What she says: I’m fine.

What she means: I am shocked, astounded, and disappointed when confronted with the incessant lack of the Persian in adaptations of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. The daroga was one of the novel’s most important and prominent characters, even narrating several chapters and without whom the story could not function. He provides backstory for Erik and is one of the few positive influences in the lonely man’s life. Despite this, he is almost never in any adaptation of the famous book, though a similar character appears in the 1925 silent film. I remain dumbfounded as to why he is never present or simply has his role given to another character.