hydrophobia | (no subject)

Disclaimer: I'm leaving this here for information. This was a bit of information I wrote for a previous game, but I didn't do it because of RL circumstances. As far as canon, I do pay attention to bits of the original "Ringu" and a bit of the second movie. I have heard what entails in the third movie, but elements of that movie retcon a bit of what happens in the previous movies. As for me, I take a lot, obviously, from the first movie and use the second as more background information. I have a lot of issues with it, especially when they don't establish a character's death and timeline... And it's just a mess. Really. I think the first movie pretty much makes it obvious Samara just wants to be heard and craves motherly care and attention and didn't get it for a lot of reasons.

I don't know if that matters, but there you go.

Character Name: Samara Morgan
Canon: American remake of "Ringu", "The Ring"
Canon Point: after the movie
Background/History: http://ring.wikia.com/wiki/Samara_Morgan
Personality:
Samara differs greatly from her Japanese counterpart in numerous ways. Some are left openly ambiguous and up to the viewer to determine her ulterior motives. When Rachel asks about Samara, the residents of Moesko Island aren't too keen to talk about her and Rachel doesn't seem to understand. The basis of Samara's personality that I use is the simple and very short SM0015 tape from the mental hospital on the mainland. Samara is depicted as a timid, quiet little girl, speaking cryptically about the images she "made".

I see things and they just... are.

It turns out in the movie she was sent to the hospital by her father's demand, along with her mother, who was suffering from severe hallucinations. Her previous doctor notes while speaking with Rachel it only happened around Samara.

You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?
I'm sorry, but I do. It won't stop.

Here is the ambiguous part to which I refer. The viewer can look at it various ways either Samara had no control over her abilities and it left her not able to understand what it was or she was evil all along.

EVELYN

Rachel in the second movie is forced to trace Samara's roots once more. She traces her back to a woman named "Evelyn" who came to a Catholic hospital, pregnant and suffering from hallucinations. The doctor then explains that Evelyn never revealed her daughter's lineage, leaving an open window, again, to ambiguity and suggestion Samara was not conceived by any regular means. But she explains to Rachel that Evelyn tried to drown her baby because her baby told her to. Upon speaking to Evelyn herself, Rachel learns this and learns that she tried to "purge" the evil out of her infant daughter. The baby never slept and was always calm, of course. And already was able to place violent imagery.

So like Sadako, Samara in the second movie was stated to have two sides, good and evil side. The good Samara, sort of speak, asked her mother to drown her and drive out the evil spirits that were in her body. And by guidance, Rachel had to do the same thing, because Samara became basically that: a spirit in a body.

THE DEMONIC

Once Rachel finds her body, she goes home with a renewed tie to Noah, the father to her illegitimate son, Aiden. But as soon as he hears her story, he informs his mother that Samara had been unleashed, and the curse would continue. Samara exacts her revenge as a demonic spirit, killing Noah. Rushing home with concern, Rachel attempts to burn the tape but realizes she must make a copy, thus spreading the curse. After all, Samara just wanted to be heard.

Samara is a restless spirit, much like the Onyro in Japanese folklore and much like Sadako. She is a spirit without a care and regard for her victims, willingly manipulates Aiden through images, and even possesses his body for the sake of being a child of Rachel. She kills anyone in Aiden's body who second guesses her and her powers are dangerous, even more so after to death.

THE LITTLE GIRL

Samara is still a child, no matter what she is. While Samara's spirit is malicious, we have to consider she was placed in a barn out in the cold, that drove her parents' prized horses to suicide. Samara legitimately loved her mother; she asked to see her in the hospital, telling the doctor she loved her. But she deeply resented her father and for good reason. Her father believed Samara was attacking them on purpose -- but at this rate, we can assume she probably did attack him on purpose, most times. It left her alienated and neglected, emotionally. With Rachel, she clings because she assumes what Rachel did was maternal and it was. But Samara interprets that as her new "mommy" with Rachel, highlighting the desperation of Samara. Her spirit goes through great trouble to reach out to Rachel. Samara wants to be heard; she passes her legacy through the tape, in obvious anger and perhaps sorrow that it was wrongful and she was robbed of a life.

She does play on the appearance of a little girl, leading Rachel and Noah into her creation of the tape to come forward. Everything matches up perfectly, down to the centipede on the paper to the white chair, that she lead them to where she was. But ultimately, Samara is an ambiguous spirit. She had possession of a strange power she had no control over and her mother was one of many unfortunate blunt ends of it and Samara loved her. Even in the hospital, Samara just wanted to see her mother and be with her; she had no idea that her mother was going to push her down a well, to begin with.

All and all, she is capable of great evil and harm but is still a child. Samara yearns to be loved, for any kind of attention she can get, and can carry a grudge when the need suits her. She mistakes Rachel's quest for love and decides that the two of them are meant to be together; it means Samara will latch onto kindness and attention of any kind, no matter who gives it to her. She has been corrupted by whatever dark forces took a hold of her, as Evelyn explained, and was just a kid with rotten luck. Samara had very little control of her powers, but to do to the lack of sleep and neglect, the little girl's state of mind never showed that much sympathy for those she affected, only her mother. Clearly, a mother figure is important to Samara, but she will also settle on anyone who pays attention to her. If she doesn't get what she wants, Samara is a force to be reckoned with, to the point she can be murderous, if provoked.

She is emotionless as they come, rarely cracking a smile or a laugh. Even rarely showcasing her anger, which makes her even scarier. Above all, Samara never sleeps and that gives her psychotic tendencies, especially when she shows a lack of remorse and understanding for regular emotions. She hurts people with her abnormal powers and most times, Samara doesn't care. She's cryptic and very smart in this matter. Samara purposefully will omit details of what she does, how she thinks, and acts. She plays the part of a sweet, innocent little girl very well. And Samara still has that innocence to her; she is still a little girl. She will still color, play with toys, and play outside like any other normal girl her age.

Abilities/Powers:
Oh, god.

And I say "oh, god" with good reason. Samara's powers are the main reason the way she is and why she was killed so young. Samara's powers can better be explained by this way:

Samara's most notorious ability is "nesha" or "projected thermography"; without the links provided, it's basically imprinting on the surface or mind of others by thought. Her imprints are usually images and most are not for the faint of heart. Most of the images Samara projects into the mind of others are nightmarish, disturbing, and plenty enough to make people literally lose their minds. The movie leaves it up to ambiguity, but Samara was implied that she had no control over her ability to imprint images. Her first doctor explained to Rachel that her mother would suffer hallucinations and they would only happen around Samara. Samara definitely didn't intend to upset her mother or make her "sick", so that leave the option, in that case, she had no control. One theory is that the projected thermography was so bad, not even Samara herself could sleep because she was somewhat a magnet for this negative energy and churned it on others. The reason why I am saying this is because even her birth mother before Samara was even born, suffered hallucinations.

When Samara dies, her power grows stronger. Her projected thermography is powerful enough to not only place images on a tape recording above her watery grave (the well) but also intact her curse onto it. The viewer watches it, a ghostly Samara calls and tells them "seven days". While the victim has no clue what it means, it means that they have seven days to figure out the message behind her nasty tape or die. If they fail to figure out the message, Samara will come for them and imprint the images one last time, killing them and making their corpses water logged. If the victim gets it, which is basically sharing the message of Samara's short, painful life, they live and becomes a twisted game of telephone.

But Samara's powers are beyond that. She has the power to move water as her spirit, since birth, has been connected to water. Her spirit comes in the form of water, which, ironically in life, Samara was terrified of water. She can turn valves, drip water from television sets, and flood a room. She seems to have the ability to manifest electricity, making electronic devices turn on at will. And lastly, Samara being a malicious spirit has the ability to possess bodies, such is the case with Aiden, who she tries to take control of to get closer to Rachel. She seems to have somewhat of an ability to read minds, but likely at this point, it's safe to assume they're only flashes of images, like a broken TV set to Samara.