[OOC. Extended info.]
Character name: Violet Baudelaire
Fandom/series: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Character age: 16
What point in their timeline?: After Book 13, The End
Abilities/powers: An extraordinarily good inventor. :3
Personality: Violet is the eldest of the three Baudelaire orphans. She is clever and kind, with strong ethics and a deep love of gadgets. She loves to invent. She keeps a ribbon in her hair, and those who know her know that when she's tying it so as to keep her hair from her face, it means she's deep in inventor-mode. She's gotten herself and her siblings out of many a sticky situation thanks to this ability. She's also very beautiful, but most of the time she is completely oblivious to it as appearance is nothing to her. "Function is everything."
History:
(LONG, SPOILER-Y, AND ALMOST ENTIRELY C&P'ed FROM WIKIPEDIA. :D)
Violet is the eldest of the three Baudelaire orphans, her siblings being her brother Klaus and her baby sister Sunny. Their parents Bertrand and Beatrice Baudelaire were lost in a fire that consumed their entire home when Violet was fourteen.
Violet won her first invention contest at the age of five, with an automatic rolling pin. She was first inspired to be an inventor at the tender age of two, by a mechanical demonstration at a museum.
After their parents demise, the three orphans were put into the care of Mr. Poe, caretaker of their parents financial affairs, until Mr. Poe found the 'closest relative' to pawn them off on. Mr. Poe decided Count Olaf would be perfect for this, since he lived only a few miles away. (The children try to point out that 'closest relative' probably meant closest by blood and not closest by distance, but as happens many times in this series, Mr. Poe doesn't listen.)
Count Olaf turns out to be a vile man who is only after the Baudelaire fortune. In the first book in the series, he comes up with wicked scheme to marry Violet in a play ("The Marvelous Marriage") and have Justice Strauss (a nearby neighbor who's a judge) perform the marriage, thus rendering the marriage legal so long as Violet signs the agreement. To get Violet to sign, Olaf even goes so far as to threaten to drop baby Sunny out the window of an extremely high tower. Things are resolved in the end, however, Count Olaf escapes before he can be retained by the police. (Book 1, The Bad Beginning) This is just the beginning of a streak of terribly rotten luck that follows the orphans throughout all 13 books.
Her later guardians included her kind Uncle Monty, her mousy Aunt Josephine, and the uncaring Sir. However, Count Olaf always showed up in disguise, hoping to steal the fortune. The orphans foiled his plans by revealing the tattoo of an eye on his ankle, which he would try to hide, but he did end up murdering Monty and Josephine. At Sir’s lumbermill, he got the Baudelaires fired after staging an accident that would have killed Sir’s business partner, Charles, if the Baudelaires hadn't prevented it.
As an inventor, Violet often played a pivotal role in foiling Count Olaf, and saving herself and her siblings. At Uncle Monty’s, she proved that Olaf (who was disguised as a man named Stephano) had murdered Monty, using a lockpick she invented. With it, she unlocked Olaf’s suitcase, within which was the evidence she needed. (Book 2, The Reptile Room) During her time with Aunt Josephine, she invented a signaling device while she, her siblings and Josephine were adrift on the dangerous Lake Lachrymose. This saved the Baudelaires, but their rescuer was Olaf himself, who tossed Aunt Josephine to the Lachrymose Leeches. (Book 3, The Wide Window) At Sir’s lumbermill, Violet did not invent anything, but took up Klaus’ role as a researcher, as Klaus was currently hypnotized by Olaf. Using information she learned in a book called Advanced Ocular Science, she was able to unhypnotize Klaus. (Book 4, The Miserable Mill)
Violet and her siblings first met their close friends Duncan and Isadora Quagmire at a boarding school they were sent to: Prufrock Preparatory School. A close friendship between Violet and Duncan developed. The Quagmires promised to help the Baudelaires escape from Olaf once more, who had disguised himself as a coach named Genghis. Olaf had been forcing the orphans to do hundreds of laps at night, tiring them out until they were sure to flunk their comprehensive exams, at which point they'd be expelled and put under "Coach Genghis’" care. The Quagmires took the Baudelaires' place one night in disguise, so that Violet and her siblings could study 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. (Book 5, The Austere Academy)
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. (Book 6, The Ersatz Elevator)
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. 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 by Esmé, who had disguised herself as the village’s chief of police. Thanks to the Daily Punctilio, the news of what the Baudelaires were accused of spread quickly. Thus, the Baudelaires fled from the authorities. (Book 7, The Vile Village)
Violet and her siblings found shelter in a general store, then escaped with Volunteers Fighting Disease and received a job helping a man named Hal at Heimlich Hospital’s library of records. Esmé caught up with the siblings while the children were trying to locate a file on their parents in the library. The file they found suggested that one Baudelaire parent may be alive. Klaus and Sunny escaped from Esmé by climbing up a chute, but Violet was captured. Count Olaf’s assistants attempted to perform a "cranioectemy" on Violet in the hospital, disguised as doctors, which would have killed her. Klaus and Sunny tried to save their sister by disguising as two of Olaf’s henchmen, disguised as doctors, but were exposed by Esmé and the real henchmen during the operation. The anesthesia wore off on Violet, who was wheeled through the hospital and into a supply closet by her siblings. Violet was able to invent a small intercom, which she used to order all of the people searching for the "Baudelaire murderers" to look somewhere far from where the children really were. Violet then invented a bungee cord so that the siblings could escape from Heimlich Hospital, which Olaf had set on fire, an act he had blamed on the orphans while disguised as a hospital employee named Mattathias. (Book 8, The Hostile Hospital)
Having hid in the trunk of Olaf’s car, the Baudelaires emerged to find themselves at Caligari Carnival. They disguised themselves as "freaks" and were hired by Madame Lulu, the carnival’s owner. The children discovered an archival library under the table in Lulu’s fortune-telling tent, which was how Lulu was able to give Olaf the whereabouts of the Baudelaire orphans. After the Baudelaires confronted Lulu about this, she broke down and revealed 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 was Olivia, was part of the same secret organization as Olaf and Jacques were, V.F.D., which the children suspected began with "Volunteer". She promised not to tell Olaf about the Baudelaires' whereabouts, in exchange for Violet’s invention of a means of escape from the carnival. Violet gussied up a pair of disused roller coaster carts at the carnival, and now just needed a fan belt of Olivia’s to complete the escape vehicle. Violet never received it, for Olivia fell into a lion pit that Olaf had dug, purely for the amusement of carnival visitors. The Baudelaires pretended to decide to join Count Olaf, and Violet and Klaus rode in a caravan towed by Olaf’s car up into the Mortmain Mountains, where Olaf believed one of the Baudelaire parents were hiding, based on a map the children had found in Olivia’s library. Olaf knew, though, that they were really the Baudelaires, having been told by Madame Lulu. Olaf’s associates unhooked the caravan from Olaf’s car, where Sunny was held hostage. (Book 9, The Carnivorous Carnival)
She devised a brake for the caravan by using the hammocks as a drag chute and spreading sticky foods on the wheels. She disguised herself as a Snow Scout and met Quigley Quagmire, after finding that V.F.D. Headquarters had burnt down. There, she learned about V.F.D. Violet and Quigley formed a strong relationship; it is implied at one point that they share a passionate kiss, and many references are made to their romantic attachment. What would become of this relationship is unknown, as Quigley ultimately disappeared during the events of book 13 (The End), carried off by the "Great Unknown".
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 get Sunny as a reward for their efforts.
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 Quagmire are separated. Quigley tries to tell them to meet him somewhere, but cannot be heard over the rush of the running water. (Book 10, The Slippery Slope)
Now lost in the water, the Baudelaires boarded the Queequeg, captained by Captain Widdershins. The Baudelaires discover that the crew of the Queequeg are searching for the mysterious sugar bowl which was thrown downstream. As time passes, Fiona, an expert mycologist, and Klaus begin to fall in love with one another. Sunny, meanwhile, helps Phil cook dinner for everyone. Violet also learns that Fiona and Widdershins have learned of the Baudelaires' plight via their telegram device, which is now broken. She tries to fix it.
Klaus, meanwhile, has examined the tidal charts to estimate the location of the sugar bowl given the water cycle. He suspects it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto, located near Anwhistle Aquatics. Widdershins explains that the aquatics center was founded by Aunt Josephine's brother-in-law Gregor. At this time, the group are interrupted by an approaching submarine vessel on the sonar, in the shape of a giant multi-tentacled octopus, captained by Count Olaf. The octopus is, however, driven off by a mysterious ship which appears on the radar in the form of a question mark.
Over dinner, Fiona explains her family situation - her brother Fernald has been missing for many years, her real father left when Fiona was small and her mother died in a manatee accident. The group then discusses V.F.D., which began as a volunteer fire department but soon became volunteers for everyone.
Fiona asks about the message Violet and Klaus found at the former V.F.D. headquarters. Widdershins doubts it would be for Jacques, who is dead, which gets the group wondering about whose initials J.S. stands for. Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a cone-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous mushroom. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly - as a poet says in her text - a single spore has such grim power/That you may die within the hour. The Grotto is remote enough that it acts as a quarantine for the Medusoid Mycelium which would otherwise be unstoppable, although Fiona suspects there is an antidote. Widdershins sends the children off to get some sleep, but steadfastly refuses to tell them about the sugar bowl's purpose in the plot.
Later, the children wake to find the submarine has arrived at the Grotto. Widdershins and Phil are too tall to fit into the narrow point of the grotto so Fiona, Klaus, Violet and Sunny - who cannot fit into a diving suit but instead floats in a diving helmet - are sent in. Inside the grotto, the children find a dry area above the waterline, which is littered with detritus, some of which is connected with the V.F.D. It is filled with items, mostly junk and wasabi, but also - as Fiona discovers - is the breeding ground of the Medusoid Mycelium. The children scurry into the far corner where they are safe while the mushrooms rise out of the earth. While they are waiting for the Medusoid Mycelium to wane again, the children occupy themselves by investigating the knick-knacks lying around the cave, many of which seem to be connected to the V.F.D.
On returning to the submarine, the children find Phil and Widdershins gone. In their place are three balloons tied to chairs, with the letters "V", "F" and "D" on them. But this is little horror compared to what happens next, as the children discover a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, since at the moment they must keep the girl quarantined. She goes to work on an antidote while asking the others to fire up the engines. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine returns and engulfs the Queequeg in its "jaw". Olaf comes down to the children and tells them that he has been at the Hotel Denouement preparing for his final scheme, but had to return to search for the sugar bowl himself, which is the only thing he needs to complete his nefarious plans. He is overjoyed to find he has also captured Fiona, and shows little concern for Sunny's condition.
As the children enter the next room they see how the ship is powered, by dozens of children rowing the "tentacles". Among them are children from Prufrock Preparatory School, the Snow Scouts, and other children the Baudelaires do not recognize. Esmé Squalor, wearing an octopus costume, is in charge of the children. It is here that we learn the ship is named the Carmelita, after Carmelita Spats who is also on-board and being spoiled by Esmé. The children are taken to the brig where they are to be interrogated by the hook-handed man, until Olaf stuns them all: the hook-handed man is Fiona's brother - Fernald. Fiona is shocked, but Fernald defends his work saying that Olaf isn't all evil, that no one is all evil. Fiona begs him to help them get back to the Queequeg, for Sunny's sake, and Fernald finally agrees on the condition that they take him along.
So, the Baudelaires, Fiona and Fernald plot their escape, aided unwittingly by Carmelita, who is doing a song and dance routine that distracts Esmé and the rowing children. The Baudelaires return to the Queequeg, but Carmelita spots Fiona and Fernald trying to leave. Fernald pretends that Fiona has joined the team, and they need to borrow Esmé's "tagliatelle grande" - the giant noodle she uses to whip the children - to torture the Baudelaires. Esmé gives in, but changes Fiona's name to "Triangle Eyes" because of the shape of her glasses. Back on the Queequeg, Sunny is close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's texts and realize that the antidote is horseradish. Although they have none, they discover a surprise Sunny and Phil had made - a birthday cake for Violet who turned fifteen without even realizing it. Violet breaks down but Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: wasabi, which they discovered in the underwater cavern.
While Sunny recovers, Klaus and Violet are stunned when the telegram machine starts back up again. The Voluntary Factual Dispatch they receive is from Quigley Quagmire, with a copy sent to the mysterious J.S. Quigley 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 suggests that answering the code and finding Widdershins are more important than freeing Fiona, who would not return the kindness, and Klaus reluctantly agrees. Sunny, recuperated, joins her siblings. Klaus is first to solve the riddle: Quigly will meet them at Briny Beach. As Violet begins decoding the other part, they are discovered by Olaf, Esme and Carmelita. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and, even worse, Fiona has joined his team. Fiona enters, with Fernald, in uniform and tells the Baudelaires that it is true.
Olaf triumphantly tells the Baudelaires that, once they arrive at the Hotel Denouement, he will have won. While he, Esmé and Carmelita search the Queequeg for things to pilfer, Violet and Klaus attempt to reason with Fiona. They offer her the mushroom sample still inside the helmet, which she could study. She is clearly tempted, but Olaf returns and takes it. Suddenly, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the wrong decision, allows the Baudelaires to escape in the Queequeg, and kisses Klaus before she leaves. Violet powers up the Queequeg, as Klaus navigates her out of the Carmelita. (Book 11, The Grim Grotto)
Back to the Briny Beach, Violet is told by Poe to come to the police station. They then go in a taxi Kit Snicket was driving and go to the Hotel Denouement, where the Baudelaires disguise themselves as concierges. (Book 12, The Penultimate Peril) They burned down the Hotel Denouement and escaped with Olaf in a boat and wash up on an island.
Violet and her siblings adopted Kit Snicket’s child, Beatice, after Count Olaf died. (Book 13, The End) 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 as of the events in Chapter Fourteen, position and status of the Baudelaire children. While it is stated in a special version of The Bad Beginning that Violet returned to Briny Beach a third time, implying her survival, it does not occur. Their boat, the Beatrice sank when they were close to the mainland as the boat is seen torn up on some sharp rocks. As they waded to land afterwards, she, along with her siblings save for Beatrice, disappeared through the Great Unknown, as depicted in the last image of The End and Chapter Fourteen. It is possible that she is dead, despite the statement that Beatrice in The Beatrice Letters, that Violet survived. It is also possible that her entire estate, including the fortune, was ultimately destroyed.