Character Analysis
Count Olaf's associates are a pretty scary bunch. While he invites nine of them over for dinner, five of these baddies make a special impression on the Baudelaires:
Soon they were crowding the room—an assortment of strange-looking characters of all shapes and sizes. There was a bald man with a very long nose, dressed in a long black robe. There were two women who had bright white powder all over their faces, making them look like ghosts. Behind the women was a man with very long and skinny arms, at the end of which were two hooks instead of hands. There was a person who was extremely fat, and who looked like neither a man nor a woman. And behind this person, standing in the doorway, were an assortment of people the children could not see but who promised to be just as frightening. (4.21)
Oddly enough, we never find out any of the names of these creepy-looking characters. Of course, that only adds to their scariness—it's like they're not even real people, but instead just freaky descriptions. Yikes. The bald man and the hook-handed man even explicitly threaten the Baudelaires with death. Would we feel differently about them if we knew their names were Ned and Stanley? It seems possible.
Throughout the story, these henchpeople assist Count Olaf in his nefarious schemes. You may not be surprised, but they don't seem to have much of a mind of their own. Maybe they all just like doing bad things? Or maybe they're hoping Count Olaf will give them a cut once he gets his hands on the Baudelaire fortune? In any case, they're always good for some evil support. How terrible.