ParaMollnan; The Characters

Judge Hopkins (Ghost)

"We thought we knew our way in life... But in death... I am lost..."
-Judge Hopkins's Ghost to Addison, explaining why he executed Agatha Pranderghast

Judge Nathaniel Bernard Hopkins; also called The Judge or Judge Hopkins simply- is a main antagonist in Laika's film Paranorman and a character in ParaMollnan He is known for being a zombie and crumbling off to being a ghost. His ghost is summoned by Addison Wilcott mainly for questions about the Pranderghast Massacre- as well as company because Addison is alone due to her parent's deaths.

Nathaniel Bernard Hopkins was born in Blithe Hollow, aka Salem Massachusetts, in 1642. Nobody knows much about his childhood except he became interested in the law as a teen, and immediately became a judge in his 30s. He had the job for up to 40 years - that includes the Witch Trials. Everyone claimed that Judge Hopkins was a man they trusted with anything.

The Salem Witch Trials had occurred when Hopkins was 50, and he was he one, along with other various pilgrims, accused a little girl named Agatha Pranderghast of Witchcraft It was with her death that Agatha had cursed the entire town - the pilgrims and the old judge when they died. Some said the pilgrims were dropping like flies due to the curse - and in 1711- when Hopkins was 69- he suffered the curse himself. He came down with an extreme illness, and he became bedridden for days. It was one chilly afternoon in 1712, when Hopkins had suffered long enough from the illness - and died. He was buried in the Blithe Hollow Hill Cemetery - the tombstone engraved with his full name and a skull with a justice weight design on top.

In 2012- 300 years after Hopkins's passing, Agatha's spirit became enraged and summoned the pilgrims from the ground as zombies. The judge eventually risen as a zombie, roaring when out of his grave. The Babcock family tries to drive away from him at all costs- and Norman Babcock has a vivid flashback of Aggie's accusation - learning that Hopkins was responsible for her death. The zombie claims that Norman needs to read a fairytale in order to put Agatha's angry spirit to rest- including themselves. The zombies had lived in regret because of what they had done and were lost in the afterlife because they did wrong.

After Agatha's ghost has passed on- the zombie pilgrims crumble to ghosts, and their spirits fade away into the afterlife. The last zombie to fade away is Judge Hopkins - his face looking at the Babcock family in sorrow and remorse as he passes on. He got to rest in peace for about 10 years before being summoned.

In order to honor the 7 victims of the Pranderghast Massacre (one of them being Hopkins), Addison Wilcott, Gale Temper and Will Bones drop pumpkins in the river to honor the dead, and Addison summons the spirit of Hopkins to tell them about the massacre. It's not long that the justice weight (acting as an ouija board) moves, and a translucent arm pulls itself from the ground-this arm belonging to Hopkins's ghost. At first, the ghost seems to be a bit disoriented because he is disturbed from his rest and doesn't remember where he was buried. Addison stands up, saying she was the one who summoned the ghost and asked if he could come to her treehouse since talking in the graveyard would be awkward. Trusting Addison, since her ancestor was one of the judges alongside himself, Hopkins's ghost pulls a transparent, boney hand into her palms. As she heads over to the treehouse- the ghost is unable to be seen.

After having threatening and terrifying nightmares about the car crash that killed her parents- Addison tries to breathe to calm herself down. She suddenly panics as her candle blows out, and the room begins to get colder, her breath escaping in tiny puffs. After changing into pajamas more fitting for the cold atmosphere, Addison sits on her bed, paralyzed as she hears the sound of old-fashioned buckled shoes climb up the ladder of her treehouse. A threatening shadow with yellow eyes then appears on her wall, later revealing itself to be Hopkins's ghost. Addison tells him to get the hell away from her and cries. In an attempt to comfort her, the ghost crouches on his wobbly knees and places a cold hand on her shoulder. The ghost of the judge then claims that he has been lost in the afterlife - because he accused Agatha of witchcraft and suffered Aggie's curse. After his spirit had passed on, it is claimed by his ghost that he was able to get into heaven- but the judge said that he had felt responsible for Agatha's death- and would rather suffer eternal damnation. Unfortunately for him, he stayed in heaven for 10 years until Addison had summoned his ghost. His spirit possesses the officially licensed Judge Hopkins Zombie animatronic, celebrating Paranorman's 10th anniversary.

The Ghost of Judge Hopkins looks just like his human counterpart - only his figure has a light blue hue instead of mint green- like in the movie. The ghostly judge has pale skin, icy blue eyes, a long crooked nose, and eye bags that are darkened on his small shrewd face. He wears a relavent 17th century Judge's attire, this being a red necktie, a white blouse with ruffles at the sleeves, and a brown cloak that collars above his neck He wears buckled old-fashioned leather shoes, long white stockings, and odd grey (used to be brown) pants with buttons at the sides. The judge has a long chin, small eyes, skinny knees (very hard to crouch down on, as described by Addison in the novel ver. that as the ghost crouched to put a hand on her shoulder, his skinny legs and knees started to wobble) and very thin, boney fingers (this happened before he died; just deal with it, Hopkins was a sickly man. The dude needs to eat or some shit). The ghostly judge also has long white hair, which curls at the ends. His hair ends to about his chin, and due to the judge being a ghost, he, like many other ghosts in the SHTM series, can feel the "winds of the Neitherworld"- aka a wind that only ghosts can feel. This can be seen as Hopkins's spirit passes on 10 years prior to the events of ParaMollNan- and as he continually roams the Earth as a ghost- it tugging at his cloak and his curly hair blowing softly in the wind.

In life, Hopkins was a stern court judge, willing to do anything to protect the people of Blithe Hollow - this included execution during the witch trials. He was rather bit aggressive in his work and was shown to be quite unempathetic and cold-hearted. But after death, him and the others who had accused Agatha live (or not live - more spend their afterlife) in regret because of it. After he and the other pilgrims had finally passed on, the ghostly judge believed he did not deserve forgiveness from Agatha (even though she said he did forgive him for killing her), and would like to suffer eternal damnation as a result. Unfortunately for him, the heavens did not allow it - that is until his ghost is summoned by Addison. Hopkins's personality as a ghost/zombie is a bit disoriented, but he is shown to be rather aggressive; especially as the zombie animatronic. In ghost form, this includes him sneering and raising his voice whenever anyone calls him "your honor," even though he is a judge. In life, he not the other accusers had shown any remorse for Agatha, but after death, Hopkins's ghost shows extreme grief and remorse for how small and young Agatha was when she died- calling himself "foolish" and "unaware". Unlike his cold-hearted personality when he was alive, his ghost is shown to be rather forgiving and kind towards the living- but he will be belligerent and hostile if needed. He is also rather stern, but otherwise very father-like, as Addison had described him as "being a second dad." He can also be helpful at times, examples being his arm telling the group where the zombie is, and his ghost comforting Addison during her timing of grief.

Fun Facts:

-Unlike ParaNorman, the execution of Agatha Pranderghast is historically accurate, being set in 1692 instead of 1712 (the trials ended in May of 1693). This shows Hopkins died 20 years after her execution.

-His middle name is Bernard- but that doesn't share a connection to his voice actor's name (Bernard Hill, who unfortunately passed away almost 2 years after Bluey pitched the idea of ParaMollNan- the date of his passing being May 5th, 2024).

-Hopkin's ghost's voice sounds similar to his voice as a zombie, only echoing - as all ghosts do.

-Despite being a judge, Hopkins despises whenever somebody addresses him after death as "your honor"- this excludes Addison and Molly because "they were trying."

-Hopkins had also executed Horace, as well as sent out witch hunters to track and kill Rebecca (Lost Her Way).