Q.R.V.
Formidable Foreman
Better paranoid than dead.
Posts: 149
Likes: 20
|
Post by Q.R.V. on Oct 26, 2012 10:27:27 GMT -5
The statue doesn't actually have to work, and the beast doesn't actually have to exist - I don't believe in them either. But the legend exists, and that could be enough to motivate Hangfire. The adults in Snicket's world have a tendency to take even improbable stories at face value.
It's just speculation, but I think it could work. In a hypothetical sense.
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Oct 26, 2012 13:55:29 GMT -5
If, as seems likely, the original Bombinating Beast is the Great Unknown, it certainly exists. And there seems nothing intrinsically surprising about the idea that you could summon it by making a bombinating sound - whether it is an animal or a submarine. It doesn't have to be seen as supernatural.
|
|
|
Post by Kit's tits kick ticks on Oct 27, 2012 5:30:30 GMT -5
Maybe there is nothing written or drawn on the paper, but on the inside of the statue, and you can read it or look at it when you remove the paper and look through the hole? My belief before Antenora posted that theory was that the statue might be one of a set, that could be placed somewhere (Indiana Jones style) to activate something (such as the flooding of Stain'd). I also wondered if it has anything to do with the flooding or the production of the ink or any other problem of the town. I don't think that it can control the real BB or something like that.
|
|
|
Post by Tryina Denouement on Oct 27, 2012 5:58:04 GMT -5
Maybe there is nothing written or drawn on the paper, but on the inside of the statue, and you can read it or look at it when you remove the paper and look through the hole? My belief before Antenora posted that theory was that the statue might be one of a set, that could be placed somewhere (Indiana Jones style) to activate something (such as the flooding of Stain'd). I also wondered if it has anything to do with the flooding or the production of the ink or any other problem of the town. I don't think that it can control the real BB or something like that. I believe that it can control the BB. Anyway, godd point, Anks.
|
|
|
Post by jman on Oct 28, 2012 20:06:40 GMT -5
I love the object controlling the Great Unknown idea.
|
|
Q.R.V.
Formidable Foreman
Better paranoid than dead.
Posts: 149
Likes: 20
|
Post by Q.R.V. on Oct 31, 2012 22:20:25 GMT -5
I would like to believe that the Bombinating Beast exists and is the Great Unknown, but it is strongly implied in the Grim Grotto that both Count Olaf and Captain Widdershins think the Great Unknown is a submarine:
'“I guess you’d better come with me,” the count said wearily. “But no tap-dancing! We don’t want to show up on their sonar!”'
'“The amount of treachery in this world is enormous!” he [Widdershins] 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!”'
It's possible of course that they are both mistaken, but as both are/were VFD insiders, around before the schism, I think they corroborate each other.
Furthermore, in WCTBATH it is implied (although not as strongly) that the Beast doesn't even exist; the library book Stain'd Myths calls it a mythological creature (just after Qwerty specifically distinguishes between Mythology and "real animals"), and explains the creature's origin as "in all likelihood Lady Mallahan had just found a dead walrus on the beach at the bottom of the lighthouse’s cliffs, and the local townspeople gossiped about it until it became much more interesting."
Maybe Handler threw in the "swimming with its body curled up like an underwater question mark" as a nod to Great Unknown conspiracy theorists, similar to all the other (apparently) insignificant ASOUE references: wrong-wrong-wrong, root beer floats, etc. Or maybe the Great Unknown submarine was deliberately modeled after the legend of the Bombinating Beast, perhaps even because future events in ATWQ will make it an important symbol for enemies of VFD or villains at large. Either way, I prefer to proceed with caution when trying to equate the GU and the Beast.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Nov 1, 2012 2:57:58 GMT -5
While I agree with the construction of the GU as a submarine in TGG, both in that text and especially by The End then it's clear that the question mark is primarily a symbol of all the mystery in the world, and especially the ultimate mystery of death. For that reason I argued at the time that its true nature would never be revealed, and I'll argue the same thing here. Given this, I find it highly plausible that it's been around for long enough to inspire the myths about the Bombinating Beast, but for the same reason I think it's unlikely to pop out of the ocean and start kow-towing to anyone dragging around a dirty piece of wood. Although in another sense it inspired the Bombinating Beast in that the Bombinating Beast is a great question mark in itself, the central mystery to the series, and so this kind of form was very fitting for it.
|
|
|
Post by Charlie on Nov 1, 2012 3:04:27 GMT -5
The parallel between Hector in this book, and the Hector in TE are interesting. Hector ends up in the GU, and here he is just about to begin reading it.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Nov 1, 2012 5:46:19 GMT -5
Aye, I really hope that's the direction Handler's taking him in.
Did I ever state my own theory? Well, here it is: Lemony's first impression of the Beast is that it's meant to have a light placed inside it which will shine out through the eyes and mouth. It's reasonable that, if the statue has a secret, then the secret is to do with this unusual quality. I think that, when a light is placed inside the statue, the gaps in its surface project something onto whatever you shine it at. Maybe it projects a map, or some similar clue.
But that's only the first step of my theory. The Beast and the statue are associated with a particular family and a particular building that's been around as long as we know about that family: A lighthouse. While lighthouse technology has evolved over the centuries, one thing is always true of it, and that's that there's a light at the top of it. But what if you were to place the Bombinating Beast over that light? What if you were to project its patterns across the town? What would that reveal? Not a map, I think, but a way of navigating the territory. A trail to be followed - something that you couldn't possibly divine just by looking at the Beast or a map but which you'd have to see for real.
This idea has a number of attractions. It fits with the physical features of the Beast, it fits with what we know of its history, and most importantly, it provides a further step in the plot of ATWQ: The possibility that Hangfire will one day need access to the lighthouse and its lamp. Could this lie behind the kidnap that he's likely to be responsible for in ?2? A ploy to lure our heroes away from the lighthouse so he can devote his undivided attention to it?
|
|
|
Post by Kit's tits kick ticks on Nov 1, 2012 6:40:43 GMT -5
Wow. Dante, your theory is great.
|
|
|
Post by Tryina Denouement on Nov 1, 2012 6:42:20 GMT -5
Wow. Dante, your theory is great.
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Nov 1, 2012 9:49:01 GMT -5
My first thought was that the Great Unknown was simply the inspiration for the figure of the BB, and that was its only connection with the story - that would be enough to justify the statement that the story dealt with the other side of the question mark. However, the last chapter, in which Hector is going to investigate some mysterious appearances at sea, suggests it will play a greater part in the story than that. I agree, though, that we won't actually find out what it is, since that would spoil the meaning of 'Unknown'. (I get the sense from TGG that Lemony does know - but he isn't going to tell.)
|
|
|
Post by Charlie on Nov 3, 2012 21:19:03 GMT -5
That is an amazing theory Dante. I would say that it's probably correct, and even if not, it's wonderful FF fodder. Good work
|
|
|
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Nov 3, 2012 23:54:40 GMT -5
Indeed, brillant theory, Dante. It seems like such an obvious use for the statue, even if it turns out to be wrong, though I didn't think of it at all. Another reason to put the statue on the light in the lighthouse would be to summon the BB, as previously thought with the statue used as a noisemaker. Maybe shining it on the Clusterous Forest, where the Beast may or may not reside, if it exists?
|
|
LookigForAntwhistle
Guest
|
Post by LookigForAntwhistle on Nov 11, 2012 9:46:42 GMT -5
I thing the Bombinating Beast is the Great Unknown, as Snicket says that it could be a sea beast, but he refuses to elaborate. Also, they say that the sailors saw it as a "question mark underneath the water"!
|
|