Garden Wall Brothers

Garden Wall Brothers is the familyship between Wirt and Gregory from the Over the Garden Wall fandom.

Canon
Wirt and Greg start their story in Chapter 1 "The Old Grist Mill" lost in the woods, with Wirt not even able to recollect how they even got here. Greg has his pockets filled with candy and suggests setting up a candy trail to remember where they went, even putting candy on top of a black turtle. When they meet a talking bluebird, Greg is fascinated by it, but Wirt freaks out, the two of them are then approached by an old Woodsman, who kindly offers them shelter, saying these woods aren't safe when "the Beast" is on the loose. He takes them to an abandoned mill, with Wirt immediately getting suspicious at his hospitality and discussing plans to knock him out with Greg should the Woodsman have sinister intentions. However, when the mill is attacked by a huge black dog with glowing eyes, Greg knocks the Woodsman out just as Wirt was starting to trust him and the brothers are forced to take on the dog beast on their own. They quickly figure out that the dog likes Greg's cnady, so they use that to trap it in the wheel of the mill, causing it to puke out the black turtle Greg saw earlier. It turns into a normal dog, so Wirt thinks "the Beast" is dealt with, but the Woodsman tells him that the Beast is no animal and is furious at the brothers for damaging the mill. He tells them to leave and look for a town, giving Greg advice to give his pet frog a proper name. Greg thinks of calling his frog "Wirt", but Wirt quickly declines and the two brothers walk aimlessly through the forest, followed by the bluebird.

Chapter 2, "Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee" starts off with Wirt and Greg having wandered through the forest for hours, to the point where its dawn when they finally see signs of a town being nearby. Greg finds the bluebird trapped inside a thorn bush, and frees her despite Wirt telling him not to, which causes the bluebird to offer them a favor, she was already on her way to "Adelaide of the pasture, the good woman of the woods" and tells them that she can bring them back home if asked. Wirt is far more focused on getting a phone, but allows the bluebird, who reveals herself to be named "Beatrice" after Gregory asks her for her name, to follow them into the town of Pottsfield. Wirt and Greg both step on pumpkins on their way, but they quickly find the town abandoned save for the barn where they hear music coming from the inside. There, they find a "cult" of people using pumpkins as costumes celebrating their harvest, but Wirt tries to tolerate them and asks them for a way home, they get offended at them trying to leave. When Wirt and Greg explain that they weren't even intending to stay, they just stepped on pumpkins and tried to ask for directions, the village head Enoch deems them troublemakers for interrupting their festivities and stepping on the crops and sentencing them to a few hours of manual labor. Wirt calmly accepts this and happily works alongside Greg and Beatrice in the fields, only to get suspicious when the villagers task them to dig holes in a random empty field. Wirt suspects that they are forced to dig their own graves, so he allows Beatrice to use her beak to break their locks and flee the village. However, when Enoch and the villagers find them, Wirt is forced to stall them while Beatrice breaks the locks on him and Greg, only for them to run away while Wirt was still trying to explain himself out of this. Luckily, a skeleton pops out of the ground and joins the villagers, with them happy that Wirt and Greg dug up the "life of the party", with Wirt figuring that Pottsfield is inhabited by living skeletons. When Wirt is allowed to leave, he chews Beatrice and Greg out for "ditching" him, but they both wonder why he stayed behind, seeing as Beatrice already picked his lock.

In Chapter 3, "Schooltown Follies", Wirt distances himself from Greg due to finding his singing annoying, with Greg running towards a school. Trying to look for Greg, Wirt ends up getting enrolled in the school intended to teach animals to count and spell. Throughout the episode, Wirt is trying to get on Beatrice's nerves by doing everything the teacher Miss Langtree tells him to do, when Beatrice reminds him that they haven't found Greg yet, Greg is knocking on the window and happily waving at them, reassuring Wirt that Greg is fine. Greg then gives Wirt and the other animals a thumbs down, calling them losers for going to school while Greg gets to hang out with the wild animals outside. However, when what appears to be a wild gorilla attacks Greg and his new friends, they have to hide in the school just in time for Miss Langtree to call them in for dinner. Greg is initially happy at getting food for free, but then realizes how bland the potatoes taste on their own, he convinces Miss Langtree to play a happy ditty on the piano while Greg gives everyone molasses to go with their potatoes. Wirt does not stop Greg during this whatsoever and actually looks like he's enjoying himself during Greg's song. However the song session gets interrupted by Miss Langtree's father arriving for an inspection and confiscating their instruments to sell them for school funding, leading to Miss Langtree telling everyone to go to bed early. Beatrice finally convinces Wirt to drop his overly obedient shtick and convinces the brothers to back on track by breaking out of the school. However, on their way they run into Mr. Langtree crying to himself over not having the money to fund the school properly and resorting to selling the instruments. When the brothers see this, they are convinced to help the poor man, with Greg suggesting they steal all his instruments. In reality, the brothers set up a benefit concert for the school with Wirt happily watching Greg sing his ditty to an adoring crowd of rich villagers.

In Chapter 4, "Songs of the Dark Lantern", the brothers and Beatrice are forced to hitch a ride with a crazed coachman, who fears the Beast. They get ejected near an old tavern, where they hope they get direction to where to go next. Beatrice gets kicked out by the Tavern Keeper, who doesn't allow any birds in her tavern, so Wirt and Greg have to do the talking by themselves. While Wirt is struggling to make the tavern regulars listen to him, Greg is continuously grabbing snacks from the tables and giving Beatrice updates while she's freezing outside. Eventually, Wirt and Greg earn the respect of the local folk by being labeled as "pilgrims" and exciting them with what they have experienced so far. However, when Wirt mentions how the Woodsman told them about the Beast, thinking it's just an old children's myth, the Tavern Keeper warns them that the Beast is indeed real. With Wirt and Greg noticing that Beatrice had gone missing, she encourages them to go look for her, so the brothers steal a horse and ride into the woods looking for her. Since the Tavern Keeper told them that "he who carries the lantern must be the Beast", Wirt thinks that the Woodsman himself is the Beast and "saves" Beatrice from him. As Greg holds her when she wakes up, Wirt tells her that the horse (who is named Fred) gave them directions on the way.

In Chapter 5, "Mad Love", Beatrice tricks the eccentric Quincy Endicott into thinking that Wirt and Greg are his long-lost nephews. Wirt is firmly against the idea, but Greg seems to genuinely believe that Etticott is his uncle, and Wirt cools down as Beatrice tells him that they only need two pennies from Endicott to ride the ferry to Adelaide's home. So the brothers separate with Greg and Fred keeping Etticott busy, while Wirt and Beatrice are looking for spare change in his huge mansion somewhere. Eventually, they resolve Endicott's problem with his "ghost" crush, with Endicott and the very much alive Lady Grey each giving Greg a penny to start his fortune with. But just as Wirt is reassured that they can pay for the ride now, Greg tosses the pennies into a fountain, only explaining by saying he has "no sense at all".

In Chapter 6, "Lullaby in Frogland", Wirt and Greg are forced to sneak onto the ferry. Though Wirt is pretty bummed about it, Greg's singing actually cheers him up this time and he actually enjoys singing and dancing alongside his brother for once. However, they soon get chased by the frog police when they are found out as fare dodgers and are forced to hide inside the closet and disguise themselves as a frog musician and his drum to get the cops to leave them alone. With Wirt pulling off a surprisingly good bassoon performance and Greg's frog revealing a talent for singing, the other frogs let them finish their ride and they make it to shore dry. However, as night falls, Beatrice suddenly panics and tells the boys to wait until dawn to talk to Adelaide, but Wirt notices Beatrice flying away as she thinks he's sleeping. He wakes Greg and they follow Beatrice with them barging into Adelaide's house just as Beatrice was about to back out of her deal with her, Adelaide had promised to use her scissors to turn Beatrice back into a human if she manages to find a child slave for her. However, the boys arriving at her cottage caused Adelaide to change her mind and plan to fill the boys heads with wool and turn them into "obedient sheep" after all, with Wirt feeling so betrayed that he frees him and Greg as Beatrice opens the window, killing Adelaide. To Beatrice's shock, Wirt and Greg have left her behind.

In Chapter 7, "The Ringing of the Bell", Wirt is angrily dragging Greg through the rain, hoping to find shelter as far away from Beatrice as possible right now. As Greg sees a run-down old house, he begs Wirt not to go there, but Wirt goes there anyway. Inside, they believe the house to be abandoned, but Greg finds a basket of living turtles, which Wirt notes is strange. Soon enough, they are discovered by a girl named Lorna who lives in the house, with Greg enthusiastically telling her that they are burglars, but Wirt correcting him, saying they just want a place to stay when the rain peters out. Lorna allows them to stay, but warns them that Auntie Whispers does not like visitors. When Auntie Whispers herself arrives, with Lorna having to hide the boys, Wirt notes how cruel it is that her "auntie" forces her to work tirelessly when she's ill and offers her to help her escape and finish her chores. Greg is at best confused at his brother's sudden interest in this girl and quickly gets distracted by his frog hopping up the stairs to Auntie's bedroom. With Auntie meeting a rude awakening, Wirt and Greg are forced to explain the situation to Auntie, but she tells them that anyone who trespasses on this house gets devoured and desperately tries to find the bell she used to control Lorna earlier. Greg acts sheepish and admits that his frog must've swallowed it, so Wirt takes his brother and Lorna into the basement and blocks the door from the inside. However, Auntie warns them that Lorna will eat them now, with Wirt realizing his mistake as he sees a ghoulish Lorna hungry for him and his brother. Greg notes the irony that he thought Auntie Whispers was the child-eating monster, but it was Lorna the whole time, which causes Wirt to chastise him for it. They escape through a window, with Greg trying to use his frog's belly as a bell to command Lorna to "turn into a magical tiger", but Wirt takes the bell at the last moment and instead banishes the spirit possessing Lorna, freeing her from its hunger.

In Chapter 8, "Babes in the Woods", Wirt is so tired and lost all hope that they ever get home that he tells Greg that he can be the leader as Greg is tucking him in with leaves. Just before going to sleep himself, Greg prays to the heavens that they find a way to get home, which causes him to be transported to Cloud City in his dreams. Greg has a happy dream of him being welcomed by the cloud citizens and saving their lives from the villainous North Wind, causing the Queen of the Clouds to offer him one wish as a reward. All Greg wants at this point is that he and his brother could finally get back home, but the Queen regretfully tells him that Wirt can't come with him, showing him being covered with Edelwood branches, claimed by the Beast as part of his "dark forest". So Greg makes a selfless wish of allowing the Beast to take him instead of his brother, with Wirt still sleeping as Greg willingly goes deeper into the Woods with the Beast. As Wirt wakes up, he panics when he can't see Greg anywhere, desperately calling his name, Wirt runs onto a frozen lake and nearly drowns, but Beatrice manages to save him just in time. As Wirt passes out again, Beatrice worriedly asks him where Greg is.

Chapter 9, "Into the Unknown", is a flashback to Wirt and Greg living in normal suburbia, celebrating Halloween. Just as Wirt was preparing to give a self-made cassette to his crush Sara, Greg runs into him and figures out that he wants to give the cassette to a girl, so he takes it and approaches a trio of girls with it. The girls are Wirt's classmates who tease him over his crush on Sara and offer to give the cassette to her for him, but Wirt panics when he hears that Sara is planning to go to a Halloween party with his rival Jason Funderberker and pulls Greg away to go home. As Greg asks why Wirt doesn't want Sara to hear the cassette, but Wirt explains that he put embarrassing recordings of his own poetry and clarinet playing on it, realizing that there's still a chance to get it back, he takes Greg to the girls and asks them about the cassette. They tell him they put it in Sara's jacket for him, which leads to Wirt having to take Greg while following Sara to the Halloween party. When Wirt objects that he wasn't invited, Greg offers to go inside, but Wirt reminds him that Greg wasn't invited either. Greg goes inside anyway, with Wirt having to go inside to fetch him, only to find out that everyone including Sara is very happy to see him there. However, Sara is going to the cemetary with Jason, so Wirt and Greg follow them there as well, watching Sara and her circle of friends tell each other ghost stories while the brothers are hiding behind gravestones. As Jason gets too into his ghost story and touches Sara's hand without her permission, Wirt gets jealous, leading to Greg offering to distract them. He doesn't get very far as all the kids present are found by the police, who are forced to chase them with them running away in a panic. As Wirt and Greg climb over the (bone)garden wall, Wirt sees Sara and Jason finding his cassette and gets so anxious that he jumps with Greg off the wall. Greg finds a frog on the other side and thinks that this was all an elaborate plan of Wirt to go on a frog hunt after all, but Wirt is furious at his brother for getting him into this mess. However, Wirt and Greg are tumbling down a hill when a train nearly hits them on the other side and fall into a river, ending up in the Unknown while nearly drowning.

Chapter 10, "The Unknown" has Wirt wake up, being taken by Beatrice to her family to recover from the cold. But Wirt is not going to give up on his brother and braves the snowstorm trying to find him. He reconciles with Beatrice on their way, but as they find Greg, he's already in the process of turning into an Edelwood tree. Still able to talk, Greg tells Wirt that the "Rock Fact" rock he was using throughout the series was stolen from a neighbor, and pleads Wirt to return should he make it home. However, Beatrice tells Wirt that all they need to do is cut the branches off for Greg to turn out okay, but they're interrupted by the Woodsman being defeated by the Beast before they can do so. Just like how the Beast was telling the Woodsman that the lantern contained the soul of his daughter, needing to be kept lit for her soul to remain, the Beast offers to do the same thing for Wirt, taking Greg's soul for Wirt to become the new lantern bearer. Wirt was ready to accept this fate, but then realizes just how little sense the idea of being lantern-bearer makes. He then wonders why the Beast is so obessed with keeping the lantern lit, but then correctly guesses that the Beast's own soul is in the lantern and gives it to a vengeful Woodsman. As the Woodsman distracts the Beast by threatening to blow out the flame, Wirt manages to use the Woodsman's axe to cut Greg free, carrying the weak and barely conscious brother on his back. After the Woodsman blows out the fire, Wirt tells Beatrice goodbye and wakes up nearly drowning in the river. He then uses the last of his power to grab Greg and his frog and carry all three of them back to shore, croaking a call for help. Sara and her friends find the brothers and call an ambulance, as Wirt wakes up in the hospital, he's more than happy to find Greg enthusiastically telling the other kids of their adventures in the Unknown.

Fanon
Greg is one of the most divisive parts of the cartoon, with some fans loving him for his random antics and sunny disposition, while others find those same attributes to be distractingly cutesy in an otherwise dark story.

However, most fans admire Wirt's character development from someone who initially resents his little brother to truly caring about him, with their experience in the Unknown forging them closer together.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION