Fire at the Baudelaire Mansion

[jcgsebald]

Olaf.

[Sugary Snicket]

(To Tune of Oscar Meyer Balony song)
The starter has a title, it's C-O-U-N-T
The starter has a name; it is O-L-A-F (Uh, blank?)

[Jacques the Environmentalist]

In other words, Olaf did it? Ok then.

[Sugary Snicket]

snicketfires said:

I voted Olaf, but I agree that Esmé must have had some involvement.

No, Esme and Olaf didn't really meet until.... Oh, wait, they must have met some time ago, but I think AFTER he burnt the Baudelaire mansion. I also think that, because there was a passageway under the mansion, that maybe one or both of the parents survived, but are in hiding from Olaf and Olaf just thinks they're dead.

[Dante]

Would Olaf, on the run from the police since TBB, really have been able to become an acting teacher and meet Esmé, and then teach her to act, over a long period of time, in the space between TBB and TEE?

[Antenora]

I think Olaf has known Esme for a long time before the Baudelaire fire, and they've been allies for years. Possibly since the schism, or before it.

[Dante]

If the transcript in the U.A. represents the meeting at which V.F.D. finally broke up, possibly after a long period of tension and behind-the-scenes in-fighting, Olaf and Esmé definitely knew each other before it (unless we choose to believe that O. and E. are not Olaf and Esmé). Or at least, that's my view.

[Sugary Snicket]

I get your point, but I think Olaf bumped into Esme someplace and trained her in his spare time. Or, maybe Esme was one of the troupe members that Snicket refused to describe.

[Dante]

Actually, I think the possibility that Esmé was one of the undescribed troupe members has been put forward before. However, the Baudelaires served dinner to the entire troupe that night, and they'd probably have recognised her in TEE if she'd been in attendance.

[Antenora]

I think the undescribed troup members included the wart-faced man, the woman with short hair, and the three little men who were helping with the set and such at the play. Didn't Olaf say the Baudelaires had to make dinner for 10 people?

[Dante]

That's true, which is more evidence against Esmé Squalor. Oddly, though, Olaf asks that they prepare a meal for the ten members of his theater troupe, but doesn't even mention himself (the eleventh person at the table).

(Also, I've decided that I'd like to see those forgotten troupe members return at some point. It would be nice to find out that they've been up to something in the Baudelaire's hometown while Olaf's been away.)

[Antenora]

I agree; at least, we should have the wart-faced man accounted for at some point, as he was listed among the troupe members who escaped with Olaf.

[Dante]

I remain firmly convinced that Handler forgot about the wart-faced man - or decided to drop him with no warning, because he wasn't needed.

Although it's possible (tenuous link to this thread) that those missing troupe members are now working at The Daily Punctilio, or are serving with the O.F.D. (which I believe is responsible for burning down a number of mansions in the city). Yeah, I pretty much just decided that I like them, and want them to reappear sometime, and I thought that those were nice ideas.

Further conversation on forgotten troupe members probably belongs here, now that I think about it.

[Shelly]

Yep, all signs point Olaf!!

[MsMourning]

tocuna said:

I concur with PJ--all the evidence points in Olaf's direction.

However, I don't completely deny the possibility of Esme's involvement, or the possibility that various allies of Olaf helped him start the fire. But Olaf was certainly the driving force behind it.

I completely agree. Of course Lemony has been known to surprise us.