Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Violet Sabrewing (DuckTales)

I’ve made it through the whole Duck family now, and believe me when I say that so many more characters on DuckTales can be read as neurodivergent. But in the interest of moving on to other media, I’m going to limit myself for now to just one supporting character. And who better than Violet, who is the absolute autistic-est?

Neurodivergent coding is interesting, because it’s not always clear whether or not the writers/actors realize just how ND their character is, and that representation often comes away feeling more authentic and relatable than explicitly ND characters. This is true for many of the autistic- and ADHD-coded characters on DuckTales. But Violet, like Huey, is a character that I’m pretty sure the audience is intentionally supposed to read as autistic. Her traits leap out at you from the moment she’s introduced.

We first meet Violet, where else?, in the library—icon. She’s fascinated by magic and mystical legends, so getting along with Webby is a natural fit. While the two girls share their love of supernatural artifacts, they have wildly different temperaments. Webby is amped up and eagerly socializes without any aptitude for it, and Violet speaks in the clipped, precise tones of someone who’s studied social interaction as a second language. Webby is loud and excitable, and Violet is even-keeled and serious.

And yet, both girls take to one another easily. Neither have many friends who understand them and their unusual interests, so they’re glad to find one another. Violet accepts Webby as she comes on too strong, and Webby isn’t bothered by Violet’s little-professor tendencies. Lena immediately distrusts Violet—partly because of her own natural distrust and partly because Violet’s atypical mannerisms feel suspicious to her—but Violet quickly proves herself to be a true friend.

As I write this, it occurs to me that the three girls take on similar roles to the triplets when they’re off on their own adventures. Webby is the impulsive go-getter like Dewey, Lena is the street-smart cynic like Louie, and of course, Violet is the meticulous researcher like Huey. She’s a frequent source of infodumped exposition on this artifact or that ritual, she’s often the first one to suggest mapping out a plan, and she too is a devotee of the Junior Woodchuck guidebook.

It's no surprise that the episode that puts Violet and Huey in a main plot together is one of the most autistic stories in the whole series. As both of them vie for the title of Senior Junior Woodchuck, Huey gets irritated by his kindred spirit, frustrated that she’s employing traits that are much like his own but she’s beating him. That’s because, while Huey has a greater tendency to get flustered and panic, Violet has an easier time staying cool under pressure. Some of that is simply her more flat-facing affect—whether she is worried or not, she almost always projects a calm exterior. But when it’s go-time, Violet leans on her knowledge and structure to keep her head.

Besides her flat facing and penchant for infodumping, Violet has some other classically autistic communication styles. She’s bluntly honest, valuing plain truth over sugarcoating or flattery. She doesn’t always pick up on humor and is more likely to take people literally. And when she tries to approximate mannerisms that don’t come naturally to her, the results are both funny and endearing—before her Senior Junior Woodchuck competition with Huey, Lena teaches Violet about smack talk, and her attempts at it are adorable.