<P> In Season 6, Dan tells Serena that the reason he didn't give her an answer to the "I love you" was because it was easier to focus on his anger at Blair, than to face the possibility of getting what he always wanted in the fear of losing it again . Dan and Serena throw their first Thanksgiving as a couple together, where Serena affirms her love for Dan by rejecting both Steven and Blair by saying that Dan is her soul - mate and the only love of her life . Dan also solidifies his love by telling Georgina and Rufus that he had a plan all along to win and that there is no winning without Serena . </P> <P> In the finale, Dan reveals to Serena their first meeting at a party, where Dan first spoke to her and fell madly in love . Dan realized at that party that he could never pull Serena out of her world but he couldn't give up either . He realized that the only way he could get Serena was to write himself into the Upper East Side drama by using a blog to create a legend; the blog came to be known as Gossip Girl . Dan then revealed his secret to all by giving Nate his final chapter to publish in the struggling Spectator, revealing to all that the only purpose of Gossip Girl was the love he had for Serena . Serena was overjoyed at the revelation, stating that Dan, through Gossip Girl, had written her and everyone else a seven - year love letter and made her realize that she belongs in the Upper East Side with Dan . </P> <P> Five years later, Dan and Serena get married, surrounded by their closest friends and family . </P> <P> Dan Humphrey's character has garnered much media recognition . Alfonso Espina of The Huffington Post declared that Dan was the "Nick Carraway character we viewers could live vicariously through ." Jason Gay of Rolling Stone praised Badgley's characterisation, claiming that "while another actor may have played Dan as a blah straight man, Badgley imbued him with an occasionally obnoxious know - it - all - ness ." The New Yorker cited Dan as "the token - boho character"; while, New York Magazine described Badgley's Dan as "the moralistic outsider, or what passes for one on a show produced by the guy who created The O.C.". Jarett Wieselman of Entertainment Tonight asserted that "charming and disarming in equal measure, Badgley's incarnation of the Brooklyn - boy gone bad was always a comedic and emotional highlight ." Melena Ryzik of The New York Times compared Dan Humphrey's character to The O.C.'s Seth Cohen, saying they both fulfilled the role of "the darkly comic observer". Similarly, Julie Weiner of Vanity Fair claimed that Dan was a Schwartzian archetype of Seth in that both characters were "attractive bookish outsiders". </P>

Who does dan from gossip girl end up with