V.F.D. members
Encyclopedia
In the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events
by Lemony Snicket
, many characters are members of a secret organization known as V.F.D.
The following is a list all of the known members of V.F.D.
The Beatrice Letters reveal that Beatrice and Lemony first met when they were still schoolchildren and Beatrice was friends and classmates with the R, the Duchess of Winnipeg.
[edit] Mother of the Baudelaires:In The Beatrice Letters, which was published before The End, it is revealed that Beatrice's full name is Beatrice Baudelaire, making her a relative of the Baudelaire orphans. It later becomes clear that this Beatrice is the Baudelaire orphans' mother, and that there is another Beatrice Baudelaire, Kit Snicket's child, who is born in The End and raised by the orphans. The Beatrice Letters reveals that both Beatrices are baticeers (a person who trains bats). Baticeer is an anagram for Beatrice, of which such anagrams are used frequently in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Even prior to the release of the thirteenth book, there was speculation that Beatrice was the Baudelaires' mother, based on the fact that a list of anagrams in The Hostile Hospital includes "Carrie E. Abelabudite" an anagram for Beatrice Baudelaire. However, the same list includes "Ned H. Rirger" an anagram for Red Herring (a similar passage, juxtaposing evidence that Beatrice is Mrs. Baudelaire and the "Red Herring" anagram appears in The Unauthorized Autobiography. However, the red herring may also be the name "Monty Kensicle', yet another anagram for Lemony Snicket). The Baudelaires have heard her name mentioned twice by Esmé Squalor, but they have not had opportunity to discuss it, so it was unknown if the name meant anything to them.
Snicket mentions Beatrice's death in the dedication of each book.
[edit] Involvement with the sugar bowl: Beatrice, the Baudelaire orphans' mother, may have stolen Esmé Squalor's sugar bowl, which is an important artifact in the series. In The Ersatz Elevator, Esmé declares to the Baudelaires that she wanted to "steal from [them] the way Beatrice stole from me." In The Penultimate Peril, Esmé exclaims "Beatrice stole it [the sugar bowl] from me!" However, in The Hostile Hospital, Lemony Snicket states that he helped Beatrice steal the sugar bowl and that he feels guilty about it. The Beatrice Letters seems to suggest that Beatrice and Lemony attended a tea party held by Esme and, for reasons unknown, one of them stole Esme's sugar bowl, setting off the schism.
As a child Bertrand was friends with Beatrice (his future wife).[9] When Beatrice arrived early to her first day of V.F.D. training, Lemony Snicket complimented her for her punctuality, which embarrassed her because she was with Bertrand, the future Duchess of Winnipeg, and "others".[9]
As a member of V.F.D., Bertrand is known to have helped in the training of the volunteer feline detectives (Mortmain Mountain lions).[10] Bertrand was also good friends with Dewey Denouement, and Dewey mentioned that the two liked to recite an American humorist poem of the nineteenth century composed by John Godfrey Saxe together.
Count Olaf implicates Bertrand as a co-conspirator in the murder of his own parents. At the outset of the series, Bertrand perished when the Baudelaire Mansion was destroyed in a fire.
and Esmé Squalor
and possibly a V.F.D member. She often calls people whom she deems to be lesser than herself (of which there are many) "Cakesniffers", which Mr. Poe takes it as a joke.
Carmelita Spats first appears in the fifth book in the series, The Austere Academy
, where she is described by Snicket as "rude, violent [and] filthy." The book opens explaining that “If you were going to give a gold medal to the least delightful person on Earth, you would have to give that medal to a person named Carmelita Spats, and if you didn't give it to her, Carmelita Spats was the sort of person who would snatch it from your hands anyway.” Snicket warns that one should stay as far from Carmelita as possible, and Duncan Quagmire
tells the Baudelaires that the less time a person spends with her the happier he or she will be.
Carmelita is portrayed as a bully at the Prufrock Preparatory School, where Sunny
, Klaus
and Violet Baudelaire
board, in The Austere Academy. Showing prejudice, Carmelita bullies both the Baudalaires and the Quagmires for being orphans. She uses a staple term, "Cakesniffers," (and once "Saladsniffers", when Sunny falls asleep in her salad) to refer to anyone whom she holds in contempt, chiefly the Baudelaires. Her constant labelling of people as "Cakesniffers" may be a reference to Holden Caulfield's
similar usage of the word "phony", given that there are other J. D. Salinger
references in the series.
In the fifth instalment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Austere Academy, Carmelita first appears as a student of Prufock Preparatory School. Across the book Carmelita always picks on the Baudelaires and the Quagmires with her made up song "Cakesniffing Orphans in the Orphans Shack". She also is given a job by Coach Genghis (Count Olaf) to tell the Baudelaires when they required to attend S.O.R.E. sessions (after which she would snobbily demand a tip). She does not appear again until the tenth book.
In the tenth instalment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Slippery Slope, Carmelita reappears as a member of the Snow Scouts, a mountaineering group of which Quigley Quagmire is also a member. At the end of the book, all of the Snow Scouts except for Quigley, who was with the Baudelaires at the time, are captured by Count Olaf
. He and Esmé Squalor
are able to convince Carmelita to join Olaf's villainous troupe.
In the eleventh instalment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Grim Grotto, Esmé
starts referring to Carmelita as "the daughter she never had," and spoils her accordingly; both she and Olaf are seen within the book to bend to her every whim. Olaf is less fond of her, and this dislike grows during the book, but is still persuaded to name his submarine The Carmelita, Carmelita having said that The Olaf is a "cakesniffing" name. To outline the degree to which she is spoiled, she is dressed as "a tap-dancing
ballerina
fairy
princess
veterinarian
" during the book.
In the twelfth novel in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Penultimate Peril, Carmelita's spoiled attitude appears to have to have been exacerbated under the care of Esmé Squalor. Her attire is as eccentric as in The Grim Grotto; this time she dresses as a "ballplaying
cowboy
superhero
soldier
pirate
" for the duration of the book. Count Olaf becomes increasingly tired of her attitude and violently knocks her to the floor, ending their already tenuous relationship. She is abandoned at the Hotel Denouement, along with Esmé, towards the end of the book, and it is unknown if she survived the fire that had been set at the hotel; the narration implies that even if she did survive the fire, she never again met the Baudelaires.
Carmelita submits a book about how wonderful she believes herself to be as evidence in a trial against Count Olaf
. It is implied earlier that Carmelita herself published this book, entitled Carmelita Spats, Me: The Completely Authorized Autobiography of the Prettiest, Smartest, Most Darling Girl in the Whole Wide World; an excerpt from Page 793 detailing her misguided encounter with a V.F.D. librarian appears in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
, where it is listed as having been published by Spoiled Brat Press.
Dewey Denouement is one of the three brothers who own and manage the Hotel Denouement. He prefers to remain in the shadows, and many people think him to be mythical. (This is proven when Count Olaf looks at him and says, "So, you're a real person! I always thought you were a legendary figure, like unicorn
s or Giuseppe Verdi,"--an allusion to a scene in Through the Looking Glass-- to which Klaus
hotly replies, "Giuseppe Verdi is not a legendary figure! He's an operatic composer!"). Dewey is a member of V.F.D., on the fire-fighting side, and has assembled a considerable catalogue of evidence against V.F.D.'s enemies, which he hides in a second hotel, disguised as the reflection of the first in a pond. He is the penultimate guardian of the Baudelaire orphans.
Dewey Denouement befriends the Baudelaires, winning their trust by quoting a poem their father knew. He takes them outside and reveals the secret of his catalogue. However, when they re-enter the hotel, they find Count Olaf waiting. He threatens Dewey with a harpoon gun. The Baudelaires attempt to save him by standing in front of him, walking towards Olaf and trying to persuade him to give them the gun. When Mr. Poe arrives, Count Olaf throws the gun to the Baudelaires and they drop it. The harpoon goes off and impales Dewey. With the harpoon
in his heart, he stumbles back and falls into the pond. His last words to the Baudelaires, just before he sinks into the pond, is "Kit."
After his death, the narrative implies that he is the father of Kit Snicket's soon-to-be-born baby girl, who becomes an orphan after Kit dies giving birth in The End.
Dewey, like many members of V.F.D., lost his parents in a fire that destroyed his home. Olaf seems to be the one responsible and almost outright says so upon discovering that Dewey survived the fire after all.
Dewey's name is probably a play on the Dewey Decimal System, a form of organization used in libraries, as Dewey himself is a librarian.
His favorite section of the library is 020, which is Library & Information Sciences on the Dewey Decimal System.
attended with Beatrice
. Her house was later burnt down, but she survived. In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
, a letter suggests that somebody is impersonating her in communications with Lemony Snicket. She is first mentioned in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
. She possibly had a son or daughter in the Snow Scouts, as when Esmé Squalor was talking about all the fortunes she'd get, she mentioned the Winnipeg fortune.
In The End, it is revealed that the Winnipeg family possessed a ring marked with an R that was passed down from one Duchess of Winnipeg from generation to generation. When the current Duchess of Winnipeg's mother died in the fire that destroyed her house, the current Duchess of Winnipeg inherited the ring and, when she joined V.F.D., she gave it to Lemony Snicket. Lemony had offered the ring to his lover, Beatrice, but she later returned it to him, so Lemony gave the ring to Kit Snicket, who gave it to the Baudelaire father, Betrand, who gave it to the Baudelaire mother, Beatrice, when they married. Beatrice kept the ring in a wooden box which could only be opened with a wooden key that was kept in a wooden box which could only be opened by a code the grandfather of the Snicket siblings taught Kit and Lemony. The wooden box was burned to ashes when the Baudelaire mansion was destroyed and Captain Widdershins found the ring in the wreckage only to lose it in a storm at sea, and the ring eventually was washed to the shores of the island where the Baudelaires were stranded on in Book the Thirteenth. Ishmael found the ring and gave it to the Baudelaire children, who gave it to their adopted daughter, Beatrice, who is Kit Snicket's daughter, and who, as revealed in The Beatrice Letters
, exchanged it to shepherds for a yak ride to the cave her uncle often resided in.
In The Beatrice Letters
, it is revealed that the Duchess was classmates and good friends with Beatrice (the elder), and she has played cards with Lemony Snicket before, and defeated him, winning quite a bit of his pen collection. It is also revealed that the death of the current Duchess of Winnipeg's mother caused Geraldine Julienne to become the new fashion editor. In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
, the Duchess of Winnipeg writes several letters to Lemony, in one mentioning that she gave her annual lecture at the Orion University one night and had lost possession of many of her belongings, including her beloved snacks, furniture, tables, chairs, drapes, grand staircase, houseplant, cloth napkins (which are embroidered with the crest of Winnipeg), the wigs she used to disguise herself like someone Lemony disguised himself as, cigar box, childhood bed, and every book in her private library, seemingly because of a fire most likely committed by arson. Her letter also heavily implies that the time she wrote it was after the events of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Duchess of Winnipeg also writes to someone called K (possibly Kit), saying it is impossible to keep these two letters (about the planned marriage of Lemony and Beatrice and the marriage of Esmé Squalor and Jerome Squalor) together, and for reasons that she does not need to explain, it is impossible for her to write to Mr. Snicket, and asked this K to get these letters to a safe place-perhaps with Ike (perhaps Ike Anwhistle) or the dairy farm K told her about. This seems to suggest that the others are fake and Snicket says he 'fears the worst' due to the nature of one of the fake letters and its method of delivery. This means that it is entirely possible that the duchess is dead.
In The Grim Grotto
Klaus finds an example of the Verse Flunctuation Declaration code in which the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is changed to My Last Wife by Obert Browning; the code is "Duchess R", but the children don't get any further information on her.
In The End, someone shouts "I think we should return to Winnipeg!", suggesting that the Duchess is alive and living on the island.
When Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire (the protagonists of the series) first meet Duncan and Isadora at Prufrock Preparatory School, the triplets believe their brother Quigley is dead along with their parents. At Prufrock, they quickly become best friends with the Baudelaires. The series' antagonist, Count Olaf, kidnaps the Quagmires in an attempt to steal their inheritance (the "Quagmire sapphires"), and Duncan and Isadora escape with V.F.D. member Hector in his homemade airship, which cannot land.
The Baudelaires later meet Quigley while wandering in the Mortmain Mountains in search of their parents. He and Violet form a romantic relationship, but Quigley becomes separated from the Baudelaires as they search for the sugar bowl. Quigley joins V.F.D. and begins to search for his airborne siblings with the aid of Kit Snicket. In The End, Duncan, Isadora, and Quigley are swallowed up by the Great Unknown.
The surname "Quagmire" literally means a climatic bog, but can be interpreted metaphorically as a bad predicament
When Olaf abducts the Snow Scouts (an élite troop of child scouts) as slaves, Esmé takes an interest in the scout Carmelita Spats, welcoming her as an adoptive daughter and shifting her focus from the count. After her plans for a cocktail party at the Hotel Denouement are canceled by Olaf (who decides to murder the guests instead), Esmé leaves his theater troupe and takes Carmelita.[10] When the hotel is set on fire, Esmé is trapped on the second floor, where she and Carmelita presumably die.[11]
His first name is Fernald, yet his last name is unknown, though he does state that it differs from that of his stepfather, Captain Widdershins. Before joining with Count Olaf's theatre troupe, he and his sister Fiona lived with Widdershins on his submarine, the Queequeg. However, after growing tired of Widdershins’ constant nautical ejaculations and bossing around, Fernard eventually flees the submarine where it is revealed he took up a life of crime with Count Olaf. It is unknown how or when he lost his hands. Throughout most of the series, he conspires with Count Olaf to steal the Baudelaire fortune. Olaf himself does not refer to Fernald by his proper name; instead, Olaf and Esmé call him "Hooky". One of his aliases is O. Lucafont, an anagram of Count Olaf.
[edit] In the series in several books, he appears in various guises to aid Olaf with his plans; his hooks are always hidden in these attempts.
In the second book of the series, The Reptile Room, he disguises himself as Dr. O. Lucafont and arrives at Dr. Montgomery's house after receiving a call that there had been an accident. In the end when the adult characters finally realize who Count Olaf really is, "Lucafont" claims he will take Olaf to jail. Although Sunny Baudelaire bites Fernald's fake hands off before he can escape unexposed, the two men still flee the scene.
In the sixth book of the series, The Ersatz Elevator, he disguises himself (with extra-long jacket-sleeves) as the doorkeeper of 667 Dark Avenue. Still maintaining his façade, he bids on (and wins) the statue in which the two Quagmire siblings are hidden.
In the eleventh book of the series, The Grim Grotto, he is reunited with his sister Fiona, who, along with their stepfather Captain Widdershins, is working with the Baudelaire children. After Widdershins mysteriously disappears and the Queequeg is damaged, Fiona considers her brother to be her only family member left, and seemingly joins Count Olaf's troupe to stay with him.
Sometime later, though, Fernald and Fiona betray Olaf by stealing his submarine. They meet with their stepfather again (who, in the words of Kit Snicket, "had forgiven the failures of those he had loved") along with Kit and Phil to help repair the Queequeg and aid the Quagmire triplets and Hector in their self-sustaining air balloon.
However tragedy strikes, and trained eagles popped the hot air balloon, sending them crashing into the Queequeg. Stranded on the wreck, they see the mysterious question mark (an ambiguous shape that the Baudelaires had encountered on the radar screen that scared even Olaf) reappear. Although Kit is terrified of what she referred to as The Great Unknown, the others want to take their chances confronting it. The mysterious shape takes Fernald and the others away, its intentions and results still undescribed.
[edit] Good or evil?The Hook-Handed Man has shown remorse and doubt regarding his crimes, and states that there are no such things as good people or bad people, that every person is like "a chef's salad with good parts and bad" arguing that good people often do bad things while bad people may do good things. He has shown love for his sister.
Count Olaf says in The Penultimate Peril that "Hooky and Fiona double-crossed me yesterday". This implies that Fernald has left Olaf's troupe. Notably, he is the second-last of Olaf's assistants and conspirators to leave, the last being Esmé Squalor.
In an interview with author Daniel Handler[1], the interviewer inquired why, in the last couple of books, the line between the good people and more treacherous ones seemed to have become a bit blurred. Handler responded, "It's sad isn't it? I think the Baudelaires are getting older, and one of the sad facts about getting older is that you've always thought of yourself and people you know as righteous and true and the people you dislike as evil. The older you get the more muddy that water becomes".
Fiona, a mycologist, first appears when Violet
, Klaus
, and Sunny Baudelaire
enter the Queequeg in The Grim Grotto
. She goes with them into the Gorgonian Grotto to look for the sugar bowl
. When all four of them come back empty-handed, they find the Queequeg deserted. Count Olaf captures the submarine with his own, the Carmelita, and takes the Baudelaires and Fiona to the brig to be tortured by the Hook-Handed Man, who turns out to be Fiona's long-lost brother Fernald. The Baudelaires and Fiona persuade Fernald to join them and help them escape. The Baudelaires escape but Fiona and Fernald got caught and tell Esmé Squalor
that they are in support of Count Olaf. Later Fernald has persuaded Fiona to really be part of Count Olaf
's troupe.
Her stepfather is Captain Widdershins. Her and her brother Fernald's last name is not given, but it is stated that it differs from their stepfather. She wears triangular glasses, leading to Esmé Squalor
calling her "Triangle-Eyes". She is the engineer of her stepfather's submarine, the Queequeg.
Fiona and Fernald do not appear in The Penultimate Peril, but Count Olaf
says that the two stole the Carmelita. In The End, it was revealed that she returned to the good side of V.F.D. with her brother, but they were both sucked into the giant question-mark vessel (dubbed by Kit Snicket as The Great Unknown previously seen in The Grim Grotto).
Captain Widdershins continually tells Fiona that her mother (who happened to be best friends with Esme Squalor in high school) died in a 'manatee accident', though Fiona stated that she wasn't so sure it was an accident; indeed, towards the end of the book it is stated that Widdershins was wrong about this, implying she was murdered. Later, in The End, an unrelated character named Miranda Caliban claimed her husband Thursday had been eaten by a manatee
to cover up for the fact that they had broken up. It is unknown whether these two incidents are related.
There is a suggested romantic involvement between Fiona and Klaus. While this is initially something that Fiona's father jokes about, such as declaring his intention to allow Klaus to marry her, it is shown when she kisses him moments before they part. Klaus appears to return her feelings; he reacts to her post-kiss vanishment with "How could someone so wonderful do something so horrible?", and in The Penultimate Peril, Snicket mentions that "Fiona broke Klaus' heart." This is repeated multiple times in The End, and Kit Snicket tells Klaus before her disappearance that, quote: "Fiona was so desperate to reach you, Klaus," and "She wanted you to forgive her as well."
Fiona is stated to be "a bit older than Violet."
They are introduced in The Penultimate Peril as the managers of the Hotel Denouement. Frank is a volunteer for V.F.D., while Ernest is a villainous member of V.F.D.. As they are identical, the Baudelaire orphans are not sure of each's identity at any time, and Snicket emphasises this, by adding "said Ernest, or Frank" or the inverse, and other similar phrases, after each character spoke. The two are described as "tall, and skinny, with long arms that stuck out at odd angles, like drinking straws instead of flesh and bone."
The second triplet they meet tells them a coded message in The Penultimate Peril. The message ("I can't tell if you are associates or enemies please respond") uses the Sebald Code, but since both sides of V.F.D.'s schism use the same codes, this does not clear up which brother he was. Frank and Ernest do not return in The End, so they probably perished or escaped the fire, but did not encounter the orphans again.
Their names may be a reference to the comic strip Frank and Ernest
, or could just be a pun on that neither character could really be honest and forthright with the Baudelaire orphans.
Dr. Georgina Orwell was an optometrist living in the town of Paltryville. In The Miserable Mill
, Dr. Orwell was a hypnotist and hypnotized Klaus Baudelaire. Although it is likely that she was a genuine optometrist (having fixed Klaus' glasses), it is unclear whether Dr. Orwell had recently embarked on a new career as a hypnotist, whether it is merely a hobby of hers, or whether she has always been a hypnotist in some capacity. She sides with Count Olaf, who was disguised as her receptionist, as they had agreed to split the Baudelaire fortune equally, before the Baudelaires arrived at the mill.
She was described as tall woman with blonde hair in a tight bun who wore big black boots. She was seen long white coat with a name tag that reads 'Dr. Orwell' and held a long black cane with a shiny red jewel on the top. In the same novel, she and Sunny Baudelaire had a swordfight in which Georgina pushed the red jewel on her cane, whereupon it instantly transforms into a sword.
Dr. Orwell was killed just before she got the chance to slash Sunny's throat, when she accidentally backed into a saw that had been turned on for use in her and Count Olaf's conspiracy to steal the Baudelaire fortune.
Dr. Orwell's full name is Georgina Orwell, based on that of author George Orwell
. The Big Brother eye and the hypnotism plot are links to Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four
."
She may also have been a former member of V.F.D., as the optometrist disguise described in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
matches her appearance.
, but it is also likely that Eleanora herself suggested this in a misguided article prior to her imprisonment. In The Vile Village Geraldine's articles in the Daily Punctilio is also responsible for the general public believing that the Baudelaires murdered "Count Omar", who was, in reality, Jacques Snicket. She also had a role in The Carnivorous Carnival, appearing to love violence and people being fed to lions, wanting to write an article about the event. She does not, however, appear to be malicious; Lemony himself stated in The Penultimate Peril that she had caused the Baudelaires "inadvertent trouble". Most of her actions can actually be attributed to orders or suggestions from Esme Squalor, whom she appears to idolize. In The Unauthorized Autobiography, it is revealed that she was the reason that Esmé Squalor
and Jerome Squalor met and thus married, by providing Esmé information on Jerome's life. In The Beatrice Letters
, the Duchess of Winnipeg's death caused her to become the new fashion editor. Lemony describes her in The Beatrice Letters as a "foolish girl".
She has a habit of imagining headlines and exclaiming, "Wait until the readers of the Daily Punctilio see that(/this)!" It is unknown whether she escaped the fire at Hotel Denouement in The Penultimate Peril
.
's side of V.F.D. One of Gregor's parents might be a cousin of the Baudelaire parents, as Josephine is described as being the Baudelaire children's "second cousin's sister-in-law".
Dr. Gustav Sebald was Dr. Montgomery's assistant, who aided him in his research and the construction of reptile traps (jobs that were later given to the Baudelaires, orphans sent to stay under the doctor's care) so that Dr. Montgomery (called "Uncle Monty") could acquire new specimens for his reptile collection.
Aside from acting as Uncle Monty's top assistant, Dr. Sebald was a little-known director, familiar only to the V.F.D. for such obscure films as Werewolves in the Rain, Vampires in the Retirement Community, Realtors in the Cave, and most notably, Zombies in the Snow, all of which are suggested to have been coded warnings for the V.F.D. The code, known as the Sebald Code, is his own creation.
Soon before the Baudelaires’ arrival at Uncle Monty's residence, Count Olaf
abducted Dr. Sebald and either forged or had forged a note of resignation to be given to Uncle Monty. He then proceeded to drown Dr. Sebald in the nearby Swarthy Swamp.
Count Olaf, under the guise of Uncle Monty's new assistant Stephano, took Dr. Sebald's place in the Montgomery residence (a position which apparently required a great deal of responsibility and, on Monty's part, a great deal of trust) eight days after the Baudelaires first arrived. In accordance with the doctor's frequent habit of taking the children to a movie, the children, Olaf, and Uncle Monty went together to see Zombies in the Snow at the nearest multiplex (in the town of Tedia).
In the film it shows Sebald chained to the front of a moving train (probably because of Olaf).
Hector is the handyman
in the Village of Fowl Devotees. He is appalled at the many rules of the village (e.g., there are to be no mechanical devices, no crow
s are to be harmed, there are to be no books that break the rules.), but he was cowardly and could never bring himself to speak around the Council of Elders. He is described as having a knack for cooking Mexican cuisine
. The roosting place of the VFD crows is the Nevermore Tree, which is located in Hector's backyard.
He has an unfinished self-sustaining hot air balloon
in his shed, which is banned under the village rules. He also collected all the towns banned books and hid them in his barn instead of burning them. Violet Baudelaire, while under his care, helps him finish the hot air balloon. Near the conclusion of the novel, as the Baudelaires and Quagmires are running from a mob of villagers, Hector finally overcomes his fears when he appears in his (now functioning) balloon, scolds the Elders for their rules, and tries to help the Baudelaires and Duncan and Isadora Quagmire aboard. The Baudelaires are unable to make it (because Officer Luciana unravels the rope with a harpoon gun). He was last seen flying away with the Duncan and Isadora. In The End, it is revealed that he was captured by an unknown marine object that Kit Snicket refers to as "the Great Unknown", though it is not known if it harmed him or protected him.
Hector is almost certainly either a volunteer in V.F.D. or has some other connection to it. Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
quotes a letter from Jacques Snicket to Lemony Snicket
that says, "I feel, Lemony, as if we are drifting away from one another, as if one of us is on the ground and the other is in some wondrous device, floating away into the sky, like that self-sustaining hot-air mobile home H is always talking about building," indicating that the brothers were familiar with Hector.
Dr. Isaac "Ike" Anwhistle is the late husband of Josephine Anwhistle, mentioned in The Wide Window and The Slippery Slope. His mother had one ear and one eyebrow, he had a brother named Gregor Anwhistle, and was a member of V.F.D. He died due to only waiting 45 minutes before going into Lake Lachrymose (the lake is infested with man-eating leeches as swimmers must wait one hour after eating before going into the lake or they could be eaten by the leeches). Ike was not only Aunt Josephine's husband, but her best friend and partner in grammar, as well as the only person Aunt Josephine knew who could whistle with crackers in his mouth; his specialty was Beethoven
's Fourth Quartet. According to Josephine, being able to whistle with crackers inside one's mouth was a family trait, so the Baudelaire orphans' mother could do this as well. Their mother's specialty was Mozart's Fourteenth Symphony. In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
, the Duchess of Winnipeg writes to someone called K, saying it is impossible to keep these two letters (about the planned marriage of Lemony and Beatrice and the marriage of Esmé Squalor and Jerome Squalor) together, and for reasons that she does not need to explain, it is impossible for her to write to Mr. Snicket, and asked this K to get these letters to a safe place-perhaps with Ike (perhaps Ike Anwhistle) or the dairy farm K told her about.
His name is a pun on "I can whistle".
In The Ersatz Elevator, the triplets are discovered locked in a cage at the bottom of an unused and apparently pointless elevator shaft at 667 Dark Avenue, the address of the Baudelaire children's latest guardians Jerome and Esmé Squalor. They are described as having a 'haunted look' about them. They know little about Olaf's current scheme, but they are able to reveal that he plans to smuggle them out of town. The Baudelaires return to their home in the penthouse to prepare blowtorches to free the triplets from their cage, but find them gone when they return to the bottom of the shaft; the removal of their cage exposes the shaft's true purpose as a secret tunnel. At the end of the book, Olaf, Esmé and the Hook-Handed Man successfully escape with the Quagmires, who had been hidden inside a fish statue.
Duncan and Isadora make their last appearance in The Vile Village (though they are referenced regularly for the rest of the series). The village caretaker Hector, with whom the Baudelaires live, upon hearing about the Quagmires, gives to them a scrap of paper upon which is written a couplet which they recognize as Isadora's poetic style. Hector says that he found the paper at the bottom of the Nevermore Tree, where the crows that populate the village roost every night. More couplets are found at the bottom of the tree as the story unfolds and the Baudelaires soon discover the couplets, when put together, reveal where the Triplets have been imprisoned within the village. The Baudelaires eventually free them and they are pursued along with the Baudelaires by the villagers to the outskirts of town. Once there, Hector appears in his self-sustaining hot-air balloon mobile home. The Quagmire triplets climb onto the home safely but the Baudelaires are thwarted in their attempt to do the same by Esmé Squalor, disguised as Officer Luciana, using a harpoon gun. The triplets throw their notebooks to the Baudelaires and beg them to read them to discover the secret of VFD, but Esmé also destroys the notebooks using the gun. Duncan and Isadora fly away in the home with Hector, safe from Olaf's clutches. Their now fragmented notes prove to be of some assistance to the Baudelaires in learning more about V.F.D, Olaf and their own connections to the organization.
Isadora and Duncan were attacked by V.F.D. eagles, which took out the balloons supporting them, just as they meet up with Quigley. As a result, they were sent down, taking out the Queequeg directly below them. They are taken by The Great Unknown. Their birthday is August twenty-fourth
Ishmael is the island's facilitator. He was once a member of V.F.D., and has the tattoo of the organization on his ankle, although he attempts to hide this. He claims that Count Olaf once locked him in a giant bird cage and burnt down his house, although Olaf counter-claims that he did not set that particular fire. Ishmael once knew the Baudelaire parents; they were the island's facilitators when he arrived, but he forced them into exile and imposed his own views on the island colony.
In his role as facilitator, Ishmael is in charge of solving the islander's problems, as well as sorting out all the things that they find on the coastal shelf. He is very capable at persuading the islanders to get rid of items they've discovered, telling them, "I won't force you", but giving them little other choice. His decisions on whether or not to keep the items are usually illogical, but the islanders follow his suggestions due to peer pressure
and mob psychology- rather in the same way that Olaf used it in The Vile Village. Moreover, the coconut cordial
that Ishmael persuades everyone to drink also plays a role in this because it serves as an opiate
, making them drowsy and have difficulty making decisions for themselves. The items that Ishmael pronounces as useless are taken to the arboretum on the other side of the island on a sledge drawn by island sheep. He does not allow the islanders to keep secrets, but has many of his own; such as being able to walk despite claiming not to be able to, and eating the forbidden apples from the arboretum's tree. He claims that his feet are injured, preventing him from walking, and covers his feet with island clay. He claims the clay has magical healing powers, but he is really using it to hide the V.F.D. tattoo on his ankle, and frequently sneaks around to visit the arboretum when nobody is with him. Count Olaf thus described him as having feet of clay, a reference to a Biblical quotation meaning that one has a hidden weakness.
In the middle of the book, he had Count Olaf sealed inside a large birdcage and pressured the islanders into abandoning the Baudelaires on the island's coastal shelf, even though he knew that the shelf would soon flood, drowning the orphans and Olaf. Later, he met the Baudelaires in the arboretum, telling them to give up their former lives and lead a safe life on the island. Not long after, upon discovering that the islanders are mutinying against him, he revealed that he was able to walk and used a harpoon gun to shoot Count Olaf, fatally wounding him but inadvertently releasing the deadly Medusoid Mycelium.
Finally, he put the islanders' lives at stake by taking them away from the island on an outrigger
and depriving them of a cure for the Medusoid Mycelium, although he had eaten a sample of the cure himself, which meant that he was "immunised" against the poison of the Medusoid Mycelium. Although the Incredibly Deadly Viper attempted to deliver a cure to the remaining islanders, it is unknown whether it succeeded.
Ishmael's name is taken from Herman Melville
's novel Moby-Dick
; he often asks people to 'call me Ish', a parody of Moby-Dicks opening sentence, 'Call me Ishmael'. However, only Count Olaf refers to him by this nickname.
In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, it was revealed that Jacques is a good friend of Jerome Squalor and that Jerome follows his advice. It was because of Jacques that Jerome bought the penthouse apartment in 667 Dark Avenue, the purpose of this possibly to direct members of the secret organization V.F.D. to safe places before the schism. Jacques did not want Jerome Squalor to marry Esmé, and sent a letter warning Jerome, but the letter was intercepted, possibly by the Hook-Handed Man who was disguised as a doorman. It was also revealed that Jacques disguises himself as a detective and is possibly the man who investigated the murder of Dr. Orwell, though this article was not published in the Daily Punctilio.
In The Vile Village, Jacques immediately recognized the Baudelaires, and tried to tell them about their parents. He was a known member of V.F.D. and was on the fire fighting side. But unfortunately, Esmé Squalor, disguised as a police officer, Officer Luciana, stopped him from any further explanations.
In The Slippery Slope, the Baudelaires found a message that was thought to be for Jacques, but decided (with the later confirmation of Captain Widdershins) that no one would send a message to Jacques, since he was dead. Captain Widdershins also mentioned that Jacques was formerly part of his crew on the Queequeg.
In The Penultimate Peril the Baudelaires learned that J.S., the mysterious receiver of the message in The Slippery Slope, was possibly both Justice Strauss, following the orphans since Mr. Poe had taken away and Jerome Squalor, following the footsteps of his deceased friend.
[
Josephine Anwhistle (or Aunt Josephine) is Violet
, Klaus
and Sunny Baudelaire
's second cousin's sister-in-law
, and becomes their guardian in The Wide Window.
Aunt Josephine thinks that grammar
is the greatest joy in life. She keeps many books about Lake Lachrymose under her bed. These books include The Tides of Lake Lachrymose, The Bottom of Lake Lachrymose, Lachrymose Trout, The History of the Damocles Dock Region, Ivan Lachrymose - Lake Explorer, How Water Is Made and A Lachrymose Atlas.
Ever since her husband Isaac (Ike
for short) was devoured by Lachrymose Leeches, she has developed numerous fears. These include concerns about:
Ironically
, many of the things she fears actually happen in the film
when her home falls into the lake.
In the end, Josephine pleads with Count Olaf
(in his disguise of Captain Sham) to let her live by offering the Baudelaire children, the fortune, and the children's lives in exchange for her own safety, but instead pushes her overboard from a small sailboat after she corrected her own death sentance, literally. It is heavily implied that she meets the same fate as her husband; she is surrounded by leeches and her tattered life jackets are found later by fishermen at the time the orphans were in Prufrock Preparatory School, two books later. It is unknown if she is alive or dead. The Grim Grotto implies that she might still be alive. She is mentioned more times then any others of the Baudelaire's caregivers after her death (with the obvious exceptions of Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor.)
Larry is a waiter in The Anxious Clown restaurant who serves the Baudulaires, Mr. Poe, and Count Olaf
(disguised as Captain Sham) in The Wide Window. Larry is implied to be a member of VFD, as he uses the coded phrase "I didn't realize this was a sad occasion."
A similar waiter appears in The Unauthorized Autobiography, interrupting a taped conversation between Mr. Poe and his sister Eleanora in The Anxious Clown. In another letter, the writer says you must say "The world is quiet here" (V.F.D.'s pledge) in response to the waiter's, "I didn't realize this was a sad occasion" to get something. The letter from Captain S., in pages 109-110 makes it clear to us that someone finally did say the code ( If you are reading this letter it means you were able to contact the proper waiter at the Anxious Clown). It also was made clear that Lemony Snicket was the one who got the blueprints, Captain S stated in his post scriptum that he rather enjoyed your theatrical reviews in the Daily Punctilio, and was very sorry to hear you will no longer be writing them. Lemony Snicket was fired for making a bad review of Esme Squalor.
It is also possible that Larry appears in "The penultimate peril" when we find him taking orders from Sir and Charles in the Curry house on the 6th floor.
and wears an unusual assortment of clothes. He asks a question from the book Ramona Quimby, Age 8
, to identify other V.F.D. members. The phrase is "Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?" it means "I have information for you." If a character replies "The question is, has she been good to me?" which might mean "I am ready for information."
In The Penultimate Peril
, it was revealed that the pair of them were additionally two of the judges on the High Court (aside from Justice Strauss), and have been pretending to be interested in the Baudelaire case so that they could obtain all the information Justice Strauss had about the children. They then told Count Olaf everything they know to help him. At the end of The Penultimate Peril, a large fire consumes the Hotel Denouement and destroyed it while the two villains were inside, though it is unknown if they survived as they were not seen in the last book, The End.
Mrs. Miranda Caliban (named after a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest) is a castaway who appears in The End. Mrs. Caliban is described as a pleasant-looking woman on the island. She is the mother of Friday, who was the first person on the island to meet the orphans. Earlier in the book, Friday explains that her parents were shipwrecked while on a cruise ship. Her father was killed (eaten by a manatee) though this statement seems to be disproved later in the book, when Kit Snicket claims to have visited Mrs. Caliban's husband a short time ago. Ishmael also states in the book that he had convinced Miranda to tell Friday that her father had died in a manatee accident to cover up the truth. Mrs. Caliban thinks Count Olaf may have an associate by the name of Thursday, whom some believe is her husband. Miranda Caliban is related to Olivia Caliban (Madame Lulu) through marriage (Thursday Caliban is Olivia's brother). Mrs. Caliban seems to agree with Ishmael on most issues and is horrified to learn that her daughter has secretly learned to read, despite that she herself is secretly learning backstroke
.
Dr. Montgomery "Monty" Montgomery is Bertrand Baudelaire
's cousin's brother-in-law and Violet
, Klaus
, and Sunny Baudelaire
's second guardian
, but he prefers to be called Uncle Monty. He appears solely in The Reptile Room. It is thought that his name is inspired by Monty Python
, as he is a herpetologist (one who studies snakes) whose first name is Monty.
Uncle Monty is a "fat, short, chubby man with a round red face." He discovered the Incredibly Deadly Viper (which is in fact not deadly at all). When the Baudelaires first meet him, he gives them homemade coconut
cream
cake
, and the Baudelaires instantly warm to him. He plans to take them to Peru
with his assistant Gustav, but receives Gustav's apparent letter of resignation the day before (it is later revealed that Gustav was actually killed by Count Olaf
), so Uncle Monty hires "Stephano" (Count Olaf in disguise) in his place. The Baudelaires quickly recognize Stephano as Olaf. Uncle Monty, on the other hand, thinks that Stephano is a jealous spy from the herpetology
society, there to steal the Incredibly Deadly Viper, which he has not yet revealed to the society. When the Baudelaires tried to tell Uncle Monty Stephano's true identity, he misunderstood them, thinking that they were saying that Stephno's "plan to steal the Incredibly Deadly Viper" was as despicable as Olaf, rather than Stephano actually being Olaf. Then ,he tore up Stephano's ticket. This does not stop Olaf, who murders Uncle Monty (using snake venom). Olaf then blames it on the Mamba Du Mal (the Incredibly Deadly Viper in the movie), another snake owned by Uncle Monty. The Baudelaires escape Olaf, but they never again find a nicer or more caring guardian than Uncle Monty. Uncle Monty also had some connection to the Quagmire family because there is a tunnel connecting the two houses.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of children's novels by Lemony Snicket which follows the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire after their parents' death in an arsonous house fire...
by Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...
, many characters are members of a secret organization known as V.F.D.
V.F.D.
V.F.D. is a secret organization within the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The purposes of the organization are never made clear, although the name of the organization is connected to various interpretations of the word "fire." V.F.D...
The following is a list all of the known members of V.F.D.
Beatrice Baudelaire
Lemony Snicket was in love with Beatrice and they were engaged, but she canceled the marriage and married Bertrand instead. Various hints are dispensed throughout the series as to why she called off the marriage. According to Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, Lemony Snicket is mistakenly reported by The Daily Punctilio as dead. This is possible, as suggested in The Grim Grotto, where Lemony makes reference to Captain Widdershins convincing Beatrice that a certain story in a newspaper was true, which could be the report of his death. The other evidence for her belief was that she had planned to name Violet 'Lemony' had she been a boy, in accordance with the family custom of naming a child after a friend who had died. We can assume that Beatrice at one time believed that Snicket was dead. When Lemony was revealed to be alive, she had already married Bertrand and she could not marry him. However, in The Beatrice Letters the reader is told that Beatrice returned Lemony's engagement ring and sent him a 200-page book explaining why the two could not wed, something she could not have done had she believed Snicket to be dead; although this may have been after he was revealed to be alive. This may contradict Ishmael's statement from The End that the ring was given to Beatrice then back to Lemony to Kit to Bertrand then back to Beatrice. In The End, when Kit Snicket nears death, she informs the Baudelaire children that "their families have always been close, even if they had to stay apart from one another".The Beatrice Letters reveal that Beatrice and Lemony first met when they were still schoolchildren and Beatrice was friends and classmates with the R, the Duchess of Winnipeg.
[edit] Mother of the Baudelaires:In The Beatrice Letters, which was published before The End, it is revealed that Beatrice's full name is Beatrice Baudelaire, making her a relative of the Baudelaire orphans. It later becomes clear that this Beatrice is the Baudelaire orphans' mother, and that there is another Beatrice Baudelaire, Kit Snicket's child, who is born in The End and raised by the orphans. The Beatrice Letters reveals that both Beatrices are baticeers (a person who trains bats). Baticeer is an anagram for Beatrice, of which such anagrams are used frequently in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Even prior to the release of the thirteenth book, there was speculation that Beatrice was the Baudelaires' mother, based on the fact that a list of anagrams in The Hostile Hospital includes "Carrie E. Abelabudite" an anagram for Beatrice Baudelaire. However, the same list includes "Ned H. Rirger" an anagram for Red Herring (a similar passage, juxtaposing evidence that Beatrice is Mrs. Baudelaire and the "Red Herring" anagram appears in The Unauthorized Autobiography. However, the red herring may also be the name "Monty Kensicle', yet another anagram for Lemony Snicket). The Baudelaires have heard her name mentioned twice by Esmé Squalor, but they have not had opportunity to discuss it, so it was unknown if the name meant anything to them.
Snicket mentions Beatrice's death in the dedication of each book.
[edit] Involvement with the sugar bowl: Beatrice, the Baudelaire orphans' mother, may have stolen Esmé Squalor's sugar bowl, which is an important artifact in the series. In The Ersatz Elevator, Esmé declares to the Baudelaires that she wanted to "steal from [them] the way Beatrice stole from me." In The Penultimate Peril, Esmé exclaims "Beatrice stole it [the sugar bowl] from me!" However, in The Hostile Hospital, Lemony Snicket states that he helped Beatrice steal the sugar bowl and that he feels guilty about it. The Beatrice Letters seems to suggest that Beatrice and Lemony attended a tea party held by Esme and, for reasons unknown, one of them stole Esme's sugar bowl, setting off the schism.
Bertrand Baudelaire
Bertrand Baudelaire is a character in the novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. He is the father of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, the husband of Beatrice Baudelaire, and a member of V.F.D.. Throughout the series, the children remember anecdotes about their father, such as him cooking or at a dinner party.As a child Bertrand was friends with Beatrice (his future wife).[9] When Beatrice arrived early to her first day of V.F.D. training, Lemony Snicket complimented her for her punctuality, which embarrassed her because she was with Bertrand, the future Duchess of Winnipeg, and "others".[9]
As a member of V.F.D., Bertrand is known to have helped in the training of the volunteer feline detectives (Mortmain Mountain lions).[10] Bertrand was also good friends with Dewey Denouement, and Dewey mentioned that the two liked to recite an American humorist poem of the nineteenth century composed by John Godfrey Saxe together.
Count Olaf implicates Bertrand as a co-conspirator in the murder of his own parents. At the outset of the series, Bertrand perished when the Baudelaire Mansion was destroyed in a fire.
Carmelita Spats
Carmelita Spats is the unofficially adopted daughter of Count OlafCount Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
and Esmé Squalor
Esmé Squalor
Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor is the secondary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. She is Count Olaf's girlfriend. Prior to the events of the series she was a professional stage actress and member of V.F.D. Esmé is distinguished...
and possibly a V.F.D member. She often calls people whom she deems to be lesser than herself (of which there are many) "Cakesniffers", which Mr. Poe takes it as a joke.
Carmelita Spats first appears in the fifth book in the series, The Austere Academy
The Austere Academy
The Austere Academy is the fifth novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It was released in paperback under the name The Austere Academy: or, Kidnapping! The Baudelaire orphans are sent to a boarding school, overseen by monstrous employees...
, where she is described by Snicket as "rude, violent [and] filthy." The book opens explaining that “If you were going to give a gold medal to the least delightful person on Earth, you would have to give that medal to a person named Carmelita Spats, and if you didn't give it to her, Carmelita Spats was the sort of person who would snatch it from your hands anyway.” Snicket warns that one should stay as far from Carmelita as possible, and Duncan Quagmire
Quagmire triplets
The Quagmires are a principal family in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. The unnamed Quagmire parents were members of the secret vigilante organization V.F.D...
tells the Baudelaires that the less time a person spends with her the happier he or she will be.
Carmelita is portrayed as a bully at the Prufrock Preparatory School, where Sunny
Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire is one of the protagonists of Lemony Snicket's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sunny is the youngest of the three Baudelaire orphans, and is described as an infant through much of the series...
, Klaus
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
and Violet Baudelaire
Violet Baudelaire
Violet Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and appears in all thirteen books. She is the oldest of the Baudelaire orphans at 14 years old, and often helps her 12-year-old brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny...
board, in The Austere Academy. Showing prejudice, Carmelita bullies both the Baudalaires and the Quagmires for being orphans. She uses a staple term, "Cakesniffers," (and once "Saladsniffers", when Sunny falls asleep in her salad) to refer to anyone whom she holds in contempt, chiefly the Baudelaires. Her constant labelling of people as "Cakesniffers" may be a reference to Holden Caulfield's
Holden Caulfield
Holden Caulfield is the 16-to-17 years old protagonist of author J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. He is universally recognized for his resistance to growing older and desire to protect childhood innocence...
similar usage of the word "phony", given that there are other J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger
Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980....
references in the series.
In the fifth instalment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Austere Academy, Carmelita first appears as a student of Prufock Preparatory School. Across the book Carmelita always picks on the Baudelaires and the Quagmires with her made up song "Cakesniffing Orphans in the Orphans Shack". She also is given a job by Coach Genghis (Count Olaf) to tell the Baudelaires when they required to attend S.O.R.E. sessions (after which she would snobbily demand a tip). She does not appear again until the tenth book.
In the tenth instalment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Slippery Slope, Carmelita reappears as a member of the Snow Scouts, a mountaineering group of which Quigley Quagmire is also a member. At the end of the book, all of the Snow Scouts except for Quigley, who was with the Baudelaires at the time, are captured by Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
. He and Esmé Squalor
Esmé Squalor
Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor is the secondary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. She is Count Olaf's girlfriend. Prior to the events of the series she was a professional stage actress and member of V.F.D. Esmé is distinguished...
are able to convince Carmelita to join Olaf's villainous troupe.
In the eleventh instalment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Grim Grotto, Esmé
Esmé Squalor
Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor is the secondary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. She is Count Olaf's girlfriend. Prior to the events of the series she was a professional stage actress and member of V.F.D. Esmé is distinguished...
starts referring to Carmelita as "the daughter she never had," and spoils her accordingly; both she and Olaf are seen within the book to bend to her every whim. Olaf is less fond of her, and this dislike grows during the book, but is still persuaded to name his submarine The Carmelita, Carmelita having said that The Olaf is a "cakesniffing" name. To outline the degree to which she is spoiled, she is dressed as "a tap-dancing
Tap dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...
ballerina
Ballerina
A ballerina is a title used to describe a principal female professional ballet dancer in a large company; the male equivalent to this title is danseur or ballerino...
fairy
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
" during the book.
In the twelfth novel in the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Penultimate Peril, Carmelita's spoiled attitude appears to have to have been exacerbated under the care of Esmé Squalor. Her attire is as eccentric as in The Grim Grotto; this time she dresses as a "ballplaying
Ball game
In American English, ball game refers specifically to either a game of basketball, baseball or American football. In British English ball game refers to any sport played with a ball....
cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
pirate
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
" for the duration of the book. Count Olaf becomes increasingly tired of her attitude and violently knocks her to the floor, ending their already tenuous relationship. She is abandoned at the Hotel Denouement, along with Esmé, towards the end of the book, and it is unknown if she survived the fire that had been set at the hotel; the narration implies that even if she did survive the fire, she never again met the Baudelaires.
Carmelita submits a book about how wonderful she believes herself to be as evidence in a trial against Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
. It is implied earlier that Carmelita herself published this book, entitled Carmelita Spats, Me: The Completely Authorized Autobiography of the Prettiest, Smartest, Most Darling Girl in the Whole Wide World; an excerpt from Page 793 detailing her misguided encounter with a V.F.D. librarian appears in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
, where it is listed as having been published by Spoiled Brat Press.
Dewey Denouement
Introduced/Killed in: "The Penultimate Peril"Dewey Denouement is one of the three brothers who own and manage the Hotel Denouement. He prefers to remain in the shadows, and many people think him to be mythical. (This is proven when Count Olaf looks at him and says, "So, you're a real person! I always thought you were a legendary figure, like unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
s or Giuseppe Verdi,"--an allusion to a scene in Through the Looking Glass-- to which Klaus
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
hotly replies, "Giuseppe Verdi is not a legendary figure! He's an operatic composer!"). Dewey is a member of V.F.D., on the fire-fighting side, and has assembled a considerable catalogue of evidence against V.F.D.'s enemies, which he hides in a second hotel, disguised as the reflection of the first in a pond. He is the penultimate guardian of the Baudelaire orphans.
Dewey Denouement befriends the Baudelaires, winning their trust by quoting a poem their father knew. He takes them outside and reveals the secret of his catalogue. However, when they re-enter the hotel, they find Count Olaf waiting. He threatens Dewey with a harpoon gun. The Baudelaires attempt to save him by standing in front of him, walking towards Olaf and trying to persuade him to give them the gun. When Mr. Poe arrives, Count Olaf throws the gun to the Baudelaires and they drop it. The harpoon goes off and impales Dewey. With the harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
in his heart, he stumbles back and falls into the pond. His last words to the Baudelaires, just before he sinks into the pond, is "Kit."
After his death, the narrative implies that he is the father of Kit Snicket's soon-to-be-born baby girl, who becomes an orphan after Kit dies giving birth in The End.
Dewey, like many members of V.F.D., lost his parents in a fire that destroyed his home. Olaf seems to be the one responsible and almost outright says so upon discovering that Dewey survived the fire after all.
Dewey's name is probably a play on the Dewey Decimal System, a form of organization used in libraries, as Dewey himself is a librarian.
His favorite section of the library is 020, which is Library & Information Sciences on the Dewey Decimal System.
Duchess of Winnipeg
The Duchess of Winnipeg, also known as "R.", is a rich socialite at whose masked ball Lemony SnicketLemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...
attended with Beatrice
Beatrice (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Beatrice Baudelaire is a fictional character in the novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. She is the mother of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, the wife of Bertrand Baudelaire, the unrequited romance of Lemony Snicket, and a member of V.F.D.-Love life:Lemony Snicket was...
. Her house was later burnt down, but she survived. In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
, a letter suggests that somebody is impersonating her in communications with Lemony Snicket. She is first mentioned in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
. She possibly had a son or daughter in the Snow Scouts, as when Esmé Squalor was talking about all the fortunes she'd get, she mentioned the Winnipeg fortune.
In The End, it is revealed that the Winnipeg family possessed a ring marked with an R that was passed down from one Duchess of Winnipeg from generation to generation. When the current Duchess of Winnipeg's mother died in the fire that destroyed her house, the current Duchess of Winnipeg inherited the ring and, when she joined V.F.D., she gave it to Lemony Snicket. Lemony had offered the ring to his lover, Beatrice, but she later returned it to him, so Lemony gave the ring to Kit Snicket, who gave it to the Baudelaire father, Betrand, who gave it to the Baudelaire mother, Beatrice, when they married. Beatrice kept the ring in a wooden box which could only be opened with a wooden key that was kept in a wooden box which could only be opened by a code the grandfather of the Snicket siblings taught Kit and Lemony. The wooden box was burned to ashes when the Baudelaire mansion was destroyed and Captain Widdershins found the ring in the wreckage only to lose it in a storm at sea, and the ring eventually was washed to the shores of the island where the Baudelaires were stranded on in Book the Thirteenth. Ishmael found the ring and gave it to the Baudelaire children, who gave it to their adopted daughter, Beatrice, who is Kit Snicket's daughter, and who, as revealed in The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters is a book by Lemony Snicket. It is tangential to the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, and was published shortly before the thirteenth and final installment...
, exchanged it to shepherds for a yak ride to the cave her uncle often resided in.
In The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters is a book by Lemony Snicket. It is tangential to the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, and was published shortly before the thirteenth and final installment...
, it is revealed that the Duchess was classmates and good friends with Beatrice (the elder), and she has played cards with Lemony Snicket before, and defeated him, winning quite a bit of his pen collection. It is also revealed that the death of the current Duchess of Winnipeg's mother caused Geraldine Julienne to become the new fashion editor. In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
, the Duchess of Winnipeg writes several letters to Lemony, in one mentioning that she gave her annual lecture at the Orion University one night and had lost possession of many of her belongings, including her beloved snacks, furniture, tables, chairs, drapes, grand staircase, houseplant, cloth napkins (which are embroidered with the crest of Winnipeg), the wigs she used to disguise herself like someone Lemony disguised himself as, cigar box, childhood bed, and every book in her private library, seemingly because of a fire most likely committed by arson. Her letter also heavily implies that the time she wrote it was after the events of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Duchess of Winnipeg also writes to someone called K (possibly Kit), saying it is impossible to keep these two letters (about the planned marriage of Lemony and Beatrice and the marriage of Esmé Squalor and Jerome Squalor) together, and for reasons that she does not need to explain, it is impossible for her to write to Mr. Snicket, and asked this K to get these letters to a safe place-perhaps with Ike (perhaps Ike Anwhistle) or the dairy farm K told her about. This seems to suggest that the others are fake and Snicket says he 'fears the worst' due to the nature of one of the fake letters and its method of delivery. This means that it is entirely possible that the duchess is dead.
In The Grim Grotto
The Grim Grotto
The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book begins where The Slippery Slope left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan down the Stricken Stream of the Mortmain Mountains, leaving Quigley Quagmire...
Klaus finds an example of the Verse Flunctuation Declaration code in which the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is changed to My Last Wife by Obert Browning; the code is "Duchess R", but the children don't get any further information on her.
In The End, someone shouts "I think we should return to Winnipeg!", suggesting that the Duchess is alive and living on the island.
Duncan Quagmire
The Quagmires are a principal family in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. The unnamed Quagmire parents were members of the secret vigilante organization V.F.D. until they were killed by arsonists in a fire that destroyed their mansion and orphaned their children, the triplets Duncan, Isadora, and Quigley.When Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire (the protagonists of the series) first meet Duncan and Isadora at Prufrock Preparatory School, the triplets believe their brother Quigley is dead along with their parents. At Prufrock, they quickly become best friends with the Baudelaires. The series' antagonist, Count Olaf, kidnaps the Quagmires in an attempt to steal their inheritance (the "Quagmire sapphires"), and Duncan and Isadora escape with V.F.D. member Hector in his homemade airship, which cannot land.
The Baudelaires later meet Quigley while wandering in the Mortmain Mountains in search of their parents. He and Violet form a romantic relationship, but Quigley becomes separated from the Baudelaires as they search for the sugar bowl. Quigley joins V.F.D. and begins to search for his airborne siblings with the aid of Kit Snicket. In The End, Duncan, Isadora, and Quigley are swallowed up by the Great Unknown.
The surname "Quagmire" literally means a climatic bog, but can be interpreted metaphorically as a bad predicament
Esmé Squalor
Esmé is first introduced as the materialistic and inconsiderate wife of Jerome Squalor and the self-proclaimed "city's sixth most important financial advisor".[6] When the Baudelaires discover Olaf's plan to smuggle Duncan and Isadora Quagmire through a secret passageway in 667 Dark Avenue, Esmé traps them in an unused elevator shaft and tells them their mother once stole a "sugar bowl" from her.[7][8] Though the Baudelaires escape, Olaf's plan succeeds and Esmé leaves Jerome to join the count. During the events that follow, Esmé participates in her boyfriend's schemes but becomes increasingly disenchanted by Olaf's disregard for her interests. While Olaf sees embezzling orphans' inheritances as the "greater good", Esmé wants only the sugar bowl and Olaf's affection.[9]When Olaf abducts the Snow Scouts (an élite troop of child scouts) as slaves, Esmé takes an interest in the scout Carmelita Spats, welcoming her as an adoptive daughter and shifting her focus from the count. After her plans for a cocktail party at the Hotel Denouement are canceled by Olaf (who decides to murder the guests instead), Esmé leaves his theater troupe and takes Carmelita.[10] When the hotel is set on fire, Esmé is trapped on the second floor, where she and Carmelita presumably die.[11]
Fernald
The Hook-Handed Man is one of Count Olaf's original featured troupe members, and lasted the longest of the original henchmen established in The Bad Beginning.His first name is Fernald, yet his last name is unknown, though he does state that it differs from that of his stepfather, Captain Widdershins. Before joining with Count Olaf's theatre troupe, he and his sister Fiona lived with Widdershins on his submarine, the Queequeg. However, after growing tired of Widdershins’ constant nautical ejaculations and bossing around, Fernard eventually flees the submarine where it is revealed he took up a life of crime with Count Olaf. It is unknown how or when he lost his hands. Throughout most of the series, he conspires with Count Olaf to steal the Baudelaire fortune. Olaf himself does not refer to Fernald by his proper name; instead, Olaf and Esmé call him "Hooky". One of his aliases is O. Lucafont, an anagram of Count Olaf.
[edit] In the series in several books, he appears in various guises to aid Olaf with his plans; his hooks are always hidden in these attempts.
In the second book of the series, The Reptile Room, he disguises himself as Dr. O. Lucafont and arrives at Dr. Montgomery's house after receiving a call that there had been an accident. In the end when the adult characters finally realize who Count Olaf really is, "Lucafont" claims he will take Olaf to jail. Although Sunny Baudelaire bites Fernald's fake hands off before he can escape unexposed, the two men still flee the scene.
In the sixth book of the series, The Ersatz Elevator, he disguises himself (with extra-long jacket-sleeves) as the doorkeeper of 667 Dark Avenue. Still maintaining his façade, he bids on (and wins) the statue in which the two Quagmire siblings are hidden.
In the eleventh book of the series, The Grim Grotto, he is reunited with his sister Fiona, who, along with their stepfather Captain Widdershins, is working with the Baudelaire children. After Widdershins mysteriously disappears and the Queequeg is damaged, Fiona considers her brother to be her only family member left, and seemingly joins Count Olaf's troupe to stay with him.
Sometime later, though, Fernald and Fiona betray Olaf by stealing his submarine. They meet with their stepfather again (who, in the words of Kit Snicket, "had forgiven the failures of those he had loved") along with Kit and Phil to help repair the Queequeg and aid the Quagmire triplets and Hector in their self-sustaining air balloon.
However tragedy strikes, and trained eagles popped the hot air balloon, sending them crashing into the Queequeg. Stranded on the wreck, they see the mysterious question mark (an ambiguous shape that the Baudelaires had encountered on the radar screen that scared even Olaf) reappear. Although Kit is terrified of what she referred to as The Great Unknown, the others want to take their chances confronting it. The mysterious shape takes Fernald and the others away, its intentions and results still undescribed.
[edit] Good or evil?The Hook-Handed Man has shown remorse and doubt regarding his crimes, and states that there are no such things as good people or bad people, that every person is like "a chef's salad with good parts and bad" arguing that good people often do bad things while bad people may do good things. He has shown love for his sister.
Count Olaf says in The Penultimate Peril that "Hooky and Fiona double-crossed me yesterday". This implies that Fernald has left Olaf's troupe. Notably, he is the second-last of Olaf's assistants and conspirators to leave, the last being Esmé Squalor.
In an interview with author Daniel Handler[1], the interviewer inquired why, in the last couple of books, the line between the good people and more treacherous ones seemed to have become a bit blurred. Handler responded, "It's sad isn't it? I think the Baudelaires are getting older, and one of the sad facts about getting older is that you've always thought of yourself and people you know as righteous and true and the people you dislike as evil. The older you get the more muddy that water becomes".
Fiona
Introduced in: "The Grim Grotto"Fiona, a mycologist, first appears when Violet
Violet Baudelaire
Violet Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and appears in all thirteen books. She is the oldest of the Baudelaire orphans at 14 years old, and often helps her 12-year-old brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny...
, Klaus
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
, and Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire is one of the protagonists of Lemony Snicket's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sunny is the youngest of the three Baudelaire orphans, and is described as an infant through much of the series...
enter the Queequeg in The Grim Grotto
The Grim Grotto
The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book begins where The Slippery Slope left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan down the Stricken Stream of the Mortmain Mountains, leaving Quigley Quagmire...
. She goes with them into the Gorgonian Grotto to look for the sugar bowl
Sugar bowl (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
The sugar bowl is a fictional object from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It was first mentioned by name in The Hostile Hospital, in which Snicket ponders whether it was necessary to have stolen it from Esmé Squalor. It is indirectly mentioned in The Ersatz Elevator by Esmé...
. When all four of them come back empty-handed, they find the Queequeg deserted. Count Olaf captures the submarine with his own, the Carmelita, and takes the Baudelaires and Fiona to the brig to be tortured by the Hook-Handed Man, who turns out to be Fiona's long-lost brother Fernald. The Baudelaires and Fiona persuade Fernald to join them and help them escape. The Baudelaires escape but Fiona and Fernald got caught and tell Esmé Squalor
Esmé Squalor
Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor is the secondary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. She is Count Olaf's girlfriend. Prior to the events of the series she was a professional stage actress and member of V.F.D. Esmé is distinguished...
that they are in support of Count Olaf. Later Fernald has persuaded Fiona to really be part of Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
's troupe.
Her stepfather is Captain Widdershins. Her and her brother Fernald's last name is not given, but it is stated that it differs from their stepfather. She wears triangular glasses, leading to Esmé Squalor
Esmé Squalor
Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor is the secondary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. She is Count Olaf's girlfriend. Prior to the events of the series she was a professional stage actress and member of V.F.D. Esmé is distinguished...
calling her "Triangle-Eyes". She is the engineer of her stepfather's submarine, the Queequeg.
Fiona and Fernald do not appear in The Penultimate Peril, but Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
says that the two stole the Carmelita. In The End, it was revealed that she returned to the good side of V.F.D. with her brother, but they were both sucked into the giant question-mark vessel (dubbed by Kit Snicket as The Great Unknown previously seen in The Grim Grotto).
Captain Widdershins continually tells Fiona that her mother (who happened to be best friends with Esme Squalor in high school) died in a 'manatee accident', though Fiona stated that she wasn't so sure it was an accident; indeed, towards the end of the book it is stated that Widdershins was wrong about this, implying she was murdered. Later, in The End, an unrelated character named Miranda Caliban claimed her husband Thursday had been eaten by a manatee
Manatee
Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows...
to cover up for the fact that they had broken up. It is unknown whether these two incidents are related.
There is a suggested romantic involvement between Fiona and Klaus. While this is initially something that Fiona's father jokes about, such as declaring his intention to allow Klaus to marry her, it is shown when she kisses him moments before they part. Klaus appears to return her feelings; he reacts to her post-kiss vanishment with "How could someone so wonderful do something so horrible?", and in The Penultimate Peril, Snicket mentions that "Fiona broke Klaus' heart." This is repeated multiple times in The End, and Kit Snicket tells Klaus before her disappearance that, quote: "Fiona was so desperate to reach you, Klaus," and "She wanted you to forgive her as well."
Fiona is stated to be "a bit older than Violet."
Frank and Ernest Denouement
Introduced in: "The Penultimate Peril"They are introduced in The Penultimate Peril as the managers of the Hotel Denouement. Frank is a volunteer for V.F.D., while Ernest is a villainous member of V.F.D.. As they are identical, the Baudelaire orphans are not sure of each's identity at any time, and Snicket emphasises this, by adding "said Ernest, or Frank" or the inverse, and other similar phrases, after each character spoke. The two are described as "tall, and skinny, with long arms that stuck out at odd angles, like drinking straws instead of flesh and bone."
The second triplet they meet tells them a coded message in The Penultimate Peril. The message ("I can't tell if you are associates or enemies please respond") uses the Sebald Code, but since both sides of V.F.D.'s schism use the same codes, this does not clear up which brother he was. Frank and Ernest do not return in The End, so they probably perished or escaped the fire, but did not encounter the orphans again.
Their names may be a reference to the comic strip Frank and Ernest
Frank and Ernest
Frank and Ernest is a play on the English words frank and earnest, which can both mean "candid". It may refer to:*Frank and Ernest *Frank and Ernest *Frank and Ernest Denouement...
, or could just be a pun on that neither character could really be honest and forthright with the Baudelaire orphans.
Georgina Orwell
Introduced/Killed in: "The Miserable Mill"Dr. Georgina Orwell was an optometrist living in the town of Paltryville. In The Miserable Mill
The Miserable Mill
The Miserable Mill is the fourth of thirteen novels in American author Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It is to be released in paperback under the name The Miserable Mill; or, Hypnotism! The novel tells the story of the Baudelaire orphans continuing their adventure, but this time...
, Dr. Orwell was a hypnotist and hypnotized Klaus Baudelaire. Although it is likely that she was a genuine optometrist (having fixed Klaus' glasses), it is unclear whether Dr. Orwell had recently embarked on a new career as a hypnotist, whether it is merely a hobby of hers, or whether she has always been a hypnotist in some capacity. She sides with Count Olaf, who was disguised as her receptionist, as they had agreed to split the Baudelaire fortune equally, before the Baudelaires arrived at the mill.
She was described as tall woman with blonde hair in a tight bun who wore big black boots. She was seen long white coat with a name tag that reads 'Dr. Orwell' and held a long black cane with a shiny red jewel on the top. In the same novel, she and Sunny Baudelaire had a swordfight in which Georgina pushed the red jewel on her cane, whereupon it instantly transforms into a sword.
Dr. Orwell was killed just before she got the chance to slash Sunny's throat, when she accidentally backed into a saw that had been turned on for use in her and Count Olaf's conspiracy to steal the Baudelaire fortune.
Dr. Orwell's full name is Georgina Orwell, based on that of author George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
. The Big Brother eye and the hypnotism plot are links to Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
."
She may also have been a former member of V.F.D., as the optometrist disguise described in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
matches her appearance.
Geraldine Julienne
Geraldine Julienne is a star reporter for The Daily Punctilio and is the person who locked her editor, Eleanora Poe, in a basement. She may have been responsible for telling Mr Poe to ignore all telegrams sent to him, including the Baudelaire's telegram in The Hostile HospitalThe Hostile Hospital
The Hostile Hospital is the eighth novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot and summary:The book begins where the previous one left off, with the three Baudelaire children escaping the Village of Fowl Devotees...
, but it is also likely that Eleanora herself suggested this in a misguided article prior to her imprisonment. In The Vile Village Geraldine's articles in the Daily Punctilio is also responsible for the general public believing that the Baudelaires murdered "Count Omar", who was, in reality, Jacques Snicket. She also had a role in The Carnivorous Carnival, appearing to love violence and people being fed to lions, wanting to write an article about the event. She does not, however, appear to be malicious; Lemony himself stated in The Penultimate Peril that she had caused the Baudelaires "inadvertent trouble". Most of her actions can actually be attributed to orders or suggestions from Esme Squalor, whom she appears to idolize. In The Unauthorized Autobiography, it is revealed that she was the reason that Esmé Squalor
Esmé Squalor
Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor is the secondary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. She is Count Olaf's girlfriend. Prior to the events of the series she was a professional stage actress and member of V.F.D. Esmé is distinguished...
and Jerome Squalor met and thus married, by providing Esmé information on Jerome's life. In The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters is a book by Lemony Snicket. It is tangential to the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, and was published shortly before the thirteenth and final installment...
, the Duchess of Winnipeg's death caused her to become the new fashion editor. Lemony describes her in The Beatrice Letters as a "foolish girl".
She has a habit of imagining headlines and exclaiming, "Wait until the readers of the Daily Punctilio see that(/this)!" It is unknown whether she escaped the fire at Hotel Denouement in The Penultimate Peril
The Penultimate Peril
The Penultimate Peril is the twelfth novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book starts off where The Grim Grotto left off...
.
Gregor Anwhistle
Gregor Anwhistle, the brother of Ike Anwhistle (and brother-in-law of Josephine Anwhistle), was the founder of Anwhistle Aquatics, an outpost of V.F.D., which investigated the effect of the Medusoid Mycelium as a toxin and its possible use as a weapon against Count OlafCount Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
's side of V.F.D. One of Gregor's parents might be a cousin of the Baudelaire parents, as Josephine is described as being the Baudelaire children's "second cousin's sister-in-law".
Gustav Sebald
Aside from acting as Uncle Monty's top assistant, Dr. Sebald was a little-known director, familiar only to the V.F.D. for such obscure films as Werewolves in the Rain, Vampires in the Retirement Community, Realtors in the Cave, and most notably, Zombies in the Snow, all of which are suggested to have been coded warnings for the V.F.D. The code, known as the Sebald Code, is his own creation.
Soon before the Baudelaires’ arrival at Uncle Monty's residence, Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
abducted Dr. Sebald and either forged or had forged a note of resignation to be given to Uncle Monty. He then proceeded to drown Dr. Sebald in the nearby Swarthy Swamp.
Count Olaf, under the guise of Uncle Monty's new assistant Stephano, took Dr. Sebald's place in the Montgomery residence (a position which apparently required a great deal of responsibility and, on Monty's part, a great deal of trust) eight days after the Baudelaires first arrived. In accordance with the doctor's frequent habit of taking the children to a movie, the children, Olaf, and Uncle Monty went together to see Zombies in the Snow at the nearest multiplex (in the town of Tedia).
In the film it shows Sebald chained to the front of a moving train (probably because of Olaf).
Hector
Introduced in: "The Vile Village"Hector is the handyman
Handyman
A handyman is a person skilled at a wide range of repairs, typically around the home. These tasks include trade skills, repair work, maintenance work, both interior and exterior, and are sometimes described as "odd jobs", "fix-up tasks", and include light plumbing jobs such as fixing a leaky toilet...
in the Village of Fowl Devotees. He is appalled at the many rules of the village (e.g., there are to be no mechanical devices, no crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s are to be harmed, there are to be no books that break the rules.), but he was cowardly and could never bring himself to speak around the Council of Elders. He is described as having a knack for cooking Mexican cuisine
Mexican cuisine
Mexican cuisine, a style of food that originates in Mexico, is known for its varied flavors, colourful decoration and variety of spices and ingredients, most of which are native to the country. The cuisine of Mexico has evolved through thousands of years of blending indigenous cultures, with later...
. The roosting place of the VFD crows is the Nevermore Tree, which is located in Hector's backyard.
He has an unfinished self-sustaining hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
in his shed, which is banned under the village rules. He also collected all the towns banned books and hid them in his barn instead of burning them. Violet Baudelaire, while under his care, helps him finish the hot air balloon. Near the conclusion of the novel, as the Baudelaires and Quagmires are running from a mob of villagers, Hector finally overcomes his fears when he appears in his (now functioning) balloon, scolds the Elders for their rules, and tries to help the Baudelaires and Duncan and Isadora Quagmire aboard. The Baudelaires are unable to make it (because Officer Luciana unravels the rope with a harpoon gun). He was last seen flying away with the Duncan and Isadora. In The End, it is revealed that he was captured by an unknown marine object that Kit Snicket refers to as "the Great Unknown", though it is not known if it harmed him or protected him.
Hector is almost certainly either a volunteer in V.F.D. or has some other connection to it. Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
quotes a letter from Jacques Snicket to Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...
that says, "I feel, Lemony, as if we are drifting away from one another, as if one of us is on the ground and the other is in some wondrous device, floating away into the sky, like that self-sustaining hot-air mobile home H is always talking about building," indicating that the brothers were familiar with Hector.
Ike Anwhistle
Mentioned in: "The Wide Window" and "The Slippery Slope"Dr. Isaac "Ike" Anwhistle is the late husband of Josephine Anwhistle, mentioned in The Wide Window and The Slippery Slope. His mother had one ear and one eyebrow, he had a brother named Gregor Anwhistle, and was a member of V.F.D. He died due to only waiting 45 minutes before going into Lake Lachrymose (the lake is infested with man-eating leeches as swimmers must wait one hour after eating before going into the lake or they could be eaten by the leeches). Ike was not only Aunt Josephine's husband, but her best friend and partner in grammar, as well as the only person Aunt Josephine knew who could whistle with crackers in his mouth; his specialty was Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Fourth Quartet. According to Josephine, being able to whistle with crackers inside one's mouth was a family trait, so the Baudelaire orphans' mother could do this as well. Their mother's specialty was Mozart's Fourteenth Symphony. In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
, the Duchess of Winnipeg writes to someone called K, saying it is impossible to keep these two letters (about the planned marriage of Lemony and Beatrice and the marriage of Esmé Squalor and Jerome Squalor) together, and for reasons that she does not need to explain, it is impossible for her to write to Mr. Snicket, and asked this K to get these letters to a safe place-perhaps with Ike (perhaps Ike Anwhistle) or the dairy farm K told her about.
His name is a pun on "I can whistle".
Isadora Quagmire
Duncan and Isadora Quagmire are introduced in The Austere Academy when they invite the Baudelaire children to share their table in the school cafeteria following an unpleasant first encounter with Carmelita Spats. They are named after Isadora Duncan, a dancer who died after being strangled by her own scarf. Their skills/interests are quickly established: Isadora recreationally writes poetry, specializing in couplets; Duncan is an aspiring journalist who makes notes about his surroundings. Each triplet carries a notebook wherever they go. They explain that their parents and brother Quigley perished in a large fire and prefer to be referred to as triplets; parallel to the Baudelaires and the Baudelaire fortune, they stand to inherit the Quagmire Sapphires when they come of age. Duncan and Isadora share classes with Violet and Klaus respectively and a close friendship develops between the triplets and the Baudelaires. When Count Olaf appears as Coach Genghis, the Quagmires decide to involve themselves; they research Olaf's past crimes in old newspapers in the school library and sneak out of Vice Principal Nero's concerts to spy on him and the Baudelaires. The Quagmires' last attempt to aid the Baudelaires (ill-advised, according to Lemony Snicket) involves the triplets disguising themselves as the Baudelaires and ends with Olaf abducting them when he flees Prufrock Preparatory School with the help of the white-faced women, intending to obtain the Quagmire Sapphires. Before they are taken away, Duncan shouts the phrase "VFD" to Klaus, saying that it is something awful that he and Isadora discovered while researching Olaf's history.In The Ersatz Elevator, the triplets are discovered locked in a cage at the bottom of an unused and apparently pointless elevator shaft at 667 Dark Avenue, the address of the Baudelaire children's latest guardians Jerome and Esmé Squalor. They are described as having a 'haunted look' about them. They know little about Olaf's current scheme, but they are able to reveal that he plans to smuggle them out of town. The Baudelaires return to their home in the penthouse to prepare blowtorches to free the triplets from their cage, but find them gone when they return to the bottom of the shaft; the removal of their cage exposes the shaft's true purpose as a secret tunnel. At the end of the book, Olaf, Esmé and the Hook-Handed Man successfully escape with the Quagmires, who had been hidden inside a fish statue.
Duncan and Isadora make their last appearance in The Vile Village (though they are referenced regularly for the rest of the series). The village caretaker Hector, with whom the Baudelaires live, upon hearing about the Quagmires, gives to them a scrap of paper upon which is written a couplet which they recognize as Isadora's poetic style. Hector says that he found the paper at the bottom of the Nevermore Tree, where the crows that populate the village roost every night. More couplets are found at the bottom of the tree as the story unfolds and the Baudelaires soon discover the couplets, when put together, reveal where the Triplets have been imprisoned within the village. The Baudelaires eventually free them and they are pursued along with the Baudelaires by the villagers to the outskirts of town. Once there, Hector appears in his self-sustaining hot-air balloon mobile home. The Quagmire triplets climb onto the home safely but the Baudelaires are thwarted in their attempt to do the same by Esmé Squalor, disguised as Officer Luciana, using a harpoon gun. The triplets throw their notebooks to the Baudelaires and beg them to read them to discover the secret of VFD, but Esmé also destroys the notebooks using the gun. Duncan and Isadora fly away in the home with Hector, safe from Olaf's clutches. Their now fragmented notes prove to be of some assistance to the Baudelaires in learning more about V.F.D, Olaf and their own connections to the organization.
Isadora and Duncan were attacked by V.F.D. eagles, which took out the balloons supporting them, just as they meet up with Quigley. As a result, they were sent down, taking out the Queequeg directly below them. They are taken by The Great Unknown. Their birthday is August twenty-fourth
Ishmael
Introduced in: "The End"Ishmael is the island's facilitator. He was once a member of V.F.D., and has the tattoo of the organization on his ankle, although he attempts to hide this. He claims that Count Olaf once locked him in a giant bird cage and burnt down his house, although Olaf counter-claims that he did not set that particular fire. Ishmael once knew the Baudelaire parents; they were the island's facilitators when he arrived, but he forced them into exile and imposed his own views on the island colony.
In his role as facilitator, Ishmael is in charge of solving the islander's problems, as well as sorting out all the things that they find on the coastal shelf. He is very capable at persuading the islanders to get rid of items they've discovered, telling them, "I won't force you", but giving them little other choice. His decisions on whether or not to keep the items are usually illogical, but the islanders follow his suggestions due to peer pressure
Peer pressure
Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique...
and mob psychology- rather in the same way that Olaf used it in The Vile Village. Moreover, the coconut cordial
Squash (drink)
Squash is a non-alcoholic concentrated syrup that is usually fruit-flavoured and usually made from fruit juice, water, and sugar or a sugar substitute. Modern squashes may also contain food colouring and additional flavouring...
that Ishmael persuades everyone to drink also plays a role in this because it serves as an opiate
Opiate
In medicine, the term opiate describes any of the narcotic opioid alkaloids found as natural products in the opium poppy plant.-Overview:Opiates are so named because they are constituents or derivatives of constituents found in opium, which is processed from the latex sap of the opium poppy,...
, making them drowsy and have difficulty making decisions for themselves. The items that Ishmael pronounces as useless are taken to the arboretum on the other side of the island on a sledge drawn by island sheep. He does not allow the islanders to keep secrets, but has many of his own; such as being able to walk despite claiming not to be able to, and eating the forbidden apples from the arboretum's tree. He claims that his feet are injured, preventing him from walking, and covers his feet with island clay. He claims the clay has magical healing powers, but he is really using it to hide the V.F.D. tattoo on his ankle, and frequently sneaks around to visit the arboretum when nobody is with him. Count Olaf thus described him as having feet of clay, a reference to a Biblical quotation meaning that one has a hidden weakness.
In the middle of the book, he had Count Olaf sealed inside a large birdcage and pressured the islanders into abandoning the Baudelaires on the island's coastal shelf, even though he knew that the shelf would soon flood, drowning the orphans and Olaf. Later, he met the Baudelaires in the arboretum, telling them to give up their former lives and lead a safe life on the island. Not long after, upon discovering that the islanders are mutinying against him, he revealed that he was able to walk and used a harpoon gun to shoot Count Olaf, fatally wounding him but inadvertently releasing the deadly Medusoid Mycelium.
Finally, he put the islanders' lives at stake by taking them away from the island on an outrigger
Outrigger
An outrigger is a part of a boat's rigging which is rigid and extends beyond the side or gunwale of a boat.In an outrigger canoe and in sailboats such as the proa, an outrigger is a thin, long, solid, hull used to stabilise an inherently unstable main hull. The outrigger is positioned rigidly and...
and depriving them of a cure for the Medusoid Mycelium, although he had eaten a sample of the cure himself, which meant that he was "immunised" against the poison of the Medusoid Mycelium. Although the Incredibly Deadly Viper attempted to deliver a cure to the remaining islanders, it is unknown whether it succeeded.
Ishmael's name is taken from Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
's novel Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
; he often asks people to 'call me Ish', a parody of Moby-Dicks opening sentence, 'Call me Ishmael'. However, only Count Olaf refers to him by this nickname.
Jacques Snicket
Jacques Snicket, along with his siblings, is a member of V.F.D.. A tattoo of an eye is on his ankle, and because of this, and his one eyebrow, he was mistaken for Count Olaf in The Vile Village. He has two younger siblings, Lemony Snicket and Kit Snicket.[10][11] He was murdered in jail as he was about to be burned at the stake by Count Olaf (disguised as Detective Dupin), who intended to frame Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. Auguste Dupin was a fictional detective in Poe's story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, it was revealed that Jacques is a good friend of Jerome Squalor and that Jerome follows his advice. It was because of Jacques that Jerome bought the penthouse apartment in 667 Dark Avenue, the purpose of this possibly to direct members of the secret organization V.F.D. to safe places before the schism. Jacques did not want Jerome Squalor to marry Esmé, and sent a letter warning Jerome, but the letter was intercepted, possibly by the Hook-Handed Man who was disguised as a doorman. It was also revealed that Jacques disguises himself as a detective and is possibly the man who investigated the murder of Dr. Orwell, though this article was not published in the Daily Punctilio.
In The Vile Village, Jacques immediately recognized the Baudelaires, and tried to tell them about their parents. He was a known member of V.F.D. and was on the fire fighting side. But unfortunately, Esmé Squalor, disguised as a police officer, Officer Luciana, stopped him from any further explanations.
In The Slippery Slope, the Baudelaires found a message that was thought to be for Jacques, but decided (with the later confirmation of Captain Widdershins) that no one would send a message to Jacques, since he was dead. Captain Widdershins also mentioned that Jacques was formerly part of his crew on the Queequeg.
In The Penultimate Peril the Baudelaires learned that J.S., the mysterious receiver of the message in The Slippery Slope, was possibly both Justice Strauss, following the orphans since Mr. Poe had taken away and Jerome Squalor, following the footsteps of his deceased friend.
[
Josephine Anwhistle
Introduced/Disappears in: "The Wide Window"Josephine Anwhistle (or Aunt Josephine) is Violet
Violet Baudelaire
Violet Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and appears in all thirteen books. She is the oldest of the Baudelaire orphans at 14 years old, and often helps her 12-year-old brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny...
, Klaus
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
and Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire is one of the protagonists of Lemony Snicket's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sunny is the youngest of the three Baudelaire orphans, and is described as an infant through much of the series...
's second cousin's sister-in-law
Sister-in-law
A sister-in-law is the sister of one's spouse, the wife of one's sibling, or sometimes the wife of one's spouse's sibling...
, and becomes their guardian in The Wide Window.
Aunt Josephine thinks that grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
is the greatest joy in life. She keeps many books about Lake Lachrymose under her bed. These books include The Tides of Lake Lachrymose, The Bottom of Lake Lachrymose, Lachrymose Trout, The History of the Damocles Dock Region, Ivan Lachrymose - Lake Explorer, How Water Is Made and A Lachrymose Atlas.
Ever since her husband Isaac (Ike
Ike
Ike may refer to:* Dwight D. Eisenhower , a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, popularly known as "Ike"** , the second Nimitz-class supercarrier, also known as the Ike...
for short) was devoured by Lachrymose Leeches, she has developed numerous fears. These include concerns about:
- Lake Lachrymose.
- Welcome mat - Someone might fall and break their neck (decapitate themselves in the film).
- RadiatorRadiatorRadiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in automobiles, buildings, and electronics...
- It might explode. - CouchCouchA couch, also called a sofa, is an item of furniture designed to seat more than one person, and providing support for the back and arms. Typically, it will have an armrest on either side. In homes couches are normally found in the family room, living room, den or the lounge...
(refrigeratorRefrigeratorA refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...
in movie) - It could fall and crush a person. - CarsAutomobileAn automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
- The doors could get stuck, leaving someone trapped inside. - Doorknobs - It could shatter into a million pieces, one of which may get in someone's eye.
- TelephoneTelephoneThe telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
- It could electrocute someone. - BurglarsTheftIn common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
-Explainable - StoveStoveA stove is an enclosed heated space. The term is commonly taken to mean an enclosed space in which fuel is burned to provide heating, either to heat the space in which the stove is situated or to heat the stove itself, and items placed on it...
- It might burst into flames. - the Lachrymose Leeches - This is one of her more rational fears. If they smell food, they swarm in and attack.
- ChandelierChandelierA chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
- If it falls, it'll impale someone (in film) - RealtorsNational Association of RealtorsThe National Association of Realtors , whose members are known as Realtors, is North America's largest trade association. representing over 1.2 million members , including NAR's institutes, societies, and councils, involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries...
could take her house. - The Black Plague
- Avocados- The pit could become lodged in your throat.
- Hair in her face
Ironically
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
, many of the things she fears actually happen in the film
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling. It is an adaptation of the The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window, being the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket...
when her home falls into the lake.
In the end, Josephine pleads with Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
(in his disguise of Captain Sham) to let her live by offering the Baudelaire children, the fortune, and the children's lives in exchange for her own safety, but instead pushes her overboard from a small sailboat after she corrected her own death sentance, literally. It is heavily implied that she meets the same fate as her husband; she is surrounded by leeches and her tattered life jackets are found later by fishermen at the time the orphans were in Prufrock Preparatory School, two books later. It is unknown if she is alive or dead. The Grim Grotto implies that she might still be alive. She is mentioned more times then any others of the Baudelaire's caregivers after her death (with the obvious exceptions of Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor.)
- Josephine gets over this fear in the course of the Baudelaires' stay. However, this leads to her undoing.
- This is given some credence by Captain Widdershins when he says "we were attacked by... leeches and realtors" and explained briefly by Kit Snicket in Chapter 2 of The Penultimate PerilThe Penultimate PerilThe Penultimate Peril is the twelfth novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book starts off where The Grim Grotto left off...
. It was mentioned that a cave (presumably Curdled Cave) was attacked by treacherous realtors. Although it may be for comedic relief, the word treacherous may mean that the realtors were members of the evil side of the V.F.D., and an attack of theirs caused her irrational fear of realtors. Fictional film director Dr. Gustav Sebald is also credited (in The Unauthorized Autobiography) with a film entitled Realtors in the Cave, further suggesting a V.F.D.-related incident. Also, the film explains that Josephine's fear of realtors is the reason that she has not moved from her dangerous house.
Larry
Introduced in: "The Wide Window"Larry is a waiter in The Anxious Clown restaurant who serves the Baudulaires, Mr. Poe, and Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
(disguised as Captain Sham) in The Wide Window. Larry is implied to be a member of VFD, as he uses the coded phrase "I didn't realize this was a sad occasion."
A similar waiter appears in The Unauthorized Autobiography, interrupting a taped conversation between Mr. Poe and his sister Eleanora in The Anxious Clown. In another letter, the writer says you must say "The world is quiet here" (V.F.D.'s pledge) in response to the waiter's, "I didn't realize this was a sad occasion" to get something. The letter from Captain S., in pages 109-110 makes it clear to us that someone finally did say the code ( If you are reading this letter it means you were able to contact the proper waiter at the Anxious Clown). It also was made clear that Lemony Snicket was the one who got the blueprints, Captain S stated in his post scriptum that he rather enjoyed your theatrical reviews in the Daily Punctilio, and was very sorry to hear you will no longer be writing them. Lemony Snicket was fired for making a bad review of Esme Squalor.
It is also possible that Larry appears in "The penultimate peril" when we find him taking orders from Sir and Charles in the Curry house on the 6th floor.
Librarian
A member of V.F.D, he appears in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized AutobiographyLemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography was first released on May 1, 2002. The book's content relates to the author Lemony Snicket and his series of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events...
and wears an unusual assortment of clothes. He asks a question from the book Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is a juvenile fiction novel written by Beverly Cleary. It is the sixth installment in the Ramona Quimby series. It was illustrated by Alan Tiegreen and was first published in 1981. The current edition was illustrated by Tracy Dockray. It is a 1982 Newbery Honor award winner...
, to identify other V.F.D. members. The phrase is "Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?" it means "I have information for you." If a character replies "The question is, has she been good to me?" which might mean "I am ready for information."
The man with a beard, but no hair and the woman with hair, but no beard
The man with a beard, but no hair and the woman with hair, but no beard are two fictional, villainous judges first appearing in The Slippery Slope. They are said to have an "aura of menace", and even intimidate Count Olaf. They are first seen by Sunny Baudelaire at the peak of Mount Fraught, where they burned down V.F.D. headquarters and came to see Olaf. They had captured and retrained the V.F.D. Eagles, which obey their orders and even carry the pair with them when they fly.In The Penultimate Peril
The Penultimate Peril
The Penultimate Peril is the twelfth novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book starts off where The Grim Grotto left off...
, it was revealed that the pair of them were additionally two of the judges on the High Court (aside from Justice Strauss), and have been pretending to be interested in the Baudelaire case so that they could obtain all the information Justice Strauss had about the children. They then told Count Olaf everything they know to help him. At the end of The Penultimate Peril, a large fire consumes the Hotel Denouement and destroyed it while the two villains were inside, though it is unknown if they survived as they were not seen in the last book, The End.
Miranda Caliban
Introduced in: "The End"Mrs. Miranda Caliban (named after a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest) is a castaway who appears in The End. Mrs. Caliban is described as a pleasant-looking woman on the island. She is the mother of Friday, who was the first person on the island to meet the orphans. Earlier in the book, Friday explains that her parents were shipwrecked while on a cruise ship. Her father was killed (eaten by a manatee) though this statement seems to be disproved later in the book, when Kit Snicket claims to have visited Mrs. Caliban's husband a short time ago. Ishmael also states in the book that he had convinced Miranda to tell Friday that her father had died in a manatee accident to cover up the truth. Mrs. Caliban thinks Count Olaf may have an associate by the name of Thursday, whom some believe is her husband. Miranda Caliban is related to Olivia Caliban (Madame Lulu) through marriage (Thursday Caliban is Olivia's brother). Mrs. Caliban seems to agree with Ishmael on most issues and is horrified to learn that her daughter has secretly learned to read, despite that she herself is secretly learning backstroke
Backstroke
The backstroke, also sometimes called the back crawl, is one of the four swimming styles regulated by FINA, and the only regulated style swum on the back. This has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimmers not being able to see where they are going. It is also the only...
.
Monty Montgomery
Introduced/Killed in: "The Reptile Room"Dr. Montgomery "Monty" Montgomery is Bertrand Baudelaire
Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire
The Baudelaire family is one of several prominent fictional families created by American author Lemony Snicket for his novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events...
's cousin's brother-in-law and Violet
Violet Baudelaire
Violet Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and appears in all thirteen books. She is the oldest of the Baudelaire orphans at 14 years old, and often helps her 12-year-old brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny...
, Klaus
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
, and Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire is one of the protagonists of Lemony Snicket's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sunny is the youngest of the three Baudelaire orphans, and is described as an infant through much of the series...
's second guardian
Legal guardian
A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
, but he prefers to be called Uncle Monty. He appears solely in The Reptile Room. It is thought that his name is inspired by Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
, as he is a herpetologist (one who studies snakes) whose first name is Monty.
Uncle Monty is a "fat, short, chubby man with a round red face." He discovered the Incredibly Deadly Viper (which is in fact not deadly at all). When the Baudelaires first meet him, he gives them homemade coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
cream
Cream
Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...
cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
, and the Baudelaires instantly warm to him. He plans to take them to Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
with his assistant Gustav, but receives Gustav's apparent letter of resignation the day before (it is later revealed that Gustav was actually killed by Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
), so Uncle Monty hires "Stephano" (Count Olaf in disguise) in his place. The Baudelaires quickly recognize Stephano as Olaf. Uncle Monty, on the other hand, thinks that Stephano is a jealous spy from the herpetology
Herpetology
Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...
society, there to steal the Incredibly Deadly Viper, which he has not yet revealed to the society. When the Baudelaires tried to tell Uncle Monty Stephano's true identity, he misunderstood them, thinking that they were saying that Stephno's "plan to steal the Incredibly Deadly Viper" was as despicable as Olaf, rather than Stephano actually being Olaf. Then ,he tore up Stephano's ticket. This does not stop Olaf, who murders Uncle Monty (using snake venom). Olaf then blames it on the Mamba Du Mal (the Incredibly Deadly Viper in the movie), another snake owned by Uncle Monty. The Baudelaires escape Olaf, but they never again find a nicer or more caring guardian than Uncle Monty. Uncle Monty also had some connection to the Quagmire family because there is a tunnel connecting the two houses.