#snicketstrange

[unfortunatetheorist]

*Joint Theory 6 - @unfortunatetheorist & @snicketstrange*:

-The Truthful Time Period-

When EXACTLY do the events of ASOUE (Netflix & Book) occur?

Firstly:

*Happy New Year, wherever you are celebrating from!*

(This post debuts on my, @unfortunatetheorist's, blog; 00:00 GMT)

The subject of time has been one of great debate throughout the ASOUE fandom, especially with references such as the Baudelaires' favourite film being the 1938 version of Dawn Patrol and Olaf saying he bought the hourglass from TBB online.

In this theory, @snicketstrange and I have come up with what we believe to be a definitive answer, for each case - Netflix Canon and Book Canon.

A firm starting point is this line from TBB:

"In the years since, I've inquired what became of the Brothers Poe. One followed his father into the world of banking. The other lives in a cave and talks to sheep. They each think the other has it better."

This means that the time between the main events of ASOUE and the release of the first season of the series on Netflix in the ASOUE universe is enough for Mr. Poe's children to grow up and one of them to become a banker. We can assume that it would be reasonable to think about at least 10 years. This should be approximately the age difference between Lemony who appears in TSS and Lemony who narrates.

Also, Violet's line from TRR:

"Um, Dawn Patrol, the 1938 version."

This implies 2 things: there was a later remake of Dawn Patrol (hence, "version") and the Baudelaire parents must have been at the suitable age rating to watch the movie when it came out, as:

Monty: "It was your parents' favourite too."

Let's estimate to see how accurate we can be. In 1938 the film was released. Bertrand probably saw this film when he was a teenager, but perhaps not at the premiere. But maybe. (Favourite films when we are adults often arise when we watch these films in [pre-]adolescence).

So, Bertrand in 1938 could have been 12 years old. Let's put this scenario as the oldest. If he was 12 years old in 1938, he must having got married and fathered Violet at around 28 (estimate based on all of Beatrice's history with Lemony prior to her marriage to Bertrand, and Bertrand's appearance in TE). In this case Violet would have been born in 1954, and the series' main events would have been 14 years later in 1968. Lemony would be narrating the story in about 1978.

Now, thinking about the upper limit, we would have the case where the premiere of the Netflix series in our universe happened in the same year as in Lemony's universe. In this case, 2017 would be the year of Lemony's narration, and then 2007 would be the year of ASOUE's main events. So, to date, our estimate is between 1968 and 2007 (book + Netflix).

The main problem is that ASOUE in the books is quite anachronistic. Despite the aesthetics Netflix exists within the universe. But, in contrast, we can argue that Netflix at the time was a video home delivery service, as was the original Netflix. (We don't see people with internet at home in ASOUE, and a computer like in Prufrock Prep was quite rare, hence it being called 'Advanced').

[And apparently something not connected to the internet.]

And this is very interesting. ASOUE's Netflix series is meant to be a video delivery service. After all, we see in THH that there are video delivery services in the library and devices for showing videos.

The first type of Home Video to exist in our world was Betamax in 1975.

And the first microcomputer for personal use was also launched in 1975, the Altair 8800.

And if we look at a detail in LSTUA.

They are separate universes, but this photographic record is the only one dated in the entire Unfortunate universe: October 1977. It wouldn't be surprising if the series' writers (who are fans of the books) had this enigmatic date in mind, and made ASOUE take place in the 1970s.

And 2 years after the launch of home video and after the launch of microcomputers would be exactly the time needed for a newly launched technology to have spread enough to suggest services like Netflix in the world of ASOUE.

Long enough for some people to buy video cassettes and even cameras.

Here's the full picture:

So the answer to our original question:

JOINT THEORY: ASOUE is set in the 1970s.

#asoue #lemony snicket #vfd #a series of unfortunate events #snicketverse #asoue netflix #theory #joint theory #snicketstrange #chronological #time #time period

[quigleyquaqmire]

Oh wow hi @snicketstrange

#this is a sideblog but I follow you on main :) #queued

[virtualfindingsdocumented]

@snicketstrange respondeu seu post “VFD doesn’t have two sides. It has three.  The “bad” guys, aka...”

Olá. Vc pensou nisso depois de ler meus textos ou antes? Porque ficou muito bom

Olá! Obrigada. Eu tinha pensado antes, mas era apenas um protótipo de uma idea. Depois de ler a sua teoria eu vi que existe embasamento para a existência de mais de dois lados da organização.

Os três lados são mostrados pelos trigêmeos do hotel Desenlace

Cada um deles defende um lado 

Exato! Dewey expressa desatisfação com os métodos tradicionais da organização (”fumaça e espelhos”), o que é um dos grandes sinais que há uma divisão de ideias. 

Ismael, é das antigas

Quando participou da cisão, ele ficou do lado que nunca usaria armas

Mas mudou seu ponto de vista na ilha

Pra tristeza de Olaf

Isso explica muita coisa sobre ele, e por que Olaf achou que conseguiria tomar a ilha facilmente.

Os bibliotecários no trem do livro 4 de ATWQ também nunca entrariam numa briga

Por isso uma criança com um porrete pôde dominá-los tão facilmente

Eu sempre me esqueço desses três, mas de fato. Eles também mostram uma atitude de “só observar, nunca interferir” que contrasta bastante com o Lemony, que interfere até onde não devia.

#snicketstrange #from the volunteer

[badlydrawndrawnings]

In the book version of the ersatz elevator, it’s brought up esme has a meeting with the king of arizona. in the world of asoue, arizona is not part of the united states. arizona is its own country with a monarchy in some way or form. arizona in the asoue world is most likely the kingdom of arizona. that means the united states of america in the asoue world is one of two things:

1. has approximately forty-nine states because arizona seceded, or has less than forty-nine, meaning the city is in a state that seceded. in the tua, the golden gate bridge is shown in one of the photos on page 52 (aka, the letter page with a boy who may or may not be daniel handler). as the writer tells j they need to verify which city the boy is in, there’s a possible the city is san francisco but it’s not going by its proper name. it’s also easy to say that the city where asoue takes place is also in california, as ‘the city’ is one of the common nicknames for san francisco, and it’s still the nickname for this alternate san francisco.

2. once existed at one point, but then cease to exist. it existed long enough for arizona to get its name though. the asoue world is just our world with differences that aren’t related to the united states ceasing to exist. including the above explanation about the city being an alternate san francisco going by a different name, this can explain why peru is still a country -because its history didn’t change-, how the village of fowl devotee can exist for about two hundred years -it was created when the united states existed and became its own thing after the united states/maybe california dissolved-, the city of winnipeg has a duchess -something wild in canada’s history allow it to happen-, and why arizona has a king -the arizonians thought it great to have a monarchy. 

3. the same as above, but the united states didn’t ceased to exist. when the vfd schism happened, it created a butterfly effect, leading to the apocalypse on the world. it’s only in the post-apocalypse rebuild does the united states ceased to exist, with new countries form in its place, looking different from what it look like pre-apocalypse. this can explain why peru is still a country -the country didn’t dissolved-, how the village of fowl devotee can exist for over two hundred years -they existed pre-apocalypse and survive via their rules-, the city of winnipeg has a duchess -the duchess and her family survived the apocalypse-, and why arizona has a king and keeps its name of arizona -the arizonians remember their history and thought it great to have a monarchy. the writer of the letter not knowing the city’s name is because it was taken pre-apocalypse and then san francisco got destroyed and rebuild from the ground up, forcing them to verify which former city of the gone united states of america the boy is (was) living in.

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #the unauthorized autobiography #world building #theory #this is a text post #i headcanon number 3 #because that's honestly the only way the series makes sense to me #also i just re read the radioactive theory written by snicketstrange #which i like reading it's an interesting take of the sugar bowl theory

[yourfavisabaudelaireguardian]

Every Baudelaire Guardian (So Far)

This list is a long overdue way for y’all to see past guardians before requesting and a way for me to keep track of who I’ve already made a guardian, so let’s get this train rollin’!

(All Guardians names from first to most recent under the cut, will be updated as more characters are requested)

Kirby

Frankie Stein

Phoenix Wright

Harry Greenwood

Hiccup and Astrid Haddock

Reginald Hargreeves

Toriel

The Sorting Hat

Jack Skellington

@/virtualfindingsdocumented

Noodle

BMO

Reigen Arataka

Taako Taaco

John Mulaney

Dr. Doofenshmirtz

Chidi Anagonye

The Kratt Brothers

Ronald McDonald

CoryXKenshin

Freddy Mercury

Darth Vader

Jefferson Davis

Marie Kondo

Jonathan Van Ness

Maes Hughes

Harold Hill

Dutch van der Linde

Isabelle

@/milesgonzalomorales

You

Carol Danvers

Molly Weasley

Grunkle Stan

Magnus Bane

Scott Howl

William Shakespeare

George Salazar

@/unfortunate-stranger-losers

Luke Skywalker

Belle

Yoshi

@/barb-baudelaire

Me

Luigi

Soldier 76

Emily the Corpse Bride

Neil Cicierega and Ming Doyle

Optimus Prime

Papyrus

Robert E.O. Speedwagon

Julian Devorak

Rex Dangervest

Meta Knight

Moominmamma and Moominpappa

Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert

A knife

David

A bigger knife

Xemnas

Tony Stark

@/badasouefanficideas

MatPat, Safiya Nygaard and Rosanna Pansino

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Miss Honey

MatPat but with StephPat this time

Thomas Sanders

Magnus and Julia Burnsides

Ruff Ruffman

Willy Wonka

An even bigger knife

Amy Rose

Video Game Sonic the Hedgehog

Scott Lang

A Googly Eyed Slinky

@/snicketstrange

@/sqenthusiast , formerly @/larry-your-gayter

A Dog

@/teeny-beany, formerly @/afarmforthree

The Crystal Gems

@/arisabunni, formerly @/hongmoondescendant

The Biggest Knife Ever in Bowie, Texas

Malina Weissman, Louis Hynes and Presley Smith

Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Linda and Laurence Flynn-Fletcher

Alice Liddell

Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz

Lancer

Demi Lovato

Princess Peach

Marianne

Dad Egbert

Bayonetta

Phil Coulson

The Phantom of The Opera / Erik Destler

Original Design of Live Action Sonic

Thumb-thumbs

@/bi-baudelaires

Shrek

Greg Universe

@/cloverlady

Brian David Gilbert

Robert Manion

Yondu Udonta

Seven

Mary Poppins

Monika

Cherry

The VFDiscord

Ke$ha

Jay Gatsby

Kermit the Frog

Brandon Rogers

@/someones-mayhem

S. Theodora Markson

Chris McLean

Pepper Potts

James

Linebeck

Lucretia

@/olivia-caliban

@/oliviacalibans, formerly @/olivia-calibansnicket

Iris, Talia and Auriana

Final Pam

Miss Frizzle

Crowley and Aziraphale

La Muerte

Leo Valdez

Princess Tiana

Cats (2019)

Bubblegum and Marceline

Gary Goodspeed

Otto Wood

Ouran High School Host Club

Mothman

Tulio, Miguel, and Chel

Quentin Coldwater

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey

Garfield

Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Tamora Calhoun

Barbara and Adam Maitland

Kit Snicket

Dan and Phil

Cole

Bill Nye

The Untitled Goose

Scooby Doo

@/vacuum-fluorescent-display

@/violetsnickets

@/broke-on-books

Eleanor Shellstrop

@/m-orgueous

@/aseriesofhyperfixation

@/vfdbaudelairefile13

Rosalina

Brennan Lee Mulligan

Spyro

Batman

Final Design of Live Action Sonic

Dio Brando

The Bad Kids

Erika and Princess Annelise

Hat Kid

Princess Diana

Marshall Mallow

Milo

Giovanni Potage

Hermes

Oliver and Lisa Douglas

Grogu

Din Djarin

Percy King

Miss Acacia

Wrench

Nico Di Angelo

Aizawa

Kobe Bryant

George Memeulous

@/thesciencebros

Ozma of Oz

@/beth-the-robot-enthusiast

Gerard and Lindsey Way

Merle Highchurch

Jerma985

Commander Up

Oliver and Felicity Queen

Steve and Alex

Dale Cooper

Miss Alma Le Fay Peregrine

Queen Barb of the Rock Trolls

Shadow the Hedgehog

Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas

Jonathan Joestar

Spinel

Mayor Damien

Fairy Mary

Gomez and Morticia Addams

Unus

Eijiro Kirishima

Blue the Dog

@/lostf3ralchild

The Parr Family/ The Incredibles

Five Hargreeves

The Imagination Movers

Coraline Jones

Charles and Jerome Squalor

Clarisse La Rue

The Fellowship of the Ring

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck

Alucard Tepes, Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades

Minnie Le Guin

Barry Bluejeans and Lup Taako

Cyrus and Evelyn Laurie

Red Guy and Duck

Felix Unger and Oscar Madison 

Mr. Nicholas Benedict

L

Asgore

Satine

Ted Spankoffski

Toko Fukawa and Komaru Naegi

Samuel Vimes

Ph1lza

Rick O'Connell and Evie Carnahan

Leon Kennedy

Team Dark

Sasha Nein

Sam and Max

Drawfee Cast

Bruno Madrigal

The Amazing Karnak

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #baudelaire orphans guardians

[snicketsleuth]

What is “The Great Unknown”?

Who is it? What is it? Does it even matter? There is no greater mystery than the nature of the unknowable.

"We saw that on a radar screen," Violet remembered. "Captain Widdershins refused to tell us what it was." "My brother used to call it 'The Great Unknown,'" Kit said, clasping her belly as the baby kicked violently. "I was terrified, Baudelaires.” [The End, Chapter Thirteen]

The basis of the theory rests on a Doylist perspective as it tries to rationalize the relevance of “All the Wrong Questions” pertaining to “A Series Of Unfortunate Events”. Daniel Handler had to be careful while writing the second series as he was juggling with two conflicting goals:

The nature of the question-mark was a symbolic representation of Death and the Unknowable, and had to remain that way in order for “A Series Of Unfortunate Events” not to be ruined,

Fans were disappointed by the number of unresolved plotholes in “A Series Of Unfortunate Events” and Daniel Handler wanted to throw them a bone by expanding the lore and providing more hints to these mysteries.

So there was only one compromise possible: add more details to the lore of the Great Unknown but in a way which would leave the final fate of the characters in “The End” still very ambiguous. That was the mission “All The Wrong Questions” had to accomplish. Yet it’s still very ambiguous whether the infamous Bombinating Beast really is the question-mark which shows up on the sonar screens of the submarine in “The Grim Grotto” and “The End”. So why write “All The Wrong Questions” at all?

This article posits that there are more connections between the plot of both series than initially believed, if one digs hard enough. We just have to follow the clues to paint a more global picture. Here are all the smaller mysteries we have to investigate before rendering our final verdict:

How many question marks are in “The Grim Grotto” and “The End”?

Why are Ellington’s eyebrows shaped like question marks?

Was the question-mark-shaped entity a submarine or an animal?

To whom did the Carmelita octopus-shaped submarine belong?

What exactly happened to Fernald and Fiona?

More after the cut.

NB : This article is dedicated to @snicketstrange (a.k.a. Jean Lúcio). Please check out his Tumblr page for more amazing theories about the mind of Daniel Handler (and incidentally Lemony Snicket). There’s also a Youtube page (Link) if you speak Portuguese. Jean, thank you for your invaluable help in researching this topic, particularly regarding the nature of sonars.

How many question marks are in “The Grim Grotto” and “The End”?

Surprisingly, I have issues with this line of reasoning. Not because there isn’t a connection, but because there is evidence for two Bombinating Beasts showing up in “All The Wrong Questions”:

The proper Bombinating Beast from the legends of Stain’d-by-the-Sea (which we will name OBB, as in “Original”),

The genetic monstrosity created by Hangfire through experiments (which we will name CBB, as in “Copied” or “Clone”), which he planned to use to impersonate the OBB.

It’s pretty much established at this point. We see in “Shouldn’t You Be In School” that the CBB was still “immature” according to Ellington, and it’s very much implied that the tadpole who bit Lemony’s finger in “When Did You See Her Last” was the CBB at an even earlier stage. A significant amount of time happens between the two books, to the point Handler released a spin-off called “File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents” to account for what the characters did in the meantime. Supposedly the CBB had time to grow. So it wouldn’t make sense for Stain’d-by-the-Sea to have legends about the terrifying Bombinating Beast if that thing was just a tadpole in recent history.

How Hangfire managed to create the CBB is left unexplained by Daniel Handler. It still seems to be somewhat related to the OBB because the whistle inside the statue seems to work on it, so there’s something similar about the way the two creatures function. My guess is that, though the OBB was lost to time, some fossilized eggs remained and Hangfire managed to find and hatch one. Much ado is made about the book “Caviar: Salty Jewel of the Tasty Sea” which used to be in Dewey’s library in Stain’d-by-the-Sea. All we know about the book is that it has a chapter dedicated to the tanks being used when the sturgeons are young. My guess is that the book is where Hangfire found the necessary information.

So the question remains: who showed up in “The Grim Grotto” and “The End”: the OBB or the CBB? Since one is essentially the child of the other, and since the entity shows up no less than three times (twice in “The Grim Grotto”, once in “The End”), there’s a possibility that both the OBB and the CBB showed up in separate instances and that characters mistakenly thought it was the same entity each time.

Why are Ellington’s eyebrows shaped like question marks?

Believe it or not, TBB is only compared to a question mark once in the entire series.

Supposedly sailors still saw the Bombinating Beast, swimming with its body curled up like an underwater question mark, although with the sea drained, I couldn’t imagine that this could be true, at least not anymore. [Who Could That Be At This Hour ?, Chapter Four]

Interestingly it’s rather Ellington who is compared to a question mark, far more often than the Beast. Usually next to a mention of a smile which “could mean anything”.

“Hello,” she said, “I’m Ellington Feint,” and I sat up to get a better look at her. It was not so dark that I couldn’t see her strange, curved eyebrows, each one coiled over like a question mark. Green eyes she had, and hair so black it made the night look pale. She had long fingers, with nails just as black, and they poked out of a black shirt with long, smooth sleeves. And right before she started climbing down the ladder, I saw her smile, shadowy in the moonlight. It was a smile that might have meant anything. She was a little older than me, or maybe just a little taller. I followed her down. [Who Could That Be At This Hour?, Chapter Seven]

But instead I just looked at the person with her back to me. Next to her were a large, striped suitcase and an oddly shaped case perfect for holding an old-fashioned record player. Hanging from her shoulder was a green purse shaped like a long, zippered tube as she stood and looked at the shelves filled with stenciled bags of coffee. Then she turned around, and I paid attention to her dark, dark hair, and her eyebrows, each one coiled over like a question mark, and her green eyes underneath. “Lemony Snicket,” she said. “Ellington Feint,” I said, and it was only then that I saw that smile of hers, the one that could have meant anything. [Who Could That Be At This Hour?, Chapter Eleven]

If you want to know the truth, I was thinking about Ellington Feint, a girl with strange, curved eyebrows like question marks, and green eyes, and a smile that might have meant anything. [When Did You See Her Last?, Chapter One]

And there was a girl standing in front of me. Her green eyes were the same, but her hair wasn’t black, not now. It was blond instead, so blond it looked white. Her fingers were still slender, with long black nails again, and over her eyes were strange eyebrows curved like question marks. She was using the same smile, too. It was a smile I liked. It was a smile that might have meant anything. [When Did You See Her Last?, Chapter Seven]

The something else was a girl, taller than I was or older than I was or both. She had curious eyebrows, curved and coiled like question marks, and she had a smile that might have meant anything. [Shouldn’t You Be In School?, Chapter One]

“Are you awake?” I asked me, but it wasn’t me who was talking. It hadn’t been all along. I turned my head and ached and blinked and found myself staring into a pair of green eyes. They blinked below a pair of eyebrows curled up like question marks, and after she blinked, the girl gave me a smile that might have meant anything. [Shouldn’t You Be In School?, Chapter Eight]

Ellington moved her mug to the center of the table. Her eyebrows, curved like question marks, felt like they belonged to all the questions in my mind, and then she gave me her smile, the one that might have meant anything. [Shouldn’t You Be In School, Chapter Nine]

“It’s all a big question mark,” Jake said, with a grim grin, and I gave him a fraught frown to match. Question marks made me think of Ellington Feint’s curved eyebrows, and the smile she always gave me, that could have meant anything. It made me unsteady to think of all of it, and the train rattling made me feel unsteadier still. [Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?, Chapter Seven]

“This is the only place on the train where you can find coffee,” I said, and showed her the tiny folded cup. She raised her curious eyebrows, shaped like question marks, and finally gave me the smile she always gave me, the smile that could have meant anything. [Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?, Chapter Eight]

I reached out to her, and she moved violently away from me. I had to grab the chain that bound her hands, in order to look into her eyes. Her curled eyebrows had always reminded me of question marks, but now they just looked furious. You’ll never see Ellington Feint smile again, I thought to myself, but it was a moment before I could bring myself to reply. “I hoped it wasn’t true,” I said finally. [Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?, Chapter Thirteen]

So at this point it looks like Lemony/Handler is throwing far more clues towards Ellington having something to do with the mysterious question mark featured in “A Series Of Unfortunate Events” rather than TBB itself. Why is that?

On one hand, there’s some semblance of symbolism going on there. In Lemony’s adolescent mind, he’s the detective and Ellington is the designated “femme fatale” of noir literature, somebody dangerous you can’t trust or understand, and who usually has hidden and nefarious motives. So of course she’d be associated with question marks and an undecipherable mind. She represents the Unknown, and the primal fear which goes with that.

Except readers end up realizing that Lemony has it wrong. Although Ellington lies often, her motives are neither hidden nor difficult to understand: she’s a traumatized child desperate to find her father. That’s what she presents herself as and she acts accordingly. It’s actually Lemony who fits the role of the “homme fatal” to Ellington: his motives are shrouded in mystery because of his association with VFD (other youngsters in the series call him out on it) and he ends up betraying Ellington for his own ends. Lemony is essentially projecting his own duplicity and manipulative nature on Ellington. She’s a mirror to his own sins.

So if Ellington is a clue to understand the true nature of the entity, it’s not just a clue which relates to the plot. It also functions as a key to understanding the symbolism and psychology of the entity. Our educated guess, therefore, would be that characters assume a lot of things about the entity which are just plain wrong, and that they are projecting their own identity on it.

Was the question-mark-shaped entity a submarine or an animal?

The following reasoning was helpfully worked out for me by Jean Lúcio (aka @snicketstrange on Tumblr), a prominent member of the Brazilian Snicket fandom. What he realized is that there are two kinds of sonars: active (emitting a sound and listening to its echo) and passive (listening to sounds in the vicinity). Both have merits: the active one is more efficient as it will detect objects for you even if there are silent, and the passive one is more discreet as it allows you to stay silent.

So in “The Grim Grotto” it seems that both Olaf and Widdershins assume the entity uses a passive sonar. Both of them insist that the people inside the Queequeg/Carmelita do not make any sound in order to remain undetected by the entity.

Why does that matter, anyway?

Well, as it turns out, some animals do have a “bio-sonar”… but there is no instance of a passive bio-sonar. All animals capable of echolocation function according to the principles of an active bio-sonar. They emit a sound and listen to its echo. It doesn’t matter if an item in their vicinity is silent, they will detect it all the same.

So we can infer two things from Juan Lúcio’s reasoning:

Widdershins was not lying, he sincerely believed the entity was or could be a submarine. If he knew for sure that the entity was an animal, he would not bother telling his crewmates to stay silent as it would be pointless. As a submariner, it can be assumed he knew how the bio-sonar of large marine animals functioned. Olaf is a trickier case as he’s been shown to be book-dumb in that he’s ignorant about many things. But his behavior regarding the entity is extremely similar to Widdershins so it’s likely he had the same line of reasoning.

The entity definitely detected both the Queequeg and the Carmelita… and chose not to attack them. Which would at least imply that the entity is far less malevolent or aggressive than initially suspected. Both submarines were spared.

So all of a sudden we have a lot more information about the entity.

This is where the constant comparison of Ellington to a question mark starts making sense. There’s a clear parallel between the way Ellington and the entity are treated:

Lemony is a liar and a manipulator, so he assumes that Ellington is a liar and a manipulator.

Widdershins and Olaf are shady people piloting a submarine, so they assume the entity is a submarine piloted by somebody shady.

So that’s what we can at least assume about the entity: the first guess is usually wrong. Confronted with the Unknown, the brain starts going crazy with theories which reveal our deepest insecurities. This is how bigotry works: when people are confronted with something they neither know nor understand, they assume the worst about it by default, because, deep down, they know on a psychological level that they are themselves capable of horrible, terrible things. It’s a survival instinct to assume the worst about what we don’t know. And one of the main themes of “A Series Of Unfortunate Events” is bigotry.

To whom did the Carmelita octopus-shaped submarine belong?

The origin of Olaf’s submarine is one of “The Grim Grotto”’s most easily forgotten mysteries, but it’s enough of a riddle to warrant suspicion. The nefarious villain seems to acquire a deadly submarine at the moment he needs it the most. More surprisingly, it seems that Olaf acquired it in a very short amount of time: barely a day goes by between the last moment the Baudelaire orphans see him at the top of Mount Fraught and the time they meet him again in “The Grim Grotto”. Of course it’s possible he may have acquired that submarine much earlier and simply put it in storage somewhere, but there’s a catch to that explanation: the submarine requires the hard labor of several child slaves to move. And we see that some of the children moving the oars of the submarine are the Snow Scouts whom Count Olaf kidnapped at the end of “The Slippery Slope”. So it would have been tricky for Count Olaf to move the submarine anywhere without the extra child slaves… which points to Olaf acquiring the submarine only recently.

And what do we know about that submarine? Not much.

"This submarine is one of the greatest things I've ever stolen," he bragged. "It has everything I'll need to defeat V.F.D. once and for all. It has a sonar system, so I can rid the seas of V.F.D. submarines. It has an enormous flyswatter, so I can rid the skies of V.F.D. planes. It has a lifetime supply of matches, so I can rid the world of V.F.D. headquarters. It has several cases of wine that I plan to drink up myself, and a closet full of very stylish outfits for my girlfriend. And best of all, it has plenty of opportunities for children to do hard labor! Ha ha hedonism!" [The Grim Grotto, Chapter Nine]

"We'll see about that," Olaf said, grinning wickedly. "I'm going to lock all of you in the brig, which is the official seafaring term for Jail." "We know what the brig is," Klaus said. "Then you know it's not a very pleasant place," the villain said. "The previous owner used it to hold traitors captive, and I see no reason to break with tradition." [The Grim Grotto, Chapter Nine]

It’s unlikely that Count Olaf stole the submarine from either side of V.F.D. At this point in the series, Olaf is still loyal to his bosses (The Woman With Hair But No Beard and the Man With Beard But No Hair) so if they had a submarine and he needed it for a scheme, he would have just asked for it. Since he was looking for the sugar bowl and the Queequeg, they had no reason to refuse him. It’s also unlikely that the submarine was stolen from the “noble” side of V.F.D. because Captain Widdershins seems to recognize it as a threat immediately when its icon shows up on the Queequeg’s sonar screen, and doesn’t contradict the Baudelaire orphans when they assume it’s a submarine piloted by Count Olaf. If Olaf had stolen the octopus-shaped submarine from the other side of the Schism, Captain Widdershins could have mentioned it in passing. In fact, the Captain mentions a number of “gone” submarines who were built by V.F.D. and doesn’t include the octopus-shaped one in the lot. Which implies its origin is altogether different.

"The amount of treachery in this world is enormous!" he cried. "Aye! Think of the crafts we saw on the sonar screen! Think of Count Olaf's enormous submarine, and the even more enormous one that chased it away! Aye! "There's always something more enormous and more terrifying on our tails! Aye! And so many of the noble submarines are gone! Aye! You think the Herman Melville suits are the only noble uniforms in the world? There used to be volunteers with P G. Wodehouse on their uniforms, and Carl Van Vechten. There was Comyns and Cleary and Archy and Mehitabel. But now volunteers are scarce! So the best we can do is one small noble thing! Aye! Like retrieving the sugar bowl from the Gorgonian Grotto, no matter how grim it sounds! Aye! Remember my personal philosophy! He who hesitates is lost!" [The Grim Grotto, Chapter Five]

To whom did that submarine belong before Count Olaf stole it, then? And why does the Captain seem to have a passing knowledge of its history?

What we know so far is that the previous owner:

Was evil enough to use child slaves,

Was obsessed with traitors within its own organizations to the point he had secured a place to lock up suspicious members,

Was wary of aerial threats,

Had gathered an enormous amount of matches to light a lot of fires,

Had someone in the crew who liked wine,

Had an octopus-shaped costume for some reason.

There happens to be another organization in Lemony Snicket’s world which fits nicely into this description: Inhumane Society. Let’s go down the list:

Hangfire uses child slaves in “Shouldn’t You Be In School”;

Nurse Dander keeps Ellington on watch in “When Did You See Her Last”

V.F.D. has Hector investigate from his balloon as part of its plan in Stain’d-by-the-Sea in “Who Could That Be At This Hour?” and “Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?”

Hangfire commits arson in “Shouldn’t You Be In School?”

Ellington mentions that Armstrong Feint used to like wine in “When Did You See Her Last?” and indeed we see Hangfire has poured himself a glass of wine when Lemony meets him at the end of the book,

Stain’d-by-the-Sea’s industry revolves around octopi and Hangfire is obsessed with the town.

So it’s tempting to believe that Hangfire built this octopus-shaped submarine for Inhumane Society back in its heydays. Why didn’t we see this submarine in “All The Wrong Questions”, you ask? Well, there is no sea in Stain’d-by-the-Sea by the time Lemony arrives, and almost the entire series happens there, so naturally Hangfire had no use for the submarine there. However Hangfire does a lot of background scheming and his plan is years into the making, so it’s reasonable to suppose that a submarine could have been useful to him in other places. Hangfire is persuaded that Killdeer Fields was flooded because Stain’d-by-the-Sea was drained. How did he come to that conclusion? Well, maybe he investigated the area of Killdeer Fields with a submarine to track down the origin of the flooding. It’s also possible he spent some years roaming the ocean in a submarine to look for the OBB or its eggs, before getting back to Stain’d-by-the-Sea to create the CBB. There are a lot of possibilities. The submarine was probably put in storage somewhere in Killdeer Fields for later use.

So it’s highly possible that Olaf stole the submarine from whatever remains of Inhumane Society, as Hangfire is dead by the time the events of “The Grim Grotto” occurs. We know that Beatrice and Olaf were investigating a “strange forest” at the end of “All The Wrong Questions”, and we see Lemony immediately stepping into the Clusterous Forest with the Bombinating Beast statue. Coincidence? Probably not. He went in to reunite with Olaf and Beatrice and decide what to do with the statue. Which means Olaf got a lot of intel about Inhumane Society from Lemony. Widdershins is also very much involved in Lemony’s investigation in “When Did You See Her Last?”, so he would also know a lot about Inhumane Society. That would explain why he seems to know so much about the octopus-shaped submarine and who is piloting it.

What exactly happened to Fernald and Fiona?

On a last note, we also have to understand what exactly happened to Fernald and Fiona after “The Grim Grotto”. At the end of the book, it seems that Fiona has truly betrayed the Baudelaire orphans and joined Olaf’s side of the Schism for good. But that’s not congruent with what happens next.

"These people are associates of ours," Dewey said fiercely. "They won't fail us." "Ha!" Count Olaf said. "You can't rely on associates. More comrades have failed me than I can count. Why, Hooky and Fiona double-crossed me just yesterday, and let you brats escape! Then they double-crossed me again and stole my submarine!" "We can rely on our friends," Violet said quietly, "more than you can rely on yours.” [The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Nine]

Fiona’s second betrayal is as sudden as the first. It took less than twenty-four hours for her and Fernald to escape with Olaf’s submarine. Why? Fernald and Fiona change loyalties twice throughout “The Grim Grotto”, but they appeared to have made up their minds. Interestingly, Olaf seems to conflate this act of betrayal with Fiona’s decision to let the Baudelaire orphans escape. Which is interesting because as far as we’re aware it was not Fernald who did that, only his sister. But Count Olaf believes that letting the Baudelaire orphans escape was a concerted plan on their part. Was it?

Well, let’s put it this way: without Fiona’s intervention, the Baudelaire orphans were pretty much screwed. Count Olaf had managed to get the Queequeg in his clutches. The only reason they even managed to escape is because Olaf foolishly left Fiona without supervision after he had ordered her to emprison the Baudelaire orphans in the brig. But that’s only because he trusted her.

Now let’s pause and think: what would have happened if Fiona hadn’t betrayed the Baudelaire orphans? From Fiona’s and Fernald’s perspective, it was extremely unlikely that the Baudelaire orphans had enough time to find an antidote for Sunny, cure her, and escape. Esme had already realized Fiona and Fernald were out of the brig, and it was only a matter a time before she understood they were lying to her. Time was running out and as soon as Olaf realized Fernald had let the Baudelaire orphans escape from the Carmelita to the Queequeg, things would take a turn for the worse. Fiona pretended to defect to the other side of the Schism to stall for time. It’s pretty explicit in the passage where she lies to Esme that this is a spur-of-the-moment decision. Things were not looking great for Fernald’s initial plan to escape with Fiona and her friends. It was dangerous and not really feasible.

So a reasonable person, trapped in such a situation, would naturally change plans. The issue is that by that time Fiona and Fernald were busy diverting Esme and didn’t have time to warn the Baudelaire orphans that they had changed strategies. Here’s what Fiona and Fernald probably decided off-screen while Klaus and Violet were busy curing Sunny:

Fiona would pretend defecting to Olaf’s side for much longer than anticipated,

Fiona would not tell the Baudelaire orphans that it was a ruse, for their shock and horror would make Olaf and Esme believe that the defection was genuine,

Using that newfound trust, Fiona would let the Baudelaire orphans escape with the Queequeg in the nick of time,

As soon as the Baudelaire orphans escaped, Fiona and Fernald would use the chaos and confusion to steal the octopus-shaped submarine for themselves.

All in all, a much greater plan. And it has an added benefit, too: capturing the octopus-shaped submarine would allow Fiona and Fernald to free the slave rowers. Such a noble deed would be enough to convince Fiona to let her friends hate her.

There is some reason to believe that Fiona and Fernald indeed freed the child slaves because Kit Snicket never mentions an octopus-shaped submarine in “The End”. It’s as if it disappeared. Fiona and Fernald apparently found their way back to Captain Widdershins in some other way. Probably aerial.

You're volunteers, ready to face the challenges of a desperate and perplexing world. You must go to the Hotel Denouement, and Quigley must go to the self-sustaining hot air mobile home, and I must go to a coral formation of dubious quality where an inflatable raft should be waiting. But if Quigley manages to construct a net big enough to capture all those eagles, and I manage to contact Captain Widdershins and have him meet me at a certain clump of seaweed, we'll be here on Thursday. Hector should manage to land his self-sustaining hot air mobile home on the roof, even with all of us aboard." [The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Two]

But the Baudelaire orphans, of course, had no living parents, and their closest friends were high in the sky, in a self-sustaining hot air mobile home, battling eagles and a terrible henchman who had hooks instead of hands, so the acquaintance of Dewey Denouement, and the comforting words he had uttered, were a blessing. [The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Eight]

"So do our friends," Violet said. "They're flying across the sea as we speak, and by tomorrow, their self-sustaining hot air mobile home will land on the roof." "Only if they've managed to survive my eagles," Count Olaf said with a growl. [The Penultimate Peril, Chapter Nine]

So it’s interesting that by the time Olaf arrives in “The Penultimate Peril” he knows Fiona and Fernald escaped with the octopus-shaped submarine and still believes his plan to take the hot-air mobile home with trained eagles will succeed. Why is Fernald enacting Olaf’s plan even though he’s already defected?

A possibility is that Fernald and Fiona were on their way to help the Quagmires and Hector fight the eagles, but that Isadora and Duncan, recognizing the face of the hook-handed man, flipped out and attacked him first. It’s unlikely that Fernald ever truly tried to harm the Quagmires directly as this conflicts with how Kit Snicket describes the incident:

"I failed you," Kit said sadly, and coughed. "Quigley managed to reach the self-sustaining hot air mobile home, just as I hoped he would, and helped his siblings and Hector catch the treacherous eagles in an enormous net, while I met Captain Widdershins and his stepchildren." "Fernald and Fiona?" Klaus said, referring to the hook-handed man who had once worked for Count Olaf, and the young woman who had broken his heart. "But they betrayed him–and us." "The captain had forgiven the failures of those he had loved," Kit said, "as I hope you will forgive mine, Baudelaires. We made a desperate attempt to repair the Queequeg and reach the Quagmires as their aerial battle continued, and arrived just in time to see the balloons of the self-sustaining hot air mobile home pop under the cruel beaks of the escaping eagles. They tumbled down to the surface of the sea, and crashed into the Queequeg. In moments we were all castaways, treading water in the midst of all the items that survived the wreck.” [The End, Chapter Thirteen]

It’s obvious we’re missing much of the story there as the Baudelaire orphans are not direct witnesses to it, but it’s obvious Fernald truly put his villainous ways behind him. The absence of the octopus-shaped submarine in this tale supports that. If it had been present, the circumstances of the Queequeg crew would have been much less desperate. Instead of staying on a sinking and damaged submarine, Captain Widdershins and his allies would have just gone to the octopus-shaped one. It’s possible Fernald and Fiona couldn’t use that submarine anymore because they didn’t have enough rowers after they freed the children.

Connecting the dots

We see that just by reading “The Grim Grotto” and “The End” back in 2006, careful readers would have been able to work out that the entity is more likely to be an animal and to be less aggressive than initially believed. That’s pretty much the best way to work out Widdershins’ change of behavior regarding the entity between both books. “All The Wrong Questions” was only meant to provide more clues to a mystery whose solution had already been carefully implied, and to expand on the mythology of the entity.

Here’s an attempt at explaining what actually went down during “The Grim Grotto” and “The End”.

Following the events of “All The Wrong Questions”, Ellington eventually escaped from the prison cell with Kit Snicket thanks to the skeleton key in Ellington’s bag. Kit and Ellington, before going their own ways, exchanged a good deal of information. Kit Snicket could not help noticing Ellington acted extremely angry towards Lemony and VFD in general.

In the following years, Ellington worked tirelessly to recover her father’s remaining assets as well as uncovering the secrets of Inhumane Society. Though the book Caviar: Salty Jewel of the Tasty Sea was destroyed, she had had the opportunity to read some chapters Lemony hadn’t. No one knew about the CBB more than her. With some effort, she managed to find the animal hiding in the Clusterous Forest, as well as the Bombinating Beast statue that Lemony had buried there. With the statue, she was now in control of the CBB. Eventually she managed to track down an octopus-shaped submarine which used to belong to Hangfire, only to lose it to Count Olaf.

As Olaf escaped with the submarine (now rebaptized the Carmelita), Ellington pursued him. She used the statue to control the CBB, ordering it to seize the Carmelita. The CBB first encountered the Queequeg in close vicinity to the Queequeg. Unsure whether these two crafts were allied with each other, Ellington ordered the CBB to stand down. Captain Widdershins mistook the question-mark shape on their radar for an enemy submarine.  Later, Ellington witnessed the Queequeg being attacked by the Carmelita, and decided to approach the CBB to scare Count Olaf and help the crew of the Queequeg. Count Olaf also assumed the mysterious entity was an enemy submarine.

The Queequeg eventually escaped from the clutches of the Carmelita. While making their way to the Hotel Denouement, Olaf, Esme and Carmelita Spats realized the Baudelaire orphans’ absence and were betrayed by Fernald and Fiona who let the imprisoned youngsters start a mutiny. Ellington followed the entire mutiny from afar. The youngsters were released. Esme, Olaf and Carmelita fled. The octopus-shaped submarine was eventually given back to Ellington Feint who promised to help Fernald and Fiona if they were ever in trouble.

Much later, Fernald and Fiona tried to track down Hector’s hot-air mobile home to warn him of an impending eagle attack. Isadora and Duncan attacked Fernald, believing him to have been sent by Olaf and his allies, which complicated Quigley’s plan to catch the eagles in a big net. Fiona and Fernald ended up landing on the Queequeg which had also been looking for the hot-air mobile home. Hector’s balloon fell down on the Queequeg a short time after that.

Fernald reconciled with his stepfather and told Captain Widdershins about the mysterious woman named Ellington Feint who had helped them with her strange, unidentified submarine craft. Captain Widdershins realized this helpful young woman had been behind the appearance of the question mark on the radar and that the entity hadn’t been hostile after all. Kit Snicket, however, thought differently. She was highly suspicious of Ellington’s intentions and thought she had been using Fernald and Fiona as a bait to find the Queequeg and kill more volunteers.

An argument occurred: as the Queequeg began to sink due to serious damage, the entity came back. Captain Widdershins thought Ellington had sent the CBB to save them, while Kit thought she had sent the CBB to eat them. Kit ended up escaping on her own ship, while the others took their chance with the CBB. But, in an ironic twist of fate, what showed up on their sonar screen may not have been Ellington’s CBB. It could just as easily have been the OBB, which leaves the fates of these characters even more uncertain and perilous.

#0562 #Lemony Snicket #ASoUE #a series of unfortunate events #atwq #all the wrong questions #VFD #Great Unknown #bombinating beast #ellington feint #armstrong feint #hangfire #kit snicket #captain widdershins #fiona wi #fernald #hector #violet baudelaire #klaus baudelaire #Sunny Baudelaire #queequeg #Carmelita Spats #esme squalor #count olaf #dashiell qwerty

[linksfor-sc]

BLOGS

LEMONY SNICKET

lemonysnicketlibrary

snicketsleuth

snicketstrange

lemonysnidget

thevfdproject

asouesource

thesnicketfile

thebaudelairecase

anothervfdmember

lemonysn0cket

virginian-wolfsnake

667darkavenue

viodora

katherinesnicket

carmelitaspats

quigleyquaqmire

the-baudelaire-fortune

dailyunfortunateevents

dailyunfortunate

unfortunatefans

unfortunate-orphans

snicketconfessions

outofcontextsnicket

poems-by-lemony

violets-fifteenth-date

sublibrarian

sub-librarian

virtualfindingsdocumented

volunteerfiredepartmentmember

itsvfdundermifflin

prufrockprepschool

twinpoetry

asoueedit

abeatricededication

vfd-inked-kid

violetvbaudelaire

plasticnaturedraws

vfdcommonplacequotes

snicketbae

billciphers

lastchancegeneralstore

jeromesqualor

snowscoutalphabetpledfe

pasta-puttanesca

unfortunatetv

asouelibrary

anwhistleaquatics

kitsnxcket

incorrectsnicketquotes

incorrectasouequotes

fragmentary-plots

missfeint

snicketaesthetic

1-800-vfd

professorvonspooky

hookhandedman

parsleysoda1984

verbal-fridge-dialogue

vfdstyle

crowpaper

asoue-headcanons

actually-kit-snicket

sub-librarian

vfdschism

auraofmenace

vfdinthewild

[kitsnicket]

I decided to ring in 300 followers with a follow forever! I’ve wanted to do this for a while now. I have made a somewhat short list of those who’ve made my time here amazing. These people are definitely worth following if you aren’t already. I love being associates with them(to use some ASOUE terminology) and cannot imagine not following them. I certainly cannot imagine becoming one of their enemies. Maybe soon I will have to ring in 1k (ok with the way I never shut up about Kit that’s highly unlikely). 

p.s there’s a secret hidden in here :)

a-c

@accidental-hermit

@alfuncoots

@asouekids

@asoue-sideblog

@atwq

@barb-baudelaire

@beatricebidelaire

@bioletbaudelaire

@caligaricarnival

@conundrum-esoterica

d-f

@daenerysdeservesbetter

@deweysdenouement

@eegor-not-aigor

@eramidsummer

@esmesqualor

@firestarter-olaf

@flaviamarquesart

g-i

@gaylarryandjacquelyn

@gellavonhamster

@gray-zelle ( @olivia-calidamn )

@heartsick-teen-ink

@huffleporg

@inventor-researcher-chef

j-l

@jewishsnickets

@ladyofthornfield

@larry-your-gayter

@last-quiet-place

@lemonysnidget

@lesbianscieszka

@lettersforbeatrice

@lyeekha

m-s

@moxie-mallahah

@mrs-snicket

@quigleyquagmiire

@quigleyswagmire

@snicketsleuth

@snicketstrange

@sumacknot

@sunnybauds

t-v

@thatsugarbowl

@thesnicketfile

@transvioletbaudelaire

@unfortunate-stranger-losers

@vacuum-fluorescent-display

@vfdstyle

@vinaigretteofconfusion-conflict

@vinegar-flavored-donuts

@violetsquagmire

@virtualfindingsdocumented

@visual-findings-disclosure

#Becca's typing #follow forever #asoue

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Why did Lemony Snicket write in A Secret Letter about him meeting Kit Snicket at the Hotel Denouement if by the time he wrote the letter Kit was already dead and the Hotel was already destroyed?

He'll go on, won't he? I don't want to spoil his pleasure, but I am curious about the steam engine.

#snicketspelunking #nostalgebraist-autoresponder's badfic #jenni_fur's frontier #snicketstrange

[flaviamarquesart]

snicketstrange reagiu à tua fotografia “I’m currently drawing webcomic pages and drawing for another project...”

Ficou muito bom esse desenho

Obrigada!! :D

#snicketstrange #replies

[giddleford]

Tagged by: @not-mandip

Thank you! I love these tag games!

Nickname: On these lands they know me as Mari Hope but I've also been known as Potato, Rayomacuin88, Marshy and Einstein. I might have missed one.

Height: 154cm or about "5'1, sadly enough.

Star Sign: Leo ♌

Sexuality: I'm a Panromantic Asexual. Might be demiromantic but I ain't sure about that yet.

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw and proud, but Slytherin is a close second.

Favorite Animal: I'm not quite sure, I'd say owls but corvids are quite cool too.

Number of Blankets: Depends on where I'm living, right now one, before it was two.

Dream Vacation: A library with all the books I'd ever want to read, wi-fi, a good pc, a comfy bed, and excellent food. Oh and art supplies, can't forget that.

Where I'm From: Ah, the good old question. I was born in Colombia, raised in Spain, learnt how to talk English in Portugal, did my last school year in Ireland, and I've got an Italian nationality. You decide where I'm from.

When I Joined Tumblr: Probably 2015, I ain't sure.

Why I Joined Tumblr: I used G+ to see content but most of it was from Tumblr so I decided to find it myself, took me a while to get here.

I'm tagging all my mutuals, you guys decide if you want to do it or not.

@alpacasandravens @pleasedontfollowmeimtrash @heylookimgay31 @geeksinhats @dancezwithwolvez @biconic-evil-panda @no-it-wasnt-me-i-swear @mychemicalfandooms @svmwinvhester @bothersome-bitch @cmollyo @laoele @anapaula-mg @gray-zelle @snicketstrange @sinenwoo

#mari's mumbles

[unfortunatetheorist]

*Joint Theory 3: @unfortunatetheorist with @snicketstrange *

The Masked Ball - Book Canon VS Netflix Canon

After quite a wait (my [@unfortunatetheorist's] bad), here it is.

The Masked Ball that Duchess R invites Lemony to in LSTUA is notably different in both the book and Netflix canon. This post will try and take into account all of the differences that both Masked Balls have.

Obviously, the Very First Difference is that:

BOOK: The Ball happens AFTER the Baudelaire fire, during the events of The Carnivorous Carnival.

NETFLIX: The Ball happens 'IN THE PAST, a phrase which here means BEFORE THE BAUDELAIRES WERE BORN'.

This impacts the storyline greatly, as the book canon allows for the possibility of Beatrice surviving the fire, before Lemony met her at the Masked Ball and tried to save her, where she ultimately died.

This also paves the way for a slightly chilling possibility, especially when you look at it in terms of Lemony:

According to Netflix canon, if the Baudelaires weren't born at the time of the ball, and we know Beatrice was there... who's to say that Bertrand was not? The possibility is there, however slim it may be.

This COULD, in THEORY, mean one thing - Beatrice CHEATED on Lemony with Bertrand, and he didn't know. He found out later when she confessed to it, out of guilt, in her 200-page book. This, in turn, is what led to Lemony spiralling into depression, and is what makes him say this line in TPP:

"The man in the back of that taxi is myself, many years ago when I was much younger and more naive than I am now."

His naivety is referring to his unrequited love for Beatrice, despite the fact that she cheated on him.

It also, referring to BOOK canon this time, makes him say this line in TAA:

"[And] because I felt like a different person, I dared to approach a woman I had been forbidden to approach for the rest of my life."

The only reasons he would've been forbidden to approach her are:

a) Bertrand

b) Beatrice - if she ever saw him again, it would bring back all those emotions of guilt and sadness that she didn't want to hold on to.

(But that's just theoretical. Back to the point...)

Another key difference is that:

BOOK: Olaf is not present at this ball.

NETFLIX: Olaf IS present at this ball.

This is important, as @snicketstrange points out in a theory, Lemony sees Beatrice at the ball and says to her "Count Olaf is dead" - in book canon only.

Here's an interesting one:

BOOK: The Masked Ball is mentioned in TAA.

NETFLIX: The Masked Ball is only mentioned/shown in TCC.

This plays quite a part, as it allows for the possibility to be referenced in TEE, and therefore, for Esmé to have been at the ball, as she says in the Netflix series (TSS):.

"You once threw a Masked Ball here and didn't invite me - not that I care! A face this gorgeous should never be hidden behind a mask."

However, it is also not made explicitly clear in the books as to whether or not Esmé was invited/there.

BOOK: It is not mentioned whether or not Esmé is at the ball.

NETFLIX: Esmé is clearly NOT INVITED to this ball.

Another similarity is that both Balls were held explicitly by the Duchess of Winnipeg, Duchess R:

BOOK: Duchess R of Winnipeg holds the Masked Ball.

NETFLIX: Duchess R of Winnipeg holds the Masked Ball.

Speaking of people at Masked Balls, let's refocus on the main man himself - Lemony. Here's some things @snicketstrange pointed out:

In the books there are two dances mentioned. One of them was during the main events described in TCC. But it was NOT the same ball at which Lemony was captured nor the same ball at which he said "Count Olaf is..." This other ball is the one mentioned by the narrator Lemony in TAA, but it took place after the publication of TWW.

It's important to think in 5 dimensions here. (@snicketstrange is one of the few people that can do that!)

Lemony published his books over the years after the main events described in the books. And over these years, Lemony experienced some things that he, as a narrator, INCLUDED in the books as he published them. And the Ball at which Lemony was captured was one of those events.

Some more differences are:

Lemony's outfit

According to Lemony, it was the only time in his life that he wore this outfit. This detail is VERY significant. During the Netflix show's second season, Daniel Handler was still on the show's creative team.

It may be that he made these demands to ensure that people knew that the ball depicted in the show was a different ball than the ball depicted in the books, even though there were similarities.

In other words, in the show they weren't trying to replicate what was described in the books, even though there are SOME thematic similarities, and purposeful differences.

The fact that Lemony is being chased or not

The people described at the ball. Note that there are no people who died (with the exception of one Beatrice present) at the book ball. Monty, Dr. Orwell, Josephine, are not mentioned.

[Thank you again @snicketstrange, your words continue to provoke wisdom and thought into the minds of keen ASOUE fans...]

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph (@unfortunatetheorist) & @snicketstrange, Unfortunate Theorists/Snicketologists

#asoue #vfd #a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #asoue netflix #snicketverse #theory #esme squalor #count olaf #masked ball #beatrice baudelaire #bertrand baudelaire #snicketstrange #joint theory

[unfortunatetheorist]

Is Lemony's Kind Editor in the Netflix series?

Throughout the Netflix series, Lemony has used one of his infamous literary devices which I did not notice until rewatching it for the billionth time, when I was working on The Complete Works of Contradictory Logic in ASOUE. More on that to come.

Lemony uses a rather basic device which, I believe, can actually have an ENTIRELY radical new view on the show: Lemony speaks to the camera in the second person.

This just means he uses the pronouns 'you' and 'your', etc, when talking directly to camera.

e.g. TMM: "You could pretend the Duchess of Winnipeg had arrived, and had come to throw the Baudelaires a pony party at her chateau."

However, the 'you' could refer to Lemony's Unnamed Kind Editor. There are some points which back this up:

The Kind Editor is someone who does not know the story of the Baudelaires, they only know Lemony. This is why Lemony is the one to tell them the story of ASOUE.

The Kind Editor is NOT a member of V.F.D. This is why Lemony has to explain [either himself or via other characters] different V.F.D-related things that a member would've already known.

This logic can lead to the following:

Lemony is talking to his Kind Editor, who is filming VIDEO evidence to be used in court when Lemony clears his name and the names of the Baudelaires.

This means that the characters do not physically appear in ASOUE, but rather Lemony just imagines them saying the same words before actually saying them himself. This carries on from the idea (@snicketstrange) that Lemony used the Baudelaires' notes from An Incomplete History (series) or A Series of Unfortunate Events (book canon).

In TCC, the Baudelaires discover the SAME THING filmed by the SAME PERSON - but for ATWQ. Hence the reference to 'Stain'd-by-the-Sea'...

So what's the point?

THEORY: Lemony is using typewritten and video evidence, as filmed by his Kind Editor, in order to clear the names of all 4 people; the Baudelaires and himself.

But who is this mysterious Kind Editor? Many have suggested it to be Moxie Mallahan, as she was only friends with Lemony and no-one else from V.F.D.

However, given the circumstances described, I now present an alternative solution: Beatrice Baudelaire II.

In TBL, Beatrice II is 10 years old, capable of handling a camera. It provides an uncle-niece bonding opportunity for Lemony, and Beatrice gets to know the story of her adoptive parents (from her biological uncle).

Lemony is Beatrice's only hope of finding the Baudelaires, and Beatrice is Lemony's only hope of clearing the Baudelaires' names, as Lemony knows 100% that Beatrice is not an enemy or a spy of any kind.

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist

#asoue #vfd #lemony snicket #a series of unfortunate events #snicketverse #asoue netflix #theory #kind editor #beatrice baudelaire #beatrice baudelaire ii #tbl #the beatrice letters #an incomplete history #duchess of winnipeg #duchess r #duchess ramona #ramona quimby

[unfortunatetheorist]

Is Klaus' legal logic of The Bad Beginning sensible?

* Joint Theory: @unfortunatetheorist with @snicketstrange *

Klaus's speech to the audience during the events of The Bad Beginning had a carefully thought-out structure, anchored in deeply rooted legal, but more so ethical, principles. In defence of his sister, who was forced into a marriage, Klaus appears to have adopted a multifaceted approach to challenge the marriage's validity.

Firstly, John Locke.

John Locke was one of the first people to suggest that humans have natural rights. He also wrote a book about this called the 'Two Treatises of Government'.

Klaus likely invoked John Locke's arguments on natural rights to contend that the marriage was not consensual and, therefore, violated his sister's fundamental rights to life and liberty. The idea that the bride must sign "with her own hand" is interpreted here not literally, but as an indicator of action "of her own free will," supported by Locke's principles.

Secondly, Thurgood Marshall.

Thurgood Marshall was the first black Supreme Court Justice of the USA, who fought for the rights of black citizens against Jim Crow's extremely racist ideologies.

His defence of the 14th Amendment may have been used by Klaus to argue that, in cases of ambiguity or doubt, the judge's decision should lean towards protecting the more vulnerable party. This point strengthens the point that, if there is doubt about the how valid Violet's consent is, the legal and ethical obligation is to invalidate the marriage. The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is crucial for establishing constitutional rights and consists of various clauses. The most relevant for Klaus's case is probably the Equal Protection Clause, which states that no state may "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Klaus may have leaned especially on this clause to argue that, in situations of uncertainty, i.e. his sister's forced marriage, the interpretation/application of the law should be done in a manner that protects (in this case) Violet. This would align with the principles of the 14th Amendment, using it for equal protection under the law to invalidate the marriage and protect his sister's rights.

Third, Ida B. Wells.

Ida B. Wells was, similar to Thurgood Marshall, an early civil rights campaigner, who campaigned for anti-lynching (a word which here means, opposing the brutally violent act known as lynching).

Klaus likely drew inspiration from Ida B. Wells to assert that everyone has the right to be heard and protected by authorities, regardless of their age or origin. This argument would serve to legitimize his own standing as his sister's defender in court, neutralizing any potential prejudice against him for being a child or, perhaps, belonging to a minority (he and his sisters are Jewish).

Moreover, the presence of a judge at the ceremony should not be viewed as merely a formality, but a control mechanism to ensure mutual consent, something that resonates strongly with Locke and Marshall's ideals about the role of government and law. Thus, if either of the spouses gave any evidence to the judge that the marriage was conducted under duress, the judge would be obligated to invalidate the marriage. Violet's chosen signal was to sign the document with her left hand instead of her right hand. As the judge explained, the marriage could be invalidated due to this discreet yet appropriate signal.

Lastly, the word "apocryphal" that Lemony uses to describe Klaus's argument suggests a non-conventional but insightful interpretation of the law, something that seems to echo Marshall's "doubtful insights" and Wells' "moral conviction." Instead of resorting to literalism ('literally' - with her own hand, i.e. Violet's dominant hand), Klaus's argument was much deeper and grounded, touching on the very essence of what legislation and the role of judges are. That's why Justice Strauss was so fascinated by the young boy's speech.

In summary, the historical references evidence that Klaus wove these diverse elements into a cohesive and compelling argument, utilising the legacy of these thinkers to question and, ideally, invalidate his sister Violet's forced marriage.

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph & @snicketstrange,

Unfortunate Theorists/Snicketologists

#asoue #asoue netflix #theory #vfd #a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #snicketverse #count olaf #thurgood marshall #ida b wells #john locke #legally snicket #Very Fatiguing Definition(s) #'My brother's defining words again' ¬ Kit Snicket

[unfortunatetheorist]

*Joint Theory 5 - @unfortunatetheorist & @snicketstrange*:

The End - Book Canon vs Netflix Canon

(Does Ishmael have a greater impact on our protagonists than expected?)

As much as we would have loved, or hated, to have seen the books' material 'copied and pasted' onto our screens, there are some things in the material that are simply too difficult/horrible to film, such as Dr Orwell & Sunny's 'duel', in TMM.

In this theory, @snicketstrange and I (@unfortunatetheorist) are going to be investigating differences between Book The Thirteenth, The End and Episode the... Last (26th?), The End.

The first is that:

BOOK: There is some narration from Lemony.

NETFLIX: There is absolutely NO input from Lemony.

This addition by Netflix removes the books' doubt of Lemony being a reliable narrator, as it shows the Baudelaires' direct experience.

Book Lemony knew what had happened there and the consequences of it - Lemony knew Kit had died when he wrote TE. But Netflix Lemony only discovered this after he met with Beatrice Baudelaire II. This is an important chronological difference: when Beatrice II started looking for Lemony it was around the time he was yet to publish the TWW book, and that is evidenced by the fact that Beatrice Jr did not identify the paperweight in the shape of leeches despite her having already read some of Lemony's books according to her words.

The Netflix show's writer(s) probably chose this to deal with TSS's secret letter. The screenwriter(s) interpreted the letter to mean that Lemony did NOT know that Kit was dead.

Meaning:

BOOK: Lemony knows Kit is dead during the writing of TE.

NETFLIX: Lemony does NOT know Kit is dead until he meets Beatrice II.

Also, this notable curiosity:

BOOK: Every single islander is NAMED.

NETFLIX: Only a few of the islanders are named, such as Miranda, Friday and Alonso.

This could be due to the fact that in the books, the Baudelaires are implicitly, but still evidently, Jewish. In the Netflix series, they probably saw that as some sort of risk of anti-semitism (i.e. Jewish persecution) and so had to remove all possible traces, e.g. Rabbi Bligh, to ensure the show still aired.

Another:

BOOK: Ishmael was chemistry teacher at Prufrock.

NETFLIX: Ishmael was the principal of Prufrock.

This is quite considerable, especially linking to ATWQ and Cleo's love and talent for chemistry - he could('ve) be(en) a chemistry teacher with the name Ishmael N Knight, as a family member of Cleo and Ingrid and... Cleo's other somehow-forgotten parent. Also, the fact that in the series, Ishmael started V.F.D. - this means that Netflix's Baudelaires had it wrong the whole time, but they only learnt when he mentioned his story: in the Netflix series, the root cause of the Baudelaires' trouble was actually Ishmael.

If he didn't start V.F.D. nothing would've happened...

Now we come to what is, arguably, the most important difference of all:

BOOK: There is a mutiny/schism between the islanders, because the islanders do things in secret, such as Professor Fletcher teaching islanders how to read, and Madame Nordoff learning how to yodel.

NETFLIX: There is NO mutiny.

The mutiny was probably left out of the Netflix series due to the budget for showtime and money - it was too much to carry out.

However, within this difference, there are other differences, such as:

BOOK: The Baudelaires [temporarily] get kicked out from the island, before Finn and Erewhon bring them some mild onion soup.

NETFLIX: Nothing happens to the Baudelaires.

There's a lot to unpick in TE, even for Snicket-ologists like us; it can get really trivial, especially with lines like Olaf's "You don't know anything".

As the 'poet' Emma Montana McElroy said:

"That's the end of that".

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph & @snicketstrange,

Unfortunate Theorists/Snicketologists

#asoue #lemony snicket #vfd #a series of unfortunate events #snicketverse #asoue netflix #theory #joint theory #collaboration #the end #asoue theory #book canon #netflix canon #violet baudelaire #klaus baudelaire #sunny baudelaire #ishmael #count olaf #rabbi bligh #alonso #finn #erewhon #mild onion soup #friday caliban #madame nordoff #what a name #100 posts

[unfortunatetheorist]

If Olaf is 'in any case' 'removed', why is he the first guardian the Baudelaires have? (NCT)

As ever, Mr Poe's idiotic refrains are a source of great intellectual stimulation for theorists like myself, @snicketstrange and @snicketsleuth.

In TBB, Poe remarks that Olaf is a cousin of the Baudelaires, but

'in any case, he's removed.'

If he's removed, why is he the first person to fulfil the role of guardian figure to the Baudelaires?

Well, this question is answered quite explicitly in the Netflix series, with Lemony giving viewers a flashback (and his definition of it)!

Olaf does his improv thing, making up Yessica Haircut right there on the spot, and granting himself access to Poe's office...

...but Poe has a choice. He can choose to ignore this idiot, who just waltzes in with no paperwork or permission, or he can choose to listen to him, and more importantly/dangerously, trust him with regards to:

The reliability of Haircut's 'friend' Olaf

Haircut's definition of 'closest living relative'

Unfortunately for the Baudelaires, Poe chooses the latter and this, ultimately, is the stimulant/catalyst for the entire plot of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' to occur.

This could also explain the Baudelaires' stay with the Poes - in order for Poe to finalise the paperwork, as recommended by Haircut, for Olaf to become their guardian.

If he DIDN'T do ANY of this:

The Baudelaires end up at Monty's house. Straight away. NO questions asked.

By the time Olaf sets up a plan to infiltrate, Monty and the children (and Gustav, who would still be alive) would be in Peru.

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist

#asoue #lemony snicket #vfd #a series of unfortunate events #snicketverse #asoue netflix #theory #count olaf #idiot #mr poe #another idiot #arthur poe #yet another-- oh wait that's the same idiot #mulctuary money management #mr tamerlane #yessica haircut #monty montgomery #gustav sebald