| Alice Liddell | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Provenance | Oxford |
| Age | 18 [AMA] 19 [AMR] 20 [AO][1] |
| Physical description | |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Brown/Auburn [AMA] Black [AMR] |
| Personal information | |
| Allies | Her family, Nan Sharpe, Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, more... |
| Enemies | Angus Bumby, Jabberwock, Jack Splatter, Queen of Hearts (formerly), Wilton J. Radcliffe, more... |
Further information 
| |
| Voiced by | Susie Brann |
| View image gallery | |
| “ | You've used me and abused me, but you will NOT destroy me!
|
” |
Alice Liddell is the younger daughter of Arthur and Mrs. Liddell, as well as the sister of Elizabeth. She is the sole survivor of the Liddell incident that caused her immense trauma for the majority of her life, affecting her reality, as well as Wonderland and its citizens. As she struggled with the fragments of her memories and mental health, she returned to Wonderland to find the true cause of her family's demise.
After discovering that Angus Bumby, former head of Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth and her psychiatrist, was the mastermind behind her family's death, she murdered him to avenge her family. With her reality fused with Wonderland, Cheshire Cat remarked that her memory was safe for the time being.[2]
Biography
Childhood
Alice with her parents.
Alice Liddell was born in England in 1856. She spent most of her childhood in Oxford in the south of England.
She lived a comfortable, happy life with her father Arthur, a dean at Oxford University, her mother, and her older sister Elizabeth.
The family also owned a cat, Dinah, and two of her kittens later on. Alice was an imaginative and creative girl, immersed in her imaginary land called Wonderland.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice sits on a riverbank on a warm summer day, drowsily reading over her sister's shoulder, when she catches sight of a White Rabbit in a waistcoat running by her. The White Rabbit pulls out a pocket watch, exclaims that he is late, and pops down a rabbit hole. Alice follows the White Rabbit down the hole and comes upon a great hallway lined with doors. She finds a small door that she opens using a key she discovers on a nearby table. Through the door, she sees a beautiful garden, and Alice begins to cry when she realizes she cannot fit through the door. She finds a bottle marked “DRINK ME” and downs the contents. She shrinks down to the right size to enter the door but cannot enter since she has left the key on the tabletop above her head.
Alice discovers a cake marked “EAT ME” which causes her to grow to an inordinately large height. Still unable to enter the garden, Alice begins to cry again, and her giant tears form a pool at her feet. As she cries, Alice shrinks and falls into the pool of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and as she treads water she meets a Mouse. The Mouse accompanies Alice to shore, where a number of animals stand gathered on a bank. After a “Caucus Race,” Alice scares the animals away with tales of her cat, Dinah, and finds herself alone again.
Alice meets the White Rabbit again, who mistakes her for a servant and sends her off to fetch his things. While in the White Rabbit’s house, Alice drinks an unmarked bottle of liquid and grows to the size of the room. The White Rabbit returns to his house, fuming at the now-giant Alice, but she swats him and his servants away with her giant hand. The animals outside try to get her out of the house by throwing rocks at her, which inexplicably transform into cakes when they land in the house.
Alice eats one of the cakes, which causes her to shrink to a small size. She wanders off into the forest, where she meets a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah (e.g. a water pipe). The Caterpillar and Alice get into an argument, but before the Caterpillar crawls away in disgust, he tells Alice that different parts of the mushroom will make her grow or shrink. Alice tastes a part of the mushroom, and her neck stretches above the trees. A pigeon sees her and attacks, deeming her a serpent hungry for pigeon eggs.
Alice eats another part of the mushroom and shrinks down to a normal height. She wanders until she comes across the house of the Duchess. She enters and finds the Duchess, who is nursing a squealing baby, as well as a grinning Cheshire Cat, and a Cook who tosses massive amounts of pepper into a cauldron of soup. The Duchess behaves rudely to Alice and then departs to prepare for a croquet game with the Queen. As she leaves, the Duchess hands Alice the baby, which Alice discovers is a pig. Alice lets the pig go and re-enters the forest, where she meets the Cheshire Cat again. The Cheshire Cat explains to Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice herself. The Cheshire Cat gives directions to the March Hare’s house and fades away to nothing but a floating grin.
Alice travels to the March Hare’s house to find the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse having tea together. Treated rudely by all three, Alice stands by the tea party, uninvited. She learns that they have wronged Time and are trapped in perpetual tea-time. After a final discourtesy, Alice leaves and journeys through the forest. She finds a tree with a door in its side, and travels through it to find herself back in the great hall. She takes the key and uses the mushroom to shrink down and enter the garden.
After saving several gardeners from the temper of the Queen of Hearts, Alice joins the Queen in a strange game of croquet. The croquet ground is hilly, the mallets and balls are live flamingos and hedgehogs, and the Queen tears about, frantically calling for the other player’s executions. Amidst this madness, Alice bumps into the Cheshire Cat again, who asks her how she is doing. The King of Hearts interrupts their conversation and attempts to bully the Cheshire Cat, who impudently dismisses the King. The King takes offense and arranges for the Cheshire Cat’s execution, but since the Cheshire Cat is now only a head floating in mid-air, no one can agree on how to behead it.
The Duchess approaches Alice and attempts to befriend her, but the Duchess makes Alice feel uneasy. The Queen of Hearts chases the Duchess off and tells Alice that she must visit the Mock Turtle to hear his story. The Queen of Hearts sends Alice with the Gryphon as her escort to meet the Mock Turtle. Alice shares her strange experiences with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, who listen sympathetically and comment on the strangeness of her adventures. After listening to the Mock Turtle’s story, they hear an announcement that a trial is about to begin, and the Gryphon brings Alice back to the croquet ground.
The Knave of Hearts stands trial for stealing the Queen’s tarts. The King of Hearts leads the proceedings, and various witnesses approach the stand to give evidence. The Mad Hatter and the Cook both give their testimony, but none of it makes any sense. The White Rabbit, acting as a herald, calls Alice to the witness stand. The King goes nowhere with his line of questioning, but takes encouragement when the White Rabbit provides new evidence in the form of a letter written by the Knave. The letter turns out to be a poem, which the King interprets as an admission of guilt on the part of the Knave. Alice believes the note to be nonsense and protests the King’s interpretation. The Queen becomes furious with Alice and orders her beheading, but Alice grows to a huge size and knocks over the Queen’s army of playing cards.
All of a sudden, Alice finds herself awake on her sister’s lap, back at the riverbank. She tells her sister about her dream and goes inside for tea as her sister ponders Alice’s adventures.
Through the Looking-Glass
Alice is playing with a white kitten and a black kitten – the offspring of Dinah, Alice's cat in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – when she ponders what the world is like on the other side of a mirror's reflection. Climbing up on the fireplace mantel, she pokes at the wall-hung mirror behind the fireplace and discovers, to her surprise, that she is able to step through it to an alternative world. In this reflected version of her own house, she finds a book with looking-glass poetry, "Jabberwocky," whose reversed printing she can read only by holding it up to the mirror. She also observes that the chess pieces have come to life, though they remain small enough for her to pick up.
Upon leaving the house, she enters a sunny spring garden where the flowers have the power of human speech; they perceive Alice as being a "flower that can move about." Elsewhere in the garden, Alice meets the Red Queen, who is now human-sized, and who impresses Alice with her ability to run at breathtaking speeds. This is a reference to the chess rule that queens are able to move any number of vacant squares at once, in any direction, which makes them the most "agile" of pieces.
The Red Queen reveals to Alice that the entire countryside is laid out in squares, like a gigantic chessboard, and offers to make Alice a queen if she can move all the way to the eighth rank/row in a chess match. This is a reference to the chess rule of Promotion. Alice is placed in the second rank as one of the White Queen's pawns, and begins her journey across the chessboard by boarding a train that literally jumps over the third row and directly into the fourth rank, thus acting on the rule that pawns can advance two spaces on their first move.
She then meets the fat twin brothers Tweedledum and Tweedledee, whom she knows from the famous nursery rhyme. After reciting the long poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter," the Tweedles draw Alice's attention to the Red King – loudly snoring away under a nearby tree – and maliciously provoke her with idle philosophical banter that she exists only as an imaginary figure in the Red King's dreams. Finally, the brothers begin acting out their nursery-rhyme by suiting up for battle, only to be frightened away by an enormous crow, as the nursery rhyme about them predicts.
Alice next meets the White Queen, who is very absent-minded but boasts of her ability to remember future events before they have happened. Alice and the White Queen advance into the chessboard's fifth rank by crossing over a brook together, but at the very moment of the crossing, the Queen transforms into a talking Sheep in a small shop. Alice soon finds herself struggling to handle the oars of a small rowboat, where the Sheep annoys her with nonsensical shouting about "crabs" and "feathers." Unknown to Alice, these are standard terms in the jargon of rowing. Thus the Queen/Sheep was speaking in a perfectly logical and meaningful way.
After crossing yet another brook into the sixth rank, Alice immediately encounters Humpty Dumpty, who, besides celebrating his unbirthday, provides his own translation of the strange terms in "Jabberwocky." In the process, he introduces Alice to the concept of portmanteau words, before his inevitable fall. "All the king's horses and all the king's men" come to Humpty Dumpty's assistance, and are accompanied by the White King, along with the Lion and the Unicorn, who again proceed to act out a nursery rhyme by fighting with each other. In this chapter, the March Hare and Hatter of the first book make a brief re-appearance in the guise of "Anglo-Saxon messengers" called "Haigha" and "Hatta."
Upon leaving the Lion and Unicorn to their fight, Alice reaches the seventh rank by crossing another brook into the forested territory of the Red Knight, who is intent on capturing the "white pawn" – who is Alice – until the White Knight comes to her rescue. Escorting her through the forest towards the final brook-crossing, the Knight recites a long poem of his own composition called Haddocks' Eyes, and repeatedly falls off his horse. His clumsiness is a reference to the "eccentric" L-shaped movements of chess knights, and may also be interpreted as a self-deprecating joke about Lewis Carroll's own physical awkwardness and stammering in real life.
Bidding farewell to the White Knight, Alice steps across the last brook, and is automatically crowned a queen, with the crown materializing abruptly on her head. She soon finds herself in the company of both the White and Red Queens, who relentlessly confound Alice by using word play to thwart her attempts at logical discussion. They then invite one another to a party that will be hosted by the newly crowned Alice – of which Alice herself had no prior knowledge. Alice arrives and seats herself at her own party, which quickly turns to a chaotic uproar – much like the ending of the first book. Alice finally grabs the Red Queen, believing her to be responsible for all the day's nonsense, and begins shaking her violently with all her might. By thus "capturing" the Red Queen, Alice unknowingly puts the Red King into checkmate, and thus is allowed to wake up.
Alice suddenly awakes in her armchair to find herself holding the black kitten, whom she deduces to have been the Red Queen all along, with the white kitten having been the White Queen. The story ends with Alice recalling the speculation of the Tweedle brothers, that everything may have, in fact, been a dream of the Red King, and that Alice might herself be no more than a figment of his imagination. One final poem is inserted by the author as a sort of epilogue which suggests that life itself is but a dream.
Fire and Littlemore Infirmary
Seven-year-old Alice watching in horror as her home burns with her family inside.
During a winter night on November 5, 1863, a fire was mysteriously started within the Liddell household. Alice awoke from her dream by the smell of smoke and ran to her parent's bedroom where she heard their voices from behind the door telling her to escape and save herself. Although seriously burnt, Alice managed to escape by jumping out of a window, led by her cat Dinah who also survived the fire, but her family were less fortunate, and Alice was forced to witness them incinerated within the fire that destroyed her home.[3] The police arrived and escorted a crying Alice away from the scene.
Alice recovering from her severe first-degree burns.
The event had a huge impact on Alice's mentality, and she fell into a catatonic state.[4] After an investigation, it was concluded that the fire was started due to the clumsiness of Dinah and a still-lit oil lamp in the downstairs library.[5]
Alice was sent to Littlemore Infirmary for a year to have her physical wounds taken care of. Her burns were fully healed within a year at Littlemore.[4]
Rutledge Asylum
Eight-year-old Alice's first day.
Alice was transferred on November 4, 1864 to Rutledge Asylum in London, where she would spend the next ten years under the care of Dr. Heironymous Q. Wilson, documented in his casebook. At her preliminary examination at Rutledge on November 11, 1864, Alice was presented as deaf, dumb, and blind to stimulation. During Wilson's many interviews with Alice during her catatonia, he was able to record many of her supposedly "insane fairy tales" of Wonderland, while she was actually living them in her mind at the time.[6]
During her time at the asylum, Alice had faced her own guilt and the mistreatment from other patients and the cruel caretakers at Rutledge. One nurse, Pris Witless, overheard Alice blaming herself for the fire that killed all of her family; Witless would later use this "confession" against Alice in the form of blackmail.[7]
Eighteen-year-old Alice in catatonia.
In the first six months of 1865, Alice was subjected to many remedies, without result, such as cold plaster sessions and blood-letting, experimental shocking, and massive doses of laudanum. In desperation, restraints included a straitjacket, solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, and confiscation of her rabbit doll and cancellation of afternoon tea. All methods failed.[8] In the autumn of 1873, after eight years of fitful sleep, Alice spoke by drawing. Her first picture was of a cat. Since then, Alice slowly began showing signs of recovery.[9]
American McGee's Alice
Alice re-uniting with Cheshire Cat in a twisted Wonderland.
One night in August 1874, the White Rabbit came to her, and led Alice back to Wonderland, which over the years had become corrupted by the deadly dictatorship of the Queen of Hearts. The residents of Wonderland saw Alice as their only chance to get rid of the Queen, due to the stories Rabbit told of a champion, so she was placed into the role of their savior and began her journey to face the Queen.
After meeting the Cheshire Cat again, who became her guide through her quest, Alice followed Rabbit but quickly lost him as he shrunk into a tiny hole and ran off without her. Along her search to find him, the Torch Gnomes of the Village of the Doomed told her that the Fortress of Doors held the secret to becoming smaller, and she should seek the Mayor Elder, who still lived as a free man.
Mayor Elder offered to take Alice to the Fortress of Doors, if she could return with a key to open doors. She managed to retrieve the object, killing several Card Guards in the process, and the two of them traveled to the Fortress.[10] Inside the Skool within the Fortress, Alice and the Elder retrieved ingredients and made a shrinking elixir. After drinking the elixir about becoming small, Alice jumped into a portal which took her to the Vale of Tears.[11]
Traveling through the valley looking for Rabbit again, Alice came across the Mock Turtle, unshelled and sobbing his eyes out. Although Turtle had not seen Rabbit, he said he would take Alice to the Caterpillar who known everything, but first she had to retrieve his shell from the Duchess, who had tried to turn Turtle into soup. Downstream, Alice found Bill McGill, who had been kicked out of his own home by the Duchess, who was hiding out from the Queen.[12]
Alice mourning Rabbit's death.
After defeating the now-murderous Duchess in combat, and giving Turtle his shell back, he led her through the underground water tunnels to the Wonderland Woods.[13] Alice finally found Rabbit in this area and the two went together to find Caterpillar. Unfortunately for them, the Mad Hatter was traveling through the woods and stomped on Rabbit, killing him. Blaming herself and her bad luck, Alice broke down into tears briefly but quickly got control of herself again when Cat reminded her of her task.[14] When she found Caterpillar, he told her that it was her own guilt and insanity that had turned Wonderland into a dark and twisted version of itself, and she was brought back to kill the Queen to save the land and herself. He then created a portal for her, which took her to the Fungiferous Forest.[15] At the forest, Alice killed the Voracious Centipede and took a bite from the Mushroom of Life to return to her normal size.[16]
Traveling on, Alice came across an oracle who told her she had to defeat the Queen's main defense, the Jabberwock with the Jabberwock's Eye Staff. Having already obtained one piece of the staff, Alice set off to the Pale Realm to get another from the White Chess Pieces.[17] The White King asked Alice for her help to save his queen from the red side and gave her a pawn to help her.[18] Storming the Red Castle, Alice arrived too late and witnessed the White Queen's beheading. However, after defeating the Red King, Alice used her pawn to revive the White Queen. As the White Queen went to battle the red pieces, Hatter appeared and knocked Alice out cold.[19]
When Alice came around, she found herself in Hatter's Domain, and she set off to find him. After getting rid of Hatter's goons, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Hatter arrived and commented on that Alice feared the truth, and returning to Rutledge Asylum, but all of that could be avoided. Although Alice asked for an answer from him, she did not get one and the ground crumbled below her.[20] Alice quickly got to her feet, and moving further in, she encountered the Dormouse and March Hare, imprisoned and being experimented upon by the insane Hatter. As she could do nothing for them. Alice went deeper into Hatter's lair, and found the gryphon trapped in one of the cages. After learning from him that Hatter arrived at six o'clock everyday to check his experiments, Alice used this information to change the clocks to read six o'clock, which drew him out to her.[21]
After killing Hatter, and gaining the second piece of the Eye Staff, Alice allied with Gryphon and they flew together to the Land of Fire and Brimstone[22]. Here, Alice found out that the oracle was actually Caterpillar, and he explained that when Alice answered Rabbit's call, she had began to recover from her madness, and only she can save herself and in turn Wonderland.[23] Soon after, she faced the Jabberwock in battle, and although she did not manage to kill him, she did gain one of his eyes to complete the Eye Staff.[24]
Alice leaving Rutledge with Dinah.
With Gryphon and some rebel troops, Alice stormed Queensland and the Queen's castle. During the battle, Alice witnessed Gryphon take on the Jabberwock alone, and die in the process. In revenge, Alice killed the Jabberwock herself, and continued with her mission.[25] Just as she was about to finally face the Queen, the Cheshire Cat tried to tell her that she and the Queen were one and the same, but was killed doing so.[26]
After a long and deadly battle with the Queen, Alice came out as the winner, and Wonderland became a peaceful world once again, with many of her old friends revived from death. In the real world, as part of the aftermath of her victory, Alice's mental state had improved greatly, and in November 1874, Alice was deemed sane enough to be released from Rutledge.[27]
Life after Rutledge
After being released from Rutledge Asylum,[4] one of her former carers, Nurse Witless found Alice a home and a job at the Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth in London. Even after a year of being out of the asylum in late 1875, Alice was still dealing with her tragic childhood memories along with serious survivor's guilt, and also began to suffer from auditory and visual hallucinations. While working at Houndsditch, Alice was attending hypnotic therapy with Dr. Angus Bumby. Bumby's mental treatment suppressed some parts of Alice's psyche, mostly those that pertains to Wonderland, which in turn caused her to suffer from frightening hallucinations of Wonderland.[7]
Alice: Madness Returns
Alice in a session with Dr. Bumby.
One day, after her session with the doctor was over, Bumby sent Alice to pick up medicine at the pharmacist. On her way, Alice became side-tracked with following a stray cat. Upon entering a dark alley, she experienced a hallucination of several monstrous figures with Jabberwock heads surrounding her, until it was interrupted by Nurse Witless, who had found her wandering around. Alice was not very happy to see the old woman - as Witless was now using Alice's "confession" to blackmail her, to get money and alcohol from her so she would not report Alice to the police. Alice was surprised to hear that the woman might have information about her missing rabbit toy.
Witless then brought Alice to her rooftop, where she had another hallucination of Nurse Witless transforming into the Jabberwock. The fear Alice had from seeing Witless turn into a monster triggered an even greater mental break-down, and Alice fell into Wonderland again.[7]
Alice arrives in Wonderland for the fourth time.
Alice landed in the Vale of Tears, and found Wonderland appearing to be much more peaceful than when she was in Rutledge. However, greeted by her old friend Cheshire Cat, he told her that there was a new ruler in Wonderland and Alice's sanity was at risk once again.[28] After traversing through the Vale of Tears, watching it fall apart around her,[29] she entered Hatter's Domain again,[30] and found the Hatter in pieces, after the March Hare and Dormouse turned against him and took over the factory. The Mad Hatter informed Alice about the changes Dormouse and March Hare made to the factory. Alice agreed to reconstruct him in exchange for information about the source of Wonderland's corruption.[31]
After recovering his limbs, Alice and Hatter broke into the main hub of the factory, and Alice witnessed the sight of the Infernal Train leaving the factory and heading into Wonderland, which several Wonderlanders considered the cause of all the corruption. Upon the departure of the Train, Dormouse and the March Hare lifted the Hatter away with a giant hook and confronted Alice in a mechanical robot controlled by the both of them. However, the Hatter freed himself and dropped a teapot upon the battle robot causing it to fall apart and eject Dormouse and March Hare on to the floor in front of Alice. The Mad Hatter's factory began to fall apart around the him, Alice, and the corpses of Dormouse and March Hare.
The Mad Hatter suddenly slipped into a delusional state and began conversing with Dormouse and March Hare, claiming he only wanted another tea party. Alice urged Hatter to give more information about the Infernal Train, but the Hatter quickly turned down Alice's questions and returned to drinking tea with his dead friends. Alice pleaded with the Hatter only for him to be crushed by the debris of the collapsed roof of the factory. Alice scoffed, claiming he deserved to die from not keeping his end of the bargain by helping her and was quickly overwhelmed by a sea of tea and drowned.[32]
Alice waking up at the docks.
Alice woke up in the real world to find two fishermen who pulled her out of the River Thames. She navigated the docks to find Nan Sharpe, her former nanny, at the Mangled Mermaid, a whorehouse. Inside, she interrupted an assault between Nanny and Jack Splatter. Alice ordered Jack to leave Nan Sharpe alone but was knocked unconscious by him, triggering a return trip to Wonderland.[33] Waking up in Tundraful,[34] she met Mock Turtle again, the former stationmaster of the Looking Glass Line and the current captain of the HMS Gryphon.[35]
They both go underwater to the Deluded Depths,[36] but when Alice questioned Turtle about the Train, he was unable to give her information, as he was too terrified to speak of it after being replaced as stationmaster. Mock Turtle gave Alice a ticket to the Carpenter's show, urging her to use it.[37] Traversing the depths, Alice arrived at the Carpenter's show, and performed several errands for him in exchange information about the train.[38]
However, Carpenter betrayed her and trapped her in a ghost-filled cemetery.[39] Alice managed to make it for the start of the show, where Walrus started eating the Oyster Starlets and other citizens of Barrelbottom. Alice became angry with Carpenter for his actions, but he told her that he was only trying to hide Wonderland from the Infernal Train. As the said train came crashing in, he implied that Alice was partially responsible for the train and that someone was misleading her. His last words of advice to Alice was to seek Caterpillar.[40]
Nan Sharpe escorting Alice to Radcliffe.
Alice woke up to find that Splatter had set the Mangled Mermaid on fire. Her nanny, unwilling to talk about the fire that killed the Liddell's, escorted Alice to Wilton J. Radcliffe, the Liddell family lawyer so she could ask him questions and collect her rabbit doll, but after Radcliffe voiced his suspicions regarding Alice's role in the fire, she had a psychotic break. Alice arrived in Wonderland in the abandoned house of Radcliffe. She exited the house and into the twisted and corruption Vale of Tears now called the Vale of Doom.[5]
After traversing the disjointed Vale of Doom, Alice came to a small pool with a tiny mountain reaching out from the middle of it. Caterpillar surrounded her in smoke, shrinking her into Oriental Grove, the Caterpillar's domain.[41] While going through the area and dispatching the vicious wasps, she recovered a repressed memory: she remembered that Dinah was in her room with her on the night of the fire, and the only lit oil lamp in the house was upstairs serving as a hallway night-light, so it could not have been Dinah that started the fire.[42] Upon reaching Caterpillar's temple, Caterpillar led her to the bottom of the temple where he was encased in a cocoon.
Alice was distressed about saving the world, doubting her ability when she cannot save herself. Caterpillar answered that by saving Wonderland meant she would also help herself. He also mentioned that the train was Alice's creation, and that she must seek out the Queen of Hearts, which Caterpillar described as 'someone she once knew and loved'. The mountain began to crumble and shake as Caterpillar broke free of his cocoon and flew out of the mountain and into the sky as a butterfly. Alice was exposed to the blinding sunlight which beckoned her back to reality. She saw the fluttering silhouette of a butterfly on a window.[43]
Alice waking up in the gaol.
Alice woke up again, this time in gaol, where the police brought her in after she had a hysterical fit in the middle of the street.[44] Upon leaving gaol, Alice quickly fell into another fit and entered Cardbridge, a land high in the sky of Wonderland consisting of numerous platforms made of playing cards which moved randomly.[45] After leaving Cardbridge, she descended from the sky to the rotting remains of Queensland. Cheshire Cat conversed with Alice about her triumph over the Queen and urged her to proceed forward.
She reached the entrance to the palace to find it blocked by the defeated White King. He informed her that after she left, the Queen took over and imprisoned him there. He also mentioned that destroying him will allow her to move forward. Before Alice killed him, the White King warned her of an "out-sized killer," revealed to be the Executioner, patrolling Queensland and discouraged Alice from fighting him.[46] Soon after, Alice met the "out-sized killer" himself and escaped with her life. Cheshire appeared saying the Executioner did not normally chase after those who escape him but Alice was his only exception. Through her trek through Queensland, the Executioner found Alice and either tried to kill her or send her to different parts of Queensland.[47][48]
However, while Alice made her way through the Red Queen's courtyard,[49] she was pursued by the Executioner and found a cake labelled "Eat Me." Alice ate a slice and grew to enormous size to stomp on the Executioner, killing him. While looking for the Queen, Alice deduced that her older sister, who was found dead but unburnt, had not been killed by the fire, but had been killed by the real arsonist. However, she still did not know who the arsonist was.[50] When she reached the center of the castle, the Queen angrily chastised Alice for allowing the train to run amok and not seeing what was around her. The Queen wrapped Alice in her tentacles and consumed her, sending her into a nightmare.[51]
Alice's return to Rutledge Asylum.
After seeing a vision of Dr. Wilson, Nurse Witless and Dr. Bumby, Alice went on a surreal walk through Rutledge and had been incarcerated there. However, it turned out to just be another hallucination mixed with her memories of her time in the asylum. Alice entered the waiting room where Bumby, Nan Sharpe, Nurse Witless, and Mr. Radcliffe rumbled about Alice's resistance to forget from their point of view, declaring that she either conformed and forget or go back to Rutledge forever.[52] Alice soon broke free of the hallucination and found herself in Hyde Park. She encountered a mortally wounded Insane Child, who told her that a new evil reigns, worse than the conquered Queen. The child then died, leaving Alice to proceed into the Dollhouse.[27]
Within the wasteland of abandoned toys, Alice met the Insane Children. Their leader asked for her help and offered a very cryptic explanation for what was going on, saying that 'parts' of the children were being taken from them by the mastermind behind the Infernal Train and the Ruin monsters, the Dollmaker. However, the Insane Children were forced into hiding before they could explain further.[53] After traveling through the Dollhouse, Alice came to realize that Bumby was the person in her house on the night of the fire.[42] It was confirmed when she met the Dollmaker, who greatly resembled Bumby, and he essentially bragged about what he did. The Dollmaker captured Alice and made her into a doll. She was able to break free from his hold, moments later.[54]
Alice confronting Bumby at Moorgate Station.
Almost immediately after this confrontation, Alice, in reality, confronted Bumby at Moorgate Station. He bragged about his abuse towards the children placed in his care, making them forget everything and turning them into prostitutes.[55] At the same time, in Wonderland, Alice made her way through the Infernal Train, and along the way talked to Hatter, Caterpillar, and the Queen. The Hatter rumbled in delusion about Alice's quest for the truth and mentioned in a very roundabout way that forcing herself to forget was not her solution but the source of her confusion.
Next, Alice confronted Caterpillar, who said that because Alice was obsessed with her own wants, she became oblivious of Bumby's obvious actions towards the children, making her just as bad as him.[56] She also talked to the Queen, who told her that her sister was not talking in her sleep the night of the fire, making Alice realize that Bumby, who was obsessed with Lizzie, had raped her before starting the fire. The Queen told her to make her survival of the fire mean something or Wonderland and herself would all be doomed.[57]
Alice shoving Bumby onto the tracks.
After Alice destroyed the Dollmaker,[58] she finally stood up to Bumby in the real world and threatened to tell the police about his crimes. Bumby was not scared of her words as he knew that no one would believe a madwoman and simply told her to go away. Knowing that Bumby would unlikely be convicted and that she may never have another chance to seek revenge, Alice made a choice. As she was about to leave, Alice hesitated and, in her Wonderland dress, turned back and pushed him in front of an oncoming train, killing him.
As she walked out of the station, Alice walked into Londerland, where Wonderland and London have woven into one existence, and Cat told her that she cannot go home as she freed herself from the pain and suffering in reality and psychological worlds she was forced to call her home. While much devastation had fallen onto Wonderland, her memory was safe for now.[2]
| “ | Alice defeats Bumby by pushing him under the train. Then walks out into a new world full of hope and imagination. This leaves Alice in a position to use her "abilities" in new chapters of the story. Suffice to say she's in a better place. Not in the asylum and not otherwise in pain, troubled or tortured. As I've said in several interviews online, the ending of the game means that Alice has mastered the physical world (the real-world threat from Bumby). And in the first game she mastered the psychological (using her mind to free herself from the asylum). Put those two things together and she's quite super-hero like. It's a common device in hero's journey type tales. Alice's story is a pretty classic hero's journey. Also, none of us can ever "go home." Life moves on, our decisions matter. Can you go back to the way things were 5 years ago? I can't. Alice certainly can't. But the point is that she's now a fully-realized and whole person. She's overcome the demons that inspired these two games. What's next? If not her own demons...
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Alice: Otherlands
After the events of Bumby's death and Londerland's discovery, Alice connects with and enters the mentalities and minds of those around her, further learning about the horrors of the human subconscious.
Appearance
Alice in Wonderland attire.
Alice is a young woman with pale skin, an underweight and fragile figure, dark hair, a long oval-shaped face and green eyes. Despite already being an adult, she is significantly shorter than most humans, both in London and Wonderland, and even other women.
American McGee's Alice
Alice has straight, dark auburn hair, cut just past the shoulder, which has a center parting and no fringe. Her eyes are large and are a shade of emerald-green. She wears a navy blue dress with short puffy sleeves, and a fanned-out skirt that is cut to about mid-leg. To complete the outfit, Alice wears a simple white apron over the dress, black-and-white stockings underneath, and black knee-high boots which are secured with silver buckles. Her outfit also sports astronomical symbols, ♀, the symbol of Venus, and ♃, the symbol of Jupiter, can be seen on the pockets of her apron, and Ω, the Greek letter Omega, appears as a pendent on her silver necklace. Blood can also be seen splattered over her apron and skirt.
Her actual in-game appearance does not match her promotional renders or CGI model; in the game, the Neptune and Jupiter symbols have been replaced with a six-pointed star, and the astronomical symbol of Ceres. In addition, her boots are lacking buckles as well as being only ankle length with black stockings, and her omega pendent is much bigger and is on a smaller chain.
Alice: Madness Returns
Alice in Wonderland and London attire.
In reality, Alice's skin is sickly pale with disheveled shoulder-length dull brown hair, which had been once cut off at Rutledge's, and round, pale green eyes with darkened skin around them, giving the impression that she is tired or has been crying. She wears a black-and-white dress with a striped, long-sleeved top and black skirt, complete with black stockings, ankle-high boots, and a dirty white apron.
When she returns to Wonderland, Alice changes slightly to a more "beautiful" form: she has a healthier complexion, straighter and longer hair that has a reddish tinge and appears to be wearing make-up in the form of peach lipstick and black eyeliner with dark pink eye shadow. The sudden change in her physical appearance could reflect how Alice sees herself, or wishes to be, and she changes due to her mental state when she enters Wonderland, a place where her inner thoughts, desires, and psyche manifest.
Alice's Wonderland outfits often change, although she is always in a dress, usually with an apron. When she first returns to Wonderland, she returns to her old blue dress (but this time the symbol of Ceres has been replaced with the symbol of Eris). As she explores Wonderland, Alice gains new dresses that match the current location she is in.
Alice in her straitjacket.
During Alice's hallucination in Rutledge, she wears a straitjacket. Alice's head is shaved and her eyes appear very tired and slightly out of focus, with what appears to be black tears or possibly makeup running down her face. The straitjacket is a single pieced white item of clothing, which resembles a dress. The upper half has been tied with brown leather belts, which makes Alice unable to move her arms and it is worn in such a way that Alice's right shoulder is exposed. The bottom of the jacket is loose, letting Alice walk around barefooted.
Steamdress
- Main article: Steamdress
The Steamdress is a dress influenced by steam-punk culture and attire, which is heavily based upon the Victorian era. It is black and grey - primarily made from leathers and frills - completed with an array of buckles.
Siren
- Main article: Siren
The Siren dress is an underwater-inspired dress which Alice wears through the Deluded Depths. It is heavily based on the appearance and flow of a jellyfish while it is covered in colorful scales and fish bones. It is the only dress where the physics of Alice's hair changes, allowing it to be more slicked back and relaxed.
Silk Maiden
- Main article: Silk Maiden
The Silk Maiden is a dress heavily inspired by the various aspects of Asian culture (however, not a single particular country). It is a mixture of the traditional Japanese kimono and Chinese Hanfu. It is made of navy blue silk and is decorated by various floral patterns.
Royal Suit
- Main article: Royal Suit
The Royal Suit is a Queen of Hearts and Card Guard inspired dress which primarily dresses itself in red and black. It is marked by various heart symbols and has gloves which mimic castle towers.
Misstitched
- Main article: Misstitched
The Misstitched dress is Alice's final dress in Alice: Madness Returns and is based upon the appearance of an extremely used and broken doll. It is Alice's most colorful dress, using electric blue's and yellows along with various shades of pink scattered throughout the pattern. It also equips tartan, frills and a dismantled and shattered dolls head.
Personality
Alice speaking up against Splatter for his crimes.
Alice is a clever, intelligent and quick-witted young woman, with a curious nature, a sharp tongue and a direct way of approaching things – she is not afraid to speak her mind. Her mother describes young Alice as being reckless. Alice is portrayed as depressed, traumatized, tortured, mentally unstable and suicidal. She is shown to be very ruthless and cynical towards others. Despite her cynicism and morbidness shown in the game, Alice truly wants to set her mind free and restore peace to Wonderland and her own mind. She has been described as stubborn, and becomes enraged when someone says something she hates, disagrees with, or when she is talked down to, and will attack back verbally or physically. Alice is lonely, and doesn't have friends in real-life.[60] The only person in real-life seen in the series who is supportive and kind to Alice is Nan Sharpe.
Alice's dislike of her reality.
Alice dislikes her reality which is portrayed as polluted, dull and disheartening, and struggles to cope with everyday life. Alice is not living as a wealthy or rich person, finding home in borderline poverty. If it wasn't for Pris Witless's interventions, Alice would have faced the possibility of homelessness and prostitution in order to survive. However, it is known that Alice was the heir to her family's fortune, but it is unknown how much of it is left after Radcliffe's interventions or how much there was to begin with.
Although often showing a brave face during times of danger, and quick to debunk bullying and harsh words from others, Alice is constantly haunted by the memories of the fire which claimed the lives of her parents and her sister, and is shown to suffer from survivor's guilt as a result, which can manifest into extreme self-loathing and suicidal tendencies. Alice states she's not afraid of death because she has wished for it at times. She has shown to have understanding, or perhaps sympathy towards the Orphans and Insane Children who have experienced a similar history to hers.
Later on, her guilt in having turned a blind eye to the sufferings of the other children is manifested in the Dollhouse level as well as Caterpillar's final speech. Dr. Wilson thus describes her as having a "hero complex," with her inherent desire to help those around her. After defeating Bumby, she is much more confident about overcoming her past.
Alice has a few hobbies. She is fond of animals, particularly cats and rabbits, and likes stuffed animals. At Rutledge, she had a stuffed rabbit, and demands it back from Radcliffe as a young woman. Her favorite foods include cake, desserts and tea. She likes reading to some extent, and has a vast vocabulary. Her sense of humor seems somewhat dark, for example, she makes a joke about skinning the Cheshire Cat. She likes drawing and visual art. In the asylum, Alice often drew lots of sketches and at the orphanage, there are sketches all over her bedroom walls. She has a very vivid imagination, and loves the fantasy genre. Lizzie comments that Alice is very skilled at jumping. Nan Sharpe taught Alice some French and music before the fire.
Relation to Alice character
Alice is based on the Alice character from Charles Dodgson's (pen name Lewis Carroll) popular novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, after the course of which these games take place, as well as the real-life Alice Liddell. She is also intended to be linked to the book character. She is an "alternate reality" Alice, combining qualities from both the book character and real-life historical figure.[61] For example, she has the personality and history of the book character, while her hair color and name are shared by the real-life Alice.
In the introduction of the first game, Alice is seen sleeping with the first book in her arm, technically breaking the fourth wall, leading to the belief that Alice was a young girl coincidentally named after the character in the book, and imagined herself in the role of the character. Another discrepancy is that the book was first published in 1865, whereas the fire in the game occurred two years earlier in 1863. Both of these discrepancies could be attributed to artistic license, however, it is unknown if Alice Pleasance Liddell owned a copy of the book prior to its publication, as it was only published after a friend urged Dodgeson to publish the book some time after its original creation.
It is also implied Charles Dodgson knew the Liddell family, and his portrait is seen in the first game, making it possible that Alice and Dodgson shared their visions of Wonderland together.
Powers and abilities
Through the series, Alice has shown to be able to use various items to change her form and/or grant her special strength and abilities. Most of these abilities are powerful, but can only be used for a limited amount of time after activating.
American McGee's Alice
Rage Alice.
- Rage Alice: After being sprayed by a Rage Box, Alice turns into a demonic creature, with red skin, claw-like fingers, and black twisted horns, and she even roars like a predatory animal. For the limited time Alice is in this state, her attacks are stronger than normal and deal more damage; some of the weaker foes can die in one hit. Before the effects of the Rage Box wear off, Alice returns to her normal self.
- Grasshopper Alice: From drinking Grasshopper Tea, Alice gains a bug-like appearance with green skin, black eyes, and a pair of wings on her back. As the name of the ability suggests, Alice is able to jump higher and run faster for a short amount of time.
- Invisible Alice: As the name suggests, after staring into a Looking Glass, Alice becomes invisible for a period of time. This allows her to run past enemies unseen or to allow her to make sneak attacks. As she turns invisible, Alice displays a shocked expression on her face.
- Small Alice: Although not really an ability in the first game, after creating a Drink Me potion and drinking it, Alice becomes so small that she is the same size as an Antlion. There is no time limit to this form, and Alice can only return to her normal size after eating from the right-hand side of the Mushroom of Life.
- Underwater: After helping the Mock Turtle, Alice is declared an "Honorary Reptile" and given a Turtle Shell as a thank you. It increases Alice's breath intake so she can stay underwater longer. Despite the fact turtles use their shells as protection, this shell does not give Alice any protection from underwater enemies.
Alice: Madness Returns
- Shrinking Alice: Just like before, Alice uses a Drink Me potion - this time from bathing in a pool of it - to grow small. However, this time Alice can change size at will, and being small gives her Shrink Sense; an advanced sense of sight that allows her to see things she couldn't at her normal height, such as invisible platforms and drawings that tell her where to find her next target, or hidden items. Other helpful uses to being small is getting through small openings to enter hidden areas and using Shrinking Violets to recover health. However, being small means that Alice takes double the time to cover ground than she would being her normal size and she cannot jump, so it's not practical to stay small all the time.
- Gigantic Alice: The dual opposite to shrinking, after eating a piece of Eat Me cake, Alice becomes enormous in size. She cannot use weapons in this form, and can only attack using her feet and hands, but is able to crush walls and destroy towers.
- Hysteria Alice: Similar to Rage, Hysteria is a temporary form of destruction, but Alice can only enter this form in her last fraction of health (Unless she is wearing the Fleshmaiden dress, which gives her the advantage to activate the ability anytime, no matter how much health she possesses). In this form, Wonderland would be seen in gray-slate, and Alice appears in all white (except her hair) with blood-red eyes, and blood running from her eyes and mouth and covering her lower arms. Her weapons can also be seen covered in blood. In Hysteria, Alice gains superhuman strength, dealing twice the damage, and invincibility.
- Butterfly Dodge: This power allows Alice to evade enemy attacks by turning into a swarm of butterflies and mist, which lets her move quicker than running. She will only be a swarm for a couple of seconds before turning back into her normal self.
- Floating: In addition to jumping, Alice can gently glide from platform to platform while floating. Using this ability allows Alice to reach levels that she cannot normally get to with normal jumps.
Trivia
Alice as an unusual video game heroine as described by Ken Wong.
- The name "Alice" is from the Old French name Aalis, a short form of Adelais, itself a short form of the Germanic name Adalheidis, which means "noble type." This is fitting, as Alice can be seen as the hero of Wonderland. Her last name, "Liddell" is of Anglo-Saxon origin and means "Hlyde valley."
- In regards to Alice's religion or personal beliefs, American McGee does not feel it is necessary to comment on them, stating that it's irrelevant to her story or character.[62]
- She has been described by developer Ken Wong as being an unusual video game heroine, in the sense that "she's not physically strong, she's not even mentally strong, she's mentally unstable. She's not even really an anti-hero; she doesn't want to destroy stuff or get revenge, she's just trying to make sense of her own head."[63]
- Unlike most interpretations of Alice, which have blonde hair and blue eyes (popularized by the Disney film), American McGee's Alice has brown hair and green eyes. This might be a reference to the real-life Alice Liddell, who has dark hair and was the inspiration of the original Alice character. This would make this version of Alice one of the very few, perhaps even the only one who isn't based on John Tenniel's illustrations who the character's original appearance was based on; Mary Hilton Badcock, who was another child-friend of Charles Dodgson.
- Alice's necklace is the Omega symbol, which is commonly used to represent the end of something. It could represent how Alice is fighting to end her insanity, or symbolize death, the end of life.
- In the storybook, it is commented that Alice's burns were severe. This implies that Alice's burns were severe first-degree burns, but not second-degree because Alice's dermis was unharmed.
- Unused text in Madness Returns suggests that if Alice were to die in the game, an obituary would be shown for her. Some of these include burning to death in the Mangled Mermaid while attempting to save a cat inside, being found frozen to death in Billingsgate, being found dead in an opium den, jumping from a bridge, dying during an "experimental lobotomy," and falling onto train-tracks and being hit by a train which Bumby claims was a "suicide." Alice is referred to by the public as the "Fire Girl."[64]
- Alice has nearly 6000 individual voice-over recordings in American McGee's Alice alone, far exceeding any character, with only the Cheshire Cat coming anywhere close to a thousand.
- In American McGee's Alice, Alice is shown lying in bed with what appears to be bandages on both her wrists (note that Alice's appearance in Wonderland does not necessarily reflect her appearance in reality).[65] In addition, blood can be seen on her wrists in the main menu.[66] This may suggest that Alice used to self-harm, and that her time in Rutledge helped her grow out of it and healed her scars. This idea is not too far-fetched considering the extremely dark nature of the series, her depressed mental state, as well as the fact that her signature weapon happens to be a kitchen knife.
- Around 2005, Sarah Michelle Gellar was set to portray Alice in a film adaptation, but in 2008, she was no longer attached and the film adaptation has remained inactive since.[67] Although Gellar was to portray Alice, McGee stated that his perfect Alice would be Christina Ricci.[68]
References
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