Most people who read this blog will know I adore Tim Burton’s work, and especially Nightmare Before Christmas! So for today’s Femme Fatale Friday here at White Rose of Avalon I will discussing Sally Skellington. Sally was the lead female of this film, and she is getting her own continuation novel (due out July of 2022). She falls in love with the Pumpkin King, Jack!
Over the course of the film Sally proved to be the only one who sensed that Jack trying to take over Christmas was a bad idea. She obviously has a lot of psychic abilities. I honestly have always believed her to be a witch character. This may seem odd given that she is a rag doll creation who was made by a mad scientist.
However, she knows a lot of herblore, and has used potions to poison her maker. She also knows a lot about magic around Halloweentown, and is always saying she feels and hears things in the air. This all adds up to have some sort of magical abilities within her character. She is also very good at caring for others, and almost presents as a natural healer, this again connects her to being a magic practitioner.
Over the course of the story Sally is often ignored and not believed by others. Everyone is so enthralled by Jack’s plans that they seem to think that Sally is not someone they should listen to. This facet always reminds me of Cassandra, from Greek myth. Cassandra was a young woman that Apollo fell madly in love with. As a token of his devotion Apollo offered Cassandra the gift of prophecy. He asked that in return she become his lover.
Well, Cassandra took Apollo’s gift of prophecy, but then rebuffed him. An irate Apollo cursed Cassandra that her prophecies would be completely accurate, but no one would ever believe her! This is exactly how everyone in Halloweentown seems to treat Sally’s feelings. She knows things they do not, but they do not take her seriously!
In the end Sally helped the man she loved, and he realized he loved her in return. So Jack and Sally get to be together, happily we hope, and that is a nice way to end things. I hope that you have enjoyed this post. Let me know if you plan to read the new book when it is released! Thank you for joining me for Femme Fatale Friday. I hope you come back next week! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is Sally. I found the image on https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Sally_(The_Nightmare_Before_Christmas).
Further Watching/Reading
- Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
- Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw
- Mythology by Edith Hamilton
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