Was it all a metaphor of the afterlife?

No, it was all metaphor for anxiety or something.

Which is kinda breaking down because when you are lost in the woods and stalked by a supernatural beast, and has a small kid to care for, Wirt was behaving perfectly reasonable.

>>92857240
It's an allegory for Dante's Inferno

>>92857240
literally dante's inferno. the layers match up to the episodes of the sane number. for example, the ring for witches and heretics matches the lorna episode. The one of gluttons matches the tavern episode where while food and plates are plentiful, you never see anyone eat. and the beast is just the devil, like a near pefrect devil representation.

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446KB, 442x390px

It's literally about two kids hallucinating due to lack of oxygen while drowning.

Nothing more, and nothing less. Niggers who over think this is worse than an autistic brony

>>92857240
No, it was a metaphor for fear of the unknown. That's why the setting is literally called the Unknown. The Woodsman fears the Unknown/unknown of the forest and the Beast that inhabits it, and cannot return home to his daughter because of this. He can only see what the lantern illuminates, and not what lies beyond that small circle of light. He could only return home after he faced his fear of the unknown by extinguishing the lantern, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness so he could see the truth of his situation.

Wirt fears the unknown regarding his position with Sara. He's afraid of rejection and what revealing his feelings would do. He attempts to face his fears in the normal world, and fails. As a consequence he and Greg fall over the wall and into the river, trapping them in the Unknown until Wirt could learn to truly face his fears and regain hope.

The Beast is a personification of fear and hopelessness. He is the voice in your head that tells you to give up when things look bad. He is the unseen noises in the night. He is scary, but only dangerous when you give in to him.

>>92857571
Hell, people who lose hope and give up in the Unknown become trees, in Dante's Inferno people who commit suicide become trees.

>>92857571
>>92857485

>Last episode is a frozen forest
>Last circle of hell is literally a frozen landscape

How did I not see this before?

Nice reminder anon, I'll be rewatching this again soon. Such a great series.

>>92857661
I love that people like this are forever BTFO by the last scene in the show.

>>92857240
No. It's a representation of Faerie with overtones of death, a la Sir Orfeo, wrapped up in American folklore and references to Dante's Inferno.

>>92857661
Do people not know what a metaphor is? Is this a developmental disorder or just poor education?

>>92859867
Some people here tend to take everything at face value, just ignore them

>>92857485
>>92857571
As i see nobody here read La Divina Comedia...

>>92859867
>Is this a developmental disorder or just poor education?

Why not both?

>>92857240
highly unlikely, considering the afterlife in itself is also just a metaphor.

>>92859867
Murrica

>>92857485
It's an allegory for Plato's Allegory of the Cave

You're pretty close; the circle connection is actually episode number plus one (the tavern is episode 4; gluttony is circle 3). Even then, it's pretty loose. How is Into the Unknown about fraud? I think >>92857720 is probably the soundest "explanation".

>>92857754
And while not explicitly stated, a common interpretation of The Divine Comedy is that Dante himself was suicidal at the beginning and that this is what kicks the poem off.

He 'found himself within a shadowed forest'. There's only one other forest in the Inferno...

It's much more arguably something in a faerie tale / fairytale story. Fits far far far better than Dante's inferno or something. I do find the comparison stimulating but I also find that most who jump to that conclusion simply aren't well versed with the fairytale genre.

>>92857485
>>92857571
>>92857754
>>92862116
Nah, see >>92862425

>>92860506
>>92857571
>>92857485
>>92858887

Hey, any of you have read this before? "Dante writes poetry for a woman to deny her feelings for Beatrice" I read this in wikipedia.

I think that this was definitely the inspiration behind the character of Sara.

>>92862116

Wirt is not a suicide, in fact in the comics Wirt (they were written for the author) really likes The Unknow and declares that he is not interested in having friends.

>>92862425
>>92862520
Arey ou joking mate? The bird is even fucking called Beatrice.

>>92857240
No. The Unknown is a real place in universe. As for the show itself; it's a classic european fairytale run through an american filter. It's loosely inspired by Dante's Inferno, I think McHale outright said it in his interview for Cartoons vs Cancer.

>>92862539
You know Courtly Love right? Here you are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtly_love

Dante codified a lot of this. IRL Dante met this girl named Beatrice like twice (seriously), but never told her about his love, and idolized the ever loving shit out of this woman he barely knew. Then he wrote a lot of world changing poetry about her. He was essentially the original Nice Guy, without the resentment towards women. If anything he liked it this way. Actually - and I know it's dangerous to project modern sexual attitudes on the distant past - it's all a bit BDSM-y if you ask me. If he were alive today he'd meet a woman once and then fantasize about her stepping on him in high heels.

So IRL Beatrice died in her early twenties (and also Dante was exiled from Florence for political reasons - long story). Anyway the dude was fucking miserable. He wrote The Divine Comedy after that. Summary:

1. Self-insert fanfic Dante is 'lost in a dark forest' (suicidal)
2. Beatrice up in heaven sends Virgil (Dante's hero) down to sort this shit out please
3. Virgil takes Dante on Magical Tour of Hell and Purgatory
4. Meets back up with Beatrice right before Heaven.
5. Beatrice bollocks him for his bullshit.
6. She shows him Heaven.

And no Wirt is not literally suicidal but as a character arc it fits. He loses hope, he goes to a magic place, he regains hope.

>>92857240
Whatever it was, it actually happened.
If you look in one of the last scenes, Jason Funderberker (the frog) glows when Greg shakes him. That's because the frog ate the bell and still glows.

Why must everything be an allegory for something?

>>92864026
Because allegories resonate with people and it often leads to a better piece of art?

I bet you're one of those twats who complains about politics in your comics/cartoons.

>>92864026
Because that is how storytelling works, more or less.

>>92857240
Can't it reference and be a metaphor for more than one thing?

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>>92857240
>>92857485

i mapped the whole thing out some of it makes sense some it not really.
0. trimmers - woodsman
1. limbo - potsfeild
2. carnality - the school?
3. gluttony - tavern
4. avarice - rich people
5. anger - Adelaide
6. heretics - the bell and possession
7. violence- that weird dream?
8. fraud - flashback?
9 treachery - the beast

>>92864131
>>92864211
Why can't you just make something original? Or at least original enough that it's not "this is actually a metaphor for a book I read in highschool". It's so vapid.

>>92865306
OtGW is not a metaphor or allegory for The Inferno, it is inspired by it.

>>92865546
Has the creator ever actually said that, or are you just inferring?

>>92865569
I believe he stated it in his interview on Cartoons vs Cancer. In another interview someone asked him about the similarities and he responded with something along the lines of "he could neither confirm nor deny". Aside from that the works share a number of similarities to the point where it not being an inspiration is unlikely.