Origins The Queen is clearly a caricature of Queen Victoria, with elements of reality that Dodgson felt correctly would make her at once instantly recognisable to parents reading the story to children, and also fantastical enough to make her unrecognisable to children. Her identity was hammered home for the purposes of popular culture in the 1966 live-action film, where she and the King of Hearts are portrayed without any attempt at fantasy, or disguise as to their true natures or personality. Confusion with the Red Queen She is commonly mistaken for the Red Queen in the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, but in reality shares none of her characteristics other than being a queen. Indeed, Carroll, in his lifetime, made the distinction of the two Queens by saying: "I pictured to myself the Queen of Hearts as a sort of embodiment of ungovernable passion - a blind and aimless Fury. The Red Queen I pictured as a Fury, but of another type; her passion must be cold and calm - she must be formal and strict, yet not unkindly; pedantic to the 10th degree, the concentrated essence of all governesses!" The 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland perpetuates the long-standing confusion between the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. In the film, the Queen of Hearts delivers several of the Red Queen's statements, the most notable being based on her "all the ways about here belong to me". Both characters say this to suggest importance and possible arrogance, but in the Red Queen's case it has a double meaning since her status as a Chess-queen means that she can move in any direction she desires. In the American McGee's Alice adaptation of the books, the characters are also combined, leading to further popular misconception. In the video game American McGee's Alice, the Queen of Hearts is the final boss and the reason for Wonderland's decay. When Alice fights her, she discovers that the Queen is her dark side – an embodiment of her insanity; the Queen must be destroyed for Alice to become sane once more. The Queen's appearance is different in American McGee's Alice than in the book: she appears first as a faceless entity having tentacles for arms, legs, and hair. It is later revealed that this is a mere puppet and that the true Queen of Hearts is a horrible monster in the image of a real anatomical heart. She is called both the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen interchangeably throughout the game. No mention is made of the Red Queen from "Through the Looking Glass." However, the White Queen is seen. The Looking-Glass Wars In The Looking Glass Wars, the ruling dynasty of the Wonderland is the Heart family. The title of Queen of Hearts is a hereditary title for the Queen of Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland is reimagined as Queen Redd, the enemy and aunt of the heroine, Alyss. She kills Alyss' parents and usurps the throne of Wonderland. It should be noted that the true Queen of Hearts in this story is Genevieve Heart, Alyss's mother as an apparent re-imagining of the White Queen. Alyss is, therefore, the Princess of Hearts. In the Disney animated feature Alice in Wonderland, the Queen appears as the Cheshire Cat puts it, as a "fat, pompous, bad tempered old tyrant". Her presence is all the more striking because of how tiny her husband the King is made to look in comparison to her. Similar to the book, Alice meets three cards painting the roses red, since they planted white roses by mistake. When the Queen arrives, she orders those three cards beheaded, then politely challenges Alice to a game of croquet. The game is eventually spoiled by the Cheshire Cat. The Queen blames Alice for it, but before she can give the order, the King suggests holding a trial for Alice. The Queen, grudgingly, agrees. The Queen calls the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse to witness, who hold an unbirthday party for her and cheer her up considerably. During the party, the Cheshire Cat reappears and upsets the Dormouse. The Cheshire Cat runs all over, and in an attempt to crush the mouse, the King of Hearts manages to hit the Queen with the gavel. The Queen, of course, blames Alice for it, and is going to have her beheaded. But Alice eats mushrooms she had procured earlier, which make her grow bigger. Although Rule #42 says that anyone more than a mile high must leave the court immediately, Alice feels free to call the queen a "fat, pompous, bad tempered old tyrant". Unfortunately, she subsequently shrinks down to her normal size, but flees and is able to escape. Of interest is the fact that this version of the Queen seems to be an amalgamation of the Queen from the book, the Duchess, and the Red Queen of Through The Looking-Glass. When pleased, she can be quite pleasant, but can almost at once change to enraged. The Queen of Hearts exacted her revenge upon Alice in the game Disney's Villains' Revenge where she stole the ending page of the story and changed the ending, so Alice lost her head. Jiminy Cricket, the player, and Alice's headless body retrieve the head and escape the labyrinth of the Queen. They meet one last time in the final battle and she surrenders. She is also a greetable character at the Walt Disney World Resort. Disney's House of Mouse The Queen of Hearts appears as one of the villain guests of the House of Mouse. She is voiced by Tress MacNeille. Kingdom Hearts The Queen appears in the Square-Enix/Disney video game Kingdom Hearts, in her homeworld. As in the film, she holds Alice on trial, only this time for attempting to steal her heart. Sora, Donald and Goofy intervene, telling the Queen that Alice is innocent. The Queen challenges them to provide proof of their theory, and with help from the Cheshire Cat, the three are able to do so. The Queen, however, enraged at being proven wrong, orders Sora, Donald and Goofy executed and Alice imprisoned in a cage on the roof. The three are able to fight off the Queen's guards and destroy the cage controls, but Alice is kidnapped by Riku, on Maleficent's orders, before they can save her. The Queen orders a search for Alice, and temporarily pardons Sora, Donald and Goofy, requesting that they look for Alice as well. She returns in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, only this time as a figment of Sora's memories. Again, she holds Alice on trail, this time for attempting to steal her memories. Sora, Donald and Goofy intervene and prove Alice's innocence by defeating the Trickmaster Heartless, the real culprit. The Queen congratulates Sora for solving the mystery, and once again demonstrates her bi-polar personality by pardoning Alice. She is absent in Kingdom Hearts II, but appears in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days along with her homeworld. In Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland film, the Queen of Hearts is also known as the Red Queen. Her head is about three times larger than usual and she is played by Helena Bonham Carter. Care Bears version The Queen of Hearts is portrayed as a nicer woman in this version. 1999 TV movie In the 1999 Alice in Wonderland television movie, the Queen of Hearts is played by Miranda Richardson, whose portrayal is strongly reminiscent of her role as the spoiled Queenie in Blackadder. Alice (TV series) The Queen of Hearts was portrayed by Kathy Bates in the 2009 mini-series on the SyFy Channel.[1] The TV miniseries is set 150 years after Alice's first visit to Wonderland.
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