History Fridge / OverTheGardenWall

* There are some hints that the Beast is a representation of none other than the devil himself. And let's forget the obvious horns. First of all: the lantern which he was carrying before The Woodsman won it from him. One of the meanings of the name Lucifer is "light-bringing", so it can be connected with the fact that "he who carries the lantern must be the beast". And there are the other traits: lying about the true nature of the lantern to The Woodsman (The Prince of Lies), tempting (The Tempter), and striking deals that in the end turned out to be greatly disadvantageous to the other side. Also the name Beast could be connected with The Beast and The Mark of The Beast from the Book of Revelation.

* Greg's recurring "rock facts" is probably from hearing the idiom "stone cold truth" and, being a kid, misunderstanding it.

* Greg's recurring "rock facts" is probably hearing the idiom "stone cold truth" and, being a kid, misunderstanding it.

* It's a modest two coins to board the ferry to Adelaide's place, this is similar to the toll for Charon the Boatman in Myth/ClassicalMythology who accepts a single coin per passenger to ferry them to the afterlife - fitting with the show's usage of metaphor, buying passage to Adelaide is effectively the brothers buying their way to their own deaths. Greg throwing their fare away is thus him unknowingly rejecting dying without a fight, that extra time and bonding moment they had with Beatrice because they had to sneak on board and run from security was one of the main bonding moments that leads to her saving the brothers from her.

* In the original novel of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', it is said the Wicked Witch of the West fears the dark and water, and she infamously melts when exposed to water. In chapter 6, [[spoiler:we find out that wicked witches also melt when exposed to the former...or at least night air.]]

* In "Into the Unknown" we see that Wirt's house has a skeleton with a pumpkin head for a [[spoiler:Halloween decoration.]] And, in Pottsfield [[spoiler:the citizens are skeletons dressed in pumpkins.]]

* In fairy tales, breaking a curse on a ForcedTransformation victim can often get quite gruesome, most notably how Literature/TheFrogPrince gets his head chopped off in some early versions, [[spoiler:and it turns out that Adelaide's magic scissors really did break Beatrice's curse by cutting off her wings.]]
** It is also notable that the show takes advantage of the fact that most people would not get this reference [[spoiler:since we are initially led to believe Adelaide is lying.]]
* The dog turned into a monster after being exposed to an Edelwood oil-covered turtle. [[spoiler:That same oil keeps the Beast's lantern alive. In chapter 10, the Beast's eyes briefly turn into the same "beautiful eyes" the dog exhibited, showing the connection.]]

* A lot of early viewers complained that Greg acts way too happy for a lost kid. [[spoiler:However, people seldom question what happens in a dream.]]
** If the whole thing was only [[spoiler:Wirt's dream, of course he would flanderize his little half-brother into ThePollyanna.]]
*** It may not have been completely [[spoiler:a dream]] or some sort of [[spoiler:a shared dream]] as it seems that Greg is [[spoiler:recounting the tale of their adventures]] in the last episode as Wirt [[spoiler:woke up.]] We also see the fate of [[spoiler:everyone Greg and Wirt interacted with at the end]] as if everything in this [[spoiler:purgatory/dreamscape was somehow real]] (even if it doesn't [[spoiler:physically exist in the human world]]).
*** It's a case of [[spoiler:MaybeMagicMaybeMundane]], as Greg's story seems to be intentionally lacking in details, so it is up to the viewer to decide whether he was [[spoiler:actually recounting the same adventures that Wirt experienced]], or just... being Greg.
*** This whole idea is rendered moot anyways, whether only a dream or not, since [[spoiler:he acts the same as he always did while in the maybe-dream world.]]
* In Chapter 2, Wirt inquires about finding a phone--something that struck this troper as very anachronistic. [[spoiler:Then in Chapter 9 it's revealed that Wirt and Greg are actually from the 1980's at the earliest.]]
* The show was a bit inconsistent about which time period it was meant to invoke, like a Gibson Girl (from the 1890s) to WesternAnimation/BettyBoop (literally the 1930s, though she was based on 1920s style flappers). [[spoiler:Children would obviously overgeneralize the past in real life, let alone in their dreams.]]
* Overlaps a bit with FridgeHorror: people who succumb to despair or exhaustion in the woods [[spoiler:[[HumanResources turn into edelwood trees.]] In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', [[ShoutOut suicides take the form of trees in Hell]]. Made even more appropriate by the fact the the Unknown is loosely implied to be some sort of purgatory/afterlife.]]
** [[spoiler:The edelwood trees are filled with a thick dark sap used to fill the Beast's soul lantern -- and the branches in the vale of suicides ''bleed'' when broken, symbolizing the violence of their deaths and the extremity of feeling that led to them. Perhaps the comparative listlessness of the edelwood sap is due to the slow and numbing nature of this particular kind of despair over time, since the edelwood-growing process is gradual, rather than frantic pressure.]]
*** [[spoiler:In the theory of four humors, the humor associated with depression is Melancholia -- from the Greek for "black bile". The black, languid sap of the Edelwood trees is thus representative of the despair that caused the transformation.]]
* The second episode revolves around the [[spoiler:undead]] town of Pottsfield, where one of the protagonists' punishments for intruding is to dig holes [[spoiler:from which emerge the skeletal last comers to the town's festival.]] [[GeniusBonus Historically, "potter's fields" were places where the people too poor/in debt to afford proper graves were buried in unmarked ones...]] And thus, it's literally the final resting place of the Unknown!
* Even though days seem to pass for the duration of the series, [[spoiler:the phase of the moon never changes during nighttime scenes, hinting to how the events of the series actually take place in one night.]]

* At first, Greg's desire to play "two old cat" with the school animals in episode 3 seemed like just a peculiar non-sequitur, since for Greg this means literally finding old cats. But then in episode 9 at [[spoiler:the Halloween party in the real world, there's a cluster of older kids talking about older bat-and-ball games besides baseball -- including [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_cat one old cat and two old cat.]] Greg overheard them and misunderstood. It fits with the old-timey atmosphere of the Unknown, too.]]
* In ''Songs of the Dark Lantern'', the Tavern Keeper claims "he who carries the lantern must be the beast." This makes Wirt think that the Woodsman, keeper of the lantern, is the Beast. While this is proven false in the same episode, [[spoiler:we later learn that the lantern contains the Beast's soul, so it technically ''does'' belong to it.]]
** By chopping down the edelwood trees and keeping the lantern lit, the Woodsman [[spoiler:is, however unwittingly, feeding it the souls of people who succumbed to despair in the woods. Which is a rather Beastly thing to do, no? Really, the Tavern Keeper might as well be saying "Battle ye not with monsters..."]]
** In fact, [[spoiler:the axeman reveals that he fought the Beast for the lantern and won]], meaning the Beast really did carry it at some point.

* After Wirt is told, at the end of chapter 9, that he'd be no good to Greg dead, Wirt replies "I was never any good to him alive, either." He seems to speaking of how he was a poor older brother in general. Thinking of things from Wirt's perspective, as the episode's events were probably something he was finally remembering, makes it likely Wirt thought [[spoiler:he and Greg were ''[[DeadAllAlong already dead]]'' rather than dying.]]
* One of the last scenes shows [[spoiler:Beatrice and her family eating a meal. Beatrice's mother refers to the food as "dirt". which likely implied that when Wirt woke up in the hollow tree with Beatrice's family, and her mother is feeding Wirt spoons of "dirt"- it could actually be something a bit more edible.]]
* Remember the dog from the first episode? Later it's revealed that the dog [[spoiler:belongs to Beatrice's family, and they all used to live at the mill house... before being cursed anyway. After that they had to move into a bird nest somewhere in the woods]], meaning there was no one around to feed the dog afterwards. It had to survive on its own, and as a result couldn't resist eating the candy trail Greg left... which included the candy stuck on the eldelwood turtle.
* [[spoiler:As the camera pans out when Wirt and Greg are in the hospital, Jason (the frog) can be seen with a glowing yellow belly, implying he still has Auntie Whisper's bell in his stomach. This supports the theory that the boy's adventure wasn't merely a dream, or a vision, but a potentially physical dimension in which Jason was able to return from with a souvenir]]
** What further solidifies this is Greg [[spoiler:supposedly dying and briefly ending up in a cartoony version of Heaven. It wouldn't make sense for Greg to die ''again'' if he was already in the afterlife!]]
* In a series that emphasizes DarkIsNotEvil, [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Beast's]] survival relies on ''[[LightIsNotGood a source of light]]''.]]
* There are some hints that the Beast is a representation of none other than the devil himself. And let's forget the obvious horns. First of all: the lantern [[spoiler:which he was carrying before The Woodsman won it from him.]] One of the meanings of the name Lucifer is "light-bringing", so it can be connected with the fact that "he who carries the lantern must be the beast". And there are the other traits: [[spoiler:lying about the true nature of the lantern to The Woodsman (The Prince of Lies)]], tempting (The Tempter), and striking deals that in the end turned out to be greatly disadvantageous to the other side. Also the name Beast could be connected with The Beast and The Mark of The Beast from the Book of Revelation.
* When Wirt and Greg first see the Woodsman, Wirt cautions that they should stay away from him because he might be a crazy axe murderer. [[spoiler:Back in the graveyard, they overheard Jason Funderburker telling the other kids a story about an axe murderer.]]
* Pottsfield is home to [[spoiler:undead skeletons dressed in pumpkin costumes. Their leader Enoch is revealed in the epilogue (and in hindsight, the prologue) to actually be a black cat. Skeletons, pumpkins, and black cats are all associated with Halloween, the night Wirt and Greg's adventures all began. On a related note, Pottsfield also has corn fields and giant turkeys, likewise connected to Autumn and Thanksgiving, which is right around the corner from Halloween. It makes sense that these elements would be on Wirt's mind at the time and thus some of the first things he encounters in The Unknown.]]
* [[spoiler:Jason Funderberker has a croaking quality to his voice because of the stutter, indeed making it the perfect frog name. It's not terribly nice but that was more or less the point.]]
* In Chapter 1, Greg has a stash of candy in his pants for... some reason. [[spoiler:This makes more sense in hindsight, since we learn in Chapter 9 that they went into the Unknown on Halloween.]]

* Beatrice says "walking" and "wash my hands of this whole affair", which is odd considering she's a bird. [[spoiler:Except she's really a human, but most people [[NinjaProp wouldn't think of this twice.]]]]
* The Woodsman tells Wirt to stop blaming Greg and be a good older brother, accepting the responsibility for the two of them. Once Wirt believes he's the Beast he stops listening to his advice [[spoiler:and gives into depression, blaming Greg for their predicament and letting his brother be the leader by himself.]]
* If the Unknown symbolizes the afterlife, then the Woodsman is going through the FiveStagesOfGrief over his daughter. [[spoiler:Although he's the one lost, not her.]]
** Denial: he doesn't realize she's even dead, but maintains that her soul in in the lantern, kept alive by his work. [[spoiler:She isn't.]]

** Acceptance: only after passing all the other stages of grief can he finally leave the Unknown [[spoiler:and be reunited with his daughter]].
*** This makes especially solid sense when one remembers that the FiveStagesOfGrief were originally created as a guideline for people diagnosed with terminal illnesses - as in, people who are going to die themselves - rather than dealing with the loss of a loved one. [[spoiler:The fact the Woodsman is the one who's truly lost can be him accepting his own mortality, and ends with his triumph over the death of hope itself.]]

** Issue 2 of the four-part comic [[spoiler:confirms this.]]
** Fred's kleptomaniac tendencies also seem to parallel [[spoiler:how Greg stole Mrs. Daniels' decorative rock from her garden.]]
* Why is the [[spoiler:present day in this series the early 1980s?]] Because the show is aiming for a "nostalgic" tone and [[spoiler:the '80s]] would've been the most recent era in which the eldest surviving generation could pass on nostalgia of turn-of-the-century Americana to the youth, either being born into it or having it passed down from ''their'' elders, whereas [[spoiler:even the oldest living people circa 2014, most of whom were likely born in the 1930s at the earliest, would consider that era ancient history]].
* It makes perfect sense that it is [[spoiler:Halloween night. Halloween is loosely connected to the Celtic festival of Samhain and folklore has it that the veil between worlds (including between this world and the afterlife) is the thinnest that night]].
* From the very start, it seems the relationship between the boys and Beatrice will fit the typical fairytale archetype: lost and distressed children, lead home by a [[BluebirdOfHappiness helpful bluebird]]. [[spoiler:But "Over the Garden Wall" full-out averts this trope, as Beatrice isn't really leading the boys home. In fact, in the end, it's the other way around: the children (Wirt and Greg) are the ones who help the lost bluebird (Beatrice) find her way home (Adelaide's scissors).]]
* While it's not emphasized, the show also has a theme that even adults have fears. These fears can range from [[spoiler:your child wasting away money (Miss Langtree's father), going insane (Quincy Endicott), getting sick (Adelaide), your kid getting sick (Auntie Whispers) or losing your kid (the Woodsman).]] But sometimes, these fears can turn out to be just as irrational as a child's fears. Namely, [[spoiler:the Woodsman learned his daughter's soul never did rely on the Beast's lantern remaining lit.]]
* When Beatrice calls Wirt a "wonderful mistake of nature" [[spoiler:in the last episode]], it occurs that this isn't just a reluctant attempt to praise Wirt. It could also refer to [[spoiler:how Wirt handled the Beast. If the Beast is nature, then it was his mistake for thinking he could trick Wirt.]]
* In the fifth episode, Greg [[spoiler:throws away the two pennies he received as a reward from Endicott and his new wife.]] Now this could be viewed as Greg being his [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} usual silly self]]. But later, when we learn [[spoiler:he stole his "rock fact rock" from Mrs. Daniels, it could also be interpreted as Greg feeling guilty that he stole something and didn't deserve to be rewarded.]]

* The whole thing is also Wirt's ComingOfAgeStory. In the end, he learns an important lesson about facing his fears instead of running from them, and makes the first steps to getting over some of his social awkwardness. But the theme of growing up is also touched on by many other aspects of the story. Wirt spends most of the plot wandering through childish fairy tales, picking up lessons from them, but also learning to move on from them. He gets annoyed at being called a kid. A lot of the stories are about self-discovery and growth for Wirt; in the Tavern he literally has to define himself. The title song is full of references to nostalgia, memories, and letting go of the past. Learning to let go of the past and accepting things as they are also turns out to be a major point close to the end of the story. And of course we learn eventually that [[spoiler:Wirt is having a near-death experience -- and near-death experiences]] are often associated with moments of clarity and growth, when we finally realize what's really important in life, and how to move forward.

* The glimpses of shadows at the start of episode 1 may have been the POV of [[spoiler:Greg and and Wirt peeking their eyes through the water, explaining the blurriness and indistinct blobs of shadows.]]
* Enoch was joking when he stated that Wirt and Greg were accused of murder. At first, you assume it's because of how they stepped on the pumpkins...but after TheReveal, you realize that neither of them could commit murder because all the residents of Pottsfield [[spoiler:are the skeletons wearing pumpkins as costumes and thus ''are already dead''.]]
* The first Chapter's title, "Babes in the Wood", is a ShoutOut to the ballad of the same name as mentioned on the main page. The reference is also a very sharp piece of foreshadowing to those in the know--the ballad has [[spoiler:two children get lost in the woods and die tragically young, to be covered up by birds]], just as Wirt and Greg [[spoiler:are on death's door after drowning in the woods' river, accompanied by a bird for most of their journey through the other world]].

** Lorna reassuring Auntie Whispers that "you're my family" is heartwarming on its surface, but grows sinister when you realise that Lorna probably means this literally. [[spoiler:Her ''real'' family was probably her first victims.]]
* At one point Beatrice suggests to Wirt that he stay in The Unknown instead of trying to find his way home. While this is soon revealed to be because [[spoiler:she's having second thoughts about selling them out to Adelaide]], even later on we find out she was unintentionally telling them [[spoiler:let themselves drown.]]
* When Beatrice talks about leaving Wirt behind, at first it seems like she just doesn't like Wirt, or how poorly he treats his brother. Then, later on, it looks like [[spoiler:she was singling out the more gullible of the two for Adelaide]]. But there's another reason to look at: throughout the series, Wirt is almost constantly forlorn, pessimistic, and angry about his trip through the Unknown. [[spoiler:All of these traits attract the Beast]].
* It is revealed that the Woodsman wouldn't chop down the edelwood with [[spoiler:Greg inside it]] because he didn't know that was how edelwood was created in the forest, meaning having being unknowing of that, have chopped down numerous other edelwoods regardless of being [[spoiler:created by the souls of those who died in the Unknown. How many souls do you think the Woodsman burnt up to keep the beast alive?]]
* From Chapter 8 and onward, the Unknown starts getting colder, and snow begins to fall and cover the ground. [[spoiler:If The Unknown is just a DyingDream by the brothers as they're in the river, then this winter could have been a sign of hypothermia setting in.]]
* Episode 10 reveals from an overhead shot that Wirt and Greg's hometown is none other than [[spoiler:[[WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}} Aberdale]]]]. Just imagine the thought of [[spoiler:Clarence and friends on a wacky Halloween adventure]], completely unaware of [[spoiler:two boys nearly drowning in the same town]]...
* When partway through [[spoiler:his Edelwood transformation]] Greg starts to cough up leaves and then clarifies he's just been eating them, it's a nice moment of comic relief. But what else is there for Greg to eat? And when's the last time he's eaten? They're lost in the woods and Greg is too young to provide for himself; is it possible the kids are beginning to starve as well as freeze?

'''Enoch:''' Oh, well. ''[[spoiler:[[WeAllDieSomeday You'll join us someday]].]]''

* [[spoiler:The Woodsman thought the lantern kept his daughter's soul safe, but when it's revealed that the Beast lied, think about it from the Woodsman's perspective. If his daughter ever fell prey to the Beast while he was chopping Edelwood trees, do you really think the Beast would pass on the chance? He could have killed his daughter at any time without his knowing...]]
* Wouldn't anyone lost and frightened in the woods be drawn to the light of a lantern in the darkness? Especially when accompanied by a song inviting them to forget their sorrow and fear? [[spoiler:The Beast]] isn't stalking his prey; he's luring them to their doom with the promise of safety, making him twice as sinister.
* The ''very'' brief glimpse of the Beast's true form shows that he looks to be made out of [[spoiler:Edelwood. As in, the Beast is comprised of the remains of dead people.]]
* Beatrice complains that bluebirds have short life spans and that Greg and Wirt are wasting hers. In its place this is just a bit of BlackComedy, but [[spoiler:considered in light of her being a ForcedTransformation victim, it implies that her effort to restore herself and her family to their true forms is a race against time.]]

* Wirt's sudden realization in Episode 10 that [[spoiler: the Beast's intentions are anything but benign, and that him taking the deal would be for the worse]] may feel a bit out of the blue, but considering the entire series as a whole, it makes a lot of sense. Wirt has always been the 'odd one out' of the world of the Unknown, and while starting as a fairly overdramatic and somewhat cynical person, he and Greg are able to solve the situations they're in because they're not from the Unknown.[[spoiler:They run a benefit concert in Episode 3when no one had considered that, they find out both of the houses are connected in Episode 5.]] Wirt's realization here isn't out of the blue, it's the culmination of a pattern of behavior. The story is headed for a classical fairytale tragedy, but Wirt is ''not'' a fairytale tragedy character.

* A lot of early viewers complained that Greg acts way too happy for a lost kid. [[spoiler: However, people seldom question what happens in a dream.]]
** If the whole thing was only [[spoiler: Wirt's dream, of course he would flanderize his little half-brother into ThePollyanna.]]
*** It may not have been completely [[spoiler: a dream]] or some sort of [[spoiler: a shared dream]] as it seems that Greg is [[spoiler: recounting the tale of their adventures]] in the last episode as Wirt [[spoiler: woke up.]] We also see the fate of [[spoiler: everyone Greg and Wirt interacted with at the end]] as if everything in this [[spoiler: purgatory/dreamscape was somehow real]] (even if it doesn't [[spoiler: physically exist in the human world]]).
*** It's a case of [[spoiler: MaybeMagicMaybeMundane]], as Greg's story seems to be intentionally lacking in details, so it is up to the viewer to decide whether he was [[spoiler: actually recounting the same adventures that Wirt experienced]], or just... being Greg.
*** This whole idea is rendered moot anyways, whether only a dream or not, since [[spoiler: he acts the same as he always did while in the maybe-dream world.]]
* In Chapter 2, Wirt inquires about finding a phone--something that struck this troper as very anachronistic. [[spoiler: Then in Chapter 9 it's revealed that Wirt and Greg are actually from the 1980's at the earliest.]]
* The show was a bit inconsistent about which time period it was meant to invoke, like a Gibson Girl (from the 1890s) to WesternAnimation/BettyBoop (literally the 1930s, though she was based on 1920s style flappers). [[spoiler: Children would obviously overgeneralize the past in real life, let alone in their dreams.]]
* Overlaps a bit with FridgeHorror: people who succumb to despair or exhaustion in the woods [[spoiler: [[HumanResources turn into edelwood trees.]] In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', [[ShoutOut suicides take the form of trees in Hell]]. Made even more appropriate by the fact the the Unknown is loosely implied to be some sort of purgatory/afterlife.]]
** [[spoiler: The edelwood trees are filled with a thick dark sap used to fill the Beast's soul lantern -- and the branches in the vale of suicides ''bleed'' when broken, symbolizing the violence of their deaths and the extremity of feeling that led to them. Perhaps the comparative listlessness of the edelwood sap is due to the slow and numbing nature of this particular kind of despair over time, since the edelwood-growing process is gradual, rather than frantic pressure.]]
*** [[spoiler: In the theory of four humors, the humor associated with depression is Melancholia -- from the Greek for "black bile". The black, languid sap of the Edelwood trees is thus representative of the despair that caused the transformation.]]
* The second episode revolves around the [[spoiler: undead]] town of Pottsfield, where one of the protagonists' punishments for intruding is to dig holes [[spoiler: from which emerge the skeletal last comers to the town's festival.]] [[GeniusBonus Historically, "potter's fields" were places where the people too poor/in debt to afford proper graves were buried in unmarked ones...]] And thus, it's literally the final resting place of the Unknown!
* Even though days seem to pass for the duration of the series, [[spoiler: the phase of the moon never changes during nighttime scenes, hinting to how the events of the series actually take place in one night.]]

* At first, Greg's desire to play "two old cat" with the school animals in episode 3 seemed like just a peculiar non-sequitur, since for Greg this means literally finding old cats. But then in episode 9 at [[spoiler: the Halloween party in the real world, there's a cluster of older kids talking about older bat-and-ball games besides baseball -- including [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_cat one old cat and two old cat.]] Greg overheard them and misunderstood. It fits with the old-timey atmosphere of the Unknown, too.]]

** By chopping down the edelwood trees and keeping the lantern lit, the Woodsman [[spoiler: is, however unwittingly, feeding it the souls of people who succumbed to despair in the woods. Which is a rather Beastly thing to do, no? Really, the Tavern Keeper might as well be saying "Battle ye not with monsters..."]]

** What further solidifies this is Greg [[spoiler: supposedly dying and briefly ending up in a cartoony version of Heaven. It wouldn't make sense for Greg to die ''again'' if he was already in the afterlife!]]

* In Chapter 1, Greg has a stash of candy in his pants for... some reason. [[spoiler: This makes more sense in hindsight, since we learn in Chapter 9 that they went into the Unknown on Halloween.]]

* Beatrice says "walking" and "wash my hands of this whole affair", which is odd considering she's a bird. [[spoiler: Except she's really a human, but most people [[NinjaProp wouldn't think of this twice.]]]]
* The Woodsman tells Wirt to stop blaming Greg and be a good older brother, accepting the responsibility for the two of them. Once Wirt believes he's the Beast he stops listening to his advice [[spoiler: and gives into depression, blaming Greg for their predicament and letting his brother be the leader by himself.]]
* If the Unknown symbolizes the afterlife, then the Woodsman is going through the FiveStagesOfGrief over his daughter. [[spoiler: Although he's the one lost, not her.]]
** Denial: he doesn't realize she's even dead, but maintains that her soul in in the lantern, kept alive by his work. [[spoiler: She isn't.]]

** Acceptance: only after passing all the other stages of grief can he finally leave the Unknown [[spoiler: and be reunited with his daughter]].
*** This makes especially solid sense when one remembers that the FiveStagesOfGrief were originally created as a guideline for people diagnosed with terminal illnesses - as in, people who are going to die themselves - rather than dealing with the loss of a loved one. [[spoiler: The fact the Woodsman is the one who's truly lost can be him accepting his own mortality, and ends with his triumph over the death of hope itself.]]

** Fred's kleptomaniac tendencies also seem to parallel [[spoiler: how Greg stole Mrs. Daniels' decorative rock from her garden.]]

* It makes perfect sense that it is [[spoiler: Halloween night. Halloween is loosely connected to the Celtic festival of Samhain and folklore has it that the veil between worlds (including between this world and the afterlife) is the thinnest that night]].
* From the very start, it seems the relationship between the boys and Beatrice will fit the typical fairytale archetype: lost and distressed children, lead home by a [[BluebirdOfHappiness helpful bluebird]]. [[spoiler: But "Over the Garden Wall" full-out averts this trope, as Beatrice isn't really leading the boys home. In fact, in the end, it's the other way around: the children (Wirt and Greg) are the ones who help the lost bluebird (Beatrice) find her way home (Adelaide's scissors).]]
* While it's not emphasized, the show also has a theme that even adults have fears. These fears can range from [[spoiler: your child wasting away money (Miss Langtree's father), going insane (Quincy Endicott), getting sick (Adelaide), your kid getting sick (Auntie Whispers) or losing your kid (the Woodsman).]] But sometimes, these fears can turn out to be just as irrational as a child's fears. Namely, [[spoiler: the Woodsman learned his daughter's soul never did rely on the Beast's lantern remaining lit.]]
* When Beatrice calls Wirt a "wonderful mistake of nature" [[spoiler: in the last episode]], it occurs that this isn't just a reluctant attempt to praise Wirt. It could also refer to [[spoiler: how Wirt handled the Beast. If the Beast is nature, then it was his mistake for thinking he could trick Wirt.]]
* In the fifth episode, Greg [[spoiler: throws away the two pennies he received as a reward from Endicott and his new wife.]] Now this could be viewed as Greg being his [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} usual silly self]]. But later, when we learn [[spoiler: he stole his "rock fact rock" from Mrs. Daniels, it could also be interpreted as Greg feeling guilty that he stole something and didn't deserve to be rewarded.]]

* The whole thing is also Wirt's ComingOfAgeStory. In the end, he learns an important lesson about facing his fears instead of running from them, and makes the first steps to getting over some of his social awkwardness. But the theme of growing up is also touched on by many other aspects of the story. Wirt spends most of the plot wandering through childish fairy tales, picking up lessons from them, but also learning to move on from them. He gets annoyed at being called a kid. A lot of the stories are about self-discovery and growth for Wirt; in the Tavern he literally has to define himself. The title song is full of references to nostalgia, memories, and letting go of the past. Learning to let go of the past and accepting things as they are also turns out to be a major point close to the end of the story. And of course we learn eventually that [[spoiler: Wirt is having a near-death experience -- and near-death experiences]] are often associated with moments of clarity and growth, when we finally realize what's really important in life, and how to move forward.

* The glimpses of shadows at the start of episode 1 may have been the POV of [[spoiler: Greg and and Wirt peeking their eyes through the water, explaining the blurriness and indistinct blobs of shadows.]]
* Enoch was joking when he stated that Wirt and Greg were accused of murder. At first, you assume it's because of how they stepped on the pumpkins...but after TheReveal, you realize that neither of them could commit murder because all the residents of Pottsfield [[spoiler: are the skeletons wearing pumpkins as costumes and thus ''are already dead''.]]

* At one point Beatrice suggests to Wirt that he stay in The Unknown instead of trying to find his way home. While this is soon revealed to be because [[spoiler: she's having second thoughts about selling them out to Adelaide]], even later on we find out she was unintentionally telling them [[spoiler:let themselves drown.]]

* It is revealed that the Woodsman wouldn't chop down the edelwood with [[spoiler:Greg inside it]] because he didn't know that was how edelwood was created in the forest, meaning having being unknowing of that, have chopped down numerous other edelwoods regardless of being [[spoiler: created by the souls of those who died in the Unknown. How many souls do you think the Woodsman burnt up to keep the beast alive?]]

* Episode 10 reveals from an overhead shot that Wirt and Greg's hometown is none other than [[spoiler:[[WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}} Aberdale]]]]. Just imagine the thought of [[spoiler:Clarence and friends on a wacky Halloween adventure]], completely unaware of [[spoiler: two boys nearly drowning in the same town]]...
* When partway through [[spoiler: his Edelwood transformation]] Greg starts to cough up leaves and then clarifies he's just been eating them, it's a nice moment of comic relief. But what else is there for Greg to eat? And when's the last time he's eaten? They're lost in the woods and Greg is too young to provide for himself; is it possible the kids are beginning to starve as well as freeze?

* [[spoiler: The Woodsman thought the lantern kept his daughter's soul safe, but when it's revealed that the Beast lied, think about it from the Woodsman's perspective. If his daughter ever fell prey to the Beast while he was chopping Edelwood trees, do you really think the Beast would pass on the chance? He could have killed his daughter at any time without his knowing...]]

* The ''very'' brief glimpse of the Beast's true form shows that he looks to be made out of [[spoiler: Edelwood. As in, the Beast is comprised of the remains of dead people.]]
* Beatrice complains that bluebirds have short life spans and that Greg and Wirt are wasting hers. In its place this is just a bit of BlackComedy, but [[spoiler: considered in light of her being a ForcedTransformation victim, it implies that her effort to restore herself and her family to their true forms is a race against time.]]

* Consider Wirt joining in on the Adelaide Parade song on the Ferry. He slips in pretty early, which isn't easy; when you join in on a song like that, it takes a moment, you really have to listen and think about the melody and which lyrics are coming next. The fact that he works his way in so early in the song seems to indicate that he's been planning for some time to join in if Greg started the Adelaide Parade again.

* The line "the loveliest lies of all" in the finale is often taken to refer to [[spoiler:the Unknown itself]], implying that [[spoiler:the whole series]] was AllJustADream. However, [[spoiler:the Unknown]] didn't seem particularly "lovely"; the magical things there turned out to be horrifying and dangerous as often as not. It makes more sense if you assume that [[spoiler:Wirt and Greg actually did die when they drowned, and the scenes after they get back home are the "lovely lies", and possibly also The Woodsman's reunion with his daughter.]]
** The song refers to 'golden memories' as being 'the loveliest lies of all'; this may hint that, rather than the [[spoiler:resolution being a lie, Wirt and Greg's return to their world may cause them to think their memories of the Unknown were untrue or part of a dream, except this would be a lie as the adventure in the Unknown was real.]]
** The opening lyrics of the song in the first episode further support the theory that [[spoiler: Greg and Wirt really did drown and die after falling in the lake, and that their returning home safe and sound was simply a DyingDream.]] As the lyrics state, [[spoiler: "If dreams can't come true / [[LotusEaterMachine Then why not pretend?]]]]
** Another interpretation is that it is more meta, referencing how we "pretend" and "lie" in regards to fiction, yet they can have so much meaning nonetheless, and can be "golden memories" for ''us'', the audience. It certainly would explain why everything in the story seems pretty consistent and clear, referencing both the characters before and after (with what we are shown) and even during the journey ("Led through the mist/By the milk-light of moon--the brothers' time in the woods/All that was lost is revealed--Wirt gets his CharacterDevelopment/Our long bygone burdens--see previous/Mere echoes of the spring--the autumn into winter theme/But where have we come?--Greg and Wirt's intial uncertainty of how they got into the Unknown), and seems to fit so well as an opener and closer for the series. Because that is exactly what it is meant to be, in the most subtle yet self-aware way possible!

* In fairy tales, breaking a curse on a BalefulPolymorph can often get quite gruesome, most notably how Literature/TheFrogPrince gets his head chopped off in some early versions, [[spoiler:and it turns out that Adelaide's magic scissors really did break Beatrice's curse by cutting off her wings.]]

* Beatrice complains that bluebirds have short life spans and that Greg and Wirt are wasting hers. In its place this is just a bit of BlackComedy, but [[spoiler: considered in light of her being a BalefulPolymorph, it implies that her effort to restore herself and her family to their true forms is a race against time.]]

* The first Chapter's title, "Babes in the Wood", is a ShoutOut to the ballad of the same name as mentioned on the main page. The reference is also a very sharp piece of foreshadowing to those in the know--the ballad has [[spoiler:two children get lost in the woods and die tragically young, to be covered up by sparrows]], just as Wirt and Greg [[spoiler:are on death's door after drowning in the woods' river, accompanied by a bird for most of their journey through the other world]].

* While it's not emphasized, the show also has a theme that [[AdultFear even adults have fears]]. These fears can range from [[spoiler: your child wasting away money (Miss Langtree's father), going insane (Quincy Endicott), getting sick (Adelaide), your kid getting sick (Auntie Whispers) or losing your kid (the Woodsman).]] But sometimes, these fears can turn out to be just as irrational as a child's fears. Namely, [[spoiler: the Woodsman learned his daughter's soul never did rely on the Beast's lantern remaining lit.]]