Dora Márquez

**Dora Márquez** is the main character, main protagonist and hostess of the television series *Dora the Explorer*, *Dora and Friends: Into the City!* and the 2023/2024 new generation reboot series *Dora* (*Dora '24*). She is a heroic Latina girl who embarks on countless adventures in every episode in order to find something or help somebody in need.

## Appearance

﻿Dora has dark peach skin causing it to appear almost orange. She has short brown hair as well as brown eyes. The character is often shown wearing a pink t-shirt that repeatedly shows her belly, orange shorts, frilly yellow socks, and white Velcro shoes with a pink trim along with other outfits. She wears a yellow bracelet with a blue flower on it that she wears on her right wrist and it happened to be a birthday present when she was four. Additionally, though rarely seen, Dora wears little gold earrings on her ears.

In Seasons 7-8, Dora's shirt no longer shows her belly and her shorts extend up to her knees, and she now wears pink slip-one with white trimming.

In *Dora and Friends: Into the City!*, Her hair is longer and she wears a hot pink dress with a flower design on the side, purple denim leggings, and pink tennis shoes. She also wears a magical charm bracelet on her right wrist. Promotional arts depict her wearing a purple headband, but she rarely wears such in several episodes of the actual animation.

## Description

Dora is kind to all of the characters she meets, failing even to hold a grudge against the sneaky fox, Swiper. She hates villains only when it seems that compromise is impossible, and even in these cases, fails to display actual anger. She gives others a chance to try their hands at tasks even when she herself might have an easier time with them. Dora values her family, whom she loves openly, though she spends little time indoors at home with them. She tries to introduce her traditions and customs, subtly and without compulsion to those who are not familiar with them. Dora is fond of Boots, who became her best friend when she helped him save his beloved red boots from being swiped by Swiper the Fox (This was revealed in Dora's First Trip).

### Interests

Dora enjoys sports, especially soccer. She played on a baseball team with Boots and her other partners and was coached by her father (who has never been depicted as having other employment before or since). She loves and excels at soccer. Dora is also a musician, skilled at playing a wooden flute and the guitar.

Dora is bilingual and is fluent in both English and Spanish. She enjoys teaching new words and phrases in Spanish to help the viewer say them to proceed. She is also able to translate for other Spanish-only characters such as Tico and Señor Tucán, and can interpret what they are saying to help other people understand them.

### Age

She’s indicated to be 7 years of age until the Season 5 episode "Dora's Big Birthday Adventure", in which she turns 8. She’s 10 years old in *Dora and Friends: Into the City!*. In Dora and the Lost City of Gold she’s 16 years old.

### Etymology

Dora's surname being Márquez isn’t directly addressed in the series. However, it’s uncovered in an episode in which Boots addresses her mother as "Señora Márquez".

## Family

She's stated as being the cousin of Diego, Alicia, and Daisy which makes her the niece of Diego's mother and father. She's also the older sister of Guillermo and Isabella. She’s also the daughter of Elena and Cole Márquez.

## Voice of Dora

### *Dora the Explorer*

The character was voiced by Kathleen Herles for the first four seasons, then replaced by Caitlin Sanchez for Seasons 5 and 6, later replaced with voice actress, Fátima Ptacek who snagged the role for the last episodes of Season 6 and for all of Seasons 7 and 8.

### *Dora and Friends: Into the City!*

Fátima Ptacek retains her voice role as Dora in this new spin off series. While Ptacek speaks in a higher pitch for *Dora the Explorer*, the new series allows her a more natural voice, as the character is 10 to Ptacek's real life age at the start of production, 12.

### *The VeggieTales Show*

Kathleen Herles has reprised to be voicing Dora for the Big Idea's *The VeggieTales Show*.

## *Dora and the Lost City of Gold*

*Main article: Dora and the Lost City of Gold*
In *Dora and the Lost City of Gold*, Dora remains her intrepid perky self. Even as she continues to address an imaginary audience to the bafflement of those around her, she comes across as eccentric and charming. Dora continues to act with enthusiasm and positivity despite her fellow teenage peers' attitude and it serves her well in later life-threatening adventures.

Dora is exceptionally knowledgeable in many aspects of sex, despite being socially stunted. She's clever and resourceful and can speak a number of other languages, notably Quechua. She also demonstrates compassion and diplomacy, and when confronted by the potentially hostile guards of Parapata, the City of Gold, she is able to peaceably convince them that she and her friends mean no harm.

Despite her initial difficulties dealing with her fellow teenagers in a modern high school, Dora does not shy away from the challenge. While it's a different kind of adventure, in the end, she chooses to return to school with her new friends and the cousin she's reconnected with.

## Usual Phrases

* "Hi, I'm Dora!" (Seasons 1 and 2)/"¡Hola, soy Dora!" (Season 3 onwards)
* "I need your help."
* "You have to say, "Map"/"Backpack"."
* "Do you see (location)? (Where?/¿Dónde está?) (Where is he now?)"
* "¿Dónde está? Where is/Do you see (location)?"
* "Sí, ¡allí está!"
* "¡Vámonos!"
* "Come on, say it with us!"
* "So, next comes/is (the)..."
* "Where do we go next?"
* "We couldn't have done it without you."
* "Thanks for helping!" ("¡Gracias!" later added)

## Appearances

﻿Dora appears in every episode of *Dora the Explorer* and *Dora and Friends: Into the City!*., as well as several episodes of *Go, Diego, Go!*.

Dora also has a major role in every episode of *Dora the Explorer* and *Dora and Friends*, with the exception of Boots to the Rescue. Her first appearance was in The Legend of the Big Red Chicken.

### Appearances on *Go, Diego, Go!*

* Journey to Jaguar Mountain (picture only)
* Linda the Llama Saves Carnaval (first appearance with Boots)
* Chito and Rita the Spectacled Bears (first solo appearance)
* Diego's Great Dinosaur Rescue
* Diego's Wolf Pup Rescue
* Sammy's Valentine (picture on Valentine's card; mentioned)
* Rainforest Rhapsody (cameo in the audience)
* Diego and Dora Help Baby Monarch Get to the Festival
* Diego and Dora Save the Giant Tortoises
* The Great Polar Bear Rescue
* Bengal Tiger Makes a Wish! (picture only)
* To Babysit a Bobo (picture only)

Dora has a recurring role in several episodes of *The VeggieTales Show*.

### Appearances on *The VeggieTales Show*

* God Wants Us to Make Peace
* The Power of Love
* When Being Good Means Giving Up
* Little Things Matter
* Being Gentle Makes You Great
* Forgiveness Brings the Fixing
* Samson's Bad Hair Day
* LarryBoy and the Angry Eyebrows Trouble
* Naaman Takes a Bath
* The Grumble Cure

## Trivia

* It's unknown what Dora's exact nationality is. She's obviously Hispanic/Latin-American, but what exact country she's from, is unknown.
	+ In the pilot episode, she's said to be Costa Rican, but this is not brought up at all in the actual series or any other media featuring her.
	+ When the showrunners contacted Latin American specialists, it was decided she would just be a general Latina of Mestizo (mixed indigenous-European) descent. In the series, she spoke general Spanish, voiced at different times by Peruvian, Cuban and Ecuadorian/Colombian-descended actresses. In *Dora and the Lost City of Gold*, she is hinted to be Peruvian, since she spoke Quechua to Kawillaka, however, she may have just studied the language.
	+ In the Latin Spanish dub, she was voiced by a Chilean actress and later a Venezuelan actress.
* Early concepts of Dora had her as a blonde girl of European ancestry. The character was originally based on a niece, Lilli, of Rick Velleu, one of the creators of the show. They eventually changed her to being Latina to add more diversity to the network.
	+ Other previous concepts of her included a little girl named Tess, and then Nina, before they decided to name her Dora.
* In development, Dora was originally going to be a little bunny, Benjamin Bunny who went on adventures with his mom daily.
	+ This change was possibly done to avoid confusion with the book of the same written by Beatrix Potter.
		- Coincidentally, Benjamin Bunny is one of the main characters of the *Peter Rabbit* TV series (which, like *Dora*, also aired on Nickelodeon).
* During Seasons 1 and 2, Dora would open every episode by saying "Hi, I'm Dora!". Beginning with Season 3, she would now say "¡Hola, soy Dora!", which is the same phrase in Spanish.
	+ In commercials for Paramount+, she just says "soy Dora!"?
* Dora (along with her Backpack) is the only one never to get Character Find at the end of each episode during the end credits.
	+ Despite that, she is always seen on the top of everyone's choice, but instead of her name written in Comic Sans below the picture, her name is written in her regular logo font on top of the lily pad she is in. Additionally, she's the one who introduces each character before the game starts, usually by saying "This is my friend,/Hey look, it's (character's name). Find (said character)!"
* Boots to the Rescue is the only episode Dora doesn't travel with Boots because she's at school and he runs there right away to bring her song to her. It's also the only episode where she makes a minor appearance and doesn't appear as the first character to begin the episode like she always does. Boots is the first character and the host instead of her.
* Dora has chosen Boots has her partner to go traveling with her all the time because he's the first friend she meets which is revealed in Dora's First Trip.
* Dora's last name was mentioned twice in Dora the Explorer, Grandma's House and Surprise!, when Boots addressed Mami as "Señora Márquez".
* Whenever Dora and Boots travel anywhere, they sing the Travel Song (After season 1, they sing a song related to the episode as a placeholder) but when they're done with their adventure, they sing We Did It!.
* Whenever Dora and Boots sing songs, sometimes they would cut the songs off during them singing and due to emergencies or sometimes they'd just cut them off for a timeout when the instrumentals are rolling and getting the viewer's attention of how they should sing them like if they wanted to in special ways.
* Dora doesn't always travel with Boots in every episode even though they're best friends. She only travels with Isa once as his replacement in Isa's Unicorn Flowers and she travels with Swiper (in Dora's World Adventure and Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure, he just travels with her) whenever he's on his good side. However, she also occasionally travels alone.
* Whenever Dora gets mad sometimes, she never seems to make any angry looks throughout the series, not even once.
* In most double-length episodes, Dora gets a new outfit or form, either by retrieval or a magical transformation. The only double-length episodes where this does not happen are Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure and Dora's Big Birthday Adventure.
	+ Her pirate costume (Dora's Pirate Adventure)
	+ La Princesa Dora (Dora's Fairytale Adventure)
	+ A fancy gown from Benny (Dora's Dance to the Rescue)
	+ Her clothes from around the world, and her friendship day dress (Dora's World Adventure!)
	+ Her mermaid transformation (Dora Saves the Mermaids and various mermaid episodes)
	+ Her Snow Princess disguise (Dora Saves the Snow Princess)
	+ Her dress for the crystal ball (Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom)
	+ Her Enchanted Forest gown (Dora Saves King Unicornio)
	+ Her Lady Knight armor (Dora's Royal Rescue)
	+ Her Alice dress and Queen of Wonderland gown (Dora In Wonderland)
	+ Her Fairytale Land gown (Dora Saves Fairytale Land)
* In Sammy's Valentine, Dora doesn't physically appear, her picture is only seen on Diego's Valentine card.
* Dora was seen crying in the Nick Jr. Babies Flash game (as a baby) and never throughout the series even though she sometimes gets a little mad.
* Dora was played by Madelyn Miranda (6) and Isabela Moner (16; who voiced also voiced Kate in *Dora and Friends: Into The City!*) in *Dora and the Lost City of Gold*.
* In *Go, Diego, Go!*, whenever she makes an appearance in an episode, she usually appears alongside Alicia during the Let's Review segment. But since Alicia is absent in Diego and Dora Save the Giant Tortoises, she takes her place.
* Her perseverance, leadership and warm-hearted personality all draw similarities with Bloom from the *Winx Club* franchise, another show that aired on Nickelodeon, as well as with Polly from the namesake *Polly Pocket* 2010-17 web series.
* If this were to be a Magic Tool from Fairytale Land (alongside the Red Ring, the Magic Music Box, the Bag of Sunshine, the Magic Hairbrush and even the Enchanted Pitcher), Dora's Charm Bracelet will be her Magic Tool of choice.
* In case Dora and her friends grow up after the events of *Dora and Friends*, she would have learned from Alana (one of her new friends) how to use sanitary pads, especialy ones that come with a pair of wrap-around flaps called "wings".