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. Most of these creatures are fictional in nature, creations of the author. Even the ones based on real animals seem to be trained to act in ways that real animals are unlikely to act.
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[edit] Lachrymose Leeches
| The Lachrymose Leeches | |
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| First mentioned | The Wide Window |
|---|---|
| Possessed by | Possibly the V.F.D; a specimen was in the possession of Lemony Snicket's editor, given in a test tube to help Brett Helquist with his illustrations. |
Lachrymose Leeches are a fictional breed of leeches, whose name suggests they are indigenous to Lake Lachrymose. They are extremely dangerous, having sixty rows of very sharp teeth and one sharp nose. A person must wait three hours 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 his wife, Josephine Anwhistle, in the book The Wide Window. "Aunt Josephine" was pushed off a boat by Count Olaf, apparently only 60 minutes after eating a banana.
The leeches are vicious and intelligent enough to try to attack humans. When Josephine was in a boat 25 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.
Apparently, a specimen was owned by the Lemony Snicket's fictional wife, as he gave a test tube containing one to Bett Helquad, the illustrator of Lemon Snickers's books, in order to help him with his illustrations.
[edit] Uncle Monty's Reptiles
| The Reptile Collection | |
| Film portrayal | Scenes 4 - 7 |
|---|---|
| First mentioned | The Reptile Room |
| Possessed by | Count Olaf, formerly Uncle Monty. |
Dr. Montgomery Montgomery (sometimes called 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, the character 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 (later nicknamed "Ink") is a very large snake that was discovered by Montgomery Montgomery. It played a role in The Reptile Room until it appeared once again eleven volumes later, in The End.
The snake first appeared in The Reptile Room, wherein it bit Sunny Baudelaire on the chin. Sunny's siblings Violet and Klaus, unaware of the misnomer, were terrified their sister might be poisoned; after the Baudelaires were corrected the viper became a special friend of Sunny's. The Incredibly Deadly Viper was released near the story's climax to help reveal the true identity of the then-disguised Count Olaf. At the end of the book, the viper is shipped away with the rest of other reptiles. The Baudelaires say their tearful farewell to him as a tear is seen rolling down from his eye.
In The End, Kit Snicket arrives in "Olaf-Land" with the snake (who had been nicknamed "Ink") on her raft of books. Ink stays on the island for the majority of the time, cooperating with the Baudelaires. At the end, it tried to save the island's inhabitants by bringing them an apple and horseradish hybrid to get rid of the Medusoid Mycelium in their bodies; 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 Charles 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 (who was 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 Esmé Squalor Fan Club.
In The Mamba du Mal: A Snake That Will Never Kill Me (by Tony "Mommy" Eggmonteror) 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 Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography in which it is mentioned that in Charlotte'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, 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 hard sustenance (or another hard substance) to chew on (if it does not get something hard to chew, 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). Not really a reptile but an amphibian.
- 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. Not really a reptile but an amphibian.
- The Virginian Wolfsnake: Should never, ever be allowed in the vicinity of a typewriter. Named in reference to novelist Virginia Woolf.
- 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. Not really a reptile but an amphibian in the video game it can say hello in over 500 languages.
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. Not really a reptile but an amphibian.
- A toad with "stained-glass" eyes which resembles a church. Not really a reptile but an amphibian.
- A lizard with two heads and two yellow stripes running across its underside (shown as a two-headed cobra in the movie).
- A lizard which looks exactly like an owl.
- A snake with three mouths, each on top of the other.
- A snake that seems to have no mouth.
- A snake whose venom is so lethal that it stops the victim's heart beating before the nervous system acknowledges the bite.
- A snake which can open its mouth wide enough to swallow at least four people in one gulp.
- Two snakes which have been trained to drive a car, albeit recklessly.
[edit] Snow Gnats
| 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 whatsoever, similar to red ants. This is shown when Violet and Klaus Baudelaire are making a trip up the Mortmain Mountains. The gnats' stingers contain mild poison which may kill, with a couple of stings, a small animal. There are a few ways to avoid being stung. The easiest way is to create smoke by starting a 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. One may also protect oneself by covering the body with clothing. A fencing mask will impede the gnats while still allowing the wearer to see.
[edit] V.F.D. Animals
[edit] Lions
| V.F.D. Lions | |
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| First mentioned | The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope and perhaps in The Ersatz Elevator |
|---|---|
| Possessed by | Count Olaf and Madame Lulu |
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. (including 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. However, several of them perished when Count Olaf neglected to retrieve them from the lions' pit when he lit Caligari Carnival on fire.
The lions were once noble creatures trained by the V.F.D to detect smoke; in The Carnivorous Carnival, Count Olaf brought them to the carnival and treated them cruelly, so that by the time a freak from the House of Freaks was chosen to be eaten by the lions, they would be very hungry and desperate.
[edit] Crows
| V.F.D. Crows | |
| First mentioned | The Vile Village |
|---|---|
| Possessed by | Possibly the Village of Fowl Devotees |
The V.F.D. crows live in the Village of Fowl Devotees but are at other times implied to be used by the V.F.D. organization. The crows roost downtown in the morning, uptown in the afternoon, and in Nevermore tree all night. They 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 were carrying the sugar bowl to Hotel Denouement when Carmelita Spats shot them with a harpoon gun. They fell and got stuck to "birdpaper" which Klaus Baudelaire hung out of a window. The sugar bowl then fell into the hotel's pond, although it was originally thought to have fallen down a funnel leading to the hotel's laundry room.
[edit] Eagles
| V.F.D. Eagles | |
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| First mentioned | The Ersatz Elevator |
|---|---|
| Possessed by | The man with a beard but no hair and the woman with hair but no beard. |
The arsonistic side of the V.F.D. have a convocation of eagles, which bend to their whim at the blowing of small, silver whistles. 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)
In The Slippery Slope these eagles carry off Bruce and the Snow Scouts. In The End Kit tells the Baudelaire children that the eagles attacked Hector's self-sustaining hot air mobile home, causing it to crash into Captain Widdershin's submarine, the Queequeg. This is foreshadowed in The Penultimate Peril when Kit Snicket says that Quigley Quagmire must save his siblings when they are attacked in the sky, she later states that he is trying to save them from eagles (with a homemade net).
[edit] Salmon
| V.F.D. Salmon | |
| Film portrayal | The Slippery Slope |
|---|---|
| First mentioned | The Ersatz Elevator |
| Possessed by | Café Salmonella |
It is stated 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 (in accordance with a rhyme quoted in the same book).
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