Over the Garden Wall is an animated television miniseries that was first aired in November 2014, although a pilot had been aired in 2013. The series was created for the Cartoon Network by Patrick McHale, and it’s based on his short film Tome of the Unknown.
McHale began developing his ideas for this series in 2004 and first approached the Cartoon Network in 2006. Further down the road, the series received great critical acclaim winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. One major area of focus in the show is the characters.
Altogether, there are tons of theories surrounding the subliminal messages in the show. Speculations had it that they were representative of deeper moral issues. Of course, we’re talking about The Beast.
Who Is The Beast?
The beast isn’t just a major character on the show, he’s also the main antagonist. Altogether, he’s the terrifying monster of The Unknown. At every turn, he attempts to capture the protagonists, Wirt and Gregory, in a bid to turn them into Edelwood trees.
Voiced by Samuel Ramey, The Beast has been the subject of one speculation after the other. Fans of the miniseries have spent plenty of time debating on exactly what this character is. There are also a few theories about what he truly represents.
Here are a couple of those theories.
The Beast Isn’t The Devil
Right off the bat, some people believe that the typical interpretation of The Beast is unrealistic. Altogether, this view is based on the notion that The Unknown is the afterlife. If that’s the case, it doesn’t make sense that people can die twice.
With that in mind, fans are speculating that The Beast may not actually be symbolic of the devil. As such, it’s caused people to take a closer look at the other characters on the show — specifically, the turtles.
The turtles in Over the Garden Wall seem to possess some kind of dark magic. This is evident when Beatrice’s dog goes crazy after eating candy off their backs. Lorna also goes crazy after being in close proximity to them. Therefore, the turtles could hold the key to The Beast.
When The Beast is first introduced by the woodsman and the tavern people, this character is simply described as being a strange monster that runs around the woods and eats children. It is never mentioned how long this has been going on.
The Turtles May Be The Key To It All
Delving deeper into the issue of the turtles, it’s been suggested that a lone traveler walking through the woods sent them into a craze. Seeing as the turtles have a shiny appearance, one idea is that this lone traveler tried to use the turtles as a lamp since they were lost. Once the traveler came into contact with the turtles, they worked their dark magic and transformed a perfectly normal man into The Beast.
A key clue to this theory is when Wirt proposes that the Lantern contains the soul of The Beast. When he says this, The Beast sucks away all the light, and all that Wirt can see in the darkness is the light of The Beast’s eyes. Strangely, they look exactly the same as Beatrice’s dog’s eyes when it went crazy.
Of course, this is just one of many Over The Garden Wall fan theories about The Beast, and whether or not it is correct is open to interpretation.
Follow Us
