History Literature / AllTheWrongQuestions

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** Much of Hangfire's behavior involves animals or plants of some sort. [[spoiler: It's hardly surprising he turns out to be a naturalist]].

* SecretSecretKeeper: Lemony realizes in Book Three that [[spoiler: Hangfire is Ellington's supposedly kidnapped father]] but doesn't say anything to her [[UnreliableNarrator or the readers.]]

* WelcomeBackTraitor: Subverted. After Ellington betrays Lemony a couple of times, he's still friendly with her and tries to keep his promise, but he openly tells her that he doesn't trust her and that he fully expects her to betray him, an accusation that cuts her quite deeply [[spoiler: even though he totally calls it]].

* TakeThatSelf: Early in the second book, there is a lengthy complaint by the narrator about how using little-known words or phrases and then thoroughly explaining what they mean is annoying and wastes everyone's time.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BookEnds: Each book has an illustration at the beginning and end that shows what [[spoiler: Kit Snicket]] is up to.

* CatchPhrase: Several times each book, a character will make a question and another will respond "That's the wrong question"
* ChekhovsGun:

** Pip and Squeak's dad is the local taxi driver, and the boys drive for him with the reasoning that he's sick. In the third book, they appear exhausted and very malnourished, suggesting that there's a lot more than that going on. [[spoiler: In the last book, Snicket implies that he abandoned them, or perhaps is dead]].

** Ditto for Hangfire. [[spoiler:Subverted at the end, when it turns out Hangfire's face was actually quite familiar, since he was Ellington's father who's picture she carried everywhere.]]

* GreyAndGreyMorality: In true Snicket fashion, the last book reveals that the series' morality to have been this. Stain'd-By-The-Sea might well have deserved their fate to dwindle and die, since in their desperate and selfish attempts to save themselves they destroyed another town and who knows how much of the environment. [[spoiler: And Snicket himself veers sharply towards the edge when he feeds Hangfire towards the Bombinating Beast, ''right in front of his daughter'']].
* GuiltRiddenAccomplice: [[spoiler: Kellar Haines]]. during his brief period of being forced to aid Hangfire and [[spoiler: his mother]]. making several failed attempts to clue Lemony in on what's happening.

* HiddenDepths: Quite a few characters have these, both for good and bad. Snicket is surprised to learn that Hungry Hix, the bitter and bad-tempered owner of a diner, is quite a capable cook in her own right and once married a man from Calcutta. Similarly, the slimy Prosper Lost becomes far more endearing when he is anxious over his daughter's safety. And on the flip side, [[spoiler: it's chilling how Stew Mitchum quickly turns from the resident bully to the ally of the BigBad]].

* HouseHusband: Mr. Mallahan, while Mrs. Mallahan is off in the city working for their newspaper. [[spoiler: The last book implies that they divorced]].

* OnlySaneMan: Dashiell Qwerty, and to a lesser extent [[spoiler: Prosper Lost]]. are the only adults to avert AdultsAreUseless on occasion.

** In the last book, it's confirmed that [[spoiler: Moxie's mother did abandon her]].
** And [[spoiler: Ellington's father left her to be a villain.]]
** And [[spoiler: Pip and Squeak's father most likely either abandoned them or died.]]
* ParentalFavoritism: [[spoiler: Sharon Haines]]. is so desperate to get her daughter out of Hangfire's grasp that she's willing to sell out her son to him.

* ShipTease: Between Ellington and Lemony, quite explicit in ''Shouldn't You Be In School?'' where Lemony admits that Ellington is probably the only reason he's still in Stain'd-By-The-Sea.

** Ellington Feint's namesake is Duke Ellington, composer and pianist. His music is probably the "interesting and complicated" tunes that Lemony hears from the gramophone.

* ToBeLawfulOrGood: "Is it more beastly to be a murderer or to let one go free?" [[spoiler: Lemony chooses to feed Hangfire to the Bombinating Beast, and regards it as the only way to help him]].

** Lemony fears for a long time that this will be the fate of Ellington. [[spoiler: It's not, though at one point in ''Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?'' they do fake it to trick Lemony.]]

--> [[spoiler: [[PlayedForDrama "Not what everyone’s parents did,"]] I said. "Not nothing."]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Lemony saves the town and defeats Hangfire. But to do that he feeds Hangfire to the Bombinating Beast, which pisses off Ellington and creeps out Moxie, Stew gets away with murder, and Kit is still in jail which Lemony could have prevented.]]

** Lemony and his associate in the city communicate by sending notes "disguised" as book orders to the library. The fake author and book title combinations tend to be things like Sorry, ''But I Can Not Meet You At The Fountain'' or Don T. Worry, ''I'll Measure It Myself'' (“Sounds like a math textbook of some kind”). Lemony claims the authors' names are weird because they're Belgian.

** Book Two continues this trend, with the opening illustration being the same girl trying to open a hatch (with the letters VFD on it, no less) and the end is [[spoiler: her getting arrested]].
** As does Book Three, where [[spoiler: she is dragged to the police station and photographed]] at the beginning and end.
** And the fourth book has cops carrying her profile to the train at the beginning, and [[spoiler: Kit meeting Ellington]] at the end.

** Ellington Feint's father, who has been kidnapped by Hangfire and held for ransom in exchange for the statue. [[spoiler: It's revealed in the final book that he is actually Hangfire himself, but this trope still seems to apply somewhat, as he has apparently all but abandoned Ellington for much of the series]].

* ExactWords: Lemony promised to help Ellington, and her father. [[spoiler: He views feeding him to the Bombinating Beast as doing just that]].

** Ditto for Hangfire. [[spoiler: Subverted at the end, when it turns out Hangfire's face was actually quite familiar, since he was Ellington's father who's picture she carried everywhere.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Although a side character, Cleo's father comes across as one, as his efforts to find more Ink for his factory by draining octopi ravage the environment, cause the factory to be dependent on a source which will eventually run out and ruins countless local jobs. Its somewhat mitigated by the implications that the decision was driven by incompetence and desperation, rather than simple greed and callousness, but he remains a negatively portrayed character.

* SecretSecretKeeper: Lemony realizes in Book Three that [[spoiler: Hangfire is Ellington's supposedly kidnapped father]] but doesn't say anything.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In ''13 Suspicious Incidents'' -- ''"There are words for a woman who walks the streets late at night," she said, with another meaningful look. "Words like insomniac."'' ''Sure'', Snicket. That's ''exactly'' the word we were all thinking of.

* ArtMajorBiology: The Clusterous Forest is made up entirely out of seaweed. Many are surprised that the algae learned to grow on land.

** Beatrice is indirectly mentioned, though you'd have to know the companion stories quite well to recognize it (he talks of "a friend catching her first bat"). In the same paragraph, Snicket references an event he also vaguely alludes to in ''The Slippery Slope''--Jacques encountering a swarm of wasps. She is mentioned by name in the last book.

''All The Wrong Questions'' is a four-part prequel series to ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''. It is written by Daniel Handler, once again writing as Lemony Snicket. The series follows him as a twelve year-old boy, working on a series of mysterious cases in the town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea.

** Ditto for Hangfire. [[spoiler: subverted at the end, when it turns out Hangfire's face was actually quite familiar, since he was Ellington's father who's picture she carried everywhere.]]
* FantasyForbiddingParent: Quite a few of them appear, with some being behind one of the titular suspicious incidents in the short story collection,

* SiblingYinYang: Not in the usual personality sense, but the Talkie Brothers are described as being complete opposites in every physical sense, having "different sizes, shapes, nationalities, facial expressions, hair length, ear sizes, nose shapes, mouth curves, brow furrows, and wristwatches" making it likely that they're an example of HideYourGays based on the laws of the implied time period, rather than actual brothers, or that one of them was adopted.