WMG / Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Rudolph is a Mutant.

He has the X-Factor in his genes, hence being able to emit a glow that can pierce through blizzards yet not blind people.

• Jossed. Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July reveals that Rudolph's shiny nose comes from the magic of Lady Boreal. No, really, that's the canon explanation.
• Not only is Rudolph a mutant, it runs in the family. Watch Donner carefully when he sees Rudolph's nose and says "Now how do you overlook that?". His antlers curl. He has prehensile antlers! But he learned to hide his "non-conformity" (except under moments of stress) to fit into reindeer society, so naturally he thinks doing so is best for Rudolph too.

Hermey the Misfit Elf is actually a human being (albeit a short and/or young one).

Hermey differs substantially from the other elves; he has larger eyes, more hair, and, most notably, rounded ears like those of a human. Normal elves may have an inborn desire to make toys (it's a desire that can be either genetic or passed on by magic), but Hermey has no such inborn desire, choosing instead an alternative occupation like dentistry. (He also seems to have no interest in other elf activities like wiggling his ears, singing in a choir, etc.) This could be due primarily to his human heritage.

How did Hermey come to live among the elves? Perhaps he was an orphan who was accidentally taken by Santa (like in the movie Elf). Or maybe he was left on the Claus' doorstep. The special doesn't seem to have much interest in his origin story, but a human origin would explain a lot of Hermey's differences.

Hermey is Santa's secret love child by a female elf.

A version of Santa as grumpy and flawed as this one could conceivably have an extramarital affair, and being half-human would explain all of Hermey's human-like qualities described above.

Hermey the Elf is responsible for all of the Misfit Toys.

We all know that Hermey doesn't like to make toys. We also know that he tries to add things to the toys to try to fit in; the Chewing doll he makes being an example. It's not established how long Hermey has hated his job as an elf making toys but if it's years then making a train with square wheels on the caboose due to laziness, making a cowboy riding an ostrich for the lulz, or making a squirt gun that shoots jelly to make it look more like blood adding realism to the toy makes a lot of sense. Something tells me that Chewing Doll Hermey was making will be in the Island of Misfit toys along with some other oddball toys and a few previous inhabitants making a return.

Hermey is transgender.

See this Tumblr post. The other male elves are all apparently bald and have big, bulbous noses, while the female elves have wavy blonde hair and small noses, like Hermey. Ergo, he was AFAB. Transphobia evidently doesn't exist in elf culture – their only prejudice is against elves who don't like to make toys.

The doll in the island of misfit toys is there because she is anatomically correct...

Unfortunately for her sake, she is an anatomically correct male. This happened as a result of bored assembly line workers deciding to make a doll like this as a joke and see if it got past the product inspector at the toy factory. It did, and as a result ended up a Christmas present for a little girl named Sue that upon receiving it asked "Mommy, why does my dolly have three legs?" After checking under the skirt and seeing that the doll was packing, it was taken away from the girl by mom and dad. After dealing with customer service of the toy company and getting a more conventional doll, the doll with a little extra was thrown away, which lead to the Ruler of the Island of Misfit Toys to pick it up and bring it to the island.

• Or maybe the doll was just rejected for being seen as a "cliched" toy. Dolls are rather common toys and there are probably some girls who see dolls as overrated.

• Or she was given to a girl who was a tomboy and didn't like dolls, possibly in an attempt to convince the girl to "act like one". The girl resented this and treated the doll badly for this reason.

• It's also been said she was there because she was "depressed" at never having been loved, whereas dolls are supposed to be perpetually happy. This, of course, pushes her into Tear Jerker territory, depending on who you talk to.

This takes place in the same universe as Toy Story.

• I can't believe no one thought of this.

The Misfit Bird can fly now

Thought of adding this after browsing the Fridge Horror section; my assumption at that scene was that either Santa gave the bird the ability to fly or the bird could fly all along and just didn't know it. Notice that rather than just shove him off the sleigh, the Elf just waves goodbye to the bird who promptly leaps out himself, wings outspread (at least that's how I remember it, I could be wrong)...

Alternatively, the bird simply knew how to jump down without an umbrella

Some real life flightless birds are able to parachute from high places by flapping their wings. It's not unreasonable to assume that the Misfit Bird did the same.

Santa Claus has an eating disorder

His weight fluctuates throughout the year, and his wife has to force him to eat his dinner. Might also explain why he's kind of a jerkass towards the beginning, but gets better toward the end; he was malnourished and under a lot of stress dealing with his disorder in the beginning, but by the end he had put on weight and was feeling better.

• That would certainly explain Santa's not-very-loving and un-Santa-like reaction to Rudolph's nose.

Hermey eventually becomes the Tooth Fairy in the Rankin/Bass universe

This movie is basically his origin story.

• Jossed, the sequel reveals that Tooth Fairy is a separate character, and Hermey actually wants to go on date with her.

The Bumble we see later is the child of the original Bumble

When we first see the Bumble, it's bigger than the mountains, and this was when Rudolph was young. When Rudolph and his friends start getting chased by the Bumble, it's much smaller, and time had passed by the time this happened. It's entirely likely this smaller Bumble wasn't the same Bumble at all, but a child of the first one.

Red nosed reindeer are discriminated against because they attract predators

The glow attracts predators at night, thus putting all of the other reindeer in danger.

• How they can be afraid of predators when they live with Santa?

King Moonracer sympathized with misfit toys because of his own bizarre biology.

Being a griffin-like monster with a lion's body and eagle's wings, Moonracer knew what it was to be a mismatched outcast, and began collecting the toys to give them a place to go.

Santa has a psychic connection to his reindeer.

How else could the newborn baby Rudolph – so newly born that his parents have only just noticed his nose's glow – instantly say "Santa!" when he sees him for the first time, despite having never even been told about him? It's a part of Santa's magic: his reindeer not only fly, but are born knowing who he is.

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