One thing that has been intriguing me lately is the thought of someone breaking the Sugar Bowl - on purpose.

For example, what if Lemony said "Enough is enough!" to Beatrice, outside the Opera House and just hurled it towards the ground? Or if Beatrice decided that this power can not be in the hands of 1 person and takes away the power altogether?

Well, let's collate some facts about the Sugar Bowl to try and determine why this is im/possible:

The Sugar Bowl, and whatever may be inside it, is UNDOUBTEDLY the V.F.D.'s most powerful asset. Tiny, schism-causing little... so-and-so.

The Sugar Bowl is so powerful that it's too much power for one person to wield alone. Maybe Beatrice's original plan was to rotate the volunteer who has it? Work out a secret timetable or something?

The Sugar Bowl has split the organisation, but weirdly, somehow, keeps it together. The Sugar Bowl represents the unity of the V.F.D., how they were once a powerful organisation where everyone got along fine, and are now two sides and a morally grey area... or even non-existent, ad Lemony foreshadows/mentions in THH:P2.

So those are the facts. And in terms of characters, there's only one person who has had AMPLE opportunity to do this - Lemony. He's had the bowl for the longest out of everyone, post-schism.

But here's what I think:

The V.F.D. is obviously an extremely rich and powerful organisation, which is why there's always a fortune to be stolen, be it Baudelaire, Quagmire, Spats, Kornbluth, Winnipeg...

So:

THEORY: Given their riches and assets, if Lemony broke the sugar bowl, V.F.D. could very possibly have gone to WAR.

They have the time, resources and brainpower to make nuclear (or worse) weapons of mass destruction.

This is why no-one, not even Lemony in all of his depression and anger, broke the sugar bowl - it's too big of a risk, not just to members but to the organisation's secrecy. If ANYTHING happens to the bowl, whoever has it knows that Esmé would gather a global army to get it back. And if Esmé makes a big deal, it. Goes. Public.