The École Navale (La Baille) Class of 1881 (Promotion 1877) on board the Borda II in port Brest, 1878. Possibly Raoul de Chagny's class.

Source: Archives of the École Navale

Just Chumisa Dornford-May things I haven't posted yet from the June release before the July release comes out.

(And also Joe Griffiths-Brown!)

@or-what-you-will, Master

Let me explain. The Borda is mentioned in Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera as where Raoul de Chagny attended the naval academy. It is somewhat of a specific detail. Turns out, it's not so random. I found this while doing research on the École Navale for another project. I wondered if there was any relation between the M. Leroux who built the ship and Gaston Leroux.

Yeah.

It's his grandfather.

My Raoul is a Composite Character

Musings on writing the Vicomte (Ensigne) de Chagny

(Painting by Constance Marie Le Charpentier is from 1807; Raoul never would have worn this uniform but ... the attitude)

As All Vows is coming to an end, I first want to thank everyone for reading and for commenting and sharing your thoughts along the way. One of the most frequent comments is how I've really brought Raoul to life and made him sympathetic. This is great, because it's my intent, and also my next big longfic is all Raoul POV! I'm writing that one offline, with the plan to publish when complete. I have some other projects to be announced soon that will be on AO3 in installments. So watch this space.

Bringing Raoul to life has been natural because to me, he is alive. That's because my Raoul is a composite character of real people.

Even though I cosplay Christine, and Christine is the main character in All Vows, Raoul has accidentally gotten the most of myself. Some of his descriptions of being at sea are taken straight out of my journals from Ensign Flag's first deployment. I have plans for my "Raoul Navy" project for him to write absolutely horrific poetry about Christine's blue eyes (it was my bad poetry about some Marine corps pilot I had a crush on when I was...24)He's a composite character of dozens of young officers I've served with over the years. I have literally lived and worked (and sometimes loved) these young men, and later on, now that I am An Old, I'm their boss, mentoring them and developing them into leaders (and reminding them that their wife has probably already told them three times about the "scheduling surprise their wife just told them about").

So in all, my Raoul is a tribute to the best of them, and I'm fortunate that I get to tell their story.

POTOMER DAY 27: HEADCANON-My Raoul is a Composite Character

From April 23 -June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat. Masterlist of prior posts.

"It's giving wedding day Vicomte." Joe Griffiths-Brown as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, from his Instagram.

Excuse me, monsieur.

PotOmer Day 16: PHOTOSET-Joe Griffiths-Brown giving the people what they want. Again.

Between April 23 and June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat. Previous days below the cut line.

Raoul de Chagny uniform inspiration, and general Raoul Navy musings

As some of you know, I love writing Raoul. My next projects after All Vows ends are mostly Raoul-centered, and I'm pretty deep in my research. I’ve tumbled absolutely headlong into researching La Baille (nickname for the French naval academy), and it’s amusing how across time and distance, so much of initial military training is unchanged. Even though I cosplay Christine, Raoul actually ends up being the character who I give most of my own life experience because I am, in fact, a Sailor. When I'm writing Raoul POV about being at sea, I sometimes use my own journal entries from past deployments when I was underway on the USS NEVERSAIL somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

I get a lot of questions about Raoul's uniform, so I'm sharing some of the above (hello talented artists, could we PLEASE get more Raoul Navy Phanart, I am BEGGING YOU)

This is exactly what Raoul's midshipman uniform would have looked like. As you can see from the photo from 1891, the uniform from that time and even a decade later is the same. Naval uniforms, especially dress uniforms change very infrequently. My dress uniform that I wear in 2024 is the same one that was designed by Mainbocher in 1941!

The term "élève-officier" translates literally to "student-officer", although most translate it as "officer candidate", which isn't inaccurate. They were then classified by year, so a first year student would be an élève-officier fourth class. However, the British and American term for a naval cadet is a "midshipman" which is often abbreviated to "mid". So "elof" is basically directly translated to "mid". However, there was an additional naval trainee rank, called "Aspirant". This was assigned to the naval cadets when they embarked for their tour du monde on actual warships. It's a unique rank that's basically a desgination that the individual is a senior at the academy--like a "Midshipman First Class", the term to describe seniors at the US Naval Academy.

2. British Sub-Lieutenant (equivalent of an Ensign in the US or French Navies), approximately 1860 (by Ann Mary Newton)

I couldn't find a good picture of a young/junior officer from this era in the French Navy but FUN FACT! The French Navy underwent a uniform shift in 1883. The officer uniform was largely unchanged, however, that short coat and triangular hat that we often associate with the end of the age of sail was phased out as a dress uniform. So it's possible that Raoul had a dress uniform very much like this around the time of Phantom of the Opera, but it was on its way out. The rank is accurate though! So if Raoul went to the opera in uniform in about 1881? This is what he would have looked like.

3. Graduating students and faculty of L'Ecole Navale on board the Borda, 1891

The uniforms were the same when Raoul would have graduated, and that is the Borda that is mentioned in the book. In my head this is Raoul's senior class photo (even though it's 10 years later), complete with a few guys who have no idea what's going on and aren't looking at the camera.

PotOmer Day 15: HEADCANON/Raoul Navy Uniform Musings

Between April 23 and June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat. Previous days below the cut line.

My headcanon is that Christine really masters French and how to speak without an accent the summer she meets Raoul and by practicing with him. She would have largely been speaking Swedish with her father and the Valeriuses. Since she came to France as a child, she probably doesn't have an accent anymore by the time of the book. I like the idea that Raoul is not only the only person left around by that point who remembers her childhood, but also who has any connection to her country of origin because he remembers when she still "sounded" foreign.

Image by @jessfandrawer (I reblogged the original the other day)

PoTOmer Day 8

Between April 23 and June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat.

Day 8: HEADCANON: Christine's Swedish Accent

Day 7: COSPLAY Hannibal Slave Girl Bodice Construction

Day 6: GIFSET: Raouls who make choices appreciation post

Day 5: PHIC UPDATE: All Vows Chapter 37! (And a bonus gif of Lily and Jon)

Day 4: (No post, Shabbat)

Day 3: GIFSET: Cape Twirl Comparison, Current West End Phantoms ('23-'24)

Day 2: BRAINWORM: "Ne Me Touchez Pas"

Day 1: GIFSET Robyns/Kerhoas: The Kiss

This is a Raouls who make choices appreciation post.

Lily Kerhoas (Christine Daae) and Michael Colbourne (Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny), in Phantom of the Opera, West End, 2024 (from @or-what-you-will and @hyperfixatra). I love how you can see his whole thought process through this!

PotOmer Day 6

Between April 23 and June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat.

Day 6: GIFSET: Raouls who make choices appreciation post

Day 5: PHIC UPDATE: All Vows Chapter 37! (And a bonus gif of Lily and Jon)

Day 4: (No post, Shabbat)

Day 3: GIFSET: Cape Twirl Comparison, Current West End Phantoms ('23-'24)

Day 2: BRAINWORM: "Ne Me Touchez Pas"

Day 1: GIFSET Robyns/Kerhoas: The Kiss

(Gif of @lilykerhoas is from @or-what-you-will and @hyperfixatra January 2024 (1) video)

All Vows Chapter 36: Homecoming

Phantom of the Opera: E/C, R/C, C/M, Post-Leroux/ALW Canon; Redemption Arc, 18+

"Raoul would cross the continent to find her, an ocean if he must . . .

. . . De Chagnys kept their promises."

All Vows Chapter 36: Homecoming is now on AO3

Just feeling very Raoulcore today as I wrap up All Vows and start working on my next project.

The picture is Edward Heron-Allen who is 25 years old in these pictures (taken in 1886). In the top picture, the man to the right of the one with the red sash (looking at the paper) is wearing the uniform Raoul would have worn as an Ensign after graduating from the école navale.

French Naval uniforms changed in about 1871 and didn’t change again until about 1910 (with one very minor phase out of one item in 1883). This is not uncommon. For comparison, most of the U.S. Navy’s officer dress uniforms have not substantively changed in 80 years.

For Raoul’s tour de Monde, he would have been either on a relatively new ironclad (which were about to be obsolete anyway), or a slightly older one from the late 1850s-1860s nearing the end of its life. Which would be more interesting to read about?

Rolling into Shabbat and about to sign off with this announcement: the Lego Phantom Mezuzah holder is now on Etsy and I’ve added Christine and Raoul! Use discount code tumblr for 18% off :)

(They do come with a scroll but the scroll is not kosher, parchment scrolls would make these double in cost!)

Prank War: A Game Of Cups (18+)

Prank War: A Game Of Cups, is now complete. Featuring our trio just getting to be freaky and silly and in love. Please mind the tags on AO3 and note that the fic itself is Rated Explicit.

Art by co-author, TheAbominableShowman

The Raoul Navy Part 2: The International Polar Year

HAPPY 2,000 HITS AND 69,000 (lol) PUBLISHED WORDS ON ALL VOWS!

Thank you wonderful humans for reading my longfic. My earlier post about Raoul's Navy background is very popular so buckle up for some more facts about the Vicomte de Chagny's military career.

The time when Raoul's Arctic deployment took place (early 1880s, 1883 in the fic) corresponds with the First International Polar Year. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), "The First IPY, from 1881 to 1884, involved 11 nations and was the first coordinated international polar research activity ever undertaken, inspiring subsequent international research programs."

France was one of the 11 nations, and they maintained a research station north of the Arctic Circle in Bossekop, Norway (where there was a magnetic observatory). Basically, all the different nations competing in Arctic exploration during the 19th century was getting a whole lot of people killed, so by the late 19th Century, these nations decided to collaborate and share research--much of which we still use (especially charts) today--including to measure recession of Arctic Ice due to global warming. Imagine that!

Raoul's ship's mission was personnel recovery, but they most certainly would have been doing research, and they would have had a number of basic instruments on board to measure things like the temperature, air pressure, and the pull of the North Pole. You can still access all of this data today. Bless the US government researchers who compiled this website. I'm sure they're pleased to know it's being used to write fanfiction.

In the fic, Raoul is rescued by a hunting party of the Sápmi people, and they nurse him back to health. The Sápmi are an indigenous nomadic people who still live north of the Arctic Circle and herd reindeer today. They also have several of their own languages--hence Raoul and his hosts have to use very rudimentary Norwegian that they've both learned for the same purpose (trading) as a lingua franca.

The music his hosts, Ande and Marja sing is joik, a very unique form of Sápmi music that often has no words.

Here is an example:

While these missions were lengthy, missions in the 1880s and 1890s also started to see all or most of the crews come back, a far cry from missions (like the Franklin), where even now we still don't know what happened.

I Saw the Phantom Proshot at the NYPL

Happy 36th birthday to Phantom's first preview on Broadway! I was going to save this post for the actual 36th, but I figure all of us need some more Phantom Broadway "original" content since the official Insta accounts are reminding us today that Phantom is no longer (though it should be) on Broadway. I'm going to post about what I saw, and I'll follow up on January 26 with all my answers!

Some time ago, @or-what-you-will and I went to the NYPL's Theater on Film and Tape Archive, and viewed the archival pro shot of the Original Broadway Cast of Phantom of the Opera, filmed live on May 25, 1988. There is only one copy, and its purpose is artistic preservation (not commercial distribution--the library owns it). It was kept under lock and key during the show's run. All information about how to access the archive is on the website. I can't really tell you anything more besides what's out there because it will become identifying. You get set up in a room with monitors and can pause and rewind, although you can't touch the media.

This was not my first TOFT proshot, but it was the best-filmed. Some, there's a single camera just parked, or there's some generation loss because of when the tape was transferred to digital. This had absolutely vivid colors, a multi-camera shot, and brilliant and clear soundboard audio. I heard lyrics I have never heard (especially during Notes when everyone is singing over one another), the sound balancing was so good. It was as transformative as seeing it live.

These are all the notes we took while there (apologize if they can seem disjointed) More below the cut.