Dory is the deuteragonist in the Disney•Pixar 2003 film Finding Nemo, and the titular protagonist in its 2016 sequel. She suffers from short-term memory-loss and is a bit ditsy.
Biography[]
Throughout the vast ocean you will not find a fish more hospitable, more friendly, and more sociable than Dory. She would love to chat with you all day and tell you her life story... but she can't. Dory suffers from short term memory loss. Dory is the aquatic Good Samaritan who offers to help Marlin on his journey to find his son. She is certainly an odd partner for such a quest, but her optimism proves an invaluable quality to help overcome the impossible. To Dory, the glass is always half-full.
Personality[]
Dory is a very optimistic and kind, but ditzy and forgetful fish. This is due to the fact that she suffers from short term memory loss, which is implied to have frustrated her friends and family to the point that they left her.
After hearing about Marlin and how his son was captured by divers, she was willing to accompany and help him. She was always supportive and helpful to him throughout the journey, though her short term memory loss and playful personality could sometimes cause Marlin to lose his patience with her. She can be very talkative and loved to play games throughout her and Marlin's journey, taking detours and getting easily distracted. She can also be naïve and oblivious, as shown when she did not realize the danger of going to a Sharks only club and when an Marlin was fighting with an Anglerfish and seemed oblivious to Marlin's struggle (insisting he help move the light closer to her so she could read the address on the diver's goggles).
She is also very friendly and makes quickly makes friends with her warm hearted and fun personality. Her kindness was shown as she continued to accompany Marlin on his journey despite his lack of patience with her and his sometimes harsh comments. She developed such a close relationship with Marlin that her short term memory loss seemed to have improved, as she herself states "Please don't leave me. No one has ever stayed with me this long and when I look at you, I can remember stuff". The two remain close friends by the end of the film.
Despite her ditzy personality, Dory has shown to be somewhat intelligent, as she was capable of reading "human" (English and possibly other languages) and even communicate with whales. She also helped Marlin realized he needed to give Nemo more freedom to grow up and become his own person and experience life.
Appearances[]
Finding Nemo[]
Dory helps Marlin on his journey to rescue Nemo while heading to Sydney. She suffers from short-term memory-loss. The friendly female can read and is very happy to have a companion. Marlin takes advantage of her short attention span, but he later regrets it when it physically hurts her. Dory never remembers Nemo's name. However, she does seem to care about the little fish.
Additionally, Dory comforts everybody she sees. The words "There, there. It's all right. It'll be okay" are used by Dory twice in the movie. Once when she first met Marlin, because she thought his head was hurting and again in the whale when Marlin was worried about Nemo. That being said, nearly at the end of the movie, after Nigel puts Marlin and Dory back in the ocean, a depressed Marlin barely kept his distance from Dory when she swam to him. After Dory tried so hard to comfort him, Marlin suggested that if Dory never took care of him along the way, he never would have even made it to Sydney.
Despite her sunny outlook and demeanor, there is some tragedy to Dory. Because of her short term memory loss, there's no telling how many life experiences have eluded her, or how many loved ones she lost that she couldn't remember. When she starts travelling with Marlin, her memory starts improving, as indicated when she can repeat the address 'P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney'. When Marlin thinks that Nemo is dead, and starts to go home, Dory doesn't want him to leave, because she is afraid that if she can no longer see him, then she'll forget everything. This fear is founded, as when the hopeless Marlin leaves her, not a few minutes afterwards her entire adventure has been temporarily wiped clean from her mind.
After Marlin leaves Dory meets Nemo who had escaped alive and at first she doesn't remember him but when she sees the word Sydney again all her memory comes back and she takes Nemo to his father. After finding help from some crabs although only by blackmail of feeding them to seagulls, Dory and Nemo find Marlin, resulting in a happy reunion between Nemo and Marlin that is cut short when Dory gets trapped with a school of fish in a fisherman's net. Nemo rushes to help a distressed Dory, they tell the other fish to swim down together, and they all manage to escape the net.
At the conclusion of the film, Dory is seen to have become a latest member of Bruce's Fish are Friends Club as Bruce, Anchor, and Chum come over to drop Dory off with Marlin.
Finding Dory[]
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Sebastian and Dory meet Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch[]
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Darkwing Duck[]
Dory makes a cameo in the Darkwing Duck comic book, on the last page of issue 7, reacting in fear to the return of Paddywhack.
Disney Parks[]
Dory in a Disney Park parade
Finding Nemo: The Musical[]
Dory comes back as Marlin's sidekick and friend in the live stage adaption of the film in Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage[]
Dory appears in the submarine ride in Disneyland. In the ride, riders enter the world of Finding Nemo and experience Dory and friends in their own home.
Turtle Talk with Crush[]
Dory occasionally cameos in the interactive show, mainly to give Guests a special treat.
Trivia[]
- One of the lines Dory said in the movie "What'cha doin'?", is made famous later by the character Isabella Garcia-Shapiro in the 2007 Disney Channel Original Series Phineas and Ferb.
- Dory is a Blue Tang fish.
- Dory's memory problems are most likely a reference to the myth that fish only have a three second memory.
- Dory called Nemo five different other names in the film: Fabio, Elmo, Chico, Harpo, and Bingo.
- According to director Andrew Stanton on the Audio Commentary for the Finding Nemo DVD, in the original story Dory was going to be a male character, but when Stanton went home to write the script his wife was watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show and when he heard DeGeneres' voice, he decided to change Dory to a female and cast her in the role to which she accepted.
- Dory has cameoed in several of Boom! Studios' Disney comics including The Incredibles where she appears in an underwater scene, and Darkwing Duck, where she and other Disney sea creatures react in fear to the return of the villainous Paddywhack.
- On the Disney website, they mistakenly refer to Dory as a Yellowtail Tang. Although she does have a yellow tail, this is a different species of fish.
- Dory is the third Pixar character to be the deuteragonist in the first film and be the main protagonist in it's sequel. The first was Mater from Cars and the second was Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc.
- Dory in the musical wears mismatched socks.
Gallery[]
| Finding Nemo |
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 Media: Finding Nemo | Finding Dory | Sebastian and Dory meet Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch (crossover) | Video Game | Soundtrack | Little Golden Book | Finding Nemo - The Musical | Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage Characters: Nemo | Marlin | Coral | Dory | Pearl | Tad | Sheldon | Mr. Ray | Bruce | Anchor | Chum | Gill | Peach | Bloat | Bubbles | Deb | Gurgle | Jacques | Nigel | Crush | Squirt | The Dentist | Darla Sherman | Moonfish | Barracuda | Anglerfish | Seagulls | Jellyfish | Whale | Chuckles | Blenny Locations: Australia | The Ocean | Sydney Harbour Objects: AquaScum 2003 | Luxo Ball | Pizza Planet truck |