Towns in A Series of Unfortunate Events
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In the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, there are various fictional towns where events of significant importance to the plot take place.
Contents |
[edit] The City
| A Series of Unfortunate Events place | |
 |
|
| Unknown, Boston in movie | |
|---|---|
| First Visit | The Bad Beginning |
| Later Visits | The Ersatz Elevator, The Penultimate Peril |
| Type | City |
Many of the events in the series take place in an unnamed, and presumably well-populated, city. The Baudelaire Mansion, 667 Dark Avenue, Count Olaf's House, Café Salmonella, and Hotel Denouement are found in the city. Briny Beach is also possibly in or near the city. There are a number of districts are present, including the fish district and stationary district. Café Salmonella is located in the fish district, which 'looks, smells, feels, sounds, and if you were to lick the streets, probably tastes like fish'. Mulctuary Money Management, the bank where Mr. Poe works, is located in the banking district of the city. The former Royal Gardens were incinerated to clumps of dirt by a fire, presumably arson. The city is portrayed as gloomy, polluted and gray and inhabited by bizarre individuals.
In the film, the Baudelaire Mansion is situated in 28 Prospero Place, Boston, Massachusetts.
[edit] Paltryville
| A Series of Unfortunate Events place | |
| Paltryville | |
|---|---|
| First Visit | The Miserable Mill |
| Size | small, no further details |
| Type | Town |
Paltryville is a small town which is home to the lumberjacks of the Lucky Smells Lumbermill, the optometrist and hypnotist Dr. Orwell, and her grotesque secretary Shirley, who the orphans immediately recognise as notorious villain Count Olaf.
The buildings have no windows (though the accompanying illustration of Orwell's office shows the building with two windows in view), and on a flagpole at the post office there hangs a shoe instead of a flag.
There are piles of newspaper along one side of the town's wall, which are believed to be the archives of The Daily Punctilio, as suggested in The Unauthorized Autobiography.
[edit] Village of Fowl Devotees
| A Series of Unfortunate Events place | |
 |
|
| Village of Fowl Devotees | |
|---|---|
| First Visit | The Vile Village |
| Owned by: | Council of Elders |
| Type | Village |
The Village Of Fowl Devotees is the setting in The Vile Village. It is often called "V.F.D." instead of its full name. The Baudelaires misinterpreted the letters to represent the organization V.F.D. and decided to pick this city to adopt them. When the Baudelaires arrive it is obvious that the villagers agreed to adopt orphans so that they could do all the town's chores. During the Baudelaire's stay, the only village citizen that actually cares for the Baudelaires is Hector.
The village does not seem to have any connection to the secret organization. Although it is said in The Slippery Slope that when the schism occured, the voluntary side of V.F.D. had won the carrier crows.
The government of V.F.D. is a council of elders, who all wear odd looking crow hats on their heads. The council has made thousands of rules, which are described as "insane" throughout the book, and many of which are "contradictory" according to Klaus Baudelaire, who stays up all night studying them. For example:
- No mechanical devices
- The only pens that may be used are pens made of crow feathers
- Residents may not make things out of crow feathers
- The village library may not include any books that break any of the other rules (For instance, if somebody in a book uses a mechanical device, that book is not allowed.)
When the Baudelaire orphans arrived, the town created Rule #19,833 to protect them. The rule says that no villains are allowed within the city limits.
All the rules have numbers (Rule #201: No murdering, Rule #1: No one may hurt a crow). Anyone who breaks rules in V.F.D. is burned at the stake (Rule #2). There does not seem to be a trial for rule-breaking, but there is a jail. The city is called "Village of Fowl Devotees" because the entire village is devoted to crows. There are crows all over V.F.D., which roost downtown in the morning, uptown in the afternoon, and then all fly to a gigantic tree known as Nevermore Tree at night. Major places within the village are Town Hall and the nearby Fowl Fountain (a hideous fountain in the shape of a bird spewing water onto itself through its beak), which was built by Count Olaf and his associates to trap the Quagmires. Unknown to the townspeople, the fountain has a hidden mechanism in the eye of the crow, allowing the beak to open so at least two human-sized objects can be placed inside. Another major place is the jail, where the Baudelaires stay in the Deluxe Cell.
[edit] Roads
[edit] Lousy Lane
| A Series of Unfortunate Events place | |
| Lousy Lane | |
|---|---|
| First Visit | The Reptile Room |
| Location | leads to Uncle Monty's House |
| Type | Road |
Lousy Lane is the road which leads to Uncle Monty's house. It first appears in The Reptile Room, the second novel.
The road is said to go past Hazy Harbor and up to Tedia, both fictional places that were never mentioned again in the series. The road has orchards producing very sour fruit. It also encircles the Opportune Odors Horseradish Factory, giving the area a sickly odor. The factory is possessed by V.F.D. where they are looking for a cure for Medusoid Mycelium. Also, the factory was made of lumber from the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The factory is depicted on the map in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography and was the apparent destination of Ishmael and the islanders when they departed from "Olaf-Land". Kit Snicket also mentions it in a letter to the now deceased Gregor Anwhistle, saying she was working on a way to dilute the poison, and horseradish is an antidote to the Medusoid Mycelium. The road traverses the Grim River, a river brown with mud. In the book it states the river is one tenth water, nine tenths mud, which was why all of its fish cough.
