This has been much discussed over the years, and the best explanation that's been offered is that it's Foreman Firstein. TMM only says that he "stopped showing up", i.e. was murdered like Gustav, Ms. Tench, and the previous V.F.D. chief of police; and so it's perfectly possible for his body to have been found later.
Oh, that would make sense - I had forgotten about him. I like the idea you bring up, though, that Jacques fabricates events in his articles for
The Daily Punctilio.
Are we positive Dr. Orwell really was an optometrist and not pretending to be one? Everyone calls her a doctor, but it could have been a disguise, maybe.
She does seem to know a lot about eyes, having written the entire book she donates to the library at Lucky Smells. It's also possible she is pretending to be an optometrist, but I think there is more evidence against this than for it.
I find it hard to believe that Beatrice and other Volunteers believed the obituary. But I suppose there was no way of disproving the article, so what can you do?
It seems like Jacques was supposed to communicate with Beatrice and tell her the true purpose of the article, but communication between volunteers has been hampered.
I'm not sure how involved the dairy is within VFD - I'd say they are aware of the organisation, but are not active members, even if they were at one point. They seem to have a close connection with the Snickets, but I don't know that we see any other volunteers trying to communicate with them. It's possible that they waited to recruit Kit and Jacques until they were were slightly older because it was their policy to recruit all the children from any given family at the same time.
Interesting idea. I get the impression from ATWQ that Lemony really didn't spend much time with his family as a child, but there are also some passages that suggest that he was living at home during his VFD education - or at least at
a home, if not that of his parents.
As I said in my last post, I think you can resolve this by arguing Jerome's letter to Jacques was written first, even if it presented to us after Jacques' letter.
I think I suggested in the TEE thread that Jerome might have had parents who were VFD members, but didn't want him to be recruited as a child. If this was the case, he might have been present for some VFD events, even though he seems to be unaware of the organisation.
Yes, I think it makes the most sense to say she is working at Prufrock around TEE-TVV.
I'd imagine they are sort of similar to Geraldine Julienne - they aren't necessarily aware of VFD, but they do whatever she asks of them.
How did everyone come up with Ramona Quimby?
I wouldn't have thought of it if I hadn't seen it mentioned here, but it seems like Handler is trying to write in both Ramona and Laura Ingalls Wilder as volunteers by quoting from
Ramona Quimby, Age Eight and
Little House in the Big Woods - Ramona is approached by a man who asks her "Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?", which Handler turns into a VFD code, and Laura hears strange sounds outside her bedroom.
Why Is Lemony Snicket On The Run?/What Has Happened To The Reptiles In Dr Montgomery's Collection?Lemony's letter to the Duchess makes it seem like the masked ball happened after the events of TRR. I've heard people theorise it's a forgery, though it could also be used as part of the Beatrice-survived-the-fire-only-to-die-in-the-Winnipeg-palace theory. I actually think it's cleverer than most of the other Sebald messages, since the main letter states the opposite of the secret code.
Is 'Genius' meant to be Olaf? I've always thought so, but whoever is doing the investigation doesn't necessarily fit the bill of any of Olaf's associates we know about. Maybe this guy is one of the extra people in Olaf's troupe in TBB.
Also, his writing style is sort of similar to the doorman's in the intro, although that doesn't have to mean they are the same person, since it seems like a lot of VFD members have been trained in similar writing styles.
It wasn't the best move on the librarian's part to hand a villain all the info he needed about the reptile collection.
Also, the description of the man reading TRR supports the idea that some form of the ASOUE books were published while the events were still happening.
The map is very useful; I only wish it were more comprehensive.
So, now we discover what the librarian was actually up to. Even though this must be the same one, he didn't appear to be working at Prufrock when the henchman approached him. Maybe he works part-time at several different libraries.
How Many Associates Does Count Olaf Have?/What Can Be Hidden In A Book?
I think this is the first time the term 'commonplace book' is used, even though we've already seen the Quagmire notebooks.
You'd think the Baudelaires would have noticed the dead Mamba du Mal being auctioned off - maybe it happened before they got to the In Auction, but still, they should have seen it in the catalogue. I guess they were too focused on finding the Quagmires.
Odd that Lemony refers to his childhood as 'confusing if exciting'. He seems much more critical of VFD in ATWQ, but it seems slightly later on in his life, he saw it in a more romanticised way, before becoming disillusioned with it again. Maybe this corresponds to his relationship with Beatrice?
Are The Baudelaire Parents Really Dead?/ Why Do So Many Things End In Fire?
'I tried to sit for a moment and draw some of the objects that lay in the rubble - a glass bottle, portions of a grand piano, a few charred pieces of green wood, the remains of a tea set - but the smoke overwhelmed me' (p182) - It seems that the Baudelaires had the sugar bowl in their mansion - or at least
a sugar bowl. If
the sugar bowl was at their house, I assume someone must have taken it by the time Helquist got there. Not sure how and when it would have ended up in the Mortmain Mountains.
'I never believed the stories I read about you, Mr Snicket, in relation to the Quagmire case or any other.' (p182-3) This sounds like the Quagmire fire has already happened, which later conflicts with what Quigley says. It's possible 'the Quagmire case' refers to something else - maybe Duncan/Isadora/Quigley's grandparents were also killed in a fire, for which Lemony was blamed.
Timeline notes: The Valorous Farms Dairy must have burnt down after the Baudelaire mansion, since they're using Helquist's illustration. Actually, now I think about it, it must have been after Heimlich Hospital burnt down, since Kit sent a letter to the dairy referencing that event. I guess it must have been Olaf's cow-disguised henchman who set the fire.
Is Meredith Heuer a real person?
Is There Anything A Concerned Citizen Can Do If He Or She Wants To Help The Baudelaires?/ If There's Nothing Out There, What Was That Noise?
How long
would it be before VFD recruits were allowed to see their parents again? The way this is cut off seems very deliberate: either Lemony doesn't want whoever is reading his notes to know the truth, or whoever wrote the brochure doesn't want the potential recruits to know it.
'There was a long pause, and I realised this curious stranger was at last done telling his confusing and unnerving story' (p193) Is 'I' the woman talking to the doorman? I don't think we should read this as confirmation that the first twelve chapters are 'fake' or non-canonical, yet it is interesting that the final chapter is separated in this way.
Who Is Lemony Snicket?
So, who's who on the family tree? After having read the whole series, the most obvious names that come to mind for D,E, and F are Dewey, Ernest and Frank. These can't be the Denouement brothers, but if VFD members tend to name their children after older members who have died, these could be their namesakes. J,K and L certainly seem to be Jacques, Kit and Lemony. The problem is we know Lemony's father was known as Jacob, but that might have been his middle name or something. Alternatively, 'E' could be Lemony's mother. This would mean that the children took her surname, but it's possible they might have done this. The obvious choice for O is Olaf, especially with the noose on that branch, but we never hear of him having siblings and I like to imagine him as an only child. Another possibility is Olivia Caliban, and then M would be Miranda. N could be a third, unknown sibling - my personal theory is that she could be Fernald and Fiona's mother. The most likely contenders for G and I are Gregor and Ike Anwhistle. H could be Hector, or another suggestion I've heard is Humphrey.
'I arrived too late - they'd already removed it.' (p200) Removed what? And who's the person circled in the Washington DC picture?
'...could not possibly have been at the same time' (p204) I've heard it suggested that this is a reference to the contradictory nature of this book, and I think that seems likely.
'After the schism,' (p207) After the schism,
what?