In the ringing of the bells you mention that you felt the mentioning of her sister Adelaide being somewhat redundant. But she is called Auntie whispers, and maybe suggesting her niece would be the daughter of the evil Adelaide and the evil spirit within? Whispers taking lorna to prevent her from being an agent of the beast or rather the spirit bound to the bell, like the beast bound to the lantern.
HEY PLEASE READ: One thing I was surprised I noticed in episode one that was a sweet detail: Everything Greg touched before the woodman got knocked out was involved in him ironically getting knocked out when Greg missed and only hit his hat (lol). Also the only detail that I hadn’t noticed myself from this video (I’m 6 minutes in) was the McLaughlin brothers and the toy maker part of the intro. This show is crazy I just finished last night (was so scared to watch it as a child when it first came out. So eerie. Just anxious)
In many cultures people used to believe cats guide people to the afterlife or that cats are able to interact with both the living and dead. Maybe that's why it's a cat.
@@erikaburris4349 interestingly, it is said in I believe Dante's Paradiso or smth that animals serve as unbiased judges serving God. Considering the Unknown seems to be loosely inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy's depiction of Hell, Enoch being a cat might be directly inspired by this concept and have been conflated with the Biblical character of Enoch. Animals seem removed from the humans in the Unknown. They are autonomous fishermen, creatures that have their own routine in the ecosystem like the frogs, or a talking horse without a care in the world. Humans in the Unknown are each clearly fighting their own demons, while animals never more than get dragged into their affairs. This is also probably why Beatrice wants to turn her family back into humans: birds are animals, without soul. Without a soul but still human in essence, her family cannot truly move on or assimilate. When they finally turn back human, they literally find a home in the Unknown
In regards to episode 7 and Auntie Whispers warning them about her sister, I think that since we already know Adelaide is evil, her warning statement hits even harder. This initially terrifying woman ends up being more concerned for their safety than Beatrice who Wirt grew to trust, cementing her betrayal and the hopelessness of their scenario even further into Wirt's head. It's like another punch to the gut for Wirt who's confidence is already waning, leading into him giving up completely. You can see this on his face when he reacts.
Also yes, I do believe that the Queen in episode 8 is the beast. As you mentioned, the queen is bird themed to reference the favor Beatrice says she'll grant Greg, which I believe also proves that she is not trustworthy, as Beatrice ended up betraying the boys.
She also eat the black turtles the Beast was using to stalk it's victims . She knows of the Beast and how he manipulates her sister's mind. Adelaide herself was talking about how the Beast was the one commanding her to do all this. She so much depended on the Beast that she could survive the night's air.
Details of note: Beatrice is the name of Dante’s guide through purgatory and heaven the the Divine Comedy. Enoch the patriarch is tasked with watching over the dead in the Old Testament. No person other than Greg eats until the last episode when Wirt eats dirt. Greg rings the bell inside the frog in the hospital after they return. Wirt and Greg need two pennies to take the ferry across the river to the pasture, just like the dead in Greek mythology.
I don't think this was mentioned, so if it's was I'm sorry my memory is awful, but I love the detail of how it slowly begins to get colder and how it seems to change seasons. Obviously, the boys didn't spend months in the lake as they would have drowned but I always felt the snow represented how they all slowly getting colder and closer to death.
@@zoetomaseon my initial watch through that’s what I thought would happen once I reached Into the Unknown and there would be a scene at the end of them coming home after months of being missing
I think it’s also nice that Greg isn’t a super “deep” character. I mean he’s a little 5 year old boy. They are meant to be innocent and not filled with the need to “change / grow” as a person. (Besides physically lol) I like how Greg is almost oblivious to the seriousness of certain situations. Just like an actual little kid. Because of the drastic personality and mental capacity differences. It also makes Wirt that much more of a relatable teenager. A lot of situations are out of his hands! (Like Greg’s dad marrying Wirts mom) Making the responsibilities Wirt does that much more overwhelming for him. Like taking responsibility for his new little brother.
Just wanna point out wirts mom is also Greg's mom. They're half brothers which also adds to wirts anger toward him and partially why he always blames Greg
We just going to skip over how Beatrice was trying to get them kicked off the boat throughout the episode because by that point she'd fully decided she didn't want to bring them to adalaide.
I've seen some discussions of the queen being the Beast in disguise, and the more I rewatch the episode the more accurate that seems to be for a few reasons. First is the audio and visual clues. The queen's pattern of speech matches the Beast's: Both speak in the same, luring tone. Then, when Greg is talking to her, we get this creepy camera shot looking up at her face, almost as if she's looming over us as the audience, which gives an eerie vibe despite the brighter colors and her gentle features. Secondly, when Greg first enters Cloud City, we see a black turtle travelling beside him with the rest of the animals that welcome him in, which we already suspect to be tied to the Beast or at least the darker aspects of the Unknown. Lastly and most glaring is the line, "Anything is possible if you set your mind to it." Greg said these words to the queen, and the Beast later throws these same words at Greg in the last episode of the show when forcing him to run impossible tasks. I think this reflects a lot not just on Greg's innocence and the Beast's deception as characters, but also fits with the idea of the Beast standing in as a Devil figure. Most see the Devil as a man with horns and a pitchfork while, Biblically, he's described as having been one of the most beautiful of God's angels, compared to a morning star. Evil can take a seemingly beautiful form to decieve, and that seems to be what the Beast was doing.
I actually like how auntie whispers warns about Adelaide after they’ve met. It’s like a bittersweet moment, an ‘if only I knew earlier’ moment, but not only that, the sweet innocent looking bird wirt chose to trust betrays him, but the evil sounding witchy one is the one who actually cares. And I love how they sum up this whole lesson by Greg saying hey it just goes to show you stuff. They don’t fully say ‘lol YOU THOUGHT’ but they do imply that they wanted you to realise that things aren’t always what they seem - which is the lesson that is seen in every episode
I haven't seen anyone mention it, but it's another reason why I absolutely LOVE how perfectly tied together this show is. After the opening of each episode you can actually hear the train's horns in the background. Obviously alluding to the fact that the brothers were drowning in the river after dodging said train I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH ISTG
I'm working on a thread in my head that just as the children stumbled upon the harvest festival, which would be them arriving to soon for their deaths, also the loss of the pennies is a play on the "don't pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side", which is why they place two pennies on the eyes of the dead in some funereal ceremonies. They again come upon a way to the "other side" before their times. Sorry for the run on sentence, it's kind of how it sounds in my head.
I don’t think the turtles do anything out of pure malice so I wouldn’t call them demons. I believe that the official artbook more or less calls them sins. And it says that the reason Auntie Whispers is so messed up is because the sins she eats and thereby removes from the world have ravaged her body.
yet compared to, say, Beatrice's dog or (arguably) Woodsman's daughter, she managed to somehow negate the wicked effects of the little dudes upon digestion. maybe she just has a strong enough will to not let the malice get to her head? (aka, make her go nuts like the other examples)
i think the turtles have nothing to do with the appearance of Auntie Whispers. i think she just looked that way. however, i do agree that the turtles may represent ‘sins,’ for the fact that Lorna, upon meeting Wirt and Greg, lied for the first time with Auntie Whispers. when she called them “my turtles,” it may represent them as her sins committed against her Aunt.
@@nico9457 I've also wondered if Lorna's possessed/"wicked" part of her originally came from her trying to eat the turtles like Auntie Whispers did, so that she could be closer to her as part of her family. However, Lorna probably didn't have the same inner fortitude to handle the turtle-sins the same way Auntie Whispers does.
I think episode 7 did try to convey an answer to the whole "why didn't she ever think to just do what Wirt did" point, just not super well. Each episode deals with facing the unknown in some regard. I think the episode was trying to say that, like Wirt had after being betrayed by Beatrice, Auntie Wispers has problems with fear of abandonment/betrayal, or fearing the unknown of what someone's inner thoughts truly are. She didn't do what Wirt did because she feared Laurna would abandon her if her curse was completely lifted. She needed Wirt, an outside force, to get it done and make her face that unknown by force.
Exactly. Perhaps this was her “lantern to bear.” The unknown shows us so many stories of how people deal with fear, and how much of that fear comes from them being unable to face their own personal demons, as it were. The people in the tavern keep the story of The Beast alive to serve as a warning for one another, and “he who carries the lantern must be The Beast.” This idea of “don’t go into the woods alone at night, you don’t know what you’ll find there” is a very old tale, a very old fear. Even Miss Langtree and her father face fear - beyond that of Jimmy in a gorilla costume - her that Jimmy has left her and that her father will disapprove of how she’s running the school, and her father that he’ll be unable to keep the school afloat and their dreams will come crashing down. Endicott is entranced and horrified by Margueritte in turn, and if he wasn’t pushed to face the “ghost” of her again, they would have lived in these connected houses in awe and terror, together yet apart, haunted rather than in love. Auntie Whispers keeps Lorna locked away and constantly working out of the fear of harm she could do to others, as well that if she wasn’t needed, Lorna would leave her. They have each other but are kept lonely on some levels, because Auntie Whispers doesn’t know that Lorna would stay with her out of love rather than necessity, and Lorna is unable to have friendships with other children. Even Beatrice tries to hold off and procrastinate the inevitable reveal of her lie, the consequence of Adelaide possibly harming Wirt and Greg when they meet, even if they’re kept alive in bondage. And Beatrice is driven to making the choice of seeking out two lost children as this sacrifice, who she grows to care for, out of the fear that she will never be able to fix her mistake and face her family again as humans, that she will remain the reason why they are cursed in these forms. The Woodsman, of course, also fears losing his daughter, of being the reason her light is snuffed out forever. And by being unable to face that fear, The Beast is given power to live on. The ironic tragedy is that she was waiting at home for him all this time, if he’d only had the strength to return alone, instead he himself haunts the woods, trapped in his limbo of grief. Wirt and Greg are constantly facing The Unknown, facing fear throughout their journey. It is only through Wirt standing up to terror, not giving in to despair, that he is able to bring him and his brother home. If he had given in, he and Greg would have remained there forever. The only way out of The Unknown, is through.
I actually took the episode's ending to mean that Auntie Whispers hadn't attempted it because, in the back of her mind, she feared that Lorna regaining health would lead to her own abandonment. So she focused less on "curing" Lorna and more on maintaining the status quo, even if it required her niece to remain ill... which is similar to a LOT of relationships, actually.
@@spenserdavis788 she literally says that's why, when she starts crying and says Lorna will leave her now because she is better and doesn't need aunty whispers anymore
Don't you guys think Auntie Whispers HAD to know how powerful her Bell was? That leads to a few theories of mine. Firstly, Auntie may have just decided not to banish the spirit because she thought it meant she would lose Lorna. With Adelaide being her sister and a servant of the Beast, I think it's very possible Auntie Whispers may also be in his employ, and the fact that Lorna is possessed and kills kids is what keeps the Beast convinced that she isn't trying to save the kids from Lorna. It could also be possible that Auntie wasn't able to banish the spirit herself, and Wirt somehow was able to?
I think she says something about how she didn't want Lorna to go away and that if she'd been free she'd just not need her anymore. Yeah, super toxic, I know.
@@duck1590 Yeah. It's messed up. Though, considering Lorna stayed and seemed happy, I don't think she initially meant harm. She just really wanted Lorna to stay (though asking her to visit or stay to help take care of her would be the decent way to do things).
I'm not sure, just because Auntie Whispers never acted maliciously. It could be that, to her, using the bell seemed too easy. The world runs a bit on fairytale logic, see using certain scissors to cut your wings to become human again. In other words, the answers to magic, curses, and demons are usually convoluted. She might have just convinced herself, "surely the demon possessing sweet Lorna wouldn't make it that easy to rid her of them. Best to just keep her busy while I figure it out."
I’m pretty sure it has to do with the lumberjack. The fact the answer was so simple to take away Lorna’s curse but Auntie whispers didn’t want to is a clear parallel with the lumberjack. All he had to do was blow out the lantern but he held on because he was scared of losing his daughter forever. I think the writers were using foreshadowing while also giving Wirt the idea that the answer to getting rid of the beast was a simple one
For reference to some of the slightly odd voice acting of Auntie Whispers, she's voiced by none other than Tim Curry... right after he had a rather hefty stroke. Seriously this was like the first thing he did after nearly dying. It sounds like he's doing better (he's done some other stuff since), but this was what he could do at the time for this character
Personally, when it comes to Auntie Whispers, I think this was another moment that shows everything is not as it seems in the Unknown. Adelaide is described as “the good woman of the woods” by Beatrice. This sets her up as someone who can help, & even being called ‘Adelaide of the pasture’ adds to this. A pasture is a wide, open plain, implying that there is nothing to hide w/ Adelaide, & the word itself is made up of all soft & gentle sounds. We & the boys are being pulled into a false sense of security long before we ever meet this woman, & in ways we probably didn’t realize. So later, when we’re shown Auntie Whispers who looks like an evil witch, although we should’ve learned our lesson by now, we are immediately on guard. We think she’s keeping Lorna as a slave by controlling her w/ the bell. But, as it turns out, Auntie Whispers is just a kind, lonely old woman who was trying to help. Granted it was selfish of her to not banish the evil spirit out of fear of loosing Lorna, but I can forgive that. As social creatures, the fear of being alone is real for people. As for her being in league w/ the Beast, I don’t think so. The black turtles are seen everywhere, & it’s implied that they are the Beasts eyes & ears. Auntie Whispers has baskets full of these turtles to eat, & she’s mostly unharmed afterwards. We’ve seen what happens when a normal creature eats those turtles. It’s horrifying. I like to think that AW is sacrificing herself to keep others safe. It’s also why she warned the boys about Adelaide. She cared more for the safety of two strangers than most others would, & she wasn’t afraid to expose her sister for what she really was to keep them safe. (I also think it’s a nice little bit about found family being important. AW clearly loves Lorna more than anything, & while she still calls Adelaide her sister, she doesn’t seem happy doing so.)
Meanwhile, anyone who's aware of how dangerous the summer fae court can be...well...that was enough to raise some alarm bells when i watched the episode.
I'm so glad you brought up the Queen of Cloud City being the Beast, bc it's a thought I'd had since I'd first watched the show. To me, it's especially clear just bc of the way they talk; they both have a very similar cadence in speech, and the whole dream just feels like something planted *by* the Beast in order to trick/break down Greg into submitting as well. It really feeds into the whole manipulation and deceit that the Beast is willing to do in order to achieve his goals, and he did it in a way that was most familiar to Greg; using cute animals and silly situations that would most entice and interest a child. It's especially note-worthy bc of the art style; it's *very* cartoony, not unlike Disney's Silly Symphonies, which are probably the cartoons that Greg would've been watching at the time. The Beast took this information and presented it in a way that was understandable to Greg in order to manipulate him.
I do find the idea of The Beast constantly interweaving what is soothing and pleasant with what is horrifying and full of despair to be interesting. A lantern which keeps the light of your daughter’s soul alive, so long as you keep it lit. The oil it takes to do so, the sacrifice of so many other children, you never knowing, and that the lantern you keep is of The Beast himself. A cartoonish dream scape, like something out of old Disney, to lull you to sleep as the earth freezes around you. Even how music is used, his song being bold and booming, an operatic bass, while a children’s chorus calls you to sleep. Like a lullaby. One *demanding* you submit, the other gently convincing you it would be better. Aren’t you so tired? Aren’t your eyelids getting heavy? Aren’t your limbs dragging with the weight? Why don’t you lie down and sleep for awhile, here in this bed of snow.
@@R.444- YES all of this yes! The way he talks is very soothing, and he even takes the things Greg says ("you can do anything if you set your mind to it, after all") in order to make his oblivion feel more comfortable and appealing. To me, this is why Greg's dreamscape feels so much like something the Beast planted in order to manipulate him. One way or another, he would get a soul to feed the fire, and the despair it caused would've practically guaranteed the other brother submitted as well
You know there is an episode of silly symphonies which a baby dreams of going somewhere like a cloud kingdom. I remeber neither the title nor the number of the episode but it is very similar to the younger brother's dream.
I think that Aunty Whispers warning the boys about Adelaide was important because Wirt realizes that Beatrice was tricked by her and she wasn't to blame. I think this helps along with him giving up hope because he realized that he was in the wrong for abandoning their friend and stealing those scissors to punish her.
@@CodeeXDthis isn’t true, Beatrice actually says that she thought Adelaide just wanted yard work done or something, and was horrified when she realized what Adelaide really wanted.
11:41 Just a little note, Wirt's comment on the French Rococo style clashing with Endicotts sensibility is referencing the fact that Endicott didn't build this part of the manor at all, they're in the part of the giant manor where the "ghost" women built it, hence the more french leaning
It's true McHale said the turtles were left vague intentionally as a "black thread" but I think they have something to do with sin of sorts. They tend to show up when someone has done something wrong, (i.e. the mill where Beatrice threw a rock at the blue bluebird) and in Auntie Whisper's house (where lots of people got ate) there's a whole basket. She also feeds into the folk character of a sin eater. So that makes sense as well.
I love how Over the Garden Wall takes place on Halloween. The day when the worlds of the living and the dead are closest. And that throughout the show they are constantly having to blend into the people in with the people of the unknown. The whole reason we wear costumes on Halloween is this. Love me some folklore.
In episode 8 when Greg asked for a wish from the lady i've always assumed it was him wishing for the beast to take him instead of Wirt. The lady says nothing can be done to save Wirt so Greg chose to sacrifice himself to the beast to save his brother, which is probably why the lady seems very hesitant to grant Greg's wish and even asks him "Are you sure?"
My personal thoughts on why Auntie Whispers "never thought" to fix the problem with the bell that way is that... well she did, but like she says, she was selfish and worried that Lorna would leave her if she "didn't need her" anymore. Therefore, even if she knew how to banish the evil spirit, she wouldn't because she was scared of being alone.
A few things you didn't mention: from the beginning in the intro you can hear the sound of the train. The closing song implies that none of the characters had a happy ending and everything we saw is what we simply wish it to be.
This is also kinda expanded on in the soundtrack where you get the extended version of the Old Black Train song from episode 9. The lyrics of that song heavily imply that they were actually hit by the train 😬
Yes! I’m personally on board with the theory that the boys died and the ending montage is just what we want to be. “If dreams can’t come true, then why not pretend?” Is the perfect setup for a fictional imagining. It just ends too perfectly. The loveliest lies of all? The woodsman’s dead daughter returning, Beatrice’s family actually being turned human by their wings being scissored off, Wirt and Greg returning completely unharmed, just the whole narrator dialogue surrounding the last minute is so ominous: “AND SO THE STORY IS COMPLETE, AND EVERYONE IS SATISFIED WITH THE ENDING. AND SO ON AND SO FORTH, AND YET, OVER THE GARDEN WALL...” Everyone satisfied with the ending? Yada yada yada, and YET, over the garden (or cemetery, as we come to understand it) wall. I think it implies that they really did meet their end and pass on to the next. And the Unknown is just everyone’s purgatory. I’m not sure yet it Greg and Wirt really did get to pass through and “atone.” Maybe they did. Or as for Beatrice’s mom’s song, it seems even more likely that “two are the trees,” especially since the toymaker added them to his collection of the souls of the lantern. As for everyone else, who knows? They are at least portrayed to have gone on, but then, what would the unknown be? Empty? It’s far too clean an ending for such an ambiguous metaphor for life and death and the in between and beyond. It truly is a genius piece of media, however you view it
This all makes too much sense and I'm finally realizing after all these years of watching the show. Now my heart really aches for these two fictional cartoon brothers for going out like that 😭(now im going to pretend i didn't read these and accept the satisfying ending i believed for years lol)
I remember watching this while high and thinking that Wert and Greg make a good example of the self you put forward to others and your inner child or inner self. Greg being a stand in for your inner child who just wants to have fun with everything around them and Wert being the anxious part of your brain that wants to look good in front of others no matter what.
Funny, both my sister and I have compared our brains to Wirt and Greg. One side is random goofiness and the other as this nervous perfectionism. It’s a tossup as to which side is in charge from moment to moment.
Things about the ringing of the bell: 1. Her mention of Adelaide is worldbuilding establishing that they're sisters but also by her giving the warning unprompred differentiates her as genuinely not ill intentioned though she seems similar to Adelaide 2. She thought lorna would abandon her if the demon problem was solved which is probably why she was hesitant to just banish it outright, or perhaps she didn't have the power to banish it because of being involved in witchcraft or maybe greg is just purehearted enough to banish it. And i think wirt WAS too lost as the cloud queen said. Gregs deal was for greg to take his place which is why he woke up and greg ends up with the beast
The thing that really gives this show an even bigger air of mystery is in the final episode while they’re in the hospital Greg shakes the frog around and you can see the frogs belly lighting up because of the bell which means that everything was real somehow.
maybe, since both of them nearly died- ending up so close to death that they ended up in a sort of limbo together, only Wyrt and Gregg (and anyone else having had a near-death experience) could see or hear that?
A thought on the turtles that my wife pointed out--the Black Turtle/Tortoise in Chinese mythology is associated with winter, and the show uses the progression from fall to winter as its central metaphor for death.
The algorithm gods have really been blessing me with all of these Over the Garden Wall analyses lately. I love that this series continues to draw people in. The more I live with it and hear different people’s thoughts on its themes and details, the more I appreciate it. A very nice analysis, this one. Thanks for sharing with us!
As an older brother- i resonated a lot with Wurts initial annoyance/burden of taking care of Greg. It really hit me hard when the huntsman said wurt hasnt sacrificed anything. As teens, we tend to think of simple things like "taking care" of siblings as easy but often "burdensome". In reality- taking care of siblings is the bare minimum in return for their innate love for you. Only after greg is near death does Wurt realize what it truly means to stand up for his brother.
Auntie Whispers warning the boys about her sister is all part of the fact that AW and Adelaide are almost certainly a reference to Spirited Away. Auntie Whispers resmebles the witch Yubaba, who has a sister that's a good witch. But in OTGW, the scary looking witch turns out to be good and the good witch turns out to be bad.
Something I personally noticed, though I'm not sure how intentional it was, is that when the boys each get close to being taken by the beast it's for opposite reasons! The woodsman says they need to be hardy in both body and spirit, and if you'll recall Wirt almost was taken because he gave up finding home (i.e. spirit) while Greg was almost got taken due to the cold (i.e. body). I like how this also implies that they needed each other the entire time whether they released it or not which I find really interesting!
I don't know if the Cloud Queen is The Beast, but I think Wirtt was able to free himself from the tree when he woke up either because The Beast was distracted by Greg and not paying attention to Wirt, or because Greg made a deal with The Beast to take Wirt's place. I'm sure The Beast would get Wirt as soon as Greg was dead anyway, but Greg wouldn't know that. He's innocent enough to think The Beast would stick to the deal.
Ever since I heard the idea years ago that Greg already knew everything before it would happen, I can’t watch without noticing this. He knows everything. He knows when the danger is real, and when it’s not.
A really cool detail I picked up on my first watch of the show was that Wirt spends most of the series doing what people tell him to do. Beatrice even makes a point of this back in episode 3. But the only time he ever disobeys a command is when the beast tells him to get closer and take on the lanterns curse. The fact that the only time Wirt says no is to the Beast of the woods himself is powerful, and it really signified that his change in character is complete. In that moment, the Beast knew that he had lost.
im so glad that people are finally starting to recognize this show and how good it is, i found out about it 1-2 years ago and its been my comfort show ever since. the soundtrack is amazing, the character designs and just the characters themselves are all so cute (besides the beast and the witch and stuff lol), literally just the general aesthetic of the show is so good i love it so much :))
I read the moment where Auntie Whispers said to beware Adalade as more of a moment to finally break Wurt's resolve. He had been betrayed by Beatrice, and only found out later that others knew about Adelaide. It was like Auntie Whispers shined a light on his own failures. Same kinda goes for why she never used the bell to banish the spirit. She never thought of using the bell to banish the spirit because she was afraid that if she did Lorna would no longer need her. Her fear of losing Lorna stopped her from thinking of the simple thing that would help Lorna for good.
I rewatch this series every year its a masterpiece. Something about it makes you feel like you're in some sort of dream or even a nightmare. Even though its mysterious its so oddly comforting as well. Easily one of my favorite cartoons of all time.
One thing I can contribute that doesn't seem to have been mentioned in other comments (as far as could tell) is that, in the tavern, Greg doesn't actually eat anything! If you look at the window, you can see Fred on the other side, and when Beatrice talks to him, he has his mouth covered in food. He's been sticking his head in and eating everything off the plates Greg set down. There was a deleted scene where it's more obvious he was doing so and even explain that he didn't reply to Beatrice because his mouth was full of food. Besides mealtime at Langtree school, we don't see the boys eat anything until Wirt eats whatever Beatrice's mother gave him. Probably the reason Greg eating edelwood leaves. They are hungry, but not quite too hungry. The Unknown is a place for the lost and forgotten, and it seems that this limbo keeps people a certain way since Jimmy Brown doesn't seem to have had any problems being stuck in a gorilla suit for three days.
I think that with episode 7 it also made Wirt feel more hopeless because he initially thought he had a connection of sorts with Lorna, and he was deceived again, almost confirming that he could never know who to trust, and that Beatrice wasn’t a fluke.
I watched Over the Garden Wall more than 5 years ago when it was streaming in Cartoon Network and I loved it, still do and I'm so happy people are still discovering and appreciating the series nowadays, truly a work of art
Did you ever notice the frame in which Greg and Wirt are hiding at the cemetery in episode 9 where it's telling how they got lost in the first place, and while they're hidden behind a tombstone the tombstone says the name of Quincy Endicott (that rich old man)? 😮 turns out they were both ghosts after all... both the old man and the lady he believed was a ghost :o
This is the best over the garden wall video I’ve seen, I’ve been a fan of this show since it released, even though I was like 8 and it scared my shitless you discussed details I didn’t even know after all the rewatches. I like that you didn’t nitpick every single little details that was “off” but instead you suggested new ideas of what it could be, you even stated facts that were so interesting, keep up the good work :)
I saw this show on cartoon Network at my grandparent's home. I didn't understand anything though, since it was all in Arabic. I just remember how frightening and strange it all was.
My theory on the turtles are they are just elements of evil in the unknown. I don’t know if they’re connected to the beast, but they transform the dog into something that looks similar especially where you compare the beasts eyes in the last episode to the dog’s eyes in the first. I think the fact that Auntie Whispers eats them and nothing happens to her shows that’s her sort of power as a witch in the Unknown. She doesn’t turn evil when she eats them so she’s ultimately doing good for the world by collecting and getting rid of them before other people or animals eat them and turn into monsters. Me and my girlfriend watched this and she loved the turtles and she yelled “No!” when Whispers ate one. Perhaps that helps the symbolism of them as evil, they are so slow, small, and innocent looking, but nothing should be trusted just by it’s appearance. I think I saw an interview with Patrick McHale though about the show and he said the turtles were sort of a plot hole that even they didn’t really figure out though too which is pretty funny to me.
Could have been a connection to infinity train Lorna is voiced by the same person as Amelia from infinity train Amelia plagued by turtles Again with the turtles! Why is it always turtles!!!
I always thought of them as representing sins. They transform the dog into something evil(and the dog even turned back to normal after it spit it out), they were with Lorna who had an evil spirit in her, and in Greg's dream there was a black turtle who greeted him with the other animals (if the lady turned out to be the beast, it would make even more sense as the sins would be following the beast). Plus, if the turtles are following them it could be them getting judged for their sins or it could show how they're being followed by the Beast.
@@zoetomase That's really interesting! I like that idea and how it can be something more specific like sin. I wonder what the sins of Wurt and Greg would be judged for...
The turtles gave the dog a monstrous appearance, so why not also Aunt Whispers? They're only eaten by those two characters. Also how is the dog more "evil" than Whispers? The dog is obsessed with candy, Whispers with not being left alone. Maybe the turtles didn't change their behavior, but just their size and strength.
and in the songs of the dark lantern, the Tavern Keeper says, "He who holds the Dark Lantern, must be The Beast!" and Wirt, just a few seconds later, picks up a lanterns, foreshadowing the Beast's ultimatum
21:00 I have 2 half siblings, 2 step siblings, and 1 fully biological sister. My half siblings are 9 and 11 years younger than I, so at first getting used to having 2 siblings that much younger took a lot to get used to and was pretty difficult, especially for me. I got used to them over time, thankfully, but I would say Wirt and Greg's dynamic was very faithfully portrayed especially including the large age gap between them! At the end when they are both in the hospital and the first thing Wirt did was ask where Greg was made me tear up, it was so heartwarming
I don't know why but cloud city was more than a fever dream to me. What I initially thought that it was heaven. Greg could have possible ascended to heaven and died for a brief second due to hypothermia. Which is why he was taken to the cloud kingdom. Like how the fairytale little match girl died from the cold and her dead Grandmother visited her and they both went to heaven. The cloud queen represents an angel they couldn't save Wirt because he lost faith and hope and succumb to the beast in which Greg sacrifices himself in order to save him.
I know a bunch of people probably already answered, but the deal Greg makes with the queen is to trade places with Wirt. She couldn’t help him herself, because his soul was falling under the Beast’s will already, and so Greg told her that he would take his brother’s place. That’s why Greg walks away with the Beast and Wirt can pull off the roots so easily. And it’s also why Wirt feels guilty afterward, because Greg almost died directly because of Wirt’s lack of will to live. I don’t think she works for the Beast. I think she would’ve let Greg home if he wished, but just couldn’t do the same for Wirt because of his state of mind.
I’m so glad this show is still being spoken about for being 9 years old! I was just watching this with my younger brother from start to finish and god this show was so enjoyable to watch let alone the moments I saw the twist but even until then it was to late, GOD I LUV THIS SHOW
Oooh! Another fantastic entry to add to my ever-growing playlist of Over the Garden Wall video essays! Thank you! You touched on pretty much everything I love so much about the series. I don't have any solid answers for your questions (which I honestly think makes the series better!) but here are a couple of my thoughts... Regarding the black turtles, the series creator has referred to the black turtles as "an imperfect stitch in the quilt" basically something that was added at an early stage to solve a story problem and then they just kept adding them all over the series for funsies. But that doesn't mean that no thought was given to their use. For example, the art book refers to Auntie Whispers as a "sin eater" and the only thing we see her eat is the black turtles. What this means specifically I couldn't say, but I have theories, and now I bet you do too, haha! You're probably right that her appearance is due to eating them, much like the dog, but unlike the dog she seems to be able to hold up a bit better. I totally agree regarding Adelaide, it is my one major complaint with the series (I agree about the thing with the bell too, but it bothers me much less). It might make you feel better to know that more was planned for Adelaide. She's "Adelaide of the pasture" because she lived in an actual pasture and I think her plan was to turn the boys into sheep to be part of her flock. The series, unfortunately, had its budget slashed during production and went from 19 episodes to 10, so a LOT had to be cut out and you can still see the seams from these cuts throughout the series, most notably with Adelaide. I'm assuming that whatever the full story was with Adelaide was deemed less important to the themes than the episodes that remained, but it's still a bit unsatisfying. I DO like them giving her the black widow motif over the shepherd one, though.
Auntie Whispers and Adelaide really remind me of Spirited Away’s Yubaba and Zeniba to the point that I saw the warning that “my sister is evil” as a direct reference to Spirited Away. Auntie Whispers’ design is very reminiscent to that of the twin witches from Spirited Away, with her large face and eyes.
I think the dream sequence is definitely the Beats doing. He manipulated what Greg was seeing to claim his soul but had to make a deal as much as the devil would do. Thus the reason why Wurt woke up. The Beast may have thought Wurt was a lost cause therefore took that risk, but Wurt proved him wrong in saving Greg. As for Aunty Whispers, this could have been the same fate. The Beast convinced her otherwise that the only way to be with her daughter was to feed the evil soul within her. Therefore never using the bell in fear that she would lose her daughter outright. The Beast is evil and manipulates how you perceive your situation. Similar to how he convinced the Huntsman that the only way to keep his daughter alive was to fuel the lantern, which actually was fueling the Beast himself. Damn I love this show. It's so good!!
This feels very nostlagic i vividly remember watching this for the first time on a rainy night in 2014 and my god watching this back just takes me back... I really miss this show so much.
This show is almost disgustingly amazing. Unfortunately, because of a lot of people's preconceived biases on the quality and maturity of animation as a medium, especially when family-friendly, it's very difficult to convince people to watch it, despite how incredible it is. I firmly believe it's not the medium of the story, or even necessarily minute details such as its maturity rating that really determine quality, despite what many people may think; it's how you tell a story, and emotional resonance of it, that really matters. And too many people are blind to that. Because if you can say that you didn't cry like a baby at the final scene in this show, you're either lying through your teeth due to preconceived notions about crying, or you're heartless, an idiot who can't absorb emotionally impactful stories, or, most likely, both.
Love this video so much! Here are a few notes I have. 1st The episode with Antie Whispis was actually intended to be the first episode so that's why she tells the boys to be careful of her sister. The episode was too scary so they changed it to be later in the series. (This is discussed in the concept art book) 2nd I think that Auntie Whispis didn't banish the spirit because she doesn't want to lose Laurena. This is her evil and why she can eat the turtles without turning into a beast. Her and her sister are already corrupt.
I absolutely love this show, something else that I love is the fact that this show pays homage to many classic cartoons that have come before it, two specifically are how the Highway man references Cab Calloway in Minnie the Moocher (from the classic Betty Boop cartoons), especially in his dance, and of course the famous Cloud City from the 8th episodes dream references the little Audrey short The Lost Dream. I used to watch various classic cartoons from the 40’s & 50’s so I instantly recognized the dream homage from my childhood.
I think Greg is a bit deeper than is alluded to in this video. Specifically Greg functions as the selfless, optimistic, cheerful foil to Wirt. This is especially evident as Wirt starts to cave to futility and Greg becomes “the leader”. Greg’s dream shows that he was only tethered to this state of purgatory because he wants to stay with Wirt; Greg possessed the ability the mentality to leave but chooses to stay to help his brother. Greg doesn’t need to develop as a character, but in the climax of the show he nearly perishes because of his selflessness towards his brother. This highlights his role in forcing Wirt to take responsibility and learning to care for his brother rather than relegating him as an annoyance.
In episode 8 Greg makes the wish to take his brothers place. Before going to sleep Wirt told Greg that he doesn't have a plan and now he's the one in charge, so he sacrifices himself to save his brother, that's why Wirt can just wake up from the Adelwood Tree.
I love the allegory in the song “old black train” where the train is an allegory for death. A snippet of the song plays in episode nine after Wirt and Greg’s argument when they fall in the river. “There’s an old back train a-comin’ scrapin’ long the iron. You don’t need no ticket boys it’ll take you when it’s time”
I’ve seen lots of videos discussing otgw but this one… so many details i would never notice ob my own. Makes me appreciate the show so much more, thank you!!
I was super late to this party, but after finally getting invited, I'm envious I didn't get that invitation earlier... This show was absolutely incredible, whimsical, emotionally resonant, and by far one of my favorite pieces of film media I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
About Enoch and why he is a cat: cats, especially black ones, are seen as bringers or sensors of death. There are so many stories about cats in elderly homes laying with the people who will die soon or cats owned by elderly people sensing that their owner dies soon. Apparently there is also some science behind it that people who are very close to their death have a certain smell and that cats can smell it and react to it too, because they 'know what it means' (besides their owner turning into their dinner). Some nurses in elderly homes claimed to also be able to smell this 'death sent'. I don't know any science behind it though, but this is my theory as to why Enoch is a black cat.
Hey I just wanted to expess my graitude. I actually went back and watched the show because of this video, and now after seeing your essay, I appreciate the show even more!
You are right - Fred is a Highwayman's horse, but the doll next to him is the doll of a tavern dog! In the official comics we get a little more of Fred's backstory and how he became the Highwayman's horse. 16:49 The comics do play with this idea of Wirt's and Greg's perspectives often being completely different! Also comics have a Woodsman's daughter backstory, and more fun adventures for our trio! Really recommend!
This series is very close to me. I host an annual marathon where me and some friends binge the whole series! I enjoy making the invites. Taking pics from the show and using them as backgrounds for the invitations, and then color the invites to be aesthetic to fall
I feel like Auntie Whispers warning the boys about her sister was meant to emphasize Beatrice's betrayal from the previous episode and further pushes Wirt into despair in the follow up episode.
The way that the dream episode really felt like what a dream feels like was really interesting, especially having watched the series for the first time after an edible. The way that the framing kept changing to a circle, how sometimes the point of view was the character but sometimes it was the audience... awesome stuff
I like how the tavern keeper even tells Wirt EXACTLY what the Beast’s deal is and he doesn’t even understand. Like she says he carries the dark lantern(btw is it a coincidence that the Tavern is called the Dark Lantern?) But also that the adelwood used to be lost souls that are now made into the oil to keep the beast lantern lit, and that you’ll be turned into one “once your will begins to spoil. Which is what starts to happen to Wirt before Greg makes a deal to do what the Beast says then become one himself so Wirt could live. Wirt was about to give up on everything (his whole life even) before he realized he has to take care of his brother.
I adored this show. A big regret of mine is that it came out when I was in 5th grade, back when I watched Cartoon Network all the time, but I had never watched it until literally a week ago. I was also getting into Gravity Falls at the time, so I definitely would've loved a show like this, but better late than never.
Yes exactly! Better late than never. At the time I was also around that same age and while I remember the show being great I didn’t have as much of an inclination to rewatching it on a yearly basis and recommending the duck out of it until my mom watched it and became a HUGE fan. Now it’s tradition in our household to watch it every year around fall time. I’m so glad people recognize it for the masterpiece that it is!
something else cool about beatrice’s dog becoming the beast: it turned “evil” because it was following greg’s candy trail and ate the turtle he put candy on earlier in the episode. just something i noticed!
Consider subscribing for more content like this! :D
9 months later 😅
I like This my sis cried at it
In the ringing of the bells you mention that you felt the mentioning of her sister Adelaide being somewhat redundant. But she is called Auntie whispers, and maybe suggesting her niece would be the daughter of the evil Adelaide and the evil spirit within? Whispers taking lorna to prevent her from being an agent of the beast or rather the spirit bound to the bell, like the beast bound to the lantern.
HEY PLEASE READ: One thing I was surprised I noticed in episode one that was a sweet detail:
Everything Greg touched before the woodman got knocked out was involved in him ironically getting knocked out when Greg missed and only hit his hat (lol). Also the only detail that I hadn’t noticed myself from this video (I’m 6 minutes in) was the McLaughlin brothers and the toy maker part of the intro. This show is crazy I just finished last night (was so scared to watch it as a child when it first came out. So eerie. Just anxious)
on which site did you find it, I've been looking for it for months@@gezbruh3303
In many cultures people used to believe cats guide people to the afterlife or that cats are able to interact with both the living and dead. Maybe that's why it's a cat.
I like this perspective 👍🏻
Also the name Enoch is from the book of Enoch, he judges souls
@@erikaburris4349 interestingly, it is said in I believe Dante's Paradiso or smth that animals serve as unbiased judges serving God. Considering the Unknown seems to be loosely inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy's depiction of Hell, Enoch being a cat might be directly inspired by this concept and have been conflated with the Biblical character of Enoch.
Animals seem removed from the humans in the Unknown. They are autonomous fishermen, creatures that have their own routine in the ecosystem like the frogs, or a talking horse without a care in the world. Humans in the Unknown are each clearly fighting their own demons, while animals never more than get dragged into their affairs.
This is also probably why Beatrice wants to turn her family back into humans: birds are animals, without soul. Without a soul but still human in essence, her family cannot truly move on or assimilate. When they finally turn back human, they literally find a home in the Unknown
The universal cat distribution system also involves purgatory I guess
@@nuttynutsnutstache people do generally see cats as untrustworthy cause of the eyes and face
In regards to episode 7 and Auntie Whispers warning them about her sister, I think that since we already know Adelaide is evil, her warning statement hits even harder. This initially terrifying woman ends up being more concerned for their safety than Beatrice who Wirt grew to trust, cementing her betrayal and the hopelessness of their scenario even further into Wirt's head. It's like another punch to the gut for Wirt who's confidence is already waning, leading into him giving up completely. You can see this on his face when he reacts.
Also yes, I do believe that the Queen in episode 8 is the beast. As you mentioned, the queen is bird themed to reference the favor Beatrice says she'll grant Greg, which I believe also proves that she is not trustworthy, as Beatrice ended up betraying the boys.
Anyone else jump to the comments to make this exact point, and then found it put here so eloquently?
Wow way to spoiler, Ben :(
She also eat the black turtles the Beast was using to stalk it's victims .
She knows of the Beast and how he manipulates her sister's mind.
Adelaide herself was talking about how the Beast was the one commanding her to do all this.
She so much depended on the Beast that she could survive the night's air.
@@chrissi975 why were you here, if you hadn't seen it fully?
Details of note:
Beatrice is the name of Dante’s guide through purgatory and heaven the the Divine Comedy.
Enoch the patriarch is tasked with watching over the dead in the Old Testament.
No person other than Greg eats until the last episode when Wirt eats dirt.
Greg rings the bell inside the frog in the hospital after they return.
Wirt and Greg need two pennies to take the ferry across the river to the pasture, just like the dead in Greek mythology.
Technically, Dante's guide in purgatory was Virgil but Beatrice is his guide in heaven
@@yunamchill9169 yeah you’re right. Beatrice only shows up near the end of purgatory
Cool ✨
They need drachmas in greek mythology which are worth significantly more than a penny in comparison Itt's more be akin to a $100 coin
would greg throwing away the coins also then symbolize their refusal to die?
I don't think this was mentioned, so if it's was I'm sorry my memory is awful, but I love the detail of how it slowly begins to get colder and how it seems to change seasons. Obviously, the boys didn't spend months in the lake as they would have drowned but I always felt the snow represented how they all slowly getting colder and closer to death.
I hear they were originally gonna be lost in the real world until winter but I'm not sure on that
I never thought of that!! That's very clever!
@Emma__O I heard that too, apparently they were originally meant to come back at around Christmas
@@zoetomaseon my initial watch through that’s what I thought would happen once I reached Into the Unknown and there would be a scene at the end of them coming home after months of being missing
@@zoetomase THAT WOULD PUT THIS IN A LONG LINE OF NATIVITY STORIES, SO PROBABLY GOOD THEY DIDN'T GO THAT DIRECTION WITH IT
I think it’s also nice that Greg isn’t a super “deep” character. I mean he’s a little 5 year old boy.
They are meant to be innocent and not filled with the need to “change / grow” as a person. (Besides physically lol)
I like how Greg is almost oblivious to the seriousness of certain situations. Just like an actual little kid.
Because of the drastic personality and mental capacity differences.
It also makes Wirt that much more of a relatable teenager. A lot of situations are out of his hands! (Like Greg’s dad marrying Wirts mom) Making the responsibilities Wirt does that much more overwhelming for him. Like taking responsibility for his new little brother.
Just wanna point out wirts mom is also Greg's mom. They're half brothers which also adds to wirts anger toward him and partially why he always blames Greg
Greg changes a little. He goes from being a bit of a nuisance to being a hero. He chose to take Wirt’s place
We just going to skip over how Beatrice was trying to get them kicked off the boat throughout the episode because by that point she'd fully decided she didn't want to bring them to adalaide.
yeah, no one ever points that out
I've seen some discussions of the queen being the Beast in disguise, and the more I rewatch the episode the more accurate that seems to be for a few reasons. First is the audio and visual clues. The queen's pattern of speech matches the Beast's: Both speak in the same, luring tone. Then, when Greg is talking to her, we get this creepy camera shot looking up at her face, almost as if she's looming over us as the audience, which gives an eerie vibe despite the brighter colors and her gentle features. Secondly, when Greg first enters Cloud City, we see a black turtle travelling beside him with the rest of the animals that welcome him in, which we already suspect to be tied to the Beast or at least the darker aspects of the Unknown. Lastly and most glaring is the line, "Anything is possible if you set your mind to it." Greg said these words to the queen, and the Beast later throws these same words at Greg in the last episode of the show when forcing him to run impossible tasks.
I think this reflects a lot not just on Greg's innocence and the Beast's deception as characters, but also fits with the idea of the Beast standing in as a Devil figure. Most see the Devil as a man with horns and a pitchfork while, Biblically, he's described as having been one of the most beautiful of God's angels, compared to a morning star. Evil can take a seemingly beautiful form to decieve, and that seems to be what the Beast was doing.
I love that 😍✨😍✨😍✨
Such a genius show
Ok, that made my day.
Ooooh, I haven't thought of that! I had assumed she was an antithesis of the Beast, but your theory makes more sense!
Beautifully put
"We're here to burgle your turts" 😂❤
That's my favorite line in the show
Same
I actually like how auntie whispers warns about Adelaide after they’ve met. It’s like a bittersweet moment, an ‘if only I knew earlier’ moment, but not only that, the sweet innocent looking bird wirt chose to trust betrays him, but the evil sounding witchy one is the one who actually cares. And I love how they sum up this whole lesson by Greg saying hey it just goes to show you stuff. They don’t fully say ‘lol YOU THOUGHT’ but they do imply that they wanted you to realise that things aren’t always what they seem - which is the lesson that is seen in every episode
One thing you didn't mention: this show has one of Cartoon Network's best soundtracks
Thank you "The blasting company" (formerly "The Petrojvic Blasting Company". LOOK. THEM. UP.)
@@BriManeelyand Patrick mchales music too !
That's a rock fact
REAL
I haven't seen anyone mention it, but it's another reason why I absolutely LOVE how perfectly tied together this show is. After the opening of each episode you can actually hear the train's horns in the background. Obviously alluding to the fact that the brothers were drowning in the river after dodging said train
I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH ISTG
I'm working on a thread in my head that just as the children stumbled upon the harvest festival, which would be them arriving to soon for their deaths, also the loss of the pennies is a play on the "don't pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side", which is why they place two pennies on the eyes of the dead in some funereal ceremonies. They again come upon a way to the "other side" before their times. Sorry for the run on sentence, it's kind of how it sounds in my head.
I don’t think the turtles do anything out of pure malice so I wouldn’t call them demons. I believe that the official artbook more or less calls them sins. And it says that the reason Auntie Whispers is so messed up is because the sins she eats and thereby removes from the world have ravaged her body.
yet compared to, say, Beatrice's dog or (arguably) Woodsman's daughter, she managed to somehow negate the wicked effects of the little dudes upon digestion.
maybe she just has a strong enough will to not let the malice get to her head? (aka, make her go nuts like the other examples)
i think the turtles have nothing to do with the appearance of Auntie Whispers. i think she just looked that way. however, i do agree that the turtles may represent ‘sins,’ for the fact that Lorna, upon meeting Wirt and Greg, lied for the first time with Auntie Whispers. when she called them “my turtles,” it may represent them as her sins committed against her Aunt.
Thus making her a literal sin-eater.
@@nico9457
I've also wondered if Lorna's possessed/"wicked" part of her originally came from her trying to eat the turtles like Auntie Whispers did, so that she could be closer to her as part of her family. However, Lorna probably didn't have the same inner fortitude to handle the turtle-sins the same way Auntie Whispers does.
@@BobbinRobbin777 that makes sense
I think episode 7 did try to convey an answer to the whole "why didn't she ever think to just do what Wirt did" point, just not super well. Each episode deals with facing the unknown in some regard. I think the episode was trying to say that, like Wirt had after being betrayed by Beatrice, Auntie Wispers has problems with fear of abandonment/betrayal, or fearing the unknown of what someone's inner thoughts truly are. She didn't do what Wirt did because she feared Laurna would abandon her if her curse was completely lifted. She needed Wirt, an outside force, to get it done and make her face that unknown by force.
Exactly. Perhaps this was her “lantern to bear.” The unknown shows us so many stories of how people deal with fear, and how much of that fear comes from them being unable to face their own personal demons, as it were. The people in the tavern keep the story of The Beast alive to serve as a warning for one another, and “he who carries the lantern must be The Beast.” This idea of “don’t go into the woods alone at night, you don’t know what you’ll find there” is a very old tale, a very old fear. Even Miss Langtree and her father face fear - beyond that of Jimmy in a gorilla costume - her that Jimmy has left her and that her father will disapprove of how she’s running the school, and her father that he’ll be unable to keep the school afloat and their dreams will come crashing down. Endicott is entranced and horrified by Margueritte in turn, and if he wasn’t pushed to face the “ghost” of her again, they would have lived in these connected houses in awe and terror, together yet apart, haunted rather than in love. Auntie Whispers keeps Lorna locked away and constantly working out of the fear of harm she could do to others, as well that if she wasn’t needed, Lorna would leave her. They have each other but are kept lonely on some levels, because Auntie Whispers doesn’t know that Lorna would stay with her out of love rather than necessity, and Lorna is unable to have friendships with other children. Even Beatrice tries to hold off and procrastinate the inevitable reveal of her lie, the consequence of Adelaide possibly harming Wirt and Greg when they meet, even if they’re kept alive in bondage. And Beatrice is driven to making the choice of seeking out two lost children as this sacrifice, who she grows to care for, out of the fear that she will never be able to fix her mistake and face her family again as humans, that she will remain the reason why they are cursed in these forms. The Woodsman, of course, also fears losing his daughter, of being the reason her light is snuffed out forever. And by being unable to face that fear, The Beast is given power to live on. The ironic tragedy is that she was waiting at home for him all this time, if he’d only had the strength to return alone, instead he himself haunts the woods, trapped in his limbo of grief. Wirt and Greg are constantly facing The Unknown, facing fear throughout their journey. It is only through Wirt standing up to terror, not giving in to despair, that he is able to bring him and his brother home. If he had given in, he and Greg would have remained there forever.
The only way out of The Unknown, is through.
She made it obvious she feared being left behind, I'm surprised people didn't know
I actually took the episode's ending to mean that Auntie Whispers hadn't attempted it because, in the back of her mind, she feared that Lorna regaining health would lead to her own abandonment. So she focused less on "curing" Lorna and more on maintaining the status quo, even if it required her niece to remain ill... which is similar to a LOT of relationships, actually.
@@spenserdavis788 she literally says that's why, when she starts crying and says Lorna will leave her now because she is better and doesn't need aunty whispers anymore
Don't you guys think Auntie Whispers HAD to know how powerful her Bell was? That leads to a few theories of mine. Firstly, Auntie may have just decided not to banish the spirit because she thought it meant she would lose Lorna. With Adelaide being her sister and a servant of the Beast, I think it's very possible Auntie Whispers may also be in his employ, and the fact that Lorna is possessed and kills kids is what keeps the Beast convinced that she isn't trying to save the kids from Lorna. It could also be possible that Auntie wasn't able to banish the spirit herself, and Wirt somehow was able to?
I think she says something about how she didn't want Lorna to go away and that if she'd been free she'd just not need her anymore. Yeah, super toxic, I know.
pretty sure she essentially admitted that after wirt used the bell.
@@duck1590 Yeah. It's messed up. Though, considering Lorna stayed and seemed happy, I don't think she initially meant harm. She just really wanted Lorna to stay (though asking her to visit or stay to help take care of her would be the decent way to do things).
I'm not sure, just because Auntie Whispers never acted maliciously. It could be that, to her, using the bell seemed too easy. The world runs a bit on fairytale logic, see using certain scissors to cut your wings to become human again. In other words, the answers to magic, curses, and demons are usually convoluted. She might have just convinced herself, "surely the demon possessing sweet Lorna wouldn't make it that easy to rid her of them. Best to just keep her busy while I figure it out."
I’m pretty sure it has to do with the lumberjack. The fact the answer was so simple to take away Lorna’s curse but Auntie whispers didn’t want to is a clear parallel with the lumberjack. All he had to do was blow out the lantern but he held on because he was scared of losing his daughter forever. I think the writers were using foreshadowing while also giving Wirt the idea that the answer to getting rid of the beast was a simple one
I’m wondering how I’ve never noticed that the “garden” was the cemetery. It just never clicked until now. Gave me chills.
I was a highway man
I kinda figured bc the show is called Over the Garden Wall and that's where they go over a wall, but I hadn't caught the sign!
For reference to some of the slightly odd voice acting of Auntie Whispers, she's voiced by none other than Tim Curry... right after he had a rather hefty stroke. Seriously this was like the first thing he did after nearly dying. It sounds like he's doing better (he's done some other stuff since), but this was what he could do at the time for this character
I thought it was intentionally odd because it’s weird and funny.
Its also exactly what they wanted. Auntie whispers never raises her voice above a whisper after all
It’s honestly amazing, it’s horrible but it legitimately works really well
Personally, when it comes to Auntie Whispers, I think this was another moment that shows everything is not as it seems in the Unknown. Adelaide is described as “the good woman of the woods” by Beatrice. This sets her up as someone who can help, & even being called ‘Adelaide of the pasture’ adds to this. A pasture is a wide, open plain, implying that there is nothing to hide w/ Adelaide, & the word itself is made up of all soft & gentle sounds. We & the boys are being pulled into a false sense of security long before we ever meet this woman, & in ways we probably didn’t realize.
So later, when we’re shown Auntie Whispers who looks like an evil witch, although we should’ve learned our lesson by now, we are immediately on guard. We think she’s keeping Lorna as a slave by controlling her w/ the bell. But, as it turns out, Auntie Whispers is just a kind, lonely old woman who was trying to help. Granted it was selfish of her to not banish the evil spirit out of fear of loosing Lorna, but I can forgive that. As social creatures, the fear of being alone is real for people.
As for her being in league w/ the Beast, I don’t think so. The black turtles are seen everywhere, & it’s implied that they are the Beasts eyes & ears. Auntie Whispers has baskets full of these turtles to eat, & she’s mostly unharmed afterwards. We’ve seen what happens when a normal creature eats those turtles. It’s horrifying. I like to think that AW is sacrificing herself to keep others safe. It’s also why she warned the boys about Adelaide. She cared more for the safety of two strangers than most others would, & she wasn’t afraid to expose her sister for what she really was to keep them safe. (I also think it’s a nice little bit about found family being important. AW clearly loves Lorna more than anything, & while she still calls Adelaide her sister, she doesn’t seem happy doing so.)
Meanwhile, anyone who's aware of how dangerous the summer fae court can be...well...that was enough to raise some alarm bells when i watched the episode.
@@fractalgem True. I hadn’t even considered that angle.
really enjoyed reading this. Just wanted to say.
I'm so glad you brought up the Queen of Cloud City being the Beast, bc it's a thought I'd had since I'd first watched the show. To me, it's especially clear just bc of the way they talk; they both have a very similar cadence in speech, and the whole dream just feels like something planted *by* the Beast in order to trick/break down Greg into submitting as well. It really feeds into the whole manipulation and deceit that the Beast is willing to do in order to achieve his goals, and he did it in a way that was most familiar to Greg; using cute animals and silly situations that would most entice and interest a child.
It's especially note-worthy bc of the art style; it's *very* cartoony, not unlike Disney's Silly Symphonies, which are probably the cartoons that Greg would've been watching at the time. The Beast took this information and presented it in a way that was understandable to Greg in order to manipulate him.
I do find the idea of The Beast constantly interweaving what is soothing and pleasant with what is horrifying and full of despair to be interesting. A lantern which keeps the light of your daughter’s soul alive, so long as you keep it lit. The oil it takes to do so, the sacrifice of so many other children, you never knowing, and that the lantern you keep is of The Beast himself. A cartoonish dream scape, like something out of old Disney, to lull you to sleep as the earth freezes around you. Even how music is used, his song being bold and booming, an operatic bass, while a children’s chorus calls you to sleep. Like a lullaby. One *demanding* you submit, the other gently convincing you it would be better. Aren’t you so tired? Aren’t your eyelids getting heavy? Aren’t your limbs dragging with the weight? Why don’t you lie down and sleep for awhile, here in this bed of snow.
@@R.444- YES all of this yes! The way he talks is very soothing, and he even takes the things Greg says ("you can do anything if you set your mind to it, after all") in order to make his oblivion feel more comfortable and appealing. To me, this is why Greg's dreamscape feels so much like something the Beast planted in order to manipulate him. One way or another, he would get a soul to feed the fire, and the despair it caused would've practically guaranteed the other brother submitted as well
You know there is an episode of silly symphonies which a baby dreams of going somewhere like a cloud kingdom. I remeber neither the title nor the number of the episode but it is very similar to the younger brother's dream.
I think that Aunty Whispers warning the boys about Adelaide was important because Wirt realizes that Beatrice was tricked by her and she wasn't to blame. I think this helps along with him giving up hope because he realized that he was in the wrong for abandoning their friend and stealing those scissors to punish her.
Beatrice was never tricked though. She was willingly traded them knowing what she had planned she just didnt care until she got to know them
@@CodeeXDthis isn’t true, Beatrice actually says that she thought Adelaide just wanted yard work done or something, and was horrified when she realized what Adelaide really wanted.
11:41 Just a little note, Wirt's comment on the French Rococo style clashing with Endicotts sensibility is referencing the fact that Endicott didn't build this part of the manor at all, they're in the part of the giant manor where the "ghost" women built it, hence the more french leaning
It's true McHale said the turtles were left vague intentionally as a "black thread" but I think they have something to do with sin of sorts. They tend to show up when someone has done something wrong, (i.e. the mill where Beatrice threw a rock at the blue bluebird) and in Auntie Whisper's house (where lots of people got ate) there's a whole basket. She also feeds into the folk character of a sin eater. So that makes sense as well.
Again with the turtles! Why is it always turtles!!!
I love how Over the Garden Wall takes place on Halloween. The day when the worlds of the living and the dead are closest.
And that throughout the show they are constantly having to blend into the people in with the people of the unknown. The whole reason we wear costumes on Halloween is this.
Love me some folklore.
In episode 8 when Greg asked for a wish from the lady i've always assumed it was him wishing for the beast to take him instead of Wirt. The lady says nothing can be done to save Wirt so Greg chose to sacrifice himself to the beast to save his brother, which is probably why the lady seems very hesitant to grant Greg's wish and even asks him "Are you sure?"
My personal thoughts on why Auntie Whispers "never thought" to fix the problem with the bell that way is that... well she did, but like she says, she was selfish and worried that Lorna would leave her if she "didn't need her" anymore. Therefore, even if she knew how to banish the evil spirit, she wouldn't because she was scared of being alone.
A few things you didn't mention: from the beginning in the intro you can hear the sound of the train. The closing song implies that none of the characters had a happy ending and everything we saw is what we simply wish it to be.
This is also kinda expanded on in the soundtrack where you get the extended version of the Old Black Train song from episode 9. The lyrics of that song heavily imply that they were actually hit by the train 😬
Yes! I’m personally on board with the theory that the boys died and the ending montage is just what we want to be. “If dreams can’t come true, then why not pretend?” Is the perfect setup for a fictional imagining. It just ends too perfectly. The loveliest lies of all? The woodsman’s dead daughter returning, Beatrice’s family actually being turned human by their wings being scissored off, Wirt and Greg returning completely unharmed, just the whole narrator dialogue surrounding the last minute is so ominous: “AND SO THE STORY IS COMPLETE, AND EVERYONE IS SATISFIED WITH THE ENDING. AND SO ON AND SO FORTH, AND YET, OVER THE GARDEN WALL...”
Everyone satisfied with the ending? Yada yada yada, and YET, over the garden (or cemetery, as we come to understand it) wall. I think it implies that they really did meet their end and pass on to the next. And the Unknown is just everyone’s purgatory. I’m not sure yet it Greg and Wirt really did get to pass through and “atone.” Maybe they did. Or as for Beatrice’s mom’s song, it seems even more likely that “two are the trees,” especially since the toymaker added them to his collection of the souls of the lantern. As for everyone else, who knows? They are at least portrayed to have gone on, but then, what would the unknown be? Empty? It’s far too clean an ending for such an ambiguous metaphor for life and death and the in between and beyond. It truly is a genius piece of media, however you view it
@@ChristmasN0201In reality Jason got the girl.
This all makes too much sense and I'm finally realizing after all these years of watching the show. Now my heart really aches for these two fictional cartoon brothers for going out like that 😭(now im going to pretend i didn't read these and accept the satisfying ending i believed for years lol)
I remember watching this while high and thinking that Wert and Greg make a good example of the self you put forward to others and your inner child or inner self. Greg being a stand in for your inner child who just wants to have fun with everything around them and Wert being the anxious part of your brain that wants to look good in front of others no matter what.
Funny, both my sister and I have compared our brains to Wirt and Greg. One side is random goofiness and the other as this nervous perfectionism. It’s a tossup as to which side is in charge from moment to moment.
Things about the ringing of the bell:
1. Her mention of Adelaide is worldbuilding establishing that they're sisters but also by her giving the warning unprompred differentiates her as genuinely not ill intentioned though she seems similar to Adelaide
2. She thought lorna would abandon her if the demon problem was solved which is probably why she was hesitant to just banish it outright, or perhaps she didn't have the power to banish it because of being involved in witchcraft or maybe greg is just purehearted enough to banish it.
And i think wirt WAS too lost as the cloud queen said. Gregs deal was for greg to take his place which is why he woke up and greg ends up with the beast
The thing that really gives this show an even bigger air of mystery is in the final episode while they’re in the hospital Greg shakes the frog around and you can see the frogs belly lighting up because of the bell which means that everything was real somehow.
maybe, since both of them nearly died- ending up so close to death that they ended up in a sort of limbo together, only Wyrt and Gregg (and anyone else having had a near-death experience) could see or hear that?
A thought on the turtles that my wife pointed out--the Black Turtle/Tortoise in Chinese mythology is associated with winter, and the show uses the progression from fall to winter as its central metaphor for death.
The algorithm gods have really been blessing me with all of these Over the Garden Wall analyses lately.
I love that this series continues to draw people in. The more I live with it and hear different people’s thoughts on its themes and details, the more I appreciate it.
A very nice analysis, this one. Thanks for sharing with us!
Same here! If you haven't watched it, see Jhonnytwocellos' video. It's really good and actually gave a lot of new information to me
Same
As an older brother- i resonated a lot with Wurts initial annoyance/burden of taking care of Greg.
It really hit me hard when the huntsman said wurt hasnt sacrificed anything. As teens, we tend to think of simple things like "taking care" of siblings as easy but often "burdensome".
In reality- taking care of siblings is the bare minimum in return for their innate love for you.
Only after greg is near death does Wurt realize what it truly means to stand up for his brother.
The number one mark of a good show is being able to get more out of it each time you watch it.
Auntie Whispers warning the boys about her sister is all part of the fact that AW and Adelaide are almost certainly a reference to Spirited Away. Auntie Whispers resmebles the witch Yubaba, who has a sister that's a good witch. But in OTGW, the scary looking witch turns out to be good and the good witch turns out to be bad.
This crossed my mind too, glad someone else spotted it!
I thought the same thing
it was the first thing i thought when i saw auntie whispers! and then when she mentioned that adelaide was her sister i just reassured it
@jamesgabrielmartin9568 YOOO SAMEEE. I swear I feel this show is a mix of gravity falls, Alice in wonderland and a dash of spirited away
Something I personally noticed, though I'm not sure how intentional it was, is that when the boys each get close to being taken by the beast it's for opposite reasons! The woodsman says they need to be hardy in both body and spirit, and if you'll recall Wirt almost was taken because he gave up finding home (i.e. spirit) while Greg was almost got taken due to the cold (i.e. body). I like how this also implies that they needed each other the entire time whether they released it or not which I find really interesting!
I've been obsessed with OTGW for YEARS and I share it with all my closest friends. It's just unbelievable how good it is and a timeless rewatch.
I don't know if the Cloud Queen is The Beast, but I think Wirtt was able to free himself from the tree when he woke up either because The Beast was distracted by Greg and not paying attention to Wirt, or because Greg made a deal with The Beast to take Wirt's place. I'm sure The Beast would get Wirt as soon as Greg was dead anyway, but Greg wouldn't know that. He's innocent enough to think The Beast would stick to the deal.
10:02 that's not Fred, that's the dog in the tavern who lies in front of the door
I always thought that figure looked an awful lot like a Fullmetal Alchemist character, but the dog from the tavern makes WAY more sense!
👍🏼 agreed
Ever since I heard the idea years ago that Greg already knew everything before it would happen, I can’t watch without noticing this. He knows everything. He knows when the danger is real, and when it’s not.
A really cool detail I picked up on my first watch of the show was that Wirt spends most of the series doing what people tell him to do. Beatrice even makes a point of this back in episode 3. But the only time he ever disobeys a command is when the beast tells him to get closer and take on the lanterns curse. The fact that the only time Wirt says no is to the Beast of the woods himself is powerful, and it really signified that his change in character is complete. In that moment, the Beast knew that he had lost.
I've watched this show more times than I care to admit, and even I only discovered things I didn't know watching this video.
im so glad that people are finally starting to recognize this show and how good it is, i found out about it 1-2 years ago and its been my comfort show ever since. the soundtrack is amazing, the character designs and just the characters themselves are all so cute (besides the beast and the witch and stuff lol), literally just the general aesthetic of the show is so good i love it so much :))
I read the moment where Auntie Whispers said to beware Adalade as more of a moment to finally break Wurt's resolve. He had been betrayed by Beatrice, and only found out later that others knew about Adelaide. It was like Auntie Whispers shined a light on his own failures.
Same kinda goes for why she never used the bell to banish the spirit. She never thought of using the bell to banish the spirit because she was afraid that if she did Lorna would no longer need her. Her fear of losing Lorna stopped her from thinking of the simple thing that would help Lorna for good.
I rewatch this series every year its a masterpiece. Something about it makes you feel like you're in some sort of dream or even a nightmare. Even though its mysterious its so oddly comforting as well. Easily one of my favorite cartoons of all time.
One thing I can contribute that doesn't seem to have been mentioned in other comments (as far as could tell) is that, in the tavern, Greg doesn't actually eat anything! If you look at the window, you can see Fred on the other side, and when Beatrice talks to him, he has his mouth covered in food.
He's been sticking his head in and eating everything off the plates Greg set down. There was a deleted scene where it's more obvious he was doing so and even explain that he didn't reply to Beatrice because his mouth was full of food.
Besides mealtime at Langtree school, we don't see the boys eat anything until Wirt eats whatever Beatrice's mother gave him.
Probably the reason Greg eating edelwood leaves. They are hungry, but not quite too hungry.
The Unknown is a place for the lost and forgotten, and it seems that this limbo keeps people a certain way since Jimmy Brown doesn't seem to have had any problems being stuck in a gorilla suit for three days.
I think that with episode 7 it also made Wirt feel more hopeless because he initially thought he had a connection of sorts with Lorna, and he was deceived again, almost confirming that he could never know who to trust, and that Beatrice wasn’t a fluke.
I watched Over the Garden Wall more than 5 years ago when it was streaming in Cartoon Network and I loved it, still do and I'm so happy people are still discovering and appreciating the series nowadays, truly a work of art
10:02 that figure is not the highway man’s horse, its the dog in the tavern that was sleeping at the door.
Truth
Did you ever notice the frame in which Greg and Wirt are hiding at the cemetery in episode 9 where it's telling how they got lost in the first place, and while they're hidden behind a tombstone the tombstone says the name of Quincy Endicott (that rich old man)? 😮 turns out they were both ghosts after all... both the old man and the lady he believed was a ghost :o
This is the best over the garden wall video I’ve seen, I’ve been a fan of this show since it released, even though I was like 8 and it scared my shitless you discussed details I didn’t even know after all the rewatches. I like that you didn’t nitpick every single little details that was “off” but instead you suggested new ideas of what it could be, you even stated facts that were so interesting, keep up the good work :)
I saw this show on cartoon Network at my grandparent's home. I didn't understand anything though, since it was all in Arabic. I just remember how frightening and strange it all was.
My theory on the turtles are they are just elements of evil in the unknown. I don’t know if they’re connected to the beast, but they transform the dog into something that looks similar especially where you compare the beasts eyes in the last episode to the dog’s eyes in the first. I think the fact that Auntie Whispers eats them and nothing happens to her shows that’s her sort of power as a witch in the Unknown. She doesn’t turn evil when she eats them so she’s ultimately doing good for the world by collecting and getting rid of them before other people or animals eat them and turn into monsters. Me and my girlfriend watched this and she loved the turtles and she yelled “No!” when Whispers ate one. Perhaps that helps the symbolism of them as evil, they are so slow, small, and innocent looking, but nothing should be trusted just by it’s appearance.
I think I saw an interview with Patrick McHale though about the show and he said the turtles were sort of a plot hole that even they didn’t really figure out though too which is pretty funny to me.
Could have been a connection to infinity train
Lorna is voiced by the same person as Amelia from infinity train
Amelia plagued by turtles
Again with the turtles! Why is it always turtles!!!
I always thought of them as representing sins. They transform the dog into something evil(and the dog even turned back to normal after it spit it out), they were with Lorna who had an evil spirit in her, and in Greg's dream there was a black turtle who greeted him with the other animals (if the lady turned out to be the beast, it would make even more sense as the sins would be following the beast). Plus, if the turtles are following them it could be them getting judged for their sins or it could show how they're being followed by the Beast.
@@zoetomase That's really interesting! I like that idea and how it can be something more specific like sin. I wonder what the sins of Wurt and Greg would be judged for...
The turtles gave the dog a monstrous appearance, so why not also Aunt Whispers?
They're only eaten by those two characters. Also how is the dog more "evil" than Whispers? The dog is obsessed with candy, Whispers with not being left alone. Maybe the turtles didn't change their behavior, but just their size and strength.
and in the songs of the dark lantern, the Tavern Keeper says, "He who holds the Dark Lantern, must be The Beast!" and Wirt, just a few seconds later, picks up a lanterns, foreshadowing the Beast's ultimatum
Maybe the beast was carrying his own lantern at the start and then got lazy and thought of the ploy of tricking others into fueling it.
21:00 I have 2 half siblings, 2 step siblings, and 1 fully biological sister. My half siblings are 9 and 11 years younger than I, so at first getting used to having 2 siblings that much younger took a lot to get used to and was pretty difficult, especially for me. I got used to them over time, thankfully, but I would say Wirt and Greg's dynamic was very faithfully portrayed especially including the large age gap between them! At the end when they are both in the hospital and the first thing Wirt did was ask where Greg was made me tear up, it was so heartwarming
9:13 it's not Greg eating the food, he's giving it to the horse. That's why the horse has marks on his mouth
15:45, the warning that auntie whispers game them was to show the concern that she had over travelers and his sister, showing the magnitude of fear
I don't know why but cloud city was more than a fever dream to me. What I initially thought that it was heaven. Greg could have possible ascended to heaven and died for a brief second due to hypothermia. Which is why he was taken to the cloud kingdom. Like how the fairytale little match girl died from the cold and her dead Grandmother visited her and they both went to heaven. The cloud queen represents an angel they couldn't save Wirt because he lost faith and hope and succumb to the beast in which Greg sacrifices himself in order to save him.
I know a bunch of people probably already answered, but the deal Greg makes with the queen is to trade places with Wirt. She couldn’t help him herself, because his soul was falling under the Beast’s will already, and so Greg told her that he would take his brother’s place. That’s why Greg walks away with the Beast and Wirt can pull off the roots so easily. And it’s also why Wirt feels guilty afterward, because Greg almost died directly because of Wirt’s lack of will to live.
I don’t think she works for the Beast. I think she would’ve let Greg home if he wished, but just couldn’t do the same for Wirt because of his state of mind.
This is an amazing community. So fun and entertaining to read what FDF missed or left out. Amazing show!
I’m so glad this show is still being spoken about for being 9 years old! I was just watching this with my younger brother from start to finish and god this show was so enjoyable to watch let alone the moments I saw the twist but even until then it was to late, GOD I LUV THIS SHOW
Oooh! Another fantastic entry to add to my ever-growing playlist of Over the Garden Wall video essays! Thank you!
You touched on pretty much everything I love so much about the series. I don't have any solid answers for your questions (which I honestly think makes the series better!) but here are a couple of my thoughts...
Regarding the black turtles, the series creator has referred to the black turtles as "an imperfect stitch in the quilt" basically something that was added at an early stage to solve a story problem and then they just kept adding them all over the series for funsies. But that doesn't mean that no thought was given to their use. For example, the art book refers to Auntie Whispers as a "sin eater" and the only thing we see her eat is the black turtles. What this means specifically I couldn't say, but I have theories, and now I bet you do too, haha! You're probably right that her appearance is due to eating them, much like the dog, but unlike the dog she seems to be able to hold up a bit better.
I totally agree regarding Adelaide, it is my one major complaint with the series (I agree about the thing with the bell too, but it bothers me much less). It might make you feel better to know that more was planned for Adelaide. She's "Adelaide of the pasture" because she lived in an actual pasture and I think her plan was to turn the boys into sheep to be part of her flock. The series, unfortunately, had its budget slashed during production and went from 19 episodes to 10, so a LOT had to be cut out and you can still see the seams from these cuts throughout the series, most notably with Adelaide. I'm assuming that whatever the full story was with Adelaide was deemed less important to the themes than the episodes that remained, but it's still a bit unsatisfying. I DO like them giving her the black widow motif over the shepherd one, though.
You could really feel the love and care and effort put into this video. That has earned you another subscriber, I look forward to your future works
Auntie Whispers and Adelaide really remind me of Spirited Away’s Yubaba and Zeniba to the point that I saw the warning that “my sister is evil” as a direct reference to Spirited Away. Auntie Whispers’ design is very reminiscent to that of the twin witches from Spirited Away, with her large face and eyes.
That is true they’re very similar designs.
I’m from 1976, my autistic son introduced me to this series and I love it.
There’s no way it’s been 9 YEARS since OTGW came out pleaseee 😭😭😭😭
I love the way this show feels so whimsical and somehow nostalgic. It holds a truly special place in my heart
I think the dream sequence is definitely the Beats doing. He manipulated what Greg was seeing to claim his soul but had to make a deal as much as the devil would do. Thus the reason why Wurt woke up. The Beast may have thought Wurt was a lost cause therefore took that risk, but Wurt proved him wrong in saving Greg.
As for Aunty Whispers, this could have been the same fate. The Beast convinced her otherwise that the only way to be with her daughter was to feed the evil soul within her. Therefore never using the bell in fear that she would lose her daughter outright. The Beast is evil and manipulates how you perceive your situation.
Similar to how he convinced the Huntsman that the only way to keep his daughter alive was to fuel the lantern, which actually was fueling the Beast himself.
Damn I love this show. It's so good!!
This feels very nostlagic i vividly remember watching this for the first time on a rainy night in 2014 and my god watching this back just takes me back... I really miss this show so much.
This show is almost disgustingly amazing. Unfortunately, because of a lot of people's preconceived biases on the quality and maturity of animation as a medium, especially when family-friendly, it's very difficult to convince people to watch it, despite how incredible it is. I firmly believe it's not the medium of the story, or even necessarily minute details such as its maturity rating that really determine quality, despite what many people may think; it's how you tell a story, and emotional resonance of it, that really matters. And too many people are blind to that. Because if you can say that you didn't cry like a baby at the final scene in this show, you're either lying through your teeth due to preconceived notions about crying, or you're heartless, an idiot who can't absorb emotionally impactful stories, or, most likely, both.
Love this video so much! Here are a few notes I have.
1st The episode with Antie Whispis was actually intended to be the first episode so that's why she tells the boys to be careful of her sister. The episode was too scary so they changed it to be later in the series. (This is discussed in the concept art book) 2nd I think that Auntie Whispis didn't banish the spirit because she doesn't want to lose Laurena. This is her evil and why she can eat the turtles without turning into a beast. Her and her sister are already corrupt.
"It's kinda a fever dream"
ROFL. I was thinking that the entire time up until episode 9.
It has a nostalgic vibe that's hard to see in current animations. well balanced
I absolutely love this show, something else that I love is the fact that this show pays homage to many classic cartoons that have come before it, two specifically are how the Highway man references Cab Calloway in Minnie the Moocher (from the classic Betty Boop cartoons), especially in his dance, and of course the famous Cloud City from the 8th episodes dream references the little Audrey short The Lost Dream. I used to watch various classic cartoons from the 40’s & 50’s so I instantly recognized the dream homage from my childhood.
This is really a great series! My teacher had me analyze my this show and it is really very interesting when you deep dive into it.
I think Greg is a bit deeper than is alluded to in this video. Specifically Greg functions as the selfless, optimistic, cheerful foil to Wirt. This is especially evident as Wirt starts to cave to futility and Greg becomes “the leader”. Greg’s dream shows that he was only tethered to this state of purgatory because he wants to stay with Wirt; Greg possessed the ability the mentality to leave but chooses to stay to help his brother. Greg doesn’t need to develop as a character, but in the climax of the show he nearly perishes because of his selflessness towards his brother. This highlights his role in forcing Wirt to take responsibility and learning to care for his brother rather than relegating him as an annoyance.
I did not expect this to be the only video on your channel. You are so good at this and I really, really hope you do more!
Favorite thing about this series was that the moon phases in the show matched the phases of the moon in real life as it was airing.
In episode 8 Greg makes the wish to take his brothers place. Before going to sleep Wirt told Greg that he doesn't have a plan and now he's the one in charge, so he sacrifices himself to save his brother, that's why Wirt can just wake up from the Adelwood Tree.
I love the allegory in the song “old black train” where the train is an allegory for death. A snippet of the song plays in episode nine after Wirt and Greg’s argument when they fall in the river.
“There’s an old back train a-comin’ scrapin’ long the iron. You don’t need no ticket boys it’ll take you when it’s time”
I’ve seen lots of videos discussing otgw but this one… so many details i would never notice ob my own. Makes me appreciate the show so much more, thank you!!
I was super late to this party, but after finally getting invited, I'm envious I didn't get that invitation earlier... This show was absolutely incredible, whimsical, emotionally resonant, and by far one of my favorite pieces of film media I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
Fantastic observations! I love listening to people talk about this show because I get to learn about things other people found that I missed!
My lil niece and I loved saying ‘I’m the Highway man’ 😂
About Enoch and why he is a cat: cats, especially black ones, are seen as bringers or sensors of death. There are so many stories about cats in elderly homes laying with the people who will die soon or cats owned by elderly people sensing that their owner dies soon. Apparently there is also some science behind it that people who are very close to their death have a certain smell and that cats can smell it and react to it too, because they 'know what it means' (besides their owner turning into their dinner). Some nurses in elderly homes claimed to also be able to smell this 'death sent'. I don't know any science behind it though, but this is my theory as to why Enoch is a black cat.
Hey I just wanted to expess my graitude. I actually went back and watched the show because of this video, and now after seeing your essay, I appreciate the show even more!
Nothing else has made me feel the way I felt when watching this show. It's more of an experience.
9:01 “the second strangest episode in the series” we all know how true that is 💀
You are right - Fred is a Highwayman's horse, but the doll next to him is the doll of a tavern dog!
In the official comics we get a little more of Fred's backstory and how he became the Highwayman's horse.
16:49 The comics do play with this idea of Wirt's and Greg's perspectives often being completely different!
Also comics have a Woodsman's daughter backstory, and more fun adventures for our trio! Really recommend!
This series is very close to me. I host an annual marathon where me and some friends binge the whole series! I enjoy making the invites. Taking pics from the show and using them as backgrounds for the invitations, and then color the invites to be aesthetic to fall
I feel like Auntie Whispers warning the boys about her sister was meant to emphasize Beatrice's betrayal from the previous episode and further pushes Wirt into despair in the follow up episode.
The way that the dream episode really felt like what a dream feels like was really interesting, especially having watched the series for the first time after an edible. The way that the framing kept changing to a circle, how sometimes the point of view was the character but sometimes it was the audience... awesome stuff
Well done! You caught a lot of things I never noticed. Welcome to YT, 5$F. I'll def be looking for more of your reviews!
I like how the tavern keeper even tells Wirt EXACTLY what the Beast’s deal is and he doesn’t even understand. Like she says he carries the dark lantern(btw is it a coincidence that the Tavern is called the Dark Lantern?)
But also that the adelwood used to be lost souls that are now made into the oil to keep the beast lantern lit, and that you’ll be turned into one “once your will begins to spoil. Which is what starts to happen to Wirt before Greg makes a deal to do what the Beast says then become one himself so Wirt could live. Wirt was about to give up on everything (his whole life even) before he realized he has to take care of his brother.
Not to mention the soundtrack. Extremely well done and fits the vibe of the show perfectly
I also like how you hear the train whistle at the beginning of each episode:) foreshadowing!!
I adored this show. A big regret of mine is that it came out when I was in 5th grade, back when I watched Cartoon Network all the time, but I had never watched it until literally a week ago. I was also getting into Gravity Falls at the time, so I definitely would've loved a show like this, but better late than never.
Yes exactly! Better late than never. At the time I was also around that same age and while I remember the show being great I didn’t have as much of an inclination to rewatching it on a yearly basis and recommending the duck out of it until my mom watched it and became a HUGE fan. Now it’s tradition in our household to watch it every year around fall time. I’m so glad people recognize it for the masterpiece that it is!
This show feels exactly like a book. All movie/tv adaptations of books should follow in its footsteps
This was and always will be my fav series
something else cool about beatrice’s dog becoming the beast: it turned “evil” because it was following greg’s candy trail and ate the turtle he put candy on earlier in the episode. just something i noticed!
I got to see it! One of my favorite kids shows growing up was David the Gnome so I know I may like this one.