Post by doetwin on Jun 7, 2017 21:23:30 GMT -5
I always found it odd how Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire didn't use their secret passageway to escape from the fire, particularly since Jacques explicitly told Quigley that this was what the passageways were designed for. And unlike the Quagmire parents, they children were out of the house, and so they only had themselves to worry about. This would be explained, however, if Count Olaf had set fire to their mansion from this passageway. He could have carried a torch through the passageway, opened up the trapdoor to the mansion, and threw the torch into whatever room the trapdoor was in. I can think of two possibilities as to how he prevented the parents from escaping.
1. At the end of TEE, Count Olaf demonstrated that he had the tools to lock up the trapdoor from the outside, as the Baudelaire had to use crowbars to break through. Perhaps he also had the tools to lock up the trapdoor from the inside. If he did do this, the Baudelaire parents would have been hopelessly trapped inside the house, and since probably just about every object was on fire, they would have no means to use anything as a crowbar like their kids did.
2. Count Olaf was carrying a second torch. After using one of the torches to start the fire, the Baudelaire parents opened up the trapdoor only to find Count Olaf waiting right below, and Count Olaf used that second torch to burn the Baudelaire parents to death himself. This would definitely be consistent with his ruthless and violent nature that he demonstrated in other books.
1. At the end of TEE, Count Olaf demonstrated that he had the tools to lock up the trapdoor from the outside, as the Baudelaire had to use crowbars to break through. Perhaps he also had the tools to lock up the trapdoor from the inside. If he did do this, the Baudelaire parents would have been hopelessly trapped inside the house, and since probably just about every object was on fire, they would have no means to use anything as a crowbar like their kids did.
2. Count Olaf was carrying a second torch. After using one of the torches to start the fire, the Baudelaire parents opened up the trapdoor only to find Count Olaf waiting right below, and Count Olaf used that second torch to burn the Baudelaire parents to death himself. This would definitely be consistent with his ruthless and violent nature that he demonstrated in other books.
