Person of Indeterminate Gender

The Person of Indeterminate Gender is a fictional character in Lemony Snicket's series of children's books, A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The person of indeterminate gender is a henchperson of the villainous Count Olaf. This person is described as being very fat, and looking like neither a man nor a woman. Both the narrator and the characters talk AbOUT this person using phrases such as, "he or she", "the massive creature," and "the big one." Even Olaf's other henchmen use such language, which suggests that even they are unsure about the person's gender. The author usually describes him or her as 'the overweight accomplice', especially in the latter books that they appear in.

This being is often guarding for Count Olaf, guarding the tower where Sunny is kept, keeping watch over the keys to the sailboats and posing as a hospital guard, suggesting its enormous strength. He or she does have the strength to swing Violet over its shoulder with one hand. The person is rather a beastly person and seems to have almost animal-like intellect. In the books it is often described as being blank-looking, making it even more difficult to tell which gender this person is.

The Baudelaire children never hear this person speak, even when he or she is spoken to by others. It is not known whether this person remains silent by choice, or is unable to speak. However, this creature obviously has some means of communication as it informs Count Olaf, disguised as Captain Sham, that the Baudelaires stole the sailboat in The Wide Window. They do hear the person of indeterminate gender laugh, as well. This is described as "an odd laugh that sounded like a squeal and a howl at the same time." There is also a slight possibility that it spoke in the ending scene of The Wide Window as a phrase is used saying "as all the taller people argued", when the adults present were Count Olaf, Mr. Poe and the person of indeterminate gender. However, a phrase in The Vile Village states that the Baudelaires have never heard this person speak before. It has been heard to roar in rage as well as laugh in The Hostile Hospital. It roars several times when it is chasing the Baudelaires. The character speaks a few times in the film, with a slight Scottish accent. However, in the film version of the story, he or she is a very minor character, only appearing at Olaf's dinner party and at the wedding scene, where he or she wears half a bridesmaid gown sewn to half a tuxedo.

Sunny Baudelaire refers to the creature as "Orlando" at one point, a literary allusion to the Virginia Woolf novel, Orlando: A Biography, whose hero is a man who turns into a woman. Orlando is based on Vita Sackville-West, briefly Woolf's lover. In the film version of the story, the Person of Indeterminate Gender is referred to as "Liza", but it is not known whether this name was given by the author or by the director. In the books, the character is never identified by name.

In The Hostile Hospital, the creature's final appearance, it is seen as one of Count Olaf's henchpeople, disguised as a guard at Heimlich Hospital, first seen guarding a door where two more of Olaf's associates were hidden. It is confirmed that this beast does not speak even with its co-workers, as it does not speak to Esme or Klaus and Sunny, whom it thinks are The Two white-faced women. It is a possibility that it makes more sound with them however, as it laughs alongside Esme. This was the first time the creature was heard to make A sound. It is not seen again after this until the final scene. It is the only one absent amongst Olaf's troupe that is trying to capture the Baudelaires in the Operating Theatre, but as they escape they whiz past it. It sees them and roars, chasing after them, the second and last sound it is heard to make. It chases them all through the Ward for Nasty Rashes, apparentally ignoring the fire that is spreading. The Baudelaires manage to escape from inside a closet, leaving the creature inside as the hospital burns to the ground, where it almost certainly perishes. This marked the first death of one of Olaf's colleagues. Whilst The Hook-Handed Man and the bald man show regret at the loss of this person, Olaf claims that it was a fool and is not worth waiting around for.