Sally (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
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Sally is a fictional character in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, and is the main female protagonist of the film. Sally's voice was played by Catherine O'Hara throughout the movie.
Sally is a rag doll-type character, with detachable limbs stuffed with autumn leaves. She was created by Doctor Finklestein, Halloween Town's resident mad scientist. Their relationship is rather tense, as Finklestein insists on keeping Sally under lock and key, under the pretext of protecting her from the excitement of the outside world. However Sally is restless, and is intrigued by the wonders of the outside world.
It is this restlessness, or, more specifically, this desire for something better in her life, that draws her to Jack Skellington. In 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 Sally's true feelings for him, as she is too shy to make them known to him other than through her sweet actions.
Sally is an expert at needlework, and keeps a needle and thread on her person at all times. Her skills are well appreciated, as evidenced by Jack's request of her to tailor him a Santa suit and his encouraging words to her. She also has skills at brewing potions, and may have some psychic talent.
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[edit] The Nightmare Before Christmas
As the movie begins, it is shown that Sally has grown resentful of the Doctor's over-protectiveness. It is revealed that in the past Sally has poured deadly nightshade into his tea at least three times, and left the house while he was asleep.[1] Nevertheless, she does have some fondness towards her creator, as evidenced by her covering him with a blanket before leaving to the town meeting later in the movie. During the opening sequence of the movie, Sally has escaped again; once Finklestein catches up to her, she runs off to hide in the graveyard, leaving one of her arms with her creator. While she hides, she overhears Jack's sorrowful song, expressing his weariness of his life, she comes to understand the deeper connection between them.[2]
When Jack returns from Christmas Town, she again slips deadly nightshade into Finklestein's soup and runs off to participate in the town meeting Jack has called. Though she is intrigued by the things Jack has brought from Christmas Town, she already feels that something about this is not quite right. Finklestein imprisons her upon her return to the laboratory. Despite being trapped in her room, she creates a gift basket for Jack. Jack is busy conducting several experiments regarding how to create Christmas. She eventually escapes her imprisonment by throwing herself out of the tower, and piecing and sewing herself together afterwards. She delivers the basket to Jack, but runs away before Jack can thank her.
There is an onmious foreshadowing, as after she delivers the basket, she picks a flower and starts picking off its petals; here, she sees a vision of a Christmas tree bursting into flames. From this point on, she tries to convince Jack that his Christmas plans are a mistake. However, all her attempts to stop Jack from making Christmas fail; she is even persuaded to make the Santa suit Jack wears on Christmas Eve. In a final attempt to save Jack, she goes to rescue Santa Claus from Oogie Boogie, but she is herself captured. At the end of the film, once Jack has defeated Oogie Boogie, Santa tells Jack that Sally is "the only one who makes any sense around this insane asylum". Jack finally comes to appreciate what Sally has attempted to do for him and falls in love with her. Even though she still cannot admit her feelings, he can; therefore it is he who makes the first move. The final line of the movie has the two of them realizing that they are 'simply meant to be', and share a kiss while Jack's dog Zero looks on. In the soundtrack, an epilogue poem is included that implies that Jack and Sally had a family of "four or five skeleton children" several years after the film.
[edit] Video games
[edit] The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King
In his attempts to turn Halloween into Bug Day, Oogie tries to kidnap Jack, the Pumpkin King, but Sally is kidnapped by mistake. Oogie decides to hold her hostage until Jack comes to save her and the town from Oogie's terror.
[edit] The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge
After Jack returns to Halloween Town from his travels, Sally is one of the only citizens of Halloween Town who have not been deceived by Oogie Boogie and remain loyal to Jack.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts series
Sally appears in all three installments of the Kingdom Hearts video game series. In Kingdom Hearts, she is voiced by Rita Rudner, and Kath Soucie voices her in Kingdom Hearts II. Her Japanese voice in these games is done by Yuko Doi.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts
Sally's role in the first game is relatively minor. Jack and Sora find her in the graveyard and she gives them one of the ingredients for the heart Doctor Finklestein is making, memory. She expresses her worries about Jack's plan of adding the Heartless swarming the town to the Halloween festivities, though Jack tells her not to worry. Her gut feeling proves to be right, as Oogie Boogie steal the heart and attempts to use it to summon Heartless to defeat Jack. Oogie's plan fails, and Jack admits his mistake.
[edit] Chain of Memories
"Created" from Sora's memories of Halloween Town, Sally is in possession of a potion Finkelstein made that can bring "true memories". She hesitates to give the potion to Jack, as Heartless appeared when Finkelstein did so much as sniff the potion. However, Oogie Boogie pops up and steals the potion from her. When Oogie drinks the whole potion, he is overwhelmed with fear, and she concludes that this means the potion was a failure, though whether she is right or not never becomes clear.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts II
Sally plays a bigger part in this game, in which the events in Halloween Town are loosely based on the events of the film. Jack is determined to take Santa Claus's place this year, and even convinced Sora and the gang to join him as Santa's bodyguards. Sally has a terrible feeling about this, but Jack and Sora don't adhere to her warnings, too excited by the concept of making Christmas. When Santa goes to Halloween Town to find Jack, Sally comes to him and asks him to avoid speaking with the Pumpkin King. She becomes the only witness to the resurrected Oogie Boogie kidnapping Santa, and runs off to warn Jack and the others. They all return to Christmas Town, where Oogie Boogie is about to throw Santa into one of his own gift-making machines, but Sally distracts Oogie to save Santa. In the end, she gives Jack a Santa suit she sewed on his request. In the second trip to Halloween Town, Jack still wears the Santa suit, feeling that it would be rude not to wear the suit she worked so hard on. By the end of the visit, Jack learns the meaning of Christmas by understanding the act of giving, and understands that he felt so strongly about wearing the suit because it was a gift from Sally. He dances with Sally in the end, prompting Sora to think about his relationship with his friend Kairi.
[edit] Trivia
- In Kingdom Hearts II, when discussing the Experiment created by Finklestein, the doctor said that unlike the Experiment, Sally was fitted with a heart.
- Sally's Song was re-sung on the re-released Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack by Fiona Apple.
- Sally is mentioned in the Blink-182 song I Miss You.
- In episode 2 of the hentai series Angel Blade, when General Chloe is in the hospital and goes to Ayame's room, there is a doll in her bed in place of her. The doll is Sally with modified hair.
- Sally also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character.
