The Nightmare Before Christmas/Characters

Citizens of Halloweentown

Jack Skellington

• Anti-Villain
• Authority Equals Asskicking
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: Jack is the Pumpkin King because he's the scariest and the toughest.
• Badass Bookworm: He attempts to master the magic of Christmas through study and scientific research, and while his methods fail entirely, the logic he employs suggests a strange sort of genius at work.
• Bad Santa: Though, in his case, it's less due to maliciousness than just not being very good at Santa's job.
• Beneath the Mask: All of the Citizens of Halloween Town (except Sally) believe Jack to be bold, loud, and happy. Too bad they have no idea that underneath that bony exterior was a guy that was practically going through depression before he discovered Christmas Town.
• The Big Guy
• Blessed with Suck
• Bow Ties Are Cool: Jack wears a bowtie when he's wearing his tux, although some people mistake it for a collar. It's still pretty cool, though.
• Camp Straight
• Dark Is Not Evil: He may be the Pumpkin King and love scaring, but he's a pretty nice guy.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dem Bones
• Evil Laugh: He has one, and it's his regular laugh.
• Expressive Skull
• Forgets to Eat: Implied by the scene where Sally sends a basket of food up to him.
• Hot Bone Marrowed
• I Have Many Names: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, the King of Halloween, Bone Daddy, Skeleton Jack, Mr. Unlucky...
• Idiot Hero: As detailed on the main page, he's not an Idiot Hero because of an inherent lack of intelligence; he's an Idiot Hero because he's never encountered non-Halloween stuff before and he's too excited to listen to common sense.
• The Kindnapper: Jack Skellington has part of his being a Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant. His way of indulging himself in his new passion for Christmas not only involves planning to run the show himself, but kidnapping the one who already does to enable his doing so. And he sees it as a favor for Santa, too! Despite Jack's unquestionable status as The Hero, though, his kindnapping is clearly shown as not being a good thing, especially because of what it leads to...

Santa: (bursts out of the bag) Let me out! (the Halloween Town citizens gasp in awe)
Jack Skellington: Sandy Claws - in person. What a pleasure to meet you. (prepares to shake but then looks down when their HANDS touch)
Jack Skellington: Wh - ! Why, you have hands! You don't have claws at all!
Santa: (dazed) Where am I?
Jack Skellington: Surprised, are you? You don't have to worry about another Christmas this year.
Santa: Wh-what?
Jack Skellington: Consider this a vacation, Sandy. A reward. It's your turn to take it easy.
Santa: B-But there must be some mistake!
Jack Skellington: See that he's comfortable... (the minions start to close up the bag, but then stop) Just a second, fellas! Of course! That's what I'm missing! (takes Santa's hat)
Santa: B-But...
Jack Skellington: (as he's putting on the hat) Thanks.
Santa: Hang on - you just can't - (has the bag thrown over him again) - Hold on! Where are we going now?

• Large Ham: More subtle than Oogie, but still. "I AM THE PUMPKIN HAM KING!!!"
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: A rare heroic example.
  • To further explain, he, and most of Halloween Town, enjoy the sound of screaming not out of sadism but because it's their job which they enjoy.
    • Plus the screaming comes from harmless pranks rather than torture.
• Made of Iron: In his first appearance he sets himself on fire (though only briefly), and then later in the movie he falls at least a mile, lands on a stone statue, and doesn't suffer any permanent damage.
• Modest Royalty: The Pumpkin King wears no crown.
• Mood Swinger: Jack frequently and quickly swings between elation, depression, and anger. Many fans speculate that he has a mood disorder (bipolar disorder is the popular choice, but that's not actually how it works, most of the time).
• Nightmare Fetishist
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
• Noodle People
• Oblivious to Love: He catches on eventually though.
• Perky Goth
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a tux 85% of the time, and even when he's not wearing it, he still dresses pretty good.
• Slasher Smile/Cheshire Cat Grin
• Species Surname/Punny Name: Sort of, as "skeleton" is sometimes pronounced as "Skellington" with an accent. See Hot Fuzz and Stardust.
• Tall, Dark and Snarky
• Vague Age: In personality and voice, he comes across as being in his late twenties or early thirties, but he's an undead skeleton man, so this has no connection whatsoever to how long he's been around. And aside from being adult-sized it's impossible to gauge his age from his looks. He's probably older than thirtyish, though it wouldn't be impossible for him to be younger.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• Wide Eye Socketed Idealist

Sally

• Cassandra Truth: Jack won't listen to her about trying to become Santa Claus.
• Cute Monster Girl
• Frankenstein's Monster: One of the cuter versions, though.
• Glasgow Grin
• Guile Heroine/The Smart Girl
• The Heart
• Heroes Want Redheads
• Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter
• Only Sane Woman
• Only One Name
• Proper Lady
• Redheaded Heroine
• Stalker with a Crush: A kinder, gentler version than most.

Dr. Finkelstein

Halloweentown'a scientist.

• Brainwashed and Crazy: Briefly happens to him after Oogie Boogie switches his brain with an evil green one.

• Genius Cripple: He's a skeleton scientist whose bound to a wheelchair.
• It Only Works Once: Averted, Sally keeps making him fall asleep using the same tactic so that she can leave whenever she wishes.
• Mad Scientist: He's based on Dr. Frankenstein, but in an inversion of him he actually succeeded in creating something beautiful and cares about it.
• Overprotective Dad - or maybe Clingy Jealous Guy, we're not sure. Normally Sally has to make Finklestein fall asleep if she wishes to leave his castle.

Lock, Shock & Barrel

• Affably Evil: They really are terrified of Oogie, but in their minds, helping him is the most fun thing they can think of.
• Badass Normal: In any video game (sequel, prequel, or spin-off) they do things like control monsters, capture holiday leaders, fight the protagonists, and convince Maleficent herself to resurrect Oogie.
• The Brute: Barrel. Switches to Lock in Oogie's Revenge
• Butt Monkey: Barrel is constantly at the receiving end of pranks and smacks from his cohorts. But usually when he pulls a prank on Lock or Shock he gets away with it.
• The Ditz: Barrel
• The Dragon: Lock.
• Enfant Terrible
• The Evil Genius: Shock.
• Evil Laugh: Just to underline the Enfant Terrible trope
• Quirky Miniboss Squad
• Slasher Smile: Barrel

Oogie Boogie

• Big Bad
• Boisterous Bruiser: A rare evil example. He loves singing and dancing...while he horribly tortures his victims and later cook'em and eat'em.
• Dirty Coward
• Evil Counterpart: He's this to Jack.
• Evil Laugh: Once more!
• Evil Sounds Deep
• Expy: According to Word of God, he's an expy of Audrey II.
  • And both of 'em are voiced by a black man.
• Fat Bastard
• Faux Affably Evil
• For the Evulz
• The Gambler
• Large Ham
• Obviously Evil
• Put the Laughter In Slaughter: His modus operandi.
• Scary Black Man: In spirit and voice, if not in body (being a lime-green, vaguely humanoid burlap sack guy and all).
• Torture Technician
• Villain Song: One of the best.
• Villainous Glutton
• The Worm That Walks/The Swarm

The Mayor

• Adipose Rex: He's pretty much conical.
• Ambiguously Gay: He is voiced by Glenn Shadix, who was openly gay.
• Authority in Name Only
• Large Ham
• Multiple Head Case: He has a smiling face on one side of his head, and a frowning one on the other.
• Nice Hat
• No Name Given/Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Though some of the merch gives him the name Hizzonor.
• Stealth Pun: He's a two-faced politician.
• Two-Faced: He literally has two faces; one colorful and happy, one ashen and distressed. It's more of a facial mood ring than a split personality.
• Ultimate Authority Mayor

Mr. Hyde

• Matryoshka Object
• Took a Shortcut: In the video game, he gets everywhere before Jack, no matter how hard it was for him to get there.

Zero

• Bedsheet Ghost
• Canine Companion
• Expy: What Rudolph would probably look like if he were a ghost. Even used to lead Jack Skellington's sleigh at one point.
• My Hero Zero
• Non-Human Sidekick
• Ridiculously Cute Critter

Most of the residents

• Blue and Orange Morality
• Dark Is Not Evil: As the opening song says, "That's our job, but we're not mean."
• Defanged Horrors
• Large Ham
• Our Monsters Are Different
• Nightmare Fetishist
• No Name Given

Others

Santa Claus

• Badass Santa: He is shown to be.
• Living MacGuffin
• Nice Hat
• Santa Claus: Duh.

The Elves

• Christmas Elves

The Easter Bunny

• Easter Bunny
• One-Scene Wonder
• The Voiceless

The Children

• No Name Given

Shrunken Head Kid

Jack's first customer in his role as "Sandy Claws"

• One-Scene Wonder
• The Stoic: Not a straight example, but the kid does deserve credit for not screaming when he finds his gift, and not being bothered that his home's been invaded by an undead Santa Claus.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Possibly.
• No Name Given