- Jossed. Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July reveals that Rudolph's shiny nose comes from the magic of Lady Boreal. No, really, that's the canon explanation.
- Not only is Rudolph a mutant, it runs in the family. Watch Donner carefully when he sees Rudolph's nose and says "Now how do you overlook that?". His antlers curl. He has prehensile antlers! But he learned to hide his "non-conformity" (except under moments of stress) to fit into reindeer society, so naturally he thinks doing so is best for Rudolph too.
Hermey differs substantially from the other elves; he has larger eyes, more hair, and, most notably, rounded ears like those of a human. Normal elves may have an inborn desire to make toys (it's a desire that can be either genetic or passed on by magic), but Hermey has no such inborn desire, choosing instead an alternative occupation like dentistry. (He also seems to have no interest in other elf activities like wiggling his ears, singing in a choir, etc.) This could be due primarily to his human heritage.
How did Hermey come to live among the elves? Perhaps he was an orphan who was accidentally taken by Santa (like in the movie Elf). Or maybe he was left on the Claus' doorstep. The special doesn't seem to have much interest in his origin story, but a human origin would explain a lot of Hermey's differences.
A version of Santa as grumpy and flawed as this one could conceivably have an extramarital affair, and being half-human would explain all of Hermey's human-like qualities described above.
We all know that Hermey doesn't like to make toys. We also know that he tries to add things to the toys to try to fit in; the Chewing doll he makes being an example. It's not established how long Hermey has hated his job as an elf making toys but if it's years then making a train with square wheels on the caboose due to laziness, making a cowboy riding an ostrich for the lulz, or making a squirt gun that shoots jelly to make it look more like blood adding realism to the toy makes a lot of sense. Something tells me that Chewing Doll Hermey was making will be in the Island of Misfit toys along with some other oddball toys and a few previous inhabitants making a return.
Unfortunately for her sake, she is an anatomically correct male. This happened as a result of bored assembly line workers deciding to make a doll like this as a joke and see if it got past the product inspector at the toy factory. It did, and as a result ended up a Christmas present for a little girl named Sue that upon receiving it asked "Mommy, why does my dolly have three legs?" After checking under the skirt and seeing that the doll was packing, it was taken away from the girl by mom and dad. After dealing with customer service of the toy company and getting a more conventional doll, the doll with a little extra was thrown away, which lead to the Ruler of the Island of Misfit Toys to pick it up and bring it to the island.
- Or maybe the doll was just rejected for being seen as a "cliched" toy. Dolls are rather common toys and there are probably some girls who see dolls as overrated.
- Or she was given to a girl who was a tomboy and didn't like dolls, possibly in an attempt to convince the girl to "act like one". The girl resented this and treated the doll badly for this reason.
- It's also been said she was there because she was "depressed" at never having been loved, whereas dolls are supposed to be perpetually happy. This, of course, pushes her into Tear Jerker territory, depending on who you talk to.
- I can't believe no one thought of this.
- That would certainly explain Santa's not-very-loving and un-Santa-like reaction to Rudolph's nose.
- Jossed, the sequel reveals that Tooth Fairy is a separate character, and Hermey actually wants to go on date with her.