Jack Skellington

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Jack Skellington is the main protagonist of Tim Burton's stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas and a popular pop culture icon commonly associated with Halloween due to his role in the film.

Description[]

Jack Skellington is a tall skeleton who resides in Halloweentown, where he is known as "The Pumpkin King" and is the head authority figure in the town. He grows tired of Halloween, saying it's the same thing every year, and while wandering through the woods, discovers doors to other holiday worlds, and goes through the Christmas door. Fascinated, he decides to take over Christmas for the year, but fails to explain the joys of Christmas to the citizens of Halloweentown, who only know how to frighten. Naturally, everything goes wrong.

Relation to Slender Man[]

Jack skellington vs slenderman by starlover4ever-d7sue9z — by Carify

Many fans have noted visual similarities between the two, and as a result they have appeared in many works of fan art and fan videos together. Some have also noticed mild behavioral similarities, as well.

Visual Similarities[]

Tall stature including long limbs
Thin proportions
Pale complexion
Baldness
Black and white formal suits

Visual Differences[]

Jacks' suit is striped with a bow tie rather than pure black with a tie.
Jack is a skeleton with no flesh, while Slender Man has flesh
Jack has a face, which Slender Man does not

Behavioral Similarities[]

Note how when Jack ducks down, his arms and legs are spread out like spider legs.

Wandering in the forest (albeit Jack is only shown to do so once in the film, he is shown to do it more often in spin offs)
Frightening others
Both at some point show spider-like movements. Slender Man walks on his tentacles in a manner similar to spiders, and Jack's fighting style in the film is reminiscent in some ways of a spider.

Behavioral Differences[]

The main difference between the two is that while Jack is friendly and scares others out of Halloween spirit, Slender Man actually brings harm to his victims; ergo Jack is considered a more benevolent being, while Slender Man is generally malevolent.
Jack is generally social with the people of Halloweentown, and in most respects behaves like a normal person (with the exceptions related to his role of preparing for Halloween) while Slenderman seems to avoid social situations, only interacting with victims and those directly under his control.
Jack is shown to be highly optimistic, while in the few adaptions where Slenderman is given a personality, Slender Man is portrayed as pessimistic and/or loathing.

Abilities[]

In the video-game spin-off Oogie's Revenge, Jack has a tentacle like weapon similar to those Slenderman possesses (see image at top of section for reference).