Samara Morgan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samara Morgan is a character in the 2002 movie, The Ring. She is loosely based on Sadako Yamamura from the original Japanese Ringu series, who at her turn was inspired by the traditional onryō.

A viral marketing campaign before the release of the film implied that she had been a real person (see below). Samara Morgan has a very strong cult following among fans.

[edit] Character outline

Samara Morgan was born to a single mother, identified only as Evelyn, at Saint Mary Magdalen Women's Shelter in Washington state. Evelyn was aware early on that Samara was no ordinary baby, as she had been born mentally unstable and would never sleep, but only complained if she was near water. Evelyn tried to drown Samara in a decorative pool at the shelter, later claiming that Samara telepathically told her to drown her. After that, shelter administrators put Samara up for adoption, and Evelyn was sent to a psychiatric hospital.

Samara was adopted by horse ranchers Richard and Anna Morgan from Moesko Island, who had tried and failed to have a child of her own. Soon after, Anna began to go insane, disturbed by horrifying visions Samara was somehow feeding into her mind. Shortly afterward, Samara was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where medical studies showed the girl possessed a rare psychic ability known as projected thermography, allowing her to psychically "burn" images from her mind onto surfaces, or even into the minds of others. She never slept and was completely insensitive to pain. She also apparently didn't know how to control her abilities. Eventually, she was released from the hospital at Richard's request (despite doctors' objections) and subsequently forced to live in the barn in the hope that the distance would alleviate Anna's visions. The visions continued, however, and most of the horses living in the barn also went insane, driving themselves off a cliff to be away from Samara. Unable to deal with the continuing torment, Anna murdered Samara (likely encouraged by Richard). She suffocated her with a black garbage bag before dropping her into a watery grave at the bottom of a well on remote, mountainous land the Morgans owned and later sold. Samara survived the suffocation attempt and the fall however, and lived in the well for seven days, tearing her own fingernails off trying to get out by climbing up the sides. The only visible light came from the edge of the well covering, forming a faint ring. Anna committed suicide soon thereafter off a nearby cliff on the Washington coastline.

However, Samara's spirit lived on. Eventually a camping resort was built on the site, with a log cabin built over the well. Samara's spirit created a curse in the form of a blank, home-made VHS tape, which contained a series of grainy, disturbing black and white images that were inspired by her life and death. Those who watched the tape would immediately receive a phone call; when they answered they would hear Samara whisper "Seven days." After seven days they would die. After journalist Rachel Keller's niece fell victim to the curse, she investigated and discovered the tape and its origins.

Towards the end of the first film, Rachel discovered Samara's corpse at the bottom of the well and gave her a proper burial, presumably putting her spirit to rest. Samara was not appeased, however, and killed the last person to have watched the tape -- Rachel's ex-boyfriend, Noah. Rachel and her son Aidan realized that the only way to escape the curse was to copy the tape and show it to someone else.

In The Ring Two, Rachel found out Samara's true origin. Samara's spirit then tried to possess Aidan but was thwarted in the end.

[edit] Portrayals

In The Ring, Samara is played by Daveigh Chase. Archival footage of Chase was also used in The Ring Two. For the remaining scenes in Ring Two, Samara is played by Kelly Stables.

[edit] Viral marketing

• Two websites, www.morganranch.com and www.themorganranch.com, were supposedly operated by B. Brooks, a niece of Anna Morgan, and were part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the film. They have since been discontinued, though they were briefly resurrected for marketing The Ring Two.
• www.she-is-here.com is a website where people share their unexplainable experiences with the cursed videotape. Originally created by DreamWorks, the site is now run by fans of the franchise.

The Ring Cycle
Novels: Ring | Spiral | Loop | Birthday
Japanese Films: Ring 0 | Ring | Ring 2 | Rasen
American Films: The Ring | Rings | The Ring Two | The Ring 3
Korean Films: The Ring Virus
Curses: Samara Morgan | Sadako Yamamura | Eun-Suh Park | The Video | Towel-Headed Man
Misc: Anna Morgan | Moesko Island Lighthouse | Hideo Nakata | She Is Here | Koji Suzuki | Terror's Realm