Sugar Bowl Theory

[alexandre]

I was very disappointed by this whole sugar bowl story .. i really really thought we would know what it contained it the end. Although, wasn't there a moment where it was revealed it contained Horseradish ? Something completely ridiculous, in my opinion, nobody would fight over that kind of thing, since there's even a Factory, and that it can be found in every food store ...

I simply think that Daniel Handler came up with this idea, without giving it much attention, and not realizing how much it was interesting, and mysterious, and leading to hundreds of theories ...

Wasn't there, in "The Unauthorized Autobiography" a scene where ... Er ... Mr Poe's sister (I think the name in the French version is different, and I wouldn't want to cause any confusion - which by the way there WAS due to the translator; for example Justice Strauss being named "Juge Abbot" (The Abbot Judge)... Good luck finding a way to baptize her J.S after THAT !) Anyway, there was a scene with Mr Poe's sister and someone else, and it lead to think that the sugar bowl placed between her and her interlocutor contained a microphone ... I guess that's a satisfactory explanation, there could easily been a recording proving Lemony's innocence AND Olaf's guilt ...

I don't remember if the statue that was broken during the "Carnivorous Carnival" is in relation to the Sugar Bowl.. Anyone ?

[Dante]

alexandre, there's a reference in The End which a few people have interpreted as indicating that the sugar bowl contained horseradish, but it more likely referred to the clay pot of beans aboard the Baudelaires' boat at the start. Throughout the series there are a couple of things hinted to be in the sugar bowl, although to my mind the most prominent hint is one in Snicket's letter to his sister in The Slippery Slope, in which it's implied that the bowl contains evidence that will exonerate Lemony and incriminate Olaf. I would read through our full sugar bowl thread - this thread is for a single specific theory about the sugar bowl, not all of them - but to my mind the most likely explanation is that Handler knew what the sugar bowl contained but changed his ideas for the direction of the plot, with the result that the sugar bowl's contents were no longer relevant. This is consistent with a couple of things (the TSS hint, the fact that we know Handler made a major change to the plot of TPP).

[Hermes]

I think that in the restaurant scene in TUA, there's a man with a microphone hiding under the table, so that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the SB.

One thing I would say is that I don't think Lemony failed to see the SB's potential; I think he left it open quite deliberately. In TGG Captain Widdershins says that he won't tell the Baudelaires what is in the Sugar Bowl, because there are some secrets too terrible for young people to know - and later Lemony says that though the captain was wrong about a lot of things, he was right about that. So I think by this point he has decided that the truth about the Sugar Bowl will remain a secret - he has begun to develop the theme of mystery, and how not everything can be known, and is introducing elements (the Great Unknown is another) which are meant to illustrate this. It's in TPP that the SB is built up into something of massive importance to all volunteers, not just to Lemony and Esme, so once it becomes so important I think it's always a deliberate mystery.

[B.]

The scene in TUA certainly seems to have nothing to do with the sugar bowl. If my memory serves correct, it was implied that something important was hidden inside the figurine, although it is unimportant to the events in ASoUE.

Didn't Handler say in one interview, upon being asked about the mysteries encountered in ASoUE, that there were many things he had unplanned or hadn't thought of? I get the impression that the sugar bowl was going to be important but in the end just wasn't. It's looking unlikely we'll see any further development on the sugar bowl, at least not in WCTBATH. We don't actually know if in the time period the novel is set, if the sugar bowl has "happened" yet.

Jul 27, 2012 6:38:51 GMT -5 Dante said:

This is consistent with a couple of things (the TSS hint, the fact that we know Handler made a major change to the plot of TPP).

I'm curious about the plot change in TPP. What was it, exactly?

[Dante]

Jul 27, 2012 12:40:26 GMT -5 B. said:

I'm curious about the plot change in TPP. What was it, exactly?

We have a thread on this somewhere, but since I suspect this won't go off-topic: Short version, the Baudelaires were meant to go back to Olaf's house in TPP and learn something there, but Handler aborted that plotline after realising that he'd written in TBB that Klaus looked through all of Olaf's papers in his tower room. It was going to be information that they ended up finding in the arboretum in The End, apparently.

[rednecodinhenletty]

I agree almost entirely, however, I think Lemony was framed for the murder of Olaf’s parents, and now that the Baudelaire parents are dead, he can prove his innocence without endangering Beatrice.

[Dante]

If the implication is that this would incriminate Beatrice, is this something Lemony would really want to do, even after her death? This also seems like the sort of secret he would hesitate to reveal if it might reach the Baudelaire children's ears. ...But equally, by the time period of TBL the events of ASoUE are long past, and it might be that at some point Lemony's moral stance in this matter might have come to seem pointless.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

There are two sugar bowls that are being sought after by Lemony Snicket and his supporters.

In the letter in chapter 10 of TSS, Lemony wrote:

“I have at last learned the whereabouts of the evidence that will exonerate me, a phrase which here means “prove to the authorities that it is Count Olaf, and not me, who has started so many fires.” Your suggestion, so many years ago at that picnic, that a tea set would be a handy place to hide anything important and small in the event of a dark day, has turned out to be correct.”

I believe there are already many theories evidencing that the contents of the sugar bowl is some kind of audio record. And I can say that I fully agree that the sugar bowl that Lemony was looking for many years after the main events certainly contained some kind of media that supports information, and that an audio record is most likely.

Besides, when Mr. Helquist was at Beatrice’s house while the fire was being fought, he noticed that there was an incomplete set of tea among the wreckage.

Chapter 11 TUA - “I tried to site for a moment and draw some of the objects that lay in rubble - a glass bottle, portions of a grand piano, a few charred pieces of green wood, he remains of a tea set.”

Probably what was missing was exactly a sugar bowl. This was not the sugar bowl that belonged to Esmé. Beatrice stole from Esmé only the sugar bowl, not the whole tea set. Mr. Helquist probably saw the whole set of tea, except a sugar bowl.

When Lemony wrote the letter, he believed the record would show that it was Count Olaf who set off the fires. But of course, the record will show the truth, whatever it is. Whether it was Count Olaf or someone else, Lemony only found out when that record was available. In another text I will write what I believe that Lemony discovered when he listened to the recording. But now I must answer another question: What was in the sugar bowl that belonged to Esmé?

The Sugar Bowl that belonged to Esmé did not contain a recording. All the evidence indicates that the contents of this sugar bowl granted the person who carried the sugar bowl some kind of power. A power that could be used for evil.

Kit explained it in TPP chapter 2:

“The sugar bowl is on its way to the hotel even as we speak, and I’d hate to think what would happen if our enemies got ahold of it. I can’t imagine anything worse, except perhaps if our enemies somehow got ahold of the Medusoid Mycelium.“

Secondly, the content of the sugar bowl is somewhat shameful for the "noble” side of VFD. It is something regarded as a secret. It is something as shameful as the fact that it was the “noble” side of VFD that grew the MM fungus.

But why is this shameful? Because it is a proof of the hypocrisy of the “noble” side of VFD. In the case of MM fungus, it is a great hypocrisy that an organization that preaches peace at the same time develops a biological weapon of mass destruction.

Windershins explained in TGG, chapter 4:

“that sonar detector is like our cave wall, showing us the shape of things much more powerful and terrifying.“ "… "I don’t want you to understand, … That’s why I haven’t told you why the sugar bowl is so very crucial. There are secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know, even as those secrets get closer and closer.”

In fact, just knowing the contents of the sugar bowl can be dangerous for a young member of the noble party of VFD. Winddershins explained:

TGG chapter 6: "It’s not the sugar bowl, it’s what’s inside it.” Aye! I’ve already said too much!There are secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know! Just think – if you knew about the sugar bowl and you somehow fell into Count Olaf’s clutches, there’s no telling what he’d do! Aye!“

Probably, if a young man or woman discovered the sugar bowl and then fell into Count Olaf’s clutches, this young man or woman could come to support Olaf because he would be convinced that the "noble” side of VFD is not at all noble. Older people would already understand how the world works, and so they could understand that sometimes noble people need to get their hands dirty for a greater good.

Now that we know there were two sugar bowls, we need to think, how did they both get to the hotel? One of the sugar bowls you should know has arrived by means of crows. This sugar bowl probably fell into the pond in front of the hotel when one of the crows was struck by a harpoon. This sugar bowl stayed in the secret library for many, many years until Lemony came to the hotel between the time he was writing TGG and TPP. But how did the Esmé sugar bowl come to the hotel? Where did this sugar bowl come from and where did it go?

The TSS book shows that the sugar bowl was in the VFD HQ. But two volunteers threw the sugar bowl out the window, and left a message about the object inside the refrigerator.

Who was the recipient of the message? JS. What is the content of the message?

“JS, there will be a gathering on Thursday. There is a message for you on the final quatrain of the eleventh stanza of” The Garden of Proserpine, “by Algernon Charles Swinburne.” A piece of paper that contained the part of the poem lay nearby: “That no life lives forever; That dead men rise up never; That even the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea.” On the same paper was written Sugar bowl.

Lemony explained what the last part of the poem meant:

“Eventually, however, it became clear that” the weariest river “refers to the Stricken Stream, which indeed seemed to carry away from the ashes from the destruction of VFD headquarters, and that” winds somewhere safe to sea “refers to the last safe place where all the volunteers, including Quigley Quagmire, could gather. ”

Thus, the secret message indicated to JS that the sugar bowl had been launched in the Stricken Stream. And of course, anyone who knows the water cycle, would deduce that the sugar bowl would end up somewhere in the sea.

You must remember, that while Klaus was at Queequeg, he was able to calculate accurately that the sugar bowl went into the GG. That’s where things get interesting. After Klaus passed the information to Windershins, Klaus, Violet, Sunny and Fiona slept. Several hours passed. (TGG chapter 5). Finally the submarine arrived at Gorgonian Grotto, but could not advance much inside the GG. Winddershinhs explained:

“the cave got narrower and narrower as we maneuvered further and further inside … The entrance was the wide end of the cone,

but now it’s too narrow for the submarine to travel. If we want to we will have to use something smaller …

Periscope? "Sunny asked.” No, “Captain Widdershins replied.” A child. “

This means that a person of tall stature would not be able to walk in the narrowest part of GG. Winddershins was of tall stature, and so he could not go get the sugar bowl. He had to send the teens and sunny to get the sugar bowl. However, this group of young people searched for a long time and did not find the sugar bowl there in GG. Why not? There was one more person in GG that day. Notice what is written in TGG chapter 6:

"They had gazed upward and seen the sharp angles of various vertical flame diversions and other secret passageways Once again, she was led to the marine research center and rhetorical advice service, or even spotted the person who was using one of the passageways now, and probably for the last time, as she made her difficult and dark way toward the Queequeg. instead, all the children could see through their small circular windows was darkness. ”

Thus, a person passed in the dark by the young group. They were going to GG. But this woman went down the secret tunnels that linked AA to GG. She certainly found the sugar bowl, and headed toward the Queequeg. She passed the Baudelaires and Fiona in the darkness and made her way to the Queequeg. This woman convinced Winddershins and Phill to leave Queequeg.

It was probably Windershins himself who sent the telegram to this woman, informing her that the sugar bowl was in GG. He must have kept this telegram while the children were asleep. The mysterious woman went down the secret tunnel, using this tunnel for the last time according to Lemony, and went to the submarine.

Lemony wrote the following in Chapter 13 of TGG:

“In the final analysis…Captain Widdershins was wrong about a great many things… He was wrong to abandon the Queequeg, no matter what He heard from the woman who came to fetch him.”

When the children returned from GG to Queequeg, the submarine had not been captured by Carmelita submarine. However, Phil and Widdershins had already disappeared.

Chapter 8 of TGG describes:

The Baudelaire orphans knew that something was wrong the moment they arrived at the submarine, knocked on the metal hatch, and heard no answer from the captain inside… After knocking for several minutes, the worried children had to open the hatch by themselves, a difficult task in the dark, and enter the passageway, quickly closing the hatch behind them… The Baudelaires looked around the room, but it seemed as empty and lonely as the grotto. Without the enormous presence of Captain Widdershins – “enormous presence” is a phrase which here means “large physical size, combined with a vibrant personality and loud voice” – the Main Hall seemed utterly deserted. Fiona took a step toward the door to the kitchen, but then stopped and looked at the wooden table. “Their helmets are gone,” she said. “Both Phil and my stepfather were keeping their diving helmets on the table, in case of an emergency.” She ran her hand along the table, as if she could make the helmets reappear. “They’re gone,” she said. “They’ve left the Queequeg.”

The children began to wonder why Widdershins and Phil left the Queequeg. But what they should ask themselves is this: “Where were Winddershins and Phil gone?” Dear reader, let us reason together. We know that the Queequeg was at the bottom of the ocean. We know there were three people in the Queequeg: Winddershins, Phil, and a mysterious, short-stature woman. Winddershins did not go up to AA through secret tunnels because according to Lemony, the last time the tunnels were used was when the mysterious woman went down one of the tunnels and went to the GG and from there to the Queequeg. Besides, Windershins was too tall. They did not go to the Carmelita because this submarine had not yet captured the Quequeeg yet. They wore their wetsuits to leave the Queequeg. Did they decide to swim from the bottom of the ocean to the shore? That would not be possible. Even the Queequeg, which was a motorized submarine, took about a day or two for the Queequeg to reach the coast. And when the Queequeg got there, Kit said she was going to meet Winddershins who had already reached the coast.

My theory is this:

The contents of the sugar bowl that belonged to Esmé was a small musical instrument (probably a whistle) capable of controlling the Great Unknown. The short woman picked up the sugar bowl at GG, swam to the submarine, and persuaded Phil and Winddershins to leave the Queequeg in the mouth of the Great Unknown. (I believe the Great Unknown is a very large and very fast marine beast).

You must remember that the Sinister Duet use whistles to control their eagles. This is evidence that many ferocious VFD-related animals can be controlled by sounds. You should also remember that the Sinister Duet uses the eagles as a means of transportation. Similarly, by means of a whistle, the Great Unknown can be controlled to transport people. Of course, it can also be invoked to kill people, and even destroy submarines. It is a kind of weapon. This fits perfectly with the fact that whoever owns the sugar bowl will have great power. And the ability to control well-trained fierce animals is one of the issues raised because of the VFD Great Schism. As the Sinister Duet said in TSS chapter 13:

“Look at these creatures!” cried the woman with hair but no beard. “When the schism occurred, you may have won the carrier crows, volunteers, and you may have won the trained reptiles… You may have the carrier crows, but we have the two most powerful mammals in the world to do our bidding – the lions and eagles!”

The more you think about this theory, the more it makes sense. For example, in TPP chapter 10, there is the scene of the mysterious taxi driver. Notice what Lemony wrote:

“I do know who the man was, and I do know where he went afterward, and I do know the name of the woman who was hiding in the trunk, and the type of musical instrument that was laid carefully in the back seat, and the ingredients of the sandwich tucked into the glove compartment, and even the small item that sat on the passenger seat, still damp from its hiding place.”

The woman hiding in the trunk, must be the same mysterious Queequeg woman. The small item should be the sugar bowl that belonged to Esmé. This sugar bowl was taken to the hotel by this mysterious woman. And the musical instrument that was carefully placed on the back bench was the contents of the sugar bowl: a whistle, able to control The Great Unknown. (You can search, whistles are musical instruments).

There are more interesting evidences.

Winddershins made it appear that there was a connection between the sugar bowl and the Great Unknown in TGG, when GU first appeared on the radar. Recalling the words of him that I have already quoted in this text (TGG chap. 4):

“What was that third shape?” Violet asked. The captain shook his head again. “Something very bad,” he said. “Even worse than Olaf, probably. I told you Baudelaires that there is evil you can not even imagine.”

“We do not have to imagine it,” Klaus said. “We saw it on the screen.”

“That screen is nothing,” the captain said. “It’s just a piece of

equipment, aye? There was a philosopher who said that all of life is just shadows. He said that people were just sitting in the basement, watching shadows on the cave wall. Aye - shadows of something much bigger and grander than themselves. Well, that sonar detector is like our cave wall, showing us the shape of things much more powerful and terrifying. ”

“I do not understand,” Fiona said.

“I do not want you to understand,” the captain said, putting his arm around her “That’s why I have not told you why the sugar bowl is so crucial. There are secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know, even those secrets get closer and closer.

After that, at the end of TGG, after the Carmelita capture Queequeg, look what happened:

Chapter 13:

“The screen looked like a piece of graph paper, lit up in green light, and at the center were both a glowing letter Q, representing the Queequeg, and a glowing eye, representing the terrible octopus submarine that had devoured them. But at the top of the screen was another shape - one they had almost forgotten about. It was a long curved tube, with a small circle at the end of it, slithering slowly down the screen like a snake, or an enormous question mark, or some terrible evil the children could not even imagine.

"What’s that cakesniffing shape?” asked Carmelita Spats. “It looks like a big comma.”

“Shh!” Count Olaf hissed, putting his filthy hand over Carmelita’s mouth. “Silence, everyone!”

“We have to get out of here,” Esmé murmured. “This octopus is no match for that thing.”

“You’re right,” Olaf muttered. “Esmé, go whip our rowers so they’ll go faster! Hooky, store those uniforms! Triangle Eyes, take the orphans to the brig!”

“What about me?” Carmelita asked. “I’m the cutest, so I should get to something.”

“I guess you’d better come with me,” the count said wearily. “But no tap-dancing! We do not want to show up on their sonar!”

“Ta ta, cakesniffers!” Carmelita said, waving her pink wand at the three siblings.

“You’re so stylish, darling,” Esmé said. “It’s like I always say: You can not be too rich or too in!”

The two wicked females jumped through the broken porthole and out of the Queequeg, followed by the hook-handed man, who gave the Baudelaires an awkward wave.”

According to my theory, the GU was around this point because Beatrice, Bill and Windershins had invoked T GU using the musical instrument (probably a whistle).

Olaf refers to the sonar that would be used by “them.” This sonar should be a bio sonar, used by some animals for echolocation. Olaf uses the plural “their,” because Olaf knows there is more than one animal that has the same shape. Although only one of them, I think, is trained by Lemony and his associates (Or Hangfire many years before).

It is interesting that Olaf and Esmé know that The GU has the ability to listen to low amplitude sounds. Some marine animals like dolphins and whales have bio sonar. Such animals need a good ear. In addition, the name given to the animal was probably Bombinating Beast. This means that the animal makes a sound while hunting. This sound can be used for echolocation

You must remember the scene where Kit comes to the beach. She told what happened:

TE chapter 13:

“We made a desperate attempt to repair the Queequeg and reach the Quagmires as their aerial battle continued, and arrived just in time to see the balloons of the self-sustaining hot air mobile home pop under the cruel beaks of the escaping eagles. They tumbled down to the surface of the sea, and crashed into the Queequeg. In moments we were all castaways, treading water in the midst of all the items that survived the wreck.”… “What happened next?” “I don’t know,” Kit admitted. “From the depths of the sea a mysterious figute approached–almost like a question mark, rising out of the water.” “We saw that on a radar screen,” Violet remembered. “Captain Widdershins refused to tell us what it was."My brother used to call it ‘The Great Unknown,… I was terrified, Baudelaires. Quickly I fashioned a Vaporetto of Favorite Detritus, as I’d been trained to do.” … I gathered all the books in reach that I enjoyed, tossing the boring ones into the sea, but everyone else wanted to take their chances with the great unknown. I begged the others to climb aboard as the question mark approached, but only Ink managed to reach me. The others … “ Her voice trailed off, and for a moment Kit did nothing but wheeze. "In an instant they were gone–either swallowed up or rescued by that mysterious thing.” “You don’t know what happened to them?” Klaus asked. Kit shook her head. “All I heard,” she said, “was one of the Quagmires calling Violet’s name.” Sunny looked into the face of the distraught woman. “Quigley,” the youngest Baudelaire could not help asking “or Duncan?” “I don’t know,” Kit said again.

Kit saw the Great Unknown, and she knew exactly what the Great Unknown was. Why did Kit wonder whether the others had been killed or not by the GU? Her doubt was whether the sugar bowl was in the hands of noble people or cruel people. Or if the GU was acting on his own, without any control. If the sugar bowl was not in the hands of noble people, death was certain. Why did Winddershins, who had shown fear in TGG of GU, now preferred to go to the GU despite Kit’s insistence on him and the others fleeing? Winddershins knew that the ferocious beast was being controlled through the contents of the sugar bowl. He knew that the mysterious woman was inside the beast’s mouth, and that the beast was there to save them.

Why did one of the Quaqmires shout out the name “Violet” when he was about to enter the GU? For when the beast opened its mouth, he saw a woman in the beast’s mouth. A woman of short stature. A woman whose physical appearance was similar to Violet. So he found it very strange, and said “Violet?” But it was not Violet. She was just a woman very much like her …

Beatrice

[Foxy]

That is an interesting idea, that the woman, Phil, and Widdershins would ride away on the bombinating beast. I could see Phil being very excited about this, actually.