Wirt

Wirt
Cartoon Comic Concept
Character Information
Name	Wirt
Alias	‎ Two Brothers (by Beatrice)[1] Boy (by Woodsman)[1] Elder Child (by Woodsman)[1] Kitty (by Greg)[1] Children (by Miss Langtree)[2] Young Man (by Miss Langtree)[2] Simple (by the Master)[3] Simple-Minded Fool (by Toy-Maker)[3] Young-Lover (by Toy-Maker)[3] Pilgrim (by Butcher)[3] Those Children (by Beast)[3] Nephew (by Endicott)[4] My Little Turtles (by Lorna)[5] You-Wonderful-Mistake-of-Nature (by Beatrice)[6]
Gender	Male
Age	Highschooler (14)
Background Information
Status	Alive; Inactive in The Unknown
Family	‎ Greg, Half-brother, Alive, Inactive in The Unknown Unnamed Mother, Alive Unnamed Step-Father, Alive Unnamed Father, Unknown
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Black
Character Type
Role	Protagonist
First Appearance | Cast
Cartoon Debut	Chapter 1: The Old Grist Mill
Comic Debut	OTGW Comic Book 2015 Issue #1
English VA	Elijah Wood
International VA	Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese) Sérgio Cantú (Brazil)

Wirt is one of two main protagonists of the Over the Garden Wall. He views the world in a serious way, unlike his younger half-brother, Gregory. He is determined and often makes a point of being a contrarian, which frequently leads the pair into trouble.

He is voiced by Elijah Wood.

Appearance

Wirt is a relatively tall and rather thin young teenage boy with a red pointed gnome hat made from an old Santa hat. His outfit consists of a navy blue cape with six yellow buttons (not dissimilar to a ww2 era nurse's cape), simple grey pants that reach his ankles, suspenders, and a classic buttoned up white shirt. His hair is dark brown with pointed bangs that cover the majority of his forehead. He has large ears, a pointy nose and and big, round eyes with black pupils. He wears two different types of shoes, his left shoe being dark gray/brown and the other being black. They are commonly left untied, a noticeable trait throughout the series.  

Wirt's Halloween costume

In the episode Into the Unknown, it is revealed that Wirt's outfit is merely a Halloween costume. His normal attire consists of an earth-toned sweater that he wears over a collared white shirt and ordinary gray slacks, possibly the same pants that he wore with his costume. Without his hat on, Wirt's hair takes on a rather messy appearance.

Tome of the Unknown Concept:

Wirt was originally named Walter in the 2006 pitch bible, "Tome of the Unknown."

Personality

Wirt is a pessimistic realist in many ways, but also has a naïve and childish side to him. He is easily scared and surprised, and even though he is far more perceptive than his brother, he is very much still a kid. Throughout the storyline of Over the Garden Wall, Wirt has to struggle to remain optimistic against impossible odds. In chapter eight, Babes in the Wood, Wirt finally begins to succumb to his hopelessness and gives up on the notion that he and his brother will ever escape the Unknown. His tendency to think negatively is what made him an easier target for the Beast to drag down into despair. Wirt's brother, Gregory, is a parallel of his brother that pulls out the playful, jovial, childlike side of Wirt. He is also shown to have an interest in poetry, as he is often seen spouting melancholic verses.

In chapter nine, Into the Unknown, Wirt is shown to have low self-esteem and that he perceives himself to be an outcast, possibly due to his more sensitive interests like poetry and interior design. He tells Greg that he cannot enter the Halloween party because he was not invited and that his crush Sara is interested in Jason Funderberker, a terribly awkward yet good-natured boy whom he considers a threat. However, both of these statements are later shown to be false— a result of his insecurities causing him to distort the reality.

Wirt seems to be the type of teenager that makes out everything to be worse than it actually is, as shown in chapter nine multiple times; his overreaction to Greg giving the tape to the girls during the football game, the fact that Sara's friends and everyone at the party seems to know him and consider him a friend (despite his belief that he is a social outcast), and his meltdown over the cassette tape unintentionally falling into Sara's possession. He claims that his life is ruined when this happens, blames Greg, and refuses point-blank to simply talk to Sara about his feelings, which ultimately further complicates both his interactions with her and his eventual predicament in the Eternal Garden. It is demonstrated in his confrontation with the Beast that when Wirt critically analyzes his predicaments and remains considerate of others, he is able to calmly and confidently reach a solution, whereas before he was so overwhelmed with anxiety and uncertainty that coming up with worse-case scenarios was but the only thing he could do. In these situations Wirt was prone to lethargy, melodramatic, displaced anger and a tunnel vision focus on his problems.

By the end of the series Wirt seems to have matured, having found the strength to stand up to the Beast and escape the Unknown while also having accepted his responsibility as a brother.

History

Not much is known about Wirt's history, besides knowing he isn't around his biological father. He also reveals he is not very happy about his new step-father.

Etymology

• The name Wirt means "worthy, powerful, strong" in English and Anglo-Saxon.
• The word wirt can be traced back to Proto-Germanic, in which it means "host." It also carries the connotation of "caretaker."
• Wirt's name may be a pun on the phrase "worry wart," aptly capturing Wirt's disposition.

Trivia

• Wirt is also the main protagonist of Tome of The Unknown.
• Wirt was one of the first characters to be seen in a short preview as part of a sales video by Cartoon Network in June 2013.
• Wirt is overly cautious of many things, and prefers to be by himself. However, he has Gregory to look after.
• Wirt is seen another show called "Clarence", in the episode "Lil' Buddy". When Clarence is about to bury his doll, a silhouette of him and Greg in the right can be seen walking in the background.
• Wirt's secret passions are poetry and playing the clarinet.
• Wirt, along with Greg and the frog, may appear to be from the year the setting takes place, but in fact he appears to be from the late 20th century, still wearing his costume before he and Greg got lost on Halloween. Sometimes it was hinted throughout his remarks, reasoning and knowledge seemingly out of place of that era.
• Making cassette tapes for significant others was a popular pastime in the late 70s and 80s (almost to a cliche point).
• In one of concept art Wirt's original name was Walter.
• The cape Wirt wears is actually a WWII nurse cape. An accompanying hat seen in episode 9 is a Civil War Union soldier cap.
• Wirt's hat is made from what used to be a Santa hat with the fuzz cut off.
• The shot of Wirt's room in "Into the Unknown" shows that he owns a book on interior design, which explains how Wirt recognized the difference in architecture of the two mansions in episode 5, "Mad Love".
• Wirt can play the bassoon quite well as shown in "Lullaby in Frogland."

Gallery

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References

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