Who is Dorothea on Taylor Swift's Evermore? All the theories explained

11 December 2020, 16:55

Taylor Swift explains her new film Folklore- The Long Pond Studio Sessions

By Katie Louise Smith

A fictional character? Gigi and Zayn's daughter's name? Marjorie's sister? Selena Gomez? Here are all the Dorothea theories from Taylor's Evermore.

Have we all recovered from Taylor Swift's surprise Evermore drop yet? Just a few months after releasing Folklore, Taylor is back at it again with another album full of exquisite tracks which means...it's time to get sleuthing.

On Evermore, Taylor sings about her grandmother Marjorie, her own personal life and relationships and even gives us another peep into the universe of Betty, James, Inez and Augustine.

The identity of 'Dorothea', the subject of track 8 on the album, has sent fans into theory overdrive. Who is she? Is she real? Is she based on someone we know?

There's a number of theories about Dorothea so far, including one that suggests it's the name of Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik's baby daughter, and another that links the lyrics to Selena Gomez.

Hever's everything we know so far about who Evermore's Dorothea actually is.

Theory 1: Dorothea is another fictional character that exists in the Betty/James universe.

Taylor explained that Dorothea is "the girl who left her small town to chase down Hollywood dreams — and what happens when she comes back for the holidays and rediscovers an old flame."

'Dorothea' is sung from the other person's point of view and is also connected to '‘Tis The Damn Season', which is sung from Dorothea's perspective as she reconnects with her former hometown lover: "So we could call it even/You could call me "babe" for the weekend/'Tis the damn season, write this down/I'm stayin' at my parents' house/And the road not taken looks real good now/And it always leads to you in my hometown".

During a YouTube Q&A, Taylor answered a fan's question about who Dorothea actually is. She wrote: "There's not a direct continuation of the Betty/James/August storyline, but in my mind Dorothea went to the same school as Betty, James and Inez."

She also teased that we'll meet Dorothea soon... Can we expect a video?

Theory 2: Dorothea is the name of Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik's baby daughter.

While it's been confirmed that Dorothea is another fictional character in the Folklore/Evermore universe, some fans have uncovered a few more theories they believe could tie into the story.

One person theorises that Dorothea is actually the name of Gigi and Zayn's baby daughter. In the same way Taylor used the names of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' daughters (James, Inez and Betty) for her Folklore narrative, it's not out of the realm of possibility that she used Baby Zigi's name for Evermore.

Theory 3: Dorothea is a real person.

Another theory suggests that Dorothea is a real person, who had a sister called Majorie. Majorie and Dorothea lived in Pennsylvania back in the '30s, but Marjorie went missing when she was 4 years old and was never found.

There's a lot of coincidences here but Taylor has already explained that Marjorie is in fact her grandmother. We'll just have to sit and wait for the inevitable evermore sessions film for more clarification on this one.

Theory 4: Dorothea is Selena Gomez

Another theory suggests that Dorothea could be about Taylor's friend Selena Gomez.

The tweets in the thread point out Selena's favourite film The Wizard of Oz and its lead character Dorothy. Other lyrics are also linked to various other Selena references, including her Rare Beauty line, her relationships with her ex-boyfriends, the fact that she skipped prom... Even right down to the “a tiny screen’s the only place i see you now” lyric, that fans have linked to Taylor and Selena only seeing other over FaceTime.

Whatever the meaning, Dorothea's story is already an early highlight on Evermore. Now all we have to do is wait patiently for Taylor to reveal all in her next Disney+ documentary. (Please say there's going to be another one!)