How did Dora die? The origin of the bizarre TikTok trend explored

Every day, a new TikTok trend is gaining attention and making the news. The most recent one is surrounding the ‘death’ of Dora The Explorer, where TikTokers have been recording their reactions after searching for how Dora died.

Dora is, however, not really dead, at least not canonically. The Nickelodeon show ended on a happy note with its final episode in 2019 and even released a live-action movie called Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The discussion about Dora’s death goes back to a fan-made YouTube music video released over ten years ago.

Dora dies in 25 different ways in the satirical animated YouTube video titled Dora No More

The animated video on YouTube titled Dora No More uploaded by The Stringini Bros channel is one of the first and the most popular content made on Dora’s off-screen death.

The video – which was released on January 20, 2012, and has since amassed millions of views – features an original song and fan-made adventurous animations of Dora and her companions. It chronicles Dora’s various death scenarios as she goes on her explorations.

“Exploring can be dangerous kids. Follow Dora as she gets herself killed swinging on vines, messing with wild animals, and playing with dangerous stuff,” reads the music video’s description.

According to the song’s lyrics, Dora encounters many deaths that range from falling into quicksand, drinking poison, and running into traffic to being eaten by lions, crocodiles, and jaguars. The video’s frame goes side by side with the grim lyrics and shows Dora getting killed over and over again, dying in 25 different ways.

However, it should be noted that both the song and the video are parodying the dangers of Dora’s adventures and are not meant to be taken literally.

As for the TikTok trend, it all began on May 28, 2022, when a user uploaded a video asking others to “record yourself before and after searching ‘how did Dora die?’”.

In the many TikToks that emerged from the trend, the most common version of death faced by Dora is by drowning after being pushed into a river by her arch-nemesis Swiper. Others include being ‘disintegrated’ after being struck by a lightning and falling to her death after her parachute fails.

But most of the deaths found online by the TikTok users are more or less derived from the deaths found in the original YouTube video. Hence, we can safely conclude that Dora is still alive as a character.