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|firstappearance=[[Scientific Stuff]] (''Beavis and Butt-head'')
|lastappearance=[[Is It College Yet?]]
|voicedby=[[Tracy Grandstaff]] <br/>
|episodecount= 16 (''Beavis and Butt-head'') <br/> 65 (''Daria'') <br/> 2 ''Daria'' TV movies <br/> 2 ''Beavis and Butt-head'' TV movies (one non-speaking) <br/>
|gender=Female
|age= 14-
|occupation= Student at [[Highland High]] (''Beavis and Butt-head'') <br/> Student at [[Lawndale High]]<br/> Student at [[Raft College]] (by the end of the show)
|family=[[Jake Morgendorffer]] (father) <br/> [[Helen Morgendorffer]] (mother) <br/> [[Quinn Morgendorffer]] (sister) <br/> [[Amy Barksdale]] (aunt) <br/> [[Rita Barksdale]] (aunt) <br/> [[Erin Chambers]] (cousin) <br/> [[Ruth Morgendorffer]] (paternal grandmother) <br/> [["Mad Dog" Morgendorffer]] (paternal grandfather, deceased) <br/> [[Grandma Barksdale]] (maternal grandmother, name unknown)
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'''Daria Morgendorffer''' is a fictional animated character from two of MTV's animated series: ''[[Beavis and Butt-head]]'' and ''[[Daria (TV series)|Daria]]''. In 2002, Daria placed at number 41 on TV Guide's list of the ''[http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/30/cartoon.characters.list/index.html Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time]'' for her role in the two shows. She was voiced in both incarnations by [[Tracy Grandstaff]].
{{quote|I don't have low self esteem ... I have low esteem for everyone ''else''.|[[Esteemsters]]}}
<br><br><br><br>
==Character Overview==
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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 only because she had an adult library card and could bring along sex-filled romance books.
Her starsign is Scorpio ("[[
Daria has a high intelligence for her age group, knowing about a wide variety of subjects and noted to be both at the top of many classes and getting repeated A grades. Daria is also shown to be quite lazy and apathetic: she manages to get her high grades despite, as far as we can see, not working that hard.
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Her experience with romance appears to have been limited for most of her teenage life, until [[Tom Sloane]] consisting largely of a few dates and odd flirtations (see [[Robert]], [[Ted DeWitt-Clinton]], and [[Trent Lane]]).
Her parents try repeatedly to make her more sociable and 'normal'. Although their intentions are well meant, these are usually in ways that are clearly unsuitable for Daria or outright idiotic; Daria attempts to get out of these at first opportunity, and more often than not, she usually ends up bringing out and showing why said ways don't work, on both her and those who are also dragged along with her.
<br>Daria enjoys reading classic literature from a variety of eras and genres - including Catch-22 ("[[Quinn the Brain]]") and beatnik novel Howl ("[[The Old and the Beautiful]]") - and arty foreign films ("[[Monster]]"). She also enjoys incredibly trashy junk culture, including B-movies and [[Sick, Sad World]], and is frequently attending Punk Rock and Alt. Rock concerts ("[[Road Worrier]]"), ("[[Ill]]"), ("[[Pierce Me]]") and playing incredibly violent video games ("[[The New Kid]]", "[[The Story of D]]"). She collects medical teaching supplies and replicas of medical oddities. ("[[The Daria Database]]", "[[Of Human Bonding]]")
She is often viewed as miserable and gloomy by her peers and by adults, something she states annoys her in "[[The Misery Chick]]": "I'm not miserable! I'm just not ''like them.''"
===Daria before high school===
[[image:babydaria.jpg|frame|right|D'awwww]]
[[Image:Sons and Lovers.jpg|thumb|350px|]]
Sources like "[[The Daria Diaries]]", "[[Cafe Disaffecto]]", and "[[Camp Fear]]" have established the following about Daria's pre-[[Highland High]] life:
* Daria was a very ''grumpy'' looking baby and toddler. ([[The Daria Diaries|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 in 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.
* 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_and_Lovers Sons and Lovers]). ("[[The Daria Diaries]]")
* When she was twelve, she started using Shakespearian insults on teachers. ("[[Boxing Daria]]")
==''Beavis and Butt-Head''==
''See also [[Character design of Daria]]''
{{quote|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}}
[[Image:Dariabb.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Daria Morgendorffer, as depicted in later episodes of ''Beavis and Butt-head'']]
In Daria's first incarnation as a recurring character on ''[[Beavis and Butt-head (TV series)|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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynda_Barry Lynda Barry]") and with the character, with producer [[John Garrett Andrews]] creating the original design; Andrews says [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/daria-the-untold-tale-par_b_5610801 a freelancer called Bill Peckman finalised the look].
''[[Beavis and Butt-head (TV series)|Beavis and Butt-head]]'' took place in a small town called [[Highland]]
[[Tracy Grandstaff]]'s voice for Daria starts off sounding normal and gradually become deeper and flatter, though the full monotone version from her own series would not be completed until "[[Esteemsters]]".
Though she is not amused by their antics, she does not have the passionate hatred for them that [[Principal McVicker]] and [[Coach Buzzcut]] have nor does she really believe there is any hope for them either as [[Mr. Van Driessen]] had. At times, she would also make fun of the two for their stupidity. In the episode ''[[U. S. History]]'', she turned around to talk to the duos and said they'll never graduate, and she told them that "to graduate" means to be all done with the final year of school. <br><br><br><br><br><br><br>In ''[[It's a Miserable Life]]'', it is stated that Butt-Head had been responsible for giving her a negative outlook on boys. In the final episode of the series when the boys "died," Daria expressed the sentiments that Beavis and Butt-head did not have very bright futures to look forward to. She was one of the few characters that the duo never managed to drive crazy as they had with many other students and teachers. In the Marvel comic books, however, the duo did manage to push her closer to the edge than they did in the TV show.
This early version of Daria was not as sarcastic or cutting (at least not to the lads) as she would be in ''Daria'', and in a number of episodes would be shown trying to explain simple concepts or solutions to them, sometimes without any jokes at their expense at all. This side of Daria would be played down in her own show. (In the ''Beavis and Butt-head'' comic book, Daria was more prone to sarcastic remarks.) Butt-head was more willing to listen to her (and usually called her by her real name to her face), while Beavis appeared to irritate her more than Butt-head.
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In an [[off-canon canon]] interview on the ''CBS Early Show'' (January 2002), Daria was asked whether she still keeps in touch with the duo, and replied: "I'd like to but first, they have to figure out that when the telephone makes that funny sound, you're supposed to pick it up and say hello."
In the 2022-present Paramount+ revival of the series, an [[Alternate Universe]] hyper-intelligence version, Smart Daria, serves on the council of Supreme Leaders of Smart Beavis and Smart Butt-head's universe.
===Daria at Highland High school===
[[Image:Daria seminar.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Daria giving an aural report, from ''[[This Book Sucks]]'']]
This early version of Daria was a far more active and involved student at Highland High, taking part in a number of extracurricular activities. In some of these, like in ''Daria'', she was forced into it:
* In her Debut episode "[[Scientific Stuff]]" She was pushed forwards by the Science teacher [[Mrs. Dickie]] to work together with Beavis and Butt-head and come up with a valid science report, albeit reluctantly, she agreed.
* She was forced by her parents to join the school paper in "[[Sporting Goods]]", where she was promptly made into a fashion reporter because of her gender. Something she was not exactly thrilled about.
However, in other situations, she was taking part on her own initiative:
[[Image:Thanskgiving sucks.jpg|thumb|250px|left|You'd stop volunteering too if this kept happening.]]
* She gave a seminar about her report on Urban myths and legends, for which she interviewed Beavis and Butt-Head, in the school auditorium.
* In [[Beavis and Butt-head issue 11|Issue 11]] of the comics she participated in the Thanksgiving parade wearing a costume.
* In [[Beavis and Butt-head issue 14|Issue 14]] Daria is the head of a Model UN Nations meeting at the Highland auditorium, where she represented France.
* In "[[Walkathon]]" she was collecting pledges for a fund raising marathon walk.
She could also be seen in "[[Incognito]]" sitting next to [[Earl]], the school thug, and being quite blase about his violence.
Once she made the jump from supporting cast to series lead, Daria would become a ''lot'' less engaged with events or with people. In a retcon, ''Daria'' presented her as having never been engaged with other people, and her becoming more engaged and accepting others became a theme throughout the series.
==''Daria''==
[[Image:CollegeBored000.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The Morgendorffer family from left to right: Quinn, Helen, Daria and Jake.]]
In her eponymous series, Daria is a bespectacled, plain, unfashionably dressed, but highly intellectual and seemingly cynical teenage girl who is portrayed as an icon of sanity in an insane household, with her vacuous, fashion-obsessed sister [[Quinn Morgendorffer|Quinn]] and career-obsessed parents [[Helen Morgendorffer|Helen]] and [[Jake Morgendorffer|Jake]].
The new show moves her to the middle-class suburb of [[Lawndale]]. She attends [[Lawndale High|Lawndale High School]], where on her first day she meets [[Jane Lane|Jane Lane]], the artist and classmate who will be her first real friend and her best friend through the rest of her high school life. Their strong friendship and mutual endurance of gloomy adolescence was a motif of the series, which survived despite Jane's boyfriend, [[Tom Sloane]], becoming Daria's.
While much of the show is a vehicle for Daria's droll deadpan monotone one-liners, a recurring plot element in early seasons is Daria standing up to misused authority, leading some fans to conclude that her apparent cynicism is only skin deep or at least that she is only cynical in the classical sense. The jump to main character also makes Daria become more angsty: she is now shown to have problems connecting to people or dealing with people she cares about.
[[Image:Daria_Jane.gif|thumb|250px|right|Daria and Jane in ''Is It College Yet?'']]
Daria's personal views on [[Daria and Politics|politics]] and [[Daria and Religion|religion]] are subject to intense debate. Because she so often speaks with a sarcastic or cynical twist, one cannot always be sure she means what she says. In early episodes, she often said that she didn't have a conscience, but it was repeatedly shown that she did have one. Although she could say cruel things to other people (especially Quinn), there were also cases where she acted out of kindness (e.g. ''[[The Old and the Beautiful]]'', ''[[I Loathe a Parade]]'', ''[[Is It Fall Yet?]]'').
According to the episode "[[Lane Miserables]]," her height is 5'2". Her eyes are brown, per an interview with Glenn Eichler and general implications made in "[[Through a Lens Darkly]]."
==Daria's Growth==
{{quote|I come off as a cranky, know-it-all curmudgeon. Distant, aloof and arrogant. Cynical, negative and smug. And -- as bizarre as this may sound -- some people apparently feel this is a bad thing.|Daria on herself, in "[http://www.mtv.com/onair/daria/worldaccording/spindoctor.jhtml Is There A Spin Doctor In The House?]"}}
<br><br><br>Though the series was a rich one, replete with interesting characters and multiple points-of-view, it was mostly the story of one character, Daria herself, and her evolution.
[[Image:Daria_annoyed_ONeill.jpg|thumb|left|240px|An annoyed Daria, forced to deal with people she'd rather not ("The Misery Chick")]]
At the beginning, she can be fairly characterized as smart, cynical, and a little ruthless. She is not afraid to physically rough up her little sister when the latter clearly deserves it (note the ending of [[The New Kid]]). She is not afraid to take a series of very risky, manipulative actions to call attention to her school's principal's unethical behavior ([[This Year's Model]]). She has, by her own admission, never had a real friend until [[Jane Lane]]; She has, however, alluded to her own consideration of [[Beavis
As time went on, Daria would have to face the flip-side of her high standards and cynicism: an ugly judgmental streak ([[Partner's Complaint]]), problems with living up to her own standards ([[Through a Lens Darkly]]), fear of trying ([[The Story of D]]), and excessive unpleasantness at people who didn't deserve it ([[Camp Fear]]). She also became vicious and unpleasant when Jane had boyfriends, fearing that Jane was going to be taken away from her; [[Tom Sloane]] would tell her how stupid this was, citing that Jane was constantly talking about Daria. By the time of "[[Psycho Therapy]]", Daria was quite calmly stating "I'm so defensive that I actually work to make people dislike me so I won't feel bad when they do", showing she was aware of this flaw within herself.
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==Relationship with Quinn==
[[Image:toddlerDariaQuinn.jpg|
This can be summed up with two words: ''total war''. The two are very resentful of the other and that their differences regarding social standing and personalities drive a large amount of the conflict in the series; Quinn won't even admit for most of the series that Daria ''is'' her sister (which irritates Daria). This goes back to Quinn's ''infancy'': flashbacks to toddler Daria who her angrily wanted to "punish" baby Quinn for being loud, angrily yelling "Why can't I be an only child?!", and trying to stop footage of Quinn being filmed. Photos in "[[The Daria Diaries]]" even show Daria opening a door so Quinn, taking her baby steps, may wander outside!
Both sides love to antagonize the other. Daria goes out of her way to go to places where she knows Quinn ''doesn't'' want her to go and embarrass her sister by existing in front of Quinn's friends. In "[[The Invitation]]", Daria sounded mildly impressed when Quinn got in a really vicious dig at her. Daria has also tried to deliberately ruin things for Quinn: in "[[The F Word]]", she tried to 'fail' at preventing Quinn from being allowed to go to a fashion sale.
When they're not insulting or irritating each other, their dealings often resemble a business transaction such as laying out terms of requirements, expenses, exceptions, and final payment. On some rare occasions the two sisters have worked together to achieve some goal, usually to get out of trouble or to avoid it; these earlier team-ups were also done in a business-like fashion, such as when Daria incites Quinn ("[[That Was Then, This Is Dumb]]"), with an offer of some form of payment or benefit, to gather scandalous blackmail information about their parents.
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Daria has shown some sharp insight into her sister. In "[[Psycho Therapy]]", she stated Quinn "wears superficiality like a suit of armor, because she's afraid to looking inside and finding absolutely nothing"; in "[[Lucky Strike]]", she snaps at Quinn that she knows she's ''not'' stupid.
In a Daria-penned essay "[http://www.mtv.com/onair/daria/worldaccording/peacepact.jhtml Please Pass the Peace Pact]", Daria talked about "the Morgendorffer Accords (also known as the "Kitchen Counter Talks")" being "signed" after fifteen years. Both girls agreed to respect bedrooms as sacrosanct and to have equal access to "essential resources" in the bathroom and kitchen ("the refrigerator and the bathroom. No one wants a replay of the bitter Cold Cream War of 1998").
By the final episodes, their relationship warms considerably. In "[[Aunt Nauseum]]", she even says to Quinn that they won't be arguing as adults like their mother and aunts do.
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[[Image:AmyDaria2.jpg|right|thumb|150px|(Which is which?!)]]
While she only appeared in three episodes, [[Amy Barksdale|Aunt Amy]] was highly significant for Daria's character: she shows a possible way an older Daria could turn out, something both of them were aware of in "[[I Don't]]". They share similar intellects and sarcastic humours, and were shown to get
In "Aunt Nauseum", however, Daria was disillusioned to find Amy was just as flawed as her mother and Aunt Rita, and was only ''contributing'' to a problem. Daria and Quinn had to solve it themselves, and Amy recognized that fact.
==Daria and Jane==
{{quote|Hi, I'm Daria, go to hell.|Jane imitating Daria in "[[The Invitation]]"}}
<br><br><br>Jane is the first and ''only'' friend Daria has ever made, by her own admission. Despite her history of deliberately isolating people and walling herself off, she almost immediately befriended Jane after the girl showed a similar cynical sense of humour. In "[[The Daria Diaries]]", she early on described Jane as "snide, resentful, and anti-social. Finally, a friend."
An absence of Jane, and the fear it'd be permanent, in "[[See Jane Run]]" saw Daria begin to talk to herself. (Even she was bemused by this)
In "[[Is It Fall Yet?]]", she admitted to admiring and liking Jane's aura of confidence: "you know exactly who you are, and nobody's ever going to con you into thinking you don't." Voice actor Tracy Grandstaff [http://canigetamanwiththat.com/post/1086565092/dear-daria-revisiting-the-misery-chick has suggested] "maybe she admired Jane so much because Jane was socially at ease, better looking, made out with guys, and didn’t have the same hang ups?" (In a darker side to this, she suggests [[The Kiss]] may have happened because "Maybe Daria figured that Jane could land another guy easier than her? Maybe she thought Jane really wasn’t that into Tom?")
Jane is the person Daria trusts the most. ("[[Boxing Daria]]")
==Relationship with classmates==
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* [[Kevin Thompson]]: A popular football player and Brittany's boyfriend. Daria enjoys manipulating his stupidity like she did Beavis and Butt-head, and often insults him: he doesn't understand most of her insults. Despite this, as with Brittany, he seems to view her as a friend: often seeking her advice ("The Misery Chick", "[[Too Cute]]") while unthinkingly bringing up her unpopularity at the same time, and in "[[The Big House]]" and "[[Ill]]", being concerned for her welfare. In "Partner's Complaint" though, he panicked at the idea of hanging out with Daria for any length of time. He once thought Tom was joking when he said he was Daria's date. ("[[Is It Fall Yet?]]")
<br><br><br><br><br><br>
* [[Jodie Landon]]: She's one of the very few students that are on Daria's level intellectually. She and Daria sometimes clash over their divergent viewpoints or over Daria's misanthropic attitude ("Gifted", "Partner's Complaint", "Fizz Ed"). Despite their personality clashes, Jodie often starts conversations with Daria and will often seek her advice (Daria will sometimes snark instead). Daria sometimes turns to Jodie when she can't speak to Jane, such as when Jane started dating Tom ("Partner's Complaint") or when there were rumours about the sex life of Daria and Tom in school ("[[My Night at Daria's]]"). Notably, in "Gifted" both girls admitted they sometimes wished they could be more like the other. She is socially friendly with Daria: she has invited her to the Landon 4th of July parties; she is concerned with Daria's welfare.
* [[Upchuck]]: The school's horn-dog. He first met her in "[[The Invitation]]" and has repeatedly crossed paths with her ever since, nearly always trying to flirt and get a date. Daria responds to this with horror and put-downs; Upchuck views her as "''fi''esty!", and in "[[The Daria Diaries]]" we find out he has included an unnamed outline of Daria in his website's "Gallery of Feisty Babes", implying a genuine crush.
* [[Fashion Club]]: Quinn's fashion-obsessed friends. Daria's path has crossed with theirs several times, much to the horror of both sides; they'll only deliberately seek her out if they're desperate. The Club used to pretend they didn't know Daria was Quinn's sister. Daria and Jane once casually bet on whether the Club would dissolve, and then tried to nudge events ("[[Fat Like Me]]"). Sometimes, when [[Sandi Griffin]] is clearly trying something against Quinn, Daria will take minor action to help her sister ("[[Just Add Water]]"). Daria seems more sympathetic to Stacy ("[[Fair Enough]]") than to Sandi ("The Misery Chick").
* [[Andrea]]: A moody Goth. Her one encounter with Daria was in "[[Mart of Darkness]]", when Daria and Jane caught her in an embarrassing situation: she angrily challenged them to "cut me up like you do everyone else". (This led to embarrassment all round when
Despite all these people she knows, and the clear signs that the former three view ''her'' as a friend, Daria has referred to Jane as her ''only'' friend. She has also referred to being isolated - and most of the school doesn't talk to her - and has made mention of going for days without being approached by anyone. ("[[Write Where it Hurts]]") However, Daria's conversation with Helen after her argument with Jodie in "[[Partner's Complaint]]" suggests that she sees Jodie as some sort of friend with the question "Do you think I'm a rigid, unrealistic, unforgiving self-righteous jerk who can't hold on to a friend?"
Outside of Jane and (briefly) Ted, Daria never had any real contact or attempts at contact with the other outcast students at Lawndale. ([[Glenn Eichler]] has [http://www.the-wildone.com/dvdaria/glenninterviewsfull.html stated] this was deliberate: "[we didn't want to] create a comfortable alternative world where Daria and Jane could be stars among their misfit peers... to do a show about the misfits finding happiness through solidarity.")
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* [[Angela Li|Principal Li]] is Daria's other main foe and, unlike O'Neill, deliberately malevolent: the two have clashed, both verbally and all-out, on occasions. Li is eager to use Daria's academic achievements for the benefit of the school and, along with every other student, force and threaten her into "volunteering" and schemes. Daria will sometimes push back and sometimes brings down Li's schemes outright ("[[This Year's Model]]") and a number of times has had to clear up or navigate a mess Li's made ("[[Just Add Water]]", "[[Antisocial Climbers]]"). The principal had to begrudgingly give Daria an award for academic achievement at graduation and was ''very'' unhappy about it, while Jane was surprised Daria didn't assault Li with the award.
* Back at Highland High, [[Mr. Van Driessen]] made favourable comments about Daria's work ("[[U. S. History]]") and required her aid in "[[Beavis and Butt-head issue 27|The Great Bungholio]]", while Daria seemed concerned for him when he was injured in (non-speaking part episode) "Field Trip"; [[Coach Buzzcut]] trusted her enough to be his second in command when he has to take potentially fatal action in "[[Water Safety]]"; and early science teacher [[Mrs. Dickie]] ignored Daria's protests and forced her to work with Beavis and Butt-head in "[[Scientific Stuff]]", saying it'd be a "learning experience" (did Daria piss her off at some point?).
While Daria doesn't think much of any of her teachers, at least during S1 - in "The Daria Diaries" she says she respects her superiors "if only I could find any", in regards to the faculty - the ''teachers'' often seem to think a lot of ''her'', with a few exceptions (Morris and Li) who are corrupt and powerful figures.
==Daria and Romance==
''See [[Tom Sloane]], [[Tomgate]], and [[Trent Lane]]''
[[File:DariaTrentPierceMe.jpg|325px|thumb|left|Daria blushes at a compliment from Trent ("[[Pierce Me]]")]]
While a simplistic view of 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?''" (this view made even more so when taking [[Trent Lane]] into the picture from his very first appearance in the series) - 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 [[Martin|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
In "[[The New Kid]]", Quinn's claim that "I know this cute guy who's got a huge crush on you" is instantly assumed to be a trick (which admittedly it was); the very concept of a cute guy Quinn knows being interested in her is not something she considers possible.
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.
[[File:Daria and Tom2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Daria and Tom working out a problem ("[[Sappy Anniversary]]")]]
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 [[Amy Barksdale|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."
[[File:Daria and Tom.jpg|
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 & 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 [[Daria's present day boyfriend|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 [http://canigetamanwiththat.com/post/1086565092/dear-daria-revisiting-the-misery-chick 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.
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==Personal Style and Decor==
{{quote|Unlike the majority of teenage girls, I am content with my looks. I long ago accepted the fact that I'll never get to carry a sign around a boxing ring announcing the number of the next round, and tragic though it may be, I'll have to find another dream.|[[The World According to Daria]]}}
[[Image:FashionClub_Daria.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Daria, the anti-[[Fashion Club]]]]
Her view on fashion is summed up in "[[Sporting Goods]]": "I hate fashion!"
Daria's personal style is considered off-putting by her mother and sister; Helen thinks she might be more popular with a less formidable look, and Quinn was delighted when she thought Daria had come to her for fashion advice in "Through A Lens, Darkly". She wore no makeup, causing confusion among the early [[Fashion Club]] in "[[The Invitation]]". In an 'interview' [http://web.archive.org/web/20120420000845/http://www.outpost-daria.com/media_art14.html with Women's Wear Daily], Daria remarked "my signature look reflects my belief that you should not be judged by your clothes" and that "my boots send a clear message: "I can kick you" ". She did acknowledge that fashion "has a very important role in society, allowing us to capture the attention of potential sexual partners while signaling our social status to potential sexual rivals. It serves roughly the same function as the brightly colored pads on a mandrill's buttocks."
However, in "Lens, Darkly" she tried going without her glasses out of a desire to look more conventionally attractive; in the end, after accepting her bit of vanity, she decided to go back to glasses and "to hell" with people who found them a problem.
From Season 4, she began wearing light lipstick (or at least, that's what it looked like after the color palette changed). She had previously worn it in "[[Road Worrier]]" (because of Trent's presence) but denied she was wearing it. This is the only bit of makeup she has worn.
Aside from lipstick, Daria had - also in "Road Worrier" - changed her look by just wearing normal denim jeans and a black T-shirt, wore a zip-up gray fleece in Season 5 a few times, and has worn hiking gear in "[[Antisocial Climbers]]". Otherwise, she has to be forced into wearing or obliged to wear other clothes (such as "[[I Don't]]").
Daria's room [[Schloss Morgendorffer|at home]] has padded walls, railings, and cut off bars in the windows. She explains that the previous owner of the house had a family member with schizophrenia. Her mother wants to redecorate the room, but Daria manages to keep it the way it is, telling Jane that she "stumbles
At [[Lawndale High]] the only decor in her locker is a photograph of [[The Hindenburg]] Disaster.
Despite her non-interest in fashion, Daria agreed to review the notable fashions of 1998 for an [[off-canon canon]] piece in ''People'' magazine. [http://web.archive.org/web/20120406172429/http://www.outpost-daria.com/media_art16.html] Likewise, Daria agreed to disclose her "[[Daria Morgendorffer's Greatest Retail Regret|Greatest Retail Regret]]" to a fashion website in 2011.
==Daria's reading material==
Books we've seen Daria 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov ''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]]")
* John Gardner's ''On Moral Fiction'' ("[[season 2]]")
* ''[http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Garden-Brooks-Hansen/dp/1573225630 The Chess Garden]'' ("[[Through a Lens Darkly]]")
* Beat Generation poem ''Howl'' ("[[The Old and the Beautiful]]")
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago ''The Gulag Archipelago'' by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn] ("[[It Happened One Nut]]")
* Jean-Paul Sartre's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Nothingness ''Being and Nothingness''] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausea_(novel) ''Nausea''] ("[[Lane Miserables]]")
* Niccolò Machiavelli's ''The Prince'' and Leo Tolstoy's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Karenina Anna Karenina] ("[[Fire!]]")
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Frome ''Ethan Frome''], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Business ''Fifth Business''] by Robertson Davies and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year ''A Journal of the Plague Year''] in IIFY?
* Cormac McCarthy's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian ''Blood Meridian''] ("Camp Fear")
* Thomas Mann's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_in_Venice ''Death in Venice''] ("[[One J at a Time]]")
She also refers to Dante's ''Divine Comedy'' and the works of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_James 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden ''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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Moral_Fiction ''On Moral Fiction''] ("Write Where It Hurts").
If it's old, morbid, or esoteric, Daria will read the hell out of it.
==Daria's writing==
{{quote|I really shouldn't leave my protagonist all alone just after her eyeballs have burst.|Daria, "[[Is It College Yet?]]" (scene missing from DVD)}}
[[File:StoryOfD_01.jpg|230px|thumb|left|]]
<br><br><br>Throughout the series, we're told by other characters that Daria is a good writer and in "Is It College Yet?" she thought to herself that she wanted to be a professional writer. We rarely see any examples of Daria's writing, with the following exceptions: "[[The Daria Diaries]]" has part of a creative writing homework assignment
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
"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
"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.
In [[off-canon canon]], Daria wrote numerous articles for MTV as "[[The World According to Daria]]".
{{quote|Cyberspace anonymity encourages antisocial, antagonistic behavior without the deterring fear of getting your ass whipped for real if you offend someone. So maybe it's a good thing after all.|Daria, RPG website}}
[[Image:Dariacomputer.gif|right|frame|From the homepage of Daria's Net Nodule of Negativity v2]]
<br><br>In "[[The New Kid]]", Daria wants to get the software to create a website - and thanks to [[MTV]]'s own website, we saw that she did indeed create some! Her first two were called the Net Nodule of Negativity.
[http://web.archive.org/web/19991012192815/http://mtv.com/mtv/tubescan/animation/daria/homepage_bak030599/index.html 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
[http://web.archive.org/web/20010610230304/http://www.mtv.com/mtv/tubescan/animation/daria/daria_CHP2/index.html 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.
[http://web.archive.org/web/20000510044007/http://mtv.com/mtv/tubescan/animation/daria/daria_pg.html 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".
==
[[Image:Daria20yl.jpg|left|frame|Daria in 2017, by Karen Disher]]
For many years, all we knew about Daria's [[post-canon]] life is that she goes to [[Raft College]]. We don't know what course she did there.
Tracy Grandstaff had [http://canigetamanwiththat.com/post/1086565092/dear-daria-revisiting-the-misery-chick said] "I hope she’s a journalist and contributes to The Huffington Post
or The Colbert Report
. But that’s just me." ([[Glenn Eichler]], ironically, ''did'' contribute to the Colbert Report.)
In 2011 and 2012, two articles by Eichler would reveal some of her adult life: "[[Daria Morgendorffer's Greatest Retail Regret]]" has Daria refer to her family and wanting to avoid them, implying she (like many graduates during the economic slump) was still living at home, and "[[What I Think About Valentine's Day]]" reveals that Daria has found a [[Daria's present day boyfriend|new boyfriend]]. The latter, written in ''[[The Huffington Post]]'', says that the ''Post'' asked Daria to write for them and gives her job as "Philosopher and Former TV Star".
For the show's 20th anniversary, [[Susie Lewis]] explained how she thought Daria had turned out and [[Karen Disher]] drew a 30-something version of her in [http://ew.com/tv/daria-20-years-later/catching-up-with-the-daria-gang/ Catching Up With The Daria Gang]:
"The sardonic teen has left the suburbs of Lawndale for New York City's Hell's Kitchen (naturally), where she's grown up to become the only female writer on a late-night talk show. She lives alone — except for her black cat named Godzilla, who is toilet-trained, thanks to Daria's hard work and dedication — and while she's tried the online dating game, she hasn't found anyone special quite yet. Oh, and in case you were wondering, she's gotten past her crush on Trent."
[[Image:Dariascientist.jpg|right|frame|How Daria viewed her future self in "[[Lane Miserables]]"]]
During her teenage years, Daria (and others) have various ideas on how she might turn out:
* In [[Highland]], Daria is interested in becoming an investigative reporter/enquiring photographer combo and is left frustrated when the [[Highland Herald]] will only let her be a fashion photographer "because ''I'm'' a ''girl''". ("[[Sporting Goods]]") Later on, in "[[Career Day]]", she hangs around the booth for an educational publishing company.
* In "[[The Daria Diaries]]", she expresses a desire to be a writer... "a bitter, angry hack who starts fights fistfights at cocktail parties."
* She gives an honest view of how she wants things to be in "[[Write Where It Hurts]]", during her junior year: in her story, she's a married woman and a crusading writer whose columns influence people. She's getting on well with both her mother and Quinn.
* "[[The Daria Database]]" and other points reveal that during S2, Daria is saving up to buy herself a remote cabin in Montana.
* Her sophomore year career aptitude test says she has the perfect personality to be a mortician. This pisses her off. ("[[It Happened One Nut]]")
* While imagining how life with Trent would be in "[[Lane Miserables]]", Daria sees herself as a lab technician working with genetics. She also sees herself with a son here, where she was proudly childless in her previous fantasy. She also thinks that if she marries Trent, she'll have to support his lazy butt.
* Helen tells her that she's in serious danger of becoming incapable of human interaction in "[[Is It Fall Yet?]]". A year later, after her relationship with Tom failed, Daria is briefly afraid that she'd be lonely forever ("[[Is It College Yet?]]").
* A gag "[[Alter Ego|future ego]]" at the end of IICY? showed her and Jane as breakfast TV hosts on a self-titled show.
Tracy Grandstaff had [http://canigetamanwiththat.com/post/1086565092/dear-daria-revisiting-the-misery-chick said] "I hope she’s a journalist and contributes to The Huffington Post
or The Colbert Report
. But that’s just me." ([[Glenn Eichler]], ironically, ''did'' contribute to the Colbert Report, and "What I Think About Valentine's Day" was posted at the Huffington Post.)
==Fanfic Stereotypes==
''Main article: [[Fanfiction stereotypes of Daria]]''
''Daria'' fanfiction has been written on a consistent basis since 1997, not counting Daria appearances in any ''Beavis and Butt-head'' fanfiction before and after that. Daria has been portrayed in many different ways in these stories, due both to the character's complexity and to the changing views & tastes of the writers. In fanfiction written during the first and second series, for example, Daria was often written as a hyper-competent victor ("Daria Triumphant") because that was the viewer's initial impressions of her, whereas some later writers would deliberately explore Daria's ''worst'' traits and play her as an outright 'bitch'.
''Main article: [[Alternate versions of Daria Morgendorffer]]''
==Misc. Trivia==
[[Image:Desiree Morgendorffer..JPG|thumb|right|230px|Desiree Morgendorffer]]
*[[Judy McGrath]] is twice responsible for Daria: in 1991 she asked for smart and female characters in ''Beavis and Butt-head'', and in 1995 she asked for shows that could bring in a female audience.
*In the Dutch version of the Beavis and Butt-Head comic, Daria was renamed "Desiree Morgendorffer" because of having to make the dunderheads' "Diarrhea-cha-cha-cha" chant work. The Dutch word for Diarrhea is "Diarree" (Dee-yuh-ray) and so the name Desiree (In Dutch that name is pronounced "Day-zee-ray") was chosen because of it sounding similar. It's probably the only time Daria received another name in any format she appeared in.
* In the Latin American dubbing, she was voiced by Laura Torres.
==Notes==
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20120604051533/http://www.outpost-daria.com/ch_daria.html Outpost Daria - Characters: Daria] (via Wayback Machine)
'''About Daria's Intelligence and Knowledge'''
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[[Category:Canon Characters|Morgendorffer, Daria]]
[[Category:Canon Teachers|Morgendorffer, Daria]]
[[Category:Substitute Lawndale High teachers|Morgendorffer, Daria]]
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