Sally is the deuteragonist of Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas. She is a humanoid ragdoll created by Dr. Finkelstein, made out of various pieces stitched together, with dead leaves used as stuffing. She is the love interest of Jack Skellington.
Sally is voiced by Catherine O'Hara.
Background[]
Not much is known about Sally's early life, except that she was created by Doctor Finkelstein. Early on she became restless, as she was cooped up in the Doctor's lab for long periods of time.
Personality[]
Sally is kind, sensible, honest, and incredibly clever. She is restless due to being constantly kept under lock and key by Doctor Finklestein, whom she shares a tense relationship with and is intrigued by the outside world.
It is this restlessness, or, more specifically, this desire for something better in her life, that draws her to Jack Skellington. At the beginning of the movie, she idolizes and admires Jack much like any of the other female members of Halloween Town; however, she quickly discovers that they are connected by the desire for something more in their lives, and her feelings for him intensify. The two refer to each other as "friends", though Jack seems unaware of her true feelings for him, as she is too shy to make them known to him other than through her sweet actions.
Physical Appearance[]
Sally is a living doll with faded blue fabric for skin, multiple sewing stitches all over her body, and is quite slender. She has large eyes with small black pupils and red lips. Her hair, where she hides a sewing needle, is a reddish color and is kept at tailbone-length. Sally is also shown to be stuffed with fall leaves.
Sally wears a knee-high, ragged dress with a V-cut neckline, and is presumably made by simply stitching together multi-colored pieces of cloth (it has a sewn pocket for her thread). She also wears red nail polish on her nails and black high-heeled boots with black and white striped socks.
Powers and abilities[]
Appearances[]
The Nightmare Before Christmas[]
Sally first appears brushing her hair during "This is Halloween" and watches the Halloween festivities from behind a Hanging Tree, witnessing Jack Skellington make his grand entrance. Once the festivities come to an end, Sally's creator and guardian, Dr. Finkelstein catches up to her and tries to drag her back to his lab, forcing Sally to dismember her arm by pulling its thread and leave it with her creator as she runs off to the graveyard. Hearing the graveyard's gate open, Sally quickly hides where she witnesses Jack arrive. While she hides, she overhears Jack's sorrowful song, expressing the weariness of his life, she comes to understand a deeper connection between them and falls deeply in love with him.
Long Live the Pumpkin Queen[]
Video Games[]
The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King[]
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge[]
Kingdom Hearts series[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Sally's mouth movements "were animated through the replacement method. During the animation process, only Sally's face 'mask' was removed in order to preserve the order of her long reddish-brown hair. Sally had 10 types of faces, each made with a series of 11 expressions (e.g. eyes open and closed, and various facial poses) and synchronized mouth movements."
- Sally originally was supposed to have trouble walking; however, the filmmakers changed this because they thought Sally looked drunk while walking. However, it is shown that Sally walks more stiffly than other characters.
- Sally is somewhat similar to Frankenstein's monster and the monster made in the Bride of Frankenstein, as she was a sewn-up monster created by a mad scientist.
- Although Sally's hair color in the film is light brown, most merchandise and appearances in the Disney Parks depict her as a redhead.
- Due to receiving a premonition of Jack’s Christmas failure, it is highly debated by fans on whether or not Sally possesses any sort of psychic powers. It was never confirmed if Sally is capable of accessing such powers or if she simply received the premonition in light of the moment.