Erik is a hardened killer. That's part of who he is. He has his reasons, and I can totally understand why he kills. There have been times that I've felt that bloodlust myself. It honestly doesn't bother me, just so long as it doesn't get out of hand. There's only so many places one can stash bodies before they start to stink up a place.

he killed people who are meant to be killed by the way they acted.

Once again, just to play Devil's Advocate. What exactly did Piangi do to warrant being strangled to death, again? From what I can tell the poor schmuck was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if we're on the subject of the musical, the ballet rats gossiped just as much, if not more, about Erik than Buquet ever did. Why not kill a few of them?
I'm perfectly willing to admit that Erik is dangerous and f**ked in the head. It all stems from some major developmental and psychological issues, but it doesn't change the fact that the man is homicidal.
I guess my point is that as a fandom we really need to look closely at the man we're so very enthralled with. As he says himself, "I am not an Angel, or a genie, or a Phantom...I am Erik." He is only a man at the end of the day. A very disturbed, very talented man who is not perfect. He's deceptive, violent, manipulative, obsessive, arrogant, and largely unrepentant of his misdeeds. Anyone else with these faults we would turn away from in disgust. So why do we allow Erik such liberties? Each phan has her own reasons. Be it pity, lust, feeding into the romanticism that has built up around the story, or the simple fact that deep down they're almost as messed up as he is. But we really should examine why we defend this man.
Forgive the social psych-esque rant. I'm merely feeling a bit melancholy and irritated by the increasing supposition that the phans do not actually think through WHY they give a damn. I'm not entirely sure why that bothers me as much as it does, but it may have to do with the fact that the core base of who follows this story has altered to the point that I feel like the people in my fandom have become the people who used to throw things at me and call me names in school, rather than the other freaks and geeks that hid on the fringes with me. I'm not sure I'm quite comfortable with this alteration.

Who cares that he killed people? I've killed people (Joke, joke, JOKE!) But really I do love Erik and I suppose the death would follow in his wake, he is a tortured soul.
AND just for you, Phantomess, I have the reason why I feel as I do. I always said that if I was in Christines place I'd choose Erik, in fact I'm not so sure I'd bother much with Raoul (which sounds very cut throat, but c'est la vie) Its because I need someone to need me like that. Not simple love or desire, but actual desperation, actual longing that, in time, can turn into lunacy. I need someone who would burn the earth for me, because I don't have someoine like that, and probably never shall. I watch from the sidelines, I can be ignored, replaced, forgotten. I am disposable. I want someone to whom I am not disposable, but vital, because standing here in the dredgelands, we freaks don't have that. I don't have that.
Satisfied?

I very much appreciate your actually taking the time to think about the reasons you care for Erik. I applaud you.
As for myself, I admit to being just this side of a sociopath myself. Deep down I know I'm just about as screwed in the head as he is. I understand, even to a small degree, what he must have felt inside. I respect him for his endurance, I worship him for his genius, I love him for his broken soul, and I need him because he understands. I accept his faults, and revere his strengths.
Obsession eats at your soul, it devours you piece by piece. But one cannot help but revel in it's all-encompassing fire!

He never got any kind of appreciation or compassion, all he got was a world full of hate. That's all he knows, and then Christine comes along, he isn't used to the feeling so he becomes obsessed, and if anything gets in the way of that he reacts how he's seen other people react: violence.

Buquet died because in the original book, he accidently found an entrance to eriks home, so he was killed to stop him blabbing. In the film and theatre show, I expect that they used his death as a way to make the scene more dramatic. Also I think Piangi died cuz if Eric didn't kill him, the guy would run out screaming. And thats a BAD thing.

In the book Erik drugged Mauclair to keep him from causing problems while Erik set up the chandelier and Christine's disappearance from center stage. Why not just drug the fat little Italian?
And, yes, I do understand that in the book Buquet probably just got stuck in the torture chamber. I'll even go so far as to believe it was mostly an accident. I'm sure the thing has a trigger to start on it's own if Erik's out. But in the stage version, aside from being all dramatic and whatnot there really wasn't that much call for it.

I try, but I can never past it. :/

MM He has his own reasons :) ;]

"*fingers in ears* Has not! Has not! He was set up!"

^How cute.

Anyway, this is my pick, but makes me love him nonetheless. It's not as if he was really killing anyone as he's a fictional character + it's not as if I didn't completely loooove Lestat and like the original Scream's killer and many other fictional characters who have killed people. It's horrible but it's life.

I sympathisize with him, people can be sleazebags of worst order, but I don´t think he had any good reasons to attack Piangi or Buquet. He could be quite a bastard, and no, I don´t approve it.

i understand him