Sarah Harding

Sarah Harding
Appearances	The Lost World: Jurassic Park The Lost World (novel)
Portrayed by	Julianne Moore
Role	Animal Behaviorist/Paleontologist
Status	Alive

Dr. Sarah Harding was a young scientist, specialized in animal behavior. In both the novel and movie she joins the research group led by Ian Malcolm (with which she has some kind of relationship in both canons) to Isla Sorna.

Novel canon

In The Lost World novel, Sarah Harding was an animal behaviorist who worked in the African savanna; her theories were very controversial. She survived multiple encounters with lions by shouting and throwing stones. Sarah was described as being muscular and having short black hair, and because she had such a unique character, she became very famous and was the idol of Kelly Curtis. Michael Crichton has confirmed that she is the daughter of Gerry Harding.^{[citation needed]}

When Ian Malcolm was in the Costa Rican hospital, recovering from his wounds from Isla Nublar incident, Sarah visited him. They fell in love almost instantly, but they both continued with their work and never got into a successful relationship.

When she was asked to join the research group, led by Ian Malcolm, to Isla Sorna, she immediately left Africa and flew to Costa Rica. Her main rival was Lewis Dodgson, who threw her overboard a ship on their way to Isla Sorna. Dodgson was antagonistically claiming to support his rival company Biosyn. She got her revenge on Dodgson later in the novel, by pushing him into the mouth of an adult Tyrannosaurus rex. The adult fed Dodgson to its infants. She was an extremely capable female character, rescuing many of the other characters throughout the novel.

Film canon

In Jurassic Park: The Game it is revealed that Gerry Harding is Sarah's estranged father. Her younger half-sister Jess remarks that Gerry hasn't spoken Sarah for over a year.

In The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Sarah joined a small team of researchers on Isla Sorna on John Hammond's request. In the film, her relationship with Malcolm was ongoing and she was on good terms with his daughter Kelly. She also performed research on living animals, at the zoo of San Diego. She seemed to know a lot about dinosaur anatomy and knew all the Latin names of the leg muscles in the infant Tyrannosaurs she treated. She strongly believed that Tyrannosaurs should be known as protective, nurturing parents. This put her at odds with Robert Burke, who believed otherwise, though Sarah endured this well, and even tried to save Burke when he was panicked into the Tyrannosaur's mouth after he saw a snake slithering into his shirt. The Tyrannosaurs stalked the group for a time, because of how Harding's jacket was covered in blood from when her and Nick Van Owen set the infant's leg.

She was present at the San Diego Incident and heroically tranquillized the male adult Tyrannosaur before it could be killed by large animal control. She was last shown in the film asleep with Malcolm on his couch, while John Hammond commented on the Incident on television.

Character development

Sarah's movie character is loosely based on the Sarah from the Lost World novel. Some of her heroic actions were transferred to Ian Malcolm. Sarah did, however, make sure that Nick, Ian, and Kelly were all safe as they made their way to the Ingen Compound to call for help. Her most heroic action in the movie, by far, was tranquilizing the male Tyrannosaur before Animal Control could kill it. She was also brave standing up to Robert Burke and his theory of how the Tyrannosaurs would abandon their young. Many of her characteristics were exchanged with that of Richard Levine; as he did not appear in the film. In the novels Levine is a paleontologist, while Sarah is a behavioral field biologist. In the film, Sarah's field is Behavioral Paleontology (see dinosaur behavior.

She fills part of the role Levine has in the novel. Both are the first to go to the island, which causes the others to start a "rescue mission", and both did not ask to be rescued. Her personality is more talkative and not as serious or strong as it was in the novel. She also seems to be very enthusiastic about her work.

Known Family

• Dr. Gerry Harding - father
• Mrs. Harding - former stepmother
• Jess Harding - half-sister
• Ian Malcom - boyfriend

Video games

Sarah Harding is a playable character in the game The Lost World: Jurassic Park, although the character is called "Human Prey". Like in the novel, she drives in a car to the Worker Village and is chased by Velociraptors.

She also appeared in Chaos Island: The Lost World as one of the playable units in the game.

She is mentioned by John Hammond in the game Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. She however is not part of the Operation Team. In the main menu exercise, The Lost World, she is mentioned in an interview letter box to come check on Isla Nublar to pose photos of dinosaurs and exhibit them again after the island's reputation was destroyed. She doesn't appear in the game.

She is also briefly mentioned by her younger half-sister, Jess Harding, in Jurassic Park: The Game.

Trivia

• Sarah is the daughter of Gerry Harding from his first marriage. When Gerry remarried, he had a second daughter, Jess, who is Sarah's younger half-sister.
• In The Lost World (novel), she says her father worked at the San Diego Zoo as a Vet. This supports her relationship with Gerald Harding from the first novel, who was also a vet at the same zoo.