History WMG / Coraline

[[WMG: The Other Mother is actually the Shadow of Coraline’s mom.

The Beldam is just making it move while others aren't looking.

* So parents aren't supposed to ask for help if they're trapped in a freezing prison that's slowly killing them? They were trapped in the snowglobe that was simply linked up to the magical world which is why they could use the mirror as a sort of portal with no exit, like in Soul Eater. It's just that.

Because both are jovial, blue, eastern-european acrobats and Bobinsky even seems to be vanishing from place to place in a few scenes. He could be another child of Mystique, making him Kurt's half-brother. If Bobinsky had taken what the mice were saying seriously, he may have even been able to call up his brother to help deal with the Beldam's threat.

Not something that would make a big change in how it works, but it could be interesting. The Other Mother is just another cheap imitation puppet, like The Other Father and Other Wybie. The Beldam has no fixed form, and can choose to possess her Other-Puppets at will, the sign being that she is doing so that the hands are mechanical. Yes, I'm aware Other Mother was doing spooky stuff before having the robot hands, but I'd chalk that up to the Beldam's 'programming' of her, if you will. In theory, the Beldam could have chosen to take over the form of The Other Father or even Other Wybie instead.

* Being 'made' of rats makes sense, since in the circus scene OtherBobinsky only appears at the end of the performance, and the 'mice' all go in under his clothing. When the OtherMother's magic starts to unravel, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to hold that form, eventually dissolving into the rat swarm. It works thematically with the OtherFather being made from a pumpkin, and the OtherSpink/Forcible being taffy.

* Well, with Keith David as the mentor figure, I don't think we can rule out [[MassEffect3 a Reaper/Reaper construct and Indoctrination Theory]]. (Which would make the ghost children Catalysts, I guess.)

* Another Fairy; like the OtherMother, but with nicer intentions.

* [[Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Dr. Facilier]]. As stated on the WMG page for that particular film. He was sucked into the Other World by his main "Friend", the Beldam, after he failed to uphold his end of the deal with her. Once he was there, she proceeded to turn him into a cat as further punishment, and he's been fighting her ever since. Plus, like Foley and the Arbiter, he's got the voice actor connection going on.

[[Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog ...The Other Side]]

* the main [[Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog friend on the other side]]

[[WNG: The Other Mother is a separate being from The Beldam.]]

[[WNG:The Other Mother is a separate being from The Beldam.]]

Given that the sites of the eyes are "shut down", becoming grey and devoid of animation after the eyes are taken, perhaps the Other Mother started with only her own domain, the Jones' part of the house, in the Other World, and used the power of each victim's soul to expand the Other World outward to have more wonders and spectacles to entice further victims.

* I'm glad ''[[PotatoBucket I]]'' wasn't the only person who noticed the similarities.

Why else would their souls be kept there unless they were the temptations that drove them to stay in the Other World? It also explains why they ultimately fail for Coraline; the three wonders have already done their jobs.

[[WMG: The Beldam is not just related to {{Literature/IT}}; she is her "goody two-shoes" sister.]]

This is how the Other Mother from the book/movie could both have a mother and killed her despite being a horrific inhuman monster, possibly keeping the previous Beldam alive and draining her slowly while the new Beldam got used to her new power/lured in more children. As noted above the root of Beldam has a male equivalent in Belsire, so it's entirely possible that there are male Other "Mothers" (or Other ''Fathers'') who evolved from abducted boys.

** Interestingly, Creator/TerryPratchett's section on GushingAboutCharactersYouLike also mentions this. Pratchett and Gaiman worked together on ''Literature/GoodOmens'', so who knows?

** He does not directly intervene with Coraline's choices. However, when the calculating Other Mother goes as far as to ''kidnap her parents'', [[DivineIntervention does he then get involved]]. They never choose this, so the Cat purges the entire unpleasant ordeal from their memories once they are safely returned to his world.

[[WMG: The Other Mother is an evil/twisted version of Dame Eyola from TheNeverendingStory]]

[[WMG: The Cat was the cat from ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'']]

Let's look at the similarities:
* Both are shapeshifters.
* Both can warp reality as they see fit.
* Both are evil one way or another.
* Both eat children.
* And both have a final form related to spiders.
----
Now let's see their Differences:
* IT feeds on fear, Beldam feeds on love.
* IT got beaten by seven kids and died twice, Beldam got beaten by one but survived.
* IT can live 30 years without food, Beldam can live 60.
* IT takes form of the fears of her victim, Beldam takes on the form of people her victims love or trust.
* IT doesn't require free will to devour kids, Beldam needs to sew button eyes on them first.

[[WMG: Wybei is in love with Coraline.]]

* [[Literature/{{IT}} A being from the Macroverse.]] She's a giant female spider that uses illusions to seduce and ensnare children. They all float in the mirror'.

[[WMG: The Beldam is related to the monster in [[Literature/{{It}} Stephen King's It]]]]
She just uses a different tactic to get her food.
* There is a lot to suggest this. It's explicitly stated that IT is female. The final form is a [[spoiler: spider]]. It shape shifts for the purpose of MindRape. The other world could be near to the deadlights. Even the setting could be a cryptic clue to the Beldam's true nature. Oregon [[Film/StandByMe has doubled for Maine]] before, this is just Neil Gaiman (a Stephen King fan) doing the same with Derry as he did for Castle Rock. He only gave the setting as Ashland to keep the clue cryptic.
** And the cat could be a reference to the turtle, the intelligent, perhaps omniscient, animal who lives in ITs world and counteracts her will. Man, this is getting clearer and clearer.

[[WMG: The Beldam is not just related to Literature/{{It}} She is her Goody Two Shoes sister.]]
Let's look at the similarities:
* Both are shapeshifters.
* Both can warp reality as they see fit.
* Both are evil one way or another.
* Both eat children.
* And both have a final form related to Spiders.

Now let's see their Differences:
* It feeds on fear, Beldam feeds on love.
* It got beaten by 7 kids and died twice, Beldam got beaten by one, but survived.
* It can live 30 years without food, Beldam can live 60.
* It takes form of the fears of her victim, Beldam takes on the form of people her victims love or trust.
* It doesn't require free will to devour kids, Beldam needs to sew button eyes on them first.

[[WMG: The Cat is [[VideoGame/GhostTrick Sissel.]]]]

[[WMG: [[TheDogWasTheMastermind The cat was the mastermind]].]]

[[WMG: the sweet ghost girl realy DID fall down the well ]]

The well was another portal to the other world

[[WMG:Only certain children can become "Other Mothers."]]
In line with some of the Beldam-reproductive-cycle [=WMGs=], each subsequent Beldam is indeed one of the children that the previous Beldam captured; in order to become the Beldam, the kidnapped child needs to embrace the Other Mother as their ''real'' mother, taking the buttons and willingly giving up all memory of their old lives, including their parents. This is why the Beldam targets children who are unhappy with their parents, since it makes it more likely that they'd be willing to completely leave their old life and families behind. The ghost children still have scraps of memories, even though the time since their death/capture have erased most of the details, and it's likely that they, like Coraline, regretted their decision to stay or didn't understand the choice they were making. Once a Beldam finds a child who's willing to accept her, she's at least partially sated and perhaps even goes into semi-complacency as they feed on the child's adoration. Of course, any kid who'd be willing to go along with this would have at least one screw loose, and as we see the Beldam's "love" culminates in her devouring the children: In an ironic twist, being "loved" by a child prevents the Beldam from draining and killing them, giving the child enough time to become warped by eldritch magic and eventually devour the Beldam, becoming the new Other Mother. This is how the Other Mother from the book/movie could both have a mother and killed her despite being a horrific inhuman monster, possibly keeping the previous Beldam alive and draining her slowly while the new Beldam got used to her new power/lured in more children. As noted above the root of Beldam has a male equivalent in Belsire, so it's entirely possible that there are male Other "Mothers" who evolved from abducted boys.

** [[InterviewWithTheVampire Le]][[ImmortalProcreationClause Stat]]

[[WMG: The Other Mother is [[{{Eversion}} Princess Nehema.]]]]

* [[{{Trigun}} Kuroneko-sama]]