Over the Garden Wall was an animated limited series that was presented by Cartoon Network in
2014. Even though its run was short, the unique storytelling, endearing characters,
and wonderful animation style brought it much critical success. It still has
a following to this day, as it speaks to anyone who has ever felt a little lost.
But we don’t always act the best when we’re lost, do we?
Hi, I’m Brad from WickedBinge and today we’ll be
ranking Over the Garden Wall characters from Good to Evil.
For this list we’ll be ranking characters into three categories,
The Good, The Grey, and the Bad to Evil.
We’ll be looking not only at how good a character is,
but how much they’re able to grow throughout the series. Because of that,
of course, there are going to be heavy spoilers, so consider this your warning.
With all that said, let’s climb over that wall and get to the list.
First up is The Good Tier. This is for characters who are either naturally good, or learn to become
so over time. They’re the characters who set the best example for the kids watching at home.
Our Gold Medal of Good goes to Jason Funderberker (aka Wirt,
aka George Washington, aka Ben Franklin, aka Dr. Cucumber)
Not to be confused with the human boy also named Jason Funderberker,
this frog often steals the show. He encompasses the good nature found in
many of the show's other characters, but with none of the hang-ups or drawbacks.
There is one episode where Greg is certain that he’ll have to leave his frog friend behind for
a life of music, only to be pleasantly surprised that he rejoins the party.
He uses his talents to get them out of a bind,
but sticks through to the end of the adventure. It’s a subtle, but sweet
message about how sometimes being there is just the best thing you can do for your friends.
There’s no doubt that he adds a certain light to the show.
Our Silver Medal of Good goes to The Woodsman
Though he is introduced as a rather suspect character, and is at one point believed to
be the main antagonist of the show, The Woodsman is actually a very good person.
Though he has done terrible, terrible things in service of The Beast, it becomes clear by the
end he was being manipulated. He was letting the false hope of seeing his daughter again
blind him into working with a monster that was set on using him for his own purposes.
Even when he’s working with The Beast,
it’s worth noting that he does his best to warn the children and steer them to
safety. There’s also his reaction where he finds out where the Edelwood is coming from,
at which point he cannot continue to use them any longer, even when he thinks he will benefit.
Not only does he overcome his struggle by the end of the show, he also takes the biggest chance and
offers the biggest sacrifice. By letting go of the idea of keeping his lost daughter alive, he
learns that he can blow out the lantern and defeat The Beast, making him a savior in his own right.
The Bronze Medal of Good goes to Wirt
Wirt is far from being a perfect character, but he is a perfect
illustration of how being a good person is a constant series of difficult choices.
The fact that he has to conquer things like fear, depression, and self-pity, give him a
lot of room to grow as a person throughout his journey. He is plagued by a lot of troubles,
but continues to do his best to get him and his brother safely home against terrible odds.
There are times when he succumbs to his weaknesses. Toward the end
of the series he loses all hope, putting Greg in charge and laying
down in the woods with little intention of getting back up.
When he sees that Greg has run off though, he wastes no time in
chasing after his little brother to correct his mistake and make
sure that his family is safe. He even remembers to take the frog.
We also see during that chase how quick he is to forgive under pressure. Though
we know he CAN hold a grudge, he was willing to set aside his issues
with Beatrice so that they could face The Beast together as a team.
Finally, though he is often thrust into the position of hero (and learns not to balk at
it) he also knows which battles are best fought by others. The Woodsman wouldn’t have had his
chance to grow had Wirt not returned The Lantern to him and let him make the call for himself.
Coming in very, very close after his brother is Greg
This kid is just as sweet as potatoes and molasses, isn’t he?
He gets full points for good intentions and his wholesome nature.
We have to give him a pass on being easily distracted because he is a child, but the truth
is that he completes fewer actions that actually benefit the greater good. In fact, he often makes
things harder or adds challenges to situations just because he fails to think things through.
His best moment, undoubtedly, is when he uses his wish to go after The Beast in an attempt to save
his brother. We know Wirt would have done the same for him, but it showed a lot of growth for Greg
that he was able to focus long enough to help, instead of just thinking about magical tigers.
Rounding out the Tier is Lorna
Though she was a minor character, we thought it was worth it to bring up Lorna. She struggles
with some intense demons (literally) but is grateful for the people trying to help her.
She also embodies the spirit of forgiveness. Once she has been freed of her demons,
she is able to put aside the history of pain she has with her Auntie Whispers,
declaring her family and choosing to stay rather than to make the old woman live alone.
We move now to The Grey Tier. These are either neutral characters,
or characters whose good deeds cancel out their bad deeds.
Kicking off this Tier is Beatrice
Beatrice did a tremendous amount of growth during the show, but there’s a difference
between improving and having a full redemption arc. Wirt and Greg wouldn’t have been able to
survive had she not gotten Wirt to safety after his fall into the water, and then chased Greg.
But she has a lot to make up for, still.
She confesses to Wirt that she got her entire family turned into bluebirds because she was
throwing rocks at the bird that cursed them. She then tries to trick Wirt and Greg into
going to Adelaide’s with the intention of trading them for her family’s freedom.
Though she gets cold feet about the plan, she still isn’t able to come clean,
leading the boys right into the trap anyway.
There are other personality traits that we think keep her from being in a higher tier
as well. She’s impatient, rude, and a little selfish. Though she comes through in the end,
little is done to address these more harmful aspects of her nature.
Following her is Enoch.
Something about this pumpkin headed leader of Pottsfield is very ominous,
but we think he’s mostly harmless. His biggest sin is scaring children (and
making them do community service for crimes that we really don’t think are that bad.)
On the other side of that, Pottsfield seems to be a pretty happy place,
and his skeleton/pumpkin citizens seem happy enough.
Up Next is Sara
We don’t know a lot about Sara other than she’s sweet,
and Wirt likes her. But maybe that’s enough, isn’t it?
Her lack of screen time doesn’t give her much opportunity to grow over the course of the show,
but neither has she done anything wrong.
Just after her is Jason Funderberker
This time we are talking about the human, and not the frog who is eventually named after him.
Though his introduction is framed in a way where we’re not supposed to like him (for
stealing Sara away from Wirt), we actually feel a bit bad for the kid at the end of things. It’s
obvious his interest in Sara is not mutual, and he’s just trying to feel included in the group.
Next we have our first shared slot; Jimmy Brown and Miss Langtree
When we first meet Miss Langtree she tells us about her handsome devil of a man,
Jimmy Brown, who left her without a word.
The episode ends happily when we find out Jimmy Brown didn’t leave her, he just got
stuck in a gorilla costume while trying to earn the money to buy her a wedding ring.
These two are literally the worst at communicating, especially for adults.
But it was nice to see them get a happy ending all the same.
Rounding out the Tier is our second and final shared slot; Quincy Endicott and Marguerite Grey
Another love story that was happily concluded. Quincy Endicott and Marguerite Grey are both so
wealthy and lonely that they don’t even realize they’ve built their
mansions into one another’s properties; each believing the other to be a ghost.
They come in at the bottom of the Grey tier for reckless wealth hoarding,
but all in all, we’re glad they found each other all the same.
Finally, we move to the Bad to Evil. These characters are the antagonists, obstacles,
and morally corrupt cast of the show that we just can’t bring ourselves to forgive.
Kicking off this tier is Fred the Horse.
It may seem harsh to put him in the bad tier but he’s really not a good person. He can talk,
but pretends he can’t so he doesn’t have to comfort Beatrice during the storm.
When they point out that he has agency and can do what he wants,
he blatantly says that he chooses to steal.
He proceeds to make a big mess, and only turns things around when frightened by
what he believes to be a ghost. We do give him credit for finding honest
work at the end, but he still doesn’t try to make amends for any of the damage done.
Following him is Auntie Whispers
She’s another one who is painted to be the bad guy,
only for the audience to find out she has good intentions.
But if you look even closer, we still believe Auntie Whispers was in the wrong.
She is using a magic bell to control Lorna, and the evil spirits who are trying to take
over Lorna. But instead of banishing the evil spirits (the first thing Wirt tries when he
gets the bell) she is just making Lorna do house work so the evil spirits can’t get into trouble.
Since we see at the end that she was afraid to lose Lorna, we have to wonder if she wasn’t
keeping the spirits around on purpose, and getting free labor in the process.
That’s just not right.
Taking the Bronze Medal of Evil is The North Wind
We may never know exactly how much of Greg’s dream was real and how much was his imagination,
so The North Wind might be mostly a construct. But since Greg does get a wish, and some tangible
insight into his brother’s condition, we have to assume the threat he vanquished was real as well.
The North Wind was not developed as a villain, but he plays the role of evil well. He takes
vengeance on all the other people of Cloud City, and they have to launch a literal
battle against him to get him contained once more so that he cannot wreak any more havoc.
Taking the Silver Medal of Evil is Adelaide
They built up Adelaide a lot for how little we actually see her.
Beatrice says that she’s the Good Woman of the Woods to try and lure Greg and Wirt
into her company. The truth is that she has demanded Beatrice bring her a child to use
as a servant. Her entire house seems to be set up in a way designed to trap children.
More chilling is the fact she says that she says she’s going to fill their heads
with wool, presumably to make them more obedient and take away their willpower.
Despite not having a lot of actual screen time, Adelaide was a very effective
villain. All in all, we’re glad that no more characters got to join Greg’s Adelaide Parade.
Taking the Gold Medal of Evil, of course, is The Beast
You probably knew this one was coming, but our
most evil slot has to go to the primary antagonist, and utterly chilling Beast.
His build up continues in the background of nearly every episode of the show, and
the payoff was excellent. There are a few red herrings, with the dog at the beginning
and The Woodsman’s lantern throwing Greg and Wirt off the trail of the real danger.
The Beast has eternal life as long as he can keep the flame in the lantern alive. He does this by
tricking The Woodsman into believing the lantern contains the spirit of his deceased daughter.
What makes it worse is that the Lantern burns Edelwood oil — and Edelwood trees are made from
the souls of lost children. He is intentionally trying to lure children away and make them lose
hope so that he can keep himself alive eternally — scaring and manipulating all the while.
And that’s been it! Our ranking of Over the Garden Wall Characters from Good to Evil. Who
did you think was the best? The worst? Let us know in the comments down below.
While you’re down there don’t forget to like and subscribe.
And as always, Stay Wicked.