#otgw black turtles

[uboacore]

Wirt and his turtles.

From Old Black Train! The Beast Wirt fanfic where Wirt inherits a train and Greg names so many turtles! And Beatrice has an axe!!

Read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51873901/chapters/131160241

All the turtles pictured are ones that have been mentioned by name in the fic so far. The hats that two of the turtles have were made by Greg.

(Turtle names labelled under cut. See how many turtle name references you can spot!)

[arttsuka]

Doggy

[mr-poire]

A bit late, given the season, but I did this Over The Garden Wall fanart a while ago and wanted to share it here all the same !

[tibbsdraws]

I am mentally ill <3

[sparkleydoggy-art]

Inktober Day 21 - Bad Dog

[eruanna1875]

Doggone little enigmas, got no right being cute in a gif

We’re turtle rich!

[xovera-toz]

Here's an otgw theory that's been eating away at me. It also spiralled into something I never expected.

Here are the facts: Wirt has a (black!) turtle poster in his room. He says, when stepping out of his home's door, "Into the Unknown." We clearly see Endicott's grave in the cemetery.

What this all means to me, is that the Unknown never existed before the boys. It was created in the moment of their fall, pieced together from their collective experiences- Wirt's poetry, Greg's bedtime stories, anything this dream world could set root in.

That's why the turtles appear not once but twice: Wirt has seen that poster every day for the last who-knows-how-long, it's engraved into his memory.

That's why it's called The Unknown- He named it himself!

And that's why Endicott is not just some Englishman but Quincy Endicott. Greg saw that grave, and somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered what kind of guy he used to be. Boom, Mansion. Boom, Tea. Wirt's love for architecture finished the rest.

... Now that I think about it, what does that mean for the rest of the inhabitats?

I think Beatrice is the most obvious: As a kid in highschool, Wirt must have learned about Dante and his journey. When the time came to name the guide, this poetry loving nerd unconsciously name her Beatrice.

While on the topic of poetry, I'm preeetty sure the Beast could be an Edgar Allan Poe influence on Wirt. Not to say that, it's not the death of hope or anything, because it still is- it just carries some Poe characteristics I couldn't help but notice.

Pottsfield might be Wirt's hope to see a better world. He's a teenager, damn it, and he seriously grapples with suicide through the show. Him leaving is the first show of his will to live. (I consider him waking up after Greg left and placing the lantern down another two. How many could we find if we searched?)

The schoolhouse? Greg's understanding of schools. Bland food, unfocused teachers, fun kids to play with.

I can't help but think the tavern was a play Wirt must have seen at some point. Everything happens in the same room, the characters have only roles, things that happen offscreen are only told as a story. (Think Highwayman or Tailor, or even the Tavernkeeper)

Now, Adelaide and Whispers and all that... Might just be Wirt's paranoia crossed with Greg's imagination. Wirt constantly worries about what others think about him, how he's percieved, what they do when he's not there. Beatrice's betrayal is the manifestation of his fears. Whispers and Lorna are there to rub the salt into the wound: A girl he appears to like turns on him, the woman he was afraid of is actually nice. He's got all his first-impressions turned upside down.

(This might be why the Unknown appears, after all: To challenge their understanding of the World)

So, yeah, this got away from me a tad bit. I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts.

[uboacore]

Read Old Black Train on AO3 and FF.net to see Greg adopt and name way too many turtles

[boilbluedenim]

Over the liminal mindscape

I love and hate how this show's ending is completely left up to interpretation, mainly because of Wirt and Greg's potential deaths and how that makes me feel about the show as a whole. It attaches a sort of bittersweet feeling to it which I'm not too sure about. more on that soon though.

Anyway, when paying even just an inkling of attention to this show, you can almost immediately connect the dots and come to the conclusion that none of the adventures (for the most part) actually happened. This conclusion is heavily drawn from the frames we see at the very beginning, of Wirt, Greg, and Jason Funderburker (the frog) drowning. (ep 1)

and from the frames where Wirt wakes up in the water after having said goodbye to Beatrice, saving his brother and the frog by carrying them both out of the water. (ep 10)

Taking into account that Wirt, Greg, and Funderburker all fell into the water moments before almost getting hit by a train, which we discover in episode 9; Into The Unknown, I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is, in fact, the case and that OTGW takes place in either a mental space or a physical limbo, occurring while they are all in the process of drowning.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that OTGW is heavily based off of Dante's Inferno, which, in the simplest of summaries, is a poem about a journey that begins in a forest, leads through hell, and eventually into heaven, hence the theorized death I mentioned earlier. It's actually pretty easy to spot where these references and homages lie, for example, the formula of the story is somewhat similar, and the characters take on similar roles. (for example, Virgil: Beatrice/Woodsman(?)or even Greg in some cases, Beatrice: Sara, Dante: Wirt.) (please read Inferno or a summary of it to fully understand this if you haven't already because it's actually really interesting).

Rewatching OTGW with this in mind led me to realize a lot of things that I originally passed off as unique writing choices with no actual meaning behind them. Then again that could be the case but what's the fun in assuming that?

Upon entering the unknown, we're launched into a universe with a seemingly ever-changing time period. Characters talk funny and fancy, dress and act as if they're from the 1600s-1700s, and none of our protagonists seem particularly fazed by this (except for Beatrice, occasionally) with Greg using a phrase such as "brother o'mine" and Wirt's dramatic poetic rambles. Everything feels very inspired while also being all over the place, almost as if it's been composed from memories, lying in the pits of somebody's mind...

Wirt is a Huge Nerd.

If I am to believe that this show takes place in one of our protagonists' minds, which I do in fact believe, then I would say that that protagonist has to be Wirt. Wirt has a tendency to go on poetic spiels, even dropping two of them in the very first episode. Accompanied by his teenage boy dread (being a nerd at 14 is tough) and his overextending knowledge about curious things, which he showcases in his exclaim at Beatrice's ability to talk and his comment about one of the rooms in Endicott's mansion (below), It becomes a glaring possibility that OTGW is primarily from Wirt's point of view, with the Unknown existing solely in his head.

I've actually seen this point argued before, with some people mentioning the black turtles on the poster in Wirt's room or just his entire room in general. However, if true, that doesn't really answer the question of whether the unknown exists as a physical space or a mental one, having no supernatural effects on the real world.

2. The Implications of the Bell

Okay, so, listen.

I hate to be the kind of person who goes "Well it's probably just a fun and silly bit that doesn't actually mean anything." but I'm gonna be that person anyway, or at least I'm not going to assume character death because I don't want to and free will is a thing blablablabla. I will however be serious for a second and try to provide a tangible reason for why I think this scene doesn't have any real-world implications.

For one, this scene immediately jumpcuts to a voiceover, followed by scenes that serve as conclusions for the stories of the characters we've met along the way, all of them being positive. I think this serves the purpose of letting us know the story did in fact have a good ending, with Wirt learning how to treat his brother with respect. I also think that ties into the theory above.

Not only does the unknown serve as a mental limbo but it also serves as a lesson for Wirt in particular. This journey is riddled with self-critique, characterized as Beatrice, all the while Wirt is drowning and realizing he's not only failed himself but his brother as well.

3. The Beast

Surprisingly I haven't mentioned the beast yet even though he's very important to the story. The beast represents a couple of things, one being death and two being the overarching, real-world problem. Those may sound like the same thing, and honestly, they are depending on what you think the problem is. To me, it's Wirt's relationship with, and treatment of Greg in the real world that bleeds into the universe of the unknown.

The exchange that Wirt has with the beast at the end of episode 10 fully encapsulates his character growth. The characters his mind has created have actually taught him something, that being; wallowing in sorrow and accepting your fate is just going to lead you further down this winding path, or in this case, to the bottom of this lake. You will never get home.

Unlike I've seen others suggest, this is not a story of a boy failing and dying while so wrapped up in his own fantasy, eventually residing in a false heaven. Instead, everything is put back where it needs to be.

From the forest, through the unknown, and finally, back home.

[fipindustries]

one thing i do find annoying i guess about the worldbuilding in places like the owl house is that the never commit either way. because you can tell on some level the owl house *wants* to have like a cool magic system and a thought out history and cool intricate lore, but they cant really go all in on system building in the way things like atelier of a witch hat or dungeon meshi do. so a lot of the magic and nature of the world is very *feels* based. more concerned with aesthetics than mechanics. but if that is the case then you should go full numinous i think.

it'd be cool to have a show that operates entirely on poetry logic, nothing but weird, hazy liminality and metaphors over metaphors and just strange mystic woo. we did have a show like that in fact! over the garden wall! OTGW never really bothers to explain anything or try to give any kind of lore or anything like that. the kids are on "the unknown", the beast is just an evil thing, we never really know what it is or why does it do what it does, we never really get an explanation for why the black turtles do what they do, we never get any real solid rules or anything, is all just fairytale bullshit and it works perfectly. masterfully even.

i was going to say "cartoon shows for children can never be the cosmere" but like, that is not entirely true, many animes have achieved if not quite that, things in the very near ballpark. it could also happen in the west, we just need a creator with enough balls and talent and a studio willing to burn their money away on a crazy bet

[k-she-rambles]

Okay but more Labyrinth/OTGW

--the emotional plot of the OTGW thread is kicked off by Wirt back from college, being an overprotective big brother, while Greg is now old enough to have lowkey my family is dumb and embarrassing sometimes, I want to do what I want feelings. They missed each other terribly. (This doesn't help)

--on the Labyrinth side, Sarah won certain responsibilities to add to her certain powers. She's now some kind of co-sovreign of the Underground, and Toby is heir to the whole kaboodle. (Sarah and Jareth have to work together, and it's the worst) She's also a college student, and the family moved in next door to Wirt and Greg while she was at school. She’s not even coming home to her house.

--emotional beats such as Greg continuing his habit of wanting to take more responsibility for Wirt than Wirt takes for Greg. But Wirt's gotten way better at that, for a very long time now, and it's no longer an act of love on Greg's part, but insecurity compounded by Wirt being away for so long. (And feeling embarrassed of Wirt in front of his school friends...) (...this hurts Wirt a lot)

--Wirt getting it through to Greg through the adventure that being the embarrassing big brother is his job, I'm always gonna be a dork to you, you dork, lemme take care of you.

--Wirt being more or less unfazed by the Castle beyond the Goblin City, the goblins themselves, and all the singing. Jareth finds this suspicious.

--other worlds can be delicate ecosystems. The denizens of the Underground know how to deal with fairies and Cleaners and the occasional encroachment of the Dwarf Kingdom. These black turtles are a new thing.

--Jareth whirled, his cloak flying out behind him briefly, and backed Wirt up against the nearest wall. "What have you done? Why didn't you tell me you belonged to the Unknown?"

"Jareth, what--" said Sarah.

"I-I don't, said Wirt, his voice rising. "Sure, I've been there, but we left. We defeated the Beast. We came home. It has no power over me.”He struggled against the Goblin King's grip, but only just. Somehow it didn't seem like a good idea to kick him.

"It touched you, nonetheless. Just because the Beast was defeated doesn't mean that there isn't a Beast," said Jareth. "Tell me, Worthy Wirt, what is the Beast?"

Wirt flushed red. "Uh. Darkness. Internal darkness. Um. The kind that feeds on despair. It lies. It gets you to agree to it with tricks. I..." his hands were shaking. "It wears you down physically first, if your heart is stronger."

"Tell me again," said Jareth softly, his mismatched eyes searching Wirt's face. "What is the Beast? What would the the Beast become in the Underground, a land more close to Immortality than the Unknown? I believe you know."

Wirt's heart thudded. "Oh, dog. Erlkonig."

Jareth released Wirt. "You have brought the Death of Children to the place where childhood never dies, and you're going to help me fix it."

[less-lost-than-you-realize]

THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!

The MILL is where they came from! They come downstream from the Mill and into the rest of the Unknown!

And the fact that it has certain effects on some people and not others makes sense too, though I don't doubt there's always some sort of effect, if not always the whole transforming-into-a-monstrous-creature thing. I've seen other posts saying that Auntie Whispers' appearance could be a result of her long-term consumption of the turtles.

And because it's edelwood oil, which the Beast is directly connected with, it makes sense that the dog has the eyes of the Beast. I wouldn't be surprised if the Beast uses this unexpected result of the Woodsman's work to his advantage. Corrupting animals to cause trouble, to wound and destroy.

Once the Woodsman goes home, of course, all that stops. They're still present in the Unknown, but no more will come from what is done in the Mill.

GUYS, I FIGURED OUT THE BLACK TURTLES!

It's a detail of OTGW that's lowkey perplexed me since the series first aired. What's with the black turtles that appear in every episode? What role do they serve in the story, and what do they represent?

A small, seemingly inconsequential detail, but just the sort to occupy my mind every time I watch the show.

My first train of thought: Are they manifestations of The Beast's power and influence? If not, why does eating one turn Beatrice's dog into a slavering monster? But if so, why is Auntie Whispers purely benevolent despite eating one (and presumably much more)? Why aren't they themselves monstrous and malevolent? But also why aren't they, on the contrary, beautiful and benevolent? They're just ... sorta there, which suggests there's no supernatural nor moral element to them. Yet they're clearly not natural turtles, either ...

My second train of thpught: Are they representations of the Unknown's liminal nature, moving between land and water just as the Unknown is between life and death? Thus a foreshadow and a reminder of the brother's state? It would sorta make sense, given their omnipresence. Mirrored by the brother's Frog, whose amphibious nature is likewise liminal. And the weirdness of turtles specifically for this symbolic role fits the the weird aesthetic of The Unknown. Still, it didn't seem to quite fit.

BUT TONIGHT, I FIGURED OUT WHERE THEY COME FROM! THE OLD GRIST MILL!

WHERE THE WOODSMAN HAS BEEN GRINDING EDELWOOD TREES INTO A DISTINCTIVELY BLACK OIL FOR THE LANTERN!

SOME OF WHICH MUST BE WASHED OFF, LEAKING, OR EVEN SPILLED OUTRIGHT INTO THE STREAM THAT POWERS THE MILL, AND THUS CONTAMINATING THE ENVIRONMENT!

It's pollution. Industrial Revolution era pollution is the reason for the black turtles distinctive color and weird effects on some people, but not others.

[theinvisibledoodlewizard]

More plates! Still not Halloween, I know. But I draw this when I get kinda stressed. And lately? Yeah. I have the big drawing hanging in my room now. Got a plate taped to my wall, so I can look at it when I wake up. Yep, definitely a sane, normal thing to do.

[spiralboi]

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A post shared by 🌻🧁SweetToothSunflower🧁🌻 (@sweet.tooth.sunflower)

I made chocolate turtles inspired by Over The Garden Wall 🍬🐢

I have a whole baking Instagram account if you want more bakes! (I'm currently baking along to the Bake Off themes each week)

[less-lost-than-you-realize]

A little different sort of ensemble piece, and I like it

Some kind of fanart.

Over the garden wall.

[viper-commander]

Imputeresco, Mortem, Desparo