The Miserable Mill characters

Appears from the start

The eldest Baudelaire, a fourteen-year-old inventor who ties back her hair to concentrate and builds devices from whatever she can find. Having survived Count Olaf three times and lost three guardians, she remains the calm, protective leader her younger siblings depend on.

Appears from the start

The middle Baudelaire, a twelve-year-old who wears glasses, reads endlessly, and remembers what he learns. His research repeatedly rescues the family, and he stays wary of Count Olaf in any guise.

Appears from the start

The infant Baudelaire, who speaks in short exclamations her siblings interpret and whose four sharp teeth can bite through nearly anything. Tiny but fearless, she plays her own part in the family's escapes from danger.

Appears from the start

The ruthless actor who murders and schemes to steal the Baudelaire fortune, known by his single eyebrow and the eye tattooed on his ankle. A relentless disguiser who has escaped capture again and again, he is certain to reappear in the children's lives under some new false identity.

Appears from the start

The coughing banker in charge of the Baudelaire fortune, who keeps sending the orphans to new guardians and workplaces. Kindly but oblivious, he never quite believes the children's warnings about the danger they are in.

Appears from the start

The owner of the Lucky Smells Lumbermill in the town of Paltryville, where the children are sent to live and work. His face is permanently hidden behind a thick cloud of cigar smoke, so no one ever sees it. Gruff and stingy, he pays his laborers in coupons and chewing gum rather than money and treats the children as workers rather than as guests.

First appears in chapter 2

Sir's mild, good-natured business partner at the lumbermill, who tries to be kind to the Baudelaire children and keeps a small library at the mill. Gentle and eager to smooth things over, he is too timid to stand up to the domineering Sir on the children's behalf.

First appears in chapter 2

A relentlessly optimistic worker at the lumbermill who befriends the children. No matter how grim the conditions, he always manages to find a bright side and a cheerful word, offering the orphans warmth in a bleak place.

First appears in chapter 5

An optometrist in Paltryville whose office is a tall building shaped like a giant eye. Coolly professional and vaguely unsettling, she treats Klaus when his glasses are damaged, and the eye-shaped building and her manner give the children an uneasy sense that she is not simply an eye doctor.

First appears in chapter 5

A heavily made-up receptionist at Dr. Orwell's office who wears high heels and announces that she would like to adopt children. Her shining eyes and single eyebrow lead the Baudelaires to suspect that this so-called receptionist is Count Olaf in yet another disguise, scheming to get near them and their fortune.