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Post by Grace on Nov 27, 2005 13:00:40 GMT -5
are being trained for VFD. I can't find the page, because the book is in the other room. lol In the chapter with Infrequently Asked Questions, it says the whole bit about "What's that noise?" "Nothing." Etc., etc. I quote this part, though, as I now have the book:
"Note: If you do not have parents, we will contact you in a more direct manner."
Hmmm. The Baudelaires had no idea that their parents were involved with VFD before they died. After, they've been sent to...all VFDers by Mr. Poe, who we're not sure if he's in VFD. My guess is the parents actually did print up a will, and O intercepted it and brought them to him. The other choices were: Monty, Josephine, Lucky Smells, etc. because they're all involved in VFD.
So basically VFD has been training them, much more directly than by just saying, "What's that noise?"
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Post by RockSunner on Nov 27, 2005 13:12:31 GMT -5
I keep coming back to this exchange in TPP, p. 181:
"I don't understand," Violet said. "Why weren't we taken, like you?"
"You were," Dewey said. "You were taken into the custody of Count Olaf. And he tried to keep you in his custody, no matter how many noble people intervened."
To Dewey's side of the V.F.D., at least, Olaf's actions looked like a normal recruitment for his side. The attempts to get them to noble people like Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine may have been a recruitment tug-of-war. The not-so-noble places they went after that (Lucky Smells Lumbermill, the Village of Fowl Devotees, etc.) might have been caused by the other side, or just been convenient places associated with the V.F.D. Poe was easily manipulated and would take the easiest offer.
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Post by Sugary Snicket on Nov 27, 2005 15:22:12 GMT -5
I think that Olaf was attempting to recruit them, but for HIS side. the noble side tried to intervene while Olaf tried to keep training them for his side.
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Post by lauren on Nov 27, 2005 21:38:21 GMT -5
To Dewey's side of the V.F.D., at least, Olaf's actions looked like a normal recruitment for his side. The attempts to get them to noble people like Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine may have been a recruitment tug-of-war. The not-so-noble places they went after that (Lucky Smells Lumbermill, the Village of Fowl Devotees, etc.) might have been caused by the other side, or just been convenient places associated with the V.F.D. Poe was easily manipulated and would take the easiest offer. That is a very interesting idea!!! And I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. On that idea I wonder wether Jerome and Esme was Olaf's side's influence or Dewey's side's influence.... I'm guessing Olaf's...and what about prufock prep? I think that was just Mr poe's decision without any influence
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891
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Post by Antenora on Nov 27, 2005 21:45:49 GMT -5
I like the idea of the Baudelaires being tossed around in a recruitment battle.
Apparently, Sir had some part in sending the children to Prufrock, or at least he was aware of the intention to send them there...he was the first to mention that they'd be going to boarding school. Sir and the Prufrock teachers are effectually associates of Olaf, so it would be his side of the schism that sent the orphans to them.
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Post by Libitina on Nov 27, 2005 21:52:15 GMT -5
There is definitely a battle between the sides of V.F.D. to see who gets the Baudelaires for their side. One side wants them for their skills, and the other for their fortune, apparently. I think that the Baudelaires would have been more aware of the fact that they were being trained if V.F.D. weren't in such a state. They certainly weren't under normal circumstances, so new members must have been trained/initiated differently or secretly.
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Post by Dante on Nov 28, 2005 3:44:49 GMT -5
Apparently, Sir had some part in sending the children to Prufrock, or at least he was aware of the intention to send them there...he was the first to mention that they'd be going to boarding school. Sir and the Prufrock teachers are effectually associates of Olaf, so it would be his side of the schism that sent the orphans to them. I can't actually find any quotes where Sir says the children will have to go to boarding school; I only recall him saying that he'd hand them over to Shirley. Mr. Poe seems to mention it first, on page 6 of TMM. "I'm now the Vice President in Charge of Coins, and from now on I will be busier than ever. If anything goes wrong with you here, I will have to send you to boarding school until I have time to find you another home, so please be on your best behaviour."Another problem with the "recruitment battle" idea is that Mr. Poe doesn't receive offers from people to look after the children; he has to write letters and make phone calls and such. Josephine says that Poe wrote to her - and as volunteers go, she's completely useless, and barely noble at all, even if she once was. Sir says that Poe called him. Jerome says he'd wanted to adopt the children all along, but Esmé wouldn't let him because orphans were out, and I don't think it says whether Poe spoke to them or they spoke to Poe (and Jerome wasn't a volunteer at the time anyway). The Baudelaires picked V.F.D. themselves to stay at. If Mr. Poe has various researchers working for him, tracing the Baudelaire family tree and looking for relatives, or anyone willing to take the children in, then they could be volunteers and villains, each trying to find the best place for the children for their side of the schism, but it doesn't work out for the guardians to be trying to take the children themselves (especially since a lot of potential guardians that Poe spoke to refused to take the children in, as they'd heard about the actions of Count Olaf). And Olaf wasn't actually training them for his side, either, unless by "training" you mean "forcing them to do all his chores, and planning on killing them at the earliest opportunity." Volunteers may have perceived it otherwise, but Olaf's intentions were never anything more than to get hold of the Baudelaire fortune. If any volunteers were attempting to train them, it was Monty. Josephine was clearly too frightened of everything and was willing to give the children away to Olaf, Sir isn't a volunteer and neither is Charles (although since TMM he may have had similar status to Jerome Squalor and Justice Strauss), Nero and Bass aren't volunteers and Remora probably isn't either, Jerome wasn't until after TEE and Esmé is a villain, and probably the only volunteer in V.F.D. was Hector, and he doesn't count as the Baudelaires chose V.F.D. themsleves and it was the Elders' decision for him to look after the children. So I think that the only volunteer intentionally training the Baudelaires was Montgomery - all other experience they've gathered is incidental, and as we've said before, V.F.D. wouldn't send the children to strange and unpleasant places just so they could work a way out of it, as that would be incredibly cruel, and we've seen more recently that the volunteers are desperate to contact the Baudelaires directly (which fits with the U.A.'s Infrequently Asked Questions).
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Post by lauren on Nov 28, 2005 4:51:42 GMT -5
Your right that Mr Poe mentioned it the first time but Sir says something about it... pg 181 TMM "You certainly are a clever child" Charles said. "Yes," Sir agreed. "You'll do wonderfully at boarding school." "Boarding school?" Mr Poe asked. "Of course." Sir replied....
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Post by Dante on Nov 28, 2005 11:08:43 GMT -5
You have a point there. Unless Poe mentioned it in passing to Sir when he arrived to deal with Shirley, then they must have mentioned it before the Baudelaires were taken in by Sir, in which case I acknowledge the possibility that Sir may have suggested that the Baudelaires be sent to boarding school. However, I don't believe Sir would have any actual motive for doing this.
Also, regarding my previous list, I remembered that Phil may have been a volunteer. However, it's ambiguous - his status may be similar to that of Charles or Jerome or Strauss or Hal, in that he's not really a volunteer, but he has been assisting them.
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