WMG / Rise of the Guardians

A possible villain for the Guardians to defeat

The Wicked Fairy from Sleeping Beauty (assuming the Cinderella Fairy Godmother gets to be a Guardian).

The Man in the Moon didn't abandon Jack, he specifically created him to be a sleeper agent against Pitch.

Jack has different magic and abilities from the Guardians, has a different ideology (playing with kids up close rather than watching over from afar), and doesn't require belief, meaning that Pitch can't take it away. And even if Jack did have belief, Pitch would have no way to make kids stop believing in Winter, so Jack couldn't be attacked the way Pitch attacked the Guardians. Just like Pitch said, the Man in the Moon knew that Pitch would come back to attack the Guardians and so made a new Guardian, Jack, specifically to be something that Pitch had never encountered before, and thus hadn't planned for. Pitch had long-term, made in advance plans for Sandy, Tooth, and Bunny, but not Jack, because he didn't know Jack would be with the Guardians.

MiM didn't take Jack's memories at all.

The reason he doesn't remember is that he died. The Man in the Moon doesn't know Jack doesn't remember, but the memories were Jack's toll on returning to life. His old life for the new. Equivalent Exchange.

The Guardians can remove their magic from themselves.

But it won't disappear, it will just remain there. It can also be absorbed by other spirits.

Sandy gains power specifically by the belief in the supernaturality of dreams.

Baby Tooth is Jack's sister but she may not know about being Jack's sister.

Sandy was the sand a very imaginative mermaid used to sleep on before becoming a Guardian.

Pitch and Sandy control the irrational aspects of dreams and fear.

They have no power over daydreams and Adult Fears.

The Man in the Moon is an Incubator.

And Pitch is a Warlock.

This film and Puella Magi Madoka Magica are set in the same universe.

See above.

Tooth is not in love with Jack.

She's shown to be very affectionate, not just with Jack, but with everyone else. It's in her nature to be bubbly and spontaneous, which would explain the hugs. She goes all dreamy because of his teeth, not because of him. The reason that she blushes in the last hugging scene is that for the first time, she realizes that Jack, unlike the rest of the Guardians, is not old, or a bunny, or a little boy. (Despite Sandman's name, he very much acts like a little boy.) She's not in love with him—she jumps back because she's embarrassed and thinks that her behavior might be misconstrued.

• Tooth may not be in love with Jack but she is at least attracted to him.
• Actually, he kind of is a little boy- he was 13 or 14 when he died and is at least a century younger than her.

This movie shares a continuity with The Life & Times of Santa Claus

Those would be Santa's memories should he find his teeth.

Jack's sister's name…

• …is Jamie, just like the first kid to believe in Jack.
• …is Mary. William Joyce's daughter, Mary Katherine, passed away and he dedicated the books to her. One of the characters in the books is named Katherine; thus perhaps Jack's sister got the other half of the name.
• ...is Emma. She would later become a mutant.

Jack’s sister is Jamie’s ancestor

They look very similar, and it would explain why Jack was drawn to him from the beginning.

• Considering the film takes place 300 years after Jack's death, odds are Jack's sister has many descendants.
• Yes, and the WMG is about Jamie being one of them
• Never said he wasn't, just pointing out that Jack most likely has lots of family members throughout the whole world.
• Yes, and the WMG is about Jamie being one of them

• It helps that Jamie lives in the same town where Jack lived before drowning.
• Also worth noting: in the script, Jack's sister is explicitly described as resembling Jamie's sister Sophie.

Jack Frost died in the water

He and the other guardians are merely ghosts/spirits

• He did die. He was revived/reborn as Jack Frost.

Boogey Man is also the spirit of Halloween.

If the Moon also revived the Guardians, I'm sure it revived Boogey Man for a particular reason.

• The Man in the Moon did not create Pitch. Read the books.
  • The movie canon might still differ from the book canon. It's not unusual for animated movie adaptions to differ from the source material, even in core elements. Also, I like the idea that there might be a spirit of Halloween - whether it's Pitch or not.

The Easter Bunny was a regular bunny before becoming a Guardian

Why not? Maybe an especially brave bunny.

• Jossed. William Joyce, the author of the books, was involved with the movie and in the books, Bunnymund was a Pooka.
  • I (a different person from the original guesser) haven't read the books yet, but I have read discussions of them and the movie, and based on supplemental material and (minor) details in the film, the film's universe and the books' universe can't be the same. They're similar, but there are enough differences that Bunny and Bunnymund could have different origins (especially since the Tooth Fairy in the movie says they were all mortal once).
  • While I (Yet another third party) agree that there are a lot of differences between book and movie, Tooth’s statement about all of them being mortal doesn't necessarily mean they were all once human (Or a species we are familiar with as would be the case with the bunny vs. pooka debate)
  • (Second poster again) Tooth specifically says that they were all "someone", which doesn't have to mean mortal. Also, the movie is intended to be in the same canon as the books, and not in a different universe. It helps that the supplemental material was mostly created by the artists, and artist interpretation has, in the past, contradicted Word of God.

Nightlight is the Guardian of Courage and Katherine (possibly Mother Goose) is the Guardian of Imagination.

• Nightlights help children brave their fear of the dark, while Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes are very imaginative. While Nightlight is not mentioned to be a Guardian, it is possible.

Note: Since this WMG refers to titles used in the movies, it has been placed here and not on the The Guardians of Childhood page.

The Guardians are Nasuverse Guardians using Heroic Spirits rules via Servant Summoning.

Specifically, Nasu-style non-legend Guardians who found a way to summon each other as Servants (but no Masters; no Command Seals) and are powering themselves through the faith in the "fictional" exploits of a tale; which become their selves. A Servant cannot specifically summon a Heroic Spirit's soul; but they can get someone "fictional", someone who has features close to the legend. The Movie Guardians found a loophole; they find a soul with features similar to the legend first, and then grant the fictional Persona to them. This knocks their memories into a foci object, but amnesia helps with the transition process.

Jamie wasn't the first kid to believe in Jack Frost in 300 years.

His sister was. After all, Jack managed to carry her back home and (attempted) to place her in her bed. Every other human just passed right through him. Granted, she was mostly asleep by that point, but that still shouldn't have worked if she didn't at least believe in him a little. Considering the fact she's a toddler (an age where kids will believe in everything and anything), was outside when her mom mentioned "Jack Frost nipping at your nose," and might have been awake just enough to hear one of the Guardians mention Jack taking her home, then it is possible she simply believed that he would be the one carrying her. Jack simply didn't notice the fact she believed in him and could thus touch him because he's been interacting with people he could touch all day (the Guardians and Pitch) and she was too tired to react to his presence in a more noticeable way like looking at him or talking to him.

• Also Jack seems to have some limited interaction with the world around him regardless of belief, like how you don't have to believe in him to have your window frozen over, or one of his snowballs hit the back of your head.

Ombric (from the books) is Father Time.

• Ombric, in the books, is fairly important and a Guardian (probably Guardian of Knowledge). He is a very old bearded man who carries a staff and is a wise teacher. In the second book, he starts dabbling in time travel. Considering that all of the Guardians are mythical figures or people from folklore, Ombric seemed to be the odd one out. But if he was Father Time, then everything would make sense.

Both movie and book versions of Pitch's background are true.

On the main page, it is said that the movie's background of Pitch was him originally being a Guardian that used nightmares as a benevolent warning to children rather than simply a fear-mongering tactic, which contradicts his background in the books of him being infected by the nightmares he was guarding in their prison. What if both versions are true? What if Pitch got his powers by the means described in the books, but instead of going straight to the evil fear-mongering nightmare king, he tried to use said powers for good for a while, and then got overwhelmed by them.

• Probably not, considering he arrived on Earth after getting overwhelmed. Most likely, considering what happened in the third book, he became willing to use his powers for good after the books but became too good at his job so the Man in the Moon asked the Guardians to put him in his place. This led to him not being believed in and swearing revenge.

Other Possible Guardian Nominees

Because there have to be other Legendary characters running around that could have been chosen instead of Jack Frost. These could include:

• The Leprechaun (as mentioned in the movie) for St. Patrick's Day.
• The Groundhog (as mentioned in the movie) for Groundhog's Day.
• Mother Nature.
  • She's Pitch's daughter, and made an appearance in the third book.
• Father Time.
• Cupid for Valentine's Day.
  • Probably not as Valentine's is focused more on people older than children, like single teenagers or adults looking for love.
    • So maybe he wasn't Guardian material for that reason, but he might still exist as some kind of spirit like Jack was before becoming a Guardian.
    • If children need a Guardian of Love, what about the Stork? Children mostly feel familial love, and the Stork comes every time the family gets a new member.
• Jack Skellington
  • Only in a crossover since Halloween doesn't technically have anything specific to represent it. At least, not in recent times.
    • His mischief caused while unintentionally trying to take over and subsequently save Christmas made North angry either way. That's why he isn't an official guardian.
    • What about Jack O' Lantern?
    • Yes, maybe he becomes a Guardian as redemption for his life of drinking and trickery so he'll finally be allowed into Heaven and his millennia-long wandering may finally end.
    • Or La Calavera Catrina (The Elegant Skull) since she is an icon for the holiday Day of The dead, set around the same time as Halloween (either one could be a spirit of Autumn)
    • Sam Hain?
    • He exists, but not in the Guardians universe. Michael Dougherty created a character named Sam who appears as a child in pajamas and a burlap mask, but appears underneath as a human/pumpkin hybrid. Sam enforces the rules of Halloween (Always wear a costume, always hand out treats, don't blow out a jack-o-lantern before midnight, etc), albeit brutally. It fits, considering he's a horror movie character. A less violent version would fit right in with the Guardians, though.
    • Also worth considering: Halloween — while being a time for remembering one's ancestors — is also a festival of lights in a season when the days grow shorter and nights grow longer. Perhaps there might be a Guardian as suggested here to help children to laugh in the face of their fears, or at least, to see them through it?
    • Jack Skellington, while as fun as it sounds. Would never happen. Since one is Touchstone (Owned by Disney) and the other is Dreamworks (A massive rival)
    • Then again, you wouldn't think Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse would ever share a screen, but they have (granted as a cameo with restrictions from the studios, but it still happened).
• Either Lady Liberty or Uncle Sam for the Fourth of July (Obviously with a limited area of influence)
• Turkey for Thanksgiving (again, limited area of influence).
• As shown in the movie, the European Tooth Division, is made of mice, working for or with the Tooth Fairy.
• The Fairy Godmother. What better person to be a guardian than someone famous for bringing lost love and comfort to lonely children?
  • Possibly combined with the idea of a wishing star.
• The 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac, for the Chinese New Year.
  • It properly should be mentioned that only two of the Guardians are attached to a holiday, so we should properly think of some guesses of candidates that work through the year, like Fairy Godmother.
• Muses who could easily fill the role of inspiration and imagination.
• The Grim Reaper. And anyone who doesn't think that it would be possible for such an entity to serve as protective, I direct you towards the Discworld books.
  • He'd be the Guardian of Souls, and a bringer of peace to those who suffer too much.
• Guy Fawkes. Although what exactly he'd be guarding is a bit of a mystery, if Uncle Sam and the Thanksgiving Turkey get a spot then he so should he.
  • Um. Guy Fawkes Day is about how he was prevented from blowing up The Houses of Parliament. It would be like having Osama Bin Laden as the Guardian for 9/11.
• Batman is not a Guardian, but a local spirit confined to Gotham. He forms a symbiotic relationship with a human successor when the previous Batman cannot continue. He does not get along with Pitch because he refuses to scare children. He does not get along with the other Guardians because they are adults and he frightens them.
• What about Lady Luck?
• Unlikely to be chosen as a Guardian, but Murphy, Spirit of the Perversity of the Universe.
• Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. Come to think of it, he has a lot of similarities with Jack Frost.
• If there is a European Tooth Division, what about a European Christmas Division? Christkind, the Yule Lads, and Saint Nicholas himself could be working with North.
• Mother Hulda/Frau Holle is a grandmotherly fairy or wise old woman type of being. She could be a spirit of household chores, magic, or snow.
• Jamie.
• The Krampus. Someone needs to fill in the void Pitch's fall from grace left, and it might as well be Santa's naughty list enforcer. Considering that in the book! continuity the Easter Bunny is a phooka, the Krampus of Rot G is probably a faun that wandered north as a child to the Alps from Italy, got found by North, and subsequently was adopted as North's younger brother of sorts. Has a particular vendetta against bullies due to his appearance, but is more focused on teaching children lessons than out-and-out scaring them into submission as Pitch was wanting to do. Wears chains and bells as a fashion statement.
• Totoro. He could be the Guardian of Innocence or something.
• As stated in his WMG page, Barney used to be the Guardian of Imagination, but he decided that he wasn't cut out for the position. So, he talked to the others and they agreed to give the title to Mother Goose while he left to do his own thing.

Some people are allies to the Guardians

Think that there are adults who either believed in and saw the Guardians as children and never really stopped believing. They work to help protect children's sense of hope, wonder, and magic via more mundane means. Notable potential allies include:

• First and foremost, William Joyce
• Jim Henson
• Walt Disney
• John Lasseter
• J.K. Rowling
• Jeffrey Katzenberg
• Michael Scott
• Eoin Colfer
• Dr. Seuss
• Suza Scalora
• Fred Rogers
• Rick Riordan
• Dan Aykroyd
• Robert and Richard Sherman
• Terry Pratchett
• Neil Gaiman (these latter two also remind adults to not stop believing as well.)
• Roald Dahl
• L. Frank Baum
• Raffi
• Shigeru Miyamoto
• Hayao Miyazaki
• Stan Lee

  • Don't forget Jesse Owens cuz his performance in the Olympics causes hope and wonder to this very day.

• One of the storyboard artists wrote a comic about a meeting between Pitch and H.P. Lovecraft.
• Jonathan Bernstein
• Lauren Faust
• I like to think that I am an ally to the Guardians since I made a couple of YouTube videos about possible Guardians.

Jamie will die young protecting children and become a Guardian as well

It seems fitting for a kid like him.

• Maybe he'll become the Guardian of Belief?
  • His actor also said his center would be trust.

Pitch (in the movie) was the first of... whatever the guardians and Jack are.

He was the first story, the first personification. Long ago, the first time some person thought of the dark of a forest or a moonless night as an "it" instead of a "there", he was there.

• Maybe he was responsible for teaching children that it is OK to be afraid, just don't let your fear control you.
  • In a comic tied to the movie canon, Pitch described his duty as teaching children caution through fear. "Don't leave the safety of the camp. There are monsters with sharp teeth that will snatch you up."

• I know where you got this idea from.

There was a Frost before Jack, but he abdicated himself.

Before Jack, there was already a spirit of winter, but instead of winter fun, he was the personification of biting cold. Literally. His schtick was that the sharp feeling you get, "Jack Frost nipping at your [nose/toes/whatever]", is him or his fairy/yeti/sand equivalent biting you and taking not pieces of flesh, but pieces of warmth and life. He got sick of life or being vilified, and gave up his powers and his existence. Now all that's left of him are Jack's powers and possibly a footnote in a textbook or two about extinct folklore.

• He was General Winter!
  • Alternative, there IS a separate General Winter just as there are tooth mice as well as tooth fairies, but he is far from as fun-loving as Jack.

Jack is the cause of paradoxical warmth.

He's the reason the last thing you feel when you freeze to death is a comforting warmth. This puts some irony in his statement that he could only keep the baby tooth fairy cold, but if he understands this part of his power, he'd have known that would definitely not have helped her stay alive in the cold.

Pitch's plan initially all revolved around getting rid of his biggest opposition: Sandman

If you think about it, a lot of his plans seemed like diversionary tactics. He barely engages the Guardians until the fight with Sandman. Why? Because he needed to take Sandman out first and foremost. He draws power from corrupting the dreams of children, dreams that would normally be under the protection of Sandman. But when North calls the meeting Sandman is distracted from his duties and unless he can control the sand telepathically, the children's dreams are mostly left unguarded. Pitch takes this as an opportunity to destroy as many dreams as possible, becoming stronger. By the time he confronts Sandman, he's strong enough to attack and eventually defeat his enemy. Yeah, getting children to stop believing in the Tooth Fairy was part of his plan too, but he also knew that the Guardians look out for each other and the longer time Sandman spent helping Tooth instead of attending to his dream duties, the stronger Pitch could become. With Sandman out of the way, the Guardians were suddenly much, much weaker and Pitch had an easier goal to reach.

Pitch was the reason for the ice cracking beneath Jack's sister

Pitch's lair is right next to the pond and the ice cracking caused a lot of fear for her. Maybe he wanted to kick off his army with a fearling but human! Jack unknowingly ruined his plans by almost literally laughing in the face of death?

Pitch was intended to be a Dark Is Not Evil guardian

Just because he's Dark Is Evil doesn't mean the moon intended him to be. Many people think that a little Nightmare Fuel is good for kids it can be fun and also teaches them how to deal with fear as adults. Pitch just couldn't handle what Jack went through and snapped.

• Partly Jossed. In the books, he became Pitch Black because he was tricked into opening a prison of Shadows and Fearlings when they imitated his daughter's voice. After that, he pretty much went on an evil rampage. Of course, this doesn't mean that he doesn't try to use his powers for good after the end of the book series, but ends up snapping as stated above.
• Confirmed in this comic. Pitch used fear as a means to stop children from wandering off on their own and getting hurt.

Tooth Fairy is an albino

It would explain why she is pale despite being vaguely Indian.

• Tooth is not human, her skin is naturally that color. Her species The Sisters of Flight looks the same, as she does. Also, she is not vaguely Indian, she is Southeast Asian. Joyce has not stated her precise race.

The Grim Reaper provided the coins to the Guardians

He has a collection of coins from Ancient Greece, and when he saw them in need of coins he loaned them some money.

Bunny's drastic change from his book counterpart is due to eating too much chocolate

Following the train of logic that the film takes place 200 years after the novels, we know Bunnymund restrains himself from indulging in chocolate because it affects his species in very unusual and unstable ways. After all their adventures together, the slow build-up of chocolate in his system has caused Bunnymund to give in to his more primal urges, and as a result more human. Therefore this version of Bunnymund is not nearly as reserved and distant; he's brash, wears his emotions on his sleeves and unlike the books, Bunny does not talk down to North and the others, not placing himself on a pedestal above humanity (although he's already showing signs of toning that down in the books as well). And as for the grey fur, much like North, Bunny is getting along in his old age.

Legendary terrors were people recruited by Pitch to become his Anti-Guardians.

Pitch has tried to counter the Man in the Moon and his Guardians by putting together his team of Guardians, or Anti-Guardians, a Legion of Doom who will one day do battle with the Guardians if they haven't already done so. The Anti-Guardians were once mortals who were hand-picked by Pitch because they were the biggest Child Haters of their time, and were happy to carry out his work of spreading fear to children.

The Anti-Guardian roster:

-Baba Yaga.... arguably the original Wicked Witch.

-The Tall Tailor/Scissorman.....neat freak who cuts the thumbs off of kids who suck them.

-Krampus/Belsnickel.... punishes naughty kids at Christmas

-Bloody Mary...The specter that appears in the mirror when the name is called

-And last but not least, Pitch's newest recruit. He was a young guy, possibly a child himself. Used to be a notorious internet troller. Now he's Slender Man.

• Oh my gosh that is too freaky!!!!

-Ox-Head and Horse-Face....creatures of the underworld in Chinese folklore. Legion of Doom incoming.

-To tie in with the Batman WMG above, a few members of his Rogues Gallery would make worthy candidates, specifically the Scarecrow, similar to the Dark Knight who would easily get along with Pitch.

Jack's center being fun is why he didn't snap due to isolation

In real life, people who undergo isolation for extended periods for a long do not wind up just fine enough for some help after the isolation ends.

Jack's Center being fun sheltered him from that.

Sandy is the strongest of The Guardians.

The reason being is that he gets his power, not from belief in The Sandman, but belief in the dreams themselves, and there is nothing people cherish more than their dreams. This is why he can defeat Pitch so easily when fully powered.

The Kingdom Keepers is in the same universe as Rise of the Guardians

They both have a similar premise — fictitious characters coming to life because of children's belief — and both have a group of characters who defend the world from evil characters. The only reason the two series haven't been shown as crossing over is that two different companies own them.

Centre is another word for Origin

Origin is, according to the Type-Moon wiki, "the starting point that defines one's existence and directs one's actions throughout life. It is the driving force from the inside of Akasha that managed to stream out of the Source and take material form. These actions are more along the lines of an inherent compulsion that could be called a person's instinct rather than a conscious decision."

Works, if only because, like North, Touko used Matryoshka Dolls to explain Origin in the seventh The Garden of Sinners movie.

Kozmotis Pitchiner and Pitch Black are not the same person.

I can't help but notice that nobody ever calls him "Pitch Black" in any of the books, nor does anyone in the movie call him "the Nightmare King." He's also not using his Fearlings anymore, having switched completely to Nightmares stolen from Sandy, and there's the implication in the second novel that Pitch the Nightmare King hates the nickname "Boogieman" while Pitch Black in the movie seems to take pride in it.

Conclusion? Sometime before the end of the novel series, the Guardians will figure out how to separate Kozmotis Pitchiner from the Fearlings that devoured him. Pitchiner gets returned to his daughter, while some remnant of the creature he used to be (possibly powered by corrupted dream-sand) takes on the names "Pitch Black" and "The Boogieman" continues as a separate entity. Without Pitchiner and the Fearlings, he no longer has the power he once wielded, and the Guardians can reasonably assume he won't prove a threat once the Dark Ages end. It then takes him 300+ years to find a new source of power and try to take his revenge, which is where the movie picks up.

Jack Frost is not as lonely as we are meant to think.

Jack knows the other guardians before joining them

• He's just anti-social, due to being unseen by any of the humans.

Yetis are related to the Lorax.

Only they're bigger and have duller color.

Each of the Guardians is linked with a different continent or landmass

• North is Europe/Russia
• Tooth is Southeast Asia/India (Alternately, South America)
• Bunnymund is Australia and Oceania
• Jack Frost is North America
• Sandman is Africa — or, less likely, the Middle East

When belief is low, a Guardian becomes what they fear most

• Tooth gets too sick to do the job she loves, Bunny becomes cute, but useless, and North's old age catches up with him. With Jack, he becomes unseen again, or maybe even turns back into a freezing corpse, maybe even going so far as dying.

The movie IS in the same continuity as the books, but the comics are not

The differences between movie! characters and book! characters are simple. Belief.In the books, when Ombric and the bear die, the children bring them back by the sheer force of their belief. However, it was mentioned that their appearances changed (the brown bear became a freaking polar bear, for example).So why not the Guardians?What if their life force was preserved by the sheer force of their belief towards them? The belief would cause their appearances to change (since most kids only ever hear stories, so they wouldn't know what they looked like), and would explain why no belief could kill them. It would end their extended lives.

Pitch wanted Jack to stop him.

I haven't read the books yet, but I've read enough about them to know that he started as a good man. Suppose that deep down, the person Pitchiner used to be was horrified by what he had become and wanted to be stopped. That would explain why, after breaking Jack's staff, Pitch tossed it into the same crevice Jack had landed in. He knew Jack would be able to fix it without too much trouble and subconsciously wanted Jack to fix it and come after him again.

The real reason Jack is not considered Guardian material is that he endangers children.

The Guardians of Childhood are all about protecting children. With Jack Frost, you get snow days, but you also get freak blizzards and snowstorms. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to cold, and access to proper heating has not been available until relatively recently. It's quite possible in Jack's 300 years as a spirit he has made children get sick or die of hypothermia. Jack tops North's naughty list, after all. It may be due to Jack recklessly endangering children's lives.

The reason the elves keep giving Jack those curled-toed blue shoes...

... is because Nightlight wore them. Before the movie, something happened to Nightlight but the elves couldn’t comprehend that, so they think Jack is Nightlight but missing his shoes. So they make shoes for him to replace his missing ones, but they don’t understand Jack isn’t Nightlight, that Nightlight’s gone.

• According to the latest storybook for the Guardians of Childhood, Jack is Nightlight.

Jack and his sisters are the children or at least decedents of Nightlight and Katherine.

Because that would be the coolest twist ever, as well as an additional reason Manny picked Jack, sure, he died saving his little sister, but tons of people do that, the reason Manny brought him back was that he couldn't stand the thought of the descendent of his dearest friend dying so young.

• Potentially Jossed as of the latest picture book, where Jack is Nightlight.

Pitch and his powers are related to the Nightmare Forces in some way, or even be the same thing.

Maybe Kozmotis Pitchiner was the original guardian of the Nightmare energy. Or maybe the Man in the Moon put him up to it after the Nightmare Forces were defeated a second time. Who knows, maybe Luna put the Man in the Moon up to it. Moving on, there are some surprisingly similar elements the falls of Kozmotis and Luna (as well as Rarity) have in common.

One noticeable thing is that the modus operandi of both whatever corrupted the Fearlings/Pitch and the Nightmare Forces/Nightmare Moon and Nightmare Rarity is the corruption of good creatures (the Fearlings and nightmare creatures are evil-ified children and moon denizens, respectively), powers over darkness, and exploitation of their enemies' deepest fears and/or desires.

The evil forces even have a kind of hierarchy as well—to get anything done, the now-corrupted creatures seem to actively seek out someone to make their ruler and leader. This ruler is seen to have been duped/manipulated into the job when the force takes advantage of their flaws & weaknesses...whether they be man or pony. Then the dominant spirit of evil enters and takes over the body and mind of the prospective ruler, basically turning them into its avatar—be it Pitch or Nightmare Moon/ Nightmare Rarity. This dominant spirit may even be the same, being genderless until it inhabits an avatar...and as a result, acts a bit differently depending on the original host's personality. To put the icing on the cake, Pitch and Nightmare Rarity were both defeated when the protagonists used the power of good memories to restore the faith of children everywhere in the former and Rarity's faith in herself in the latter, leading to the avatar's ultimate defeat. And finally, Pitch threatens his return with As Long as There Is Evil...while after her first defeat inhabiting Luna, Nightmare Moon does return in the comics inhabiting Rarity.

The incredible similarity of all this can not be just a coincidence, people. This may also explain Pitch's Bond Villain Stupidity as well since Pitchiner is by now just a prisoner in his own body trying to escape or at the very least staunch Pitch's evil.

For bonus points: Nightmare Moon is even regarded as a boogeyman of sorts in Equestria in the episode "Luna Eclipsed", and presumably before then as well.

Bunnymund is related to Theatre/Harvey

Both are 6'3 rabbits, but are Pookas, and are invisible to mortals except those who believe in them.

Manny isn’t a case of Good is Not Nice

He is just a Shrinking Violet who’s winging the whole thing. He considered Jack’s origins to be an Awful Truth and didn’t know how to tell him.

Jack is adopted

We never see him as younger than a young teen, and while they might have been skipped over, there might be more to it. Especially as considering in the latest picture books, he's the immortal Guardian, Nightlight.

Jack came from a family of shepherds.

That's why he had a crook with him when he saved his sister and continues using one. He connects the shepherd's crook with keeping others from danger.

Angie is the long-lost sister of Santa's Little Helper

A litter of greyhounds was born on Christmas Day and were all given Christmas-themed names. One was named Angels We Have Heard On High, or "Angie" for short. Like SLH, Angie was also made a racing hound, that's why she reacted so strongly to hearing a bell and seeing a rabbit. Like SLH, she also was abandoned by her owner once she started slowing down but was luckily taken in by a nice family. Their siblings, Mistletoe Kiss and Gingerbread Man are still racing. Hopefully, they will find someone to care for them when their race days are over.

Cupcake is the daughter of Ares from Percy Jackson.

It makes sense, seeing the daughters of Ares are described as very masculine looking with some anger issues. Cupcake has most of these traits, so it would figure that she could be a daughter of Ares.

The events of the movie is all just a vision that Jack is having as he drowns

Jack would turn into a corpse if he lost his magic.

The Guardians return to fragile simple forms upon losing their magic. Bunnymund turns into a small rabbit, Tooth can't fly and North loses his strength and resembles his age. So it makes sense that Jack would return to the state he was before he was chosen, that of a drowned victim.

The Man in the Moon is the Dreamworks boy.

No explanation necessary

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