Trent Lane

Infobox character | name = Trent Lane


caption = Trent Lane driving his "Trentmobile"
portrayer = Alvaro J. Gonzalez (voice)
creator = Glenn Eichler
gender = Male
first = "The Invitation" (1997)
last = "Is It College Yet?" (2002)
age = 23 (by the end of series)
occupation = musician
alias = N/A
family = Vincent Lane (farther)
Amanda Lane (mother)
Jane Lane (sister)
Wind Lane (brother)
Summer Lane (sister)
Penny Lane (sister)
spouse =
children =
relatives = Courtney Lane (Niece)
Adrian Lane (Nephew)

Trent Lane is a fictional character who appeared regularly on the MTV cartoon show Daria. He is Jane's older brother by five years, the second youngest child in the family, and the only other Lane still permanently residing in the Lane household. With Jane at college, it is presumed that Trent is now living alone in the house.

Background

Trent grew up in Lawndale almost without any parental advice, probably like all the other Lane children. He studied in Lawndale High School. During his time in high school Trent was scheduled for some classes alongside Tommy Sherman though like the football player he "may have missed a few classes". Probably in that time the musical band Mystik Spiral was formed, including Trent, Jesse Moreno, Nick Campbell, and Max Tyler.

After high school Trent has continued fronting the Mystik Spiral and writing lyrics. With the band he mainly plays brew pubs and grunge clubs though they have been known to play high school house parties for the right price (cf. "Groped by an Angel") and even a child's birthday party to get out of a parking ticket (cf. "Speedtrapped"). He's never known to have been formally employed in a conventional job but once wrote a jingle for Happy Herb's Used Cars in exchange for twenty bucks, an hour of studio time and a set of new tires. He accepts that he'll probably end up a townie playing Doors covers (as mentioned in "The Road Worrier") but at least he’s doing what he loves now and that's all that matters.

He has been known to practice his guitar all night. He believes that sleeping with the guitar in your hand is practicing "as long as you don't drop it."

Personality

Appearance-wise Trent is tall and spindly with wild black hair and a goatee. He has three ear rings in each ear like Jane and sports a tribal tattoo he got out of a magazine. His speech is laid back and he often coughs when he tries to laugh.

A laid-back slacker, meant to be the stereotypical Generation X slacker of the 1990s, he's not sure of whether or not he graduated high school, and he drives "Trentmobile", a broken-down 1973 Plymouth Satellite coupe. He bears a strong resemblance to Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers (though it is strongly speculated that he is actually based on Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails). Compared with sister Jane, he seems to have had a harder time adjusting to the lack of parental support in his life. Once in his childhood he was living in a tent for six months, waiting for someone to invite him back into the house. Trent's perpetual laziness is presented in almost every aspect of his personality, down to his voice, which is provided by theatre actor Alvaro J. Gonzalez.

This complete slacker lifestyle also involves the inability to keep a schedule; he claims that watches depress him. For the most part it seems he spends his time playing guitar and trying to invent lyrics. He can be inspired to start talking in lyrics or writing them, like with sleep, at any time or place. This too is another bad habit he has while driving.

Family

Trent's parents are Vincent and Amanda Lane, two artistic personalities with a very relaxed, uninvolved approach to parenting. He is the fourth of five children in the Lane family, his older siblings being, in presumed ascending order, Penny, Wind and Summer Lane, and his younger sister is Jane. Jane is an aspiring artist; Penny, a disillusioned backpacker with a fondness for animals; Wind, an emotionally damaged three-time divorcee and Summer, a worn-out mother of four, including Trent's niece Courtney and nephew Adrian.

Relationships

Trent has maintained a close relationship with his younger sister Jane, acting as sort of a surrogate parent in the face of Amanda and Vincent's long absences.

He was Daria's romantic interest for much of the series, and, although he was aware of her feelings, it was never made clear whether he reciprocated them to any degree, but he told her in the end of "Lane Miserables" that he would invited her to a date if she was a couple of years older and in "Jane's Addition" he kissed her cheek. He and Daria became good friends; he's helped her out on more than several occasions, most significantly by giving her several uncanny insights into her relationship with Tom Sloane and being a sounding board during the summer period when Daria and Jane were on the outs (as chronicled in "Is It Fall Yet?").

During the series he maintains an on-again, off-again relationship with a fellow musician, Monique.

ee also

*List of characters in Daria

External links

* [http://www.dariawiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Trent_Lane Trent Lane at DariaWiki.org]
* [http://outpost-daria.com/ch_trent.html Trent Lane at Outpost Daria]