What exactly is the other father?

So I just watched Coraline last night, hadn't seen it since 2009, but it's really terrific. I just have a couple questions: my biggest one is, what exactly is the other father? The other mother is clearly a Beldam, that's what the dead kids called her, although it seems to be not quite the same thing as the Beldam from folklore, but it has similarities. It seems that the other mother created most of the other world, like the other versions of Bobinsky, Wybie, and the burlesque actresses, but the other father seems like his own guy but also less powerful than her and also like he has to do what she says? Why? What exactly is he?