Although he is never talked about or even named, Fenton and Gertrude Hardy's brother has been alluded to more times then you might think. The following is a list (presented in chronological order) of some of the various indirect references to this allusive character.
A) The 15 year age difference between Fenton and Gertrude, alone, suggests the existence of, at least, one more sibling (1931's The Hardy Boys #10 What Happened at Midnight).
B) Then there's the numerous references to the fact that Frank and Joe are Gertrude's favorite nephews, confirming that there is or was a third Hardy sibling (1943's The Hardy Boys #22 The Flickering Torch Mystery and 1944's #23 The Melted Coins.
C) Fenton has a sister-in-law! Janet Hardy, and her daughter, Sue, show-up in 1981's Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths!.
Who is this mysterious brother and why does no one ever speak of him? The black sheep of the Hardy family, perhaps?
Interesting. Nice collection of clues here to the mysterious other Mr. Hardy. :D
I smell a fanfiction story here... ;)
Oh yeah- so, okay- I know the book makes it clear this guy isn't really The Hardys' uncle- but what about "Uncle" Hugh Hunt from "The Crowning Terror" (#6 in The Hardy Boys Casefiles.)?
Add in Frank and Joe's long-lost "brother" Chris from "Double Exposure" (#22 in the Casefiles) and you've got a few other interesting clues. Maybe what we thought the books were telling us as the truth was really just a mysterious cover-up? lol ;D
Well Chris wasn't really related but I could see a mysterious uncle being around at some point. Maybe he died or left in such a way that Fenton didn't want to talk about it?
A long lost uncle doesn't bother me as a long lost child/sibling. Isn't Fenton a good enough detective to know these things?! He's not perfect but with him, Frank and Joe on the case...come on! Especially if it was about a relative!! They would never stop or close the case.
Does make for an interesting idea of fan fic though, I agree. :)
Quote from: hardygirl847 on March 12, 2010, 03:27:09 PM
A long lost uncle doesn't bother me as a long lost child/sibling. Isn't Fenton a good enough detective to know these things?! He's not perfect but with him, Frank and Joe on the case...come on! Especially if it was about a relative!! They would never stop or close the case.
I don't know if this mysterious brother is actually lost, but, like you also pointed out, something happened that makes Fenton not want to talk about him. Maybe he's the black sheep of the family, or he died young or something. We know Fenton served in the army when he was young so possibly his brother served, too, and maybe went missing in action.
Quote from: SDLagent on March 12, 2010, 04:30:39 PM
I don't know if this mysterious brother is actually lost, but, like you also pointed out, something happened that makes Fenton not want to talk about him. Maybe he's the black sheep of the family, or he died young or something. We know Fenton served in the army when he was young so possibly his brother served, too, and maybe went missing in action.
Yeah considering Fenton's character, line of work, and his skills (not to mention Frank and Joe's). It would be very unbelievable to have a relative, especially a brother, he never knew of or didn't go to the ends of the earth to find. That is, unless something tragic happened or other various situations he could have been involved in to be shunned by the Hardys or whatever.
I still don't see any real reason Fenton would ever give up on his family. He just doesn't seem the type.
Quote from: SDLagent on March 12, 2010, 04:30:39 PM
or he died young or something.
Well he couldn't have died that young since he obviously was old enough to marry and father a child.
good point!
QuoteWell he couldn't have died that young since he obviously was old enough to marry and father a child.
That's true- because if not, that could definitely be why Fenton doesn't talk about him... :o
Well, when I said young, I was thinking 20-something.
Quote from: hardygirl847 on March 14, 2010, 03:04:00 AM
I still don't see any real reason Fenton would ever give up on his family. He just doesn't seem the type.
I don't either, but if his brother told Fenton to leave him alone, I'm sure Fenton would respect his wishes (at least eventually).
Well, I wouldn't read too much into it- the most likely explanation is that the writers forgot about him and he was probably never really included in any ghost-writing guidelines- I suppose writers may have been allowed a little wiggle room with such "long-lost relatives" type characters, but generally for one-shot appearances rather than recurring characters. That's my theory anyway. Otherwise it's another Chuck Cunningham or Judy Winslow scenario. ;)
Yeah, I don't think any of the ghostwriters really intentionally put these references in. But that almost makes it more interesting.
Quote from: SDLagent on March 15, 2010, 09:07:16 PM
Well, when I said young, I was thinking 20-something.
I don't either, but if his brother told Fenton to leave him alone, I'm sure Fenton would respect his wishes (at least eventually).
Yeah this is very true. If Fenton was asked to back off or something like that, he probably would.
Also, I agree that the ghost writers happen to do this and therefore it's not really intentional. I'm sure they didn't read ALL of the books that became before theirs and thus caused an inconsistency.
Interesting, I will agree.
QuoteBut yes- I was mainly going for Janet Hardy, as named in "The Secret of Mountaintop Inn", the short story contained within Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: Supersleuths!
I was looking at this the other day and trying to figure out the family tree- I assume Janet is Fenton's sister-in-law, thus he must have a brother. [It seems highly unlikely Laura's maiden name would have also been Hardy, though I suppose it is possible.]
My next trivia question would be then- who are Karen Young's parents and what's her connection to Frank and Joe precisely? (Though perhaps this is making too much out of a short story that probably isn't exactly considered canon by most...)
This came back to me from a trivia question I asked in the Hardy Boys trivia thread and I was wondering- in the story I mentioned above, Janet Hardy is named as Fenton's sister-in-law, along with her daughter Sue, who is cousin to Frank and Joe.
Now there is also a Karen Young who is there in the story and she refers to Janet as Aunt Janet and to Sue as Cousin Sue. Thus, I take it this is yet another cousin of Frank and Joe's. However, since we know she's not Gertrude's daughter and apparently not Fenton's brother's daughter- does this mean Fenton has another sister as well?
I guess it's possible Karen could be Fenton's brother's married daughter (hence the different name) but it seems rather unlikely from the story. Just another confounding and interesting piece of the puzzle...
Or she's the daughter of one of Janet's siblings. If she was Fenton's brother's kid she wouldn't call Sue her cousin.
On page 174 in
Super Sleuths! Volume 1, it seems that Karen is related to Frank and Joe through marriage, and is maybe a "cousin", but is not a "blood cousin", since here is how the passage goes:
Quote from: Nancy Drew And Hardy Boy's Super Sleuths! Volume 1 (1981), The Secret Of Mountaintop Inn, page 174
Nancy asked, "Isn't Sue related to Frank and Joe Hardy?
"Yes. They're her cousins."
By the use of the pronoun "her", Karen is saying that while she is related to Sue, she is not related, by blood anyway, to the Hardy Boys. Of course, Karen could be meaning that she is a distant cousin (ie. 4th or 5th cousin).
Good eye, sir.
Okay- I think that clue of the pronoun definitely sheds light on this- I think the cousin by marriage explanation probably fits best.