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Post by sunnydelight on Oct 24, 2010 21:07:07 GMT -5
He seemed most... human. His portrayal of complex human emotions instead of his standard, sneery, wicked villain was perfect for the ending, almost like a breath of fresh air. And it was evident that his 'human' side was gradually revealing itself more and more as early as TSS. And the relationship between him and Kit Snicket was the perfect touch. Anyone else agree?
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Post by korovamilkbar14 on Oct 24, 2010 23:44:40 GMT -5
Totally. Olaf eventually became my favorite character towards the end (along with Snicket himself). I remember him saying how much he knew of VFD's history, back at the island. I still wish we knew more about him.
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Post by Dante on Oct 25, 2010 4:30:46 GMT -5
Olaf's a mixed bag. There are times in The End where he sneers and cackles and plays the villain far more than ever before, but there are also times when he's far more sinister, dangerous not for what he might do but for what he knows. And by the very end, he's become a monster who barely cares about anything, including his own life. It's that nihilistic abandon that sticks with me.
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Post by Leanora Crowe on Oct 25, 2010 9:10:36 GMT -5
I think Snicket gives The End a wonderful touch by getting his readers attached to Olaf and getting them to like him just before his death. It makes it very emotional and thought provoking. He used to irritate me, but I ended up liking Olaf at the end me just because of the way he treated Kit. I thought that what he said to her was just the sweetest thing, so my feelings changed completely for him. I agree with korovamilkbar14: I wish we knew more about him.
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Post by Dante on Oct 25, 2010 10:51:23 GMT -5
Part of the point of Olaf's character in The End is that we don't know much about him, and indeed may be making assumptions about him without any evidence to back it up. If that's the case, can we judge him? That is, his entire character?
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Post by Hermes on Oct 25, 2010 11:03:26 GMT -5
Olaf in The End is fascinating - as he cracks up, he becomes in one way more absurd, but in another more frightening. The final revelation about him and Kit is, I think, meant to show that there is more about him that we don't understand, and to suggest his villainy does have a background - he isn't just doing bad things because he is bad.
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Post by Leanora Crowe on Oct 25, 2010 12:14:11 GMT -5
I agree with both Dante and Hermes. I think Snicket wants us to see that sometimes people do "bad" things for reason that they think are good, or at least justified. Olaf is bitter about the murder of his parents, and who can blame him, really? I think he is given a lot of emotional depth to leave the readers with unanswered questions at the end.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Oct 25, 2010 15:32:12 GMT -5
It's ironic that, though the entire series, we want to rid Olaf from the Baudelaires and all other characters lives (this is of course the antagonist's job), and then it's strangely saddening when he dies and does just that. I think it's a sense of loss that makes this so--I agree with everyone else that Olaf had a lot more to his story than the Baudelaires cared to think about, so they never learned Olaf's history, and so neither did we.
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Post by Invisible on Oct 25, 2010 15:49:01 GMT -5
I always get the feeling of desperation from him in The End. I don't know why, he just seems so desperate to get the sugar bowl and Baudelaires' fortune and stuff, like he's gone insane or something. I kinda feel sorry for him and yet I feel so angry at the same time. I haven't made much sense of this, have I?  |
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Post by cwm on Oct 25, 2010 15:53:28 GMT -5
I've always got the impression that Handler is trying to show us that Olaf has remained the same whilst the Baudelaires have moved on by his portrayal in The End. By chapter 13 the Baudelaire fortune and everything else really don't matter except to him.
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Post by Dante on Oct 25, 2010 16:24:17 GMT -5
I guess you could say Olaf's stuck in an early-series mentality, while the Baudelaires have bigger concerns. But on the other hand, Olaf knew about things like V.F.D. and the sugar bowl all along. The Baudelaire fortune is really the biggest new thing on his horizon.
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the13end
Reptile Researcher
If nothing's out there, what made that noise?
Posts: 48
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Post by the13end on Oct 28, 2010 20:34:27 GMT -5
I do love how Handler makes us hate Count Olag so much throughout the series (whether it's because of his evil deeds, or he just gets annoying--like his laugh in TGG), and yet, right before he dies, we feel sympathy for him. It shows two things:
1. No one in this world, as previously stated, does bad things because they're evil. There is no pure evil, The only pure evil that exists is Lucifer himself (though I don't want to start talking about religion on here). No one in this world is truly evil or truly good. We simply are. We exist.
And 2. We, as humans, take life for granted. It's like how we don't ever give a lightbulb a second thought until it goes out. We never appreciate the people in our lives, no matter if they're our friends or enemies, until they're gone--whether from just traveling, or death. That's why people who have near-death experiences are so grateful and upbeat.
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