The Red Queen is a fictional character and the main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's fantasy 1871 novel ''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, University of Oxford. I ...

''. She is often confused with 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 ...

from the previous book ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' (1865), although the two are very different.

Overview

With a motif of ''Through the Looking-Glass'' being a representation of the game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, the Red Queen could be viewed as an

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

for the side opposing Alice. Despite this, their initial encounter is a cordial one, with the Red Queen explaining the rules of chess concerning

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

—specifically that Alice is able to become a queen by starting out as a

pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous chess piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn or The Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pa ...

and reaching the eighth square at the opposite end of the board. As a queen in the game of chess, the Red Queen is able to move swiftly and effortlessly. Later, in Chapter 9, the Red Queen appears with the White 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, Alice turns against the Red Queen, whom she "considers as the cause of all the mischief", and shakes her until the queen changes into Alice's pet

kitten A kitten is a Juvenile (organism), juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are fully dependent on their mothers for #Establishing immunity, survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. A ...

. In doing this, Alice presents an end game, awakening from the dream world of the

looking glass A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

, by both realizing her hallucination and symbolically "taking" the Red Queen in order to

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. The red queen is often said to be based on Mary Prickett, the

Alice Liddell Alice Pleasance Hargreaves (''née'' Liddell, ; 4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934) was an English woman who, in her childhood, was an acquaintance and photography subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories he told her during a boating trip becam ...

family's governess.

Confusion with the Queen of Hearts

The Red Queen is commonly mistaken for the

from the story's predecessor, ''

''. The two share the characteristics of being strict queens associated with the color red, while their personalities are very different. Carroll, in his lifetime, made the distinction between the two Queens by saying: The 1951

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

animated film ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' 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 lines, notably "all the ways about here belong to me" which in the case of the Red Queen has a double meaning since as a chess piece she can move in any direction. In both ''

American McGee's Alice ''American McGee's Alice'' is a 2000 third-person dark fantasy action-adventure video game developed by Rogue Entertainment under the direction of designer American McGee and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Games banner. The game ...

'' and

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

of the books, the two characters are combined.

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

's song "

White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dea ...

" contains the lyric "and the Red Queen's off her head", despite the fact that "Off with her head!" as a repeated line is associated with the Queen of Hearts, not the Red Queen.

Popular culture

''Alice in Wonderland'' (2010)

The 2010 live-action film ''

'', fashioned as a sequel to the novel, features

Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, List of awards and nominations received by Helena Bonham Carter ...

as the Red Queen. Bonham Carter's head was digitally increased three times its original size on screen. Bonham Carter's character is a combination of the Red Queen, the

Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

and the

. From the original Red Queen, this character gets only a relationship to the White Queen. Here the Red Queen is the elder sister of the White Queen, and is jealous of her sister, whom her subjects genuinely love. From the original

John Tenniel John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914) was an English illustrator, graphic humourist and political cartoonist prominent in the second half of the 19th century. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, he was knight bachelor ...

illustrations of the Duchess, she gets a massive head in proportion to her body and a retinue of frog footmen. The White Queen theorizes that the movie's Red Queen has a

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

pressing against her brain, explaining both her large head and her deranged behaviour. Most of her characteristics are taken from the Queen of Hearts including: * A quickness to anger, including the famous phrase "Off with his/her/their/your head!" Her first name, Iracebeth, is a play on the word " irascible". In the movie, the queen's moat is full of heads from her many decapitations. Carter has said that she based her performance on her toddler-aged daughter. * The use of animals as inanimate objects. Beside the flamingo mallets and hedgehog croquet balls from the original, this queen also uses them as furniture. * Having tarts stolen, although in this adaptation it was a starving frog footman who stole the tarts rather than the Knave of Hearts. Here, the queen is madly in love with the Knave of Hearts, who leads her army, and has executed her husband the King for fear that he would leave her. * Employment of a fish footman and the

. * Heart motifs throughout her palace and a 16th-century-style costume associated with the queen of hearts playing card and the original John Tenniel illustrations for the Queen of Hearts. The irritable, snobbish mother of Alice's potential husband, cast as a corresponding villain in the "real world" also resembles the Queen of Hearts when she fumes about her gardeners planting white instead of red roses. After the Jabberwocky is slain by Alice, the Red Queen's army stops fighting and following her orders. The White Queen banishes the Red Queen to Outland where nobody is to say a word to her or show her any kindness. The Knave of Hearts is also banished and tries to kill the Red Queen when they are shackled together only to be thwarted by the Mad Hatter. As the Red Queen and the Knave of Hearts are carried off to their exile, the Red Queen repeatedly shouts "He tried to kill me" while the Knave of Hearts begged for the White Queen to have him killed. In the video game adaptation of the film, she plays a minor role, first appearing as a mere illustration. She is not seen in person until near the end of the game, first playing croquet and beheading the hedgehogs she uses as balls whenever they miss their target at her castle, and then again both before and after the battle with the Jabberwocky. In the sequel of the 2010 film, the Red Queen returns as the main antagonist and Bonham Carter reprises her role. In the film, the Red Queen currently lives in a castle made with vegetation and other things in Outland where she is still exiled and is served by vegetable people whose parts she occasionally eats. In addition, the Knave of Hearts' skeleton is shown in her castle. The Red Queen is the love interest of Time and the two ally: If he will give to her the powerful Chronosphere and kill Alice she will give to him his love and they will rule the universe. When Alice steals the Chronosphere to save Tarrant, the Red Queen orders Time to find her and kill her. The Red Queen's true past is discovered when Alice travels in time: as a child, she was calm and sweet, however her parents favoured her sister over her; one day the Red Queen was accused of eating tarts when it was her sister who ate them. During the tart fiasco, the Red Queen ran away and would fall and crash her head into a grandfather's clock where her head expands turning her into a crazy and hating person. At the day of the coronation, the Red Queen believed that Tarrant was laughing about her large head, and shouts at him. When her father says that her sister will become the queen of Underland, she swears a horrible revenge on Tarrant. During the climax, both Queens are taken back in time where the Queens witnessing the tart event causes a paradox. Once Wonderland was saved from destruction, the White Queen apologizes for lying about the tarts and the two sisters reconcile.

''Once Upon a Time in Wonderland''

The Red Queen appears in ''Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'' (a spin-off to ''

Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 in storytelling in the English language and has started many narrative ...

'') portrayed by

Emma Rigby Emma Rigby (born 26 September 1989) is an English actress and model. After rising to prominence for her role as Hannah Ashworth in ''Hollyoaks'' (2005–2010, 2024), she later played Gemma Roscoe in the BBC One drama series '' Prisoners' Wives ...

. She is a character distinct from the

(

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including Wester ...

), who was her tutor in magic. Like the Queen of Hearts and the

Mad Hatter The Hatter (called Hatta in ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is often referred to as The Mad Hatter ...

, the Red Queen is an émigré to Wonderland from the Enchanted Forest, having originally been a young woman named Anastasia, with whom

Will Scarlet Will Scarlet (also Scarlett, Scarlock, Scadlock, Scatheloke, Scathelocke and Shacklock) is a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He is present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son. The confusion of su ...

(the Knave of Hearts) was in love. The Red Queen featured as one of the show's main antagonists, alongside Jafar.

''Pandora Hearts''

Two characters from the

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

''Pandora Hearts'' are based on the Red Queen,

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 ...

and

Lacie Lacie may refer to: People and characters People with the surname * de Lacie, a French surname and noble family * Edward Lacie, a blacksmith featured on the 2018 TV episode "The Kelewang" of the competition TV show ''Forged in Fire''; see List ...

, though Lacie has more in common with the Red Queen than Alice, who also has connections with The Queen of Hearts.

''American McGee's Alice'' and ''Alice: Madness Returns''

In the

video game/media franchise by

American McGee American McGee is a retired American video game designer. He is best known as the designer of ''American McGee's Alice'', its sequel '' Alice: Madness Returns'', and his works on various video games from id Software. Early life American McGee ...

, The Red Queen is initially conflated with the

in the first game, ''

''. The names are used interchangeably, and the chess level further implies the two are one and the same. However, in the second game, '' Alice: Madness Returns'', they are separated once more and the player meets the Queen of Hearts in her original form; the Red Queen is seen at the very beginning of the game as a flashback from Alice's memories of when The Red Queen reigned sovereign in Wonderland. Subsequent to the development of Alice: Otherlands, a proposed spin-off pitch to

EA Games Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted ...

(who holds the franchise's copyrights) was initiated by American McGee that included crowdfunding and fan-support using the platform

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...

, entitled " Alice: Asylum." It is revealed in the art book designed for the proposal that the prequel portion of the game features Alice interacting with the two characters as separate entities, with a later cataclysm resulting in their merging into one monstrous creature resembling the form that Alice confronts in the first game (before this form is revealed to be a puppet/avatar extending from tentacles of the Red Queen's gigantic and monstrous true form.

DC Comics

In the third volume of ''Shazam!'', the Red Queen came from the Wozenderlands and is a member of the

Monster Society of Evil The Monster Society of Evil is a supervillain team created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. It is led by Mister Mind against their mutual enemy Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel. The team is significant as one of the firs ...

. She was among its members imprisoned in the Dungeon of Eternity within the Monsterlands until

Mister Mind Mister Mind is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel. Created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics, the character made a cameo appea ...

instructed

Doctor Sivana Doctor Sivana is the name of two fictional, related characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original Doctor Sivana's alter-ego is Dr.Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, a recurring enemy of the superhero Captain Marvel created ...

on how to free them. As Shazam fights a Mister Mind-controlled C.C. Batson, Red Queen and Scapegoat ask Mister Mind when they will get a turn. Mister Mind states that they will get their chance once the Magiclands are united. As the Monster Society of Evil continues their fight with the Shazam Family, Scapegoat noted to Red Queen that Black Adam was supposed to be part of the group as Red Queen states that

Black Adam Black Adam (Teth-Adam) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck, and first appeared in the debut issue of Fawcett Comics' '' The Marvel Family'' comic book ...

refused to follow Mister Mind while having plans to get revenge on Alice and

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by the American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most o ...

. When Scapegoat mentions his plans to get revenge on Mayor Krunket,

Superboy-Prime Superboy-Prime (Clark Kent; colloquial: "Prime") is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. A boy from the Reality, real world Isekai, transported to the DC Universe, as an Alternative vers ...

crashes the fight where he uses his fists to impale Scapegoat as he states to Red Queen that he's going to play around first before he gets serious. When Shazam defeats Mister Mind, the resulting magical energy knocked out the Red Queen and the rest of the Monster Society of Evil. The Monster Society of Evil was mentioned to have been remanded to Rock Falls Penitentiary where the Shazam Family built a special section to contain magical threats.

''Come Away''

The Red Queen is played by

Anna Chancellor Anna Theodora Chancellor (born 27 April 1965) is an English actress who has appeared widely on TV, film and in the theatre. She received a nomination for BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lix Storm in '' The Hour'' (201 ...

in the 2020 movie ''

Come Away ''Come Away'' is a 2020 fantasy drama film directed by Brenda Chapman (in her live-action directorial debut), written by Marissa Kate Goodhill, and starring David Oyelowo, Anna Chancellor, Angelina Jolie, Clarke Peters, David Gyasi, with Gugu Mb ...

.'' This version of the Red Queen is depicted as the imaginary counterpart to Eleanor Morrow, Alice's maternal aunt and the older sister of Alice's mother Rose (

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...

), whose imaginary counterpart is the Queen of Hearts.

''Resident Evil''

In the ''Resident Evil'' series of video games and films the Red Queen is a self-aware computer system created to monitor and protect the Umbrella Corporation, an organisation dedicated to destroying almost all the human race as a method of dealing with ecological collapse. Its holographic avatar is modelled after Alicia, the young daughter of the original founder of the corporation.

Other

Christina Henry Christina Henry (born 1974, in New York, USA) is an American novelist working in the horror and dark fantasy genre. "Christina Henry" is a pseudonym of Tina Raffaele, based on her name (Tina), and the names of her husband (Chris) and son (Henry) ...

has authored ''The Red Queen'' a spin-off novel based on the character as part of a series based on the books.

Adaptive uses outside the arts

In science

* The

Red Queen hypothesis The Red Queen's hypothesis is a hypothesis in evolutionary biology proposed in 1973, that species must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate in order to survive while pitted against ever-evolving opposing species. The hypothesis was intende ...

is an

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

ary

hypothesis A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess o ...

taken from the

Red Queen's race The Red Queen's race is an incident that appears in Lewis Carroll's ''Through the Looking-Glass'' and involves both the Red Queen, a representation of a Queen in chess, and Alice constantly running but remaining in the same spot. "Well, in our ...

in ''

''. * Science writer

Matt Ridley Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley (born 7 February 1958), is a British science writer, journalist and businessman. He is known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics, and has been a regular contributor to ''The Tim ...

popularized the term "the red queen" in connection with

sexual selection Sexual selection is a mechanism of evolution in which members of one sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex ...

(See

Evolution of sex Sexually reproducing animals, plants, fungi and protists are thought to have evolved from a common ancestor that was a single-celled eukaryotic species. Sexual reproduction is widespread in eukaryotes, though a few eukaryotic species have sec ...

for more details).

In business

* "Red Queen marketing" is defined as the business practice of launching new products in order to replace past failed launches while the overall sales of a brand may remain static or growth is less than fully incremental (Donald Kay Riker, 2009).OTC Product News, April 24, 2009