Following the death of their parents in a fire that destroyed their entire home, the three Baudelaire children are placed under Count Olaf's abusive care where he is mentioned to be their third cousin four times removed or their fourth cousin three times removed. He proves to be a terrible guardian whose sole motivation for taking the children in was stealing their family fortune, planning on killing all three of them after succeeding. After losing custody of the children after his violent nature and scheme were exposed, Olaf manages to escape and begins a series of attempts to regain guardianship over them by appearing, disguised, at the homes of the children's successive guardians and carrying out complicated plots often involving but not limited to murder and arson. In "The End", when he and the Baudelaires arrive at the island welcomed by its castaway inhabitants and their leader Ishmael, Count Olaf then disguises himself as Kit Snicket, who had washed up on shore on a raft. To impersonate a pregnant Kit, Count Olaf sticks the helmet with the medusoid mycelium under the dress he is wearing. The island's people and their leader Ishmael recognize him as Count Olaf, and Ishmael uses a harpoon gun to shoot Count Olaf. The harpoon pierces the helmet, releasing the medusoid mycelium and injuring Count Olaf. In a unique act of kindness, Olaf brings Kit to a safe place to give birth before kissing her, implying a previous romantic relationship, before he dies from his injuries. Kit too dies soon after giving birth to a daughter, naming her after the Baudelaires' mother, Beatrice.