Olaf true nature

[tonyvfd]

Is count Olaf itself a character/alterego similar to stehapno,sham,shirley. I'm not saying that Olaf is not his real name. this may be hard to explain but please bear with me. When we first meet Olaf he acts like an illiterate buffoon and will remain like that trough most on the books but let's remember that he writes plays the marvelos marriage and one last warning,recite poetry. Near the end we learn that there's more than meet the eye so could be said that he is smarter than let us believe?
Could he be simple mad with the snobbish attitude of the noble side?
Could he have solved the clues in the penultimate peril himself?
Is he as smart as Klauss?

[Foxy]

The idea of Olaf's character being also a character played by Count Olaf is interesting. The plays he wrote were probably quite bad, which would further showcase his illiterate and buffoonish ways. The poetry was probably something he was forced to learn at school, although I once looked up the poem he recited in The End, and it's a bit explicit, which may also contribute to him knowing the poem. He could be a little more intelligent than he lets on (in The Bad Beginning, Snicket refers to him as an unsavory, clever drunken brute), but maybe to be such a wicked person, he does have to act a little less intelligent to ease his conscience? I don't really know; I've never attempted to be a wicked person who burns things down, abuses children, commits murder, etc.

Olaf likely isn't fond of the snobbish attitude of the noble side. Maybe Olaf is one of those kids who was left out of groups or always picked last.

Olaf probably couldn't have solved the Penultimate Peril clues himself - he couldn't even spelled "poison darts". He was attempting to coerce Dewey into giving him the answers precisely because he couldn't figure out the answers on his own. I don't think he would have killed Dewey because he needed him alive to open the laundry room.

Olaf is nowhere near as book smart as Klaus, but you could make the case Olaf is more informed about the ways of the world, even if he does have a cynical view of them.  This is shown in how he exploits the weaknesses of pretty much every adult in the children's lives.

[Carrie E. Abelabudite]

I don't think Olaf's spelling can be as bad as he claims it is. We know from TBL that he went to VFD school with Lemony, and ATWQ implies that he might have gone to Wade Academy, a school for children of the nobility. So he would have been well educated. Plus, he clearly likes and is good at anagrams, as can be seen through his troupe members' disguises, and the name he uses for Violet in THH. 

I definitely agree he dislikes the volunteers for their intellectualism. Possibly because the love of reading and learning he was brought up with has not helped him in times of need. By the time of ASOUE, he values more practical knowledge. 

I wouldn't think of this as an 'alter ego', though, more a choice he has made about what he sees as important.