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"Good-bye, Mac. Sorry about the time I put a frog down your pants. Thanks for taking care of us.”

— Dan Cahill in Nowhere to Run.

ABA The information included in this article appears thoughout the entire 39 Clues universe. ABA

Daniel Arthur "Dan" Cahill is a Madrigal agent and one of the main characters of The 39 Clues.

History

Early Life

Dan's parents, Hope Cahill and Arthur Trent, perished when he was young, and placed in the custody of his great-aunt Beatrice with his sister Amy. The children were watched by a revolving door of Au-pairs hired by Beatrice, and would frequently visit their grandmother Grace at her mansion. As a child, Dan became obsessed with ninjas and would frequently get into trouble for his mischievous behavior. On Christmas 2007, Dan narrowly avoided a kidnapping attempt by the Vespers.

The Clue Hunt

The Maze of Bones

When his grandmother, Grace Cahill, dies, Dan finds out he is part of the most powerful family on Earth, the Cahills. He sells his baseball cards and collections for about $3,000 to help fund the Clue Hunt. Dan is frequently called "dweeb" and "idiot" by Amy in this book, The Maze of Bones.

One False Note

He and Amy are to find out the next clue by solving the sheet music of W.A.M. (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). Thanks to his photographic memory, he could re-create the lead they had early in the book that was destroyed accidentally by Saladin though they are tailed by their Tomas competitors, theHolt Family .

The Sword Thief

Amy and Dan are traveling to find clues in Korea. They discover Toyotomi Hideyoshi, The Greatest Warrior in Japan. He was also the son of Thomas Cahill . Ian and Natalie Kabra propose an alliance with Dan and Amy. However when they discover a lead in a cave, the two double-cross Amy and Dan. To save them Uncle Alistair sacrifices himself. But when the two get back to Uncle Alistair's house, they discover that he is alive after all.

Beyond the Grave

They are having doubts if Grace was trying to help them in Beyond the Grave, Book 4. But in the end, they found out that she was really helping them and in the end they found the Clue with the help of Saladin.

The Black Circle

Next, in Book 5, they went to Russia searching for the Lucian Clue. Nataliya Ruslanova Radova the Lucian helped them but Irina Spasky caught them in the black circle at the Church on the Blood. The Man in Black intervened and rescued them.

In Too Deep

They went to Australia in Book 6 and finally meet the cousin of their father, Shep Trent. They found that Shep looks a lot like their father. Their time with Shep was short, though, because Isabel Kabra was on their track. Because of this, Irina Spasky from the competition sacrificed her life for Amy and Dan, which shocked both Dan and Amy, who thought Irina was evil.

The Viper's Nest

In Book 7, The Viper's Nest, Dan and Amy travel to South Africa. There, he discovers his parents were Madrigals. He arrives at the conclusion that he and his sister Amy are Madrigals but acts like it doesn't bother him.

The Emperor's Code

Agent dan cahill

Dan and his sister Amy travel to China in Book 8, and after complications, Amy confesses that she thinks that their parents were bad people. Dan is crestfallen, and storms away from Amy, shouting that he hates her. Amy is left in the middle of Tiananmen Square. Dan is cornered and kidnapped by the Kabras, and they interrogate him until, finally, they knock him unconscious with a handkerchief filled with chloroform, a knockout chemical.

When Dan finally awakes, he is in a Chinese factory that manufactures Jonah Wizard lollipops. Jonah appears after Dan breaks a machine that was about to kill him, and then whisks him away with him into all of his concerts, pretending to be his friend. After breaking into the Terracotta Warriors, stopping a crowd crush, etc., Dan explodes with anger and yells at the whole Wizard family that he is a Madrigal when they try to trick him into thinking that he and his sister are Janus branch members.

He then travels on a train secretly to the border between China and Nepal, where he re-unites with Amy and Nellie. They travel up Mount Everest aboard the only A-Star helicopter in the world, and have a desperate fight at the peak with their cousins, where Amy rescues Ian Kabra instead of saving the Janus Serum. The book ends with Amy and Dan loving each other again, and they find the next Clue, Silk. The trio head to the Caribbean, where the book comes to a finish with both Dan and Amy questioning Nellie's loyalty and character.

Storm Warning

In the middle of the ninth book, Dan meets a man named Lester Dixon. Then, he entrusts him with the box, which they think hold the next Clue (but actually leads to the next Clue). The Kabras find out about it and send two bodyguards after Lester. They find their way in quicksand. The two bodyguards manage their way out with Lester's helpful instructions, but accidentally pull Lester in and he dies from the incoming tide. This causes Dan to be in shock, putting him in the hospital. Dan becomes upset, thinking he let Lester die and Dan and Amy decide to drop out of the competition. Instead of taking them to the airport, Nellie takes them to the man in black where they face the last challenge before Dan and Amy are granted active Madrigal status in this book and become they youngest active Madrigals. Nellie is granted active Madrigal status also and becomes the first non-Cahill to have active Madrigal status. They discover The Man In Black's name is Fiske Cahill.

Into the Gauntlet

At the end of Book 10, Dan, Amy, Hamilton, Ian, Natalie, Alistair, Sinead, and Jonah find their way into the Gauntlet, which is a Madrigal stronghold. But Isabel Kabra is already there but after a fight, the other competition can't trust themselves with the Clues and hand them all to Dan and Amy. They are also adopted by Fiske and Nellie, although Nellie acts more like their big sister than their Au-pair.

Cahills vs Vespers

The Black Book of Buried Secrets

It was seen in the Black Book that on his first day back to school he got sent to the principals office of his school three times. Also Amy and Dan went to Grace's bank in Switzerland and it is said by Amy to Jonah Wizard that the Vespers are coming.

Vespers Rising

It was seen in the last part of Vespers Rising that Amy is the new guardian of Gideon Cahill's ring. While they are in Switzerland, Dan notices that the guard doesn't seem to fit in, unlike Amy and Fiske. He shouts a warning just before Casper Wyoming tries to kill them. When they escape, they go to the mountains. While trying to escape Wyoming again, they are dangling by a single cable from a cable car. As Dan, Amy, and the other passengers are dangling, Dan wonders that if he took the serum, would things be different. He could, with the strength of the Tomas, rip open the roof and battle Wyoming. Amy sees this and becomes worried. She knows that they must learn to be strong without the serum. She swears to herself that the next time the Vespers come calling, she and Dan will be ready for them, without the serum.

Older Dan

Dan from the Acropolis Raid Mission

Mission 11: Behind Enemy Lines

Pictures of Dan and Amy are underneath a painting in Casper Wyoming's apartment. An encoded note nearby reads "Keep them alive. For now."

Cahills vs. Vespers Mission 0: The Acropolis Raid

Dan and Amy act as the player agent's handlers, issuing instructions at the beginning of the mission.

The Medusa Plot

At 8:42 A.M. in the Eastern Standard time zone, Dan and Amy almost get kidnapped by Vesper agents who stopped a school bus with a truck. They manage to fight them off and receive the Vesper phone where Vesper One blackmails them with Cahills that were successfully kidnapped at that same moment. They have to steal Caravaggio's Medusa.

A King's Ransom

Amy and Dan go to Switzerland to find the De Virga Mappa Mundi. Dan finds his father is alive. Atticus gets kidnapped.

The Dead of Night

Amy and Dan find Atticus and go to Uzbekistan in search of a stale orb, which turns out to mean astrolabe.

Shatterproof

They go to Berlin, Germany. Dan fails to steal the Golden Jubilee and they are sent to Timbuktu by Vesper One.

Trust No One

In Trust No One, Dan becomes the new leader of the whole operation, since Amy has given up. He is determined to not let down the hostages nor Atticus, and in the end he drinks "Gideon's master serum".

Day of Doom

We first see Dan at the very beginning of the book, who just drunk "the serum". Amy appears a page or two later, explaining what she done with the serum and apologizing for running away when it seemed like the Vespers had won. Dan finds out that Isabel Kabra is Vesper Two, not Vesper One. He travels by train to the Machina Fini Mundi with Amy, Jake and Atticus, though Isabel Kabra was onboard. He finds out that Isabel Kabra was sending the "AJT" messages. He fights with the Vespers where the Machina Fini Mundi was and he witnesses the death of Dave and Isabel.

Unstoppable

Nowhere to Run

Dancingpals

Dan and Briggan in Worlds Collide

He and Amy are attacked by Founders Media at William McIntyre's funeral and travel to Turkey, the location of ancient Troy.

Worlds Collide Crossover

In Worlds Collide, Dan, the Cahills, and Hystorians, and Greencloaks are partying when J. Rutherford Pierce, Zerif, and Tilda burst in to steal talismans and the Infinity Ring. They are stopped, and after, a dance battle ensues between Dan, Briggan, and Christopher Columbus, in which Dan wins.

Breakaway & Countdown

Dan and Amy travel to find the ingredients to the Antidote to the Master Serum.

Flashpoint

They fight to stop Pierce from declaring his Presidential candidacy and start his diabolical plan to take over the world.

Doublecross

Mission Titanic

Amy and Dan are retired, and have handed over the reins of the Cahill Family to Ian, when the Outcast, a former Cahill, strikes with his plan for revenge. Amy and Dan have to stop him from recreating the Titanic disaster.

Mission Hindenburg

Amy and Dan try to stop the Outcast from recreating the Hindenburg disaster, while they realize the Outcast's true plan. They also find out that Nathaniel Hartford, their grandfather, is still alive.

Mission Hurricane

Dan and the others have to stop the Outcast from recreating the disaster Hurricane Katrina. He and Amy are handed back the leadership of the Cahills.

Mission Atomic

Amy and Dan stop the Outcast from recreating the Chernobyl disaster. They defeat their grandfather and dispose of his deadly bees.

Outbreak

In the book, Dan has been given leadership position of the Cahills just as they discover that Sinead Starling has stolen and released a deadly virus created from Goat Pox that cause people to dance to the point of exhaustion. Dan throughout most of the book is very mistrustful and irate at Sinead as he still remembers how she nearly killed Amy after she was revealed to be the Vesper Mole. Regardless, Amy still trusts Sinead leading her to develop a cure for the Goat Pox virus. Near the end, when the CIA tells the group Sinead should be tried for releasing the virus, Dan is hesitant at what should be done with her. However after remembering all the other violent acts that his friends and family members have committed (Hamilton denoted the bomb that injured Sinead's brothers, Jonah killing an Interpol agent, Ian's ruthlessness in the Clue Hunt, and Cara helping her father achieve world domination, as well as the fact that he and Amy stolen so many priceless artifacts to free their family members from the Vespers) he realizes how dangerous holding grudges can be and decides to forgive Sinead for her actions, not wanting to make the same mistakes as his grandmother. Afterwards, Dan fakes Saladin's death (as the cat contained the last of the goat pox virus) in order to make the CIA think that the last samples of the virus were destroyed.

Personality

Similar to his grandmother Grace’s relationship with Friske, Dan is rather annoying to Amy because he is childish, but he cares deeply for his sister inside because she is the only loving family he has left. Dan loves to eat junk food and is obsessed with ninjas, foreign snacks, burp and fart jokes, and anything to do with video games. Dan and Amy get into plenty of fights and arguments, but they always forgive each other afterwards because they only have each other in the world. Even though Amy calls him "dweeb," for her that is like saying, "You're still my brother" to him. Dan shows love for Saladin even when he continuously scratches him in the first book. He also has photographic memory. Throughout the series, Dan is shown to hold grudges, especially against family members who betrayed him and Amy. However by Outbreak, he realizes that many of his family members and friends have committed their fair share of atrocities and realizes it's better to forgive and forget than having grudges destroy you.

Appearance

ClueHunterDan

Dan when he's eleven years old

Dan has dark blond hair, a light complexion, and the same jade green eyes as Amy. He also has a small scar right under his right eye that he obtained from falling on his plastic AK-47 when he had gone "commando-raiding" at age seven. It is frequently hinted that he is a bit small for his age. He looks a lot like his father. He has a good sense of humor and didn’t really have any friends until he met Atticus.

Talents

He knows Morse code.

He has a photographic memory.

He is very good at math, a talent his dad may have passed on to him (according to the Maze of Bones).


He is a natural at puzzle solving.

He is good at figuring out mechanical things, like lock mechanisms.

Cards

Dan's main card is Card 2. He is also featured on other cards such as Card 250.

Clues Known To Have

Dan has all 39 Clues, due to each competitor trusting Amy and Dan with their clues. Dan memorized it all, meaning the clues are safely in his head.

Nicknames

  • Lil Dan (given by Jonah)
  • Dan-o (given by Hamilton)
  • Little Buddy (given by Hamilton)
  • Dweeb (given by Amy)
  • Kiddo (given by Nellie)
Card2

Dan's Main Card

Trivia

  • He likes to collect items of all sorts, including a baseball collection worth more than $3,000, autographs of famous outlaws, Civil War weapons, rare coins, his casts from broken limbs (apparently 12 since preschool), charcoal and wax tombstone rubbings, and samurai swords.
  • His favorite Tombstone Rubbing is that of Pruella Goode, which reads 'I'm Dead. Let's have a Party.'
  • His middle name is Arthur, after his father.
  • He is fascinated with ninjas, but he didn't like being in the ninja fight in The Sword Thief.
  • On the 39 Clues website, on the Cahill web, Dan is revealed to have stolen the heads of mascot costumes and even once glued a teacher’s desk to the ceiling during recess. How he glued it to the ceiling is unknown, especially in such a short time and without an adult there to help him.
  • He attended Adams Middle School.
  • He apparently still wears Pokémon underwear, as stated in The Black Book of Buried Secrets and it said in another book that he still wears Superman pajamas.
  • He got in trouble three times on his first day of 7th grade, all resulting in him being sent to the principal's office, from the Black Book of Buried Secrets: 1.) Disrupted class, threatened teacher 2.) Disrupted class, talked back to teacher. 3.) Disrupted class, endangered students.
  • He has asthma, and will often forget his inhaler or have Amy and/or Nellie hold it for him.
  • Dan often uses "ninja moves" in school.
  • He asked if he could do his history report on Benjamin Franklin's interest in farts. The teacher scolded Dan for disrespecting one of the Founding Fathers. Dan then replied that Franklin's greatest accomplishment could not be ignored by anyone.
  • The teacher asked why Dan had missed the first three weeks of school, and he replied that "It's top-secret. If I told you, my family might have to kill you."
  • He also said that he was a ninja lord, and demonstrated by back-kicking and accidentally hitting the fishbowl. Herbert the goldfish was said to be in "critical condition".
  • He brought Mozart's tungsten samurai sword in music class and waved it in the air, causing it to be confiscated.
  • On several occasions, he seems to think to use the Master Serum but Amy always stops him from doing it. However, Dan has been collecting the Clues as a "last resort" against the Vespers. However, Amy takes the serum herself in Countdown to save Dan from falling to his death.
  • Later on in the series, he becomes more responsible and starts to carry his inhaler with him, other than Nellie or Amy carrying it for him.
  • It was said in the website as well as the back of Card 2 that he wore his ninja costume to school on November 4, resulting in a detention.
  • Vesper Two believes that Dan can be turned, even though Vesper One disagrees.
  • Dan shares many traits with his grandmother Grace, as both of them are adventurous, a bit reckless and ruthless toward their enemies or people who betrayed his family while still caring for his sister similar to Grace caring for Friske. It’s worth noting that Dan would’ve likely made the same mistakes as Grace Cahill; bitter and mistrustful with an endless list of enemies, if he hadn’t learned how dangerous holding grudges would be.


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