Friendly Skeleton

A subtrope of Dem Bones, Skeletons are often symbols of death, but in recent years, especially in much of the West, Skeletons have also become a symbol for revelry and good old fashioned spooky fun. Skeletons in fiction will often be portrayed as funny, jolly, and sometimes clever. They will often dress in dapper suits, and may be graceful and agile. Bone and skeleton puns are almost guaranteed, as are scenes of rib cages being used like xylophones or skulls being juggled and tossed about. The skeleton in question will usually either be on the hero's side, be the hero, or at least be a really fun antagonist. Can often be a Skeletal Musician.

This is due, in no small part, because of their association with Halloween and Dia de los Muertos (with Calacas being a related trope/subtrope of this in most depictions that's particularly tied to Mexican culture and heritage), as well as the fact that they always appear to be grinning. Skeletons are associated with death, but that isn't always a bad thing. In many circles and cultures, skeletons and skulls can serve as a reminder to accept and even embrace death, thus the oft sympathetic portrayals of the Grim Reaper. As an extension of their association with death and thus endings, they may sometimes be associated with change. They may be further used to symbolize life after death, or with one's family or ancestry. In a sense, a skull or skeleton can sometimes be a symbol of embracing life. There's also the fact that there is something inherently funny about a skeleton just getting up and walking around.

This trope is especially common in works centering around Halloween, or that have a decidedly Goth aesthetic, so friendly skeletons are especially likely to be found in Halloweentown. They can also be an example of Our Monsters Are Different. Related to Chummy Mummy, Friendly Zombie, Friendly Ghost, Friendly Neighborhood Vampire, and Wonderful Werewolf. If the skeleton is the Grim Reaper, it's also Don't Fear the Reaper. Can often overlap with Stingy Jack.

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Examples:

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• The Raid: Shadow Legends commercials features Death Knight as a nice guy talking to the audience espousing how awesome it is to use Death Knight (an undead mook) and a following commercial has him despondent at how much of a loser he is and not a champion, before he goes to sleep and is remade into Ultimate Death Knight. In the actual video game, Death Knight was an evil monster before he grew into what was portrayed in the commercial.
• Skeletor gets this treatment in this Money Supermarket commercial where he and He-Man go to do some Dirty Dancing at a country and western saloon.

Anime & Manga

• Brook from One Piece is a living skeleton and all around jovial guy. He has a fondness for skull jokes such as "I can't believe my eyes. Then again, I don't have eyes to begin with! YOHOHOHOHO!"
• In Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san the creator depicts herself as a skeleton. As a retail worker, she's kind and polite, though maybe not the typical happy skeleton.
• Anpanman: Horrorman the skeleton is extremely friendly and easygoing, and on good terms with most if not all of the other characters. This turns out to be a bit of a problem, though, because he's so personable and chummy that he treats everyone as his best friend and will cheerfully help them with whatever they need help with... even if the person he's helping is, say, a major villain.
• Death from Gregory Horror Show is an unexpected ally of the guest. He doesn't show up in the hotel proper however.

Arts

• Death and the Maiden was a common motif in Renaissance art, particularly in Germany, that would depict a beautiful young woman with Death himself, usually depicted as a skeleton. While not all depictions show death as a particularly friendly fellow, some depictions show the maiden and death embracing, romantically or sometimes even erotically. This motif was revived in the Romantic Era of art.

Comedy

• Achmed the Dead Terrorist. He tries to talk a big game, but he's as harmless as he is funny, not to mention utterly incompetent as a suicide bomber.
  "GREETINGS, INFIDELS!"
  "SILENCE! I KEEL YOU!"

Comic Books

• Scary Godmother features Mr. Skully Pettibone, a flamboyant Skeleton in the Closet who wears a top hat and bowtie. Keeping with the general theme of the series that monsters are nothing to be afraid of, he's of course a delight.
• Yorick and Bones: Yorick is a recently magically resurrected skeleton who is just looking for a friend. Thing is, every time people see him, they scream and run away.
• Judy, one of many UK comics aimed at girls in the latter half of the twentieth century, had Skeleton Corner, a spooky comic hosted by a skeleton who, despite telling a scary story, was actually quite jovial and upbeat.

Comic Strips

• Scary Gary: On the occasion Gary is reduced to a skeleton but retains his mobility, he’s still just as friendly.

Films — Animation

• Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas is possibly the best-known example in most regions, being defined as excitable, eager, though sometimes self-centered and impulsive.
• The Last Unicorn features a laughing Skeleton who knows the way to the Red Bull and would only exchange this information in exchange for wine, despite not being able to taste or smell it.
• Corpse Bride, of course, features quite a few, including Bonejangles, the Skeletal Musician who tells us the story of our titular Corpse Bride. In song, of course.
• In The Book of Life, the dead are depicted as walking skeletons with glowing eyes, but all of them retain the experiences they had in life and most of them are nice. Similarly, La Muerte is depicted as a skeleton made of candied bones, but she's sweet, caring, and reasonable.
• In Coco, the dead are all depicted as skeletons and are perfectly personable. When accidentally whisked into the Land of the Dead, Miguel is initially terrified of them (and they are of him) until he meets his dead relatives.
• The various Las Leyendas movies and their associated reboots and spin offs feature Finado and Moribunda, two cute little skeletons who often times help our heroes, or simply get into cute little antics in the background.

Film — Live Action

• The Three Stooges ran into their share of animated skeletons. Most were more grouchy than evil, but 'Red' Skeleton was a friendly if scary guy.

Literature

• Unseen Academicals has Charley, the good-natured assistant at Unseen University's Department of Necromancy... sorry, Post-Mortem Communications. Charley might need a bit of wiring in strategic places to help him articulate and move, but he is the cheerful and down-to-earth background technician who works closely with Dr Hix, the University's licensed Evil Wizard.
• The titular character of Skulduggery Pleasant is usually nice and friendly enough, unless you're foolish enough to earn the ire of a centuries old skeletal sorcerer.
• Sid of Family Skeleton Mysteries, of course.
• The Big Skeleton, Little Skeleton and the Dog Skeleton from Funny Bones are portrayed as more goofy than frightening. They do aim to scare people, but when it turns out the streets are empty, they choose to scare each other instead. Their intentions to be scary are more related to them being skeletons (and thus supposed to be scary) than out of any malice or ill will.

Live-Action TV

• Halloweentown features a skeleton taxi driver named Benny who is nice to the Piper grandkids (until Kalabar takes control of him) and provides them with exposition.
• Rito Revolto of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is an Affably Evil example. While he's the muscle for two alien warlords, he's a jovial fella to both heroes and villains alike. He's also pretty fond of his bosses (his sister Rita and her husband, Zedd)—his Establishing Character Moment is giving them an anniversary gift.
• The Halloween episode of Teen Angel features an appearance by Ron Glass as a talking paper skeleton.
• In the "Robert Palins" sketch from I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, this is the impression one gets of the skeletons that Tim sings about coming to life. They might pull your hair, but up, not out. And really all they want's another chance at life, because they've never seen so much food as this. ^note Underground there's half as much food as this!

Music

• The song "Spooky Scary Skeletons" by Andrew Gold and all its various remixes has the lines "We're so sorry skeletons/You're so misunderstood/You only want to socialize/But I don't think we should" and "Spooky Scary Skeletons/Are silly all the same" implying that these skeletons aren't actually malicious just....Spooky scary.
• Joe Iconis's "My Best Friend is a Skeleton" is about a human whose best friend is — you guessed it — a living skeleton. They spend their days cracking skeleton puns and almost never fight with one another.

Myths & Religion

• Native American Mythology: The Pakahk from the lore of the Néhiyaw Nation^note called the Cree by outsiders are the animate bones of people who died from starvation, or who were cursed as a result of some misdeed in life. They have a chilling cackle, but sometimes they will help people with healing or hunting.
• Nuestra Senora de la Santa Muerte (or Santa Muerte for short) is a Mexican folk saint that generally appears as a skeleton. She is associated with healing, protection, financial well-being, and assurance of a path to the afterlife. She is particularly believed to protect people who work late at night, like taxi drivers and bar owners, as well as a protector of the LGBT community. She's become so popular, that some devotees have begun forming churches dedicated entirely to her. As with many other aspects of Mexican culture, she has also gained a following in the US, having been brought by the Mexican Diaspora northward.
• Friendly skeletons pop up a lot in Halloween costumes and decorations.

Podcasts

• The Adventure Zone: Graduation introduces us to the Skeleton Crew, a trio of skeletons who essentially serve as sentient training dummies. They are cordial and helpful, and genuinely enjoy their job.

Tabletop Games

• Pathfinder: Catrinas are psychopomps with the appearence of skeletons garbed in gaudy clothes. They are known to be the nicest and most welcoming of psychopomps, and their duty is to appease the souls of the recently deceased, so that they can more easily accept their own deaths.

Video Games

• Card City Nights: The Freezing Ghost. A blue skeleton in a ship's captain costume that you can talk to and play card games with.
• Discworld II: the intro features a chorus of singing, dancing, friendly skeletons.
• Divinity: Original Sin II: An undead Player Character can choose heroic and compassionate plot options, just as any other PC, and can crack wise about their skeletal state. Several undead NPCs are also very friendly, such as Gratiana, a priestess in La Résistance who provides advice and healing to atone for a life of villainy.
• Dokuro a skeleton worker feels sorry for a princess kidnapped by the Dark Lord, after he sees her crying. So he resolves to escort the princess to safety.
• EXTRAPOWER: Giant Fist: Slumber is the dapper skeleton retainer of the devil Coma. Donned in tuxedo and top hat, he is normally friendly and polite towards Coma and her sister Aroma when appearing in Coma's route. Being allied with devils does mean friendliness is relative, though.
• Fran Bow gives us Itward, a dapper looking skeleton who shows up on occasion, usually helping the protagonist along the way.
• Gladius:
  • One has the chance to recruit an Undead Summoner and an Undead Legionnaire into their gladiator school. They tend to act like their living counterparts, but are cheaper to recruit — as in free.
  • The Undead Summoners and Undead Legionnaires encountered in the Official Games tend to follow the Rules of the Games — for instance, should a living gladiator fall unconscious during the fight, they will let the healers take the unconscious gladiator out of the arena.
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies: Unlike the other skeletons in the game, Mr. Ribs is an apprentice chef who doesn't try to attack Cooper at all.
• Grim Fandango features a few, including the main character Manny and particularly Mercedes.
• Skelly in Hades was hired by a Mysterious Employer to act as a training dummy for Zagreus. He prefers to keep his relationship professional and won't say much about himself and likes to mess with Zagreus sometimes, but he can be befriended and will appreciate your tokens of kindness. The others in the House of Hades who are aware of his presence don't seem to mind him as well.
• Insaniquarium has Vert, a friendly skeleton fish who is one of the unlockable pets. He produces coins for you, just like large guppies, but unlike guppies, he doesn't need you to feed him as he's undead.
• Inscryption: The skeletons found in Grimora's crypt are a more macabre take on this trope than usual, having a rather dark presentation, but ultimately they're non-hostile and only want to play cards against the player.
• King of Dragon Pass has an event involving Bundalini's All-Skeleton Band. Although undead are a ever-present threat for your people, these animate skeletons are harmless and fun.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: The Hero's Spirit looks a lot like the recurring skeletal Stalfos enemies, but he's nevertheless a benevolent mentor who teaches Link new sword techniques. Supplemental materials like the Hyrule Historia reveal that he is in fact the ghost of the Hero of Time, so it's no surprise that he would stay heroic even in undeath.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: The Stalhorses are skeletal horses that are often ridden by the more humanoid monsters but are not themselves hostile. Link can safely ride them, and it's even recommended to do so in Tears of the Kingdom to cross the wide pools of gloom in the Depths.
• Originally a cowardly knight, Sir Daniel Fortesque from MediEvil is resurrected by the evil wizard Zarok, giving him a chance to redeem himself. Despite his new undead form, he's a heroic, if a bit cowardly, knight, who goes above and beyond to vanquish evils from his kingdom.
• An April Fools update of Minecraft added the Friendly Wither, who would heal everyone and make plants grow (unlike its counterpart, who would destroy blocks and kill everyone in sight).
• In Moshi Monsters, the Creepy Crooners are a species of walking skeletons who are quite friendly despite playing scary music.
• Planescape: Torment: Morte is rather sarcastic but generally a nice guy for all that he's nothing but a floating skull. Most of the skeletons in the Dead Nations underneath the Hive are also pretty pleasant, including one who likes telling riddles. If your intelligence and wisdom are high enough, you can beat him at his own game.
• River City Girls: Skullmageddon is a talking skeleton shopkeeper.
• The titular character from Skully is a heroic skull. No surprise given the name.
• Being based on the Day of the Dead, Fiesta from Skylanders is a polite, friendly, mariachi band leader who happens to be a calavera-themed skeleton, willing to give trumpet lessons and autographs if asked. When he found out the respected Count Moneybone was intending to conquer Skylands, he and his band worked to distract the Count's army while the Skylanders stopped him. It was this act of heroism that led Master Eon to make him part of the Skylanders.
• Super Ninja Meow Cat: The secret area in each level contains a benevolent skeleton NPC who lets the protagonist have their treasure.
• The Dead Juju from Tak and the Power of Juju is a friendly skeleton who likes partying.
• The Skeleton Merchant from Terraria is relatively helpful to the player, however he will not hurt his own kind to help the player.
• Undertale has the skeleton brothers Sans and Papyrus, who are well liked in their Monster Town and can become friends with the human Player Character. Papyrus refuses to kill the human even when they're hostile to him, and the player even has the option to go on a date with him. Sans is friendly unless you go far enough down the Genocide route, in which case you’re gonna have a bad time, and often makes skeleton puns, much to his brother's annoyance.

Web Animation

• In Double King we see a skeleton queen who graciously invites the main character and every king he had killed to a feast and appears to be a good host. That is until Double King tries to steal her crown. She does eventually give in though, giving up her crown so that Double King would calm down.
• There're various Latin American Halloween songs for kids starred by skeletons on YouTube, some of them are known characters that have their own videos (like Los Piratas Esqueleto^note The Skeleton Pirates), and there're songs like "Chumbala Cachumbala" that have a lot of versions, also starred by friendly skeletons.

Webcomics

• Rusty and Co. features the skeleton boyfriend of the Princess. He was the White Knight, now he's the Night Wight, basically an armored skeleton. And he's the one who asked the titular group to rescue the Princess.
• In Tales to Behold, the Human Skeleton is, as his name suggests, a human skeleton. He is one of the heroes.
• In El Goonish Shive, Grace's decision to spare some skeleton NPCs turns them into allies.
• Boneheads is a Massively Multiplayer Crossover starring several friendly skeletons spending their time together in episodic shenanigans.

Web Originals

• Skeletons feature quite heavily in a lot of internet memes, most famously the Skeleton War meme from Tumblr 2014, which places them as the natural enemies of fuckboys (i.e. overly-promiscuous men who do not respect the women they pursue).
• Mahu: In "Frozen Flame" the bartender of the pub known as "The Crossing" is a friendly skeleton. It helps that the owner of the place happens to be a necromancer.
• Tropers: The Series: Downplayed. Bob is a living skeleton and one of the heroes, who later even becomes The Grim Reaper. Bob is kind of abrasive on the surface, having some very violent tendencies, but still remains on the side of good.

Western Animation

• In Ruby Gloom we have Skullboy (pictured), the main character's friend and Love Interest. Interestingly, his main character trait is that he's constantly trying to figure out where he came from and what his ancestry is.
  • There's also the Skeletunes, a jazz band comprised entirely of skeletons
• While maybe not entirely friendly, Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy has his moments.
• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes features a character named A Real Magic Skeleton who's a part of Those Two Guys and works at the frame store.
• In Over the Garden Wall it's revealed that all of the residents of Pottsfield are skeletons wearing vegetable costumes to celebrate the harvest. They're quite reasonable.
• The Skeleton Dance is possibly one of the earliest examples of this trope in pop culture, and it invented and popularized many tropes associated with skeletons in general, especially within animation.
• Skeletor from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983), while not exactly kind, is definitely hammy enough to qualify. This is especially true in the Christmas Special, where he becomes overwhelmed with Christmas Spirit, much to his confusion.
  • Played straighter in an episode in which a magic mirror creates morally-inverted duplicates of those reflecting on it. The mirror creates a Good Counterpart of Skeletor, who helps the heroes against the original one.
• A recurring character in Beetlejuice is Jacques, a skeleton with a French accent who wears a beret and is mildly obsessed with building his muscles... of which he of course has none.
• One Halloween Episode of Pocoyo features a group of dancing skeletons part of the Halloween Theatre organized by Pocoyo and Nina. To the (frightning) surprise of all, the skeletons aren't managed by any of the characters, but later they discovered the skeletons are part of a travelling theatre company and they made a show for Pocoyo and friends.'

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