I love the last scene where the woodsman reunites with his daughter, after all he has been through, having to deal with the beast and the manipulation and yet he also cared about Wirt and Greg. I just think the woodsman was such a nice soul and he deserves the best.
@@burntgrahamcracker2866 She was never dead to begin with, it's just that she got lost one day in the woods and with difficulty made her way back. Woodsman was just manipulated by the beast and too afraid to head back to his "empy house". This whole time she was alive, waiting for her father to come back.
@@burntgrahamcracker2866then why did you say something completely different to that in your first comment? The only thing people dislike more than a know-it-all is a 'pretend' know-it-all
@@davidlane1248 if you are acting in someone’s memory then you believe them to be dead, they don’t have to be. By acting as his daughter would want he took a chance and destroyed the beast returned home and saw her again.
So in horror it's commonly said to not show the monster because once you can understand it it becomes less scary, so I like how just before his death they reveal the beast's true form because with his weakness exposed he's now killable Also if the beast had kept his cool instead of flipping at the mere mention of his soul being in the lantern he could've won, for such an emotionally manipulative character it's very ironic that his own emotions let to his downfall, I think the reason he got so angry is because for once someone saw through his lies and he didn't like that
Honestly, if he had kept his cool his manipulation would have worked. Wirt wouldn’t have risked killing the Woodsman’s daughter even if he thought the lantern contained the Beast’s soul.
@@venus1333 he could've said something like "Would you dare risk the woodsman's daughter's soul for some assumption you have no way of proving." and things might have gone differently
@@pandabanaan9208 Exactly. He could have even encouraged Wirt to blow out the lantern. He wouldn’t have done it unless he was sure it was the Beast’s soul.
@@venus1333 god I love that scene, there's so much stuff to talk about, there's so much stuff to say about it but at the end of the day it's just a really great confrontation between the main character and main villain Also I feel like the beast was planning to have wirt replace the woodsman from the moment he captured gregory, afterall why else would he reveal where the trees come from to the woodsman, however when things didn't go his plan you can clearly see him getting frustrated, the "What!?" and "I'm trying to help you!" have so much passive aggressiveness in them and shows that when things don't go his way he gets easily irritated compared to when they are going his way were he keeps his composure, it seems the beast was someone who always had things go his way so when something goes differently from how he wants he gets pissed, and the mention of his soul being in the lantern was the last straw making him flip out, to bad for him that he mainly relied on manipulation and not intimidation causing him to make the most generic treat ever, not something like "I'll drag Gregory through hell and back." but just "Are you ready to see true darkness.", what does that even mean for wirt, it's such a surface level treat and clearly shows that he can't improvise on the spot, this is a bit fan theory but I think wirt looking into the beast's eyes is him seeing the beast is the one who feels the most threatened and is bluffing, again now that he can't turn wirt into woodsman 2 he doesn't know what to do so he just goes of his emotions, wirt isn't bluffing when he tries to blow the lantern and so the beast gets scared, intervenes and he reveals his true colors, he tries to manipulate the woodsman again hoping he can just pretend this never happened and keep going the way things were going but now the woodsman sees through his lies, the things beast says are once again emotion based, "Cut them down with your axe." what's that gonna do for him, he's just mad and wants them dead, "You'll never see your daughter again, are you really ready to go back to that empty house." this one is a bit more interesting as he knows the woodsman is aware that his daughter might truly be gone but beast tells him to be ignorant and keep up the lie so he doesn't have to face that pain of going back to that empty house, lastly "No, woodsman!" this one has a desperate and begging tone as the beast is trying to make one last effort to save himself but deep down he knows he's done, there's nothing he can say or do anymore to save himself, it's over, he's lost, and all thanks to his own words, he was the one who revealed the truth even if he didn't intend it So is it obvious that I want to be a writer and love analyzing these types of stuff
Every dialog between the Beast and the woodsman is amazing, their talk actually feels like two old rivals speaking, or worker and boss type of conversation, these two are my favourite characters
@@sergegarabiles7754 tbh them having an ex lover kinda thing going on doesnt take out the rival vibes. Their dislogues still have that same spark, they just have more context now.
@@Ironmat98 It is likely that the beast can tend the lantern himself. The beast had the lantern until the woodsman took it from him, and the beast demands that Wirt give him the lantern after Wirt picks it up.
@@jacobstacey6550 it’s all manipulation. He himself can keep it lit, but by giving someone a reason, Putting “someone’s soul” in it, he can get someone else to do it for him. Him trying to take it back only fuels the lantern barer even more to keep it lit and in their possession, as to not loose the one they believe they are keeping alive. That’s why the woodsmen fought to keep it many times before as stated in the show. Once the woodsman refused to cut down Greg, the Beast no longer saw him as valuable and sought to take it back into his own hands.
@@godzilla154 idk its possible but if the beast were to need a pawn to feed the lantern he probably wouldnt want it to be the woodsman despite ceaping it lit he activly avoids people and tries to ceap the beast away from others with it having no choice but to stay close to him. Tho it doesnt stop it surely limits it atleast . The beast while powerfull stil seems to have rules it must follow despite being large compared to the kids it doesnt just straight up kill them he cant seem to directly cause harm weather or not that is cus he no longer holds the lantern is unclear. The beast wants the woodsman dead but he cant do it himself and if he leaves him lost in the forest the woodsman will fight to the bitter end risking the lantern going out. Its an unusual situation with the beast having no choice but to wait for an opening and take the lantern back
One detail I noticed is that after the woodsman finds out, the flame in the lantern no longer looks like the vague figure of what we can assume his daughter had looked like but rather the shapeless soul of the beast.
I thought the title was an allegory to Wirt eventually overcoming his insecurities and soon Fear itself, in the form of The Beast. Then in the final episodes where it starts revealing how Wirt and Greg wound up lost in the woods at the beginning, I was like "oh *he literally went over the Garden Wall."*
I've been thinking about turning him into a D&D villain. Actually a fairly weak villain, points-wise, but has abilities that make him hard to hit. Able to dodge. The more you swing at him, the more exhausted you get. Things just seem to go wrong around him. He promises solutions... but only ones that harm the player more. He's a lot like a lich in a way, keeping his soul in a phylactery.
The story of the Beast and the Woodsman was by far the best part of this series. An embodiment of despair who used false promises to hold a firm grasp over a desperate old man.
What I love about that, in any other situation, wirt would have taken the deal. I mean how would he know that the beast was lying. Wirt just called his bluff and went with it.
It's crazy how the woodsman found out that he WAS the beast. And it was foreshadowed in like ep 2)3 where the pub lady said that he who carried the lantern is the beast ..
Had a game campaign where there was a haunted forest becoming more and more demonic and my buddy the DM ended up using the Beast and his lantern as the primary Boss/catalyst. Most of us hadn’t seen Over the Garden Wall, so it was a trip having the “Beast” offer our characters with wants and desires for service.
I low-key started a similar bit with my GM, my awakened Owl found a coffee pot. it always served the best coffee, no matter how much you poured out of, or into it. turned out it was a lich, the FIRST lich, and as soon as I poured the blood of the innocent into it, it got more power back. after 24 souls had been poured into that little pot, fully giving into the temptations of it, it was my owl: a little adventurer who has succumbed to the evil, was the 25th sacrifice. it was a great lead in from his campaign to mine, with my big baddie being "The Dark One". Good to see I wasn't the only D&D player to recognize the potential with the woodsman and the beast
I’m actually trying to get into a campaign where my Warlock Patron is directly inspired by the Beast! Super manipulative, causing mass disaster but strangely never fighting physically…I even gave her antlers to finish! Of course, the plot twist is that she and another villain (inspired by the Nowhere King, who is not very manipulative but is rather an unstoppable force of destruction) are both pseudonyms for one entity, who has both villains’ strengths and none of the weaknesses…
its interesting that the beast gives greg all these tasks, tasks you would expect in a fairy tale, and greg solved them all using fairy tale wisdom. silver thread= spider web. gold comb= honey comb. but the point was the beast isnt a fairy tale monster, he's only using these tasks to keep greg from going anywhere. so if the beast isnt a fairy tale monster, what is he?
2:38 just imagine what felt the woodsman when he found out that all the edelwood trees we cut down were children plus the background were children singing ,i asume souls
Any other DND nerds that immediately thought of this as a warlock interacting with their patron? Gotta be honest the whole premise of the woodsman and why he made a deal with the beast would be a pretty compelling warlock character IMO
Oh DUDE. Thanks for the inspiration. Ive been meaning to write a short campaign based on OtGW ever since I saw it. But that could be such a dope addition. I wasn't sure where to go with the Woodsman but that's totally it. If I ever get around to it I'll definitely drop a link!
@@Salpinx018 make the beast summons the woodsman with his song “come wayward souls” and if the woodsman and the beast are NPCS have the players sometimes hear it in the dead of night
@@no-oneimportant6861 oooooh YES. I did something similar in a campaign a while ago. We had a haunted doll stalking the party throughout a manor. Everytime she was near I'd play a creepy child's music box song. But she wouldn't show all the time, so it drove them nuts. Then for one session I bought an old doll matching her description and mauled her a little with paint and stuff to make her look bloody and cracked. Then hid her behind the curtain with a knife and a speaker and played her theme through that. They had to find her in real life to get a map haha. They were so spooked, it was great. I can totally envision that with the Woodsman. But then switch it off between Come Wayward Souls and The Jolly Woodsman. One plays when he's near and one when he's actively stalking them or something. But that'll be up to them to decipher, mwahaha.
@@Salpinx018 you sound like the best and most terrifying DM I’ve ever seen, you BOUGHT a doll and went through that effort to make it that much cooler? I know that this has no meaning cause I’m just some guy on UA-cam. But you sir, have my respect
@@Salpinx018 I have to wonder though, how will you do the beast? Will you make him an archfey and destroying the lantern is the only way to make him killable(every archfey has a ritual or weakness that makes them permanently dead) or will go with a druid(maybe lichen) lich with the lantern being his reliquary?
I always gravitate toward characters who leave you wanting *more* information about them. You get little glimpses into what their deal is, some general idea, but never enough for it to be full-blown exposition; you're left to fill in some blanks yourself.
God this story duo of the woodsman and the beast is such a great idea A lovely strong man, blind by grief and sadness, fooled by evil creature Only to the end to reveal how powerless the creature is, the true beast was the woodsman all along, but without ever hurting somebody or causing evil directly True a sad tale, good that he see his daughter in the end, but probably died to the beast in his final battle, or died of cold
The Woodsman is such an interesting figure, because he _refuses_ to compromise who he is. The Beast tempts him, and tries to use him to bring Greg and Wirt to him, and the Woodsman just... refuses. He warns them about giving into despair, even though this pisses the Beast off. He refuses the Beast's offer of Greg and Wirt for his daughter. When the Beast shows him where edelwood trees come from he's horrified and immediately tries to rescue Greg, even as the Beast points out he needs the oil Greg would make. Where other character would become unrepentant villains under the same circumstances, the Woodsman keeps the good inside himself burning even in the midst of despair. He can't save himself, but he tries to save others.
The Woodsman corresponds to the Jungian Hermit archetype and serves as a guide to Wirt's developing self-imagine. He represents two things: 1) What Wirt may become if he'd let the Beast win over him and define his life; 2) And what Wirt should strive to be even in the darkest hours of his life.
Heard someone's theory that Woodsman dies at the end. I somewhat agree with it- he died, but since his daughter is also dead he joins her in the afterlife, getting some happiness in the end
@@fandubindo1891 yeah, kinda wish that was his ending. It’s fitting for a character who unwillingly killed a bunch of people after they were turned into trees. But I also love the comics and glad he still gets a happy ending.
Two years later oh man my theory IS that the woodsman escaped the forest and after all those years gets back into his House where he joins with her daughter
I find it funny how the beast kinda got himself stuck with the woodsman whether he likes it or not. So he has tried to retriece the lantern back in the past out of fear of it running out of oil but he can't just grab it since the woodsman will always fight back thinking the beast is trying to claim his daughter.
@@michaelbarrett8141 It does seem likely, but I haven't seen anything about it. It's possible that the writers of Centaurworld saw characters like The Lich and The Beast and decided to try and have a go at it. Again, not sure though
Remember this was during a time where you couldn’t pause the screen, and if you did, it would have a lag to it. So showing the beast to have multiple eyes and flesh looking was quite something.
Normally stories about the fae include arbitrary rules, that humans don't get, but the fairies would die for. I think the point is that the Beast isn't allowed to take things by force, and has to manipulate other people. And thematically, it makes for a more interesting villain if he has to rely on corrupting others. Maybe he can't even keep it lit by himself. The bearer before the Woodsman died so he had to immediately trick the Woodsman into taking over somehow.
I think out of all the episodes and scenarios that the characters run into, the beast is the woodsman's test. Every other episode has tested Wirt and Greg's character and trying to teach them to be better people. For Wirt its letting go of his fears and anxiety. For Greg its maturing and being less naive. In the case of the beast, its the woodsman's test to no longer be bound by fear and paranoia. He lost his wife and fears losing his daughter, so he only ended up perpetuating his own suffering. The beast in a sense, is just a manifestation of the Woodsman's own inner demon and tests him. In the end, only after realizing that even if his daughter was gone or not that she wouldn't have wanted him to be like how he was in the Unknown that he finally beat his demon. In a way, the Unknown is like a version of hell, but instead of eternal torture it punishes the person until they learn their mistakes and become better persons. Wirt lets go of his anxieties, Greg matures a little, and the Woodsman finally puts some trust in his daughter.
The Woodsman is one of my favourite cartoon network characters, he feels like a real person who's in a tough situation. Not to mention he's a badass who goes toe to toe with The Beast.
I love the theory that the Beast is actually the Huntsman's daughter. It makes me wonder if Greg would've become the Beast, too, if Wirt had accepted the deal. That maybe the Beast doesn't just eat souls, the souls *become* him.
Like the beast is a assimilation of all the souls like how the beast is made out of faces. Maybe once the beast finally dies all the souls separated to there orginal selves
the sad thing here is that the woodsman in a certain way became a beast also because he was the executioner the beast was only the one that condemned...
For all the Woodsman’s gullibility you really got to hand it to him for knowing what the right thing to do was, letting go of his daughter so that other children could live. He knew her like no one else and he knew that she wouldn’t have wanted anyone to be sacrificed for her
This is a pretty dark show for Cartoon Network. At least I think it was Cartoon Network. That still frame of the beast on his true form is pretty grotesque
I’m a little confused by that ending where we see the Woodsman’s daughter alive and well. Up until that point, I was led to believe she had passed away in the real world and his whole arc was about moving on from grieving. So what was going on with her? Was she sick? And the Woodsman thought she would die if the lantern went out?
The reading I took away from it was that she was out in the woods and he went to find her. She made it home but he was lost and the beast lied about her being put into the lantern so he stayed in the woods too in grief to return home.
It could be what the other person said, or it could be that she was the beast all along. There’s a really interesting theory that has a lot of support for the beast being his daughter (although she wasn’t herself when/if she was the beast)
@@urahara64360 honestly it’s funny when you think about it. The woodsmen didn’t once think the beast was lying? I can just imagine the beast being like: Wow can’t believe he bought that, now I got to keep this bit up.
the honest best part in the show is when in ep 4 the woodsman is chopping wood and you hear singing and think its the woodsman singing then the beast shows up you hear his voive and then it becomes clear that the beast was there the whole time (edit i know the voice doesnt sound much like the woodsman but when i saw thats what i thought
I read the comic book, specifically for this one story. the daughter was actually inside their house the whole time. the woodsman thought that the daughter has been consumed by the Beast, thus he fell for the Beast's temptation. that's why she was there at the end!
@@veznan3510 nopee, she did not die. it's kinda a weird timing thing actually. so she was indeed attacked by the beast. but she managed to run away and went to her house, but her coat and clothes were torn apart. the woodsman saw the clothes lying on the forest, and thought that the beast killed her + the beast managed to lure the woodsman to fuel the lantern saying that "it's the only way to keep your daughter's spirits alive". the book explains it better than i do ngl
I know it's explained in the comics, but just watching the show you interpret the story of a woodsman who thought he had lost his daughter so he fought the fucking devil and unknowingly took his soul who he believed was his daughter's soul, so the devil used this belief to trick him into collecting souls for him. It's got a genuinely fairy tale vibe to it, like The Soldier And Death or The Blacksmith and The Devil.
wait weird theory: if greg's dad is the one who's present in wirt's life, maybe... is the woodsman wirt's father? his daughter kinda looks like her ngl.
He kind of seems like a wendigo, instead of being a former human who eats other humans, he is a tree that eats other trees via the lantern. But the trees are also people.
I honestly want a prequel set in the unknown. We could get more info on the past lantern bearers and maybe the origin of the beast. If he’s connected to the lantern, where did the lantern come from.
Idk about anyone else, but the Woodsman’s daughter being alive in the end kinda cheapens his story for me. It feels unfitting that he gets a “reward” for all the “sins” he committed (even if they were indirect). I think his story would’ve been more impactful as a full on tragedy.
Agreed, it would have been better if he died and met his daughter in the afterlife. I guess the unknown is kinda an afterlife so I guess that doesn’t work.
I think it fits the themes and more allegorical/metaphorical aspects of the Unknown. The Unknown is like a purgatory in a way and it shows in most of the episodes where Wirt and Greg's characters is tested constantly. Anyone who gets lost in the Unknown has to find their way out or be stuck forever. In the case of the Woodsman he was trapped in the unknown due to his paranoia and fear. He lost his wife and feared losing his daughter, venturing out at night to get firewood and getting himself stuck in the Unknown. His daughter never left, it was just his paranoia. He only sets himself free after realizing that he himself is perpetuating his own suffering and that he should probably give his daughter a little more credit than what's due.
“One cannot trade the souls of children as if they were tokens!” The amount of emotion in this line, it's amazing!
Little did he knew the foreshadowing he just spoke.
Christopher Lloyd did so well!!!
The Woodsman cares about the lantern, but he won't let the Beast hurt anyone else.
He was tricked by a devil@@DinsRune
United healthcare: Hold my 🍺
Luigi: No hold mine
I love the last scene where the woodsman reunites with his daughter, after all he has been through, having to deal with the beast and the manipulation and yet he also cared about Wirt and Greg. I just think the woodsman was such a nice soul and he deserves the best.
He got to see her again because he acted in honour of her memory, doing things she would want him to do
@@burntgrahamcracker2866 She was never dead to begin with, it's just that she got lost one day in the woods and with difficulty made her way back. Woodsman was just manipulated by the beast and too afraid to head back to his "empy house". This whole time she was alive, waiting for her father to come back.
@@xxx9edgelord6xxx81 I’m aware of this it’s just he doesn’t know she’s alive
@@burntgrahamcracker2866then why did you say something completely different to that in your first comment?
The only thing people dislike more than a know-it-all is a 'pretend' know-it-all
@@davidlane1248 if you are acting in someone’s memory then you believe them to be dead, they don’t have to be.
By acting as his daughter would want he took a chance and destroyed the beast returned home and saw her again.
So in horror it's commonly said to not show the monster because once you can understand it it becomes less scary, so I like how just before his death they reveal the beast's true form because with his weakness exposed he's now killable
Also if the beast had kept his cool instead of flipping at the mere mention of his soul being in the lantern he could've won, for such an emotionally manipulative character it's very ironic that his own emotions let to his downfall, I think the reason he got so angry is because for once someone saw through his lies and he didn't like that
Honestly, if he had kept his cool his manipulation would have worked. Wirt wouldn’t have risked killing the Woodsman’s daughter even if he thought the lantern contained the Beast’s soul.
@@venus1333 I also like how the woodsman flashing the beast's true appearance with the lantern symbolizes him seeing through the beast's lies
@@venus1333 he could've said something like "Would you dare risk the woodsman's daughter's soul for some assumption you have no way of proving." and things might have gone differently
@@pandabanaan9208 Exactly. He could have even encouraged Wirt to blow out the lantern. He wouldn’t have done it unless he was sure it was the Beast’s soul.
@@venus1333 god I love that scene, there's so much stuff to talk about, there's so much stuff to say about it but at the end of the day it's just a really great confrontation between the main character and main villain
Also I feel like the beast was planning to have wirt replace the woodsman from the moment he captured gregory, afterall why else would he reveal where the trees come from to the woodsman, however when things didn't go his plan you can clearly see him getting frustrated, the "What!?" and "I'm trying to help you!" have so much passive aggressiveness in them and shows that when things don't go his way he gets easily irritated compared to when they are going his way were he keeps his composure, it seems the beast was someone who always had things go his way so when something goes differently from how he wants he gets pissed, and the mention of his soul being in the lantern was the last straw making him flip out, to bad for him that he mainly relied on manipulation and not intimidation causing him to make the most generic treat ever, not something like "I'll drag Gregory through hell and back." but just "Are you ready to see true darkness.", what does that even mean for wirt, it's such a surface level treat and clearly shows that he can't improvise on the spot, this is a bit fan theory but I think wirt looking into the beast's eyes is him seeing the beast is the one who feels the most threatened and is bluffing, again now that he can't turn wirt into woodsman 2 he doesn't know what to do so he just goes of his emotions, wirt isn't bluffing when he tries to blow the lantern and so the beast gets scared, intervenes and he reveals his true colors, he tries to manipulate the woodsman again hoping he can just pretend this never happened and keep going the way things were going but now the woodsman sees through his lies, the things beast says are once again emotion based, "Cut them down with your axe." what's that gonna do for him, he's just mad and wants them dead, "You'll never see your daughter again, are you really ready to go back to that empty house." this one is a bit more interesting as he knows the woodsman is aware that his daughter might truly be gone but beast tells him to be ignorant and keep up the lie so he doesn't have to face that pain of going back to that empty house, lastly "No, woodsman!" this one has a desperate and begging tone as the beast is trying to make one last effort to save himself but deep down he knows he's done, there's nothing he can say or do anymore to save himself, it's over, he's lost, and all thanks to his own words, he was the one who revealed the truth even if he didn't intend it
So is it obvious that I want to be a writer and love analyzing these types of stuff
Every dialog between the Beast and the woodsman is amazing, their talk actually feels like two old rivals speaking, or worker and boss type of conversation, these two are my favourite characters
Yeah. Kind of like Ford Pines and Bill Cipher.
@@andrewthefanboy1640 YES!! they give those vibes
@@Quomvi Any reaction about the new information about the Bill and Ford Situationship? 😭
@@sergegarabiles7754 tbh them having an ex lover kinda thing going on doesnt take out the rival vibes. Their dislogues still have that same spark, they just have more context now.
@@Quomvi tbh, I agree with that 😭 thank you for answering my question! have a good day! :3
I love how he tries to grab the lantern from the Woodsman just to mess with him
I think he genuinely is trying to get it back from him a couple of times.
@@jacobstacey6550 but why? He needs the Woodsman to keep the lantern and in turn his soul alive
@@Ironmat98 It is likely that the beast can tend the lantern himself. The beast had the lantern until the woodsman took it from him, and the beast demands that Wirt give him the lantern after Wirt picks it up.
@@jacobstacey6550 it’s all manipulation. He himself can keep it lit, but by giving someone a reason, Putting “someone’s soul” in it, he can get someone else to do it for him. Him trying to take it back only fuels the lantern barer even more to keep it lit and in their possession, as to not loose the one they believe they are keeping alive. That’s why the woodsmen fought to keep it many times before as stated in the show. Once the woodsman refused to cut down Greg, the Beast no longer saw him as valuable and sought to take it back into his own hands.
@@godzilla154 idk its possible but if the beast were to need a pawn to feed the lantern he probably wouldnt want it to be the woodsman despite ceaping it lit he activly avoids people and tries to ceap the beast away from others with it having no choice but to stay close to him. Tho it doesnt stop it surely limits it atleast . The beast while powerfull stil seems to have rules it must follow despite being large compared to the kids it doesnt just straight up kill them he cant seem to directly cause harm weather or not that is cus he no longer holds the lantern is unclear.
The beast wants the woodsman dead but he cant do it himself and if he leaves him lost in the forest the woodsman will fight to the bitter end risking the lantern going out. Its an unusual situation with the beast having no choice but to wait for an opening and take the lantern back
One detail I noticed is that after the woodsman finds out, the flame in the lantern no longer looks like the vague figure of what we can assume his daughter had looked like but rather the shapeless soul of the beast.
I thought the title was an allegory to Wirt eventually overcoming his insecurities and soon Fear itself, in the form of The Beast.
Then in the final episodes where it starts revealing how Wirt and Greg wound up lost in the woods at the beginning, I was like "oh *he literally went over the Garden Wall."*
@@hobomike6935 They literally dodged death 😭😭
For a character with 5 minutes of screentime he sure makes an impression that sticks with you
I've been thinking about turning him into a D&D villain. Actually a fairly weak villain, points-wise, but has abilities that make him hard to hit. Able to dodge. The more you swing at him, the more exhausted you get. Things just seem to go wrong around him. He promises solutions... but only ones that harm the player more. He's a lot like a lich in a way, keeping his soul in a phylactery.
@@Conservative4that's cool
Dabum tss
@@cxireen2193Lol
Sticks...
Such an incredible story. The Woodsman must’ve been so consumed by grief that he couldn’t see the obvious
He refused to go near other people who would have told him not to trust the beast.
The beast is definitely one of the best villains in cartoon network history😈
The beast is great
I agree with that.
What about The Lich from Adventure Time
No
Its
Aku
It's funny how you two read "the best villain" instead of "one of the best".
sUoiRaLih Os!
The story of the Beast and the Woodsman was by far the best part of this series. An embodiment of despair who used false promises to hold a firm grasp over a desperate old man.
@@cxireen2193alright, explain
"Wait, that's dumb."
-Wirt
Truly a big brain moment
What I love about that, in any other situation, wirt would have taken the deal. I mean how would he know that the beast was lying. Wirt just called his bluff and went with it.
It's crazy how the woodsman found out that he WAS the beast. And it was foreshadowed in like ep 2)3 where the pub lady said that he who carried the lantern is the beast ..
4
oh fuck you, i paused the video and i am scrolling the comments after finding this show after so many years just to get spoiled like this
@@zephyriic oh I’m so sorry. I didn’t intend on spoiling it
Had a game campaign where there was a haunted forest becoming more and more demonic and my buddy the DM ended up using the Beast and his lantern as the primary Boss/catalyst. Most of us hadn’t seen Over the Garden Wall, so it was a trip having the “Beast” offer our characters with wants and desires for service.
Love it!
I low-key started a similar bit with my GM, my awakened Owl found a coffee pot. it always served the best coffee, no matter how much you poured out of, or into it.
turned out it was a lich, the FIRST lich, and as soon as I poured the blood of the innocent into it, it got more power back.
after 24 souls had been poured into that little pot, fully giving into the temptations of it, it was my owl: a little adventurer who has succumbed to the evil, was the 25th sacrifice. it was a great lead in from his campaign to mine, with my big baddie being "The Dark One".
Good to see I wasn't the only D&D player to recognize the potential with the woodsman and the beast
I'm actually making a Warlock build that is this exact kind of dynamic.
I’m actually trying to get into a campaign where my Warlock Patron is directly inspired by the Beast! Super manipulative, causing mass disaster but strangely never fighting physically…I even gave her antlers to finish!
Of course, the plot twist is that she and another villain (inspired by the Nowhere King, who is not very manipulative but is rather an unstoppable force of destruction) are both pseudonyms for one entity, who has both villains’ strengths and none of the weaknesses…
its interesting that the beast gives greg all these tasks, tasks you would expect in a fairy tale, and greg solved them all using fairy tale wisdom. silver thread= spider web. gold comb= honey comb. but the point was the beast isnt a fairy tale monster, he's only using these tasks to keep greg from going anywhere. so if the beast isnt a fairy tale monster, what is he?
A genre savvy fairytale monster
If you search up "over the garden wall the beast" you'll get to see the the beasts real form
Death?
A Fae-type trickster with a bit of Wendigo thrown in there.
A demon
2:38
just imagine what felt the woodsman when he found out that all the edelwood trees we cut down were children plus the background were children singing ,i asume souls
Such a good fall show to watch
It's the best!
Props to Christopher Llyod for giving this role 1000%
4:05 That face is gold 🤣
3:51 the exact moment where the beast became truly helpless like the lost souls who wandered into the unknown
Any other DND nerds that immediately thought of this as a warlock interacting with their patron?
Gotta be honest the whole premise of the woodsman and why he made a deal with the beast would be a pretty compelling warlock character IMO
Oh DUDE. Thanks for the inspiration. Ive been meaning to write a short campaign based on OtGW ever since I saw it. But that could be such a dope addition. I wasn't sure where to go with the Woodsman but that's totally it. If I ever get around to it I'll definitely drop a link!
@@Salpinx018 make the beast summons the woodsman with his song “come wayward souls” and if the woodsman and the beast are NPCS have the players sometimes hear it in the dead of night
@@no-oneimportant6861 oooooh YES. I did something similar in a campaign a while ago. We had a haunted doll stalking the party throughout a manor. Everytime she was near I'd play a creepy child's music box song. But she wouldn't show all the time, so it drove them nuts. Then for one session I bought an old doll matching her description and mauled her a little with paint and stuff to make her look bloody and cracked. Then hid her behind the curtain with a knife and a speaker and played her theme through that. They had to find her in real life to get a map haha. They were so spooked, it was great.
I can totally envision that with the Woodsman. But then switch it off between Come Wayward Souls and The Jolly Woodsman. One plays when he's near and one when he's actively stalking them or something. But that'll be up to them to decipher, mwahaha.
@@Salpinx018 you sound like the best and most terrifying DM I’ve ever seen, you BOUGHT a doll and went through that effort to make it that much cooler? I know that this has no meaning cause I’m just some guy on UA-cam. But you sir, have my respect
@@Salpinx018 I have to wonder though, how will you do the beast? Will you make him an archfey and destroying the lantern is the only way to make him killable(every archfey has a ritual or weakness that makes them permanently dead) or will go with a druid(maybe lichen) lich with the lantern being his reliquary?
I always gravitate toward characters who leave you wanting *more* information about them. You get little glimpses into what their deal is, some general idea, but never enough for it to be full-blown exposition; you're left to fill in some blanks yourself.
NO ONE TALKIN' ABOUT THE FRAME WHERE THE BEAST IS SEEN THO THAT STUFF STRAIGHT OUTTA NIGHTMARES 4:24
Bro is made of Faces it looks unsure the meaning but it sure is
God this story duo of the woodsman and the beast is such a great idea
A lovely strong man, blind by grief and sadness, fooled by evil creature
Only to the end to reveal how powerless the creature is, the true beast was the woodsman all along, but without ever hurting somebody or causing evil directly
True a sad tale, good that he see his daughter in the end, but probably died to the beast in his final battle, or died of cold
I wanna' use this villain for a Fan-Fiction. He's incredibly interesting, I need more of him... I must create more of him myself. Lol.
Also, nice job with the video.
Do it! And thanks!
@@kronclee Thanks for the encouragement, and you're welcome.
The Woodsman is such an interesting figure, because he _refuses_ to compromise who he is.
The Beast tempts him, and tries to use him to bring Greg and Wirt to him, and the Woodsman just... refuses. He warns them about giving into despair, even though this pisses the Beast off.
He refuses the Beast's offer of Greg and Wirt for his daughter. When the Beast shows him where edelwood trees come from he's horrified and immediately tries to rescue Greg, even as the Beast points out he needs the oil Greg would make.
Where other character would become unrepentant villains under the same circumstances, the Woodsman keeps the good inside himself burning even in the midst of despair. He can't save himself, but he tries to save others.
The Woodsman corresponds to the Jungian Hermit archetype and serves as a guide to Wirt's developing self-imagine. He represents two things:
1) What Wirt may become if he'd let the Beast win over him and define his life;
2) And what Wirt should strive to be even in the darkest hours of his life.
Heard someone's theory that Woodsman dies at the end.
I somewhat agree with it- he died, but since his daughter is also dead he joins her in the afterlife, getting some happiness in the end
No, just read the official otgw spinoff comic. There's an complete woodsman's backstort in there
@@fandubindo1891 yeah, kinda wish that was his ending. It’s fitting for a character who unwillingly killed a bunch of people after they were turned into trees. But I also love the comics and glad he still gets a happy ending.
Two years later oh man my theory IS that the woodsman escaped the forest and after all those years gets back into his House where he joins with her daughter
I find it funny how the beast kinda got himself stuck with the woodsman whether he likes it or not. So he has tried to retriece the lantern back in the past out of fear of it running out of oil but he can't just grab it since the woodsman will always fight back thinking the beast is trying to claim his daughter.
He kind of sounds like the lich from adventure time
Both are herald of the death and suferring. Damn cartoom networks create so good villains
@@crissanti8206 agreed
The Beast and The Lich were made by the same dude
@@angerypotato7430 I wonder is the nowhere King also made from him they all have a something what makes them pretty similiar
@@michaelbarrett8141 It does seem likely, but I haven't seen anything about it. It's possible that the writers of Centaurworld saw characters like The Lich and The Beast and decided to try and have a go at it. Again, not sure though
His voice is amazing…that is all I can say.
holy hell this show is dark and amazing and beautiful all at once its amazing
Remember this was during a time where you couldn’t pause the screen, and if you did, it would have a lag to it. So showing the beast to have multiple eyes and flesh looking was quite something.
When you think about it the beast could have easily over powered the woodsman this whole time and just taken the lantern...
There is probably a reason within the story
Normally stories about the fae include arbitrary rules, that humans don't get, but the fairies would die for. I think the point is that the Beast isn't allowed to take things by force, and has to manipulate other people. And thematically, it makes for a more interesting villain if he has to rely on corrupting others.
Maybe he can't even keep it lit by himself. The bearer before the Woodsman died so he had to immediately trick the Woodsman into taking over somehow.
Maybe. The thing is... we never see the Beast physically interact with anybody the entire time
@@SirScrewloose except for the main characters...
The video literally starts with the woodsman saying he fought the beast for the lantern before.
The best villain ever. Every line the Beast says I get chills.
I think out of all the episodes and scenarios that the characters run into, the beast is the woodsman's test. Every other episode has tested Wirt and Greg's character and trying to teach them to be better people. For Wirt its letting go of his fears and anxiety. For Greg its maturing and being less naive. In the case of the beast, its the woodsman's test to no longer be bound by fear and paranoia. He lost his wife and fears losing his daughter, so he only ended up perpetuating his own suffering. The beast in a sense, is just a manifestation of the Woodsman's own inner demon and tests him. In the end, only after realizing that even if his daughter was gone or not that she wouldn't have wanted him to be like how he was in the Unknown that he finally beat his demon.
In a way, the Unknown is like a version of hell, but instead of eternal torture it punishes the person until they learn their mistakes and become better persons. Wirt lets go of his anxieties, Greg matures a little, and the Woodsman finally puts some trust in his daughter.
The Woodsman is one of my favourite cartoon network characters, he feels like a real person who's in a tough situation. Not to mention he's a badass who goes toe to toe with The Beast.
Stranger: "Wait, that's dumb".
Me: "i Am TrYiNg To HeLp YoU!!!"
Stranger: 4:24
That one second of what the beast looks like is a stuff of nightmares
something about this scene just hits right in the feels. Anyone with a sibling would understand.
4:24 he looks crazy
Holy shit, I haven’t seen anything that creepy from Cartoon Network since Courage ended
Putting the speed at 0.25x gets it. That’s creepy.
He’s made from the trees of all those dead kids
I believe all those faces are the result of the souls he consumed through the forest and the lantern.
I love the theory that the Beast is actually the Huntsman's daughter. It makes me wonder if Greg would've become the Beast, too, if Wirt had accepted the deal. That maybe the Beast doesn't just eat souls, the souls *become* him.
Like the beast is a assimilation of all the souls like how the beast is made out of faces.
Maybe once the beast finally dies all the souls separated to there orginal selves
oh my god, i finally found it
ive searched for this show for so many years, it was my entire childhood
"No, there is only me, there is only my way, there is only the forest, and there is only surrender."
"You really want to go back to that empty house?" line from the beast is probably one of the best lines in the show
Pffft- This is funny 1:32
"This a honey comb"
“No, there is only me, there is only me way, there is only the forest and there is only surender” this hits hard 💀
the sad thing here is that the woodsman in a certain way became a beast also because he was the executioner the beast was only the one that condemned...
stamp 4:24 is the split sec you see him.
I miss this show big time
THIS SHOW WAS SO GOOD!!!
4:23 good god that's horrifying!
I'm still amazed they got the ever talented Christopher Lloyd as the Woodsman!
For all the Woodsman’s gullibility you really got to hand it to him for knowing what the right thing to do was, letting go of his daughter so that other children could live. He knew her like no one else and he knew that she wouldn’t have wanted anyone to be sacrificed for her
I love how his form isn’t shown but he’s scary enough with his voice, dialogue, and sound effects
Why crop out one of the best lines in the final confrontation?
"Are you really ready to go back to that empty house?"
Absolutely love both of their voices
Man, that last blow was cold. Double entendre intended.
This is a pretty dark show for Cartoon Network. At least I think it was Cartoon Network. That still frame of the beast on his true form is pretty grotesque
“This is a honeycomb” has me dying
I’m a little confused by that ending where we see the Woodsman’s daughter alive and well. Up until that point, I was led to believe she had passed away in the real world and his whole arc was about moving on from grieving.
So what was going on with her? Was she sick? And the Woodsman thought she would die if the lantern went out?
The reading I took away from it was that she was out in the woods and he went to find her. She made it home but he was lost and the beast lied about her being put into the lantern so he stayed in the woods too in grief to return home.
It could be what the other person said, or it could be that she was the beast all along.
There’s a really interesting theory that has a lot of support for the beast being his daughter (although she wasn’t herself when/if she was the beast)
@@urahara64360 honestly it’s funny when you think about it. The woodsmen didn’t once think the beast was lying?
I can just imagine the beast being like: Wow can’t believe he bought that, now I got to keep this bit up.
The unknown isn't the real world to begin with
I think she was one of the faces of the Beast and when he died she was freed
the honest best part in the show is when in ep 4 the woodsman is chopping wood and you hear singing and think its the woodsman singing then the beast shows up you hear his voive and then it becomes clear that the beast was there the whole time
(edit i know the voice doesnt sound much like the woodsman but when i saw thats what i thought
Thats The Woodsman For You!
I feel so blessed to have seen this as a seven year old
"Man this kid is taking a long time to die..... might as well play along with his idiocy until he croaks..... heheh..... croaks." -The Beast maybe
0:36 jarad from subway be like
I read the comic book, specifically for this one story. the daughter was actually inside their house the whole time. the woodsman thought that the daughter has been consumed by the Beast, thus he fell for the Beast's temptation. that's why she was there at the end!
Wait dış she hide? Or beast hid her?
@@veznan3510 nopee, she did not die. it's kinda a weird timing thing actually.
so she was indeed attacked by the beast. but she managed to run away and went to her house, but her coat and clothes were torn apart. the woodsman saw the clothes lying on the forest, and thought that the beast killed her + the beast managed to lure the woodsman to fuel the lantern saying that "it's the only way to keep your daughter's spirits alive". the book explains it better than i do ngl
“No you can’t just make the perfect cartoon”
Over The Garden Wall: observe
ngl i used to have a crush on the beast
Than look at 4:24
@@Sir_Chris_III i know his true form. i have for as long as ive known the series
@@eebbeeb6032 oh I just thought that would of disgusted you
The Beast also sounds a lot like the djinn or genie that sought the lamp that he is a slave to
I know it's explained in the comics, but just watching the show you interpret the story of a woodsman who thought he had lost his daughter so he fought the fucking devil and unknowingly took his soul who he believed was his daughter's soul, so the devil used this belief to trick him into collecting souls for him. It's got a genuinely fairy tale vibe to it, like The Soldier And Death or The Blacksmith and The Devil.
wait weird theory: if greg's dad is the one who's present in wirt's life, maybe... is the woodsman wirt's father? his daughter kinda looks like her ngl.
What is the Beast's origin? Did he just suddenly appear or was he corrupted by something?
Perhaps it's better for some things to remain a mystery
@@poenpotzu2865 and it should remain as such
He kind of seems like a wendigo, instead of being a former human who eats other humans, he is a tree that eats other trees via the lantern. But the trees are also people.
He’s kinda death or the devil
I honestly want a prequel set in the unknown. We could get more info on the past lantern bearers and maybe the origin of the beast. If he’s connected to the lantern, where did the lantern come from.
I'm surprised Wirt figured it out, that the light was the Beast's life force
Woodsman deserves his happy ending
He didn’t know he was cutting down souls
“Lights out Beast”
How many tokens for a ticket to heaven? The bargain that defined the last generation's handling of that which succeeded it
"And do not speak of my daughter. She would not wish this."
I wonder:
Was it truly so easy for the Beast to parish after the Woodsman blew out the lantern?
I don’t think so. I assume he probably comes back to life if the lantern is lit. Or maybe whoever lights the lantern is turned into the beast?
@@Nigdolf the last point would explain all the bodies that make up the beast
Cute!
4:25 monsters real look for the ones that curious
I want to hug the Woodsman so bad
Real good show 🔥
Lets all agree that the beast is the best cartoon network Villain.
*Reminds me of Darth Vader and Palpatine.*
BE SURE TO KEEP IT LIT!
Creepy!😱
Dantes inferno retold.
The beast was lying to him the whole time.
What do you think the bell meant guys? Think hard
So the Beast was merely their own shadows made from the lantern?
4:25 ave a look at that
4:24 is fucking scary
4:25
3:07
unnecessary cutting
Idk about anyone else, but the Woodsman’s daughter being alive in the end kinda cheapens his story for me. It feels unfitting that he gets a “reward” for all the “sins” he committed (even if they were indirect). I think his story would’ve been more impactful as a full on tragedy.
Agreed, it would have been better if he died and met his daughter in the afterlife. I guess the unknown is kinda an afterlife so I guess that doesn’t work.
I think it fits the themes and more allegorical/metaphorical aspects of the Unknown. The Unknown is like a purgatory in a way and it shows in most of the episodes where Wirt and Greg's characters is tested constantly. Anyone who gets lost in the Unknown has to find their way out or be stuck forever. In the case of the Woodsman he was trapped in the unknown due to his paranoia and fear. He lost his wife and feared losing his daughter, venturing out at night to get firewood and getting himself stuck in the Unknown. His daughter never left, it was just his paranoia. He only sets himself free after realizing that he himself is perpetuating his own suffering and that he should probably give his daughter a little more credit than what's due.
One can also see it as his reuniting with the daughter was the day he died and left the world.
4:24
4:16
2:27