‘Gilmore Girls’: Was Rory Gilmore Just Like Her Father?

Gilmore Girls may have been about a mother and daughter who were also best friends, but was Rory Gilmore really all that much like her mother? Aside from being similar heights and sharing piercing blue eyes, the mother-daughter duo didn’t seem to have a ton in common when it came to their personalities. In fact, it can be argued that Rory was much more like her absentee father than the woman who raised her.

Lorelai Gilmore was a dynamic character with plenty of flaws

Lorelai may be a fan favorite, but the show’s main character wasn’t a perfect person. On the one hand, Lorelai was funny, sweet, and generally friendly. She got along with almost everyone and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Lorelai also greatly enjoyed a sense of community and had no issue with joining in on projects and events.

On the other hand, Lorelai was stubborn, could be incredibly difficult, and had trouble admitting when she was wrong. Lorelai also had a hard time letting go when she believed she was right. Her troubled relationship with Emily and Richard Gilmore was just as much her fault as it was their fault, although she failed ever to acknowledge it.

Christopher Hayden was depicted as a spoiled kid who never grew up

Christopher Hayden, Rory’s father, may not have been a main character, but he did appear in Gilmore Girls pretty often. What fans know of Christopher isn’t particularly great. Chris largely abandoned his daughter after Lorelai refused to marry him when they were teenagers. He flitted around, from job to job, and was without direction when fans first met him in season 1 of the series.

Years later, Christopher settled down, but only at the urging of a significant other. Once it became clear that he wasn’t destined for greatness without a lot of hard work, he went into his family’s business. In short, he took the easy way out to ensure he had the most money possible at his disposal. Christopher also tended to take off when things didn’t go his way.

Was Rory more like Christopher or Lorelai

While Rory did inherit some of her mother’s personality traits, it seems pretty clear that Rory was much more like her father than Amy Sherman-Palladino originally presented. In fact, it could be argued that Rory, as an adult, was much more like Christopher than her trailblazing and fiercely independent mother.

Just like Christopher, Rory appeared to have a difficult time accepting no as an answer. She also seemed to think she was above the hard work needed to get ahead in the real world. Rory, again like Christopher, also appeared to have a difficult time empathizing with others. Just like her father, she was prone to running off when things didn’t go exactly her way.  Christopher disappeared after a fight with Lorelai. Rory ran off to Europe when Lorelai scolded her for sleeping with her married ex-boyfriend. One Reddit user pointed out that Rory, in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, had no job prospects and was largely rootless in her 30s. The storyline seemed to mimic how Christopher was when fans first met him.

Rory, however, did inherit Lorelai’s blue eyes and her stubbornness. Rory was not nearly as charismatic as Lorelai and certainly wasn’t as extroverted. For all the talk of Rory being Lorelai’s twin when it came to her personality, she was a lot more like her father.