Count Olaf's associates
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In the book series by Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Count Olaf originally had ten people in his theater troupe. Throughout the series he gained more of these associates, or rebegan work with older associates, including such primary characters as Esmé Squalor and the judges. Although most of these associates acted in plays, they also helped Olaf with his schemes. Eventually, each associate left or was killed, one by one, starting with Dr. Orwell and ending with the Esmé Squalor and the judges.
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[edit] Original troupe
[edit] Fernald (the hook-handed man)
An assassin-like figure and spy for Count Olaf. Frequently was exposed by the revelation that his alter-ego's hands were false, concealing hooks underneath.
[edit] The bald man with the long nose
| Flacutono | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First appearance | The Bad Beginning |
| Last appearance | The Carnivorous Carnival |
| Created by | Lemony Snicket (a.k.a. Daniel Handler) |
| Portrayed by | Luis Guzmán |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Mr. Flacutono |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | Adult (deceased) |
| Occupation | Actor and criminal |
The bald man with the long nose (or rarely, the bald-headed man) is one of Olaf's original troupe. His alias was Flacutono, an anagram of Count Olaf.
The bald-headed man helped with many of Count Olaf's schemes. In The Miserable Mill, wearing a white, curly wig and a surgical mask, he disguised himself as Foreman Flacutono, the foreman at Lucky Smells Lumbermill. Upon meeting the children, he said, "Children, midgets, what do I care?". He tripped Klaus Baudelaire several times, causing Klaus' glasses to break. The plan continued, as Klaus was then hypnotised at the optometrist's office where Count Olaf and his associate Dr. Orwell were working. His identity was revealed at the end of the book when he fled the mill with Count Olaf.
Violet has stated that she found the bald man the scariest of Olaf's people, possibly because of the threat he gave her in The Bad Beginning.
There is no other appearance of the bald-headed man until The Hostile Hospital. In this book, diguised in a costume similar to his disguise in The Miserable Mill, he calls himself Doctor Flacutono. He and Count Olaf's other associates attempt to perform the world's first cranioectomy (head removal) on Violet Baudelaire, with the intention of her death being ruled an accident, but she is saved by her siblings when they stall the surgery.
The bald-headed man met his end in The Carnivorous Carnival, when he fell into the carnival's lion pit, and was devoured by the lions along with Madame Lulu.
[edit] The wart-faced man
The wart-faced man made his first and only appearance in The Bad Beginning. He is also described as "important-looking". He was in control of the lighting at Count Olaf's play and had the job to shut down the stage lights so Olaf and the troupe could escape. This character was never mentioned again, but some fans believe that he is the bald-headed man, who was described on the audiobook's accompanying song as being a "long-nosed bald man with warts". However, this information was never supported in any of the books. A picture of him was seen in an online game, wherein he had a suit and tie explaining why he was described as "important-looking"; gray hair, and warts all over his face.
[edit] The one who looks like neither a man nor a woman
| Liza | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First appearance | The Bad Beginning |
| Last appearance | The Hostile Hospital |
| Created by | Lemony Snicket (a.k.a. Daniel Handler) |
| Portrayed by | Craig Ferguson |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | "[Olaf's] large associate" |
| Gender | unknown |
| Age | adult (presumably deceased) |
| Occupation | actor and criminal |
First described as "a person who was extremely fat, and who looked like neither a man nor a woman", the one who looks like neither a man nor a woman (also called the Brobdingnagian creature[1], the person of unknown gender and great girth[2] or, in the film, the person of indeterminate gender) is so extremely obese that he/she resembles neither a man nor a woman. Both the narrator and the characters talk about this person using phrases such as "he or she", "it", "the creature", "the person", "the massive creature", "the mountainous person" and "the big one". Even Olaf's other henchmen use such language, which suggests that they, too, are unsure about the person's gender. The author frequently refers to him or her as "the overweight accomplice".
He or she is often guarding something for Count Olaf, due to his/her size, such as the tower where Sunny is kept in The Bad Beginning, and the keys to the sailboats in The Wide Window. He or she has been shown to have the strength to swing Violet over his or her shoulder with one hand. In the books, he or she is often described as having a blank expression, making it even more difficult to distinguish his or her gender.
The Baudelaire children never hear this person speak, even when he or she is addressed by others. However, it apparently has power of communication, as it informs Count Olaf, disguised as Captain Sham, that the Baudelaires stole the sailboat in The Wide Window. The protagonists later hear the person of indeterminate gender laugh in The Hostile Hospital; this is described as "an odd laugh that sounded like a squeal and a howl at the same time".
The character speaks a few times in the film, with a slight Scottish accent. This person is also much slimmer in the film than as described as in the book. Here, he or she is a very minor character, only appearing at Olaf's dinner party and at the wedding scene, where he or she wears half of a bridesmaid gown sewn to half of a tuxedo.
Sunny Baudelaire refers to the person as "Orlando" at one point, a literary allusion to the Virginia Woolf novel, Orlando: A Biography, whose hero is a man who turns into a woman. Orlando is based on Vita Sackville-West, who was briefly Woolf's lover. In the film version of the story, the person of indeterminate gender (played by then future late night host Craig Ferguson) is referred to as "Lisa", but it is not known whether this name was given by the author or by the director. In the books, the character is never identified by name.
In The Hostile Hospital, his or her final appearance, he or she is seen as one of Count Olaf's henchpeople, disguised as a guard at Heimlich Hospital, first seen guarding a door where two more of Olaf's associates were hidden. This person does not speak even with his or her co-workers, as he or she does not speak to Esmé or Klaus and Sunny, whom he or she thinks are the two white-faced women. The character is not seen again after this until the final scene. It is the only one absent amongst Olaf's troupe that is trying to capture the Baudelaires in the Operating Theatre; however, as they escape, they whiz past him or her. He or she sees them, roars and chases after them, producing the second and last sound it is heard to make. The Baudelaires manage to escape from inside a closet, leaving the person inside as the hospital burns to the ground, where he or she most likely perishes. This marked the first death of one of Olaf's colleagues. Whilst the hook-handed man and the bald man show regret the loss of this person, Olaf claims that he or she was a fool and was not worth waiting around for.
[edit] The white-faced women
| Tocuna and Flo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First appearance | The Bad Beginning |
| Last appearance | The Slippery Slope |
| Created by | Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) |
| Portrayed by | Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Adams |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Flo and Tocuna |
| Gender | female |
| Age | adult |
| Occupation | actresses and criminals |
The two white-faced women are original members of Count Olaf's theatre troupe. Not much is actually known about them, other than the fact that they had another sibling, who died in a fire. The fire was implied to be caused by Count Olaf. However, since in the book, they state that "we lost a sibling in that fire"; thus it is implied that their sibling died in the fire of the mountain headquarters. Therefore, their sibling is probably a member of V.F.D., from whom they were divided in the schism. In this case, the two white-faced woman are shown to care about their sibling still, as they leave Count Olaf's troupe because of that fact.The women's most distinguishing feature is they always put white makeup on their face. They have stated that they consider their makeup freakish, but it is not said why they still put it on. Their aliases are Flo and Tocuna, which, if combined, are an anagram of "Count Olaf".
The women helped with Count Olaf's scheme in The Austere Academy. Disguised as two cafeteria workers with metal masks, they watched the Baudelaires and Duncan and Isadora Quagmire during the book. At the end, they forced the Quagmires into Count Olaf's automobile and drove away with them.
In The Hostile Hospital, they came into Violet Baudelaire's cranioectomy late, so that Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire were mistaken for the two white-faced women before they arrived. Shortly after the real White-Faced Women arrived, the Baudelaires ran to escape all of Count Olaf's associates in the operating theatre.
Tired with Olaf's continuous treachery, in addition to feeling sympathy for Sunny Baudelaire when she was kidnapped, the two sisters left Olaf's troupe in The Slippery Slope. The narrator states that he does not know what happened to the women after they walked away in the mountains, despite countless days of research, though there are many rumours about their fate.
[edit] Associates introduced later
[edit] Esmé Squalor
- An obnoxious, spiteful woman who abandoned her husband Jerome to elope with Count Olaf. Known to be murderous or sexually provocative at times.
[edit] Dr. Orwell
| Dr. Georgina Orwell | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Miserable Mill |
| Last appearance | The Miserable Mill |
| Cause/reason | Cut in half by a chainsaw |
| Created by | Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) |
| Information | |
| Gender | female |
| Age | adult (deceased) |
| Date of death | cut in half by saw |
| Occupation | optometrist, hypnotist |
Dr. Georgina Orwell is an optometrist living in the town of Paltryville. In The Miserable Mill, Dr. Orwell is a hypnotist and hypnotizes Klaus Baudelaire. Although it is likely that she is a genuine optometrist (having fixed Klaus' glasses), it is unclear whether Dr. Orwell had recently embarked on a new career as a hypnotist, whether it is merely a hobby of hers, or whether she has always been a hypnotist in some capacity. She sides with Count Olaf, as they had agreed to split the Baudelaire fortune equally, before the Baudelaires arrived at the mill.
She is described as tall woman with blonde hair in a tight bun with big black boots on her feet. She wears a long white coat with a name tag that reads 'Dr. Orwell' and holds a long black cane with a shiny red jewel on the top. In the same novel, she and Sunny Baudelaire have a swordfight in which Georgina pushes the red jewel on her cane, whereupon it instantly transforms into a sword.
Dr. Orwell is killed when she accidentally backs into a scrolling sawblade used for cutting wood.
Dr. Orwell's full name is Georgina Orwell, based on that of author George Orwell. The Big Brother eye and the hypnotism plot are links to Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four."
She may also have been a former member of V.F.D., as the optometrist disguise described in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography matches her appearance.
[edit] The judges
| man with a beard but no hair and the woman with hair but no beard |
|
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Slippery Slope |
| Last appearance | The Penultimate Peril |
| Created by | Lemony Snicket |
| Information | |
| Gender | male and female, respectively |
| Age | adult |
| Occupation | criminals and attorneys of law |
The man with a beard but no hair and the woman with hair but no beard are two fictional, villainous judges first appearing in The Slippery Slope. The man and women are said to have an "aura of menace", and even intimidate Count Olaf. They are so terrifying that Lemony Snicket claims himself afraid to so much as mention their names. They are first seen by the Baudelaires at the peak of Mount Fraught. They burned down V.F.D. headquarters and came to see Olaf. They had captured and retrained the V.F.D. Eagles, which obey their orders and even carry the sinister pair with them when they fly.
In The Penultimate Peril, it was revealed that the pair of them were two of the judges on the High Court (aside from Justice Strauss), and have been pretending to be interested in the Baudelaire case so that they could obtain all the information Justice Strauss had about the children. They then told Count Olaf everything they know to help him. At the end of The Penultimate Peril, a large fire consumes the Hotel Denouement and destroyed it while the two villains were inside, though it is unknown if they lived or died, as they were not seen in The End.
[edit] Associates gained later
Colette
| Colette | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Carnivorous Carnival |
| Last appearance | The Penultimate Peril |
| Created by | Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) |
| Information | |
| Gender | female |
| Age | adult |
| Occupation | Sideshow freak |
Colette is a contortionist. She first appears in The Carnivorous Carnival, in which she is employed at the Caligari Carnival in the House of Freaks.
When Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire were running from the authorities, for crimes they had not committed, the three children disguised themselves as freaks. This resulted in working with Colette and her co-workers. They lived in a caravan at the carnival with their colleagues and fellow freaks, Hugo, a hunchback and Kevin, who is ambidextrous. At the end of The Carnivorous Carnival, Colette, Hugo, and Kevin joined Count Olaf's associates.
Colette appears again as a minor character in The Slippery Slope and The Penultimate Peril. In The Penultimate Peril, she diguises herself as a chemist to help with Count Olaf's latest scheme. Whether she survives the fire in Hotel Denouement is unknown.
[edit] Fiona
[edit] Hugo
| Hugo | |
|---|---|
 |
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| First appearance | The Carnivorous Carnival |
| Last appearance | The Penultimate Peril |
| Created by | Daniel Handler |
| Information | |
| Gender | male |
| Age | adult |
| Occupation | Sideshow Freak |
Hugo, a hunchback, first appears in The Carnivorous Carnival. He is most likely named after Victor Hugo, the author of the well known book Hunchback of Notre Dame.
When the Baudelaires are running from the authorities, for crimes they did not commit, they disguise themselves as freaks. Violet and Klaus disguise themseveles as a two-headed freak in the Caligari Carnival, while Sunny is Chabo the wolf baby. They then find themselves working with Hugo, Colette, and Kevin. At the end of The Carnivorous Carnival, Hugo is bribed by Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor to join their evil troupe. Hugo also appears in The Slippery Slope as a very minor character.
Hugo the Hunchback appears again in The Penultimate Peril, disguised as an attendant in Hotel Denouement as part of one of Count Olaf's schemes. It is unknown whether he survived the fire that consumed the hotel.
Kevin
| Kevin | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Carnivorous Carnival |
| Last appearance | The Penultimate Peril |
| Created by | Daniel Handler |
| Information | |
| Gender | male |
| Age | adult |
| Occupation | Sideshow Freak |
Kevin is first seen in The Carnivorous Carnival as a member of Madame Lulu's freak show. His talent is that he is ambidextrous. He is very self-conscious about his ambidexterity, which seems to be utterly ridiculous. Kevin agrees to join Count Olaf's troupe after the Caligari Carnival is burned down. In the The Penultimate Peril, Kevin is disguised as a laundry maid in Hotel Denouement. It is unknown whether he survived the fire.
[edit] Sources
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