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- Sweet Ghost Girl: "She spied on our lives through the little doll's eyes."
- Ghost Boy: "And saw that we weren't happy."
- Tall Ghost Girl: "So she lured us away with treasures,"
- Ghost Boy: "And treats,"
- Sweet Ghost Girl: "And games to play,"
- Ghost Boy: "Gave all that we asked."
- Sweet Ghost Girl: "Yet we still wanted more."
- Tall Ghost Girl: "So we let her sew the buttons."
- Ghost Boy: "She said that she loved us."
- Tall Ghost Girl: "But she locked us here."
- All Three: "And ate up our lives."
| ~ The Ghost Children tell Coraline their story. |
The Ghost Children are victims of the Other Mother. Like Coraline, they were lured into the Other World and given a choice to stay if they had buttons sewn into their eyes, but unlike her, they accepted her offer. After the Other Mother had finished with them, they were imprisoned behind the mirror, unable to pass on without their eyes (in the film) or hearts (in the book). In the end, they are freed when Coraline finds their eyes/hearts in the "three wonders" of the Other World.
Appearance[]
The Ghost Children had translucent, pale bodies, buttons for eyes, and a look of general displeasure on their faces. After Coraline found their eyes and freed them, the Ghost Children reappeared in her dream. Along with having their real eyes, they were now shimmering bronze angels with halos.
Biography[]
When Coraline was trapped by the Other Mother behind the mirror, she sees a rotten bed, and the Ghost Children. They explain how they came to such a sorry state, and ask Coraline if she can find their eyes, for only then could they enter the afterlife. Coraline whole-heartedly accepts.
Coraline found the Ghost Children's eyes during her game with the Other Mother; each time she obtained one, the nearby surroundings petrified into grey stone. During her final confrontation with the Other Mother, the Ghost Children assisted Coraline by helping to close the door between worlds. The now freed children thank Coraline in a dream, But they also warn her that there is only one key for the door and that the Other Mother still lived and wanted to steal it. However, the ghost boy consoles Coraline, telling her that at least she was still alive.
The Sweet Ghost Girl was the twin sister of Wybie's grandmother, Mrs. Lovat.
Book Differences[]
In the book, the space behind the mirror is small and dark. According to Coraline, when her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw children "as faint and pale as the moon in the daytime sky." In the graphic picture in the book, the Ghost Children did not appear to have button for eyes.
The Ghost Children feared the Other Mother, whom they referred to as the Beldam, while explaining what had happened to them. When Coraline asked them to come with her, the Ghost children responded that they wished they could, but because the Beldam had their hearts in her keeping, the Ghost Children were stuck in the dark and the empty places. According to them, the light would shrivel and burn them.