- “At least he didn’t live to see the Apocalypse. If that’s any Consolation?”
- ―Dante to Dylan
Dante is one of the Dalmatian puppy siblings of the Dalmatian family and a character in the TV series 101 Dalmatian Street.
Background[]
Dante is one of Delilah and Doug's numerous pups and one of Dylan and Dolly's 97 younger siblings. It's unknown if he's either from one of the parents' sides of the family, part of their third litter (thus making him one of Dylan and Dolly's half-siblings) or one of the adopted pups.
Dante and his family did have a human owner before the start of the series; an eccentric billionaire artist Dodie McDot, who left them the house and went to live on an island. He is not mentioned in the show, with characters just saying that the Dalmatians do not have a human. Even so, the family is able to adjust just fine thanks to inventions built by Dawkins.
Dante is the goth of the family that makes predictions of unfortunate events that never come true, usually exclaiming, "The end of the world is nigh!" Dylan and Dolly in particular are annoyed by his predictions. Despite this, he is sometimes seen to act casual and caring toward his siblings. Although he appears to be around the same age as Dawkins or Da Vinci, he is slightly taller, possibly indicating that he is one of the oldest Dalmatians other than Dylan and Dolly.
Even though Dante appears to be closer to Dylan and Dolly in age, Dylan and Dolly put Dawkins (who appears to be much younger than Dante) in charge instead due to the former's gloomy and pessimistic outlook having a negative impact on their younger siblings.
Personality[]
Dante is a goth pup who lacks positivity in his mindset and is paranoid, often thinking the world will end at any moment. He also has the ability to change his voice to something more intimidating, mostly used by him for dramatic effect on how supposedly doomed he and his siblings are in a situation. Another pastime of his is lurking in the shadows; when questioned why he lurks in the shadows, his response is that it's the best place to do so. He's convinced disaster is always just around the corner, often yelling about the end of the world in a dramatic matter. While he loves spooky stuff, at the same time, he gets scared quite easily.
Despite his pessimistic behaviour, Dante is generally a good (if paranoid) pup who means well. He cares about his family and most of his predictions seem to be motivated by a desire to look out for them (even if his outlook would have a negative impact on his younger siblings). When Dizzy and Dee Dee run off to "find pirate treasure" in some dangerous caves, Dante is concerned for his younger sisters and helps look for them and tries warning Dylan about how evil Bessie the cow (who sent Dizzy and Dee Dee to the caves in the first place) is. When his, Portia, and Spencer's prank to teach Dylan a lesson escalates beyond what he's comfortable with, Dante expresses genuine remorse for humiliating his brother. Additionally, when Dylan mourns the death of his Poodlewolf character, he and the other pups throw a funeral, with Dante notably trying to offer condolences (albeit to no avail). He's also able to enjoy happier moments with his siblings, such as watching the fireworks and going on vacation together. Despite his serious and gloomy demeanor, he still longs to be played with by other puppies and reacts to "trigger words" just as easily as the rest of his siblings.
When someone listens to his predictions, he's really surprised and happy about it. However, when others -and especially his younger siblings- mimic his paranoid behaviour, he's genuinely baffled and grimaced.
While he enjoys expressing his gothic side, he doesn't seem to take it as far as Portia, as shown in "The Curse of the Ferrydog".
Physical appearance[]
Dante is an inverse color Dalmatian, being black with white spots, with the exception of purple spots on his left ear, purple paws, and tail tip. He wears a spiked gray collar and has dark pink bags under his eyes. He also has gray nose and eyebrows.
Compared to his siblings, he seems to be one of the oldest puppies, possibly surpassed only by Dolly and Dylan.
Role in the series[]
Dante's first major appearance is in "Power to the Puppies", where he predicts that division and disaster (also rain) are coming to Dalmatian Street, based on a dream he has.
Throughout the episode, he keeps proclaiming about the disaster coming, seeing the events as what he predicted, and reminding Dolly and Dylan how he did try to warn them. He later joins Dylan in the tree house, when Diesel becomes Top Dog, and when Dolly comes in asking for help, with the two admitting their faults, Dante groans about how they're depressing even him and asks them to do something about the situation.
His next prominent role is in "Crushed Out", when he assists Fergus in doing Dylan up get Portia Poodle's attention, transforming Dylan into a goth pup whom Portia calls "Danny".
In "Flea-Mageddon", he warns about impending disaster, first by claiming there to be famine (meaning they're out of Chewie Snacks), before drawing attention to Diesel scratching, making Dylan realise they have fleas. Dante is part of the main group that are not infected with fleas. However, when Dolly suggests taking the pups to the park to use the merry-go-round to fling the fleas off of them, Dante points out that they could risk infecting others on the way there. At that very moment, Dylan hugs him and notices fleas appearing on Dante (not realizing the true source of the fleas was a space rock he is wearing). Dylan sadly sends an understanding Dante to quarantine the basement until they learn the source of the fleas and are able to get them off the other Pups.
Trivia[]
- His name comes from Dante Alighieri, best known for his poem the Divine Comedy, which tackles a person's life when a world is ended.
- Due to the color of his fur, Dante is different from the usual appearance of a Dalmatian.
- Still, a possible explanation is that he might be a melanistic Dalmatian.
- Given that in real life, Dante's appearance is genetically impossible to happen, it could be interpreted as a case of "cartoon logic".
- It's highly possible that the purple on Dante's paws and the spots on his left ear, and the pink bags under his eyes, which could just be his lower eyelids, are dyed instead of being naturally colored like that. This is further supported in "Crushed Out" with how Dylan's fur was dyed for his gothic makeover.
- This is further supported when Dante confirms that, despite his fur, he is a Dalmatian, in "Dante's Inferno".
- While Dante seems to be at the appropriate age to look after his siblings, it's highly unlikely that Dylan and Dolly would leave him in charge if they are occupied with something else. It's possible Dante's pessimistic and gloomy outlook would have a negative impact on his younger siblings.
- This would also explain why Dolly and Dylan would leave Dawkins in charge in spite of Dawkins seemingly younger than Dante.
- Dante has addressed the audience directly, namely to provide the recap during two-parters, such as "A Summer to Remember" and "The De Vil Wears Puppies".
- He's regularly seen hiding in the house's washbasin cabinet.
- Dante has the spots on his right ear; both which could indicate that he either comes from Delilah's side of the family or that he's one of Dylan and Dolly's half-siblings. However, this is not confirmed.
Gallery[]
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- ↑ "101DS Series Bible" (April 28, 2024).