"If anything goes wrong," Duncan said again, "there's something you should know. When we were researching the history of Count Olaf, we found out something dreadful."
"We can talk about this later," Klaus said, struggling with the door.
"Look in the notebooks!" Isadora cried. [The Quagmires are then dragged off by two of Olaf's henchman and then Duncan says]
"Look in the Notebooks! V.F.D." Duncan screamed....
"What?" Klaus said.
"V.F.D." he managed to scream again.
From The Austere Academy, pg 215
V.F.D. is the secretest of secret organizations. We don't know a whole lot about them, but what we do know, is that Count Olaf is somehow involved with it, and you can identify members by the Eye on their ankle. (Vile Village, Pg 115).
So, knowing that, we still wonder, what exactly DOES V.F.D. stand for? I have come across two possible explanations, neither of which I can successfully eliminate, so I will post them both up here, and you guys decide.
Several instances have jumped out at me, and let's take a look at them.
The First time V.F.D. is mentioned in the Academy, then, in Village, we learn that the village is called V.F.D. The VFD in this case stands for Village of Fowl Devotees.
In Hospital, we meet a group of people who call themseles the Volunteers Fighting Disease.
In Lemony Snicket's Unauthorized Autobiography (LSUA), we see lots more more:
Vinyard of Fragrant Drapes (LSUA pg 84)
Valorous Farms Dairy. (LSUA, pg 156)
Very Frightening Danger (LSUA, Copyright notice)
Veritable French Diner (LSUA pg 79, 120-121)
Veiled Facial Disguises (LSUA pg 99)
Various Finery Disguises (LSUA pg101)
Very False Documents Press (LSUA pg 162)
Very Fancy Doily Press (LSUA pg 164)
Voracious Film Discussion Press (LSUA (pg 165)
Venom Feels Delightful Press (LSUA pg 167) Vincent Francis Doyle (LSUA, pg 162)
However, most of these we can dismiss right of the bat. The four up above that end in "Press" were made up by Lemony Snicket, as described on LSUA, pg 159. So we can eliminate all of those. We can eliminate the one from the copyright notice, and the two about the disguises. Vinyard of Fragrant Drapes we can eliminate, because that was just the opening code to let LS know that it was a message from VFD. Vincent Francis Doyle we can eliminate, because it is also made up for the purposes of the books.
Let's go ahead and take a look at the rest of these in turn.
What does VFD stand for?
I'll tell you. Are you ready?
For your edification, my assistant, Karen, has begun a comprehensive list of VFD Acronyms from the books. Here's what she has so far.
SS p 17 Valley of Four Drafts [Site of secret Headquarters]
SS p 29 Village of Foul Devotees [Bauds lived there - Met Hector and Jerome there]
SS p 44&197 Verbal Fridge Dialogue Code [using Very Fresh Dill]
SS p 79 Volunteer Feline Detectives [Trained Lions from Cave - Might be CC lions.]
SS p 80 Very Facinating Drama [Signal from QQ]
SS p 81 Very Fun Day [Signal to QQ]
SS p 81 Vinegar Flavored Doughnuts [Signal to QQ]
SS p 81 Violent Frozen Dragonflies [Signal to QQ]
SS p 82 Voracious Fierce Dragon [Signal to QQ]
SS p 82 Vain Fat Dictator [Signal to QQ]
SS p 92 Vertical Flame Diversion [Chimney / Secret passage]
SS p 139 Verdant Flammible Devices [Green smoke signals]
SS p 142 Vernacularly Fastened Door [Entrance to headquarters]
SS p 166 Volunteer Fire Department [Quigley's Guess]
SS p 200 Very Fresh Dill [signal to start Verbal Fridge Dialogue]
SS p 212 Violet's First Date [[Karen's] thoughts when [she] read the page]
"We can talk about this later," Klaus said, struggling with the door.
"Look in the notebooks!" Isadora cried. [The Quagmires are then dragged off by two of Olaf's henchman and then Duncan says]
"Look in the Notebooks! V.F.D." Duncan screamed....
"What?" Klaus said.
"V.F.D." he managed to scream again.
From The Austere Academy, pg 215
V.F.D. is the secretest of secret organizations. We don't know a whole lot about them, but what we do know, is that Count Olaf is somehow involved with it, and you can identify members by the Eye on their ankle. (Vile Village, Pg 115).
So, knowing that, we still wonder, what exactly DOES V.F.D. stand for? I have come across two possible explanations, neither of which I can successfully eliminate, so I will post them both up here, and you guys decide.
Several instances have jumped out at me, and let's take a look at them.
The First time V.F.D. is mentioned in the Academy, then, in Village, we learn that the village is called V.F.D. The VFD in this case stands for Village of Fowl Devotees.
In Hospital, we meet a group of people who call themseles the Volunteers Fighting Disease.
In Lemony Snicket's Unauthorized Autobiography (LSUA), we see lots more more:
Vinyard of Fragrant Drapes (LSUA pg 84)
Valorous Farms Dairy. (LSUA, pg 156)
Very Frightening Danger (LSUA, Copyright notice)
Veritable French Diner (LSUA pg 79, 120-121)
Veiled Facial Disguises (LSUA pg 99)
Various Finery Disguises (LSUA pg101)
Very False Documents Press (LSUA pg 162)
Very Fancy Doily Press (LSUA pg 164)
Voracious Film Discussion Press (LSUA (pg 165)
Venom Feels Delightful Press (LSUA pg 167) Vincent Francis Doyle (LSUA, pg 162)
However, most of these we can dismiss right of the bat. The four up above that end in "Press" were made up by Lemony Snicket, as described on LSUA, pg 159. So we can eliminate all of those. We can eliminate the one from the copyright notice, and the two about the disguises. Vinyard of Fragrant Drapes we can eliminate, because that was just the opening code to let LS know that it was a message from VFD. Vincent Francis Doyle we can eliminate, because it is also made up for the purposes of the books.
Let's go ahead and take a look at the rest of these in turn.
- Village of Fowl Devotees Other then the fact that Esmé Squalor is the sheriff here, and through rather nefarious means, IMHO, the town isn't mentioned much after this book, and thus is not the real meaning of V.F.D.
- Volunteers Fighting Disease. ""That must be the Volunteers Fighting Disease," Violet said." The Hostile Hospital, Pg 30
Though this is a VFD with "Volunteer" in the title, which, as we know from Jacques Snicket, is supposed to be in the title (Vile Village, pg 115), we can pretty much safely assume that this isn't it, for a couple of reasons. 1, no one in VFDisease has a tattoo of an eye on their ankle. 2. I can't imagine Count Olaf going around handing out balloons, and generally making people feel better, can you?
Also, we need to take into account THH, pg 251 in to consideration. The quote: "VFD!" Esme said with a cackle. "The real VFD, that is, not those ridiculous singers!" (Thanks Andy for the quote) So, we can pretty safely kick that one out the door.
- The Valorous Farms Dairy. This one has some intriguing possibilities, as we see from LS's constant writing of "Dear Dairy." So, that means one of two things. One, The Farm is the real VFD, and that's why LS is writing to them, or two, it's just a code so that when the right people come along (ie, other VFD'ers) they can retrieve his papers.
Interestingly, LS wasn't the only one sending papers to the Dairy. LSUA, page 75 is a letter to the Dairy from another person, obviously a VFDer, and a woman, from clues we pick up in the paragraph ("I must be a ridiculous sight- a grown woman wading into the fountain of victorious finance to retrieve a scrap of newspaper..." "The World is Quiet Here" LSUA Pg 76) She concludes with "I send them to you, my dear cheesemakers, so that you might put them with the rest of my brother's papers." Which leads me to believe that this is a little Snicket Lass. Though that could be wrong. Her brother could be someone else entirely.
- Veritable French Diner The Veritable French Diner is where Jerome Squalor eats breakfast every morning. That is, until he met Esmé, that was where he ate breakfast. I don't think there's any other significance to it then that, though I could be wrong.
- A young lady named Joy Kraft writes into let me know that she thinks that VFD stands for Volunteers Forever Disguised. I have to admit, whne I first read that, it struck me as something that was possible. The Volunteers are always going about in disguise, and it seems that there would be some truth to what she was saying, if it werent' the Jacques Snicket Quote mentioned above.
As it reads, Jacques says "I'm a member of the Volunteer -" and then gets cut off. If the words really were Volunteer Forever Disguised," wouldn't Jacques have said "I'm a member of Volunteers-"? As always, you can come to your own conclusion on that one.
What does VFD stand for?
I'll tell you. Are you ready?
- Volunteer Fire Department The main leader for what VFD Stands for jumped out at me, as soon as I read Jacques saying he was with the Volunteer-
I had no proof, not for sure, but it sure made sense. And then I read the Artist's note on pg 182 of LSUA, and the transcript of the VFD meeting on pg 39. That confirmed my beliefs. On page 182, it's very subtle, and you'd miss it if you didn't know what you were looking for, so let me make it plain to you.
If nothing else, this is what Quigley thinks it stands for as we see in TSS pg 166. Of course, that is only Quigley's opinion, but I think it holds some weight.
We know Olaf works for the VFD, and we know that he is after the Baudelaire fortune. We know that he would have figured someway to get it, if all the Baudelaires had died, which was undoubtedly what he planned. Unfortunately for him, the Baudelaire Children were at Briny Beach, so the fortune falls to them, which sets off the catalyst for the book series.
Now, let's look at pg 39 of LSUA. About halfway down the page we'll commence.
"Then, finally, we bring them to headquarters, so they can learn the skills they need before they are introduced back into society, in order to make sure the world remains, as we say, quiet.
" K: And Extinguished."
And pg 182: the relevant passage:
"By the time the Official Fire Department allowed me to view the scene, the house was more or less destroyed."
Official Fire Department = OFD.
Volunteer Fire Department = VFD.
It fits into the puzzle, but like every good puzzle, there are a few pieces that don't quite fit.- Why are the children taken by their ankles, if it's just a volunteer fire dept?
- Why are they TAKEN if it's volunteer?
- What does keeping the world quiet have to do with fire departmenting?
There is a tantalizing connection to libraries, as seen on pg 146 of LSUA. Read the banner at the library, and then look at the first line, and then the last line. - Volunteer Fire Detectives There is however, one other guess that may be the answer. It came to me in several emails, and also in a moment of insight that I had.
In TCC, it is mentioned that the lions were once used in noble work, but that now, they were simply to entertain people. The noble work, we are told, was to sniff out smoke, or something to that effect.
Now, knowing that VFD revolves around fire, and around detecting, why couldn't it be a combination fo the two? Volunteer Fire Detectives.
For your edification, my assistant, Karen, has begun a comprehensive list of VFD Acronyms from the books. Here's what she has so far.
SS p 17 Valley of Four Drafts [Site of secret Headquarters]
SS p 29 Village of Foul Devotees [Bauds lived there - Met Hector and Jerome there]
SS p 44&197 Verbal Fridge Dialogue Code [using Very Fresh Dill]
SS p 79 Volunteer Feline Detectives [Trained Lions from Cave - Might be CC lions.]
SS p 80 Very Facinating Drama [Signal from QQ]
SS p 81 Very Fun Day [Signal to QQ]
SS p 81 Vinegar Flavored Doughnuts [Signal to QQ]
SS p 81 Violent Frozen Dragonflies [Signal to QQ]
SS p 82 Voracious Fierce Dragon [Signal to QQ]
SS p 82 Vain Fat Dictator [Signal to QQ]
SS p 92 Vertical Flame Diversion [Chimney / Secret passage]
SS p 139 Verdant Flammible Devices [Green smoke signals]
SS p 142 Vernacularly Fastened Door [Entrance to headquarters]
SS p 166 Volunteer Fire Department [Quigley's Guess]
SS p 200 Very Fresh Dill [signal to start Verbal Fridge Dialogue]
SS p 212 Violet's First Date [[Karen's] thoughts when [she] read the page]