History Literature / TheRing

''The Ring'' is a series of novels by Japanese writer Koji Suzuki that details a mysterious curse caused by a woman named Sadako Yamamura. The novel may have been inspired by two [[Creator/MontagueRhodesJames M.R. James]] ghost stories, notably ''The Mezzotint'' and another one, ''Martin's Close'', about a murdered girl in a lake who returns to wreak vengeance from beyond the grave. Physical appearance of the baleful spirit closely resembles an [[StringyHairedGhostGirl onryo]], a traditional Japanese type of ghost on which Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} has more [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onryō here.]] Also, some books on psychic phenomena mention a Japanese woman (first name Shizuko) who performed "spirit photography" on stage in the early 20th century.

* ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'' - On December 14, 2021, it was announced that Chapter 23 will be based on ''Ring'', more specifically the 1998 film. The chapter is represented by Sadako as the Killer and adult Yoichi Asakawa as the Survivor, and was released on March 8, 2022.)

* ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'' - On December 14, 2021, it was announced that Chapter 23 will be based on Ring, more specifically the 1998 film. The chapter is represented by Sadako as the Killer and adult Yoichi Asakawa as the Survivor, and was released on March 8, 2022.)

** There is a rumor that in 1999 a cut of the movie shown at a film festival in Brussels took this UpToEleven with the mouths of the victims being "a narrow vertical opening." Despite numerous people claiming to have seen [[http://www.curseofthering.com/brussels.php the "Brussels cut"]], Hideo Nakata has emphatically denied that such a version exists.

** Ryuji also possesses them to a degree in the film, and Yoichi later gains them (although it is implied that he inherited mild powers from his father, it is strongly implied that he gained even stronger, deadlier powers from Sadako's influence). ** Everyone who comes into contact with Sadako and survives gains some of her psychic powers, as Mai and Masami do in ''Ring 2''.

** Takashi, Sadako's uncle (her mother's cousin in the novel). He's only a very minor MrExposition in the novel who only appears directly in a brief scene towards the end of the book. In the 1998 film his role is expanded, and he has a major role in the sequel ''Ring 2''.

** Both Reiko and Rachel in the film adaptations.

* ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'' - On December 14, 2021, it was announced that Chapter 23 will be based on Ringu, more specifically the original Japanese novel and 1998 film. The chapter is represented by Sadako as the Killer and adult Yoichi Asakawa as the Survivor, and it is slated to release on March 8, 2022.)

** In the Japanese films, it's highly implied that Sadako's biological father is some of kind of an oceanic deity, making Sadako a demigoddess. The American remake is much more vague, but judging the the words of their neighbors, it is implied that Samara was not conceived in a normal manner.

* FormulaBrakingEpisode:

* TheIllegible: One of the menu items in ''Terror's Realm'' reads "Baked Jelly", but between that being such an odd thing to advertise and the low resolution of the texture involved, it can be very difficult to decipher.

* AdultFear:
** Kazuyuki is fairly collected at first in the face of imminent death. It's the imminent deaths of his ''wife and daughter'' that panics him.
** This theme is inverted in ''Spiral'': Andou has already lost his son, and he ends up making an extreme moral compromise because Sadako can bring him back.
** ''Loop'': Reiko has to watch her son commit suicide and later finds out that, in a way, she was partly responsible.
** ''S'' has the protagonist, Takanori, realizing that his girlfriend, who is several months pregnant, is being stalked by a serial killer.

* DemotedToExtra: Mai Takano has a minor put fairly prominent role in the original ''Ring'' novel, plays a major part in ''Spiral'' and is the protagonist of the short story ''Coffin in the Sky''. While her role in the Japanese film is minor, she plays a major part in both its sequels ''Rasen'' and ''Ring 2'', even becoming the protagonist in the latter. Beth, her counterpart in the American film only appears in two brief scenes, having no lines in the second one, has no impact on the plot and doesn't return in the sequel.

* InNameOnly: Have you ever wondered how ''Ring 0: Birthday'' got its title? It was adapted from a short story called ''Lemon Heart'', which was published in the anthology called ''Birthday''... but ''Birthday'' itself got its name from a different short story in the anthology, ''Happy Birthday'', which did not make it to the film and in fact, has never been adapted in any way, shape, or form (even the anthology's manga adaptation replaced it with an original story). The correct title would've been something like ''Ring 0: Lemon Heart''.

** Asakawa's daughter Yoko is strictly a MoralityPet in the novel (justified, given that she is only an an infant). Her counterparts in the Japanese and American films, Yoichi and Aidan, are given an AgeLift and a psychic connection with Sadako/Samara, becoming more involved in the story.

* AdaptedOut: Shizuka, Asakawa's wife, is removed from all adaptations except ''Ring: Kanzenban''. ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' has Asakawa being a widower, and his counterparts in the film adaptations are all single mothers.
* AdaptationalJobChange: Ryuji Takayama is a university lecturer in the novel and Japanese film. Choi Yeol, his counterpart in the South Korean film, is instead a coroner.

* DeathByAdaptation: Sorta. In ''Ring 0: Birthday'', [[spoiler: Toyama is one of the casualties of Sadako's rampage after she merges with her SuperpoweredEvilSide, and he dies rather unceremoniously, too, if his screams are any indication.]] Meanwhile, in the short story the film is based on, ''Lemonheart'', [[spoiler: not only is Toyama spared from being involved in those horrors, he gets to live a long and meaningful life without Sadako. In his death throes, he even welcomes Sadako, who comes to ease his passing.]]

* ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' (1999) - An adaptation of the first novel, but takes a lot of liberties with the story.
* ''Rasen'' (1999) - The sequel series, adapting the second novel but again taking liberties and introducing a subplot involving a cyberterrorist called the [[DarkMessiah King of Terror]], who plans to use Sadako's videotape to destroy the world.

* AchillesHeel: The video tape counts as Sadako's and Samara's. If a cursed victim watches the tape, but does not show it to someone else before they die then the curse cannot be continued… unless they leave their copy where someone else can happen across it.

* AgeLift: Sadako is an adult at the time of her death in the novels and Japanese films, but Samara, her counterpart in the American films is only a child.

** Sadako/Samara, usually, in the StringyHairedGhostGirl manner.

* {{Fingore}}: Sadako and Samara's fingers are lacking nails, due to repeated (failed) attempts to climb out of the well. In particular, Sadako's nail-less fingers are shown in extreme closeup in the first movie. In the first American movie, Samara's cursed tape features images of twitching severed fingers in a box, and a finger being impaled on a tack so that the whole nail is pushed loose.
* {{Flashback}}: In the Japanese and American versions, there is a scene which shows how Sadako/Samara got in the well.

* GhostlyGoals: Sadako (and in the remake, Samara) wants to cause as much suffering to the world, just as she had to experience when she was alive.

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: In the both film adaptations, Reiko/Rachel finds Sadako's/Samara's body and removes it from the well. It's treated like they exorcised the curse, but this is not the case...]]

* TheIllegible: One of the menu items in ''Terror's Realm'' reads "Baked Jelly", but between that being such an odd thing to advertise and the low resolution of the texture involved, it can be very difficult to decipher, as WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment proved.

* InvincibleBoogeymen: Sadako and Samara are utterly unstoppable: once you've seen the cursed tape, your death is totally assured. When the ghost herself finally appears in person to claim a victim, she cannot be fought in any way.

*** Same goes for the Japanese version when Reiko and Ryūji [[spoiler:free Sadako’s body and soul from the well]], they go back and live their lives...until the TV at Ryūji’s house [[spoiler:starts playing the tape again, only this time Sadako is successful in climbing out the well, and later out of the TV]].

* OminousTelevision: Every version of the story makes copious use of the television even before we see Samara/Sadako. Notable examples include the television turning on by itself at the end of the US version's stinger after Katie tells Becca about the tape, the creepy crawlies coming out of the TV, and the amount of discussion in the original version about urban legends to do with local television stations and rogue broadcasts.
* OminousVisualGlitch: After someone watches the videotape and is marked for death by Sadako/Samara, any attempt to take their picture results in their face appearing distorted.

** Sadako and Samara obviously have them, as does Shizuko.
** Ryuji also possesses them to a degree, and Yoichi later gains them (although it is implied that he inherited mild powers from his father, it is strongly implied that he gained even stronger, deadlier powers from Sadako's influence). ** Everyone who comes into contact with Sadako and survives gains some of her psychic powers, as Mai and Masami do in ''Ring 2''.

* SettingUpdate: Instead of Japan, the US and Korean versions are set in the USA and Korea, respectively.

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: Sadako/Samara, who, along with Kayako Saeki from ''Film/{{Juon}}'', [[TropeCodifier revitalized and popularized this concept in modern media]].

** [[spoiler: Sadako/Samara can emerge from a TV screen.]]
* ThrownDownAWell: Sadako/Samara's fate. The ring itself is the small amount of light coming out from a rock at the top of the well.

* UndeadBarefooter: Sadako and her American counterpart Samara are barefoot when they emerge from their wells.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** ''Loop'' is not often talked about (hardly mentioned on this page even) likely because it moves away from the Sadako curse horror story and extends into science fiction. In great detail [[spoiler: it practically retcons the events of the first two novels as being part of a virtual world experiment. The Ring Virus in the virtual world is seen as an equivalent to a new form of cancer in the real world, and the protagonist has to utilize this to save his girlfriend.]]
** The switch to science fiction has actually been done since ''Spiral'', as while Sadako is still the BigBad, the novel explains that the curse is cancer that has two forms instead of the eldritch curse typical of a psychological horror fiction. The shift is more noticeable in the film adaptations; you'd be shocked that both ''Ring'' and ''Rasen'' films are part of the same franchise, considering their wildly different tone (thriller in the former and medical drama in the latter).

** Most of the adaptations change the tone of the story significantly, mainly to make it more palatable to horror audiences.

* AdaptedOut: Shizuka, Asakawa's wife, is removed from all adaptations except ''Ring: Kanzenban''. ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' has Asakawa being a widower, and his counterparts in the film adaptations are all single mothers.aka

* AdaptedOut: Shizuka, Asakawa's wife, is removed from all adaptations except ''Ring: Kanzenban''. ''Ring: The Final Chapter'' has Asakawa being a widower, and his counterparts in the film adaptations are all single mothers.

** Sadako's father Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma seems to have had a good relationship with his daughter in the novel, as she cared for him as he was dying of tuberculosis. In the Japanese film he's the one resposible for throwing Sadako down the well.