| NOTE: This page only covers the book and Netflix versions of Count Olaf, as his film version was voted Pure Evil, and thus only Count Olaf's crimes and deeds from the books and Netflix series should be put here. |
| “ | Hello, hello, hello. | „ |
| ~ Count Olaf's famous catchphrase. |
| “ | You know, some people say that the hardest job in the world is raising a child. But it is nothing compared to conceiving, writing, directing, producing and performing in a theatrical presentation for the purposes of stealing their dead parents' fortune. It's a very difficult job, and I will not have any orphans MUCKING IT UP! | „ |
| ~ Count Olaf |
Count Olaf is the main antagonist of the Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events franchise.
A former member of the Volunteer Fire Department, he is a greedy nobleman who will go any lengths to get what he wants, even if it involves murder. As such, he is the archenemy of Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire as one of his primary goals is to steal the Baudelaire's enormous fortune for himself.
In the Netflix series he is portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris, who also voiced Ray Thompson in Justice League and Dr. Blowhole in The Penguins of Madagascar.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- He was heavily implied to have been a troublesome child in the TV series and outright stated to be one in the books.
- He joined the fire-starting side of the VFD early on in the schism, likely helping start many deadly fires, both literal and figurative.
- While it's left ambiguous whether or not he was responsible for the fire that killed Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire, he was certainly happy it happened and took advantage of the aftermath.
- While he has comedic moments, he's taken seriously in universe.
- He forged the Baudelaires' legal documents so that he would become their guardian, as opposed to their Uncle Monty.
- He was incredibly abusive to the Baudelaires, forcing them the do strenuous chores, only giving them a small bed to share, and striking Klaus in the face because he questioned why Olaf was irritated that they made pasta instead of roast beef, despite him never requesting that or there even being any roast beef in the house.
- As a means of legally obtaining the Baudelaire fortune, he tried to forcefully marry Violet, who was a minor, and threatened to drop Sunny from the roof if she didn't comply, showing he was willing to even commit infanticide to get his way.
- He shot Gustav Sebald with a poisoned dart, leaving him to drown in a pond.
- He attempted to kidnap the Baudelaires while disguised as a reptile enthusiast called Stephano.
- He murdered Uncle Monty with a device replicating a snake bite and tried to kidnap the Baudelaires again to take them to Peru to use the relaxed guardianship laws there to obtain their fortune.
- He tried to fake a suicide note from Aunt Josephine that labels his disguise (Captain Sham) as their next guardian.
- He killed Aunt Josephine by pushing her into the leech-infested waters.
- He had Georgina Orwell hypnotize Klaus so he would cause a near-fatal work accident on hypnotized worker Phil, then attempted to have him cause a fatal one on the co-owner of the Lumber Mill, Charles.
- If he had any love for Georgina, he subverted it after her death, where he shows no concern and decides it would be best to go it alone from that point.
- When disguised as a gym teacher, he forced the Baudelaires to run long distances at night, so they would be too exhausted to pass their final exams and be expelled from school and open for kidnapping. When they passed, he would then attempt to change the rules, so they needed to beat him in an arm wrestle to stay.
- He kidnapped the two Quagmire triplets at Prufrock Preparatory School.
- He tried to kill Jerome Squalor with the help of his wife, Esmé, while they were the Baudelairs' guardians.
- He disguised Jaques Snicket as himself and murdered him, blaming it on the Baudelaires despite knowing the punishment for murder included being burned at the stake.
- He attempted to coerce Klaus into operating on Violet without any sedatives as a way of revealing his disguise
- He set a fire in Heimlich Hospital, burning it down.
- While disguised as a carnival worker, he led a freak show where he would psychologically abuse people who, despite being labelled as freaks, weren't particularly abnormal outside of some minor things.
- This continued when he encountered the Baudelaires in disguises as freaks and forced them to humiliate themselves in front of him, then in front of a live audience.
- He planned to have one of the freaks pushed into a lion's den. When the Baudelaires were picked as the unlucky candidates, he was only stopped from going through with it thanks to the intervention of Olivia Caliban, whom he subsequently fed to the lions in their place.
- He forced the Baudelaires to partake in his arson of the carnival he worked at, implicating them in his crimes.
- He unhooked the cart containing Violet and Klaus, intending for them to be driven off a cliff to their deaths.
- He turned Sunny into a slave whom he mistreated horribly.
- Under the influence of the Sinister Duo, he ordered his henchpeople to kill Sunny, only failing because she was protected by the Hook-Handed Man.
- He helped the Sinister Duo in their plot to kidnap the rich Snow Scout children and orphan them by burning down their parents' houses.
- He forced the Snow Scouts to work as slave labor in his submarine.
- He tried forcing the Baudelaires to retrieve the deadly Medusoid Mycelium fungus for him.
- He threatened to kill the Hook-Handed Man unless he and his sister rejoin his troupe, where they fortunately escape him.
- He used Ernest Denouement to murder Larry the waiter, throwing him in a pot of boiling soup.
- He tried to kill Dewey Denouement with a harpoon gun.
- During his trial, he attempted to criminalize the Baudelaires and rig the trial against them with the help of the Sinister Duo.
- He burned down Hotel Denouement, intending to kill the entire VFD inside, and kidnapped Justice Strauss alongside the Baudelaires.
- He disguised himself as Kit Snicket and tricked Ishmael into shooting him in the belly, releasing the Medusoid Mycelium on the island, and infecting everybody.
- Although he helped save Kit Snicket while she was in labor, this wasn't a redemption, as he admitted that he didn't feel remorse for his crimes.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He is tragic as he was initially one of the founding members of the VFD, and in the TV series was implied to have been much like the Baudelaires. However, during the schism, he experienced loss at the hands of the Baudelaire parents. In the books, Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire intentionally killed both his parents with a box of poisoned darts, while in the TV series, his beloved father was accidentally caught in the crossfire when Beatrice Baudelaire attempted to shoot a poisonous dart at Esmé Squalor, potentially motivating his hatred for the Baudelaires going forward. Following that, he was indoctrinated by the Sinister Duo into the fire-starting side of the VFD, mentors who were emotionally abusive and, as Lemony Snicket addressed, incredibly poor influences that likely increased Olaf’s already jaded views on the world. It got to the point where he was so broken by his tragedy that when the Baudelaires attempted to talk him out of killing Dewey Denouement with a harpoon gun, he softly responded, "It's all I know how to do".
- What's more, in the TV series, he even lets go of the harpoon gun, with the Baudelaires seemingly having gotten through to him (albeit temporarily), before they were interrupted by Mr. Poe, who caused the Baudelaires to accidentally shoot and kill Dewey anyway. This gives credit to the idea that Count Olaf was merely a victim of his own past trauma and wasn’t beyond saving, even by the time of the story.
- There are some people he cares for.
- He cares about his parents, with either both their deaths or his father's death (depending on the version) being what motivated his fall to villainy, with him also listing their deaths as a reason that he had lost too much to continue living after being fatally wounded by a harpoon gun in The End.
- Although he subverted his love for Georgina and Esmé, his love for Kit was 100% genuine as he went out of his way to save her in his dying moments while she was in labor and comforted her by reciting a poem to her.
- His death is ultimately played for sympathy too heavily for him to even be Near Pure Evil.
- Before succumbing to the wound in his belly, he does "one good thing" and carries Kit Snicket to shore while she is in labor. While this isn't a redemption, as he never felt remorse for his actions, it does paint him in a more positive light in his final moments.
- While lying on the beach with Kit, the narrative makes a point about addressing Count Olaf's more noble VFD roots he suppressed for so long. In the book, the children grow conflicted looking at his tattoo, as it was a reminder of all the suffering Olaf had put them through while also being the symbol of the group that had helped them so much after their parents' deaths. Olaf also recites poetry back to Kit, something he had never done previously, with it being considered the way members of the VFD communicated, while their enemies like Count Olaf had no such interest in literature.
- The poem he recited was The Verse by Philip Larkin. It is about generational trauma and how humans are destined to pass on suffering to one another. This could both implicitly reference Count Olaf's own generational trauma of being indoctrinated and manipulated by the Sinister Duo into joining the fire-starting side of the VFD schism, but it could also reference Olaf potentially fearing that he had passed on the trauma and need for revenge from his life to the lives of the Baudelaire children, and with it being his way of advising them not to be like him. This is backed up by the fact that Olaf specifically looks at the Baudelaires when reciting the poem's final line "don't have any kids yourself", before dying while looking like he was about to say something else to them.
- Despite everything he put the Baudelaires through, the children still mourn him in both versions of the story. In the books, they are described solemnly stopping at his grave and not saying anything before moving on. In the TV series, when Olaf dies, Violet and Klaus are struggling to hold back tears, with Sunny questioning if he was really gone, and Violet closing his eyes.
Trivia[]
- His movie version does not qualify as Inconsistently Heinous due to lacking any redeeming qualities.
External Links[]
- Count Olaf on the Villains Wiki
- His netflix counterpart on the Villains Wiki
- Count Olaf on the Lemony Snicket Wiki
