Violet Baudelaire is the eldest child in the Baudelaire family. She is described as being a very pretty fourteen-year-old girl who is a genius when it comes to inventing. Brett Helquist's illustrations suggest that she has wavy, dark brown hair. When thinking, she ties her hair in a ribbon, in order to keep it out of her face. After her parents' deaths last year, Violet has taken over the leadership role in her family, but insists that all three children must work together to overcome their obstacles. When working together, each of the Baudelaire children has a skill they are particularly good at, and Violet is particularly skilled at inventing devices. She often invents devices to help herself and her siblings in dangerous situations, using only simple objects such as everyday food items, rubber bands, and tin cans.
Violet, like the rest of the characters in Snicket's collection, is relatively two-dimensional. She does not undergo much character development and is the same character at the beginning of the series as she is in the end. This construction is typical in the Gothic, melodramatic style which focuses on plot rather than character. In this installment of the series, Violet must serve the guests of Hotel Denouement while trying to uncover the true identity of the mysterious "J.S." and discover whether this person is helping V.F.D. or its enemies.
