Latest Posts by antiboba - Page 2

COMPANIONS

aaaaaah looking at them all together is so satisfying!! and i’m so proud of actually finishing this🥰

A birds-eye view of WWDITS’s series wrap clap out led by Yana Gorskaya.

AND THAT'S A WRAP ON WWDITS FILMING...[wails loudly]

I hope these actors know how much they have done for me, specifically. And how many times I have drawn their dumb faces dkjfhk.

Please consider donating to Medical Aid for Palestine! It's what Kayvan would want. :) 🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉

(ID in alt and under cut)

ID: 1. Waist up of Guillermo and Harvey Guillén on a white background with small yellow polka dots. Cursive red and gold script in the top left corner says 'Thank you, Harvey!' Harvey's skin is slightly tanner than Guillermo's, his hair is sun-bleached and curling freely over his forehead, and he is wearing a blue knit crop top and denim overalls. He is hugging Guillermo from behind with his chin on his shoulder, grinning up at the viewer. Guillermo, wearing a white shirt and brown patterned cardigan, is cupping Harvey's hands with his own over his chest and looking at him with a fond smile, cheeks pressed together.

2. Waist up of Nandor and Kayvan Novak on a white background with small yellow polka dots. Cursive red and gold script in the top left corner says 'Thank you, Kayvan!' Kayvan's skin is a rich brown against Nandor's vampire pallor and his half-up hair and slightly longer beard are graying; he is wearing a dangly gold earring in his left ear and is wearing a lime green button up tee with a red watermelon pattern. He has picked Nandor up in a hug with his arms wrapped around his waist. Nandor, wearing a long brown kaftan under a orange diamond-patterned coat with short furred sleeves, has his right hand braced on Kayvan's shoulder and the other wrapped around his back. They are both grinning widely and looking at the viewer.

3. Waist up of Nadja, Nadja doll, and Natasia Demetriou on a white background with small yellow polka dots. Cursive red and gold script in the top left corner says 'Thank you, Natasia!' Natasia is lightly tanned and has chest wavy length hair with bangs, dark brown at the roots with honey brown and blonde highlights throughout. She is wearing a periwinkle skirt and bandeau top with an outer layer of translucent chiffon in the same color, along with poofy off-shoulder chiffon sleeves, several rings, and a thin chain necklace with her name on it. Nadja and Dolly are matching in dark blue v neck gowns with a gold pattern and front buttons, their hair half up in twin horns. Nadja is grinning at the viewer, fangs out, and leaning heavily into Natasia's side, pressing their shoulders together. Dolly sits on their shared shoulder space, perched directly between their heads with her arms around them, smiling up at the viewer. Nadja's right arm is up under Dolly to support her legs. Natasia's right arm is bent upward like one might do to support a perching bird and her left is palming Dolly's knees to keep her in place. She is smiling over at the Nadjas, half bent over from their weight leaning on her.

4. Waist up of Laszlo and Matt Berry on a white background with small yellow polka dots. Cursive red and gold script in the top left corner says 'Thank you, Matt!' Matt is pale (but clearly more alive than Laszlo), with wavy shoulder length hair streaked with gray and a graying beard that has been allowed to grow a bit further past his chin. He is wearing a plain white tee shirt, denim jacket, and silver chain necklace. Laszlo is wearing a red button up dashingly open at the collar under a dark blue waistcoat and lighter blue jacket with a darker damask pattern. They are standing mirrored, back-to-back with their arms crossed and shoulders pressed together, looking back over their shoulders at each other. Matt smiles at his character lazily while Laszlo offers him a mildly salacious smirk.

5. Waist up of Colin Robinson and Mark Proksch on a white background with small yellow polka dots. Cursive red and gold script in the top left corner says 'Thank you, Mark!' Mark is standing facing the viewer with squared shoulders, wearing a blue and white plaid shirt with a chest pocket, only the top button undone. Were it not for the color and a slight shape change to his glasses, you wouldn't be able to tell him from his character. Colin is standing directly behind and to the right of him, wearing a brown v neck sweater over a beige collar and dull red tie. His head is tipped back and his mouth is open in a wide grin, eyes glowing bright blue behind his glasses. Mark glances at him from the corner of his eye with a slightly amused smirk.

6. Waist up of the Guide and Kristen Schaal on a white background with small yellow polka dots. Cursive red and gold script in the top left corner says 'Thank you, Kristen!' Kristen is pale in a human way with chin length curly brown hair and is wearing a loose empire waist black tank top under a translucent yellow chiffon top with a frilled neckline and elbow length balloon sleeves. The Guide is smiling open-mouthed at Kristen and wearing her usual black square cap, jacket, skirt, and gloves. They are back to back, elbows linked together to keep each other close, with Kristen leaning backward into the Guide so she stoops forward slightly. Kristen's far hand flashes a peace sign as she grins over at the Guide, tongue between her teeth. /end ID

Dracula poster, but it's actually Nandor because he's quoting Dracula far too many times in this last season 👀

Print available here

Original

Nandor probably: Dear Diary, I believe Guillermo to be a witch, for he has bewitched me. His curly locks and rugged facial hair has cast a spell upon me. I am suffering greatly.

Not as much as Derek though, fucking guy.

Heart guard 🫀🗡️ [2022]

jonathan harker on may 12th: i witnessed with abject terror as the count descended the sheer stone wall of the castle face first as a lizard would. the unmitigated horror of the spectacle haunts my waking hours like an inescapable nightmare. this man or this thing shall surely be my undoing.

jonathan harker on may 15th: saw the old bastard do the crawling trick again and honestly fuck him it's not even that impressive i don't even care anymore i hope he falls.

Kinda feel like there's some untapped meme/reaction image potential from old horror movie trailers...

I’m watching that documentary “Before Stonewall” about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting.

The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.

So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”

1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.

Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.

Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.

It appears that no one has made the connection between Dale Olson the publicity agent instrumental in the AIDS debate and Dale Olson the 22-year-old first openly gay man on TV. So I thought I’d make it. For Pride month, an unsung gay hero.

Sometimes I think about how Crystal is a voice for other girls/women throught entirety of S1. How she convinces Charles and Edwin they need to go save Becky Aspen, how she immediately notices something is wrong with Niko and insists they investigate and then puts herself in danger to get the sprites out of her without killing her, the way she says "you are telling me these women have been reliving the most painful moments of their life over and over again for 30 years?!" In the Devil's family episode, how she immediately believes and speaks out for Shelby, even before having concrete proof Brad and Hunter are assholes and has no issues arguing with Charles over it, how she sympathizes with Maren.

She speaks out and does her best to help all these women, because she herself felt helpless and alone. And one time she cannot do anything but watch as Niko dies, her anger at the injustice is so strong, she reaches out to Lilith through Esther and screams at a goddess. She, who has been scorned so many times, asks for nothing but for justice for all the little girls she couldn't save. For Niko.

Just. God, I love her so much and the fact that she is allowed to be both angry and kind at the same time and that her anger is often driven by the fact she is so kind at her core makes me kinda insane.

I FUCKING HATE MEN!!!!!! I HATE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHUT UP!!!!!!!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK!

Doctor Who is a great fandom to be in on tumblr because you'll see spoilers everywhere but not a single one of them is coherent unless you've seen the episode anyway. like oh the glorbon is secretly trying to ensnare humanity in a giant crab trap? the new companion Jiminy Pubble turned out to be the latest regeneration of the Doctor's old enemy The Fuckwizard? thanks I know less than I did before

I swear it's always "I love you so much!" but never

"I will love you with no regard to the actions of our enemies or the jealousies of actors. I will love you with no regard to the outrage of certain parents or the boredom of certain friends. I will love you no matter what is served in the world's cafeterias or what game is played at each and every recess. I will love you no matter how many fire drills we are all forced to endure, and no matter what is drawn upon the blackboard in a blurring, boring chalk. I will love you no matter how many mistakes I make when trying to divide fractions, and no matter how difficult is it to memorize the periodic table. I will love you no matter what your locker combination was, or how you decide to spend your time during study hall. I will love you no matter how your soccer team performed in the tournament or how many stains I received on my cheerleading uniform.

I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you next Tuesday. I will love you if you cut your hair and I will love you if you cut the hair of others. I will love you if abandon your baticeering and I will love you if you retire from the theatre to take up some other, less dangerous occupation. I will love you if you drop your raincoat on the floor instead of hanging it up and I will love you if you betray your father. I will love you even if you announce that the poetry of Edgar Guest is the best in the world and even if you announce that the work of Zilpha Keatley Snyder is unbearably tedious. I will love you if you abandon the theremin and take up the harmonica and I will love you if you donate your marmosets to the zoo and your tree frogs to M. I will love you as the starfish loves a coral reef and as kudzu loves trees, even if the oceans turn to sawdust and the trees fall in the forest without anyone around to hear them. I will love you as the pesto loves the fettuccini and and as the horseradish loves the miyagi, as the tempura loves the the ikura and the pepperoni loves the pizza. I will love you as the manatee loves the head of lettuce and as the dark spot loves the leopard, as the leech loves the ankle of a wader and as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you as the doctor loves his sickest patient and a lake loves its thirstiest swimmer.

I will love you as the beard loves the chin, and the crumbs love the beard, and the damp napkin loves the crumbs, and the precious document loves the dampness of the napkin, and the squinting eye of the reader loves the smudged print of the document, and the tears of sadness love the squinting eye as it misreads what is written.

I will love you as the iceberg loves the ship, and the passengers love the lifeboat, and the lifeboat loves the teeth of the sperm whale, and the sperm wale loves the flavor of naval uniforms.

I will love you as a child loves to overhear the conversations of their parents, and the parents love the sound of their own arguing voices, and as the pen loves to write down the words these voices utter in a notebook for safe keeping.

I will love you as a shingle loves falling off a house on a windy day and striking a grumpy person across the chin, and as an oven loves malfunctioning in the middle of roasting a turkey. I will love you as an airplane loves to fall from a clear blue sky and as an escalator loves to entangle expensive scarves in its mechanism. I will love you as a wet paper towel loves to be crumpled into a ball and thrown at a bathroom ceiling and an eraser loves to leave dust in the hairdos of the people who talk too much. I will love you as a cufflink loves to drop from its shirt and explore the party for itself and as a pair of white gloves loves to slip delicately into the punchbowl. I will love you as a taxi loves the muddy splash of a puddle and as a library loves the patient tick of a clock. I will love you as a thief loves a gallery, and as a crow loves murder, as a cloud loves bats and as a range loves braes. I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence, and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong. I will love you as a battlefield loves young men and as peppermints love your allergies, and I will love you as the banana peel loves the shoe of a man who was just struck by a falling shingle off a house.

I will love you as a volunteer fire department loves rushing into burning buildings and as burning buildings love to chase them back out, and as a parachute loves to leave a blimp, and as a blimp loves to chase after it.

I will love you as a dagger loves a certain person's back, and as a certain person loves to wear dagger proof tunics, and as a dagger proof tunic loves to go to a certain dry cleaning facility, and how a certain employee of a dry cleaning facility loves to stay up late with a pair binoculars, watching a dagger factory for hours in the hopes of catching a burglar, and as a burglar loves sneaking up behind people with binoculars, suddenly realizing that she has left her dagger at home.

I will love you as a drawer loves a secret compartment, and as a secret compartment loves a secret, and as a secret loves to make a person gasp, and as a gasping person loves a glass of brandy to calm their nerves, and as a glass of brandy loves to shatter on the floor, and as a noise of a glass shattering loves to make someone else gasp, and as someone else gasping loves a nearby desk to lean against, even if leaning against it presses a lever that loves to open a drawer and reveal a secret compartment. I will love you until all such compartments are discovered and opened, and until all the secrets have gone gasping out into the world.

I will love you until all the codes and hearts have been broken and until every anagram and egg has been unscrambled. I will love you until every fire is extinguished and until every home is rebuilt from the handsomest and most susceptible of woods, and until every criminal is handcuffed by the laziest policeman. I will love you until M. hates snakes and J. hates grammar, and I will love you until C. realizes that S. is not worthy of his love and N. realizes he is not worthy of V. I will love you until the bird hates the nest and the worm hates the apple, and until the apple hates the tree and the tree hates the nest, although honestly, I cannot imagine that last occurrence no matter how hard I try.

I will love you as we grow older, which has just happened, and has happened again, and happened several days ago, continuously, and then several years before that, and will continue to happen as the spinning hands of every clock and the flipping pages of every calendar mark the passage of time, except for the clocks that people have forgotten to wind and the calendars that people have forgotten to place in a highly visible area. I will love you as we find ourselves farther and farther from one another, where once we were so close that we could slip the curved straw, and that long, slender spoon, between our lips and fingers respectively. I will love you as the chances of us running into each other slip from slim to zero, and until your face is fogged by a distant memory, and your memory faced by distant fog, and your fog memorized by a distant face, and your distance distanced by the memorized memory of a foggy fog. I will love you no matter where you go and who you see, no matter where you avoid and who you don't see, and no matter who sees you avoiding where you go. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this, and no matter how I am discovered after what happens to me, happens to you as I am discovering this. I will love you if you don't marry me. I will love you if you marry someone else—your co-star perhaps, or Y., or even Q. or anyone Z. through A., even R. although sadly I think it will be quite some time before two woman can be allowed to marry—and I will love you if you have a child, and I will love you if you have two children, or three children, or even more, although I personally think three is plenty, and I will love you if you never marry at all and never have children, and spend your years wishing you had married me after all, and I must say that on late, cold nights I prefer this scenario out of all the scenarios I have mentioned.

That Beatrice, is how I will love you even as the world goes on its wicked way. Always. Continuously. With increasing apprehension, and decreasing hope."

episode one: we rescued the space babies and the bogeyman, yay!

episode two: we went back in time to meet thr beatles and saved music!

episode three: doctor who steps on a fucking land mine.

sorry for being a hater i want to be a lover but everything pisses me off

"The Mother and Father and Other of them all..." Shout out to Sutekh for being a Multigender king

Sutekh during the 700 years the Doctor spent on Trenzalore:

I need Sutekh's hitchhiking to be a meme btw. I need this "Its a Hybrid!"-ified. Every sad moment, every dramatic moment, every stupid moment, and he's there hanging out.

Someone just died but oh! Theres Sutekh in the Corner! Bad Wolf Bay and Sutekh's just peering at them. The TARDIS is dying in the parallel world and he's just vibing.

Multi-doctor episode? There's multiple Sutekhs all growling at eachother like poorly socialised lapdogs at a dogpark

Everytime the TARDIS has been compromised? every time its been flung about? You just have to remember there's a dog clinging onto it for dear life

Empire of Death, a Summary.

Hey so do you think in that episode with Clara and twelve where the tardis shrank Sutekh shrank too?

Did Clara Oswald put the god of death in her handbag like a chihuahua?

I love how the TARDIS had a human form with eleven and she was like "my thief, my thief, I love my thief" BUT FAILED TO MENTION THE GOD OF DEATH HAD BEEN IN HER BACK FOR DECADES.

You know what… kudos to the doctor for fixing Ruby’s abandonment issues before abandoning her. Closest thing to considerate he’s ever been, probably.

Empire Of Death thoughts:

Sad we didn't get an Ambassadors style twang in the intro.

Bonnie fucking Langford. You give her the material and she can deliver. The dread I felt as she succumbed, and really effective villain performance, something about seeing her with the skull look was extra creepy, in the same way as that bit of evil Sarah Jane in the old More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS documentary. And just the sweetness of her reactions to Six's coat/cravat, and cuddling into Seven's jumper for comfort...

On the nostalgia note pretty sure I saw the garden from the end of the TVM in the TARDIS flashbacks, and the Doctor mentioning 1999... Us Eight fans cling onto what we can get. :P

So then the big stuff. The Ruby's mum reveal feels almost like a reaction to Rey's parentage in Star Wars. Doesn't have to be a big secret lore-breaking name but also doesn't have to be treated as inconsequential or throwaway in the way that TLJ treated it. She's important because of her choices. Quite liked that.

Sutekh's plan with Susan Triad felt brilliant, seeding her through time and space with every adventure, and the little human moments in this new reality felt terrifying, but the Empire Of Death feels quite fleeting with only half an episode to really explore it. And really, from the moment the UNIT crowd were dispatched we knew there'd be a big reset button. Hard not to see the 'snap' inspiration with it.

(Also, I have to say it, the Doctor in his Tom Of Finland outfit defeats the villain by collaring him with a handy supply of 'intelligent rope' on hand. Oh Rogue, the things you missed out on!)

On that note, given the names of certain fanfic archives, the Doctor's plan works because of a teaspoon and an open mind!

Overall, I don't think this was RTD's best finale, it could have used some extra time for the pacing to land right, but I still had a hell of a time with it, and watching TLORS again on the big screen leading into it was so much fun. Was really nice getting the cinema experience, complete with a little message from Millie thanking us. Saw a few familiar faces there I've not seen since the 50th, too! It's nice for Doctor Who to feel this big again.

Okay Okay Okay Thoughts:

(If you don't want spoilers look away now)

I actually really like that Ruby's mother is ordinary. Other people have said it better than me, but I love the way rtd writes companions who are at the end of the day completely ordinary, but become extraordinary because they choose to help people. (Clara and Amy are great, but the whole 'girl who waited' and 'impossible girl' thing can get old pretty quick)

THAT BEING SAID making a character be so freaking close to Lucie Miller and then making it not Lucie Miller is just mean HOw Dare- (I say, having never listened to her audio stories. its the Principle of the thing)

Still not over the 13 year old with a machine gun what the hell Kate

Sarah Jane and Four, I cry

mixed feelings about the episode as a whole, not entirely sure the build up payed off

love love LOVE the memory Tardis

Mel with Sixie's coat and Seven's vest I am Sobbing

Donna is going to kill the Doctor when she finds out Rose died (granted the whole world died but still)

RTD wrote a companion exit that wasn't tragic??? In this economy???

You cant hype susan up that much and then not show her you just cant rtd she better be in series fifteen I SWEAR-

Mel Bush is amazing. Send Tweet.

Okay back to Ruby girl I love you and the ending was sweet but everytime she calls Louis or whatever her 'real mum' I want to punch something CARLA SUNDAY IS THE GREATEST WOMAN ON THIS PLANET

honestly despite being the big season finale it felt kinda slow to me, I think its definitely the weakest episode of the whole season, (which, granted, this season has been incredible and every episode has been an 8/10 at least, this just didn't feel as good as the rest of it)

Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa killed it with the acting

FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME WHO THE FUCK IS MRS FLOOD

Hey rtd did you give kate lethbridge stewart a boyfriend??? During pride month??? come here I just want to talk

I feel like there's gonna be a lot of negativity around this episode, and I don't want to add to it, because despite its issues I think it was overall a decent episode, its just that it was just a decent episode coming off an incredible season with a lot of hype it didn't fully live up to. mid-season it would have been fine, in some ways it just didn't stick the landing (but in others it did).

Idk despite my issues with it I did enjoy it overall. Ncuti is amazing and I can't wait for the next series :)

Ncuti this evening

I think the reason why there are so many amazing ships in Dead Boy Detectives is because the show manages to show different versions of love/lust/devotion through different relationships all characters have.

Like, love triangles have been doing the whole "a girl has to choose between two guys who each being out a different side of her" for over a decade in popular media, some more, some less successfully. But the pitfall they often fall into is that those differences seem very shallow and often ignore the other aspect of the main person who have to choose between the love interests.

Dead Boy Detectives makes sure to not do that.

When we look at how Charles is with Crystal vs how he is with Edwin, we can clearly see the difference. In the beginning of his and Crystal's dynamic, he is flirtier and puts more if a bravado, but he pretty quickly opens up to her. Because he sees that she very quickly sees past his facade he puts up with his constant happy-go-lucky persona. Only when he starts opening up to her and showing his emotions does their relationship progress. Because after David, Crystal needs someone who can be emotionally vulnerable with her and in turn, Charles offers her the same, and offers her a safe space.

In contrast, we see that Charles is more at ease around Edwin. They know each other deeply, and are also woven into each other at this point. It's easy, like breathing. One thing it doesn't do is challenge either of them from the status quo they have built over the years. But there is a sense of ease there, and such devotion. There is no question about what they would do for each other because the answer is everything.

That said, while they both bring out different sides of Charles, those sides of him feel intricately linked to one another! Which is why Crystal coming into the pictures begins changing Charles' relationship with Edwin as well! It brings to light things they have ignored. And in turn, Charles' clear and unwavering devotion and loyalty to Edwin prompts Crystal to learn it herself. To quote Jenny in ep 8, "you were about to leave and never see these boys again, but now you are going to save them"? And yes, she does exactly that.

This even has influence on Edwin and Crystal's rs directly, which I can't recall ever seeing in a love triangle before, at least not in a positive sense. But it's so clear that Charles loves both of them that the other learns to love them too, and they realize their own similarities through it, too!

As for Edwin and his many love interests, well. I know there has been a lot of debate, especially around Cat King vs Charles dyankics with Edwin, but the thing is-you are comparing apples ajd oranges here.

The Cat King is enamored, fascinated by Edwin, and yeah above all, attracted to him. This dynamic serves to challenge both of their characters' beliefs and shake up the power dynamics between them. Whenever you like the Cat King or not Edwin clearly reciprocates the attraction part, at the very least.

Charles loves Edwin and is devoted to him and Edwin to him turn, as discussed above. What is difficult about their relationship is that it became stagnant due to lack of communication, which is why they needed other relationships to shake up that dynamic.

But to address the most prominent comparison I saw, which is the Cat King saying he'll wait for Edwin vs Charles going to Hell to save him.

Both are types of devotion, is the thing. A profession of love, if you will. To this day, we consider Penelope a faithful, loving and devoted wife for waiting for Odyssey for 20 years. Cat King saying he'd wait for Edwin isn't any small confession, given he is aware it could take decades, if not more.

Don't get me wrong, Charles going to literal Hell to save Edwin and succeeding where Orpheus and Eurydice failed is an enormous success and a way to show you love someone. I am not minimalizing that at all.

I am just saying that, for who these characters are and given their rs with Edwin, they did exactly what they were supposed to. They expressed in which ways Edwin had influenced them and what they can offer him if that dynamic becomes romantic.

Cat King represents experience, patience. As an immortal he has all the time in the world to wait for Edwin to return from hell, because he believes Edwin is strong enough to return on his own.

Charles represents love that breaks all obstacles in their way. He goes to save Edwin because he believes Edwin deserves to be helped in the way he helps others. He deserves to be saved.

My point is, there is no better of worse way of loving someone. The character in the love triangle choose the person that better alignes with who they are and who they wish to be as a person. So yes, you are absolutely allowed to say "I think this character would choose person a because it alignes better with their character development" but comparing the two as one being superior is kinda pointless imo? Exploring different dynamic of a character is the goal here, right? Either through canon or fanon.

...I was gonna talk about Crystal/Niko and Edwin/Monty too but this post got away from me to uhh. Might do another one if anyone is interested but in their way! I adore the way DBDA explores different sides of characters while still making them feel like a fully rounded person and doesn't shy away from letting one rs influence other rs character has.

Sunny's Age and Lemony's Lies: An Investigation into the Great Hiatus

So, more and more my theory of the Great Hiatus seems to make more sense. Recalling, I defend the idea that the Masked Ball where Lemony was arrested happened many years after the main events described in TE. The Ball happened between the publication of the book TWW and TMM in the asoue universe. An important concept is that the books were originally published over many years.

Although TBB began to be written during the main events of asoue, TBB and TRR were only published at least 2 years after the main events described in asoue. TWW was published sometime shortly after TRR. But TMM was published many years after the publication of TWW. These years of hiatus, is what I call the Great Hiatus. Some events in the asoue universe that happened during the Great Hiatus were the Masked Ball, one of Lemony's false deaths, one of Lemony's escapes abroad, the closing of Prufrock-Prep, and evidently the sending of the original TMM to the editor.During the Masked Ball, Lemony tried to tell a supposed Beatrice something about Count Olaf.

According to this chronology, the only thing that would be relevant for a supposed Beatrice to know was the fact that "Count Olaf is Dead." Olaf died on a desert island. Olaf's death was not known to the general public, but it was known to Lemony, as evidently Lemony was on the island.

But the right question is: why would Lemony think it important that this information should reach a supposed Beatrice? That's because the reason that would lead a supposed Beatrice not to expose herself to the public was the fact that, in theory, Beatrice believed that as long as her death was accepted as true, at least one of her children would be kept alive by Count Olaf so he could recover the inheritance when the surviving child turned 18. If Beatrice showed herself alive, the inheritance would not be any of her children's but Beatrice's herself. So none of the children would have a reason to be kept alive by Count Olaf. Therefore she, in theory, needed to be regarded as dead. And that's why Lemony emphasizes so much that Beatrice is dead, even though he believes she may be alive. He tries not to alarm her and reinforce her pretense.

I want to make clear that all this is valid both in the case where Beatrice survived the fire and in the case where she died in the fire. Because it doesn't matter the truth, what matters is what Lemony believes to be true, and what he decides to do with his beliefs: reveal them or distort them for a greater good he believes to be a greater good. Lemony believes that lying is sometimes good and necessary. Even if he were right to say that Beatrice was dead, when he wrote that, he believed she was alive. So, he lied when he said she was dead. And all this can be seen by analyzing Sunny's age.

How old was Sunny when she arrived on the island? I can say more than 1 year, because of her behavior and the events mentioned in the story. Lemony claims he spent 14 years trying to talk about Count Olaf with Beatrice. But we have a limit for this subject to be relevant. When Sunny turned 18, if she was still in Olaf's clutches, he would find a way to cash the money and kill Sunny afterward. So, it wouldn't make sense for Beatrice to hide from Olaf anymore. If after discovering Olaf was dead, Lemony still tried to pass this information on to Beatrice, it's because he believed Beatrice believed Olaf had killed Klaus and Violet and preserved Sunny to cash the money. (It is interesting that Olaf tried to do exactly that at the end of TCC). Considering that Sunny spent 1 year on the island and Lemony didn't get there during that time, we can conclude that Sunny was at least 2 years old when she left the island, with the most likely being that she was 3 or 4 years old when she left the island. If Lemony got to the island during the year that followed and then found out that Olaf was dead (and also found the Baudelaires' notes), we can conclude that he spent the next 14 years trying to pass this information on to Beatrice, according to his own words, until the day of the Masked Ball.

This means that in the meantime he published 3 books, purposefully lying to the general public by saying that Beatrice was dead, when he believed she was alive.

That's why he couldn't complete the sentence for the general public. "Count Olaf is dead" would reveal that he believed Beatrice was alive.

It is interesting to note however, that evidence points to Beatrice in fact dying in her house fire, and that the woman Lemony thought was Beatrice was actually an imposter. Apparently that's what R meant to Lemony in the letter recorded in LSTUA chapter 2. "That girl was flammable." "Analyze these photos." "Impostors nearby in disguise". "Beatrice is far from reclaiming lost property." These hidden messages seem to be trying to tell Lemony, "Beatrice really is dead." And R only had to pass this message on to Lemony because he believed Beatrice was alive. This belief of Lemony's also explains why he was so alarmed when studying the city's underground, because he investigated possible survivors of fires hidden in fountains.

This deepens our understanding of the concept of unreliable narrators. Lemony Snicket becomes one of the most unique examples I've come across. He embodies the following notion: "One can tell an untruth without lying, simply by being mistaken. And one can tell the truth while lying, also by being mistaken." This intricate interplay of perceptions and realities adds another layer of complexity and intrigue to the narrative.

*lemony snicket voice* police cars say ‘protect and serve’ for the same reason a box of dry, unflavoured rice cakes might say ‘delicious treat’. rice cakes are not a delicious treat, nor are the police there to protect and serve, but if you are unfamiliar with either you’re likely to believe what you’re told.