Violet Baudelaire is the eldest of the three orphans and one of the main protagonists of . She is the daughter of and as well as the elder sister of and .
Like her siblings, Violet is intelligent, charming, polite, kind-hearted and resourceful, but is most well-known for being an incredibly talented inventor. Lamentably, Violet is extremely unfortunate, a phrase which here means "having a continuous streak of bad luck."
Violet is fourteen years old at the beginning of the series, turns fifteen in , and is sixteen upon leaving during . She would inherit the upon her coming of age at 18.
Despite his best research, does not know what happened to Violet or her siblings after the events of .
Background Information"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." — ,
Violet is an intelligent inventor whose wits and skills have saved her and her siblings countless times from death. She has a habit of tying her hair back with a when concentrating to keep it out of her eyes.
Violet is possibly the greatest inventor of her time. Before the demise of her parents, she liked to visit the and its many exhibits, including one of the mechanical demonstrations that inspired her to be an inventor when she was just two years old. 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. When Violet was around ten, she invented a new kind of pencil sharpener. She also built a telephone from scratch and created a device to soothe her sister's teething pains. Her favorite inventor is .
Personality
Though she is incredibly bright and intelligent, many things modern 14-15 year olds would know are unfamiliar to Violet, mostly because the series is set in an era in which access to information is more limited than it is today. For example, in The Wide Window, Violet does not know what are, likely due to her assumption that there was no need to read about them. Later, Klaus mentions there's "something funny" about suicide note, but Violet misinterprets this as "humorous" instead of "odd" and tries to dismiss ' point about a secret message in the letter (in the live-action versions, Violet catches on to his suspicions faster). During these moments, ' passion for reading comes in handy since he shares his knowledge in a wide range of subjects, allowing his older sister to become more aware of the world around her. Despite such occurrences, Violet is still committed to learn about the world and is willing to admit she does not know much about something.
After her parents' deaths, Violet was forced to take charge. Though she often collaborates with , she always 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 , "You are the eldest Baudelaire child, 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 to free Sunny from the tower; she risks her safety and well-being to help her siblings and honor the promise she made her parents to always keep her siblings away from harm. This promise is mentioned in all thirteen books.
However, Violet occasionally struggles with keeping herself and her siblings safe. She can be reckless on occasion, even when there are more sensible and safer alternatives. For example, upon learning that was hiding in , she sailed across in the middle of a with her siblings instead of waiting for it to settle. What's more is that she wasn't wearing a life jacket. Another example is that after learning the were trapped in a cage at the bottom of an elevator shaft, she decides to take her siblings with her down twice using a handmade rope (even carrying hot irons the second time), which notes is a three-hour climb. She also encourages 's idea of building and living in an mobile air house, despite all the risks involved. These instances of her impulsive behavior are likely due to her great distrust of adults and authority figures, as well as still being 14 years old. This was indicated when she almost threw a rock at in The Bad Beginning because his approaching figure looked frightening in the fog.
