Sam and Hannah

Sam and Hannah
Relationship	Friendship
Status	Inactive (Due to Hannah's death)
← Previous	Mike and Sam
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“	Hannah! Hannah, hey, honey... Don't... it's just a... stupid prank.	”
—Sam

Sam and Hannah is a friendship in Until Dawn.

Overview

Hannah and Sam were best friends. Though they do not get much screentime together throughout the game, elements of their friendship can be seen as you explore and learn more about the past.

Among the group, it appears as though Sam was one of the most understanding of Hannah. She defended Hannah's feelings to the others and argued against her being pranked. She is one of three protagonists, the others being Josh and Chris, to have not participated in the prank.

Until Dawn

One Year Ago

A year before the main events of the game, Hannah and Sam were with the other protagonists and Beth at a party which took place at the Washington Lodge. In both the remake and original versions of the game, Sam protests the others’ plan to prank Hannah, calling it cruel, and she sticks up for Hannah by saying it’s not her fault she has a crush on Mike.

In the remake, Jessica uses a sketch Sam had drawn of Hannah as part of the prank by adding a heart onto the artwork and writing a fake love letter on the back.

Sam’s reaction to the prank differs slightly between the original and remake. In the original, she goes to look for Hannah immediately, while in the remake she stays in the side room. In either case, she arrives at the guest room after the prank has happened and tries to comfort Hannah. In the remake, this scene has more details, such as Sam flipping on a light and Hannah appearing disoriented upon seeing her in the doorway.

After Hannah runs from the lodge and Beth follows, Sam snaps angrily at rest of the group and tells Mike not to go after the twins, telling him that he’s the last person Hannah would want to see.

Chapter 1

Sam returns to Blackwood Pines one year after the twins’ disappearance. On her bus ride there, she listens to a news report about Hannah and Beth’s case before watching a video in which Josh welcomes his friends back to the mountain. When she enters Blackwood Pines, Sam’s introduction card appears and labels her “Hannah’s best friend.”

Chapter 2

While searching the lodge, Chris may find an old prom photo showing that Sam and Hannah attended prom together with Mike and Emily. This photo can also be found later by Sam.

Sam and Hannah spending time together at prom.

Sam can explore Hannah’s room. She goes through various mementos and clues left behind, such as a dating quiz Hannah had taken to see her compatibility with Mike. Several items which Hannah has kept are related to Sam; there is a photo of Sam on a pinboard and a postcard which Sam had previously sent to the Washington siblings, inviting them to a Halloween party.

Chapter 6

While exploring the basement, Chris and Ashley come upon Hannah’s diary which Ashley reads. One entry found in the remake confirms that, because of Sam’s sketch, Hannah assumed that Sam had been helping Mike ask her out: “It was like getting a little love letter - Is Sam in on it?? Cause there was even a little drawing of me on the back, so sweet!” Hannah was shown writing this entry in the remake's prologue, shortly after reading the letter.

Chapter 7

If she escaped the Psycho in Chapter 5, Sam will find his workshop. In it, she can discover a Remembrance Board of Hannah and Beth which she will comment on, calling it “creep city.” If this clue is found, she will tell Mike that the Psycho seems obsessed with Hannah and Beth.

Chapter 10

Together, Sam and Mike unravel the mystery of what happened to the twins. If enough clues are found, they will realize that Beth died one year ago and that Hannah made a grave for her but dug her back up. While reading the scrawled journal, Sam will become more and more emotional, realizing the truth about what happened to her best friend: driven to hunger, she dug Beth up and ate her body, which transformed her into a Wendigo. She will tell Mike that Hannah had to have been starving and desperate. Upon finding Josh, Sam will tell him the truth about Hannah which will cause him to recognize the Wendigo as his sister, saving his life.

Hannah attacking the miner wendigo, and Sam reaching the switch.

During the final confrontation in the lodge, Hannah and Sam will meet again. If Sam fails a Don’t Move section, then Hannah will catch her and impale her. However, if Sam runs for the switch, then Hannah will pounce, catching a miner Wendigo near Sam which saves her.

Credits

If alive during the credits, Sam will always tell the police that she talked to Josh after his sisters disappeared and that she thought they had a connection. It is possible that part of this connection was their mutual love for Hannah.

The Scar's Awakening

A post-credits scene shows insight into Sam's future. Some years after the events on Blackwood Mountain, Sam is still struggling with everything that transpired. This scene includes a moment that shows Sam has her own copy of the prom photo featuring herself, Hannah, Mike, and Emily.

Trivia

• In the remake, two photos of Sam appear in Hannah's bedroom. There is one on a pinboard and one on the vanity mirror.
  • The photo on the pinboard is present in the original.
• Sam is the only protagonist who can enter Hannah's bedroom.
• Both Hannah and Sam appear to have a love of animals.
  • Sam stops to feed a squirrel in chapter one, her bio states that she wants to be a conservationist, her phone background in a post-credits scene of the remake indicates that she has a dog, and her actress - Hayden Panettiere - has stated that Sam is vegan.
  • Hannah rides horses, and details in her room show that she is fond of owls and butterflies. In the remake, several more pictures of dogs, cats, and birds are found throughout her room.
• In a podcast interview with Will Byles, the director of the game, he addressed whether or not Hannah intentionally saved Sam at the end. Byles responded by saying that it is ambiguous. Wendigos often attack motion, and Hannah did spot the miner Wendigo. However, he also states that some of Hannah was still within the Wendigo, and that she could have recognized Sam in this moment. Josh and Sam are the two examples he gives of Hannah understanding who one of the protagonists is.
• On his website, the narrative designer of the remake, Will McNally, wrote about Sam and mentioned that he added the moment when she flips a light switch on Hannah during the prologue in order to contrast the light switch moment at the end.
  • "In the perfect ending, all of [Sam’s] friends get out before she makes a final dash for the light switch, turning it on, mirroring the exact moment from the prologue of her turning on the light, changing Hannah’s life forever. However, this time, Sam’s actions save her surviving friends, and release her once best friend, redeeming her from a moment she has thought about every day for a year."
• Cut dialogue shows that Sam was initially participating in the prank on Hannah but, feeling that the joke had gone too far, exposed everything when Hannah began to take her top off.
• In the original game, Sam's bracelet - which Ashley claims she never takes off - is of a similar design to the ones on Hannah and Beth's remembrance board.
• While Sam doesn't understand the rules of tennis and tells Josh she's more of a "ping-pong" gal, Hannah is a bronze medalist in tennis.
• Hannah and Sam do not appear to have been particularly close in the PlayStation 3 prototype.

Quotes

• "It's not her fault that she has a huge crush on Mike-" - Sam discouraging the others from pranking Hannah.

• "Gee Hannah... crush much...?" - Sam, upon finding a hidden picture of Mike on Hannah's pinboard.

• "I think... Hannah dug up Beth. It was Hannah!" - Sam, beginning to understand Hannah's fate.
  • "No that's - that's ridiculous" - Mike.
  • "Michael... Michael, it has to be. It's the only thing that makes sense- Beth died in the fall." - Sam.
  • "So what... what does that mean-" - Mike.
  • "So Hannah must have buried her." - Sam.
  • "Goddammit... God-dammit." - Mike.
  • "Hannah was down here... for..." - Sam.
  • "I don't believe any of this!" - Mike.
  • "She would have been starving... she would have been desperate-" - Sam.
  • "Fuck!" - Mike.
  • "We need to find Josh. Right now." - Sam upon finding the Scrawled Journal.

• "Josh... Hannah was down here for... weeks... a month?! She dug Beth up!" - Sam telling Josh about what happened to Hannah.