The Woes of Captain Widdershins

[Brian]

Why was Captain Widdershins so annoying? I didn't particularly like the Grim Grotto, and Widdershins was definitely the worst part. While earlier characters like Sir, Nero, Aunt Josephine and Mr. Poe were delightfully annoying, Widdershins was just plain annoying. I could stand to read about him. Am I the only one who feels this way?

[RockSunner]

Widdershins grew on me as a character after I got the tape with Tim Curry's reading of TGG. He could make every "Aye" sound different - short and angry, long and drawn-out, or with little chuckles and gasps.

[TvSkater]

I could see why you might find him annoying. I kind of enjoyed the "ayes" too, but whenever he said, "He who hesitates is lost" made me want to rip my hair out and throw the book out the window.

[Who wants to know?]

. . . but it was like throwing 10.95 out there 2

[charliebaudelaire2]

I found Widdershin's 'Aye'ing a bit annoying when I read the books, but I love it when Tim Curry reads him on the audio version of TGG. He changes the pitch and style of the words so much, it makes the character much more interesting. I still think Widdershins is a bit irritating, but in a good way, because that's how he's supposed to be!

[SnicketFires]

Brian said:

Why was Captain Widdershins so annoying? I didn't particularly like the Grim Grotto, and Widdershins was definitely the worst part. While earlier characters like Sir, Nero, Aunt Josephine and Mr. Poe were delightfully annoying, Widdershins was just plain annoying. I could stand to read about him. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Brian! Long time, no see.

I found his secret-keeping very annoying. It's the first time the Baudelaire's have been with a full-time VFDer, and he won't tell them anything. *tsk tsk*

[Dante]

Viola said:

I found his secret-keeping very annoying. It's the first time the Baudelaire's have been with a full-time VFDer, and he won't tell them anything. *tsk tsk*

Lemony agrees with his secret-keeping, though - on certain specific secrets, anyway.

But Captain Widdershins was right about one thing. He was right to say that there are secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know, for the simple reason that there are secrets in this world too terrible for anyone to know, whether they are as young as Sunny Baudelaire or as old as Gregor Anwhistle – secrets so terrible that they ought to be kept secret, which is probably how the secrets became secrets in the first place, and one of those secrets is the long, strange shape the Baudelaire orphans saw, first on the Queequeg’s sonar, and then as they held the porthole inplace and stared out into the waters of the sea. Night had fallen – Monday night – so the view outside was very dark, and the Baudelaires could scarcely see this enormous and sinister shape. 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.

[SnicketFires]

Fight said:

Lemony agrees with his secret-keeping, though - on certain specific secrets, anyway.

But Captain Widdershins was right about one thing. He was right to say that there are secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know, for the simple reason that there are secrets in this world too terrible for anyone to know, whether they are as young as Sunny Baudelaire or as old as Gregor Anwhistle – secrets so terrible that they ought to be kept secret, which is probably how the secrets became secrets in the first place, and one of those secrets is the long, strange shape the Baudelaire orphans saw, first on the Queequeg’s sonar, and then as they held the porthole inplace and stared out into the waters of the sea. Night had fallen – Monday night – so the view outside was very dark, and the Baudelaires could scarcely see this enormous and sinister shape. 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.

I don't care about that secret. I also don't care if Lemony tells us what it is. My point is that the Baudelaires were finally with someone who knew all of the VFD secrets, but wouldn't tell them because he thought they were too young or innocent. That isn't a good reason, by my standards. Go ahead, keepy the creepy question mark secret, but tell the Baudelaires (and thus, the readers) something they've been looking for for about six books now.

[Dante]

Viola said:

I don't care about that secret. I also don't care if Lemony tells us what it is. My point is that the Baudelaires were finally with someone who knew all of the VFD secrets, but wouldn't tell them because he thought they were too young or innocent. That isn't a good reason, by my standards. Go ahead, keepy the creepy question mark secret, but tell the Baudelaires (and thus, the readers) something they've been looking for for about six books now.

To be fair, Widdershins didn't actually have that much opportunity to tell them anything. And we actually learned quite a bit about V.F.D. - I remember somebody complaining not long after the book had come out that we'd been given too much information.

[Brian]

I'm not talking about his secret-keepng, I'm talking about his idiotic dialougue in general. And don't get me wrong - maybe I'm missing something from the book-on-tape I don't get in print - but at least the other stupid adults made made sense.