Could the 'S' stand for Sugar?
To parody Olivia Caliban - "I've been doing some thinking"
The theories among the fandom surrounding S. Theodora Markson have been logical, but in this theory, I'm going to drop a new [what I'm quite sure is a] bombshell, in answer to 'What does the 'S' stand for?' - the S might stand for Sugar.
Of course, as mentioned, I respect and understand the reasoning behind the alternative theories, such as 'Sunny' and 'Sensible', but there is a link that I seem to have found, which MIGHT run across the Snicket-verse [one that, I feel, seems to have been a little bit overlooked]:
Sugar is an incredibly delicate subject to come up in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
This is CLEARLY seen in 2 main instances:
The Waitress is a woman who was employed in The Penultimate Peril, who had a customer that requested sugar in their coffee before she threw him onto the ground so she could see if he had a tattoo on his ankle. Much like last time (referring to her employment at Café Salmonella), she discovers that the customer had no such tattoo so she then apologized for her actions and offered a free slice of rhubarb pie for all his trouble. Her fate after the incident remains unknown, though even if she was the same waitress from Café Salmonella, her employment at both eateries were most likely terminated nevertheless.
(from the Snicket Fandom Wiki, under 'The Waitress' page)
“What is this?” Count Olaf said suspiciously, peering into his coffee cup. “It looks like coffee, but it’s freezing cold!” “And what is this orange stuff?” Esmé asked suspiciously. “I want fashionable, in food, not a handful of ice!” Colette picked up a piece of the bread and stared at it suspiciously. “This toast feels raw,” she said. “Is it safe to eat raw toast?” “Of course not,” Hugo said. “I bet that baby is trying to poison us.” “Actually, the coffee isn’t bad,” one of the white-faced women said, “even if it is a little bitter. Could someone pass the sugar, please?” “Sugar?” shrieked Count Olaf, erupting in anger. He stood up, grabbed one end of the blanket, and pulled as hard as he could, scattering all of Sunny’s hard work. Food, beverages, and dishes fell everywhere, and Sunny had to duck to avoid getting hit on the head with a flying fork. “All the sugar in the world couldn’t save this terrible breakfast!” he roared, and then leaned down so that his shiny, shiny eyes stared right into Sunny’s. “I told you to make a nice, hot breakfast, and you gave me cold, disgusting nonsense!” he said, his smelly breath making a cloud in the chilly air. “Don’t you see how high up we are, you sabertoothed papoose? If I threw you off Mount Fraught, you’d never survive!”
(An extract from The Slippery Slope, Ch 6)
Given the sheer force with which people [volunteers (the waitress) and villains (Olaf) alike] in the series (ASOUE) respond to any mention of sugar, who's to say that the people of All The Wrong Questions take any reference to sugar in the same manner (i.e. flip out like ASOUE people)?
Of course, this is axiomatic (a word which here means: we're assuming this to be true) but if it is, it could be the reason why Theodora is so very secretive about her initial - maybe it stands for Sugar, and she doesn't want to run the risk of anyone knowing; the recipient of the information may be a villain... OR, seeing as she's 52nd out of 52 chaperones (or something like that, it has been a while since I've read ATWQ), if she tells V.F.D. her name is Sugar, she's BOUND to get kicked out of the organisation.
¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist
P.S. I did get it right: On the list of chaperones, she is ranked 52nd of 52, though she believed she was ranked tenth
(Snicket Wiki)
