this can easily be dismissed as a consistency error, stylistic choice, whatever... but walk with me here and pretend that he truly had his tattoo on the outside of his left ankle, not the inside.

jacques is the VFD golden boy. he's their pet, really. i don't think there's any member more indoctrinated than him (on the "noble" side) and that's important. jacques "they let me finish my tea" snicket.

i think his tattoo being incorrect would be a great source of turmoil for him. it isn't perfect and he has to be perfect.

but at the end of the day, with VFD, perfect loyalty never guarantees belonging or correctness.

was he loyal? absolutely. so much so that i doubt he thought much about what he was doing. his entire framework of what is and is not noble is based off of what VFD taught him, and he was taught their were noble, so if VFD says jump, he says how high and goes a foot higher.

part of me wonders if he ever felt like he belonged, though. and if you asked him i'm sure he would say absolutely. but i think it would take perhaps one event of isolation for this to quickly fall apart, and much like lemony without beatrice, without VFD, who is jacques snicket?