The Ring/Characters

Kazuyuki Asakawa/Reiko Asakawa
The main protagonist of the novels and films, depending on the series. Kazuyuki is a journalist who investigates the cursed videotape and has seven days to find the answer to escaping it or he will die. Aided by his friend Ryuji Takayama, Kazuyuki becomes more determined to solve the curse after his family watch the tape accidentally. He succeeds only

Reiko Asakawa is also a journalist and follows Kazuyuki's story, but Ryuji is her ex-husband and they have a son named Yoichi who watches the tape and becomes their reason to solve the curse's mystery. In Ring 2, Reiko and Yoichi go into hiding after, and are found by Mai Takano to help end the curse.
 * Action Mom: Reiko becomes this when Yoichi watches the tape.
 * Badass Normal: Kazuyuki and Reiko are willing to go to extremes to save their loved ones from Sadako's wrath.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: Kazuyuki and his whole family are
 * Friend to All Children
 * Ghost Memory: Reiko and Ryuji experience this in the film.
 * Good Parents: Kazuyuki and Reiko both show great love and care for their young children.
 * Even in death,  appears to want to protect Yoichi, travelling directly in his direction.
 * Heroic BSOD: Both have this when
 * Intrepid Reporter: Kazuyuki and Reiko both seek out the cursed videotape. The end results don't go very well.
 * Offscreen Crash: In Rasen, Reiko and Yoichi are killed in an offscreen car crash. This was averted due to the film being replaced in canon with Ring 2.
 * Papa Wolf / Mama Bear
 * The Watson: Shared with Ryuji.
 * Working with the Ex
 * Working with the Ex

Ryuji Takayama
The secondary protagonist, Takayama is a university professor and former medical student. He aids Kazuyuki in discovering the secrets of the tape. He has a very eccentric and strange personality in the novels, claiming to have raped several women in his lifetime but never proves it. In the film series, he is the ex-husband of Reiko and father of Yoichi. Despite their divorce, Takayama and Reiko are still on good and close terms. He is more down-to-earth, relaxed but very intelligent. It is implied he has ESP powers. At the end of the novel and first film, Takayama realises the tape must be copied and shown to another person to be cured, only to be


 * Badass Beard: Hiroyuki Sanada, Ryuji's actor, sports an awesome beard.
 * Badass Normal: He watches the tape without regard for the consequences, and tackles an elderly man to get answers from him.
 * Bat Deduction: Ryuji has one upon realising the tape must be copied and shown to someone else.
 * Lineage Comes From the Father: Ryuji appears to have ESP powers, and Yoichi displays them in Ring 2, although they are more enhanced thanks to Sadako.
 * Papa Wolf
 * Promotion to Parent: For the films.
 * Psychic Powers
 * Working with the Ex
 * Working with the Ex
 * Working with the Ex

Yoichi Takayama
Reiko and Ryuji's young son. A quiet and polite individual, Yoichi is sent into silence after his cousin Tomoko is killed (actually being a victim of the tape.) He later watches the tape himself and becomes the motive for his parents to find the curse's origins.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Creepy Child: Yoichi is adorably cute, and yet he has a strange eerie quality about him. This becomes obvious in Ring 2 when he develops enhanced psychic powers.
 * Cute Shotaro Boy: Who has psychic powers.
 * Psychic Powers: Starts off low-toned such but goes up to eleven when his powers are enhanced by Sadako, capable of blasting people away with psychic blasts and mentally choking them. He has postcognition powers, able of creating realistic images of past events. This occurs in Ring 2 when Mai and Dr. Kawajiri witness a young Sadako teasing her mother Shizuko by teleporting a mirror about.
 * The Speechless: For most of Ring 2, due to the trauma of.
 * Spider Sense: Displays this at times.
 * Telepathy
 * Tranquil Fury: Don't mess with him in a state of mourning.

Ando Mitsuo
The main protagonist of the second novel Spiral and the retconned film sequel Rasen. An old friend of Ryuji, Ando works as an autopsy mortician and ends up examining. He is in mourning after his son Takanori died and was almost Driven to Suicide. He sees the tape as his chance to finally be at peace, accepting his inevitable death although he ends up playing a bigger role in the spreading of the curse. He ends up sleeping with Mai Takano and.
 * The Coroner
 * Dead Son: His son died at a young age.
 * Deal with the Devil:
 * Driven to Suicide: Averted by his own fear of dying.
 * Unwitting Pawn: In Sadako's plan to resurrect herself.

Mai Takano
Ryuji's student and possible girlfriend, Mai becomes the main protagonist of Ring 2 and investigates her teacher's death, becoming involved in the world of the cursed tape. In Rasen, she becomes the.
 * Ascended Extra: Mai only has two scenes in the first film and is elevated to a main character in Rasen and Ring 2.
 * Body Horror: In the novels, the curse affected her in a very... different manner.
 * Fainting: Mai does this a lot in the films.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: In Rasen, she watches the tape. Unlike other victims, however, she happened to be
 * Love Triangle: Mai is very much in love with Ryuji, who still has feelings for his ex-wife Reiko.
 * Promotion to Parent:

Sadako Yamamura
The Big Bad of the franchis, and possibly the original Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl, Sadako Yamamura is the creator of the cursed videotape (a mutated smallpox virus in the novels). Depending on the source material, Sadako has led a troubled life and eventually is tossed down a well to her death, her spirit creating the tape which kills anyone in seven days. Among an astonishing variety of Psychic Powers, Sadako has nensha, also known as thoughtography, meaning she could see images and burn them onto objects, thus the tape. It is also implied that, after she kills them, some of her victims become malevolent spirits under her control. Her usual appearance has her long dark hair hiding her face, and she wears a white dress. And she is definetly the biggest Woobie in the series.

In the novel, Sadako was thrown down the well by a rapist doctor named Nagao Jotaro. In rage, Nagao threw her down the well but inadvertantly created the Ring Virus with a smallpox strand he transmitted to Sadako. In the films, Sadako  at her mother's disastrous public demonstration of her powers. Sadako joined an acting troupe but her powers went out of control, leading to the troupe members to try to kill her. and she killed all the members,

In Ring 2, it is revealed


 * Affably Evil
 * And I Must Scream:
 * Anti-Villain: Type 2
 * Artifact of Doom: The videotape. In Spiral and Rasen, Asakawa's journal also becomes cursed.
 * Back from the Dead: In the novels and Rasen.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Body Horror: Sadako does this to her victims. Apparently her ghostly face is so terrifying that we are only shown her eye.
 * She walks about in an inhuman manner, most notably when she emerges from the television and when she attacks Miyaji and Etsuko in Ring 0.
 * Break the Cutie
 * Creepy Child: Sadako's evil twin who appears as a child.
 * Cry for the Devil: After watching Ring 0, most people likely will.
 * Disappeared Dad: Never actually seen, but is hinted to be some sort of aquatic supernatural creature.
 * Doomed by Canon: Viewers who watch the first two films and then watch Ring 0 know Sadako is doomed to end up down the well by the end of the prequel.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Sadako's rapist discovers she has Testicular Feminization Syndrome in the novels.
 * Evil Twin: Sadako splits in two during her mother's public demonstration.
 * Eye Scream: One of the icons of the whole series.
 * The Faceless: As a ghost, her face is never clearly seen . Also, when she was still alive, her face was never seen when she was in "evil" mode.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: She was trapped down a well -
 * Fingore: Sadako broke off her fingernails whilst trying to escape the well, and we see her grizzly fingers when she appears as a child in a psychic flash, and when she comes out of Ryuji's TV.
 * Freak-Out: During her loss of control over her powers in Ring 0, screaming her head off, seeing hallucinations of her mother, and ends up killing her own doctor.
 * Killer Rabbit: Sadako is an incredibly cute and sweet person, well, her good self is before she turns evil.
 * Love Hurts: Particularly when you
 * Our Ghosts Are Different
 * Parental Abandonment: Her father was never identified, and her mother Shizuko committed suicide.
 * Psychic Powers: Most notably, her nensha/thoughtography powers. In the novels, she's somehow able to alter viruses down to the genetic level.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After her two forms become one, Sadako silently walks through the forest and kills all of the acting troupe members one by one.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: More like sealed a psychic woman in a well.
 * Shrinking Violet: Her good self was very much this before she was bludgeoned to death by the acting troupe.
 * Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: The defining example.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: Sadako appears to have a fear of water. It is revealed in Ring 0 as a child she forewarned her fellow school students not to go in the sea on a beach trip, only for the swimming team members to drown.
 * Window Love: She silently tells Toyama she loves him through glass. Could be considered the series' best Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
 * Window Love: She silently tells Toyama she loves him through glass. Could be considered the series' best Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.

Nagao Jotaro
The asshole responsible for the events in the novels, Nagao Jotaro is a rapist doctor who assualts Sadako, only to discover she has Testicular Feminization Syndrome and throws her down a well.
 * Asshole Victim
 * Attempted Rape
 * Deadly Doctor
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Nagao gets the shock of his life when he finds out Sadako has a pair of testicles.

Shizuko Yamamura
Sadako's mother, Shizuko has psychic powers and the power of foresight. She gave birth to Sadako who inherited her psychic powers. After she met her lover Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma, Shizuko stood down from performing at a public demonstration of her powers and was chastised by the press, leading to a depression. She then killed herself by leaping into Oshima Island's volcano, after predicting it would erupt.
 * Driven to Suicide: In the novels she killed herself whilst in a depression. In the films, after seeing her daughter kill a man, split in two and develop stronger psychic powers than her own, drove Shizuko over the edge.
 * Karmic Death: Shizuko predicted Oshima Island's volcano would erupt, and it did shortly after she jumped into it.
 * Mirror Scare: Shizuko's appearance on the videotape, which is played out in Ring 2 before Mai and Dr. Kawajiri when they are at the Yamamura inn.
 * Missing Mom
 * Parental Abandonment
 * Psychic Powers

Doctor Heihachiro Ikuma
Sadako's father (adoptive in the films), and Shizuko's lover. He was a university professor who became fascinated with Shizuko's powers, leading to the fateful public demonstration. In the films, after Shizuko died and  After   he is forced to throw Sadako down the well and seal her within.
 * Deadly Doctor: Averted. His actions were good intentioned.
 * Necessarily Evil: He honestly believed in the need to seal Sadako away from humanity, but he breaks down in sobs after realizing the cruelty of his own actions.
 * Posthumous Character
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist

Takashi Yamamura
Shizuko's cousin and Sadako's uncle. In the films, Takashi was responsible for Shizuko's ridicule and her eventual suicide. Now an elderly bitter man, Takashi runs an inn with son on Oshima Island but his sins comes back to haunt him upon learning that Sadako's presence still remains.
 * The Atoner
 * Death Seeker
 * My God, What Have I Done?: This makes up Takashi's main arc for the film series.
 * Trauma Inn: The old Yamamura house is now an inn run by Takashi's family, and most distressing moments for the main characters occur here.
 * Villainous Lament: Subverted, considering he was never intentionally evil.
 * Trauma Inn: The old Yamamura house is now an inn run by Takashi's family, and most distressing moments for the main characters occur here.
 * Villainous Lament: Subverted, considering he was never intentionally evil.

Koichi Asakawa
Reiko's elderly father and Yoichi's grandfather, Koichi is a very supportive parent and lives alone in the country.
 * Badass Grandpa: The very fact he  is pretty badass. Too bad his attempt fails.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Fishing for Sole
 * Spanner in the Works: Koichi reveals to Reiko that Yoichi is empowered by Sadako, after
 * Spanner in the Works: Koichi reveals to Reiko that Yoichi is empowered by Sadako, after

Tomoko Oishi and Masami Kurahashi
Best friends who both become victims of the curse. Tomoko watched the tape a week before the events of the first film and is killed by Sadako, whilst Masami is put in an asylum after witnessing the latter's death. But, both become pawns of Sadako later on.
 * Came Back Wrong: Tomoko's spirit was used by Sadako to make Yoichi watch the tape.
 * In Ring 2, after, we see Tomoko and three other victims standing with their backs to the audience.
 * Living MacGuffin: Masami becomes one of sorts in Ring 2, filled with Sadako's psychic influence.
 * Room Full of Crazy: Masami gains a phobia of televisions but tries to conquer it in Ring 2, only to cause footage of the video to appear on a TV, causing all the mental patients in the room to go into hysterics.
 * Room Full of Crazy: Masami gains a phobia of televisions but tries to conquer it in Ring 2, only to cause footage of the video to appear on a TV, causing all the mental patients in the room to go into hysterics.

Okazaki
A journalist who works with Reiko. He only has a cameo in the first film, but becomes a major character in Ring 2, helping Mai find out what happened to Reiko, Ryuji and Yoichi. He receives a copy of the tape from Kanae Sawaguchi but is too afraid to watch it. This has serious consequences.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: After
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Okazaki chickens out of watching the tape, leading to  However, he pays the price for his cowardice.

Kanae Sawaguchi
A high school student, Kanae watches the cursed tape in Ring 2 and turns to Okazaki for help. She gives him a copy of the tape to watch but he chickens out. This has serious consequences for both characters.
 * Damsel in Distress
 * Ordinary High School Student
 * Ordinary High School Student

Doctor Kawajiri
A character introduced in Ring 2, Doctor Kawajiri works in the hospital where Masami is cared for. Fascinated with the existence of rare illnesses, he considers psychic powers to be just that and does not believe in supernatural occurences. He demonstrates how Sadako's powers can be removed via water, and uses this on Yoichi to exorcise Sadako's power from him. It doesn't go very well.
 * Bedlam House
 * The Specialist
 * Spooky Photographs: He shows Mai and Okazaki photos of Mai which are overlapped with images from the tape.
 * You Fail Logic Forever: Dr. Kawajiri tries to scientifically explain Sadako's powers are a mental/emotional state and psychic energy can be drained near water. This is proven false when
 * You Fail Logic Forever: Dr. Kawajiri tries to scientifically explain Sadako's powers are a mental/emotional state and psychic energy can be drained near water. This is proven false when

Detective Keiji Omuta
A police detective who investigates Ryuji's death in Ring 2, Detective Omuta ends also investigating Sadako's connection to the murders.
 * Friend on the Force
 * Hello Again, Officer: Mai and Omuta meet a day after their last encounter, Omuta guessing correctly that Mai has seen Reiko and Yoichi.
 * The Inspector
 * Mind Rape: Gets it twice from Yoichi.

Hiroshi Toyama
Sadako's love interest in Ring 0, Toyama is the sound operator in the acting troupe Sadako works in before her grizzly end. He was dating Etsuko Tachihara at the time but eventually falls in love with Sadako, understanding her powers, and offering to run away with her. In the novels, he lives to an old age but  In Ring 0, Sadako is murdered and resurrected before Toyama's eyes. When Sadako bonds with her evil twin, she is unable to recognise friend from foe and
 * Eighties Hair
 * Star-Crossed Lovers
 * Skyward Scream: Toyama lets out a skyward scream  although he is off-screen when he does it.
 * Understanding Boyfriend
 * Understanding Boyfriend

Akiko Miyaji
The fiancée of the journalist who was killed by Sadako at Shizuko's demonstration. Driven by revenge, Akiko tracks down Sadako with the plan to kill her sooner or later. One event leads to another, Akiko realising there are two Sadakos and rallies the troupe members to kill the evil Sadako. This eventually leads to  Akiko and Etsuko flee to Dr. Ikuma's house where they are confronted by Sadako, only for Akiko to defy Sadako and
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Lady of War
 * Revenge Before Reason

The Acting Troupe
The acting troupe Sadako worked with in Ring 0. Most of the members aside from Toyama disliked Sadako, blaming her for their strange dreams. They eventually kill the good Sadako, and are led by Akiko to kill the evil twin, leading to the two Sadakos reunion. The most notable members are the leader Yusaku Shigemori who tries to blackmail Sadako for sex when he learns of her past; Aiko, an actress who is killed by Sadako's evil twin; and Etsuko Tachihara, Toyama's jealous and clingy girlfriend.
 * The Bully: Aiko shows some qualities of this towards Sadako.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Etsuko to Toyama and Sadako.
 * Jerkass: Most notably Shigemori and Aiko.
 * Kick the Dog: The troupe does this to Sadako right off the bat.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Not all of the troupe members go to kill Sadako, namely the two members who hold back Toyama during Sadako's beating.

The Towel Man
A mysterious figure who appears in the tape. He stands by the shore, pointing off-screen and wears a towel on his head hence his name. His identity is unknown but it is specualated he is either Ryuji or Toyama. He points Reiko to Yoichi watching the tape, and again appears hinting that she must copy the tape to save her son. He is quite the Ensemble Darkhorse, once having his own Wikipedia page.
 * Enigmatic Minion
 * The Faceless
 * Hint Dropping

Rachel Keller
The main protagonist of the films, Rachel Keller is an Intrepid Reporter who investigates her niece Katie's death, leading to her finding the cursed videotape, this version created by Samara Morgan. A caring and protective mother, Rachel is willing to go to great lengths to keep her son Aidan safe, but is an emotional person and easily frightened. Oh, and she's played by Naomi Watts.

She enlists the help of her ex-boyfriend Noah Clay who is Aidan's father in solving the videotape's origins. She gains a motherly attachment to Samara upon learn her suffering in life and finds her body in the well. However, this causes Samara to

In The Ring Two, Rachel and Aidan move to Astoria, Washington, to start a new life. Rachel tries to skip her responsibility after copying the tape and setting it loose upon the world. This comes back to haunt her when a copy of the tape appears in her neighbourhood, and Samara wants her to be her new mother.
 * Action Mom
 * Badass Normal
 * Expy: Of Asakawa.
 * False Reassurance: She tells Aidan that they did nothing wrong when they sent Samara's tape out into the public.
 * Good Parent: To Aidan, yes. To Samara, no.
 * Heroic BSOD: When she finds
 * Heroic Sacrifice: In the second film, Rachel allows Samara to drag her into the tape's monochromatic world to protect Aidan.
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * Mama Bear
 * Naomi Watts
 * Necessarily Evil: In The Ring 2, . Which Rachel accomplishes by taking a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and.
 * Parental Abandonment: It's strongly hinted that Rachel's focus on her career takes her away from Aidan, resulting in her being in the dark about his anxieties (if not outright dismissive) and going to parent-teacher meetings only out of obligation. This changes A LOT by the second film, specifically seeking out a smaller newspaper so she can spend more time with her son.
 * Poor Communication Kills: Granted, the Curse is hardly believable as it is, but she only has herself to blame when the lack of reasonable explanation for her actions in the second film gets Child Protection Services on her head.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Surprisingly does this a lot in the series. Aidan calls her out when she reveals she freed Samara's body from the well, but he never told her before that she can never be at peace so he shares this trope.
 * Rachel unleashes the tape onto an unsuspecting world, causing the events in Rings.
 * And again in the second film when she seals Samara in the well.
 * Working with the Ex: With Noah, who was her boyfriend for a time until they had Aidan.

Noah Clay
Rachel's ex-boyfriend and a media analyst, Noah is enlisted by Rachel to discover the origins of the cursed videotape. He is Aidan's father but doubted he would ever be a good father due to his own being a disappointment. He is
 * Badass Normal
 * Indy Ploy: He's very resourceful at getting what he wants.
 * Lighter and Softer: He couldn't be more different from Ryuji if he tried. Unfortunately, this also extends to his investigative skills.
 * Papa Wolf
 * Techno Wizard
 * Working with the Ex: Noah works with Rachel. They seem to rekindle their old flame in the process.
 * Working with the Ex: Noah works with Rachel. They seem to rekindle their old flame in the process.

Aidan Keller
Rachel and Noah's young son and quite a Creepy Child. Aidan seems to possess some degree of Psychic Powers, and is contacted directly by Samara after he watches the tape. He draws prophetic drawings which lead Rachel to the Morgan Ranch. He then has one of the biggest What the Hell, Hero? moments at the climax of the film. In The Ring Two, he is possessed by Samara when she wants Rachel to be her mother, making him two creepy children in one.
 * Creepy Child: On par with Samara, and it becomes worse when she possesses him.
 * Demonic Possession: At the hands of Samara, who appears behind him in The Ring Two in a public bathroom and approaches him with each photo he takes of himself in a mirror.
 * Expy: Of Yoichi Asakawa.
 * Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: He drew many unsettling sketches of his cousin Katie buried deep underground (or even underwater) in the run up to her death. After watching the tape, his artistic focus changes to Samara's house, the inside of the well, and progressively obsessive drawings of circles.
 * Psychic Powers
 * Spider Sense
 * Poor Communication Kills: He never volunteers any information on his visions, it has to be Rachel who asks him about them after his behavior or drawings tip her off. It's only after Rachel frees Samara from the well that he tells her she will continue to kill people.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: He's the one to break this to Rachel.

Samara Morgan
The antagonist of the series and the American version of Sadako Yamamura. Samara appears as a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl, perhaps the third most recognised after Sadako herself and Kayako Saeki from the Ju-On series. She possesses nensha powers which she cannot control, only aim, leading to her isolation and eventual death. She created the cursed videotape, but unlike Sadako who was very pure and innocent before dying (having been split into two girls, one good and one evil), Samara shows psychopathic tendencies with her line "Everyone will suffer", and when a doctor tells her she doesn't wish to hurt anyone and she responds with "But I do, and I'm sorry, it won't stop."

After nearly being drowned as a child by her birth mother Evelyn, Samara was put up for adoption and became the child of Anna and Richard Morgan. However, as she grew up her nensha powers developed as well, causing nightmares for her parents. Richard banished her to the family ranch's barn after she spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. In anger, Samara used her powers to drive the family horses to suicide, also driving Anna insane. Eventually, Anna pushed Samara down a well on Shelter Mountain where she died seven days later, creating the tape in her afterlife.

As a villain, Samara is a merciless and angry person for an eight-year old girl, being needy and quite selfish, starting to kill anyone in The Ring Two who annoys her or gets in her way. Yet, she is a sympathetic villain despite her vengeful tendencies. Samara has more powers than Sadkao, including body possession and water manipulation. "Psychiatrist: You don't want to hurt anyone. Samara: But I do [hurt people], and I'm sorry it won't stop.
 * Abusive Parents: Richard Morgan banished her to the ranch barn. Her biological and adoptive mother tried to drown her.
 * Affably Evil: This is debatable, even though she is an eight-year old girl.
 * Artifact of Doom: Her version of the cursed videotape which is as twice as long as Sadako's and twice as terrifying.
 * Break the Cutie: It doesn't appear to take long. She makes verbal threats about her future rage against the world.
 * Creepy Child
 * Ironic Nursery Tune: "Here we go, the world is spinning, when it stops, it's just beginning. Sun goes up, we live and we cry, Sun goes down, and then we all die."
 * Demonic Possession: Possesses Aidan and fails to act like him when in Rachel's company.
 * Expy: She is based on Sadako's evil twin which appears as a little girl.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Half human, half... something else, according to her birth mother.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Samara is played by Lilo.
 * Kelly Stables, best known as Will Vandom from WITCH, played Samara as a stunt double and throughout the second film.
 * Ironic Echo: Rachel watches an interview from the mental institution:

Later, Rachel remembers the video with a slight change in tone:

Psychiatrist: You don't want to hurt anyone.

Samara: But I do [want to]... And it won't stop."


 * Madness Mantra: "Mommy!"
 * Making a Splash: If you count draining a bath of its water, suspending it in midair and then dropping down on Naomi Watts as making a splash. Ironically, Samara is terrified of being submerged in water.
 * Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Unwittingly made on X-ray plaques with her Psychic Powers. Like any other child, she likes images of horsies and trees... but the images themselves are horrifying.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different
 * Power Incontinence: Even before birth, she possessed Psychic Powers that exceeded her ability to control. Anyone who came close to her, man or beast, suffered horrendous hallucinations just from her being there.
 * Psychic Powers: Samara has uncontrollably nensha powers, which allow her to burn images onto surfaces and into people's minds.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Trapped in a well by Anna Morgan. Suffered the same fate as a ghost in The Ring Two.
 * Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl
 * Yandere: A non-romantic example in The Ring Two. Samara considers Rachel to be a surrogate mother because she was nice to her in the first movie, and nothing is going to stop them from being a happy family.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: Samara possesses Aidan and finally has her wish granted, to be loved by a mother, in this case Rachel. That is until Rachel drugs her and then exorcises her from her son in a bath, before sealing her again in the well. Nice, really nice. Any wonder many people hate the sequel?

Anna and Richard Morgan
Samara's foster parents. Anna and Richard Morgan ran a family horse ranch on Moesko Island and were renowned horse trainers in the local area. After adopting Samara, Anna suffered from horrible visions caused by Samara's powers, causing Richard to banish the girl to the barn. In revenge, Samara tortured the ranch horses into suicide by jumping off cliffs. Anna eventually kills Samara by pushing her down a well, before committing suicide herself by leaping off a cliff. Years on, the visit from Rachel also leads Richard to his own death via electrocution in a bath.
 * Abusive Parents: Richard in particular, forcing Samara to live in the barn and prefers the horses to her.
 * Bath Suicide: Richard kills himself via electrocution in a bath. It's not a pretty sight.
 * Cool Horses: The Morgans' famous racing horses made them famous. Then they killed themselves, making them even more famous.
 * Down on the Farm: Make that horse ranch.
 * Driven to Suicide: Pretty much everyone in the family save Samara. Anna leapt off a cliff, Richard electrocuted himself in a bathtub, and the family horses leapt off cliffs thanks to Samara.
 * Electrified Bathtub
 * Expy: Anna is the equivalent of Shizuko Yamamura, and Richard is the equivalent of Takashi Yamamura.
 * False Reassurance: Richard tries to pull this on Rachel when she asks about the existence of Samara and the tape.
 * Foreshadowing: As soon as Rachel reveals she's made a copy of the tape, Richard realizes that killing her right then and there with a hook won't keep the curse from spreading.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Richard is played by Brian Cox who has appeared in other films dealing with creepy children including X-Men and Trick 'r Treat.
 * Horse Racing
 * Ironic Echo: When Richard refers to all reporters (and Rachel in particular) as unable to leave well enough alone, "spreading the sickness" via their investigations. Which is exactly what Rachel did with Samara's curse.
 * Mirror Scare: A scene on the tape depicts Anna brushing her hair and the mirror is moved about telekinetically by Samara, lifted straight out of the Japanese films.
 * Red Herring: That Richard killed Samara, when in fact Anna did.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Richard ("MY WIFE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE A CHILD!")

Evelyn
Samara's birth mother. Having possibly mentally unstable prior to child birth, Evelyn was young when she gave birth to Samara and lived in a hospital run by nuns. However, Samara did not cry unless put near water. Evelyn claimed Samara was possessed by a demon and was told by her daughter to drown her in order to save her. She attempted this but was stopped by the nuns and carted off to an asylum. She appears in The Ring Two, and cryptically tells Rachel how to exorcise Samara from Aidan.
 * Bedlam House
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Evelyn is played by Sissy Spacek.
 * Her younger self is played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
 * Madness Mantra: The melody she hums to herself, which is the American series' theme tune.
 * Parental Abandonment
 * Passing the Torch: Evelyn asks Rachel to out away her child since she failed to in the past.
 * Patron Saint: According to an orderly at the asylum, Evelyn is visited by young mothers for guidance.

Max Rourke
Editor-in-chief of the Daily Astorian newspaper, Max Rourke becomes Rachel's ally in The Ring Two. He is very sceptical about Samara's existence and powers, but the strange goings on changes his mind. He is eventually killed by Samara.
 * Da Editor
 * Expy: Appears to be the American equivalent of Okazaki.
 * Innocent Bystander: He is killed by Samara when he tries to record her on camera.
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

Katie Embry and Becca Kohtler
Best friends who discuss the rumours of the cursed videotape. Katie is Rachel's 16-year old niece and close to her and Aidan. Katie reveals to Becca that she and three other students, Josh, Stacey and Scott, went to Shelter Mountain where they became the first viewers of the tape. Minutes later, Katie is killed by Samara. Her death leads to the events of the film. Becca witnessed her friend's death and was institutionalised, possibly gaining psychic powers in the process.
 * Bedlam House: Poor Becca ends up in one after seeing Samara kill Katie, and has a fear of televisions.
 * Haunted Technology: Katie has to deal with a TV that turns itself on, and the fridge door which opens by itself too.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Katie's actress Amber Tamblyn later stars in The Grudge 2 several years later.
 * Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Katie draws sketches of images in her head in her work book, eventually writing "Why is this in my head!?"
 * She also scribbled "hair" over the faces in a fashion magazine, making all the models look like Samara.
 * Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Perhaps one of the scariest images of the film is when Kaite's mum Ruth opens a closet and finds Katie's body with a deformed face. The fright is not from the corpse but from the sudden appearance of the imagery.
 * Katie's facial fate is hinted at in the final frames of the opening scene when the camera zooms at her face - it distorts.
 * Power Born of Madness: Becca appears to gain some form of Psychic Powers, predicting the number of days Rachel has to live.
 * Victim of the Week: Katie fills this along with three others, or four if you count Becca as witnessing her death.

The Ring Groups
After Rachel released the tape into the public, copies were made among teenager groups, creating a teenage cult called "Rings" as seen in the short film of the same name. These Secret Circles of Secrets involve about five people, each person watching the tape to see how long they can last with the supernatural symptoms of the curse, whilst recording what they see. If they panic or give up, they can pass the tape to the next member, and so on. Very few rings have seen anyone get beyond Day 7, and the Astorian Ring seem very determined to do that, particularly with their newest member Jake.
 * Asshole Victim: Subverted for Jake, who desperately tries to trick his friend Emily to watch the tape only for her to close her eyes when watching it.
 * Cult
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: Vanessa really wants to see the outcome of Day 7, regardless of who gets sacrificied.
 * Love Hurts: Jake's crush on Vanessa leads to his involvement with the tape and to his fate at the beginning of The Ring Two.
 * Secret Circle of Secrets