The Grim Grotto
Encyclopedia
The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events
by Lemony Snicket
.
left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan
down the Stricken Stream
of the Mortmain Mountains, leaving Quigley Quagmire floating in the opposite direction. They are washed into the ocean where they are caught on a submarine
. They enter the submarine, which they discover is the Queequeg captained by Captain Widdershins, a V.F.D.
member and old friend of the Baudelaire parents. Also on board is Widdershins' stepdaughter Fiona and the ship's cook, Phil, the Baudelaire's optimistic past
fellow worker at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The Baudelaires discover that the crew of the Queequeg are searching for the mysterious sugar bowl
.
Klaus
examined the tidal
charts to estimate the location of the sugar bowl given the water cycle
. He suspects it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto. An approaching submarine vessel on the sonar
, in the shape of an octopus
, captained by Count Olaf, but it is driven off by a mysterious ship which appears on the radar in the form of a question mark, which Captain Widdershins seems afraid of.
Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a cone
-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous mushroom
. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly. The grotto is remote enough that it can quarantine the Medusoid Mycelium from the outside world. Fiona suspects there may be an antidote
to the poisonous effects of the fungus. Over dinner, the Baudelaire's discuss everything that they have learned from their journey so far. Widdershins mentions the Snicket siblings
, who fought on the side of good. Jacques Snicket, whom the children saw murdered in the Village of Fowl Devotees, was a researcher similar to Klaus; Kit Snicket, who helped build the Queequeg; and before Widdershins mentions the third Snicket Sibling, Fiona interrupts him, wanting to know about the VFD Headquarters the children had been too.
When the submarine arrives at the Grotto, Fiona, Klaus, Violet
and Sunny
are sent in. Inside it is filled with mainly junk, but also the breeding ground of the Medusoid Mycelium. While they are waiting for the Medusoid Mycelium to wane again, the children occupy themselves by investigating the knick-knacks lying around the cave, many of which seem to be connected to the V.F.D. Sunny picks up a tube of wasabi
sauce.
On returning to the submarine, they discover that Widdershins and Phil have mysteriously disappeared, with no sign of where they have gone. They also discover that a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet while in the grotto. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, insisting that Sunny must remain in the helmet for their safety until she can find an antidote. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine returns and he comes down to the children and tells them that he has been at the Hotel Denouement preparing for his final scheme, but he needed to find the sugar bowl to complete his plans. The orphans enter Olaf's ship and are taken to the brig where they are interrogated by the hook-handed man, who is revealed to be Fiona's brother - Fernald
. Fiona begs him to help them get back to the Queequeg, for Sunny's sake, and Fernald finally agrees on the condition that they take him along.
Back on the Queequeg, Sunny is very close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's texts and realize that the antidote is horseradish
. Violet and Klaus begin to break down but have enough courage to open up the helmet containing Sunny, and Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: wasabi
- what Sunny took from the grotto.
While Sunny recovers, the telegram machine starts back up again. The Voluntary Factual Dispatch they receive is from Quigley Quagmire, Quigley needs the Baudelaires at a certain coded location the next day, and just two days before the meeting at the Hotel. Klaus is first to solve the riddle: Quigley will meet them at Briny Beach. As Violet begins decoding the other part, they are discovered by Olaf and accomplices. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and Fiona has joined his team to be with Fernald. Shortly after, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the wrong decision, allows the Baudelaires to escape in the Queequeg.
The next day they arrive on Briny Beach - back where all of their troubles began
. Surprisingly, Mr. Poe emerges from the fog. He received a message from the mysterious J.S. - whom he assumes is The Daily Punctilios reporter Geraldine Julienne - that he had to meet them at the beach. He tells the children to come with him to the police station to resolve all of their troubles. Violet, however, has Quigley's decoded the message and has concluded that a taxi
will be at the beach for them, and she sees it. They arrive at the taxi to find a woman at the wheel that they have never seen before and the woman reveals herself to be Kit Snicket
and the children climb into the taxi where they drive off to the Hotel Denouement.
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...
.
Plot
The book begins where The Slippery SlopeThe Slippery Slope
The Slippery Slope is the tenth installment in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Daniel Handler under the pseudonym of Lemony Snicket.-Plot Summary:...
left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan
Toboggan
A toboggan is a simple sled which is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites...
down the Stricken Stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
of the Mortmain Mountains, leaving Quigley Quagmire floating in the opposite direction. They are washed into the ocean where they are caught on a submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
. They enter the submarine, which they discover is the Queequeg captained by Captain Widdershins, a V.F.D.
V.F.D.
V.F.D. is a secret organization within the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The purposes of the organization are never made clear, although the name of the organization is connected to various interpretations of the word "fire." V.F.D...
member and old friend of the Baudelaire parents. Also on board is Widdershins' stepdaughter Fiona and the ship's cook, Phil, the Baudelaire's optimistic past
The Miserable Mill
The Miserable Mill is the fourth of thirteen novels in American author Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It is to be released in paperback under the name The Miserable Mill; or, Hypnotism! The novel tells the story of the Baudelaire orphans continuing their adventure, but this time...
fellow worker at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The Baudelaires discover that the crew of the Queequeg are searching for the mysterious sugar bowl
Sugar bowl (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
The sugar bowl is a fictional object from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It was first mentioned by name in The Hostile Hospital, in which Snicket ponders whether it was necessary to have stolen it from Esmé Squalor. It is indirectly mentioned in The Ersatz Elevator by Esmé...
.
Klaus
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
examined the tidal
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
charts to estimate the location of the sugar bowl given the water cycle
Water cycle
The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. Water can change states among liquid, vapor, and solid at various places in the water cycle...
. He suspects it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto. An approaching submarine vessel on the sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
, in the shape of an octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
, captained by Count Olaf, but it is driven off by a mysterious ship which appears on the radar in the form of a question mark, which Captain Widdershins seems afraid of.
Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a cone
Cone (geometry)
A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...
-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly. The grotto is remote enough that it can quarantine the Medusoid Mycelium from the outside world. Fiona suspects there may be an antidote
Antidote
An antidote is a substance which can counteract a form of poisoning. The term ultimately derives from the Greek αντιδιδοναι antididonai, "given against"....
to the poisonous effects of the fungus. Over dinner, the Baudelaire's discuss everything that they have learned from their journey so far. Widdershins mentions the Snicket siblings
Snicket siblings
The Snicket family is a prominent family in the novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Jacob Snicket:Jacob Snicket is the father of Jacques, Kit, and Lemony Snicket and a member of the fire-stopping side of V.F.D. At the time A Series of Unfortunate Events takes place, he...
, who fought on the side of good. Jacques Snicket, whom the children saw murdered in the Village of Fowl Devotees, was a researcher similar to Klaus; Kit Snicket, who helped build the Queequeg; and before Widdershins mentions the third Snicket Sibling, Fiona interrupts him, wanting to know about the VFD Headquarters the children had been too.
When the submarine arrives at the Grotto, Fiona, Klaus, Violet
Violet Baudelaire
Violet Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and appears in all thirteen books. She is the oldest of the Baudelaire orphans at 14 years old, and often helps her 12-year-old brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny...
and 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...
are sent in. Inside it is filled with mainly junk, but also the breeding ground of the Medusoid Mycelium. While they are waiting for the Medusoid Mycelium to wane again, the children occupy themselves by investigating the knick-knacks lying around the cave, many of which seem to be connected to the V.F.D. Sunny picks up a tube of wasabi
Wasabi
, also known as Japanese horseradish, is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish, and mustard. Its root is used as a condiment and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard rather than the capsaicin in a chili pepper,...
sauce.
On returning to the submarine, they discover that Widdershins and Phil have mysteriously disappeared, with no sign of where they have gone. They also discover that a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet while in the grotto. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, insisting that Sunny must remain in the helmet for their safety until she can find an antidote. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine returns and he comes down to the children and tells them that he has been at the Hotel Denouement preparing for his final scheme, but he needed to find the sugar bowl to complete his plans. The orphans enter Olaf's ship and are taken to the brig where they are interrogated by the hook-handed man, who is revealed to be Fiona's brother - Fernald
Hook-handed man
Fernald is a villain from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. He is known for having two large and sharp hooks where his hands should be...
. Fiona begs him to help them get back to the Queequeg, for Sunny's sake, and Fernald finally agrees on the condition that they take him along.
Back on the Queequeg, Sunny is very close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's texts and realize that the antidote is horseradish
Horseradish
Horseradish is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to south eastern Europe and the Arab World , but is popular around the world today...
. Violet and Klaus begin to break down but have enough courage to open up the helmet containing Sunny, and Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: wasabi
Wasabi
, also known as Japanese horseradish, is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish, and mustard. Its root is used as a condiment and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard rather than the capsaicin in a chili pepper,...
- what Sunny took from the grotto.
While Sunny recovers, the telegram machine starts back up again. The Voluntary Factual Dispatch they receive is from Quigley Quagmire, Quigley needs the Baudelaires at a certain coded location the next day, and just two days before the meeting at the Hotel. Klaus is first to solve the riddle: Quigley will meet them at Briny Beach. As Violet begins decoding the other part, they are discovered by Olaf and accomplices. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and Fiona has joined his team to be with Fernald. Shortly after, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the wrong decision, allows the Baudelaires to escape in the Queequeg.
The next day they arrive on Briny Beach - back where all of their troubles began
The Bad Beginning
The Bad Beginning is the first of thirteen novels in American author Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It was later released in paperback under the name The Bad Beginning; or, Orphans! The novel tells the story of three children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, who are orphaned...
. Surprisingly, Mr. Poe emerges from the fog. He received a message from the mysterious J.S. - whom he assumes is The Daily Punctilios reporter Geraldine Julienne - that he had to meet them at the beach. He tells the children to come with him to the police station to resolve all of their troubles. Violet, however, has Quigley's decoded the message and has concluded that a taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
will be at the beach for them, and she sees it. They arrive at the taxi to find a woman at the wheel that they have never seen before and the woman reveals herself to be Kit Snicket
Snicket siblings
The Snicket family is a prominent family in the novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Jacob Snicket:Jacob Snicket is the father of Jacques, Kit, and Lemony Snicket and a member of the fire-stopping side of V.F.D. At the time A Series of Unfortunate Events takes place, he...
and the children climb into the taxi where they drive off to the Hotel Denouement.
Foreshadows
- On the last picture, there is a concierge's cap on the beach, foreshadowing The Penultimate PerilThe Penultimate PerilThe Penultimate Peril is the twelfth novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.-Plot:The book starts off where The Grim Grotto left off...
. - Sunny says etartsigam which is magistrate backwards. This could be a foreshadow of The Penultimate Peril in which two villains are unjust members of Justice Strauss's jury.
Cultural references and literary allusions
- Queequeg is a character in Moby-DickMoby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
, and the face of Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
appears on the submarine's uniforms. - In another reference to Moby-Dick, Brett Helquist's portrait depicts him as a man similar to Captain AhabCaptain AhabCaptain Ahab may refer to:* Ahab , the captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick* Captain Ahab , a Los Angeles based pop/electronic band...
with a scar on the side of his face, a whaling harpoon and a peg-leg, as described in Melville's novel. - Throughout the novel, there are constant jibes at Edgar GuestEdgar GuestEdgar Albert Guest was a prolific English-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People's Poet.In 1891, Guest came with his family to the United States from England...
's lack of talent. - While in the grotto, Violet Baudelaire finds a rock, its description closely resembles the Rosetta stoneRosetta StoneThe Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...
. - Sunny uses foreign words in this book:
- Yom Huledet, which means birthdayBirthdayA birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
in Hebrew. - ShalomShalomShalom is a Hebrew word meaning peace, completeness, and welfare and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye...
, which means peace and is used for hello or goodbye in Hebrew. - Cuisi- Sunny was about to say "cuisine" which means kitchenKitchenA kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
- Yom Huledet, which means birthday
- Three poems are mentioned involving the Verse Fluctuation Declaration:
- Robert BrowningRobert BrowningRobert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
's My Last DuchessMy Last Duchess"My Last Duchess" is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologized as an example of the dramatic monologue. It first appeared in 1842 in Browning's Dramatic Lyrics.-Poem structure and historical background:... - Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's The Walrus and the CarpenterThe Walrus and the Carpenter"The Walrus and the Carpenter" is a narrative poem by Lewis Carroll that appeared in his book Through the Looking-Glass, published in December 1871. The poem is recited in chapter four, by Tweedledum and Tweedledee to Alice. The poem is composed of 18 stanzas and contains 108 lines, in an... - T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's The Waste LandThe Waste LandThe Waste Land[A] is a 434-line[B] modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century." Despite the poem's obscurity—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its...
- Robert Browning
Translations
- Brazilian Portuguese:Portuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
"A Gruta Gorgônea", Cia das Letras - Czech:Czech languageCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
"Ponurá sluj" - Finnish:Finnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
"Synkkä syöveri" (The Grim Whirlpool), WSOY, 2006, ISBN 951-0-31491-9 - Greek:Greek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
"Η Σπαρακτική Σπηλιά", Ελληνικά Γράμματα - Russian:Russian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
"", Azbuka, 2006, ISBN 2-352-01790-7
See also
- Violet BaudelaireViolet BaudelaireViolet Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and appears in all thirteen books. She is the oldest of the Baudelaire orphans at 14 years old, and often helps her 12-year-old brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny...
- Klaus BaudelaireKlaus BaudelaireKlaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
- Sunny BaudelaireSunny BaudelaireSunny 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...
- Count OlafCount OlafCount 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...
- Lemony SnicketLemony SnicketLemony 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...
- Esmé SqualorEsmé SqualorEsmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor is the secondary antagonist of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author Lemony Snicket. She is Count Olaf's girlfriend. Prior to the events of the series she was a professional stage actress and member of V.F.D. Esmé is distinguished...
- Captain Widdershins
- Fiona (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Phil (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Carmelita Spats
- Hook-handed manHook-handed manFernald is a villain from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. He is known for having two large and sharp hooks where his hands should be...
- Count Olaf's theater troupe
- Sugar bowl (A Series of Unfortunate Events)Sugar bowl (A Series of Unfortunate Events)The sugar bowl is a fictional object from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It was first mentioned by name in The Hostile Hospital, in which Snicket ponders whether it was necessary to have stolen it from Esmé Squalor. It is indirectly mentioned in The Ersatz Elevator by Esmé...
- Great Unknown (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- V.F.D.V.F.D.V.F.D. is a secret organization within the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The purposes of the organization are never made clear, although the name of the organization is connected to various interpretations of the word "fire." V.F.D...