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Santa Claus

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Santa Claus (or Sandy Claws, as Jack Skellington and the other Halloween Town residents calls him) is one of the central characters of Tim Burton's 1993 stop-motion Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas. He is a joyful man that delivers gifts to children in the real world, and is later kidnapped by Oogie's minions, preventing him from doing his job.

He is voiced by Ed Ivory.

Background[]

Personality[]

Santa is a jolly, fun, and caring individual who is good with children and represents the spirit of Christmas entirely. He even is thoughtful and fair as he was checking his Naughty-Nice list. However, when he gets captured and taken to Halloween Town, he becomes much more serious especially when he struggles to free himself or demanding Oogie Boogie to release him.

Upon his rescue, Santa angrily scolded Jack for attempting to take over his holiday; even advising him to listen to Sally, referring her as "the only person who makes any sense in this insane asylum." However, he was thankful to Jack for saving him and confidently told him that Christmas could still be saved. Santa also doesn't appear to hold grudges as seen in the end, flying over Halloween Town and shouting "Happy Halloween!" to Jack, while making it snow for the town's residents.

Physical Appearance[]

Santa Claus is a very obese man dressed in a faded red, white fur-lined coat closed with a black belt. His very tiny hands are covered by black gloves that also have white fur lining. His feet and legs, though usually hidden by his coat, are even smaller than his hands, and covered by black boots. His buttocks are huge (as is shown when Lock, Shock, and Barrel try to shove him down the tiny pipe). His hat is also red and lined with white fur, and ends in a white fur ball. The hat itself is quite long and thin. Santa has white hair and eyebrows, and a very long, thick beard that nearly reaches the floor. His cheeks and bulbous nose are faintly pink, as are his lips.


Role in the film[]

When Jack Skellington stumbles upon Christmas Town, Santa's shadow is first seen as he shouts "Ho ho ho!" Later, Santa physically appears as he's checking his Naughty-Nice list, feeling proud that all of the world's children have been nice this year. When the doorbell rings, Santa gets up from his chair and goes to answer the door. Once he opens it, he is surprised to find three Halloween Town residents, Lock, Shock, & Barrel outside who capture him by throwing a sack over him.

He is taken to Halloween Town where he meets Jack who says he'll be taking over Christmas this year to let Santa have a vacation, much to Santa's shock. Jack then takes his hat and orders the trick-or-treaters to keep Santa safe and comfortable. As Santa expresses his shock on that Jack plans to take over Christmas, the trick-or-treating trio decide to take Santa to Oogie Boogie's lair as they believe that to be the most "comfortable" place. Santa, disgusted by the children's bad behavior, asked if they heard of "peace on earth" or "good will toward men" which they all shout "NO!"

When the trick-or-treaters take Santa to their treehouse, they try to deliver Santa to Oogie Boogie, but because of Santa's large size, they have trouble shoving him down the pipe, leading to Oogie's lair. However, after a few more shoves, they manage to deliver Santa to Oogie Boogie. Oogie, who had learned of Santa before he arrived, sings that he plans to kill him through a gambling game of life and death. Santa, at first, doesn't take this seriously and orders Oogie to let him go, as the children are expecting him for Christmas. However, after nearly killed by Oogie's gun-toting robots and being swung around by Oogie himself, Santa begins to fear for his life. Although he makes another demand to be released, Oogie refuses, saying that he(Santa) is not going anywhere; as he laughs sinisterly. Before Oogie could start the game, Sally, who have learned of Santa's predicament, distracts Oogie by using her dismembered leg while she frees Santa. But before Santa could escape, Oogie discovers he's been tricked when he sees the leg is not attached. When he sees Santa and Sally, he powerfully sucks the air, sending the two towards him where he recaptures Santa and captures Sally as well.

As Oogie prepares the game with his two captures, Santa, along with Sally and Santa, hear the Mayor of Halloween Town announce that Jack is dead due to being shot down by the human military forces. At this news, Oogie gleefully starts the game, torturing Santa and Sally in the process. When Oogie cheats by rolling an eleven, he gleefully and sadistically dumps Santa and Sally into a fiery pit, but they are rescued by Jack (who survived the attack). Santa and Sally watch as Jack fights and defeats Oogie where the majority of his bugs fall into the fiery pit. One bug (presumably Oogie's brain) tries to escape, but is squashed by Santa.

Jack apologizes to Santa for his actions and gives back his hat. Santa angrily scolds Jack for attempting to take over Christmas and advises him to listen to Sally as she's "the only person who makes any sense in this insane asylum." When Jack expresses how he hopes there's still time for Christmas to be saved, Santa assures him that he'll fix everything and leaves for Christmas Town by flying up through the pipe with a bit of Christmas magic.

After arriving in Christmas Town, Santa journeys to the human world where he gets rid of all the monstrous toys and gives all the children good presents while spreading Christmas joy everywhere. He later flies over Halloween Town where he causes snow to fall. To show he holds no ill will towards Jack and that he is grateful for having his life saved, Santa gives Jack a "Happy Halloween," with Jack wishing Santa a "Merry Christmas."


Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Santa, along with the Mayor of Halloween Town, are both left-handed.
  • Santa Claus is voiced by Ed Ivory, who also narrated the beginning of the movie.
  • Vincent Price was the original choice to voice Santa Claus but sadly he lost his wife in 1991, leading Ed Ivory to take over the role of Santa.

External links[]

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