The character was created by Carl Barks. Although she went through changes over the years with her name and relations to Donald, she officially was established as Della Duck, twin sister to Donald by Don Rosa.
Personality
Despite the fact that Della was missing in action, she is an adventurous high-spirited, daring, and headstrong woman, who loves going on adventures with her family.
In her earlier adventures, Della is shown to be thoughtful and a little mischievous, such as when she planned an elaborate adventure personalized for her brother Donald (“The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!”), or in “Last Christmas!” when she camped outside to catch Santa as a gift for Scrooge.
Additionally, like Scrooge, Della is prideful. While a part of her charm, and even backed up by her many successful adventures, it’s one of her flaws. After sneaking onto the Spear of Selene, Della encountered a cosmic storm. Despite the risks and warnings, she flew on, “after all, she was Della Duck!” (“The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!”). It’s implied that her overconfidence is what led to disaster. Even after finally returning home, we continue to see glimpses of her pride. In “The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!”, Della feels threatened by Launchpad, afraid that he’s replaced her as the pilot. Della somewhat inadvertently demeans him, calling him a bad pilot. However, she has the awareness where, by the end of the episode, Della recognizes her mistake.
In the episode, "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!", Della shares the traits of being as temperamental and impatient as her brother up to a point where she quotes his catchphrase: "Aw, phooey," but in contrast to Donald, Della speaks more clearly. Also, after returning to Earth, when she first meets Launchpad and learns that he is a pilot as well, she displays a small act of hostility towards him, naively thinking Scrooge had replaced her with Launchpad after her disappearance. She also demonstrates a similar musical inclination, a sense of humor, love for adventure, and childish impulsiveness to Dewey, an enthusiasm for the Junior Woodchucks and a nerdy love of video games like Huey, and Louie's ability to read situations, perceive all possible outcomes and unintentionally cause trouble without understanding the consequences of their actions or the people they would hurt. Nonetheless, after witnessing how off-the-rails her children's antics could get, she works up the courage to show tough love in "Timephoon!" by grounding Louie after one of his schemes gets too crazy and nearly costs him his family.
Della Duck is a white anthropomorphic duck with shoulder-length hair and swoop-bangs. She has a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet, and a bionic left leg. She is known to wear a brown flight jacket, a sea-green shirt, tan shorts, a brown flight helmet, black goggles, and a light blue scarf.
When she appears in the present day when she was stranded on the Moon, her hair is long, and part of her jacket and shorts had been torn, leaving her right arm bare, save for bandages around her forearm and a fingerless glove on her right hand. She has a bionic left leg, after her original leg was crushed by the wreckage from the Spear of Selene's crash, and was forced to amputate it somewhere above the knee to avoid being crushed by collapsing debris.
Skilled hand-to-hand combat: Della is a competent hand-to-hand combatant. Her expertise in combat is demonstrated in "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!".
Swordsmanship: Della has also proven to be skilled in a fight, as she is handy with a sword and other tools.
Genius-level intellect: Additionally, Della is pretty good at building machinery, as she built her own bionic leg, and learned rocket science from a manual to rebuild the Spear of Selene over the course of five years. Also, Scrooge has stated in "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!" that Della was very good at figuring out shortcuts and calculating plans in their adventures. However, she isn't always the sharpest as she thought she could jump back to Earth from the Moon. Also, after returning to Earth, when she first met Launchpad and learned that he was a pilot as well, she naively thought that Scrooge had replaced her with Launchpad after her disappearance and displayed slight hostility towards him before leaving to confront her uncle. In "GlomTales!" she made a hard security system to keep Louie in his room during his punishment.
Piloting: Della also has skills as a pilot, as she flew planes and somewhat flew a rocket-like an astronaut.
Engineering: Della was able to create a fully functional prosthetic leg after she lost her real foot in her crash on the moon. She was also able to rebuild the Spear of Selene successfully before the Moon Mite dissolved her base and made it collapse. She also helped Launchpad rebuild the Sunchaser/Cloudslayer in "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!"
Survival skills: Della gained experience in surviving alone in uninhabitable areas such as the moon when she was lost for over a decade, as in the episode "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!"
Junior Woodchuck Knowledge: Like her eldest son, Huey, Della was a Junior Woodchuck herself, even bringing the guidebook to space. Later, in "Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!", she supports Huey in her Junior Woodchuck outfit before getting thrust into an adventure with her Uncle Scrooge.
Indomitable Will: Della is a very driven and determined individual, as well as virtually fearless in the face of death and danger. She survived on the moon with the oxygen gum, and wanting to see her kids made her more driven to succeed.
You won't stop me from getting home to my kids, you creepy crawly. I will not fail them again.
”
-Della yells in desperate anger at Moon Mite
“
Wait, the mite isn't a monster. It's a mother. [...] The mite isn't our enemy, it's just trying to survive. [...] Because a mother would do anything for the sake of her kids.
”
-Della realized that Moon Mite is also mother
“
Let me try something. I used to sing this old song to my boys before they hatched. "Look to the stars, my darling baby boys, Life is strange and vast, filled with wonders and joys. Face each new sun with eyes clear and true, Unafraid of the unknown, because I face it all with you."
'Sup, party people! I'm back in the hizou- Oh, no. Knew it was wrong as soon as I said it. Sorry, that was terrible. Can I get a do-over? Hi Uncle Scrooge.
”
-Della introducing herself to her family for the first time.
“
Wait, Huey, Dewey, and Louie? No, no, no...their names were supposed to be Jet, Turbo, and Rebel...I told Donald. I wrote it down in case no one could understand him.
”
-Della annoyed & frustrated at Donald for giving her sons different names instead of the ones she had in mind.
“
Boys, I don't know what to say except I'm so sorry for ever stepping foot on that rocket, I never meant to leave you or miss your first steps or potty-training.... Wait, you are potty-trained, right? What I'm trying to say is... for a decade, I fought every day to get back to this family and I will fight every day to be a part of it, if you'll have me?
”
-Della apologizing to her kids
“
I missed you so much. You deserve to have the best mom and I'm going to be the best mom, starting right now.
”
-Della deciding to be the best mom
“
Huey, Dewey, Louie, I know you're not used to having a mom and I am not used to being one, but I'll figure it out as we go along in time.
But you did accomplish something. You made it farther than anyone else has. You don't have to be me. You just have to be Webby. And you have your own way of doing things that is unique, and special. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone, and oh boy; I should really apologize to Launchpad.
”
-Della comforting a devastated Webby and realizing that she herself should apologize to Launchpad
Your little scheme to bypass the present almost cost us our future. This all stops now. You are grounded! No schemes, no treasures, and Louie Incorporated is done! Understand?
”
-Della grounding Louie for putting her and the rest of the family in danger with his TimeTub scheme.
Oh yeah. In the cruel void of space, it's easy to lose track of time. So one morning, I decided to have a staring contest in the mirror, but I was so desperate for human connection it lasted three weeks. To this day, I can't look in a mirror because I'm afraid I'll see "her".
-Della confesses to the kids during Moonlanders's attack
“
You met Penny on the moon? Is she okay? I miss her constantly trying to impale me.
”
-Della learning that Donald met Penumbra on the moon
“
What?!? (laughing holistically) You must be deleterious from hunger! Here have some delicious Oxey... Chew... Oh no. No, no, no. This is the moon all over again!
”
-Della briefly loses her mind then regains it when she realizes she is in the same predicament when she was on the moon
“
On the moon, all I could think about was being your mom, the adventures, the fun... I wasn't prepared for... all this.
”
-Della speaks from the heart with Louie
“
Louie: You know when I'm terrified, which is often, I try to remember this old song. "Face each new sun with eyes clear and true, Unafraid of the unknown..." Della: "...Because I face it all with you." I wrote that song before I got lost. How did you hear it? Louie: Well, Uncle Donald used to sing it to us when we were little.
”
-Louie comforting Della by singing her lullaby
“
Louie: Well, we survived that. So what do we do now? Della: I don't know, but we'll do it together.
”
-Della promising Louie they'll do more adventures together.
Look at the authenticity, the detail, this will scare any kid. I was wrong. Launchpad is a pro. Tonight's gonna be horrifying.
”
-Della is surprised at how Launchpad's place looks for Halloween
“
So what kind of haunted house we running? Gas station of horrors. Years ago, torched in an accident, we are what remains. L.P. is the evil mechanic, I'm your demonic helper, Donald, you're the victim.
”
-Della asks Launchpad what their haunted house is
“
Oh no, he's going to hurt everyone! Now is not the time to decide who was wrong about what. We've gotta stop him!
”
-Della goes after Launchpad to stop him from hurting more kids
Another classic Gyro failure, along with his tiny glasses, dumb tiny hat, and his complete inabilty to even perform the basic functions required to pass for a human being!
”
-Della venting out all her frustrations about Gyro
The rare Scrooge failure. First comes wallowing, then anger, then he shakes it off.
”
-Della telling the kids about what happens when Scrooge fails
“
Scroogie will come up with a new plan, and you guys will get that helmet.
”
-Della encouraging her boys and Webby
“
Hey, Scrooge will come to his senses and realize that you're the greatest team that he's ever had. Nothing bad is gonna happen!
”
-Della comforting her boys and Webby
“
Selene, Stokules, hi. What?
”
-Della greets Selene and Storkules before asking them what happened
“
They're kids! They feel like they need to constantly prove themselves to you!
”
-Della during the fight against the Titan viciously explains to Scrooge that the kids are depressed, because they are thinking that he plans to replace them
-Della maintaining her rage as she is quietly angry that Donald is leaving with Daisy
“
Now let's take down those fiendish F.O.W.L. foes.
”
-Della is determined to fight against F.O.W.L.
“
WOO! That's my kid!
”
-Della cheering for Huey after he slides down and grab Troub-Bubble's hat and deflate it
“
I need you, you big palooka! We're a team! We lost so much time. I just got back, and you're moving out. I'm not... ready for our adventures to be over.
”
-Della breaking down after she finds out Donald is going on an adventure of his own with Daisy.
“
That's all you, ya buzzard!
”
-Della to Bradford Buzzard
“
A trip sounds good right about now!
”
-Della to Donald during the fight against Bradford Buzzard
“
On it! To adventure!
”
-Della's last line
Videos
Behind the Scenes
Voice of Della Duck DuckTales Disney Channel
The Voice of Della Duck; Paget Brewster
Promo
Ducktales 2017 - The Mystery Begins
The Mystery of Della Duck Begins
DuckTales - This Season On DuckTales (Promo)
The Search of The Truth of Della Duck
Other
Ducktales - Scrooge reveals the Truth about Della Duck
Della has the least number of appearances of all the nine protagonists of the series: Scrooge, The Boys, Webby, Donald, Beakley, Launchpad, and herself.
This version of Della is very different than her appearance in comic series. She had blonde hair, had a bottom in form of a ruffled skirt and wore no pants like her brother and other family relatives as well as other anthropomorphic ducks including Daisy.
Della was occasionally referred to as Dumbella Duck, before Don Rosa's "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" established Della Duck as her one official name. However, in the episode "Last Christmas!", when she and Donald were young, it was revealed that the name Dumbella was just a name Donald used to tease her. She is also occasionally referred to as Thelma Duck, however, this alternate name has not been acknowledged in the series.
Della is the second known character in the series to have a physical disability due to the loss of her left leg, with the first being Black Heron having lost her right arm.
Della and her brother Donald are the first descendants of three major families; the Duck Family, Clan McDuck, and the Coot Family.
Della and Donald's confirmed birthday is June 9.
In "The Spear of Selene!" her face and bill were much wider than Scrooge's or Donald's.
Della's Lullaby was written to the tune of the Moon Stage Theme that is in the DuckTales video game.
Della never mentioned a husband in the series. Since he was never around in his sons' lives, Donald had to raise them in Della's eleven-year absence.
In "The Lost Harp of Mervana!", Della is scared and disgusted by fish, to the point of barfing when she says something related to fish or fish anatomy.
In "The Richest Duck in the World!", Della claims to have eisoptrophobia, fear of one's own reflection, a result of how she was so desperate for companionship during her eleven-year ordeal, she started talking to her reflection in a mirror and started to believe it was a real person.
Della's appearances within each season gradually increased over time. In Season 1, she only amassed a single appearance that didn't involve a photo nor flashback, in Season 2, her status grew to a recurring character after her return to Earth, and in Season 3 she was officially branded as a main character.
Her position as a newly-main character also gave her a spot on the intro for Season 3.
