Biography of the Beldam from Coraline.
Origin[]
Her origins are very vague and even what she really is is unknown. However, the novel canon hints that the Beldam was formerly human, as evidenced when she recounted her childhood experience of burying her mother alive. This is contradicted when she stated she had buried her mother alive and how she had taken 60 years to eventually die, suggesting whatever species the Beldam is, it reproduces as humans do and can go a longer time without air, water, or food than humans can. Given the Beldam feeds on spiritual energy, their metabolic needs work differently, as the Beldam's victims were claimed several decades before she had targeted Coraline herself. The Beldam even appears to have normal human skin and body parts in her true form. In contrast, the film canon never mentions any of this and it's assumed that she's a demonic skeletal spider hybrid being whose hands are mostly composed of sewing needles, and her face is made out of cracked porcelain.
The Beldam wields immense power over the Other World, a parallel dimension, which is, in reality, a gigantic spider web surrounded by a blank void. In the novel canon, the Other World in its true form resembles a drawing sketch created by a careless child. However, the Beldam can only twist and modify the Other World to her liking, implying that her powers have limitations or that she wasn't the true founder of the Other World. In relation to the real world, the Other World is located behind a small door in the living room of the Pink Palace Apartments in Ashland, Oregon. The only way to access it was by using a button key.
Reign of Terror[]
The doll created by the Beldam, altered to resemble Coraline.
Around the 1850s, the Pink Palace Apartments was initially a mansion, inhabited by several different families. To sustain her existence, the Beldam seized the opportunity to lure in children to the Other World. In her sewing room, the Beldam created button-eyed ragdolls that resembled her chosen victim and sent them into the void outside. The doll would eventually reach the real world, where her victim would unwittingly collect it. Through this, the Beldam was able to spy on their lives to find out what was wrong with them.
Once she had an overall idea of what her victim lacked in the real world, the Beldam modified the Other World into becoming a whimsical copy of the victim's real world, including its inhabitants, who also have button eyes and are entirely composed of sawdust. Sending her rats into the real world at night, her victim would wake up and follow them downstairs to the door in the living room. Crawling through a colorful corridor, the victim would meet the Beldam, under the disguise of their real mother. Entertained by the Other World's glamour, her victims would be offered the chance to stay here forever, under the condition that a pair of buttons will be sewn over their eyes. Her victims tended to accept the offer, considering how miserable their real life was, and after they accepted, the Beldam painfully gouged out their eyes, sewed buttons over them, and consumed their flesh. The doll element is not included in the novel canon and the Beldam lures her victims immediately by sending out her rats, indicating her impatient nature.
The tormented souls of her previous victims.
Afterward, the Beldam imprisoned their souls in a dark chamber behind a mirror and relied upon their "soul energy" to survive, which she often drained. She also hid their real eyes in marbles, the only way for their souls to pass on to the afterlife. The Beldam successfully kidnapped and killed several children in the past, including the Tall Ghost Girl, the Ghost Boy, and the Sweet Ghost Girl. According to them, they have forgotten their birth names due to their prolonged imprisonment, and thus, they are distinguished by these nicknames. In the novel, the Ghost Boy mentions that he has even forgotten his gender since his imprisonment. Particularly, it's possible that the Tall Ghost Girl's twisted gaping mouth spiritually alludes to the pain she suffered at the Beldam's hands.
The film canon shows solely the Tall Ghost Girl, the Ghost Boy and the Sweet Ghost Girl as the Beldam's only victims, and given that the Pink Palace is stated to be 150 years old and the Other World is as old as the building itself, then these three are maybe her only victims after all if one were to assume that the Beldam eats a kid's soul every fifty years. In contrast, the novel canon suggests the possibility that they were just her three latest victims, as the Beldam is implied to have existed for centuries. Thus, it's possible that many other children preceded the Tall Ghost Girl, the Ghost Boy and the Sweet Ghost Girl until their souls faded away into nothingness, a fate which would have likely befallen on the three Ghost Children as the years went by.
Encounter with Coraline Jones[]
| “ | You probably think this world is a dream come true... but you're wrong. | „ |
| ~ The Cat warning Coraline about the Other World. |
The Pink Palace Apartments were eventually converted into an apartment by Mrs. Lovat, the Sweet Ghost Girl's twin sister. Fearing that more children would suffer a similar fate as her twin sister, Mrs. Lovat enforced a no-child policy, which forbids couples with children from renting the apartment. She especially forbids her grandson Wybie from entering the apartment's premises and whenever he explored near the premises, she would often yell his name and demand him to return home.
In 2009, Charlie and Mel Jones, who have a daughter named Coraline, move from Pontiac, Michigan to Ashland, Oregon, where they decide to stay at the Pink Palace Apartments, despite the no-child policy (although it's theorized that Charlie and Mel either lied or simply forgot to mention their daughter, considering how little they pay attention to her). Coraline frequently explores the apartment alone, especially the garden, due to her parents busily working on their gardening catalog. During her stay, Coraline encounters Wybie and a mysterious black cat, simply known as the Cat, and is annoyed at both of their presence. In reality, the Cat was trying to protect both Wybie and Coraline from the Beldam, due to his detailed knowledge of the Other World, which he can freely enter through various portals. It's also revealed that the Cat can speak, although this ability is restricted to the Other World. Because of this, the Beldam harbors immense hatred towards the Cat and desires to rid all cats, which she refers to as "vermin", from the Other World.
Despite the Cat's attempts, the Beldam retrieves the button-eyed ragdoll, she used to lure the Sweet Ghost Girl and modifies it to resemble Coraline (it's unknown why she didn't do the same for Wybie, although it's said she didn't due to Mrs. Lovat's over-protectiveness to Wybie). The doll later ends up in Mrs. Lovat's trunk and discovering its eerie resemblance to Coraline, Wybie decides to give it to Coraline as a "gift". Initially creeped out, Coraline nevertheless plays with the doll whilst exploring the apartment. As Coraline explores the living room, she discovers that the doll is lying in front of the small door by itself. Requesting her mother to unlock the door with the button key, Coraline is disappointed to discover that the door has been bricked up, most likely by Mrs. Lovat.
Coraline discovering the door to the Other World.
At night, Coraline is awakened by a group of mice, who lead her to the door downstairs. She discovers that the bricks have been replaced by a colorful corridor, which she curiously crawls through. In the Other World, Coraline meets the Beldam, currently under the disguise of Mel Jones. She finds her more warm and attentive than her real mother and eventually meets the rest of the button-eyed duplicates of her neighbors, including the Other Wybie, who is mute. Afterward, the Beldam offers her a chance to stay in the Other World forever by giving her a present.
The Beldam, under the disguise of Coraline's mother, forcing the Other Wybie to smile. She later mutilates his mouth after he disobeys her.
Coraline opens the present and discovers a pair of buttons, a spool of thread, and a sewing needle. Realizing what this would gruesomely entail, Coraline refuses the offer and plans to return home. She tries to leave the Other World in a non-suspicious manner, but the Beldam already knows this and blocks all the exits to the real world. Eventually, Coraline confronts the Beldam in the living room to let her go home. However, the Beldam "disciplines" her by throwing her into the dark chamber behind the mirror. Inside, Coraline meets the ghosts of the Beldam's previous victims, who recount their stories and plead with her to find their real eyes.
Coraline tearfully promises to find their real eyes moments before the Other Wybie drags her out of the chamber, whose mouth is stitched into a horrific grin by the Beldam for failing to smile. She relieves his injuries and despite being aware of what would happen to him, the Other Wybie sacrifices himself to assist Coraline in escaping, which is ultimately successful. The Beldam, however, overhears them downstairs and finds the Other Wybie, kills him, and hangs his clothing on the flagpole on the apartment's rooftop.
Confrontation[]
| “ | Oh Wybie... EVIL WITCH I'M NOT SCARED! | „ |
| ~ Coraline after she sees the Other Wybie's clothing after his off-screen murder by the Beldam. |
Coraline enters the real world in time, but finding out that her parents have been missing for the night, the Cat eventually reveals to her that they have been kidnapped by the Beldam after Coraline discovers two button-eyed rag dolls that resemble her parents, stitched together to possibly taunt her over her loss. Coraline burns the doll furiously and arms herself with an adder stone that was given by her neighbors Misses Spink and Forcible and follows the Cat's advice on challenging the Beldam to a game, even if she doesn't play fair. Suddenly, the door to the Other World opens and Coraline's real mom seemingly appears, leading Coraline to run to hug her, but she suddenly reveals herself to be the Beldam, who taunts Coraline by saying that she doesn't know where her parents are and that maybe they are bored of her and fled to France. Coraline doesn't believe it and accuses the Beldam of kidnapping them, but she reprimands her, has the mutated Other Father grab her and sends one of her rats to retrieve the key to the door, locking it before swallowing the key. The Other Father accidentally reveals that the key is the only one that exists when Coraline asks why doesn't she have her own key, but the Beldam shuts the Other Father up and drags him away to his garden.
Coraline and The Beldam about to make the deal.
After failing to find her parents in the living room, Coraline goes to the kitchen, where the Beldam is cooking breakfast with her present buttons waiting on the table. Remembering what the Cat told her, Coraline proposes the Beldam to play a game in which she would have to seek for her parents and the eyes of the Ghost Children. Coraline promises her that if she wins, the Beldam would have to free her parents and the Ghost Children whilst if she loses, then she would have to sew buttons over her eyes and imprison her in the Other World forever. The Beldam reluctantly accepts this deal and gives her clues about where the real eyes of the Ghost Children are located in the Other World moments before vanishing into thin air.
Coraline successfully manages to grab all three eyes of the Ghost Children with the aid of the adder stone from the inhabitants of the Other World (Other Father, Other Spink, Forcible and Scottish Terriers and Other Bobinsky) who appear in their true, twisted, and demonic forms. As she plays the game, Coraline notices that the moon in the sky is gradually being covered by a shadow of a button to show much time she has left in the game. The inhabitants are killed after she grabs each eye from them as the surroundings around them turn into gray stone. During the game, Coraline notices that the Other Wybie's clothing is hung on the flagpole of Other Bobinsky's apartment, hinting that the Beldam had killed him for helping Coraline previously escape into the real world.
The Cat ultimately helps her in finding the real eye as the moon is completely covered by the shadow of the button as the Other World disintegrates into a blank void. Coraline and the Cat quickly enter the Other Pink Palace Apartments and shut the door behind her in time as she sees the Beldam, in her true arachnid hybrid form, waiting for her in the living room.
The Beldam swallowing the key to prevent Coraline from getting it to escape.
The Beldam then tells her that she must find her own parents in order to escape, and burns the adder stone which Coraline used during the game in the fireplace. Realizing that the Beldam has actually refused to acknowledge her victory and that she would be trapped in the Other World either way, even if she had won, Coraline distracts her by telling her that her parents are located behind the door. Whilst the Beldam vomits out the black button key that she swallowed previously, Coraline finds her parents trapped inside a snow globe sitting on the mantelpiece and grabs it. Proudly declaring that Coraline is wrong and will, therefore, stay in the Other World forever, Coraline throws the Cat onto her face and in a swift act of karma, her button eyes are promptly ripped out.
The Beldam chasing Coraline in the spider web.
Blinded, the Beldam furiously and falsely accuses her of being "a horrible, cheating girl" and transforms the floor of the living room into the gigantic spider web, which consists of what is left entirely of the Other World. As the Cat escapes back to the real world, the Beldam tries to hunt down Coraline like prey in the spiderweb, but fails as Coraline escapes being crushed while the Beldam calls her "a selfish brat" as Coraline quickly enters the door and into the passageway inside that leads to the real world. The Beldam screams at her for "disobeying" her, but Coraline kicks her in the face, briefly splitting her face in half. Coraline tried to shut the door on Beldam as the struggle ensues.
With the assistance of the Ghost Children, Coraline manages to slam the door shut onto the Beldam's hand after she tries to grab her, severing it. Locking the door with the black button key, the Beldam realizes her own doom and screams horrendously at Coraline to not leave her and that she would die without Coraline as she tries to break down the door. Her powerful actions of attempting to break down the door cause the door and the passageway itself to be shaken and pushed forwards towards the real world, but Coraline locks the door from the side of the real world in time, which causes various furniture to be knocked down and the snow globe to break, freeing her parents.
Defeat[]
| “ | It's the key, miss. There's only one, if the Beldam will find it... | „ |
| ~ The Sweet Ghost Girl, warning Coraline that she needs to get rid of the key to the Other World. |
The Beldam's severed hand emerging from the door.
Relieved that her parents returned home safely, even though they seemed to have no memory of what happened to them, Coraline dreams of the Ghost Children, who are finally freed and have their normal eyes back in the afterlife. They tell her that the Beldam is angry at her and is looking for the black button key, the only way she could have access to her and possibly other victims in the future. Coraline plans to throw the key in a well in the garden of the Pink Palace Apartments as she believes it is a place where the Beldam would never find it, but as she walks to the well, the Beldam's severed hand emerges from the door and follows Coraline.
Moments before she could throw the key down the well, the Beldam's hand latches onto her neck and briefly strangles her as it tries to drag her back into the Other World. Wybie arrives on his motorbike and blares the horn, stopping the hand in its track. He grabs the hand off of her neck, but the hand attacks his face, causing him to stumble off his motorbike and nearly fall down into the well where the hand climbs on him and stabs his right hand, causing Wybie to scream in pain. Coraline manages to smother the hand with her towel but the hand rips it apart as Wybie crawls out of the well and smashes it into pieces with a rock just in time.
Coraline and Wybie looking down the well after throwing the remains of the Beldam's hand, sealing her fate.
Soon, Coraline covers the hand and the rock with her towel and wraps the key around. They throw it together into the depths of the well and cover the well with a lid, therefore ultimately sealing the Beldam's fate for good. Both the film and novel do not specify what exactly happens to her afterwards, although, without the ghost children and Coraline to keep her alive, the Beldam is presumed to have starved to death alone in the Other World in torment, karmically just like what she has done with her victims, ending her threat once and for all.