Jack Skellington, also known as the "Pumpkin King", is the main protagonist of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and all Nightmare Before Christmas media. Jack is an extremely tall skeleton who wears a black pin-striped suit, complete with a bat bow-tie and black dress shoes. He has earned the title of Pumpkin King by being terrifying to humans (but never harming them), a clearly well-earned title as it appears he is even able to scare the monsters that occupy the town. He lives in Halloween Town, a world based solely on the holiday of Halloween. He has a ghost dog named Zero. Jack is very much a gentleman; graceful and patient in equal measures. He is typically even-tempered and can be counted upon to do what is in everybody’s best interest. Although Jack enjoys frightening others, he would never go as far as to harm humans nor monsters and is rather kindhearted.

Sally (Née Finklestein) is the deuteragonist of the film The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the main protagonist of the novel Long Live The Pumpkin Queen. She is a rag doll from Halloween Town. Intelligent, yet inconspicuous, she longs for independence, but is repeatedly restrained by Doctor Finklestein, her overprotective creator. Sally is kind, sensible, honest, and very clever. She is restless due to being constantly kept under lock and key by Doctor Finklestein and intrigued by the outside world. Due to the fact that she's mostly made up of sewn together body parts Sally is largely invulnerable to bodily harm, surviving a potentially deadly fall from a tall tower of Doctor Finklesteins, albeit in pieces. It's also shown that her limbs can move independently from her body. She has dark ginger hair and light blue skin, with stitches connecting her limbs and whatnot.

Oogie Boogie, known to the residents of Halloween Town as the Shadow on the Moon at Night, is the main antagonist of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Oogie Boogie is a a burlap sack filled with insects, spiders, and has a snake for a tongue who serves as the boogeyman of Halloween Town, as evidenced by his name. Oogie Boogie is a wicked and voraciously power hungry creature, resembling a large burlap sack shaped like a starfish. Inside of him are thousands of bugs (along with 2 spiders and a snake). His life revolves around gambling, and loves gambling with others' lives. Though, ironically, Oogie has no skills for gambling. Oogie Boogie's most dominant emotion of his personality is obviously fear. Whether it's scaring the daylights out of others, or being frightened himself, Oogie is always involved with fear. Despite his menacing appearance, Oogie can mostly be seen as a wimp. He also appears to fear Jack Skellington.

Dr. Finkelstein is a resident of Halloween Town, the mad scientist in a wheelchair, who created Sally. Finkelstein is a pale-as-a-sheet mad scientist with a duckbill-like mouth and a hinged skullcap that he can open up to reveal his brain. For unknown reasons, he uses a motorized wheelchair. Dr. Finkelstein is named 'Evil Scientist' instead of Dr. Finkelstein in the credits. His true name is only mentioned in the movie when the Mayor calls him up to the front of the line for his Christmas assignment. Dr. Finklestein is an overprotective father figure for Sally to overcome. He takes full responsibility over her and acts as an over-protective father by keeping her under lock and key under the pretext of sheltering her from the world. He insists she is not ready for the Halloween celebrations yet and locks her in her room in the Tower using a gigantic piece of wood that can only be released from the outside, thus resulting Sally to depart through the window at times.

The mischievous secondary antagonists and Oogie Boogie's henchmen. Lock: The self-appointed leader of the trio, dressed in a red devil costume with a tail and a devil mask. He is 6. Shock: The sneaky, tall female member of the group, wearing a witch costume and hat with a pale, pointed mask. She is around the same age as Barrel and/or Lock. Barrel: The short, round, and somewhat dimwitted member, wearing a skeleton suit and ghost-white face paint/mask. He is 5. Lock acts on what feels right in the moment without overthinking. Shock likes doing things her way and often views her male cohorts as clumsy or foolish. Barrel treats tasks like a game, enjoying causing trouble; He gets bored easily.

He has a distinct traffic-cone shaped body and head, a tall top-hat, a spider bow-tie, and a gold ribbon sash that reads "MAYOR". He is literally "two-faced," featuring a rotating head that flips between a happy face and a sad or panicked face depending on his mood. He loves Halloween deeply but is easily flustered and anxious when things go wrong.