So, we all know what happened to Beatrice, and we all know that she is dead. Definitely. There is absolutely no debate over that. Lemony KNOWS she is dead, and has her buried in his backyard, so that's not up for debate. What is up for debate is HOW she died.
Now, I know that UnfortunateEvents.com had a contest about that. Let me say, I know absolutely nothing about that contest. I don't know if it's still running, or if it isn't, who won it. All I know is what I think happened to her, gleaned from things that I have found in the books. All references wil be forthcoming, so please bear with me.
I have two theories on this subject. One is a theory stemming from if Beatrice is the Baudelaire's mother. The other is the theory stemming from if Beatrice NOT the Baudelaire's mother.
Beatrice as Mrs. Baudelaire
Beatrice, as we assume, and have sound evience that this is true, is the Bauds mom. She married Mr. Baudelaire, had the three children, and then one day less then a year after Sunny was born, a fire broke out at the Baudelaire residence, and killed her and her husband.
Note: This theory assumes that the theory behind Who is Beatrice?, and What is the Sugar Bowl secret? are correct. It is suggested you read both in order to fully understnad.
So, why did a fire break out? What does the secret passageway have to do with it? Why were Beatrice and her husband killed?
We will attempt to answer all these questions.
This theory more or less follows the same path as the above, except we need to find a reason for why Beatrice was in the Baudelaire's mansion at the time of the fire.
I should perhaps ask the question... how do we know Beatrice was in the Baudelaire mansion at the time? Logical place for her to be, given the start of the story, and all. I mean, why did Snicket come back and start following the Bauds? Because their parents died in the fire. But why did he come back at THAT point? Probably because he heard that Batrice had died in the fire as well.
So, we can assume from the above points that Beatrice was in the Baudelaire mansion at the time of the fire, and that she didn't leave before the fire broke out.
So, if she was in the mansion, what was she doing there? History does not relate, but since we assume she is the sister in law of Mr Baud, she may have been visiting, or perhaps she was retrieving some sort of information regarding VFD from the library of the Baud mansion.
So, Olaf and Esme come through the secret passageway, and emerge in the Baud mansion, very possibly in the library (I imagine the library was somewhere in the middle of the house, and that's probably where the tunnel came up - in the middle - I think that, because book 6 said "Ashes all around").
As they emerge, they see Beatrice there, trying to remove some important VFD info before the mansion can be burned, and Olaf and Esme catch her. Esme, incensed that Beatrice tried to steal her sugar bowl (when it was actually Snicket) takes her, and Olaf sets the fire, and leaves the same way.
So, In summary...
Now, I know that UnfortunateEvents.com had a contest about that. Let me say, I know absolutely nothing about that contest. I don't know if it's still running, or if it isn't, who won it. All I know is what I think happened to her, gleaned from things that I have found in the books. All references wil be forthcoming, so please bear with me.
I have two theories on this subject. One is a theory stemming from if Beatrice is the Baudelaire's mother. The other is the theory stemming from if Beatrice NOT the Baudelaire's mother.
Beatrice as Mrs. Baudelaire
Beatrice, as we assume, and have sound evience that this is true, is the Bauds mom. She married Mr. Baudelaire, had the three children, and then one day less then a year after Sunny was born, a fire broke out at the Baudelaire residence, and killed her and her husband.
Note: This theory assumes that the theory behind Who is Beatrice?, and What is the Sugar Bowl secret? are correct. It is suggested you read both in order to fully understnad.
So, why did a fire break out? What does the secret passageway have to do with it? Why were Beatrice and her husband killed?
We will attempt to answer all these questions.
- Why were Beatrice and her husband killed?
Well, Esme gives us the reason: because "I want to steal from you the way Beatrice stole from me!" - Subquestion now, What was it that Beatrice stole?
Indeed, did she even steal anything? Well, we know that Esme thinks she did, and we know that Esme thinks that because one day Beatrice went and met her for tea. We know that from Lemony who tells us that he would jump like no one has ever jumped before if he could go back and keep Beatrice from going to tea with Esme. So, what was it that Beatrice stole from Esme? Assumably, a sugar bowl. Lemony mentions at one point that (I don't remember which) either he or Beatrice did steal a sugar bowl from Esme.
Either way, Beatrice catches the blame, and gets fried for it. The importance of the Sugar Bowl is described else where on this FAQ (Hint: click the link). - Now, what did the secret pasageway from 667 Dark Avenue have to do with the fire? This ties into the final question as well, so I will answer both at the same time. The secret passageway was how Olaf and whoever helped him, got to the Baudelaire's mansion to set fire to it. You'll remember that Geraldine Julienne hooks up Esme with Jerome squalor at the Veritable French Diner, and they get married after "one night together."
Obviously, Esme knew about the passaeway, and that was the only reason she married Jerome. For the access. After that, she and Olaf ducked down the Ersatz Elevator, and set fire to the mansion in revenge for Beatrice stealing the Sugar Bowl, which may have very well contained the secrets of Olaf and Esme, and the rest of the Evil VFD-ers.
- Beatrice and Lemony meet, fall in love and plan to get married.
- Beatrice reads in the Daily Punctilio about how Lemony is involved in some sort of scandal involving the VFD Schism, very probably, and breaks it off with him, and forbids him to ever see her again.
- 15 years later (?) Lemony sneaks into the Duchess' of Winnipeg's' fancy dress ball dressed as a matador, and approaches Beatrice to warn her about Count Olaf.
- Esme and Jerome get married and move into the penthouse.
- Beatrice and Mr. Baud get married, have children.
- Lemony steals Esme's sugar bowl
- Beatrice goes to tea with Esme. Beatrice catches the blame for stealing the sugar bowl, and Esme's wrath is kindled.
- Esme and Olaf both decide to burn down the Baudelaire mansion in order to (a) kill the Baud family for the fortune (possibly to support the evil VFD-ers) and (b) wipe out the sugar bowl, and any information it may have contained.
- Esme and Olaf set off down the secret passageway, set fire to the mansion, and doggonnit, miss the Baudelaire children by mere minutes.
This theory more or less follows the same path as the above, except we need to find a reason for why Beatrice was in the Baudelaire's mansion at the time of the fire.
I should perhaps ask the question... how do we know Beatrice was in the Baudelaire mansion at the time? Logical place for her to be, given the start of the story, and all. I mean, why did Snicket come back and start following the Bauds? Because their parents died in the fire. But why did he come back at THAT point? Probably because he heard that Batrice had died in the fire as well.
So, we can assume from the above points that Beatrice was in the Baudelaire mansion at the time of the fire, and that she didn't leave before the fire broke out.
So, if she was in the mansion, what was she doing there? History does not relate, but since we assume she is the sister in law of Mr Baud, she may have been visiting, or perhaps she was retrieving some sort of information regarding VFD from the library of the Baud mansion.
So, Olaf and Esme come through the secret passageway, and emerge in the Baud mansion, very possibly in the library (I imagine the library was somewhere in the middle of the house, and that's probably where the tunnel came up - in the middle - I think that, because book 6 said "Ashes all around").
As they emerge, they see Beatrice there, trying to remove some important VFD info before the mansion can be burned, and Olaf and Esme catch her. Esme, incensed that Beatrice tried to steal her sugar bowl (when it was actually Snicket) takes her, and Olaf sets the fire, and leaves the same way.
So, In summary...
- Beatrice and Lemony meet, fall in love and plan to get married.
- Beatrice reads in the Daily Punctilio about how Lemony is involved in some sort of scandal involving the VFD Schism, very probably, and breaks it off with him, and forbids him to ever see her again.
- 15 years later (?) Lemony sneaks into the Duchess' of Winnipeg's' fancy dress ball dressed as a matador, and approaches Beatrice to warn her about Count Olaf.
- Esme and Jerome get married and move into the penthouse.
- Beatrice and Mr. Baud get married. Not the Bauds father, but the Bauds father's brother.
- Lemony steals Esme's sugar bowl.
- Beatrice goes to tea with Esme and catches the blame for it, and Esme's wrath is kindled.
- Olaf finds out what happened to the Sugar Bowl (possibly that is the info that Beatrice was trying to retrieve when she was caught)
- Esme and Olaf decide to burn down the Baudelaire mansion in order to (a) kill the Baud family for the fortune (possibly to support the evil VFD-ers) and (b) wipe out the sugar bowl, and any information it may have contained.
- Esme and Olaf set off down the secret passageway
- Esme drags Beatrice down the secret passageway upon finding her in the library, and as Olaf sets the fire, she kills Beatrice.
- Olaf set fire to the mansion, and doggonnit, miss the Baudelaire children by mere minutes.