Wyborn Lovat

Plot Appearance

Movie An excerpt from the main article: Coraline (filmography) Wybie Lovat plays a large role in the film adaptation such as: helping Coraline, both the real and in the form of Other Wybie. He is regularly insulted by Coraline because of their first encounter when Wybie startled and knocked Coraline down when she was exploring, trying to find an old well. He is also the first one who warns Coraline about the Pink Palace. The next day, Wybie leaves Coraline a little doll that resembles her, on the front porch. He claims that he found it in his grandmother's trunk; it is later revealed to be the eyes and ears that the beldam uses to spy on Coraline. On their second encounter, Wybie once again indicates something bad about the Pink Palace, mentioning his grandmother's missing twin sister who disappeared a long time ago. However, he assumes that his great-aunt simply ran away. Mrs. Lovat, discovering the doll gone and with Coraline, forces Wybie to ask Coraline for the doll back. While searching for the doll, she tells Wybie about the other world and about the Beldam. However, Wybie is skeptical of Coraline's story and later calls her crazy before running out of the Coraline's apartment. After Coraline's fourth visit to the other world, she locks the door and takes out the key to throw it into the old well. Wybie helps her when she is attacked by the Beldam's severed hand. He saves her by wrestling the hand away from her, dropping a large rock over it, dismantling the needle-made hand. Together they then throw it along with the rock and key, into the old well. At the end of the movie, he and Coraline explain to his grandmother what happened to her missing sister.

Other Wybie

The Other Wybie is physically identical to the original except in that he has Button eyes and slightly better posture. As opposed to Wybie's flustered and analytical behavior, Other Wybie is much more observant and aware of those around him. He, like the Other Father, is shown to possess a limited amount of free-will, feeling genuine guilt when helping the Other Mother's plans.

Personality

Wybie is constantly nervous (evident in the way he is always playing with his hand.) However, he is an adventurer somewhat like, but not identical, to Coraline. He has a strange liking toward odd things, shown when the Cat brings him "little dead things" and when he makes fun of a slug whilst taking a picture of it. He is rather impulsive in terms of speech, as he only reacts to what he says after he says them. This is shown when he ridicules Coraline's name and later regrets it. From his actions towards the Cat, he is rather compassionate, presumably only to animals or to those he finds a liking to. He is sometimes seen wearing two modified welder's masks. One for his bike riding, which is fitted with three magnifying scopes, that he hand cranks to better zoom in on the objects of his focus. While the other is fitted with a periscope, which he uses to find banana slugs.

Quotes

"I'm Wybie. Wybie Lovat." Coraline: "Wybie?" "Short for Wyborne. Not my idea, of course." "It's not real scientific, but I heard an ordinary name like Caroline can lead people to have ordinary expectations about a person." "It's supposed to be so deep, if you fell to the bottom and looked up, you'd see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day." "He's not really my cat. He's kind of feral. You know, wild. Of course, I do feed him every night, and sometimes he'll come to my window and bring me little dead things." "Hey, check out Slugzilla!"

Trivia

When Other Wybie removed his glove, it is revealed that his hand is made completely out of sand like The Doll, hinting that he, and all the other inhabitants of the Other World, are simply dolls of some kind. Wybie Lovat was only created in the film adaptation so that Coraline wouldn't have to talk to herself and so she could have a friend. A possible reference to him, his father or his grand-father is possibly made by Miss Spink in the book, when speaking to Coraline about the well, "Mister Lovat, who has been here before your time, said that he thought [the well] might go down for half a mile or more." Wybie's mask is a highly coveted item, with many people wishing it was available officially, but only custom ones existing. Wybie is the great-nephew of the most recent victim (before Coraline) of the Beldam, one of the ghost children who Coraline meets when she gets thrown into the mirror prison. Coraline nicknames Wyborne; Why-were-you-born.