olaf did it!!!!Questions awnserd posibly.

[Mijahu]

I don't think Handler ever decided if he did it or not, but I like to think that he didn't. In TE, when he says "Is that what you think?" he just seems so genuine.

[Damion(V.F.D supporter)]

annyyyaaaa Olaf didn't burn down the V.F.D headquarters... that was the man with no hair but a beard and the women with no beard but hair...but Olaf did burn down the carnival and the hospital.

[KlausBaudelaire833]

Olaf did it as evidence in the ASoUE movie!!!!

[Dante]

Yeah, but the movie doesn't count within the books. No giant eye-shaped arson devices there.

[mystry667]

Olf did everything and plots a lot of menacing things. He has been doing this throughout the entire series.

[Chipper Coathanger]

I was kind of mad because the movie was laying it on way too thickly that Olaf burned the Baudelaire mansion. I would have preferred subtlety.

[yammiestyam]

no, no, no.
Obviously no one read TMM. Sir burned down the Baudelaire House that day on Briny Beach. He was going around looking for cheap work and threw a cigarette on their lawn.
Wow, nobody pays attention to detail *tisk tisk tisk.

[Strangely]

Olaf didn't do it. Initially when I first read the series I got the impression that he did, but looking back it seems a bit to obvious too be true, the Baudelaire's suspicions are a red herring of sorts.
My other reasoning comes from a few different things. First off after the fire it took Mr. Poe a week or so in order to find the Baudelaire's a guardian, a few days to a week judging by Mrs. Poe buying the kids a new wardrobe meaning that the Baudelaire's stayed for more than a day, if Count Olaf had burnt down the mansion he would've approached Mr. Poe not the other way around. Now it's true he may of just been putting off suspicion but at the same time he is by no means a patient man he wouldn't have waited. Secondly There's not much other proof, in the remains of the fire all we see is that someone drunk brandy without a coaster. Olaf is mainly a drinker of wine.
If however you were to take into account the dismal dinner stories (which personally I don't think are canon since they are movie related and the movie takes great liberties) than it would make sense that he burnt down the mansion.

[wasabi20]

It's interesting - I mean, I don't think that we were ever told in the end who burnt down the Baudelaire mansion, even though they tried their hardest to figure it out. I mean, it says in the movie, seeing as that moving eye thing was not far away from Olaf's house, that it could have been a possibility. But just like many other things in the last book, there were many things that Lemony did not elaborate, and left us in the lurch quite literally.

[colette]

I think Count Olaf is related to this fire but I am not sure if he did it.

[Groge]

its a toughy because yes, he could have done and that would be that. However, if we were to think about who else could have done it the list would be pretty big. Someone else was at the mansion at the time of the fire. That person survived and is still at large. Accident or arson? It could be Lemony himself could it not? I honestly can't remember but did he ever get over Beatrice? Hasn't he always hated Bertrand? He could have killed them out of love, in other words,"if I can't have her no one can". On the other hand, maybe he was visiting and knocked over a candle by mistake.

[Dante]

There's actually not much to suggest in the books that Lemony bore any kind of ill-will towards Bertrand. I recall that we were discussing this just the other day in another thread.

Edit: Yes, here it is.

[Christmas Chief]

It seems to me that volunteer firefighters would be trained in acting quickly against accidental fires, so the conclusion I've drawn is that someone intentionally closed off all escape routes with flames or obstructions so that the Baudelaire parents could not escape. But I don't think that, based on what we know of his character, Lemony held any malevolent feelings toward Beatrice after their break up - merely sorrow, from which he supposedly never recovered. Indeed, he has nothing but warm wishes for them when he writes to her a last time in the telegram in TBL, implying he approves of Bertrand, too.

Edit: I was actually just about to post that link.

[Groge]

Ah right okay. Just had a read of that thread and that's my mistake. I just assumed he didn't like Bertrand but there's no proof. I suppose if he did kill them then why would he research their children! Ahwell, was probably Olaf anyway!

[vfds321s]

I can see why Olaf seems to be the most likely suspect. I'm not sure who else would.


It is unlikely the Sinister Duo, because they usually burn buildings room by room in order to keep people from seeing the smoke and the Baudelaires would've caught them in the act. (However, they might have had at least some involvement. Maybe the fire department arrived too late on purpose and the Duo is the reason why)


Esme, maybe since she wanted revenge on Beatrice and has control on the other side of the passageway. But would she have done it without Olaf's authorization and if she wanted to kill her, why use fire to burn down the mansion when she could hide somewhere and shoot her in the back with a harpoon gun or poison darts?

Apr 7, 2010 18:32:42 GMT -5 yammiestyam said:

no, no, no.
Obviously no one read TMM. Sir burned down the Baudelaire House that day on Briny Beach. He was going around looking for cheap work and threw a cigarette on their lawn.
Wow, nobody pays attention to detail *tisk tisk tisk.

Where in TMM did it say that?