J.S, I think I have discovered your true identity!

[PJ]

stewartgilligan said:

5) Justice Strauss. Remember she said that Justice was her TITLE, not her NAME? Unless her real name started with a "J" as well. On the other hand, everyone addressed her as Justice.

But it's such a Snicket thing to do to have her first name being Justice, as well as her title.

[Jacques the Environmentalist]

If I got a dime for how many times someone told me that Justice was her title and not her name and how many times I had to explain to them that that DOESN'T MEAN HER REAL NAME DOESN'T START WITH A J....

And I've always maintained that if everyone knows her as Justice then someone could easily address her JS and her real first name wouldn't be an issue at all.
Jacob Snicket is possible, but I rule out Jacques and Jerome. I don't believe it's Josephine either.

[PJ]

Oh, and we forgot Julio Sham

[Dante]

philipjucker said:

Oh, and we forgot Julio Sham

*snorts with undisguised contempt*

Four words: Generic pseudonyms for disguises.

Explains why Olaf didn't use anagrams of his own name for his disguises, and it also explains why some of them are literary allusions or just plain obviously pseudonyms.

[Ennui]

Do I have to go through this again?

Sham is irony, Baldrick. Irony. I suppose you dismiss the LSUA index as an error? And what other reason-what-would there be for bringing up Sham's first name so arbitrarily?

I do quite like your theory about disguises having names, but that still means there could simply be another volunteer in that particular sea-captain disguise at work, like the one at the helm of the "Prospero".

[Dante]

The U.A. index has "Captain Sham" down under "disguises." That is as correct for my theory as it is for yours.

The irony angle is a new one on me, although I shall stick with simple humour.

As for the U.A. index - many of Olaf's disguises link to "false names." Your point, no doubt, is that all of Olaf's disguise names link to "false names" save for Captain Sham. That was the argument used in the past. However, it has a gaping hole.

Detective Dupin links to "detectives," and Shirley is absent except in its full form, Sinoit-Pecér, Shirley T., which links to "anagrams." Thus the statement that only Captain Sham does not link to "false names" is proven to be incorrect.

As for why Captain Sham links to "disguises," this is because the disguise is used - once again - in this book.

As to what you are referring when you speak of the arbitrary bringing-up of Sham's first name, I do not know what you mean. Please explain.

The point of your last paragraph is also unclear.

[Ennui]

Perhaps I relied too much on the subliminal message...

Why would Snicket have bothered having Josephine tell us Sham's first name is Julio, if he did not intend us to consider that?

"Anagrams" is as good as "false names"-it disproves the idea of someone actually being called, say, Al Funcoot. Detectives in the LSUA are called Smith, Jones, and Smithjones-incogniti to a man. We can perhaps take Dupin in this spirit.

In my last point, I was agreeing that generic names for disguises was a pleasing theory. However, we know that the Captain of the Prospero (clearly neither Olaf nor Jacques from his manner and his PS) is also using the "Julio Sham" kit. Why need not the message in the jam jar be addressed to a volunteer known to be using the "Julio Sham" kit-very likely the same Captain of the Prospero?

[Dante]

ennui said:

Why would Snicket have bothered having Josephine tell us Sham's first name is Julio, if he did not intend us to consider that?

You know that my beliefs about the writing of the series allow me to ignore that - although you may feel free to invoke retroactive continuity, and say that Handler will make it significant later.

"Anagrams" is as good as "false names"-it disproves the idea of someone actually being called, say, Al Funcoot. Detectives in the LSUA are called Smith, Jones, and Smithjones-incogniti to a man. We can perhaps take Dupin in this spirit.

I still win. The argument was always that Captain Sham was the only Olaf disguise name that didn't link to "false names." I have demonstrated that to be false. Sham is no longer an exception to a rule; I can ignore the U.A. index.

ennui said:

In my last point, I was agreeing that generic names for disguises was a pleasing theory. However, we know that the Captain of the Prospero (clearly neither Olaf nor Jacques from his manner and his PS) is also using the "Julio Sham" kit. Why need not the message in the jam jar be addressed to a volunteer known to be using the "Julio Sham" kit-very likely the same Captain of the Prospero?

That is an important variant on the theory. Normally, they always propose that Captain Julio Sham is a real person. However, if it was a volunteer known to be using that disguise and who had done for long periods of time - adopting it as a more permanent role, in perhaps a similar way to Justice Strauss - then I would have no problem with that at all.

[Dear Dairy]

ennui said:

Sham is irony, Baldrick. Irony.

Sham is a pun, Baldrick. A pun.

Irony indicates that a real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. The name Sham is NOT concealed or contradicted - it is literally a "Fake" name.

(nice Blackadder allusion, though)

[Dante]

deardairy2 said:

ennui said:

Sham is irony, Baldrick. Irony.

Sham is a pun, Baldrick. A pun.

Irony indicates that a real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. The name Sham is NOT concealed or contradicted - it is literally a "Fake" name.

(nice Blackadder allusion, though)

His point was that the name "Sham" would be ironic if Captain Sham was a real person, as opposed to the name being fake. It would, in the former scenario, be a contradiction, as the name is not in fact a "sham."

[Jacques the Environmentalist]

I don't believe we'll see more of Julio Sham. I believe it's too late in the series to suddenly revive a dead disguise name and whip out a new character using this name to be central in the book's final mission, Snicket would've done something with Sham by now if he intended to in the series.

[Antenora]

I like the idea of Julio Sham being a disguise pseudonym used by several VFDers. Hence, Olaf could be said to have been disguised as a good VFDer(perhaps one known to Josephine) disguised as Julio Sham.

Since "Detective Dupin" isn't linked to "false names" could it be another such pseudonym--used by several VFDers and used frequently by one? (Shirley T Sinoit-Pecer is linked to "false names" indirectly, through "anagrams".)

[Dante]

tocuna said:

Since "Detective Dupin" isn't linked to "false names" could it be another such pseudonym--used by several VFDers and used frequently by one?

Possibly. Jacques, in his letter to Jerome, reveals (to the reader) that he had been posing as a detective. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd used the name before. Detective Jacques Dupin, perhaps? You don't really want to advertise the fact that you're a Snicket.

[jcgsebald]

Dear Dante,

Esme is not in V.F.D. TBMWNH and TWWHBNB were in V.F.D. and are Olaf's older siblings.

[Linda Rhaldeen]

jcgsebald, do you have any proof that Esme was not in VFD? Due to evidence in TEE and LSUA, it seems to me like she was, or at least knew several VFD secrets.