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Calvin: War is a manly art!

Susie: I suppose anything so idiotic would have to be. Can I play in your game or not?

Calvin: I don't know, it seems you'd rather be making smart remarks.


The Deadpan Snarker comes in many forms; it could be the non-action guy, the sidekick, the Weasel Mascot, and even the cat. This trope deals with snark coming from a little girl.

The humor here is that we don't usually think of an adorable little kid as being sarcastic, and this character type is both smart and perceptive, capable of pointing out exactly what other characters keep concealed - often their feelings for one another.

Expect her to be Wise Beyond Their Years. Compare The Snark Knight.

Examples of Little Miss Snarker include:


Anime and Manga[]

Comic Books[]

Fanfic[]

 Michael: "Can we all behave like adults here?"

Emma: "No, I'm still ten years old, remember?"


Film[]

  • In Beautiful Girls a young Natalie Portman plays one of these.
  • Dakota Fanning's characters in the movies Push and Uptown Girls pretty much fit this to a T.
  • Dakota Fanning portrays another snarky little girl as the voice of Coraline.
  • Drew Barrymore's character in ET the Extraterrestrial is Gertie, Elliott's mischievous five-years-old sister. She makes several snarky remarks throughout the film that nobody remarks upon.
  • 10-year-old Devon from Lawn Dogs. Snark is by far the most wholesome of her methods for dealing with the artificial, stuck-up, pretentious world she inhabits.
  • Dani from Hocus Pocus.
  • Addie from Paper Moon.
  • Ironically, Shirley Temple becomes a bit of a Little Miss Snarker in the film Little Miss Marker, after hanging around the gangsters who've unofficially taken her in, after she was left with them by her suicidal father.
  • Mattie Ross from True Grit.
  • Sarah Altman from Panic Room.

Live Action TV[]

  • Dr. K in Power Rangers RPM. A little old at nineteen or so, but the trope fits like a glove.
  • Stephanie Tanner, and Michelle as well in later seasons, in Full House.
  • Julie Mayer when she was young.
  • Shannon Clemens from Rita Rocks.
  • Alex from Modern Family.
  • Bridgette DuBois from Medium.
  • Iris, the little girl in the Dollhouse episodes "Epitaph One" and "Epitaph Two" once she's been imprinted with Caroline's personality.
  • The little girl on Friends (played by Dakota Fanning) that lived in the house that Monica & Chandler were going to buy.
    • There was a little girl, but she died 20 years ago. (spooky music)
  • Raj's little sister Dee on What's Happening.
  • Stargate Atlantis episode "Harmony", the eponymous heroine fulfills this trope because she is a Royal Brat.
  • Katie Knight from Big Time Rush can occasionally fit this trope.
  • Megan on Drake and Josh.
  • Morgan Matthews from Boy Meets World.
  • Zuri Ross is a little girl version from Jessie.

Literature[]

  • Elva from the Inheritance Cycle.
  • Adah in The Poisonwood Bible.
  • Jenny Wren in Dickens' Our Mutual Friend. She has a good reason for being so jaded, since her father's irresponsibility and severe alcholism leave her, at the age of about thirteen, to be the responsible adult of the household.
  • Elani from Broken Sky.
  • Several child characters in Dean Koontz's works would definitely qualify. Lelani Klonk from One Door Away From Heaven and Regina from Hideaway, to name a couple.
  • Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter starts as a bit of a Shrinking Violet, but evolves into this with time. Hermione also gets her moments.
  • Ivy aka The Archive from The Dresden Files makes an attempt at this on behalf of the incapacitated protagonist. He notes that she's not very good at it yet, but he gets choked up nonetheless.
  • While her childish curiousity or perceived psychological instability are the character traits usually played up in adaptations, Alice in Wonderland could be surprisingly sarcastic and was never one to suffer fools gladly.
  • Artemis, Zoë Nightshade and Thalia. Also subverted, since Artemis and Zoë turned out to be Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
  • Rachel from the Sword of Truth series. Has no problem calling out Chase when he complains about the poultice he's forced to apply by telling him that if he'd just listened to her in the first place, he probably wouldn't have been hurt by the Eldritch Abomination he was surprised by and he wouldn't have to take the burning medicine.
  • The Cadpig from "The Hundred and One Dalmations" and "The Starlight Barking" by Dodie Smith. Okay, so she's a puppy, but that just adds to the cuteness.
  • Pippi Longstocking combines this with being a Genki Girl and Cloudcuckoolander. Her snarky moments are most frequent in the original books, but she has her moments in most of the adaptations as well.
  • Dairine Callahan is practically this trope's poster child.
  • Reine de Lavalle from the book Reine is this, despite being somewhat older than the standard. Bonus for her being a VERY short girl who is severely embarrassed by her lack of height.

Newspaper Comics[]

Radio[]

Theatre[]

 "Ahahaha, you can talk to birds?!"


Video Games[]

  • Vanilla H. of Galaxy Angel, though in the anime, she is a bit more nonsensical than most deadpan snarkers.
  • Etna from Disgaea.
  • Setsuna Kiyoura from School Days.
  • Shiori Momono in 11eyes, a returnee from Italy who spends most of her time reading. The other part of her time is spent berating Tadashi. Everyone berates Tadashi, but she does it in a manner that hits him where it hurts.
  • Lieselotte of Arcana Heart, especially in her story route.

 Heart: Hey-o! Miss Kidnapper-Person! Are you ready for an awesome rescue~? ♪

Lieselotte: (...zat girl is very odd...)

 To Exdeath: Inside your head is the Void!

To Cloud: Your hair is a distraction!

To Kuja: Narcissists are so last Windsday!

  • Sheba from Golden Sun.
  • As the zombie apocalypse in The Walking Dead takes hold, Clementine becomes colder and more sarcastic as defense mechanisms. This is particularly evident in season 2, but can still pop up in later seasons.

 Luke: When I was a kid, we used to jump rooftops downtown. Now that was fun.

Clementine: That sounds stupid.

Web Comics[]

  • Rose from Homestuck has this as a major part of her personality.
  • Tycho's niece Anne from Penny Arcade has her moments.

 Galahad: You're breaking up with me?

Anne: I just have a lot going on right now. With school, and, you know, zombies.


Web Original[]

  • Marie Swanson in Erikas New Perfume, post regression. There's something to be said about the most snarky (and for that matter, arguably most clever) character in the series being three years old.

Western Animation[]

 "Power tools in the dark? Darwin should be paying you two goons royalties."