Animals in A Series of Unfortunate Events

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Many animals appear in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.

Contents 1 Lachrymose Leeches 2 Uncle Monty's Reptiles 2.1 Incredibly Deadly Viper 2.2 Mamba du Mal 2.3 Other 3 Snow Gnats 4 V.F.D. Animals 4.1 Lions 4.2 Crows 4.3 Eagles 4.4 Salmon

[edit] Lachrymose Leeches

A Series of Unfortunate Events entities
The Lachrymose Leeches
Film portrayal	Scenes ? - ?
First mentioned	The Wide Window
Possessed by	Possibly the V.F.D.; most probably no one.

Lachrymose Leeches are a fictional breed of leeches, whose name suggests they indigenous to Lake Lachrymose. They are extremely dangerous, having six rows of very sharp teeth and one sharp nose. A person must wait one hour after eating before swimming in Lake Lachrymose, or the Lachrymose Leeches will smell the food that was eaten and attack. This fate befell Ike Anwhistle and most likely his wife, Josephine Anwhistle, in the book The Wide Window. "Aunt Josephine" was pushed off a boat by Count Olaf, apparently only 45 minutes after eating a banana.

The leeches are vicious and intelligent enough to try to attack people. When Josephine was in the boat 45 minutes after eating, the leeches started headbutting the boat.

In The Beatrice Letters, there is a photograph of a Lachrymose Leech, a paperweight given to Lemony Snicket on his graduation.

[edit] Uncle Monty's Reptiles

A Series of Unfortunate Events entities
The Reptile Collection
Film portrayal	Scenes ? - ?
First mentioned	The Reptile Room
Possessed by	Count Olaf, formerly Uncle Monty.

Dr. Montgomery Montgomery (or simply Uncle Monty) took care of an enormous reptile collection which belonged to the good side of the V.F.D. These reptiles were trained to sniff out arson. However, after Montgomery's death, Bruce shipped off the collection. The reptiles were presumably sold or donated to various entities (as asserted in the Autobiography). Count Olaf sent one of his associates, disguised as a cow, to reclaim them (albeit for Olaf's own uses). This associate was apparently successful, as (in The Slippery Slope) Olaf claims to be in possession of all the reptiles but one. The Mamba du Mal was purchased at the In Auction by the Esmé Squalor Fan Club, and the owners of the ship Prospero, in correspondence with Lemony Snicket, claim to have assisted in the protection of the Incredibly Deadly Viper.

[edit] Incredibly Deadly Viper

The Incredibly Deadly Viper is a very large snake that is, in fact, not deadly at all. The snake was discovered by Montgomery Montgomery in an unknown land (though the film states that it was discovered in Tanzania). The name is a misnomer created by him so he could play a prank on his coworkers, who often made fun of his name.

The snake first appeared in The Reptile Room. The Incredibly Deadly Viper bit Sunny Baudelaire on the chin when it first met her. Sunny's siblings Violet and Klaus, unaware of the misnomer, were terrified their sister might be poisoned, but after the Baudelaires were corrected the viper became a special friend of Sunny. The Incredibly Deadly Viper was released near the stories climax to help reveal Stephano's true identity was Count Olaf. At the end of the book the viper is shipped away with the rest of reptiles.

In The End, Kit Snicket arrives in "Olaf-Land" with the snake (who had been nicknamed "Ink") on her raft of books. It tried save the island's inhabitants by bringing them an apple and horseradish hybrid to get rid of the Medusoid Mycelium in their systems but it is unknown if it succeeded. The image of a snake offering an apple is a reference to Satan in the form of a snake tempting Eve with an apple in the Garden of Eden. It was said by the author that the snake went on to live a series of unfortunate events itself, often avoiding and committing treachery, much like the orphans themselves.

[edit] Mamba du Mal

The Mamba du Mal is a fictional snake in the popular children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. It was a part of Montgomery Montgomery's reptile collection, and was trained to sniff out arson. Possibly named after a real snake known as the Mamba. "du Mal" possibly derived from Les Fleurs du Mal, written by Chrles Baudelaire. The snake is known to be black. It is possibly shown in the reptile room at the start of chapter 9

In The Reptile Room, Stephano (Count Olaf in disguise) injects the venom of the Mamba du Mal into Uncle Monty and kills him. He then falsely accuses the snake of being responsible for Uncle Monty's death. The Mamba du Mal is then taken by Bruce. In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, a black snake is seen communicating with some crickets, likely V.F.D. Crickets. The snake then is bought at the In Auction by the Esme Sqaualor Fan Club.

In The Mamba du Mal: A Snake That Will Never Kill Me (by Tony "Mommy" Eggmonterorer) this is said : "The Mamba du Mal is one of the deadliest snakes in the hemisphere, noted for its strangulatory grip, used in conjunction with its deadly venom, giving all of its victims a tenebrous hue, which is ghastly to behold.

"More pleasant to contemplate, however, are the snake's excellent communication skills. Certain specimens of the Mamba du Mal have been trained to recite certain phrases in an encoded form of English so they might be employed as guardians of crucial headquarters. A mamba du mal hissing the phrase "Summer is" for instance, is communicating a coded version of the phrase "Enemies are nearby." The hissed phrase "over and gone" translates to "probably in disguise," and the mamba has been known to hiss the word "dying" as a code for "Beware of arson." The only other creature with communication skills sufficient to convey these messages is the common grass cricket." This is a reference to the book, Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography) in which it is mentioned that in the book, Charolette's Web) there is a secret code mentioned in the opening of one of the last chapters of the book where Wilbur is soon to be sent to the state farm and worrying about his fate and impending doom, where it is mentioned that it is as if the crickets are saying "Summer is over and gone, summer is dying" over and over again.

[edit] Other

• The Barbary Chewer: A snake that is difficult to keep in captivity due to its unusual habit of always needing sustenance (if it does not get food, it eats its own mouth).
• The Androgynous Cobra
• The Alaskan Cow Lizard: A long, green creature that produces delectable milk.
• The Dissonant Toad: Can imitate human speech (in a gravelly voice).
• The Inky Newt: Covered in black dye.
• The Irascible Python: Grumpy and best left alone.
• The Green Gimlet Toad: Should not be given too much water.
• The Virginian Wolfsnake: Should never, ever be allowed in the vicinity of a typewriter.
• The Mongolian Meansnake: Smiles cruelly when about to eat white mice.
• The Hungarian Sloth Snake: Top speed is half an inch per hour.
• The Tibetan Third-Eye Toad (only in the film): Has a third eye between the others, probably a reference to the Buddhist conception of 3 being the most powerful number.

The following are some reptiles described but not named that appear in The Reptile Room.

• A very fat toad with two wings sprouting from its back.
• A toad that resembles a church, with stained-glass eyes
• A lizard with two heads and two yellow stripes running across its underside.
• A lizard that looks exactly like an owl (with wide eyes and all).
• A snake with three mouths, each on top of the other.
• A snake with no mouth.

[edit] Snow Gnats

A Series of Unfortunate Events entities
Snow Gnats
Film portrayal	None
First mentioned	The Slippery Slope
Possessed by	Mortmain Mountains.

In the tenth book of A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Slippery Slope, by Lemony Snicket, snow gnats are small flying insects which inhabit the Mortmain Mountains.

The distinguishing feature of snow gnats is they enjoy stinging people for no reason. This is shown when Violet and Klaus Baudelaire are making a trip up the Mortmain Mountains. There are a few ways to avoid being stung. The easiest way is to create smoke, by fire. Snow gnats do not like smoke and will flee an area that has or recently has had smoke. For example, snow gnats fled The Valley of Four Drafts when the V.F.D. headquarters there were burned down. Another way for a person to protect himself is to cover his body. For example, a fencing mask will impede the gnats while still allowing the wearer to see.

[edit] V.F.D. Animals

[edit] Lions

A Series of Unfortunate Events entities
V.F.D. Lions
Film portrayal	Never
First mentioned	The Carnivorous Carnival; perhaps in The Ersatz Elevator
Possessed by	Count Olaf.

The Mortmain Mountains are inhabited by many dangerous beasts, including the V.F.D. lions. The lions first appear in The Carnivorous Carnival (although they are hinted at in The Ersatz Elevator; and might be the ones mentioned in The Wide Window), where they eat several people. The lions originally belonged to the V.F.D., and they were trained to smell smoke; Beatrice and Bertrand have been mentioned as lion-trainers, as revealed in The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition. At some point the fire-starting branch of the V.F.D. (i.e. Count Olaf and his associates) took control of the felines. Their V.F.D. code name, mentioned in The Slippery Slope, is the Volunteer Feline Detectives.

[edit] Crows

A Series of Unfortunate Events entities
V.F.D. Crows
Film portrayal	Never
First mentioned	The Vile Village
Possessed by	Possibly the Village of Fowl Devotees

The V.F.D. crows are used in The Vile Village to transport Isadora Quagmire's couplets from their hiding place in the Fowl Fountain to the Nevermore Tree.

The crows are mentioned again in The Penultimate Peril. They are carrying the sugar bowl when Carmelita Spats shoots them with a harpoon gun. They fall and get stuck to the birdpaper which Klaus has hung out of the window. The sugar bowl then falls either into the laundry room (via a funnel), into a pond or into the sea.

The crows roost downtown in the morning, uptown in the afternoon, and in Nevermore tree all night.

In the audio version of The Vile Village, a song entitled "Crows" is written and song by The Gothic Archies. Listen to it, and 2 other songs here [1]

[edit] Eagles

A Series of Unfortunate Events entities
V.F.D. Eagles
Film portrayal	Never
First mentioned	The Ersatz Elevator
Possessed by	The man with a beard but no hair and the woman with hair but no beard.

The evil side of the V.F.D. have a convocation of eagles, which bend to their whim at the blowing of small, silver whistles. These eagles carry off Bruce and the Snow Scouts. They are first mentioned (indirectly) in The Ersatz Elevator, when Jerome Squalor says to Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire,

"Ah! You're adventurous! I like that in a person. Your mother was adventurous, too. You know, she and I were very good friends a ways back. We hiked up Mount Fraught with some friends — gosh, it must have been twenty years ago. Mount Fraught was known for having dangerous animals on it, but your mother wasn't afraid. But then, swooping out of the sky—" (p. 27)

[edit] Salmon

A Series of Unfortunate Events entities
V.F.D. Salmon
Film portrayal	Never
First mentioned	The Ersatz Elevator
Possessed by	Café Salmonella

It is hinted at in The Grim Grotto that V.F.D. trained salmon in a process known as Voluntary Fish Domestication. They were to swim upstream and search for forest fires; however, the entire "fleet" was captured by Café Salmonella, and presumably eaten, perhaps proving that the waiters at the restaurant are traitors.