facelesscreature
Reptile Researcher
“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”
Posts: 48
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Post by facelesscreature on Jun 3, 2014 17:32:24 GMT -5
I know that there are hundreds of different answers to "what's inside the sugar bowl?" However, after thinking about it for quite some time, I'm convinced of two possible theories. In TPP, it is unclear if the sugar bowl itself or the evidence inside it was stolen from Esme Squalor. One nice theory is that the poison dart(s) that killed Olaf's parents are inside the Sugar Bowl. Since TPP implies that Lemony and the Baudelaires were involved with the death of Olaf's parents, the poison dart theory would make the most sense. Also, the "poison" in the darts must be powerful because in TPP, Dewey says that Olaf wouldn't dare to use the Medusiod Mycelium if he had the sugar bowl. We also know from TSS and TGG that the sugar bowl contains evidence against Olaf, but also possibly Lemony as well. This would mean that there may in fact be two pieces of evidence inside the sugar bowl. One piece of evidence against Lemony and the other against Olaf. Maybe the poison dart(s) is wrapped in a paper document with evidence against Olaf?
Another theory is that the sugar bowl contains something even more powerful than poison dart(s). Maybe it contains something supernatural even? Something that affects people through hypnosis? After all, in TMM, Klaus was hypnotized into almost killing someone. It is unclear if any other VFD member can hypnotize people, but if they could, that could certainly change villains into volunteers and vice versa. That power could also be used to bring Olaf and all the other members to justice. Something to think about.
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Post by Dante on Jun 4, 2014 1:48:19 GMT -5
Well, hypnosis is a legitimate learnable art in the Averse, but at the same time, I balk a little at a supernatural device that could enhance one's hypnotic power. Maybe something with a pseudoscientific explanation, but I don't think it's really justice if you just hypnotise people into confessing.
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Post by Hermes on Jun 4, 2014 8:12:30 GMT -5
I still believe that the SB is no one thing, and its significance changes in the course of the series, but I must say that this hypnosis theory is one of the most impressive I have seen. It explains how the SB can be both something of importance to the whole of VFD, without which the labours of the volunteers in all the world would be in vain, and specifically the thing that can clear Lemony and convict Olaf. (Calling it 'evidence' would be a bit inaccurate, but in any case L in the relevant passage is seemingly trying to avoid being too specific.)
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Post by Dante on Jan 19, 2017 3:58:37 GMT -5
Here's some food for thought that came up in one of the Netflix threads, but is most relevant here. In an Observer interview, Daniel Handler claims the following: Eyebrows raised. I think we have yet to encounter the solution to the sugar bowl mystery that isn't riddled with contradictions, with the possible exception of "there are multiple sugar bowls containing completely different secrets, but due to poor communication everyone thinks there's really just the one that satisfies everyone's expectations." And I don't get the impression that that's the kind of answer Handler's talking about.
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eskaton
Reptile Researcher
Posts: 30
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Post by eskaton on Jan 19, 2017 9:25:21 GMT -5
I ran a quick search of this thread to avoid being redundant, but it didn't yield any results, so... What about the possibility that the sugar bowl contains the statue of the Bombinating Beast? It's debatable whether Handler originally intended the sugar bowl to contain one specific thing, given that it functions more as a MacGuffin and a metaphor in the original series, but Handler did seem to use All the Wrong Questions to retroactively add to canon, and after reading it I couldn't help but wonder if this is what he's hinting at. Someone on Reddit lays the theory out nicely.
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Post by Dante on Jan 19, 2017 14:19:45 GMT -5
The Bombinating Beast is more frequently stated to be the size of a milk bottle, so if you can find me a milk bottle that will fit in a sugar bowl, then by all means...
If ATWQ contributes to the sugar bowl plotline at all, though, I think it's more likely to be in the form of the mysterious item Kit stole, and which was subsequently nowhere to be found.
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eskaton
Reptile Researcher
Posts: 30
Likes: 46
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Post by eskaton on Jan 20, 2017 8:16:43 GMT -5
The Bombinating Beast is more frequently stated to be the size of a milk bottle, so if you can find me a milk bottle that will fit in a sugar bowl, then by all means... Oh, that's right. That definitely puts a damper on things...
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Post by Groge on Jan 20, 2017 18:10:32 GMT -5
Here's some food for thought that came up in one of the Netflix threads, but is most relevant here. In an Observer interview, Daniel Handler claims the following: Eyebrows raised. I think we have yet to encounter the solution to the sugar bowl mystery that isn't riddled with contradictions, with the possible exception of "there are multiple sugar bowls containing completely different secrets, but due to poor communication everyone thinks there's really just the one that satisfies everyone's expectations." And I don't get the impression that that's the kind of answer Handler's talking about. Just saw this article today and came here to discuss this particular part of it. Certainly is intriguing that he says that only around a reader a year write to him with the true answer. Who are these people and why are they not on this thread right now! Guess they like keeping it to themselves. Whoever you are give us a clue!
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Post by Hermes on Jan 21, 2017 10:45:12 GMT -5
Hm. (There's rumours of him saying a similar thing earlier, though no one has been able to trace it. But anyway.)
I'm very doubtful that there is an answer to the sugar bowl which actually explains everything that is said about it. There is an answer that seems to be strongly suggested in The End, and would be emotionally satisfying, but is inconsistent with a lot of what is said earlier.
Now, it may still be that this is what Handler has in mind. Consider the Survivor of the Fire mystery. We do get an answer to this - it's Quigley - and once we've heard his story, nothing is done to subvert it, so I think we should conclude it's meant to be right. Yet it doesn't fit everything we heard earlier.
The difference, of course, is that it's easy to retcon things that don't fit a stated solution, whereas with an unstated solution it's not, because we are trying to work it out in the light of the evidence, and we can't tell which evidence is supposed not to count. But it may be that DH has not fully grasped how much retconning was involved.
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justsylvia
Catastrophic Captain
Posts: 94
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Post by justsylvia on Jan 21, 2017 11:53:07 GMT -5
I think it's a literal red herring. Because that would be funny.
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Post by mortinson51 on Jan 26, 2017 19:14:26 GMT -5
In a recent interview with Daniel Handler with the "Unfortunate Associates" podcasts. they ask him what's in the sugar bowl. They start pitching him theories and he seems to laugh at the Bomibating beast statue and horseradish being in the sugar bowl. So it seems that these theories are false. He also brings up that there is an answer and people have gotten it. Maybe with the TV show being out the hints will become more obvious and we can all figure out the answer.
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Post by thathoboravioli on Jan 26, 2017 22:39:31 GMT -5
I ran a quick search of this thread to avoid being redundant, but it didn't yield any results, so... What about the possibility that the sugar bowl contains the statue of the Bombinating Beast? It's debatable whether Handler originally intended the sugar bowl to contain one specific thing, given that it functions more as a MacGuffin and a metaphor in the original series, but Handler did seem to use All the Wrong Questions to retroactively add to canon, and after reading it I couldn't help but wonder if this is what he's hinting at. Someone on Reddit lays the theory out nicely. I actually did think the BB was in the sugar bowl. I even thought of doing this in the fanfic I'm currently writing. But then again, Tiago's fics have grimstone inside the bowl, and I don't know if anyone else made any fanfics about what's in the sugar bowl.
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Post by lorelai on Jan 29, 2017 18:32:56 GMT -5
Handler's comments in the podcast are driving me crazy. Could you say he ruled out apple seeds?
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Post by Hermes on Jan 30, 2017 8:21:35 GMT -5
I think the best theory in terms of actually making sense of everything that is said is Gliquey's, that it contains the eggs of the (real) Bombinating Beast.
Unfortunately, that can''t possibly be the answer we were meant to get from reading the series, since at that time we didn't know about the Bombinating Beast. You might say 'it contains the eggs of the Great Unknown'. But that would imply that the Great Unknown was a living creature, and was known to be such by members of VFD, which goes against everything else we've heard of it.
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Post by Dante on Feb 3, 2017 11:43:06 GMT -5
I can't think of any evidence that points in that direction, though - and if Handler thinks that the mystery can be solved, it's probably something for which there is both evidence for and against, rather than neither.
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