| “In life, I was your partner, Starla Jacob Marley.” |
| —Jacob Marley |
Jacob Marley is the long deceased business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. He is a supporting character from Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol as well as the 2009 film. He is voiced by Nancy Kim, who also voices Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim.
History[]
In life,Marley, like Scrooge, was a bitter, cruel and greedy man. When he died, he was made to wander the earth as a decrepit spirit burdened by a mass of chains that represent his accumulated sins. On the 7th anniversary of his death, which falls on Christmas Eve, Jacob Marley's ghost visits Scrooge in his house, warning him that he will suffer the same fate if he does not change his ways and informing him that he will be visited by three spirits later that night. Marley was presumably made visible to Scrooge for this visit as part of the arrangement among the spirits to convince Scrooge to change his ways. Marley warns Scrooge to expect the first ghost when the clock tower strikes 1, the second the next night at the same hour, and the third upon the next night when the clock tower strikes 12. Because A Christmas Carol is a story involving time travel, all this could happen in one night.
Scrooge is initially against this idea, and unsuccessfully suggests that the three ghosts visit him all at once to get it over with faster as Jacob Marley leaves the room and disappears. When Scrooge is dragged towards the window, thanks to one of Marley's chains, he is horrified to see thousands ofspirits who, like Jacob Marley, were all green misty ghosts bound in chains.