Jack Skellington facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jack Skellington
The Nightmare Before Christmas character
Jack Skellington as he appears in the Kingdom Hearts series
First appearance	The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Created by	Tim Burton
Voiced by	Chris Sarandon (speaking voice) Danny Elfman (singing voice)
Aliases	Pumpkin King, Pumpkin Jack
Species	Skeleton
Gender	Male
Origin	Halloween Town

Jack Skellington is the main character from the 1993 movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. He is a skeleton and the "Pumpkin King" of Halloween Town, a magical place all about Halloween. Chris Sarandon does his speaking voice. Danny Elfman sang for him in the first movie and its soundtrack. Later, Chris Sarandon did both his speaking and singing voices.

Jack looks like a tall skeleton. He wears a black suit with thin white stripes and a bow tie that looks like a bat. He has a ghost dog named Zero, whose nose is a small jack-o'-lantern. Jack is admired by Sally, a rag doll created by Doctor Finkelstein. Besides the movie, Jack has appeared in video games like the Kingdom Hearts series. Many toys and other items have also been made of him.

Jack in The Nightmare Before Christmas

Jack Skellington is like the main spirit of Halloween. He is as important to Halloween as Santa Claus is to Christmas. Since he is a living skeleton, he has special powers. He can even remove parts of his body without getting hurt, which is often shown for laughs. He is the most important of all the Halloween spirits. Their job is to scare people in the real world on Halloween night.

As the "Pumpkin King," Jack leads Halloween Town's Halloween celebration. Everyone in town loves and respects him. But Jack has grown tired of celebrating the same holiday every year. He feels sad and wants something new. The only one who truly understands how Jack feels is Sally, a lonely rag doll. She hears him singing about his feelings and realizes she feels the same way.

One morning, after the yearly Halloween party, Jack finds a forest with special doors. These doors lead to other worlds, each based on a different holiday. He discovers Christmas Town and thinks this new experience is what he needs. He decides to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. He even wants to pretend to be Santa Claus in the real world. Jack means well, but he doesn't really understand what Christmas is about. Halloween Town plans to make Christmas a bit spooky. Sally has a bad feeling about this, but Jack is very impulsive. He doesn't listen to her warnings. By the end of the movie, he sees how much Sally wants to help him. He realizes he loves her, calling her his "Dearest Friend." He tells Sally they belong together and looks forward to their future.

Jack is like a tragic hero because he starts out famous and talented. Even with all his success, he wants something more from life. Wanting to feel complete isn't a flaw, but his impulsive nature is. He is usually excited and friendly. His charm convinces almost everyone in Halloween Town, except Sally. His choices almost ruin Christmas and himself. But Jack shows how strong he is by fixing his mistakes.

The movie's official soundtrack CD has an extra part not in the film. It says that "many years later," Santa visited Jack in Halloween Town. Santa found that Jack had "four or five skeleton children" who played music together.

Jack in Video Games

The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King

Jack Skellington really dislikes Oogie Boogie. He showed this when he told Lock, Shock, and Barrel to "leave that no account Oogie Boogie out of this!" Later, he finds out that Santa Claus and Sally have been taken by Oogie Boogie. They are held in Oogie's secret underground hideout. Jack tries to save his friends. He manages to defeat Oogie and save Christmas.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

Jack Skellington was tired of using the same old scary ideas for Halloween. So, he went to Doctor Finkelstein. The doctor gave him the Soul Robber, a slimy green creature that can change its shape. Jack decided to leave Halloween Town to find new ideas for frights. When Jack came back, he found that Oogie Boogie had returned to life. Now Jack had to fix everything again. In this game, Jack dances, fights, and sings to attack Oogie Boogie's helpers. Jack is shown to be a bit clumsy in this game.

Chris Sarandon did both the speaking and singing voice for Jack in this game.

Disney Universe

Jack Skellington is part of a special download pack for Disney Universe. This pack includes playable costumes for Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie-Boogie, Dr. Finkelstein, and the Mayor. You can buy this content from console stores. The pack gave you the costumes, and some could be found in the downloaded level. Unlike other worlds in the game that had three parts, the Nightmare Before Christmas world only had one part called 'Halloween Graveyard'.

Kingdom Hearts Series

Jack Skellington appears in four games from the Kingdom Hearts video game series. He lives in Halloween Town. In these games, scary creatures called Heartless threaten the town's residents. The main heroes, Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy, become friends with Jack. Together, they fight the Heartless and also Oogie Boogie. In battles, Jack uses some of his spooky powers and magic. This makes him a strong magic-user.

Chris Sarandon voices Jack in the English versions. Masachika Ichimura provides Jack's Japanese voice.

Kingdom Hearts

Jack Skellington introduces himself to Sora, Goofy, and Donald Duck. He tells them he is the ruler of Halloween Town. Jack plans to use a special heart created by Doctor Finkelstein. He wants to control the seemingly calm Heartless to make a "Heartless Halloween" festival. He hopes it will be very frightening. But the plan fails. First, the experiment makes the Heartless go wild. Then, Oogie Boogie steals the finished heart. Oogie plans to use it to take over Halloween Town. At Oogie's house, Jack, Sora, and his friends confront him. After Oogie is defeated, Jack learns that Oogie uses dark orbs for his life force. Oogie then combines himself with his house to become a giant boss. Once the heroes defeat Oogie again, his house crumbles. This reveals Halloween Town's keyhole. Jack is shorter in this game than in the movie. However, he is still quite tall compared to the game's main characters.

Chain of Memories

This game's story is "created" from Sora's memories of Halloween Town. Jack Skellington wants to ask Doctor Finkelstein what happened when he smelled a potion. This potion was supposed to bring "true memories." Suddenly, Heartless appear. Jack finds out that Oogie Boogie has stolen the Doctor's potion. He must stop Oogie before he drinks all of it. They don't reach him in time, but they defeat him. Oogie becomes overwhelmed with fear because of the potion's side effects. Sora worries about what will happen when he finds his true memories. But Jack tells him that fear is a sign of a strong heart.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

In this game, Roxas arrives in Halloween Town. Jack is busy thinking of new ideas for Halloween. Jack is having trouble coming up with things. But he gets inspiration when he sees Roxas leaving through a Dark Corridor. Again and again, Roxas's adventures in Halloween Town inspire Jack. He creates things like balloons filled with spiders, exploding frost pumpkins, and Halloween lanterns. Roxas is sent to find out why the number of Heartless is dropping so much. He finds the town filled with monsters called Tentaclaws. After seeing Roxas defeat the source of the Tentaclaws, Leechgrave, Jack invents a scary scarecrow version of Roxas. This becomes his main decoration for that Halloween.

Kingdom Hearts II

Following the movie's story a bit, Jack tries to take Santa Claus's place again. To do this, Jack asks Sora and his friends to help him be Santa's bodyguards. But after fighting the Heartless and Oogie Boogie (who was brought back by Maleficent), Santa explains something to Jack. He tells Jack that they each have their own jobs for their holidays. Even so, Jack starts wearing a Santa suit that Sally made for him. On their second visit to Halloween Town, Jack still wears the Santa suit. He still wants to deliver Christmas presents. He also feels it would be rude not to wear the suit Sally worked so hard on. Along with Sora and his friends, he helps defeat Doctor Finkelstein's experiment. This experiment stole Christmas presents from Santa because it wanted a heart. As a reward for all his hard work, Santa takes Jack on a ride-along in his sleigh for a while. After Santa drops Jack off in Halloween Town, Jack learns the true meaning of Christmas. He understands the joy of giving. He dances with Sally at the end. He finally realizes that all the gifts she gave him were from her heart. He wants to give her something back. She tells him that the best present she could ask for is just to be with Jack. Jack replies that she doesn't even have to ask for that. This means Jack feels the same way about her. In a scene during the end credits, he is shown wearing his original suit. This suggests he has fully taken Santa's advice to heart. He apparently starts thinking of new ideas for the next Halloween.

Disney Infinity

In the Disney Infinity video game series, Jack is a playable character. He was part of the second group of characters released. He can scare enemies and throw exploding jack-o'-lanterns. If he rides Ghost Rider's motorcycle, his head will catch fire. This makes him look like Ghost Rider.

Disney Magic Kingdoms

In the game Disney Magic Kingdoms, Jack appears as a character you can unlock. He is available for a limited time.

Disney Mirrorverse

A different version of Jack Skellington appears in the video game Disney Mirrorverse. He is a playable character.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

Jack Skellington was added as a villager to Disney Dreamlight Valley. This happened as part of a free update in December 2023. Chris Sarandon again provided his voice.

Fortnite: Battle Royale

On October 24, 2023, Jack Skellington was added to Fortnite Battle Royale. He was an Item Shop outfit for Fortnitemares 2023. This was to celebrate The Nightmare Before Christmas's 30th anniversary. He came with his own special dance, Jack’s Scary Face. He also had a bundle that included the Zero Back Bling, the Peppermint Parasol Pickaxe, and the Jack’s Sled Glider. On November 3, 2023, Jack Skellington was temporarily removed from the "Save the World" mode in Fortnite due to a problem.

Attractions

Jack appears as a character you can meet at several Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. These include Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Walt Disney World. You can find him outside The Haunted Mansion in Frontierland. During the holidays at Disneyland, Haunted Mansion changes. It is taken over by the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas and becomes Haunted Mansion Holiday. Jack and other characters appear throughout the ride. They wear Christmas clothes. Jack also hosts the Halloween Screams and Not So Spooky Spectacular! fireworks shows. He also appears in the Frightfully Fun Parade. Chris Sarandon provided Jack's voice for all these attractions.

Toys

Jack Skellington has been made into a Bendies figure. He also has many Funko Pop Vinyl figurines with different looks, like a Day of the Dead version. He appeared in the Kingdom Hearts action figure collections. He was also released in Japan's REVOLTECH Sci-fi line in 2010. Diamond Select Toys also made many action figures of Jack and other characters.

In 2017, a life-size Jack Skellington animatronic prop was released. This prop was six feet tall. It was sold only at Spirit Halloween stores. But in 2019, the prop became available for wholesale.

In the Disney Infinity toys-to-life series, Jack appears as a playable figurine. He was part of the second group of figures.

In 2019, a Lego minifigure of Jack Skellington was released. It was part of the Lego Minifigures Disney Series 2. A Lego Brickheadz figure of Jack was also released. It came with a Brickheadz version of Sally.

For the 30th anniversary, NECA made a Jack Skellington figurine.

See also

In Spanish: Jack Skellington para niños