Arthur Poe

**rthur Poe** (often referred to as **Mr. Poe**) is a fictional character in Lemony Snicket's *A Series of Unfortunate Events* series. Mr. Poe is a banker in charge of the Baudelaire and Quagmire fortunes and the Baudelaire orphans' guardianship. He is distinguished by a congenital cough, purblind demeanor, and general inefficacy in caring for both sets of children.[1][2]

Poe is the first to bring the news of Bertrand and Beatrice's death to the Baudelaire children. As executor of the Baudelaire estate,
 he interprets the will's instructions that the children "be raised in
the most convenient way possible" as meaning they should remain within
the city limits,[3] and arranges for their distant cousin Count Olaf to take custody. When the Baudelaires contact Poe at his bank, Mulctuary Money Management, to report Olaf's abuse, the banker points out that Olaf is acting *in loco parentis*, and can raise them as he sees fit.[4] However, when Olaf traps Sunny in a birdcage and attempts to force Violet to marry him, Poe invokes citizen's arrest just prior to Count Olaf's escape.[5]
Following these events, Poe successively places the children under the care of Monty Montgomery, Josephine Anwhistle, Sir, Jerome and Esmé Squalor,
 and finally the Village of Fowl Devotees, acting as their temporary
guardian in the interim. When the Baudelaires escape the village amidst
accusations of murder (and later arson and kidnapping),[6] Poe is one of the few adults to maintain the Baudelaires' innocence and disbelieve the incriminating *Daily Punctilio* articles published by his sister Eleanora.[7]
 When the Baudelaires return to the city to meet up with V.F.D., Poe
intervenes on a tip from a "J.S." (initials variously used by Jerome Squalor, Justice Strauss, Count Olaf, Esmé Squalor, and possibly others) with the intent of clearing the Baudelaires' names and restoring his role as executor,[6] but the children refuse to accompany him. After Mrs. Bass robs
 Mulctuary Money Management, Poe is placed in charge of the
investigation, which leads him to the Hotel Denouement. When the hotel
is set on fire, Poe is on the third floor.[8] Whether he survives or not is left unanswered.

### Personality

Although his primary responsibility in the books is to help the
Baudelaires, the Baudelaires do not think he is helpful (Lemony Snicket
describes him as being as helpful as a jar of mustard).[9]
 His focus on his banking career seems to make him completely oblivious
to the hardships and danger of the Baudelaires. Though the Baudelaires
seem to be much more intelligent than Poe, he completely dismisses and
ignores everything they say as "ramblings of little children". Some fans
 of the series believe that Poe is being deliberately unhelpful and
ignorant—that he is actually a villain or a member of V.F.D., although
there is no evidence in the books to suggest this—though this could also
 just be a result of his incompetence. In *The Penultimate Peril*,
Justice Strauss at one point calls him "that idiotic banker." On many
occasions he expresses a thought which is the exact opposite of what the
 Baudelaires are imagining, such as in *The Vile Village* when the
Baudelaires comment that the death of Quigley does not change the birth
identity of the Quagmires as triplets, while Mr. Poe says that the death
 of Quigley changes their birth identity, and in *The Austere Academy*
 when the Baudelaires interpret the term "cakesniffer" as an insult,
while Poe interprets it as a "nice term that reminds him of pastry".

### Career

Poe's employer is Mulctuary Money Management. In several of the
books, he seems to be very excited about receiving a promotion. His
title at Mulctuary Money Management in *The Bad Beginning* is not stated, but at the start of *The Miserable Mill*,
 while on a train to Paltryville, he announces to the children that he
is now Vice-President in Charge of Coins. Then in the sixth book in the
series, *The Ersatz Elevator*,
 he becomes Vice-President in Charge of Orphan Affairs. Esmé Squalor
deems him an "unstylish banker". After making a short appearance when he
 lets the Baudelaires choose a town at a new program where they let an
entire village be a guardian of an orphan/orphans, he loses touch with
the Baudelaires until a brief appearance of him in end of *The Grim Grotto* on Briny Beach, right before the Baudelaires meet Kit Snicket.

Count Olaf
 reveals that Poe had adoption papers hidden under his hat at some point
 after his promotion to Vice President in Charge of Orphan Affairs
(which occurs before the start of *The Ersatz Elevator*); Mr. Poe is implied in the rare edition of *The Bad Beginning*
 to have something hidden under his hat. Olaf also mentions that "at the
 time" Mr. Poe was better known under his stage name, implying that Poe
also works as an actor.

### Family

Mr. Poe has a wife (Polly) and two children, Edgar and Albert. They appear in *The Bad Beginning*. The names of his two children is a reference to Edgar Albert Guest,
 keeping with the trend throughout the books of literary allusions. He
also has a sister named Eleonora Poe, a reporter for the Daily
Punctilio, which references to the short story "Eleonora" written by Edgar Allan Poe himself.

### Appearances

* *The Bad Beginning*
* *The Reptile Room*
* *The Wide Window*
* *The Miserable Mill*
* *The Austere Academy*
* *The Ersatz Elevator*
* *The Vile Village*
* *The Grim Grotto*
* *The Penultimate Peril*