Cake in coraline
Jack Skellington is a character and the main protagonist of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. His overall appearance is a skeleton dressed in a black pin-striped suit and a bow tie that strongly resembles a bat. Originally, his suit was meant to be completely black, but it blended with the background too well, so it was changed. At the beginning of the film, Jack makes his grand entrance cake in coraline emerging out of the fountain in Halloween Town’s plaza.
His last name is a play on the word “skeleton”. Jack Skellington is the patron spirit of Halloween, portrayed as being on par with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny within his own holiday. As a living skeleton, he is supernatural and can remove parts of his body without harm, as is often demonstrated for comic relief. Jack, as the “Pumpkin King” and master of ceremonies, is in charge of Halloween Town’s Halloween celebration. He is loved, respected, and even idolized by the other residents for his role, but he has grown weary of celebrating the same holiday endlessly and is depressed about it. The only one who understands Jack’s feelings is a lonely ragdoll named Sally. One morning after the usual annual celebration, Jack enters a forest containing portals to other worlds themed around holidays.
He discovers Christmas Town and decides that this new experience is what his life was missing. He makes preparations for his own Christmas celebration in Halloween Town and wants to impersonate Santa Claus in the real world. While his intentions are not malicious, Jack does not understand the true spirit of Christmas. Jack follows the formula of a tragic hero because he begins the story at a lofty position. In spite of all his fame and talent, he yearns for another side of life.
While a desire for completeness is not a flaw, his impulsiveness proves to be. He tends to be enthusiastic and inclusive, and his charisma is enough to sway every member of Halloween Town except Sally. His selfish decisions lead to the near destruction of Christmas and himself. The official film soundtrack CD contains an epilogue not in the film, stating that “many years later” Santa returned to Halloween Town to visit Jack, where he discovered that Jack had “four or five skeleton children at hand” who play together in a xylophone band. This section does not cite any sources.