Something about the Baudelaires+the tragedies they face being associated with fire (the fire that destroyed their home, the fire at the Caligari Carnival, the fire at the hotel Denouementโฆ) vs the Quagmires+their tragedies being associated with water (Duncan+Isadora being kidnapped+stashed inside a statue of a fish then later inside of a fountain, the Baudelaires finding Quigley in the Hinterlands surrounded by ice, Quigley+Violet having a key moment on a frozen waterfall, Quigley+the Baudelaires escaping via said waterfall, Quigley being seperated from the Baudelaires by the Stricken Stream, Quigley sending a telegram to Violet whilst she is in a submarine fully submerged in water, the Baudelaires almost reuniting with Quigley after travelling in the depths of the sea in โThe Grim Grottoโ, in โThe Penultimate Perilโ when itโs revealed that Duncan+Isadora are in danger of drowning as eagles attack their self-sustaining hot air mobile home which is flying over the sea and,of course, all three Quagmire triplets becoming lost (in the sea) to the great unknown.
This is especially evident in โThe Vile Villageโ when the Baudelaires have just rescued the Quagmires who at that point were โtwo dripping figuresโ bc of the โrushing waterโ of the fountain they were trapped in which is then contrasted, merely one paragraph later, by the man who causes the majority of the Baudelaires troubles brandishing fire, โDetective Dupin, holding a torch and heading straight toward the Baudelaire orphans.โ [evidence taken from pages 210+211 of โThe Vile Villageโ.]
This could represent a number of things:
1: The Quagmires trying to help the Baudelaires like how water extinguishes fire.
2: The cold way in which Olaf uses the Quagmires solely for their fortune and his own sadistic purpose as opposed to his hunting down of the Baudelaires being fuelled by burning revenge.
Itโs also interesting how Duncan+Isadora are associated with water whereas Quigley is initially associated with ice in TSS until he+the Baudelaires begin to rely on each other and then he is associated with water (the ice of the stricken stream cracking and Quigley being carried away with it). Due to this, there is solid reasoning to view water in asoue as a metaphor for friendship (at least in the case of the Quagmires).
