Samantha Carter

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Character
Name: Samantha Carter; Sam
Occupation: physicist; military officer; member of SG-1; head of Atlantis expedition
Relationships: teammates Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, Vala Mal Doran, Cameron Mitchell, colleague and friend Janet Fraiser,
father Jacob Carter
Fandom: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis
Other: played by Amanda Tapping
portrait of Samantha Carter, artist is Kate Nuernberg: art is 3" by 4.5"
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Samantha Carter is a main character on the television shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.

Canon Background

Carter is both a world-class astrophysicist and a career military officer, and for years was the Stargate universe's leading expert on alien technology, including Ancient tech (although Rodney McKay later took precedence there thanks to his years on Atlantis studying Ancient tech in situ).

At the beginning of SG1, she was ranked captain, and during the course of the series gradually moved up through major and then to lieutenant colonel. She was promoted to full colonel offscreen in time to take command of the Atlantis expedition (in that show's fourth season), replacing Elizabeth Weir. Her mix of military and science acumen gave her a strong understanding of the driving forces behind both sides of the expedition. She was recalled back to Earth after a year so that the IOA could put a bureaucrat of their own choosing in charge.

During SG-1's first encounter with the Tok'ra in SG-1's second season, Sam temporarily becomes the host of Jolinar of Malkshur. Because Jolinar leaves Sam with her memories and emotions, Sam's personality may have been permanently and completely altered by the encounter. In particular, Jolinar's previous relationship with another Tok'ra called Martouf affects Sam's feelings for him. Also, her body chemistry remains altered, and she does, among other things, have a heightened immunity to various drugs. The Naquadah left in Sam's body enables her to use Goa'uld technology.

Sam had several more-or-less canonical relationships during Stargate SG-1. While she was never married (unlike Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c), she was engaged to Jonas Hanson pre-series. Later she developed a relationship with Martouf (of the Tok'ra), Joe Faxon, Narim (of the Tollan), Orlin (an ascended Ancient who descended to be with her), and Pete, a cop she became engaged to, although she later broke it off. Most of her boyfriends wound up dying during the course of the show; Pete is the only one to escape death. This has led both fans and Stargate cast and crew to make humorous reference to her as Sam "Black Widow" Carter.

Fan Reaction to Sam

Many fans loved Sam right from the beginning because she is a competent officer who happens to be a woman. Reactions can vary depending on the pairing someone supports. In the early years there was a lot more gen and Sam/Jack shipping than anything else. Slash took a few years to get off the ground and early Jack/Daniel shippers tended towards Sam-bashing (especially because her characterization suffered when TPTB decided to make the Sam/Jack romance canon); Sam/Jack/Daniel OT3 became more popular as the fandom matured, but as in most fandoms it was rare compared to the amount of fanfic that the fandom produced.

Faworks

Fanfic

Fanfic about Sam is usually het or femslash; there isn't a lot of Sam-specific gen. (Is this actually true? That's my sense, but it's not my end of fandom, so...)

The biggest het relationship in the fandom is Sam/Jack, a pairing that TPTB fed with various AU episodes where Sam and Jack were married, along with a couple of main-timeline indications that there was something between them, especially Window of Opportunity, where Jack, stuck in a Groundhog Day-type timeloop, kissed Sam (dipping her with style, even) during one of the loops; and Divide and Conquer, where Jack admitted that he cared about Sam more than he was supposed to.

Other het pairings include Sam/Daniel, Sam/Teal'c, Sam/Jonas, Sam/Martouf/Lantash, and Sam/Cam in SG1 fandom, and Carter/McKay in SGA.

On the femslash side of things, her canonically close relationship with Janet Frasier -- they mentioned spending time together offbase, Sam was at Janet's adopted daughter's 16th birthday party (and helped Janet intimidate Cassie's boyfriend, heh), and Sam took over as the primary adult in Cassie's life after Janet died -- led to an early, steady Sam/Janet femslash fanbase. The second biggest femslash contingent involving Sam has become Sam/Vala, especially as the two characters were also shown enjoying each other's company after work.

Sample Sam-focused Fanfic

Fanvids

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Lists & Communities

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