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Over the Garden Wall Analysis: The Beast

So I’m planning to post a few of these. I’ve gone through and watched the miniseries several times now and me and my friends have been talking about pretty frequently in the past month or so. We have a lot of ideas of symbolism and what do certain aspects of the shows represent.

This one in particular however I have to give credit to my friend Sydney because it took her one watch to crack this baby open. I hadn’t even thought of it and I haven’t seen one person to take this conclusion away even after multiple re-watches. Looking back on it though, it seems fairly obvious. 

It has to do with the beast and the idea of just what the heck is it?

The most common fan interpretation going around is that the beast resembles the devil, or something along those lines. A monster that feeds on dying souls. However, as a few of my friends pointed out, that interpretation doesn’t really make much sense.  If The Unknown is the Afterlife, then how would dying be of any real concern? Are you double dead at that point? Does your soul cease to exist? Double Dying is not a particularly novel idea and it does provide stakes to a story, but why does the Beast feed indiscriminately on children? And how does the Woodsman’s daughter come back at the end. There are some missing elements.  However, when we start to consider other elements of the show, the beast’s true identity becomes clear.  First things first, let’s take a look at an element nobody seems to be able to make sense of. That being the turtles. 

The Black Turtles are all over this show and most people who’ve tried to interpret them can’t really say that they are much more than a motif. But we know that isn’t true considering what they do to Beatrice’s Dog.

Beatrice’s Dog, smelling the candy Greg put on a turtle, eats it and then becomes a hideous monster with glowing eyes, hellbent on chasing the boys and devouring the entirety of Greg’s candy. The monster it becomes is terrifying and comes pretty close to ripping Greg and Wirt to shreds. So we know without a doubt the turtles have some kind of evil magic. 

Without the turtle, Beatrice’s dog is just a sweet puppy who even helps get Greg out of the river. The turtles make him malicious, and interestingly enough, obsessed with a thing he did when he ate the turtle in the first place. Getting all of Greg’s candy is all it cares about, to the point it jumps off of a house. 

The next time we see the Turtles is in The Ringing of the Bell, when Greg and Wirt encounter bunches of them kept in barrels. This is where people get confused about the turtles because we see Auntie Whispers eat them but without going through any kind of transformation. We assume Auntie Whispers initially is evil but later discover she’s a kind old woman just trying to protect Lorna, and she even warns the boys about Adelaide. However there is one character in the show who is corrupted by evil. 

We don’t know if Lorna ate a turtle or not, but it is interesting she’s another good person turned crazy after being in close proximity to them. I’m going to say she didn’t eat them though, as when Wirt commands the spirit to leave, Lorna isn’t coughing up any black turtles. Auntie Wither’s also mentions it’s Greg and Wirt’s influence that has made her wicked again. But what does Lorna affectionately refer to them as? Her turtles. They are a corrupting force just like the turtles, something Lorna would know, and they corrupt her in the same way the turtles corrupt Beatrice’s Dog. Why then does Auntie Whisper’s have all these turtles? Well, we know Auntie Whisper’s is a good woman, if a bit strange looking, and also has magical abilities. Perhaps she’s eating the turtles as a way of disposing of them to keep them from hurting other people, and over the years it’s taken its toll on her physical appearance. Either way, this is sort of where we begin to see how evil corrupts souls in The Unknown. Unlike Beatrice’s Dog, the spirit possessing Lorna is a lot more conniving of an evil monster. It uses her voice to speak to Greg and Wirt to try and convince them to let her eat them. It’s a bit more plotting.  So now let’s look at the beast. A strange monster running around in the woods lying and manipulating people into keeping its lantern lit. However, interestingly enough, we have no idea how long the Beast has been around. It could be generations, or it could be a few months. We have no idea. The woodsman and the tavern people let us know what the Beast does, but it could be the Beast has only been doing it for a few weeks. The warning would be the same either way.  Let’s say a person, or rather a child, curiously wandered out into the woods and got lost in the dark. Frightened, they ran out of oil for the lamp, and were caught wandering blindly through the forest. Now let’s say that person somehow wound up eating a turtle, or maybe, considering their oily appearance, tried to use the turtle as lantern fuel.  Of course that’s just a theory, but the give away that the Beast has eaten a turtle comes when Wirt proposes that the Lantern actually contains the Beast’s soul. The Beast immediately evaporates all the light around him, and Wirt frightened, looks into the dark, but then notices the Beast’s eyes.

They’re the same beautiful eyes of Beatrice’s Dog when it ate a turtle and became a monster. Wirt then get’s a look on his face as if he understands something, and he realizes the Beast has no power, and that he can just take Greg and go. 

So if this was the case, then who was the Beast before it ate the turtle? From it’s appearance, it looks distinctly like a tree from the forest. But what I always notice is the Beast’s cape that he wears almost like a shawl. The Beast also has an interesting connection with the Woodsman too. Since the Woodsman carries the Beast’s lantern. But the Beast knows interesting details about the Woodsman’s life, like the fact the Woodsman strayed from his cabin because he couldn’t stand coming home to find it empty. The Woodsman in turn seems to be the person in the wood to know the most about the Beast having wrestled the lantern away from it. They both share a motif connection with tree’s as the Woodsman chops them down for Lumber, and the Beast creates the trees out of souls.  Who then is the Beast?

The Beast is not lying when it says the soul of the Woodsman’s daughter is in the lantern, because the Beast is the woodsman’s daughter. The black shawl, the connection with trees, the fact that in the series opener, it is spring and she’s looking curiously off into the woods, as if wondering what exists out there.  When the Woodsman blows out the lantern once and for all, the next time we see him he is home at his cabin, not going inside because we know he can’t stand to see it empty, and who should come out to greet him but his daughter.

She’s even carrying a candle to symbolize the lantern. We don’t see any of the other people the Beast turned into tree’s reappear, so why then does the daughter survive. Because she was the beast. In the very next cut too, we see the fish in the rowboat from episode 8, which we know was in the same area as the Beast since by that pond is where Wirt begins to turn into an Edelwood tree. And what is the fish pulling out of the pond?

A black turtle. Presumably the one the Woodsman’s daughter ate. My theory then is this, the Woodsman’s daughter wandered out into the woods, got lost in the dark and had her lantern go out. She tried to use a turtle as fuel and as a result, became the Beast.  TL;DR: The Beast is the woodsman daughter because she ate/used a turtle as lantern fuel. 

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King of Pentacles Been a while, but I wanted to get back to posting here on Tumblr. If you wanna keep up to date with me check me out on twitter @Serafinelea

That’s a deep… dock.

by Penzilla

Tumblr: @pennypenzilla

Do not fall in love With people like me. people like me will love you so hard that you turn into stone into a statue where people come to marvel at how long it must have taken to carve that faraway look into your eyes Do not fall in love with people like me we will take you to museums and parks and monuments and kiss you in every beautiful place so that you can never go back to them without tasting us like blood in your mouth Do not come any closer. people like me are bombs when our time is up we will splatter loss all over your walls in angry colors that make you wish your doorway never learned our name do not fall in love with people like me. with the lonely ones we will forget our own names if it means learning yours we will make you think hurricanes are gentle that pain is a gift you will get lost in the desperation in the longing for something that is always reaching but never able to hold do not fall in love with people like me. we will destroy your apartment we will throw apologies at you that shatter on the floor and cut your feet we will never learn how to be soft we will leave. we always do.

Do Not Fall in Love With People Like Me, alonesomes (via alonesomes)

Aida Ronan's Stranger Things Fics - Master List

🚢 Steddie (roughly in order from oldest to newest)

Anywhere, Anytime || Mature || 10,853 Words

Eddie wakes from a nightmare and calls Steve. Featuring endless banter, telephone calls, ADHD Eddie, clothes sharing, a slow-ish burn, hurt/comfort, a little pining, a love confession, and a Steve Harrington bi awakening. Podfic available.

Orta Recens Quam Pura Nites (Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine) || Mature || 22507 Words

Eddie Munson is dead, and death is apparently nothing but blackness and water to your ankles. Eddie Munson is dead, and Steve Harrington is listening to his music and wearing his clothes and wishing he'd been able to stop it. My take on the Kas!Eddie trope. With a Winter Soldiery twist. Podfic available.

It's Not a Big Deal || Mature || 11708 Words

Eddie loses everything in the "earthquake," all of it sucked into the Upside Down and locked up forever. Steve starts buying him stuff. Featuring Steve as an accidental sugar daddy, Uncle Wayne as the best parental figure in history, and Steve giving D&D a go. Podfic available.

I'd Burn the Castle for You || Teen and Up || 3621 Words

Eddie calls Steve "big boy" and "pretty boy," and Steve keeps asking him why. The answer: "You don't wanna know." Except Steve does. Steve does want to know. A tender and loving fic with a side of Dad Hopper (a thing that is very greatunironic's fault.) Podfic available. Fan art!

Critical Hit || Explicit || 7102

Steve shows up to play D&D. Eddie decides he can stay. IF King Steve recognizes the real lord and master of Hellfire. Featuring ring kissing, nerd sex, Steve being transfixed by Eddie's guitar-player fingers, and good ol' fashioned filth (of course.)

Cut and Changed and Rearranged || Teen and Up || 10856

The real reason Steve never really dates anymore is this: the nightmares and the secrets behind them. In the middle of the night, reeling from bad dreams, Steve properly starts listening to the mixtape Eddie made for him. Featuring hurt/comfort, angsty Steve, Steve getting the love he deserves, bed sharing, Eddie in crop tops, the bi experience, and did I mention Steve getting so much love? This fic is a love letter to Steve from Eddie and from me. Podfic available.

The Prettiest Boy in Hawkins, Indiana || Explicit || 19480 (for now?)

Six years after Vecna and Eddie's death, Steve is alone and managing a retail store at the new mall. El calls and tells him something is awake in Hawkins, and Steve vows to investigate. And then Something shows up in Steve's apartment and flashes sharp teeth. Featuring Vampire!Eddie, thousands upon thousands of words of saucy fangbanger kink, and what can only be described as two people who are absolutely fucked up about each other on a soul-deep level whether it's healthy or not. (After)life || Explicit || 4812 words When Steve wakes up from a nightmare screaming Eddie's name, he doesn't expect anything to answer. (Or Steve gets railed by Ghost Eddie, although there's actually a lot more to it than that because I've never successfully written pwp in my entire life.) Like a Record, Baby || Explicit || 1866 words Three months after the world doesn't end, a traveling fair hits downtown Hawkins. When Steve and Eddie get stuck at the top of the malfunctioning Ferris wheel, Eddie has an idea for how to pass the time. Steddie: public blow jobs edition. (Okay maybe I can write pwp after all.) Podfic available. Wiggle and Flourish || Mature || 2456 words Eddie says his bedroom is where the magic happens. Apparently he meant that literally. Comedy and fluff. No smut. In the Woods Somewhere || Explicit || 5526 Words Steve grew up hearing campfire stories about the Black Woods Monster. He just never expected it to be real (or for it to want to seduce him.) It's a monsterfucker Steve fic.

Nothing Hurts (Like Your Mouth) || Explicit || 4125 Words It's the full moon and Steve's got an itch he needs to scratch. WereSteve/VampEddie mausoleum monsterfuck. Forbidden lust/love. Spice with feelings. Like I Always Do || Mature || 5578 Words Russian torture, the Mind Flayer, Hopper. Steve goes through hell, and all he wants when it's over is to be with someone who will soothe away the aches. Hurt/Comfort with established sexual relationship. (No smut.)

✨✨Bonus: My Steddie Recs Collection

🚢 Ronance

Porcelain Like This || Explicit || 3444 Words

Nancy Wheeler likes sex and wants sex, and she doesn't really see why that's a problem. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be desired, with wanting to feel good. And there's certainly nothing wrong with wanting Robin Buckley. Featuring Nancy fucking Robin the backseat of her car. That's it. That's the fic.

Russian school slang

📌 Камча́тка. Kamchatka Krai (Rus. Камчатский край, Камчатка) is this part of Russia –

At schools “камчатка” is also the last rows of tables in the classroom, where the rowdy and the D-students sit. 

(There is a joke that Kamchatka teachers call those rows “калининград” (see that tiny exclave on the far left of the map? That’s Kaliningrad Oblast), but they apparently don’t)

📌 Шпарга́лка/шпо́ра – a cheatnote/crib. Cheating is pretty widespread in Russian schools and colleges and isn’t a big deal (except for state exams and certain teachers). Usually called шпора for short (literally “spur”, as in something you put on boots)

📌 Бота́ник – a geek/nerd/swot, literally “a botanist”. Also отли́чник/зубри́ла – “an excellent student” (neutral, not slang)/”one who learns everything by heart” (a bit derogatory, as is the first one)

📌 Дво́ечник. In Russia a mark you get in class is a digit from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest) (0 to 10 in Belarus, 0 to 12 in the Ukraine). A D-students are called двоечник – “one who gets twos”, a C-student is тро́ечник/середнячо́к – “one who gets threes (the lowest grade you need to pass)”/”average”, and a B-student is хороши́ст – “a good student” (just because четвёрочник and пятёрочник don’t sound good)

📌 Кол. Единица (the mark one out of five) is often called кол even by teachers – “stake/pole”. Двойка is sometimes па́ра – “pair”, тройка – троя́к.

📌 Зубри́ть/зубрёжка. Learning things by heart is expressed in a few words and phrases:

учить (несов. в.)/выучить (сов. в.) наизусть – to learn (smth) by heart

зубрить – to learn something without understanding, to cram; зубрёжка – cramming 

Gorgeous Dresses & Details

Double Portrait, by Alexander Roslin (1718-1793) l Portrait of Madame Pompadour, by François Boucher (1703-1770) l Portrait of Princess Maria Luisa of Parma, by Laurent Pêcheux (1729-1821) l Portrait of Marie Leszczinska, by Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765) l Portrait of Princess Sophie Friederike, by Georg David Matthieu (1737-1778) l Portrait of María Hahn, by Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta (1841-1920)