In Gaston Leroux’s novel, Raoul is described as having a ‘small, fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes, and a complexion like a girl’s and an air of “just having left the women’s apron-strings.”‘ His elder brother and former guardian, Comte Philippe de Chagny, is a man of the world who indulges in dalliances with the Opera’s ballerinas and is exasperated by his brother’s attachment to “the little baggage” Christine.