| NOTE: This article is a composite profile of The Beldam's book, graphic novel, film, and video game versions. |
| “ | YOU DARE DISOBEY YOUR MOTHER?! | „ |
| ~ The Beldam to Coraline after she escapes the Other World. |
| “ | They say even the proudest spirit can be broken, with love. | „ |
| ~ The Beldam mocking Coraline's determined attempts to return home. |
The Beldam (also known as "The Other Mother") is the main antagonist of Neil Gaiman's 2002 dark fantasy young adult novel Coraline and all of its adaptations. She is also the arch-nemesis of Coraline Jones.
She was voiced by Teri Hatcher in the film, who also played Queen Rhea in Supergirl. In Japanese dub of the movie, she was voiced by Keiko Toda.
What Makes Her Pure Evil?[]
All continuities[]
- She deceives her victims into staying in the Other World so that she can gouge out their eyes, sew buttons over them, and imprison their souls in a dark chamber. She also keeps their eyes in magical marbles.
- While her exact origins are obscure, there's no evidence to suggest she is made of evil in any continuities.
- The children's ghosts mention in the film that the Beldam eats the kids' bodies after she no longer needs them. In the book, it's simply stated that she murders them. Regardless of which fate is more accurate, it still ultimately results in the child's wrongful death.
- She kidnapped Coraline's real parents, trapped them in the snow globe, and tried to convince her, using her magic powers, that her parents abandoned her.
- She mutilated the inhabitants of the Other World, especially the Other Father after Coraline managed to escape the first time.
- She trapped Coraline in a mirror after she made her angry. That mirror is also where the other kids were trapped.
- Even if Coraline had won their side of the deal, she would refuse to acknowledge her victory and still try to keep her in the Other World despite her "promise" that she would let her go alongside her parents and the Ghost Children.
- Despite luring in and eating children to sustain her existence, that still wasn’t an excuse for the horrors she did to all of them.
Book and Graphic Novel[]
- She used rats to spy on Coraline Jones and figure out how to manipulate her into staying in the Other World.
- Her "love" for Coraline is only an obsession. The author compares her love to a miser's love for gold.
- Her disembodied hand tormented Coraline for days.
- Is implied to have murdered her own mother.
Film[]
- She spied on several children through a button-eyed doll to see if they weren't happy with their lives at their homes.
- she killed and ate Mrs. Lovat's sister that She is causing Mrs. Lovat overprotecting on Wybie Lovat including the couples and kids forbidden for rent Pink Palace prevent Couple's Kid suffer same fate.
- Kidnaps and imprisons Coraline's parents in a snow globe just to break her spirit and force her back into the Other World to save them, eating her if she did not succeed. Not to mention that Charlie and Mel could've frozen to death had they not been rescued.
- She painfully stitched the Other Wybie's face into a smile and killed and ate him after she caught him helping Coraline escape. After that, she hangs his clothes on the Other Bobinksy's flagpole to mock Coraline.
- She cheated during her and Coraline's deal by forcing the Other Father to try to stop Coraline from getting one of the eyes of the Ghost Children, even though the Other Father didn't want to harm her.
- Through her hand, she tried to drag Coraline back into the Other World, partly so she could eat her and partly so she could recover the button key to claim more victims in the future, and even tried to send Wybie down the well for interfering on her attempt to reclaim Coraline.
- Unlike the Other Father, whose love for Coraline is as genuine as it comes, the Beldam's love towards her is not genuine in the slightest, even if she does tell Coraline that she loves her, it would be more like an obsession since as Coraline rightly points out, she has a weird way of showing it. She also shows no genuine love towards the Other Father, only using him as a minion or a pawn and even causing him to suffer in the scenes where he is grabbed aggressively by the piano's hands after spilling too much information to Coraline about the Other Mother's true intentions after she locks Coraline in the other world and forcing him to hurt Coraline by controlling him like a puppet. While she does refer to him as pumpkin, this is not an affectionate nickname and is most likely referring to what he used to be.
- She has zero comedic moments or redeeming qualities whatsoever and is played as a very horrifying and dangerous threat.
Video Game[]
- Gave Coraline continuous nightmares after each of her stays in the Other World, thus psychologically tormenting her.
- Even while disguised as Mel Jones, she left Coraline at the mercy of several gigantic bugs and rats capable of killing her while Coraline does her tasks in the Other World.
- Forced Coraline through a maze full of the same giant critters and dragon snappers scattered throughout while also attempting to kill Coraline herself via the mirrors within the maze.
Trivia[]
- The Beldam is, alongside Lane and Irmgard Klaxon, one of the three Henry Selick villains to be Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- The Beldam on the Villains Wiki
- The Beldam on the Coraline Wiki
