| “ | There's always something... | ” |
— Violet's determination
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Violet Baudelaire is the eldest of the three Baudelaire orphans. She has a younger brother, Klaus, and a baby sister, Sunny. Violet, along with her siblings, are the protagonists of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Like her siblings, Violet is intelligent, charming, polite, and resourceful. While she is not a supermodel, she has "pleasant facial features". Unfortunately, Violet is extremely unfortunate, a phrase which here means "having a continuous streak of bad luck."
Violet is fourteen at the beginning of the series, turns fifteen in The Grim Grotto, and is sixteen by the end of the series. By eighteen, she would have inherited the Baudelaire fortune.
Personality
| “ | We didn't lose our family. Only our parents. | ” |
— Violet to Count Olaf when he claims he triumphed the moment the Baudelaires lost their family, The Grim Grotto
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Violet is an intelligent inventor whose wits and skills have saved her and her siblings countless times from death. Anyone who knew Violet well could tell she was thinking hard, because her long hair was tied up in a ribbon to keep it out of her eyes. Violet had a real knack for inventing and building strange devices, so her brain was often filled with images of pulleys, levers, and gears, and she never wanted to be distracted by something as trivial as her hair, allowing her to keep focus.
Violet is possibly the greatest inventor of her time. When Violet was five years old, she won her first invention contest with an automatic rolling pin, which she made using a window shade and six pairs of roller skates. The judge praised Violet, saying she could invent anything with both her hands tied behind her back. Prior to the demise of her parents, she liked to visit the Verne Invention Museum and its many exhibits, including one of the mechanical demonstrations that inspired her to be an inventor when she was just two years old. Violet once invented a device to soothe her sister's teething pains.[3]
After her parents' deaths, Violet takes the lead in the family. Though she often collaborates with Klaus, she feels the weight of being the oldest sibling. Her parents said to her when Klaus was born, and again when they brought Sunny home from the hospital. "You are the eldest Baudelaire child," they had said, kindly but firmly. "And as the eldest, it will always be your responsibility to look after your younger siblings. Promise us that you will always watch out for them and make sure they don't get into trouble." This is why she invents the grappling hook to free Sunny from the tower: She risks her own safety and well-being to help her siblings and honor the promise she made her parents.
Violet's also probably the cleverest of the three children. Klaus is far more open and brass with his actions, but Violet often works in secret or tries to manipulate a situation to her advantage. For example, instead of refusing to star in The Marvelous Marriage, she suggests to Count Olaf that's she not really that great of an actress: "Count Olaf," Violet said, and then stopped herself. She wanted to argue her way out of playing his bride, but she didn't want to make him angry. "Father," she said, "I'm not sure I'm talented enough to perform professionally. I would hate to disgrace your good name and the name of Al Funcoot. Plus I'll be very busy in the next few weeks working on my inventions—and learning how to prepare roast beef," she added quickly, remembering how he had behaved about dinner. She also waits until the exact right moment when Count Olaf has revealed his villainy, but released Sunny, to tell everyone about how she's schemed her way out of the marriage.
Violet is unique in that she is stereotypically unfeminine. Violet hates the color pink; ironically, despite her dislike of pink, Brett Helquist has drawn Violet with pink hair ribbons and she wears pink outfits in the TV series. She rejects feminine toys such as dolls, preferring a model train to tinker with for engineering. Mr. Poe admonishes Violet for picking a lock, chastising her that properly behaved girls should not have such knowledge. Klaus defends his sister and argues for a more expansive view of feminine activities: "My sister is a nice girl... and she knows how to do all sorts of things." Violet is also a poor cook, and only knows how to make toast - sometimes, she even burns the toast.
Biography
The Bad Beginning
At the start of the Bad Beginning, Violet was at Briny Beach trying to invent a way to retrieve rocks after they have been skipped when Mr. Poe approached the orphans to regretfully inform them that their parents have perished (died) in an enormous fire that destroyed their entire home. Eventually, the children suspect that this fire was started by Count Olaf or another person on his side of the VFD schism.
Violet and her siblings are taken to Mr. Poe's house, where Mr. Poe lives with his wife, Polly, and their two beastly children, Edgar and Albert, before being taken to their closest relative (a phrase which here means, third or fourth cousin) Count Olaf's house. The three orphaned children are forced to do difficult housework (including cleaning the chimney and repairing windows) for the greedy and filthy Count while he schemes a way to take over the fortune that the Baudelaire parents left behind for their children. After reading up on nuptial law, Olaf discovers that a legal husband has legal rights to any money his legal wife has. This discovery leads to a plan that will allow him to legally marry Violet. In order to do so, he disguised his true motives as a play called "The Marvelous Marriage". He flattered his neighbor, Justice Strauss, into performing as the judge, somehow swiped a real marriage certificate from City Hall, and knew that the audience would all be the witnesses.
Ensuring that Violet would agree to the arrangement, Count Olaf trapped Sunny inside a large birdcage dangling outside his house's tower window. If Violet or Klaus did anything to disrupt the play, Sunny would be dropped from the tower and would surely not survive the fall. In an attempt to rescue her baby sister the night before the play, Violet managed to make a grappling hook out of drapes and curtain rods and succeeded in hooking her invention to the tower room's window ledge to climb up to Sunny. Unfortunately, the Hook-Handed Man, an associate of Count Olaf's, was already there waiting for her. He locked the bride-to-be inside and, for good measure, threw Klaus in there, too. Violet and Klaus tried hard to think of a way out, but by the time of the play they had thought of nothing that would work.
Just as all seems hopeless and the soon-to-be-married couple is signing the marriage contract, Violet has an idea and signs with her left hand. Being right-handed, the signature was not "in her own hand" and therefore Justice Strauss declares it invalid, but not before Count Olaf tells his one of his henchmen to release Sunny and reveals the true purpose of the play, much to the audience's horror. Olaf angrily tries to force Violet to sign again correctly, but Sunny was released from the birdcage before she could. The plan in ruins, a henchman suffering skin problems turns out the stage lights, allowing Count Olaf and his henchpeople to escape in a black automobile. Just before he makes his escape, Count Olaf finds Violet in the darkness and tells her that he'll get his hands on her fortune if it's the last thing he'll do, and when he has it, he'll kill her and her siblings with his own two hands.
The Reptile Room
The Baudelaires were then moved to the house of distant relative and famed herpetologist Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, where he kept a large amount of reptiles and snakes. Uncle Monty, as he likes to be called, is soon discovered to be a very pleasant man who can make a delicious Coconut Cream Cake. Since he was taking the children on an expedition Peru in little more than ten days, they needed to get right to it and prepare for the trip. Violet delighted in tinkering with the cages in which the snakes would be transported to make them safer and more comfortable while her brother enjoyed reading all the books their uncle had on Peru and her sister happily bit large lengths of rope into small, workable pieces. Life was happy and comfortable, and the Baudelaires realized that they could still miss their parents, but they did not have to be miserable all the time.
They might have lived happily ever after if only Uncle Monty's new assistant "Stephano" never arrived. Right away, the Baudelaires saw through the beard and the baldness and saw that Stephano was merely Count Olaf in disguise. Uncle Monty, busy with planning for the trip, doesn't have time to properly hear them out and Stephano makes certain the children are never alone with their uncle. The next day, their beloved Uncle Monty is found dead. Two puncture marks are found on his neck and the venom of the deadly Mambu du Mal snake is found in his veins. Before Stephano can force the children to Peru "where crimes are more difficult to trace", they get into a car accident with none other than Mr. Poe, who was finally bringing the children their luggage. Rescued temporarily from going to Peru alone with Stephano, the children figure out that the snake's method of killing and how Monty died does not add up, so Violet invents a lockpick from a plug outlet to rummage through Stephano's suitcase to find evidence that he killed Dr. Montgomery. Violet finds more than enough evidence to convince Mr. Poe, causing Count Olaf to flee.
The Wide Window
The Baudelaires were then sent to their next caretaker and distant relative, their aunt Josephine Anwhistle, who lives near Lake Lachrymose. It would be more accurate to say that she lives in a house that is quite literally clinging for dear life to the side of a cliff overlooking Lake Lachrymose. This is unusual living circumstances for anybody, but in the case of Aunt Josephine, who is terrified of everything from burglers to doorknobs, it is extraordinarily odd. In fact, she became especially frightened of the vast lake ever since her beloved husband was eaten by its dangerously aggresive bloodsucking leeches. It seems that the only thing the woman isn't afraid of is grammar, and considers it the greatest joy in life.
Unfortunately it's not a good time for the children to arrive, as Lake Lachrymose is expecting Hurricane Herman. Aunt Josephine asks Violet, Klaus, and Sunny to help her gather supplies for the storm, including ingredients to make cold cucumber soup. Aunt Josephine is afraid of the stove, and as a result only cooks cold food. Such meals are fine for hot climates such as Egypt, but Lake Lachrymose is quite the opposite. Violet longily wanders down the aisles containing ingredients for warm meals when she bumps into a man with an eyepatch, a beard, and a wooden peg leg. Though the man calls himself Captain Julio Sham, Violet instantly recognizes him as another disguise of Count Olaf's. She and her siblings try to warn their new guardian, but Captain Sham flirts with Aunt Josephine and she is unwilling to believe them. Later, Aunt Josephine receives a telephone call, but as she is afraid of the phone Violet offers to answer it. Realizing the caller is none other than Captain Sham, Violet quickly pretends that it's a wrong number from the Hopalong Dancing School. When Captain Sham calls again, Violet offers to answer the phone again, but her aunt is impressed by Violet's bravery and picks it up instead. Delighted to speak with Julio, she tells the children to go upstairs so they can't eavesdrop on the surprise he has planned for them. Though they attempt to refuse, their guardian insists and they uneasily head to their bedroom. They immediately know it was a bad decision when they hear breaking glass and rush downstairs. Violet calls her aunt's name and can't help being reminded of how she had called out for her Uncle Monty and her parents, and grows afraid that she is calling her aunt's name when her aunt can no longer hear it. The children find a note pinned to Josephine's grammatical library door explaining how she finds life hopeless and leaves them to the care of Captain Sham. Violet enters the library to find that their aunt has thrown herself out the wide window overlooking the lake.
Violet calls Mr. Poe to tell him of the tragic event and waits with her siblings for him to arrive. Terribly distraught over losing yet another guardian, Violet snaps at her brother when he reads the note aloud again. Klaus believes there's something odd about the note, but Violet is too upset to care. She loses her patience at Klaus and only when Sunny yells for them to stop arguing does Violet admit that she feels hopeless and helpless. They consider writing a forgery of the note to avoid being placed into Captain Sham's care and realize that that must be exactly what Sham did: throw their Aunt out the window and forged her note. Violet hurries to tell the just-barely-arrived Mr. Poe their theory when the misery of her situation crashes down on top of her and without warning, she bursts into tears.
Mr. Poe studies the note and decides it is not a forgery. He contacts Captain Sham to explain what happened and sets up a meeting at the Anxious Clown restaraunt to discuss the children's future. As they prepare to leave, Violet notices that Klaus had an expression as if he just figured something out. Klaus says he needs more time to work on it, but Violet argues that she can't invent things like time. As they head down to the village, however, Violet realizes that she can use the peppermints Mr. Poe gave her to trigger the Baudelaire allergies to peppermint and get out of the meeting. When Violet breaks out in hives and Klaus's tongue swells up and poor Sunny has both happen to her, the orphans are allowed to return to Aunt Josephine's house to recover. Violet takes a bath with Sunny to try to ease their hives while Klaus studies their aunt's note, which is filled with grammatical errors. Those errors spell out "Curdled Cave", meaning that Aunt Josephine faked her death and is hiding inside Curdled Cave. Hurricane Herman meanwhile is drawing closer and begins to violently shake the house. Violet urges her siblings to grab an atlas and hurry outside just before the whole house falls into the waves. She and her siblings then steal a sailboat and head for Curdled Cave. Violet, having studied naval blueprints, sailed the boat as Klaus called out directions and Sunny worked the tiller. Once they found their aunt, Violet felt tears in her eyes she was so relieved to see her guardian safe. Aunt Josephine was planning on living with them in the cave, but the children persuade her to come back to the mainland and explain to Mr. Poe who Captain Sham really is. Unfortunately, Aunt Josephine had eaten a banana and the smell attracts the Lachrymose Leeches. The little sea worms violently attack their little boat and Violet hurriedly invents an alarm of sorts by setting the sail on fire to create a bright light and hitting a bucket to make a loud sound. Just as the little sailboat is really sinking fast, they're fortunately rescued by another boat. Unfortunately, Captain Sham is the one who came to the rescue. He's displeased with Aunt Josephine for being alive when she should be at the bottom of the lake, and despite the orphans' attempts to steer the boat to shore before anything can happen, the evil Captain pushes her over the side and into the waiting mouths of the leeches. Violet shrieks her aunt's name, but knows that they can't reach her in time. Quietly, she says that there's a chance Aunt Josephine can escape, but Violet doesn't really believe she will.
When they reach shore, Violet and Klaus try to convince Mr. Poe that Captain Sham is really Count Olaf. They aren't doing very well when Sunny suddenly bites Captain Sham's wooden leg clean in half, exposing a perfectly whole if sweaty leg and the tattoo of an eye, proving beyond a doubt that the Captain is none other than Count Olaf. To the dismay of the Baudelaires, he manages to escape once again.
The Miserable Mill
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are next placed into the care of the owner of Lucky Smells Lumbermill. His name is extraordinarily hard to pronounce, so he has everyone simply call him Sir. Instead of living in Sir's home, the children are expected to work at the Lumbermill and live in the employee dorms. Sir turns out to be a selfish, callous man who cares nothing about his employees and instead has his nasty Foreman take charge of them. The Foreman wears a surgical mask and a horrible wig that looks like a mass of pale dead worms
Lumbermill, Violet did not invent anything but took up as Klaus's researcher while he is hypnotized throughout the story. In the middle of the book, Klaus breaks his glasses and has to go to Dr. Orwell and get them fixed. Violet and Sunny are worried about him, he does not return until after the girls have gone to bed. They realize Klaus has been hypnotized and Dr. Orwell is evil. After she hypnotizes Klaus for a second time Sunny battles her using her four sharp teeth, and Violet luckily saves Charles from being sawed in half (but Dr. Orwell is thrown into the dangerously sharp knife and dies) Olaf's next disguise is Shirley, the receptionist of Dr. Orwell.
The Austere Academy
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny meet Duncan and Isadora Quagmire at Prufrock Preparatory School, and the Baudelaires become very close to the Quagmires. In the tenth book, The Slippery Slope, Violet meets Quigley Quagmire, and they form a strong relationship. What will become of these relationships is still unknown, as Duncan and Quigley both disappeared into the "Great Unknown." Count Olaf disguises himself as a gym teacher named Coach Genghis. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny have to run laps (Sunny crawls laps for she's a baby) to tire them out so they will fail out of school and Olaf will be able to take them in.
One night, the Quagmire triplets took the Baudelaire orphans' place in disguise, allowing Violet and her siblings could continue studying for their exams. Violet invented a staple-making device so that Sunny could make the staples she needed to pass her secretarial test. Duncan and Isadora were not so lucky, and were kidnapped by Olaf, only able to shout one last thing to the Baudelaires: "V.F.D." Violet, Klaus and Sunny vowed to rescue the Quagmires.
The Erstaz Elevator
Violet sliding down the stair rail in The Ersatz Elevator.
Violet and her siblings were adopted by Jerome and Esmé Squalor. Olaf came disguised as an auctioneer named Gunther this time, and the Baudelaires were able to locate where he was hiding right under their noses. This hideout was a secretly empty elevator shaft in the Squalors' apartment building. Violet invented a makeshift rope to climb down the shaft, where the orphans found Duncan and Isadora, trapped in a cage. Violet was able to invent welding torches so as to free the Quagmires, but when the Baudelaires returned to the cage, it was empty. Later, Violet, Klaus and Sunny were thrown down the shaft by Esmé, who was in cahoots with Olaf. Sunny saved them all, and the three discovered a secret passageway that led to the ashen remains of the Baudelaire mansion. Eventually, the Baudelaires made it to Veblen Hall, where Klaus had learned the Quagmires were to be auctioned off by "Gunther". The orphans bid on the wrong lot, however, and the Quagmires were carried away again. Instead of staying with Jerome, the Baudelaires decided to hunt down Duncan and Isadora.
The Vile Village
Following the clue of V.F.D., Violet and her siblings decided to be adopted by the Village of Fowl Devotees, specifically a caring but skittish villager named Hector. Hector had a inventing studio and a library (in the barn right next to his house)which seemed to be very comfortable for the Baudelaires. There, the Baudelaires received coded poems from Isadora, via the migrating crows that lived in the village. Meanwhile, the villagers thought they had caught Olaf at last, but only Violet, Klaus and Sunny knew that this man was not Olaf at all. The Baudelaires tried to rescue the man, whose name was Jacques Snicket, from being burned at the stake, but were accused of the later murder of Jacques by none other than the real Count Olaf disguised as a Detective Dupin. All three Baudelaires were jailed by the village. In the nick of time, though, Violet invented a water pump to dissolve the mortar of the jail cell’s brick walls, which then served as a handy battering ram. After escaping, the Baudelaires rescued Duncan and Isadora from within a fountain, using clues in the coded poems. While Duncan and Isadora escaped with Hector, Violet, Klaus and Sunny were separated from the Quagmires. Thanks to the Daily Punctilio, the news of what the Baudelaires were accused of spread quickly. Then, the Quagmires fled from the authorities using a hot air balloon Hector and Violet made.
The Hostile Hospital
While running away from the authorities after being framed for murder, Violet and her siblings arrive at the Last Chance General Store to send a telegram to Mr. Poe seeking help. However, he doesn't reply before the delivery of The Daily Punctilio forces the reported murderers to flee once more. Afterward, they were picked up by the Volunteers Fighting Disease. They arrived at Heimlich Hospital and obtained the thirteenth page of the Snicket File. Later, Esmé Squalor chased them for the file. Violet got caught when she is too big to escape up a chute.
From then, Violet went under the name of Laura V. Bleediotie, and taken by the two white-faced women who led them to the hook-handed man and the bald-headed man. They took her to the operating theater and begin the operation to receive an unwanted "Crainioectomy". However, this operation was stalled briefly by Klaus dicussing the history of the long knife. Hal accused the Baudelaire children of setting fire, but Esmé showed up with the real white-faced women and "exposes" them, revealing that she had set fire to the Library.
They hid in another closet and then diverted the crowd of escapees outside to the unfinished half of the hospital by acting like the intercom system and telling them that the Baudelaires have been spotted there. They jumped out of the building, and hide in the trunk of Olaf's car.
The Carnivorous Carnival
From where The Hostile Hospital left off, Sunny, Klaus, and Violet hide in the trunk of Count Olaf's car. They overhear the conversation going on between Olaf and his theater troupe. They disguised themselves as "freaks" (Violet and Klaus as a two-headed person named Beverly and Elliot, respectively, and Sunny as Chabo the Wolf Baby) and get jobs at Caligari Carnival. At the end of the book they pretend to decide to join Count Olaf, although since Olaf knows they are the Baudelaires, unhooks the caravan Violet and Klaus from the one with him and his other associates (and Sunny, who Olaf kidnaps to get the Baudelaire fortune, and thinks he killed Klaus and Violet).
The Slippery Slope
Violet and Quigley Quagmire on a mountain.
In the next book where The Carnivorous Carnival left off, Violet and Klaus begin their search for Sunny, who was kidnapped by Count Olaf in order to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune. In chapter three we find out that Count Olaf is forcing Sunny to do difficult chores that would never normally be expected of a toddler. Klaus and Violet disguise themselves as Snow Scouts and end up meeting Quigley Quagmire, who was thought to be dead in the fire that killed his parents. Over the course of the story, Violet and Klaus learn more about V.F.D. from him. Lemony Snicket decides to give Violet and Quigley some privacy, where it was possible, as they took a break from climbing up the frozen waterfall to reach Sunny.
Violet, Quigley and Klaus hatch a plan to lure Esmé to them and use her to bait Olaf into giving Sunny back. They dig a pit and light a Verdant Flammable Device next to it. Esmé sees some green smoke at the bottom of the slope. She goes down it, thinking the smoke is coming from the "in" cigarettes. The children realize that two wrongs don't equal a right and that there is a better way to rescue Sunny than kidnapping Esmé. When she reaches the bottom, she runs into three masked strangers (the Baudelaires and Quigley), and they help her climb back up the slope, hoping to bargain with Olaf for the release of Sunny.
Violet, Klaus and Sunny being carried away by the Stricken Stream; Quigley is in the background
Claiming to be Volunteers, Violet, Klaus and Quigley demand Sunny's return. Olaf refuses, until Violet pretends to know the location of a missing sugar bowl (of unknown importance) from Esmé's tea set. Olaf barters for the dish, but the Snow Scouts reach the peak. Klaus, Violet, and Quigley take off their masks to convince the scouts to run. Olaf orders the two white faced women to grab Sunny and throw her off the mountain, but they leave, quitting the troupe. As they leave, they tell Olaf that one of their siblings was killed when their house burned down. The scouts, except Carmelita, the freaks and the hook-handed man are captured in a net, and carried off by eagles. Carmelita is convinced to join Olaf and Esmé in their evil schemes. The Baudelaires and Quigley grab a toboggan and slide down the slope, but when they reach the bottom, the frozen waterfall shatters. In the ensuing flood, the Baudelaire siblings and Quigley are separated. Quigley tries to tell them to meet him somewhere, but cannot be heard over the rush of the running water.
The Grim Grotto
Now lost in the water, the Baudelaires board the Queequeg, captained by Captain Widdershins, in the next book. In the beginning of the book, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny meet also Fiona, who has a romantic relationship with Klaus. Poor Sunny gets poisoned by the Medusoid Mycelium but luckily Klaus and Violet rescue her in the nick of time by giving her wasabi which was used as an alternative for horseradish. Violet also has her 15th birthday in this book but never knows it, it probably occurs when Sunny first breathed in the Medusoid Mycelium. At the end, Klaus has his first kiss with Fiona before they say good-bye and she goes to join Count Olaf with her brother Fernald (who happens to be the hook-handed man). Violet, Klaus, and Sunny make it to shore and realize they're at Briny Beach, where they first received the bad news about the Baudelaire fire. They get a message from Quigley Quagmire, telling them to go to theHotel Denouement (continued in the next book). Mr. Poe finds them and tries to convince them to go with him. But they call for a taxi instead. The driver is Kit Snicket, the sister of Lemony and Jaques Snicket and she takes them away to the Hotel Denouement.
The Penultimate Peril
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny get in a taxi and as you know Kit Snicket is the driver and drives them to the Hotel Denouement, where the Baudelaires disguise themselves as concierges. They split up and meet familiar people they met in previous books. Later, when they try to stop Count Olaf from killing Dewey Denouement, the romantic interest of Kit Snicket and the father of her baby (later named Beatrice), the harpoon gun that they procure from Count Olaf slips from their grasp and it fires a harpoon, killing Dewey Denouement. They blame themselves for his death, even though it is not really their fault. At the end of the book they burn down the Hotel Denouement in order to send a message to cancel the V.F.D. gathering on Thursday of that week, and escape with Olaf in a boat which continues in the next and final book.
The End
Left off from the previous book, Klaus, Sunny, and Violet are stuck in a boat with Count Olaf. They eventually wash up on an island (which Olaf names Olaf-Land, although it isn't really called that) and meet a little girl named Friday Caliban. She takes the Baudelaires with her but abandons Count Olaf on the coastal shelf. A few days later, after thinking it's Violet, Klaus, and Sunny's fault the Medusoid Mycelium (which poisons Sunny and almost kills her in book #11) came, they abandon the three of them on the coastal shelf with Olaf. The Baudelaires sneak back onto the island and forget about Count Olaf. Count Olaf eventually follows them, and everyone sees them all. Ishmael, the faciltator, takes the harpoon gun away from Olaf. Olaf was before disguised as Kit Snicket who is pregnant and put the helmet (formerly Sunny's in book #11) which contains the poisonous mushrooms, as his false baby. Ishmael fires the harpoon gun at Olaf's "belly" and everyone except Ishmael himself gets poisoned by the Medusoid Mycelium. Violet and Klaus think of a plan while Sunny looks around to help her siblings think of one. All three of them know why there are bitter apples on the apple tree...they contain horseradish! They each take a bite of an apple and try to get all the islanders to eat them. Unfortunately, the islanders are almost out of sight in a boat! At the end of the book, Kit Snicket's baby is born and the Baudelaires name her Beatrice after their late mother. Kit and Count Olaf both die as they were both infected. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny bury them at the shores of the island and have adopted little Beatrice. They spend the next year cataloging the items from the arboretum and filling in the commonplace book left by their parents. At the end of the bonus mini-book, Chapter 14, Violet, Klaus, Sunny, and Beatrice leave the island.
After The End
Though her ultimate fate is ambiguous, several sources state that something happened to The Beatrice - it sank on some sharp rocks when they were close to the mainline, though what made it hit the rocks is unknown - and Violet was forced to make an "emergency repair" to it, which allowed the ship to land, successfully, on the mainland, allowing all three siblings and Beatrice to survive: Violet is stated as returning to Briny Beach for "a third time"[4] and, Beatrice states that that Violet survived, at least as far as Briny Beach[5], while Sunny is known to discuss her cooking recipes on the radio as a young woman and Klaus would spend a lot of time thinking about his present situation many years later in the Reptile Room[6]. She is most likely alive and well for it is stated that she was haunted many years later by the trials she had endured as a child.
However, it may be that the Beatrice, when it landed on shore, landed at Briny Beach - allowing Violet to return for "a third time" - and that she died soon after, letting the Baudelaire fortune and estate pass to Sunny or Klaus[7].
Inventions
Violet and her rope invention in The Ersatz Elevator.
While Klaus is the researcher, Sunny is the biter and the future 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 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, which they then use as crowbars.
- In The Vile Village, she makes a mortar dissolving device of out some water, a loaf of bread and a wooden bench, which she then uses as a battering ram. She also assists Hector in constructing a Self-Sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home using various mechanical devices.
- In The Hostile Hospital, she makes a fake 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 using dirty laundry sheets.
- 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).
- In The Dismal Dinner, Violet invents a very cold, very hard device made from a silver pie server and the ear of the snowman ice sculpture to lessen Sunny's pain from "teething" as soon as Sunny stopped looking out the window and sucked on it.
Disguises
The Baudelaire orphans were falsely accused of murder, and from this point on, they have no more guardians, and are on the run from the police. While running from the police, Violet assumed 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. The name used in disguising her is an anagram, Laura V. Bleediotie.
- In The Carnivorous Carnival, Violet and Klaus dress as a two-headed freak. Her name used here was Beverly, and Klaus's was Elliot.
- In The Slippery Slope, Violet poses as both a Snow Scout and as a volunteer to save her little sister Sunny.
- In The Penultimate Peril, Violet disguises herself as a hotel concierge, along with Klaus and Sunny.
Known Crimes
Violet labeled a murderer on The Daily Punctilio.
Violet, despite being a volunteer and a considered a protagonist, has committed crimes. She has:
- Broken out of jail during The Vile Village (though she was wrongfully imprisoned).
- Aided in burning down Caligari Carnival (in order to travel with Olaf's group).
- Burnt down the Hotel Denouement (as a signal to fellow VFD members).
- And she is wanted for murder (though this is a false charge), as seen in The Vile Village and The Hostile Hospital.
Behind the scenes
Violet Baudelaire The Invincible and Inimitable Inventor Digital Exclusive Netflix
Violet in the TV series.
- In the film adaptation she is played by Emily Browning.
- In the video game she is voiced by Emily Browning.
- In the TV series she is played by Malina Weissman.
Appearances
- The Dismal Dinner (Mentioned only)
- The Bad Beginning
- The Reptile Room
- The Wide Window
- The Miserable Mill
- The Austere Academy
- The Ersatz Elevator
- The Vile Village
- The Hostile Hospital
- The Carnivorous Carnival
- The Slippery Slope
- The Grim Grotto
- The Penultimate Peril
- The End
- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (video game)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV series)
Trivia
The Pony Party.
- Her foil from The Luckiest Kids in the World written by Loney M. Setnick is a blonde-haired girl named Laurie Lotsaluck who, in The Pony Party, is treated to a fun party, a big prize, a pony ride, several kind and sensible adults, and all the cake she can eat.
- Daniel Handler once confirmed that Violet and her siblings are of Jewish descent. It is unknown if he means ethnicity only, religion only, or both. Violet is never seen practicing any religious rituals relating to Judaism.
- Her least favorite song is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," and she especially hates the line about life being but a dream.
- Her favorite inventor is Nikola Tesla.
- She thinks lavender is a sickly color.
- Before the events of The Bad Beginning, she once made a promise to her parents that as the eldest Baudelaire sibling she should always keep her siblings away from harm. This promise is always mentioned in all 13 books.
- She, like her siblings, is allergic to peppermint. In her case, when she comes into close contact with peppermint, she breaks out into hives. She stated that the only relief from the hives is taking a baking soda bath.
- The color of her ribbon varies on each book.
- Violet is talented when it comes to tying knows. In The Bad Beginning, she uses the "Devil's Tongue" knot to rescue Sunny. In The Slippery Slope, she mentions that she invented a knot which she called the "Sumac", which according to her is the name of a singer she admires. This most likely refers to Yma Sumac, a Peruvian singer who was famous in the 1950s for her extraordinary vocal range.
- In the episode of the Netflix series entitled The Reptile Room: Part 1, when asked by Uncle Monty what her favorite movie is, she replies that it is The Dawn Patrol; the 1938 version.
Sources
- ↑ PROSE: The Hostile Hospital
- ↑ PROSE: The Carnivorous Carnival
- ↑ PROSE: The Dismal Dinner
- ↑ PROSE: The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition
- ↑ PROSE: The Beatrice Letters
- ↑ PROSE: The Reptile Room
- ↑ This is backed up by lines in The Hostile Hospital and The End: Chapter Fourteen, which states that, despite all his research and hard work, even Lemony does not know the current position, location and status of the Baudelaire children.
Gallery
Books
.jpg "Violet Baudelaire (TEE).jpg (66 KB)")
.jpg "The Slippery Slope (UK).jpg (670 KB)")
Movie
.jpg "Violet and Sunny (Movie).jpg (806 KB)")
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Video game
TV series
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