The Woodsman is the major character of the 2014 Cartoon Network animated dark fantasy TV series Over the Garden Wall.
He is the servant-turned-archenemy of The Beast. As his nickname suggests, Edelwood trees because he thinks his lantern holds his daughter's soul inside (although in reality it contains the soul of The Beast himself).
He was voiced by Christofer Lloyd, who also voiced Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.
Biography[]
Many years ago, the Woodsman moved to a town called the Unknown and settled there with his wife and daughter. One day, someone stabbed his wife and it led to her death. It is assumed that this someone was none other than the Beast, the local soul collector. Later, the Woodsman's daughter went into the forest to get firewood and disappeared. The Woodsman found her torn cloak. The Beast was standing nearby. The Woodsman fought him and took the lantern, which supposedly contained his daughter's soul. The Beast demanded that the Woodsman cut down trees to keep the lantern burning. One day, two boys named Greg and Wirt wandered into his hut. He told them where to go and warned them about the Beast. When Greg and Wirt get to the tavern, there they hear about the Beast again, as well as what the Woodsman really does. But Greg and Wirt don't want to believe that such a good man as the Woodsman would work for such a villain as the Beast is described by everyone. But when they see the Woodsman chopping down trees with a lantern in his hands, Greg and Wirt mistakenly decide that he is the Beast. When the Woodsman meets the Beast, he demands that he leave Greg and Wirt alone. The next time, he himself comes to Greg and Wirt and says that the Beast is hunting them and demands that they get out of the forest as soon as possible. But the Beast is already planning to turn them into Edelwood trees. The Woodsman, meanwhile, tries to keep the light in the lantern. He also tries in every way to prevent the Beast from realizing his plans for Greg and Wirt. But the Beast defeats him. Here Greg, Wirt and their friend, a girl named Beatrice, enter the game again. The Beast offers to put Greg's soul into that very lantern so that Wirt will chop down the Edelwood trees instead of the Woodsman. At this point, the Woodsman himself realizes that something is wrong with the lantern. If his daughter's soul is in there, why is the Beast so obsessed with preserving the lantern? This means that the soul that the fire in the lantern holds does not belong to the Woodsman's daughter, but to the Beast himself. The Woodsman orders the children to run, and he blows out the flame of the lantern, thereby killing the Beast.