!!The Baudelaires

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

* AmbiguouslyJewish:
* BadassAdorable: All three. Especially Sunny, who's badass even though she's a baby.
* {{Badass Bookworm}}s
* TheBeautifulElite
* {{Break The Cutie}}s: Not quite, but it comes pretty damn close at times.
* [[BrotherSisterTeam Brother Sisters Team]]
* {{Butt Monkey}}s
* TheCassandra
* CassandraTruth: No one believes the Baudelaires whenever they see Count Olaf, except in the final book.
* {{Common Sense}}
* CinderellaCircumstances: With Count Olaf.
* ClarkKenting: The group does this a few times.
* [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan Conveniently Three Orphans]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The Baudelaires fear this and even do some morally questionable things later on - it's actually quoted in the tenth book.
* PowerTrio
* ProperlyParanoid: They aren't just seeing things; Count Olaf IS always there.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane People]]
* OrphansOrdeal
* {{Seekers}}: Eventually.
* WeirdnessMagnet
* WiseBeyondTheirYears

!!Violet Baudelaire

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

* CoolBigSis
* CharacterTics: Violet always ties her hair back when she's thinking hard - usually about inventing.
* GadgeteerGenius
* LethalChef: Violet burns everything she cooks, even toast.
* MacGyvering
* [[MrFixit Ms. Fixit]]
* PerkyGoth: Violet's character design changes from a rather innocent 50's girl style, to a lolita-style goth.
* PromotionToParent: Violet takes the vow she made to look after her younger siblings very seriously.
* WrenchWench

!!Klaus Baudelaire

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.

* {{Adorably Precocious Child}}
* {{Bookworm}}[=/=]BadassBookworm: Though all the siblings qualify as this, Klaus's thing is that he uses books to kick ass.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: In Book the Fourth; he even appears to have MindControlEyes on the cover.
* CharacterTics: Klaus has a habit of polishing his glasses.
* RunningGag: Adults explaining the definition of words to Klaus that he already knows.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Klaus is fond of big words, much to the annoyance of the villains. He also explains the definitions of words to his siblings often.
* MiddleChildSyndrome[=/=] SiblingRivalry: Klaus originally resented Sunny when she was born, but got over it quickly when he got to know her.

!!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.

* BabyTalk
* CharacterTics: 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.
* ChefOfIron
* {{Child Prodigy}}: What she will definitely grow up to be.
* DeadpanSnarker: In BabyTalk. Especially prominent in the movie, where every other thing she says is some kind of insult or sarcasm.
* IntelligibleUnintelligible: People who know her well 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|ing}}", when somebody mentions a train, she says "[[SdrawkcabName Esoobac]]", when talking about going undercover, she says "{{Dragnet}}", and when somebody asks her to do something impossible, she exclaims "Unfeasi!"
* {{Little Miss Badass}}: She once fought against a sword-wielding hypnotist with her teeth, and held her own for a good while.
!!Count Olaf

The main villain of the series. His goal is to get the Baudelaire 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.

* {{Abusive Parent|s}}: To the Baudelaires...an abusive foster parent, anyway.
* AristocratsAreEvil: Assuming he's actually a Count.
* [[BaldOfEvil Bald(ing) Of Evil]]
* BigBad
* CardCarryingVillain
* ClarkKenting
* CreepyCrossdresser: On two occasions.
* DevilInPlainSight
* DirtyOldMan: He hints he plans to [[spoiler:consummate his marriage with Violet]].
* EvilLaugh
* {{Fauxreigner}}: One of his disguises.
* HiddenDepths: Olaf has a MysteriousPast and is apparently an orphan himself. He also apparently [[spoiler:had some sort of relationship with Kit Snicket]].
* HighClassGlass: As Gunther.
* IllegalGuardian: Played utterly straight at first in book one.
* JustAStupidAccent: From the same disguise.
* [[spoiler:KarmicDeath]]
* LargeHam: Olaf's acting is VERY {{Narm}}y and over-the-top. Probably helps the Baudelaires recognize him all the time.
* LeanAndMean
* ManipulativeBastard
* PaperThinDisguise
* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:He has a moment with Kit just before his death that qualifies.]]
* 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."]]
* SmugSnake: Is he ''ever''.
* UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness: Olaf has VERY poor hygiene.
* [[spoiler:WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: 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.'']]
* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:The film makes it more blatant that he was responsible for the death of Baudelaires' parents and the burning of their mansion than in the book, as Klaus finds the giant magnifying glass responsible for it and exposes it by burning the wedding contract.]]

!!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.

* CruellaToAnimals
* FurAndLoathing: Esmé is said to wear a coat made from the fur of animals that had been killed in extremely nasty ways.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Her dress that looks like a fire. Lemony describes it as hideous, but really...
* IncomingHam: Her habit of dramatically announcing her full name to people who already know it.
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]
* PimpedOutDress
* RichBitch
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The only reporter we see in the series is in Squalor's fan club.

!!Lemony Snicket

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

* AlterEgoActing: Daniel Handler and Lemony Snicket - separate characters in the books themselves.
* AuthorAppeal: Mild example - Daniel Handler is something of a gourmand, and hence the LemonyNarrator 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.
* DoggedNiceGuy
* TheEeyore: He is very sad.
* TheFaceless: Largely because he's [[spoiler:a wanted criminal]].
* GreekChorus: Lemony Snicket provides a running commentary on the events, and often addresses the reader directly.
* LemonyNarrator: [[TropeNamer Of course]].
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis
* LovableCoward
* {{Narrator}}
* PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: 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.
* StalkerWithACrush: [[NotASubversion Inverted]] - Lemony's a good guy, but he does [[spoiler:stalk the children of the woman he loved but couldn't have but should have had]].

!!VFD

The mysterious initials of a shadowy organization that everyone - from Olaf to the Baudelaires' parents - is connected to.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Some members qualify as this.
* TheGhost: Several characters.
* KnightsTemplar: Gregor Anwhistle, who wanted to use the deadly Medusoid Mycelium on V.F.D.'s enemies.
* MilkmanConspiracy
* MysteriousPast
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: 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.
* SpySpeak
* ThemeInitials

!!The Quagmires

The Baudelaires' friends are a identical brother and sister whose brother Quigley died in a fire. Referring to themselves as "triplets" (just because Quigley's dead doesn't mean they were born twins), they help the Baudelaires out and get kidnapped for their trouble. Duncan is a journalist while Isadora is a poet specializing in couplets. [[spoiler:Later on, Quigley is revealed to have survived.]]

* AlliterativeName: Quigley Quagmire.
* [[AngstySurvivingTwin Angsty Surviving Triplets]]: Duncan and Isadora mourn their brother Quigley.
* BrotherSisterTeam
* HalfIdenticalTwins
* InsistentTerminology: They're triplets, not twins.
* PutOnABus
* ThemeNaming: Isadora and Duncan.
** OddNameOut: Isadora, Duncan, and Quigley.

!!Carmelita Spats

The bratty girl becomes a hindrance to the Baudelaires in book 5 and is later adopted by Olaf and Esme.

* AlphaBitch
* BrattyHalfPint
* 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."
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Her [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot "tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian"]] costume from the eleventh book.
* {{Jerkass}}
* TykeBomb: In her second appearance, Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor adopt Carmelita Spats as a TykeBomb, but she's so thoroughly spoilt 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.

!!Count Olaf's Troupe

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

* AmbiguousGender: The Person of Indeterminate Gender, a.k.a. the enormous person who looked like neither a man or a woman.
* DirtyOldMan: The Hook Handed Man, aka Fernald.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The reason that the white faced women HeelFaceTurn.
* HeelFaceTurn: The white faced women, thanks to Sunny.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: It seems like Fernald's whole life is a chain of HeelFaceTurn followed by FaceHeelTurn; in the eleventh book, he manages to do both in the space of ''three chapters''.
* HookHand: Fernald, a.k.a. "the hook-handed man."
* PunchClockVillain: Some of Olaf's troupe.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:The white-faced women]] fall victim to this in Book the Tenth, as apparently do [[spoiler:Fernald and Fiona]] in Book the Twelfth (albeit off-screen).
* TheTropeWithoutATitle: The white-faced women, the man with a beard but no hair... pretty much most of the troupe.

!!Other Characters

* AdultsAreUseless
* ApatheticCitizens: Most of society is unwilling and/or unable to fight injustice, and many would prefer to [[PassThePopcorn gawk at violence for entertainment]] than attempt to stop it, unless [[HypocriticalHumor it actually threatens them]].
* BrotherChuck: Phil, despite having just been brought back after an absence of seven books.
* BusCrash: [[spoiler:Let me see...Hector, the Quagmire triplets, Captain Widdershins, Fernald, Fiona]]. ''Maybe''.
* DirtyCoward: Aunt Josephine descends into this trope at the climax of ''The Wide Window.''
* DoggedNiceGuy: Jerome Squalor and maybe Charles (see below).
* FeetOfClay: Ishmael not only has clay on his feet, he has feet of clay.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Hugo, Colette, and Kevin, the "freaks," are a hunchback, contortionist, and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking ambidextrous]], respectively. {{Subverted|Trope}} by the fact that most people do indeed think they're disgusting freaks.
* {{Pollyanna}}: Phil
* PosthumousCharacter: Beatrice
* RepetitiveName: Dr. Montgomery Montgomery
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Charles, Jerome and Hector are all good-hearted and well-meaning men whose cowardice causes them to fail the Baudelaires.
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