- See
Carmelita (disambiguation)
for other uses.
“ | I'm the cutest, prettiest, nicest girl in the whole wide school. | ” |
— Carmelita Spats, The Austere Academy
|
Carmelita Spats is a cruel, annoying, and unpleasant girl whom Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire first encountered in The Austere Academy at Prufrock Preparatory School. After being kidnapped/adopted by Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor, Carmelita joined the Fire-Starting side of VFD.
Personality[]
“ | If you were going to give a gold medal to the least delightful person on Earth, you would have to give that medal to a person named Carmelita Spats, and if you didn't give it to her, Carmelita Spats was the sort of person who would snatch it from your hands anyway. Carmelita Spats was rude, she was violent, and she was filthy, and it is really a shame that I must describe her to you, because there are enough ghastly and distressing things in this story without even mentioning such an unpleasant person. | ” |
Lemony Snicket describes Carmelita as a rude, violent and filthy little girl who cares for nobody but herself. She demands respect and reverence for herself, and constantly insults the Baudelaires and others by calling them "cakesniffers". Carmelita acts as if she is the center of the universe and the entire world revolves around her. Her spoiled personality causes to her show no respect for her elders or the world around her. To the Baudelaires and Quagmires, Carmelita is a disgusting and very vicious bully. She is shown to get physical with people, such as shoving and kicking. Carmelita could be viewed as a sociopath or psychopath, even killing a mockingbird once.
It is not explained why Carmelita is the way she is, although given the mention of a Spats fortune, it could be theorizied she comes from a spoiled family. Additionally, most adults don’t seem to mind her attitude. Mr. Remora and Mrs. Bass are shown to dislike her however, as after the Baudelaires pass their tests, Mr. Remora suggests she should be expelled to Vice Principal Nero as she never studies and "is an awful person besides” with Mrs. Bass agreeing with him and suggesting “Let’s give her an extra-challenging examination”. Vice Principal Nero seems to have encouraged her behavior and believes her to be a darling little girl, with Carmelita being one of his favorite students and allows her to get away with her bullying. However, Esmé is the one who spoils her the most. It is implied she adores Carmelita's selfish traits. Carmelita could be seen as a younger version of Esmé. Olaf at first calls her "adorable", and Esmé, without meeting her, insults her. However, later on, Olaf gets extremely annoyed by her, even yelling at and threatening her, while Esmé adores her. When Esmé convinces Carmelita to join them, she tells her, "You'll be the adoptive daughter we never had", while looking spitefully at the Baudelaires. When Olaf and Esmé take the troupe of snow scouts on their submarine the Carmelita in The Grim Grotto, Carmelita insists on forcing the scouts to clap as hard as they can, despite their exhaustion. Esmé seems to bend to Carmelita's every whim. She forces Olaf to call his boat The Carmelita (saying that The Olaf is a ‘cakesniffing’ name) However, when Carmelita escapes/dies during the Hotel fire, Olaf renames his boat The Olaf.
In the TV series, she may have a height complex or at the least, hate being called a little girl, as she kicks Larry the Waiter after he calls her that, and she says 4'7" is not that little to Count Olaf. She also sings tap-dancing musical numbers to the Baudelaires constantly and has a signature line that is included in all her songs: "And my name is CARMELITA!"
Biography[]
Early Life []
In The Slippery Slope, Esmé lists the fortunes the villains will steal from the captured Snow Scouts. One of these is "the Spats fortune." This implies Carmelita's parents are rich - one could suspect they may be connected to V.F.D. She was sent to a boarding school, Prufrock Preparatory.
She once wrote an autobiography titled Me: The Completely Authorized Autobiography of the Prettiest, Smartest, Most Darling Girl in the Whole Wide World which was published by Spoiled Brat Press. Page 793 details her misguided encounter with a V.F.D. librarian; he attempts to give her a code, but she doesn't recognize it and tells him, "Go away, creep."[7]
When Duncan and Isadora enter Prufrock Prep, they are forced to live in a shack due to not having parents or guardians to sign the permission slip for the dorms. Carmelita begins referring to their shack as the Orphans Shack.[6]
The Austere Academy[]
“ | Don't even think of eating around here, you cakesniffers! Nobody wants to have lunch with people who live in the Orphans Shack! | ” |
— Carmelita Spats, The Austere Academy
|
The Baudelaire orphans first encounter Carmelita in The Austere Academy. She rudely refers to them as "cakesniffers", tells them to get lost, and makes their lives difficult at the school. Isadora and Duncan Quagmire aren't fond of her either. Carmelita ridicules the Baudelaires for being orphans and having no parents as if them losing their parents is somehow something "funny" instead of serious. She creates a jeer and bullies them constantly, enticing other students to join in the bullying.
Carmelita was in the same class as Violet (Mr. Remora). Every few minutes Carmelita would lean forward and poke Violet with a stick and whisper "orphan", and Violet would lose her concentration and forget to write down some detail of Mr. Remora's latest story.
Carmelita is one of Vice Principal Nero's favorite students, and he plays favorites with her, enabling her to get away with so much bratty behavior. She is also given a job by Coach Genghis (Count Olaf disguised) to tell the Baudelaires when they are required to attend S.O.R.E. sessions, after which she would snobbishly demand a tip, usually in the form of jewelry.
When the Baudelaires pass their tests, Mr. Remora suggests expelling her, with Mrs. Bass agreeing with him by saying “Let’s give her an extra-challenging examination”, but Vice Principal Nero says he can't because she is Coach Genghis's special messenger.
The Slippery Slope[]
“ | I’m going to push these cakesniffers off the mountain, and start an exciting and fashionable new life! | ” |
— Carmelita Spats, The Slippery Slope
|
The Baudelaires meet her again in The Slippery Slope, while she is traveling with a group of Snow Scouts to celebrate False Spring in the Mortmain Mountains. The two elder Baudelaires had enough troubles in the Mortmain Mountains without running into her, and at the sound of her voice, they almost turned around and took their chances once more with the snow gnats swarming outside.
She is excited to be crowned False Spring Queen; she is appointed every year, likely due to favoritism from their scout leader, her uncle Bruce.
The Snow Scouts travel up to the peak, where they find Olaf's troupe, the Baudelaires, and Quigley Quagmire. The Baudelaires unmask themselves to get her to trust them, trying to warn her and the Snow Scouts that the Fire Starting side of V.F.D are planning to capture her. She doesn't believe them, as they caused Vice Principal Nero trouble at school, and plants a flag in the ice to crown herself False Spring Queen, causing a large crack to form on the ice. The Snow Scouts and Bruce ( In the TV series, Brucie.) are then captured by eagles, but as Bruce/Brucie was not in the net, she was left behind.
Olaf and Esmé Squalor discuss which Baudelaire to leave alive for the fortune, and Carmelita suggests keeping Violet so they can tie her hair to things and so they can pull on it when they are bored. Olaf and Esmé then offer to adopt her, and Esmé tells her that she'll buy her "In" outfits. Though Quigley warns her that they're planning to kill her parents and burn down her house, Carmelita is enthralled that the couple finds her adorable, and agrees to join them, threatening to push the Baudelaires and Quigley off the mountain, ready to start an exciting and fashionable new life. The Baudelaires and Quigley escape on a toboggan.
The Grim Grotto[]
“ | You're just jealous of me because I'm a tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian! | ” |
— Carmelita Spats, The Grim Grotto
|
Carmelita is still with Olaf, who is starting to get annoyed with her, and Esmé, who spoils her a lot. She insists that Olaf name his submarine after her, because she says "The Olaf" is a "cakesniffing" name.
She steals from Olaf's costume trunk to make her tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian costume, and psychologically tortures the Snow Scouts and other firestarter recruits, who are rowing the Queequeg, by performing tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian recitals for hours on end. Carmelita commands the snow scouts to clap as hard as they can while she twirls round and round, even though their hands are sore from rowing.
She describes herself in a song:
- C is for 'cute'
- A is for 'adorable'!
- R is for 'ravishing'!
- M is for 'gorgeous'!
- E is for 'excellent'! (In Netflix series 'extra gorgeous')
- L is for 'lovable'!
- I is for 'I'm the best'!
- T is for 'talented'!
- and A is for 'a tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian'!
- Now let's sing my whole wonderful song all over again!
The song was so irritating, and sung so poorly, that Violet and Klaus almost feel as if they were being tortured after all, particularly as Carmelita keeps on singing it, over and over and over. Klaus comments that someone should tell Carmelita that the word 'gorgeous' does not start with 'm'.
She spots Fernald and Fiona in their escape attempt, frustrated that they interrupted her recital. Fiona and Fernald lie and say they just needed to borrow Esmé's noodle whip, giving the Baudelaires the opportunity to escape. Fiona then joins the crew, and Carmelita follows the group to the Queequeg to capture the Baudelaires, where she mentions that she'll do tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian recitals on the graves of the Volunteers.
The Penultimate Peril[]
“ | I'm not a little girl! I'm a ballplaying cowboy superhero soldier pirate! And I'm not going to shoot any more harpoons until Countie teaches me how to spit. | ” |
— Carmelita Spats, The Penultimate Peril
|
Carmelita's spoiled attitude appears to have been exacerbated under the care of Esmé Squalor. At the Hotel Denouement, she has changed into a ball-playing cowboy superhero soldier pirate and dresses like one; Esmé sees this as her tomboy phase and doesn't seem too pleased with it. Olaf tells her that he'll teach her to spit, "like a real ball-playing cowboy superhero soldier pirate," if she learns to use a harpoon gun and shoots down the crow that will carry the Sugar Bowl to the hotel that night. Violet, disguised as a concierge, encounters her on the roof of the hotel, where she has her sailboat once again named after her and is forced to give her a harpoon gun. Carmelita also demands that Violet give her a icecream cone with rainbow sprinkles and almond based icecream because she is lactose intolerant. It also seems she is kindness-intolerant.
She successfully shoots the crow, and she and Esmé, along with Hugo, Colette, and Kevin, find Olaf, the Baudelaires, Dewey Denouement, Justice Strauss, and Jerome Squalor in the lobby. Carmelita refuses to follow Olaf's orders to shoot Dewey until he teaches her how to spit, so he violently knocks her to the floor and takes her harpoon gun, ending their already tenuous relationship. Esmé is angered at this, and Olaf insists that the spoiled girl needs to be disciplined. This ends his and Esmé's relationship as well.
Carmelita submits a book about how wonderful she believes herself to be as evidence in a trial against Count Olaf and the Baudelaires.
After the trial ends, the Baudelaires, Olaf, and Justice Strauss find her and Esmé wandering the second story. Klaus warns them about the fire, and Carmelita wants to take off her blindfold to capture him. Esmé isn't sure whether to believe the Baudelaires, who say there is a spreading fire, or Olaf, who says there is not, as she sees both as dishonest. Carmelita tells the group to leave them alone, as they can find their own way out.
It is unknown whether she survived the fire at the Hotel Denouement, though Lemony Snicket believes that the Baudelaires "never argued" with either her or Esmé again.
When asked if Esmé and/or Carmelita survived the fire, Daniel Handler responded that was a "difficult question to answer in the world of literature."[8]
TV Series Divergent Canon[]
- Carmelita Spats: Hello, cakesniffers!
- Violet Baudelaire: Hello, um...
Nero mentions Carmelita has two living parents[4], who she later claims "let [her] do whatever [she] wanted." Sometime between The Slippery Slope: Part Two and The Penultimate Peril: Part One, Olaf tried and failed to ransom Carmelita back to her parents, and Esmé mentions to Olaf that they (or at least, their side of the schism) burnt down the Spats house with them inside[9].
Carmelita is a cheerleader in the series and constantly sings about herself with songs that rarely rhyme, which annoys Isadora Quagmire.[4][10] Olaf also mentions that she has brass knuckles.[11] She seems to be constantly hungry, as she insists on stealing food from Larry Your-Waiter.[4] She also secretly sneaks into the kitchens to sniff cakes, making her a literal cakesniffer.[10] She is still favored by Vice Principal Nero, who gives her tap shoes and puts her in charge of gym class until Coach Genghis is hired, so she makes all the students do jumping jacks whenever she wants.[4]
She has a disgust for the librarian, Olivia Caliban, and while giving a tour to the Baudelaires mentions that she smells funny. When Olivia mentions she enjoys To Kill a Mockingbird, Carmelita goes out and kills a mockingbird to give to her. Olivia is horrified by this and orders her to give the bird a proper burial, and threatens to call Carmelita's mother and have her tap shoes taken away.
She is bribed by Olaf to help sneak him and the troupe into the school and help him with his schemes. She gave him a brooch she'd previously stolen, and also assisted him in trapping Larry in a freezer. She catches Jacques Snicket freeing him, and is vaguely surprised that he knows her; he mentions that his organization has been keeping an eye on children of interest, and then insults her before leaving. She also tries to insist the Baudelaires flunked their public exam for not being adorable enough, and cheers on Olaf's troupe as they chase after the children.
In The Slippery Slope: Part One, she is much more in command of the Snow Scouts, as Bruce has been replaced by Brucie, who was hired by the Snow Scouts' rich parents to carry their childrens' luggage. She recognizes the Baudelaires, but is not believed when she points them out; she also insists that Quigley doesn't associate with them, as they don't talk to orphans. She also tells her version of the Cinderella story around the campfire, where the prince married Cinderella's adorable stepsister, who divorced him and took all his money. She is noted to talk in her sleep, saying " Give me that necklace, Rachel!"
In The Slippery Slope: Part Two, she convinces the Snow Scouts to abandon Brucie on the mountain after the group leader starts questioning her. Upon reaching the top of the mountain, the Man with a Beard but No Hair and Woman with Hair but No Beard flatter her into trusting them, and she tells the Baudelaires that she's too adorable to kidnap before crowning herself False Spring Queen. The Snow Scouts are captured, and after she suggests that they should smash Klaus's glasses and watch him bump into things, Esmé finds her adorable and quickly adopts her, to Olaf's dismay. Carmelita is thrilled to have "two sets of parents more than" the Baudelaires.
She disguises herself as an adorable daughter in The Grim Grotto: Part One in order to rent a submarine, and once on the submarine, she steals from Olaf's costume trunk to make her Tap-Dancing Ballerina Fairy Princess Veterinarian costume. She tries to make Esmé and a disgruntled Olaf watch her recital version of Swan Lake- where the swan gets run over for thinking it was more adorable. By this point, Olaf is incredibly annoyed with her.
Later, Carmelita, made uncomfortable by Fernald, insists that he does not eat with them, and when Olaf makes him leave, she sings that "the Cakesniffer is not family!" She is upset by Olaf's depressing rambles and the implication she won't always be adorable and has to be quieted by him when the Great Unknown arrives.
When the Carmelita captures the Queequeg, Carmelita wanders in and helps them capture Phil and the Baudelaires, and she has to jump up and down to see the children as they were sent off to the grotto.
In The Grim Grotto: Part Two, she is performing her recital for the captured Snow Scouts, who are tired of rowing, and Phil, who received an eye infection. Esmé orders the Snow Scouts to watch, but Carmelita is upset and jealous when Olaf leaves to put the Baudelaires in the brig. When the Bauelaires escape, they interrupt her recital by faking the approach of the Great Unknown. The Snow Scouts panic and revolt, giving them time to escape. Carmelita later finds Violet and Klaus hiding in the Queequeg when they arrive to look for Fernald. She notes that she played veterinarian with Phil on the Queequeg.
In The Penultimate Peril: Part One, Carmelita is given a message from an escaped Fernald and Fiona to give to Olaf, as they capture the Carmelita. She insists that they name their new boat the Carmelita II, and once again dons her daughter disguise as her, Olaf and Esmé arrive in disguise at the hotel. She is upset by their travel, as she wanted to go to Littlest Elf Land, and Esmé tells Olaf that she's acting out due to him not spending enough time with her. She also appears to be unaware that her parents have been murdered.
She still stays on the sunbathing roof with Esmé, though she unknowingly holds the Medusoid Mycelium in a beach ball, and orders ice cream as well as a harpoon gun. She once again refuses to shoot until Olaf teaches her to spit, though she is confused after his and Esmé's breakup and asks if this means he's "not [her] daddy anymore." She shoots down a crow with the same rock Violet used on Briny Beach, and she and Esmé cook the crows to feed to the guests at the trial, as a replacement punishment since they can't find the Medusoid Mycelium.
During the trial, she manages to terrify Jerome, and when the Baudelaires ask people to remove their blindfolds, she insists that they're cakesniffers. After the trial, she and Esmé are seen by the Baudelaires as they flee, without their blindfolds, but the adoptive mother and daughter did not believe them about the fire. Olaf tells Esmé that her treasured Sugar Bowl is in the laundry room (where the fire began), and Esmé insists that she and Carmelita should go down to find it.
She is portrayed by Kitana Turnbull.
Songs[]
From The Grim Grotto:
- C is for "cute!"
- A is for "adorable!"
- R is for "ravishing!"
- M is for "gorgeous!"
- E is for "excellent!"
- L is for "lovable!"
- I is for "I'm the best!"
- T is for "talented!"
- and A is for "a tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian!"
From "The Austere Academy: Part Two":
- The sun is setting hooray, hooray!
- Coach Genghis sent me here to say,
- "The Baudelaire orphans go to the field!"
- And my name is CARMELITA!
- Vice Principal Nero wants to see you right away
- Because he's very mad at you today
- I'm the cutest girl in town
- And my name is CARMELITA!
- Cakesniffers are all jealous of me
- Because I'm C-U-T-T-E
- Dancing and Singing is my thing
- And my name is CARMELITA!
- [an unperformed twelve more verses]
- The sun has come up, the day has begun!
- And watching you flunk will be so much fun
- Because you're just orphans, and you're probably dumb!
- And my name is CARMELITA!
Quotes[]
Netflix[]
- Violet: "Hello, um..."
Carmelita: "UM... UM... Are you a blithering idiot? Everyone knows I'm Carmelita Spats." - "I don't have to wear a uniform because I'm too adorable!"
- "AHEM... 'Thank you' is not enough. It is traditional to give a special tour guide a tip at the end of the tour... YES, A TIP! Are you DEAF AND BLIND, cakesniffer?!"
- "Who said you could speak to me?" (kicking Larry)
- "I HATE YOUR FACE!" (kicking a boy to the floor)
- "Hey, cakesniffer! You're as ugly as something I found in my teeth recently!"
- "You call those jumping jacks?! I've seen better jumping jacks from OLD PEOPLE!"
- "Little girl? I'm 4'7"." (to Count Olaf)
- "All I have to do is scream and he'll fire you on the spot." (threatening Larry)
- "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want." (possibly a Spice Girls reference to Larry)
- Carmelita: "Out of my way, cakesniffers, I deserve a heaping portion because I'm heapingly adorable."
Violet: "You can wait in line like everyone else, Carmelita."
Carmelita: "I don't have to. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. Vice Principal Nero likes me best and there's a special beef and bean burrito with a little ribbon on it just for me." - "EXPLAIN HOW ADORABLE I AM!"
- "Baudelaires, there's some open seats at my table, but I'm afraid it's a cakesniffer-free zone."
- "I smell people who lost their parents in FIRES. Heehee." (to the Baudelaires and Quagmires)
- "ONLY CAKESNIFFERS CARE ABOUT POETIC FORM!"
- "Only cakesniffers care about democracy!"
- "Alright, let's take it from the flop."
- "Hey, cakesniffers, now I have two sets of parents more than you!"
- "This number is called "Swan Lake", where the swan gets run over because it thought it was more adorable than me."
- "The cakesniffer is not faaaaaaamily! The cakesniffer is not faaaaaaamily! The cakesniffer is not faaaaaaamily!" (to Fernald)
Trivia[]
- In the books, it is never explained what "cakesniffer" means, except as a term of disdain. It may refer to cake being an expensive luxury the Baudelaires can no longer afford, so all they can do is sniff cake from a distance. This may relate to the saying "Let them eat cake", which the Baudelaires hear in the next book.
- The TV series has Carmelita sneak into the Prufrock kitchen to smell a cake. It seems logical to deduce that there is a school rumor of a troublemaker sniffing cakes when no one else is around, and Carmelita insults others with it, to divert suspicion from herself. In one scene, Duncan Quagmire briefly silences Carmelita (who led a chorus of other students to humiliate the Baudelaires) with the accusation: 'You're the cake-sniffer!', which suggests he knows about her secret habit and does not hesitate to use it against her.
- In the TV series, Carmelita and Count Olaf make an allegiance. She also wears a red brooch, with her pink dress, that Count Olaf takes as part of his Coach Genghis disguise.
- In the TV series, she is lactose intolerant.
- Carmelita used to respond to fans on Instagram who asked her questions and showed her fanart, although most of her answers have been taken down:
- Carmelita appears for the interview
- Carmelita montage
- Carmelita about being in ("Cute little girls making up insults is SO in!")
- Someone calls Carmelita spoiled ("THE ONLY THING SPOILED HERE... IS YOU!")
- Someone calls Carmelita vile ("I'm assuming vile means adorable? I hate cakesniffers who use complicated words. Ugh.")
- Someone asks Carmelita what a cakesniffer is ("If you have to ask, you are one!")
- Carmelita on the wait for Season 3 ("Yes, the wait is over! I'm just so incredibly happy for you! Almost as happy as I am... for me!"
- Her name means garden/orchard, which is ironic considering both things are pleasant, and she is not.
- Another meaning is “little poem” which could reference the little songs she sings in the Netflix adaptation.
- Carmelita encounters all three Quagmire triplets (despite not knowing that Quigley was the last triplet).
- Carmelita is the only Snow Scout in her troop to not wear the proper uniform. The same can be said for the Prufrock Prep uniform.
- In many ways, she’s a foil to the Baudelaire orphans themselves. While the Baudelaires have nothing, they still manage to be good. But Carmelita Spats decides to be evil despite having everything.
Family[]
Count Olaf | Esmé Squalor | Mr. Spats † | Mrs. Spats † | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carmelita Spats | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- ↑ PROSE: The Grim Grotto
- ↑ PROSE: The Penultimate Peril
- ↑ PROSE: The Slippery Slope
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 TV: The Austere Academy: Part One
- ↑ From The Austere Academy: Part Two, "Singing and Dancing is my thing!"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 PROSE: The Austere Academy
- ↑ PROSE: Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
- ↑ Zoom Interview with Daniel Handler
- ↑ TV: The Penultimate Peril: Part One
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 TV: The Austere Academy: Part Two
- ↑ TV: The Slippery Slope: Part One
|