Daria Morgendorffer is one of MTV’s most iconic animated characters. The rest of the personalities in Daria help give the show its trademark humor and high school stories. Some fans find they recite quotes in Daria that are still relevant today.
Fans of the show would say it’s hard to argue that nearly every character in Daria isn’t funny in their own way. However, some of their personalities are more likable than others. Daria, her family, friends, and classmates present their affability in the actions they take on the show, along with their presented attitudes.
Sandi Griffin
Sandi is Quinn’s friend and president of the fashion club at Lawndale High. Although they appear to be close, the two engage in perpetual passive-aggressive behavior toward one another. Sandi shows her unlikable qualities in her actions.
She is elitist and only values those who are popular, ignoring or insulting classmates who go against the grain socially. She is overbearing toward Quinn Morgendorffer and the other fashion club members and bullies them. Her affable moments are seldom on display in Daria.
Quinn Morgendorffer
Quinn is Daria’s sister. She is characterized by superficiality and ditziness. She is focused on being popular and acts unpleasant as a result. She lies about having Daria as a sister. Her giving excuses to her friends about Daria’s perpetual presence in her life is one of the show’s running gags.
Quinn is self-centered and often puts others in compromising positions for her benefit like Daria and the “The Three J’s.” However, she is generally cheerful to those she interacts with. Furthermore, she proves to be helpful, like when Daria gets a rash and Quinn lends her skincare expertise.
Daria Morgendorffer
Daria is the namesake of the show, and audiences get to know her more than anyone else. She is smart and funny. However, Daria also presents several unlikable qualities. She is cynical. She is pretentious. She isn’t particularly empathetic towards those she doesn’t understand like Quinn and Brittany Taylor. Daria isn’t perfect, but that’s because she’s well-developed.
Daria isn’t malicious and she grows throughout the series. Furthermore, she is ethical and sticks to her values when challenged. However, she is judgemental and lacks understanding, like when Jane gets a boyfriend and she can’t contain her jealousy. However, Daria eventually comes to terms with her flaws and makes an attempt to be better later on in the series, like when she talks to a therapist on a mental health spa visit.
Jane Lane
Jane is Daria’s best friend. She is an artist and a similar outcast to Daria. However, she is more outgoing and seems to take life a bit less seriously than Daria. She is more pleasant than her best friend but is judgmental and sarcastic toward others.
Jane’s poor qualities come out in her and Daria’s relationship with Tom. When she makes Daria dye her hair and she subsequently ruins the job, Jane lashes out in response and is convinced Daria purposely botched it. However, she is passionate and for the most part, a good friend to Daria.
Tom Sloane
Tom is Jane’s boyfriend before he eventually starts a relationship with Daria. He fits in well with their personalities, as a similarly intelligent and sarcastic individual. He shares some of their poor qualities, like pretentiousness. He shows this when he and Jane argue about going to the movies, saying “the cinema can be more than bursting eyeballs.”
Furthermore, some audiences might take issue with Tom’s leaving Jane for Daria. Although he is only following his feelings, the move could be seen as selfish in its quickness, hurting Jane’s feelings and jeopardizing Jane and Daria’s friendship.
Brittany Taylor
Brittany is the ditzy cheerleader girlfriend of Kevin Thompson. She is presented as air-headed and popular. However, she doesn’t showcase the same sort of elitism as Sandi and Quinn. Despite Daria being an outcast, she invites Daria to her party.
Sometimes Brittany can be cruel unintentionally thanks to her lack of self-awareness. However, she is bubbly and pleasant. She isn’t shown acting maliciously, and some audiences might say she can’t help herself in her most unaffable moments.
Jake Morgendorffer
Jake is Daria’s dad. He is a marketing consultant and is often presented flying off the handle due to his short temper. He is funny and gives the show some of its most hilarious moments. He is angry and presents foolish behavior, highlighting some less affable qualities.
However, Jake is a loving father. He encourages both of his children consistently throughout the show. He supports Helen, even if he has the tendency to get on her nerves. He tries to give Daria advice, even if he is clueless about the issues she’s dealing with. His kindness combined with his repressed rage makes some fans see Jake as the “chaotic good” in Daria.
Helen Morgendorffer
Helen is Daria’s mother. She is a career-focused attorney with a type-A personality. She is intimidating and boisterous. However, she presents several affable qualities in her relationship with her kids. In what some consider one of Daria‘s best episodes, “Boxing Daria,” their relationship is unpacked.
Daria is a hard child to raise. However, despite Helen and Jake’s difficulties, they love and accept Daria for who she is. This is seen in moments like when she stands up to Daria’s principal Ms. Li. Ms. Li threatens punishment when Daria is taken advantage of by Li after sticking to her morals, and Helen threatens a lawsuit.
Trent Lane
Trent is Jane’s brother and Daria’s consistent crush. He is showcased with a laid-back, cool attitude underscored by his activities playing music in his band Mystik Spiral. His attractively aloof attitude was inspired by Jordan Catalano in My So-Called Life. He shows a bit of elitism in his vocal distaste with high school activities.
However, Trent is a loving and helpful brother to Jane and friend to Daria. He offers up his perspective regularly in an attempt to help them out. Trent is lazy and can be irresponsible, but he is showcased as sympathetic and kind most often in the series.
Jodie Landon
Jodie is a friend to Daria and Jane, girlfriend to Michael “Mack” Jordan MacKenzie, and the class president at Lawndale High. She is smart and can keep up with Daria and Jane’s sarcasm and intellect. She is popular but remains friends with them despite their status as outcasts.
Jodie is altruistic and engages in humanitarian work along with her studies, like helping organize the Carnival For Dyslexia. She is driven, and one of the most successful students at Lawndale. She appears to be as smart as Daria but doesn’t share her harsh judgment of others. As a result, she is friendly with almost all the students across the board of cliques at school.
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