What WAS the Other Mother? + other questions *spoilers*

1. That's the great mystery of her. Some creatures become forms of loved ones to destroy their victims. Her evil is most likely the way she lives, and the children's souls she considers "trophies". As she can go through the mirror fully, and get out as she pleases, she will gaze on her victims from time to time. Realize that other than the first time Other Mother introduces herself, Coraline is the only one to refer to her as such. She calls herself "Mother" the same as Other Father and most likely the other Others. Cat only refers to her as She. Perhaps she was even cursed to be what she is now, by an unseen villain. The book refers to her as having a mother herself.

2.Unless my theory about Wybie's grandma below is true then I doubt it...unless she constantly gains and loses ghost children. Note she's dying and particularly desperate to get Coraline when she escapes. This implies a last chance sort of situation, or she knows she lost her previous children...

3.I don't know this scene..but I suspect he was making sure it was over and done with, and his enemy was dead. Perhaps even to mock this as cats do taunt prey. Judging from his expressions after returning from the Other World, he was glad to get to rip into her. The cat is the most interesting character in the movie for me. He has no name, and dislikes rats. Perhaps he's not even a full cat. He may be more like Salem from Sabrina and forced into a form by the Other Mother that nobody would believe if they heard him speak.

4.The part that surprises me more is that Other Mother let her see the Ghost Children at all. Perhaps she felt so confident in her ability to destroy children, she wanted to do it a little differently this time and as we know she loves games.


5.Perhaps the cat told her...or they went there together, but Wybie's grandma refused? I find the cat one more likely. He makes himself close to Wybie, and is his companion to keep him from wandering off like Coraline did. He gives into Wybie's infatuation with the dark by bringing him dead things. As I said above, the cat doesn't like rats at the best times. So this means he's either bringing Wybie dead rats, as they're the only ones to go from the Otherworld to the Real World without the use of the key. The other possibility would be that he brings dead animals to excite and interest Wybie judging by the enthusiasm Wybie mentions that statement in. We can never fully know any of these things of course. I doubt even the writer of the book knows as Wybie and Grandmother are nowhere to be found in the original novel. Perhaps Henry Selick one day will tell all his intentions with the character.

1. What /was/ the Other Mother really? Was she a figment of Coraline's imagination? How did she come about, and who created her? Why is she so evil?

I do not think she a figment of Coraline's imagination given that the house has a past of children going missing, her poison oak cleared up immediately the next night, and other peculiar events that occurred throughout the movie.
I think she was an evil entity, similar to a demon. In the book the Other Mother talked about having her own mother that she buried in the Other World so she was born/created by at least a woman, possibly parents. As far as what they are, it is hard to tell. I am guessing she is evil by nature, a nature she can't control and wants desperately to change by trying to love children.

2. Did other children escape her before Coraline? I'm sure more than 3 other kids had lived there in the past years before her coming along.

There could have been other children to escape but it would be because they were too scared to go into the door or because they had a sibling that the Other Mother took. For instance Wybie's grandmother grew up there and the Other Mother only got her sister.

3. The post scene with the cat at the end. I don't understand this because didn't the Other World crumble at the end, when all that was left was that one room in the house and everything else was pure white? Why would he want to go back there?

I think the Other Mother could change the landscape of her world on whim. I imagine she would want a dwelling of some sort. In the very beginning we see her in a dusty looking sewing room where she keeps her tools to make dolls and a window into the world. I doubt she kept things pure white and likely created another world like her sewing room at least. He probably went back there to see what the world looks like now and/or to torment her. Don't forget her presence isn't entirely gone, the garden in the end looks like her and not like Coraline.

4. Why did the Other Mother get cruel with Coraline once she figured out what was going on? Wouldn't she have been even sweeter to her to try and entice her to stay over in the Other World?

She was probably frustrated and was not sure how to communicate with things that were going against her. I think once the Other children started showing discontent, she quickly grew agitated and then killed them and trapped their souls. You can see how she seems sort of humbled when Coraline says she knows she likes to play games.

5. Did Wybie's grandmother know about the Other Mother? Is that why she was so cautious to have kids in the house? Does she know what happened to her sister, and has she possibly met/had to escape the Other Mother?

I think she knew about her and the dolls. Just knew that nobody would believe her. The Other Mother probably mimicked each child's mother at first but changed appearances after a while to look like a spider. I think the grandmother didn't want renters with children because the house would have a past of children going missing. It is hinted she knew what happened to her sister because she was stolen and she probably knew about the entrance into the Other World but didn't go in. The Other Mother likely created an imitation of her for her twin, just like she did of Wybie when Coraline went there.

she just represented her mother when she had her periods




so many movies, so little time