Taryn White (A Nightmare on Elm Street film series)

For other versions of the character, see Taryn White (disambiguation).

Taryn White was a character appearing in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and as one of the secondary protagonists.

Biography[]

A troubled teenager who was committed to the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, Taryn had been having nightmares about Freddy Krueger along with several other teenagers.

She is the third victim of Freddy Krueger's third post-death killing spree.

Personality[]

Taryn is a troubled teenager with a history of using addictive drugs, she is sensitive, repulsive and sometimes aggressive, especially towards Kincaid who occasionally makes fun of her, which annoys her.

Despite that, Taryn has a more compassionate side towards the others, she is also able to defend herself against harassment of a |hospital guard and his seduction of drugs. Taryn shows true courage when Joey is trapped in the dream world, as she is willing to risk her own life to save her friend. She seemed to also care about Kristen, as she laments to Dr. Gordon what happened to her and is concerned about her being alone in quiet room within arms reach of Freddy. When she gets separated from the others, her first concern is to find Kristen the second she hears her voice. However Freddy intercepts and kills her before she can find Kristen.

History[]

Background[]

Little is known about Taryn's early life, although her parents along with other parents, killed Freddy. So because of that, she is born as an Elm Street child, and prior to her admission to Westin Hills, she had been addicted to drugs. However, she chose to be admitted to avoid juvenile hall and vowed to give them up and was clean during Nancy's visits to the hospital. However, Taryn did still keep her smoking habit.

Taryn White 1 — **"Okay, asshole. Let's dance!"** Taryn fights with Freddy in her dreams

Dream Warriors[]

In the beginning of the movie, all of the children are being stalked in their dreams by Freddy, who wants revenge on their parents for killing him many years before.

Freddy first attacks Phillip by using his veins and controlling him like a marionette puppet, making him sleepwalk off of a balcony. Minutes before Joey noticed Phillip by the balcony and alerts everyone, they watch in horror as Phillip dies. The day after, many people considered it a sleepwalking accident. Later Nancy Thompson, who vanquished Freddy six years ago and Dr. Neil Gordon work together as their psychiatrists and recognizes everyone's identifications of Freddy.

One night after shower, Taryn is harassed by a guard who was hinted to want more than flirt with her and was more than willing to provide her with drugs to get what he wanted, an offer she refused and she also warned him that she will tell Max about this if he keeps harassing her.

Shortly afterwards Freddy kills Jennifer by smashing her head through a television screen. Nancy than considers using Hypnocil to keep them from having nightmares and says to everyone else that they can use their imagination and have a special dream power. However at the same time, Joey is separated from the others and is captured by Freddy. Taryn and the other children became the Dream Warriors, with Nancy's aid. Eventually, the Dream Warriors enter the dream to rescue Joey. However, when Freddy splits them up in a flurry of feathers, Taryn is whisked away to a dark alley. From there she can hear Kristen calling for Nancy, and as she follows the voice, she ends up in a dead-end part of the alley where she possibly used to do drugs.

Death[]

Taryn is trapped after a wall appears behind her and faces against Freddy in a one on one battle. Taryn puts up a powerful effort but Freddy materializes her fear by turning his fingers into syringes and impales Taryn's arms causing her veins to rush to her head and slowly kill her as she cries.

After Death[]

Her soul and dream powers were stolen and appears as one of the four faces on Freddys' chest after he reveals his power source, the other 3 are Jennifer Caulfield, Will Stanton , and Phillip Anderson. However, later in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Taryn was one of the many souls that were freed from Freddy after his defeat at the hands of Alice Johnson (one of the souls seen trying to escape Freddy's chest resembles her).

Dream Power[]

With the help and guidance of Nancy Thompson, Taryn discovered her very own unique dream power that made her "beautiful and bad." When she utilized her dream power, Taryn's appearance changes significantly to a punk biker. She wears lipstick and eye makeup, black leather biker's clothes with spikes, fingerless gloves and most notably, her long hair is done up in a mohawk. She also wields two switchblades, which she is able to fight with expertly. When Freddy absorbs her soul after killing her, he gets her dream power.

In this form, Taryn was shown to be quite a capable and powerful combatant, able to stand up and hold her own against Freddy for a short time before he defeated her. She even managed to wound him, a feat in which not many characters were not strong enough to accomplish by themselves.

Other Appearances[]

Dream warriors comic — Familiar Faces: Taryn and the Dream Warriors in Neil's dream.

In the unofficial comic series of Elm Street, Kincaid, Taryn, Will, Phillip and Jennifer appear to help Neil Gordon in the dream world. Taryn appears in a more revealing version of her dream warrior attire, wearing a leather leotard and thigh-high boots.

Taryn is a playable character in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1989 DOS/C64 Video Game) alongside the other Dream Warriors Nancy, Kincaid, Will and Kristen. She doesn't appear in her Dream Warrior attire but she does use her switchblades as her dream power.

Trivia[]

Taryn's death was ranked #7 on Watchmojo.com's list of the Top 10 Freddy Krueger kills.

Quotes[]

"In my dreams, I'm beautiful... and BAD!!!"
"Ok asshole, lets dance!"