History Characters / ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents

* TheBusCameBack: She’s PutOnABus after Book 5 and doesn’t return until Olaf And Esmé adopt her.

* LastEpisodeNewCharacter She first appears at the very end of the third-to-last book and a major character in the last two books.

* 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, [[spoiler: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 know nothing."]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: 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 reaches his RageBreakingPoint and chews them out for the above reasons.

* BadBoss: He frequently yells at his henchmen, calls them idiots and even shows no regard for any of their deaths. Even Esme isn't always immune to this.

* EyeMotifs: 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.

* OldManMarryingAChild: He attempts this with Violet in the first book and the film and TV series adaptations. He fails and attempts to kill Violet and her siblings.

* TheUnreveal: Did Olaf burn down the Baudelaire mansion? The FilmOfTheBook 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.

* WouldHurtAChild: His plan to get the Baudelaire fortune have included him attempting to kill the trio. One included [[OldManMarryingAChild attempted marriage]].

* MasterOfDisguise: 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 Esme or the Bald Man. Possibly the reason Olaf uses him more often than the others.

* MookLieutenant: In book 8 he seems to be in charge of the other associates when Olaf and Esme aren't around.

* DrivenToSuicide: Subverted with Aunt Josephine. 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.

* BlindWithoutEm: 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. Downplayed in the film where he only needed them for reading.

* BabyTalk: This changes when she starts to speak coherently towards the series' end.

* BadBoss: He frequently yells at his henchmen, calls them idiots and even shows no regard for any of their deaths.

* DirtyOldMan: In regards to Violet. He constantly comments on how pretty she is even when he has her trapped in Olaf's tower in "The Bad Beginning".

* KickTheDog: 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.

!!Mr. Poe

* BaldOfEvil: Bald and one of the BigBad's minionss.
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:Eaten by lions.]]

* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:Died in the fire that destroyed Heimlich Hospital.]]

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

* AgonizingStomachWound: [[spoiler:How he finally buys it. He lives long enough to [[PetTheDog help Kit]], but that's it.]]

* BigBag: He takes Count Olaf's role as the main antagonist in '''The End'''.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The only reporter we see in the series is in Squalor's fan club.[[spoiler:Many members of the public feel sorry for her because they believe her boyfriend was murdered.]]

[[folder:Beatrice]]
!!Beatrice

Snicket's lost love, often alluded to.

* {{Dedication}}: Every book is dedicated to her, accompanied by a poetic way of explaining that she's deceased.
* TheLostLenore: To Snicket.
* PosthumousCharacter: As Snicket poetically makes clear in every book dedication.
* TheReveal: The final paragraph of the series reveals what role she had in the story besides her past relationship with Snicket: [[spoiler:she was the Baudelaire siblings' mother.]]

[[folder:Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire]]
!!Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire

The deceased parents of the Baudelaire orphans.
----
* AlliterativeName: Their names both start with the letter 'B', Bertrand and [[spoiler:Beatrice]].
* PosthumousCharacter: They perish in the first pages of the book series.
* RedHerring: The occasional implication that they're still alive never amounts to anything. [[spoiler: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.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Geraldine Julienne]]
!!Geraldine Julienne

* ImmoralJournalist: 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 [[spoiler:Count Olaf's murder]] and forcing them to stay on the run for the rest of the books.

[[folder:The Man with a Beard but no Hair and the Woman with Hair but no Beard]]

* {{Catchphrase}}: Fond of calling people "cakesniffers".

* VocalDissonance: The Man is described as having a [[CreepyHighPitchedVoice squeaky voice]] and the Woman [[ContraltoOfDanger a deep one]].

* LargeHam: Olaf's acting is VERY {{Narm}}y and over-the-top. Probably helps the Baudelaires recognize him all the time.

* EvilIsPetty: 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!"

* EyeMotif: 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.

->For the characters as portrayed in its 2004 film adaptation and video game, see ''Characters/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2004''.
->For the characters as portrayed in its 2017 series adaptation, see ''Characters/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2017''.
->For Lemony and [[spoiler:Kit]] Snicket as children in the prequel series, see ''Characters/AllTheWrongQuestions''.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: 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 [[spoiler: burning down the hotel and murdering Olaf]]). Since she's just a baby, the overall effect is rather disturbing and tragic.

* OpportunisticBastard: [[spoiler: Since it's implied he didn't burn down the Baudelaire Mansion, he clearly saw an opportunity for money and revenge and took it.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Maybe. It's implied that [[spoiler: Beatrice and/or Bertrand Baudelaire and/or Lemony Snicket]] killed his parents with poison darts during a performance of ''La Forza del Destino.''

** 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, [[spoiler: before their implied death]] they are seen holding each others 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.

* CigarChomper: Sir is rarely seen without a cigar in his mouth, and his preferred brand emits so much smoke that it obscures his face. In the TV series he claims that he hates cigars, but HAS to smoke them because he's the boss.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: 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.

* IronicName: He lives in an expensive penthouse, but his name is "Squalor".

-->"The world is quiet here."
-->"I didn't realize this was a sad occasion."

* AlliterativeName: Their names both start with the letter "B", Bertrand and [[spoiler:Beatrice]].

* AdultsAreUseless: There are ''many'' useless adults in the series (and that's an understatement!), but Mr. Poe is, by far, the [[PerfectlyCromulentWord 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.

* BusCrash: [[spoiler: 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.]]

* LoveInterest: Duncan [[spoiler: and Quigley for Violet. The latter may even have gotten to kiss her in ''The Slippery Slope''.]]

* EvilRedhead: 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.

%%

* SpoiledBrat: She joins Count Olaf's troupe because she wants even more money, when she already has enough money for a penthouse with 100s and 100s of rooms.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The only reporter we see in the series is in Squalor's fan club.[[spoiler: Many members of the public feel sorry for her because they believe her boyfriend was murdered.]]

* WouldHurtAChild: On many occasions. [[spoiler: She was astonished when the two white faced women refused to throw Sunny off a cliff.]]

* BadBedroomBadLife: See below.

%%* ButtMonkey: When anything good happens, it doesn't last long.
* TheCassandra: They are usually ignored.

** The general public also refuse to believe [[spoiler: the Baudelaries aren't murderers. ]]

%%* CosmicPlaything: See the ButtMonkey trope.
* DespairEventHorizon: A variant: in Book the Twelfth, the Baudelaires [[spoiler:lose faith in the justice system and in staying "noble" people after realizing the judges of their KangarooCourt 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 [[spoiler:to return to society when they outgrow the deserted island and need to see how the world has fared.]]

%%* OrphansOrdeal: The poster children for this trope.

* TomboyishPonytail: in the film and TV adaptations, anyway.

* DirtyOldMan: In regards to Violet. He constantly comments on how pretty she is even when he has her trapped in Olaf’s tower in “The Bad Beginning”.

* HookHand: ''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 proshetics.

* NoFullNameGiven: 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.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:In the 12th book, ditches Olaf with his sister offscreen.]]
* StealthMentor: 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, [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor this starts to make more sense.]]

* BaldOfEvil: Obviously.

* KickTheDog: Though tripping Klaus and breaking his glasses was part of the plan, he didn't need to enjoy it so much.
** Also seen in his disguise as Foreman Flacutono where he treats the mill workers very rudely and poorly.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: Jane and Jen in the film and video game. A case of TheDanza with them being played by Jane Adams and Jennifer Coolidge.

* InformedAttribute: 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.

* InformedAttribute: He is noted as being "important looking" but what exactly makes him important is not clear.

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

* RaceLift: Jamie Harris is white, while Usman Ally is of African and Pakistani heritage.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Not nice as much, but he isn't creepy especially in the 2004 film, being more of a ButtMonkey