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Sarah Jeanette Connor[1] (born fall, 1965)[2][3][4], is a legendary figure and the mother of John Connor, the leader of the Resistance during the Future War, as well as teaching him in the ways of war. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.

Original timeline[]

Sarah Connor was born in 1965 to a waitress mother and a veteran father. As a child, her father walked out on her and her mother. Sarah Connor lived a normal life when growing up. At the age of 19, she studied at West Los Angeles Junior College[5] while working as a teenage waitress[6] at Big Jeff's family restaurant and shared a two-story apartment in the Palm District with her roommate Ginger Ventura while studying at West Los Angeles College.[7]

During the Future War, Sarah Connor had become a legendary figure, who taught her son John to fight and organize, preparing him for the coming War.

The Terminator[]

Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese

Kyle giving comfort to Sarah.

Sarah Connor lived an ordinary life. However, everything Sarah had ever known was to change on May 12th, 1984. Sarah found herself pursued by a relentless cyborg killer, the Terminator; a Series 800 Model 101 Infiltrator unit for reasons completely unknown to her.

She was rescued from the Terminator by time-traveling soldier Kyle Reese, who explained that in the future, an artificial intelligence called Skynet would be created by military software developers to make strategic decisions. The program became self-aware, seized control of most of the world's military hardware, including various highly-advanced robots, and launched an all-out attack on human beings — the Judgment Day. However, a man named John Connor eventually led the human Resistance group Tech-Com to victory, only to discover that in a last-ditch effort, Skynet had developed a time travel mechanism and sent a robot killer back in time in an effort to destroy John Connor's family before he could be born. John Connor was Sarah's future son, and Connor sent back a trusted soldier, Reese, to protect his mother at all costs. During their brief time together, Sarah fell in love with Reese. Reese became the only hope protecting her from the Terminator and her only companion as they fled together.

Sarah Connor Finale

Sarah tries to escape from The Terminator's endoskeleton arm.

The Terminator killed a number of people in order to get to Sarah Connor, including two other women in the Los Angeles area who shared her name, her mother and Ginger. Initially, she was unaware that Reese himself had been in love with her from afar, having been given a picture of her by John Connor, and having always admired her legendary strength and resilience. They shared a night of intimacy that resulted in the conception of John. Their relationship was cut short when Reese died fighting the Terminator in a Cyberdyne factory; Sarah, in turn, crushed the Terminator in a hydraulic press.

Sarah Connor Ending

Sarah driving away towards a dark future.

Though Reese's death deeply saddened her, his sincerity and courage inspired Sarah to carry on and develop the necessary skills and abilities that would make her a suitable mentor and teacher to John. The Terminator

Deviating timelines[]

Note: Several timelines begin after the events of The Terminator, including Judgment Day, T2 Trilogy, The New John Connor Chronicles, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Rise of the Machines, and Dark Fate, and a timeline where the Judgment Day never happens.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day[]

Sarah connor 05

Sarah Connor (1995)

Going into hiding, Sarah gave birth to John on February 28, 1985, and immediately entered into a mostly fugitive lifestyle, beginning his training and learning from whoever would teach them. The two lived as nomads, spending a lot of time in South and Central America. It was not until she attempted to blow up the local offices of some computer corporation back in Los Angeles, getting herself caught by the police that she was seen again by the authorities. Upon trying to warn of the impending Judgment Day, Sarah was handed over to the custody of Dr. Peter Silberman at the Pescadero State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a prison facility charged with the care and interment of people with mental problems. She was diagnosed with acute schizo-affective disorder and institutionalized, her son John being put into foster care.

When Sarah was 29 years old, another Terminator, this time a T-1000, was sent back to eliminate Sarah's 10-year-old son John. Sarah broke out of her cell and neutralized Douglas by breaking his nose with a broken broom handle. She then knocked out another staff member and broke Dr. Silberman's arm, threatening to poison him to get the other staff to release her by unlocking the security doors. However, a backup member released Silberman and Sarah escaped to the elevators, while the staff desperately chased her all the way.

Sarah quickly ran to the elevator bank, waiting anxiously. Just then, the second T-800 exited the elevator. Sarah recognized her old enemy and ran in absolute terror as she believes the Terminator was there for the same reason as the T-800 back in 1984 — to kill her and John. John exited the elevator and run after her. The staff caught up and restrained Sarah while Dr. Silberman attempted to sedate her. However, before they could the T-800 incapacitates them all, except Silberman, on John's orders.

With the help of her son, and the reprogrammed 800 Series Terminator sent back in time to protect him, Sarah broke out of Pescadero. Sarah, John, and the T-800 fled toward Mexico, meeting up with Sarah's gun-running friend Enrique Salceda and his family. Enrique had been taking care of an underground bunker filled with Sarah's weapons. Trying to prevent Judgment Day, Sarah found out about Skynet's construction by Miles Dyson from the T-800 termanator and set out to eliminate him. Although she found herself unable to simply murder him in cold blood, she helped convince Dyson to stop work on Skynet and destroy all his files and the Cyberdyne Systems building. Upon the destruction of Cyberdyne, which resulted in Dyson's death, and the destruction of both Terminators, Sarah took John back into hiding, continuing to train him to become the great military leader and tactician he would be in the future. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Alternate future[]

T2-sarah-film-altend

Because Sarah, John, and the T-800 successfully destroyed the laboratory of Cyberdyne Systems, the Judgment Day never occurs. In the year 2027, John Connor is a U.S. Senator and has a child of his own. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (alternative ending)

Notes[]

  • When Sarah's group infiltrates the Cyberdyne building, Sarah is wearing Kyle Reese's light blue trench coat from the start of the first movie.
  • Sarah Connor was voted #5 on Revolution's Top 10 SF Movie Heroines of all time, with Ellen Ripley (the Alien saga) being #1.[8]

Sarah's Year of Birth[]

The Film Franchise

According to the script for The Terminator in the Special Edition DVD, Sarah was 19 years old. The film was set from May 12 through May 14 of 1984, placing her birth date between 1964-5-15 and 1965-5-12.

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah's psychologist states that she is 29. The film itself takes place on a summer weekend when John (born 1985-2-28) is age 10, setting the date of T2 between 1995-06-21 and 1995-09-23. This places Sarah's birth date between 1965-06-22 and 1966-09-23, making her 17 or 18 during The Terminator.

The ending credits of Terminator: Dark Fate state that Sarah was 33 years old in the opening scene of the film, which takes place in 1998.[9] This suggests that Sarah was born in either 1964 or 1965.

There is no overlap in the date ranges suggested by the first two films, thus one of the stated ages must be incorrect. If we assume Sarah was 18 during The Terminator, 19 when John was born, and 29 during the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, then this places Sarah's date of birth between 22 June 1965 and 28 February 1966. It is also been highly speculated that Sarah's exact date of birth is 13 November 1965.

The tombstone shown in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) reads 1959–1997. The birth year would make her 24 or 25 during The Terminator. Her death was described as from leukemia shortly after the original Judgment Day (1997-8-29). It is argued that she and John were living "off the grid" in her adult years, routinely using false names, birth dates, inter alias; and that her tomb was really a weapons cache. Nevertheless, the age of John in Rise of Machines timeline(s) shows an inconsistency with other timelines.

For comparison, Linda Hamilton was born in September 1956, three years before 1959, the year given for Sarah's birth in T3.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

The timeline in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is different from that in the films. In the SCC timeline, the events of The Terminator take place in February 1983, and those of Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1997.

In the Pilot episode, Sarah's FBI file lists her age as 33 on 1999-08-24, placing her birth date between 1965-08-25 and 1966-08-24. This would make her 16 or 17 during The Terminator.

In the episode Strange Things Happen at the One Two Point, Sarah states that she was 19 when John was born. John's birth date in this timeline is 1983-11-14, thus placing Sarah's birth date between 1963-11-15 and 1964-11-14.

Since these is no overlap in the above date ranges, one of the stated ages must be incorrect. If we assume Sarah was 18 during The Terminator and 19 when John was born (same as in the films), then Sarah would have been born in 1964 sometime between February (exact day unknown) and 14 November. Her age in the Pilot would be 34 or 35, depending on whether she was born before or after 24 August.

For comparison, Lena Headey was born in October 1973, making her 33 at the start of filming in January 2007, and the same age Sarah is said to be in 1999.

Sarah's Fate[]

In the original timeline as mentioned in the novelization of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor dies when John Connor is in his mid-twenties when a supply convoy from Mexico led by her is ambushed by a squad of HKs.

The alternate ending for Terminator 2: Judgment Day in the Ultimate Edition DVD shows Sarah alive and well on August 29, 2029. She is by then a grandmother (and John is a Senator) in a world where Skynet was never able to start its war on humanity.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles timeline establishes that Sarah would have died of cancer in 2005 if she hadn't jumped forward to 2007.[10] Therefore, if she does not receive treatment (or a cure) for her condition, she can expect to die sometime in 2013, assuming the time travel or other factors related to the relocation does not affect the progress of the disease. This bears some similarity to the Rise of the Machines version of Sarah, who also dies sometime after the original date (29 August 1997) of Judgment Day.

Merchandise[]

This character article is a stub, it is missing information on toys or merchandise. You can help Terminator Wiki by expanding it.
Hot Toys
  • Sarah Connor (1/6th scale collectible figure, 2010)
    • Product code: MMS119
    • Accessories: detachable and interchangeable fringes, interchangeable palms, extra right palms, assault rifle with a silencer, shotgun with a folding stock, pistol, combat knife with leather sheath, sunglasses, cigarette, cap, wristband, figure base with Sarah Connor nameplate and the movie logo
Sarah Connor at Hot Toys

Appearances[]

Films
Television series
Main article: Sarah Connor (TSCC)
Comics
Novels
Video games
Roleplaying games

References[]

  1. The Terminator, page 29. November 1985. ISBN 0-553-25317-4
  2. "Skynet Database: Human Central Archive", featured in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines DVD, which specifies the year as 1965.
  3. Toyfare issue 142, page 54, 55, June, 2009
  4. To match the age (29) mentioned in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the age (33) shown on screen in the pilot episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sarah would have to be born between 1965-08-25 and 1965-12-31.
  5. The Terminator (Frakes novel)
  6. Technically, she was a busgirl, and was merely training as a waitress on the day she is shown in the restaurant.
  7. The Terminator (Frakes novel)
  8. Revolution's Top 10
  9. Per Maddy Curley's credit as "Sarah (age 33) stunt double".
  10. In the episode "Gnothi Seauton", Cameron Phillips mentions that Sarah would have died from cancer in 2005, had they not jumped forward in time, and she would not be able to help fight Skynet. Cameron also mentions that John Connor sent Cameron back in time to let Sarah jump to 2007.
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