Klaus Baudelaire

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A Series of Unfortunate Events character
Klaus, as drawn by Brett Helquist.
Klaus Baudelaire
Gender	Male
Hair color	Black
Age	13
Film actor	Liam Aiken
1st appearance	The Bad Beginning
V.F.D. alliance	Volunteer side of the schism

Klaus Baudelaire is one of the central characters in the popular children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. His first name is derived from Claus von Bülow.

Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny. He is twelve years old at the beginning of the series, and turns thirteen in The Vile Village.

Klaus is an avid reader with a photographic memory. His favorite book is The Complete History of Absolutely Everything, Volume 127 - Cauldron to Caution. He remembers everything he reads, retaining information which often helps the Baudelaires to escape from dangerous situations. Also as a result of this, he speaks many languages. Klaus always seems to know the definition of words that leave others baffled.

Klaus despises parsley soda.

In the beginning of the series, Klaus loses his parents in a fire which consumes the family home. From this point onwards, the villainous Count Olaf tries to steal the enormous Baudelaire fortune from the orphans, using various nefarious schemes.

In The Austere Academy, Klaus and his siblings meet Duncan and Isadora Quagmire. A friendship develops between Klaus and Isadora, from whom Klaus learns the usefulness of a case book. In book eleven, The Grim Grotto, Fiona kisses Klaus before joining Count Olaf. What will become of these relationships is unknown.

In The Hostile Hospital, Klaus decodes anagrams (using alphabet soup) in order to save Violet, and in The Wide Window and The Vile Village, he finds secret messages in letters from Aunt Josephine and the Quagmires.

[edit] Disguises

A recurring theme in the series is the Baudelaire children's disguises. At the end of The Vile Village, they are falsely accused of murder. From this point on, they have no more guardians, and are on the run from the police. While running from the police, Klaus assumes the following disguises:

• In The Hostile Hospital, Klaus disguises himself as a doctor, and is taken to be one of The White Faced Women, associates of Count Olaf.
• In The Carnivorous Carnival, Klaus and Violet dress as a two-headed freak.
• In The Slippery Slope, Klaus poses both as a Snow Scout and as a Volunteer.
• In The Penultimate Peril, Klaus diguises himself as a hotel concierge.

[edit] Film adaptation

Klaus was portrayed in the film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events by Liam Aiken.