Jack Skellington/Relationships

The relationships of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
== Romance ==
===Sally===
Like all of the citizens of Halloween Town, Jack was admired and idolized by Sally where she would put her creator, Dr. Finkelstein to sleep so she can watch Jack host the Halloween celebrations. After the end of a Halloween celebration, Jack went to the town's graveyard and lamented on how bored he is of Halloween's traditions, how he dreamt of something more in his life, and wished for somebody to understand him and his feelings, which unknown to him, was overheard by Sally who had retreated into the graveyard to escape from Dr. Finkelstein. Sally became sympathetic towards Jack's sorrowfulness and understood him of wanting something more in life, causing her to fall deeply in love with him. Sally's newfound love for Jack caused her to return to Dr. Finkelstein where she expressed to her creator of not wanting to be patient in having freedom due to her love for Jack.
After Jack had discovered Christmas Town and returned home, he held a town meeting in which Sally attended after she had drugged Dr. Finkelstein again. As Jack showed what he had discovered in Christmas Town, Sally was intrigued by the Christmas holiday, but became unsure of getting too involved with Christmas when Jack tried to explain it to the townsfolk. When Jack goes to Dr. Finkelstein's lab to borrow some lab equipment, his arrival enlightened Sally who had been confined to her room by the doctor as punishment for drugging him so many times. Later, as Jack did his experiments on Christmas, he was visited by Sally who had escaped once again from the doctor due to having enough her creator's overprotectiveness. Jack waved at Sally, entranced by her beauty, as she gave him a gift basket. Jack became grateful of Sally's kindness towards him after he opened the gift basket where he decided to thank her, only to see that Sally had already left, due Sally being extremely bashful around him.
When Jack decided to have Halloween Town celebrate Christmas, he gave everyone an important task to prepare for the holiday which Sally participated in with all of the citizens to help Jack. When Sally met with Jack to receive her assignment, Jack was happy to see her as he gave her the job of making his Santa Claus outfit, finding Sally talented and clever enough to sew his Santa Claus suit. Sally tried to inform Jack of having a vision of his plans for Christmas creating chaos, due to being worried for his safety, but an optimistic Jack politely dismissed her concerns and tried to console Sally by telling her he had so much confidence in her. Despite Sally still being worried, she helped Jack go along with his plans for Christmas by making his Santa Claus outfit.
After Sally finished Jack's Santa Claus suit, he tried it on as Sally did the finishing touches on the suit where she once expressed her worries and tried to remind Jack that he is the Pumpkin King, but Jack felt his true purpose was to be Santa due being unhappy when he was the Pumpkin King. When Sally accidentally poked Jack with her sewing needle, she apologized and Jack did not get upset with her, knowing it was accident as he agreed with her on "something being missing," which he thought meant something to complete his Santa suit where he took Santa Claus's hat after Lock, Shock, and Barrel manage to bring him to Halloween Town.
On Christmas Eve, Jack was about to take off in his sleigh to deliver presents to children all over the world where Sally cheered for him, but she secretly had poured fog juice into Halloween Town's fountain to stop Jack and protect him from putting himself in harm's way. When the fog becomes heavy, Jack gets devastated to have chances of excitement and happiness ruined where Sally feels sad, showing she does want Jack to be happy despite having concerns on his idea to take over Christmas. When Zero reveals his glowing nose to Jack, he allows his ghost dog lead his team of skeletal reindeer where he is able to fly his sleigh into the real world as Sally watches in despair. Later, as Jack delivers gifts to children, he is watched by Sally through a witch's cauldron where she becomes horrified when Jack's life gets threatened by military forces due to people being afraid of the monstrous, horrifying gifts Jack had been delivering. However, Jack is able to survive the attack and comes to realize that Sally was right in how his attempts to do Christmas would be disastrous, feeling guilty for not listening to her. This allows Jack to come to understand his true place is to be the Pumpkin King and decide to make amends for his mistakes.
Jack was then able to return to Halloween Town with Zero where he realizes that not only Santa, but also Sally had been captured by Oogie Boogie as she had tried to rescue Santa earlier in order to save Jack. Once Jack arrived at Oogie's lair, he heard Sally's cries for help and became infuriated over Oogie threatening Sally's life. He managed to save Sally and Santa before they are killed and proceeded to confront Oogie where he dodged every trap the Boogeyman laid out for him. When Oogie tried to escape, Jack, still angry at Oogie for threatening Sally's life, pulled a loose thread from Oogie's sack which causes it to be unraveled and Oogie to die as a majority of Oogie's bugs fall into a magma pit. After Oogie's death and Santa's departure to fix Christmas, Jack was reassured by Sally that Santa will fix everything. Jack expressed his surprise over Sally risking her life to save Santa, in order to save him. Jack then began to comprehend he was in love with Sally and that she loved him too, but before he could say anything to Sally, the Mayor of Halloween Town arrived with Lock, Shock, and Barrel to rescue them where Jack holds Sally's hand as they escape from Oogie's lair.
After returning to Halloween Town where the weather begins to snow, Jack spots Sally heading to the graveyard. As Jack watches Sally go, he notices Sally understood his feelings more than any of his friends by seeing who he was past his title of the Pumpkin King. Jack also now realizes he deeply loves Sally and how much she means to him, so he follows her to the graveyard to confess his feelings to her. Once Jack finds Sally sitting on the Spiral Hill, he sings and is able to confess his love to Sally where she reveals she loves Jack as well. When Jack comes up to Sally on the top of the Spiral Hall, he takes Sally's hands where Jack and Sally then embrace each other and share a kiss.
== Friends ==
===Zero===
Jack shares a strong bond with his ghost dog, Zero who is considered to be Jack's best friend. After Jack finishes celebrating Halloween with the citizens of Halloween Town, the first thing Jack does when he arrives at the town's graveyard is summon Zero from his grave. When Jack laments how tired and bored he is of celebrating Halloween, he is comforted by Zero. Later, Jack and Zero wander into the forest together where Jack plays fetch with Zero when seeing how much Zero wanted to play and wanting to make Zero happy. When Jack and Zero stumble upon a mysterious area containing a grove of trees that have doors leading to different holiday towns, Jack opens the Christmas tree-shaped door and gets sucked into the world of Christmas. Zero, who gets left behind, barks after Jack, worried for his master. However, Jack is able to return back to Zero from Christmas Town and the two return to Halloween Town together.
When Jack returns to his house from Dr. Finkelstein's lab after borrowing some equipment to study Christmas, he lets Zero know that he's home before he starts working on his experiments. However, when Jack's obsession with Christmas grows unhealthy, Zero grows worried for his master and tries to remind Jack of his true purpose of being the Pumpkin King and creating Halloween by showing a portrait of himself. It backfires when Jack decides to take over Christmas and fill in Santa Claus's role in delivering presents to children all over the world on Christmas Eve, making Zero grow even more concerned for Jack.
Despite this, Jack's plans in overtaking Christmas and his determination to get his dreams to come true are supported by Zero. When Christmas Eve arrives, Jack becomes depressed when a thick fog rolls in (due to being created by Sally who's worried Jack's plans will cause disaster), but as Zero attempts to cheer him up, Jack notices and becomes amazed with Zero's glowing nose that he allows his dog to lead his team of reindeer and light the way to the human world. As Jack and Zero deliver presents, military forces try to shoot them down due to the humans being frightened by the horrifying gifts that they have been delivering. When they are nearly shot down, Jack, not knowing at first that the military is attacking them, comforts a distraught Zero and urges him to go higher into the sky. When Jack realizes the military is trying to shoot them down, he desperately calls out to Zero before they crash down into a cemetery. They survive the fall and Jack is helped by Zero who puts his jaw back to his mouth. As Jack blames himself for causing so much trouble, he is comforted by Zero. However, when Jack overcomes his identity crisis and reaffirms his role as the Pumpkin King, Zero becomes happy for Jack. Once Jack grows determined to fix his mistakes, he is given Santa's hat by Zero before two go to return to Halloween Town together.
When Jack and Zero return to Halloween Town, discovering that Santa and Sally have been kidnapped by Oogie Boogie, the two work together in rescuing them before Jack battles Oogie. Zero barks aggressively at the evil bogeyman to protect Jack and watches Jack defeat Oogie. After Jack, Zero, and Sally return to Halloween Town, the due being rescued by the Mayor and Lock, Shock, and Barrel, Jack and Zero watch Sally go to the graveyard as it begins to snow in Halloween Town before Jack follows her. Jack and Sally are watched by Zero as they confess their love for each other and once they share a kiss, Zero flies into the sky and transforms into a star, delighted to know that Jack has found happiness with Sally, his true love.
===Mayor of Halloween Town===
Jack shares a good professional relationship with the Mayor of Halloween Town. The Mayor admires Jack and seems to heavily rely on him in planning the celebrations of Halloween every year as Jack is the Pumpkin King and the Mayor seems to only govern the town. However, unknown to the Mayor, Jack hides his feelings of misery due to being bored with Halloween, worrying the Mayor would not understand how he feels about doing Halloween's same traditions every year.
When Jack leaves from Halloween Town the day after Halloween, the Mayor grows concerned and worried where he mounts a search party for Jack, showing the Mayor truly cares for Jack. When Jack returns home from Christmas Town, the Mayor becomes happy and relieved to see Jack before he willingly obeys Jack's orders to call for a town meeting. As Jack explained his time in Christmas Town, the Mayor becomes fascinated with Christmas and applauds Jack for sharing his discoveries.
Later, when Jack decides to take over Christmas, his idea is supported by the Mayor, despite the Mayor having some secret misgivings about it. Jack is helped by the Mayor in getting ready for Christmas and Jack is given a speech by the Mayor before he takes off to deliver presents on Christmas Eve where the Mayor cheers for him. However, when Jack is shot down by the military, the Mayor and all of the citizens are shocked and saddened by his supposed demise. As a result, the Mayor becomes guilt-ridden on not expressing his doubts to Jack earlier on taking over Christmas, blaming himself for Jack's "death."
After Jack defeats Oogie Boogie, saving Santa Claus and Sally, he and Sally are rescued from Oogie's lair by the Mayor who was informed of Jack's survival by Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Once Jack and Sally are retrieved by the Mayor and return to Halloween Town, Jack happily shakes hand with the Mayor and expresses his joy in being home again, showing that Jack and the Mayor do share a strong friendship.
===Dr. Finkelstein===
Jack shares a good relationship with Halloween Town's mad scientist, Dr. Finkelstein. Finkelstein shows a fondness for Jack and Jack has a deep level of respect towards Finkelstein. After Jack discovered Christmas Town, Jack went to Finkelstein's lab to ask the doctor if he can borrow some lab equipment so he run some experiments and better explain the meaning of Christmas to the citizens of Halloween Town. Finkelstein allowed Jack to borrow some of his lab equipment, due to his fondness of him, remarking "curiosity killed the cat, you know!"
When Jack decide to take over Christmas, he requests Finkelstein's help in creating the reindeer to pull his sleigh. Finkelstein agrees to help Jack, saying the reindeer's structure should be "exceedingly simple." Finkelstein then manages to succeed in creating the skeletal reindeer needed to help pull Jack's sleigh and help him deliver presents on Christmas Eve. Later, after Jack manages to fix his mistakes and defeat Oogie Boogie, Jack saw Finkelstein join the rest of Halloween Town celebrating in the snow with his new creation, Jewel. Knowing Finkelstein created Sally and seeing he created Jewel to replace her, this allowed Jack to confess his feelings for Sally and form a romantic relationship with her.
===Santa Claus===
When Jack had discovered Christmas Town, he also discovered the existence of Santa Claus. Jack started to idolize Santa Claus for bringing joy and cheer to the real world during Christmas as Jack grew bored with bringing fear on Halloween. Although Jack mispronounced Santa's name as "Sandy Claws," Jack still admired Santa for his role in Christmas.
When Jack decided to take over Christmas after being unable to find a way to explain the meaning of it, he instructed Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa and bring him to Halloween Town so he can take over the latter's role in delivering presents to children on Christmas Eve. Jack even decided to dress up like Santa and tried to do his signature "Ho, Ho!" laugh so he can become just like him. Once Lock, Shock, and Barrel successfully managed to capture Santa, Jack was overjoyed to meet him and was surprised to see he had actual hands instead of claws which Jack assumed he did due to mispronouncing Santa's name. Jack then explains to Santa his desire to deliver Christmas presents this year and is offering Santa a break from the job, despite Santa being confused and shocked with the news. Jack then tells Lock, Shock, and Barrel to give Santa plenty of comfort for his day off from Christmas.
However, when Jack's plans for Christmas ended up causing chaos, Jack realized his mistakes and that he should not try to be someone he is not, such as Santa Claus. After realizing who he truly is, Jack returns to Halloween Town where he manages to rescue Santa and Sally from Oogie Boogie. After Oogie's death, Jack apologizes to Santa for nearly destroying Christmas and returns his hat to him (which Jack took earlier) where Jack receives a scolding from Santa. Despite this, Jack is assured by Santa that he will fix Christmas before he leaves. After Santa manages to fix Christmas, Jack sees him fly back to Halloween Town where the two of them exchange a "Happy Halloween" and "Merry Christmas," as the two are now on good terms with each other.
== Enemies ==
===Oogie Boogie===
Jack is enemies with Oogie Boogie, the Boogeyman of Halloween Town. Jack hates Oogie for his evil, sadistic nature while Oogie despises Jack for being the Pumpkin King and bringing a sense of playful fun to Halloween. Because of Oogie's extremely wicked nature, Jack does not allow Oogie to participate in the celebrations of Halloween which causes Oogie to be confined in a lair beneath Lock, Shock, and Barrel's treehouse. As a result, Oogie's hatred of Jack grew stronger where he began plotting his revenge and finding a way to overthrow Jack and take over Halloween Town.
Sometime after Jack discovered Christmas Town, he ordered Oogie's on-and-off minions, Lock, Shock, and Barrel to not have Oogie be involved with Halloween Town's preparations for Christmas, but they go against Jack's word. When Oogie heard of Jack wanting to celebrate Christmas and do Santa Claus's role in delivering presents to children on Christmas Eve, Oogie, knowing Jack's plans would end up in disaster due to trying to take over another holiday, saw this as the perfect opportunity to overthrow Jack as the Pumpkin King and take over Halloween. When Lock, Shock, and Barrel delivered Santa to Oogie, he kept Santa hostage so Jack would go along with his plans for Christmas so they would fall into ruin.
Eventually, Jack's plans for Christmas ended up being disastrous due to people being frightened by the horrifying, monstrous gifts they had been receiving which caused Jack to be shot down by military forces and presumably be killed, much to Oogie's delight. However, Jack managed to survive and decided to fix his mistakes where he returned to Halloween Town to fetch Santa. Once Jack returned to Halloween Town, Jack discovered that Lock, Shock, and Barrel took Santa to Oogie who has captured Sally while she was trying to free Santa. After he successfully managed to rescue them, Jack angrily confronted Oogie who was shocked to see Jack alive. However, before Jack could teach Oogie Boogie a lesson, the Boogeyman activates his torture mechanisms, his gun-wielding robot slot machines, and a giant saw in attempts to kill Jack, but Jack manages to evade every trap Oogie has set for him. As Oogie attempted to escape on a propeller, Jack was taunted by Oogie, but Jack, having had enough of Oogie's villainy, angrily pulls a loose thread which causes Oogie's sack to be unraveled. As a result, a majority of Oogie's bugs falls into a fiery, molten pit which leads to Oogie's death. Jack watches Oogie lose his bugs and die as he finally put an end to the Boogeyman's reign of terror.
Category:Relationships
Category:The Nightmare Before Christmas