The Baudelaire orphans and their deceased parents, as depicted in the 2017 adaptation of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
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In General
The Baudelaire Orphans
The three orphans of the Baudelaire family, they were sent to live with their (geographically) closest living relative Count Olaf when their parents perished in a terrible fire.
- A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family: Klaus (a boy), Violet (a girl), and Sunny (a baby girl) after their parents die.
- Action Survivor: After all the dramas and events like almost eaten by a lion, several fires and a People-Killing poison, they are definitely THIS. Special mention due of their age.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: "The Vile Village" for Klaus and "The Grim Grotto" for Violet. While their ages were stated in the first episode of season 1, the ages they turn (13 and 15 respectively) aren't mentioned in the actual episodes.
- All of the Other Reindeer: The people of the Lucky Smells Mill hate them because they think their parents burned down Paltryville.
- Ambiguously Jewish: They know some Hebrew words, and Daniel Handler has said all his characters are written as Jewish by default. No mention is made of their religion, or if they even have one, though.
- Ambiguous Situation: Their current status. The entire show is narrated by Lemony many years after the events already happened. He confesses in season 2 that he has no idea what the Baudelaire's current situation is, whether they are dead or where they are. Subverted in the final episode, where it's revealed that for most of the narration Lemony only knew up to what had happened to them in the second-to-last episode, with the final episode serving more as an epilogue where he learns of their fate from his niece who was raised by the siblings during the time period Lemony couldn't track them. While the siblings themselves don't appear, it can be safely assumed by his niece's age (roughly 10) that the siblings have survived to adulthood.
- Badass Adorable: Very young, very cute, and way more competent than they have a right to be. Given what Olaf is trying to do, this is probably from necessity.
- Badass Family: They're siblings, they've been close to death quite a few times, they always make it out.
- The Beautiful Elite: The Baudelaires are from a vastly wealthy and likely upper-class family, and are described by Lemony Snicket as possessing pleasant facial features. Also counts as Beauty Equals Goodness.
- Brainy Brunette: Violet and Klaus.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Klaus is decidedly the less optimistic and the first to bring up a flaw in any plan, while Violet acts fairly gently and even dresses relatively girly.
- Brother–Sister Team: Well, two sisters, but they're all a team.
- The Cassandra: No one ever really seems to fully believe them until it is too late.
- Cassandra Truth: They will always spot Count Olaf, and they will never be believed by anyone about it.
- Dark and Troubled Past: And how! It's really the entire premise of the show, in case you couldn't guess from the title.
- Divergent Character Evolution: An adaptational example; in the books, they all three had roughly the same basic personality of "polite, intelligent child with a special interest", with that special interest being their only real distinction. In the series, Violet has taken on the role of the cautiously-optimistic leader, Klaus is the group cynic most prone to snarking and embracing VFD eccentricities when trying to outwit Olaf, and Sunny has become a fearless, chaotic loose-cannon.
- Foregone Conclusion: Lemony reveals in the second half of "The Reptile Room" that they managed to survive their childhoods to thoroughly regret them.
- Frame-Up: They are framed for the murder of Jacques Snicket (mistaken for Count Olaf). Specifically, Sunny is framed for the murder and Klaus and Violet are framed as accomplices. Adding insult to injury, they are later also framed with the burning of the Heimlich Hospital.
- Freudian Trio: Much like in the books, Sunny the baby fills the Id, Klaus the walking encyclopedia fills the Superego, and Violet usually leads the family as the Ego.
- Fugitive Arc: As a result of the aforementioned Frame-Up, the siblings spend the latter half of the series running from Olaf's gang and authorities alike, constantly trying to avoid being recognized while also trying to figure out how to clear their names.
- Growing Up Sucks: All three are forced to grow up far too fast and too soon for kids their age, compounded with all of the horrible dangers and traumatic experiences they experience over the course of the series.
- Had to Be Sharp: For continue to survive they must use tricks, strategies, respective skills and even manipulation and that since Count Olaf entered in their lives.
- Little Miss Badass: Violet and Sunny.
- Only Sane Man: The only ones who could see through Olaf's disguises.
- Orphan's Ordeal: The series starts with them losing their parents and their home in a fire, and things only go downhill from there. With all of the disaster that follows in their wake and how often they get sent from place to place, they've barely had a chance to grieve their parents properly, much less everyone else who's died since.
- Parental Abandonment: Their parents die in a fire at the start of the series.
- Promotion to Parent: Violet and Klaus to Sunny, and later to Beatrice II
- Properly Paranoid: Justified since Count Olaf always finds them.
- Rich Kids: They used to be and they'll inherit their parents' enormous fortune when Violet comes of age.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Nearly all the adults in their lives are either completely incompetent or, at best, make a few fatal mistakes.
- Swapped Roles: After Count Olaf frames them for murder they have to spend the later half of the series mostly following Olaf's theater troupe around and wearing disguises.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: The lunette they get as of Season 2, which functionalities include working as a lunette, decode messages, be a heater and be a lantern.
- Two Girls and a Guy: Their gender dynamic, contrasted with the Quagmires, who are the opposite trope.
- Underestimating Badassery: Often in the receiving end of this. People just keep forgetting how ingenious and smart they are, and how often they have been able to foil their enemies' plans through sheer wit.
- Vague Age: Klaus and Violet are identified as being 12 and 14 respectively in the very first episode, but Sunny is just generically referred to as being "an infant". Season 2 opens with the older siblings making a lampshading statement of "we've been sitting here for so long Sunny is beginning to look more like a toddler than a baby".
- Weirdness Magnet: Lampshaded. If something weird is going on, expect the Baudelaires to be there.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: At least, they're wise enough to see through Olaf's many schemes, while almost all adults can't.
Violet
Violet Baudelaire
Portrayed By: Malina Weissman
The eldest Baudelaire child, and the engineer of the family. The family fortune is in a trust until she comes of age.
- Badass in Distress: Violet is far too competent to be a Damsel in Distress, but is captured by Count Olaf at the end of "The Hostile Hospital, Part One." She's nearly manages to escape with Nurse Babs once captured, only for Babs to blow their cover and be immediately be caught again. Ultimately she's the one to get her and her siblings out of the hospital, all while still under the effects of anesthesia.
- Big Sister Instinct: Is very protective of her siblings because of a promise made to their parents.
- Calling the Old Man Out: She's furious when Josephine is too afraid to reveal she faked her own death, detailing how terrified the Baudelaires have been around Olaf thanks to her.Violet: We're all afraid. We were afraid when you brought home Count Olaf; we were afraid when we though you had jumped out a window; we were afraid to give ourselves allergic reactions; we were afraid to steal a sailboat; and we were afraid to make our way across Lake Lachrymose in the middle of a hurricane. But that didn't stop us!
- Character Tics: Tying her hair back and closing her eyes when thinking.
- Cool Big Sis: She's the eldest, she loves and protects her siblings, and she loves to invent.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Able to construct absurd gadgets with ease.
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Dresses relatively girly and acts fairly neutral, but her interests in lockpicking and mechanics are definitely rather tomboyish. This is actually played up from the books, where she hates the color pink. Amusingly, Season 3 has Violet say the line, "Some girls find "tomboy" to be an insulting term. That means their interests don't conform to somebody else's expectations."
- Iron Woobie: Despite all dramas who came in her life, Violet manages to stay The Determinator.
- It's All My Fault: In "The Miserable Mill, Part I."Violet: I promised our parents I'd always look out for Klaus. But I didn't. He wanted to leave and I made him stay. Except now he's acting strange. It's all my fault. There's no one else to fix it.
- Like Parent, Like Child: A Freeze-Frame Bonus in Sir's book from "The Miserable Mill" hints that Violet inherited her talent for inventing from her father Bertrand, who made a fire alarm out of a cowbell, a hammer, and a ten-foot pole to assist in the Paltryville Fire.
- Ms Fixit: Her main skill is being this.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue Oni to Klaus's Red Oni.
- Science Hero: She solves problems with her inventions and her creativity.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: When captured by Count Olaf at Heimlich Hospital, he straps Violet to a gurney and schedules a cranioectomy for her (a beheading, in other words), almost forcing Klaus to commit the deed.
- Symbol Motif Clothing: At least two of Violet's dresses have the images of whales.
- Team Mom: The oldest and most mature of the trio.
- Teen Genius: She's 14 and an inventor who can make useful inventions using what she has.
Klaus
Klaus Baudelaire
Portrayed By: Louis Hynes
The middle child, and the only boy. He is the reader of the family, absorbing information on everything from cooking to law, and often helps plan out how to use Violet's inventions.
- Adorkable: Around both Isadora and Fiona, both of whom flirt with him, Klaus becomes much less eloquent and much more awkwardly adorable.Klaus: You're both pretty smart, pretty strong-willed, pretty...pretty.
- Badass Bookworm: The most well-read out of the Baudelaire siblings, gifted with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything he's ever read, and just as capable in a scrap as his sisters.
- Big Brother Instinct: He shows a brotherly instinct towards his sisters and is very protective of them. He physically attacks the Hook-Handed Man when the latter tells him and Violet that Sunny is dead.
- Big Little Brother: By mid season 2, he’s significantly taller than his elder sister.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: While locked in a jail cell and being falsely accused for murder, Klaus realizes it's his birthday, and none of them remembered about it in the middle of the ruckus, not even himself.
- Bookworm: Klaus loves reading, hence why this trope's name is Count Olaf's preferred nickname for him.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: By Dr. Orwell while working at the mill.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Becomes increasingly disgusted with Poe over the course of their struggles, culminating in "The Wide Window, Part II."Klaus: We tried to tell you but you don't listen. You never listen.
- Catchphrase: "We know what [perfectly common word] means" whenever an adult talks down and condescendingly explains the definition of a word to him. Also, one that comes up less often is "Well, [word] means the [definition]."
- Child Prodigy: Only twelve years old and he can recall a full library's worth of knowledge and information.
- The Cynic: Klaus is decidedly less optimistic than either of his sisters, and the first to bring up a flaw in any plan.
- Deadpan Snarker: Again, the most cynical and mouthy of the Baudelaire orphans. Klaus tends to be more quickly frustrated and likely to snipe at the madness going on around him.
- Mouthy Kid: Klaus is usually the most likely of the three kids to talk back to adults.
- Perpetual Frowner: Even compared to his sisters. Not that he often has reason to.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: A devastating one, whenever he's terrified or upset, which given the nature of the series, is basically always. He's constantly got this going on.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red Oni to Violet's Blue Oni.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: A bespectacled kid who has a near limitless fount of obscure facts, literary quotes and loves to read for fun.
- The Smart Guy: While his sisters are very intelligent in their respective ways, Klaus brings a wealth of helpful facts from reading non-fiction to the table, which makes him invaluable as a tactician.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He's fond of using big words. He also loves explaining their definitions.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Well, strapped to a chair by Dr. Orwell and Olaf.
- Strong Family Resemblance: The epilogue of "The End" shows Klaus is the spitting image of his late father, Bertrand, right down to the glasses and wavy brown hair.
Sunny
Sunny Baudelaire
Portrayed By: Presley Smith; Tara Strong (voice)
The youngest child, still a baby. She possesses bizarrely powerful and precise teeth, and is much smarter than she has any right to be.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Sunny has black hair in the books like her older siblings, but she has blonde hair here.
- Baby Talk: Speaks in this. Her siblings and the Hook-Handed Man can understand her, but no one else can. In season 3, she mostly grows out of it.
- Badass in Distress: Is most frequently the one held captive, because she is a baby, after all—however, she's also a force to be reckoned with thanks to her sharp teeth and surprisingly developed motor skills. She got herself out of distress in the first storyline.
- Brainy Baby: Based on the subtitles, Sunny is surprisingly articulate in her own head.
- Buzzsaw Jaw: Using her teeth, Sunny is able to smooth a rock or shred a bunch of parsley in a matter of seconds.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Her skill with her teeth gets boosted in this adaptation, in which she can do things like strip a large log of bark in a manner of seconds using only her teeth.
- Friendly Enemy: With the Hook-Handed Man.
- Ironic Name: "Sunny" means bright and cheerful, but she is the saltiest and most confrontational of the Baudelaires.
- Little Miss Snarker: When she speaks she's usually very snarky.
- Morality Pet: The Hook-Handed Man seems to have a bit of a soft spot for her. He willingly plays poker with her (and lets her go when she wins a hand), and when Olaf threatens to drop her, he can be seen reaching out to catch her, just in case. When he thinks Olaf has kicked her, he also immediately runs over and asks if she's alright, seeming genuinely worried.
- Phrase Catcher: Whenever she says something indecipherable Violet or Klaus will say "What my sister means is that..."
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She has strong teeth and is very intelligent and brave despite her age and size.
- Play-Along Prisoner: She willingly decides to stay a captive in "The Slippery Slope" to spy on Count Olaf's troop, but not before taking Violet's lockpick to break herself out when the time came.
- Silent Snarker: Definitely the sassiest of the orphans. (Though she isn't so much silent as she is unintelligible)Sunny: [about Mr. Poe] You are a disgrace to your profession.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Due to the break in filming between seasons, she ages noticeably from a baby to toddler between the end of "The Miserable Mill, Part Two" and the beginning of "The Austere Academy," while In-Universe only a few minutes have passed. The show does joke about this when Violet points it out and Klaus says it feels like they've been waiting for months.
- Supreme Chef: Sunny's culinary talents are hinted at in "The Carnivorous Carnival, Part One", and come into play properly during season 3 to the point her stated profession is "chef".
- Terse Talker: While she finally starts getting the hang of speech in Season 3, she's only capable of saying so much. Her longest lines are four words long.
- The Unintelligible: To everyone but her siblings and Monty. And the Hook-Handed Man, for some reason.
- Wise Beyond Her Years: Seems to have a large vocabulary, even if she can't properly express it.
The Baudelaire Parents
Bertrand and Beatrice Baudelaire
Portrayed By: Morena Baccarin; Matthew James Dowden
The parents of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny who perished in a terrible fire that burned down their mansion. They left their enormous fortune to Violet when she comes of age. They are typically referred to as "your parents", but eventually we learn the father was named Bertrand and the mother was named Beatrice.
- Good Parents: Always discussed as loving and caring parents to Violet, Klaus and Sunny.
- Posthumous Character: Their deaths trigger the titular events that befall their children.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Downplayed in the case of Beatrice. While Lemony pines after her as he does in the novels, how she felt about him was ambiguous. Here, it's explicit that she returned his feelings but turned down his proposal.
- Second Love: In spite of her requited love for Lemony, all signs point to Beatrice having been Happily Married to Bertrand.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Beatrice initiated the schism in VFD by accidentally killing Olaf's father.
- Walking Spoiler: In two regards. Firstly, in Season 1 viewers are led to believe the Baudelaire parents are still alive, but the living parents turn out to be another family's parents. Secondly, in Season 3 we learn that the Baudelaire mother is the same person as Lemony's lost love Beatrice.
Beatrice II
Beatrice Baudelaire II
Portrayed By: Angelina Capozzoli
The daughter of Kit Snicket and Dewey Denouement. After the death of her parents, she was adopted and raised by the Baudelaire orphans.
- Dead Guy Junior: She is named after the Baudelaires' mother.
- God-Created Canon Foreigner: In a way. She's the Beatrice who, in The Beatrice Letters sends a letter asking Lemony to meet with her, and her one appearance is that very meeting.
