- “Thank you, Lord Rahl. I've always wanted to be called Samantha-it sounds so much more grown up--but to everyone else I have always been seen as Sammie.”
- ―Samantha, to Richard
Samantha, formerly known as Sammie, was a young sorceress from the village of Stroyza in the Dark Lands of D'Hara.
Biography
Samantha was born in the land of Stroyza, in the Dark Lands. She was born to a gifted mother, Irena and was passed on with the task of watching the north wall, an ancient wall that held the Third Kingdom in place. In the event that the wall fell they were to report to the Wizard's Keep. Samantha grew up with her parents with many other gifted people until all but her mother was left from Bishop Arc taking them for help in prophecies. After her parents disappeared she was the gifted left in charge despite not fully into her abilities yet.
When Richard and Kahlan showed up Sammie was summoned to heal them of their sickness and injuries. At first she was quite shy of them but after Richard put her at ease she opened up a little and agreed to try her best to heal them. After looking into Kahlan she panicked and screamed, saying she had the touch of death in her. After calming down she checked Richard and found he also had this, making them both part of the underworld, caused by Jit's death scream.
Soon afterwards, some Half people appeared and started attacking the village. Richard told Sammie to protect Kahlan while he went to check what was happening. While he was busy dealing with it a few more came in and took interest in Sammie. She noticed they only had eyes for her and not for Kahlan. She tried some magic on them and found it had little effect. Remembering what Richard said about Nicci and Zedd she tried some air and found it pushed them back just enough for her to slip out. She planned on trapping them in a dead end tunnel and collapsing it. She failed to get out of the room with them still in it but Richard showed up and managed to stop them. He yelled at her for not protecting Kahlan until she pointed out how they followed her and thus was protecting her like that.
Immediately afterwards Richard passed out from exhaustion. Sammie did some healing on the people of her town to fix what she could where others couldn't. Eventually though she had to make the decision that Richard and Kahlan were too important to die and had to go heal them, even though it meant letting others die. When Richard woke she explained all of this and and he then decided she had made some very hard and adult decisions those past few nights and deserved to be called Samantha from them on, instead of Sammie.
Samantha then took Richard to the back room where the gifted where allowed while explaining some of the villages history. She explained how the Dark Lands about a year and a half ago was introduced to a women with her lips sewn shut. Her mother learned it was the Hedge Maid called Jit. Many rumors passed about this mysterious women and her two aunts, Martha and Millicent, believes she came out of the north wall. They decided they needed to investigate it. Her Aunt Martha and uncle went out to look into Jit, and never returned. Their remains where found months later. Her Aunt Millicent and Uncle Gyles where then taken to the abbey, a place run by Abbot Dreier for collecting prophecy. They died while there. When her parents set out Samantha was the only gifted left.
Samantha then explains how it's her people's duty to be guards of what the Grace represents, by watching the north wall. She takes Richard down into the side of the mountain they are in, which is for only the gifted to enter. She explains some of the grace to Richard and tells him that with the touch of death he is a part of both worlds now. She takes Richard to the end of the pathway which has a hole facing north in it. She has Richard look and it shows him far off into the distance looking out into the north wall, which has recently been opened. She explains how the north wall guards the third kingdom, a world of life and death.
Richard then explains how it's actually called the barrier wall, due to the writing on the walls calling it that. Samantha is amazed by this, surprised that the lines on the wall actually mean words, the language of creation. She says her Aunt Martha always called them the pretty decorations our ancestors left us. The meaning had long ago been lost to them. Richard reads some of it and finds out he is the chosen one to close the Third Kingdom off again, assigned to him through prophecy by the first confessor, Magda Searus and her wizard, Merritt. It goes on to explain what happened back in the Great War and how a wizard, Emperor Sulachan, created the half people for a weapon against the New World. After explorng more of the history left for Richard they leave, only to discover messages left for him by Magda And Merritt offering help in this quest, as well as a ring with the Grace on it.
As they leave the mountain Richard plans on leaving for the Third Kingdom, with Samantha stubbornly insisting she should come. After convincing him she could be valuable they set off. They get off the cliff that leads from the village and head down to where the animals are. Richard instantly senses something is wrong there and looks around. He spotted tracks just as a half person comes out and attacked them. Samantha ducked out of the way, keeping out of Richard's way as he dealt with the threat. She was shaken by the fact that they had already found where they live. Finding they had no horses to use they set out on foot.
Quickly after leaving they discuss how quiet it is. Samantha suggests they go through the woods in order to avoid the danger when it comes but Richard knows that it would be suicide as they are probably waiting to ambush them when they walk in there. They decide to take the best of a bad situation and go out in the open plain, exposed for everyone to see them. Quickly after setting out in that path half people run from the woods ready to devour them. As Richard tried to think of a strategy with how to deal with them Samantha starts to twirl her arms in an odd manner. Some of the dirt then starts to move as if lifted by gusts of wind. She started to get it to move but with the ground wet she couldn't do much. After Richard points this out she gets the idea to take the heat from the air and focus it into the dirt. The heat and dirt soon become powerful enough to cover them both with a whirlwind, confusing the half people. Richard knew they needed to get out of that spot and after asking if she could walk while she did this, picked her up and ran for the woods.
As soon as they enter the woods Samantha slumps down, almost passed out from exhaustion. They start off at a trot and Richard congratulates her on the quick thinking asking how she learned that. She explains it was just something she made up on the spot out of desperation. Not being able to recover for long though they run through the woods hoping to stay ahead of the horde. They didn't get far before being discovered and chased by thousands of them. Richard got the idea to have Samantha blow up trees by raising the heat in them to stop the half people but she doubts herself after trying once and says she can't handle something like that. Richard then has to turn to his sword to help them and starts cutting them a path but with slow progress from having to keep Samantha out of harm and keeping all the half people away. After doing this for a while he realizes he can't keep it up and has Samantha hide in between some rocks. He then turns to the immediate threat of them and rips into them. After a time though he realizes he can't keep it up since there are too many of them and jumps in the rocks with her. He apologizes for failing her. Samantha tells him to protect himself and then releases her power into the trees around them, creating an awesome explosion of power destroying all the half people in sight.
They climb out and look around and find everything in sight destroyed. Samantha then breaks down into tears, apologizing for almost getting them killed. Confused, Richard asks her what she could possibly mean by that after saving them. She says he could have easily been killed fighting them and she failed to protect him even after he explained what to do, for hesitating. Richard reassures her she did her best and saved them both and did a good job protecting him.
They continue along the trail discussing how the half people all seem to be different, some smarter then others, like the Shun-tuk. They kept to the trail for the rest of the day, keeping watch for any ambush that might spring upon them. They settled into a secluded spot for the night and believing it was safe decided to not take watches but still deciding against a fire. Samantha took some rocks and warmed them up so they didn't have to spend the night freezing. By the next day they had to leave the trail because it stopped heading towards their destination. They continued but kept away from the trampled grass for it meant it has been occupied before, probably by the half deads. Mid day they came upon one near a river. He attacked but Richard was ready and grabbed him. He questioned him about how far away the third kingdom was and them swiftly killed him. Throughout the next day Samantha kept mostly to herself, unnerved by the conversation with the half dead.
Soon after they came upon an incredibly huge wall, taller then the eye could see. They had made it to the barrier wall. They saw half people coming out of the pass and tried to find a way around them but after deciding they couldn't climb the wall or find another entrance they attempted defeat. They made their way around them and managed to slip inside the gate. The world was just like theirs but greenish light floated around everywhere, the glow of the underworld. They kept cautious while traveling through here, careful to avoid the floating light. After a few days of traveling they came upon a wall that suddenly floated up. They tried to ease their way around it, ignoring the voices calling them closer reaching out to them. Samantha stepped ahead and as Richard tried to follow another wall shot up separating them. Richard told her to run and get away before she was trapped to. She went without hesitation.
Samantha saw that Richard was captured by Hannis Arc and tried to follow him but couldn't find an entrance point. After a few days of hiding she got in because most of the Shun-tuk were leaving. A Mord-Sith saw her and told her where Richard was. She went in and found Richard behind a green barrier as explained to him what she had done since. Richard soon figured out he could travel through the green veil because of the touch of death. He did and came out alive and he and Samantha went and found the men, Cara, Nicci, Zedd, and Irena, with whom she was happy to be reunited.
They then planned their escape with Samantha leading the way. Quickly they were ambushed and had to fight their way out. It was a losing battle with so many of the Shun-tuk coming after them but they fought on. Many men were killed, including Ben, but they managed to escape. Later Samantha went back to her home to discover Kahlan wasn't there. She went with Richard and the others to help rescue her.
Personality and traits
Samantha was a young sorceress with long, bushy, curly, black hair and brown eyes. She was often seen wearing a black dress. She was a sorceress just truly coming into her power but was still able to do a fair amount of magic. She was very quick to speak her mind and was often agitated and impatient with people leaving her in the dark. At times she goes into the personality if a sorceress where they speak in riddles. She could be timid and frightened easily when something upsetting happened. She was also quick to doubt herself and her abilities, believing she wasn't good enough to get the job done. She was shown to mature quickly when she had to make the call to let some of her people die in order for Richard and Kahlan to live.
However, Samantha had a deep capacity for anger. Early on it was hinted that, while helpful to their cause, her youth and uncontrollable temper could become very dangerous if misdirected. Ultimately she fell victim to it when she witnessed Richard executing her mother, and decided to ignore Richard's warnings about her. Her anger then consumed her beyond redemption and turned her to the "dark side" in a "Darth Vader" style plot arc that caused her to murder many innocent people in her path including the entire village of Stroyza. Due to the weakening of the veil, she had willingly invited the dark ones that had escaped the underworld into her heart. She ended up inadvertently killing herself with her own powers and recklessness, at which point the demon possessing her was seen to leave. The fate of Samantha's own spirit remains unknown.
Powers and abilities
As the daughter of a sorceress, Samantha inherited the ability to use Additive Magic from her mother. Still at a young age her powers have not come in fully. Samantha has a fair ability with commanding the gift shown by being able to throw focused forces of air and blow up tree trunks as an attack. She is a fast thinker and as a result can do some incredibly spontaneous magic like when she summoned a whirlwind from the dirt in the ground and heated the air in order to make it work faster. She is shown to be quite a talented healer already despite her age, being capable of healing most of Stroyza as well as Richard and Kahlan of their physical injuries after they were attacked by the Half people.
Appearances
- The Third Kingdom (First appearance)
- Severed Souls
- Warheart