There's a mysterious recurring code in Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' here's what it
Redeem now Warning: Spoilers ahead for the "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books and Netflix show.
There are three recurring letters that careful viewers will notice on Netflix's show "A Series of Unfortunate Events": V, F, and D.
The letters have their roots in the books by Daniel Handler, which readers of the series will have recognized immediately. It first comes up in a sentence spoken by Lemony Snicket, the show's narrator and Handler's authorial alter-ego, 10 minutes into the first episode of the show.
"All that my associates and I have been able to learn is that neither the official fire department, nor the Volunteer Fire Department, arrived in time to stop the blaze," Snicket says.
And it comes up elsewhere as various characters say phrases like "Very Frightening Decisions," "Vigorously Fixed Destination," "Very Fitting Definition," "Very Fresh Dill," and "Very Fancy Door."
It's a secret organization.
But what does VFD mean? Well, the Baudelaire orphans — Violet, Klaus, and Sunny — find out in the 11th book in the series, "The Grim Grotto," shortly after leaving the Valley of Four Drafts.
VFD was a secret organization that included the Baudelaire's parents, Count Olaf (the villain in the series), and various other secondary characters the Baudelaires meet throughout the series. In the show, VFD still exists in a partial form, as characters like Jacqueline Scieszka and Jacques Snicket, who were affiliated with the organization, try to help the Baudelaires.
The organization's precise mission is never made clear, but it basically involves doing good in the world. "VFD" stands for many things, but their main name is "Volunteer Fire Department," indicating that they put out fires — literal and metaphorical — of their own volition.
For most of the organization's existence, the members were required to get a tattoo of an eye on their left ankles. It's that same tattoo that the Baudelaires first notice on Count Olaf.
But what does it mean? On one level, it's just an eye. But if you look closely at the design, you'll see a set of familiar letters.
The letters V, F, and D are hidden inside them. It's the logo for the organization and shows up throughout the series.
A schism broke the organization in two.
But how did someone as evil as Count Olaf become part of VFD, which puts out fires?
Years before the events of "A Series of Unfortunate Events," there was a schism within the organization. The good guys included people like the Baudelaire parents and Lemony Snicket. The bad guys included people like Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor.
"The difference between the two sides of the schism," Klaus explains in "The Grim Grotto," "is that one side puts out fires, and the other starts them."
Further confusing things is that each side of the schism continued to use the same secret codes and disguise kits. It's part of the challenge, and fun, of the series. Sometimes the villains are obvious, and at other times the Baudelaire orphans don't know who to trust.
There are even red herring organizations, like the Village of Fowl Devotees in "The Vile Village" and Volunteers Fighting Disease in "The Heimlich Hospital," which have nothing to do with the VFD organization associated with the Baudelaires. The acronyms just throw the world into more confusion.
In the Netflix show, VFD is only more ubiquitous.
Handler's book series depicts VFD as a big organization that pops up everywhere in the Baudelaires' lives, even if they don't always recognize it. But they're also mostly a relic of the past, and the Baudelaires follow breadcrumbs to find a handful of people who were involved with the organization and knew their parents.
One of the major differences on the show is that there are still VFD operatives working — if not very effectively — to help the Baudelaires after the death of their parents, like Jacqueline Scieszka, Gustav Sebald, the librarian from Prufrock Prepatory School, and Larry the waiter.
The metal spyglass with the VFD logo, a gadget that helps the Baudelaires out of a few predicaments, is also absent in the books.
It's one change that adds a layer of complexity to the show, even as it follows the same trajectory as the novels. It gives fans even more of Daniel Handler's miserable world.
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Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.
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