Gavrilo Zahir

**Gavrilo Zahir** is the anti-hero of a fan-made story of Phantom of the Opera.

## Biography

All that is known about Gavrilo's past is that he is born and raised in Sarajevo and harbors a life-long love for the opera, even sneaking into the Opera House just to listen to the music and singing.

In his adult years, Gavrilo becomes friends with the Opera House's rat catcher, Leavis, who would let him in to listen to the opera and occasionally help him with his job.

Unfortunately, Gavrilo also suffers from Tuberculosis, which gradually affects his eyes to the point of being bloodshot and near-lifeless. His illness also eventually leads to the amputation of his left arm due to the bone decay. After having a prosthetic arm given to him, his sanity also slowly deteriorates, but he is kept sane by the sound of the opera.

Eventually, in 1915, Gavrilo is drafted into war, to which he takes one last visit to the Opera House. There, he sees Christine Muller, one of the newest singers. After hearing her sing, Gavrilo is immediately enticed and impressed with her voice. When she leaves for home, she bumps into him and he tells her of his situation, to which she is understanding and sympathetic. After she leaves, Gavrilo is content to go to war. However, in the Sarajevo fields, he is caught in the middle of a bomb attack. He narrowly survives, but is in near-proximity of an explosion, which knocks him unconscious and horrifically disfigures him in the process. He is blown into a river, which takes his unconscious body back into the city.

His body drifts near the Opera House, where Leavis finds him and drags him to land in the Opera House underground system. Leavis is horrified at Gavrilo's disfigurement and keeps him in the Opera House's small cave system. Gavrilo awakens and learns of his condition, much to his dismay. After a month of living in the caves, Gavrilo hears the opera going on above for the first time since that fateful day and remembers his encounter with Christine. When he asks Leavis about the opera, he is told that the opera's reputation has been dwindling due to the arrogant demands of the diva, Milica Hoorcz. Gavrilo, outraged at this, decides that Christine should be the lead and the voice of the opera, since, to him, she is the perfect singer, albeit still needing some training.

Before setting off to assist Christine, Gavrilo wanders around the Opera House's underground system and eventually discovers an entrance to the city's sewer system. He uses this knowledge to sneak into a clothing goods store and steals a black trench coat and cloak so he can hide in the shadows. He also spots a wolf-like mask, which he takes so he can hide his face. However, the store owner walks in and attacks him, but Gavrilo grabs a small scythe-like weapon and kills him with it. During the fight, part of the mask is torn, which leaves a portion of the right side of his face exposed, including his ear. After he puts on the mask, he then completes his transformation into the Phantom of the Opera.

Now content with his goal, Gavrilo uses Leavis' knowledge of the Opera House's layout to find the hidden passageways and one of them leads to Christine's dressing room. Gavrilo uses 2-way mirrors to observe Christine and study her in order to specify what needs improving before she can sing the lead. While he is not studying Christine, he is hiding in the catwalks looking over the opera and sabotaging any attempts to rehearse for the planned opera, while leaving threatening notes that demand the Opera House owners put Christine in the lead role under threat of death and devastation.

During his spree, a stage hand, Yosef Bichir, starts to notice some strange activity in the catwalks, but his claims are often dismissed by the opera house owners. Eventually, Bichir gets too curious and investigates the catwalks. Not willing to risk everything he has worked up to, Gavrilo appears in front of Bichir, chases him and kills him; he later tosses his body onto the stage during another rehearsal, horrifying the staff below. However, this causes the manager of the opera house, Dragan Vulich, to call upon a man named Rezkinov, known as "The Russian" to everyone around him. Rezkinov is somewhat familiar with the circumstances surrounding Bichir's death, having apparently encountered a similar scenario. With that, Gavrilo is forced to further keep himself in the shadows to keep out of Rezkinov's sight.