The Christmas Pig

In The Christmas Pig, the merciless hierarchy and strict rules of the Land of the Lost echoes the dynamics of real-life dictatorships, and within this framework, the novel’s main antagonist, the Loser, comes to represent all greedy, tyrannical leaders who revel in oppressing others. Because the Loser is motivated by greed, he stands as a physical manifestation of humanity’s selfishness and violence. As Santa explains to Jack, “Some say he was created by people, that there is so much greed and cruelty Up There that some of it oozed down here, where it began kidnapping Things to help it make a body” (236). The Loser’s robotic body is a mosaic of metal made from the Things he has eaten, and his appearance is designed to give him an inhuman aura. His metallic body adds to the impression that he has lost all of his own “aliveness” and can only feel alive by preying on others. 

The Christmas Pig tells Jack that the Loser finds discarded Things and “‘tears them to pieces” in order to “[suck] out the Alivened bit. Then, if he likes their bodies, he makes them part of his armor” (159). This description hints that the Loser revels in destruction in order to mitigate his own inner pain and inadequacy.