The Great Unknown (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Encyclopedia
The Great Unknown is a fictional entity in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events
by Lemony Snicket
. It features in the 11th (The Grim Grotto
) and final (The End) books of the series.
and it appeared at the most inconvenient times, or just when people thought a situation was about to get better.
, where it was shown that both Captain Widdershins and Count Olaf
are afraid of it. It should also be noted that Count Olaf tells Carmelita Spats not to tap dance while returning to the Carmelita during the time the sub was being threatened by the Great Unknown, because, as he says, "I don't want to show up on their sonar." When the Baudelaires are left alone to operate the Queequeg, the Great Unknown approaches on the radar just as they finish repairing the porthole that Olaf damaged in capturing the submarine, and the Baudelaires see its shadow in the water, though they do not see enough to determine what it is. Eventually, the entity moves away and the Baudelaires escape. The author says that he knows what the Great Unknown is, but refuses to elaborate further on a description.
During The End, it is mentioned that the Queequeg sailed out to sea with Kit Snicket, Ink, Captain Widdershins and his stepchildren Fernald and Fiona on board, to find the self-sustaining hot air mobile home where Hector and the Quagmire triplets were living, in order to aid them in a battle against trained V.F.D. eagles. A shipwrecked Kit later tells the Baudelaires that the eagles popped the balloons of Hector's mobile home and the falling wreckage destroyed the Queequeg. Then, all but Kit and Ink chose to be taken by the approaching Great Unknown, although it is unclear whether it rescued or captured them; at a point in the novel not long before this occurrence though, the author does refer to the Quagmires' present situation as being similarly dire but more damp to that of the Baudelaires, but this could plausibly be considered a reference to the mobile home/Queequeg collision. Kit states that her brother (although she does not specify which) called the question mark "The Great Unknown", which is often a euphemism for what comes after death. By the end of The End, the Quagmires, Hector, Captain Widdershins, Fernald, Fiona, Phil and possibly the Baudelaires are taken aboard. However, in the Author's Notes section of The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, Snicket mentions that Violet Baudelaire would visit Briny Beach for a third time, and The Beatrice Letters
indicate that Kit Snicket's daughter has memories of the Baudelaires siblings, including Sunny
's appearing on the radio to discuss her recipes, implying that the Baudelaires survived their ocean voyage.
The Great Unknown will be covered again within the Untitled Lemony Snicket series
.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of children's novels by Lemony Snicket which follows the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire after their parents' death in an arsonous house fire...
by Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...
. It features in the 11th (The Grim Grotto
The Grim Grotto
The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book begins where The Slippery Slope left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan down the Stricken Stream of the Mortmain Mountains, leaving Quigley Quagmire...
) and final (The End) books of the series.
Description
It is larger than both the submarines Carmelita and Queequeg, and may in fact be neither a submarine nor a boat at all. It appeared in the shape of a question markQuestion mark
The question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions...
and it appeared at the most inconvenient times, or just when people thought a situation was about to get better.
Appearances
The Great Unknown first appeared during The Grim GrottoThe Grim Grotto
The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book begins where The Slippery Slope left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan down the Stricken Stream of the Mortmain Mountains, leaving Quigley Quagmire...
, where it was shown that both Captain Widdershins and Count Olaf
Count Olaf
Count Olaf is the primary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. In the series, Olaf is an actor and is known to have committed many crimes as a member of the fire-starting side of V.F.D. prior to the events of the first book in...
are afraid of it. It should also be noted that Count Olaf tells Carmelita Spats not to tap dance while returning to the Carmelita during the time the sub was being threatened by the Great Unknown, because, as he says, "I don't want to show up on their sonar." When the Baudelaires are left alone to operate the Queequeg, the Great Unknown approaches on the radar just as they finish repairing the porthole that Olaf damaged in capturing the submarine, and the Baudelaires see its shadow in the water, though they do not see enough to determine what it is. Eventually, the entity moves away and the Baudelaires escape. The author says that he knows what the Great Unknown is, but refuses to elaborate further on a description.
During The End, it is mentioned that the Queequeg sailed out to sea with Kit Snicket, Ink, Captain Widdershins and his stepchildren Fernald and Fiona on board, to find the self-sustaining hot air mobile home where Hector and the Quagmire triplets were living, in order to aid them in a battle against trained V.F.D. eagles. A shipwrecked Kit later tells the Baudelaires that the eagles popped the balloons of Hector's mobile home and the falling wreckage destroyed the Queequeg. Then, all but Kit and Ink chose to be taken by the approaching Great Unknown, although it is unclear whether it rescued or captured them; at a point in the novel not long before this occurrence though, the author does refer to the Quagmires' present situation as being similarly dire but more damp to that of the Baudelaires, but this could plausibly be considered a reference to the mobile home/Queequeg collision. Kit states that her brother (although she does not specify which) called the question mark "The Great Unknown", which is often a euphemism for what comes after death. By the end of The End, the Quagmires, Hector, Captain Widdershins, Fernald, Fiona, Phil and possibly the Baudelaires are taken aboard. However, in the Author's Notes section of The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, Snicket mentions that Violet Baudelaire would visit Briny Beach for a third time, and The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters
The Beatrice Letters is a book by Lemony Snicket. It is tangential to the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, and was published shortly before the thirteenth and final installment...
indicate that Kit Snicket's daughter has memories of the Baudelaires siblings, including Sunny
Sunny Baudelaire
Sunny Baudelaire is one of the protagonists of Lemony Snicket's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sunny is the youngest of the three Baudelaire orphans, and is described as an infant through much of the series...
's appearing on the radio to discuss her recipes, implying that the Baudelaires survived their ocean voyage.
The Great Unknown will be covered again within the Untitled Lemony Snicket series
Untitled Lemony Snicket series
American children's author Lemony Snicket signed with Egmont Publishing in August 2009 and Little, Brown and Company in November 2009 to begin work on a four-part children's series. Although Snicket has switched from his former publisher, HarperCollins, to Little, Brown and Company, he will...
.