Tropes for Lemony Snicket and Kit Snicket as adults should be put on the characters page for A Series of Unfortunate Events.
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Children
Lemony Snicket
An apprentice member of the V.F.D. As part of his training Lemony is sent to Stain'd-by-the-Sea to assist with a case, but gets entangled in a far more complicated plot.
- Badass Bookworm: He's always quoting different books that he's read and spends all his free time at the library, but he's also Kid Detective and something of a secret agent.
- Betty and Veronica: The Archie; choosing between his his loyal best friend Moxie (Betty), and the Fille Fatale Anti-Hero Ellington (Veronica).
- Bratty Half-Pint: A twelve-year-old who pretty always has a fitting sarcastic comment and is extremely arrogant.
- Byronic Hero: A cold, troubled, brooding, Anti-Hero. Seems to fit the bill.
- Child Prodigy: Will be a Teen Genius once he turns thirteen.
- The Cynic: Much more so than any of the other kids. Justified as he's the only one to be part of the V.F.D..
- Dark and Troubled Past: Many references are made to his childhood training by the V.F.D. which, while useful, sounds horrible.
- Deadpan Snarker: As always.
- Does Not Like Spam: He has a lot to say about honeydew melons, none of it good.
- The Faceless: Naturally, since it's Lemony Snicket. Whenever a picture with him is shown, his face is either in shadow, in silhouette, wearing a mask, or his back is facing the viewer.
- Guile Hero: Uses his wits to solve just about any problem. It helps that Adults Are Useless, of course, but he can hold his ground even against the smarter villains.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Deconstructed. Lemony sets out to be this for Theodora, reasoning that it will give him more time and freedom to do his own thing than if he went with a better chaperone. This backfires badly, however, when Theodora proves unpredictable.
- Insufferable Genius: Not as bad as some examples, but still qualifies.
- Kid Detective: Lemony is this, but when he's called this in the second book, he corrects the speaker. He is not a detective. His job is not to solve mysteries, it's to poke around and find information for his organization. He specifically calls himself a walking library stack.
- The Leader: Not officially, but he makes the plans for what they're going to do.
- Lemony Narrator: Even as a boy, Lemony's style continues to be idiosyncratic.
- Pragmatic Anti Hero: Lemony is a optimistic boy who cares about his friends and tries to give people the benefit of the doubt, but he's not above making tough decisions that may hurt people and is willing to kill someone who the law can't touch.
- Rebellious Spirit: Nearly got kicked out of the V.F.D. like ten times for breaking the rules, and he's not any better now.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Subverted as he's a Deadpan Snarker, but he's much more polite than his mentor Theodora, at least.
- The Smart Guy: Shares this role with Cleo, but, while she's a chemist, his intelligence is more devoted to literature and cleverness.
- Survival Mantra: "Get scared later!"
- Trademark Favorite Food: Root beer and root beer floats. Too bad no one in Stain'd sells root beer.
Kit Snicket
A young blond-haired woman shown at the beginning and end of each book enacting her own plan, possibly concurrent with Lemony's adventure.
- Anti-Hero: Presumably. She stole an artifact from the museum, but Snicknet insists she's doing it for good reasons.
- Big Sister Instinct: To Snicket.
- Hero of Another Story: Assuming what she's doing is heroic.
- Kid Hero: If her actions could be considered heroic.
- Walking Spoiler: There's a very good reason to why her name is marked.
Moxie Mallahan
The only remaining journalist at the The Stain'd Lighthouse newspaper. Works as Lemony's Number Two so she can get the latest story. Carries a typewriter with her everywhere.
- Badass Bookworm: Of course.
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Ellington's Veronica and Snicket's Archie.
- Bifauxnen: At least in terms of her outfit, which consist of a bowler hat, a tie, a sweater vest, a dress shirt, and pants.
- Deadpan Snarker: Arguably more than Snicket.
- Establishing Character Moment: Welcoming Lemony into the house, showing pride in her reporter roots, expressing some lead ness at her mother’s absence but confidence that she’ll send for her, realizing that he’s up to something due to Theodora being a Bad Liar but hiding Her suspicions from him, and casually delivering exposition which reveals that a lot of what Lemony has been told so far was a lie.
- Girl Friday: Fits this role in relation to Lemony, even though she doesn't work for him, as part of the whole Film Noir theme.
- Girl Next Door: Seems to fit.
- Guile Hero: Enough to impress Snicket.
- Intrepid Reporter: Once she meets Snicket.
- The Lancer: To Snicket's leader.
- Missing Mom: Moxie's is alive, but she works for the newspaper in the city, and Moxie hopes to soon join her. The last book confirms that Moxie's mother has essentially abandoned her and will never return, despite Moxie's beliefs.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Snicket, but she doesn't seem to see the relationship as 'platonic' as he does. Eventually subverted when she's horrified by his decision to feed Hangfire to the Bombinating Beast.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Not nearly as bad as most examples, but she's more naive than Snicket's other friends.
Stew Mitchum
The spoiled son of the only two cops in town. A vile and remorseless bully.
- The Bully: Stew Mitchum is a bratty boy who blames all his misdeeds on Lemony and gets away with it because his parents are policemen.
- Creepy Child: Stew reveals himself to be this in the second book. He has a friend who's good with a knife... Graduates to full blown crazy in the last book, where he kills Qwerty and frightens his parents into covering it up.
- Dumb Muscle: Can beat Snicket up, but can't reply to his sarcastic comments.
- Hate Sink: Stew doesn't have a single redeemable feature or action, you're not supposed to like him.
- Karma Houdini: Murders Qwerty, doesn't feel bad about it, and gets away with it too because of who his parents are.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Starts out as just a mean kid, but becomes a murderer in the last book.
Pecuchet "Pip" and Bouvard "Squeak" Bellerophon
The owners of the last taxi service in Stain'd-by-the-Sea. They are too young to drive a cab on their own, so Pip works the steering wheel and Squeak works the pedals. They give Lemony rides around town in exchange for book recommendations.
- Alliterative Name: Bouvard Bellorophon.
- The Baby of the Bunch: A few years younger then Snicket and Moxie, who are the youngest of the kids.
- Badass Bookworm: The most after Snicket. They except book recommendations for cab rides instead of money. He advises them to take over for Qwerty as Stain'd-by-the-Sea's new librarians at the end of the final book.
- Badass Driver: Of the school kid version.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Presumably, but it's never said exactly what it is beyond their father always being either sick or unavailable.
- Honorary True Companion: To Snicket and his friends. They'll drive them out of any sticky situation, but don't have the same loyalty to him as the others do and they often to business to others.
- Never Bareheaded: Pip is always seen wearing what seems to be a postman's hat, and Squeak is always seen wearing a comfortable looking beanie.
- Punny Name: They're both too small to drive are car because they're pipsqueaks.
- Their real names are a clear reference to "Bouvard et Pecuchet", a notoriously unfinished novel by Gustave Flaubert.
- Their surname, Bellerophon, comes from a Greek hero who famously tamed and rode Pegasus.
- Those Two Guys: Far less developed than the other characters and are never separated.
Jake Hix
A short order cook that works at Hungry's. Feeds Snicket in exchange for book tips. Boyfriend of Cleo Knight.
Cleo Knight
The daughter of the the owners of Ink Inc., Stain'd-by-the-Sea's biggest company. Is kidnapped in Where Did You See Her Last?. Girlfriend of Jake Hix.
- Cool Car: Her fancy car the Dilemma, which is fast enough and strong enough to get everyone out of all sorts of dilemmas. Lemony loves it.
- Damsel out of Distress: Cleo is kidnapped before the start of Where Did You See Her Last?, but when Lemony finally finds her she's about ready to escape on her own.
- Official Couple: With Jake.
- Last-Name Basis: In When Did You See Her Last? Nearly everyone in town, even her parents, call her Ms. Knight. The fact that Jake calls her Cleo is what clues Lemony onto the fact that he knows her better than he'd let on. This is subverted in the remaining two books, where she's made more friends among Lemony and the others, and they all call her Cleo.
- Tranquil Fury: Towards Hangfire's henchman who was holding her prisoner and drugging her family at the end of When Did You See Her Last? to the point where he Screams Like a Little Girl.
Ellington Feint
Another newcomer to Stain'd-by-the-Sea. Ellington is trying to rescue her kidnapped father, which makes her alternate between interfering with Lemony's cases and helping him out.
- Anti-Hero: Does wrong thing after wrong thing, but only wants to save her father.
- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to to Moxie's Betty and Snicket's Archie.
- Byronic Hero: The rare female version.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Yet Lemony keeps trusting her again and again.
- Fille Fatale: For every Hardboiled Detective there's a Femme Fatale, for Lemony's Kid Detective there's Ellington Feint. Mysterious? Check, moraly ambiguous? Check, uses her beauty and charms to fool the hero who foolishly tries to redeem her? check check and check.
- Guile Hero: Guile Anti-Hero. Even smarter than Snicket—much to his surprise.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Revealed in the end to have been firmly on the bad side all along.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Her father is a naturalist and Hangfire.
- Must Have Caffeine: Ellington is a huge coffee addict, and she says it's the only thing she drinks.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: All she wants is to save her father, and she will screw over everybody if she thinks it will help save her father.
Kellar Haines
The son and typist for the local head of the department of Education, who is harboring a dark secret.
- Heel–Face Turn: He's helping his mother round up kids for Hangfire but hates doing so and tries to provide clues to help Lemony before joining him outright.
- The Un-Favorite: His mother clearly cares more about his missing sister than Kellar, forcing him to help her break the law to get Hangfire to return her, and then even selling out Kellar himself to be Hangfire's prisoner.
Ornette Lost
The daughter of local hotel owner Prosper Lost, and an origami sculptress.
- Heroic Bystander: She was the one who raised the alarm and helped evacuate the hotel during the fire that killed her mother.
Lizzie Haines
The sister of Kellar. An aspiring actress and hostage of Hangfire.
- Master of Disguise: She was studying acting under Dame Sally Murphy and is apparently good at it, managing to briefly fool Lemony in multiple male disguises.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She only appears three or four times in the last book (and only once undisguised) but her serving as Hangfire's hostage let him get away with most of his actions in the third book.
Adults
S. Theodora Markson
Lemony Snicket's chaperone and member of the V.F.D. Markson thinks she's a brilliant detective, but she's really an arrogant idiot.
- Bad Boss: Markson yells for Lemony to do things her way but it becomes clear that he's the smarter. Lemony confirms that he secretly arranged to have a terrible chaperone for his plan in the city.
- Dirty Coward: Won't risk her neck interfering with Hangfire's plans.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Absolutely trusts two of Hangfire's agents (the fake Mrs. Sallis and Sharon Haines).
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Often. One scene has her explaining the nature of Stain'd-by-the-Sea as the drive to town, saying that it's obvious there isn't a train to town (which Lemony wanted to wait for) before hearing a whistle and seeing a train going to the town.
- Miles Gloriosus: Theodora thinks she's a great teacher who is ranked twelfth on the list of best chaperones. She's actually ranked 52nd. Out of 52.
- Phrase Catcher: "What does the S stand for?"
- Shoot the Messenger: Sputters nastily and nearly slaps Lenony after he reveals her low ranking to her as a Shut Up, Hannibal! moment.
- Wild Hair: Has hair so long it reaches her feet, and so messy it once had two hairbrushes caught in it.
Dashiell Qwerty
The sub-librarian at the Stain'd-by-the-Sea's library.
- Almighty Janitor: As is the case with many librarians in the series, he control a lot of the information that gets funneled to the main characters, and does so responsibly and effectively.
- Badass Bookworm: Gives off this vibe with his intelligence, and the motorcycle jacket decorated in metal he wears, although he's never seen in a fight.
- Improbable Age: Downplayed, Lemony describes him as looking younger than you expect a librarian to be, with his description implying Qwerty is in his early thirties at the eldest. His relative youth is used to make him feel more accessible to the kids than the older adults do.
- Mysterious Benefactor: He's relatively new to town and always seems to know the right book that the kids will need for something to do with the plot.
- Nice Guy: Patient, understanding and never judgmental (except once to Theodora).
- Only Sane Man: The only adult who averts Adults Are Useless in the entire series.
- Open Secret: It's quickly made apparent that he probably realizes Lemony is sending coded messages to his sister in the city under the guise of looking for nonexistent books, but allows the charade to continue.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Tells Lemony that because he isn't a resident of the town he can't have a library card, but he can read books in the library and use his library card in The City to request loans That Qwerty can give him. This proves accommodating to Lemony's needs and is also one of the extremely rare examples of an adult competently and pleasantly doing a job the same way a real-world adult ideally would.
Harvey and Mimi Mitchum
Stain'd-by-the-Sea's only two police officers. Parents of Stew Mitchum. Terrible at their jobs and terrible parents.
- Adults Are Useless: One of the most painful examples in the series, due to the level of authority they possess.
- Awful Wedded Life: About 95% of their dialogue that doesn't embody their incompetence or Doting Parent nature is lobbing insults at each other.
- Doting Parents: The officers Mitchum fawn over their bratty son, unaware that he's the one doing all the local vandalism.
- Police Are Useless: To an incredibly frustrating degree. They don't get anything right and always interfere with Lemony's investigations and then blame him.
Prosper Lost
Owner of the Lost-Arms, the hotel where Theodora and Lemony stay at.
- Adults Are Useless: Averted, he doesn't do much to help Lemony, but largely because Lemony doesn't trust him enough to ask for the first half of the series. That being said, he understands the implications what's going on in the town better than most people.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Zigzagged, in that he has the same job as before, but once it was a lot more prosperous. Some time ago, his hotel had an additional wing, and a museum for his wife's sculptures before being struck by a fire, leading Lemony to an epiphany.Lemony: I had always found the hotel where I was living and the man who ran it to be shabby and uncomfortable. Not until now had I thought of either of them as damaged.
- Good Parents: He cares for his daughter, Ornette, showing pride in her accomplishments (such as sounding the alarm that allowed for an evacuation during the fire that killed her mother), and sending her away from the hotel to stay with her uncles where it's safer as the situation gets more perilous.
- The Lost Lenore: His wife Alice died in a fire, and his final scene in the series shows him sadly reminiscing about her.
- Meaningful Name: While it isn't fully obvious until his final scene, Prosper Lost used to be a prosperous businessman and happy Family Man before losing a great deal of his livelihood and happiness in a deadly fire.
- Only Sane Man: Not as much as Qwerty, but he's smarter than the rest of the Eccentric Townsfolk, isn't dismissive of bookworms, is somewhat observant, and is never really obstructive. Lemony even briefly wonders if he might be an undercover V.F.D. agent.
- Red Herring: Prosper's an eavesdropper with a somewhat false smile who seems suspicious at times but ultimately has no ulterior motives or major flaws.
- Stepford Smiler: He is a deeply unhappy man who tries to put on a happy front for his customers, but doesn't quite succeed, giving off a creepy vibe that makes Lemony view him as obseqious.
Dame Sally Murphy
A local theatrical legend and reluctant associate of Hangfire.
- Identity Impersonator: For most of the first book she's assumed the guise of a local rich woman whose left town.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: By the beginning of the fourth book she's trying to flee town to escape Hangfire.
- Ungrateful Bastard: She refuses to tell Lemony anything even after he saves her life.
Dr. Flammarion
The local apothecary and a henchman of Hangfire.
- Bald of Evil: A bald-headed, utterly sinister guy.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Lemony first sees his name on a package address in the first book, but the doctor doesn't appear in person until the second.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A bespectacled man who Would Hurt a Child and drugs people to make them complacent.
- Obviously Evil: He's introduced drugging people and being obstructive with a very sinister facial expression. Lemony can tell that the man is corrupt and malicious from the moment they meet.
- Put on a Prison Bus: He's never seen again after being arrested in the second book.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He is a bespectacled chemist.
Sharon Haines
Head of the department of education (or at least she claims to be).
- Forced into Evil: Hangfire is threatening her daughter, and there's hardly anything that she won't do in order to appease him.
Polly Partial
The local grocer.
- Bad Liar: Lemony isn't convinced when she tries to mislead him and Polly comments the grocery business is an honest one so she never picked up the ability to lie to people.
- Blind Mistake: She has poor eyesight and has difficulty recognizing people, especially Lemony.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: By the final book Polly's store has closed down and she's working as the ticket clerk at the train station.
- Grumpy Old Man: Gender Flipped. She has white hair based on the pictures, and she's sharp-tongued with Lemony in most to all of their scenes.
- Hidden Depths: She's seen reading To Kill a Mockingbird in her last scene and claims to like the book.
Hungry Hix
Jake's aunt and the owner of the local diner.
- Alliterative Name: Assuming Hungry is her real name.
- Hidden Depths: Hungry comments that she was once married to a man from Calcutta.
- Jerkass: Often noted as rude and unsympathetic.
- Promotion to Parent: She's stuck taking care of Jake because his parents fled town and are too scared to come back for him.
Mr. Mallahan
Moxie's father and the editor of the paper. Currently a depressed man who sleeps all day and never leaves his house.
- Adults Are Useless: While not shown as particularly stupid or unreasonable like most adults, his constant absence makes him apply nonetheless.
- Hands-Off Parenting: He has little to nothing to do with Moxie's day to day life and is rarely shown. If anything she does more to take care of him since he got depressed over her mother leaving.
- Sleepyhead: He spends most of his time asleep, in a depressed funk due to the departure of his wife.
Colonel Colophon
A local war hero and co-founder of Ink Inc. with Cleo's grandmother.
- Bandaged Face: He was severely injured in an explosion which has kept his face bandaged up ever since.
- Dead All Along: Hangfire threw him out of a window and has been impersonating him for some time.
- Destination Defenestration: After revealing that he's impersonating Colophon, Hangfire yanks back the curtains to reveal a hole in the window shaped like a human silhouette. He explains Colophon made that hole and then tries to throw Lemony out as well.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Discussed. He's praised as a hero of a long ago war but Moxie comments that the war itself wasn't a black and white issue and that there were those who felt Colophon didn't deserve a statue. The truth of the matter isn't elaborated on though.
- Intergenerational Friendship: While disguised as the Colonel, Hangfire claims that Cleo would visit him sometimes and help him change his bandages. While it wasn't the real colonel saying that, it does ring somewhat true.
- The Teetotaler: Colophon doesn't drink alcohol, which helps Lemony realize Hangfire is impersonating him.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He never appears in the story personally, but it was the destruction of a habitat of endangered moths when a statue of him was being built which caused Hangfire to declare war on the town.
Walleye, Pocket, and Eratosthenes
Three librarians from a neighboring area who travel on the same train as the core characters in the final book.
- Genre Savvy: They briefly discuss and lampshade the nature of fragmentary plots where not everyone knows what is going on, which is a prominent theme.
- Grew a Spine: The three are threatened into lying about a murder and framing an innocent (albeit unpleasant) party, but later accuse the real culprit after being shamed by Lemony.
- Locked Out of the Loop: The three librarians are among the only characters in the story who are ignorant about the history of Stain'd-by-the-Sea and are interested when Lemony recaps everything in the final scene.
Gifford and Ghede
Gifford and Ghede
Two volunteers involved in the museum break-in Kit is working on. They impersonate Mr. and Mrs. Snicket to try to kidnap Lemony and enlist his help in the first book and make minor reappearances later on.- The Dividual: They have little independent characterization and always appear together.
- Hero of Another Story: They want to help the fairly heroic Kit break into a museum (which is mostly separate from the main plot) for reasons they imply have great significance for their organization. However, they could be villains of another story instead, given how they try to drug and kidnap Lemony, and he seems to have mixed feelings about what Kit is up to.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: According to one illustration, they wear masks while posing as cops.
Hangfire
The main villain of All the Wrong Questions. Kidnaps and commits arson as part of a sinister plot to doom Stain'd-by-the-Sea.
- Big Bad: All the immediate troubles for Stain'd-by-the-Sea can be traced back to him.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Hangfire is the father of Ellington Feint, which she is unaware of.
- Meaningful Name: Lampshaded by Lemony, when explaining that "hangfire" is actually a word which means, essentially, the delay before something really bad happens.
- Voice Changeling: Uses this ability several times to fool the heroes.
