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Post by almostnearly on Aug 4, 2010 14:35:03 GMT -5
If this has been mentioned please forgive me but in TWW I found this:
"Instantly she thought of a story her father had told her, long ago, when she was just beginning to be interested in science. When her father was a boy, he’d had a dreadful cousin who liked to burn ants, starting a fire by focusing the light of the sun with her magnifying glass."
The cousin sounds like Olaf.
Just a thought, and once again it is probably something that has been mentioned, but is there any chance that somehow Bertrand received any fortune that Olaf's parents left behind after their death and this is another reason why Olaf in intent on stealing it from the Baudelaires? I have heard cases of parents not placing their children in their wills or being cruel to them. Vic Morrow and Jennifer Jason Leigh is a famous and tragic example.
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Post by Hermes on Aug 4, 2010 15:28:51 GMT -5
If this has been mentioned please forgive me but in TWW I found this: "Instantly she thought of a story her father had told her, long ago, when she was just beginning to be interested in science. When her father was a boy, he’d had a dreadful cousin who liked to burn ants, starting a fire by focusing the light of the sun with her magnifying glass." The cousin sounds like Olaf. That does sound plausible, but I think it emerges later that the cousin was a girl. Now that is really interesting. Hm. I don't think this can be the only source of the Baudelaire fortune, since it happened when the kids were already alive, and it's never suggested thaey hadn't always lived in a mansion. Still, it's possible. But in that case, it seems to make Olaf's parents good guys - cutting off their villainous son, and leaving their fortune to people who are on the good side - which leaves it rather puzzling why the Baudelaires killed them. (Unless it was accidental, which I've always thought possible.)
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Post by Christmas Chief on Aug 4, 2010 18:21:55 GMT -5
Now that is really interesting. Hm. I don't think this can be the only source of the Baudelaire fortune, since it happened when the kids were already alive, and it's never suggested thaey hadn't always lived in a mansion. Still, it's possible. But in that case, it seems to make Olaf's parents good guys - cutting off their villainous son, and leaving their fortune to people who are on the good side - which leaves it rather puzzling why the Baudelaires killed them. (Unless it was accidental, which I've always thought possible.) They may have been reformed villains, having seen their own villainy reflected in their son and the Baudelaire parents not aware of that. The idea itself I do like--but what would be the reason behind the Quagmire and Snow Scout fortunes? (Besides the obvious want for money, that is.)
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Post by Dante on Aug 7, 2010 9:02:00 GMT -5
I know someone already said this, but in case some people haven't seen it, in one of the first drafts that Daniel Handler himself wrote for the movie, it involved a pregnant women agent, a young boy agent, and a young girl agent looking for the baudelaires and its a completely different plot, but anyway, in it there is the original baudalaire will found in the rubble of the fire, and a forged will that was the one being used. you can see part of the script in the "miserable movie section" under the first "original script" thread Good point, bryan. The possibility of the will being forged was never raised in the books, but by the time the movie came around, the issue of guardianship was somewhat irrelevant, as there were only three books left. Perhaps Handler felt it had increasingly become an issue, and was thinking of "fixing" it with a new plot point in the film?
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snicket993
Reptile Researcher
"The world is quiet here"
Posts: 15
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Post by snicket993 on Nov 24, 2010 16:29:54 GMT -5
Hi all, Well in TBB it says OLAF is a very long distance reletive.................but what is he exactly? In my opinion I don't think he is a reletive.......nobody TRYS to steal from their family, BUT Olaf isn't a nobody In the movie it says that he is either a 3rd cousin 4 times removed or a 4th cousin 3 times removed.
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Post by Dante on Nov 24, 2010 17:12:30 GMT -5
That's actually exactly what The Bad Beginning says, so it's a canonical detail - although you can dispute within the series whether it's actually true. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be, though.
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Post by bryan on Nov 24, 2010 17:24:50 GMT -5
I know someone already said this, but in case some people haven't seen it, in one of the first drafts that Daniel Handler himself wrote for the movie, it involved a pregnant women agent, a young boy agent, and a young girl agent looking for the baudelaires and its a completely different plot, but anyway, in it there is the original baudalaire will found in the rubble of the fire, and a forged will that was the one being used. you can see part of the script in the "miserable movie section" under the first "original script" thread Good point, bryan. The possibility of the will being forged was never raised in the books, but by the time the movie came around, the issue of guardianship was somewhat irrelevant, as there were only three books left. Perhaps Handler felt it had increasingly become an issue, and was thinking of "fixing" it with a new plot point in the film? Oh I only just saw this. But yeah, considering we never actually hear about the will really, besides what Poe says is in it. Which is unreliable. But yeah either that, or he just thought it would make it more interesting as a movie. If that is actually his script anyway.
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Post by Dante on Nov 24, 2010 17:28:10 GMT -5
ASoUE had changed a lot from the early books by the time the series was drawing to a close, and I'm sure there are things Handler would change if he could go back and write them all again. You have to bear in mind that the books came out over a period of eight years, I think. But there's also the fact that a movie is a different kind of experience to a set of books, so maybe he felt a change in that area would've given the movie a stronger story.
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Post by Hermes on Nov 24, 2010 19:57:25 GMT -5
It's most unlikely Mr Poe is lying - if he were villainous he could have done a deal with Olaf, and the story would have been over much more quickly.
But yes, the change in the nature of the series is probably the cause. A random pair of wealthy people who have no particular reason to expect death might well say something like 'We want our children to be brought up by a relative, and in the most convenient manner possible'. If you are a member of a fire-fighting orgnaisation, in constant danger, and know that some of your relatives are villains, you will probably be more precise.
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Post by bryan on Nov 24, 2010 22:39:10 GMT -5
It's most unlikely Mr Poe is lying - if he were villainous he could have done a deal with Olaf, and the story would have been over much more quickly. I didn't mean to say Mr. Poe was a villain, just that he isn't observant of those kind of things.
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Post by Seymour Glass on Nov 24, 2010 23:41:41 GMT -5
Mr. Poe wasn't lying. Olaf was.
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Post by bryan on Nov 24, 2010 23:53:49 GMT -5
Mr. Poe wasn't lying. Olaf was. I know, I meant to say that Mr. Poe didn't pick up on the fact that Olaf was lying.
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Post by colette on Apr 3, 2011 14:38:35 GMT -5
In my ficverse he is really related to them. He is their second cousin. His mom was Countess Eleanor whose maiden name was Baudelaire. Berthrand was her cousin.And she was that cousin who was mean to ants. But it is just my fanfics. Oh, by the way, in my ficverse Violet and Olaf look like even a bit similar.
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Post by Dante on Apr 3, 2011 15:02:43 GMT -5
I like the plot device of characters bearing a family resemblance. It's not used much in aSoUE, unfortunately (triplets don't count... even though the Quagmires shouldn't be identical anyway). I think it's just Violet and Beatrice who are hinted to bear a family resemblance.
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Post by thedoctororwell on Apr 3, 2011 17:38:37 GMT -5
Unless you count Jacques, who has an unibrow. It definitely hints at a close parentage with Olaf, probably a first cousin (LSUA also implies it).
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