The Snicket Sleuth (Theories & Analyses)

[thedoctororwell]

Apr 18, 2016 5:10:59 GMT -5 Dante said:

I wasn't aware that Bruce had a surname. Or am I missing an allusion that you've made elsewhere?

Nah, that's my mistake. Bruce hasn't got a surname in the original text, but he has one ("Adams") in the French translation. I actually questioned the official translator about that change she made and she straight-up told me she completely forgot the reason. Rose-Marie Vassallo: THUG LIFE.

Thanks for pointing that out, Dante; I'll correct the article.

Apr 18, 2016 5:10:59 GMT -5 Dante said:

Regarding Duncan and Isadora's visual similarities and differences, I wanted to bring something up I've seen elsewhere which at the same time I think you shouldn't place any faith in: The endpiece illustration in TAA. This depicts one of the white-faced women pushing a short-haired Quagmire into the back of their car, with a longer-haired Quagmire already pushed to the other end of the seat. TAA's text, specifically page 214, states that the Quagmire nearest to the car's open door is Duncan, with Isadora being behind him farther in. Reading this passage in relation to the endpiece would imply that Duncan is the longer-haired and Isadora the shorter-haired Quagmire. However... Brett Helquist's illustrations are full of inconsistencies with the text, so I don't really think you can take this as evidence of their canonical appearances.

Yeah, I re-read this passage and the triplets' placement inside the car is kind of confusing.

[Dante]

Apr 25, 2016 2:17:32 GMT -5 thedoctororwell said:

Nah, that's my mistake. Bruce hasn't got a surname in the original text, but he has one ("Adams") in the French translation. I actually questioned the official translator about that change she made and she straight-up told me she completely forgot the reason. Rose-Marie Vassallo: THUG LIFE.

Thanks for pointing that out, Dante; I'll correct the article.

Ah, that's interesting. Not really a "mistake," per se, but definitely confusing to readers unacquainted with the French version. It's actually pretty unusual for ASoUE characters to have both a first name and a surname, after all, and quite a few don't have either...

[thedoctororwell]

This is kind of a long one... But a fun one! I've basically rewritten the entire plot of "The Reptile Room".

What was Monty's trip to Peru really about?

[gliquey]

I was under the impression Gustav, Monty's assistant, could not possibly be Gustav Sebald because of something in TUA, although I'm afraid I can't remember what exactly (so I might be making things up). If they were one and the same, the message in Zombies in the Snow warning Monty about Olaf doesn't make much sense to me - surely it has to be written after Olaf becomes Monty's new assistant, by which point Gustav is heavily implied to be dead; if it was written before that, while Gustav was Monty's assistant, why wouldn't Gustav just tell Monty in person?

There is an unsolved mystery here regarding the apparent retcon of Ink's past in TRR. Monty must be lying if we believe Kit in TE, but the minimum he could be lying about is simply when he discovered Ink. He could have discovered the reptile long ago, given it to V.F.D. along with all the other reptiles they used, and now they no longer have use for it, he's reporting to the Herpetological Society that he's discovered a new species of snake.

The day before the Prospero is supposed to be leaving, Klaus got emotional and made a terrible, grievous mistake: he told Olaf something Montgomery didn't want him to know.

This thought has occurred to me before, but it may not be Klaus' fault at all: Olaf knew the Baudelaires were talking to Monty, as he dropped the brass lamp out of the window. I have always presumed that he was able to hear their conversation, and even if he didn't he should have seen Monty tear up a ticket and worked out what his plan was.

Your idea about Monty's true motive in taking the Baudelaires to Peru - especially so very soon after adopting them - is both intriguing and plausible. I don't agree with the five-step plan you lay out for him (especially when Olaf is left alone with every reptile other than Ink - in TSS, it seems like the entire collection was valuable to both sides of V.F.D.), but I like the basic idea behind it. I think Monty simply believed ripping up Stephano's ticket would be enough... but either way there are some problems you haven't explored:

If Monty's assistant was supposed to stay behind and look after the reptiles, why did (a) Gustav have a ticket and (b) Monty tell the Baudelaires before Olaf arrived that their assistant would accompany them to Peru?

If Monty was still involved enough with V.F.D. to adopt the Baudelaires for them, and go with them to Peru - maybe even serving as their apprentice - why did he not recognise Olaf? He's not stupid and Olaf's disguise is transparent. This is a valid question as soon as we accept that Monty is a V.F.D. member, but if he retired long ago and is no longer up to speed on what's happening in V.F.D., it would make his lack of recognition of Olaf more plausible.

[Hermes]

Apr 29, 2016 18:10:26 GMT -5 gliquey said:

I was under the impression Gustav, Monty's assistant, could not possibly be Gustav Sebald because of something in TUA, although I'm afraid I can't remember what exactly (so I might be making things up). If they were one and the same, the message in Zombies in the Snow warning Monty about Olaf doesn't make much sense to me - surely it has to be written after Olaf becomes Monty's new assistant, by which point Gustav is heavily implied to be dead; if it was written before that, while Gustav was Monty's assistant, why wouldn't Gustav just tell Monty in person?

I think the evidence generally thought to be in TUA is simply that Gustav Sebald sent a message to Monty warning him about the new assistant, who could not have been hired until Gustav the assistant was dead. I think the doctor does answer this, by arguing that Gustav the 'assistant' was never a real assistant - this is just an oblique way of speaking about Gustav Sebald.

There's no reason, of course, why they can't be two people; given VFD naming conventions, they might well be named after the same dead person. The main reason for connecting them is that they both died in Swarthy Swamp.

ATWQ adds complications; Gustav (the assistant?) is with Widdershins on his submarine, but Sebald seems already to be at work as a director, given that in FU13 there is an apparent reference to Zombies in the Snow. But that opens up a whole can of worms. Perhaps Sebald's Zombies was a remake of an earlier film.

Maybe we should ask A comet crashing into Earth what he thinks.

There is an unsolved mystery here regarding the apparent retcon of Ink's past in TRR. Monty must be lying if we believe Kit in TE, but the minimum he could be lying about is simply when he discovered Ink. He could have discovered the reptile long ago, given it to V.F.D. along with all the other reptiles they used, and now they no longer have use for it, he's reporting to the Herpetological Society that he's discovered a new species of snake.

Oo, I like that. Another possibility is that while the snake was with Bertrand and Beatrice it wasn't recognised as a new species. (One may naturally think that 'Inky' is short for 'Incredibly Deadly Viper', but another possibility we have discussed before is that it was originally called 'Inky' because of its black skin, and that suggested the name 'IDV' to Monty when he came to name it scientifically.)

Anyway, on any reading, TRR contains much that is mysterious; the visible story clearly does not make complete sense given what we know of VFD, so something has to be reinterpreted.

[thedoctororwell]

Thanks for the quality feedback, guys! I took a break for a few weeks but I'm back now, and readier than ever!

Apr 29, 2016 18:10:26 GMT -5 gliquey said:

why did (a) Gustav have a ticket and (b) Monty tell the Baudelaires before Olaf arrived that their assistant would accompany them to Peru?

Gustav was always supposed to join Monty and the kids at the house and board the Prospero. Monty just lied about him being his previous "assistant". As to why he later decided that his "assistant" would accompany them on the Prospero... I guess he didn't want to waste a perfectly good ticket? If this was supposed to be a two-person VFD mission, and if he expected his new assistant to be part of VFD, he would be expected to bring him on the Prospero as well.

And now... A new theory! This one was requested many, many times by my readers. Highly speculative, but it's one of these morally ambiguous themes you can expect from such a series.

Why were Olaf's parents assassinated?

[Esmé's meme is meh]

I'm truly amazed with your level of analysis, thedoctororwell. Wonderful theory.

[thedoctororwell]

1000 subscribers, guys!
We made it together!

Thanks a million! And now, for something completely different:
...an obscure plot point.

Who was the swimming woman from “The Grim Grotto”?

[gliquey]

Well done for reaching 1000 subscribers - that's wonderful and you deserve every one of them. Thanks for continuing to post here on 667 for those of us who don't have tumblr.

As for your latest post, you make an interesting point about the book being left there on purpose; I think there are a few reasonable explanations for this:
(1) Suspension of disbelief - it's just a point necessary for the plot, with no in-universe justification, as a kind of Chekhov's Classroom thing.
(2) The book being left there was just a coincidence - the message was supposed to be decoded by Widdershins and Fiona, which is what the Baudelaires think was intended (if I recall correctly).
(3) The book was left there on purpose, but only to teach the Baudelaires the code: the fact "Duchess R" is the example plaintext is just because it was written by a member of V.F.D. - they don't have different versions of the same book with examples decoding to every possible member of V.F.D. just to leave as signatures.
(4) The book was left there on purpose, and the fact that "Duchess R" is mentioned is supposed to be picked up on by the Baudelaires: this is your theory.

It is also worth mentioning that while the more astute readers can pick up on two references to Duchess R. outside TUA, the Baudelaires have just heard of a "Duchess" and someone from Winnipeg - they have no good reason to associate these with the phrase "Duchess R", and their assumption that the message is unfinished is not unreasonable. Although this doesn't make it unreasonable for the Duchess to expect them to recognise her name, after their contact with Widdershins and other V.F.D. members.

[thedoctororwell]

Thank you for your support and these comments, Quigley! I agree wholeheartedly.

The next theory is a classic, but it's been requested often:

Who’s who in the VFD Building Committee meeting transcript?

[gliquey]

If you read Jacques’ letter on page 96 of the un-Authorized Autobiography, which was written shortly after the meeting, you’ll see that he calls himself and Lemony “new volunteers” who haven’t finished their apprenticeship. So at this point in time J. and L. are still neophytes even though they are young adults. And since Kit is around their age, it’s probably safe to assume she’s a neophyte as well.

Hmm... the Snicket children were taken and brought into V.F.D. when they were quite young (I feel like they were age 4, although I can't locate where - if anywhere - that is implied), so by the time they're young adults, they're hardly "new" to the organisation. Not finished their apprenticeships, well perhaps: we see at the end of ?4 Lemony basically abandoning his apprenticeship, at least for the time being, and perhaps his siblings also became fed up with V.F.D.'s apprenticeship system.

[thedoctororwell]

Yes, that's what I was going for as well. Lemony, Jacques and Kit are hardly new to the organization, but I suppose any member who hasn't completed his/her apprenticeship and entrance exams would still be considered a neophyte/apprentice.

As to the Snicket siblings' age, I've discussed the matter in this article as well as this one. I personally believe that Kit and Jacques are three years older than Lemony.

[gliquey]

Ah. The "four years old" thing I remembered was Dewey and Kit being that age at the start of the schism (which could perhaps have increased the rate that children were taken at, as one side of V.F.D. or the other raced to make themselves more powerful). Although I know you've argued Lemony's memories of childhood simply don't add up, if we do take the first chapter of TUA as the truth then that picture of him (or a similarly aged child) seems to be of a child 1/2 years old, so this would have been recently after the schism (or a schism, or the initial cause of a schism, or whatever) if K/J are 3 years older.

[lorelai]

To me, it seems like the "grades" of VFD training are neophyte, apprentice, volunteer, rather than the first two being interchangeable. Lemony does mention completing an education/training in ?1, which would be neophyte level, from when they were taken to roughly teenaged years, and then an apprenticeship would include some "in the field" experience before completion and a disguise kit, as Jacques's letter implies/states.
This would also tie in with the bit in TBL about Lemony wanting to volunteer (with emphasis on the verb) at a newspaper--the LS to BB letter that begins with dearest.

[Hermes]

I agree on Lemony, Daniel, Jacques, and the Duchess. K as Kit is plausible, and the line about not recognising one another is a very clever way of making sense of this - though that makes it a bit puzzling why J does recognise L.

If the second R is Ramona, I think it's possible that the second M and L are Matilda (Wormwood) and Laura (Ingalls), both of whom are on Kit's list of books.

That leaves the first M, second J, and S. All the people you mention are possible, though it's hard to say. A possible candidate for J is the captain of the Prospero, who has or at least uses that initial - we don't know what it stands for, though one might wonder if it is 'Julio'. I also wonder if S might be the Prufrock Prep librarian, though again we don't know what the initial would stand for in that case.