L Lawliet
Reptile Researcher
Occupation: Snicketologist
Posts: 23
Likes: 5
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Post by L Lawliet on Jan 2, 2016 11:24:06 GMT -5
In TBL LS to BB #4 (the one delivered to R. by accident) there is a stain in the shape of a circle like that of a spilled coffee mug. We know that Lemony is a noble enough person to never lay his mug down on the letter without a coaster... unless he did it intentionally. The stain on the letter reminds me stained maps like the one we see in TCC and there are coded scattered throughout the entirety of TBL so why not here?
-L
Discuss:
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Post by Dante on Jan 2, 2016 13:35:57 GMT -5
It's true that it doesn't appear to be accounted for. Perhaps the art assistants with the publishers added it to decorate an otherwise fairly unadorned letter...? In context, someone else could have put a cup down on Lemony's letter or stationery, someone else working at The Daily Punctilio; alternatively, maybe the letter was mistakenly delivered to R. as it had first been intercepted by a villainous individual. Your explanation may also stand, though coffee stains in TCC are used only to indicate headquarters on maps.
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Post by Emerald Snicket on Jan 3, 2016 8:54:18 GMT -5
To add, it seems only treacherous to mark tables and benches. If the letter was being used as a coaster, would that still be a wicked thing to do? And what if R did it? Also, I can't seem to find any pattern in the stain, but maybe some of our more genius members could figure something out.
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L Lawliet
Reptile Researcher
Occupation: Snicketologist
Posts: 23
Likes: 5
|
Post by L Lawliet on Jan 4, 2016 11:44:09 GMT -5
There was the part in TUA where Lemony received a letter from R. but after reading over it he believed that the R. that wrote the letter was an importer for various reasons( I'm having a Hannibal marathon currently and am to lazy to go get my copy of TUA). Perhaps the imposter R. was a wicked person and used the letter as a coaster. -L
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Post by lorelai on Jan 4, 2016 21:13:57 GMT -5
I always thought the stain was made by one of R's servants, perhaps setting a glass on the letter as a makeshift tray while carrying the paper and mail to their employer with breakfast. She would be Duchess of Winnipeg by this point. Not everything has to be coded or ill-intentioned!
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Post by Dante on Jan 5, 2016 3:46:22 GMT -5
Well, yes. More simply, I don't think everything has to have an explanation or a hidden twist.
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Post by almostnearly on Mar 21, 2016 13:02:10 GMT -5
If Lemony considers the destruction of furniture by a drinking glass stain as horrendous I'm pretty sure he'd regard the defacement of a love letter by such as something even more vile. A noble person would also realize using a piece of paper as a coaster would be pointless since the water would seep through the paper and hurt the furniture anyway.
Almost all the artistic touches to the letters hold some meaning: the folds in BB to LS #1 correspond to it having been made into a paper swan, the final letter of Lemony to his editor being water damaged, presumably from his tears. In a book where every letter seems important I believe that the glass stain is integral: it forms a giant O. O for Olaf. I also doubt that the little note is from R. herself. "Clearly the bats need better trainers!" it states but wouldn't this be an insult to Beatrice who likely would have trained the bats? If not her it would have been Lemony who sent the letter by bat. A noble person like R. would not insult her friends. She'd more likely insult the bats. As L Lawliet suggested, it was probably done by the same person who forged R.'s letter in TUA.
I believe that LS to BB #4 actually holds the key to the mystery of why Beatrice returned the ring to Lemony & seperated from him. If we look to the contents of LS to BB #4 Lemony states: "More importantly, reports are coming everywhere from T. to P. that you have gathered nearly all of the evidence we need." If Olaf intercepted the letter from the bat he would have learned this. Either Beatrice knew from that stain and feared retaliation or Olaf actually did something about it. What better way to get someone to behave as you would like than to threaten the person that they love? Olaf knew Beatrice loved Lemony Snicket.
In the letter that directly follows LS to BB #4, BB to LS #4, the second Beatrice states that Lemony examined "the ring" etched into a wooden park bench by someone careless with their drinking glass after he had stared at the My Silence Knot poem for an hour at the library. This placement after the earlier letter must be significant.
The next letter LS to BB #5 is about Beatrice returning the ring and Lemony answering her questions. Many of the questions deal with their love & the My Silence Knot poem. Beatrice obviously wanted Lemony to see the poem but according to answer #4 he did not. #11 also deals with codes.
I theorize that the My Silence Knot poem was a coded warning intended for Lemony. Beatrice refers to not being able to speak to one that she loves. She references that the audience may feel a prick of fear, as if sharp pins were hidden in their hats. Lemony constantly wears a hat. It is also known that poison darts are used as weapons in the ASOE novels. Further on she says "a piece of mail fails to arrive one day, This poignant melodrama's based on fact." The poem ends with a reference to a knot being untied, silence and death.
The piece of mail which failed to arrive was LS to BB #4. Olaf got his hands on it and found that Beatrice was collecting evidence. I believe he threatened Lemony if Beatrice didn't cooperate and destroy said evidence. Beatrice tried to warn Lemony first in a poem but when this failed broke off her relationship with the journalist to protect him.
I further theorize that this is why Beatrice later assassinated Olaf's parents. Believing that Olaf had killed Lemony she found it proper revenge to kill those he loved in the same manner he had threatened to kill her lover: with poisoned darts during a theatrical performance. She kept the poster from La forza del destino as a trophy, never knowing her love was at the same performance very much alive. Yet another unfortunate event.
There are 2 more references to bats delivering letters: BB to LS #1 & LS to BB #6. In the former the second Beatrice states that hoping for a bat to obey your orders almost always leads to disappointment and in the latter Lemony states that Beatrice had once hoped for a bat to obey her orders. This thread of stupid bats and letters gone astray seems too constant to be unimportant.
TBL ends with My Silence Knot and a letter where Lemony states that "Sadly this missing sonnet is like a missing sock--it had been lost for so long that everything else has completely unravelled in its absence." Had Lemony seen it on the night intended he would have understood. By the time he did, however, it was too late to do any good.
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Post by lsandthebooks on Sept 25, 2016 8:15:51 GMT -5
Agree with you so much almostnearly!!!
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