The long curved object in "The Grim Grotto"

[thedoctororwell]

(I'm French and still in high school so don't worry if my sentences sound weird. Don't kill me, if it's not too much to ask.)
So, I think everybody here wondered at least one time what was this long, curved and unindentified object in book the eleventh. We know it's very big, even bigger than Olaf's and Widdershins' submarines. We know that it appears on a sonar detector. We know it looks like a snake in its shape. Widdershins says it is even worse than Olaf, and doesn't want to tell to Fiona and the Baudelaires what it is, because it's a terrible secret. Olaf is also afraid of it, and Esmé thinks that their submarine is no match for that thing.
So my theory about that is quite strange... I think it's just a... Whale. Yeah. Whales got a sonar system, like dolphins, if I correctly remenber. And they're enormous, and quite long in their shape. Maybe it was a whale trained by the volonteers a long time ago. We can easily imagine that she went berserk due to an accident, and that she attacks now both sides of the schisme. And Fiona's mother might have been killed in this accident : this could explain why Widdershins didn't want to tell it in front of her.
What do you think of that ?
Am I ridiculous ?

[Antenora]

It's possible that the Question Mark is some kind of sea creature, but it seems the wrong shape to be a whale--they're not quite so long and thin. Since it looked like a snake, it could be an enormous sea serpent. There could well be sea serpents in the Snicket-world; we've seen some pretty unusual creatures in past books, such as the cathedral-toad and the Lachrymose Leeches. And VFD trains reptiles, so they could have attempted to train a sea serpent that communicates by sonar for use in underwater missions. We're free to speculate on the matter of the Question Mark, since Lemony actually says that he won't tell us what it is.

[thedoctororwell]

Yeap. But look ! In LSUA there's map of Lousy Lane and there's a sea serpent near Deadalus Dock ! Coincidence ?

[Dante]

Quite possibly, yes. Generic "Here Be Dragons" addition to make the edges of the map more interesting. Just like the yeti in the mountains.

I don't believe we'll ever find out what it is in the series, as Snicket said he'd never tell us: They could not tell, just as I will not tell, if it was some horrifying mechanical device, such as a submarine, or some ghastly creature of the sea. (Page 311 or 312.) However, we're perfectly free to make up our own minds.

The way the question mark is described reminds me very much of the man with a beard but no hair and the woman with hair but no beard - Lemony refuses to disclose their names, and he refuses to disclose the truth about the question mark; the sinister duo are so terrible that they frighten Olaf, and so does the question mark. Olaf and Esmé, who seem to know what it is, since they fled from it on two occasions rather than staying to observe or fight, and Esmé says "This octopus is no match for that thing." Count Olaf actually says "We don’t want to show up on their sonar!" This latter comment indicates that it is a submarine, as while a few marine animals have similar echolocation systems, they are referred to as echolocation or as biosonar, and not as sonar. So, in short, I believe that it's an enormous submarine manned by villains - possibly they claim dominion over the undersea world, and will destroy anyone who intrudes on what they see as their domain; possibly they're simply out to destroy all rivals or enemies or individuals who might fail them, as Olaf tried to destroy volunteers and villains alike in TPP; even with this choice, there's a lot of flexibility. However, you could argue that it's a robot of some sort, or that it's some sort of cyborg, or that Olaf and Esmé just judged it on size and didn't want to get into a fight, and merely assumed that it was a submarine.

[thedoctororwell]

That's what I call an objective mind, though I don't believe that this submarine was controlled by villains... Olaf is in good terms with TMWBBNH and TWWHBNB in TSS, and so in TPP. And Olaf said they lent him this submarine !

[Dante]

Actually, they lent him a "handful" of their kidnapped children, or "new recruits." Olaf said he stole the submarine.

And I doubt that all the villains are working together. Some are probably just interested in themselves.

[Grace]

I always wondered how everyone knows this is a bad submarine (or rather, has bad people inside it). It could be threatening to Olaf because it could be those powerful volunteers (and there aren't many left).

Course, it could be the obvious Sinister Duo.

[Shelly]

I think it's a big enemy that's so threatening that everyone has to run away.

(it's just a theory, so bear with me.)

[lauren]

Yeah exactly both sides of the schism are threatened by it...oh and I do think it isTMWABBNH and TWWHBNB's sub, but that theory is very interesting. If it were a sea creature I do not think it is a whale because of the shape...maybe a gigantic eal or as suggested before, a sea serpent. The sinister duo could be riding this sea creature like they rode the eagles...

[Antenora]

Maybe if the Question Mark is in fact a giant serpent, it has legs/claws in which it could carry a little submarine or bathysphere. I'm not sure whether the Sinister Duo control it, though, or in fact if anyone controls it. This monster, if that's what it is, could just be an independent agent of destruction.

[RockSunner]

A sea-serpent seems too linear to be the "question mark." My favorite creature for this monster is a gigantic chambered nautilus. The tentacles form the curve and the shell forms the dot at the end. Anyway, that's what I used in "The Intractable Interrogator." Villians could ride in its shell, too.

[lauren]

Woah! You've thought this through haven't you I've never even heard of the creature...but now that I think about I can invision Lemony describing an animal most readers have never heard of, rather than just a fictional sea serpent.

[PJ]

rocksunner said:

A sea-serpent seems too linear to be the "question mark." My favorite creature for this monster is a gigantic chambered nautilus. The tentacles form the curve and the shell forms the dot at the end. Anyway, that's what I used in "The Intractable Interrogator." Villians could ride in its shell, too.

It says that it curls and uncurls, I think, so it's probably not a Nautilus.

I prefer the Sea Snake idea, personally, just because it's so much cooler than any other theory.

[Antenora]

I think the creature's compared to a huge version of Olaf's eyebrow at one point, which implies that it doesn't constantly retain its question-mark form. If it's a serpent, maybe it usually carries its tail in a curve, perhaps for the purpose of holding a small submarine.

[Ennui]

I love elements like the Question Mark. Gifts to the imagination of the reader. So for me, it will always remain the Cocytus...