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Dan Humphrey

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Image:Dan 001.jpg
Dan Humphrey
Name Dan Humphrey
Portrayed by Penn Badgely
First Appearance 1.01, Pilot
Age 18


Daniel "Dan" Jonah Humphrey is a character in the Gossip Girl. The character is portrayed by Penn Badgely in the television series of the same name.

Contents

[edit] Book Series Background

Dan Humphrey is the son of Rufus Humphrey and has a younger sister, Jenny Humphrey. His absent mother, who ran off with a European aristocrat, returns to support Dan when she hears of his sexual confusion. Dan and his family live on the liberal cultured and artistic Upper West Side, the alternative of the old moneyed and conservative Upper East Side. He attends the Riverside Preparatory School for Boys, where wealthy playboy Chuck Bass attends, on the West Side as a scholarship student. At the end of the series, he matriculates to Evergreen State College in Washington.

He is described as being attractive and sensitive, loves to write poetry, and one of his poems, Sluts, was featured in The New Yorker. He revealed his favorite word is “death” and drinks copious amounts of dark coffee and chain smokes cigarettes. He over analyses and is easily frustrated. Dan is very close and protective of little sister Jenny who attends an exclusive private school, called the Constance Billard School for Girls, a small, elite, all-girls school located at 93rd and Madison Avenue.

[edit] Television Series Background

Dan "Lonely Boy" Humphrey is the son of rocker Rufus Humphrey and artist Alison Humphrey, and is the older sibling of Jenny Humphrey. Dan is a poet and attends the St. Jude’s School for Boys with enemy Chuck Bass and the rival for his love interest Nate Archibald. He has longed for Serena van der Woodsen since a party when they were in ninth grade, and she was the only person who talked to him. He has somewhat of a disgust for Serena’s best friend, Blair Waldorf; though, he seems to have warmed up to her more in "Bad News Blair." Dan and his family reside in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and he wishes to attend Dartmouth College, a fact that is changed in later episodes when he shows interest in Yale. He was best frinds with Vanessa Abrams whom he also date before she left New York.

[edit] Books

[edit] Books 1-6

[edit] Books 7-12

[edit] Television Series

[edit] Season One

Dan is introduced as a resident of Brooklyn, a poet who aspires to attend Dartmouth College. He attends St. Jude's School for Boys, but as he is financially lower-class in comparison to his rich Manhattan classmates, he is something of an outsider and tends to be ignored by everyone. He lives with his younger sister Jenny and father Rufus, who is seperated from his mother. He has had a crush on the Upper East Side's former It Girl Serena van der Woodsen for several years, and is one of the first people to personally see her back in New York. He walked into her at a bar, causing her to drop her purse and spill things. In her haste to leave after being assaulted by Chuck Bass, Serena leaves her cellphone behind.

The following morning, Dan goes to the hotel where Serena is living to return her cellphone. To get out of the Kiss on the Lips party being held by Blair Waldorf, Serena goes out on a date with Dan. They first went to Rufus's concert, but the date was interrupted when Jenny sent multiple text messages to Dan asking for help. When Dan and Serena went to investigate, they found a protesting Jenny being attacked by Chuck. Consequently, Dan punches Chuck, who shortly afterwards tells Serena that her life is over.

After an awkward end to the date, Serena and Dan go out again, but have a fight when he finds out about Serena's one night stand with Nate Archibald, Blair's boyfriend. This was the reason she left boarding school, and Dan and Serena make up. Vanessa Abrams, Dan's best friend, suddenly returns. Jealous of Serena and still in love with Dan, Vanessa tries to show him that she is a better choice than Serena and her glitzy lifestyle. Dan is oblivious, but Serena notices and is made uncomfortable. She also becomes worried when she finds out about Dan's mother's return from Vanessa instead of Dan himself. Dan's choice is made clear when he and Serena sleep together for the first time at Christmas.

A few weeks later, Dan goes to see what Jenny is doing. She has her laptop open to the Gossip Girl site, and hastily closes it before Dan can see. Rufus also walks over, suspicious of Jenny's odd behaviour, and she is forced to show them what she was looking at: pictures of Serena buying a pregnancy test. Rufus is extremely upset over the possibility of Dan being a teenage father. Realising the child could be his, Dan confronts confronts Serena. She lets him know that she was actually buying the test for Blair, who turns out not to be pregnant. Dan calms down but feels awkward, as he blurted out that he loved Serena and she only responds with 'okay'. It's not the response he was looking for and causes him to have some doubts. Later, Serena asks why he loves her, and after telling her, she says she loves him too.

Georgina Sparks returns to the Upper East Side after rehab in Switzerland. She used to be a close friend of Serena, and the two of them got into a lot of trouble together - partying, drinking and doing drugs. Georgina is confused and annoyed to see Serena has changed her ways and doesn't want anything to do with her, but spikes her drink when the two of them go out to talk. This leads to Serena partying all night, then waking up remembering nothing, and missing her SATs which she later retook. All of this she hid from Dan, as Georgina was blackmailing her with a dark secret that she and Serena shared. Georgina later decides to get revenge by getting close to Dan, pretending to be 'Sarah', a new girl in town who doesn't know her way around. Clueless, Vanessa and Dan become best friends with 'Sarah'. Serena goes into a downward spiral, and lies to Dan, telling him that she slept with someone else. He breaks up with her and leaves, saying "I'm done."

Serena absolves the guilt over her secret - a year ago, she suggested she and a drug addict called Pete do some coke. This was to put off sleeping with him. However, when Pete followed Serena's instructions and did a line, he overdosed and died. Even though Serena called 911, she has held herself responsible ever since. When Pete's parents told her they didn't blame her for what happened, Serena goes to a concert featuring Rufus's band with the intention of telling Dan everything and mending their relationship. She just misses seeing him, and when Georgina (still pretending to be Sarah) finds out that her intentions of blackmail are now invalid, she pulls Dan into the street and they kiss, with Dan completely unaware that Serena is at the concert.

The next day, it is revealed that although Georgina spent the night with him, they didn't sleep together, but they may have well as. He is recruited by Blair Waldorf to help bring down Georgina, which he does by bringing Georgina to a park where Blair takes her down. He attends Lily and Bart's wedding as Serena's date where he breaks up with Serena for not being honest with him. The end of season shows Dan and Vanessa (who also just broke up with Nate) talking about what happened, possibly alluding to a Dan/Vanessa relationship.

[edit] Season 2

[edit] Family

[edit] Romantic Relationships

[edit] Etymology

  • Daniel is a Biblical name borne by the prophet whose story is told in the Book of Daniel. He was an Israelite slave of the Assyrian king Nebuchandnezzar, who obtained great favour through his skill in interpreting dreams and the 'writing on the wall' at the feast held by Nebuchandnezzar's son Belshazzar. His enemies managed to get him cast into a lion' den, but he was saved by God. This was a favourite tale in the Middle Ages, often represented in miracle plays. The name has been popular since the 16th century and particularly since the 1980s.
  • Jonah is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "dove". Jonah was on board a ship when God caused it to sink. Sailors have traditionally used the name to personify someone who brings bad luck.
  • Humphrey is from the Old French personal name "Humfrey", introduced to Britain by the Normans after the Invasion of 1066. It is derived from the Germanic elements "hun" meaning "bear cub" and "frid" or "fred" meaning "peace".
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