A Truly Haunting Secret? *spoilers*

[fiendishthingie]

The book's blurb promises a "truly haunting secret" about the Baudelaires' parents. Does it deliver? Is it in reference to the revelation that they were castaways, or that Beatrice was in fact their mother? I thought, as I think a lot of people did, that it would be something to do with the poison darts, but annoyingly (for me, anyway) that wasn't brought up again.

Oh, and meanwhile, here's a theory. Bea stole the sugar bowl from Esme, right? Well, you know that tunnel from 667 to the Baud mansion? I presumed that it was for Esme's villainous intentions, but what if it wasn't? What if it was for Beatrice's? Just a thought.

[SadOccasion]

Somehwere in the UA, Jacques mentions a safe having a combination "identical to the adress of our location on Dark Avenue". So I think 667 was occupied by a member of V.F.D., probabaly one on the wrong side of the schism, and later, after that villain moved out, Jacques needed some way to secure hte penthouse but could not afford it himself, so he asked a rich (but unfortunately non-volunteer) friend, Jerome, to move in.

So basically, the passageway was leading to 667 because it was at one point either a safe place or the home of a V.F.D. member once thought to be a friend of the Baudelaires.

[fiendishthingie]

Ah, well, thank you for the info on the passageway. As for the "haunting secret", are there any more opinions?

[Jacques the Environmentalist]

Dunno. Perhaps it's any number of the things Ishmael was referring to.
Or maybe the fact that they never told their children anything to do with VFD or the island because they wanted to 'safeguard' them, rather than actually enlightening them. And I've always wondered who possessed the penthouse before Jerome. I rather think he'd already had it for quite some time when he and Esme married.

[hogwartsrebel]

No one has mentioned the possibility that the haunting secret was something that is implied to in Book 12 and mentioned briefly in Book 13.

Kit mentions the delivery of a box of poison darts to the Baudelaire parents at a certain opera, in Book 12.

Later in the book we found out that Olaf was orphaned as a result of posioned darts.

This brings up the possibility that the Baudelaire parents murdered Olaf's parents, leaving him an orphan. This would explain his hostility towards the Baudelaires. This also is reflective of the later books blurring of good and evil. Initially it seemed as though there was a big difference between both sides of V.F.D, an evil side and a good side. However, in books 12 and 13 we realize that the line between both is very blurry as both sides commit atrocities and do questionable things to stay ahead. Even the Baudelaires succumb to this. Not to mention, there's the talk of there being no truly noble people in the world as all are capable of evil.

[Linda Rhaldeen]

^That's a good point, one I'd been thinking myself. However, that was established pretty firmly in book 12, and though it was strengthened slightly in book 13, we weren't really learning anything new. Even the audiobook song in book 12 pointed to this. Was it not supposed to fully sink in until book 13 or something?

[fiendishthingie]

I just ruled out the possibility of anything to do with Olaf's parents, since I felt that was confirmed in TPP and barely referenced in TE. So...? I don't know, that's for sure.

[Jacques the Environmentalist]

Perhaps the haunting secret is that they wrote A Series of Unfortunate Events?
I guess with this one Snicket's given us most of the necesary info and we draw the inevitable conclusions:
Olaf's parents were bothering VFD, probably behaving like Olaf
VFD felt they had no choice but to order their demise for the greater good.
Kit delivers the darts to Beatrice and Bertrand
And there you have it. Of course there are loose ends like how the Baudelaires got away with it and such.

[Snicketfaerie]

Maybe they had a grudge. In the book Snicket explained the parents to be noble people if they really killed olaf's parents that means they killed Snicket's Aunt and uncle because Olaf is his cousin.

[Jacques the Environmentalist]

We don't know for sure if Olaf is Snicket's cousin and even if he was it doesn't seem like Snicket was overly fond of Olaf's parents either way. They seem to be people just like Olaf, probably worse.

[SadOccasion]

mynamesjacques said:

Perhaps the haunting secret is that they wrote A Series of Unfortunate Events?
I guess with this one Snicket's given us most of the necesary info and we draw the inevitable conclusions:
Olaf's parents were bothering VFD, probably behaving like Olaf
VFD felt they had no choice but to order their demise for the greater good.
Kit delivers the darts to Beatrice and Bertrand
And there you have it. Of course there are loose ends like how the Baudelaires got away with it and such.

Would this mean, then, that the Baudelaire orphans are more noble than their parents and the organization they were a part of, as THEY resisted the temptation to kill Olaf throughout The End?

Somehow, the questions the poison darts incident raise are too open-ended to me. I think the secret is supposed to be the fact that the baudelaire parents lived in exile on the island, although that is hardly "haunting"...

[fiendishthingie]

See, I agree with SadOccasion here. The questions that the poison darts raise are too many and unanswered to be ignored. And they are a part of the Baud story, so why not reveal them? In other words, are the Baud parents ignoble murderers, results of the times in which they grew up, or noble people who just did what they had to do? I'm aware that Snicket wants us to ask ourselves these questions, but he hasn't given us enough info to go on, so...

And as for the castaway thing. Yeah, not haunting. Not even relevant to the rest of the series. *shrug*

[queequegcaptain]

i am not sure if anyone has thought of fthis, but i am positive that Mrs. baudelaire is beatrice. Does anyone else agree/ if you don't, these are the facts: Kit's baby was named after Mrs. Baudelaire. the baby utters its own name and the name of the boat, hich are beatrice. Also, Mrs. Baudelaire was eother going to name violet violet or lemony. What do you think??

I think that the haunting secret is that Beatrice is Mrs. Baudelaire!!!

[Semesther, the Dolphin Vampire]

Yes, Beatrice is Mrs. Baudelaire.