Daria Morgendorffer is the series' eponymous main protagonist. Originally a supporting character in Beavis and Butt-Head before getting her own series, she is the eldest child in the Morgendorffer family and a disaffected, misanthropic student of Lawndale High. She is voiced by Tracy Grandstaff.
Personality[]
The show primarily revolves around Daria's cynical outlook and how her views evolve throughout the series. Daria's best-known characteristic is her deadpan sarcasm; her usual reaction to almost anything and everyone being a dry, witty remark at their expense. This commonality is what united her with her best friend, Jane Lane, and the two often enjoy a sort of innate pride in seeing high school life more objectively than their brain-damaged classmates and condescending or self focused teachers.
One of Daria's primarily personality traits is her natural intelligence. Even in her youth, Daria was perceived to be an intelligent individual, and while this did isolate her from her peers, her conscious denial of them did allow her to refine her intelligence. However, her rejection by her peers also led her to be greatly skeptical, arrogant and snide towards others.
Seemingly a respectful and shy young girl before, Daria's personality has been shaped around the way she has been treated by her peers. Her social isolation, specifically, has demotivated her to such a point that she is highly apathetic and somewhat lazy towards others, showing no motivation to apply anything above the minimum required effort.
This extends towards her academic skills, as while she is academically brilliant, she often avoids taking part in any extracurricular, and often social, activities by her own volition, entirely content to coast through high school with her inherent academic talents alone. Due to this lack of engagement with other students, in addition to her often bored or pessimistic expression and status as an outsider, she is commonly perceived as being an unhappy person. Although considering herself more realistic—even clarifying in The Misery Chick to be she's not nihilistic—she will occasionally appeal to nihilism and even consideration of suicide for the sake of an offhand joke.
Another one of Daria's key traits is her staunchness, as she is often highly opinionated, sometimes harshly judgmental, and even smug at points. Although she is ultimately fair and will admit to being wrong after proven as such, she is typically opposed to or at least wary of generally accepted social norms and notions, as well as things such as superstition, and can be somewhat quick to anger in a divisive argument.
Character Overview[]
The character Daria is an intelligent, insightful, snarky, and sensitive teenage girl in an otherwise "normal" environment. This is to say that she doesn't fit in all that well, and was often subject to ridicule—and would ridicule back, poking at the idiocies of her peers, her elders, and herself.
Though an outcast at her school, she has earned a degree of grudging, nearly surprising respect from her fellow students. (Surprising because there's little evidence that they are capable of appreciating her.) She attempts to fly under the radar and blend into the background but keeps getting drawn into situations against her will, where she either restores sanity or causes things to descend into further chaos.
A career aptitude test in It Happened One Nut said she'd do well as a mortician: "Your lack of interest in personal interaction makes you an ideal candidate for working with the dead." She was not happy with this result.
She has described Jane Lane as basically the only real friend she's ever had. The Daria Diaries states she was "always invited to slumber parties" as a pre-teen, but onl
Physical Appearance[]
Daria has long reddish-brown hair with bangs going across her forehead, which she doesn't style in any particular fashion. In stark contrast with most other female characters, Daria makes no attempt to dress attractively. She typically sports a large dark green zipped up jacket, an orange shirt underneath, a black knee-length pleated skirt, and large black lace-up boots, accompanied by her signature black thick-rimmed circular glasses. She is relatively small in stature, standing at a mere 5'2" according to Jane, and most clothes don't fit her as a result, even including her usual outfit to an extent, as her coat and boots are clearly a bit large for her. Quinn the Brain is the only episode where her body type is actively showcased, and it seems to be fairly similar to Quinn's.
Early Years[]
Daria Morgendorffer was born in January 8th 1982 to Jake and Helen Morgendorffer (nee Barksdale).
She was a very grumpy looking baby and toddler. (Diaries) She and Quinn drove babysitter after babysitter to despair with their sibling warfare, causing one to have a heart attack. (The Big House) When she was young, she was forced to play the flute: she stopped in third grade and her dad accidentally ran the flute over two years later. The tune of 'Pop Goes The Weasel' brings back bad memories. (Cafe Disaffecto)
Daria found it hard to fit in at school and early on decided to stop bothering. Her parents would be called to school time and again over this. (Boxing Daria) The Morgendorffers visited the Grand Canyon when Daria was around ten or so—Helen spent the visit on her cell phone to work. (The Daria Diaries).
She was sent to Camp Dragonfly and Camp Grizzly during the summer holidays. Grizzly in particular was hell for her, causing her to be trapped with the bullying Skip Stevens and sycophantic Amelia in close contact. (Camp Fear) Young Daria had an adult library card. This meant she was invited to a lot of slumber parties by other girls because she could rent out books with sex scenes in them (including Sons and Lovers). (Diaries) When she was twelve, she started using Shakespearian insults on teachers. (Boxing Daria)
| Daria's [concept]... was the only note from the network, a development note, and I actually agreed with it that it'd be a good idea to have a female character who didn't necessarily like [Beavis and Butt-head] but kinda tolerated them. | ” |
- Mike Judge about Daria's genesis in the Beavis and Butt-Head DVD boxset
In Daria's first incarnation as a recurring character on Beavis and Butt-Head, she formed a female, intelligent foil to the two male dunderheads. (She was, a producer/writer for the show stated, "the smart girl who hung around with Beavis and Butt-Head because it annoyed her parents.") Often, the two would openly mock her and refer to her as "Diarrhea." Daria was named by Mike Judge after a girl at his school who'd had that name... and also been nicknamed "Diarrhea." He cites David Felton as coming up with her look ("like Lynda Barry") and with the character, with producer John Andrews creating the original design.
Daria and Romance[]
Daria's personal view of relationships with boys can be seen as being summed up in a single line, spoken to Jane in Dye! Dye! My Darling: "Can you picture me making out with anyone? Ever?" - the very episode where she gets with Tom Sloane. An in-depth observation of the character reveals her to genuinely be interested in romance. However, she's:
a) Soured by by what she perceives as the idiocy of the young men around her in both Highland and Lawndale - "It's a Miserable Life" outright states exposure to Butt-Head destroyed her interest in men (and shows her with a boyfriend from her class (Martin) in a world where Butt-Head never existed). She has developed very high standards for men.
b) Unwilling to open up emotionally, and possesses a fear of physical intimacy
The biggest interaction Daria has with anybody outside of Jane is with Jane's brother Trent Lane. Who she developed a crush on since meeting him and while Trent was aware of her feelings, he never acted upon them. A notable exception in Pierce Me, where he uses her crush on him as an encouragement to be a bit more daring. After getting over her crush, Trent turned into a trusted friend who comes up with good advice such as in The Misery Chick, where he guides Daria towards Jane's room despite the latter's wishes to be left alone. In the remainder of the series Daria and Trent continue to socialize, having found mutual respect for the other.
Her crush on Trent was never acted upon, even though Trent was aware of it and would sometimes gently play up to it; this was most notable in "Pierce Me", where he told her how "hot" a piercing would make her and in a clearly flirtatious way. She'd try to cover up her crush but sudden loss of speech ("This Year's Model") or outright blushing (Pierce Me) made it obvious. "Pierce Me" showed a dream about Trent, which turned into a nightmare when she dreamt Trent would have no interest in her at all and find the very idea laughable. MTV's "It Takes Two to Tangle" described the situation as: "Quite a bit of sublimation and projection going on here, and not much action. Here is a rare example of passive-passive behavior."
She would eventually realize they just wouldn't be compatible (Jane's Addition), thought she'd realized before that he would make for an unreliable partner and what made him seem cool now would be pathetic in later: when trying to visualize their future together, her first vision was Trent as an unemployed, lazy failure whom she had to support (Lane Miserables). After the end of the crush, her relationship with Trent developed into a good friendship with a lot of trust; Trent even came to her aid with some well placed advice in Fire!, showing that he isn't as oblivious as he puts on, and was still friendly and helpful towards her even after she was on the odds with Jane.
Glenn Eichler has said he likes the idea of Daria being shipped with Luhrman from I Don't, and the two did get on well and had similar interests: she even invited him to join her and Aunt Amy, a rare sociable act. It never went anywhere though. "Two to Tangle" described the pairing as doom while they have "compatible energy levels (minimal)", "they both suffer from over-reliance on ironic detachment."
She had a brief sort-of relationship with Ted DeWitt-Clinton, who showed interest in her and which she found herself interested in back; however, she automatically tried to push him away and was highly nervous of the idea of hooking up with him. She eventually decided to give it a try, but it was too late and they drifted apart.
Tom Sloane was her first real boyfriend and she initially tried to push him away, as with Ted; while guilt over betraying Jane played a part, Daria was clearly rattled by Tom's angry point that she was afraid to have a relationship in case it made her "vulnerable". Tom's different class would go on to cause problems, as would her recurring inability to verbalize any problems she had (such as her concerns he was taking her for granted, Sappy Anniversary); Daria tended to have a lot of problems, being nervous and edgy on many occasions as she tried to navigate unfamiliar territory. Despite problems, she was insightful enough to notice and eventually apologize when she was being difficult with Tom; the two would usually talk through these issues by the end of the day. Daria would sometimes turn to Tom for advice. "Two to Tangle" described the couple as "[having] a healthy sense of boundaries, probably due to the fact that hers are extra-thick and lustrous. His family background puts him at risk for hyper-exclusivity."
The relationship managed to last for almost a year, but came under clear strain (again) during the college application period, partly due again to differing views and social circumstances, and partly due to actions by Tom that Daria didn't properly challenge: she ended up losing out on visiting Boston campuses after Tom decided, without asking her first, to stay at Bromwell longer to network with a professor (to get "influence" sent both their ways), and didn't view it as a big deal that they'd have less time (and, when they were hideously late, joked it was a good thing they didn't get to Bromwell this late, pissing her off).
In one scene in Is It College Yet? (cut from the DVDs) Daria had abruptly called off a date a few seconds after agreeing to it. She was also initially put off by his offer to try and use family influence to get her into Bromwell, saying to Jane it felt like "some crappy romance novel where the troubled young viscount decides the lowly stable girl is good enough for him after all" and that she didn't see why their word should mean more than her own abilities.
Soon after, Daria ended the relationship herself, stating they were taking two different paths and becoming bored of the relationship. (She spent the next few days despondent and fearing that "opt[ing] for honesty" was going to leave her alone and unloved) She would admit to Tom that, on reflection, she had enjoyed their time together, and the two agreed to remain on friendly terms.
In Look Back in Annoyance, Jane says that Daria has dated 4 of the 5 members of NSYNC. This is presumably a joke, although Daria seems annoyed with Jane for saying this. In 2012, according to "What I Think About Valentine's Day", Daria was dating an unnamed man who had the same sense of humour as her. She'd also decided she was in favour of Valentine's Day, largely because of the discount chocolates on the day after.
Actress Tracy Grandstaff has suggested that Daria may not have ever "expected a guy to be interested in her—until Tom came along... maybe she sat in the shadows crushing over the unattainable Trent for so long, she was blindsided by Tom’s attention." When her romantic fantasies were shown, they were often classically romantic (Lane Miserables, and Pierce Me has her briefly dreaming that Trent wrote a song about her). Her actual relationship with Tom wasn't like that at all: as noted in Sappy Anniversary, they usually stayed at each other's homes watching TV and rarely went out, and they rarely made romantic gestures. Daria was only bothered by this in "Sappy" when, after a discussion with Quinn, she became worried that the lack of outward romance meant she was being taken for granted.
In My Night at Daria's, the issue of sex came up: it was said it had previously done so, and Daria hadn't been ready. When she decided to try with Tom, she was annoyed that he was more ready and verbally attacked him for keeping condoms in his wallet; she then bottled it at the last minute, and assumed Tom would want to break up with her over it. She would admit to him that the idea of that much physical intimacy was too overwhelming and scared her, with a secondary fear that Tom would be "disappointed" with her performance. In the earlier, Off-Canon Canon IIFY Post-Movie Chat, Daria - shortly after IIFY? - said she found Tom sexy "in a "don't come near me, I'm not ready yet" sort of way."
Daria's Reading Material[]
Books Daria has been seen reading include:[]
- As a child, she read George Orwell, including Animal Farm, and Black Beauty (Is It Fall Yet?, Camp Fear, Boxing Daria)
- Moby Dick and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov in (The Big House).
- Catch-22 (Quinn the Brain)
- Poe's The Telltale Heart and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (Gifted)
- The Chess Garden (Through a Lens Darkly)
- Beat Generation poem Howl (The Old and the Beautiful)
- The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (It Happened One Nut)
- Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness and Nausea (Lane Miserables)
- Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince and Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (Fire!)
- Ethan Frome, Fifth Business by Robertson Davies and A Journal of the Plague Year in IIFY?
- Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian (Camp Fear)
- Thomas Mann's Death in Venice (One J at a Time)
- William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying (Lucky Strike)
She also refers to Dante's Divine Comedy and the works of Henry James in IIFY and stories by Jane Austen in Write Where It Hurts; and owns a copy of The Iliad in The Big House. For class assignments, she reads Henry David Thoreau's Walden (This Year's Model), Death of a Salesman (Quinn the Brain), Romeo and Juliet (The New Kid), Tolstoy's War and Peace (Fair Enough) and John Gardner's On Moral Fiction (Write Where It Hurts).
Throughout the series, it's told by other characters that Daria is a good writer. There are rarely any examples of Daria's writing, with the following exceptions: "The Daria Diaries" has part of a creative writing homework assignment Cafe Disaffecto and The Old and the Beautiful have excerpts of her Melody Powers stories; an English essay about "Death of a Salesman" is shown on the DVD version of "Quinn the Brain"; and "Write Where It Hurts" shows multiple examples of rejected stories and ends with an 'adaptation' of one of her stories.
Outside of "Write", all of the above - as well as the "The Story of D", references to writing "violent revenge fantasies" in "Boxing Daria", and a mention of a story she was writing in "Is It College Yet?" (cut from the DVD) - show that Daria enjoys writing violent, disturbing fiction with a black sense of humor. They appear to be somewhat lurid as well. The first Melody Powers story (and likely the homework assignment in "Write") was deliberately over the top to get back at Mr O'Neill. The virus story in "The Story of D" used a variety of writing styles.
"Write Where it Hurts" has Daria writing a realistic light drama about her own family, depicting how she'd like their future to be. While idealized, she showed an ability to write realist scenes.
She has also written non-fiction, usually articles that launch a blistering attack on things she doesn't like: these include an article about her alienation (where she compares her class to "barnyard animals") in "Disaffecto", an article called "My So-Called Angst" in "The Lost Girls", her essay in "Quinn the Brain" where she argues that "Death of a Salesman" can be viewed as a morality tale with a happy ending, and an attack on the idea of begging for scholarship money as part of a scholarship application in "Prize Fighters". In all three cases, this material was well-received but in the application's case, the intended readers - Wizard Computers - didn't really understand it.
"The Lost Girls" and "The Story of D" have work by Daria (non-fiction and fiction respectively) submitted for publication; in the first case, O'Neill did it without telling her, and in the latter Daria did it after pushing from Tom. She was highly reluctant in "The Story of D", stating she felt she wasn't good enough for publication and being afraid of trying only to face rejection. The article in "Lost Girls" was going to be published in Val Magazine (until Daria annoyed Val); her virus story in "D" was rejected by the magazine Musings as not being suitable, but they encouraged her to submit again, something they rarely did.
Daria's Websites/Blogs[]
In The New Kid, Daria wants to get the software to create a website - and on MTV's own website, it's shown that she did indeed create some! Her first two were called the Net Nodule of Negativity.
The first one was made in 1999. It features:
- Chain Letter: "Forward this email to 10 people you know and trust. If you follow these instructions, within 7 days you will have 10 fewer friends."
- Wallpapers of herself and .wav sounds of her family
- A list of tongue-in-cheek hobbies
In early 2000, she updated her website to feature:
- The Hall of Hobbies, where you could do a quiz to see which was the hobby for you
- Chain Letter Corner, now where you can create your own chain letter. "Enjoy the illusion of choice, by selecting items from a limited, pre-determined menu."
- Daria's Party Planner (no, seriously), which gives you random tips on how to make a party less horrible ("upon entering, note all exits") and the ability to personalise your own party invites.
Later in 2000 - when MTV were doing a retro-scifi theme for the millenium - Daria did a page discussing her experiences with online RPGs. She also had created two of her own, DariaMUD and Pseudonym's Quest. The MUD opens telling you "there is no magical land. There is only a gas station and one of those rent-a-mailbox places"
Gallery[]
