Count Olaf

Count Olaf is the main villain from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events series.

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 homes and kills their parents. While never explicitly stated, it has been implied that Olaf himself was responsible for the fire. Olaf schemes to get the orphans' inheritance.

After an 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:

• Stefano, an assistant Herpatologist with a long beard and no eyebrows
• Captain Sham, a sailor with an eye-patch and a wooden leg
• Shirley, an optometrist's receptionist
• Coach Genghis, a gym teacher with a turban
• A pin-stripe suited auctioneer named Gunther
• Detective Dupin, an famous investigator obsessed with what's cool, including ridiculous sunglasses
• Olaf's last disguise is Mattathias, 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, and remains, a member of V.F.D., whence all his disguises come.

The Film

Count Olaf was portrayed by comedian Jim Carrey in the film adaption 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 darkly humorous presence in the books, Jim Carrey played Olaf as a bumbling, arrogant fool.

A big change in the movie was 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) it is blatantly stated in the movie. At the climax of the film, we see Count Olaf has burned down the house via a giant spyglass.

Lemony Snicket may have changed Count Olaf's character in the books to fit in with the movies; in the eleventh novel of the series, The Grim Grotto, Count Olaf is practicing an intentionally annoying evil laugh that gets on everyone's nerves. This may be a way to make the series more linear with the film, or it could be Snicket subtly poking fun at the way Olaf was handled in the film.