Olaf: Polygamist?

[therenegades]

I've been reviewing the books lately, and it seems as though the same time that Olaf is "marrying" Violet, Snicket is also insinuating that Olaf is in relationships with the female members of his theatre troop. Does anyone else agree with this?

[Dante]

That's an intriguing theory, therenegades. I'm sure I wouldn't be surprised; Olaf was marrying Violet for the money and planned to either kill her afterwards or keep her on as a servant. Then there's his relationship with Esmé Squalor to consider. It's quite clear he's a man who doesn't have a great deal of respect for the institution of marriage. Is there anywhere in particular that you'd like to point us to?

[Invisible]

I always saw him as a sort of ladies' man as well. In my ficverse, he's fathered a total of three children by three different women XD (Joshua by Kit, Anastasia by a nameless character and Moses by Esme)

[Lady Whatever]

"Polygamist" would refer to someone who married multiple wives. So I'd classify Olaf as more a "player" or a leering lothario than polygamist.
I think a big part of his character is his arrogance, and this may contribute to him seeing himself as a Don Juan type who is free to enter and exit relationships with women, being completely callous to consequence.

[therenegades]

Yes, I should have rephrased myself but "polygamist" was used as lack of better terms... I feel as though it was very apparent in the first book during his remarks of his female companions. I also find in him a very fathering nature, though, as you can suspect the underlying longing for children and their companionship during his time Carmelita Spats, although many view him as harsh.

[Dante]

I don't know if Olaf really gets that excited by children, though. He expresses some fondness for Carmelita in TSS, but then actually caring for her ends up being a bit of a chore. I think it's where he sees himself in children that he feels particularly flattered.

[Christmas Chief]

Yes, "polygamy" is a bit too strong of a description, I think, although Klaus does mention polygamists in TBB. However, I don't think Olaf wants to be bothered with any kind of commitment in any case, including children. Of course, he does at least make an effort to stick to his ambitions (consider how long he tries to get the Baudelaire fortune), but he was never, I don't think, able to stay with anything for long.

[blakegriplingph]

I never noticed that so far; all I know is that Olaf attempted to marry Violet and that he had an affair with Esme, but I think it's more of like a live-in relationship than something along the lines of actual polygamy.

[Hermes]

Olaf seems at one time to have had a relationship with Lulu. ('You used to visit me just for the pleaure of my company .... I did not realise that Esme was the girlfriend of you, Olaf mine.') If his relationship with Esme goes back to the time they worked together on One Last Warning, he must have been carrying on both at once, but we can't be sure this is so.

I agree that he's not very paternal. His decison to recruit Carmelita seems to have been regretted quite quickly by him, though not by Esme. ('Tell Carmelita she's a big shining marshmallow in the middle of our lives.' 'You're a marshmallow, Carmelita'. )

And I'm afraid it's not clear Olaf was after Violet only for her money - the article that was linked here a while ago on 'What does Beatrice mean?' had some interesting things to say about this.

[Tiago James Squalor]

Olaf used the females in his theater troupe as henchmen (or henchwomen if you will), I highly doubt he would have maintained a relationship with either one of them. We later find out he's having a relationship with Esm´é Squalor which in my views predates Book the First, and there's also the Madame Lulu factor.

[Leanora Crowe]

I see Count Olaf as quite the ladies' man before he acquired his thirst for revenge and the Baudelaire fortune. We all know that he had a relationship with Kit at one time because of what happens between him and Kit in TE (when he kisses her and says that he had told her once that he would do that one last time, not to mention that he delivers her baby rather gently). Of course we know about his relationship with Esmé, as well, which was quite close, in my opinion. I believe he did also have a relationship with Olivia Caliban. I don't think he ever cared for his henchwomen in any way other than as his employees, though, and the thing with Violet was strictly to get at the Baudelaire fortune. He also flirted with Aunt Josephine a lot in TWW, and I realize that was probably only for his selfish purposes, but we can't know for sure. There may have been other relationships as well that we don't know about. I would love to hear other peoples' theories on this because this is a very interesting study.