#have u heard of my oc daphne blake?

[danger-archive]

DAPHNE BLAKE + INTELLIGENCE & KNOWLEDGE : 

While Daphne is historically looked down on for not “contributing anything” to the team, something I’ve loved about the more modern interpretations of the Scooby Doo series is the effort made to give her things to be good at, and to be knowledgable about that would make sense for the others not to. As a result, Daphne’s background as a rich, educated young girl with a high-society family with reach means that she knows a lot about very obscure or random topics. 

As a non-exhaustive list of some of her biggest interests: 

Cheeses & Their History (Mystery Incorporated Season 2, Episode 17) 

Fashion History –– she may not know a lot about the Gettysburg Address, or whatever happened with the Founding Fathers, but Daphne’s supremely intelligent and great at retaining information about Fashion History and its accuracy. She probably has a cousin in California who works as a Fashion Historian Consultant on historical shows & movies. Let’s name that cousin AJ Blackwell. 

Abstract art

Chemicals & Biology –– like someone such as Elle Woods (reference here), Daphne’s knowledge of Chemicals and Biology comes from her interest in makeup and its effects on the body. She knows, for example, a lot of big words and names for the chemicals used in lipsticks, and what to avoid putting on your skin etc. She knows how the skin, as an organ functions –– she could probably be a freaking Dermatologist if she wanted to be, honestly. Some of this knowledge is researched, while a lot of it comes from her family members, and even more so, from her connections to the industry and to doctors. 

On top of this, there’s also her many hobbies that she’s has in Be Cool Scooby Doo which indicate Daphne is sort of a Jack of All Trades who can very easily pick up many different skills like Juggling; Puppeteering, etc. 

A lot of Daphne’s obscure knowledge comes, like I said, from the people she knows. Unlike someone like Velma (and this isn’t a slight against her), Daphne’s knowledge comes from living, and socializing, and learning from experience and from others. Yes, sometimes it comes from research, but if, per se, she knows something about a very specific sub-species of spider, it’s because her parents went on a hunting trip in the Summer to Paraguay and got bit by it. She’s great at remembering things and storing them away. And it’s part of what makes her so freaking smart. 

Furthermore, while this post is primarily about mainstream Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, if we were to look at the different kinds of intelligence she excels at –– the most obvious one being Intra-Personal & Interpersonal Intelligence (though as a teenager, she isn’t always the best at that either) –– she is also gifted with:

Musical Intelligence: Having once joined the Hex Girls as a stand-in singer for their lead, Thorn, Daphne possesses an understanding of music at least instinctively. While she may not be able to read music or have a huge learned understanding of Musical Science and Theory, she’s naturally gifted musically, at least.  Linguistic Intelligence: Daphne’s a people-person. She’s very charming and knows how to use her words to influence people; get them to trust her; comfort them, etc. She’s canonically a journalist and news reporter, and as such has to be either on air on short-notice, or constantly writing pieces to air. Therefore, while she might not be a Poet Laureate, she has a way with words.  Bodily-Kinesthetic: I head-canon that part of the reason Daphne was so clumsy was a sort of... over-awareness of her body growing up (among also other things, mentioned below). Also, with it constantly growing and changing, Daphne wasn’t always comfortable in it, even if she appeared to be. As a result, it’s not until she’s older and able to receive training that she really feels super comfortable and at ease moving around and defending herself. That being said, she did also receive poise and etiquette training in her youth, so she does have a natural-born grace that just can’t be faked. 

And to address the elephant in the room since I said Daphne could be very adept at using her body to her advantage: Yes, my Daphne is clumsy and very  much danger-prone, but I don’t think it’s because she lacks grace (though she sometimes does, hello, Abracadabra Doo) –– I think it’s because she lacks an awareness of her surroundings a lot of the times. It’s what makes her a pretty reckless driver –– she’s aware only of herself and her friends, and her goals, and not necessarily that loose floorboard in front of her. 

Finally, let’s also not forget that Daphne has something else that makes her a key facet of Mystery Inc –– something that all the members also have, but Daphne in spades: creativity. Daphne is able to think outside of the box. She affords people the benefit of the doubt, she is able to suspend disbelief at times when other’s wouldn’t. In a practical sense, she’s also about to use that creativity to get the gang out of tough situations (such as when she used a pore strip to unlock a fingerprint ID in Monsters Unleashed)! I think this is actually part of the reason her and Fred are so shippable –– in this regard, they’re both very, very creative. 

So, to summarize. Daphne is super smart and awesome. 

UPDATED: 22.07.21