Benjamin Franklin
I never intended to make this post so long, but it has kind of grown wings, so please enjoy. I know it’s a bit of reading but I think it’s worth it.
Ok, so I’ve been thinking about this post for a while, and I think there might be more to it than symbolism.
I have a theory for Jason Funderburker (the frog).
So, the post I was thinking about details how Jason is representative of the brothers’ relationship and how it is not until they become good brothers that they can name the frog. Just like Greg can never get the frog’s name just right, he can never quite make Wirt happy either, he can’t quite do the thing he’s supposed to. It is not until both of these things are done that they can leave the Unknown. Think about what the Woodsman told the boys at the end of ep1:
Woodsman: And little one, you look after that frog, give him a proper name.
But maybe the relevance is more than symbolic, perhaps it drives the plot. Maybe that’s why they are in the Unknown. And maybe, it was Jason who took them there.
I made a post a while ago about how I think they had to have Jason with them in order to pass through to the Unknown, if we are assuming it is some kind of afterlife, with a theory deriving from Egyptian mythology. But maybe Jason wasn’t just the token to getting through, maybe he was the one who took them through.
Think about it. Jason appears when Wirt is furious at Greg after they have jumped over the wall, their relationship clearly isn’t a good one. Also, Greg mentions early in episode 9: “I keep hearing ribeting around town”, maybe Jason’s been following them? Either way, he sees two brothers who clearly don’t get on, and at that point croaks. He makes himself noticed to them.
And then what happens? They are so preoccupied with the frog that they don’t notice that a train is approaching them until last minute. It’s kind of Jason’s fault that they fall into the water. But perhaps it wasn’t an accident.
So now the boys are beginning to die, and Jason the frog knows exactly what that means, they are about to drift into some place between life and death, a place that will force them to work together in order to escape back to the land of the living, and he’s going to take them there.
Sidenote: I saw a post a while ago theorising that Greg had been through the Unknown more than once, so maybe the brothers failed to come together the previous times and so Jason restarted it, or maybe these theories don’t fit together, just a thought.
The Unknown
Anyway, back to it. As to the existence of the Unknown, I’m not 100% sure. Maybe Jason is creating this version of it, given it doesn’t have everyone who has ever died, though after writing this post I’m not sure he did. Thinking about it, he doesn’t always look like he knows what’s going on, so he may not have created this world. I do think though that this is some kind of manifestation in their heads, the reason will be clear in a moment.
The Beast
The Beast, I’m not sure about that either. But I reblogged a post saying that the Beast was just a manifestation of Wirt’s insecurities etc., and that what happens in the Unknown is the emotional backlash of his miserable Halloween. Perhaps this fits, if the space between life and death, the Unknown, is internal, like in their heads, then it would make sense that some of the other things in their heads begin to seep through. So, as per, Wirt has created the biggest problem that he has to face himself. However this is certainly not the only interpretation of the Beast within this theory, especially given it seems that the Beast was around long before Wirt’s arrival (actually ignore that point the Unknown is timeless that’s like the point). But someone has to have created this place, and I think it was likely Beast. I think the Beast is likely to be kind of like but not totally, some kind of reaper or demon. I think that there are others, but not in the Unknown. I think there are many, many different versions of this land between life and death, each one created and run by its own reaper. There are some animals, for example frogs, and black cats – I’m coming back to Enoch. that have the ability to bring dying (or dead?) people through to the Unknown and it is the Beast’s job to keep them there. However it seems that Jason is not using this power properly, and instead is helping two brothers fix their broken friendship. Awww.
Adelaide and Whispers
Perhaps the Beast therefore employs some people of the Unknown into his service, hence Adelaide:
Adelaide: I do as he commands, the voice of the night, the Beast of eternal darkness.
Or perhaps he created Adelaide himself when he created the world, which may explain Auntie Whispers if, for example, he was unable to create the evil without creating good, since he was not able to disturb the balance of the world. Maybe that’s why Lorna is possessed by a spirit, the Beast is attempting to give the only powerful good in the Unknown a distraction.
Now the Beast is defeated and even Adelaide is dead, the Unknown I think is unlikely to have many new arrivals, and other afterlifes will still however some may continue their work. For example Enoch is self-sufficient – I’m coming back to him I promise, but maybe in a separate post.
Also, I’m sure that when the day comes that Greg, Wirt and maybe Sara die, Funderburker will be sure to take them to this Unknown and to Beatrice (think of the fics).
The Turtles
Now I agree with the whole death of the author thing, anything the author (or in this case animator) has to say after the release of the material is just an interpretation. However Patrick McHale’s is an interesting one. He states that the balck turtles are “an imperfection in the quilt”, so they’re like a fracture. Someone created this world but things in their subconsious will still seep through, their minds will try to wake them up. And Wirt has a black turtles poster on his wall at home. So it’s something in the back of his mind that’s coming through. Many people think they’re somehow associated with the beast, maybe this is true, given both the turtles and the Beast could be from Wirt’s mind (even though that’s not the theory I’m going with).
Beatrice
I don’t think Beatrice has much to do with this one, I think she was taken to the Unknown by something that wasn’t Jason, given the look he gives Beatrice for just a split second:
I don’t think many, if any, of these other character’s are in this version of the afterlife because of him, because he’s not very happy at Beatrice’s interference, he looks very unimpressed during this whole conversation. He just wants his boys to grow together as people and this damned bluebird is leading them off to some Adelaide woman, who he may know to be evil – he does leave shortly before they meet Adelaide, maybe for fear, or maybe she will give him away to the boys, or maybe he’s just in a huff. Sure enough, though, he returns to help the brothers at the end of the episode. Also, notice how Beatrice tries to pull them apart at the beginning:
Beatrice: Ok, that’s great. How about you an I ditch your brother.
Of course she doesn’t know why they’re here, she’s not tryin to sabotage Jason’s plans, just trying to fulfil her own, but nevertheless when they first meet, Jason knows that she could be trouble.
So the boys progress through the Unknown, Wirt going through extremely strong character development until they can learn to be brothers, and it is only then that they can escape.
So how is it that they do escape? We don’t actually see, it seems they just defeat the Beast then it just kind of happens. The answer, I think, is this: Jason took them to the Unknown to fix their relationship, but now they were there:
a) If you’re going with the Beast as a manifestation of Wirt’s insecurities, Jason saw that Wirt had some things with himself to sort out as well. So he let that play out before he was satisfied that they both had postively developed from their experience in the Unknown.
b) Or, if you’re going with the Beast as the creator of the Unknown, Jason saw that the boys could defeat the Beast and so let them, he likely does not like the Beast.
c) Or, most likely, they had to defeat the Beast to get Greg home, because the Beast had taken Greg.
Then, his job was done and he took them home – after giving them some time to say goodbye to Beatrice, of course.
And that’s why Jason is the narrator, that’s why he behaves in the knowing way that he does, everything that happens is because of him, he took them to the Unknown, and he was the only one aware enough of what was going on to be able to retell the story to us as the omniscient narrator.
You done good, Mr. President, you done good.
Ok, I’m going to leave Enoch for another post, because this is already much longer than expected, and I have a lot of content of Enoch.