This trope is up for renaming, merging, deletion, or... something. See the forum thread.
Crowner is here.
One desperate attempt after another to find something in common with someone else and then cling. "Hey, you have ten fingers, I have ten fingers, let's be friends. We'll make rules and slogans. Then if we find someone with nine fingers, we can beat the crap out of them."
—Georgia Lass on the topic of human contact.
This character is almost always a girl with a world-weary disdain for
everyone, herself included. She typically suffers from a healthy dose of
Intelligence Equals Isolation, and is the type to stand aside at parties and quietly drink beer (or just a soda!) while making cold-hearted quips about the idiocy that surrounds her. To most people, particularly the herd followers she deprecates, this makes her a
Jerk Ass. Sympathetic versions often see their "antisocial" behavior as upholding a higher purpose.
One key element that differentiates the Daria from a mere
smarmy bystander is that she holds herself to her own impossibly high standards. If she were an
Action Girl, she would resemble a
Knight In Sour Armor unable to reconcile her high ideals with practical reality. Any lapse in her standards is a
personal shame that she will regret, even when it is something nobody else would even care about.
Her cynicism often proves justified when
Too Dumb To Live characters
take her snipes literally or simply
don't get the joke. She may occasionally surprise herself by overcoming her own inertia to take a principled stand, despite doubting that it will do any good. If it ends well, it's typically because she has earned a lot more respect than she knew. If it ends poorly, it's typically because people are either too oblivious or too stubborn to
see that she's right.
There is almost always an episode where The Daria discovers that she was
Beautiful All Along. However, if she is the main character of the show, she will usually
revert to her bookish self in the next episode. It only goes to highlight how the character is a loner by choice.
Occasionally paired with
Tall Dark And Snarky, but this usually ends in a bitter breakup highlighting how she can't even get along with her seemingly perfect match.
Named for the star of the
MTV cartoon (originally a supporting character on
Beavis And Butthead).
Subtrope of
Deadpan Snarker; see also
Little Miss Snarker. Opposite of the
Stepford Smiler, very unlikely to suffer
Moral Dissonance. Contrast
Strange Girl and
Loners Are Freaks. If badly done, she may end up as a verbally-abusive
Jerk Sue.
Examples
open/close all folders
Film
Live Action TV
- The best-known example of The Daria (besides, well, the Daria) is probably Darlene Conner from Roseanne.
- Londo's first wife in Babylon Five falls into this. Even though she's constantly abusing and berating him, he chooses to keep her over all his other wives. He's suspicious of all flattery, but he knows her contempt is genuine.
- April Ludgate the college intern from Parks And Recreation is another prime example.
- Seven of Nine from Star Trek Voyager. Any episode featuring a party in the messhall has an obligatory scene where Seven is standing aloof from the proceedings, making Deadpan Snarker comments. And although drop-dead gorgeous, she is rather indifferent to it.
- Jaye Tyler of Wonderfalls.
- Claire Fisher on Six Feet Under.
- Georgia Lass of Dead Like Me.
- Veronica Mars takes this role but unlike most, only after she's been pushed into it by her ostracization for standing by her father. Note her moral principles fall into a sense of justice and not letting the wealthy get away with crimes but she's loose on using deception to get her way. Such is the way of most Private Detective characters.
- August Leffler, Tommy's ex from Third Rock From The Sun.
- August either went through character decay (Or developement, as a teenager, such a change in personality isn't unrealistic) and became rather hypocritical and just liked to look down at everyone. Her initial apperance portrayed her as a more well adjusted and pleasent person (At least, as well adjusted as The Daria can get).
- Tommy himself could be considered a male Daria, although to a much lesser degree than August.
- Kerry from Eight Simple Rules usually fits, though it can depend on the episode.
- Naomi from the second generation of Skins characters; arguably Jal had flashes of this in the first two seasons too.
Literature
- Harry Potter: Hermione showed some Daria tendencies at times.
- Literary example with Lily in The Princess Diaries (not as much so in the movies).
- Literary example: Susan Sto Helit in the Discworld novel Soul Music. Less so in her later appearances, where she's not a teen any more, and channels her belief that everyone's stupid differently.
- And, of course Adora Belle Dearhart.
- Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald from the Ginger Snaps trilogy.
- Holden Caulfield (from The Catcher In The Rye) could be considered a male Daria. He holds everyone but himself to such ridiculously high standards of honesty that he's already turning gray at age 16. His hatred of "phonies" is even what inspired Mark David Chapman to kill John Lennon (okay, maybe it wasn't the only factor, but still.)
- Holden's hair is turning gray because he has tuberculosis. That's why he's recuperating from the events of the novel in the southwest — TB patients used to go there to take advantage of the warm, dry climate. The implication of TB is lost today because it's a rare disease (outside of Russian prisons, that is)
- He has a mental breakdown. He's in a mental hospital at the end. Never heard the TB idea before.
- Thalia from Percy Jackson And The Olympians.
Comics
Anime/Manga
- In the anime Ouran High School Host Club, the Host Club quickly gets rid of Haruhi's bookworm look to become a Bifauxnen, but she still acts as The Daria in the show.
- Rin in the English dub of Spirited Away.
- Chisame of Mahou Sensei Negima, though her snarks don't tend to have as much power over the other characters as those of some other Darias on this list.
- Nagisa of Satou Kashi No Dangan Wa Uchinukenai is an example of this towards anyone but her brother, mother, and pet rabbits. She rebuffed a declaration of friendship from the seemingly loony New Transfer Student with "Are you retarded?"
- Ayase of Midori Days, which she has to overcome for her to truly love Seiji.
- Professor Hwan from Saiyuki actually fits this trope obnoxiously well. Always standing around with her fellow scientists in the lab, constantly leaving snide remarks on their part whilst also pointing out their densely inappropriate behavior with nonstop sarcasm.
Western Animation
Fanfic
- In a series of crossover fanfics by Mediancat starting with April 10, 1997, Faith of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is one, because she really is Daria Morgendorffer. This is the only crossover by way of Multiple Personality Disorder I've ever seen. It's Better Than It Sounds.
- Green Shield/Tara Strong of DC Nation, with her genius-level IQ, photographic memory, and dedication to her medical studies fulfills the genius requirement and the ridiculously high standards. She's also quicker with the snark than she is with her bow.
Video Games
- Although there is never exactly one interpretation of a Touhou character, Patchouli Knowledge is usually portrayed as a Daria. The games show her as completely deadpan and cynical (especially in her lines regarding Sakuya in Subterranean Animism or Immaterial and Missing Power), but nevertheless a good and caring friend of Remilia, and fanon often shows her as having a crush on Marisa.
- Jacqli of Ar Tonelico at first appears to be a Jerk Ass willing to betray anyone to accomplish her mysterious goals, and bitingly sarcastic towards everyone, especially the protagonist (also a Deadpan Snarker) but over time, as she comes to trust the heroes, she reveals her goals truly are noble that are simply hidden behind a hostile exterior because she is embarrassed to be working towards such goals, and distrustful of others.
- Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic The Hedgehog series. He's got goals, generally involving being the best (just like Sonic, which is why they clash so often). And he prefers to fulfil these goals on his lonesome. His only real friend is the robot E-123 Omega
Webcomics
- Aggie of Penny And Aggie starts off this way. Early storylines see her standing on the sidelines and aiming sarcastic comments and the occasional prank at popular girl Penny for her apparent superficiality and snobbery, in contrast to Aggie's espoused (though not always upheld) progressive values. She's also initially something of a loner with only one friend, the bookwormish Duane. Eventually, she develops a wider circle of friends, including Penny herself.
- Faye from Questionable Content, big time.
Real Life
- Dorothy Parker, at least during her Vicious Circle period. Snarky, sour, misanthropic, cynical, self-flagellating... even if she does seem to have great sympathy for the Virgin Mary.
