Diane Sanchez, the deceased wife of Rick on the hit animated show ‘Rick and Morty’, has recently returned to the story in an artificial and sort-of incorporeal form, igniting fans’ curiosity about this lesser-known, but important character in the show’s overall narrative.
Rick is one half of the titular duo from the animated show ‘Rick and Morty’. He’s widely known for his eccentrically weird style that’s unkempt, shabby, frenetic, drunken, narcissistic, and not to mention greatly informed by a vastly bitter psyche.
Why is Rick so bitter, though? And what has he been so drastically embittered by? Over the course of its five-season run, the animated sitcom has given fans some nuggets of information every now and then that explains why Rick became how he is.
At first through some flashbacks, and then through his memories in the season 5 finale, the fans now know the reason behind Rick’s personality, behavior, and general attitude.
The last installment in season 5 is where Morty and the viewers learn that Rick’s wife Diane and daughter Beth were killed by a Rick from another dimension, inflicting horrible trauma on the original, or C-137 Rick.
As a result, C-137 Rick nosedived into an abyss containing a cacophony of all the terrible traits and a most intense thirst for revenge.
Diane’s tragic end and the travesty that followed
Diane is Rick Sanchez’s deceased wife. She lost her life to a bomb set up by a sociopathic version of Rick from another dimension. She has always been depicted as a loving wife to Rick and a caring mother to Beth, who also died alongside her in the blast.
The sitcom hasn’t shown much of Diane but from all the bits and pieces of Rick’s canonical backstory, a vague picture of hers can be etched. Especially after that the season 6 premiere “Solaricks” gives the viewers more insight into Rick’s origin, it’s now reasonable to say that Diane had a loving relationship with Rick, an anomaly from other dimensions.
That’s because in other dimensions, as fans now know, the Ricks have always been jerks to others and severely absent from their family lives. However, C-137 Rick, who’s ironically referred to as the “Rickest Rick” because of his genocidal extermination of other Ricks in the multiverse, was originally nowhere near this broken of a man.
Since he was always available and so loving of his family, it’s reasonable to deduce that he and Diane had a happy marriage. Diane in the other dimensions might not have been nearly as affectionate and loving of their Ricks, as most of them loved science experiments more than their wives and daughters.
The artificial Diane and her significance
The season 6 premiere, “Solaricks”, sees Rick transported back to his original dimension. There he hears the phantom voice of his wife. He remembers that it’s an A.I. version of his wife he had created after the real one died along with their daughter.
The purpose of this A.I. Diane was to serve as a cruel reminder and a tormenting device, regularly opening Rick’s wounds by taunting him, and telling him how he got his wife and daughter killed.
A.I. Diane serves her purpose well, and one might say she does it too well. In the short amount of screen time, A.I. Diane is absolutely ruthless to Rick, stabbing his heart casually with dark one-liners.
It’s also A.I. Diane that reminds Rick, later on, this time with a surprising absence of cruel jabs and with a serious, affectionate tone, that Rick’s enemy and the killer of his family might also have returned to his original dimension. This leads Rick back on his track of revenge until he’s pacified and swerved off course by Morty.
It’s reasonable to speculate that A.I. Diane might return in the future. She might even play a crucial role in setting Rick back onto his path of revenge against Rick Prime that killed his wife and daughter.
Also Read: Who is Rick Prime (Weird Rick) and what is his goal?