Characters / A Series of Unfortunate Events

The characters of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events book series. Please keep in mind that this page is for the characters as they appear in the books or in the books and one or more adaptations only.

For the characters as portrayed in its 2004 film adaptation and video game, see A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).
For the characters as portrayed in its 2017 series adaptation, see A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017).
For Lemony and Kit Snicket as children in the prequel series, see All the Wrong Questions.

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Main Characters

The Baudelaire Children

In General

The Baudelaire Children

Orphaned when their parents die in a fire, the Baudelaires now have to escape the greedy hands of Count Olaf... and on their way, they uncover a massive conspiracy.

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• A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family: Violet and Klaus, 14/15 and 12/13 respectively, fit the bill for the two older siblings. Although Sunny is no longer referred to as a baby from Book the Tenth onward, she is undeniably the age-distant baby.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Daniel Handler has mentioned that he tends to write characters as Jewish by "default" until elaborated otherwise. More to the point, in the final book, the Baudelaires mention that it is their family's tradition to name babies after deceased relatives — a Jewish tradition in real life.
• Anti-Hero: They end up in this territory from book 7 onwards. All three of them are fundamentally good people, but circumstances lead to them being on the run and doing questionable things to survive. The resulting conflict is a major theme of the later books.
• Bad Bedroom, Bad Life:
  • Count Olaf adopts the kids but is abusive so he provides them with a bedroom that has only one bed and no crib for the baby and only a pile of rocks for entertainment.
  • In The Austere Academy, the Baudelaire children attend Prufrock Prep, a boarding school. While most students there sleep in dormitories, the Baudelaires are forced to live in a crab-infested shack, because they are orphans.
• Badass Adorable: All three. Especially Sunny, who's badass even though she's a baby.
• Badass Bookworm: Klaus and Violet both count, though Klaus is a bigger example as his specialty is researching.
• The Beautiful Elite: The Baudelaires are from a vastly wealthy, likely upper-class family, and are described by Lemony Snicket as possessing pleasant facial features.
• Brainy Brunette: All three of them have black hair and they're all intelligent, though the adaptations portray Sunny as blonde.
• Break the Cutie: Not quite, but it comes pretty damn close at times.
• Brother–Sister Team: All three of them, especially since they have very few people to fully rely on.
• Butt-Monkey: The titular 'series of unfortunate events' occurs throughout their lifetime and is directed at them, and whenever something good happens to them, it usually doesn't last long. It's never quite explained why they are the ones to fall victim to such horrible twists of fate.
• The Cassandra: They are usually ignored, especially when it comes to matters relating to Count Olaf.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • No one believes the Baudelaires whenever they see Count Olaf, except in the final book.
  • The general public also refuse to believe the Baudelaries aren't murderers.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Deconstructed, as their status as orphans leaves them bouncing from one awful home to another with no way out till Violet turns 18.
• Despair Event Horizon: A variant; in Book the Twelfth, the Baudelaires lose faith in the justice system and in staying "noble" people after realizing the judges of their Kangaroo Court are corrupt and are allowing Count Olaf to kidnap Justice Strauss, taking advantage of everyone being blindfolded. Violet pretty much says even if Justice Strauss wants to help them, she can't because the system is too corrupt, and if the Baudelaires are away from society then Olaf can't get their fortune even if he has them. In Book the Thirteenth, they only decide to return to society when they outgrow the deserted island and need to see how the world has fared.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Possibly, as bits of narration and The Beatrice Letters suggest that they've managed to clear their names and re-enter society.
• Foregone Conclusion: Book 2 reveals that they manage to survive their childhoods to thoroughly regret them.
• Freudian Trio: Sunny, as the baby, fills the Id, and Klaus the walking encyclopedia fills the Superego. Violet usually leads the family as the Ego.
• He Who Fights Monsters: The Baudelaires fear this and even do some morally questionable things later on; it's actually quoted in the tenth book.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: From book 7 onwards, thanks to Count Olaf faking his death and framing the Baudelaires for his murder.
• It Runs in the Family: An Inverted Trope, in that the members of the Baudelaire family are the least insane people they encounter.
• Mother Nature, Father Science: Inverted; while both are intelligent, Violet is the Gadgeteer Genius while Klaus is the bookworm.
• Promotion to Parent: Violet to Klaus and Sunny, and later, the three of them to Beatrice Snicket.
• Properly Paranoid: They aren't just seeing things; Count Olaf IS always there.
• Only Sane Man: Pretty much the only sane people who aren't in the V.F.D. in the entire story, outside of the Quagmires. Unfortunately, it rarely helps them.
• Orphan's Ordeal: The poster children for this trope; the Baudelaires being orphaned kicks off the titular 'series of unfortunate events'. Being bounced from one bad guardian to another is just the start of everything.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Idiots who have power over them unfortunately.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Baudelaires are already a Badass Family, but the real clincher is when Violet politely tells Mr. Poe at the end of The Grim Grotto that they're not going with him because they got a coded message telling them to meet with someone else, and implying that they aren't going to trust adults blindly again, as they seem to be unreliable.
• Weirdness Magnet: Well, more like "Count Olaf magnet", who is one of the weirdest of them all.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Their situation forces them to act and think more maturely than kids their age should.

Violet

Violet Baudelaire

The oldest of the Baudelaire Trio, Violet is an intelligent 14-15 year old inventor and responsible older sister.

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• Big Sister Instinct: Before and after their parents' deaths, she cares deeply about her brother and sister and takes the vow she made to look after her younger siblings very seriously.
• Cool Big Sis: She is the eldest child and has a knack for creating functional inventions.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Rarely anything particularly outlandish, as she did not often have much to work with.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Most of the time, she is polite and well-dressed, but she can climb a tower with a grappling hook of her own making when she needs to.
• Lethal Chef: Violet burns everything she cooks, even toast.
• Locking Macgyver In The Store Cupboard: This happens to her roughly once per book.
• Perky Goth: Violet's character design changes from a rather innocent 50's girl style, to a lolita-style goth in the film.
• Promotion to Parent: As the oldest sister, Violet takes to caring about and protecting her younger siblings after the Baudelaire parents die.
• Team Mom: Only natural, given her circumstances.
• Thinking Tic: When she is thinking about a new invention (and a way out of whatever predicament she finds herself in), Violet ties her long hair with a ribbon to keep it out of her eyes.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: In the film and TV adaptations, anyway.
• Wrench Wench: Violet loves inventing and tinkering with machines and gadgets. Many times she has to quickly invent something to extricate herself and her siblings from the latest tragic predicament.

Klaus

Klaus Baudelaire

The middle Baudelaire and only boy, Klaus is extremely bookish and prone to using big words. The vast amount of things he's learned from his reading, as well as his research skills, come in handy.

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• Badass Bookworm: Though all the siblings qualify as this, Klaus's thing is that he uses books to kick ass.
• Big Brother Instinct: He displays a strong brotherly instinct for his sisters. When Violet is captured in The Hostile Hospital, he and Sunny do their best to save their elder sister.
• Blind Without 'Em: He can't see well without his glasses, which plays heavily into Olaf's plot in The Miserable Mill. He's able to see well enough without them when he gives them to Duncan Quagmire to pose as him or when he and Violet need to disguise themselves, though he clearly struggles. Downplayed in the film where he only needed them for reading.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In Book the Fourth; he even appears to have Mind-Control Eyes on the cover.
• Character Tics: Klaus has a habit of polishing his glasses.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: His specialty is reading, which doesn't seem too good on paper and isn't looked highly upon by the villains. Usually, he'll find a library in a novel that will give him the power to help the Baudelaires get out of a jam. In later books, his range of knowledge basically covers anything that his sisters don't know.
• Infant Sibling Jealousy: Klaus originally resented Sunny when she was born, but got over it quickly when he got to know her.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: To Sunny. He physically attacks the hook-handed man after the latter tells him and Violet that Sunny is dead.
• Love Hurts: With Fiona in The Grimm Grotto, even asking Violet "how someone so wonderful could do something so terrible".
• Mouthy Kid: Klaus is usually the first Baudelaire to talk back to adults, seeing as in many cases he knows better than they do.
• Photographic Memory: He remembers absolutely everything he's ever read.
• Running Gag: Adults explaining to Klaus the definitions of words that he already knows.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Klaus is fond of big words, much to the annoyance of the villains. He also explains the definitions of words to his siblings often.

Sunny

Sunny Baudelaire

The youngest Baudelaire is only a baby and only intelligible to her brother and sister (at least at the beginning). However, she is extremely intelligent, and in addition to having four very sharp teeth as a weapon, she also demonstrates admirable cooking skills later on.

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• Baby Talk: This changes when she starts to speak coherently towards the series' end. She gets annoyed when it's referred to as such though.
• Badass in Distress: Despite being able to take care of herself, Sunny is still a baby. She's the target of multiple kidnappings and once contracted a dangerous disease.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sunny takes on Dr. Orwell with a sword. If it wasn't for the very large saw blade, it's implied Sunny would win.
• The Big Guy: Especially at the beginning when her special ability was her sharp teeth. Sunny was often called upon to chew ropes or rocks and once fought off a sword with her teeth.
• Bite of Affection: The first book shows that she has a way of showing how she feels about other by biting them. She hates them if she bites hard, but she likes them if she bites soft.
• Character Tics: Sunny likes to bare or sharpen her teeth, chews on objects when she's agitated or just for fun and bites people gently in greeting and hard if she doesn't like them.
• Chef of Iron: The later books show her developing an aptitude for cooking and The Beatrice Letters mention grown-up Sunny discussing her recipes on the radio.
• Child Prodigy: What she will definitely grow up to be.
• Cute Little Fangs: Four of them. Usually drawn in illustrations with the tip of one tooth sticking out of her mouth
• Deadpan Snarker: In Baby Talk. Especially prominent in the movie and the Netflix series, where every other thing she says is some kind of insult or sarcasm.
• Genre Savvy: She uses the word "MacGuffin" to refer to the Sugar Bowl.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: People who know her well understand her.
  • In "The Slippery Slope", Sunny takes advantage of her tendency towards baby talk and repeatedly insults Olaf, knowing he can't understand her.
  • And in later books, instead of gibberish, she often says words (or partial words) that relate to her response, or at least the topic being discussed. For example, when describing a sword fight, she says "Flynn", when somebody mentions a train, she says "Esoobac", when talking about going undercover, she says "Dragnet", and when somebody asks her to do something impossible, she exclaims "Unfeasi!".
  • Even toward the beginning of the series, she often says things that seem like gibberish but are real words in other languages, making her a Bilingual Bonus. Some highlights include "Arigato", "yomhuledet", and "yomhashoah".
• Little Miss Badass: She once fought against a sword-wielding hypnotist with her teeth, and held her own for a good while.
• Odd Friendship: She shares this with Monty's Incredibly Deadly Viper.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In between the sharp teeth and her intelligence, she is quite formidable for a baby
• Supreme Chef: Grows into this. By about the 11th book, she knows cooking and food theory.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Despite being the youngest Baudelaire, Sunny is the darkest and most morally ambiguous. She's the one called upon to fight and resorts to violence much more than her siblings (she's the one that suggests burning down the hotel and murdering Olaf). Since she's just a baby, the overall effect is rather disturbing and tragic.
• Vague Age: While the other orphans are given exact ages, Sunny is just known as a baby. This is probably to keep her antics from being too unbelievable by tying it to an age. However, the thirteenth book says she's about two, which suggests prolly about 18 months have passed betwixt books one and thirteen, though, since Sunny has teeth and was biting people, she was prolly older than 6 months old when the Baudelaires' parents died.
• Wise Beyond Her Years: Even moreso than the other Baudelaires, as she's a very intelligent baby.
• Your Size May Vary: The Bad Beginning says she's about the size of a boot but The Slippery Slope says she's as big as an eggplant. In one other book, she can, apparently, sleep in a casserole dish but the images of her suggest she's about the size of your average baby.

Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket

The artist hard at work

The mysterious narrator of the series who holds a torch for a deceased woman named Beatrice.

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• Alter-Ego Acting: Daniel Handler and Lemony Snicket – separate characters in the books themselves.
• Author Appeal: Mild example — Daniel Handler is something of a gourmand, and hence the Lemony Narrator never misses an opportunity to describe some delicious dish, even providing a salad recipe in the midst of an urgent-seeming message to his sister embedded in the tenth book.
• The Eeyore: He is very sad.
• The Faceless: Largely because he's a wanted criminal. Averted in the TV series; not only does Warburton clearly show his face to the audience, but there are numerous non-obscured photographs of Snicket.
• First-Person Peripheral Narrator: Lemony Snicker does not partake in the main story in the books. He only encounters the Baudelaires in the penultimate episode in the TV show briefly, and an adolescent version of his niece in the finale.
• Greek Chorus: Lemony Snicket provides a running commentary on the events, and often addresses the reader directly.
• Hero of Another Story: While he mentions repeatedly how he's not very brave, he also often mentions being in bizarre and inexplicable exploits of his own that would put the Baudelaire misfortunes to shame. And he's the main character of the prequel/spin-off series.
• Lemony Narrator: Of course.
• Lovable Coward: Lemony Snicket himself. In nearly every book, while narrating some terrifying situation, he comments that, had he been in the Beaudelaire's place, he would have been unable to go on and would have instead run away in terror, dissolved into helpless tears, etc.
• My Greatest Failure: In The Hostile Hospital, he mentions one of his greatest regrets is introducing Beatrice to Esmé Squalor.
• Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation:
  • Snicket never shows his face in photographs, but there are several possible explanations for why this is, and most such photographs are only seen by the audience in his author bio rather than by the characters.
  • This also applies in-universe. A note in the Quagmire diaries indicate that Snicket's face is never seen in a photograph. And indeed, when the Baudelaires find a photo of their parents, there is an unidentified man with his back turned next to them.
• Pining After Protagonist's Parent: Lemony Snicket holds a torch for a woman named Beatrice, who is revealed to be the mother of protagonists Violet, Klaus, and Sunny.
• Stalker with a Crush: Inverted – Lemony's a good guy, but he does stalk the children of the woman he loved but couldn't have despite it apparently having been reciprocal at one point.
• Unreliable Narrator: His style of writing as well as the supplemental materials give one the sense Lemony may very well be this. He repeatedly makes oddly specific descriptions of people and events yet obscures the identities of the players, showing that to some extent he's manipulating the perception of his audience. Additionally, there's evidence that Lemony may not have a proper grasp of his own memories, especially knowing that according to his "unauthorized autobiography", Lemony has been more or less working with V.F.D. since he was a toddler.

Count Olaf's Theater Troupe

In General

Count Olaf's Theater Troupe

Count Olaf has a large variety of henchmen he calls his "acting troupe".

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• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The troupe had ten members, not counting Olaf himself, in the first book, but only five continued appearing after that. The wart-faced man was the only one to have enough presence for his disappearance to be noticeable, as the other four — a woman with very short hair and three short men — are only described in brief.
• Dwindling Party: Starting around The Hostile Hospital the henchmen begin leaving the group either via Heel–Face Turn (the hook-handed man and the white-faced women) or dying (the bald man and the person of indeterminate gender). By The Penultimate Peril, of the original troupe members present since The Bad Beginning, only Olaf remains and the more recent additions to the troupe are abandoned to the hotel fire at the end of the book by Olaf.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Fernald has a sister, and the white-faced women once did as well.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Most of them are horrified at Olaf's callous disregard for the death of the one who looks like neither a man nor a woman.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: See Master of Disguise below.
• Master of Disguise: With the exception of the one who looks like neither a man nor a woman, they're a lot better at it than Olaf; the Baudelaires never see through them.
• Minion with an F in Evil: In the adaptations. In the original books they're quite as evil as Olaf and arguably more competent than him.
• Punch-Clock Villain: All of them, with varying degrees of actual malice involved.
• Significant Anagram: Each has a Go-to Alias which is an anagram of "Count Olaf".
• The Trope without a Title: Prior to the carnival freaks joining the troupe, every one of them is referred to this way. This eventually changes for the hook-handed man; the 11th book reveals his real name as well as revealing that Olaf calls him "Hooky".
• Villainous Friendship: It seems that they all truly do enjoy each other's company. They even express sorrow when the person who looks like neither a man nor a woman dies in a fire.

Count Olaf

Count Olaf

The main villain of the series, Count Olaf is a villainous actor whose goal is to murder the Baudelaire children and steal their fortune, no matter where they go and how many stupid disguises he has to wear. He's revealed to have a connection to the shadowy organization known as V.F.D..

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• Abusive Parents: He's one to the Baudelaires… an abusive foster parent, anyway.
• Adults Are Useless: Averted — he is the most competent villain in this series and only the Baudelaires manage to thwart him.
• Agonizing Stomach Wound: How he finally bites it. He lives long enough to help Kit, but that's it.
• Alas, Poor Villain: After getting harpooned by Ishmael, Olaf realizes that all of his plans have been foiled, he has nothing left to live for, having lost everyone close to him, and he has no chance of obtaining the Baudelaire fortune. After learning that Kit has gone into labor, he does what Violet calls the single good deed in his life by carrying her to an area where childbirth will be easier. Although he has eaten an apple that cures him of the Medusoid Mycelium that was released when he was harpooned, he succumbs to his harpoon wound, but not before reciting the closing stanza of a poem and giving out one final "HA!"
• The Alcoholic: His house is littered with empty wine bottles, he gets heavily drunk at the dinner where he strikes Klaus, and the Baudelaire children outright state to Mr. Poe that he "drinks too much wine".
• Ambiguous Situation: Did Olaf burn down the Baudelaire mansion? The Film of the Book at the very least strongly insinuates he did, but the original books and the Netflix adaptation have him deny it when asked, and in the latter cases the Baudelaires have no way to know for sure.
• Ambiguously Related: He becomes the guardian of the Baudelaire children through claiming he's a close relative of theirs. There is never any evidence to support this claim, but it's mentioned that his hoodwinking of the law on this issue relied on convincing Mr Poe that "closest-living relative" means "the relative who lives closest"... suggesting that he may still genuinely be a distant cousin.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: He is a count, or so he's called, and the Big Bad of the series.
• Attention Whore: He demands he be the center of attention at all times, even when he's in disguise.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Plausibly a parody, as the person who finds the Cross Dresser Olaf attractive is himself an unpleasant semi-villain.
• Bad Boss: He frequently yells at his henchmen, calls them idiots and even shows no regard for any of their deaths. Even Esmé isn't always immune to this.
• Bald of Evil: He has little-to-no hair on his head and is a wicked individual.
• Big Bad: Olaf is the main antagonist pursuing the Baudelaires.
• Big Sleep: He dies of a harpoon gun wound with his eyes closed.
• Bright Is Not Good: Count Olaf has shiny, shiny eyes, and they shine the most when he's furious and about to do something particularly terrible.
• Card-Carrying Villain: He's pretty proud of the fact that he sets fires and kidnaps children for their fortune.
• Clark Kenting: The Baudelaires never fall for it. Everyone else does (subverted in The End, where everyone sees through his failed disguise as Kit Snicket). Lemony Snicket's Unofficial Autobiography reveals that none of the disguises that he's used in the series are even of his own invention, they're moldy leftovers from a generic V.F.D. disguise kit he received back when he used to be a member.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Part of the tragedy and dark comedy of the series comes from everyone barring the Baudelaires being oblivious either to just how evil he is or when he's wearing a disguise, despite how obvious it is.
• Creepy Crossdresser: On two occasions, the first time dressed as a secretary named Shirley and the second as Kit Snicket.
• Determinator: As he swears at the end of the first book, he will get the Baudelaire fortune if it's the last thing he does. He makes good on his promise by hounding them for the next 12 books, until he dies.
• Dirty Old Man: In the first book, after he marries Violet on the stage, he says they need to go home for their wedding night.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: To the Baudelaires and Kit in the final book, though neither party was in much of a hurry to do so.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's implied to have once been in a romantic relationship with Kit Snicket and, despite their being on opposing sides by the present plus her disdain for him now, seems to still care about her enough to help save her life.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Count Olaf forces the orphans to do all his household chores when they first stay with him. Also, in book 3, he briefly considers Aunt Josephine's offer to fake her death and let him have the Baudelaires, but changes his mind and throws her into the lake to be eaten by the Lachrymose Leeches when she foolishly corrects his grammar.
  • This quote:
    "I think the first thing I'll buy for myself is a shiny new car! Something with a powerful engine, so I can drive faster than the legal limit, and an extra-thick bumper, so I can ram into people without getting all scratched up!"
• Evil Laugh: One of the author's more questionable choices in books 11 and 12.
• Evil Old Folks: He's significantly older than most of the adult characters in the series and, on multiple occasions, he's attempted to kill a bunch of children just to get their fortune.
• Evil Plan: Throughout the series he schemes to steal the Baudelaires children' inheritance, though the manner changes. One time he tries to trick Violet into marrying him.
• Expy: Appears to be heavily based off of Osamu Tezuka's character, Duke Red. Both have similar hair, a pointy nose, clothes and the fact that both characters are masters of disguise.
• Eye Motifs: He has images of eyes all over his house and a tattoo of an eye on his ankle. Seeing this in the first book, the Baudelaire children wonder if they'll feel like Count Olaf is watching them for the rest of their lives. Indeed, he follows them for the next 12 books.
• Familial Foe: Count Olaf spends all thirteen books terrorizing the Baudelaire siblings and once viewed their late parents as sworn enemies. He also kills a couple of distant Baudelaire cousins to further his plans.
• Fauxreigner: One of his disguises is an auctioneer from an ambiguous country named Gunther, complete with a silly accent.
• Hidden Depths: Olaf has a Mysterious Past and is apparently an orphan himself. He also apparently had some sort of relationship with Kit Snicket.
• High-Class Glass: As Gunther.
• Hypocritical Humor: When disguised as Captain Sham, he says, "There ain't nothin' better than good grammar!".
• Illegal Guardian: Played utterly straight at first in book one by claiming he is the "closest living relative" in that he is supposedly a relative and lives the closest to them physically.
• Informed Attractiveness: Several female characters (albeit mostly villainous ones) remark that he's handsome, despite his poor hygiene and general unkempt appearance.
• Ironic Hell: The Baudelaires are wonderfully bright and kind children who he frequently tries to murder even though they hadn't done anything to deserve it. Later, Esmé adopts Carmelita Spats, who is a monumental brat that endlessly harangues and bullies Olaf, but because his girlfriend is so fond of her, he can do little but grimace and bear the abuse.
• Just a Stupid Accent: Whilst disguised as Stephano and Gunther.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Throughout the series, his plans are constantly thwarted, but he always manages to escape punishment and go on to threaten the Baudelaires again. His streak finally comes to an end in book 13, where he's shot with a harpoon gun and succumbs to the wound.
• Karmic Death: Though it comes far too late for the Baudelaires' taste, the toxic mushrooms he planned to use to threaten his enemies indirectly led to his death.
• Large Ham: Olaf's acting is very over-the-top. It probably helps the Baudelaires recognize him all the time.
• Lean and Mean: Skinny as a rail and utterly vile.
• Manipulative Bastard: Though having said that, it doesn't really appear that difficult to manipulate someone in the Snicketverse.
• The Mistress: To the already married Esmé Gigi Genevieve Squalor. (Surprisingly, the fact that she is married is never lampshaded in the series.)
• Mister Seahorse: Sent up in The End, where Count Olaf tries to disguise himself as a pregnant woman. The Lemony Narrator states that "pregnancy occurs very rarely in males", noting actual seahorses as an exception.
• Morality Pet: Kit Snicket. The only good deed he does in his life is to carry her to a safe place to give birth.
• Mysterious Past: Duncan and Isadora Quagmire mention newspaper articles that a man with similar traits as Olaf had strangled a bishop and escaped prison in just ten minutes, and another reports of him throwing a wealthy widow off a cliff. The Baudelaire children agree that it sounds like Olaf and believe him to be the man mentioned in the articles.
• Not Me This Time: …Maybe? His last moments imply that no, he really didn't kill Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire, even though his plans from the beginning have revolved around seizing their fortune from the orphans they left behind. God only knows if he was telling the truth — or if that's even what he meant. It's just vague enough that we'll never be sure. Just like everything else in this series.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: There are several instances where he seems to display more cleverness than the narration and his anti-intellectual attitude suggests (e.g. being able to recognize a coded coffee stain on a map). In fact, when Kit Snicket recites some poetry to him, his response is along the lines of "You think you're the only one who can quote poetry?" This is especially notable because well-readness is supposedly a trait exclusive to the noble side of the schism.
• Old Man Marrying a Child: He attempts this with Violet in the first book and the film and TV series adaptations in order to steal the orphans' inheritance. He fails and attempts to kill Violet and her siblings.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Since it's implied he didn't burn down the Baudelaire Mansion, he clearly saw an opportunity for money and revenge and took it.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: His disguises only ever cover up his unibrow and ankle tattoo, which is what everyone always recognizes him by.
• Pet the Dog: Just before his death, he helps Kit Snicket deliver her baby daughter and they share a tender moment reciting poetry. Violet even notes that it might even be the sole selfless act in his life.
• The Power of Love: What snaps him out of his Despair Event Horizon in the final book to aid Kit Snicket one last time.
• Pyromaniac: It's clear that he has at least burned a hospital, a carnival, and a hotel to ground and it's suggested that he also burned the Baudelaires' mansion, but Snicket never confirmed the fact. In the final book, the Baudelaires confront Olaf over their suspicions of him burning down their mansion. His initial response is "Is that what you think?" followed by "You don't know anything."
• Rage Breaking Point: In The Penultimate Peril, after putting up with Esmé's obsession with what is "in" and "out" and Carmelita's bratty attitude for six and two books respectively, Olaf finally snaps after Carmelita demands he teaches her how to spit, and chews both of them out for the above reasons.
• Redemption Equals Death: His last action before dying is rescuing Kit Snicket.
• Small Name, Big Ego: While a major antagonistic figure in the lives of the Baudelaires, he's ultimately revealed to be a bit player in the worlds of theatre, espionage, and villainy as the story progresses.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He's one of the primary instigators of the VFD schism, but afterwards, he spent the following decades trying to get rich through illicit and largely unsuccessful moneymaking schemes, and hiding out in his shoddy home to wait for his nearby relatives to pass on so he could make a go at their fortune.
• Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: Olaf has VERY poor hygiene.
• Villainous Crush: Implied with Violet in the first book since his plans for her included marriage and the consummation thereof.
• Wannabe Secret Agent: Lemony Snicket's Unauthorized Autobiography reveals that he was an agent of V.F.D. when he was a child and for all the bedlam he was capable of, it's heavily implied that he wasn't a very good member, both in terms of morality and competency.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Maybe. It's implied that Beatrice and/or Bertrand Baudelaire and/or Lemony Snicket killed his parents with poison darts during a performance of La Forza del Destino.
• Would Hurt a Child: His plans to get the Baudelaire fortune have included him attempting to kill the trio. His first one included forced marriage.
• You Are What You Hate: Olaf, a man whose parents were killed by poison darts while at an opera house, has a license plate with "IH8ORPHANS" inscribed on it.
• You Killed My Father: The film confirms that he was responsible for the death ofthe Baudelaires' parents and the burning of their mansion, as Klaus finds the giant magnifying glass responsible for it and exposes it by burning the wedding contract. In the books and the Netflix adaptation the Baudelaires think he's responsible, but when they finally directly confront him about it just before his death he denies it.
• Younger Than They Look: Hints throughout the later books would suggest that Olaf was in V.F.D. training with Kit and Lemony, making him around 39-45, but Helquist's illustrations depict a man that looks around 50-60 years of age. Also, the movie's depiction. This may be justified due to his unhealthy lifestyle and filthy habits giving him a prematurely aged appearance.

The Hook-Handed Man

O. Lucafont / Hooky / Fernald / The Hook-Handed Man

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• Bus Crash: Might have died after his offscreen ditching of Olaf.
• Dirty Old Man: While not really old, he's this in regards to Violet who is only 14. He constantly comments on how pretty she is even when he has her trapped in Olaf's tower in "The Bad Beginning".
• Evil Is Petty: His idea of having a good dream is sneezing without covering his mouth and giving everyone the cold.
• Go-to Alias: Lucafont, used in books 2 and 8, the latter of which reveals that the alias also includes the first initial O, to make it a full anagram of "Count Olaf".
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: It seems like his whole life is a chain of Heel–Face Turn followed by Face–Heel Turn; in the eleventh book, he manages to do both in the space of three chapters.
• Heel–Face Turn: Ditches Olaf when he reunites with his family.
• Heel Realization: When Fiona confronts him over losing his hands, setting fires as The Daily Punctilio reports and learning he is one of Olaf's henchmen. He doesn't deny having set the fires and has the gall to blame a deathly-ill Sunny for getting him into so much trouble, but he admits that joining Olaf's band was Not What I Signed Up For. So much that they escape together in an Offscreen Moment of Awesome from Olaf after Fiona becomes a Fake Defector.
• Hook Hand: Both of his hands. Both the book and the film depict them as standard pirate hooks whilst the Netflix version has them as more realistic prosthetics.
• Master of Disguise: Arguably the best of the associates at this. Not only do the Baudelaires never recognize him, but he knows to at least act politely, unlike others such as Esmé or the Bald Man. Possibly the reason Olaf uses him more often than the others.
• Morality Chain: His younger sister Fiona. When she pleads with him to help her and the Baudelaires, he agrees, on the condition that he can go with them. Shortly afterward, when that plan fails, Fiona becomes a Fake Defector, and they both escape from Olaf in an Offscreen Moment of Awesome.
• Mysterious Past:
  • It's not known exactly how he lost his hands, other than the possibility that arson was involved.
  • How his burning of Anwhistle Aquatics went down is likewise uncertain. He says that the Daily Punctillio's accounting of events is inaccurate and the narration implies that his stepfather and/or Lemony might have played a role, but that's about it.
• No Full Name Given: While The Grim Grotto reveals his first name, an article in The Daily Punctilio erroneously gives his name as "Fernald Widdershins". He insists that 'Widdershins' isn't actually his last name, but what it is isn't revealed.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In the 12th book, ditches Olaf with his sister off-page.
• Share the Sickness: The Hook-Handed Man mentions having a “lovely dream” where he sneezed without covering his mouth and giving everybody germs.
• Stealth Mentor: In The Ersatz Elevator, he draws attention to the fact that Olaf never left the building, then subtly tips the Baudelaires off that they should look at the elevator more closely. Once we learn more about him, this starts to make more sense.
  • This may be the case as far back as the first book. Though he delivers it as a threat, he goes out of his way to warn the Baudelaires that Olaf will kill them if he succeeds in getting their fortune.
• Villainous Friendship: He seems to genuinely try to get along with the other associates, including the Carnival Freaks. His relationships with Olaf and the Bald Man come off more as Vitriolic Best Friends however.
• Younger Than They Look: Though his age isn't stated, he's apparently young enough to have a sixteen year old sister, though it's implied that there's a significant gap, he's likely between 25-30.

The Bald Man with a Long Nose

Flacutono / The Bald Man with a Long Nose

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• Adaptation Name Change: Merely "Bald Man" in both adaptations, as neither of the actors to play him has a long nose.
• Bald of Evil: Bald and one of the Big Bad's minions.
• Blatant Lies: After he trips Klaus and breaks his glasses he denies doing so, mostly just to add insult to injury.
• Dirty Old Man: In regards to Violet. She even considers him the scariest of Olaf's minions, partially due to this.
• Dodgy Toupee: He wears a particularly hideous one as part of his disguises. While the Baudelaires initially don't recognize him for who he truly is, they can at least tell that it's obviously a wig.
• Go-to Alias: Flacutono, used in books 4 and 8.
• Kick the Dog: Though tripping Klaus and breaking his glasses in the 4th book was part of the plan, he didn't need to enjoy it so much. It's also seen in his disguise as Foreman Flacutono in the same book, where he treats the mill workers very rudely and poorly. He also hopes that Violet starts to wake up right as they cut off her head.
• Mook Lieutenant: In book 8 he seems to be in charge of the other associates when Olaf and Esmé aren't around.
• Obviously Evil: As Foreman Flacutono, he acts like a complete jerk to everyone and the narration even points out that he's clearly an evil man. Despite this, the Baudelaires don't recognize him as one of Olaf's minions.
• Sinister Schnoz: One of his defining traits.

The Two White-Faced Women

Tocuna and Flo / The Two White-Faced Women

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• Even Evil Has Standards: The reason for their Heel–Face Turn is their growing sympathy towards a captive Sunny (who might have reminded them of their late sister) and their suspicion that Olaf was responsible for their sibling's death.
  • They're also the ones to point out to the rest of the group that having a captive infant handle all the cooking and then punishing said infant for not making a gourmet meal might be a little unreasonable.
• Go-to Alias: Though they don't have aliases in their lunchlady disguises, book 8 implies they usually go by "Tocuna" and "Flo", which together form another "Count Olaf" anagram.
• Heel–Face Turn: In book 10, they get tired of hearing about all the terrible things Olaf has done, as it reminds them of their suspicion that Olaf set the fire that killed their sister.
• Named by the Adaptation: Jane and Jen in the film and video game. A case of The Danza with them being played by Jane Adams and Jennifer Coolidge.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In book 10, they walk away from Olaf's camp and are never seen again.

The One That Looks Like Neither a Man nor a Woman

The One That Looks Like Neither a Man nor a Woman

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Described as very fat in the books, but not fat in the movie or TV series.
• Adaptation Name Change: Both adaptations refer to them as "Person of Indeterminate Gender".
• Ambiguous Gender: Hence the name.
• The Dreaded: Judging by Violet and Klaus's reactions to finding them in the sailboat rental shack.
• Fat Bastard: Immensely fat and monstrously evil in the books. Averted in the film and the Netflix versions, where they are portrayed as more average in size.
• Gender Flip: Of a sort. Though originally described as a person whose gender is indeterminate, both adaptations depict them as a man with a slightly feminine fashion sense.
• Master of Disguise: Averted. They are the one henchperson who the Baudelaires have no trouble recognizing, though given their...unique appearance, any attempt to disguise would be difficult. Mr. Poe naturally was fooled by the disguise however.
• No-Sell: Sunny's teeth which are sharp enough to cut wood, bite off prosthetic hands, fight evenly with a sword, and cut into stone/concrete have absolutely no effect on them!
• Stout Strength: Is able to lift all three orphans with no problem.
• Uncertain Doom: We last see them surrounded by a fire on the fourth floor of Heimlich Hospital. While it's most likely they burned to death, we never find out one way or another since Olaf opts to leave them behind.
• Undying Loyalty: Continues to chase the Baudelaires through a burning hospital, even as the fire is practically on top of them. This likely results in their demise.
• The Voiceless: It's implied that they can speak at least to Olaf, as they apparently inform Olaf that the orphans stole one of his sailboats. Either way, they never speak in anything other than inhuman groans, further obfuscating their gender.

The Wart-Faced Man

The Wart-Faced Man

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• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He appears with the rest of the troupe in the first book and escapes with them, but never appears again.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Is the one who turns off the lights so Count Olaf and his henchmen can escape.
• Informed Attribute: He is noted as being "important looking", but what exactly makes him important is not clear. Though the Big Fish video game depicted him in a suit and tie.
• Riddle for the Ages: Seriously, whatever happened to this guy?
  • A song recorded for The Tragic Treasury, "Scream and Run Away", mentions "one long-nosed bald man with warts", indicating that he may have been retroactively combined with the Bald Man.

The Carnival Freaks

The Carnival Freaks

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• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Hugo the hunchback, Colette the contortionist, and Kevin... who is ambidextrous.
• Contortionist: Colette works as one in The Carnivorous Carnival.
• Evil Old Folks: Kevin is described as having wrinkles, meaning he's likely at least late middle-aged if not elderly.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Hugo (nice) is polite and does most of chores in the caravan. Kevin (mean) is was the least polite to Baudelaires from the start, belittles other's problems (most notably the hook-handed man's problems)and is the most willing to join Olaf. Colette (in-between) is polite and compassionate but does less than Hugo.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: The reason they join Olaf. Subverted by the fact that most people do indeed think they're disgusting freaks.
• Properly Paranoid: Kevin is convinced that everyone is whispering about him all the time, just because he's ambidextrous. There is no reason for people to think there's anything different about him at first glance, but he appears to think there is, even accusing the Baudelaires of coming to Caligari Carnival to laugh at him. As it turns out, most people do think he's just as freaky as Hugo and Colette.

The Baudelaires' Other Guardians

Uncle Monty

Dr. Montgomery "Monty" Montgomery

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• Cool Old Guy: Implied to have been at least somewhat older (he once claims that he's been studying herpetology for forty years) and one of the more fun guardians the orphans have had.
• Good Parents: Out of all the useless adults in the series, Monty stands out as the best caretaker the Baudelaires ever had. It doesn't last.
• Nice Guy: Has a very pleasant attitude and the Baudelaires even call him "the best guardian they've ever had".
• Repetitive Name: Dr. Montgomery Montgomery. It's for this reason he'd prefer if people call him "Monty Montgomery".
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Figured out that Olaf was up to no good... but thought he was a spy for the Herpetological Society.
• Vague Age: He claims to have studied Herpetology for forty years, though it's unclear whether he means he's been a licensed herpetologist for that long. His illustrations portray a middle-aged man, though he could just as easily be Older Than They Look.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Olaf kills him by the end of the second book.

Aunt Josephine

Josephine Anwhistle

The trio's widowed cousin (by marriage). She's a part of La Résistance

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• Absurd Phobia: She's afraid of a lot of things, but her fear of realters is always played for laughs.
• Asshole Victim: It's kind of hard to feel sorry for her after she sells the Baudelaire children to Count Olaf in hopes of being spared, even though the children still hoped that she was okay. Lemony Snicket himself however, said that she was no doubt a bad guardian for letting the children go.
• Dirty Coward: Her paranoia descends into this trope at the climax of The Wide Window when she sells the Baudelaire children to Count Olaf to save her skin.
• Driven to Suicide: Subverted. She's forced to write a letter under Olaf's threats and makes it look like she jumped out of a window. However, she just broke the window and made her escape to Curdled Cave.
• Grammar Nazi: Her entire schtick. Well, that and paranoia.
• Freudian Excuse: It's heavily implied that her jittery state stems from the traumatic death of her husband.
• My Beloved Smother: She forces the kids to abide by her fears, like making them eat horrible, cold food because she doesn't want them risking their lives by using the stove. She starts growing out of this, such as overcoming her fear of phones thanks to Violet.
• Parents as People: How the orphans view her by the end. Yes, she was coward, let her paranoia rule their lives, and ultimately sold them out to Olaf. But she genuinely tried to care for the kids, wanted to keep them educated, and wanted to protect them from the things she feared. The narration reflects on how, despite all her flaws, she cared for them and they cared for her.
• Too Dumb to Live: She just can't resist correcting Count Olaf's grammar while he's debating on whether or not to kill her. Suffice to say, this helps him make up his mind.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's terrified of, well, absolutely everything. Except caves, it seems; the orphans are able to coax her out of a cave by playing on her fear of realtors, of all things.

Sir and Charles

Sir and Charles

Two men in a "partnership".

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• Ambiguously Gay: Since their "partnership" clearly isn't a business one, it's implied they're a couple. Snicket goes a bit farther than implying it in the TV series.
  • Charles is described as Sir's partner when first introduced, and while the children think he means business partner, he is never actually seen doing anything for the business. Sir explains they split 50/50, yet he does not get a say in business decisions. His role is a domestic one, similar to a housewife. He cooks and cleans for him, and Sir builds him a library. It is implied he's actually his romantic partner and the children purely mixed up the terms domestic partner and business partner. Later on, when they both appear again in The Penultimate Peril, their relationship is even more directly queer. They are seen sharing a hotel room in matching pyjamas and bath robes. They are also seen together in a sauna where Sir makes an almost sexual innuendo towards him, saying that he "likes the smell of hot wood."
    • Both of them in a sauna together could be a reference to the connections saunas and gay culture had at the time, with gay bathhouses being used as a safe space to engage with each other romantically.
  • When they are last seen together before their implied death, they're seen holding each other's hands to stay together.
  • In the companion book The Beatrice Letters, there's a part of a letter that might be referring to their relationship, as the initials are the same:
    Beatrice: I will love you until C. realizes S. is not worthy of his love.
• Bad Boss: Sir pays his employees in coupons and feeds them only gum. Not even family is spared from this treatment as he employs not just the Baudelaire orphans in this fashion, but five of his own brothers too.
• Cigar Chomper: Sir is rarely seen without a cigar in his mouth, and his preferred brand emits so much smoke that it obscures his face. He claims in the TV series that he despises cigars, but HAS to smoke them because he's the boss.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Sir is the amoral, cigar-smoking lumbermill owner who pays his workers in coupons and gives them gum for lunch; in a later appearance, business is bad, as the nearby lumber source, the Finite Forest, is running out of trees.
• Dark and Troubled Past: According to Charles, Sir has a terrible childhood.
• Extreme Doormat: Charles. As seen under Ambiguously Gay, he might actually be a Henpecked Husband.
• The Faceless: Sir's face is always obscured by cigar smoke. The one time he's seen without a cigar, he's in a sauna and his face still can't be seen. As with Snicket, averted in the TV series.
• Never My Fault: Sir blames the orphans bringing misfortune everywhere they go for the calamities that have occurred at the lumber mill, ignoring how his own unwillingness to put more effort in investigating Count Olaf is chiefly responsible for those calamities in the first place. Mr. Poe, of all people, calls him out on this.
• Nice Guy: Charles is much nicer than Sir, and tries very hard to convince him to treat his employees more decently and keep the children out of lumber work.
• No Name Given: Sir. Evidently he finds it easier than teaching people how to pronounce his name.
• Shout-Out: Sir owns a bathrobe monogrammed with "LS", which once belonged to an author. The implication is either that he stole it from Snicket, or that he stole it from Louis Sachar, who then wrote him into Holes as the villain Mr. Sir.
• The Unpronounceable: Mr. Poe makes several attempts at pronouncing Sir's name, but can only get one syllable in. And it's a completely different syllable each time.

Jerome Squalor

Jerome Squalor

Esmé's husband. He's kind of a wimp.

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• Chekhov's Gunman: He's a JS.
• Cuckold: It's implied that Olaf and Esmé were intimate when she was still married to Jerome, making him this. And then, they run off together.
• Henpecked Husband: For Esmé.
• Ironic Name: He lives in an expensive penthouse, but his surname is 'Squalor'.
• Nice Guy: Jerome's by far the nicest of the orphans' guardians besides Uncle Monty, despite his efforts at being a good one being stymied by Esmé.

V.F.D.

In General

The V.F.D. are a shadowy organization that everyone – from Olaf to the Baudelaires' parents – is connected to.

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• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The narrator and his comrades imply that V.F.D. dates back to Ancient Greece, that Martin Luther King, Edith Wharton, and Thomas Malthus were involved with it – although Malthus was on the evil side of the schism – and that Shakespeare may be alive. However, these may be the result of revisionism in accordance with V.F.D.'s own views.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Some members qualify as this.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Most adults have this due to their involvement from an early age with V.F.D..
• The Ghost: The series has a wide backstory and several characters are only ever referred to. The most notable example is probably R., the Duchess of Winnipeg.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: Although initially implied to be an organization combating people like Olaf, it later is suggested they aren't so different. Both sides regularly kidnap children to recruit them for their own purposes. Olaf's parents might have even been killed by them.
• Knight Templar: Gregor Anwhistle, who wanted to use the deadly Medusoid Mycelium on V.F.D.'s enemies.
• Milkman Conspiracy: A secret conspiracy that many characters are involved in in some way, makes liberal use of secret codes, has been going on for centuries and was subject to a schism long ago… based on the Volunteer Fire Department.
• Mysterious Past: On one level, many details about V.F.D.'s history are unknown and we don't know how the schism happened (the closest being that it happened when characters like the Snicket siblings, the Baudelaire parents and Olaf were very young). On another, almost none of the backstories of the individual members are fully revealed and what we do know raises as many questions as it answers (which is par for the course for the series).
• The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: V.F.D., and specifically the transcript of the meeting of the vague "Building Committee" in the Unauthorized Autobiography — even the author didn't know some of what was being discussed here, and he was technically in attendance.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Their members consist of those abducted from their parents or have had them rendered in absentia due to an outside incident. The organisation, while having many brilliant peers for these youths, doesn't have anything in the way of a Parental Substitute leaving them immature and otherwise emotionally and mentally stunted in spite of their great talents.
• Spy Speak: V.F.D., being a secret organisation, naturally uses copious quantities of this, so much so that there have been disputes among readers over whether certain phrases are in code or not.
  "The world is quiet here."
  "I didn't realize this was a sad occasion."
• Theme Initials: Once the children learn of the initials, they try to find out what they could possibly stand for. This leads to them going all over the place in the hopes that they can learn the connection with their family. They actually stand for "Volunteer Fire Department".

Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire

Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire

The deceased parents of the Baudelaire orphans.

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• Alliterative Name: Their names both start with the letter 'B', Bertrand and Beatrice.
• Posthumous Character: They perish in the first pages of the book series.
• Red Herring: The occasional implication that they're still alive never amounts to anything. The Netflix series spends its entire first season implying that the characters played by Will Arnett and Cobie Smulders are the Baudelaires, only for the seventh episode to reveal they're actually the parents of the Quagmire triplets.

Ms. K (Unmarked Spoilers)

Kit Snicket

Lemony and Jaques Snicket's sister.

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• Imperiled in Pregnancy: She's this by the time she gives birth – after being attacked by the Great Unknown, she washes up hurt on the island, and is infected by the spores of the Medusoid Mycelium.
• Last Episode, New Character: She first appears at the very end of the third-to-last book and a major character in the last two books.
• Missing Mom: Like her lover, unintentionally leaves their child orphaned after her death.
• Morality Pet: For Count Olaf. His one good and final act is to get her to a safe place to give birth.
• Pregnant Badass: Being pregnant doesn't slow her down one bit.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: She's seen with glasses in all illustrations, though they are never mentioned in the text. She's also quite intelligent.
• Walking Spoiler: We aren't kidding when we say everything about her is a giant spoiler, especially since she doesn't appear until the end of the series.

Other Characters

Beatrice

Beatrice

Snicket's lost love, often alluded to.

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• Dedication: Every book is dedicated to her, accompanied by a poetic way of explaining that she's deceased.
• The Lost Lenore: To Snicket.
• Posthumous Character: As Snicket poetically makes clear in every book dedication.
• The Reveal: The final paragraph of the series reveals what role she had in the story besides her past relationship with Snicket: she was the Baudelaire siblings' mother.
• Walking Spoiler: Good luck trying to discuss Beatrice without spoiling the big twist.

Geraldine Julienne

Geraldine Julienne

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• Immoral Journalist: She's ready to publish anything in the Daily Punctilio, provided it makes a good story. For example, after the events of The Vile Village, the Punctilio publishes an article accusing the Baudelaires of Count Olaf's murder and forcing them to stay on the run for the rest of the books.

Mr. Poe

Arthur Poe

The banker who is in charge of the Baudelaires' affairs after the death of their parents.

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• Adults Are Useless: While There are many useless adults in the series (and that's an understatement!), Mr. Poe is, by far, the uselessest one of all – and we're including Olaf, Aunt Josephine and Jerome in that they, at least, have reasons for their uselessness – Poe is just an outright idiot with no redeeming qualities, except possibly for the fact that he does genuinely want what's best for the kids despite being really bad at getting that for them.
• Aesop Amnesia: He constantly forgets that the Baudelaires are actually competent, intelligent, and justified in their suspicions, after they've proven themselves time and again. He even suggests they might be letting their imaginations run away with them when they insist Captain Sham is Olaf, citing how they believed the same of Stephano—who was Count Olaf, and whose unmasking Poe was present for.
• Character Tics: Coughing.
• Department of Child Disservices: A sort of one-man version, dumping the Baudelaires with one evil and/or utterly incompetent guardian after another, the sole exception being book 2 and possibly 3.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite usually being oblivious to some of the worse adult characters, even he seems to recognize how obnoxious Vice Principal Nero is.
• Freak Out: As Book the Second reveals, he jumps around and babbles incoherently when he panics.
• Hate Sink: While not explicitly mean or unpleasant, his stupidity, condescending attitude, and downright uselessness is as frustrating to the audience as it is to the orphans, even Count Olaf doesn't seem to like him.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Mr. Poe towards nearly every person he has placed the Baudelaires with, especially once he starts running out of relatives willing to take them. Even in the case of Uncle Monty, by far the most competent parental figure the Baudelaires get, he finds Monty's Nice Guy nature intimidating somehow.
• Idiot Houdini: He's never punished for his constant incompetence.
• Ironic Echo: A recurring schtick of his, usually appearing immediately after each book's recap of past events, is that his thought process is always on the exact opposite wavelength as that of Snicket or the Baudelaires.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When he gets uncharacteristically stern towards the Baudelaires at one point, even Count Olaf and the Person Who Looks Like Neither A Man Nor A Woman look visibly startled.
• Put on a Bus: After The Vile Village due to the Baudelaires being on the run. He reappears at the end of The Grim Grotto, but the Baudelaires immediately see that he won't be of any help and leave without him.
• Riddle for the Ages: The reason for his constant coughing is never explained.

Justice Strauss

Justice Strauss

Count Olaf's neighbor, a judge.

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• Chekhov's Gunman: She's a JS.
• Good Parents: As soon as she arrives, she makes it very clear that she would make the perfect mother figure for the orphaned Baudelaires. So, obviously, she's completely forgotten for most of the story and any hope of her adopting them goes out the window.
• No Name Given: Justice Strauss is her title, not her real name.
• Reformed Criminal: She used to steal horses in her youth. This is why she can relate with Esmé.
• Unwitting Pawn: She's been keeping tabs on the Baudelaires with her colleagues who turn out to be the Man With The Beard But No Hair and The Woman With The Hair But No Beard. Consequently, they have been feeding this information directly to Olaf, which is how he always finds the children wherever they go.

Phil

Phil

A lumbermill worker who is an optimist.

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• An Arm and a Leg: He loses his leg in a lumbermill accident. It doesn't faze him much.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite having just been brought back after an absence of seven books.
• The Pollyanna: He's excruciatingly optimistic, to the point where losing his leg doesn't bother him that much.
• Uncertain Doom: Due to the author forgetting he was in The Grim Grotto, he isn't mentioned in The End, leaving his fate even more unclear than everyone else's.

Nero

Nero

The vice principal of Prufrock Prep, and an aspiring (and terrible) violinist.

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• Dean Bitterman: He's the vice principal, and is also very nasty and cruel.
• Dreadful Musician: Nero, as Snicket puts it, has no idea how to play the violin but insists on doing so anyway.
• Evil Is Petty: Vice Principal Nero likes to punish students who miss his violin recitals by forcing them to buy a bag of candy for him and watch him eat it all.
• Giftedly Bad: Nero believes he's a super genius and a skillful violinist whose talent is woefully unrecognized, but is really a stupid and unpleasant Manchild who cannot play the violin at all. Nevertheless, he forces all of the students to attend six-hour violin concerts with him playing the violin horribly every night.
• Hate Sink: While he's not actively plotting against the Baudelaires like Count Olaf, his inflated ego about his (abysmal) skills as a musician, whiny temperament, tendency for childish behavior, and gleefully tormenting students makes him one of the most detestable characters in the series.
• Jerkass: Between his dreadful treatment of the students under his charge, laughing at the thought of orphans being forced to live in a hovel, and forcing Sunny (a baby) to function as his secretary, it's clear that Nero is a deeply nasty, repugnant guy.
• Meaningful Name: Vice Principal Nero, like the Roman emperor he takes his name from, is a Caligula-like figure who plays the violin.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Vice Principal Nero acts like a five-year old brat quite often, mimicking people, punishing students by making them give him bags of candy and forcing them to watch him eat it, etc.
• Sadist Teacher: Nero is relatively subtle in his torment of his students. For instance, the punishment for missing one of his six-hour violin concerts is to be forced to buy a bag of candy and watch Nero eat it. The glum expressions on the faces of such students stands out in the cafeteria just as much as those who have no silverware, no cup, or their hands tied behind their back for assorted other transgressions.

Mr. Remora and Ms. Bass

Mr. Remora and Ms. Bass

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• Animal Motifs: Despite their fish names, they're said to resemble gorillas. Remora is a bulky man with thick black hair always scarfing down bananas, while Ms. Bass's long black hair and prowling around give off a similar impression.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Mr. Remora and Ms. Bass are… rather odd sorts of teachers. In Remora's class, one listens to Remora tell bizarre three-sentence-long stories with no particular point; in Bass's class, one simply measures assorted objects (with the metric system!). Quizzes and tests involve remembering the details of the stories and measured objects.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Despite all their lack of professionalism as teachers, they justifiedly, if unsuccessfully, lobby Nero to expell notoriously stupid and inattentive Carmelita and allow the Baudelaires to remain in the Prufrock.
• Hidden Depths: Mr. Remora, a typical useless adult in his first appearance, is one of the few returning characters in The Penultimate Peril smart enough to believe in the Baudelaires' innocence.
  • During the climactic fire in the hotel, Remora is also among those who took off their blindfold after hearing the Baudelaire's warning.
• Older Than They Look: At one point Nero claims that they've been working for the school for 47 years, putting them in their late 60s at the absolute youngest.
• Saved by Canon: Ms. Bass is blatantly revealed to have survived past her introduction… long enough to be arrested for bank robbery, that is.
• Ship Tease: Remora and Bass are seen together at one of Nero's recitals.
• Theme Naming: Remora and Bass are both named after species of fish.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Aside from having become a bank robber in the period between Book 5 and Book 12, Ms Bass is shown after her return as a person almost as rude and arrogant as Nero himself. Also, unlike Mr. Remora, who remembers them fondly, she gained an Irrational Hatred towards the Baudelaires, even slandering them as thieves.

The Quagmire Triplets

The Quagmires Triplets

The Baudelaires' friends are two triplets who help the Baudelaires out and get kidnapped for their trouble. Duncan is a journalist while Isadora is a poet specializing in couplets. Later on, Quigley is revealed to have survived.

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• Alliterative Name: Quigley Quagmire.
• Ambiguously Gay: Isadora gets called 'Sappho' (the name of a Greek poet known for writing about the love between two women) by Sunny in the fifth book.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: More like Angsty Surviving Triplets; Duncan and Isadora mourn their brother Quigley, not knowing he's alive.
• Brainy Brunette: All three have very dark hair and very intellectual interests.
• Brother–Sister Team: Isadora and Duncan.
• Bus Crash: Possibly. The V.F.D. eagles destroy the mobile home in which Duncan and Isadora escape the Village of Fowl Devotees and it crashes into the Queequeg.
• Insistent Terminology: Isadora and Duncan are triplets by birth, but have to explain this to those they meet.
• Intrepid Reporter: Duncan, to a degree, since his main interest is journalism and he puts himself and his sister in serious danger for the sake of finding out the truth.
• Love Interest: Duncan and Quigley for Violet. The latter may even have gotten to kiss her in The Slippery Slope.
• Half-Identical Twins: It is stated in her first appearance that Isadora looks like a female version of Duncan, and the illustrations show that Quigley is similarly alike to both his siblings.
• Odd Name Out: Isadora, Duncan (who have a Theme Naming after Isadora Duncan the dancer) and Quigley.
• Put on a Bus: Duncan and Isadora escape the Village of Fowl Devotees on a Self-Sustaining Mobile Home.
• Theme Naming: Isadora and Duncan. (Isadora Duncan, after the dancer.)

Ishmael

Ishmael

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• Big Bad: He takes Count Olaf's role as the main antagonist in The End.
• Feet of Clay: As illustrated by the actual clay on his feet.
• It's All About Me: Only cares for himself to be the most advanced islander, hoarding most of the shipwrecked items for himself.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: A mild example: Ishmael's Dystopic Utopia on a Deserted Island suppresses its inhabitants via peer pressure, technological deprivation and druggings.

Other Villains

Dr. Georgina Orwell

Dr. Georgina Orwell

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• Bad Boss: She's quite condescending towards the Bald Man with the Long Nose, pointing out that she and Olaf are the true villains and that he's merely a minion.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Count Olaf in The Miserable Mill. Compared to his other associates until that point like his theatre troupe, she holds equal sway and autonomy in the Evil Plan.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She makes a point that "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" and at first comes across as a polite, professional woman, very far removed from the likes of Count Olaf's henchmen. Her true colors are quickly revealed, though.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: She's chopped into pieces by an industrial saw.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: An evil optometrist.
• Promoted to Love Interest: The TV series adds a romance between her and Olaf.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Her book on optometry is filled with impossibly complex words.
• Shout-Out: Named for George Orwell.
• Sword Cane: She uses it to duel Sunny, who uses her teeth. No really.
• Would Hurt a Child: She engages in a sword fight with Sunny, fully intending to kill.

Carmelita Spats

Carmelita Spats

A bratty girl who becomes a hindrance to the Baudelaires in Book 5 and is later adopted by Olaf and Esmé.

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• Alpha Bitch: In her first appearance as the rich bratty leader of the Prufrock Preparatory students.
• Bratty Half-Pint: The standard rude child bully in her first appearance and she gets worse as time goes on.
• The Bus Came Back: She's Put on a Bus after Book 5 and doesn't return until Olaf and Esmé adopt her.
• Catchphrase Insult: Fond of calling people "cakesniffers".
• Enfante Terrible: She is rude, violent, filthy, but apparently one of the most popular girls in her school, and in her later appearance is to be crowned "False Spring Queen".
• Evil Redhead: She has red hair and is quite vile to the Baudelaires and their friends. She always insults them and loves reminding them that they're orphans. She gets much worse later in the series when she tries to assist Olaf and Esmé with murdering the Baudelaires.
• Giftedly Bad: Is noted as Hollywood Tone-Deaf. The prose lampshades that she must have gotten the idea from Vice Principal Nero.
• Girl Posse: She's shown with a few equally nasty looking girls on the cover of book 5.
• Gratuitous Princess: Her "tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian" costume from the eleventh book.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Carmelita Spats, who sings like her mouth is full of mashed potatoes, and like someone is shaking her rather vigorously. She even wrote the song she performs for the kidnapped children.
• Jerkass: She treats the Baudelaires and the Quagmires like they're beneath her and she doesn't care about what happens to them.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A self proclaimed "tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian" and "ball-playing cowboy superhero soldier pirate".
• Took a Level in Jerkass: After her return, she’s much worse, and even has no qualms with murdering the Baudelaires herself after Esmé Squalor offers to take her under her wing and spoil her rotten.
• Tyke Bomb: In her second appearance, Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor adopt Carmelita Spats as a Tyke Bomb, but she's so thoroughly spoiled by Esmé as to be utterly unhelpful, and after demanding lessons on how to spit in exchange for shooting someone with a harpoon she's ditched by Olaf; he later turns his attention to Sunny as a possible replacement.

Esmé Squalor

Esmé Gigi Genevieve Squalor

One of the Baudelaires' many foster parents turns out to be evil and becomes Count Olaf's girlfriend. She's a wealthy woman ridiculously dedicated to keeping up with every ludicrously inane fad that comes about.

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• Abusive Parents: She was the Baudelaires' guardian and complained when they were sad about their missing friends. She also threw them down an ersatz elevator.
• Berserk Button: Has several.
  • Getting her job title wrong, for example when Mr. Poe calls her the 7th most important financial adviser.
  • Telling her that Count Olaf isn't a handsome actor.
  • Count Olaf telling her that stealing the Baudelaire fortune is more important that stealing the sugar bowl.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Shot crows in the V.F.D. village and didn't shed a tear.
• Book Dumb: She once bragged about not reading Anna Karenina. She believes "being well read won't get you anywhere in the world".
• Card-Carrying Villain: Doesn't seem to mind being called a villain of V.F.D..
• The Dragon: To Olaf in books six through twelve.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She generally seems to care about Carmelita. She also seems to care for Olaf too until they break up.
• Evil Plan: To try and find the sugar bowl and steal it. To steal the fortune of many orphans such as the Baudelaires and Quagmires.
• The Fashionista: She believes the most important thing in life is what's "in" and what's "out".
• Fashion-Victim Villain: In-universe. Her octopus outfit and lettuce leaf bikini among other clothes, and both the narrator and the orphans find her fashion sense abysmal.
• Fur and Loathing: Esmé is said to wear a coat made from the fur of animals that had been killed in extremely nasty ways.
• Fun with Acronyms: Her initials spell E.G.G.S. Probably the one time in the series when a set of initials really doesn't mean anything. Later, she takes several aliases that also are acronyms of various words.
• Heel–Face Turn: Averted: When she breaks up with Olaf, Jerome hopes she'll make one. But she makes it quite clear that she won't and still hates the Baudelaries and co., she just now hates Olaf too.
• Hidden Villain: We don't know her motive until the end of book 6.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: Her dress that looks like a fire. Lemony describes it as hideous, but really…
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: She has a lot of… odd outfits, including literal stiletto heels and a bikini made of lettuce leaves, among others.
• Incoming Ham: Her habit of dramatically announcing her full name to people who already know it.
• Ironic Name: She's high-class and impeccably hygienic woman whose last name is "Squalor".
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: As shown when she believes the Baudelaires about Count Olaf but then pushes them down elevator and the Quagmires because she has joined Olaf's side.
• Manipulative Bastard: She likes to use other people's feelings to her advantage and make them do whatever she wants.
• Master of Disguise: Somehow the orphans don't recognize her as Officer Lucinda, despite living with her previously and her not even pretending to be nice.
• Narcissist: She believes she is superior to everyone else, expect maybe Carmelita and Count Olaf, though in the latter's case only until they break up.
• Outlaw Couple: With Count Olaf. It doesn't last, though.
• Pimped-Out Dress: The dress that resembles a fire comes to mind.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: She looks down upon many different people, including the starving poor and orphans.
• Pyromaniac: She's on the fire-starting side of V.F.D. after all.
• Rich Bitch: Ridiculously wealthy (as the sixth most important financial advisor of whatever city the Baudelaires came from)? Obsessed with all manner of "in" clothing no matter how silly said clothes are? One of the villains and loves being bad? Yup, she fits.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: When the villagers in book 7 call her out on using a harpoon gun (weapons and mechanical devices are against the rules), she simply tells them that she's a police officer and is above the rules, much to their dismay.
• Shout-Out: Her name is one to the J. D. Salinger story "For Esmé – With Love and Squalor".
• Spoiled Brat: She joins Count Olaf's troupe because she wants even more money, when she already has enough money for a penthouse with hundreds and hundreds of rooms.
• Villain with Good Publicity: The only reporter we see in the series is in Squalor's fan club. Many members of the public feel sorry for her because they believe her boyfriend was murdered.
• Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about her without spoiling book 6.
• Would Hurt a Child: On many occasions. She was astonished when the two white faced women refused to throw Sunny off a cliff.

The Sinister Duo

The Man with a Beard but no Hair and the Woman with Hair but no Beard

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• The Dreaded: Even Olaf is afraid of crossing them.
• Eviler than Thou: They make Count Olaf look pretty harmless by comparison.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Implied. We don't know much about them, but they are implied to be Olaf's superiors.
• Hanging Judge: The Baudelaires flee the hotel when they realize these two superiors of Olaf are presiding over their case. It's implied their positions are what make them fearsome to Olaf's faction. While they can use their legal powers to protect Olaf and punish his enemies, they can just as easily make him face consequences if he fails them.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Despite complimenting Olaf for his evil schemes, they have no problem demanding his arrest in order to protect their image as judges. Likewise, Olaf has no problem setting fire to Hotel Denouement and abandoning them in it.
• Vocal Dissonance: The Man is described as having a squeaky voice and the Woman a deep one.

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