Notes on the V.F.D

Start from the beginning
                                        

Whatever gods may be

That no life lives for ever;

That dead men rise up never;

That even the weariest river

Winds somewhere safe to sea.

SAFE PLACES

A V.F.D. safe place is, as Kit Snicket remarks, where volunteers can safely gather "to exchange information, discuss plans to defeat our enemies and return books we borrowed from one another." Before the schism, there were innumerable safe places around the globe, such as bookstores, banks, restaurants, stationery stores, cafés, laundromats, opium dens, geodesic domes, etc.

This is a list of known safe places:

667 Dark Avenue.

667 Dark Avenue (The City) – Formerly

1485 Columbia Road (Unknown) – Formerly

Baudelaire Mansion (The City) – Burnt down

Dr. Montgomery's House (Lousy Lane) – Burnt down

Josephine Anwhistle's House (Lake Lachrymose) – Destroyed during Hurricane Herman

Curdled Cave (Lake Lachrymose) – Stolen by realtors

Quagmire Mansion (The City) – Burnt down

Heimlich Hospital (Hinterlands) – Possibly a safe place; burnt down by Count Olaf

Caligari Carnival (Hinterlands) – Burnt down by Count Olaf

V.F.D. Mountain Headquarters (Valley of Four Drafts, Mortmain Mountains) – Burnt down by the Man with a Beard But No Hair and the Woman with Hair But No Beard

Anwhistle Aquatics – Burnt down by Captain Widdershins and Fernald

Josephine Anwhistle's House Falling down.

Hotel Denouement (The City) – Burnt down by the Baudelaire children

Josephine Anwhistle's House.

Vineyard of Fragrant Grapes

Valorous Farms Dairy (Unknown) – Burnt down

Veritable French Diner (The City)

Versailles Post Office – Formerly

The Island - Formerly (due to the Medusoid Mycelium)

THE EYE

Description

The symbol contains the acronym for the Volunteer Fire Department. It is stylized to look like an eye to represent V.F.D.'s watchfulness. Due to this complexity, there have been multiple designs of the eye over different illustrations and adaptations of the series.

History

Several members of V.F.D. have this symbol tattooed on their left ankle.

Although the eye tattoo was a requirement in the early years that V.F.D. existed, this was changed later. It is likely because it would essentially be outing an individual as a member of the organization, which would compromise their disguises. It also "is unwise to permanently mark oneself with a symbol when the meaning of the symbol might change at any moment." The eye could mean two different things after the schism, and one can never tell which side of the schism a member is on anymore.

Back when the tattoo was required, it seemed to be administered immediately upon recruitment. For example, the Snicket siblings were recruited soon before or during the schism (when the requirement was dropped), and they all have the eye tattoos. In addition, R has stated that recruits are kept on the run "until their ankles have healed." Seeing as recruits tend to be young children- as young as infants- this brings into question the ethics behind the symbol.

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