Daniel was a somewhat slow-witted but capable hunchbacked man who was the cellmate of Dr. Gustav Niemann in Neustadt Prison. When a convenient bolt of lightening allowed both men to escape, Daniel accompanied Niemann as his servant when Niemann promised that he would use his scientific knowledge to give Daniel a new body, for the one thing that Daniel wanted most in the world was to be normal.
Daniel was so eager to stay on Niemann's good side so that Niemann would keep his promise that he did many horrible things for the scientist, such as killing Professor Bruno Lampini in cold blood by snapping his neck. When Niemann took over Professor Lampini's Chamber of Horrors and posed as Lampini himself, Daniel also posed as Lampini's assistant Sherman (who he had also murdered).
While in Frankenstein en route to Visaria, Daniel rescued a young Gypsy girl named Ilonka from her abusive employer Fejos, and he was immediately smitten with her. However, because of his ugliness, Ilonka showed Daniel pity instead of love. The hunchback's frustration grew when Larry Talbot joined their gang, and Ilonka fell in love with Larry.
After helping Niemann kidnap his old enemies Strauss and Ullman, Daniel began to lose patience with Niemann and his constant putting-off of the surgical procedure to give him a new body, in favor of working on Frankenstein's Monster. His anger finally exploded when Larry, who had also been waiting for Niemann to cure his lycanthropy, turned into the Wolf Man and killed Ilonka.
Daniel attacked Niemann in his laboratory, strangling the scientist into unconsciousness. Unfortunately for Daniel, this act of violence was witnessed by the Monster, and before Daniel could finish Niemann off, he was seized by the Monster and thrown out of the third-story lab window to his death.