White Queen (Through the Looking-Glass) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids White Queen |
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| Alice character | |
Alice and the White Queen.
Art by John Tenniel (1865) |
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| First appearance | Through the Looking-Glass |
| Created by | Lewis Carroll |
| Portrayed by | Anne Hathaway (Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass) Emma Rigby (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland) Carol Channing (Alice in Wonderland) |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Queen |
| Spouse(s) | White King |
| Children | Lily (a pawn) |
| Nationality | Looking-Glass Land |
The White Queen is a fun and interesting character from Lewis Carroll's fantasy book Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1871. She is a chess piece who comes to life in a magical world.
Contents
The White Queen's Story
The White Queen and her husband, the White King, are among the first characters Alice meets in the story. They first appear in a drawing room, just beyond the magical looking-glass. At first, they are chess pieces that cannot see or hear Alice.
Alice helps them by gently lifting them onto a table. The Queen and King think they were thrown there by an invisible volcano!
Alice Joins the Game
Later, Alice meets the Red Queen and decides to join a giant game of chess. Alice takes the place of a white pawn, since the White Queen's daughter, Lily, is too young to play.
Alice doesn't meet the White Queen as a human-sized character until she reaches the "Fifth Square" in the chess game. The White Queen is quite unusual because she lives backwards in time! This means her memories are about the future, and she experiences events in reverse order.
Strange Habits and Advice
The White Queen's behavior seems very odd to Alice. For example, she offers Alice "jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day." This is because "to-day" is always in the past for her.
She also screams in pain *before* she pricks her thumb on her brooch, not after. She tells Alice about the King's messenger who has been put in prison for a crime he will commit later. The White Queen also claims to be over 101 years old.
She gives Alice some interesting advice: when she was young, she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast." She encourages Alice to try and do the same!
The Sheep Shop
Their meeting ends with the White Queen seeming to change into a sheep with glasses. This sheep sits behind a counter in a shop as Alice moves to the next square on the chess board. The Sheep is a bit different from the Queen. She knits with many knitting needles at once, which makes her look "more like a porcupine" to Alice.
Two of these knitting needles magically turn into oars when Alice finds herself in a boat. Later, they reappear in the Sheep's shop. Alice buys an egg from the shop, which then turns into Humpty Dumpty as she moves to the next part of her adventure.
The End of the Game
In Chapter 9, the White Queen appears again with the Red Queen. They ask Alice some confusing questions, like "Divide a loaf by a knife: what's the answer to that?" They also celebrate Alice's promotion from a pawn to a queen.
When the celebration gets a bit chaotic, the White Queen seems to disappear into a tureen of soup. Alice then "captures" the Red Queen and wins the game by checkmating the Red King. The White Queen is not seen again in her human form. Alice later wonders if one of her own white cats might have been the White Queen in her dream.
The White Queen in Movies and TV
The White Queen has appeared in many TV shows and movies. Different actresses have played her, including Carol Channing, Penelope Wilton, Nanette Fabray, Anne Hathaway, and Brenda Bruce.
In a cartoon called Sandra the Fairytale Detective, the White Queen is named Victoria. This is because she is the Queen of Victory.
The White Queen in Alice in Wonderland (2010)
| Mirana the White Queen | |
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| Alice in Wonderland (2010 film) character | |
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Anne Hathaway as the White Queen in Tim Burton's 2010 adaptation
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| First appearance | Alice in Wonderland |
| Created by | Lewis Carroll & Tim Burton |
| Portrayed by | Anne Hathaway (adult) Amelia Crouch (child) |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Queen of Wonderland |
| Family | King Oleron (father) Queen Elsemere (mother) Iracebeth of Crims (sister) |
In Tim Burton's 2010 movie Alice in Wonderland, Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen. Her name in this movie is Mirana of Marmoreal. She is the sister of Iracebeth, who is the Red Queen (played by Helena Bonham Carter).
The White Queen's soldiers wear white armor that looks like chess pieces. The Red Queen's soldiers wear armor that looks like playing cards. Mirana seems very delicate and graceful. She often holds her hands up near her shoulders. However, her black fingernail polish and dark circles under her eyes, plus her calm reaction to strange potion ingredients, hint that she might be more complex than she first appears. She is shown as a beautiful young woman with white-blonde hair and a perfect, elegant look.
In the movie, the Red Queen has sent her sister Mirana away from "Underland" because she was jealous. Mirana has promised never to hurt any living thing, so she cannot fight back. She has to wait for a special day called "Frabjous Day." On this day, a "champion" will arrive to defeat the Jabberwocky, which is the Red Queen's scary pet.
Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is that champion. She is now a young woman and at first thinks everything is just a dream. But by the end of the movie, Alice accepts her role and defeats the Jabberwocky. This brings back the White Queen as the ruler of Wonderland. Mirana then sends her sister away and says goodbye to Alice. When Alice talks about how awful the Red Queen's castle was, Mirana, holding a knife, calmly replies, "Oh yes, I can." This shows that Mirana can be quite strict. She banishes her sister to a place where no one is allowed to be kind to her or speak to her. Mirana also makes the Knave of Hearts stay with Iracebeth forever.
Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016)
The first movie used ideas from both of Lewis Carroll's books. The second movie, Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016), introduces new characters not found in the original novels. The story is completely different from Carroll's book. It focuses on how the Mad Hatter became who he is and the conflict between Mirana and Iracebeth. By the end of the film, the two sisters finally make up.
Other Stories and Adaptations
- In Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars book series, a character named Genevieve Heart is a new version of the White Queen.
- The main villain in the manga and anime series Pandora Hearts, called the Will of the Abyss, looks and acts like the White Queen. She is also identical to another character named Alice, who is based on the Red Queen. It is later revealed that Alice is her twin sister, and her name is also Alice. However, the true villain is Jack, and the White Queen is a special "vessel."
- The character Mrs. Wragge in Wilkie Collins' 1864 novel No Name is thought to be an inspiration for the White Queen.
- In the TV show Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Alice mentions that the Red Queen, who had become good during the series, was now known as the White Queen.
- In Ever After High, the White Queen (voiced by Stephanie Sheh) shares power over Wonderland with the Queen of Hearts. Because Wonderland has become unsafe due to the Evil Queen's actions, the White Queen has left her home. She now teaches at Ever After High, replacing Ms. Gold. She teaches classes like Princessology and Kingdom Management. The White Queen is a strict teacher. She doesn't mind embarrassing her students in public and insists that everyone call her by her full title: "Mrs. Her Majesty The White Queen."
