Wonderland is an imaginary country that was created by Alice Liddell in her childhood, and is the main setting for American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns.

BackgroundEdit

First appearing in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Wonderland's main population consists of anthropomorphic animals, and is governed by a monarchy of playing cards. In the book, it is located underground (apparently somewhere beneath Oxfordshire), and reachable by traveling down a rabbit hole. It's never specified how far down it is, but Alice did speculate whether it is near the center of the earth or even at the Antipodes.

In the second book, Through the Looking-Glass, Alice visits another country known as "Looking-Glass Land," which is reachable via mirror and is governed by a chess monarchy. However, in the first Alice game, this land appears as a province in Wonderland, meaning while the chess monarchy control the Looking-Glass Land, the card monarchy are the over-all rulers for the entirety of Wonderland.

Being a part of her subconscious mind, the land is affected by Alice's mental and emotional health. It was once a whimsical land, reflecting Alice's innocent nature, but following the girl's mental breakdown brought on by the death of her family, Wonderland became corrupted by her insanity and turned into a considerably more macabre rendition of itself.

It's unclear what happened to Wonderland towards the end of Madness Returns. After Alice learned the truth about the fire, and killed both Angus Bumby in the real world and the Dollmaker in Wonderland, she created a hybrid country called Londerland, and the Cheshire Cat stated that Wonderland had become damaged, possibly due to another mental lapse.

Geography Edit

American McGee's AliceEdit

In Alice, after becoming corrupted, Wonderland is composed of nine main provinces:

• Village of the Doomed: A subterranean mining town near the coast, populated by the Torch Gnomes. The Village is composed of a network of tunnels and caves, and is patrolled by the Queen of Hearts' Card Guards who force the Gnomes to work the mines. It seems that the Elder Gnome was once the village mayor, but lost his title after the guards took over.
• Fortress of Doors: A large, walled-in fortress on a floating island, watched over by the Card Guards. The fortress actually acts as a school of the Insane Children, although if its purpose is to educate the children or to keep them imprisoned is unclear. Within the school lies an ancient book of recipes for magic potions.
• Vale of Tears: A rough, uncharted, fog-covered flat land with a large river running through. It is mostly populated by feral insects and plants, and normal plant life here appear to be long dead. There is also an underwater passage located underground, and is accessible through a well inside Bill McGill's house, though this well is sealed until the Duchess is slain.
• Wonderland Woods: One of the largest regions in the game, the woods are initially filled by ponds, cliffs and jump mushrooms, but much deeper into the woods is a region of rock and magma. At least on ground-level, the woods are controlled by the Army Ants and the Voracious Centipede.
• Looking Glass Land: The Pale Realm makes a transition to the surface of a chessboard, as delving further into this area leads to the White Castle of Looking Glass Land, which is home to life-size chess pieces; the White ones join Alice in the fight against the Red pieces, a deviation from her normally unhelpful "allies" from earlier portions of the game.
• Beyond the Looking Glass: The Hatter's Domain is a distorted version of Rutledge Asylum (where Alice has been incarcerated since her parents' tragic deaths). It is run by the Mad Hatter.
• Land of Fire and Brimstone: The path to the Jabberwock's Lair delves into a volcanic region of Wonderland. It is here that the terrible Jabberwock, a semi-mechanized servant of the Queen of Hearts, resides.
• Queen of Hearts Land/Queensland is the final province of Wonderland. In it lies the Heart Palace from which the Queen of Hearts commands. Tentacles and other repulsive appendages are seen protruding from every organic wall in this area. The Majestic Maze leads to the road to Queen of Hearts Land, a region heavily guarded by card guards, boojums, and other members of her army on the way to the Queen.

Alice: Madness ReturnsEdit

In Madness Returns, Wonderland has changed again, due to Bumby's therapy, and revisited locations have changed physically. However, like before, danger lurks in every corner and the world is still very dangerous. Again, there are nine main provinces:

• Vale of Tears/Vale of Doom: The Vale of Tears are initially re-imagined by Alice to be a lot more tranquil than in her adventure in the first game, although the environment soon reflects Alice's deteriorating mental condition, with visible corruption oozing from all over. Later on, Alice visits the Vale again, but by then it has degenerated so much it resembles a wasteland of destruction and ruination.
• Hatter's Domain: A fairly remote place near the Vale, it resembles an industrial complex full of mechanical architecture powered by steam. Within appears to be a new management running the place along with new dangers posed by cranks, cogs, gears, vents, and even molten metal.
• Tundraful: A frigid environment with childlike nocturnal artifacts around. Pathways can be connected by breaking brittle ice obstacles in the way. Quaint depictions of celestial objects in the night sky are present, if along some more macabre-looking frozen carcasses of various creatures set permanently into the landscape; a grim reminder that not all is well with Wonderland.
• Deluded Depths: The under-sea area where Alice behaves almost as if it were land. A theatre and an accompanying community of fish-people presents itself as the most promising landmark in an otherwise bleak and bland looking watery grave of sunken ships and drowned seamen. Littering the environment are jellyfish-like platforms and hydrothermal vents that allow Alice to journey through the abyss to clearer waters.
• Oriental Grove: A world that Alice enters in a much diminutive form where all inhabitants can finally compare with her in size, it is heavily influenced by Eastern cultures with mountainous landscapes and wide crevices. A community of Origami Ants reside in simple, built up areas carved from rock and bamboo. Toys pertinent to Eastern culture are magnified in size and serve as physical support for Alice to travel between areas. Within the mountain rock lie a gateway to an unusual world where Eastern art comes alive that Alice can use to travel through. Upsetting the peace are Samurai Wasps that bring grief upon the Ants and are hostile towards Alice.
• Cardbridge: Made of playing cards that form various familiar environmental mechanics that help Alice to travel, this place is mostly deserted and high up in the sky above Queensland. Each individual card seems to have a mind of its own, but some in a group behave as one, flitting about randomly and sometimes help Alice along her way by acting as platforms.
• Queensland: The remains of the Queen of Heart's residence since Alice's last confrontation with her. Mostly a depiction of rot and decay within the royal grounds as much of the Queen's physical, fleshy influence are now dead remains that accompany the inanimate architecture. However, closer to the core of Queensland the Queen very much still remain alive in the flesh as grotesque mosses of her being stay red with life. The inhabitants of these grounds have now taken a morbid decay of their former selves, but remain ever hostile towards Alice and her allies as they have always been.
• Dollhouse: The somber corner of Wonderland when Alice's mind slipped into chaos again, this gloomy area is a product of the new abuses that came upon Alice after she was let go from Rutledge. A gloomy, unhappy place of neglect and abuse, the Insane Children are subjected to a cruel fate relating to dolls and other abominations. The innocent and colorful exterior of the Dollhouse belies a macabre secret that has to do with Alice's worsening madness, characterized by a darker and grimmer reflection of the doll world outside.
• Infernal Train: The recurring artifact that seems to cause ruin and destruction to the Wonderland so loved by Alice, this is the place where she may finally realize the truth behind the madness that has plagued her since her fateful childhood and even after her time in Rutledge.