirrored, super-heated chamber before Erik eventually relents due to Christine's willingness to sacrifice her happiness for Raoul's life. Raoul then, along with the mysterious man known only as The Persian, goes down into the cellars of the Opera in an attempt to rescue Christine. On the day they were going to elope, Erik abducts her during a performance of Faust at the opera house. Unknown to them, Erik, the "Angel of Music" of which Christine speaks (actually a musical genius who lives beneath the Opera), had been spying on them. At first, Christine refuses to recognize Raoul, in fear that the "Angel of Music" would return to heaven. He reminds her that he is "the little boy who went into the sea to rescue your scarf," which provokes her laughter. He meets up with her again after watching her performance at the former managers' retirement ceremony at the Palais Garnier. They first met when he was a young child when he went on vacation in Northern France. Raoul is a viscount and Christine DaaƩ's childhood friend.
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