History Characters / ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents

* AmbiguouslyRelated: 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.
* AristocratsAreEvil: Assuming he's a real Count, as it would be entirely in character for him to lie about something like that to make himself seem more important.

* BadBoss: Frequently yells at his henchmen, calls them idiots and even shows no regard for any of their deaths.
* BaldOfEvil: Has little-to-no hair on his head and is a wicked individual.

* BigSleep: [[spoiler:Dies of a harpoon gun wound with his eyes closed.]]
* CardCarryingVillain: Is pretty proud of the fact that he sets fires and kidnaps children for their fortune.

* {{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.
* DirtyOldMan: He hints he plans to [[spoiler:consummate his marriage with Violet.]]

* BigSisterInstinct: Before and after their parents' deaths, she cares deeply about her brother and sister.

* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: She may be polite and well-dressed, but she's also a WrenchWench.

* PromotionToParent: Violet takes the vow she made to look after her younger siblings very seriously.

* BigSisterInstinct: Before and after their parents' deaths, she cared deeply about her brother and sister.
* CoolBigSis: Is the eldest child and has a knack for creating functional inventions.

* CharacterTics: Violet always ties her hair back when she's thinking hard -- usually about inventing.

* DumbMuscle: He's ultimately reduced to being both the [[spoiler:dumbest person remaining in the series' final chapters and the only person strong enough to carry Kit Snicket inland so she can give birth to her child safely.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Closer to this than CorruptHick, 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 nearby lumber source the Finite Forest is running out of trees.

* IllegalGuardian: Played utterly straight at first in book one.

* MysteriousPast: 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 report 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.

* SmugSnake: Is he ''ever''.

* DwindlingParty: Starting around The Hostile Hospital the henchmen begin leaving the group either via HeelFaceTurn (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 Book One, 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.

* ClarkKenting: The Baudelaires never fall for it. [[AdultsAreUseless Everyone else does]] (Except in ''The End''). 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 [[spoiler:a generic V.F.D. disguise kit he received back when he used to be a member.]]

* BigSleep: Dies of a harpoon gun wound with his eyes closed.

* ClarkKenting: The Baudelaires never fall for it. [[AdultsAreUseless Everyone else does.]] 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 [[spoiler:a generic V.F.D. disguise kit he received back when he used to be a member.]]

* CreepyCrossdresser: On two occasions, the first time dressed as a secretary named Shirley and the second as Kit Snicket.

* StaticCharacter: Intentional and best demonstrated in The Grim Grotto. While the Baudelaires have grown immensely from their traumatic adventures, Poe remained ''exactly the same'' and [[AesopAmnesia learned nothing]]. When he tries to help the Baudelaires one more time, they quickly realize they've outgrown his ineptitude and move on without him.

** 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 sharing a hotel room (in matching pyjamas, no less!) 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 at the time, with gay bathhouses being used as a safe space to engage with each-other romantically.

* NoNameGiven: Justice Strauss is her tiitle, not her real name.
* ReformedCriminal: She used to steal horses in her youth. [[spoiler: This is why she can relate with Esmé.]]
* UnwittingPawn: She's been keeping tabs on the Baudelaire's with her colleagues [[spoiler: 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.]]

->For the characters as portrayed in its 2004 film adaptation, see ''Characters/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2004''.

* KnightOfCerebus: They make Count Olaf look pretty harmless by comparison.

* TheDreaded: Judging by Violet and Klaus's reactions to finding this person in the sailboat rental shack.

* NoSell: 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 this person!

* TheVoiceless: It's implied that this person can speak at least to Olaf, as it apparently informs Olaf that the orphans stole one of his sailboats. Either way, it never speaks in anything other than inhuman groans, further obfuscating its gender.

->For Lemony and [[spoiler: Kit]] Snicket as children in the prequel series, see ''Characters/AllTheWrongQuestions''.

* EvilerThanThou: Seems much more needlessly cruel than some of the other associates, especially when compared to the Hook-Handed Man.

* HangingJudge: The Baudelaires flee the hotel when they realize these two superiors of Olaf are presiding over their case. It's implied the duo's positions as judges is the primary reason why Olaf and his associates fear them. 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.

* BelatedBackstory: [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Although it takes a while,]] this is exactly what happens in Book 11.

The middle Baudlaire 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.

* PromotionToParent: Violet to Klaus and Sunny, and later, the three of them to [[spoiler: Beatrice Snicket.]]

* OnlySaneMan: Pretty much the only sane people who aren't in the VFD in the entire story, outside of the Quagmires. Unfortunately it rarely helps them.

* TookALevelInBadass: The Baudelaires are already a BadassFamily, but the real clincher is when Violet politely tells [[spoiler: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]].

* GadgeteerGenius: Rarely anything particularly outlandish, as she did not often have [[MacGyvering much to work with.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Sunny takes on Dr Orwell with a sword. If it wasn't for ''the very large saw blade'', it's implied Sunny would win.

** 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|ing}}", when somebody mentions a train, she says "[[SdrawkcabName Esoobac]]", when talking about going undercover, she says "Franchise/{{Dragnet}}", and when somebody asks her to do something impossible, she exclaims "Unfeasi!"

* LemonyNarrator: [[TropeNamer Of course]].

* StalkerWithACrush: [[Administrivia/NotASubversion Inverted]] -- Lemony's a good guy, but he does [[spoiler:stalk the children of the woman he loved but couldn't have despite it apparently having been reciprocal at one point]].
* UnreliableNarrator: 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 VFD since he was ''a toddler''.

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

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 VFD.

* ClarkKenting: The Baudelaires never fall for it. [[AdultsAreUseless Everyone else does.]] 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 [[spoiler:a generic VFD disguise kit he received back when he used to be a member.]]

* DirtyOldMan: He hints he plans to [[spoiler:consummate his marriage with Violet]].

* HiddenDepths: Olaf has a MysteriousPast and is apparently an orphan himself. He also apparently [[spoiler:had some sort of relationship with Kit Snicket]].

* HypocriticalHumor: When disguised as Captain Sham, he says, "There ain't nothin' better than good grammar!”

* KarmicDeath: Though it comes far too late for the Baudelaires' taste, [[spoiler:the toxic mushrooms he planned to use to threaten his enemies indirectly led to his death]].

* MisterSeahorse: Sent up in ''The End'', where Count Olaf tries to disguise himself as a pregnant woman. The LemonyNarrator states that "pregnancy occurs very rarely in males," noting actual seahorses as an exception.
* MoralityPet: [[spoiler:Kit Snicket]]. The only good deed he does in his life is [[spoiler:to carry her to a safe place to give birth]].

* NotMeThisTime: … Maybe? [[spoiler: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.

* ThePowerOfLove: What snaps him out of his DespairEventHorizon in the final book to [[spoiler:aid Kit Snicket one last time]].

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: His last action before dying is [[spoiler:rescuing Kit Snicket]].

* SmallRoleBigImpact: He's [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:pass on so he could make a go at their fortune]].

* WannabeSecretAgent: Lemony Snicket's Unauthorized Autobiography reveals that he was [[spoiler:an agent of VFD 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.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Hints throughout the later books would suggest that Olaf was in VFD 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.

!VFD

The VFD are a shadowy organization that everyone -- from Olaf to the Baudelaires' parents -- is connected to.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Most adults have this due to their involvement from an early age with V.F.D.

-->"I didn't realize this was a sad occasion.”

* AngstySurvivingTwin: More like Angsty Surviving Triplets; Duncan and Isadora mourn their brother Quigley, not knowing [[spoiler: he's alive.]]

* BusCrash: [[spoiler: Possibly. The VFD eagles destroy the mobile home in which Duncan and Isadora escape the Village of Fowl Devotees and it crashes into the Queequeg.]]

* EnfanteTerrible: 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."

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Shot crows in the V.F.D village and didn't shed a tear.

* CardCarryingVillain: Doesn't seem to mind being called a villain of VFD.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She generally seems to care about Carmelita. She also seems to care for Olaf too [[spoiler: until they break up.]]

* {{Narcissist}}: She believes she is superior to everyone else, expect maybe Carmelita and Count Olaf, [[spoiler: though in the latter's case only until they break up]].

* PyroManiac: She's on the fire-starting side of V.F.D after all.