Yeah, same. It’s absolutely devastating to me, especially since the Beast was very deliberately using that fear against him in order to prevent him from discovering the truth.
@@sunnrock8585 it really hits as somebody stationed in Japan during a pandemic. I never wanted to come home to my empty house. Now I love it though! Lol
Imagine how much darker the story would be if the daughter had turned into an edelwood tree and the woodsman found out he had burned her alive as fuel for the lantern.
@@bobbywog Why is it qualified a kids show? If the only reason is because it's animated I don't really agree. I see it more as an all age and actually not for the very young children show
The Woodsman's daughter being home all along, to me, was supposed to mean that while he was looking for his daughter who was lost in woods. He actually was the one lost wandering in the woods, and when he finally came home his daughter had been there all along.
@@aethermeow it's probably really sad how many lost children he killed for the beast while his daughter was alright all along, id imagine he's gonna be haunted by that until he dies
@@cossaizy6309 Well I wouldn't be as harsh as to call it murdering them cuz it was the beast who turned them into trees but I guess they still had their souls in the trees maybe? If so, I would consider it mercy killing to chop down the trees that consisted of trapped souls cuz by the looks of the faces on the trees, it doesn't look like a good experience to have your soul trapped in a tree. But yeah he's probably gonna be haunted by it either way which is pretty sad :( Edit: Actually I think the beast didn't turn anyone into trees. It was actually the roots that grew over people who are left on the ground for too long and they turn into trees.
@@Chan-md2hb the beast is the who tricks them and makes them sit down for so long for the roots to grow over them, so it wouldn't be far to think that he is the one who, either controls the roots, or he Is the one who put the curse there in the first place
I think the unknown is actually death and that the woodsman purpose is to be reunited with his daughter before he moved on and like you said he was lost in the woods trying to find his purpose and once he was reunited with his daughter he can finally move on and die a peaceful death in exceptance and peace
@@gabrielbrantner I think he warned them because the Beast was always teasing the Woodsman that "he looked tired and it would be good to let him carry the lamp for a while." The Woodsman probably thought this would cause some damage to the lamp and therefore felt he was not trustworthy. In addition to the villagers knowing the Beast, I would like to know if he also tried to manipulate them and if so for what purpose.
Because the beast is double tricking him, he’s lulling him into a false sense of security by making it look like his goal is just to take the lantern, and the woodsman is “beating his tricks” while he’s actually doing exactly what he wants.
@@AintItJay187 his advice comes after his experience with the beast. He can't take his own advice if he's already made the mistake before he even thought of the advice.
I love the Woodsman.The fact he decided to throw hands with the Beast the minute he found out about the Edelwood trees and the line "I DIDN'T KNOW!" always breaks me. He was a good man, trying to save his daughter. He deserved his happy ending.
Okay the thing is; When Wirt corrects the tavern people about the lantern and that the Woodsman had it and was was a good guy, the tavern people stated that the beast could only have the lantern. If he stopped by the tavern for any reason, the people there would probably assume that he was the beast because of the lantern and would not help or trust him. Also, I think the comics went into detail that he was exiled from his original town by criminals and forced to live in the middle of the forest, which could play a part in his introversion as well.
It's not mutually exclusive though. It's just that the tavern people only knew of the beast from stories. Somehow along the way, the Beast understood that it was much easier to have someone else chop trees whilst he turns people into trees. The Beast learned how to delegate
@@Anon-qp3kt Yes, but wouldn't you think that they would recognize the lantern, or be weary of it if they ever saw him? The tavern people aren't really reasonable, and seem like they would come to the conclusion pretty quickly that the Woodsman is untrustworthy. There's literally a whole musical number about the dark lantern, what it does, and how you shouldn't trust anybody with it.
I always assumed that her soul WAS trapped in the lantern and that when the woodsman chose to extinguish the lantern her soul was released and traveled back home. Even though that's probably not the intended interpretation I like it because it means that while the woodsman THOUGHT he was saving his daughter he was actually keeping her trapped all along.
Even though this is a great point of view that I really enjoy I personally always believed in other theory regarding the ending of the woodsman. We all know the unknown is some sort of purgatory, a limbo between life and death so, what I believe is that his daughter was indeed dead, while he was trapped in this limbo by his own guilt. Once he let go of the lantern his soul was able to finally rest and that's when he was able to reunite with his daughter
*BOOK SPOILER* In the OTGW art book, Nick Cross (art director) says that they thought of the Adel wood tree near the tavern was actually the people in the tavern themselves. That the tavern itself is the representation and embodiment of the lantern. Thus the name of the episode, “Song of the Dark Lantern “. I’d love to hear what other people think about this being revealed.
I think about this at least once a day, because it makes no sense. Like, how can their souls be in the lantern when they're still the tree? If the tree hasn't been fed to the lantern then their souls can't already be in there. And why is the tavern even there? Did the Beast place it there to use the people to turn wirt against the woodsman? Does the Beast control the people in the tavern, if he apparently has their souls? If their souls are in the lantern, why haven't they burned? How are they still capable of interacting with the living and attacking blue birds? Also, is that dog dead? What's even the difference between dead people and living ones here? I honestly hate that they said that, as I feel it's entirely inconsistent with the show, and just feels like a random addition they came up with after the show was over.
i personally believe its also a metaphor for accepting loss. when he finally accepted that his daughter was gone for good, that his lantern was the beasts soul, trying to get him to waste his life tending to it, that acceptance allowed him to return to her. i take it as also an acceptance of his own potential death as i interpret everyone in the unknown as dead or on the verge of dying (wirt and greg obv)
Hmm I always interpreted the huntsmans daughter coming out of the building as them meeting in the after life. This goes along with the whole purgatory theory (which I love, and think makes the story stronger as a whole). So while still a happy ending, it’s not as much of a contrived out of no where ending.
BaeCat According to the official comics (which I wholeheartedly recommend) it's shown how Anna (that's the daughter's name) ran into the woods alone one night, encountered the Beast and escaped successfully, but when she arrived home, her father was already gone searching for her. I think the purgatory theory is very interesting but never really believed that the Unknown must be afterlife. I prefer to see it as a strange and fantastic tale that blends life with death and reality with imagination and has no real answers to what's happening. But I like everyone's interpretations, I think a mix of all of them is closest to the truth.
I'm a big fan of the "good person is tricked by evil creature" trope because it can make for an amazing scene when the good person finds out there being tricked
Though it was only briefly alluded to it at the end of the video, this video helped me realize how the Woodsman is meant to be a parallel and metaphorical warning to Wirt’s character arc. The Woodsman’s literal isolation reflecting Wirt’s social isolation and the Woodman’s fabricated burden reflecting Wirt being burdened by his own anxieties telling him that no would want to interact with him (exemplified in how Jason Funderberker is built up to the audience to expect him to be this macho jock character, when he’s actually just another awkward tween like Wirt). Really makes me appreciate the work all the more.
I honestly think its more dark the way it is, tricking a father into thinking his daughter is lost and then separating the 2 convincing one that they need to do a task to keep them alive because not only did he lie, but he got the woodsman to actively abandon the person he loved the most making the woodsman's daughter think that he just abandoned her one day out of no where. Given how the daughter was the one to open the door and greet him and how she reacted to seeing him, its also safe to say that the mother is out of the picture, making it all the more sad
I think you'd enjoy some of the OtGW comics. There's a whole arc covering the daughter's, Anna's, story regarding why The Woodsman thought he lost her and what she was doing all that time. Without giving any spoilers, it enriches the latter's fatherly nature and makes that period of separation all the more tragic for the both of them.
I actually think it’s far more tragic that she was safe, it means he’s been committing atrocities-whether he knew it or not-to keep the lantern alight for absolutely *no* reason.
I strangely liked the crushing shock and despair that came with knowing the daughter was safe at home. The horror was all the time and worry wasted, never to be regained, and all the people adlewood burned for no reason.
I always prefered the living daugter ending, as it also works very well with the Beast being a represetation of depression and suiside. The Beast is self serving, lying, and abusive to those it finds, and promices a way out by, and I quote, "Submit to the soils of the earth." Yet at the end, the Beast is shown to be little more than a lying voice, with no actual power over you should you reject it. The Beast will do anything to try to keep you under it's heel. but if you push pass it, if you accept the struggles of life instead of surrendering to the beast...you might find that the beast was only hiding the good things in life from your gaze.
i think there’s a really interesting line that the tavern lady says something along the lines of “ who ever bears the lantern is the beast” kinda has double meaning in a way like the beast could hold and keep his own lantern but theoretically there could have been past lantern keepers who may have know the origin of the adlewood trees and simply not cared because of whatever the beast told them was inside of it was too important to them and the burning of lost souls is what truly makes you beastly idk does that make sense?
The beast is the keeper of the lantern. That's why he always goes back to the woodsman. What the tavern people didn't know is that the beast learned to delegate. The keeper chops the trees whilst the beast turn the lost souls into trees
It never occurred to me that the woodsman's daughter was just lost and yet still physically well overall. I was under the assumption that the daughter had been put in some kind of catatonic or death-like state by the beast, who then used the condition as part of their ruse, convincing the woodsman that the state was caused by the lack of a soul which now resided in the lantern. When the daughter appeared from within the cabin, I assumed they'd been there all along, lying motionless in bed until the beast had been destroyed and its tricks undone. That said, I've no real support for this perspective over yours, and I may actually favor yours since it arguably works off of fewer assumptions and avoids giving unnecessary abilities to the beast beyond the trees and the lantern (though the dream sequence may be an indication of similar powers, assuming it wasn't just Greg's delirium). I was wondering if you had any source for this interpretation of the Woodsman's resolution other than the show itself, such as the comics or some creator commentary, or, if not, where within the show you found your evidence.
I assumed it was a catatonic state as well, and the final scene of her coming out onto the porch is her having woken up. Having rewatched the series, I realize the Beast clearly described the house as "empty".
Yeah, I never even considered that she had been home all alone. I thought I was dumb, but considering how many other people seem to be confused about that maybe it just wasn't communicated that well. I thought that somehow the lantern burning was _keeping_ her in some sort of limbo, and that by blowing it out the woodsman allowed her to come back. What Elk said makes MUCH more sense if you go by Occam's razor at least.
Over the garden wall filled me up with so much nostalgia even though it was a completely new airing when it came out. It reminded me a lot of the themes of fall. The color pallet, school, the spooky stories that played out, community festivals celebrating fall, particularly the apple and blossom festival, the various types of horror, the encroaching death of winter, all wrapping up with going home to be safe and sound in your blanket. Heck, even though their home town is actually a lot barer than my hometown, which is filled beyond it's borders with a comparatively heavy forestland, reminds me of my home. It really makes me feel warm and comfy inside just thinking about those old fall feelings.
I love how at the start the woodsman tries to tell wirt and greg about the beast and starts mumbling and trailing off. It's as if there's some story or song he's trying to remember to describe the beast, but he's long forgotten. My headcannon is that he heard the song long ago but forgot the second verse of it so that's why he doesn't know about the edelwood trees being the beasts victims.
I never really thought of the Woodsman's daughter being home as that happy honestly. It came off as bitter sweet to me for the reason's you stated. That, and if you go along with the theory that everyone is the Unknown is dead and that the Unknown is some sort of form of Purgatory then it's outright tragic. I took their meeting at the end to mean him crossing over and finally being at peace. A cleansing of sorts. It was only when he was willing to let go of the Beasts lies and accept the truth that his daughter might me dead that he was able to find his daughter and be with her again. And honestly if you really look at the scene there it's hard for me to buy that she isn't dead. There are no lights in the cabin save for her candle and it's snowing. If she were alive wouldn't there be a fire going or something? Or a light outside to guide her missing father home? Also she's in the exact same outfit that she disappeared in. I think that she did most likely perish in the woods but her spirit had unfinished business. She needed to speak to her father to tell him it was okay and not to worry about her. But the Beast found him first and lead her father away so she was forced to remain in the Unknown and wait for his return. So in the end the Beast sort of did have her soul hostage. As long as her father was away she likely couldn't move on. Perhaps the Beast even knew this fact and did this intentionally to make her suffer because she wasn't willing to give into despair and turn into a tree.
I always thought that, yes, the woodsman's daughter *was* trapped in the lantern, but when the lantern got blown out, she was set free again; I can see this happening because while he thought he was protecting her, the woodsman was really the one keeping her trapped out of misguided fear, and to me, that's an even more insidious trick by the Beast.
I have a sadder reading of that ending. the woodsman dies along with the beast. the scene we see in the cabin would be a way of showing that in the afterlife he and his daughter are reunited and the daughter understands that her father can finally rest in peace.
I am glad you finally tackle this story. there are already many theories surrounding Over the Garden Wall. My personal favourite is that the Unknown is a Limbo like state between Life and death. This is why I interpreted the Woodsman's ending in a sightly different way. Wirt and Greg helped him to move on. His delusions kept him in the Unknown and only when he let go of them he was able to reunite with his lost daughter. My first association was that this was a depiction of the afterlife. I would still consider it a happy ending, but a bittersweet one.
I think they're mostly a red herring (black turtles being red herrings makes me laugh) thematically. They seem to be related to lost souls permeating the Unknown (black n oily and made the doggo go beast mode and all), although some people like Auntie Whispers are capable of consuming them without any apparent ill side effects. Otherwise they just seem to inhabit the Unknown like anything else and do their thing. I've never managed to find a satisfying interpretation of what they're all about, nor have I seen one around.
I was always under the impression that the woodsman's daughter had died years prior and the woodsman was trapped in purgatory by his guilt and the beast's trickery until he finally gives it up and is able to pass into the afterlife, where his daughter was waiting for him.
I recently watched Over The Garden Wall and LOVED it. I liked the story and the style. It wrapped up nicely and I can see myself watching it again and again.
3:22 I always thought that the forest was a place where those who were about to die went, and that the woodsman was going to have a heart attack or frostbite or something seeing as Wurt and Greg were going to drown when they were pulled out of it, it seems more like forest is a dream and losing to the beast is your real body dying
It is important that she was alive the entire time. Our MC's return to the real world and wonder if the entire experience was real, so it is fitting for the woodsman to return home and realize all his fear was in his imagination and not real. It fits the final theme of the show; was it all ever real?
I've always seen it as Both the Woodsman and his daughter being dead. His meeting his daughter isn't so much literally 'going home' as it is him finally passing through limbo, and finding that his daughter had been waiting for him on the other side the whole time.
i like the idea that the thing you've been searching for (and in the woodsman's case, preserving) can be right where you came from if you break away from evil and go home
I really like the effect of having the circles with small bits of the show in them. They remind me of old childrens books I used to read as a kid and they give it a feeling of darkness and whimsy
this video was such a pleasant surprise! thanks so much for posting. im definitely going to have to rewatch this series, ive seen it a bunch of times before but its still so good. happy halloween!
An Elk video about Over the Garden Wall on Halloween? It's a miracle! I can't wait to hear what you have to say about the series! By the way, I always thought part of the reason the Woodsman never went back home was because of his guilt; he couldn't bare to return without his daughter. The Beast even asks him, "Are you ready to go back to that empty house?"
I am (or i was) a very isolated person. I tried to solve my problems on my own, didn't understand why i should talk to people, ask help from them. But looking at woodsman, i again understand the point. Sometimes other's help seems useless like it wouldn't change anything but it's about perspective. They can see something you can't or know something u don't or even remind you something important unintentionally. I come to understand that people need people. Sometimes.
Just found your video. I've watched OTGW every year, in my case, every Nov 2nd, beacause here we have the Day of the Dead, el Día de Muertos. And I will always like every good video about such a great piece of art!
Your comment about Greg and Wirt's ability to make sense of the unknown made me realize something... I think another layered message of the show is the ability of children to view things in a way adults normally wouldn't. All the adults we see in the show are very set in their ways and don't stop to make sense of what they're experiencing. Miss Langtree doesn't question how the gorilla started showing up after Jimmy left. She didn't think of ways to save the school either. The people at the tavern stick to their respective roles and even try to put Wirt into a box. The woodsman and the lantern. Even, to an extent, Lorna doing her chores and sorting bones. It seems like the only people who don't just shrug and accept their fate are the people from Pottsfield, and they're already dead. Everyone else in the unknown who seems to hover in between life and death has essentially agreed to a slow march to their ultimate end.
Wiki says "Back in the Unknown, the Woodsman is sitting on his porch in melancholy when his daughter comes out of his home, having come back to life along with the other lost souls." Don't know if that's the canon but it seems possible as either she was turned into a tree and he never turned her into "oil" or he did and was feed to the beast which explains how the beast knew so much about the woodsman-it consumed her soul and she became a part of him. When he died, the souls returned to their origins. I prefer this as it represents his unwillingness to let her go and only when he truly accepts that can he truly move forward (we all make our own personal hells and the only way leave is to imagine a door).
@@soop1641 That's the beauty of it. Things didn't return to normal. The lives of the residents are forever changed due to influence of the kids as will the kids be forever changed due to what happened to them. You see this when the kids wake up in the hospital and the frog bell glows and when the doll maker crafts dolls of the boys after they left Over the Garden Wall. It applies to the woodsman as well. They boys made him see the truth and asked him to make a true choice. His choice changed the outcome of his story, of his ending- to reunite with his daughter or return to the unknown (believe the beast's lies).
I think the Woodsman's dilemma works so well because it's similar to Wirt's. Whereas the Woodsman is blinded by his grief, Wirt similarly is too blinded by his insecurities to tell that Sara returns his feelings or that he's well-liked by his peers. Wirt runs from his problems and wanders through the woods with his brother until he learns to stand up for himself and confront his fear of failing his brother. Only then does he realize The Beast's deal is stupid and is able to return back to his home. Similarly, the Woodsman must also confront the truth to reunite with his daughter.
Always love your videos and your choice of language. Full of class and wisdom, thank you. Loved the ending of your theory as well. I know it's not Halloween time, but you should consider making more videos about OTG when you can. I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this thought provoking show.
It just occurs to me after five whole years that the woodsman sends the boys in the direction of pottsfield because he must’ve never actually been to the village but rather he saw from the woods that there was a town there
i enjoyed this analysis very much! i especially like how you ended it by showing the parallel between the woodsman's dilemma and wirt's original dilemma (he liked a girl). they were both their own enemies. btw if you haven't already, you should read the OTGW comics. it sheds light on the woodsman and his family, telling their backstory and also the story of his daughter waiting for her father's return. makes you understand why the woodsman's dilemma was resolved the way it was.
Here is my idea of it; The unknown is probably some sort of limbo. So the woodsmans daughter actually died and only when the woodsman was able to let go of the lantern he could be released from the limbo as well. So when they reunited they actually passed on to potentially heaven. Same with beatrice. She could only pass along together with her family as soon as she had let go of the guilt of throwing a rock at that bird. This wasn’t fully my idea. I was very inspired by the comments and their ideas. Thanks for reading, I just wanted to get it all out before I forgot.
Another point to add. He could’ve gone home or to the inn but the lantern would most likely have run out of oil by the time he’d get there or nobody would want to talk to him which I’m sure the beast would’ve pointed out. The fear of the unknown coming up yet again. Do you risk the light of your only daughter’s soul extinguishing forever to run home and check to see if she might be there, do you go to the inn where people run in fear from you? Or do you keep her light glowing? He was so busy always collecting wood to turn into oil that to take the time to do any number of the other things mentioned in this video that would’ve provided him with more context on his situation would’ve taken too much time.
did you know the latin sung during the scene where Wirt finds Greg mid tree transformation is a translation of potatoes and molasses? Also solid analysis, great video. Hope to see more about OTGW
I always thought that the woodman never come back home and neither his daughter, they just simply move on to another place (heaven) , the daughter went first, waiting for the woodman to eventually come there
Wow! I never realized the Tavern Keeper literally tells Wirt that it’s the Beast’s lantern in the song until this video. I’ve heard the song so many times, but never connected it!
I have always loved the ending of the Woodsman's story. he spent all this time in the woods, in this self inflicted torture. he was ready to go home, even if it meant giving up on the search for his daughter. to add to this, if you've read the comics, (spoilers!) his daughter is home, also isolated and growing mad in the search for her father. she never left home. she trusted that her father would return, even as the days began molding together.
Great exploration of that theme! I never thought of it that way. Still, even without it I'd be fine with the happy ending, it's deserved in my opinion.
I love this show, I think this video could have explained that their actions made more sense in the manga, but the story makes less sense (the beast? has some sort of curse over the house, and his daughter can see into the woods, but might get lost forever if she leaves the house; it's kind of weird).
I always though that the Woodsman died, and was reunited with his daughter. And the Edlewood tree that we see, with oil coming out of it's mouth, was his daughter. it's more concerning when I tell you that I was around 9 years old when I discovered this, and this was my fist thought when I saw the father and daughter reunite.
Its interesting that when the Woodsman shines the lantern on the Beast, it shows the Beast made of edelwood trees. It sort of symbolizes how the Woodsman could have cut the Beast down at any time.
Seeing how the Unknown is an allegory for death or at least purgatory, then i think the Woodsman is an allegory for depression. His daughter got lost in the unknown and he became closed off, isolated and submerged himself in his work, clearly unhappy, but believing there's no other way. In real life this could mean that his daughter is in a coma or maybe just hospitalized for some other reason and he becomes depressed, probably spending long hours at work just to pay off her medical bill
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, how fitting is it then that the arch fiend of the unknown and the nemesis of the woods men is called the beast. One of the devils many names.
Great video, as always! But I always had a different take on the whole Beast/Woodsman's Daughter storyline. Since I've watched for the first time a year or two ago, I've thought that the Beast and the woodsman's daughter were one and the same. Here's my theory. In Episode 1, Wirt and Greg are attacked by a shadowy creature with glowing eyes, roughly shaped like a dog. It ends up not being the Beast, but a dog (Beatrice's dog) who ate a black turtle. this sets up that eating a black turtle turns you into a malevolent, shadow monster with glowing eyes. In Episode 4, we meet the Beast. A shadowy, humanoid figure with glowing eyes. The figure tells the woodsman that the woodsman's daughter's soul is being kept in the flame of the lantern. In Episode 10, when the Beast's flame is put out, the Beast disappears - and suddenly, at the Woodsman's home, the woodsman's daughter appears for the first time since the Beast has been around. My theory: The black turtles possessed the Woodsman's daughter, turning her into an evil, shadowy monster. The lantern IS carrying the Beast's soul, but by extension is entrapping the Woodsman's daughter's soul. Everything else in the show seems to support this theory; I haven't found anything that proves it wrong. Except for the comic that Pat McHale wrote. That completely destroys my theory :(
"Do you really want to go back to that empty house?" Always gets to me
Yeah, same. It’s absolutely devastating to me, especially since the Beast was very deliberately using that fear against him in order to prevent him from discovering the truth.
ooh, 666 likes!
@@sunnrock8585 it really hits as somebody stationed in Japan during a pandemic. I never wanted to come home to my empty house. Now I love it though! Lol
Imagine how much darker the story would be if the daughter had turned into an edelwood tree and the woodsman found out he had burned her alive as fuel for the lantern.
I'm going to pretend that's what's actually happened...
that would be shocking and horrifaying. but why it would have more value with such factors? here it has deeper moral.
@@TheColorfulPuppehKat Wouldnt really call it a kids show though
@@minecraftpro110 it is, but there's nothing wrong with that.
@@bobbywog Why is it qualified a kids show? If the only reason is because it's animated I don't really agree. I see it more as an all age and actually not for the very young children show
The Woodsman's daughter being home all along, to me, was supposed to mean that while he was looking for his daughter who was lost in woods. He actually was the one lost wandering in the woods, and when he finally came home his daughter had been there all along.
yes someone with the same thoughts! I loved how ironic his character is.
@@aethermeow it's probably really sad how many lost children he killed for the beast while his daughter was alright all along, id imagine he's gonna be haunted by that until he dies
@@cossaizy6309 Well I wouldn't be as harsh as to call it murdering them cuz it was the beast who turned them into trees but I guess they still had their souls in the trees maybe? If so, I would consider it mercy killing to chop down the trees that consisted of trapped souls cuz by the looks of the faces on the trees, it doesn't look like a good experience to have your soul trapped in a tree. But yeah he's probably gonna be haunted by it either way which is pretty sad :( Edit: Actually I think the beast didn't turn anyone into trees. It was actually the roots that grew over people who are left on the ground for too long and they turn into trees.
@@Chan-md2hb the beast is the who tricks them and makes them sit down for so long for the roots to grow over them, so it wouldn't be far to think that he is the one who, either controls the roots, or he Is the one who put the curse there in the first place
I think the unknown is actually death and that the woodsman purpose is to be reunited with his daughter before he moved on and like you said he was lost in the woods trying to find his purpose and once he was reunited with his daughter he can finally move on and die a peaceful death in exceptance and peace
That “I didn’t know!” From the woodsman is one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve seen in a show
God yes. It pains me to watch that scene every time I return to that episode...
One more person needs to like this comment it’s at 68 likes
Shrek Wazowski that’s a beautiful pfp
Jellyplish 321 thank you lol
Jellyplish 321 wait I just got multiple comments from you on different vids lol
The woodsman always tells Wirt and Greg not to fall for beasts tricks, when the whole reason he is there is because he listened to the beast
Maybe this is the reason why he warned them,,, not to be tricked by beast like him
Weird huh… him getting tricked by the beast and tell them they shouldn’t be. VERY strange phenomena
@@gabrielbrantner I think he warned them because the Beast was always teasing the Woodsman that "he looked tired and it would be good to let him carry the lamp for a while." The Woodsman probably thought this would cause some damage to the lamp and therefore felt he was not trustworthy. In addition to the villagers knowing the Beast, I would like to know if he also tried to manipulate them and if so for what purpose.
Because the beast is double tricking him, he’s lulling him into a false sense of security by making it look like his goal is just to take the lantern, and the woodsman is “beating his tricks” while he’s actually doing exactly what he wants.
The Beast was an amazing antagonist.
Skoll Shorties Agreed
He never actually even did anything, he just intimidated people
Yup, he always had such a creepy and mysterious vibe around him
For the Horde by the way
yeah he just gave you the big spook
@@johnnydracaena6052 Who _CARES?_ Did you _SEE_ that thing???
The woodsman's dilemma:
1. Go to town and talk with at least one person, and find out the beast tricking him
2. Don't do that
The people at the tavern seemed to believe the Woodsman was the Beast since he was in the possession of the lantern.
“Beware the unknown! Fear the Beast! And leave these woods.... if you can” - Woodsman
If only he had listened to his own advice...
AintItJay187 That's deep, but true.
@@AintItJay187 his advice comes after his experience with the beast. He can't take his own advice if he's already made the mistake before he even thought of the advice.
I love the Woodsman.The fact he decided to throw hands with the Beast the minute he found out about the Edelwood trees and the line "I DIDN'T KNOW!" always breaks me. He was a good man, trying to save his daughter. He deserved his happy ending.
Okay the thing is;
When Wirt corrects the tavern people about the lantern and that the Woodsman had it and was was a good guy, the tavern people stated that the beast could only have the lantern. If he stopped by the tavern for any reason, the people there would probably assume that he was the beast because of the lantern and would not help or trust him.
Also, I think the comics went into detail that he was exiled from his original town by criminals and forced to live in the middle of the forest, which could play a part in his introversion as well.
do you remember the names of the comics?
@@angelzapata4121 I think it’s #4 of the first issue.
It's not mutually exclusive though. It's just that the tavern people only knew of the beast from stories. Somehow along the way, the Beast understood that it was much easier to have someone else chop trees whilst he turns people into trees.
The Beast learned how to delegate
@@Anon-qp3kt
Yes, but wouldn't you think that they would recognize the lantern, or be weary of it if they ever saw him? The tavern people aren't really reasonable, and seem like they would come to the conclusion pretty quickly that the Woodsman is untrustworthy. There's literally a whole musical number about the dark lantern, what it does, and how you shouldn't trust anybody with it.
I've watched Over the Garden Wall more times than any other movie. It is my favorite thing to watch. Not favorite cartoon, favorite thing to watch.
DeadAccount same :) it’s literally perfect
@@worrywirt "it's a literary masterpiece with extravagant artwork and elegant music almost as deliteful as my tea" - Quincy Endicott
I've almost watched it as many times as back to the future.
What's your favorite cartoon?
It’s not a movie it’s a miniseries
I always assumed that her soul WAS trapped in the lantern and that when the woodsman chose to extinguish the lantern her soul was released and traveled back home. Even though that's probably not the intended interpretation I like it because it means that while the woodsman THOUGHT he was saving his daughter he was actually keeping her trapped all along.
thats what i thought when i first watched the show
Me too, I also lowkey think that it would have been better than his actual ending
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought this as well lol.
Even though this is a great point of view that I really enjoy I personally always believed in other theory regarding the ending of the woodsman.
We all know the unknown is some sort of purgatory, a limbo between life and death so, what I believe is that his daughter was indeed dead, while he was trapped in this limbo by his own guilt. Once he let go of the lantern his soul was able to finally rest and that's when he was able to reunite with his daughter
but...the comics...
That's what I love about Over the Garden wall. It's so open to interpretation.
Isabela Bezerra ua-cam.com/video/MBg8tQvATIA/v-deo.html watch this, it's a very interesting video.
Except then he’d reunite with his wife, who died in the woods (which you learn from reading the comics).
But the comics literally say that she didn’t die and went home and the woodsman wasn’t there so she waited
*BOOK SPOILER*
In the OTGW art book, Nick Cross (art director) says that they thought of the Adel wood tree near the tavern was actually the people in the tavern themselves. That the tavern itself is the representation and embodiment of the lantern. Thus the name of the episode, “Song of the Dark Lantern “. I’d love to hear what other people think about this being revealed.
Dang
That means that even *The Highwayman* is nothing but a spectre... Oh, Lord
ooo where can i get this book? :o
I think about this at least once a day, because it makes no sense. Like, how can their souls be in the lantern when they're still the tree? If the tree hasn't been fed to the lantern then their souls can't already be in there. And why is the tavern even there? Did the Beast place it there to use the people to turn wirt against the woodsman? Does the Beast control the people in the tavern, if he apparently has their souls? If their souls are in the lantern, why haven't they burned? How are they still capable of interacting with the living and attacking blue birds? Also, is that dog dead? What's even the difference between dead people and living ones here?
I honestly hate that they said that, as I feel it's entirely inconsistent with the show, and just feels like a random addition they came up with after the show was over.
@@lordhighyoshi7292 It's just something they tacked on. The show itself is better left as it is
i personally believe its also a metaphor for accepting loss. when he finally accepted that his daughter was gone for good, that his lantern was the beasts soul, trying to get him to waste his life tending to it, that acceptance allowed him to return to her. i take it as also an acceptance of his own potential death as i interpret everyone in the unknown as dead or on the verge of dying (wirt and greg obv)
You should all read the comics. Anna's story is very interesting and really adds depth to the story.
Sapphire gem comics????
Walter Streete i second that statement!
animelover3083 you guys live Under a rock
Is that a rock fact?
Absolutely!
Sometimes happy endings that are super cheesy are the best
Jose Coronax If we'd only take it.
Sometimes...
HE'LL TURN YOU, INTO A *T R E E O F O I L*
And Use you in his lantern for to BUURRRRRRRRNNN(Blows)
I always thought the death of the Beast resulted in his daughter coming back.
Temporary PetruciosXD Replacement :\ i guess maybe, but why? what sort of connection they both share?
Same
Kinda yeh, I guess its all up to perception
in the comic we’re shown that she was waiting for him all along but yeah I do love the theories like this :^)
Yes
Hmm I always interpreted the huntsmans daughter coming out of the building as them meeting in the after life. This goes along with the whole purgatory theory (which I love, and think makes the story stronger as a whole). So while still a happy ending, it’s not as much of a contrived out of no where ending.
BaeCat According to the official comics (which I wholeheartedly recommend) it's shown how Anna (that's the daughter's name) ran into the woods alone one night, encountered the Beast and escaped successfully, but when she arrived home, her father was already gone searching for her.
I think the purgatory theory is very interesting but never really believed that the Unknown must be afterlife. I prefer to see it as a strange and fantastic tale that blends life with death and reality with imagination and has no real answers to what's happening. But I like everyone's interpretations, I think a mix of all of them is closest to the truth.
I interpreted it differently too
I'm a big fan of the "good person is tricked by evil creature" trope because it
can make for an amazing scene when the good person finds out there being tricked
"I did it Wirt, I defeated the Beast..."
Though it was only briefly alluded to it at the end of the video, this video helped me realize how the Woodsman is meant to be a parallel and metaphorical warning to Wirt’s character arc. The Woodsman’s literal isolation reflecting Wirt’s social isolation and the Woodman’s fabricated burden reflecting Wirt being burdened by his own anxieties telling him that no would want to interact with him (exemplified in how Jason Funderberker is built up to the audience to expect him to be this macho jock character, when he’s actually just another awkward tween like Wirt). Really makes me appreciate the work all the more.
I honestly think its more dark the way it is, tricking a father into thinking his daughter is lost and then separating the 2 convincing one that they need to do a task to keep them alive because not only did he lie, but he got the woodsman to actively abandon the person he loved the most making the woodsman's daughter think that he just abandoned her one day out of no where. Given how the daughter was the one to open the door and greet him and how she reacted to seeing him, its also safe to say that the mother is out of the picture, making it all the more sad
I think you'd enjoy some of the OtGW comics. There's a whole arc covering the daughter's, Anna's, story regarding why The Woodsman thought he lost her and what she was doing all that time. Without giving any spoilers, it enriches the latter's fatherly nature and makes that period of separation all the more tragic for the both of them.
I actually think it’s far more tragic that she was safe, it means he’s been committing atrocities-whether he knew it or not-to keep the lantern alight for absolutely *no* reason.
Thanks you for the Halloween special review, Now I'v got to re watch the whole miniseries.
Tom Bashford i
“Any interactions would’ve aided the woodsman”?
Woodsman: ...
“ IM THE HIGHWAY MAN “
I strangely liked the crushing shock and despair that came with knowing the daughter was safe at home. The horror was all the time and worry wasted, never to be regained, and all the people adlewood burned for no reason.
I always prefered the living daugter ending, as it also works very well with the Beast being a represetation of depression and suiside. The Beast is self serving, lying, and abusive to those it finds, and promices a way out by, and I quote, "Submit to the soils of the earth."
Yet at the end, the Beast is shown to be little more than a lying voice, with no actual power over you should you reject it. The Beast will do anything to try to keep you under it's heel. but if you push pass it, if you accept the struggles of life instead of surrendering to the beast...you might find that the beast was only hiding the good things in life from your gaze.
Woodsmans got to be my favorite tragic character
Same. And Beatrice too. Her one selfish act cost her and her family their humanity. And she goes to do another selfish act just to save her family.
i think there’s a really interesting line that the tavern lady says something along the lines of “ who ever bears the lantern is the beast” kinda has double meaning in a way like the beast could hold and keep his own lantern but theoretically there could have been past lantern keepers who may have know the origin of the adlewood trees and simply not cared because of whatever the beast told them was inside of it was too important to them and the burning of lost souls is what truly makes you beastly idk does that make sense?
The beast is the keeper of the lantern. That's why he always goes back to the woodsman.
What the tavern people didn't know is that the beast learned to delegate. The keeper chops the trees whilst the beast turn the lost souls into trees
It never occurred to me that the woodsman's daughter was just lost and yet still physically well overall. I was under the assumption that the daughter had been put in some kind of catatonic or death-like state by the beast, who then used the condition as part of their ruse, convincing the woodsman that the state was caused by the lack of a soul which now resided in the lantern. When the daughter appeared from within the cabin, I assumed they'd been there all along, lying motionless in bed until the beast had been destroyed and its tricks undone.
That said, I've no real support for this perspective over yours, and I may actually favor yours since it arguably works off of fewer assumptions and avoids giving unnecessary abilities to the beast beyond the trees and the lantern (though the dream sequence may be an indication of similar powers, assuming it wasn't just Greg's delirium). I was wondering if you had any source for this interpretation of the Woodsman's resolution other than the show itself, such as the comics or some creator commentary, or, if not, where within the show you found your evidence.
I assumed it was a catatonic state as well, and the final scene of her coming out onto the porch is her having woken up. Having rewatched the series, I realize the Beast clearly described the house as "empty".
Yeah, I never even considered that she had been home all alone. I thought I was dumb, but considering how many other people seem to be confused about that maybe it just wasn't communicated that well. I thought that somehow the lantern burning was _keeping_ her in some sort of limbo, and that by blowing it out the woodsman allowed her to come back. What Elk said makes MUCH more sense if you go by Occam's razor at least.
I thought she was catatonic until I read the comic series, which proved otherwise
Can't agree more! Sometimes I think our belief that darker stories make for more meaningful stories overlooks how important thematic relevance is.
Over the garden wall filled me up with so much nostalgia even though it was a completely new airing when it came out. It reminded me a lot of the themes of fall. The color pallet, school, the spooky stories that played out, community festivals celebrating fall, particularly the apple and blossom festival, the various types of horror, the encroaching death of winter, all wrapping up with going home to be safe and sound in your blanket.
Heck, even though their home town is actually a lot barer than my hometown, which is filled beyond it's borders with a comparatively heavy forestland, reminds me of my home. It really makes me feel warm and comfy inside just thinking about those old fall feelings.
I watch OTGW every fall equinox. And every time I see it I get something new from it.
I love how at the start the woodsman tries to tell wirt and greg about the beast and starts mumbling and trailing off. It's as if there's some story or song he's trying to remember to describe the beast, but he's long forgotten. My headcannon is that he heard the song long ago but forgot the second verse of it so that's why he doesn't know about the edelwood trees being the beasts victims.
IM THE HIGHWAYMAN
IM THE HIGHWAYMAN
I MAKE ENDS MEET ( 7 months late but the other guy who replied made me sad)
@@emilyscheve9149 I'm preeeetty sure that person was impersonating Wirt
I love the double meaning of "gotta make ends meet"
I can only hear this in the highwayman’s voice!😂
"If dreams can't come true...why not pretend"
I thought her soul was in the lantern, but was released when blown out, returning her to her dwelling
*Joseph Joestar voice* OOOOOOOOH MY GOOOOOOD!!!!!!!
THE MADMAN ELK ACTUALLY DID IT YES!!! I WAS SERIOUSLY HOPING YOU'D REVIEW OTGW SOMEDAY
JOJO REFERENCEEE!!!!
G.I.A * YES YES YES YES... YESSSSS!!!!
I never really thought of the Woodsman's daughter being home as that happy honestly. It came off as bitter sweet to me for the reason's you stated. That, and if you go along with the theory that everyone is the Unknown is dead and that the Unknown is some sort of form of Purgatory then it's outright tragic.
I took their meeting at the end to mean him crossing over and finally being at peace. A cleansing of sorts. It was only when he was willing to let go of the Beasts lies and accept the truth that his daughter might me dead that he was able to find his daughter and be with her again. And honestly if you really look at the scene there it's hard for me to buy that she isn't dead. There are no lights in the cabin save for her candle and it's snowing. If she were alive wouldn't there be a fire going or something? Or a light outside to guide her missing father home? Also she's in the exact same outfit that she disappeared in.
I think that she did most likely perish in the woods but her spirit had unfinished business. She needed to speak to her father to tell him it was okay and not to worry about her. But the Beast found him first and lead her father away so she was forced to remain in the Unknown and wait for his return.
So in the end the Beast sort of did have her soul hostage. As long as her father was away she likely couldn't move on. Perhaps the Beast even knew this fact and did this intentionally to make her suffer because she wasn't willing to give into despair and turn into a tree.
I always thought that, yes, the woodsman's daughter *was* trapped in the lantern, but when the lantern got blown out, she was set free again; I can see this happening because while he thought he was protecting her, the woodsman was really the one keeping her trapped out of misguided fear, and to me, that's an even more insidious trick by the Beast.
I have a sadder reading of that ending. the woodsman dies along with the beast. the scene we see in the cabin would be a way of showing that in the afterlife he and his daughter are reunited and the daughter understands that her father can finally rest in peace.
I am glad you finally tackle this story. there are already many theories surrounding Over the Garden Wall.
My personal favourite is that the Unknown is a Limbo like state between Life and death.
This is why I interpreted the Woodsman's ending in a sightly different way.
Wirt and Greg helped him to move on. His delusions kept him in the Unknown and only when he let go of them he was able to reunite with his lost daughter.
My first association was that this was a depiction of the afterlife. I would still consider it a happy ending, but a bittersweet one.
Yay! Would love go hear a full analysis of the series or at least your thoughts on the black turtles!!
I think they're mostly a red herring (black turtles being red herrings makes me laugh) thematically.
They seem to be related to lost souls permeating the Unknown (black n oily and made the doggo go beast mode and all), although some people like Auntie Whispers are capable of consuming them without any apparent ill side effects. Otherwise they just seem to inhabit the Unknown like anything else and do their thing.
I've never managed to find a satisfying interpretation of what they're all about, nor have I seen one around.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!! i’m obsessed with this show!!
The beast: “Do you really want to go back to that empty house?”
The woodsman daughter: am I a joke to you?
I was always under the impression that the woodsman's daughter had died years prior and the woodsman was trapped in purgatory by his guilt and the beast's trickery until he finally gives it up and is able to pass into the afterlife, where his daughter was waiting for him.
FINALLY!!
I recently watched Over The Garden Wall and LOVED it. I liked the story and the style. It wrapped up nicely and I can see myself watching it again and again.
The beast is an analogy for suicide in depression.
This show is a real breath of fresh air
3:22 I always thought that the forest was a place where those who were about to die went, and that the woodsman was going to have a heart attack or frostbite or something seeing as Wurt and Greg were going to drown when they were pulled out of it, it seems more like forest is a dream and losing to the beast is your real body dying
It is important that she was alive the entire time. Our MC's return to the real world and wonder if the entire experience was real, so it is fitting for the woodsman to return home and realize all his fear was in his imagination and not real. It fits the final theme of the show; was it all ever real?
I've always seen it as Both the Woodsman and his daughter being dead. His meeting his daughter isn't so much literally 'going home' as it is him finally passing through limbo, and finding that his daughter had been waiting for him on the other side the whole time.
i like the idea that the thing you've been searching for (and in the woodsman's case, preserving) can be right where you came from if you break away from evil and go home
I need to watch this again (even though I literally just watched this two weeks ago)
I really like the effect of having the circles with small bits of the show in them. They remind me of old childrens books I used to read as a kid and they give it a feeling of darkness and whimsy
thank the lord! this is my favorite show
this video was such a pleasant surprise! thanks so much for posting. im definitely going to have to rewatch this series, ive seen it a bunch of times before but its still so good. happy halloween!
An Elk video about Over the Garden Wall on Halloween? It's a miracle! I can't wait to hear what you have to say about the series!
By the way, I always thought part of the reason the Woodsman never went back home was because of his guilt; he couldn't bare to return without his daughter. The Beast even asks him, "Are you ready to go back to that empty house?"
I am (or i was) a very isolated person. I tried to solve my problems on my own, didn't understand why i should talk to people, ask help from them. But looking at woodsman, i again understand the point. Sometimes other's help seems useless like it wouldn't change anything but it's about perspective. They can see something you can't or know something u don't or even remind you something important unintentionally. I come to understand that people need people. Sometimes.
I’m glad this channel has grown so much
Just found your video. I've watched OTGW every year, in my case, every Nov 2nd, beacause here we have the Day of the Dead, el Día de Muertos. And I will always like every good video about such a great piece of art!
Your comment about Greg and Wirt's ability to make sense of the unknown made me realize something...
I think another layered message of the show is the ability of children to view things in a way adults normally wouldn't.
All the adults we see in the show are very set in their ways and don't stop to make sense of what they're experiencing.
Miss Langtree doesn't question how the gorilla started showing up after Jimmy left. She didn't think of ways to save the school either.
The people at the tavern stick to their respective roles and even try to put Wirt into a box.
The woodsman and the lantern.
Even, to an extent, Lorna doing her chores and sorting bones.
It seems like the only people who don't just shrug and accept their fate are the people from Pottsfield, and they're already dead. Everyone else in the unknown who seems to hover in between life and death has essentially agreed to a slow march to their ultimate end.
Wiki says "Back in the Unknown, the Woodsman is sitting on his porch in melancholy when his daughter comes out of his home, having come back to life along with the other lost souls." Don't know if that's the canon but it seems possible as either she was turned into a tree and he never turned her into "oil" or he did and was feed to the beast which explains how the beast knew so much about the woodsman-it consumed her soul and she became a part of him. When he died, the souls returned to their origins. I prefer this as it represents his unwillingness to let her go and only when he truly accepts that can he truly move forward (we all make our own personal hells and the only way leave is to imagine a door).
I feel like it wouldn't fit the general tone if everything would just return to normal
@@soop1641 That's the beauty of it. Things didn't return to normal. The lives of the residents are forever changed due to influence of the kids as will the kids be forever changed due to what happened to them. You see this when the kids wake up in the hospital and the frog bell glows and when the doll maker crafts dolls of the boys after they left Over the Garden Wall. It applies to the woodsman as well. They boys made him see the truth and asked him to make a true choice. His choice changed the outcome of his story, of his ending- to reunite with his daughter or return to the unknown (believe the beast's lies).
I think the Woodsman's dilemma works so well because it's similar to Wirt's. Whereas the Woodsman is blinded by his grief, Wirt similarly is too blinded by his insecurities to tell that Sara returns his feelings or that he's well-liked by his peers. Wirt runs from his problems and wanders through the woods with his brother until he learns to stand up for himself and confront his fear of failing his brother. Only then does he realize The Beast's deal is stupid and is able to return back to his home. Similarly, the Woodsman must also confront the truth to reunite with his daughter.
Thank you for the great video. I would love to see you tackle other questions the series raises.
Always love your videos and your choice of language. Full of class and wisdom, thank you. Loved the ending of your theory as well.
I know it's not Halloween time, but you should consider making more videos about OTG when you can. I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this thought provoking show.
This is why the Woodsman is my favorite character and is criminally underrated.
It just occurs to me after five whole years that the woodsman sends the boys in the direction of pottsfield because he must’ve never actually been to the village but rather he saw from the woods that there was a town there
i enjoyed this analysis very much! i especially like how you ended it by showing the parallel between the woodsman's dilemma and wirt's original dilemma (he liked a girl). they were both their own enemies.
btw if you haven't already, you should read the OTGW comics. it sheds light on the woodsman and his family, telling their backstory and also the story of his daughter waiting for her father's return. makes you understand why the woodsman's dilemma was resolved the way it was.
Here is my idea of it;
The unknown is probably some sort of limbo. So the woodsmans daughter actually died and only when the woodsman was able to let go of the lantern he could be released from the limbo as well. So when they reunited they actually passed on to potentially heaven.
Same with beatrice. She could only pass along together with her family as soon as she had let go of the guilt of throwing a rock at that bird.
This wasn’t fully my idea. I was very inspired by the comments and their ideas.
Thanks for reading, I just wanted to get it all out before I forgot.
Another point to add. He could’ve gone home or to the inn but the lantern would most likely have run out of oil by the time he’d get there or nobody would want to talk to him which I’m sure the beast would’ve pointed out. The fear of the unknown coming up yet again. Do you risk the light of your only daughter’s soul extinguishing forever to run home and check to see if she might be there, do you go to the inn where people run in fear from you? Or do you keep her light glowing? He was so busy always collecting wood to turn into oil that to take the time to do any number of the other things mentioned in this video that would’ve provided him with more context on his situation would’ve taken too much time.
Am i the only one who thought the beast was the daughter who had eaten a black turtle?
That's one of the theories, but I can't imagine her stuffing her face with a turtle. (that would be beastly)
did you know the latin sung during the scene where Wirt finds Greg mid tree transformation is a translation of potatoes and molasses? Also solid analysis, great video. Hope to see more about OTGW
I definitely think that entire outro is the people in the unknown transitioning to heaven
i wanne forget this serie so i can watch it al over again what a joy it was when i found this short serie
I always thought that the woodman never come back home and neither his daughter, they just simply move on to another place (heaven) , the daughter went first, waiting for the woodman to eventually come there
i love rewatching the show every october, my favorite tradition
"to die for" great pun
I'm so glad you finally made an OTGW, it's my favourite cartoon other than AT. Ok, now to watch the video!
Wow! I never realized the Tavern Keeper literally tells Wirt that it’s the Beast’s lantern in the song until this video. I’ve heard the song so many times, but never connected it!
I have always loved the ending of the Woodsman's story. he spent all this time in the woods, in this self inflicted torture. he was ready to go home, even if it meant giving up on the search for his daughter. to add to this, if you've read the comics, (spoilers!) his daughter is home, also isolated and growing mad in the search for her father. she never left home. she trusted that her father would return, even as the days began molding together.
Great exploration of that theme! I never thought of it that way. Still, even without it I'd be fine with the happy ending, it's deserved in my opinion.
I love this! I would love to hear more of your thoughts about this series
one of the greatest pieces of animation I've ever laid my eyes on
This is awesome :) Nice job man!
You've opened my eyes
I love this show, I think this video could have explained that their actions made more sense in the manga, but the story makes less sense (the beast? has some sort of curse over the house, and his daughter can see into the woods, but might get lost forever if she leaves the house; it's kind of weird).
Manga? What? There was a manga?
at 4:28 theres a tiny dog in the guy with the red hats pocket!
I always though that the Woodsman died, and was reunited with his daughter. And the Edlewood tree that we see, with oil coming out of it's mouth, was his daughter.
it's more concerning when I tell you that I was around 9 years old when I discovered this, and this was my fist thought when I saw the father and daughter reunite.
Its interesting that when the Woodsman shines the lantern on the Beast, it shows the Beast made of edelwood trees.
It sort of symbolizes how the Woodsman could have cut the Beast down at any time.
I cant wait till fall comes back to watch this again
I got recommended this, and I'm sad to say I never saw this...
Seeing how the Unknown is an allegory for death or at least purgatory, then i think the Woodsman is an allegory for depression. His daughter got lost in the unknown and he became closed off, isolated and submerged himself in his work, clearly unhappy, but believing there's no other way. In real life this could mean that his daughter is in a coma or maybe just hospitalized for some other reason and he becomes depressed, probably spending long hours at work just to pay off her medical bill
Another October, another time watching OTGW, and this time I forced a friend to watch with me and she loved it
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, how fitting is it then that the arch fiend of the unknown and the nemesis of the woods men is called the beast. One of the devils many names.
Great video, as always! But I always had a different take on the whole Beast/Woodsman's Daughter storyline. Since I've watched for the first time a year or two ago, I've thought that the Beast and the woodsman's daughter were one and the same. Here's my theory.
In Episode 1, Wirt and Greg are attacked by a shadowy creature with glowing eyes, roughly shaped like a dog. It ends up not being the Beast, but a dog (Beatrice's dog) who ate a black turtle. this sets up that eating a black turtle turns you into a malevolent, shadow monster with glowing eyes.
In Episode 4, we meet the Beast. A shadowy, humanoid figure with glowing eyes. The figure tells the woodsman that the woodsman's daughter's soul is being kept in the flame of the lantern.
In Episode 10, when the Beast's flame is put out, the Beast disappears - and suddenly, at the Woodsman's home, the woodsman's daughter appears for the first time since the Beast has been around.
My theory: The black turtles possessed the Woodsman's daughter, turning her into an evil, shadowy monster. The lantern IS carrying the Beast's soul, but by extension is entrapping the Woodsman's daughter's soul. Everything else in the show seems to support this theory; I haven't found anything that proves it wrong.
Except for the comic that Pat McHale wrote. That completely destroys my theory :(