Jack Skellington is the lead character in the Disney film Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack is the "Pumpkin King" of Halloween and lives in a fictional world based solely on the holiday called Halloween Town. His usual appearance is a skeleton dressed in a black pin-striped suit and a bow tie resembling a bat, but there are some points in which he dresses as a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head. His name is a pun on skeleton. He has a pet ghost dog named Zero, who has a small glowing nose that looks like a Jack-o'-lantern. His love interest is Sally, a rag doll created by Dr. Finklestein. Jack is voiced by Chris Sarandon, and his singing voice is provided by Danny Elfman.^[1]

The character is a popular design on bags, hats, clothing, umbrellas, belt buckles, pet collars and other items.^{[citation needed]} According to Ultimate Disney.com's Top 25 Heroes, Jack is #25.

Abilities

It appears that Jack, being undead, may be immortal; and may or may not feel physical pain. At the climax of "This Is Halloween", he sets himself on fire without serious injury. He also has the ability to remove bones from his body. Jack can take off his head (to apparently "recite Shakespearean quotations") and remove ribs to play fetch with his dog Zero. Despite this inability to feel pain, Jack reacts negatively when Sally accidentally pricks his finger with a needle.

After being shot by the U.S. military, everyone in Halloween Town believes Jack was "blown to smithereens" and he does appear dead until Zero places his jaw in the right place. He also mentions in the subsequent song that remaining in a cave for million years would turn him to dust, hinting that he may not be immortal and will one day wither away.

Jack also is very flexible for being a skeleton and possesses incredible agility. Occasionally hints are made to further powers, particularly during an episode in one of the original film's video-game spin-offs, in which he fights Oogie Boogie and his army of bugs with fire and ice magic as well as possible dark and musical magic. In the Kingdom Hearts series, he also can use dark magic. This appears to be unfaithful to the original story, as Tim Burton has stated on the audio commentary for The Nightmare Before Christmas, that Halloween Town does not possess any "magic".

[edit] Jack in The Nightmare Before Christmas

The film commences with the grand finale of Halloween Town's Halloween celebrations, which are hailed by Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. However, when Jack sneaks away from the adoring citizens, it is revealed that he is tired of the same old Halloween routine and he wanders off into the graveyard and then the woods with his ghost dog, Zero. As he bemoans his misery, he is unaware that his friend Sally the rag doll is listening and siding with him.

Accidentally sleepwalking through the woods, Jack stumbles upon a place in the forest he has never been before, revealing to be a grove of trees that have doors leading to different holiday towns. Jack is drawn toward the Christmas tree-shaped door and opens it, finding Christmas Town. Inspired by and infatuated with the holiday, he attempts with little success to explain it to the citizens of Halloween Town. After obsessively researching it, he decides that this year the citizens of Halloween Town will manage Christmas, in the hopes of "improving" it. Sally on the other hand, has a premonition that his plans for Christmas will be a disaster. She attempts to warn him, but Jack is too wrapped up into "his" Christmas to recognize her warnings and politely dismisses her fear.

Sally's premonition proves to be right: Not really understanding the "spirit" of Christmas, the citizens of Halloween Town create a celebration of the macabre rather than of joy. Jack, dressed as Santa Claus ("Sandy Claws" as Jack calls him) unintentionally brings terror rather than joy to the children of the world. Wanting "Sandy Claws" to rest, Jack had ordered a trio of trick-or-treaters, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, to bring Santa to Halloween Town. However, after Santa is first brought to Jack and greeted warmly by him, the three take him to their master, Oogie Boogie, who mocks, tortures, and plans to eventually kill Santa with his sadistic games. Sally attempts to rescue Santa Claus after discovering that military forces are planning to defeat Jack, but she too is captured. Upon realizing the error of his ways, Jack overcomes his identity crisis and reaffirms himself as the Pumpkin King. Determined to set things right, Jack returns to Halloween Town, where he discovers that Santa has been taken to Oogie's Lair and that Sally is also there. He manages to rescue Santa and Sally, and defeat Oogie Boogie. Santa Claus returns to the real world to save Christmas and, as a sign of no hard feelings, gives Halloween Town a taste of true Christmas spirit, fulfilling Jack's former desire to a limited extent. Jack also finds Sally on the Halloween Hill blanketed in snow and reveals his own affection for her. At the film's end, the two embrace and share a kiss while Zero looks on.

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. Given the ending of the movie, it can be assumed that these children are Jack and Sally's.