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“

Sword and crown are worthless here. I invite everyone to dance. Laborers, lawyers, church, and gown; all make their little prance...

—Walrus

”

The Deluded Depths is the second province encountered in Alice: Madness Returns. Alice Liddell arrives here together with the Mock Turtle after the HMS Gryphon is sunk. It is presumably located underwater in the ocean, near the shores of Tundraful and off the Wonderland main land, yet due to it being a part of Alice's mental dream, she is able to breathe underwater.

As well as the home of the Carpenter, it also houses a variety of underwater creatures, such as the Oysters, the grumpy Octopus, the Walrus, the Music Fish. Three species of Jellyfish also reside in the deluded depths. One acts as an obstacle, being poisonous and electrically charged, killing Alice if she touches it. One acts as a spring (similar to the mushroom) to propel Alice upwards. One acts as a platform for Alice. Deadly clams also exist, often using teeth, memories or bottles as bait to lure Alice into their mouths to try and kill her if she stays there for too long.

While visiting the Deluded Depths, Alice wears the Siren dress.

Residents and creaturesEdit

In the gameEdit

After Alice and Mock Turtle were shipwrecked at the bottom of the sea, Alice tried to get information about the Infernal Train out of Turtle, but he was too upset about been made redundant from the Looking Glass Line and the loss of his ship to be of any use. However, he did give Alice a ticket to the opening night of Carpenter's new show, Totentanz: The Dance of Death, to get her mind off the Infernal Train. Alice wasn't distracted from her task but she traveled to Barrelbottom in search of Carpenter, hoping that he could help her.

When Alice arrived at Dreary Lane Theatre, Carpenter greeted Alice warmly and talked about how excited he was about the opening of Totentanz, but he was obviously not ready. Alice tried to ask him about the Infernal Train, but instead he changed the subject and asked Alice to complete three important tasks for him: fetch the finished script, check the orchestra is ready, and wake up the acting troop. If she did these tasks, Carpenter promised to talk to her.

Alice first went to the Octopus for the finished script, but due to his bitterness over his failing career, he wasn't cooperative and forced Alice into playing hide-and-seek with him, with Alice always being the seeker. After three rounds, Octopus was happy enough to start work on the script again and he promised to bring it in time for the show.

Next, Alice went to the Music Fish for the orchestra, but found that everything was out of tune, so the girl had to fix the instruments which were covered in Ruin. Finally, Alice went to wake up the Oyster Starlets and helped the troop leader fix a poster advertising Totentanz.

Finished with her tasks, Alice headed back to the theatre but was stopped by Carpenter and Walrus who destroyed the bridge. Alice finally realised that the two showmen had much darker goals in mind, and had just used the tasks to distract Alice so she couldn't stop them. They then left her to face the Drowned Sailors, enemies she had already encountered in her previous tasks.

However, it turned out that the Sailors were not mindlessly hostile, but wayward souls in need of saving. After Alice helped the crew, they helped her out in return by showing her another path to the theatre.

Alice arrived just in time for the show, which was being shown to a full house. It started innocently enough, with the Oysters performing a dance number, but it suddenly took a turn for the worse as Walrus, in the role of Death, started to eat the Oysters and any other fish in sight.

As Alice shouted at Carpenter for his selfish, murderous ways, the man insisted that he was not an enemy and was trying to protect this piece of Wonderland from the new threat, telling her "Appeasement's never clean!." He then went on to say that Alice was actually being duped by someone who wanted to destroy Wonderland. As the Infernal Train plowed into the theater, Carpenter put himself between the train and Alice, and told her that the Caterpillar might be able to help before the Train hit him. Alice then woke up in London again.

DescriptionEdit

Steam Vents here are underwater air vents that release high-pressure air, causing bubbles. Boxes are iron chests, and floating platforms are giant, flat-top jellyfish; however only white jellyfish are safe to land on. Red jellyfish seem to be poisonous and kill Alice. Blue jellyfish act as trampolines - the mushroom of the Deluded Depths.

Areas Edit

BarrelbottomEdit

Barrelbottom is the underwater town of the Deluded Depths at its heart. The residents of this town are sea life, particularly fish, whom hold Carpenter's shows in high regard at the Dreary Lane Theatre.

As the name suggests, the buildings of the town are made from large barrels and other pieces of flotsam and jetsam. In the middle of the town centre there is a statue of Carpenter, possibly in honor of his great directing career.

Dreary Lane TheatreEdit

The Dreary Lane Theatre is a majestic playhouse located on the edge of Barrelbottom, where Carpenter put on his shows. It has one large stage and many doors that possibly conceal dressing rooms.

Backstage is a bloody, horrific mess of fish and sea creatures alike, dead or barely alive, implying that Walrus and Carpenter have been killing fish for a while, maybe even years.

The name seems to be a play on the Drury Lane Theatre; a real-life theatre located in Covent Garden, London. It is London’s oldest theatre, first open in 1663. The fact the Wonderland theatre is called "Dreary" could relate to the theatre's rundown state or the deadly secrets it hides around the back.

EtymologyEdit

To delude is to impose a misleading belief upon someone; to deceive or fool them. So, to be deluded is to believe in someone who is not what they seem or false information. This name is fitting for this province as Alice and the other fish residents were made to believe that Carpenter and Walrus were simple showmen, while in reality they were actually murderers. This is also the place were Alice learns that she was being deceived by someone who wished to destroy Wonderland.

The "depths" could relate to how deep down in the ocean the province is, or the many levels of deception it contains.

TriviaEdit

In the beta trailer for Madness Returns, it shows that Alice was going to be able to swim the waters of the Deluded Depths, possibly to reach hidden items or to travel around. This was cut from the final version, so Alice simply runs across the ground as she does in other areas of Wonderland.
The name of the theatre ('Dreary Lane') is a pun on Drury Lane, a street in London that has been famous for its theatres since Elizabethan times.
Though not seen before Alice makes her way backstage in the Dreary Lane Theater, A Nautilus-Man is shown killed in a crucifixion-like manner on an anchor at the center of the slaughter with a saw through his head: the Mayor. Various Squid-people are also seen among the piles of the deceased.