A Series of Unfortunate Events: Difference between revisions

* [[Adventure Towns]]: Each book is in a different town (or island or mountain or ...). Except the first, sixth, and twelfth, which are set in the same [[City with No Name|nameless city]].

* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Handler started off trying to write the sort of gothic, bloodthirsty children's stories he wanted to read when he was a child, and most of the books take off one genre or another, occasionally straying into [[Deconstruction]] territory)

* [[Alliterative Name]]: The [[Odd Name Out]] in both sets of triplets: Quigley Quagmire and Dewey Denouement. {{spoiler|Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire. Actually, both Beatrice Baudelaires.}} The titles of the first twelve books are alliterative, as well as many, many locations mentioned throughout the books (Lousy Lane, Lake Lachrymose, Finite Forest, Heimlich Hospital, etc.).

* [[All There in the Manual]]: ''[[Lemony Snicket the Unauthorized Autobiography|The Unauthorized Autobiography]]'' and ''The Beatrice Letters''.

* [[Deconstruction]]: Most of the books deconstruct one genre or another (although sometimes this is closer to an [[Affectionate Parody]]). The second half of the series deconstructs the first half of the series. Arguably the last three books start deconstructing their immediate predecessors, too.

* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: Frequently used for humour in the narration throughout the series, mostly as part of the "defining words" and "translate Sunny's speech" gags:

** In the ninth book, one chapter starts out with a description of deja vu. The second page of the chapter is almost exactly the same as the first page (including the picture and the chapter heading). Several chapters later, the exact same passage describing deja vu is repeated again.

** In ''The Grim Grotto'', Lemony Snicket attempts to put the reader to sleep by giving a very repetitive description of evaporation.

*** Violet was actually the name of Claus von Bulow's lawyer.

** [[wikipedia:Isadora Duncan|Isadora, Duncan]], and Quigley Quagmire

** While the names of the first 12 books are alliterative, the last book is simply called "The End."

* [[Oh, and X Dies]]: In ''The Reptile Room''

* [[Plot Tailored to the Party]]: In every book the children are in situations that require inventing skills, research skills, and sharp teeth (or cooking, from the 10th book on); also true to some degree of the Quagmire triplets, although Duncan's journalism interest is rarely useful.

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: In ''The Reptile Room''

** This has actually gotten some controversy over being in a children's book series. [[Word of God]] says this was meant to have him [[Kick the Dog]].

* [[The Problem with Licensed Games]]

* [[Spoof Aesop]]: Snicket's narration is peppered with comments like "The moral of [[World War I]] is 'Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand'"; the [[Spin-Off]] ''Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid'' compiles a lot of these, some from the main series and some entirely new.

* [[Spy Speak]]: V.F.D., being a secret organisation, naturally uses copious quantities of this, so much so that there have been disputes among readers over whether certain phrases are in code or not.

"I didn't realize this was a sad occasion." }}

* [[Stealth Pun]]: The Baudelaire children's first guardian after Olaf is called Uncle ''Monty'', And he owns ''Pythons''. You figure it out.