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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 17, 2010 10:13:39 GMT -5
I wonder what characters will- however subtly- return. I'd think Young Beatrice, because her story just began after the Baudelaire's ended, or Violet, Klaus, and/or Sunny.
Actually, there aren't too many possibilities, because a lot of the characters died in the Hotel Denouement fire, or disappeared/were murdered.
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Post by Dante on Jan 17, 2010 11:07:41 GMT -5
Exactly. Handler's comments about dead characters staying dead pretty much confirms that this isn't a prequel, and that really cuts down the number of characters who could make a comeback... and most of those remaining went the same way: Into the Great Unknown.
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Post by Hermes on Jan 17, 2010 12:26:56 GMT -5
We don't know - and quite a lot is made of our not knowing - exactly who died in the fire. It seems highly probable that Poe and Strauss did, but even with them I don't think it would be positively inconistent to bring them back; with everyone else, e.g Esme, Carmelita, the Prufrock Prep teachers, Sir and Charles, Jerome, Hal and so one, we really have no idea.
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Post by thedoctororwell on Jan 17, 2010 14:19:44 GMT -5
The nature of death is ambiguous in the series... We've seen very few people actually die. But at the same time there are a lot of people whose fate Lemony never got to learn exactly, which narrows it down. Who could return though ?
Carmelita and Esmé - we know that "they never crossed the path of the Baudelaires ever again." Which means he knows what became of them after TPP. Ten years later he suspects Esmé to send him letters in TBL, so Esmé is alive - at least in his opinion.
The Queequeg's final crew : their return doesn't necessarily destroy TE's philosophical message. It was the end of the Baudelaire's journey, not necessarily theirs. The nature of the Great Unknown is, by nature, vague ; maybe what the Queequeg and the Quagmires encountered was not exactly the same thing.
Ishmael - he ate the apple. He survived the poison, now all he's got to do is to survive his boatride to come back as an antagonist.
Béatrice Jr - I don't see Lemony abandonning his only niece. Maybe he'll leave her because his life's too dangerous for her to be associated with him, but we'll still hear from her a bit. Just to know what she's doing while Lemony's writing the series.
The snow scouts - there was no mention of them after TGG, so we assume Fiona and Fernald released them. Bruce was at the Hotel Denouement though, but they didn't necessarily follow him - after all he wasn't on the Carmelita.£
Frank and Ernest - remaining members of the Denouement family have been confirmed to exist, but working at different hotels.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 17, 2010 14:21:33 GMT -5
It's definently an open-ended situation, and it wouldn't surprise me if someone in the Hotel during the fire did reappear, but it doesn't seem like a lot of them would take the Baudelaire's warning seriously. Even if they smelled smoke or saw a blaze of fire or heard screaming, it would be likely be too late.
Edit: And for the characters that disappeared into the Great Unknown, if they were to return I don't think we'd hear much from them. Also, if I recall correctly, isn't it implied the Incredibly Deadly Viper saves the islanders by bringing them a single apple?
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Post by cwm on Jan 17, 2010 14:43:01 GMT -5
I suspect any details from ASoUE will be left deliberately as hazy as they were. I wouldn't expect any survivors of the hotel fire to show up, given that Snicket stated he'd never know what happened to them.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 17, 2010 14:51:19 GMT -5
I think a survivor or two could show up. Lemony writes himself into the books, so maybe there would be a reference to a character he wouldn't recognize but we, as readers, would.
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Post by Dante on Jan 18, 2010 10:19:35 GMT -5
I can readily foresee a situation like this: In the closing scene of the new series, our protagonists feel utterly broken and ready to give in to despair. But somebody appears and tells them, no; there is always hope, even in the darkest moments. And it's Quigley.
Something like that. But Handler seemed to be anticipating more than one character, and running throughout the books. To be honest, I think characters who vanished into the Great Unknown are more likely to return than characters who were at the Hotel Denouement; the characters caught in the fire felt a lot more like their stories were over.
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Post by Invisible on Jan 18, 2010 11:25:42 GMT -5
I agree with Dante. If he is right, I doubt we find out what the Great Unknown really is.
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Post by Hermes on Jan 18, 2010 11:31:55 GMT -5
I wonder if he might solve some of the mysteries we aren't particularly anxious about, like Fernald's surname? I'm sure we won't discove the major things, like the nature of the Great Unknown or what is in the sugar bowl.
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Post by Dante on Jan 18, 2010 11:44:06 GMT -5
I wonder if he might solve some of the mysteries we aren't particularly anxious about, like Fernald's surname? I'm sure we won't discove the major things, like the nature of the Great Unknown or what is in the sugar bowl. It's for this reason that I'm actually most anxious about the little mysteries, just like Fernald's surname. And the family (not-)Widdershins are the most cohesive group of potential comebacks. But there I'm just projecting my own desires onto the new series.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 18, 2010 12:35:01 GMT -5
I wonder how long the series will take place after The End. Long enough for it to be considered our version of present day? Or still ASOUE-time?
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Post by Dante on Jan 18, 2010 13:01:51 GMT -5
For me, that question is the same as asking, "Is it set before or after The Beatrice Letters?" And I can only really see it as being set afterwards. But that's just my opinion; we obviously have no evidence for this at all, and indeed when Handler said that any characters who died are dead for good, he could've been throwing that out as a red herring as he never said they wouldn't return, never explicitly ruled out a prequel.
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Post by thedoctororwell on Jan 18, 2010 14:13:56 GMT -5
For me, that question is the same as asking, "Is it set before or after The Beatrice Letters?" And I can only really see it as being set afterwards. But that's just my opinion; we obviously have no evidence for this at all, and indeed when Handler said that any characters who died are dead for good, he could've been throwing that out as a red herring as he never said they wouldn't return, never explicitly ruled out a prequel. Either way it doesn't really matter since this new series is an investigation ; it can relate to any event set in the past. Yes, even a "young VFDers prequel." What only changes is the time Lemony writes... But as we all know the timeline of the Asoue investigation - there were Asoue books published before TPP according to LSUA, but sometimes Lemony speaks as if said events happened years ago. For all we know he has been working on the "new" investigation before the Baudelaire case even began - this is just the final compilation of his remarks. I still think it will be a post-TBL Lemony, though. Maybe Béatrice Jr will manage to distillate a bit of hope and optimism into her uncle - it'd be heart-warming to see Lemony get actual character development and assume his newfound role of uncle. That's the most interesting option given to Handler, in my opinion.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 18, 2010 14:21:42 GMT -5
I think the new series is going to be an entirely new story in itself; characters will return, and maybe a few settings or a similar writing style, but the plot itself will be completley different from ASOUE. A prequel would mean having the same storyline, to some degree, and I don't think that's what Lemony's planning.
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