Wander

*"Nothin' wrong with lookin' good while doin' good."*

**Wander** is the eponymous protagonist of *Wander Over Yonder*; an optimistic, nomadic interstellar feller whose sole purpose in life is to be and help others to be happy. In "The Greater Hater", it is revealed that Wander is not his birth name. Wander is a nickname unintentionally given by Sylvia when they first met.

## Personality

Wander has a very friendly, kindhearted, and lovable personality, though others, notably Lord Hater, find his boundless energy and optimism to be annoying. He is also somewhat flighty and easily distracted, but always well-meaning, with a very strong moral center. Though he can be naïve, Wander is shown to be very witty and clever when he needs to be, and is capable of problem-solving on the spot and outsmarting his adversaries with little effort. Wander likes everyone he meets and always sees the good in people.

Wander aspires to explore different worlds, try new things, and help people have fun and live free, often clashing against the tyrannical aspirations of Lord Hater and his army of Watchdogs' evil reign. Wander likes making people happy and jumps at the chance to help anyone out whenever he can. He and his best friend Sylvia travel leisurely all throughout the galaxy, often getting themselves into exciting and dangerous situations.

Despite Wander's very easygoing nature, there have been times where he has been pushed to his limits. For instance, he had trouble maintaining his self-control when his curiosity was piqued by the unknown contents of a box he was not supposed to open in "The Box." Wander is also completely unable to stop himself from helping out whenever he can, even when the help is not really wanted or needed and often regardless of his own personal safety, suggesting his need to help others is driven by a sense of compulsion. Wander struggles when his assistance isn't needed, and he may take on large amounts of stress if he is unable to help anyone for a while. He also gets very defensive over people he has formed attachments with, as shown in "The Toddler" when he snapped at some shoppers who insulted his and Sylvia's parenting skills, and the reckless behavior of the toddler they were looking after. His empathetic, protective nature can also make him susceptible to manipulation, as shown in "The Stray."

In "The Wanders," the key aspect of Wander's personality is a small frightened child who is completely helpless -- the Zen aspect of his personality states that "The helper seeks to help because he knows what it is to be helpless," indicating that Wander's relentless desire to help others is due to having been alone and helpless himself as a child, thus explaining his boundless altruism and obsessive-compulsive need to befriend and help anyone he comes across whether they be good or evil. Without this helpless aspect, Wander is a daring and heroic individual who will stop at nothing to vanquish evil.

## History

A lot of Wander's personal history is unknown as his original name, birthplace, age and species are not revealed. What is known is at one point he was helpless, which made him decide to help everyone and show them happiness. His presence during the last planetary alignment as seen in "The Waste of Time" makes him at least 1000 years old. Prior to the main story Wander has visited and met a lot of beings. While the exact order is untold it is implied he traveled very extensively. Wander is aware of the Mooplexians true nature when others sees them as unimpressive. He decided that Dr. Screwball Jones is the most dangerous villain and created a superhero persona to stop him. While under a different name, Wander befriended Major Threat and manage to turn him good. Wander stole a magical hat at one point from its previous owners once he realized the hat does not like to be forced into giving items. He befriends the semi sentient hat and wears it in order to protect it. He is claimed by bounty hunter Sylvia, until she befriends him and joins on his travels across the galaxy.

## Powers and abilities

Wander is known to have fair musical talent. He has an excellent singing voice and breaks into song on many occasions. He is talented on the banjo, which he is most often seen playing. He can also play the drums, kazoo, guitar, piano and the saxophone as shown in "The Greatest", "The Tourist", "The Birthday Boy", the animatic for "The Prisoner", "My Fair Hatey", and "The Show Stopper" respectively.

Wander has boundless energy and can move very quickly. One example is during his chase with Lord Hater in "The Picnic" in which he runs so fast, he ends up running over him. In "The Tourist," he's seen racing Trudi without Sylvia and it seems like he's going fast.

Wander uses orbble juice to create large bubbles which he and Sylvia use for transportation through outer space and otherwise.

Wander's hat contains a plethora of useful items, though it is known to only give the user merely what they need, as opposed to what they actually want. He sometimes uses it as a sleeping bag.

In "The Waste of Time", it is implied that Wander is virtually immortal (or his species simply ages slower than most), looking the same 1,000 years ago as he does in the present day. Craig McCracken stated on his Tumblr in a reply that Wander may have faked his aging with a beard to indicate passage of time, and to make Sylvia feel bad about aging.

## Gallery

***The Everything & Anything*** has a collection of images and media related to ***Wander***.