Puppets. His whole life, for as long as he could remember, Jiminy had been surrounded by puppets. He'd stolen for his parents while unsuspecting people were distracted by puppet shows. He and his family had later been supported by a puppet show of their own. He'd been his parents' puppet, for that matter. That was why he so hated puppets, when it came down to it. He knew what it was to be a puppet.
All he'd wanted was to leave that life and to get as far away from it as possible… Instead he'd turned innocents into puppets themselves.