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Post by jfields36695 on Jul 19, 2021 9:11:37 GMT -5
Every time I read TUA, I notice toward the end, the caption underneath a picture says it turns out there's another floor above the penthouse, which I can only assume is referring to 667 Dark Avenue. Anyone have any ideas as to what could be located there?
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Jul 19, 2021 17:23:59 GMT -5
I always imagined that the city's secret VFD base was there.
VFD is an international secret organization with several headquarters. The big problem, as I have said several times, is that because it is a secret organization, material goods need to be in the name of individuals and not in the name of legal entities. This is the biggest complicating factor in the ASOUE universe. The secret VFD base in the City had a secret elevator and secret entrance, and had to be abandoned by VFD members and sold to a single rich man who was not a VFD member but was friends with VFD members such as Jacques and Beatrice . However, after Olaf's schism, this situation became very complicated. Olaf decided to destroy VFD in a kind of guerrilla tactic, by removing VFD's financial resources. He was trying to burn VFD properties. But insured wealth would not cause permanent damage to the VFD. This was the case with the inheritance of the Baudelaires and of the city's headquarters. Olaf needed to take them legally. He had an ally marry Jerome. He tried to marry Violet. He has made an ally responsible for some precious gemstones. And of course, he blackmailed the building committee into likely signing some documents that exonerated VFD from riches.
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Post by Hermes on Jul 22, 2021 12:21:44 GMT -5
One must remember that TUA is unauthorised, and not everything in it is reliable. On the other hand, the 'up' button on the ersatz elevator is also evidence of a floor above the penthouse.
I certainly think 667 was once a VFD headquarters, hence the passageway, and think it likely the the building committee meeting in TUA happens there, and is what led to the penthouse being sold to Jerome. The obvious reading would be that the penthouse itself was the HQ, but perhaps the penthouse was the living quarters, and the floor above was the place where actual secret acivities happened. But it's odd in that case that L seems surprised to discover there was a floor above the penthouse.
Perhaps the penthouse itself was the volunteer headquarters, and the space above it a villainous headquarters? Or at least a place where villains could sometimes hide?
(As noted in another thread, I'm doubtful that O is primarily targeting VFD. I think the reason the penthouse was sold to Jerome, to protect it, and the reason E married Jerome, to overcome the protection, primarily have to do with access to the passageway.)
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Post by Hermes on Aug 16, 2021 17:02:04 GMT -5
Another possibility is that the floor above the penthouse is where VFD planes (and airships?) dock.
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TheAsh
Formidable Foreman
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Post by TheAsh on Aug 19, 2021 10:17:27 GMT -5
There was almost certainly a floor above the penthouse, with VFD's headquarters there. There area number of pieces of evidence to it, besides the TUA reference. First of all there must have once been an elevator in the other shaft, otherwise, how would people reach the penthouse from the secret passageway?
Second, there's an up button for the other shaft. This suggests the elevator once went up. Third, VFD must have at one point disabled the elevator as we see in TEE that the second elevator is missing. However, it is very hard to dismantle an elevator. Most likely, they jammed it on the top floor. That is the only plausible location where the elevator could be, as the Baudelaires fall all the way to the bottom.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Aug 19, 2021 10:23:28 GMT -5
So let me get this straight... If we were in the old days, as long as this floor was in operation... If I wanted to get to the secret base I would do it from the floor where Jerome is currently living. I would need to get to the floor where Jerome lives using the normal elevator. After that I would use the second elevator door to get to the floor above. This same elevator could also take me directly to the secret tunnel that connected the Baudelaire mansion to the building. That's it? It's been a long time since I read TEE from beginning to end.
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TheAsh
Formidable Foreman
Posts: 175
Likes: 99
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Post by TheAsh on Aug 19, 2021 10:35:22 GMT -5
So let me get this straight... If we were in the old days, as long as this floor was in operation... If I wanted to get to the secret base I would do it from the floor where Jerome is currently living. I would need to get to the floor where Jerome lives using the normal elevator. After that I would use the second elevator door to get to the floor above. This same elevator could also take me directly to the secret tunnel that connected the Baudelaire mansion to the building. That's it? It's been a long time since I read TEE from beginning to end. That's exactly it.its practically canon in my opinion.
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