Violet Baudelaire

Violet Baudelaire
A Series of Unfortunate Events character
Violet as illustrated by Brett Helquist on the boxed set of the series.
First appearance	The Bad Beginning
Last appearance	The End
Created by	Lemony Snicket
Portrayed by	Emily Browning (Film) Malina Weissman (TV series)
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Orphan Amateur (but skilled) inventor
Family	Klaus Baudelaire (younger brother) Sunny Baudelaire (younger sister) Beatrice Baudelaire (mother, deceased) Bertrand Baudelaire (father, deceased) Beatrice Baudelaire II (adoptive sister)
Relatives	Count Olaf (third/fourth cousin four times removed /uncle, deceased) Monty Montgomery (cousin's brother-in-law, deceased) Josephine Anwhistle (second cousin's sister-in-law, deceased) (Among others, see also Baudelaire family)
Religion	Jewish[nb 1]

Violet Baudelaire /ˈvaɪ.əlᵻt ˌboʊdəˈlɛər/ is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events series; she appears in all thirteen novels. Violet helps her 12-year-old brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny solve problems with her inventing skills. As the eldest, she is the natural leader of the group.

Character description

Violet Baudelaire is the eldest Baudelaire: she is fourteen at the beginning of the series, and turns fifteen in The Grim Grotto. Brett Helquist's drawings indicate she has long, brown hair. When thinking and concentrating on new inventions, she ties her hair in a purple ribbon to keep it out of her face.

Violet is an amazing inventor, inventing various items such as a grappling hook that gets her up Count Olaf's tower in The Bad Beginning, a lock pick that enables her to open up Count Olaf's suitcase in The Reptile Room, a signaling device in The Wide Window, a climbing device made from ties, curtains, and extension cords in The Ersatz Elevator, an invention that frees her and her siblings from the jail in the Village of Fowl Devotees in The Vile Village, a rubber band ladder to get out of the burning Heimlich Hospital in The Hostile Hospital, fork-assisted climbing shoes that help her and Quigley Quagmire get up the frozen waterfall of Mount Fraught in The Slippery Slope and many more.

Origins

A violet ray was a medical device developed in the early 20th century based on the coil technology discovered by Nikola Tesla, who is stated to be Violet's favorite inventor.^[2] She (and her family) supposedly got their surname from famous French poet Charles Baudelaire.

Biography

Before the series

She first became interested in inventing when she was only two years old, after she saw a fantastic invention in a museum that she went to with her mother and father. When Violet was five years old, she won her first invention contest with an automatic rolling pin. Around her tenth birthday, she invented a new kind of pencil sharpener.^[3]

The Bad Beginning

The Baudelaires become orphans at the Briny Beach, when Mr. Poe, the banker in charge of the family's affairs, inform the children that their parents have died in a terrible fire that engulfed the whole house. (The cause of which is unknown.) They have to live with their distant relative Count Olaf. Count Olaf is greedy, evil, and hates children — his only interest seems to be in the fortune Violet will inherit upon turning 18. He makes the Baudelaires do laborious chores. Olaf attempts to legally marry Violet without suspicion, the Baudelaires reveal Olaf's plans and leave with Mr. Poe after Olaf escapes.

The Reptile Room

Shortly after the siblings escaped Count Olaf, the Baudelaires meet another distant relative: Montgomery Montgomery (he goes by Uncle Monty). "Uncle Monty" collects reptiles and studies them. He has a gigantic snake called the "Incredibly Deadly Viper." Unfortunately, Count Olaf disguises as "Stephano, Uncle Monty's new lab assistant." Stephano injected Black Mamba poison into Uncle Monty's cheek, then poked an extra hole to make it look like a snake bit into him.

The Wide Window

Aunt Josephine, a timid character, is now their legal guardian. Her husband Ike was eaten by the Lacrymose Leeches. Count Olaf, now referring to himself as Captain Sham, appears once again, and fools Aunt Josephine. "Captain Sham" kidnaps Aunt Josephine, making her write a note to the Baudelaires stating that she was going to commit suicide. Secretly she puts spelling errors in the note, which indicate "Curdled Cave". They return to the library to research these subjects. The children flee Hurricane Herman just as Aunt Josephine's house collapses, and steal a boat from "Captain Sham".

They find Aunt Josephine in Curdled Cave, but she refuses to return with them, because she is afraid of Olaf. The siblings tell her that Curdled Cave is for sale, playing on Josephine's fear of realtors. The Lachrymose Leeches smell the banana that Josephine ate before they left and attack the boat. Olaf arrives and demands that Josephine give him the orphans or he will throw her to the leeches. She gives them up to him, but he throws her to the leeches anyway. The siblings and Count Olaf meet up with Mr. Poe, who still believes that Count Olaf is Captain Sham. Sunny reveals the count's identity by biting off his fake leg but he escapes with his associate. The siblings are left with Mr. Poe to find a new guardian,

The Miserable Mill

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are being brought to a place at a Miserable Mill where they are forced to work at Lucky Smells Lumbermill by the owner named 'Sir'. They are only paid coupons and fed 1 meal a day, some kind of casserole for dinner, and gum for lunch. Count Olaf is disguised as a receptionist named 'Shirley' and hypnotizes Klaus. Violet and Sunny then save Klaus by saying the word "inordinate" to DE-hypnotize him. Klaus then turns back to normal and helps the other Baudelaire siblings to save Charles from a machine and defeat Count Olaf (Shirley). Unfortunately, Count Olaf escapes with his other colleagues to think of other treacherous schemes to have his clutches on the Baudelaire's' fortune.

The Austere Academy

Violet and her siblings first meet their close friends Duncan and Isadora Quagmire when Mr. Poe sends them to boarding school. Here, Count Olaf dresses up as a gym teacher, and tries to make them fail an important test by making them run laps. At first, the Baudelaires didn't know what Count Olaf's evil scheme was, then, they finally found out what was going on. With the help of the Quagmire triplets, (Then later find out Duncan and Isadora's brother was killed in the fire that killed their parents), the Baudelaires were saved, but Count Olaf kidnaps the Quagmires.

The Ersatz Elevator

Jerome Squalor and Esmé Squalor adopt the Baudelaires at the start of The Ersatz Elevator, mainly because Esmé considers orphans to be "in" (meaning fashionable) and Esmé is one of the "innest" people in town.^[5] Olaf comes disguised as an auctioneer named Gunther, and this time he brings something else: the Quagmire triplets, hidden in a secret location. This location turns out to be a secretly empty elevator shaft in the Squalors' apartment building. Violet invents a makeshift rope to assist the orphans in descending the shaft. At the bottom of this shaft, they find Duncan and Isadora, trapped in a cage. Since they do not have the tools needed to free the triplets, Violet and her siblings must ascend the shaft alone. Esmé sends the Baudelaires to the Café Salmonella, while she plots evil plans with "Gunther". Back in the Squalors' apartment, Violet invents welding torches so as to free the Quagmires, and when the Baudelaires return to the cage, only to find it empty. Later, Esmé throws the Baudelaires down the elevator shaft and reveals that she is in cahoots with Olaf. Sunny manages to save them all by using her teeth, and the three discover a secret passageway leading to the charred remains of the Baudelaire mansion. Eventually, the Baudelaires make their way to Veblen Hall, where Klaus had learned the Quagmires are to be auctioned off by "Gunther." The orphans bid a thousand dollars on the wrong lot, and the Quagmires are carried away again. Instead of staying with Jerome, who abandoned them, the Baudelaires decided to hunt down Duncan and Isadora.

The Vile Village

Following the clue of V.F.D., Violet and her siblings decide to be adopted by the Village of Fowl Devotees,^[6] specifically by a caring but skittish villager named Hector. Hector has a secret inventing studio and a library which seem to be very comfortable for the Baudelaires. There, the three siblings received coded couplets from Isadora, via the migrating crows that lived in the village. When the villagers capture a distinctive-looking man, they think they have caught Olaf at last. Only Violet, Klaus and Sunny know that this man was not Olaf. The Baudelaires try to rescue the man, Jacques Snicket,^[6] from being burned at the stake, but they end up being accused of his murder of Jacques by none other than the real Count Olaf (disguised as Detective Dupin). Count Olaf jails the Baudelaires, who see no hope for escape. Then the bread (Esmé Squalor) the chief of police gave Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, reminds Klaus it is his birthday and about the soggy bread pudding their parents made him for his twelfth birthday. Then Violet tells Klaus he can have anything in the cell he wants. However, Klaus says if they escape that would be the best present Violet has gotten him since his eighth birthday. In the nick of time, Violet invents a water pump to dissolve the mortar of the jail cell’s brick walls, and the bench upon which she sits proves to be a handy battering ram. After escaping, the Baudelaires rescue Duncan and Isadora from a fountain, using clues in the coded poems. Duncan and Isadora escape with Hector, but Violet, Klaus and Sunny are separated from the Quagmires by Esmé, who disguised as the village’s chief of police.^[6] Thanks to The Daily Punctilio, the news of what the Baudelaires are accused of spreads quickly. Thus, the Baudelaire children flee from the authorities.

The Hostile Hospital

Violet and her siblings find shelter in a general store, then escape with Volunteers Fighting Disease and receive a job helping a man named Hal at Heimlich Hospital's library of records.^[7] Esmé catches up with the siblings while the children are trying to locate a file on their parents and the fire in the library of human resources. The file named "The Snicket Fires" suggests that one Baudelaire parent may still be alive. Klaus and Sunny manage to escape from Esmé by climbing up a chute, but Esmé captures Violet before she can get away. Count Olaf and his assistants, disguised as doctors, attempt to perform a "cranioectomy" on Violet in the hospital, which would have killed her. Klaus and Sunny try to save their sister by disguising themselves as two of Olaf’s henchmen (disguised as doctors), but are exposed by Esmé and the real henchmen during the operation. Luckily for the Baudelaires, the anesthesia wears off on Violet, during Klaus's explanation on the knife he uses to perform the "cranioectomy". Right away Klaus and Sunny wheel her through the hospital and into a supply closet. Violet is able to invent a small intercom, which she uses to order everyone searching for the "Baudelaire murderers" to look somewhere far from their actual location.^[7] Violet then invents a bungee cord so that the siblings can escape from Heimlich Hospital, which Olaf has set on fire, so he and his henchmen can escape, an act he blames on the orphans. When they escape, they have no choice but to climb in the back of Count Olaf's car. They all hope where Count Olaf is planning to go would be better than their horrible previous experiences.

The Carnivorous Carnival

Having hid in the trunk of Olaf’s car, the Baudelaires emerge to find themselves at Caligari Carnival. They disguise themselves as "freaks" and are hired by Madame Lulu, the carnival’s owner. The children discover an archival library under the table in Lulu’s fortune-telling tent, and it is using this library that Lulu is able to give Olaf the whereabouts of the Baudelaire orphans. After the Baudelaires confront Lulu about this, she breaks down and reveals that she used to be a noble person, but had been giving information to anyone that asked for it, be they "volunteer or villain". Lulu, whose real name is Olivia, is part of the same secret organization as Olaf and Jacques are, V.F.D., which the children already suspected began with "Volunteer". She promises not to tell Olaf about the Baudelaires' whereabouts, in exchange for Violet’s invention of a means of escape from the carnival. Violet gussies up a pair of disused roller coaster carts at the carnival, and she only needs a fan belt of Olivia’s to complete the escape vehicle. Violet never receives it, however, for Olivia falls into a lion pit that Olaf had dug for an attraction at Caligari Carnival. The Baudelaires pretend to decide to join Count Olaf, and they ride in a caravan up into the Mortmain Mountains, where Olaf believes one of the Baudelaire parents are hiding, based on a map the children had found in Olivia’s library. Olaf knows, however, that the "freaks" are really the Baudelaires, having been told by Madame Lulu. Olaf’s associates unhook the caravan from Olaf’s car, where Sunny is held hostage.^[8]

The Slippery Slope

Violet manages to devise a brake for the caravan using hammocks as a drag chute and spreading sticky foods on the wheels. Once they get the caravan stopped, the siblings disguise themselves as Snow Scouts and meet Quigley Quagmire. Over the course of The Slippery Slope, Violet and Quigley form a strong attachment to each other.^[9] They find that V.F.D. Headquarters has burnt down. At the burnt wreck that was Headquarters, Violet learns the true meaning of V.F.D..^[9]

Violet, Quigley and Klaus hatch a plan to lure Esmé to them and use her as bait so Olaf would give Sunny back. They dig a pit and light a Verdant Flammable Device next to it. Esmé sees green smoke at the bottom of the slope. Thinking the smoke is coming from "in" cigarettes, she goes down toward it. The children, however, 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 two Baudelaires and Quigley), who help her climb back up the slope, hoping to talk to Count Olaf to get Sunny back.

Claiming to be Volunteers Klaus, Violet,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. While Esme is attempting to barter for the dish, the Snow Scouts reach the peak of the mountain. Violet, and Quigley take off their masks to convince the scouts to run. Seeing the "volunteers" for who they really are, Olaf orders the two white-faced women to grab Sunny in a casserole dish and throw her off the mountain, but they leave sitting Sunny on the ground which is really an eggplant the same size and weight as Sunny while the real Sunny is hidden under Count Olaf's Car then revealing herself in her hiding place reaching Violet Klaus and Quigley and reunited with her siblings, while the white-faced women quit the troupe. As they leave, they tell Olaf that one of their siblings was killed when their house burned down. The freaks, the hook-handed man and all of the Scouts (except for Carmelita) are captured in a net and carried off by eagles. Olaf and Esmé convince Carmelita to join their evil schemes. The Baudelaires and Quigley grab a toboggan and slide down the slope. When they reach the bottom, the frozen waterfall shatters, and the ensuing flood separates the Baudelaire siblings from Quigley Quagmire. Quigley tries to tell them to meet him somewhere, but the Baudelaires cannot hear him over the rush of the running water.

The Grim Grotto

Now lost in the water, the Baudelaires board the Queequeg, captained by Captain Widdershins and his daughter Fiona.^[10] The siblings embark on a mission to the Gorgonian Grotto, but upon arrival, they find that the Grotto is a breeding ground for the Medusoid Mycelium. Returning to the Queequeg, Violet is surprised to find that its inhabitants are throwing her a surprise birthday party. Some balloons are tied to chairs, with the letters "V.F.D." on them (standing for "Violet's Fifteenth Date"). This surprise, however is nothing compared to the shock of what happens next: The children discover that a spore of the poisonous Medusoid Mycelium has infiltrated Sunny's helmet. They do not have much time to research a cure, however, as Count Olaf's giant octopus-shaped ship, the Carmelita, approaches, swallowing the Queequeg. The Baudelaire orphans are taken captive and subsequently interrogated, but they manage to escape, thanks to Carmelita Spats' actions. A question mark-shaped ship drives the Carmelita off.

Then, she and Klaus received the Voluntary Factual Dispatch from Quigley Quagmire, who needs the Baudelaires at a certain coded location by Tuesday, the very next day, and just two days before the meeting at the Hotel. Violet suggested that responding the code and looking for Widdershins are the highest priority than saving Fiona, and Klaus agreed reluctantly. As soon as Klaus solved half the message, Violet started decoding the other part. Olaf, having discovered the children, announced they are nearing Hotel Denouement and Fiona had sided with his team. He told them that once they arrive at the Hotel Denouement, he will have won. Violet and Klaus tried to reason with Fiona and offered her the mushroom sample still inside the helmet, which she could study. She was clearly tempted, however Olaf returns and takes it. Suddenly, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appeared and Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he ordered everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the mistake, allowed the Baudelaires to escape in the Queequeg. Violet reactivated the Queequeg, as Klaus assumed her control to escape from the Carmelita safely.

Back to the Briny Beach, Mr. Poe tells the orphans to come to the police station, ostensibly to resolve all their troubles. Knowing that Mr. Poe cannot and will not help them, the trio instead climbs into a taxi driven by Kit Snicket, after Violet tells her siblings the coded words in the sectione of T. S. Eliot's 'The Wasteland' that Quigley included in his telegram. One of the words is 'Violet'. Klaus wonders what this means, as the taxi isn't purple; Sunny suggests that it is more code, but Violet says that maybe Quigley just wanted to write her name. Violet then runs across the sand, whispering and then calling Quigley's name. This is another point where the romantic relationship between Violet and Quigley is hinted strongly at.

In this book, Violet turns fifteen, and the orphans nearly forget her birthday. The matter comes up only briefly.

The Penultimate Peril

Kit turned out to be driving them to the Hotel Denouement.^[11] There, they disguised as concierges as Violet, Klaus, and Sunny started their first day of work after being introduced to the hotel by Frank and Ernest, the identical twin managers. The Baudelaires are to serve and help the people of the Hotel, as a front so they can be flâneurs, and in particular learn whether the mysterious "J.S." is not helping V.F.D. or its enemies.

When the three bells suddenly start ringing at once, splitting up the three Baudelaires. Violet went to the rooftop sunbathing salon, where she finds Esmé, Carmelita and Geraldine Julienne, a Daily Punctilio reporter responsible for false reports that the Baudelaire children killed Count Olaf. She eavesdropped on Esmé and Geraldine on a discussion of a cocktail party which J.S. (who is apparently in the basement) will try to spoil, but was interrupted when Carmelita ordered Violet to get her a harpoon gun, which she did so. Frank or Ernest oddly asked if she was who he thought she was.

That night, the Baudelaires puzzle over how Frank and Ernest can be in three places at the same time (all of their trips happened at the same time). Finally, Klaus deduces that a crow will bring the sugar bowl to the Hotel. It will be shot down by the harpoon gun, fall onto the flypaper, and drop the sugar bowl into the laundry room vent. It is shortly revealed that there is a third sibling, Dewey, involved. Dewey had a huge mass of information underneath the lake, the size of the hotel and that's the real last place. Violet had encountered Frank, who slyly tried to tell Violet not to give the harpoon gun to Carmelita by saying "Do you really think its a good idea for a little girl to have a harpoon gun?" When Count Olaf enters the room, after threatening Dewey with the harpoon gun, ends up giving it to Violet and her siblings, who end up dropping it. This causes Dewey's death. Shortly after, Justice Strauss appears, and announces a trial for the Baudelaires and Olaf. During the trial on the next day, Violet and her siblings see Strauss being kidnapped, but nobody else does since the entire courtroom is blindfolded.

Following Olaf, Violet and her siblings help him unlock the laundry room to get the sugar bowl. Using three clues, they break in, only to find that the sugar bowl is not there. Angered, Olaf declares that he is going to the roof to get the specimen of Medusoid Mycelium which he will spread through the hotel, killing everyone. He will then escape, by jumping off the roof in a boat. Violet, realizing his plan is foolish, agrees to help. Klaus is surprised that she would do this but Violet knows that they also need an escape route, and going with Olaf may be the only way. Then, Sunny abruptly suggests that they burn down the Hotel, and Olaf agrees.

On the roof, Klaus reveals that the sugar bowl fell into the pond and not into the laundry room. Here, Violet deduces that Sunny suggested they set the Hotel on fire as a signal so that noble people like Kit, Hector and the Quagmires would cancel the meeting. As Sunny says, "the last safe place is safe no more". Violet makes a chute for the boat to safely make it off the building, and they use the giant spatulas used for flipping sunbathers as oars. Justice Strauss attempts to stop the Baudelaires leaving on the boat, but Sunny bites her hand and makes her let go. The boat floats safely down to the ocean, and the Baudelaires are left "in the same boat" as Count Olaf. Flames engulf the Hotel Denouement, and Justice Strauss is possibly killed in the fire. Count Olaf gets away yet again.

The End

The boat carries Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Olaf away from the burning hotel.^[12] After surviving a storm, they find themselves on a coastal shelf of an island inhabited by a mysterious group of people. They are first greeted by a little girl, Friday Caliban. Count Olaf, who had previously proclaimed himself king of Olaf-Land, threatens the girl with a harpoon gun. Friday is unfazed; she refuses Olaf permission to land on the island, but invites the Baudelaires onto the island. Along the way, she describes what the islanders do with their time—all year long, they build an outrigger on the coastal shelf, and once a year the water rises high enough to submerge the shelf and launch the outrigger. This is known as Decision Day, when anyone who wishes can board the ship, bite a bitter apple, spit it back out, and sail away. The island facilitator, Ishmael, introduces the Baudelaires to the strange island customs. Also, Ishmael has the islanders (most named after famous literary or historical castaways) introduce themselves to the Baudelaires.

Although Ishmael always tells the islanders "I won't force you", it soon becomes apparent that his decisions go largely unquestioned and his suggestions are obeyed like orders. After the Baudelaires introduce themselves, Ishmael toasts the "Baudelaire orphans" (despite their not having mentioned their lost parents) with the coconut cordial which everybody carries, but which the orphans themselves dislike.

After another storm, more objects wash up including a giant pile of books tied together in the shape of a cube, an unconscious and pregnant Kit Snicket, and the Incredibly Deadly Viper from Uncle Monty's collection. The island people arrive and Count Olaf tries to fool them with a bad Kit Snicket disguise (with the diving-helmet containing the Medusoid Mycelium tucked under his dress as his supposed baby). Strangely, the islanders immediately see through Olaf's flimsy disguise and cage him. They then debate whether the orphans should be expelled from the colony when they discover that the Baudelaires are carrying "contraband" items. Ishmael decides that the children, Kit, and Olaf should all be abandoned unless they agree to abide by the colony's rules. After everyone leaves, Olaf tries to tempt the children to let him out of the cage by promising to explain the many mysteries and secrets which they have been surrounded by since The Bad Beginning, but they ignore him.

That night, two of the islanders Erewhon and Finn sneak out to feed the children onion soup for dinner and ask them a favor. A group of discontented colonists are planning a mutiny against Ishmael in the morning, and they ask the Baudelaires to go over to the arboretum where all the contraband items are collected, and find or make some weapons to use in the rebellion. Further, the mutineers refuse to help Kit unless the Baudelaires help them. The children agree, and set off for the arboretum. The orphans discover a well-appointed living area, before they are in turn discovered by Ishmael. They learn that their parents were once the island's leaders and were responsible for many improvements meant to make island-life easier and more pleasant, but they were eventually overthrown by Ishmael, who believed that a strictly-enforced simple life (combined with the opiate of the coconut cordial) was the best way to avoid conflict. The Baudelaires find an enormous history of the island, entitled A Series of Unfortunate Events, written by the many different people who had served as island leaders, including their parents and Ishmael. Ishmael also makes references to many other people, including a girl with only one eyebrow and ear (the mother of Isaac Anwhistle) and Gregor Anwhistle. The girl with one eyebrow and ear is also mentioned in the Wide Window when Aunt Josephine says something like " A lot of people have that one distinguishing feature ( the one eyebrow ). My grandmother had not only one eyebrow, but also one ear. ".

The Baudelaires and Ishmael go back to the other side of the island, where the mutiny is already underway. Count Olaf returns, still in disguise. After a brief exchange, Ishmael harpoons Olaf in the stomach, which shatters the helmet containing the Medusoid Mycelium, infecting the island's entire population at once. With Count Olaf slowly bleeding to death, the Baudelaires run back to the arboretum to try to find some horseradish to cure everyone. They learn that their parents had hybridized an apple tree with horseradish, allowing the fruit to cure the effects of the Medusoid Mycelium. The Incredibly Deadly Viper offers them an apple. After sharing the apple and curing themselves, they then gather more apples for the island's inhabitants, only to discover that the island people have abandoned the mutiny and boarded their outrigger canoe, ready to set sail. Ishmael refuses to allow the apples on board, though it is clear that he himself has already eaten one to cure himself, and the boat sails away to a horseradish factory to save everyone (It is hinted though, that one apple might have been sneaked on board by the Incredibly Deadly Viper to tide them over until they reach the factory).

Kit tells the Baudelaires the fate of the Quagmires, Hector, Phil, Captain Widdershins, and his two stepchildren Fernald and Fiona. After reuniting on Hector's float, they are attacked by trained eagles, who pop the balloons supporting the float and send them hurtling back to the ruins of the Queequeg. There, they are taken by the mysterious object shaped like a question mark (called "The Great Unknown" by Kit Snicket). She also mentions that one of the Quagmires called out Violet's name, but she doesn't know which one, although it is highly likely that it was Quigley who called her name. In turn, the Baudelaires confess their own crimes committed at the Hotel Denouement. At this point, Kit is about to go into labour. She seems to be dying of the fungus, but cannot eat the bitter apple due to the hybrid's unhealthy effects on unborn babies. She is still trapped on top of the cube of books (her Vaporetto (boat) of Favorite Detritus) but when the critically injured and fungus-choked Olaf hears that she is still alive, he takes a bite of an apple and manages to get her safely down onto the beach, giving her a single soft kiss as he lays her on the sand and collapses, still conscious, beside her. Kit recites the poem "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Francis William Bourdillon, answered by Olaf reciting the final stanza of Philip Larkin's "This Be The Verse" . He then dies. The Baudelaires help Kit give birth to a baby girl. She then dies due to the Medusoid Mycelium, after asking the orphans to name the baby after their mother, Beatrice. Here The End ends with the Baudelaires becoming Kit's child's adopted parents, and became the only ones on the island. They bury Kit and Olaf, apparently next to each other, somewhere on the island.

Chapter Fourteen and Later

Violet and her siblings adopt Kit Snicket’s child, Beatrice, after Count Olaf died.^[12] 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, position and status of the Baudelaire children,^[7][12] though a poster from The Beatrice Letters shows the remains of the ship showing Violet's ribbon amongst the debris. Their boat, the Beatrice, sank when they were close to the mainland as the boat is seen torn up on some sharp rocks. It is stated in a special version of The Bad Beginning that Violet returned to Briny Beach a third time, implying her survival.

Inventions

Violet has an interest in inventing. 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, Duncan is a journalist, Isadora is a poet, 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.^[13]

Violet's inventions

• In The Bad Beginning, Violet makes a grappling hook, from metal rods, a wire from the back of a photo frame, 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 from 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 Lucky 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 Grim Grotto, Violet dresses as a scuba diver.
• In The Penultimate Peril, Violet disguises herself as a hotel concierge.

Physical appearance

In the movie Violet's hair color is different: it is colored light brown, whereas in the book her hair is dark brown or black. In the movie, her hair is also very straight, whereas in the books, it is depicted as flicking or curling towards the ends, and as occasionally curling, especially when it has not been brushed. Her clothes are different, as she wears a black dress, with the blue coat which is worn later. The dress notably has a lower sleeve with a V-shaped end, a feature which is common in science fiction, especially in space operas. Violet is described by Snicket in The Bad Beginning as having pleasant facial features, like her siblings.

See also

• Klaus Baudelaire
• Sunny Baudelaire
• Baudelaire family

Notes

1. ↑ In February 2007, Lemony Snicket stated that the Baudelaires are Jewish.^[1]

References