Members of the secret organization V.F.D. from the 2017 adaptation of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
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V.F.D.
In General
Volunteer Fire Department (V.F.D.)
"The world is quiet here."
The V.F.D. is an organization created by a group of well-meaning and well-educated people with the intent of putting out fires, both figuratively and literally.
A long time ago, the organization was very firmly divided between those still trying to put out fires, and a group that decided to start fires.
- Adaptational Badass: Subverted. In the books, V.F.D. is mostly defunct and acted as a slow-burn deconstruction of a Milkman Conspiracy with many of its members having been children, adults who had been recruited as children, and even adults who never quite stopped being children, eventually sending it into a schism in a torrent of self-importance and immaturity. The few operatives shown had either gone to seed during their quasi-retirements or only made a real go at helping the Baudelaires near the end of the series (and weren't all that helpful at all). This version of the V.F.D. is very much active and earnestly attempts to aid the children from the very beginning of the story, but come off as even more incompetent than their literary counterparts in how they're frequently outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and even killed by a menagerie of buffoons like Olaf and his associates.
- Adaptation Distillation: Of a pragmatic sort that borders on Adaptational Heroism. In the books, the organization is implied to be many generations old with an unknown amount of scope and shrouded in far more mystery and unsettling implications: the books don't reveal when or how the organization began, and supplemental materials repeatedly hammer the notion that one method of "recruitment" for VFD is kidnapping children when they're sometimes as young as toddlers (and that this was in fact the case for all three of the Snicket siblings). In the show, Ishmael has been reworked into being the organization's founder instead of just an old member, and apart from the existence of a VFD poem containing the line "don't scream when we take you" that might imply it, the members are not apparently kidnapped for recruitment, with most of the known members having been scouted out when they were prep-school students.
- Adults Are Useless: Less severe than with most other adults in the series, but ultimately V.F.D.'s members are reduced to varying degrees of ineffectiveness due to incompetence, the incompetence of the people around them, being victims of flaws in their thought processes, and/or just plain bad luck.
- All for Nothing: Lemony Snicket mentions offhandedly that the Volunteer Fire Department was eventually disbanded, most like after the Hotel Denouement fire killed off almost every member on either side of the Schism. It got so bad that Lemony Snicket is the only member still alive in the present day, and one of only two characters confirmed to be alive at the end of the series, the other being Kit Snicket's daughter Beatrice (though the Baudelaire orphans are implied to have survived as well).
- Badass Family: Several families participate of the organization, many of which passed their Badass Bookworm trait to their children or share with siblings.
- The Baudelaire family includes the Badass Bookworm Klaus, Science Hero Violet and Pint-Sized Powerhouse Sunny, besides the heavy implications their parents were outstanding members.
- The Snicket siblings, Jacques, Kit, and Lemony appear to compose the best members of the organization, with Jacques being The Ace, Kit being their best field agent, and Lemony being their best researcher.
- The Quagmire parents showcased quite a bit of prowess both in fight and in getting out of tight spots, while their children didn't had as much time to shine, they were shown to be very selfless and ingenious.
- Badass Bookworm: Almost all of the agents are both extremely well-read and prone to action.
- Big Good: They appear much earlier than in the book, and its participants are the ones trying to keep the Baudelaires safe.
- Benevolent Conspiracy: They're a mysterious group that tries to put out fires, both in the literal and metaphorical sense.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: There is no such thing as a quick, painless death for members of the VFD, in no small part due to the cruelty of their enemies.
- The Baudelaire and Quagmire parents meet a gruesome end dying in a fire in their own houses.
- Monty has one of the deadliest poisons known to men (and women) injected into his face.
- Ike (and much later, Josephine) die being devoured alive by the leeches of Lake Lacrimose.
- Jacques is bludgeoned to death with a crowbar after being hit in the head with an extremely large book.
- Olivia is eaten alive by starving lions.
- Larry is boiled alive in a giant pot of curry.
- Dewey (and in a flashback, Olaf's father) are accidentally shot.
- Kit dies from a quick-acting deadly fungus, shortly after giving birth.
- Cultured Badass: They're a badass group of agents, but they're also extremely well read, having a large amount of knowledge in the literary area, and having beliefs that everyone should be well read.
- Dramatic Irony: The Carnivorous Carnival includes a movie recorded to the inauguration of their headquarters. Many of those moments would later come to be terribly subverted, as the viewer knows, such as Georgina claiming her distaste for hypnosis and Josephine's fierce and formidable personality.
- Eye Motifs: Subverted. Their insignia, at first glance, seems to be an eye. It is later revealed to actually be the letters V, F and D stacked into its shape.
- Failure Hero: Almost all their attempts to help both the Baudelaires and Quagmires tend to fall flat on the ground, being foiled by Count Olaf's machinations or other issues. Most of them meet their end after a series of unfortunate events. Out of the 27 members seen in the series (including the Baudelaires' parents and Olaf's father), 7 have gone evil (6 of them permanently), 10 end up murdered, at least 6 end up dying in accidents (including at least 2 of the villains), and at most 7 noble members survive the series. Few if any of them ever score a meaningful victory.
- Good Is Not Nice: While they are the series's Big Good, there was a point where during the events of the Schism, they were planning to use the Medusoid Mycellium on their enemies. Yes, the mushroom with spores that could literally suffocate you from the inside. Apparently it was such a dark decision that Fernald burned down the laboratory that were working on it (with Ike's brother Gregor inside), leading to him losing his hands.
- Mysterious Benefactor: They are trying to help the kids, specially those more hands on like Jacquelyn and Larry, however, the kids have almost no information about them up until "The Carnivorous Carnival".
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Their lunette, symbol of their organization. It has a plethora of uses aside from just a lunette, including working as a lantern, heater, de-codifier, and it's implied it can also be used as a club.
- Tattoo as Character Type: Apart from having their own spyglass, members of VFD are tattooed with the eye-shaped VFD insignia on their left ankle. This is problematic when it becomes apparent that the organization has been split into factions and members on either side have the tattoo. That said, curiously the only members explicitly shown to have it are Olaf, the Snicket siblings, and Ishmael.
- Underestimating Badassery: None of them save Ishmael take Olaf that seriously. Which makes it much easier for him to keep killing their members with half-baked murder ploys.
Current Members
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket
Portrayed By: Patrick Warburton
The narrator, author, and investigator of the story. He is a very sad man haunted by the story he is telling, and often warns the audience to turn off the TV and go do something more fun.
- Adaptation Deviation: Subtle changes were made to his story that reference, yet contradict the literature version. For example, in Lemony's unauthorized autobiography, it's shown the Daily Punctilio Newspaper ran his obituary after he'd already become known for writing about the Baudelaire children, but in the show the obituary was ran before he started writing about them which led his enemies, colleagues, and siblings to think he was dead for much of the series.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the book series there's evidence in the text and supplemental materials that suggest Lemony was following the Baudelaire children's story roughly in real-time, at least up to the events of the Wide Window. If true, this not only implicates him as being a creepy stalker, but begs the question why during those first three stories he didn't actively try to intervene or arrange help for them if he knew they were experiencing so much suffering. In the TV series however, it's explicitly shown that Lemony didn't know what the Baudelaire children looked like or possibly that they even existed until the events of the Penultimate Peril due to having been on the run for years (in fact, at first he incorrectly assumes they're Kit's children), and didn't start chronicling their lives until after they'd vanished from the map. Thus, his attempt to reconstruct their story comes off as unambiguously honest compared to that of his book counterpart, which may very well be unreliable.
- Broken Ace: He's an excellent VFD agent, noble, and very smart, but he's also very, very sad, and devastated by all that's happened. So basically he's a walking ball of badass and deeply ingrained emotional issues.
- Deadpan Snarker: Very much so, in particular when he makes a deadpan comment about one shouldn't steal a boat and take it into a lake during a storm.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Possibly. He mentions taking a break to drink tea or other strong beverages when the Baudelaires' story becomes too distressing to bear.
- The Eeyore: His narration is frequently depressing due to the sad story of the orphans and the death of his old flame Beatrice.
- Faking the Dead: For many years, he apparently decided it was better to let everyone think he was dead, even allowing the newspaper to run his obituary. He resurfaced after hearing that Jacques had been killed.
- Fugitive Arc: Somewhat humorously the audience eventually realizes that Lemony is constantly on the run from enemies and authorities, and are treated to various snapshots of him doing things like hastily packing up his belongings, escaping through windows, and hiding in secret passageways etc. as he simultaneously narrates the Baudelaire story.
- Greek Chorus: He addresses the audience directly to offer commentary and/or opinions on the actions of the characters.
- Irony: During the time period of the events of much of the story, Lemony had been presumed dead by his siblings. By the end, Lemony is the only surviving Snicket sibling.
- It's All My Fault: He blames himself for everything that's happened from what precipitated after the sugar bowl was stolen, particularly the fates of the Baudelaire's and their children. Him writing down their story appears to be his form of self penance for all the guilt he feels.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Seems to have this attitude about Beatrice. He doesn't hold it against her that she married someone else, and obviously still deeply loves her. Hell, his determination to tell the Baudelaire orphans' story is born from his devotion to her.
- I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Downplayed, but he regrets his younger self's decision to wear a light grey suit, as opposed to dark grey, because the latter is better for blending in.
- Last of His Kind: After the Hotel Denouement fire and the deaths of Kit Snicket and Count Olaf, Lemony Snicket is the only surviving member of the Volunteer Fire Department on either side of the Schism. He's also the last surviving member of the Snicket family, with the exception of Beatrice Baudelaire II.
- Lemony Narrator: He is the Trope Namer after all. He tells the story from a third-person perspective, in an eccentric, bizarre, and unconventional style, expressing opinions about the story's proceedings, going off on asides, breaking the Fourth Wall, hanging lampshades, deadpan-snarking, choosing to focus on unusual details or just describing things in an odd way. Scenes in season 3 where he interacts with other characters show that he does this even in everyday conversation.
- Manly Tears: Mentions crying himself to sleep while researching the Baudelaire case.
- Meaningful Name: The saddest, most dour man you'll ever meet and he's named fittingly, after a famously sour fruit.
- My Greatest Failure:
- He was behind the stealing of Esmé's sugar bowl. Even though he knows it was necessary at the time, he still tortures himself over it seeing as it caused the Baudelaires so much distress.
- In "The Penultimate Peril: Part 2", Lemony tried to convince Violet, Klaus and Sunny to go on the lam with him from the Hotel Denouement, but they chose to stay behind to try to put Count Olaf behind bars.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: This version of Snicket takes after Rod Serling from The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.
- Pining After Protagonist's Parent: Lemony Snicket holds a torch for a woman named Beatrice, who is revealed to be the mother of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Count Olaf and members of V.F.D. believe that Lemony passed away long ago, but obviously, he has lived to the present day and is chronicling the Baudelaire Orphans' adventures.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Usually appears in a suit, except for a few location-specific outfits, like overalls in the countryside, or a Victorian bathing suit at the beach.
- Stalker without a Crush: His intentions are noble to say the least, tracking down the Baudelaires' history all in the name of Beatrice.
- String Theory: His small flat is covered in one centered around the Baudelaires, which is also featured in the opening credits.
- Sweet Tooth: He has a fondness for root beer floats, but doesn't have much chance to enjoy them.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He stole Esmé Squalor's sugar bowl for what seemed like very good reasons at the time, which ended up being blamed on the Baudelaires' mother Beatrice and was apparently the reason their house was destroyed. His chronicling their adventures thus comes off as a self-imposed penance.
- Verbal Tic: He has a habit of defining the words that he uses, a phrase which here means explaining the meanings of the things he says immediately after saying them.
- We Used to Be Friends: At the end of the first season, an old photo of the VFD shows him and Olaf smiling side by side during their school days. "The Penultimate Peril" reveals that he, Jacques, and Kit were all good friends with Olaf, until Lemony stole the sugar bowl from Esmé.
Jacquelyn Scieczka
Jacquelyn Scieczka
Portrayed By: Sara Canning
Mr. Poe's secretary, who has some connection to the Baudelaire family.
- Action Girl: Is willing to take on Count Olaf with a knife, a machete and a harpoon gun. She was also more than prepared to use her V.F.D. spyglass as a makeshift club to bludgeon Olaf to death to stop his marriage with Violet from happening.
- Adults Are Useless: Downplayed, but still played straight in the end. Despite being one of the few competent adults in the series, Jacquelyn's status as a Canon Foreigner means that any effort she makes to help the Baudelaires or stop Count Olaf is ultimately Doomed by Canon.
- Canon Character All Along: Seemed to be a Canon Foreigner, but Season 3 has Mr. Poe mentioning that she returned to Winnipeg and took over after her mother died, making her an adaption of R. Duchess of Winnipeg.
- Determinator: Tie her to a tree and she'll just rip it out of the ground and drag it along for as long as it takes to finish her mission. She also pretends to be a statue for two days until she's finally able to contact the children. Exaggerated when she follows Count Olaf onto the SS Prospero and is able to get half of the spyglass away from him and sends it back to Klaus in the season one finale.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: She has one when confronting Count Olaf. It contains several knives and a harpoon gun.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- She's unaware that Aunt Josephine is a Broken Ace and has opted out of her VFD duties.
- Chillingly, she also seems unaware that Gustav died.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Stopping Count Olaf from escaping to Peru, but failing to capture him, stranded him in whatever country this is and encouraged him to double down on hunting the Baudelaires when he might have refrained from doing so for a while as he waited for the heat to die down.
- Only Sane Employee: She appears to be this, being the much more down to earth and sensible secretary to her "boss", Mr. Poe.
- Put on a Bus: As of Season 3, she is stated to have disappeared following her mother's death, and becomes the Duchess of Winnipeg.
- Screaming Woman: Cast as this in two of Gustav Sebald's films shown so far, seeing as she often lets out a comically long, high pitched scream of terror. In normal life, she is much more reserved and sarcastic.
- Spy Catsuit: She wears one under her statue costume.
- Surrounded by Idiots: She definitely has this opinion about working with Mr. Poe and can often be seen clearly frustrated at her boss' incompetence and childishness.
- Typecasting: In-universe, she seems to constantly play the role of the leading Screaming Woman in Gustav's movies.
Fiona Widdershins
Fiona Widdershins
Portrayed By: Kassius Nelson
The young captain of the Queequeg submarine, taking over for her stepfather after he disappeared. She finds the Baudelaires after their trip down the mountains, and invites them on board.
- Adaptational Personality Change: While in the books Fiona was initially calm and even a little shy, in the series her personality is much more forward and abrasive. In the books, her personality changes to being stern when she discovers the submarine abandoned and she's forced to become the new captain midway through the story, but in the series this change already occurred by the time the Baudelaire's meet her.
- Composite Character: Even though Captain Widdershins is still a character referenced within the series, Fiona runs the submarine by herself and thus takes up some character traits of both Fiona and the Captain.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the books, she and her family shared an Uncertain Doom alongside the Quagmires and Hector, but this incident is deleted from the series and we instead see an optimistic shot of Fernald and Fiona resolved to find their stepfather.
- Ship Tease: With Klaus. They bond quite quickly, and Klaus gets suspiciously defensive about her when she and Violet butt heads. She also kisses him before returning to Olaf's submarine after helping the Baudelaires escape.
Captain Widdershins
Captain Widdershins
Captain Widdershins is Fiona's stepfather.
- Adapted Out: He doesn't appear in-person in the series, with the duty of captaining the Queequeg passed on to Fiona. He's not dead, just absent. At end of the series, she and Fernald are shown having continued to search for him, with his voice suddenly making a distress call on the intercom indicating that they likely do reunited.
Ticket Seller
Ticket Seller
Portrayed By: Matthew Walker and Mark Kandborg (young)
A movie theater employee who sends messages to other members of the group and seems to be a close friend of Monty.
- Cool Old Guy: A polite and helpful man and one of the older V.F.D. members.
- Custom Uniform: He's always seen wearing an almost military-like red tuxedo from his movie theater job.
- The Other Darrin: He's the only V.F.D. member to be played by a younger actor in the flashback scene.
The Stargazer
Stargazer
Portrayed By: Herbert Duncanson
A V.F.D. member seen studying the night sky at the party in their headquarters years before the series.
- Spear Carrier: He directs Lemony on where to find Beatrice but that's the extent of his role.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He's never seen in the present day.
Deceased Members
Note: Also see The Baudelaires for more information on the Baudelaire parents.
Beatrice
Beatrice
Portrayed By: Morena Baccarin
Lemony's beloved, with whom he could never marry and still mourns.
- Animal Motif: Largely connected to and remembered by through dragonflies.
- Bait-and-Switch: The viewer is led to believe that Count Olaf pushed her over the edge of a mountain before the Baudelaires were born, but actually the dragonfly costume she was wearing made her able to fly. We later learn that she went on to become the mother of the three Baudelaire orphans and die in the Baudelaire fire.
- The Faceless: Even when she appears in a flashback in Season 2, she only appears turned around, and her face is never revealed to the viewer. She finally appears in full in Season 3.
- The Lost Lenore: To Lemony, whom he still mourns.
- Posthumous Character: Died prior to the beginning of the plot. Lemony writes dedications to her at the start of each episode.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She initiated the schism in VFD (alongside Esmé) by accidentally killing Olaf's father, which Lemony took the rap for.
- Walking Spoiler: Beatrice turns out to be the same person as the Baudelaire mother.
Mother and Father Quagmire
Mother and Father
Portrayed By: Cobie Smulders (Mother) and Will Arnett (Father)
A couple who have been captured by unknown sinister forces and are attempting to escape and get back to their children.
- Action Girl: "Mother" in particular is shown to be skilled in unarmed combat when she wrestles down a nefarious refrigerator repairman and steals his truck.Father: What's a woman like you building in a place like this?
Mother: Grappling hook. Molotov cocktail. - Adaptational Badass: Given that they are members of VFD this is a given, but aside from a passing mention the Quagmire parents are never prominently featured in the story-line of the books. Here we are shown their escape from a prison in Peru, and their action-packed journey back to the city where they take on an entire bar of surly Peruvians and villainous agents of the VFD, usually through violence.
- Ascended Extra: Much like the Baudelaire parents, the Quagmire parents were already dead when they were introduced to the story in the books, and were mentioned much less frequently than the Baudelaire parents. Here, they have their own subplot.
- Battle Couple:Mother: We should have a clear flight, provided the weather holds, the plane flies, and none of our enemies have air cannons.
Father: That sounds like—
Mother: —our honeymoon. - Doomed by Canon: In the books, the Quagmire parents are said to be dead. In the season finale, they are killed when a villainous VFD agent (likely Esmé Squalor) burns down their mansion.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Horribly short-lived.
- Exact Words: A meta example. They are credited as "Mother" and "Father", but whose parents they are is never specified. The audience is led to believe they are the Baudelaires who survived and escaped the fire, but are actually the mother and father of the Quagmire triplets.
- Good Parents: The safety and protection of their children is their first priority and greatest reason for escaping capture.
- Happily Married: Their onscreen interactions show them playfully bantering with each other, seamlessly working together, and sticking up for one another as they try to reunite with their children.
- Hero of Another Story: They've had many amazing adventures both before and during the events of Season 1.
- The Reveal: They are in fact the Quagmire parents.
- Sacrificial Lion: After having been shown to be formidable badasses through Season 1, they are killed in the fire at the end of "The Miserable Mill, Part Two" to show that the villainous side of the VFD are closing in on and slowly eliminating agents on the noble side.
- Walking Spoiler: Throughout Season 1, the viewer is led to believe these characters are the Baudelaires' mother and father. Instead they turn out to be the mother and father of the Quagmire children.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: They end the season finally safe and reunited with their children... until their house is burnt to the ground, leaving two of their children to be shipped off to an awful boarding school, and their third to be presumed dead.
Gustav Sebald
Gustav Sebald
Portrayed By: Luke Camilleri
The assistant of Monty and an agent of V.F.D., who works with Jacquelyn and has a similar connection to the Baudelaire family.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Monty's assistant was portrayed as an old man in the prior film, but here is played by the young and handsome Luke Camilleri.
- Adaptational Badass: In the books, Gustav was simply Monty's assistant, and Olaf murdered him to take his job. In the series, he is a VFD agent as well.
- Composite Character: This Gustav seems to be the merge of the book characters of Gustav, Monty's assistant, and Gustav Sebald, a VFD agent who created the Sebald code. Those characters were debated among fans as being the same person already, so this may be not so much composite character as confirming a theory.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Appears only a handful of times in the first two episodes before unceremoniously getting killed off. He does however make a few more appearances in the form of flashbacks and recordings.
Uncle Monty
Dr. Montgomery "Monty" Montgomery
Portrayed By: Aasif Mandvi
The Baudelaires' (biologically) closest living relative.
- Adaptational Badass: While he still thinks Stephano is a spy from the herpetology society, Uncle Monty never believes Stephano is his replacement assistant and actually confronts him. He's also shown to be an active VFD member, decodes the coded message in Zombies in the Snow that he missed in the book, and even takes down two of Olaf's minions who were assigned to kidnap him.
- Adaptational Intelligence: While it takes him a good while to catch onto "Stephano's" suspicious nature in the book, here he suspects that he is a fraud almost immediately. He did not recognize him as Count Olaf, but it has to count for something.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Monty is a brilliant scientist, but he's unquestionably quirky.
- Cool Uncle: While the Baudelaires are technically his brother-in-law's first cousins once removed, they still call him uncle and he definitely fit the "cool" part.
- Foil: The series likes to paint Montgomery as something of a good counterpart to Count Olaf, even more so then the rest of the Baudelaires' collective caretakers. Both greet the orphans with a "hello, hello, hello", but while Olaf tried to sound menacing, Monty was being sincere. Both act rude to Mr. Poe, impatient in their attempts to make him leave, but while Olaf is like this with everybody, Monty is scornful of Poe's negligence in allowing the Baudelaires' to be put in Olaf's care in the first place. Both assign the orphans chores around the house, but Monty's chores involve them helping with his research and he rewards them with takeout and a trip to the movies, while Count Olaf forces the orphans to labor in inhumane conditions with nothing but abuse and inhospitable living conditions in return. Both were members of the VFD and were on opposite sides of the schism. Uncle Monty is world-renowned in his field (herpetology), while Olaf is very poor in his (acting).
- Hypocrite: He lambasts Mr. Poe and Justice Strauss for not recognizing Olaf for what he really is, but he doesn't recognize Olaf because of his own professional pride.
- Idiot Ball: He doesn't recognize Stephano as Olaf even though they knew each other in VFD (Olaf was the one who took the picture of the Baudelaires and Monty in the piano); the fact "Stephano" tried to stop Monty from deciphering the VFD code while they were at the cinema should've been a big clue.
- Nice Guy: Monty is kind, considerate, and welcoming to the Baudelaires. Naturally, he's screwed.
- Poor Communication Kills: If he had mentioned who he really thought Stefano really was, or the Baudelaires mentioned Count Olaf's name, he might have survived. Lemony's narration says that Klaus would later ask himself why he didn't think to clarify this issue.
- Race Lift: He was depicted as white in the art for the books and the movie but here he's played by Aasif Mandvi, who is Indian.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: He is suspicious of Stephano (who's obviously Count Olaf)... because he thinks Stephano is a spy for the Herpetological Society, trying to steal his work. Even Olaf himself seems baffled by this conclusion, producing a Flat "What" reaction when Monty confronts him over it.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: By far the kindest guardian that Baudelaires have had to date. Being an intelligent, caring adult in this story means that he has to die. Here Olaf kills him with the Mamba du Mal venom injected via double syringe to simulate a snakebite.
Ike
Ike Anwhistle
Portrayed By: Barry Sonnenfeld
Josephine's deceased husband.
- Happily Married: While they were together, it's clear that Josephine and Ike were very happy and adventurous.
- The Lost Lenore: He died years prior to the plot, and his death still haunts Josephine.
Aunt Josephine
Josephine Anwhistle
Portrayed By: Alfre Woodard
The Baudelaires' aunt.
- The Ace: Was considered the best VFD agent in her prime. Key word being was.
- Adaptational Badass: Photos from her past show that she used to be a brave and formidable person, participating in activities like boxing and skydiving.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the book, Aunt Josephine willingly gave the orphans up to Count Olaf to save her own skin. Here, she actually stands up to Count Olaf.
- Adults Are Useless: It's Lemony Snicket, what did you expect? Josephine's uselessness stems from her crippling fear of... well, of everything. Notably, she's somewhat aware of this and tries her best to defy it, even telling Olaf off in her last moments, but all her efforts are for naught.
- Broken Ace: Jacqueline describes her as fierce and formidable. In the present, she's considerably lost her edge and is constantly terrified for her own safety. Amusingly she's capable of great feats if properly pressed.
- Broken Bird: The death of her husband, Ike, crushed her, and left her the neurotic shut-in the Baudelaires meet.
- Death by Adaptation: Downplayed, but Josephine's death is somewhat ambiguous in the books. Not so much here.
- Dying as Yourself: She regains her courage standing up to Count Olaf just before he pushes her off the boat.
- Freudian Excuse: Ike's death and the subsequent deaths of her comrades are what turned her into a hysterical mess.
- Grammar Nazi: Insists on correcting everyone's grammar even at inappropriate times. She uses grammatical errors to hide a coded message for the Baudelaires in her fake suicide note, confident they'd recognize the errors as out-of-character and find the message.
- Happily Married: She and Ike, very much so. His death left her completely devastated, and she was never the same after.
- The Lost Lenore: Josephine and her husband Ike were both deeply in love and the best of friends. His death by voracious leeches is what turned her into the neurotic shut-in she is today.
- Nice Girl: She's unfortunately far too terrified and neurotic to be useful most of the time, and clearly isn't a great fit with the Baudelaires, but she's not a bad person. She gives them presents on their first day in her home, and seems to genuinely think sharing her great love and knowledge of grammar with them is the best thing she can do for them. She also really loved her husband, Ike. And considering just how terrified she is of absolutely everything, the fact that she agreed to take them in at all does say something about her character. She even defended the Baudelaires from Count Olaf when they were found by him before being killed.
- Parents as People: Discussed by Snicket after Olaf shoves her into the lake of leeches.Lemony Snicket: She had given them a home, even if it was cold and not hurricane-proof. She had tried to teach them, even if it wasn't what they wanted to learn. And like the Baudelaires, she had experienced great loss. And while that didn't make her a good guardian, it didn't make her a bad person.
- Phrase Catcher: Everyone describes her as "fierce and formidable", which she was before she became a Broken Ace.
- Properly Paranoid: She's a member of VFD, living on the carnivorous leech infested shores of the lake her husband died in in an utterly Crapsack World. Her fear of everything that moves may not be helpful, but it's also not particularly unwarranted.
- Race Lift: White in the movie and in the illustrations (well, her arm) but is black here.
Larry Your-Waiter
Larry Your-Waiter
Portrayed By: Patrick Breen
A VFD agent who works as a waiter at the Anxious Clown restaurant. Actually, he seems to be a waiter everywhere...
- Ascended Extra: Had a rather small role in the third book, here he has a much larger role and is seen throughout multiple episodes.
- Back for the Dead: He is a prominent supporting character in Season 2, but does not appear in Season 3 until "The Penultimate Peril", during which he only returns for a single scene before his apparent death.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets forced to cook and serve food for Count Olaf while dressed as a clown, and then gets forced to wash the dishes afterwards.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Par the course for any VFD agent. Larry is ultimately killed after Olaf and Ernest string him upside down and dunk him in a giant pot of boiling curry in "The Penultimate Peril".
- Death by Adaptation: As mentioned above, he's killed by Olaf in Season 3. His book counterpart, being a relatively minor character, was able to live another day.
- The Dog Bites Back: After two humiliating encounters with Count Olaf, Larry gets his revenge in "The Ersatz Elevator: Part 1" while biding time for Jacques and Olivia's rescue attempt for the Quagmire triplets. First, he forces Count Olaf to sit through a multiple course meal, going as slow as possible, and then forces him to do a song number with the help of Jacquelyn.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": He constantly presents himself as "Larry, your waiter", turns out his surname is "Your-Waiter".
- Non-Action Guy: He doesn't seem to be quite strong, and is often very easily overpowered, meaning he is more likely to work as scout than anything, and it seems his most important task is delivering messages. That being said, he does make a martial arts pose when he first encounters Olaf but is quickly overpowers by his henchmen.
Jacques Snicket
Jacques Snicket
"Well, maybe the story is not over yet."
Portrayed By: Nathan Fillion
"Thousand pardons ma'am. I didn't mean to scare you, and I'll never forgive myself."
Lemony's brother, a respected member of the VFD. His day job is that of a taxi driver, meaning it is the perfect cover for a getaway driver.
- The Ace: He's handsome, charming, a highly respected agent, and a complete badass.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: A minor example, but in the books he did have a unibrow like Olaf did, which led to the Village of Fowl Devotees believing him to be Olaf, whereas in the series, it was put on his face in order to frame him as Olaf.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: He appears throughout the second season in the show, compared to the books where he was physically in only one volume for a very brief period of time and otherwise is only present by way of flashbacks and characters mentioning him. This thus averts the We Hardly Knew Ye nature of his death in the books, as the audience is given a much larger span of time to get attached to him.
- The Big Damn Kiss: With Olivia, when they part ways during "The Vile Village".
- The Dreaded: In "The Wide Window Part 1", Larry tells Olaf that the Baudelaires' are in the hands of "their best operative". The usually super confident Olaf recoils in horror and has a mild Freak Out because he assumes Larry means "Snicket".
- Frame-Up: Played with. Count Olaf is still believed to be guilty of crimes, however, he makes it so that Jacques seem like Count Olaf, and therefore, Jacques will end up paying for his crimes.
- Ship Sinking: Getting murdered by Olaf and Esmé put a tragically quick end to his and Olivia's relationship.
- Ship Tease: With Olivia.
- Too Cool to Live: He's probably the most competent VFD agent in the series. His Frame-Up isn't that surprising even if you aren't familiar with his book appearance.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Count Olaf. One of his attempts to convince Olaf back to the heroic side of the schism gets him killed.
The Librarian/Olivia Caliban
The Librarian / Olivia Caliban
"I've been discovering a number of startling facts and developed a number of disturbing theories."
As Madame Lulu
Portrayed By: Sara Rue
"In a world too often governed by corruption and arrogance, it can be difficult to stay true to one's philosophical and literary principles."
A kind-hearted woman who shares the Baudelaires and Quagmire's appreciation for books. She tries her best to help them find the book they look for.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The official illustrations for the books show Madame Lulu to have a large, hooked nose and likely in her 30s-40s. Here she is played by Sara Rue and (as mentioned below) is rather attractive, though her Madame Lulu guise is made less glamorous by a pair of very large fake front teeth.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the books, Olivia was shown to be a compulsive people-pleaser, leading her to sell out the Baudelaires and go along with cruelty at the behest of others, making her a person of weak character. In the series, Olivia is idealistic, but fierce and noble and very competent up until the villains get the best of her. This makes the impact of her death much more bitter.
- Ascended Extra: In the books "Madame Lulu" is just a minor character in The Carnivorous Carnival, as one of several well-meaning but ineffectual guardians, but the show gives her a subplot of her own throughout Season 2.
- Badass Bookworm: Able to throw books into their proper place with absurdly talented flair and she herself notes her keen mind and "innate physical dexterity."
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Killed by being devoured by lions. This was obviously gruesome, but we never see it, and can only imagine it based on the characters’ reactions
- Deadpan Snarker: Olivia is extremely sweet and polite, though while she is disguised as Madame Lulu she gets in quite a few good verbal jabs at Count Olaf's troupe.
- Death Glare: Gives Olaf one by the end of reading his fortune.
- Decomposite Character: In the books, "Madame Lulu" was her alias alone for her post-V.F.D. career as a carnival fortune teller. In the series, it's a rotating position for a V.F.D. field agent that she's currently filling in for while the current "Madame Lulu" (later revealed to be Kit Snicket) is busy retrieving the sugar bowl from Heimlich Hospital.
- Eaten Alive: She gets killed by being eaten alive by starving lions.
- Exact Words: She says she’s a volunteer, and means for VFD, but Olaf takes it to mean she’s volunteering to be eaten by the lions, and feeds her to the lions.Olivia: I’m more than that. I’m a volunteer.Olaf: Well, thank you for volunteering. Now it’s time for your special reward.(Olaf cuts the rope holding the plank up, so that Olivia falls into the lion pit and gets gruesomely eaten by the lions.)
- Fed to the Beast: Olaf plans to feed Klaus and Violet (while disguised as Beverly and Elliot) to the lions, but Olivia saves them. Unfortunately for Olivia, Olaf cuts the rope holding up the plank, and she is left in the pit to be eaten by the lions.
- Foregone Conclusion: Olivia is going to die a horrible death sooner or later. Foreshadowed by Lemony twice:
- In “The Austere Academy Part 2”, Lemony talks about how it’s a dark day for everyone, and outright states that Olivia’s fate would be even worse than anyone else’s.
- At the beginning of “The Carnivorous Carnival Part 2” Lemony finds a spyglass and some bones at the bottom of the lion pit. Right before the lion show, Olivia grabs her spyglass and brings it with her, teasing her gruesome death
- Gory Discretion Shot: She is eaten by lions, but we don’t see it onscreen. It’s heavily implied by everyone’s reactions to have been gruesome, horrifying, and messy.
- Hot Librarian: While she's not portrayed as a sexpot, she's an extremely lovely school librarian.
- Jumped at the Call: She's quick to volunteer to help Jacques rescue the kids.
- Master of Disguise: She may be meek and timid but she's a damn good actress. She's virtually unrecognizable as Madame Lulu thanks to her heavy makeup and fake exotic accent, and it was certainly enough to fool the Baudelaires, Count Olaf and his troupe, and even the viewers at home (at least the ones who aren't familiar with the books).
- Named by the Adaptation: She had no stated surname in the books, but her surname is "Caliban" in the series, a name which appeared in the books in The End.
- Nice Girl: She's one of the nicest people in the series.
- Public Execution: Not exactly. She gets fed to lions by Olaf in front of a live audience.
- Reaction Shot: A lot of characters get a Reaction Shot when watching Olivia’s horrifying demise. The aftermath of Olivia being eaten by lions, or her corpse, are never shown. However, for those with wild imaginations, this makes the scene worse
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives Count Olaf one under the guise of a fortune telling.Olivia: And you murder an old enemy in a murder of crows. A good man. A noble man. His words they haunt you from beyond the grave and even hospital visit doesn't; make you feel better. You have set fire after fire, but it's never enough, for time flies like a poison dart, and the force of destiny cages us all.
- Ship Tease: With Jacques Snicket, following their meeting.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: After joining Jacques, she starts dressing in black leather jacket and lets her hair loose.
- The Scream: When Olaf drops her into the lion pit, she screams, and her scream is cut off when the lions eat her. Her scream also draws everyone’s attention back to the lion pit, and everyone sees her gruesome death.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Like many other good-hearted VFD agents throughout the series, she meets a cruel and untimely death due to Count Olaf's machinations.
- Took a Level in Badass: She turns into an Action Girl as soon as she joins VFD and Jacques, and becomes more emotionally tough when dealing with the villains.
- White Sheep: Olivia is the only kind and moral person at Prufrock Prep where her character debuts.
Frank Denouement
Frank Denouement
Portrayed By: Max Greenfield
One of the Denouement triplets and managers of the Hotel Denouement.
- Batman Gambit: He lets Carmelita have the harpoon gun, presumably as part of a deliberate gambit to let her shoot the crow but then have the body go to the sub-basement out of her reach.
- Consummate Professional: He’s a serious and dedicated hotel manager and supporter for the fire-fighting side, even while having to manage it alongside his villainous brother.
- Good Is Not Nice: Downplayed. While he's not outright rude or cruel, he tends to be rather curt and stern when speaking to the Baudelaires. Nevertheless, he is on the Baudelaires' side and speaks out in their defence during the trial.
- I Know You Know I Know: Frank tells Violet that not giving Carmelita a harpoon gun for her Evil Plan will make her suspicious that they know what she's up to.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he is pretty stern and authoritative with the Baudelaires, he is solidly on the fire-fighting side and speaks out in their defence during the trial.
- Mathematician's Answer: When asked whether he’s Frank or Ernest, he replies either "Exactly" or "I am".
- Meaningful Name: He seems to be the most frank and plain-spoken of the triplets.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Capturing Count Olaf and escorting him back to the courtyard.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Frank capturing Olaf at the beginning of ‘’The Penultimate Peril Part 2’’ is a large part of what causes the remaining events of the series to go the way they do.
- Uncertain Doom: As with Ernest, it is unknown whether he survived the fire that destroyed Hotel Denouement.
Dewey Denouement
Dewey Denouement
Portrayed By: Max Greenfield
One of the Denouement triplets and managers of the Hotel Denouement. Also Kit's lover, and the father of Beatrice II.
- Accidental Murder: While Olaf did intend to kill Dewey at first, Violet and Klaus actually succeed in convincing him to lower his weapon. Unfortunately, Mr. Poe chooses that particular moment to exit the hotel, causing the startled Baudelaires to drop the harpoon gun, which goes off and hits Dewey.
- Disappeared Dad: Unintentionally becomes one to his and Kit's baby, due to his death by harpoon.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He is accidentally shot through the chest with a harpoon gun.
- Nice Guy: Kit describes him as a good man, and he is nothing but courteous to the Baudelaires from the moment he meets them.
- Non-Answer: When asked if he was either Frank or Ernest, he replied "That's an interesting question", since he didn't wanna say too much at the time.
- Retirony: Was planning to leave VFD to raise his daughter along with Kit following Count Olaf's trial. He's killed in the very episode he says this.
- Sibling Team: Apparently with his brother Frank, based on their shared good allegiance and Kit telling him to say hi too Frank for her.
- Too Happy to Live: He was expecting a child with Kit and had accumulated quite an impressive hidden library thanks to years of research. Naturally, he's doomed.
Kit Snicket
Kit Snicket
Portrayed By: Allison Williams
VFD's top field agent, and sister to Lemony and Jacques. She is first introduced as the former Madame Lulu, a title given to whichever VFD agent is in the carnival.
- The Ace: According to Jacques, the woman stationed as Madame Lulu is their top field agent.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: For Madame Lulu.
- All There in the Script: Subverted, in order to not give any spoiler, she is not credited in the end of "The Carnivorous Carnival". The companion book The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations confirms her to be Kit Snicket.
- Connected All Along: Lemony mentions at the end of "The Carnivorous Carnival" that she is someone he knows very well. Season three confirms she is Kit Snicket, his sister.
- Decomposite Character: In a way- in the books, "Madame Lulu" is Olivia Caliban's alias for her post-V.F.D. career as a carnival fortune teller. In the series, "Madame Lulu" is a separate entity, a rotating post held by the current top V.F.D. field agent and currently held by Kit.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: While normally a Pregnant Badass, 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: Pops up at the end of Season 2, and is a major character for the third and final season.
- Legacy Character: The name "Madame Lulu" is used to designate whichever VFD member is currently stationed at the carnival, and they all appear to take on the disguise.
- Madame Fortune: The name "Madame Lulu" and she's a fortune teller at the Carnival.
- 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. Flashbacks confirm that they once loved each other.
- Not So Above It All: She may be the sanest and brightest member of VFD, but she's still a member of VFD fighting a pointless war. Count Olaf points out that they're not so different in their final meeting, as they have hurt and been hurt and make no apologies for their deeds.
- Pregnant Badass: Her first scene in season three sees her hang-gliding off a cliff while visibly pregnant.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Jacquelyn as Mr Poe's secretary. Except for the important detail of not being his secretary, as she keeps telling him.
- Take Up My Sword:
- Played with, as of the end of "The Carnivorous Carnival", she is the one that now has Jacques' trusted taxi.
- Played more straight as of Season 3, as she's much more involved as the forefront member of VFD after Olivia and Jacques die and Jacqueline leaves.
Official Fire Department Chief
Olaf's Father
Portrayed By: Eric Keenleyside
Olaf's father and the leader of the Official Fire Department in flashbacks.
- Accidental Murder: He gets killed in the poison dart crossfire between Esmé, Olaf, Lemony, and Beatrice. It is Beatrice's throwing of the dart that makes Olaf's Start of Darkness possible.
- Big Good: At least, in terms of being the head firefighter of the fire department.
- No Name Given: His name was never said other than being referred to as Olaf's father.
- Posthumous Character: Died long before the show, but his death set off the series of unfortunate events.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He is a spitting image of Olaf, right down to the unibrow.
Former Members
Count Olaf
See Antagonists
Fernald
See Antagonists
Dr. Georgina Orwell
See Antagonists
Esmé Squalor
See Antagonists
The Man With Beard but No Hair/The Woman With Hair but No Beard
See Antagonists
Ernest Denouement
See Antagonists
Ishmael
See Antagonists
