History Characters / CORALINE

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:With her quick wits and the help of a talking cat, she defeats the Other Mother/Beldam, a centuries-old reality-warping supernatural EldritchAbomination that eats children's souls for breakfast.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: She may be less than happy with her boring family and neighbors, but [[spoiler: she gladly prefers them to having buttons sewn over her eyes.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She's quite rude to her parents, her ''older'' neighbors, and Wybie. Then, she comes to her parents' rescue, and thanks Wybie [[spoiler:for saving her from the Other Mother's hand]].

* LaserGuidedKarma: A positive example. Coraline [[spoiler:retrieves the eyes of the ghost children, thus freeing their souls from the Beldam's grasp, which in turn enables them to assist Coraline in her own escape by helping her close the door to the Other World when the Beldam tries to reach through.]]

* MoralityPet: To the [[AntiVillain Other Father]]. [[spoiler:In the movie, he pulls a HeroicSacrifice in order to give Coraline one of the eyes of the ghost children, and in the book, he's still an ApologeticAttacker and regrets being pitted against her.]]

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: When [[spoiler: Other Wybie]] rescues her from the mirror, Coraline instinctively judo throws [[spoiler: him]] over her shoulder. [[spoiler: Granted, he was wearing a mask, so she didn't recognize him.]]

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In the book, the cat is ''extremely'' egotistical and aloof, only helping Coraline if he happens to be in the area anyway and if helping her doesn't hinder him any. In the film, he's her MysteriousProtector and ServileSnarker, often going out of his way to watch over her, warn her against, and save her from the Other Mother even when she's very rude to him. He even sends for Wybie at the end so Coraline can be saved from [[spoiler:the Other Mother's hand.]]
* BehindAStick: [[spoiler: He disappears behind a signpost at the end of the film.]]

* CatsAreSuperior: He certainly thinks so. In the book, the cat smugly reveals that [[spoiler: the reason he has no Other World counterpart is that the Beldam can't create cats. Dolls of humans are one thing, but cats have a certain quality that eludes her.]]

** His ability to effortlessly track and kill rats sent by the Other Mother to spy on and make life hard for Coraline comes in handy [[spoiler:after one of them nearly makes off with the last ghost child's soul, almost costing her the game and thus her own soul]].
** The first time he talks to Coraline, he brags about cats having ''far'' superior senses to humans, able to see and smell things they can't. This turns out not to be empty bragging near the end when [[spoiler:he's able to pinpoint the sound of fingers rubbing against the glass, helping her find her parents ''just'' in time to rescue them.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After Coraline [[spoiler:launches him at the Other Mother's face at the end]], he lets out one last angry yowl before ditching them both.

* AdultsAreUseless: {{Justified|Trope}} and later {{subverted|Trope}}. Having an imaginative child like Coraline can make a parent not really believe the stories they tell, even when they are true. She later [[InternalReveal becomes concerned about her daughter's stories]], so she locks the little door and keeps the key out of reach just in case there's anything to them.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Although very busy with her work as a gardening catalogue editor, Mel loves Coraline very much, despite the lack of time and attention she gives her daughter. She comes off most of the time as crabby and even snappish toward her daughter -- a trait noticeably more pronounced than with Charlie -- but it's clear it's born mostly of work stress, and she tries to make it up to her by telling Coraline that she can pick something she likes at the grocery store, but Coraline refuses to go, and she's clearly saddened by the failure to reach out. She even [[spoiler:buys Coraline the gloves she liked as a gift after denying her them earlier]].

* ParentsInDistress: [[spoiler:She and Charlie are kidnapped by the Other Mother, and their daughter has to return to the Other World one last time and challenge the Other Mother in order to save them.]]

* WhenYouComingHomeDad: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. Upset with a lack of attention from her workaholic parents, Coraline is ensnared into the seductive world of the Other Mother where she gets everything she wants and her parents exist only to please her. [[spoiler: It's later revealed to be a honey trap, as the Other Mother is actually a creature that feeds on children's souls.]] It is implied that her parents at the start of the movie are close to an important deadline and are not workaholics. They also just moved into a new house, which partly explains Coraline's resentment -- she was also upset that her parents had her leave behind her old friends and home.

* ParentsInDistress: [[spoiler:He and Mel are kidnapped by the Other Mother, and their daughter has to return to the Other World one last time and challenge the Other Mother in order to save them.]]

* WhenYouComingHomeDad: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. Upset with a lack of attention from her workaholic parents, Coraline is ensnared into the seductive world of the Other Mother, where she gets everything she wants and her parents exist only to please her. [[spoiler: It's later revealed to be a honey trap, as the Other Mother is actually a creature that feeds on children's souls.]] It is implied that her parents are so busy because they're close to an important deadline and aren't usually workaholics. They've also just moved into a new house, which partly explains Coraline's resentment -- she's also upset that her parents had her leave behind her old friends and home.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:In the climax, he shows up amidst the roaring of his motorcycle's engine to rescue Coraline when the Other Mother's severed right hand is kidnapping her and nearly choking her]].

* HandicappedBadass: He appears to have [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyphosis kyphosis]], but it doesn't stop him [[spoiler: from saving Coraline at the end.]]

* KidHero: Wybie is 11, and he officially cements this trope after [[spoiler:coming to Coraline's rescue in the climactic scene.]]

* MotorMouth: He is a fast talker, which Coraline finds annoying. [[spoiler: In fact, it annoys her so much that the Other Mother makes Other Wybie permanently mute.]]

* NiceGuy: He never gets mad or insults Coraline for deliberately misnaming him, tells her about the poison oak she's unwittingly holding, gives her the "mini" doll of herself, and [[spoiler:valiantly comes to her rescue]].

* RedIsHeroic: Wybie owns a red bike, and he is a genuinely NiceGuy who [[spoiler:saves Coraline from the Other Mother's hand]].

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler: If Wybie hadn't showed up in the nick of time as he did, the Other Mother probably would've won]].

* StalkerWithoutACrush: To Coraline. He claims it was the cat's idea, but it could be StalkerWithACrush, depending on your interpretation. [[spoiler: After he saves Coraline, she tells him "I'm glad you decided to stalk me."]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: By giving Coraline the doll, he essentially makes it possible for the Other Mother to spy on her and lure her into the other world. [[spoiler: He makes up for it later [[BigDamnHeroes by rescuing her]].]]

* AdultsAreUseless: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] She immediately believes Coraline's panic when the girl says her parents are missing, and offers what help she can by giving her an adder stone for protection. That stone turns out to be the only thing capable of tracking down [[spoiler: the ghost children's eyes.]]

* CrazyCatLady: A dog variant. She really likes dogs, to the point she stuffs her dead ones and puts them on the shelf. [[spoiler: In the Other World, there are 248 Scottie dogs in the audience with Coraline and Wybie watching their stage performance]].

* PsychicPowers: She's mildly clairvoyant, as she's able to correctly interpret Coraline's tea leaves to warn her of danger, and perceives an ominous hand among them; [[spoiler: the hand belongs to the Other Mother]]. When Coraline plans to go back to the Other World to rescue her missing parents, Miss Spink senses that she'll need help, and gives her an adder stone, which has the power to see through illusions and find lost objects.

* AdultsAreUseless: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. While she isn't able to fight Coraline's battles for her, she ''does'' provide some moral and physical support by giving her a rare and precious adder stone, which turns out to be instrumental in tracking down [[spoiler: the ghost children's eyes.]]

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mr. Bobo seems to really like beets. He even tries to offer Coraline one, [[spoiler: and at the end is seen tearing up some of the newly planted tulips and replacing them with beets]].

* AdaptationalBadass: [[spoiler: This applies to to her severed right hand, at least. In the book, her right hand falls for Coraline's trap, hook, line, and sinker, and tumbles straight into the well. The movie has it put up more of a fight; it tries to drag Coraline back into the Other World just as she's about to drop the black button key into the well, tries to knock Wybie into the well when he interferes with the hand, and doesn't stop trying to go after Coraline and the key until it's smashed by a large and heavy rock thrown by Wybie. It even manages to climb back up when it falls into the well along with Wybie in the movie, whereas in the book, it doesn't make an effort to do so once it grabs the key.]]

* BondVillainStupidity: She agrees to Coraline's terms of finding [[spoiler: her parents]] and the ghost souls instead of keeping her by force, and spends time gloating at Coraline's bluff, giving Coraline enough time to escape through her trick.

* CheatersNeverProsper: During the search for the three ghost eyes/souls, the Other Mother does everything in her power to keep Coraline from winning, whether it's sending a strong gust of wind to slow her down (in the book), or ''literally'' deconstructing the Other World and its inhabitants to keep the ghost eyes away from her (in the film). [[spoiler:Either way, she loses in the end, even though she planned to go back on her word if Coraline won.]]

* CreativeSterility: She can't actually create anything, but can only ''copy'', ''twist'', and ''change'' what already exists (in other words, what she already has on hand), [[spoiler:hence why there's nothing beyond the garden in her world]]. It becomes a plot point in the novel when Coraline notices [[spoiler:a snow globe on the mantle, which isn't there in the real world. It's where her parents are being held]]. In the film, this is used to a disturbing Cinderella-like effect where all of her creations devolve into that from that which they were made, including rats and pumpkins.

* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: Her method for taking children plays out very much like this, with the sacrifice being eyes for buttons and a promised happy life, which is, of course, all a lie. The movie plays this up by making the act of losing your eyes very much like selling your soul, as Coraline is not collecting the victim's souls like in the book, but their eyes.]]

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: [[spoiler:In both versions, the Other Mother sends out her severed right hand into the real world as a last-ditch attempt to get the key back from Coraline. In the book, Coraline sets a trap for the hand that ends with it falling into the well, while in the movie, Coraline and Wybie smash it to bits with a heavy rock and then chuck the pieces into the well.]]

* DisneyVillainDeath: In the book, Coraline gets rid of the Other Mother's [[spoiler:hand, which is the last remaining part of her, by tricking it into falling into a very deep well]].
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler:Her behavior has all the symbolic hallmarks of a PsychopathicManchild.]]
** [[spoiler:She creates fantastical worlds filled with living beings, talking animals, and magical toys. Young children often have wild imaginations and create elaborate fantasies to escape from the real world (or just for entertainment).]]
** [[spoiler:She invites children into her dimension with games and treats, then discards them and locks their spirits in a closet after sucking out their souls -- just like a child who carelessly discards their toys when they get bored of playing with them or puts away toys they've grown out of, only her "toys" are living children.]]
** [[spoiler:She likes to play games, and strikes a deal with Coraline where the Other Mother will let her sew buttons into her eyes if she loses, but has a complete VillainousBreakdown when Coraline is able to trick her and escape the Other World, like a child who throws a tantrum when they don't get what they want.]]

* {{Expy}}: [[spoiler: Her film equivalent's spider-like true form, her shapeshifting powers, and her modus operandi of luring children in with their hearts' desire only to devour them are reminiscent of ''[[MonsterClown Pennywise]] from Creator/StephenKing's Literature/{{It}}'']] and is likely based off the StringyHairedGhostGirl genre.

* TheFairFolk: In the book, the Other Mother is implied to be some sort of fairy. Her other name, "Beldam", is also used to refer to creatures of fairy. Horrifyingly, the book implies that [[spoiler:even other fairies aren't immune to her charms, as one of her past victims was a fairy]].

** Her [[EvilGloating need to gloat]] over her victory when Coraline [[spoiler: bluffs that her parents are behind the door between worlds]] at TheClimax is what leads to her [[spoiler:opening the door]] for Coraline, in essence engineering her escape.

* GiantSpider: The Other Mother's "true" form ends up evoking this in the film. [[spoiler: The final form of the Other World is even a giant web that she crouches in like a real spider.]]

* HelpingHands: [[spoiler:Her severed hand spider-crawls its way towards retrieving the key to the Other World, and would have taken it from Coraline if not for Wybie showing up to save her in the movie or Coraline's own ingenious trap in the book.]]

* ILied: Coraline eventually realizes (and the ghost children warn her) that even if she wins the game, the Beldam would never let her go. Thankfully, Coraline [[spoiler:figures out a way to use the game to escape]] before the Other Mother can say this.
* KarmicDeath: {{Implied}} to be her ultimate fate after Coraline escapes her clutches and disposes of the key so that she'll be permanently trapped in the Other World. The movie drops multiple hints that the Beldam is already close to dying of starvation, [[spoiler:including but not limited to her screaming during her VillainousBreakdown[='s=] crescendo that she'll die without Coraline]]. Trapped in the very same fake dimension where she entrapped her child victims in life and death, it's safe to presume that without her next meal, the Beldam will starve to death (a fitting fate for a monster who literally ate children); alone and in misery just like the ghost children were for decades.

* PleaseDontLeaveMe: [[spoiler:Played for horror. She screams this at Coraline when she escapes the Other World for the last time, howling that "I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU!"]]

* SoreLoser: In the book, after Coraline finds [[spoiler:the first soul]], she summons a strong wind -- ''indoors'' -- to slow her down. In the movie, she pulls every trick in the book to prevent Coraline from acquiring the ghost eyes, and has a [[VillainousBreakdown meltdown]] when she's losing. [[spoiler:She also has no intention of letting Coraline go, whether she wins or not]].

* ShoutOut: The egg she makes Coraline before she starts her final battle is in the shape of another famous stop-motion character, one from WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas. The scene where Coraline climbs up her spiderweb and is chased by her is highly reminiscent of a scene from Film/TheRingTwo where the FinalGirl (Rachel) climbs up the well to escape Samara, who is coincidentally similar with the Beldam in some ways, as they are both connected with being in wells (the Beldam is never seen coming out of a well, but [[spoiler: part of her does fall into one at the end]]).
* SupremeChef: The food she cooks tastes a lot better than anything Coraline's parents make. [[spoiler:Given her true intentions, she may be doing this for the purpose of FatteningTheVictim]].
* VillainousBreakdown: From the time Coraline angers her and incurs her GlamourFailure, she begins to slip into this. By the end, she's gone from an idealized version of Coraline's real mother (albeit with a [[StepfordSmiler paper-thin mask]]) to either [[spoiler:[[TheGrotesque a monster that resembles a spider made of porcelain and sewing needles]] in the movie, or a giant, haggardly, old witch with pale skin, snake-like hair, and knife-sharp teeth, barely able to conceal her anger in the book.]]

* DoubleAgent: While the Other Father is a creation of the Other Mother, in the movie he is on Coraline's side throughout most of her time in the Other World, as he implies in his song to Coraline: ''She's a pal of mine...'' This is because his sole purpose is to love Coraline. [[spoiler: The Other Father even tries to warn Coraline to leave the Other World and never return through his song, lest she winds up like the three ghost children before her.]]
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: His HeroicSacrifice, particularly since, of all of the Other World residents, he seems to be the most visibly terrified of the Beldam.]]

* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler: A heroic example, as he was made to love Coraline in order to tempt her into staying. That love turns into a need to protect Coraline from the Other Mother, and he attempts to do this by warning her through his song. In the end, he is forced to attack Coraline, but (in the movie, anyway) he rebels in any way he can through the whole thing, and he gives her the first ghost eye before drowning in the pond.]]

* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: [[spoiler: A ghost eye powers the garden and him, so to remove it is to kill both. He gives it to Coraline anyway.]]

* NobleTopEnforcer: For the Other Mother, as he was made to love Coraline and is entirely affable. [[spoiler: This ends up biting her in the ass when the "Top Enforcer" part of the trope starts being softened, as his love is so deep that he acts as a genuine ally to Coraline as much as he can, but the Top Enforcer is entirely toppled by the point Coraline chooses to fight the Beldam, as he's only the first obstacle in Coraline's way, and he himself states that the Other Mother is making him attack her.]]

* SayingTooMuch: He drops increasingly obvious hints that something is ''wrong'' with the Other World throughout the movie while everything in it tries to shut him up. [[spoiler:In the end, he's reduced to barely intelligible moaning as punishment for his efforts.]]
* SlayingMantis: Double subverted. In the film, he rides a tractor made to look like a giant clockwork mantis around the garden, which is played up as something super whimsical. [[spoiler:Later, the Other Mother straps him to the thing and ''forces'' him to attack Coraline with it]].

* StealthPun: [[spoiler:"Pumpkin" is a common pet name, and what he turns into at the end of the movie.]]

* TragicMonster: He doesn't want to hurt Coraline, but the Other Mother is more powerful than him. [[spoiler:As her power fades, he slowly melts into more of a giant worm (book) or pumpkin (film) thing, and is forced to attack Coraline against his will.]]

* BigDamnHero: During Coraline's third trip to the Other World, the Other Wybie rescues her from the mirror room she was thrown into and helps her get through the passage to the real world. On Coraline's fourth trip, [[spoiler:he is already dead]].

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: [[spoiler: Or rather, Dead Guy's Clothes On Display, since the Other Mother (presumably) destroys his body. As Coraline is looking for the ghost children's souls, she finds that the Other Mother hung his clothes up like a flag in order to demoralize her.]]

* KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler: He rescues Coraline and helps her escape from the Other Mother. When Coraline returns, he is already dead.]]

* TragicMonster: Like the Other Father, he doesn't want to see harm come to Coraline, but he can't openly defy the Other Mother; she's his creator. [[spoiler:He helps Coraline escape anyway, and the Other Mother kills him for his trouble.]]

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Once Coraline goes to get the ghost children's eyes, she and the Other Miss Forcible appear as a conjoined taffy monstrosity. This is a less fleshy elaboration on the book, where their bodies melt together inside a cocoon; here, they become braided candy hanging in a giant sweet wrapper.]]

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Once they begin turning back into taffy, she and the Other Miss Spink degenerate into a conjoined, twisted-together monstrosity. In the book, their bodies melt together into a horrible spidery abomination.]]

* DyingVocalChange: [[spoiler:His voice begins to break down into multiple voices as he loses his grip on a human shape, the Bobinsky identity apparently collapsing along with his body.]]
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Sort of. [[spoiler: In the end, he still tries to convince Coraline to stay, even though there's pretty much no chance of her accepting, and outright says he can't understand why she would want to leave.]]

* VoiceOfTheLegion: [[spoiler:Implied to be a result of being composed of many rats. It's the first clue that there is something very wrong with Other Bobinsky.]]
* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler:In the movie, at the end of his performance, all of the mice (rats in disguise) hop into his costume. The second time around, Other Bobinsky is revealed to be only made of rats. It's unclear whether he was all rats the whole time, or whether he was eaten by the rats and they assumed his body and identity.]]

* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to the Other Mother's red.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The Masculine Girl to Wybie's Feminine Boy.

%%* FireForgedFriends: With Wybie.

%* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The Masculine Girl to Wybie's Feminine Boy.

%%* MysteriousProtector: To Coraline, especially in the film.

%%* NonHumanSidekick: To both Coraline and Wybie.

%%* NotNowKiddo: Her (initial) relationship with Coraline when they first move.

%%* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: He's the Feminine Boy to Coraline's Masculine Girl.

%%* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: With Miriam. For all intents and purposes, [[WordOfGay they are one]].

%%* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: With April. And for all intents and purposes, [[WordOfGay they are one]].

%%* HumanoidAbomination: And she gets progressively ''less'' humanoid later in the story.

%%* LifeDrinker: How she feeds on her prey.

%%* RealityWarper: She seems to be capable of this to some significant though not unlimited degree, if only in the Other World.

%%* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Coraline's blue.

%%* ApologeticAttacker: [[spoiler: "Sssssorry. Ssssso sssssorry. Mmmmmother mmmmmaking me."]]

%%* PianoKeyWave: "This piano plays me."

%%* FaceRevealingTurn: He does one to reveal his final GlasgowGrin.

%%* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:"THIEF! GIVE IT BACK! THIEF! GIVE IT BACK!"]]

%%* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:"THIEF! GIVE IT BACK! THIEF! GIVE IT BACK!"]]

%%* CuteGhostGirl: Once they die happily ever after, that is.

%%* TwoGirlsAndAGuy: They are portrayed as this, though they do not remember anything about their identities.

* ButtMonkey: His voice actor describes him as someone who "would walk around a banana peel only to fall into a manhole."

* ParentsAsPeople: Charlie is just trying to do his job so his family can be supported.

* NiceGuy: He never gets mad or insults Coraline for deliberately misnaming him, tells her about the poison oak she's unwittingly holding, gives her the "mini" doll of herself, and [[spoiler: valiantly comes to her rescue]].

* FormerlyFit: She and her stage-partner Miriam were ''stunning'' in their youth, something the Other Mother is quick to replicate.

* [[TopHeavyGuy Top Heavy Gal]]: A rare female example. Miss Forcible's enormous boobs contrast strongly with her relatively skinny legs.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One of the first hints at her true nature is when she suggests to Coraline they play a game after dinner and the camera pans to her impatiently tapping her fingers, implying she's already growing bored of putting on the kind mother act and wants to get on with her real plans.

* GagBoobs: Her breasts are enormous despite her old age, and she occasionally uses them as a battering ram against other characters.

* EvilMatriarch: She takes the form of the mother of the children she lures in to earn their trust, and then sews buttons into their eyes and makes them stay with her until she throws them away.

* GagBoobs: Her breasts are enormous despite her old age, and she occasionally uses them as a battering ram against other characters.

* FireForgedFriends: With Wybie.

* JerkassHasAPoint: She's not wrong about feeling neglected by her workaholic parents.

* LittleMissSnarker: See the DeadpanSnarker section.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The Masculine Girl to Wybie's Feminine Boy.

* ChekhovsSkill: His ability to effortlessly track and kill rats sent by the Other Mother to spy on and make life hard for Coraline comes in handy [[spoiler:after one of them nearly makes off with the last ghost child's soul, almost costing her the game and thus her own soul]].

* DeadpanSnarker: See his CatsAreSnarkers section.

* FurryReminder: Though he's voiced by Keith David, after mentioning that he heard something "right... over..." he meows like a regular cat and rushes off to find prey.

* MysteriousProtector: To Coraline, especially in the film.

* NonHumanSidekick: To both Coraline and Wybie.

* DeadpanSnarker: Like mother, like daughter, it seems.

* NotNowKiddo: Her (initial) relationship with Coraline when they first move.

* BigNo: All he can do when his computer unexpectedly shuts down due to the Pink Palace's faulty wiring.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: {{Implied|Trope}}. Wybie gets along well with the Cat.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: He's the Feminine Boy to Coraline's Masculine Girl.

* MotorMouth: He has one, which Coraline finds annoying. [[spoiler: In fact, it annoys her so much that the Other Mother makes Other Wybie permanently mute.]]

* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: With Miriam. For all intents and purposes, [[WordOfGay they are one]].
* LipstickLesbian: According to [[WordOfGod word of Gaiman]], she and Miss Forcible are a couple.

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Miriam, although going by Gaiman's account they're more LikeAnOldMarriedCouple.

* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: With April. And for all intents and purposes, [[WordOfGay they are one]].
* LipstickLesbian: According to [[WordOfGod word of Gaiman]], she and Miss Spink are a couple.

* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Where she stores her lorgnette spectacles.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With April, although going by Gaiman's account they're more LikeAnOldMarriedCouple.

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Probably from being a liquidator in the Chernobyl disaster.
** [[WordOfGod According to Selick]], it's because he eats lots of beets, which apparently turn your skin blue if you eat enough of them the same way eating tons of carrots eventually turns your skin orange.

* TheGhost: She's always being referenced by Wybie, and we get to hear her voice call out to him several times, but we never see her in the flesh until the very end of the film.

** [[spoiler:She creates fantastical worlds filled with living beings, talking animals, and magical toys. Young children often have wild imaginations and create elaborate fantasies to escape from the real world.]]

* HumanoidAbomination: And she gets progressively ''less'' humanoid later in the story.

* LifeDrinker: How she feeds on her prey.

* RealityWarper: She seems to be capable of this to some significant though not unlimited degree, if only in the Other World.

* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Coraline's blue.

* ApologeticAttacker: [[spoiler: "Sssssorry. Ssssso sssssorry. Mmmmmother mmmmmaking me."]]

* PianoKeyWave: "This piano plays me."

* FaceRevealingTurn: He does one to reveal his final GlasgowGrin.

* BawdySong: "Sirens of the Sea", which she sings in the film with the Other Miss Forcible when Coraline first meets her.

* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:"THIEF! GIVE IT BACK! THIEF! GIVE IT BACK!"]]

* VitriolicBestBuds: With the Other Miss Forcible.

* BawdySong: "Sirens of the Sea", which she sings with the Other Miss Spink when Coraline first meets her.

* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:"THIEF! GIVE IT BACK! THIEF! GIVE IT BACK!"]]

* VitriolicBestBuds: With the Other Miss Spink.

* CuteGhostGirl: Once they die happily ever after, that is.

* TwoGirlsAndAGuy: They are portrayed as this, though they do not remember anything about their identities.

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In the movie, one of the ghosts, the "sweet ghost girl" was the missing twin sister of Miss Lovat, Wybie's grandmother and the landlady of the Pink Palace.

* NormalFishInATinyPond: Disturbingly, the book and, to a lesser extent, film imply that the Other Mother is not particularly remarkable in terms of her magic or malice: the Cat can weave his way around her realm as a sort of game. The Passage Between Worlds slowly reveals itself to be something far older, stronger, and hungrier than her. It's doesn't help that, by the time Coraline enters her web, the Other Mother has become so weak that she *has* to entrap Coraline or risk death by starvation. Ultimately, her own fragility may be precisely why she targets the weakest prey in gullible, lonely children.

* NormalFishInATinyPond: Disturbingly, the book and, to a lesser extent, imply that the Other Mother is not particularly remarkable in terms of her magic or malice: the Cat can weave his way around her realm as a sort of game. The Passage Between Worlds slowly reveals itself to be something far older, stronger, and hungrier than her. It's doesn't help that, by the time Coraline enters her web, the Other Mother has become so starved that she *has* to entrap Coraline or risk death. Ultimately, her own fragility may be precisely why she targets the weakest prey in gullible, lonely children.

* TookALevelInCheerfulness: She's in a crabby mood for most of the film, but once Coraline saves her from the Other Mother, she becomes happier and more relaxed. This is implicitly due to finally publishing the articles she and Charlie were working on, freeing them both of their biggest source of their biggest source of stress and giving them more time for their daughter.

* TookALevelInCheefulness: She's in a crabby mood for most of the film, but once Coraline saves her from the Other Mother, she becomes happier and more relaxed. This is implicitly due to finally publishing the articles she and Charlie were working on, freeing them both of their biggest source of their biggest source of stress and giving them more time for their daughter.

The main antagonist of both the novel and film, this mysterious creature created much of the Other World to lure children into her domain, reshaping it and its inhabitants, including herself, into what they would desire most... in exchange for [[EyeScream a terrible price.]]

The main antagonist of both the novel and film, she's a mysterious and highly manipulative being who created much of the Other World.