Donald Duck/Relationships

The relationships of Donald Duck.

Romance

Daisy Duck

Daisy is Donald’s girlfriend. Though she often scolds Donald over his anger issues, Daisy has an explosive temper of her own with more self-control.

Donald and Daisy meet for the first time.

In Ducktales, Donald and Daisy originally met each other during a heist set up by Louie gone wrong at Emma Glamour's It-list party, in Louie's Eleven!. Due to a communication error, Donald and his fellow heist crew accidentally locked both him and Daisy inside an elevator together. While waiting for help, Donald and Daisy share some of their similarities about each other such has no one ever listening to what they have to say, which to Donald's surprise is when Daisy claims she can perfectly understand his voice. Donald is well known for his poor singing, but Unlike everyone else, Daisy hears Donald's voice through a different perspective, as she believes him to have a beautiful voice which she admits she can listen to all night. They fight well together, and they're both proven to have a similar ill-tempered attitude towards anything that doesn't work out their way. After the events of the heist, Donald started to get into a relationship with Daisy.

In New Gods on the Block!, Daisy and Donald have already gone on their first date and Daisy arrives at Donald's house-boat for their second date, only to find Storkules there as well. Storkules disrupts their date, and Daisy sends signals to Donald to suggest that she is dissatisfied with Storkules' interference. Later, Donald and Daisy are about to enjoy a kiss when Storkules pelts them with arrows, causing both of them to fall out of the boat and into the water. Daisy immediately notices that Donald has garbage floating in bags in the water. Appalled by this and by Storkules' behavior, Daisy leaves.

Donald and Daisy’s first kiss.

She drives away from the manor, all the while reasoning with herself that she should not fall for someone who needs saving. She notices an enormous monolith heading for the manor, and so she turns her car around and drives back to help Donald. She arrives too late to save him as he is swallowed by the Titan. However, she soon discovers that Donald is still alive in the Titan's stomach when she proclaims that the Titan killed him as she called him her boyfriend. Daisy is able to distract the Titan with her yelling while Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby harness Zeus's powers and use them to stop the Titan. In the aftermath of the battle, Donald and the others who were swallowed by the Titan are freed. Daisy and Donald share a kiss, reconciling with one another, and Daisy and Storkules end up on good terms with one another as well. In The Last Adventure!, Donald and Daisy decide to sail across the ocean on their own adventure with Donald's houseboat, taking May and June along with them.

Yaya

Yaya is Donald’s brazilian friend, who he fell in love with, shortly.

In The Three Caballeros, When Donald Duck and José Carioca hop inside a book and take a train to Salvador (called "Baía" in the film) the capital of the state of Bahia. When they get there, they hear someone singing to which José says it's Yaya, a beautiful Baiana who sells cookies. Sure enough, Yaya appears with a tray of quindins which is a Brazilian baked dessert made of sugar, egg, and ground coconut. She starts singing the song "Os Quindins de Yayá" (Yaya's Quindins). Donald falls in love with her and repeatedly tries to get a kiss from her, but is interrupted by a bunch of men who also flirt with Yaya.

Eventually, a group of other women appear and the men (as well as José) leave Yaya behind, much to her disappointment. Donald then walks up and hands her a bouquet of flowers, which cheers her up and she gives Donald a big kiss (causing him to pass out and hallucinate) before leaving to join the others. Finally, the party ends and Donald and José leave the book.

Family

Huey, Dewey, and Louie

Huey, Dewey, and Louie are the sons of Donald's sister Della Duck. Donald is currently the legal guardian and the father figure of Huey, Dewey, and Louie in almost every media they appear. Huey, Dewey, and Louie mostly refer to Donald as Unca Donald.

Even though they can troublesome, Donald loves them unconditionally as if they were his kids, and years with them has brought him to the point where Donald has become an overprotective father-figure to the triplets. This is mostly shown in Ducktales. In Woo-oo!, Donald’s protectiveness had gone to a ridiculous extent, and as seen in photographs Donald helps Dewey take his first steps while being surrounded by pillows, and when Donald is shown to have Huey wear football fatigues just to be the water boy. Yet even if he goes overboard his parental nature is in the right place. As shown time and time again that he will risk his own life to rescue his nephews.

Huey is the closest nephew to Donald as he is very supportive and kind to him. Even when everyone else thought little of him in The House of the Lucky Gander!, Huey stood up for Donald to say that he thinks Donald is cool. Huey has shown to take great influence from Donald to be responsible, hard-working, and a caring person. However, Huey's not afraid to to talk back to him when things get out of hand. In The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!, he encouraged Donald to play the part of a successful businessman in order to impress Jose and Panchito, but immediately regretted his decision once Donald took his lies too far.

Dewey is Donald’s nephew, who has been parenting him and his brothers from the beginning since Della wasn't there. Although Dewey views him as boring and overprotective, he still loves his uncle, even though Dewey and his brothers tend to go behind his back. Despite Dewey's rebellious nature, Donald continues to love him unconditionally and do whatever he can to protect them. Which is shown in Woo-oo!, where Donald jumps into danger to prevent Dewey from becoming burned. Yet during the events of The Shadow War!, Dewey learns to respect Donald. Dewey stated a great appreciation for Donald as a devoted and selfless family man, even when Donald finally willing to forgive Scrooge and convince the Dewey and the boys to forgive him to become family again. And when the shadow war starts Donald stands up in taking lead to save Scrooge and stop Magica. Dewey discovered greatness his uncle that he started to quote Donald line "These Ducks don't back down!" throughout the episode. Afterward, Dewey has given Donald a lot more respect and praise when cheering on his fighting skills in other adventures.

Louie is Donald’s youngest nephew, even though Louie doesn't think of him as cool, he still loves him regardless. This is well shown in the episode The House of the Lucky Gander!, where he claims that Gladstone Gander, is their best (non-rich) uncle Gladstone Gander, excluding Donald in front of him, creating a jealous Donald. However, Louie realized Donald is the better uncle because of his heart and perseverance, he then cheers him on through the rest of the race.

Della Duck

Della is Donald's sister who isn't currently around, he does her the favour of being her children's guardian in almost every media they appear.

In Ducktales, not much is said about Donald and Della's relationship, but based on Donald's behavior in The Spear of Selene!, it's shown that Donald is very sensitive about her disappearance. Last Christmas! Donald was going through a punk rock phase, and try to become mature and independent in the process, but, he ends up leaving Della behind upsetting her. Yet he sees that later and is genuinely sorry about it that he apologize for and promises to stick together from then on.

Before the events of Woo-oo!, Donald and Della were very close, as they travelled the world and went on adventures with their uncle Scrooge. Their relationship, however, had ended on a sour note for more than 10 years, as explained in The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!, when Donald was seen yelling at Della in a flashback about the risks of the outer space expedition she was intending on achieving. Della later mentions "the only person I managed to bunk with was my brother, and we fought constantly".

It is unknown whether or not they had another conversation before Della stole the Spear of Selene. At the end of The Golden Spear!, Donald is the first of the family to realize that Della is still alive when he spots the Spear of Selene landing on Earth for the first time in ages. He falls steps short of reuniting with her when his bad luck activates the Spear of Selene and he flies away in her place.

During Moonvasion!, the twins reunite after Della, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby accidentally find Donald stranded on a deserted island. When Donald and Della approach each other they immediately become furious with one another, Donald with Della for not getting his message and Della with Donald for his long absence. But after angrily admitting and realizing how much they've missed each the twins reconcile with a tearful hug which they haven't had in years and was overdue a long time ago.

Gladstone Gander

Donald and Gladstone are cousins, and as they grew up they spent a lot of time together. However, even though he's family, Donald always had a strong dislike and even envy of Gladstone's luck.

During their time growing up together, whenever something good happened to Gladstone, something bad happened to Donald; this irritated Donald making him feel insignificant. Yet despite their stark difference in fortune, he would still help him out because Donald is always there for the family.

This is shown in Ducktales, The House of the Lucky Gander!, where Gladstone uses his luck to earn winnings as Louie becomes more and more fascinated by Gladstone's ability. As Louie enjoys the prizes Gladstone earns, Donald gets the short end of the stick with his bad luck, becoming increasingly downtrodden over how Louie admires Gladstone as the favorite uncle. Donald gets fed up with the praise Gladstone receives from Louie and decides to leave the casino with them. Gladstone tries to stop him, and it is revealed that Gladstone has been mystically imprisoned by Liu Hai. Gladstone admits that because of his luck, Liu Hai imprisoned him to feed on his fortune and grow stronger. He called Donald and Scrooge to rescue him in the first place, but couldn't tell them to hide suspicion from Liu Hai, putting them all in danger.

Fethry Duck

Fethry is Donald's paternal cousin who believes himself to be Donald's favorite cousin, but it is never confirmed by Donald himself.

In Ducktales, The Depths of Cousin Fethry!, Donald's adventures with Fethry often end up being pointlessly dangerous and a big waste of time, with Donald emphasizing on all the explosions that occurred during then. Nevertheless, Fethry has also assisted Donald in some of his problems including rescuing him from a deserted island with the help of his sea friend Mitzy, as well as transporting him and their family back to Duckburg to assist in the battle against the Moonlanders.

Gus Goose

Gus is Donald’s country cousin, who is lazy and extremely gluttonous goose. He sometimes makes Donald get mad, when he eats all his food.

In Donald's Cousin Gus, he visits his cousin Donald Duck and proceeds to eat his cousin out of house and home. This prompts Donald to make increasingly more desperate attempts to make his cousin leave.

Grandpa Duck

Grandpa Duck is Donald’s pioneering grandfather, who teaches him the virtues of hunting.

In No Hunting, the narrator compares Donald's comfortable and plentiful lifestyle with that of Donald's grandfather, who did not have it that easy, and still had to hunt in order to have food on the table. When he hears about the upcoming opening of the hunting season, Grandpa Duck's spirit emerges from the portrait, and insists that Donald take part, and accompanies him on the hunt.

Quackmore Duck and Hortense McDuck

Quackmore and Hortense are Donald and Della’s parents.

In Donald Duck Writes a Book, Donald tells that his parents were not rich, but nonetheless fun-loving persons.

Friends

Mickey Mouse

Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse have a complicated relationship history. The source of their conflict is primarily based on Donald's refusal to adhere to Mickey's leadership, and Mickey's frustration with Donald's perversity.

This was established by the Disney artists as early as The Band Concert, in 1935. This would continue in Magician Mickey in 1937 and be further emphasized near the end of Symphony Hour in 1942. By the time The Mickey Mouse Club aired on television, Donald was not only agitated by Mickey's usual position as leader, but was also jealous of the the mouse’s popularity. During the “Mickey Mouse March”, Donald would attempt to usurp the spotlight by chanting his name against the rest of the chorus, who were chanting Mickey’s.

Walt Disney, in his Wonderful World of Color, would sometimes make reference to the rivalry. One time, Walt presented Donald with a gigantic birthday cake and commented on how it was "even bigger than Mickey's", which pleased Donald. Television specials such as 1984's "Donald Duck's 50th Birthday" and 1988's "Mickey's 60th Birthday", would also highlight this rivalry; the latter special included a plot in which Mickey is cursed by a sorcerer to become unnoticed, causing the world to believe Mickey to have been kidnapped. Donald Duck is then arrested for the kidnapping of Mickey, as he is considered to be the chief suspect, due to their rivalry.

Donald and Mickey's rivalry as visualized in House of Mouse.

The rivalry between Mickey and Donald has also been featured in Mickey Mouse Works. In cartoons such as “Roller Coaster Painters” and “Mickey's April Fools”, Donald made attempts to sabotage Mickey for the sake of fame and glory. In House of Mouse, Donald is depicted as wanting to be the club's host and revamp it as House of Duck. In “Timon and Pumbaa“, Donald proposes the club be re-themed to himself, which Mickey is quick to reject, resulting in a brief argument between the two. In the episode, "Everybody Loves Mickey", Donald's jealousy is so great that he finds a kindred spirit in Mortimer Mouse. However, Donald had a change of heart when Daisy reminded him of how much of a friend Mickey is to him.

In Mickey Mouse, their relationship is a focal point of many episodes. The executive producer of the series, Paul Rudish, describes Donald and Mickey as the "ultimate odd couple". In such cartoons as “No Service” and “House Painters”, Donald and Mickey were prone to bickering due to Donald’s refusal to adhere to Mickey’s leadership. In others such as “Wonders of the Deep“ and “Outta Time”, the contrast between Mickey’s benevolence and Donald’s selfishness were a focal point.

Despite their confrontational history, Donald and Mickey are generally good friends. In early cartoons such as The Dognapper and Moving Day, the two were depicted as partners, and worked together rather well. Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers and the Kingdom Hearts series portray Donald as incredibly loyal to Mickey. And in the DuckTales reboot episode "Moonvasion!", Donald, having spent a long time on a desert island, is shown to have created an imaginary companion in Mickey's likeness (which suggests that Mickey is just a figment of Donald's imagination in the reboot's universe).

Goofy

Next to Mickey, Goofy is Donald's best friend. Donald often gets irritated with Goofy's clumsy antics, but he knows that he means no harm.

Webby Vanderquack

Webby is Mrs. Beakley’s granddaughter, who he considers family. In Ducktales, she is Donald’s maternal first cousin.

In DuckTales, very few interactions are shown between Donald and Webby, but Webby is known to be a fan of Donald and similar to Scrooge, idolizes him as one of the greatest adventurers of all time. As seen in The House of the Lucky Gander!, when he won, she hugged him. Then, in The Shadow War! when Donald said "Get away from my kids" as he was fighting off Magica's shadow army, there may be an implication that Donald has accepted her as his honorary niece (although he has not given her to call him Uncle Donald yet, as Scrooge did). Like his nephews, he also wants to protect Webby, for example in The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!, when she was tied up by a plant tentacle he rescued Webby along with his nephews. And in The Golden Spear!, in the near end she gave him a goodbye hug when they send him to the vacation. In Quack Pack!, he said her name for the first time (but with normal voice). In Escape from the ImpossiBin!, when he saw Webby in trouble, he went as far as putting his foot down to Beakley.

Bentina Beakley

Mrs. Beakley is a friend of Donald and Scrooge's housekeeper, who he considers family.

Donald Duck knew Mrs. Beakley when he was younger during his "better" time with his Uncle Scrooge. At the end of Woo-oo!, when Beakley talked to her granddaughter Webby and allowed her to continue to go on adventures with Scrooge, her influence lead to Donald giving his nephews more freedom and permission to continue to go on adventures with Scrooge. However, in Daytrip of Doom!, Donald and Beakley got into a fight over house rules, with Beakley getting into an argument with Donald about breaking fire laws and using up the water bill. This, in turn, caused Donald to order multiple generators for his boat, with Beakley remarking "He is going to kill himself." They finally worked together when Donald showed her the ransom note left by the Beagle Boys. When they go up against the Beagle Boys, Beakley was impressed with how tough Donald was and by the end of the episode, Donald and Beakley were talking and appeared to be getting along better than before.

Duckworth

Duckworth is a friend of Donald and Scrooge's loyal and devoted butler, who he considers family.

In Ducktales, Duckworth becomes Donald and Della’s butler, when they move into McDuck Manor. In The First Adventure!, Duckworth informs Scrooge that his sister Hortense has dropped off his twin niece and nephew, Della and Donald, to spend time with him while their father is in the hospital. He also, gives Donald and Della, marbles to play with, while Scrooge answers a business meeting. Duckworth also agrees to babysit him and Della, while Scrooge is away, but Scrooge refuses, since he has to pay him more money, for doing so.

Penumbra

Penumbra is a friend of Donald and a lieutenant of the hidden city of Tranquility on the Moon.

Penumbra and Donald first became acquainted with one another when Donald turned up as Lunaris' prisoner, after he had accidentally landed the Spear of Selene back on the moon in Nothing Can Stop Della Duck! Afterwards in What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!, Penumbra and Donald form a temporary alliance to seek out a weakness that can disable the rockets being built for an invasion on Earth. Eventually they both manage to get to Lunaris' private hangar to look for blueprints for the rockets, but in the process discover that Lunaris had already been preparing for an invasion since before he announced it to the other Moonlanders. Unfortunately Penumbra was taken down by Lunaris soon after, leading Donald to forcefully escape from the Moon inside one of Lunaris' experimental rockets. They both reunite months later during Moonvasion! when Donald and his family were about to be killed by Lunaris' ship, but luckily Penumbra managed to disable it just in time using the Spear of Selene. Afterwards, they both return to McDuck Manor on Earth, where it's presumed their relationship is mutual after the Moonlanders and Duckburgians are seen making peace following the invasion.

Mr. and Mrs. Duck

Mr. and Mrs. Duck are Daisy’s parents. Daisy’s mother is deaf and her father is a crazed photographer, whom Donald believed were his kind of people.

In Donald's Diary, after they meet Donald, they help him propose to their daughter and set the stage up for his big moment, Donald falls asleep and begins to dream. In his dream after his wedding, Daisy’s parents and Daisy’s brothers move in their dream cottage and would be disrespectful by eating Donald’s food and not cleaning up.

Enemies

Humphrey the Bear

Humphrey is one of Donald’s many animal frenemies, who is constanly trying to eat his food. Donald usually encounters him, when it’s hunting season.

In Rugged Bear, it's hunting season in Brownstone Park, and Humphrey is the only bear unable to make it to the safety of the bear cave. In fear, Humphrey rushes in the nearest house, which happens to belong to a hunter, Donald Duck. Humphrey attempts to leave but hunters outside are viciously shooting, making it impossible. Desperately, Humphrey poses as Donald's bear rug. Throughout the rest of the short, Humphrey is constantly tortured as Donald believes the bear to be nothing but dead skin, and uses it to aid him in things such as cracking his walnuts and picking the cap of his soda pop. After a long hunting season, Donald departs his season house and heads back to his real home. Humphrey is now free to go, but it turns out, the bear rug he replaced, was actually another bear that was hiding from hunters just like Humphrey, much to the latter's surprise.

Humphrey waiting for Donald to serve him.

In Grin and Bear It they finally meet, when Humphrey decides to pair with Donald particularly because of the roast ham he has. When Donald doesn't reward the bear with his food, Humphrey tries a variety of means to get the ham finally getting Donald's attention by lying down on the road pretending that Donald ran over him. After Donald pays up with food, he sees through the scheme and struggles with Humphrey. After the ranger makes Donald and Humphrey clean up the resulting mess, he too notices the ham and makes off with it but is scolded for it by Donald and Humphrey. Their relationship would continued in Bearly Asleep, Beezy Bear, Donald's Grizzly Guest, Donald's Fish Fry, and Humphrey in the House.

Neighbor Jones

Jones is Donald’s next door neighbor. He is as short-tempered as Donald and more truculent. The yard between their respective homes often becomes a battlefield. The usual setting would be some argument or fight which would escalate into a huge mess for both Jones and Donald. In DuckTales, he is Donald's anger management councillor, "Good Neighbor Jones", helping Donald to manage and control all his anger.

In one comic, Donald thinks taking a vacation on a cruise ship would get him thousands of miles away from Jones and other problems, only to realize Jones bought a ticket on the same cruise by coincidence. The captain of the ship, however, is quick to extinguish bickering by threatening to throw both in the brig, and later on Donald and Neighbor Jones actually have to work together when they are stranded at sea.

Although Neighbor Jones is largely an adversary, he will be pleasant with Donald on occasion, such as Donald offering Jones money to clear his yard during a snowstorm after seeing how efficiently Jones had shovelled his own driveway. Jones does the job, and courteously announces he is finished after Donald presents payment.

In DuckTales, Jones used to be Donald's anger management counselor. A short time after Donald's nephews hatched, Donald wanted to try and be a good and responsible parent for them, so he decided to go to Jones to find a way to relieve his anger and sudden outbursts. Although Donald spent most of his time punching bean bags, Jones was able to teach him to form the anger he had inside him into a protective instinct. This allowed Donald to take his anger out at the most convenient times to protect his family, as the thought of someone or something intending to put harm on his family would send him into an infuriating rage. Nevertheless, Jones and Donald's relationship remains negative due to Donald's inability to pay the bills for Jones' time with him.

Dapper Duck

Dapper Duck is an exact physical copy of Donald, but with far more urbane manners and eloquent speech. Donald and Dapper start off as good friends, helping each other, but Dapper starts falling for Daisy and tries to steal her away from Donald.

In Donald's Double Trouble, fearing that he will lose Daisy after a heated argument, Donald wanders through the streets to figure out a solution when he meets his look-alike, whom he offers money to impersonate him in order to win back Daisy's heart. The plan goes awry when the look-alike starts falling for Daisy, which incurs Donald's wrath and jealousy. For the rest of the date, Donald tries everything to prevent them from getting closer, and win back Daisy himself.

Witch Hazel

Witch Hazel is a witch, who helped Donald’s nephews get back at him, on Halloween.

In Trick or Treat, when the triplets are given a mean trick rather than a treat from their Uncle Donald, she takes pity on them and tells the boys that she saw the entire thing and decides to help them. Hazel initially tries to ask for candy from Donald herself, but thinking that she was just another kid dressed in a costume, he gives her a trick as well, enraging her. With the kids' help, she brews a magic potion that has the power to animate whatever she wants to move and act according to her will. She starts off with a demonstration by animating wooden posts into ghosts and a jack-o-lantern to scare Donald. Stubbornly, Donald locks up his treats in his pantry and swallows the key. Undeterred, Hazel uses her potion and a spell to enchant Donald's feet and make him dance and hurt himself at the same time until finally forcing him to ram the pantry door down, enabling Donald's nephews to get his treats.

Flintheart Glomgold

Glomgold is one of Scrooge’s archenemies and Donald's former employer, in Ducktales.

In Woo-oo!, Flintheart seeks out the legendary lost city of Atlantis, and hires Donald and some cheap bodyguards, to aid him in his quest. When he discovers Scrooge McDuck and his nephews on the same quest, he and his team, including Donald, decide to follow them. After Donald inadvertently leads them to them in the treasure room, Flintheart steals a large gem and uses Donald as bait to escape. Having been used to get to Atlantis, Glomgold tries to leave him to die when the old city begins to flood.

General Lunaris

Donald vs. Lunaris.

In DuckTales, Lunaris and Donald start off as immediate enemies after Lunaris arrests Donald when he unexpectedly arrives on the Moon. With Donald imprisoned, Lunaris shows a crueler side to Donald by shutting his beak with a muzzle-like goldpiece and threatening to place him in the gold mines for being unruly. Later, when Lunaris announces his intentions to kill the nephews to weaken Scrooge's resolve, it only fuels Donald's rage to fight him. Donald then escapes on one of Lunaris' test rockets back to Earth, while Lunaris has no intention of stopping him because of his assumption that no one could survive the ride. Nevertheless, Donald and Lunaris encounter each other one last time to put an end to one another's plans. Lunaris almost gets the angle on Donald and his family during their spaceship battle, but Penumbra saves him and disables Lunaris' ship, putting an end to Lunaris' threats on Donald and his family.