Erin Chambers

**Erin Danielson (née Chambers)** is Rita Barksdale's daughter. She makes her only appearance in the series in episode "I Don't", but is involved in off-screen adventures twice in Series 5.

## Appearances and characterization

Erin is the only daughter of Rita Barksdale and the only cousin of Daria and Quinn Morgendorffer on their mother's side of the family. She's twenty-one years old in "I Don't", and twenty-four in "Aunt Nauseum".

She seems to have been raised to be trophy wife and her aunt Helen thinks she is spoiled by her grandmother, like Rita had been before her. In "Nauseum", Rita said she couldn't work as she was raising a *child*, even though Erin was twenty-four at the time. However, "Nauseum" mentions Erin *does* have a job: one with a salary (rather than wages) and that could support her husband as well. (It was not stated what the job was.)

Eric makes her only appearance in "I Don't", where she marries Brian Danielson. In the episode she was shown doting on her fiancee and attempting to keep the peace between her mother and her aunt. She also showed contempt for Paul Meyerson, her mother's then boyfriend, and an irritation with her mother & her dates ("you know *exactly* what's going on here, *mother*"); she also showed a friendly attitude towards Daria (who dislikes Erin).

The marriage, however, would hit some hard times soon after and, in the later episode "The Story of D", it is revealed that Erin is thinking of a divorce, stating she had never loved Brian and the only reason for the marriage was that he had given her herpes and she thought no one else would want her. She would actually start proceedings for a divorce in the episode "Aunt Nauseum", hiring Helen to help her and revealing that Brian had gotten her to sign a pre-nuptial which would sign half of all assets over to him if there was a divorce. However, the divorce attempt would end when Erin's grandmother sends her to a spa in Switzerland for a week to 'calm her nerves'. Brian then flies out to Switzerland to talk her out of it and the two end up having a second honeymoon there. (As he was reliant on *her* salary at the time, it is assumed in fanon that Grandma Barksdale paid to fly him to Switzerland to get the couple back together)

## Erin in Fanfiction

Erin has shown up intermittently, usually in the context of her marriage. Often in fanfic, she is a ditzy figure and the butt of the story's jokes. The first significant development was Kara Wild's "Erin the Head", where Erin is pursuing Trent.

Many of Erin's appearances have focused on her relationship with Brian and found it to be *terrible*. Kristen Bealer, among others, has presented her as highly disgruntled with the way things turned out and, in alternate universe takes, it goes quite differently; "God Save The Esteem" turns her into a prominent secondary character, living with the Morgendorffers, while Bealer's "For Better or For Worse, For Richer or For Poorer" and "Erin the Side of Caution" both revolve around takes on the events of "Aunt Nauseum" that leave Erin triumphant. Several of these fanfics focused on the marriage use the fanon of Erin's gran sending them both to Switzerland, and "Falling into College" depicts Grandma Barksdale as working heavily to keep them together.

In Brother Grimace's "It's All About Respect", Erin is a successful childrens' author and a former lover of Kyle Armalin.

* Alienation Legacy by C.E. Forman

* Lost Eagles Found and And the Bubble Burst, of the serial Falling Into College, by Richard Lobinske;

* Labor Relations, by The Angst Guy

* Erin the Head, by Kara Wild

* It's All About Respect, by Brother Grimace (as Erin Danielson-Chambers)

* A Mirror of Future Fears and Another Look in the Mirror in Lobinske's John Lane series

* For Better or For Worse, For Richer or For Poorer by Kristen Bealer

* Erin the Side of Caution by Kristen Bealer

## External links

* Erin at Outpost Daria (via Wayback Machine)