|
Post by euro bateman on Nov 29, 2007 22:36:27 GMT -5
I re-read TRR the other day and it got me thinking... How was Stephano planning on getting the fortune? He killed Monty and was going to take the kids to Peru. Then what?
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Nov 30, 2007 4:34:21 GMT -5
Like a lot of Olaf's plans, it's not really very clear; on page 77, he tells the children, "You needn't be afraid of me, little ones, until we find ourselves in a location where crimes are more difficult to trace," but whatever kind of crime he's referring to, he still needs to either be able to legitimately go and pick up the fortune or by trickery have it sent to him, he can't just butcher the children straight away. In TWW through TAA, Olaf's trying to become the Baudelaires' guardian again, at which point he'd presumably pull something like the Marvellous Marriage stunt again, so perhaps it'd be something along those lines; in the movie, I recall Stephano referring to Peru's "relaxed guardianship laws," and while of course the movie is a separate canon it seems reasonable to assume they're trying to make Olaf's plots make sense. In the later books, if I recall correctly (although I couldn't give you a page reference), Olaf and Esmé refer to using one child to "force" Mr. Poe to hand over the fortune, I guess by some kind of blackmail. We do see in TGG that Mr. Poe is rather unenthusiastic about letting the fortune just sit in the bank gathering dust forever, so it's not implausible that he'd have been persuaded. Whatever Olaf's plan was, Monty would probably still have been bumped off once they all got to Peru.
|
|
|
Post by euro bateman on Dec 1, 2007 16:46:48 GMT -5
yeah, the blackmail thing makes the most sense... thanx for helping clear that up.
|
|
Celerond
Reptile Researcher
The OS That Never Was
Posts: 44
|
Post by Celerond on Apr 15, 2008 10:06:46 GMT -5
Um... I think he means Mr. Poe in "where crimes are more difficult to trace". Then I think he will marry Violet.
|
|
|
Post by Al Funcoot on Aug 2, 2013 7:35:18 GMT -5
I also found myself wondering this as I re-read TRR today. I've chalked it up to Olaf planning on keeping Violet in Peru with him for the next four years, and then finally marrying her once she turns 18. Either that, or as Dante pointed out, he could be planning on forcing Mr. Poe's hand by keeping the Baudelaires hostage. tbh, I'm slightly leaning towards the second theory, because I just wouldn't buy that Olaf could have that much patience. It wouldn't fit with the rest of his character. But either way, once he gets them on the ship, that fortune's his. No doubt.
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Aug 2, 2013 14:00:42 GMT -5
Hi themosthandsomecount! Just so you know, we don't normally reopen very old threads; it's better to start a new thread on the same topic.
But now it has been raised: I think he has given up the marriage plan. The obvious plan from now on would just be to hold on to the Baudelaires until Violet is eighteen, at which point she will get the fortune automatically (just because she has come of age - nothing to do with marriage, which seems to be allowed at any age in Snicketland) and then force her to hand it over. It's true that later on he seems sometimes to imagine that he will get the fortune more quickly than that; in those cases he may be thinking of a ransom, or he may just be losing control of the plot, associating 'grab Baudelaires' with 'get fortune' without knowing quite how that would work.
|
|
|
Post by bandit on Aug 2, 2013 14:44:25 GMT -5
I had always assumed whilst reading TRR that Olaf would just do whatever he wanted with the Baudelaires once they arrived in Peru. It's another country, and if he's come into the country as Stephano than that's who everyone would be looking for after a crime has been committed. Olaf could become the Baudelaires' guardian, then drag them out into the jungle and slaughter them and probably get away with it.
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Aug 2, 2013 14:48:55 GMT -5
But just slaughtering them doesn't help him - as he mentions a number of times later, he needs at least one of them alive to get the fortune. The mysterious question is just how they help him get the fortune, once the marriage plot has been dropped.
|
|
|
Post by bandit on Aug 2, 2013 15:39:04 GMT -5
If your adopted children all die, wouldn't you be the one to get their fortune since there's no other family to turn to?
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Aug 2, 2013 15:42:23 GMT -5
Well, it might be - ignoring the fact that 'guardian' isn't actually the same as 'adoptive parent', since that is generally ignored in the books. But he'd have to convince Mr Poe, in Snicketland, that he was their guardian - just passing himself off as such in Peru wouldn't do it.
|
|
|
Post by bandit on Aug 2, 2013 15:47:45 GMT -5
Well, that's what I had assumed his goal as Stephano was. Arrive at Monty's house, trick people into thinking he's a trusted colleague, have Monty die, then take custody of the Baudelaires while the time is right.
|
|
|
Post by Charlie on Aug 3, 2013 2:58:17 GMT -5
If your adopted children all die, wouldn't you be the one to get their fortune since there's no other family to turn to? That's morbid.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Aug 4, 2013 4:43:59 GMT -5
Hi themosthandsomecount! Just so you know, we don't normally reopen very old threads; it's better to start a new thread on the same topic. Just to be clear, I'm more relaxed about this now. So long as any new post in a very old thread contains some substantial content (i.e. not just "lol" or "I agree!"), and there isn't already a more recent thread, then I'm okay with it. On-topic, worth thinking about in relation to this is what Olaf planned to do with the Quagmires: In TEE, they state that he'd planned to leave them on an island until they were of age, and then do something horrible. Maybe, once the inheritors are of age, Olaf can have their fortune sent direct to them, at which point he can physically steal it. So he could have the Quagmires sign a letter to the bank saying "Please send us the Quagmire Sapphires," and when the bank does so then Olaf just kills the Quagmires and pries the jewels from their cold dead hands.
|
|
|
Post by Charlie on Aug 4, 2013 5:47:05 GMT -5
That's rather morbid.
And also, island you say? Island? Let's talk about this bit more.
|
|
|
Post by bandit on Aug 4, 2013 11:54:00 GMT -5
Well, there aren't many other evil schemes that can be carried out when you're drifting through the ocean in one boat.
|
|