The White Queen is a fictional character who appears in

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

's 1871 fantasy novel ''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' (also known as ''Alice Through the Looking-Glass'' or simply ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a novel published on 27 December 1871 (though indicated as 1872) by Lewis Carroll and the ...

''.

Plot

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 Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

, 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 A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

. 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 behaviour 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 Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethiz ...

every time

lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a resul ...

looks at her" because she knits with several

knitting needles A knitting needle or knitting pin is a tool in hand-knitting to produce knitted fabrics. They generally have a long shaft and taper at their end, but they are not nearly as sharp as sewing needles. Their purpose is two-fold. The long shaft '' ...

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 Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. ...

as she moves to the next square. 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 A tureen is a serving dish for foods such as soups or stews, often shaped as a broad, deep, oval vessel with fixed handles and a low domed cover with a knob or handle. Over the centuries, tureens have appeared in many different forms: round, re ...

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling soli ...

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lew ...

's ''

The Annotated Alice ''The Annotated Alice'' is a 1960 book by Martin Gardner incorporating the text of Lewis Carroll's major tales, ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (1871), as well as the original illustrations by John Te ...

'' 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 Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

the Red King, ending the game. The White Queen is not seen again, except as one of Alice's white

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s, who Alice speculates may have influenced the dream.

In other media

The White Queen has been portrayed in various TV and film productions by actresses including

Carol Channing Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...

Penelope Wilton Dame Penelope Alice Wilton (born 3 June 1946), styled Penelope, Lady Holm between 1998 and 2001, is an English actress. She is known for starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom ''Ever Decreasing Circles'' (1984–1989); playing H ...

Nanette Fabray Nanette Fabray (born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares; October 27, 1920 – February 22, 2018) was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She began her career performing in vaudeville as a child and became a musical-theatre actress dur ...

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, she was among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2 ...

and

Brenda Bruce Brenda Bruce OBE (7 July 1919Some sources cite 17 July 1919. – 19 February 1996) was an English actress. She was focused on the theatre, radio, film and television. Career Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire in 1919, and started her ...

. In '' Sandra the Fairytale Detective'', her name is Victoria because she is the Queen of Victory.

''Alice in Wonderland'' (2010)

portrays the White Queen (renamed "Mirana of Marmoreal") in

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

's 2010 adaptationMissy Schwartz, "Best Actress," ''Entertainment Weekly'' 1032/1033 (Jan. 30/Feb. 6, 2009): 46. alongside Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth, the Red Queen; they are portrayed as sisters. The White Queen's soldiers appear in white armor inspired by chess pieces while The Red Queen's appear in armour made to resemble cards. Mirana's delicate exterior is reinforced by her habit of holding her hands gracefully at shoulder height in almost every scene in which she appears. But her black fingernail polish and the dark circles under her eyes, as well as her nonchalance about certain potion ingredients ("buttered fingers"), hint at a more complex character under the surface. Additionally, she is portrayed as a beautiful young woman with white blonde hair, a flawless complexion and air of elegance, grace and perfection. In the movie, Iracebeth has banished her sister from "Underland" out of jealousy; Mirana, having taken a vow never to harm another living thing, is helpless to fight back and must wait years for the "Frabjous Day," when a "champion" will arrive and slay the Jabberwocky, Iracebeth's fearsome pet. That champion arrives in Alice ( Mia Wasikowska), now a young woman, who initially thinks she is having a recurring dream. By the film's

climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community t ...

, Alice accepts her destiny and slays the Jabberwocky, restoring rulership of Wonderland to the White Queen. Mirana banishes her sister and bids Alice goodbye. After Alice remarks that Mirana cannot imagine the horror that goes on inside the Red Queen's castle, Mirana - whilst holding a knife - coldly replies, "Oh yes, I can." Mirana apparently is not above cruel punishment such as having her sister exiled to the Outlands for the rest of her days where nobody is to show her kindness or say a word to her. Mirana also had the Knave of Hearts unwillingly kept in Iracebeth's company for the rest of his life.

''Alice Through The Looking Glass'' (2016)

While the first film borrows elements from both of

's novels, the sequel introduces characters not featured in those novels. The story is entirely different to Carroll's novel and centers on the origin of Mad Hatter and the feud between Mirana and Iracebeth. At the end of the film, the sisters make amends.

Other adaptions

* The character of Genevieve Heart in Frank Beddor's '' The Looking Glass Wars'' series is considered a re-imagining of the White Queen. * The main antagonist of the manga and anime series ''

Pandora Hearts ''Pandora Hearts'' (stylized as ''PandoraHearts'') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Jun Mochizuki. It was serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Monthly GFantasy'' from May 2006 to March 2015, with its ...

'', known as the Will of the Abyss, is based on the White Queen in appearance and mannerisms, and is also identical to another character named Alice, who is based on the Red Queen. It's soon revealed that Alice is her twin sister and her name is also Alice but it's Jack who is the true antagonist and she is the vessel of the Core of the Abyss. * The character of Mrs Wragge in

Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for '' The Woman in White'' (1859), a mystery novel and early "sensation novel", and for '' The Moonstone'' (1868), which has b ...

' '' No Name'' (pub 1864) is considered to be a model for the White Queen. * In the finale of '' Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'', Alice mentions that the Red Queen (who had redeemed herself over the course of the series) was now known as the White Queen. * In '' Ever After High'', the White Queen (voiced by

Stephanie Sheh Stephanie Sheh is an American voice actress, ADR director, writer and producer who has worked for several major companies, including Cartoon Network and Sony. She is often involved with work in English dubs of anime, cartoons, video games and fi ...

) is the co-ruler of Wonderland alongside the

Queen of Hearts The queen of hearts is a playing card in the standard 52-card deck. Queen of Hearts or The Queen of Hearts may refer to: Books * "The Queen of Hearts" (poem), anonymous nursery rhyme published 1782 * ''The Queen of Hearts'', an 1859 novel by ...

. Since Wonderland has become uninhabitable due to the

Evil Queen The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories exist worldwide. Other versions of the Queen appear in subsequent ...

's actions, the White Queen has fled her realm and taken up a role as teacher at Ever After High replacing Ms. Gold. She teaches Princessology and Kingdom Management. The White Queen is not a kind teacher though, having no qualms about publicly humiliating her students and insisting she is addressed by her full title "Mrs. Her Majesty The White Queen".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White Queen (Through The Looking-Glass) Female characters in film Female characters in literature Fictional queens Fictional sheep Fictional therianthropes Lewis Carroll characters Literary characters introduced in 1871