Why didn't Olaf force Violet to marry him in a courthouse?

[tonyvfd]

Perhaps because it would have raised objections that the bride was so young.

[Hermes]

Well, it's made clear that you can get married at 14 in Snicketland, so I don't see that would be an objection in itself. I think that originally O planned to trick Violet rather than force her because it was, I guess, more elegant - bear in mind he's an impresario as well as a villain; later he tries to carry out a cranioectomy on Violet in public, although as she was already in his clutches he could have killed her secretly much more easily. And a trick would give less opportunity for resistance. Of course, when he is found out, he has to resort to compulsion anyway, hence the threat to Sunny.

[Foxy]

I agree with Hermes that Olaf was trying to trick them. That's what Olaf tries to do in every book, right up until the bitter end. "Of course I'm trying to trick you Baudelaires. That's the way of the world." Or something to that nature.

Tricking is something Olaf enjoys, obviously. He wears costumes and has different personas for eight of the books and successfully tricks people with seven of those disguises. Maybe it is not enough for him to just take what he wants. Maybe he gets a certain thrill out of concocting elaborate, devious plans and then enacting them.

[Dante]

It also made it less obvious to the authorities and general public that Violet was being coerced. If Count Olaf brought Violet into a courthouse and insisted on getting married to her, don't you think the authorities would have started asking some hard questions?