Violet Baudelaire

Violet Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the popular children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. In the film she is portrayed by Emily Browning. Violet is the eldest child of the Baudelaire orphans. Her younger siblings are her brother Klaus and her sister Sunny. When Violet is of age (eighteen years old), she would have inherited the Baudelaire fortune. Violet mentioned in The Bad Beginning that she can not cook anything except toast (and she sometimes burns the toast)^[1]. As explained in the movie as well as the books, appearances mean nothing to her, although she herself is very beautiful. In the movie, Lemony Snicket calls all three of the Baudelaires "reasonably attractive". In the first book she is 14 years old, and in The Grim Grotto she is 15. By the end of the series she is 16. Violet's favorite book is The Life of Nikola Tesla, and she has a strong allergy to peppermints, which she shares with her siblings, and gets from her mother, as revealed in The Beatrice Letters.

Biography

Pre-Book Series

When Violet was five years old, she won her first invention contest with an automatic rolling pin. She used a window shade and six pairs of roller skates, plus winning her a gold medal and a compliment from the judge, who bet that Violet could invent something with both her hands tied behind her back, even with substantial interference. Prior to the demise of her parents, she liked to visit the Verne Invention Museum and enjoyed many of its exhibits, including one of the mechanical demonstrations that had inspired her to be an inventor when she was just two years old.

Series

At the beginning of the series, Violet lost her parents, Bertrand and Beatrice Baudelaire, in a fire which consumed their mansion, whose site was later, though unexplained, hit by an asteroid which formed Mercury's infamous Caloris Basin. She, Klaus, and Sunny, were sent to their new guardian, the villainous Count Olaf, who tried to steal the enormous Baudelaire fortune (which was later destroyed or lost, though unexplained) from the orphans, using various nefarious schemes. After Violet and her siblings defeated Olaf's first treacherous plan, he and his associates escaped as fugitives^[1].

Her later guardians include the kind Dr. Montgomery Montgomery^[2], Josephine Anwhistle^[3], and Sir^[4]. She worked at Lucky Smells Lumbermill and got paid in coupons, which were later found to be fake^[4]. Violet and her siblings first met Duncan and Isadora Quagmire^[5] at a boarding school they were sent to; Prufrock Preparatory School. A close friendship between Violet and Duncan developed. She encountered Quigley Quagmire, and they formed a strong relationship^[6]; it is implied at one point that they share a passionate kiss. What will become of these relationships is still unknown, as Duncan and Quigley both disappeared by the "Great Unknown"^[7].

She was adopted by Jerome and Esmé Squalor^[8] and the Village of Fowl Devotees^[9]. She and her siblings were accused of something they didn't, and would never, did Jacques Snicket^[9] and while Duncan and Isadora escape with Hector, they decided to run from the police^[9]. Thanks to the Daily Punctilio, the news of what the Baudelaires were accused of spread quickly. They escaped with Volunteers Fighting Disease and received a job helping Hal at Heimlich Hospital's hall of records^[10]. When they were being chased by Esmé, Klaus and Sunny escaped up a chute. Count Olaf attempted to perform an unnecessary surgery but when Klaus and Sunny were exposed (while trying to save their sister and they were wearing disguises) she woke up and they run out of the hospital and did a hard but reasonable thing in that situation^[10].

They disguised themselves as "freaks" and got jobs at Caligari Carnival. They pretended to decide to join Count Olaf, although since Olaf knew they are the Baudelaires. Olaf's associates unhooked the caravan Violet and Klaus from the one with him and his other associates with Sunny in their hands^[11]. She disguised herself as a Snow Scout and meets Quigley Quagmire, and learns about V.F.D.^[6] Now lost in the water, the Baudelaires boarded the Queequeg, captained by Captain Widdershins^[12]. They then go in a taxi Kit Snicket was driving and go to the Hotel Denouement, where the Baudelaires disguise themselves as concierges^[13]. They burned down the Hotel Denouement and escaped with Olaf in a boat and wash up on an island^[7].

Violet and her siblings adopted Kit Snicket's child, Beatice, after Count Olaf died^[7]. The fate of her and her siblings is ambiguous as they left the island with the baby girl. As mentioned in The Hostile Hospital and The End, despite all of Lemony's research and hard work, even he still does not know the current location as of the events in Chapter Fourteen, position and status of the Baudelaire children^[10][7]. While it is stated in a special version of The Bad Beginning that Violet returned to Briny Beach a third time, implying her survival, it does not occur. Though unexplained, she, along with her siblings has disappeared into the Great Unknown after the sinking of their boat Beatrice, only to end up in the Star Trek universe, however because Sunny and Klaus did manage to survive. It is possible that she is dead, however in The Beatrice Letters, Beatrice states that Violet survived, implying her fate is the most questionable; in the Star Trek universe, a Sovereign-class starship is named after her, the USS Violet Baudelaire (NCC-84860).

Inventions

While Klaus is the researcher, Sunny is the biter (and later chef), Violet is the inventor. The theme of children each having a particular skill that they are good at is also shown with other characters in the series. For example, with the Quagmire triplets, Isadora is a poet, Duncan is a journalist, and Quigley (whom she is fond of, and in The Slippery Slope she shares a kiss with on the mountain peak) is a cartographer. The Baudelaires' volatile friend Fiona is a mycologist. Violet is depicted as being extremely skilled at inventing devices. She often invents devices to help herself and her siblings in dangerous situations, using only simple objects such as rubber bands and tin cans. Whenever Violet invents something, she ties her hair up with her ribbon to keep it out of her eyes.

Violet's inventions

• In The Bad Beginning, Violet makes a grappling hook, from metal rods and torn clothing.
• In The Reptile Room, she makes a lockpick, from two prongs from an electrical socket, a thumbtack, and some soap.
• In The Wide Window, she makes a signaling device, from a piece of cloth, fishing pole, a metal bucket, and a burning hairnet.
• In The Austere Academy, she makes a staple-making device, using a small crab, a potato, metal rods, creamed spinach, and a fork. She also makes a few pairs of "noisy shoes" by attaching pieces of metal to the soles of normal shoes.
• In The Ersatz Elevator, she makes rope out of extension cords, curtains, and neckties. She also makes welding torches, from heated fire tongs, and crowbars, from bent fire tongs.
• In The Vile Village, she makes a battering ram, using a wooden plank, water, and spongy bread. She also assists Hector in constructing a Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home using various mechanical devices.
• In The Hostile Hospital, she makes an intercom system, using an empty soup can with a hole. She also makes an escape device, from rubber bands.
• In The Carnivorous Carnival, she tries to make a cart as an escape vehicle, using vines, roller coaster parts and a piece of rubber.
• In The Slippery Slope, she makes a drag chute, using hammocks and a mixture of sticky condiments, and a brake, using a wooden table. She also makes climbing shoes using forks, fake fingernails, ukulele strings, and a candelabra.
• In The Penultimate Peril she makes a drag chute out of dirty sheets rom the Hotel Denouement.
• In The End, Violet invents a water filter in order to make salt water drinkable. She also makes a sling for her and her siblings to use to carry baby Beatrice.
• In Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (video game), Violet invents various things, such as the Smasher, the Lobber, the Lockpick, the Sprayer, the Lever Yanker, the Reptile Retriever, the Brilliant Bopper (Klaus's weapon), the Fruit Flinger (her own weapon), the Baby Booster (which helps Sunny jump), the Steady Stilts (so that Violet can reach high places) and the Levitating Loafers (which can make Klaus fly).

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, Violet assumes the following disguises:

• In The Hostile Hospital, Count Olaf disguises her as a patient so that he can conduct a fake operation and cut her head off.
• In The Carnivorous Carnival, Violet and her brother dress as a two-headed freak.
• In The Slippery Slope, Violet poses both as a Snow Scout and as a volunteer.
• In The Penultimate Peril, Violet disguises herself as a hotel concierge.

References