History Characters / GilmoreGirlsGilmoreFamily

* CatchPhrase: "Dirty", as her own version of ThatsWhatSheSaid.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Her quirky and upbeat personality appears to be part of what attracts guys to Lorelai besides her looks. Discussed in the early episode, Cinnamon's Wake.

** Also the reason behind her summer-long fight with [[spoiler: Lorelai]] in Season 6, and their falling out right before Rory and Emily's trip to Europe in Season 5. In both of these cases, Rory's reason for leaving is wanting to avoid Lorelai's opinions on Rory's life choices (especially in her romantic life).

* FutureLoser: In the original series, she's Valedictorian and Vice Student Body President at high school, gets accepted into multiple Ivy League schools, editor of the Yale paper and ends the show covering Obama's campaign tour. [[spoiler: Come ''A Year In The Life'', she's perpetually unemployed, seemingly published a handful of articles in ten years, unprofessional regarding any job opportunities she does get and sleeping with her ex-boyfriend while he's engaged and she's dating someone else. And then ends up returning to her small-town home pregnant.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Has a tendency to fall into this, especially in the later seasons. When she hears a boy she asked out is telling everyone about a crazy girl stalking him, she confronts him and yells at him for dragging her reputation through the mud [[spoiler: and is then embarrassed to find out he actually ''was'' being stalked by a different girl.]] She also bitches out Mitchum for sending Logan away to try to break them up, and Mitchum flatly tells her [[spoiler: he doesn't waste much time worrying about Logan's love life and he has different motives for sending him away.]]

* SpoiledBrat: By the revival, she has regressed to this, throwing a tantrum during an interview that she wasn't prepared for, having an affair with Logan, not getting a job, and presumably coasting on her trust fund, all things which she called Logan out on in the original series.

** In college. Particularly after she [[spoiler: slept with a married man, stole a boat, dropped out of school, moved in with her grandparents, joined the DAR, and didn't speak to her mother for months.]]
** In ''A Year In the Life'' [[spoiler: where she again sleeps with a guy in a relationship, cheats on her own boyfriend and acts horribly bratty regarding her career. And unlike in the original series no one calls her out on any of it.]]

* {{Catchphrase}}: Any time she tries to have a serious conversation with Lorelai, she will at some point let out an exasperated: "Eeeeverything's a joke to you".

* HappilyMarried: No matter what else you can say about her, you can't deny that she and Richard are truly, deeply in love. Even when they're on the rocks, they always come back to each other in the end. [[spoiler: A lot of Emily's storyline in ''A Year in the Life'' is about her trying to cope with his death.]]

* {{Socialite}}: Her main role as a society wife. [See above quote under MrsDegree]. She admits in the original series hints that she sometimes wishes she'd pursued a proper career and struggled with revolving around Richard. [[spoiler: The revival sees her ditching the role altogether, moving to Nantucket with her maid's family and becoming an enthusiastic tour guide at the whaling museum.]]

* TookALevelInKindness: By the end of the revival, [[spoiler: she's mellowed out considerably, is much softer towards Lorelai, ditches her snobby DAR friends and - in contrast to her weekly firing of maids in the original series - not only keeps one, but takes in her ''entire family'' and is last seen making ''soup'' when the maid is sick.]]

** It's rarely shown, but the times he goes into this mode are the most awesome. When Emily and Richard find out that the reason Rory engaged in reckless behavior that landed her community service, was all because of Mitchum rejecting her internship. Emily and Richard team up to take down both spouses. Emily making jabs at Shira's weight and Richard telling Mitchum off.

* DomesticAbuse: Her parents were never physically abusive, but Emily's treatment of her comes across as emotional abuse in modern times, pathologically dismissing her wishes and insisting she do things her way. When your daughter would rather live in a converted storage shed with a one-year-old rather than live another moment with you, there's something wrong. Even in the present day, Emily - and often Richard - seem fundamentally incapable of acknowledging Lorelai's growth and happiness, which of course, [[{{Irony}} only fuels it.]]

* TheGadfly: It's her main coping mechanism when it comes to her parents, and a mainstay of the series. In season 3 she even admits this to her mother, and "teaches" her the trick so she could cope with Trix, her mother in law. As Lorelai later tells Rory, Emily has done it beautifully.
* GenerationXerox: Her inability to stay in a relationship, going back to Christopher (and cheating on Luke with him), all things that Rory eventually does.

* SmarterThanYouLook: She may be a rebellious {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, but it's mentioned in ''Christopher Returns'' that she was [[BookSmart "the brightest in her class"]] before getting pregnant and leaving school. She is Rory's mother, after all.

* TalksLikeASimile: Has a tendency to compare things to things they're usually not compared to. Memorably, she once compared not knowing whether your ex wants to get back together to ording steak and lobster.

-->'''Lorelai:''' ''(flopping on Rory's bed while she's sleeping)'' Am I more beautiful today than I was yesterday?
-->'''Rory:''' Oh, boy.
-->'''Lorelai:''' I'm just not sure. I mean at first I looked in the mirror and I thought, well yes, definitely, huge improvement.
-->'''Rory:''' Can I have my pillow back?
-->'''Lorelai:''' But then I thought maybe its not that I'm more beautiful today. Maybe I was just as beautiful yesterday, only I lacked the self-esteem to recognize it.
-->'''Rory:''' I'm gonna go take a shower.

** Also the reason behind her summer-long fight with [[spoiler: Lorelai]] in Season 6, and their falling out right before Rory and Emily's trip to Europe in Season 5. In both of these cases, Rory's reason for leaving is wanting to avoid Lorelai's opinions on Rory's life choices (especially in her romantic life).
** Honestly, Rory has two ways of responding to criticism: If she believes it’s unfounded (such as the incident with the deer, the Puffs initiation, or any time she and Lorelai fight), she throws a fit and yells until whoever dared criticize her either takes it back, gives her an out, or walks away from the conversation. If she perceives the criticism as in any way valid (such as when she’s told to drop a course or when Mitchum tells her he doesn’t think she’s ‘got it’), she shuts down entirely, usually sobbing into someone’s arms and declaring that “Everything’s falling apart.”

* GenerationXerox: Her three main love interests greatly resemble her mother's three main love interest in the course of the show. Also in the revival [[spoiler:, albeit not at sixteen, she gets pregnant, most likely with the guy paralleling Christopher in her mother's life. Additionally, the first half of ''A Year in the Life'' depicts her resembling ''her father'' in similar age, being aimless, unable to get herself together, and going through multiple partners (sometimes simultaneously, which Christopher didn't do, as far as we know).]]

** Lane appears to be this for Rory until Chilton and Sookie for Lorelai.

* ShrinkingViolet: She starts as a quiet, shy, socially awkward bookworm who is uncomfortable around other students, especially boys. She grows out of it, in college.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Played with. She can often be very mature and act as the responsible one in her reationship with Lorelai. On the other hand, she can (and often does) act in a very immature manner, as befitting a teenager/young adult (like when she almost didn't change schools to Chilton because of Dean in the first episode). A large part of her character arc is learning to be more than just book smart and becoming "life smart" as well. Inverted in the relaunch; her personal development apparently stalled out entirely and she's incredibly immature and selfish for a woman in her thirties.

* LoveObstructingParents: [[spoiler:Pleaded with Richard not to marry Emily. On their wedding day, no less.]]%% * ManipulativeBitch: Far worse than Emily.

* AllLovingHero:

* StatuesqueStunner: Stands at 5'9", and several characters habitually comment on her beauty.

* HollywoodDateless: During her freshman year at Yale, when she tries to get guys to date her but fails, and the other characters point out she is the only one without a boyfriend. This despite the fact that, for most of the show, she's a notable DudeMagnet, and both Lane and Paris envy her for it.

* ParentalSubstitute: For Lane. Lane is Rory's best friend with an extremely strict mother and she must hide her true self from her. Lorelai can offer her advice on stuff she couldn't admit to her mom.
%%* PluckyGirl

* OpenMindedParent: Very much so, though she had a hard time with all of Rory's relationships throughout the series at one point or another. She mentions at one point that she plays the "Mom" card as infrequently as possible.

->'''Played by:''' Kelly Bishop

* WillTheyOrWontThey: With Luke. [[spoiler:Eventually TheyDo.]]

%% * ManipulativeBitch: Far worse than Emily.
* MeddlingParents: [[spoiler:Pleaded with Richard not to marry Emily. On their wedding day, no less.]]