Eleanora Poe

Eleanora Poe was the editor-in-chief of The Daily Punctilio. In the book series canon, she is the sister of Arthur Poe; in the Netflix adaptation, she is combined with the characters of Polly Poe and Geraldine Julienne, and thus is presented as his wife instead, as well as the mother of his children.

Biography

Eleanora is the sister of Arthur Poe. She seems to notice his cough more than he does. At some point, she becomes the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Punctilio. She does not seem to be a very good editor, as the paper was riddled with errors. Despite this, she acquires a reputation as an "honest and trustworthy" editor-and-chief.^[1]

Following his graduation, Lemony Snicket is hired under her as an assistant obituary spell-checker. He mentions that she is always "looking over [his] shoulder" and tells him never to reveal any news before its publication in the paper. She notedly either misspells herself or almost allows the misspelling of the announcement of the death of the Duchess of Winnipeg. The death causes a shift under her employ, as the Duchess's daughter leaves to be appointed duchess herself, which causes Jacques Snicket to be transferred to financial times, Geraldine Julienne to be transferred to fashion critic, and Lemony to be transferred to dramatic critic.^[2]

Snicket remained her dramatic critic until the two of them saw Al Funcoot's new play, One Last Warning to Those Who Try to Stand in My Way at the Ned H. Rirger Theater. She greatly enjoyed the performance, saying she was enraptured and had so much fun that by the end, she threw her purse and jewelry onto the stage. After Snicket published a scathing review, Eleanora fired him, believing that celebrities should be complimented and not criticize and that Snicket allowed his anger over the new lead actress, Esmé, replacing his fiance, Beatrice Baudelaire, in the performance. She also decided to cut the dramatic critic column entirely, replacing it with "Secret Organizations You Should Know About" to be written by Julienne.

Snicket later broke into The Daily Punctilio's printing press, attempting to inform the readers of the "real reason" he was dismissed, which had something to do with Eleanora. In response, Eleanora announced that the doors to the printing press would be locked tight when not in use.

It is mentioned at some point in time, Bertrand Baudelaire pulled an elevator prank with his children, and "a tiresome woman named Eleanora had been forced to visit every story on the way up to her room."^[3]

Eleanora and her "star reporter," Julienne, continue to be manipulated into printing false news, such as "inappropriate reading material" and announcements about the dangers of telephone poles and telegrams.

At some point, she had dinner at The Anxious Clown with her brother, Arthur, where he attempted to bring up his concerns about her paper's coverage of the Baudelaire case, though he was interrupted by her noticing a man holding a microphone near their table.

Eleanora was then locked in the filthy and damp basement of the newspaper building- presumably near the printing press- by Julienne, under the instructions of Esmé Squalor. Realizing that some of the stories she published in her paper were untrue, she sent a panicked telegram to her brother to help her get out. Unfortunately, Arthur had recently read her article on the dangers of telegrams and never received the message.^[1]

Netflix Series Divergent Canon

In the Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the character of Eleanora Poe is combined with the character of Polly Poe from the novels, subsequently being portrayed as both the editor-in-chief of the Daily Punctilio and the wife of Arthur Poe, as opposed to being his sister. She is, therefore, the mother of Edgar and Albert Poe and they live in the same house. 

She appears to be a very callous woman whose utmost priorities are delicious headlines, even telling the Baudelaires to say they feel terrible and miss their parents very much. When Georgina Orwell dies, she goes to Lucky Smells Lumbermill and smiles when photographing her body. 

In Season 2, Eleanora begins using Geraldine Julienne's catchphrase: "Wait until the readers of The Daily Punctilio hear about this!" suggesting that she has replaced Geraldine's character in the series. 

In the final episode, years after the deaths of Count Olaf and Kit Snicket, it is shown, ironically enough in the Daily Punctilio's final issue, that the paper will be shut down due to false reporting. This story is accompanied by an image of Eleanora in jail, implying the authorities caught onto her unethical practices. 

She is portrayed by Cleo King.

Appearances

Quotes

• "We at The Daily Punctilio realize that celebrities should be complimented, not criticized."
• Eleanora: "You must feel terrible, and you must miss your parents very much."
  Violet: "We do."
  Eleanora: "You do what? Say it."
  Klaus: "We feel terrible, and we miss our parents very much."
  Eleanora: "That's gonna make a wonderful headline."
• Mr. Poe: "Remember Baudelaires, our home is your home."
  Eleanora: "But don't touch anything."
• "Wait until the readers of The Daily Punctilio hear about this!"
• "Baudelaires, what are your thoughts on your daring escape?"
• "YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM THE PRESS!" (when they flee from her)

Trivia

• Eleanora Poe's name is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe and his short story "Eleanora."
• A YouTube channel using the username "Eleanora Poe" (and an image of Laura Jean Libbey as its avatar) released a video titled "An Unfortunate Teaser".^[4] The video was made to look like a teaser trailer for the Netflix series, but Netflix stated that the video is not official and was not released by them.^[5][6] Despite Netflix disclaiming it, some fans believe Netflix was behind the video.

Family

Books

Netflix

Gallery

Concept Art.

"Get a hold of yourself!"

Eleanora excited to photograph Orwell's body.

Having dinner at the Herring Houdini.

Sources