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I love Nadir. A lot. He's pretty hardcore, if you think about it. First off, he's a stellar detective. Then he helps Erik escape by faking Erik's death, only to bear the brunt of the shah's wrath in a prison for a decade (Or however long it was...I haven't read Kay in a while). You'd think that after he escaped or was released or what have you that he would want to retire in Florida and just chill for the rest of his life, but no.

He follows Erik across the continent, keeps tabs on his misdeeds, and pulls a Bruce Willis by leading Raoul through endless booby traps in the cellars of the opera. Then he survives vicious torture (again) and lives to a ripe old age to tell about it.

All with one hand. Because the other is at the level of his eyes.

That, my friends, is one hardcore Persian. This guy seriously needs an epic theme song. Or his own action film.

And he's so cinematically under-appreciated! It drives me nuts! As far as I know, there are only three Phantom film versions (the silent film, the cartoon, and that horrendous David Staller one) in which the daroga plays a large part. Otherwise he's completely written out, which is just too bad, because he's such a wonderful character. Of course, I'm mostly looking at him through Kay's lens, because you cannot help but love Nadir when you read that book. The man's been put through the ringer, and yet he still manages to be kind.

Plus, you gotta love the Sherlock-Watson dynamic between Erik and Nadir. Although as far as I know, Sherlock never wanted to roast Watson alive. But then again, I'm not particularly well-versed in Sherlockian goodness.

Oookay, big tangent aside, I came home from classes today and had this overwhelming urge to work on Nadir's design, so there you go. I think as far as his facial features go, he's heavily based on a friend of my family's who is from Palestine and who's name is, in fact, Nadir. So every single time I read the novel, I picture real-life Nadir in place of book-Nadir, and it really just fits. Plus, both are really awesome, so there you go. Of course, real-life Nadir has no idea that every time I see him, I want to geek out just a little bit because it's like the daroga walked out of the book.

ANYway...

I picture him slightly stocky and shorter (though it's not exactly difficult to be shorter than Erik). Obviously when he's in Persia, he'd be wearing traditional Persian clothing. When he's in France, however, I always pictured him sort of blending European and Middle Eastern styles, picking and choosing things from each culture for his wardrobe. Which results in this snappy little getup. The fez, of course, is a must. For one thing, he just likes it. For another thing, it covers his bald spot quite nicely.

For whatever reason, I've always pictured Nadir with half-moon spectacles. Maybe not when he was younger, but as he aged, it just seems to work. And for the most part (at least when Erik isn't grinding away at his nerves), I imagine him to have "smiling eyes," if that makes any sense at all, kind of twinkling at his own private joke.

Am I totally projecting Dumbledore onto Nadir?

You know, that may not be a bad thing. They would probably hit it off, in fact. They could talk philosophy over a bowl of lemon drops. I'll bet Nadir likes lemon drops. He totally does.

So much love for this guy! I could talk about him all day!

The Daroga © Leroux.
Long-winded, unnecessary explanation © me.

Description
I love Nadir. A lot. He's pretty hardcore, if you think about it. First off, he's a stellar detective. Then he helps Erik escape by faking Erik's death, only to bear the brunt of the shah's wrath in a prison for a decade (Or however long it was...I haven't read Kay in a while). You'd think that after he escaped or was released or what have you that he would want to retire in Florida and just chill for the rest of his life, but no.

He follows Erik across the continent, keeps tabs on his misdeeds, and pulls a Bruce Willis by leading Raoul through endless booby traps in the cellars of the opera. Then he survives vicious torture (again) and lives to a ripe old age to tell about it.

All with one hand. Because the other is at the level of his eyes.

That, my friends, is one hardcore Persian. This guy seriously needs an epic theme song. Or his own action film.

And he's so cinematically under-appreciated! It drives me nuts! As far as I know, there are only three Phantom film versions (the silent film, the cartoon, and that horrendous David Staller one) in which the daroga plays a large part. Otherwise he's completely written out, which is just too bad, because he's such a wonderful character. Of course, I'm mostly looking at him through Kay's lens, because you cannot help but love Nadir when you read that book. The man's been put through the ringer, and yet he still manages to be kind.

Plus, you gotta love the Sherlock-Watson dynamic between Erik and Nadir. Although as far as I know, Sherlock never wanted to roast Watson alive. But then again, I'm not particularly well-versed in Sherlockian goodness.

Oookay, big tangent aside, I came home from classes today and had this overwhelming urge to work on Nadir's design, so there you go. I think as far as his facial features go, he's heavily based on a friend of my family's who is from Palestine and who's name is, in fact, Nadir. So every single time I read the novel, I picture real-life Nadir in place of book-Nadir, and it really just fits. Plus, both are really awesome, so there you go. Of course, real-life Nadir has no idea that every time I see him, I want to geek out just a little bit because it's like the daroga walked out of the book.

ANYway...

I picture him slightly stocky and shorter (though it's not exactly difficult to be shorter than Erik). Obviously when he's in Persia, he'd be wearing traditional Persian clothing. When he's in France, however, I always pictured him sort of blending European and Middle Eastern styles, picking and choosing things from each culture for his wardrobe. Which results in this snappy little getup. The fez, of course, is a must. For one thing, he just likes it. For another thing, it covers his bald spot quite nicely.

For whatever reason, I've always pictured Nadir with half-moon spectacles. Maybe not when he was younger, but as he aged, it just seems to work. And for the most part (at least when Erik isn't grinding away at his nerves), I imagine him to have "smiling eyes," if that makes any sense at all, kind of twinkling at his own private joke.

Am I totally projecting Dumbledore onto Nadir?

You know, that may not be a bad thing. They would probably hit it off, in fact. They could talk philosophy over a bowl of lemon drops. I'll bet Nadir likes lemon drops. He totally does.

So much love for this guy! I could talk about him all day!

The Daroga © Leroux.
Long-winded, unnecessary explanation © me.