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Zero emerging from the graveyard in Burton's illustration for the poem.

Zero is Jack's ghost-dog who serves as the tritagonist of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and the titular protagonist of the graphic novel sequel Zero's Journey. This shows the leaders of the holiday worlds, in both the movie and the games. Thus far only four have been seen; Jack Skellington (Halloween), Santa Claus (Christmas), the Easter Bunny (Easter) and Oogie Boogie (Bug Day). Zero has a glowing RED nose, (which glows a yellowish-orange) an obvious Halloween pun of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Zero helps guide his master Jack Skellington through the fog on Christmas Eve. Zero has a doghouse gravestone in the graveyard seen before Jack enters the Hinterlands.

In the movie, Jack finds the door to Christmas Town while he is taking Zero for a walk. Later, when Jack wants to take off to deliver presents, Zero has to light the way because of the thick fog, similar to Santa and Rudolph. At the end of the movie, Jack and Sally kiss each other as Zero looks at them and flies into the air, transforming into a star.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge[]

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Jack and Zero in Oogie's Revenge.

Zero appears in the sequel video game Oogie's Revenge, where he first appears out from his grave in the graveyard and approached by Jack. He helps Jack find the Hanged Men by flying in the graveyard and barking to alarm him when he sees one. Zero doesn't make many appearances in the game, only assisting Jack in two levels.

Zero's Journey[]

Zero returns as the protagonist of the sequel comic book, "Zero's Journey", where he gets lost in Christmas Town after an accident in Jack's House. He first appears sleeping in the comic, but wakes up wanting to play with Jack. He first gets ignored, but convinces his owner to stay for a game of fetch, where Jack removes his rib bone and tosses it around the room. Zero chases after it and nearly causes a mess in Jack's study, wearing his night cap after falling into a pile.

Disney ZerosJourney Issue0 Cover

Jack throws his bone one more time, accidentally bumping into his desk and dropping his portal device. He also incidentally opens up the portal through Halloween Town, which Zero flies through in an attempt to catch his rib. He chases it through the graveyard and into the forest, where he finds the rib in the middle of the holiday doors. Much like his owner, Zero becomes fascinated with the Christmas door and goes through it, and gets lost in Christmas Town.

The reason he appears as the main character is because, according to a message left by creators TOKYOPOP, they "always wished there were more scenes with Zero. He was always there for Jack, floating along, a loyal companion."

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen[]

Trivia[]

  • Interestingly enough, it is implied in the movie that Zero still needs to breathe, as when you see him asleep in his basket in Jack's tower, part of his sheet-like body around his chest moves up and down.
  • When Zero is happy, he can wag his "tail", or flip in circles happily.
  • It’s a common misconception that Zero’s nose is a red bulb exactly like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, however it was always a small Jack ‘O Lantern as is evidenced in behind the scenes images of the original puppet and subsequent merchandise and media.

Gallery[]

Click here to view the image gallery for Zero.
Click here to view the gallery for Zero.

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