Revolting Reading: TBB

[Glittery666]

Chapter 6:
Olaf getting a pet the dog moment.Also, I’m kind of craving oatmeal now.Maybe in the morning.
Olaf must’ve hit Klaus really hard for him to still have a bruise a couple days later.
As a kid, Olaf demanding Violet play the bride was weird and kind of funny, as an adult it’s f’ing creepy.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 7:
The Baudelaires honestly had the right idea to tell Justice Strauss that they were genuinely interested in the law books
rather than their true motives, since Strauss would probably tell Olaf since she trusts him at this point.
I kind of would like to know a bit more about Justice Strauss’ past, it sounds kind of interesting.
The lady leaving money to her weasel kind of reminds me of Aristocats.
Chapter 8:
Just based on the first few books alone, I would have thought that Olaf just wanted to marry Violet for money,
but looking at some of his comments in the later ones it seems like he’s genuinely attracted to her.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 9:
Theory:The unused logs are intended for future fires.
Now that’s what I call a master manipulator.
Chapter 10:
The Henchperson has white eyes?How did I not notice that before?
I guess those clothes from Mrs Poe were good for something after all.

[Glittery666]

Chapter 11:
Is the tower room Olaf’s bedroom?
Chapter 12:
Justice Strauss is so excited about being in a play that she doesn’t seem aware of how suspicious everything is.
We never see the wart-faced man again.Honestly I don’t think he’s part of the troupe, but the owner of the theatre
(he’s apparently important-looking).
Chapter 13:
I must admit, the joke about Sunny being all tied up is kind of funny.
This is the bravest we ever see Mr Poe.
It would have been cool for the Baudelaires to go live with Justice Strauss, but she’s right next door
to Count Olaf and is a coworker of the Sinister Duo.Plus, if they moved in with her they never would have met Uncle Monty.

[TheAsh]

Joining this a little late:

Just want to share three possibilities on the Baudelaire fire:

The biggest question on the fire is "Why now?" what happened that caused this fire to start particularly now? Everyone knew where the Baudelaires lived, so its strange it didn't happen until now.

1) The fire was an accident. This is certainly a real possibility.

2) Something happened at the dinner party, which caused the fire to start (originally they were not planning on burning it down, but then Beatrice or Bertrand revealed something they should have not.)

3) It was preplanned to happen now, because something else inspired it. The dinner party was a distraction, but the fire was always intended to happen.

I think we need to answer this question to seriously figure out the cause.

I have two possibilities.

1) Something related to the sugar bowl. This is strongly implied by Dismal Dinner, and this can answer our question: Whoever started the fire was unaware that the Baudelaires currently had possession of the sugar bowl, but once they found out (either at the dinner or before), they started the fire to obtain it. This explanation is heavily favored by the fan community. I personally am not so convinced.

2) They wanted to draft Sunny into VFD. This is my preferred explanation. Almost all other fires in the series that result in orphans were apparently set to draft babies into VFD and kidnap them. It's strongly implied that lemony's parents were supposed to give him to VFD as well, and he was kidnapped when they refused. If this is true, we can answer what caused the fire: the Baudelaires were supposed to have given up their children to VFD, but when they refused, the fire was started to ensure the children ended up there (which is what indeed happened, when Olad got a hold of them). I favor this explanation because its strongly hinted to in the books itself ("you were appraintances to Count Olaf) and explains Mr. Poe's strange behavior with the placement of the children - he is ensuring they remain within VFd's care.

[Tiran O'Saurus]

There was no "dinner party". As I said before, the kids are at Briny Beach in the morning.

[TheAsh]

Jan 16, 2023 11:02:27 GMT -5 Tiran O'Saurus said:

There was no "dinner party". As I said before, the kids are at Briny Beach in the morning.

That's a good point. Odd I never thought about that.

[J. S.]

The dinner party in which The Dismal Dinner is set was the fourth-to-last dinner party their parents hosted before their death.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

The first question on the subject is: how canonical is Dismal Dinner? I am referring to the fact that it is very likely that DD takes place in the universe of the film and not in the literary universe.

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Uncle Algernon did an incredible analysis on this, but the final word is that several pieces (like the presence of the sugar bowl) only make sense in the book universe. The SB was never introduced in the movie.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Well, that's debatable. There were plans for a sequel. Furthermore, even though I can accept that it is not part of the universe of the film, it is a very big step to say that TDD is necessarily part of the canonical universe of the books. I think it's a promotional campaign, without actually having elaborate thought on the part of Daniel Handler to create that and insert it into the literary universe in an organic way. It seems that he took elements that he found interesting from works in progress or that had recently been published, and created a short story seen from different points of view and simple code to get children to interact. And I think he did it at the request of other people, and not driven by his chaotic creativity that characterizes ASOUE. That's why I think TDD should not be taken seriously for the interpretation of ASOUE.

[Tiran O'Saurus]

And that's fine. Personally, I love looking at the smaller texts like TDD or Hero of the Story, so I count it as canon. It's up to you.

[J. S.]

I agree regarding the short texts. Simply put, I think they are fun. One of my favorites is "My Education", despite it having virtually no implications for the canon at large.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Chapter 3

The subject involving the poisoned plant and the fire in the royal gardens still fascinates me today. Wall that when creating TBB:RE, Daniel Handler thought of creating a plot for it. And later on TBL he again brought up the subject. With the subject of opeaceous-related symptoms being used in TE and ATWQ, and poison darts being used in TGG and TSS, it seems to me that this somehow ties into the fire in the royal gardens. Either a plant that produced opeaceous was stolen, or a plant that produced a poison that could be used in darts. As it clearly talks about poison, I think the second case is more likely. Furthermore, Justice Straus' co-workers must be on the same case. This is just suspicious. The media has been used to cover up the case, and not link the fire to the theft of the poisonous plant. This seems like manipulation to me. In other words, it must have been Olaf who stole and crafted the poison darts. Kit and Jacques Snicket (and by extension Beatrice and Bertrand) must have tried to debunk this. It's interesting how easily we readers believe that Beatrice or Bertrand killed at least one of Olaf's parents, based only on purely circumstantial evidence, incomplete accounts from unreliable people, along with news that has evidently been distorted. That's exactly what happened to Lemony Snicket when he was accused of being an arsonist. That said, it's simply unfair to believe that Beatrice and Bertrand killed Olaf's parents, without them having a chance to defend themselves.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Chapter 4
I didn't remember that the children thought of buying poison to kill Count Olaf. I want to point out that this information is completely coming from Violet's mind. This is evidence for my theory that Lemony read the book on the Island, in which the Baudelaires left personal records.
Chapter 5 already mentions computers. Digital information within the SB becomes even more possible.