Castaways (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
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In A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, there are many castaways who live on an island appearing in The End.
[edit] Ishmael
| A Series of Unfortunate Events character | |
| Ishmael | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | White |
| Age | Adult (no further details) |
| Film actor | None |
| 1st appearance | The End |
Ishmael is the island's "facilitator" which means that he sorts out all the things that the islanders find on the coastal shelf. He suggests they get rid of the item, but adds saying, "I won't force you." (The coconut cordial that the islanders drink also plays a role in this because it makes them drowsy therefore not only are they tempted by "peer preesure", but they also have a hard time making up their minds.) His decisions on whether or not to keep the items are usually illogical, but the islanders follow his suggestions because of peer pressure. The items that Ishmael pronounces as useless are taken to the other side of the island dragged by the sheep to the arboretum where it is revealed the Baudelaire parents once lived and kept records of how they lived. He did not allow the islanders to keep secrets, although he had many of his own, such as being able to walk and eating the apples off the tree hidden in the aboretum. Count Olaf refers to him having 'feet of clay' because of his apparent sore feet. He covers his feet with island clay that is said to have magical healing powers, although he is really using the clay to hide the V.F.D tattoo on his ankle. It also refers to the saying "he has feet of clay" meaning that he has a secret.
In the middle of the book, he pressures the islanders into abandoning The Baudelaires on the costal shelf, even though he knows that the shelf will flood soon, drowning the orphans. After, he meets the Baudelaires in the aboretum, telling them to give up their former lives and lead a safe life on the island. Soon after, he stands up on his own feet, proving that his feet are not injured at all, and uses a harpoon gun to shoot Count Olaf, eventually killing him and setting off the deadly Medusoid Mycelium.
Finally, he put the islanders' lives at stake by introducing the Medusoid Mycelium and not giving them a cure (although he had eaten a sample of the cure himself). Although the Incredibly Deadly Viper attempted to deliver a cure to the remaining islanders, it is unknown whether it succeeded.
He was once a member of V.F.D., since Olaf reveals that Ishmael also has an eye tattoo. He supposedly knew about Olaf's treachery ever since Olaf burned down his house. During which, Olaf locked him in a giant bird cage. He takes his revenge on Olaf, by shooting him with the harpoon gun. Ishmael once knew the Baudelaire parents.
Ishmael's name is taken from Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. In reference to Moby-Dick, Ishmael often asks people to 'call me Ish', a parody of Moby-Dick's opening sentence: 'Call me Ishmael'.
| Preceded by Dewey Denouement (The Penultimate Peril) |
Guardian of Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire | Succeeded by Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire (as the island's only inhabitants) |
| Preceded by Mr. Bertrand Baudelaire & Mrs. Beatrice Baudelaire |
Facilitator of Olaf-Land | Succeeded by Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire (as the island's only inhabitants) |
[edit] Friday
| A Series of Unfortunate Events character | |
| Friday | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Unknown |
| Age | 6 or 7 |
| Film actor | None |
| 1st appearance | The End |
| V.F.D. alliance | Unknown |
Friday Caliban is a young island girl who quickly befriends the Baudelaires and makes enemies with Count Olaf by abandoning him. She is the daughter of Miranda Caliban. She was born on this island. Her father, Thursday, moved away from the island and her mother tells her that her father died in the storm when they actually got into a fight and did not want to break the bad news to Friday. Unfortunately, Friday had to leave the Baudelaires stranded on the island by leaving with the other islanders, all of them infected by the Medusoid Mycelium. It is mentioned that Ink, the Incredibly Deadly Viper, had brought them an apple on the water to save them, but it is unknown whether she or the other islanders were eventually saved. She had many secrets that island facilitator Ishmael would not approve of, including learning how to read, giving Sunny a whisk, and keeping Ink.
Friday is also the name of the character in the book Robinson Crusoe who was Robinson's friend and assistant.
[edit] Minor Castaways
| A Series of Unfortunate Events organization | |
 |
|
| The Castways | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male and Female |
| Age | ranges from young to old |
| Film portrayers | None |
| First appearance | The End |
- Alonso (named after a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest.)
- Ariel (named after a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest.)
- Jonah and Sadie Bellamy (named after the biblical Jonah; a character in The Adventures of Sadie, aka Our Girl Friday, a 1953 film about a shipwrecked girl; and Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy, an 18th-century pirate who was shipwrecked off Cape Cod.)
- Rabbi Bligh (named after Bounty captain William Bligh.)
- Brewster (named after Maud Brewster, a character in Jack London's The Sea-Wolf.)
- Byam (named after Roger Byam, a fictional character in the novel Mutiny on the Bounty.)
- Mrs. Caliban (named after a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest.)
- Calypso (named after the sea nymph Calypso from Greek mythology.)
- Erewhon (named after the utopia in Samuel Butler's book of the same name.)
- Professor Fletcher (named after Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian.)
- Finn (named after Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.)
- Friday (named after a character in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.)
- Dr. Kurtz (named after a character in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.)
- Larsen (named after Wolf Larsen, a character in Jack London's The Sea-Wolf.)
- Ms. Marlow (named after a character in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.)
- Madame Nordoff (named after Charles Nordhoff, co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty.)
- Omeros (possibly named after the Greek epic poet Homer, whose Iliad and Odyssey deal extensively with sea voyages and shipwrecks; another possibility is the 1990 poem of the same name by Derek Walcott, which is partly a retelling of the Odyssey set in the Caribbean.)
- Mr. Pitcairn (named after the Pitcairn Islands where the Bounty mutineers eventually settled.)
- Robinson (named after the title character in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.)
- Sherman (named after General William Tecumseh Sherman, who survived two shipwrecks; or from William Pène du Bois’s The Twenty-One Balloons.)
- Thursday, islander for a short time before the events of book (probably a pun, as he is Friday's father)
- Weyden (named after Humphrey Van Weyden, a character in Jack London's The Sea-Wolf.)
- Willa (possibly named after writer Willa Cather who refers to a shipwreck in a notable quotation.)
(a.k.a. Daniel Handler)
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
