| “ | Zonk it on the record, scribbler dame. He was pretty as a shined-up platter of silver nickels in the mouth of a golden calf. | ” |
— Detective Dupin to Arthur Poe, "The Vile Village: Part Two"
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Detective Dupin (doo-PWAH) is Count Olaf's disguise in The Vile Village.
Usage
He is a 'famous' detective obsessed with what's cool, including ridiculous sunglasses which cover up his one eyebrow and green plastic shoes with yellow lightning bolts on them that hide the tattoo of an eye on his ankle. He seemingly murdered the real police chief of the Village of Fowl Devotees.
After murdering Jacques Snicket who had been mistaken as him by the Village of Fowl Devotees, Count Olaf in the disguise of Detective Dupin accuses the Baudelaires of murdering "Count Olaf." He claims that Violet's hair ribbon and a lens from Klaus's glasses were found on the scene, and Sunny's teeth marks are on the body. In addition, he has Esmé Squalor operate as Officer Luciana.
When one of the villagers sees Dupin without his sunglasses on, the Council of Elders suspect he has a tattoo on his ankle and confirm it following the struggle. After it was discovered that one of the V.F.D. Crows has been injured by Officer Luciana's Harpoon gun, Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor escape on their motorcycle to avoid the villagers' wrath.
Netflix Series Divergent Canon
He is played by Neil Patrick Harris. This version of Dupin, in addition to his gratuitous use of the word "cool," is also obsessed with scat singing and often resorts to it in attempts to get out of answering questions that he does not know the answer to. In one scene, Dupin is singing in the Town Hall of the Village of Fowl Devotees.
Appearance
He wears a brown hat with a feather on it, large sunglasses to cover his eyebrow, he gets a gold tooth to look ‘cool’ and is always chewing on a match. He wears a yellow shirt which is only buttoned half way, showing his chest, a yellow necklace, a purple coat, and long black trousers with a large white belt. He wears cowboy boots. He speaks in a western accent and uses scat singing to get out of situations.
Quotes
Books
Not cool
- "It's just not cool," Count Olaf said, snapping his fingers to emphasize the word "cool", "to dismiss suspects from the scene of the crime until Detective Dupin gives the O.K."
- "It's just not cool," Count Olaf said, snapping his fingers again, "to disagree with Detective Dupin."
- "It's not cool," Olaf said with a snap, "to be confused, so let me see if I can help you."
- "It's not cool," he said, "to accuse people of murder without any evidence, but luckily I found some."
- "It's not cool," called out a voice, "to have meetings!"
Cool
- "It's cool to be late," he said, and snapped his fingers.
- "It's cool to fire away, Officer Luciana."
TV series
- "Greetings, all you cool cats! I am the famous and scoo ba ba duh duh duh duh de duh cool Detective Dupin."
- "I think your prescription is fuzzy, my little four-eyed kitten." (To Klaus Baudelaire)
- "These kittens have flipped. I am a groovy man of the law, man. I wouldn't harm the hair on a shoofly. But reconnoiter this, villagers. The Baudelaires are pointing their bony little fingers at me because they are, in fact, 100%... the murderers."
- "Instead of dropping accusations on cool detectives, maybe you orphans should tend to your own accusational woes."
- "Zonk it on the record, scribbler dame. He was pretty as a shined-up platter of silver nickels in the mouth of a golden calf."
- "Birdland! Groove on this! I am deputizing the whole kit and caboodle. Now let's scoot up that red-hot jalopy and drag down those killers!"
Trivia
- C. Auguste Dupin is a fictional crime-solver invented by Edgar Allan Poe.
About Detective Dupin
"For Detective Dupin, I watched a lot of commercials with the Cheetos cheetah, for the cool walk. The jacket is akin to the one worn by Brad Pitt's character in Fight Club. And there's a bit of Jason Mraz, who I think is super cool. Dupin is Chester Cheetah meets Jason Mraz." - Neil Patrick Harris about Detective Dupin.
Appearances
Gallery
Books
Netflix
