Are the Sinister Duo related?

[counto]

Two of the most mysterious and malevolent pair of characters The Man with No Hair and A Beard and The Woman with Hair and No Beard or The Sinister Duo for short, are probably the most ambiguous characters throughout the whole series. 

We know that they're partly responsible for starting the Schism in VFD and turning Olaf to the fire starting side. But other than that, we don't even no what their real names are or their backstory. 

One thing that's really bothered me is the fact they both look almost exactly the same. Now this be because their siblings or cousins perhaps. 

Though they often act like a couple, though this is never confirmed. 


Is it possible that the two are a sort of incestuous relationship with each other? 


They also mentioned having an infant sibling at some point before killing it. Could that infant have been a child of their's? 



I know it sounds a little dark and twisted, but in the world of Lemony Snicket's ASOUE what isn't. 


But I want to hear your thoughts on it. 

[Dante]

There has been speculation, based on the BBRE notes (to page 74) that the sinister duo's names could be Gorgon and Quisling; I never agreed with this exactly, though I now think that it's possible Handler was considering it. However, the idea that they look extremely similar is really a product of the Netflix adaptation; I don't think it's hinted at in the books. With that said, however, Snicket notes in ?1, in describing the Mitchums, that married couples can tend to grow uncannily alike: "I found myself facing a man and a woman who looked so much alike they could only be twins or two people who had been married for a very long time." (p. 87) Their resemblance would also suit classical theories which posit them as siblings to Olaf, or even his parents.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

In ASOUE it seems that there is a tendency for brothers and sisters to act under the same principles even though they used different methods. We have the following examples: snickets, Baudelaires, Quagmire, Fernald and Fiona, Gregor and Ike, Frank and Dewey (and even Ernest). I cannot say that this is positive evidence for this conclusion, but I can say that there is a trend here that can support a headcanon. I don't think this issue is really relevant, however. But I find other questions very relevant like: are they literally members of the supreme court or are they in disguise? Who chooses the members of the supreme court? If there is a supreme court then is there a country similar to the United States in which each city or state can have its own laws but still there is a minimum constitution that must be followed by all? Is this supposed country a democratic confederation formed by different kingdoms and republics? Is Winnipeg under the jurisdiction of that country? When and how did they manage to steal the eagles? Didn't they know the use of those green sticks until they read about it in the Snicket file? Are they really Olaf's mentors? Or are they just allies?

[counto]

Gorgon and Quisling? Interesting choices for names.

I actually did some research on the meaning behind the names and this is what I found out.

Quisling is a word that means a traitor who collaborates with the enemy in order to occupy a country. Ironically it's also the name of Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally headed the government of German occupied Norway in World War II.

Gorgon is based on the Greek mythological monster with snakes for hair, Medusa for example.

I think that if Lemony would give them these names it would make a lot of sense.

In The Grim Grotto, we learn about the Medusoid Mycelium. A bio-weapon and venomous mushroom created by Gregor Anwhistle in the Gorgonian Grotto underneath Anwhistle Aquatics.
The Sinister Duo seem very interested in having it.

The Woman with Hair, could be direct reference to Medusa's snake hair.

Quisling also makes sense, since they're both former Volunteers turned traitors.

Why they betrayed VFD, we may never know.

[Dante]

That is reasonable, to propose that there is almost a sense of interchangeability between them (although the text of TPP does introduce a difference); and it reminds me of one of my favourite lines from a fanfic, one by a classic 667er called Dupin, in which he had the woman say to her counterpart: "Next time, you wear the hair, and I'll wear the beard." One could easily imagine such a line being in canon, no?

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

I think it's just a bald man and a normal woman. The way Snicket writes has only comic value, I think.

[Uncle Algernon]

Well, in TPP, we find this quote: 

We've searched the childhood home of the man with a beard but no hair, and interviewed the math teacher of the woman with hair but no beard. 

I have always maintained that this phrasing implies very strongly that the MWABBNH and the WWHBNB shared neither a childhood home nor a math teacher. Which in turn suggests that they are not siblings. It is not impossible that they would have been separated like the Quagmires, or something of that kind, but it certainly makes the idea farther-fetched than it otherwise would be. 

I suppose it is possible that they would be cousins. A lot of people in VFD do seem to be related to one degree or another, anyway. 

Their being a married couple hits closer to the mark, I should think, but I honestly prefer them to be a rare (albeit villainous) example of a duo of best friends of opposite genders. Just two people who, somewhere along the road, discovered they thought alike in every matter, including their love of burning things, and, from then out, decided to stick together for the long haul, just not in a romantic way.

I quite like Justice Gorgon and Justice Quisling — note that the Sinister Duo's metaphorically-petrifying "aura of menace" would echo the ability of Medusa the Gorgon to literally petrify whosoever looks upon her ghastly visage. But I'm not quite convinced that this was Handler's intention; the fact that "Gorgon" is capitalized in the list has to be weighed against the fact that it is next to the names of other imaginary humanoid monsters, such as “ghoul”. The term is commonly capitalised in fantasy writing in much the same way that "Dragon" or "Elf" sometimes are, to lend them artificial weight. This leaves "Quisling", which I do agree was likely meant to be another villain, because there is no particular reason to capitalize it otherwis — but in the absence of a female counterpart there is no particular reason to link him to the MWHBNB.

…Oh, and this is tangential, but I don't understand the "hoarse" voice to necessarily be the worn, withered voice of a thin old man, as was proposed upthread. I rather imagine a deep, raspy, growly kind of voice — not unlike what R.E.G. brought to the table in the Netflix series, albeit perhaps a little gravellier. 

[vfds321s]

Aug 20, 2020 22:53:37 GMT -5 counto said:

Why they betrayed VFD, we may never know.

There are some interesting reasons in the thread found here: asoue.proboards.com/thread/35560/sinister-duo

[Agathological]

After viewing the Netfilx series; I consider that they are brother and sister, but not just due to their costume.

The whole series is all about siblings and families; the Baudelaire's, Snicket's, Denoument's, Quagmires, Powder Faced Woman etc. I consider that they are brother and sister and just add to the list.

[Seymour Glass]

In my headcanon, they are brother and sister.