Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire
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| A Series of Unfortunate Events character | |
| Mr. and Mrs. Bertrand Baudelaire | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male and Female |
| Hair color | Brown/Blonde |
| Age | Adult (No further details)(quite possibly deceased) |
| Film actor | None |
| 1st appearance | Mentioned in The Bad Beginning. |
Mr and Mrs Bertrand Baudelaire are fictional characters in the book series by Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events. They are the parents of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. Not much is known about them, except that at least one of them was killed (although they are both presumed dead) in the fire that burned down the Baudelaire Mansion, and that they were members of the mysterious organization known as V.F.D. Beatrice Baudelaire was engaged and almost married at The Vineyard of Fragrant Grapes, to Lemony Snicket
Contents |
[edit] Their deaths
The fire which killed Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire was the starting point for the first book of the series, The Bad Beginning. While it has not been explicitly stated whether the fire was accidental or the result of arson, Snicket has several times hinted that someone else was at the Baudelaire mansion when the fire started. In letter correspondence between Mr Snicket and the Vineyard of Fragrant Grapes (where the wedding between Lemony and Beatrice was supposed to take place) the Sebald code is applied in The Unauthorized Autobiography and says something like "hello, if you are still alive watch out" and then something roughly implying "if you get married here, the count will burn you and Beatrice'. The count is supposedly Count Olaf. This is a probable explanation as to who burned down the mansion, but has not been confirmed. The thing it does seem to imply however, is that the fire was not an accident. Also, other characters, such as Isadora, Duncan and Quigley Quagmire have lost parents in similar fires, and members of V.F.D. are logical suspects.
Further clues were revealed in The Ersatz Elevator when the Baudelaire children discovered a secret passageway from 667 Dark Avenue (home to their guardians, Esmé and Jerome Squalor) to the remains of their former home.
[edit] Possible survivor
The next clues were found in The Hostile Hospital. Page 13 of the Snicket File, the only page to be found in Heimlich Hospital's Library of Records, said "Due to the evidence discussed on page 9, experts now suspect that there may in fact be one survivor of the fire, but the survivor's whereabouts are unknown." The Baudelaire children took this as meaning that one of their parents may be alive. In The Slippery Slope, Quigley Quagmire implied that he was the survivor of a fire and not Mr. or Mrs. Baudelaire. Lemony Snicket has also commented that Mrs. Baudelaire is definitely dead. It is confirmed in book thirteen, The End, that Mrs. Baudelaire was Beatrice, Lemony Snicket's love, and according to Snicket's dedication pages, she is clearly dead. Many readers believe that her death is the reason that Snicket is so determined to tell the story of the orphans. Since Beatrice is definitely dead, the survivor of the Baudelaire Mansion fire - if there was one - might have been Mr. Baudelaire.
It is possible that the fire mentioned in the hospital records was actually the Quagmire fire, and that the survivor referred to was, in fact, Quigley.
In The Carnivorous Carnival, when the Hook-Handed Man says that one of the parents is alive, Lemony Snicket says that the statement is not true. However, this could be taken several ways: i.e. it could be that they are both dead, or that they are both alive.
Even if one parent did survive, however, they are never encountered during the series and play no part in the story. It is generally assumed that they are both dead.
[edit] The poison darts
The Penultimate Peril also opens up more disturbing possibilities about the Baudelaire parents. Kit Snicket tells the children about a night that she attended an opera (La forza del destino) with the Baudelaires, and handed them a box of poison darts before Esmé Squalor sees them. Later in the book Count Olaf reveals that his parents were killed by poison darts, and also that he has good reason to hate the Baudelaires. This would imply that the Baudelaire parents murdered Count Olaf's parents, explaining Olaf's grudge against the family (and his motive for burning down the Baudelaire mansion, as many believe), and possibly also why he became a villain.
One of the 13 Shocking Secrets You'll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket states that Lemony helped Beatrice to commit a serious crime before her death. Another reveals that Snicket is wanted for arson. However, in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, he mentions that he knows of other people starting fires, although he himself did not.
In The End, Count Olaf, a known arsonist, denies the charge that he was responsible for the death of the Baudelaire parents and tells the Baudelaires that they don't know anything.
[edit] Mr. Baudelaire
Snicket has told us that Mister Bertrand Baudelaire was a jovial and friendly man. It was revealed in The Penultimate Peril, that his first name was Bertrand. He and his wife were members of the V.F.D., and were friends with, among others, Lemony Snicket , Jacques and Kit Snicket, Uncle Monty, Mr. Poe, Aunt Josephine, possibly Justice Strauss and Jerome Squalor.
Mr. Baudelaire was, according to The Hostile Hospital, a good cook. His need for help in opening a can of condensed milk was the beginning of Sunny's interest in cooking.
[edit] Mrs. Baudelaire
The final book in the series heavily implies that Beatrice had believed Lemony Snicket to be dead. The most obvious reason for this belief would have been the spurious obituary for Snicket in The Daily Punctilio (shown in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography). The other evidence for her belief was the fact 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 passed away.
[edit] Literary allusions
Snicket is fond of using literary and philosophical allusions in his books. The Baudelaires are named after Charles Baudelaire who wrote "La Béatrice" and their father, Bertrand, is named for Aloysius Bertrand, a poet who strongly influenced Baudelaire.
| Preceded by: None |
Guardian of Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire | Succeeded by: Mr Poe |
| Preceded by: Unknown |
Facilitators of Olaf-Land | Succeeded by: Ishmael |
(a.k.a. Daniel Handler)
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
