The Only Nightmare On Elm Street Character To Don The Glove (Besides Freddy)

Freddy's glove is an iconic part of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, but who is the only other character in the series to wear it? When designing Freddy Krueger's look for A Nightmare On Elm Street, Wes Craven took a very psychological approach. Realizing that many of the slashers of that era had a recognizable weapon - such as Michael Myers butcher knife in Halloween - he knew Freddy needed one too. With that in mind, he decided that one of the first things that primitive humans would have been afraid of is the claw of a bear or another predator, so he created the razor-finger glove with that primal fear in mind.

In life, Freddy used this glove to kill his young victims, and when he became a dream slasher it was often used for the killing blow. It got a few redesigns too, with A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 - whose canon status is complicated - featuring a variation where the blades actually grow out of his hand. In New Nightmare, The Entity version of Freddy dons a glove that includes a razor on the thumb and was inspired by the more biomechanical look of Freddy's glove seen on A Nightmare On Elm Street's poster.

Related: Every Celebrity Cameo In Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

As the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise progressed, Freddy got a little more creative in his killing methods and used his glove less and less. Of course, it remained a key part of the character, but outside of Patricia Arquette's Kristen forcing Freddy to stab himself in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, there's only one other character in the franchise to actually wear Freddy's glove. Fittingly, that honor went to Katherine Krueger (Lisa Zane) in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, during their final showdown.

The final battle of Freddy's Dead - which introduced Freddy's most horrifying dream power - saw his very estranged Katherine knocking the razor-finger glove off his hand. She picks up and dons Freddy's glove, but despite her twisted father trying to get her to appreciate the glove's power and that she should let him teach her "how to use it," she instead stabs him with it. For a killing touch, she lights a pipe bomb, jams it in his chest and he explodes.

It's strange that none of the other A Nightmare On Elm Steet movies had considered giving Freddy's glove to another character, but as stated above, it is fitting Katherine should be the one to do so. It may have been even more thematic had Freddy Krueger's glove been the object to kill him, but the audience would have likely demanded a more explosive ending anyway, hence the pipebomb.

Next: Freddy's Other Forms In The Nightmare On Elm Street Franchise