| White Queen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Biographical information | |
| Provenance | Wonderland |
| Age | Claims to be over 101 |
| Physical description | |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | White |
| Personal information | |
| Allies | Alice Liddell, White chess pieces |
| Enemies | Red chess pieces |
| Occupation | Monarch (formerly) |
| Image gallery (6) | |
The White Queen was the previous ruler of the White Castle in the Pale Realm, along with the White King. In Alice's fourth return to Wonderland, a bust of her upper torso was present in Queensland.[1]
History[]
Through the Looking-Glass[]
Along with her husband the White King, she is one of the first characters to be seen in the story. She first appears in the drawing room just beyond the titular looking-glass as an animate chesspiece unable to see or hear Alice, the main character. The Queen is looking for her daughter Lily; Alice helps her by lifting the White Queen and King onto the table, leading them to believe they were thrown up by an invisible volcano.
When Alice meets the Red Queen and joins the chess game, she takes the place of a white pawn, Lily being too young to play. She does not meet the White Queen as a human-sized character until the Fifth Square. The White Queen lives backwards in time, due to the fact that she lives through the eponymous looking glass. Her behavior is odd to Alice. She offers Alice "jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day." She screams in pain until, rather than because, she pricks her thumb on her brooch, and tells Alice of the King's messenger who has been imprisoned for a crime he will later be tried for and perhaps (but not definitely) commit in the end. The White Queen, aside from telling Alice things that she finds difficult to believe (one being that she is just over 101 years old) says that in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" and counsels Alice to practice the same skill.
The meeting ends with the Queen seeming to turn into a bespectacled sheep who sits at a counter in a shop as Alice passes into the next square on the board. The Sheep is somewhat different from the Queen in terms of personality and gets "more like a porcupine every time [Alice] looks at her" because she knits with several knitting needles all at once. Two of these needles turn into oars when Alice appears in a boat, and then reappear in the Sheep's shop, where Alice purchases an egg, which becomes Humpty Dumpty as she moves to the next square.
The White Queen and the Red Queen in a debate.
In Chapter 9, the White Queen appears with the Red Queen, posing a series of typical Wonderland/Looking-Glass questions ("Divide a loaf by a knife: what's the answer to that?"), and then celebrating Alice's promotion from pawn to queen. When that celebration goes awry, the White Queen seems to flee the scene by disappearing into a tureen of soup. Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice points out that the White King is at the time in check from the Red Queen. Alice proceeds to "capture" the Red Queen and checkmate the Red King, ending the game. The White Queen is not seen again, except as one of Alice's white cats, who Alice speculates may have influenced the dream.
American McGee's Alice[]
During Alice's journey through the Pale Realm, she stumbled upon a Red troupe abducting the White Queen. Accepting the plea of the White King, Alice was warped to the Red Castle where she battled Red armies.[2]
The White Queen about to be executed.
Deep in the castle's walls, she witnessed the execution of the White Queen by guillotine. Alice later tracked down the Red King, who oversaw the execution, in a bout to kill him in an act of resistance of the White Kingdom. Upon the Red King's death, Alice dropped the White Pawn who accompanied her, by the White King's request, who immediately transforms into a reincarnation of the White Queen due to the promotion rule in chess.[3]
In the ending scene, the White Queen was revived and appeared with the White King in Wonderland restored to its peace.
Alice: Madness Returns[]
Although the White Queen did not physically appear, a statue of her upper torso was found in a secret room through the right side path before going to the White King in Queensland. The torso was depicted in a state of agony and decay, much like the other remains of denizens of the Pale Realm.[1] However, another statue of her in a more relaxed pose was present alongside the other White pieces in the Chess Rooms of the Heart Palace.[4][5]
Trivia[]
The decapitated head of the White Queen in the Storybook.
- It is revealed in the Alice: Madness Returns Storybook that the White Queen may be a manifestation of Alice's mother, supposedly having similar features as well as her decapitated head mouthing "Alice."
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Spicy Horse (2011-06-14). Alice: Madness Returns. (Electronic Arts). Scene: Least Wing. Level: Chapter 4: Queensland.
- ↑ Rogue Entertainment (2000-10-06). American McGee's Alice. (Electronic Arts). Scene: Castling. Level: Looking Glass Land.
- ↑ Rogue Entertainment (2000-10-06). American McGee's Alice. (Electronic Arts). Scene: Checkmate in Red. Level: Looking Glass Land.
- ↑ Spicy Horse (2011-06-14). Alice: Madness Returns. (Electronic Arts). Scene: Waste Wing Part 1. Level: Chapter 4: Queensland.
- ↑ Spicy Horse (2011-06-14). Alice: Madness Returns. (Electronic Arts). Scene: Waste Wing Part 2. Level: Chapter 4: Queensland.
External links[]
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