vfds321s
Catastrophic Captain
Posts: 76
Likes: 10
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Post by vfds321s on Dec 13, 2018 11:23:08 GMT -5
I have wondered today about the two things that are feared by both sides and make Olaf look like a saint:
The Sinister Duo (Unnamed except as The Man with a Beard but No Hair and The Woman with Hair but No Beard)
The Great Unknown (Unseen but known in ATWQ as the Bombinating Beast and the Question Mark)
Which one is scarier? And given the Duo's aura of menace, are even they afraid of the Great Unknown
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Post by Uncle Algernon on Dec 13, 2018 14:23:47 GMT -5
Perhaps the Great Unknown belongs to the Sinister Duo — who knows?
Personally, I would say that the Duo are scarier by virtue that they could track you down (or have their assassins and miscellaneous agents track you down) anywhere, whereas you can presumably deal with the Great Unknown by just keeping away from all large bodies of water, which is tough but not impossible.
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Post by Hermes on Dec 13, 2018 15:41:18 GMT -5
The Sinister Duo are scarier. The Sinister Duo are unequivocally evil. The Great Unknown is Unknown. (I don't think it is established that it is the BB - there were reports from filming that a Beast would appear, but we've now seen that the Carmelita looks quite like a beast, so I don't think that settles the matter. And TIHOSO still says that the story ends with the Great Unknown.)
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Post by Foxy on Dec 14, 2018 7:44:14 GMT -5
whereas you can presumably deal with the Great Unknown by just keeping away from all large bodies of water, which is tough but not impossible. I love this sentiment; it makes me chuckle. I would definitely go with the duo, because they are people, and they are terrifying (even though they play with finger puppets). If I had to choose between facing the people or the beast, I think I would choose the beast, because maybe he is not scary at all and is just gravely misunderstood.
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Post by Dante on Dec 14, 2018 13:21:30 GMT -5
Who's to say the Great Unknown could not appear as a shadow in the clouds, or a rumbling in distant forests?
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Post by Violent BUN Fortuna on Dec 14, 2018 20:54:53 GMT -5
I would say that the Great Unknown is scarier, because of the very fact that it is unknown. As Dumbledore says, 'It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more."
The Sinister Duo are known to be cruel, to be evil, to be ruthless. But how much more terrible could The Great Unknown be? How much more powerful? However awful The Sinister Duo are, they are unequivocally human, and therefore weak, fallible, and defeatable. But The Great Unknown is this mysterious entity which, whether good or evil, is most undoubtedly far more powerful than any human alone can be. When facing The Sinister Duo, you can at least feel that you might manage to be a match for them. But The Great Unknown represents everything that is beyond human control, and that is a quite terrifying thing to face indeed. Terrifying and awe-inspiring.
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Post by counto on Aug 20, 2020 23:18:43 GMT -5
The Great Unknown is a mythical monster that can be summoned and controlled by a statue of it, as seen in ATWQ. The creature itself isn't sinister, it's just neutral. The Sinister Duo however are purely evil. Implied to be even more evil than Count Olaf.
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Post by Dante on Aug 21, 2020 2:52:27 GMT -5
Well, that's one interpretation. But either way, unlike the sinister duo, the Great Unknown can't be negotiated with.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Aug 21, 2020 6:39:45 GMT -5
I need to revise my theory about TGU. When I wrote it I was committed to my theory that inside the SB there was a whistle capable of controlling a giant ferocious animal in the form of a question mark. (Besides, I was committed to the theory that Beatrice survived for many years after the fire in her house). I need to remove the shadows of these outdated theories from my TGU theory. And I think we’ll have something a little better. But briefly, I presented evidence that there is both a gigantic animal in the ASOUE oceans and a submarine that appears in sonar as having the shape of a question mark.
Captain W first showed fear of what he himself said was a submarine vessel, which appeared in the sonar in the form of a question mark. He said it would be worse than Olaf, probably. So the captain is afraid of a submarine. But after that, he decided to go to an entity in the form of a question mark at sea. If he thought it was a submarine, he would have fled just like Kit. On the other hand, he decided to swim up to that. Therefore, the captain did not believe that this was a submarine. At least not that time he had eye contact with the entity. (the first time he had contact only through sonar). According to Captain W, in sonar things are demonstrated as a 2D projection of something in 3D, something like a shadow on a wall, as he himself exemplified. In addition, we noticed that the Carmelita appears as a 2D projection of an eye in the sonar, despite having a 3D octopus shape.
Thus, Captain W, when he had visual contact with the entity, realized that that time that entity (at the end of TE) was the animal. Probably a trained animal (like one of Uncle Monty's reptiles). Captain W believed that animal was there to save him. (If he believed that that was the submarine, he would have run away).
Olaf believed he was being chased by a submarine, as he referred to the entity as having passive sonar, and even said that "they" could detect noise through sonar. Olaf was closer to the entity that was chasing him, so the chances of Olaf having had eye contact with the submarine are high (greatly increasing the chances that the entity that chased him was in fact the submarine). On the other hand, when the Baudelaires had partial contact with an entity at the end of TGG, they probably partially saw a large sea snake, as the behavior of curling and unfolding is more characteristic of an animal than of a gigantic mechanical structure. In addition, the entity's silhouette was indeed slender like a snake, and in fact looked a lot like the 2D projection that appeared in sonar.
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vfds321s
Catastrophic Captain
Posts: 76
Likes: 10
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Post by vfds321s on Aug 24, 2020 14:05:14 GMT -5
Well, that's one interpretation. But either way, unlike the sinister duo, the Great Unknown can't be negotiated with. When has anyone EVER been successful at reasoning or negotiating with them? Besides their aura of menace, they are causers of chaos and anarchy above all else.
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Post by Dante on Aug 24, 2020 16:21:38 GMT -5
When has anyone EVER been successful at reasoning or negotiating with them? Besides their aura of menace, they are causers of chaos and anarchy above all else. They make a number of concessions in TSS. One of the white-faced women convinces them that Sunny is merely an innocent baby and not a spy, and when the disguised Baudelaires propose trading the sugar bowl's location for Sunny Baudelaire, the sinister duo overrule Olaf to ensure the deal is taken. They're willing to listen to the opinions of others, at one point advocate against needless violence (p. 186), are cautious around volunteers and are willing to give up one advantage in favour of a more attractive one. In short, they can be engaged with as reasonable people, if extremely evil ones. The Great Unknown, on the other hand, simply can't be engaged with.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Aug 24, 2020 20:36:06 GMT -5
When has anyone EVER been successful at reasoning or negotiating with them? Besides their aura of menace, they are causers of chaos and anarchy above all else. They make a number of concessions in TSS. One of the white-faced women convinces them that Sunny is merely an innocent baby and nto a spy, and when the disguised Baudelaires propose trading the sugar bowl's location for Sunny Baudelaire, the sinister duo overrule Olaf to ensure the deal is taken. They're willing to listen to the opinions of others, at one point advocate against needless violence (p. 186), are cautious around volunteers and are willing to give up one advantage in favour of a more attractive one. In short, they can be engaged with as reasonable people, if extremely evil ones. The Great Unknown, on the other hand, simply can't be engaged with. Look Dante, I don't think I ever understood the sinister duet as well as I do now. Subconsciously I understood what you said, but now everything is clearer. They are more interesting characters than just two generic villains.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Aug 25, 2020 1:27:05 GMT -5
Someone needs to write a musical about the sinster duet
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Post by counto on Aug 25, 2020 5:12:11 GMT -5
I'd be very interested if ASOUE had a Broadway musical
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Post by R. on Aug 25, 2020 7:02:59 GMT -5
Me too! I always wanted an ASOUE musical!
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