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Post by Uncle Algernon on Apr 24, 2018 16:54:41 GMT -5
You know what just struck me as odd? How easily the places that fall to arson in the series burned down. This is especially peculiar for locations belonging (or even built by) Volunteers, who should have been expecting it. The Baudelaire Mansion was burnt to ash.
Oh, I'll grant you that, perhaps the Quagmire residence and the Baudelaire Mansion were family heirlooms that went into the family before VFD. (Except, probably not, because underground passageway.) But the VFD Headquarters. The Sinister Duo may be good at arsoning, but this is literally the stronghold of the fire-fighting side and they didn't make it fire-proof? What is wrong with these people? Even a cursory effort, while probably not saving the Library, would have left more intact than just a few ruins.
Between that and the embodied absurdity that was the Anwhistle House, I'm starting to wonder if VFD isn't just plain bad at architecture. (Perhaps they fail at it on purpose so people will stop confusing them with Freemasons? …Fine, I'll show myself out.)
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Post by Dante on Apr 25, 2018 7:52:43 GMT -5
I think we may have to presume either that fire defences are not particularly well-advanced in the Averse, or that arsonists such as Count Olaf and the sinister duo are extremely experienced; recall that the latter managed to burn down a swimming pool, which even they admitted was "very hard to burn down" (TSS p. 128).
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Post by Grace on Apr 26, 2018 5:00:05 GMT -5
I've always thought this, and the extent to which the Baudelaire mansion was destroyed coupled with the fact that the children were told to leave (and the detail of the brandy bottle) makes me think that the Baudelaire parents DID have some idea of what the danger was, and DID have a backup plan that just went very, very wrong.
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Post by Violent BUN Fortuna on Apr 26, 2018 5:50:23 GMT -5
I think it's a combination of the arsonists being very adept at, well, arson, and V.F.D. being ... oddly optimistic with their building materials (all that green wood ...). And I agree with Grace that the Baudelaire parents, and other families, etc. did have plans (for instance, Quigley's mother hiding him under the trapdoor) but that these plans simply often went horribly wrong.
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