Death of a noble and brave sibling

[M David Steel]

When first reading the end of the end when you read the end for the first time and Lemony explained that the end of the end contained "not only the end of a notorious villain, but also the end of a brave and noble sibling" did any of you think he meant that one of the Baudelaires was going to die? that is what I thought, only naturally, although it is later made clear he was reffering to his own sibling.

I just thought it would be like the villain dies but we loose a hero (main protagonist) too. Does anyone think that could have been done?

[A comet crashing into Earth]

I think that's what either Snicket, Handler or their publishers wanted the reader to believe - just like we were told there was "a surprising survivor of a terrible fire" in TSS (getting my quotes here from the back of the Egmont hardcover), and instantly expected a Baudelaire parent.

[Dante]

Exactly; the line was deliberately ambiguous. Not necessarily deliberately misleading - it was close enough to the end that you would probably guess correctly, even if you weren't sure.

[Duchess]

Wasn't it kit snicket?

[Dante]

Yes, it was, but she hadn't died at the time that line appeared, so when some people first read it they didn't necessarily think of her.

[ghostie]

The title of this thread keeps making me think you're writing a parody of death of a salesman or something

[L Lawliet]

I always had a sad suspicion that Klaus might have died somehow on the way back to the mainland, Possibly when the Beatrice sank.

-L

[Dante]

I remember quite a few people having grave fears for Klaus, including that he would go blind.

[lorelai]

Dante, do you remember why the blindness theory was a thing? That seems weirdly specific.

[gliquey]

Dec 30, 2015 16:36:22 GMT -5 lorelai said:

Dante, do you remember why the blindness theory was a thing? That seems weirdly specific.

Yes, I thought that too and would also be interested to hear any origins of the idea. I suppose Klaus' eyesight has been quite terrible since the start of the series - it was even a major plot point in TMM. But I would think that if someone was theorising about it, they'd think something would cause him to become blind in the short term - within the span of the series, perhaps - rather than worrying about how his eyesight could deteriorate and eventually lead to complete blindness in the long term.

[Dante]

I recall that the blindness idea came from a reference in TBL to Klaus "squinting" at some text or other. It wasn't a very good theory.

[lorelai]

Wow, people really poured over TBL. Although given how little the theory had to go on, I'm now weirdly offended on the Baudelaire sisters' behalf. No worries about Sunny's teeth, or Violet's... hands?

[A comet crashing into Earth]

Jan 1, 2016 15:39:29 GMT -5 lorelai said:

Wow, people really poured over TBL. Although given how little the theory had to go on, I'm now weirdly offended on the Baudelaire sisters' behalf. No worries about Sunny's teeth, or Violet's... hands?

We might have had legitimate reasons to worry about both! Bear with me here.

If we just roll with the premise that the loss of Klaus's eyesight has been foreshadowed (don't ask me how, that part isn't my theory), it would only make sense that Violet's hands were also in danger, since the situations of the Baudelaires, particularly the older two, tend to correspond very closely to each other - when there's something that needs to be invented, the need to research something isn't far off, and vice versa.
Now, at the release of TE, we'd already had Fernald's backstory revealed. Now, I believe few would protest if I called Fiona a 'counterpart' of sorts to Klaus - roughly the same age, both wearing glasses, and in the long run, facing a number of the same challenges. Following this logic, Fernald would be a counterpart to Violet: The older sibling, and the one who has to live with the largest part of the responsibility of the increasingly ambiguous moral decisions the siblings face. Fernald turned wrong somewhere, and while Klaus relationship with Fiona goes from friendly to ambiguous, Violet's perception of Fernald changes from antagonistic to a more ambiguous one; there's a neat symmetry to the whole scenario.
Fernald is already a good deal older than Violet, and must have taken his toughest moral decisions after he was her age; maybe this points to the fact that they're only more different from each other than Klaus and Fiona because Fernald is farther ahead on the curve than Violet is. If that's the case, Fernald having lost his hands are a clear piece of foreshadowing that Violet would lose hers.

And Sunny's teeth, you ask? Anyone who uses their teeth for swordfights and climbing elevator shafts are bound to lose them sooner rather than later. That, or she might just lose them like children normally do.


(this was just supposed to be a short joke, but I actually ended up liking the result xD)

[lorelai]

Comet, please write a fanfic of this. Not only was reading your idea fun, but I love the idea of a Violet who, because I don't think she'd make Fernald's wrong turning, received more flexible appendages than hooks, and so could still invent after learning to adapt to her disability. I'm more interested in the aftermath than the gore.
And why wasn't anyone concerned about Sunny's teeth with all her biting-related activities? (post series I think she just lost them normally, but were there no aspiring dentists freaking out?) We can be a rather heartless fandom.

[Dante]

Following through that idea, if we accept the possibility that Friday is also a younger sibling of Fiona and Fernald's, she forms an obvious parallel to Sunny in this theory, and it's notable that her survival or death is entirely dependent upon whether she bites something or not.