Amy Barksdale

Amy Barksdale is the youngest sister of Helen Morgendorffer and has often appeared in Daria fanfic as a support giver for Daria Morgendorffer. Her roles and appearances in fanfiction are many times greater than her appearances in the series (three total).

Character Overview
Amy Barksdale is the youngest Barksdale sister, behind Helen (Daria's mother) and Rita. Glenn Eichler said in an interview that at the time of "I Don't," Amy was "about 40." This implies her birth year was 1957-1958.

She wears glasses, clearly has mild amounts of psychological damage imposed upon her by her family, is impatient with stupidity, and possesses a deadly sarcasm. Sound familiar?

Indeed, to paraphrase something the Canadibrit once wrote in a fan fic, Amy is the best indication that Daria is related to these people. That is likely the reason why she has appeared way more often in fan fiction than she has in the series (three appearances total).

In "I Don't", she attended Erin's wedding, and escaped with Daria to get cheese fries and, more importantly, implicitly suggest that there's a place for one of Daria's mindset in the real world after all.

In "Through a Lens Darkly" she gave advice about Daria's wearing contact lenses.

Finally in "Aunt Nauseam," Daria called brought her in to mediate between Rita and Helen. Amy ended up, to the surprise of many viewers, adding more fuel to the fire.

Beyond these three appearances, we know almost nothing about Aunt Amy.

Fanfiction Portrayals
Presumably due to her similarity to Daria, Amy proved to be very popular for fan fiction writers, despite her appearances in the series being rare and ambiguous.

Amy of the Undefined Job
One issue with which a number of fanfic writers wrestled was Amy's occupation. What exactly did she do? Kara Wild (in the Driven Wild Universe) suggested that she was an art appraiser, an idea that was adopted by other writers, such as Greystar in his The Longest Year series. The Abruptly Amy parody brought forth the intriguing notion that Amy was secretly a spy, which was also taken up elsewhere (e.g., The Angst Guy's "Prayers for a SAINT" and "Invisible Planet"); Brother Grimace parlayed this even further in "It's All About Respect," where the insinuation was made that Amy was part of a special-operations group with the U.N. (However, Brother Grimace has retconned his works to bring this Amy into line with the Falling Into College series.) Peter Guerin's fanfics portrayed her as an intrepid reporter, while Richard Lobinske set her up as a college professor at Tennyson University in the Falling Into College series and as a magazine writer in "Misery's End." Show creator Glenn Eichler offered his own suggestions (see "External Links").

Saint Amy
The most common stereotype, particularly in fanfics written just after Season Two in the TV series, is "Saint Amy." Amy Barksdale is believed to have developed a special relationship with Daria in "I Don't" and "Through a Lens Darkly," offering her advice and moral support. In certain ways she appeared to be a grown-up version of Daria herself (see their mirrored images in "I Don't"). This has been taken to the extreme in fanfiction, leading to situations in which Amy rides in like the cavalry to rescue Daria from bad situations.

However, in "Aunt Nauseam," Amy tries and fails to make peace between her sisters, prompting Daria to remark, "So, then, after Aunt Amy arrived to save the day and within three minutes had totally regressed into the same pre-school encounter group as her sisters...." The notion that Amy could "save the day" was not inherent in the episodes where she appeared; in "I Don't," she and Daria just bonded, while in "Through a Lens Darkly," she advised Daria to get contact lenses (which Daria ultimately discarded). Where did the writer of "Aunt Nauseam" get the notion that Amy could "save the day"? Possibly from Daria fanfiction or fan comments.

Trivia
Amy Barksdale's facial appearance changes and becomes more angular between her two earlier appearances in the series and her final appearance in "Aunt Nauseam." Why this happens has never been determined.

In "Through a Lens Darkly," Daria asks her aunt if she wants a picture of Daria with her new contacts. Amy replies, "Either that or a shot of Ralph Fiennes. Whichever." In "Aunt Nauseam," Rita Barksdale initially says she cannot visit Helen because "I promised Ralph&mdash;you know, the actor I've been dating&mdash;I promised to take him to New York for his birthday, maybe catch a play or two." Did Rita steal Amy's secret heartthrob?