| Jack Skellington | |
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| Fandom | The Nightmare Before Christmas |
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| Gender | Male |
| Date of Birth | unknown |
| Age | unknown |
| Aliases | The Pumpkin King, Mr. Unlucky, Jack Goddamn Skellington |
| Place of Birth | Halloween Town |
| Occupation | Pumpkin King |
| Known Relatives | Zero (faithful dog) |
| Significant Other | none |
| Known Abilities | scaring things, being oblivious, removing his head, quoting Shakespeare |
| First Appearance | Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin Song |
This is Jack Goddamn Skellington.
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Table of Contents
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Appearance
Jack is a towering figure by most standards, standing at an imposing 7'2", yet weighing in at no more than 25 pounds, clothing and all. His form is entirely skeletal, with no living tissue on it at all; Jack is nothing more than bones bleached pristine white from age and exposure, and kept gleaming by frequent polishing and overall good care. His build, in a word, is stick-like; he has a quite large and round skull, (which, somehow, frequently ends up infested with cobwebs and various insects) with unnaturally large eye sockets and mouth. No eyes at all, which probably would add to people's discomfort upon meeting him; they're simple black holes, through which one can clearly see the inside of his skull. The rest of his body is incredibly spindly and flexible, which adds to the graceful (if unnatural) spidery way he moves. He wears a smart, vertically pinstriped black and white tuxedo with tails, impeccably tailored and matched to shining black wingtip dress shoes and a crisp white dress shirt. Topping it all off is a black bat bow tie—noone is quite sure whether it's entirely dead or not, as it squeaks and flutters on occasion.
Personality
A singer, dancer, poet, scientist, dreamer…. a Renaissance man and aristocrat at heart, there is little Jack can't or hasn't done at some point. He's a good leader, charismatic, commanding, and seemingly confident in his considerable abilities, with charm to spare and impressive poise. Calmness and courtesy get you far when you have to govern such a diverse city. Being appreciated and respected by people is important to him, as are friendship and trust—he has been sacraficing his own happiness and sense of self for decades at the expense of doing his duty and what is best for all of Halloweentown. Debonair as he is, he is a fun-loving character with a passion for thrills and novelty, one thing that makes him so good at scaring people. Even with his seemingly ideal life and personality though, beneath it all he's a melancholy dreamer, who longs for the humanity, peace, and joy he no longer remembers or understands, yet feels too deeply to let go of. He mourns the things he's lost and no longer knows, and finds his life cold and incomplete without them, willing to give up anything personal to find a richer and more fulfilling existence. He sometimes wonders if there even is such a thing, or if it's simply ennui setting in--sometimes he worries that he's going a bit mad, though he's shown no evidence of actually doing so.
Non-musical characters be warned, however; music is an integral part of Jack's life and spirit. He is liable to burst into song without apparent provocation--whether to reason things out, voice his emotions, or highlight an important plot point. Music also tends to be a healing balm to his already resilient psyche--even in the darkest depths of despair or frustration, a heartfelt desire to do right by himself and others coupled with a strong tune can buoy him back into a state of fiery determination or give him the clues and inspiration he needs to move forward.
Strengths/Abilities
Jack, by virtue of being a skeleton, has no need for air or food, (though he likes to eat anyway, especially candy, though nobody knows where the stuff goes) and likely has no need for sleep, despite retaining this habit of the living as well. He's also incredibly flexible, given his skeletal shape, and has the benefits of being able to dislocate his joints and even remove bones and pop them back into place at will, which is an incredible help when it comes to keeping them polished. Despite having seemingly no means to produce them, he has a talent for producing particularly blood-chilling shrieks and ghostly laughter--all this, plus an inventive mind, leads him to be a masterful prankster. Pumpkin King that he is, he also has the peculiar talents of causing fear, (a general sense of the creeps is the sort he likes best, though he can go much further) inducing nightmares, commanding monsters (though this will fail miserably in Dollsy), moving between places by opening doors in tombstones (this will fail even MORE miserably in Dollsy), and blending in so well that he seems to appear and disappear in the shadows.
Weaknesses
Jack's monstrous appearance is likely one of his most pronounced weaknesses; as friendly as he tries to be, he just can't escape the fact that his purpose in life is to scare people--adding to that is the constant, lurking urge to try and scare the living daylights out of everyone he meets, which he can't always suppress despite his best efforts. He also has difficulty in expressing his dissatisfaction with the life he's so well-suited to, leading to near-constant melancholy and the sense of being a fraud, even as he hides behind his mask of glib charm and perfect poise. Human emotions and thinking are also maddeningly difficult for him to understand now, and living in such a macabre place as Halloweentown has twisted his judgement of what most people consider to be pleasant--no matter how hard he strives, he always finds that the mystery of humanity remains just out of reach. One of the weaknesses that he at least considers to be so debilitating, is that he can't remember his own life and humanity before entering Halloweentown, though the longing to reconnect with it remains.
Fears
As the Master of Fright, almost nothing frightens Jack, from the ghoulish and ghastly to the dark and macabre; unnatural things and monsters are his bread and butter, and he lives with oddity, creepiness, and generalized horror surrounding him. However, unfortunately for him, the operative word is "almost"--even Halloween incarnate has a few hang-ups. Perhaps first and foremost, Jack fears failure--failing his friends, failing himself, failing his town and holiday, failing to do what's right.... He holds himself to a very high standard, even moreso because everyone around him tended to set him on a pedestal, and finds it hard to bear the thought of a disaster caused by his own misdeeds that would make everything come crashing down around him. He fears his friends being hurt, naturally--for someone so used to taking care of and leading others, he has a strong protective instinct, and takes their wellbeing extremely personally. By the same token, he fears seriously hurting or killing anyone himself--he has to uphold the spirit of Halloween after all, and while fear is a large part of the equation, senseless carnage and brutality are most definitely not; the thought of defiling his holiday in such a manner is chilling and repulsive.
History
Jack's first memory is staggering through a shroud of mist and collapsing on a worn dirt road, a short distance from the border of Halloweentown--it's been so long he doesn't remember exactly how long ago it was, and never did know when exactly it happened; he has no idea of his past life (and presumably, death) at all. He pressed on to the city proper, confused and disoriented, but was given a kind reception. With the rest of the town's help, he was made aware of where he was and what he was supposed to do, and settled down with high hopes to make a life for himself. He enjoyed the life very much at first, and was quite active in fulfilling the town's purpose--his enthusiasm and natural talent attracted the attention of the town's former Pumpkin King, who spent a fair amount of time grooming Jack for the throne. He ascended to the position so long ago now that all the novelty of the title has worn off, much less life as a Halloweentown citizen in general. As much as he loves his work and fellow citizens, he's lately begun to fear that the daily grind and longing for something higher than his current existence is slowly driving him mad.
Regardless, Jack presses on, as he always has and no doubt always will. His sense of duty is far greater than his own need of personal comfort, and he refuses to do Halloween a disservice by disregarding his position. He hasn't yet begun to search for an heir to the throne, though he imagines that he should probably start looking soon, before he loses his creative spark and drive entirely; after all, even after a suitable successor is found, he would still need to train them. Sally, Dr. Finklestein's patchwork doll creation, seems to be one of the only people he can truly open up to as a friend rather than a king; still, he hasn't shared his dissatisfaction with her, even if she likely is perceptive enough to have picked up on it. Jack was just moving through one of his tombstone passages for the yearly Halloween festivities when he stumbled, and landed in a place decidedly unlike where he had intended to go.
Timeline
- Notable IC events.
Quotes
- "You know, I can't say. I'm sure if we can scare up the owner of this house, though, they could tell us without any trouble! This place can't be that big." -Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin Song
- "A nice place like this…. if it were back home, there would at least be a few cobwebs or something, don't you think? Even if the ghosts weren't home to greet visitors…." -Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin Song
- My name is Jack Skellington. How do you do?" He beamed pleasantly, one arm rotating impressively in its sleeve so that his elbow bent the other way … -An Un-Haunted House?
- "Might I have my arm back, by the way?" -Absolutely No One's Dead!
Trivia
- To a guy in Kentucky, Jack's Mr. Unlucky.
