Lucafont's past?!

[Dante]

MagePRant said:

Maybe he lost his hands to the Lachrymose Leeches? Or maybe they were burned off? Or eaten by lions or eagles? I personally favor the first two of these theories.

I was also thinking about how, in the old days, theives had their hand(s) cut off as punishment. Maybe that happened to him after he stole something, maybe even the sugarbowl? If it was the sugar bowl, he obviously got caught.

Also, he likes to play cards (mentioned in TSS and TGG), so maybe he was caught cheating? (some people in the West were killed for cheating at cards, so it could happen.)

Did the VFD cut them off? That would explain the evil in the VFD, and also why he won't tell Fiona what happened to his hands (because he's ashamed of stealing/cheating). Its kind of extreme, I know, but hey, this is Lemony Land we're in.

“Our stepfather knew Jacques Snicket,” Fiona said. “He was a good man, but Count Olaf murdered him. Are you a murderer, too? Did you kill Gregor Anwhistle?”

In grim silence, the hook-handed man held his hooks in front of the children. “The last time you saw me,” he said to Fiona, “I had two hands instead of hooks. Our stepfather probably didn’t tell you what happened to me – he always said there were secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know. What a fool!”

Note how, when asked about whether he killed Gregor Anwhistle, Fernald starts talking about losing his hands. I think that there's a reason for that - Gregor Anwhistle, I believe, was directly connected to the loss of Fernald's hands.

[RockSunner]

Fight said:

Note how, when asked about whether he killed Gregor Anwhistle, Fernald starts talking about losing his hands. I think that there's a reason for that - Gregor Anwhistle, I believe, was directly connected to the loss of Fernald's hands.

I agree with you, more or less, but I think the solution may have more twists. Some of the assumption people are making may not be true.

1) Assumption: Fernald was involved in the Anwhistle Aquatics fire.
We don't know this for sure. The only evidence we have is the Daily Punctilio article. L.S. casts doubt on the truth of some article that Widdershins asserted was completely true -- I suspect it was this one. Widdershins himself was involved in that attack (TGG p.310), so he has reason to lie about it. Maybe someone else, perhaps even Jacques Snicket, was his accomplice, and not Fernald at all.

2) Assumption: Gregor Anwhistle died in that fire.
He may have been kidnapped instead. Lemony suggested he may have rescued a kidnapped ichnologist. Is that a mere example? IMHO, it's much too specific to be that.

My theory is that Fernald lost his hands as a result of some sort of punishment inflicted on him by the V.F.D. for the Anwhistle fire, which he did not commit, and that this drove him into Olaf's gang. Possibly the Baudelaire parents were involved in this somehow, since he says "even your parents..."

[SnicketFires]

RockSunner said:

I agree with you, more or less, but I think the solution may have more twists. Some of the assumption people are making may not be true.

1) Assumption: Fernald was involved in the Anwhistle Aquatics fire.
We don't know this for sure. The only evidence we have is the Daily Punctilio article. L.S. casts doubt on the truth of some article that Widdershins asserted was completely true -- I suspect it was this one. Widdershins himself was involved in that attack (TGG p.310), so he has reason to lie about it. Maybe someone else, perhaps even Jacques Snicket, was his accomplice, and not Fernald at all.

But Widdershins played with his mustache when he said that it was true. I've speculated that this means he's being untruthful.

TGG, page 77: The captain sighed, and raised one finder to fiddle with the curl of his mustache.
He goes on to talk about Anwhistle Aquatics, and how it is "ancient history".

TGG, page 120: "Aye!" Captain Widdershins admitted, and smoothed his moustache with one gloved finger. "Well, I'm going to tell VFD all about this! Aye! All four of you volunteers will recieve citations for bravery!"
Again, how does Widdershins contact VFD if his Volunteer Factual Dispatch telegram machine doesn't work? I've never viewed this statement as true.

I thought there was another one, but my commonplace book doesn't seem to hold it. I'll look again.

Edit: Found it.

TGG, page 78: "G.G.?" Captain Widdershins said and stroked his moustache thoughtfully. "I've never seen an oval like that on a chart like this"
Again, being a volunteer, wouldn't he be trained in VFD's safe places (well, it isn't anymore) or unsafe places? Also, I'm trying to say something about his lack of navigational skills.

[Dante]

Widdershins wanted to keep dangerous secrets like that away from children. Gorgonian Grotto is arguably a highly dangerous place that nobody should know about unless it's strictly necessary.

And I think that when he said he'd tell V.F.D. about it, he meant some time in the future, when all the troubles were over - or possibly at the meeting on Thursday. It will be interesting to see if he's in attendance, if the meeting goes ahead.

[Antenora]

RockSunner said:

My theory is that Fernald lost his hands as a result of some sort of punishment inflicted on him by the V.F.D. for the Anwhistle fire, which he did not commit, and that this drove him into Olaf's gang. Possibly the Baudelaire parents were involved in this somehow, since he says "even your parents..."

I personally doubt that the Baudelaire parents or other noble VFDers would cut a man's hands off, an action more or less equivalent to the evil half's philosophy of fighting fire with fire. But perhaps I'm making the same mistaken assumption as the orphans themselves, that those who seem to be noble must always be so.

Perhaps the Baudelaire parents really did do this to him; perhaps even they were volatile.