Basic Information and Head-Canon
Name: Lin
AIM:shinotenshi22
IC Information:
Name: Jack Skellington
Fandom: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Timeline: After the movie, and after “Oogie’s Revenge” the videogame.
Age: Unknown
Appearance: Jack is a living (of sorts) skeleton. He is all bones, and thus very skinny, but also appears to be about 6 ft tall at minimum height, with his legs and arms being very long. (Exact height unknown.) He wears a black and white pinstriped suit with tails and a bat-shaped bow tie. Two other common appearances for Jack include his “Sandy Claws” suit, and a scarecrow-like outfit with a pumpkin for a head.
Abilities: Jack is the “Pumpkin King” of Halloween Town, and thus one of the ‘leaders’ of the town, working closely with the Mayor to make a good Halloween celebration each year. He’s shown to be a proficient singer and dancer, and apparently is also quite an accomplished scare-er. He’s also alluded to ‘reciting shakesperean quotations’. Being a skeleton, he doesn’t seem to feel pain and he may be immortal. He’s able to remove his bones at will apparently, and is also quite flexible and agile.
Jack also has two forms he can change into; the “Pumpkin King” which is the scarecrow-like costume above and allows him to breath fire and create a fiery-burst with himself at the center, and “Santa Jack” which has him in his Sandy Claws costume, carrying a sack with unlimited presents. These ‘presents” have different abilities. The two I’d give him would be “Scared Stiff” which stuns an enemy and “Cold Front” which produces a mini snow-flurry that temporarily freezes an enemy in a block of ice.
Personality: Jack is basically a “Good” guy; active, alive, optimistic, but also eccentric and theatrical. He’s also determined--putting his mind towards something, he won’t stop until he achieves his goal. He can be impulsive though, not really thinking things through. He’s basically very friendly and nice, and his ‘scares’ are more for the thrill, than out of any malicious intent.
History: In a forest, there seem to be 7 trees with different emblems for 7 holidays, a jack o’lantern symbolising Halloween. Through this door, is Halloween Town, which is responsible for putting on Halloween, every year, for the ‘real’ world. Jack is the “Pumpkin King” of Halloween, something of a celebrity. In the past, he has become bored by this ‘role’ and feels that no one understood his boredom or desire to do new things. This lead to him, in a sleep walking stupor, to the discovery of Christmas Town. Finding it delightful and to his tastes, he decides to give “Sandy Claws” a year off, and devotes himself and his town to putting on Christmas.
This, does not go well; as his townsfolk do not understand Christmas, and Jack must then set things right, saving Sandy Claws from Oogie Boogie (the boogieman) and saving christmas. Oogie, unlike most of the Halloween Town residents, is not content just to ‘scare’, but actually engages in violence. Jack learns his mistake, and Oogie is torn-apart through tangling a thread in his own machine while fighting Jack, and Santa saves Christmas.
In “Oogie’s Revenge”, Lock, Shock, and Barrel have sewn Oogie back together, and he takes over the town and tries to take over the other holidays, while Jack is away searching for new ideas for Halloween. Jack returns, and must again stop Oogie not only from taking over Christmas (and killing Sandy) but the other holidays as well.
Head Canon, aka things that are not official canon, but are true in my head. These things likely influence how I play Jack. Please, read here before you criticize my roleplaying--I'm happy to discuss things and I know my interpretation can differ from other's.
--Jack has ADD--he's very intelligent and smart, but easily caught up and distracted until something catches his eye.
--Jack knows French, or at least enough to terrorize people. (Based on a line in Jack's lament, about being known throughout England and France.)
--Magic. I know Mr. Burton has stated there's no magic in Halloween Town--I respectfully disagree for purposes of roleplaying. Especially since we often use the various videogames Jack's been in as a source. Thus, I allow him to use magic--usually based off of fire and dark magic, and potentially abilities related to his Sandy Claws Costume with presents.
--Jack isn't stupid per se; he knows the roots of Halloween. Both its bad and good--and chooses the interpretation that is kid-friendly. He favors scares that require skill and artistry, not quick and cheap violent-based ones. He has his blind spots, which make him a bit naive and innocent, but he's also not dumb.
--Related to the above, Jack falls more on the 'terror-horror' side of the spectrum than 'torture-horror' side of horror. This is invoking fear through atmosphere and style and psychology, more than invoking it through a shock-response and self-preservation. He is not a 'bad' person per se, but he is a creature of fear and he is not human; he does not mean harm but sometimes it's a question of what you define as 'harm'.
--Holiday Town Leaders; to my knowledge, none but Jack Skellington and Santa Claus are given names. Thus, for my purposes, Easter is lead by Peter Cotton Tail, Independence Day by Uncle Sam, Valentine's Day by Cupid, Thanksgiving by Miles Standish, and St. Patrick's day by Seamus O'Flanagan (who's great-great-ever-so-many-great-grand-dad was Patrick O'Flanagan).