Count Olaf

Template:ASUE character Count Olaf is the main villain from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events series. He is filthy, cruel, unscrupulous, and slovenly. He has a wheezy voice, and in The Grim Grotto, he develops an obnoxious villain laugh, which he abandons in The Penultimate Peril for a more succinct laugh, which Lemony Snicket defines as "only the word 'Ha!'“ Template:Spoiler

The Books

In the beginning of the series, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with Count Olaf, their closest living relative, after a mysterious fire destroys their home and kills their parents. While never explicitly stated, it has been implied that Olaf himself was responsible for the fire. Olaf inexplicably schemes to get the orphans' inheritance.

When the children first arrive at Count Olaf's home they are repulsed, although Olaf succeeds in fooling Mr. Poe into thinking that he is not after their fortune. His cover-up occupation is an actor in plays and other theaterworks. He has an entire group of similarly evil associates which he simply refers to as his "theatre troupe" and under the pseudonym "Al Funcoot" (an anagram of none other than "Count Olaf"), writes his own plays.

During the time the Baudelaires live with him, Olaf treats them horribly, striking Klaus on the face, hanging Sunny from a tower in a cage, and attempting to marry Violet to inherit the Baudelaire fortune.

After the outrageous plan to marry Violet Baudelaire to gain the inheritance goes awry, the children are sent to a different relative for each of the first few books. Count Olaf follows them each time, often killing the relative, in attempts to gain control of the inheritance.

In each of books II-VIII, Olaf wears a new disguise that fools everyone but the Baudelaires:

• Stephano (stā-fä’-nō/steɪ-fɑ-nəu), an assistant herpetologist with a long beard and no eyebrows
• Captain Julio Sham, a sailor with an eye-patch and a wooden leg
• Shirley T. Sinoit-Pécer, an optometrist's receptionist
• Coach Genghis, a gym teacher with a turban
• Gunther (go͞onter/guːnɾŗ [click here to hear]), a pinstripe suit-wearing auctioneer.
• Detective Dupin, a famous investigator obsessed with what's cool, including ridiculous sunglasses
• Olaf's last disguise is Mattathias (mă’-tə-thī’-əs/mæ\tə\θaɪ\əs), Heimlech Hospital's new HR director. His presence is only known from a scratchy voice over the intercom

After certain events in The Vile Village, it is no longer so necessary for Olaf to disguise himself.

He was a member of V.F.D., whence all his disguises come.

In the earlier books, Olaf seems to want only the fortune of the children, but later on, it is revealed that he also seeks the Quagmire sapphires, the Snicket File, and the sugar bowl. The Baudelaires presumably have evidence that could incriminate him, but their guardians don't believe them. Thus, Count Olaf gets away every time.

Recently, he was about to kill one of the Denoument triplets when the Baudelaires begged him to stop and be a noble person. Olaf whispered, "What else can I do?" This gave rise to speculation that Olaf is not entirely evil, but forced into his life by his past and by others.

In an interview with author Daniel Handler[1], the interviewer asked about how In the last couple of books the line between the good people and more treacherous ones seemed to have become a bit blurred. Handler responded with "It's sad isn't it? I think the Baudelaires are getting older, and one of the sad facts about getting older is that you've always thought of yourself and people you know as righteous and true and the people you dislike as evil. The older you get the more muddy that water becomes."

The cover of the thirteenth novel shows the Baudelaires' standing among the wreckage of a boat. In the forefront a man's pair of feet with one shoe missing is seen. The left ankle bears the familiar tattoo of Count Olaf's VFD insignia. While it seems probable that this is Count Olaf, Snicket likes to play on assumptions so it might be someone else.

Olaf's past

File:Count Olaf 2.jpg

'Omar'.

Count Olaf's youth is mentioned a few times over the course of the series, the most obvious being the reference in The Unauthorized Autobiography. In that book, there is a letter written by Sally Sebald that contains a picture of a young boy who was to play Young Rölf in Zombies in the Snow. She says that she thinks his name might be Omar (which is a name that many confuse with Count Olaf). This implies that Count Olaf was in Zombies in the Snow, which would make it a very old movie, for Count Olaf himself, disguised as Stephano, watched that movie with the Baudelaires and Montgomery Montgomery.

In The Bad Beginning, Count Olaf says that when he was a child he loved raspberries (and he is probably telling the truth). Soon after Violet says she cannot picture Olaf as a child — all his features seem to be those of an adult.

Another mysterious reference to Count Olaf's childhood is mentioned in The Penultimate Peril. In Chapter One, Kit mentions that she was able to smuggle a box of poison darts to the Baudelaire parents before Esmé Squalor caught her. Through a few subtle hints, we can gather that Lemony Snicket was present as well. Later in the book, when Olaf is confronting the Baudelaires and Dewey Denouement, he dares the Baudelaires to ask Dewey what happened that night at the theatre, implying that the Baudelaire parents, Dewey, and the Snickets were there for some sort of sinister purpose. Finally, in Chapter 12, Olaf reveals that poison darts were the reason he became an orphan himself.

The film

File:OlafMovieJimCarrey.jpg

Jim Carrey as Count Olaf in the 2004 film.

Count Olaf was portrayed by actor Jim Carrey in the film adaptation of the books.

Like much of the dark material from its source material, Count Olaf's character was toned down for the movie adaptation. Rather than being the sinister and amoral sociopath with a penchant for black humour as in the books, Jim Carrey played Olaf as a bumbling, arrogant fool.

A big change in the movie was the strong suggestion of Olaf's responsibility for the Baudelaire fire. Whereas it was mildly implied in the books (Olaf is a noted arsonist and has burned down several places), the implications are far stronger in the movie. At the climax of the film, we see Count Olaf has a giant spyglass pointed at Baudelaire mansion, presumably through which it was set alight.