Theory

This part is going to be more of a two things I noticed, and also making a correction on one of my theories. I just watched the entire series again today (August 6th, 2019) and I have some things to say about my old theories.

Firstly, I'd like to correct one of my old theories. Remember when I said that I think the Beast cursed the land to always be Autumn? Well, in Chapter 8: Babes in the Wood, it starts to snow. I still think the Beast cursed the land to always be Autumn because of many reasons, but it starts to snow when Greg starts to willingly give up. I think that the Beast was focusing his power on Greg instead of using it on the atmosphere, which is why it starts to snow.

The Beast has trapped the Unknown in a time loop of Autumn. And here's why I think so. Greg and Wirt travel through the Unknown for days, but when they come back to their own world, it's still Halloween night. The Unknown runs on its own sense of time, but always stays Autumn. This also proves that the Unknown isn't part of the normal world.

With all that cleared up, let's talk about Greg. Arguably one of the most interesting characters in the entire show next to the Beast.

Greg, a child, narrowly related to his brother Wirt, is a lot smarter than you think. And I only have to show you Chapter 1: The Old Grist Mill to prove it.

Greg, smart? You may be asking. In the first episode, he's wasting precious food on a stupid trail! How can he possibly be smart? Hold on, let me clarify why he's throwing food on the ground in the first place.

While they are walking through the woods, Wirt points out that they're lost and they should have left a trail to find their way back home. Greg simply doesn't want to get lost and make the same mistake again, so he leaves a trail of the only thing he has plenty of - candy in his pants from Halloween. This is when he understands that he needs to think creatively to get out of a situation, and to always be prepared. He's always learning.

Continue on in the first episode after they meet the Woodsman. Wirt isn't too sure about the Woodsman's sanity and suggests they knock him out if he gets any funny ideas. After that suggestion, Greg starts picking up random things and swinging them around like a baseball bat. When I first saw this, I thought he was just playing and ignoring his brother, but now I understand. He's practicing to knock out the Woodsman.

This completely blew my mind because I never suspected Greg to be the one practicing to hurt someone! Plus, he actually listened to his brother when he suggested to knock the Woodsman out. Even though they're only half related, Greg looks up to Wirt as an older brother and a leader who knows what he's doing.

The second thing I noticed is the last thing I'm going to talk about today. When I watched the series again today, I decided to observe how often Wirt and Greg eat to see if they could have even survived this ordeal. What I saw surprised me and broke my heart.

The first half of the series is fine. Sure, they don't eat in episodes 1 and 2, but they had candy most of episode 1, and I'm more than sure the skeleton pumpkins would have provided snacks to them for doing manual labor in episode 2. In episode 3, they eat potatoes and molasses (which is a very catchy song). Episode 4 needs no explanation as Wirt and Greg fill up on food at the tavern they stop by. Episode 5 they visit a mansion, but I don't believe they eat. More on that later. Episode 6, they wouldn't have found anything edible on the ferry boat and Adelaide sure didn't give them food. Side note, Greg is seen trying to fry a leaf over the fire in episode 6. In episode 7, they're too busy with Laurna to have any food. Episode 8 is full of sleep and dreams, 9 is a flashback, and 10 gets interesting.

In episode 10, the brothers haven't had anything to eat for at least three days. Maybe two and a half if I'm being generous. When Wirt finds Greg in the tree, Greg starts spitting out leaves. The younger brother admits that he's been eating leaves to reassure Wirt that the leaves aren't growing inside of him. Greg has been eating leaves for the past three days because he's so hungry!

This is fantasizingly unbearable! It's absolutely terrible that the creators of this show had the audacity to realistically create this situation. It's amazing that they thought of everything, and that they took the chance to point out the lengths people will go to in order to eat when starving. For a cartoon, that's bold.

And this is why Cartoon Network was the best channel as a kid.

As a quick note to myself, the next chapter for Over the Garden Wall I want to write about Quincy Endicott again with the mirror in mind.