Karen Nelson

"*I never told you how I spent my childhood. I learned how to shoot a gun when I was eight. I learned how to fight. I had nightmares about the basement. Social services came when I was twelve years old and took me away. I have spent my entire life trying to get over the paranoia and neurosis that she has projected on me.*"
—Karen to Allyson Nelson.[src]
**Karen Nelson** (née **Strode**; 1980 – November 1, 2018) was the estranged daughter of Laurie Strode, the wife of the late Ray Nelson and the mother of Allyson Nelson. After initially surviving Michael Myers' attack on Halloween night, 2018, Karen accompanied her mother to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. However, after leaving to confront Michael herself, Karen ultimately became a victim of his massacre.

## Biography

### Early Life

Karen Strode was born in 1980 to a nineteen year old Laurie Strode in Haddonfield after a drunken encounter with an unknown man. At some point, she and her mother moved into a secluded house on the outskirts of town as Laurie began preparing for Michael Myers' impending return.

When she was eight years old, Karen was taught how to both shoot a gun and fight in hand-to-hand combat by her mother in order to be able to defend herself against attackers. She also helped Laurie as she built the basement as a trap for Michael, constantly telling her everything that could happen to them and giving her nightmares. At some point while growing up, Karen also became acquainted with Tommy Doyle, a close friend of Laurie's who used to be babysat by her when he was young.

Finally, at twelve years old, Karen was taken away from Laurie by social services as they deemed her an unfit mother which resulted in Karen growing up in foster care. After growing old enough to go out on her own, Karen went to college and later became a child psychologist, wanting to help other children who may have suffered the same traumas as her, still being estranged from her mother. At some point, Karen met and fell in love with Ray Nelson and the two eventually married. In 2001, Karen also gave birth to her daughter, Allyson, and remained in Haddonfield with her family.

Due to her family's damaged history with Halloween, Karen, Ray and Allyson rarely celebrated the holiday and instead opted to skip their decorations ahead to Christmas.

### 2018 Massacre

#### Reconnecting with Laurie

On the morning of October 30, 2018, Karen prepared breakfast for herself as Ray dealt with a rat infestation that plagued the house from underneath the kitchen sink. As they spoke, Allyson emerged from the hallway and sat down at the kitchen table to complete any remaining homework before making her way to school. As Ray accidently created a mess with peanut butter and left to clean himself up, Allyson asked Karen if she had spoken to Laurie about attending her celebration dinner for making the honour society. Karen explained that she had but that Laurie would be unable to make the dinner, clearly lying to her daughter's face to avoid speaking with her mother. Before the conversation could get heated, Allyson's friends, Vicky and Dave, showed up at the door, sending Allyson off as Karen bid her goodbye.

That night, Karen and Ray attended the celebration dinner with Allyson and her boyfriend, Cameron Elam, excited to get to know him. As the four discussed the couple's plans for the school's Halloween dance the night after, Allyson interjected and asked Karen if she had really spoken to Laurie. Just as Karen explained how they discussed it in her office, Laurie abruptly entered the restaurant and approached their table with a smile. She then introduced herself to Cameron and congratulated Allyson on her achievement. However, as Karen attempted to get her to sit down, she grabbed a wine glass and immediately drank the contents. She then finally sat down at Karen's request but immediately began breaking down, speaking about seeing Michael Myers once again for the first time in decades before running off from the group, leaving a distraught Karen behind as Allyson took off after her.

After finding Allyson comforting Laurie outside the restaurant, both Ray and Cameron helped escort her to her truck whilst both Karen and Allyson watched on. As they stood with each other, Karen began telling Allyson all about her childhood with Laurie, including being taught how to shoot a gun at such a young age, being taught how to fight at such a young age and being made to believe that they were in constant danger from Michael Myers, leading to her being taken into foster care. Still worrying about her mother's safety, Karen confided in Ray who comforted her by kissing her on the forehead.

#### Town-wide Panic

The next day, on Halloween, Karen arrived home from grocery shopping and became extremely cautious after hearing footsteps coming from upstairs, causing her call out for Ray to check if it was him. After receiving no reply and seeing Ray enter through the back door, Karen grew even more worried until Laurie jumped out from top of the stairs and shocked them. She then reprimanded both of them for leaving their house so insecure, allowing possibly anyone to get in. She then informed them about a bus crash that happened near Smith's Grove Sanitarium, exclaiming that Michael had escaped and was on his way to chase down Laurie once again. However, Karen dismissed this information and quickly threw Laurie out of the house, also refusing her offer to keep her gun close by.

That night, after many residents of the town had already been slaughtered by Michael, both Laurie and Officer Frank Hawkins had finally convinced the police force to take Myers' escape seriously and arrived at the Nelson's house to warn them. Once Karen opened the door to her mother, Laurie began demanding to know where Allyson was, eventually learning that they had allowed her to attend the school's Halloween dance. Before leaving to seek refuge in Laurie's house, Karen immediately attempted to call Allyson but was sent straight to voicemail. Both Karen and Laurie then left her a message, instructing to come home immediately. Once Karen and Ray reached Laurie's fortress, they were led down to the basement of weapons by her and told to pick out their weapon of choice as Laurie prepared herself for her confrontation with Michael.

#### Encounter with Michael

After looking around the house, Karen sat in her childhood room and reminisced over old photos just before Laurie stormed into the room and told her to turn off the lights in order to hide from Michael. When Karen realised that Laurie wanted Michael wanted him to find them, Laurie profusely apologised to her and hugged her for the first time in decades. However, their moment was quickly stopped after they head two gunshots come from the front of the house. Karen then stayed behind as Laurie cautiously went downstairs to check it out, only for Karen to come down behind her after hearing her yell out her name. Laurie informed her that Michael had arrived and Karen quickly realised that he had murdered Ray.

Completely in shock, Karen hesitated before running for the basement and hiding out beneath the house. After hearing many thuds and screams and watching the entrance to the basement open, Karen panicked and grabbed a gun and pointed it towards the entrance, only to see Laurie looking down at her, calming her down. Laurie then turned on the house's floodlights, illuminating any potential hiding places for Michael outside of the house. After hearing him get through the locked door and enter the house, Laurie quickly apologised for all of the hurt that she had caused Karen before preparing her gun and pointing it towards the basement's ceiling as Karen watched on in horror. Listening to Michael's footsteps, she shot at the ceiling, hearing a sudden thud right after. This caused Laurie to leave the basement to finish it, leaving Karen alone in the basement.

After several minutes of waiting, Karen heard Allyson enter the house, possibly catching the attention of Michael. In an attempt to save her, Karen emerged from the basement, called her over, and returned to hiding alongside her daughter, attempting to keep her quiet as they heard the booming footsteps descending the stairs. As the pair stood together in a worried silence, they heard the footsteps grow gradually closer until Michael was eventually right above the basement, searching for them. As he began to shake the kitchen island, Karen realised that they had to fight back and quickly grabbed the gun she used as a child, pointing it towards the basement's entrance. With Allyson crying behind her and Michael finally breaking open the entrance, Karen began to breakdown and screamed out for Laurie to help them. However, once Michael finally showed himself, she revealed it all to be an act to lure him out and swiftly shot him in the face, giving Laurie the chance to ambush him.

After Laurie finally managed to get the upper hand on Michael and knock him down into the basement, both Karen and Allyson ran up the stairs toward the exit. Allyson managed to get out, however, Karen's leg was swiftly grabbed by Michael who attempted to pull her back down into his grasp. As Laurie held onto her daughter tightly, Allyson suddenly grabbed Michael's discarded knife and slashed his wrist, causing him to let go of Karen's leg and offering her the chance to kick him in the face, sending him back down into the basement. Once he began to slowly ascend the stairs again, Karen managed to quickly pull a lever that barred up the basement entrance, trapping within the house. Laurie then activated several levers throughout the house that caused the basement to catch aflame in an attempt to burn Michael to death. The three women then left him as they escaped the flames, with Allyson running to flag down a passing truck to drive them to safety. Holding each other close, Karen, Laurie and Allyson were finally taken to safety as they believed the fight to be over.

#### Guarding Laurie

While desperately trying to stop Laurie from bleeding out, the three women quickly noticed several fire trucks passing them, heading toward the fire emanating from Laurie's burning home. The older woman began screaming at them to let it burn, but to no avail. Finally, the truck reached Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and both Karen and Allyson rushed inside as Laurie was put onto a gurney. Karen attempted to speak to her mother, who remained unresponsive, but quickly gave her information to a nearby nurse. She then went off to a separate room to wash her mother's blood from her hands, noticing the lone wedding ring on her finger which sends her into a fit of crying, leading her to take the time in private to finally mourn of the loss of Ray. Later, after learning Laurie had come out of surgery stable, Karen found a distraught Allyson and took the time to comfort her, with them both trying to remember Ray.

In the hours following, Karen opted to stay right by Laurie's bedside in order to watch over her recovery before being taken for questioning by Sheriff Barker in order to uncover what had happened during the massacre. She explained to him that Michael had in fact been waiting for forty years to return and kill Laurie, slightly blaming her for putting Karen and her family in his path. She went on to explain that she believed they had finally killed him, leading her to be shocked as Barker explained that the boogeyman had escaped from the fire and was still on the loose in Haddonfield. Karen quickly found Allyson in the hallway with Cameron, who announced that the two were planning to accompany Tommy Doyle and his mob in hunting Michael down. Karen firmly told Allyson that she would instead wait with her grandmother, who finally agreed after some initial arguing. However, Karen failed to notice Allyson slip out of the room as she was attempting to find some security.

Later, when Laurie eventually woke up, Karen rushed into the room and ordered her mother to be careful with her extensive wound. She also noticed Allyson missing and found a note left by her, explaining that she had gone on to join in the hunt for Michael. However, she acted as if Allyson was fine in front of Laurie and also led her to believe that they had been successful in putting a stop to the boogeyman in order to not stress her out. Frank Hawkins was then wheeled into the room for his own injuries and Karen left the two to talk alone. In the reception area, Karen ran into Tommy who immediately asked how Laurie was, however, Karen firmly asked where Allyson was and explained that Michael was likely on his way to the hospital. She then watched as Tommy began gathering people to fight against the boogeyman before running into Laurie's room, explaining to her that Michael was still alive. Laurie looked shocked toward Karen, who explained that she did not know what to tell her. After talking, Laurie sent Tommy off on a warpath to find Michael before attempting to leave herself, blaming herself for bringing Michael into the lives of everyone, before Karen stood in her path, stopping her from leaving.

#### Helping Tivoli

As another, but harmless, Smith's Grove patient, Lance Tivoli, began approaching the hospital, many people around him began mistaking him for Michael due to being unaware of what he looked like beneath the mask. Due to Tommy's mob mentality, thousands of people began huddling together throughout the hospital, leading Karen and Laurie to go out and investigate, just as Karen was also trying to hold Laurie back from fighting him. After a brief chase, the two realised that it was not Michael and attempted to tell everyone around them, only to be pushed and thrown by several civilians running at the man. Eventually, this caused Laurie's stiches to pop, leading Karen to grab and place her back into her hospital bed with help from Deputy Graham and take off after Tivoli alongside the officer.

On the way to the second floor, Karen was suddenly knocked to the floor by an aggressive passer-by, leading to be more patients to fall down the stairs. After being helped up by Graham, the officer stopped to look after the patients and Karen continued to ascend by herself, an angry Haddonfield mob close behind. Eventually, she managed to catch up to Tivoli, who simply cowered behind a corner until he was brave enough to take Karen's hand through her comforting words. With not much time, she took him to a hallway and locked both doors in an attempt to keep him safe until she told everyone that he was not Michael. However, when the crowds approached, no one listened to Karen and the sound proved to be too much for Tivoli, who ended up taking his own life by jumping out of the nearest window, much to the shock of everyone around him. Afterward, Karen returned to Laurie's room where the two women heard Hawkins about Michael true motivation, to return to his childhood home.

#### Final Confrontation and Death

With an idea of where Michael was heading, Karen left the hospital and was approached by Tommy, who attempted to apologise for not listening to her but insisted that he would keep trying until he found the true Michael. Karen acknowledged his motivation and requested a car to drive to the Myers house, the two coming up with a plan of their own to put an end to the boogeyman. Later, after Allyson, Cameron, and Lonnie Elam had attempted to kill Michael but failed, Karen arrived just as he was approaching Allyson with a knife and rammed a rake into his back before slamming his face into the stairs and taking his mask. Running outside, Karen faced the unmasked Michael, encouraging him to chase her instead of Allyson, claiming she was innocent woman, just as Judith Myers was. This finally led Michael to begin approaching her and the two set off on a chase through Haddonfield.

Eventually, the two came to a stop and several car lights suddenly illuminated the street, revealing Karen standing alongside many of Haddonfield's angry residents led by Tommy and Leigh Brackett. Karen then watched on calmly as Michael grabbed and put on his mask and the various townspeople began approaching him, all taking their own turn in delivering a blow with whatever weapon they brought with them. This continued with little retaliation from Michael until he was finally thrown onto the ground and continued to be beaten. Just then, Karen slowly approached the sight of a desperate Myers as Tommy told her to run to check on Allyson, which she listened to, but not before grabbing Michael's nearby knife and stabbing him directly in the back as payback and walking away from the scene.

Afterward, Karen finally returned to the Myers house where she found Allyson sitting on the front porch surrounded by the medical team. The two hugged in an attempt for comfort, however, Allyson reminded her mother that Michael would always be with them, eerily echoing Karen's earlier words about Ray. Karen then went inside the house to observe the carnage, noticing the corpses of both Cameron and Lonnie nearby before ascending the stairs and walking into Judith Myers' old room. She looked around before beginning to stare out of the window, mirroring Michael doing the same, and taking a sigh of relief that it was over, just before noticing a very alive Michael appear in the reflection behind her. Karen turned around and screamed as he began relentlessly and angrily stabbing her several times, shedding blood on the window and his mask before she finally fell to the floor, dead.

## Legacy

Karen's death majorly affected both Laurie and Allyson. It is presumably the reason Laurie finally sought mental health assistance and became a better person, in order to make up for her wrongs in some way. Furthermore she was still fondly remembered by the two with a photo of her and an art project from her earlier years on display within their home.

Karen's death was also a large motivation for Laurie in her final confrontation with Michael, avenging Karen and the other late residents of Haddonfield as she finally killed him and put a permanent end to his rampage.

## Personality

Karen was always known as a very kind, gentle, and empathetic person, devoting her life to helping children so that they would not end up having a similar childhood to what she had. This caring personality was put on display several times, including when wanting to celebrate Allyson's success by holding off work endeavours and also when attempting to help Tivoli when no one else would. However, Karen was also cold and blunt when she needed to me as shown through her very complicated history with Laurie, opting to throw her out of her house and go to lengths to not invite her to family gatherings, only after realising that she is beyond saving.

However, her empathy would still shine through for her mother after the latter was attacked by Michael Myers and Karen stopped at nothing to ensure that she would remain safe and receive the best care. She was also incredibly brave when protecting those around her, running through an angry mob to rescue and innocent man, luring Michael Myers toward her to attempt a shot at him, and even letting him chase her through Haddonfield in order to protect her daughter.

## Trivia

* In the script of *Halloween*, the character of Karen was originally named Shanah before they changed her name, presumably, at the beginning of filming.
	+ There were also some thoughts of naming her Jamie very early in production as a reference to Laurie's original daughter from a separate timeline, Jamie Lloyd. However, this was later changed, presumably, to avoid confusion.
* Karen is the third known child of Laurie Strode in the various *Halloween* timelines.
	+ *Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers*, *Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers*, and *Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers* featured Jamie Lloyd as the main protagonist, the orphaned daughter of Laurie and the niece of Michael Myers.
	+ *Halloween H20: 20 Years Later* introduced John Tate as the son of Laurie, now living as a private school principal under the alias of Keri Tate.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Halloween (2018)*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Halloween Kills*
3. ↑ *Halloween Ends*