u/Eddie_0789

According to original Ringu novels, especially Loop and maybe S, Sadako is a construct of a Loop computer simulation and has multiple clones, which can interact with the real world. In addition, all film adaptations about her life story are cursed which I’m guessing only applies if each Sadako variant, or clone, is “real”.

I believe that Samara Morgan herself is one of those very clones and it can explain why she simultaneously has a more Japanese onryo-like appearance in contrast to the other ghosts in the American Ring movies, who align more with the western conceptions of ghosts including Evelyn, despite being kidnapped and raped for months, and is also more ruthless than the OG Sadako even before death. She’s desperate for an apocalyptic rebirth at this point.

I also theorise that Samara being a product of rape in Rings is the result of Sadako’s clone expressing her rage over being raped and thrown in the well by having others be in her shoes somewhat (ie influencing/possessing Burke to forcibly impregnate Evelyn??). Trauma is cyclical in onryo-centric narratives after all.

Btw, this is my cursory understanding of the lore of the novels. Anyone who has fully read the novels is free to correct me.

For context, the Ocean Entity is the implied bio father of Sadako and also Samara in the American remakes although she’s retconned to have a rapist priest father in the latest Rings movie. Was always fascinated by this aspect of the movies even though he’s quite unexplored.

I enjoyed it actually for being campy fun even if the fight was quite short and was actually hooked by that cliffhanger ending. So I’m wondering if there’s any plans to follow that up.

Compared to most Japanese adaptations except for a few, the American Ring remakes describe the curse as a sickness that’s spread and the victims exhibit bodily symptoms as if it’s a “real” disease. In addition, Samara kills her victims by mentally overloading all of the cursed video imagery into their bodies all at once similar to how the blood vessels of the victims get all clogged up in the novels.

I think they also explore Samara, as an evil entity, being born through rape and being reborn, along with a protag entering an alternate dimension to stop Samara’s evil from spreading (ie ending of the Ring 2), which borrows elements from the Loop book.

Was this all intentional or just coincidence? Either way, these observations made me appreciate them more even though the Japanese movies are entertaining in their own way.

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Basically, the killers in this franchise are the “curse” and is this curse referring to the onryo of murdered people like Kayako or the curse itself, who operates as a Lovecraftian-like abstract entity taking forms of whoever died tragic deaths?

Maybe the latter can explain why it keeps dragging people into voids or why the movies are told in non-linear order to show that the curse doesn’t care about anything, including time itself.

Like just imagine being trapped in an endless time loop and in each event you relive in, you can escape a deadly force/entity at any moment but you just cannot as you’ll switch to another event. And when you finally return to the real world, even if it can be called such, you just get offed anyways.

Honestly it just makes me feel sad/sickened rather than scared when I rewatch her arc but it’s still disturbing.

I used it in a challenge battle one time and it beats even some of the DLC persona’s skills in terms of the damage output.