The Littlest Elf

is used in contrast to the dark and often woeful series.

Character history

"The Littlest Elf" is a book about a "teensy-weensy little man" who lives in Fairyland and skips about having jolly adventures. He has jingle-toed shoes and spends his days singing and dancing with friends. The reader is often advised to read about him and his adventures rather than explore the lives of the Baudelaires who spend their days alone, scared, and often running from Count Olaf.

Appearances

*"The Littlest Elf" was mentioned in the book "The Vile Village" as one of the few books that does not break any of the rules of the Village of Fowl Devotees. At the beginning of "The Vile Village", Lemony Snicket advises the reader to read "The Littlest Elf" instead. The person who wrote the Littlest Elf was actually Lemony Snicket, though his name was an anagram.

*In "", there is a page excerpt from the "Littlest Elf" book, which contains "ring" onomatopoeias. This is a reference to the Sebald Code used in the books, and may show that "The Littlest Elf" was the work of a member of the V.F.D. organization; in addition, the author's name, 'Monty Kensicle', is an anagram of 'Lemony Snicket'. Sally Sebald, in a letter to Lemony Snicket, mentions "The Littlest Elf" as a film by her brother Gustav Sebald.

"The Puzzling Puzzles"

The Littlest Elf is mentioned several times throughout "The Puzzling Puzzles", a book filled with puzzles and activities based on the film and book series. He is the subject of some of them, including a "Mystifying Maze" in which one must help the elf travel through a purposely easy maze to the "pretty unicorn" at the other end and a "Perplexing Picture", in which one has to rearrange a series of pictures featuring the elf in their correct order.

The movie

The claymation film that the Littlest Elf appears in is at the very beginning of "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events". The film opens with a bright-colored meadow. The words "Paramount Pictures presents" appear on the screen just before the Littlest Elf appears, wearing a pointed hat and having a wide smile on his face. The words "The Littlest Elf (TM)" appear above him ("see the picture above to see what it looked like.")

As the Littlest Elf starts dancing on the screen, the happy mood is abruptly broken (and the screen was frozen, but the elf can still blink) by the narrator Lemony Snicket (voiced by British actor Jude Law) saying, "I'm sorry to say that this is not the movie you will be watching. The movie you are about to see is extremely unpleasant". The actual film then begins, which is in live-action rather than the claymation style of the opening.

The song "Loverly Spring", which plays during the "Littlest Elf" scene, was written by film composer Thomas Newman and Bill Bernstein. It is a parody of "Let's sing a gay little spring song" from the film "Bambi". Only part of "Loverly Spring" is heard in the movie. The full song can be heard during the credits and in the film's soundtrack.

The Littlest Elf continued to be briefly mentioned throughout the movie: Violet Baudelaire accidentally starts a "Loverly Spring" tape in a car; Sunny Baudelaire bites the head off of a Littlest Elf bobblehead who gives it to Klaus Baudelaire; and Count Olaf says that the Baudelaires will not end up happy like the Littlest Elf.

Though the magazine was not mentioned in the books or movie, the December 2004 issue of Nick Mag Presents had the Littlest Elf shown at the top of both the first and last pages.

It is worth noting that another "elf" shown in the claymation alongside singing animals is holding a rifle, which seems to contrast with the "happy" nature of the opening. However, he is smiling and swaying along with the animals.

Other

As part of a promotion for "The Penultimate Peril", a link appeared on Nick.com advertising "The Littlest Elf". It led to a page describing the fictional twelfth book in the "Littlest Elf" series, "The Remarkable Resort", describing the book in terms that mirrored what was known at the time about "The Penultimate Peril". The page highlighted certain letters to spell out a coded phrase needed to continue on "The Penultimate Peril"'s promotional website.

Just before the "The End" came out, a button saying "the Littlest Elf" appeared on Nick.com and directed readers to a page about the fictional book, actually containing the name of Book the 13th in the Sebald code.Fact|date=March 2007

ources

* "The Vile Village" (book)
* "" (book)
* "The Puzzling Puzzles" (activity book)
* "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (film)
* The "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" soundtrack
* [http://www.Nick.com Nick.com]