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Count Olaf is fictional character from the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket. He is the series' primary antagonist, and a distant relation of the main protagonists, orphaned siblings Violet Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire. Throughout the series, he pursues the Baudelaire siblings with the intention of obtaining their large fortune, assuming a number of false identities and accompanied by his traveling acting troupe. As the series progresses, it is revealed that Olaf was once part of V.F.D., a secret organization that the deceased Baudelaire parents were also members of. It transpires that Olaf was one of the leaders of a schism within the organization, and may have been responsible for the Baudelaire parents' death, alongside a variety of other crimes such as theft, murder, kidnapping and arson. Olaf's most distinguishing marks are a unibrow and a tattoo of the V.F.D. eye symbol on his ankle. He is the only character other than the Baudelaire children themselves to appear in every book in the series.

Early life
Count Olaf's criminal youth is referenced several times over the course of the series, most obviously in The Unauthorized Autobiography, in which a letter written from Sally Sebald contains a picture of the young boy who was to play Young Rölf in Zombies in the Snow, a film directed by her brother Gustav Sebald. She says that she thinks his name might be Omar (a name that many confuse with Olaf throughout the series).

In The Carnivorous Carnival Olaf says that his acting career began when he was approached by Gustav Sebald (then a "young director") because he was the "most handsome fellow at school", which would make it a very old movie, since Count Olaf himself (disguised as Stephano) watches the film in theater with the Baudelaires and Dr. Montgomery. 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, it becomes apparent 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, implying that the Baudelaire parents may have murdered his own parents.

It is hinted throughout the series that Olaf had something to do with the schism that separated V.F.D. This is hinted the most in the unauthorized biography in a letter Jacques Snicket wrote to Jerome. The letter explained that a member which he only referred to as O was acting in such a violent manner that his actions have caused the organization to split in two. As the members of the organization often use the first letter of their names to talk about one and another, it is generally assumed O stands for Olaf. Many members of V.F.D., such as Widdershins, often use Olaf's name immediately when talking about the treachery of the fire starting side of the schism. This hints that Olaf has done a great deal of harm to V.F.D. more than most of the other villains involved have, furthering the concept of him being one of the leaders of the schism.

Count Olaf was involved with the organization for many years and knows many, if not all, the secrets surrounding the organization that the Bauldelaire children seek to know. He is also responsible for numerous fires and deaths of V.F.D., as mentioned by Lemony Snicket himself, and plans on gaining control of all the fortunes of the members in thirst of revenge and greed. While never directly stated, it is hinted in the last two volumes that Olaf had a very troubling past and this may be the reason for his bitterness at the world. It is also heavily implied in the last book that Olaf had once loved Kit Snicket, Lemony Snicket's sister, and had told her he'd kiss her one last time before his and her death.

Guardian of the Baudelaires
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. Olaf's involvement in the fire was long suspected by the Baudelaires. When they finally confronted him and accused of him of starting the fire, Olaf did not seem surprised by the accusation but asked them "Is that what you think?" Whether this is a denial of involvement in the event or means something else is unknown.

Olaf was an actor and had an entire group of similarly evil associates who he refers to as his "theatre troupe". He wrote his own plays, under the pseudonym "Al Funcoot" (an anagram of "Count Olaf").

During the time the Baudelaires lived with him, the children immediately saw Olaf as a short tempered and violent man. Olaf provided them with one filthy room and forced them to do difficult chores (such as making them chop wood solely for his own entertainment) as he schemed to seize control over their fortune. Olaf once hit Klaus hard for talking back to him, and picked up and dangled Sunny for saying No!No!No in response to his demand for roast beef instead of the puttanesca sauce they made.

Later, Olaf had the children participate in a play in which Violet plays a woman who gets married to a character played by Olaf. The children learned that Olaf was using the play to disguise the fact that the marriage will be legally binding and that he will have control over the fortune once the wedding ceremony is complete. To insure that the children cooperate with the plan, Olaf kidnapped Sunny and had her tied up, put in a cage, and hung outside his tower window, threatening to murder her if the children refused to cooperate.

The plan to marry Violet Baudelaire to gain the inheritance went awry. Violet managed to thwart Olaf's plan by signing the marriage with her left hand instead of her right, which as she was right-handed, was the required one to make it legally binding. Olaf was exposed as a criminal and fled, but not before promising to Violet that he would get his hands on her fortune no matter what and then murder her and her siblings with his bare hands. The children were sent to different relatives, with Olaf following in pursuit.

Plots
Olaf's plans became more dangerous and murderous in nature as the books progressed. Many of them included the murder of the children's guardians, such as Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine. His plans were often complicated and many of the earlier ones involved him attempting to get the orphans legally into his care. In later books, he simply wanted to abduct one child, murder the other two, and use the kidnapped one to blackmail Mr. Poe into giving over the fortune. Regardless of his tactics, Olaf's plans were always aimed at the goal of abducting the children through elaborate methods.

In each of books two through eight, Olaf wears a new disguise that usually fools everyone but the Baudelaires. The following is a list his primary disguises with IPA and enPR pronunciations given.


 * Stephano, an assistant herpetologist with a long beard and no eyebrows
 * Captain Julio Sham, a sailor with an eye-patch and a wooden leg (the real Julio Sham is captain of the Prospero).
 * Shirley T. Sinoit-Pécer, an optometrist's receptionist - Sinoit-Pécer is receptionist backwards.
 * Coach Genghis, a gym teacher with a turban, covering his one eyebrow, and expensive looking running shoes, covering his tattoo of an eye on his ankle.
 * Gunther (go͞onʹter, /ˈguːntɚ/), a pinstripe suit-wearing auctioneer. He pretends to come from another country so people believe that he doesn't speak fluent English.  Olaf constantly says "please" after and in the middle of every sentence. This is also done by Madame Lulu in "The Carnivorous Carnival". He wears horse riding boots to cover up his tattoo, and a monocle to distort his eyebrow.
 * Detective Dupin, a 'famous' detective obsessed with what's cool, including ridiculous sunglasses which cover up his one eyebrow.
 * Mattathias, Heimlich Hospital's new Human Resources director. His presence is only known from a voice over the intercom. This is the last of his disguises.

By the end of the seventh book, it is no longer necessary for Olaf to use any disguises as he murders a man, Jacques Snicket, who was believed to be Count Olaf/Omar at the time. The Daily Punctilio published articles prior to this event that entailed that the man who committed numerous crimes was Count Omar and not Olaf. This allowed Olaf to no longer disguise himself and even use his own name as everyone believed Omar was the villain's name. Even though his need for disguises was minimum, he does so one last time in the Hostile Hospital to gain entry into the area. The eighth book also starts Olaf's open obsession with fire, as he burns down Heimlich Hospital in that book and then Caligari Carnival in the ninth book. Numerous mentions of other fires he started and others he plans to do strengthen the theory that he was the one who burnt the Bauldelaire Mansion down and murdered the parents.

While in the earlier books Olaf only showed that he wanted the children's fortune, it is revealed in the fifth book that he also has designs on the Quagmire sapphires. As the books progress, Olaf's plans extend further as he seeks the Snicket file, and the sugar bowl, although is repeatedly shown to have a greater interest in the Baudelaire's fortune than in any of these other treasures. By the tenth book, Olaf also develops plans to gain control of numerous other fortunes from children whose parents are V.F.D. members by burning down their homes and murdering all their parents. Olaf then plans to recruit the children as new "associates" or more appropriately, prisoners, and help him destroy what's left of V.F.D. Olaf's other main goal is to destroy V.F.D in order to eliminate the last evidence of his plans so that he may execute any other scheme he wants to without the worry of the authorities. The tenth book also starts the pattern of Olaf no longer using complicated methods to obtain the children's fortune and just intends on capturing them to get the fortune. His plans were from then on usually aimed at the goal of destroying V.F.D., although his obsession with the fortune is still to him, "the greater good."

In The Penultimate Peril, Olaf finally shows signs of hesitation at committing crimes and murder. In this volume, he was about to kill one of the Denouement 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 was not entirely evil, but feels obligated to continue his deeds as he has already gone too far from being noble. He is able to flee the burning Hotel Denouement by boarding the boat (then called the Carmelita) with the three Baudelaires.

Death
In The End, Olaf was rejected (due to his unkind behavior) by Friday, one of the inhabitants of a remote island, which he'd named "Olaf-land" after himself, where he was marooned with the Baudelaire orphans after a vicious storm. After a pregnant Kit Snicket was also stranded in another storm, Olaf attempts to disguise himself as her, using a round diving helmet filled with Medusoid Mycelium (a poisonous fungus whose spores cause death within the hour of exposure) to make his stomach bulge as though he were pregnant.

Olaf's personality is significantly different in this one as he is seen as more timid and depressed. This is probably due to the fact that none of his past methods and tactics work on the islanders and that there is truly no place for him on the island. Olaf is also shown to sympathize with the children, telling them that life is unfair and a miserable place. He seems to have gained a reluctant respect for them, calling them his new henchmen and even attempting to convince them to escape with him.

Later, the island's leader, Ishmael, fires a harpoon at Olaf (as Olaf planned) only for it to hit the encased Mycelium against his stomach and causing it to burst so that its deadly spores are released into the air, contaminating all of the islanders as well as Olaf himself. Olaf started laughing, stating that Ishmael has murdered everyone on the island as he has just released a deadly fungus into the air.

Olaf realizes that he has nothing left to live for, having lost all his henchmen, his parents, his girlfriend, his true love, all his plans ruined, and no chance of obtaining the Baudelaire fortune or any other one for that matter. Too depressed to go on living, Olaf at first refuses to take a specially produced apple (which is mixed with horseradish, the cure for the Mycelium), saying that he has lost everything important to him. However, upon finding out that Kit Snicket is going into labor, he eats the healing apple and carries her to where she can better-perform childbirth, thus performing what Violet calls the one good deed in his life (during which he surprisingly kisses Kit on the lips, hinting at a past relationship between the two).

Despite being cured of the lethal Mycelium fungus, Olaf is revealed to have been more severely injured by the harpoon than originally assumed. Count Olaf states that he has not apologized for anything that he has done in the past, but looks at his old girlfriend and then the children in sadness and pain. Lying down on the beach without medical assistance from the Baudelaires who are helping Kit to give birth, Count Olaf's last words quote Philip Larkin's short poem "This Be The Verse" -"Man hands on misery to man./It deepens like a coastal shelf./Get out as early as you can,/and don't have any kids yourself." After quoting the poet, Count Olaf laughs one last painful laugh and finally dies. Along with Kit, he is buried on the island and his grave is occasionally visited by the Baudelaires, who never truly found out just what made Olaf into the man they came to despise and fear.

Book-related notes
In an interview with author Daniel Handler, 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 film


Count Olaf was portrayed by actor Jim Carrey in the film adaptation of the books, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Handler states in the DVD commentary that Jim Carrey's physical appearance of Olaf was spot-on.

Similar to the darker material from the novels, Count Olaf's character was toned down for the film. Rather than being a sinister and amoral sociopath with a penchant for black humor (as in the books), Count Olaf appears as a melodramatic, arrogant fool.

A big change in the film was the strong suggestion of Olaf's responsibility for the Baudelaire fire. Whereas Olaf's role in the Baudelaires' parents' deaths is uncertain at best in the books, the implications of his involvement are far stronger in the movie. At the climax of the film, a giant spyglass possessed by Count Olaf is pointed at the smoking ruins of the Baudelaire mansion, presumably through which it was set alight.