WARNING: All spoilers are unmarked due to the inherent nature of discussing the game's plot twists. If you have not played to the end of the game, please read at your own discretion.
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Waywright Students
Sam
Sam Holt
She is the titular character of the short indie horror game Love, Sam. A city girl from San Diego who just recently moved to a small town named Rosen Peek.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Not only did Sam fall off a cliff, but she broke every bone in her body, including her neck, and slowly choked to death on her own blood.
- Cute Bookworm: Sam seems like this at first... And it turns out she actually is! Perfectly sane, too.
- Deus Angst Machina: Before moving to Rosen Peek, she's already had a lot of horrible experiences in her life. First, her former friends in San Diego turned against her. Second, she realizes her father is a child molester and because of this, it's implied she's bullied online (i.e. While reading Kyle's diary about planning to sabotage Sam; outside the diary at the top right corner shows online posts about people's reaction after knowing Sam's father molested a teenager and all of them were negative). When Sam moves to Rosen Peek, she already receives bullying from Stacy on the first day of school. She thought all of the bad things would subside after befriending Brian but NO — it just gets worst. Befriending Brian basically led to Kyle's jealousy-filled rampage towards her and he started to plan to separate them by attempting to embarrass Sam at Stacy's late post-victory party by spiking her drink and humiliate her in her drunken state (which fortunately failed). When Kyle had enough, he decided to frame his stalkings to Sam, and that plan succeeded which made Brian disgusted of her and stopped contacting him (without Brian knowing the truth). That was her last contact ever with Brian and in the end, she was confronted by an angry and heartbroken Kyle that pushed her off the hill while she was left alone dying slowly on a rainy night.
- Hell Is That Noise: The ghost makes a creaky croaking noise exactly like The Grudge... It's the last noise Sam made as she choked on her own blood.
- Mistaken for Insane: Since the beginning of the game, we are lead to believe that Sam is the Ax-Crazy Yandere for Brian but as the game progresses, it's not her who is insane. In fact, Sam is baffled when Brian suddenly started to become distant to her and even asked if she "called her in the middle of the night again" – which confused Sam. After Kyle stuffs pictures of Brian (that he photographed) in Sam's locker, everyone started to become repulsed of her – even Brian. In the end, no one knew she was innocent.
- Secondary Character Title: Sam may be a central character, but she's not the protagonist — Kyle is. The title serves to bolster the Bait-and-Switch that comes later on.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Sam was exposed (by Kyle) for having a father who is a child molester — which ruined her reputation.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: She's the ghost that jumpscares the player throughout the game.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sam tends to roast Stacy and Kyle (especially Stacy) in her diary. Very much understandable since the couple made her school life a living hell.Sam Holt's diary entry - August 22, 2006: "Stacy is a classic (FYI she's the one who talked crap about my favorite vintage shirt). I didn't want to start talking shit about someone already, but how could I resist? Every time I get in Stacy's view triggered an obvious backbite. I'm seriously starting to think she's under a curse that kills her if she stopped talking about someone else. Sadly, coping with her bitchiness wasn't the hardest part of the day."Sam Holt's diary entry - September 25, 2006: "The Golems just OBLITERATED The Hammerheads today! I now know why they say Brain and Kyle are more than buds. I would have called them an awesome duo too if only Kyle wasn't an assload of a douche. I mean, the guy has his name tattooed on his arm! Call me old fashioned, but I think he should go to a hospital and get that ego checked out cuz it must be swollen huge."Sam Holt's diary entry - November 2, 2006: "I know I used half of this diary writing about Stacy being a bitch, but now she's just unstable."
- Vengeful Ghost: It seems like Kyle is being haunted by Sam's ghost, for killing her though it's probably just a metaphor for his guilt though.
Brian
Brian Colmer
He is a character from the short indie horror game Love, Sam and is the love interest of the stalker.
- Academic Athlete: Brian is a superstar athlete and a bookworm.
- Big Man on Campus: Known for being athletic, smart, nice, and good-looking. Basically an ideal love interest in one of those teen romcoms.
- Lovable Jock: Sam expects to hate Brian for being a jock, but she eventually warms up to him for being a Nice Guy.
- Missing Mom: Brian's mother passed away a year before Sam transferred to Waywright Academy.
- The Ace: Brian is perfect. It seems like everyone has a crush on him. Even the Guys Want Him but...
- Broken Ace: Brian is flawless, but only because society pressures him so. He's really torn up over his mom's recent death too.
- The Quarterback: He is the best quarterback at his school.
- Stepford Smiler: Brian confesses to Sam that he's been trying look "okay" for others despite the pressure from school and dealing with his overbearing father.
Stacy
Stacy Lanings
She is a character from the short indie horror game Love, Sam. She mostly acts as an unimportant character at first until she exposes Kyle's misdeeds to Brian.
- Alpha Bitch: She is the so-called "Queen of Waywright Academy" and the one that insulted Sam's vintage shirt at her first day of school. Even Sam notes that she looks like she came out from a cheesy teen drama.Sam Holt's diary entry - August 22, 2006: "It's like she jumped straight out of a cheesy teen drama. Blonde, hot, always talking, and a cheerleader. She even has a beefy jock for a boyfriend."
- The Beard: Kyle dates her despite his obsessive crush on his best friend, Brian.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Stacy eventually gets fed up with Kyle's obsessive hatred of Sam and snitches on him to Brian. Not out of sympathy for Sam, but because she mistakenly believes that Kyle wants to get rid of Brian so he could have Sam.
- Spanner in the Works: Though she's mentioned a lot, Stacy is a minor character. She does, however, have one moment where she changes everything, by betraying Kyle. If it weren't for that petty little gesture, Kyle wouldn't have been driven to murder-suicide.
Kyle
Kyle
Kyle is the protagonist of the short indie horror game Love, Sam.
- Accidental Murder: Kyle's emotional confrontation with Sam ends with him accidentally scaring her off a cliff, which gets her killed.
- Armored Closet Gay: Kyle seems like a meatheaded stereotypical jock, but he's actually a psychological mess who hates himself for being gay. For extra metaphorical points, his final return to the apartment before the ending has him literally come out of a closet.
- Big Bad: The stalker. Who isn't Sam, nor Stacy, but Kyle.
- Camera Fiend: The stalker keeps taking photographs of the player without their permission. It's a combination of Kyle stalking Brian, and Sam's ghost stalking Kyle.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: As soon as Sam became friends with Brian was as soon as Kyle's growing distaste for Sam — which eventually led to her death.
- Death Glare: Before actually talking to Sam at Colton Hill which ultimately ended up in her death, their other interactions involve Kyle just giving her that stare whenever she passes by.
- Depraved Homosexual: Kyle is a gay Yandere.
- Driven to Suicide: Out of guilt and despair, Kyle tries this. But whether he goes through with it or not is up to the player.
- Frameup: Kyle frames his obsessive stalkings on Sam.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Kyle is driven to stalking and murder over the jealousy of Sam and Brian's relationship.
- Featureless Protagonist: We never get to see what Kyle actually looks like (additionally Stacy as well). So far, only Sam and Brian made an actual appearance in the game (Sam has conveniently long brown hair and wears a simple shirt with jeans and flats, while Brian has short brown hair and wears a long-sleeved blue shirt with jeans and trainers). We may never see what they look like, but Sam does describe Stacy as a "blonde, hot girl" while Kyle is "her beefy jock boyfriend". What's more is that, even if Kyle has a mirror in his bathroom, we still never saw his face (Plus, later on the wall beside the mirror has red writing on it that says "You don't deserve a face").
- Jerk Jock: While Brian is a Lovable Jock, Kyle is definitely a Jerkass... Especially when it turns out he's a murderous stalker.
- Karma Houdini: Downplayed; Kyle is quickly exposed for his cruel pranks toward Sam, and gets shunned by everyone, including Stacy and Brian. However, he gets no comeuppance for murdering Sam. However, the player has the option to make him confess his crime to the police, subverting this trope.
- Kill It with Fire: Kyle burns all of the evidence (i.e. the notes and journals) and has such little to live for that he doesn't really resist the flames himself.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Kyle ruins Sam's life and kills her for Brian.
- Madness Mantra: A part before a mini-game where the player has to stare into the diary, the phrase repeated on the previous page were filled with: "PLEASE DON'T LOOK AWAY" written on it. This informs the player to stare into the next page and also implies Kyle not wanting Brian to look away from him (and him hating Brian looking at other people other than him).
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Kyle killed Sam because he that she was getting in the way of his relationship with Brian.
- Never My Fault: Kyle insists that what happened is Sam's fault for getting in the way, not his. Kyle's final choice is whether or not he wants to maintain this mentality by choosing whether or not he gets to keep the diary in which he ostensibly paints himself as the real victim of the story. The better ending arguably happens by him refusing to do so, burning the diary and finally coming clean to the police.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: After Stacy tattletales Kyle's misdeeds to Brian, Kyle begs Brian to not leave him. He does this upon text messaging.Kyle: Please man.Stacy got it all wrong.I was just trying to prevent Sam from getting into your head.Please B.Don't do this.Text me back.Please.
- Removing the Rival: Kyle tries removing Brian's new friend, Sam. First, he ruins Sam's reputation by framing her as Brian's stalker (e.g. Calling Brian in the middle of the night — listening to his voice silently, drawing hearts everywhere at school with Sam + Brian written on them, and putting all pictures of Brian in Sam's locker). Then, after Brian finds out and "dumps" him, Kyle snaps and kills her. It's ambiguous whether or not it was on purpose.
- Small Role, Big Impact: It seems at first like Kyle is a background character.... That's exactly what he wants you to think.
- Villain Protagonist: Kyle is such a central character that he's also the Big Bad.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Stacy sent pictures of Sam's diary entries to Kyle, he finally lost it after knowing Brian took Sam on a tour of the town and them spending time Colton Hill (which was Kyle's favorite place to spend time with Brian). After Stacy snitching on him, he decided to finish Sam off.
- Yandere: The journal is written from the perspective of a Stalker with a Crush on Brian. It's set up to be Sam's, but it's actually Kyle's.
