The quiet genius of Sarah Connor is she was a character ahead of her time.
Why would Sarah already be prepared to be hunted down by a cyborg assassin from the future when we meet her?
It’s when becomes suddenly immersed in the world of the movie and with the help of Kyle Reese that she evolves into a fighter in her own right.
The character goes through complete trauma during the runtime of The Terminator as she runs for her life, falls in love with Reese and by the end accepts her fate in the timeline as Kyle dies and she becomes pregnant with John Connor.