Queen of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts is the main antagonist of Disney's 1951 animated feature film Alice in Wonderland. She is the tyrannical and deranged ruler of Wonderland with a sadistic penchant for beheadings. When Alice arrives in the kingdom and inadvertently humiliates the monarch, the Queen of Hearts becomes obsessed with decapitating the girl.
Among Disney's animated rogues gallery, the Queen of Hearts is easily recognized by her iconic red, black, and gold color scheme—as well as her motif of hearts and playing cards. Backed by her iconography, and catchphrase, "Off with their heads!", she serves as one of the primary members of the Disney Villains franchise.
==Background==
According to the Cheshire Cat, all of Wonderland is under the Queen of Hearts's authority. She completely dominates her weak husband, the diminutive King of Hearts, who acts more like an advisor than a monarch. The Queen resides in a nearly colorless kingdom surrounded by a series of maze-like hedges and guarded by an army of anthropomorphic card soldiers. She is known for her unruly and extremely fragile temper. Those who upset the Queen in any way are immediately subjected to a gruesome death by beheading. The most frequent victims of this cruel practice are none other than her own card guards.
===Personality===
The Queen of Hearts has a very psychotic personality. All the residents of Wonderland are mad (insane) in some way, but the Queen of Hearts is the most dangerous of them all by being the ruler of the land. She is very egotistical, as she likes to hear the words "Yes, Your Majesty" and insists that "All ways are my ways!" She is also shown to be a rather childish character, even in the face of Alice, as she is incredibly impatient, irrationally sensitive, prone to temper tantrums, and, as stated above, rather egotistical.
Like any insane person, she has huge uncontrollable mood swings, from content to enraged at a moment's notice. Her immediate solution to every problem is beheading; whether her roses have been planted white, she misses a shot in croquet or feels insulted in any way. The Queen of Hearts seems to enjoy her anger management problems in a way. She reminds Alice at one point, "If I lose my temper, you lose your head," indicating that she is fully aware of her power and wants everyone else to as well. When she orders the beheading of the cards that painted her roses red, the crowd cheers, and she looks very pleased that she made this decision and that the crowd approves of it. Most of all, at Alice's trial, when the White Rabbit is taking a long time to read all the charges, she snaps at him, "Never mind all that! Get to the part where I lose my temper!" She says it with a sense of glee, twiddling her fingers giddily and with a tone of excitement in her voice, indicating that hearing about her outbursts is something she thoroughly enjoys.
Though she clearly overpowers her husband, the King of Hearts, he appears to be the only resident in Wonderland to have any effect on her actions and opinions, to the point where he can cease (or at least, delay) a beheading, as seen a few times throughout the film. With these facts in mind, it can be concluded that the King is the only person for whom the Queen has any knowledgeable care, interestingly.
===Physical appearance===
The obese Queen of Hearts has a massive physique (which, in turn, makes her physically powerful). She has fair skin, black eyes, and black hair tied in the back with a red headband. She dresses in a black-and-red gown with black-and-yellow stripes. Beneath her gown are a pair of white bloomers with a heart pattern and she wears red heels on her feet. Atop the queen's head is a small, gold crown, signifying her authority. She also dons matching gold earrings. She is also shown to often be holding a heart scepter.
==Appearances==
===Alice in Wonderland===
In Alice in Wonderland, the Queen appears as Alice puts it, as a "fat, pompous, bad-tempered old tyrant." Her presence is all the more striking because of how tiny her husband 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. She decides to help but they are soon interrupted when the Card Guards of the Queen of Hearts arrive, announcing that her majesty is underway. The three cards scramble in an attempt to quickly paint the roses and dispose of the evidence, but they are too late. When the Queen arrives, she immediately notices the paint and interrogates the trio, though she doesn't notice Alice just yet. After becoming frustrated with whoever committed the crime, the Queen of Hearts simply sentences all three of her cards to death via decapitation (especially for having blamed each other instead of admitting their own parts).
Alice tries to plea for the cards, catching the Queen's attention. However, instead of becoming furious, the Queen of Hearts actually takes a liking to Alice, who tries to explain she is trying to find her way home. When she does, however, the Queen flies into a rage, declaring "All ways are MY ways!" She then switches from anger and sweetly asks if Alice would like to join her for a croquet game out of literally nowhere. The game begins, during which the Queen appears to be a terrible player, though her card guards and servants merely cheat for her to keep her majesty happy, as well as to keep themselves from being beheaded. In the mix of the game, the Cheshire Cat arrives and purposely gets Alice in trouble by aggravating the Queen, all while keeping his presence a secret, getting the Queen to threaten to have Alice beheaded if she angers her one more time. Eventually, the cat goes a bit too far, and the Queen of Hearts is humiliated in front of all her subjects. Infuriated, the Queen immediately blames Alice for the embarrassment and sentences her to death. The King of Hearts, however, asks the Queen if a small trial could be held first, as it would be fair, and her majesty reluctantly agrees.
At the trial, the Queen rebuffs Alice's insistence having a verdict before sentence. Just as she is about to have Alice beheaded, the King insists that the Queen have some witnesses to the incident. The White Rabbit calls the March Hare, the Dormouse, and the Mad Hatter as the witnesses. The trio holds an Unbirthday party for the Queen, but during the party, the Cheshire Cat reappears and sets the Dormouse into a panic. The mouse runs all over, with the characters attempting to pacify him with jam; when the Queen yells "Let me have it!", she is misunderstood and gets it in the face. To add insult and injury, the King of Hearts manages to hit the Queen with the gavel while trying to crush the mouse. 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. Apparently looking forward to punishing Alice, she asks to repeat what she said. As the Cheshire Cat repeats those words, she furiously orders "OFF WITH HER HEAD!" but Alice flees the trial, with the Queen, King, the card soldiers, and eventually all the infuriated inhabitants of Wonderland in hot pursuit, chasing her out of her own subconscious and back into reality, at which point the Queen and the other inhabitants cease to exist.
===House of Mouse===
The Queen of Hearts appeared frequently as one of the guests on House of Mouse, voiced by Tress MacNeille.
In "The Stolen Cartoons", the Queen of Hearts was briefly used as a hiding place for Pete.
In "Goofy's Valentine Date", the Queen whacked Mortimer Mouse with one of her flamingos after he attempted to flirt with her. At the end of the same episode, an advertisement came up about her and the King of Hearts' greeting card business.
In "Thanks to Minnie", she was one of the guests to be a part of a rumor chain. She also appears as one of the villains in Mickey's House of Villains and orders her cards to imprison the heroes in the kitchen. She can also be seen several times in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.
===Once Upon a Studio===
In the short, the Queen is seen listening to Belle and the Beast sing "When You Wish Upon a Star" with Lewis Robinson, Wilbur Robinson, Penny, Pecos Bill, and Widowmaker. Then they all sing the last line as the group photo is successfully taken for Disney's 100th anniversary. 
==Video games==
===Mickey Mousecapade===
The Queen of Hearts appeared as the final boss of the NES game Mickey Mousecapade, but only in the Japanese version. In the American version, she is replaced by Maleficent.
===Disney's Villains' Revenge===
The Queen of Hearts also appeared in this game, and she changes Alice's ending by decapitating her head, then placing it at the center of the hedge maze and leaving Alice's headless body (which was still as alive as her head) at the maze's entrance.
If the player reaches the end of the hedge maze before reuniting Alice with her head, the will encounter the Queen herself, resulting in a special game over with a message from the Blue Fairy.
During the final battle, she and her card soldiers launch croquet balls of various colors at the player, who had to use the magic storybook to reflect them back. After having 3 projectiles sent back to her, the queen retreats to her giant topiary in her image, where she fires card suit symbols (purple spades, red hearts, yellow diamonds, and green clubs) from the topiary's mouth at the player in addition to more croquet balls. After the topiary gets hit enough times, it loses its head, forcing the dazed Queen of Hearts to surrender. What goes around comes around.
Like in House of Mouse, she was voiced by Tress MacNeille in this game.
===Kingdom Hearts series===
The Queen of Hearts appears as a minor antagonist in the video game series, as an inhabitant of the world of Wonderland. She is voiced by Tress MacNeille in English, and by Sumie Ozawa in Japanese.
In the original Kingdom Hearts, she is assaulted by a Heartless and wrongfully accuses Alice of the crime, sentencing her to decapitation before Sora, Donald, and Goofy intervene. The trio claim Alice is innocent, but until proof is given, the Queen declares her a suspect and keeps her locked away in her garden. However, Alice is eventually kidnapped under the plans of Maleficent, leaving the Queen baffled.
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she appears as a figment of Sora's memory, where she accuses Alice of stealing her memory and sentences her to death. However, Sora claims to be the true thief, resulting in a battle. After defeating the card soldiers, Sora seeks the true culprit, only to find himself confronted by the Queen in the Bizarre Room, where the true thief—a Heartless—appears. Afterwards, Alice tricks the Queen into letting them go by claiming she gave Alice and Sora order to hunt the Heartless down, using the Queen's faulty memory against her.
She plays a minor role in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, where she is in constant pursuit of a Heartless that startled her.
In Kingdom Hearts coded, she returns and has her memories "stolen" again, though this time, it is a result of the Bug Blox corrupting Wonderland. Though Sora tries to explain this, the Queen merely accuses him of conspiring against her, alongside Alice.
She plays a small role in Kingdom Hearts Union χ, where she accuses Alice of making her lose her temper and refuses to believe Alice's stories about her adventures in Wonderland. The Player then brings Cheshire at as a witness to prove her innocence. The cat then tells the queen she is far too light to carry such a heavy crime, knowing she has a heart of Light due to her position as a Princess of Heart. Then, despite the White Rabbit telling the queen Alice had no other crimes accused for, she claims Alice is guilty and should lose her head. The Player then fights her army of cards, and Alice and they manage to escape.
The Queen has a bigger role in Kingdom Hearts Dark Road, being the first person who made Xehanort realize that Darkness can hide within anyone. Similarly to previous titles, some characters have to be put on a trial because of her. Eraqus calls her a bully who rules her subjects with fear, which makes her claim that they all adore her. She then asks her Card Soldiers to get off with the head of the culprits, but it gets interrupted by a Ferry Reaper Heartless. A little bit later, Eraqus asks her if her heart is her own, which she replies that of course it is since she is the Queen of Hearts. Xehanort then asks her if her arrogance is also part of her, or if it belongs to a dark being commanding her to act in such way. Eraqus doesn't seem to believe that her heart is rooted in Darkness, and believes that people hold light in their hearts, which makes her mad. Xehanort first thinks that her darkness comes from her greed, but changes his mind and concludes it comes from her wrath. Her inner darkness then laters manifest as a Furious Reaper Heartless.
===Kinect: Disneyland Adventures===
The Queen appears in this game as a meet-and-greet character in Fantasyland, near "It's a small world". She also appears in the Croquet Game section of the Alice in Wonderland mini game. Among the quests that the player gets from her are to turn some white roses red using the magic wand that was given to them by Cinderella and fetch some cards to watch those roses, as well as to help plan an Unbirthday Party for the Queen, who will then appear in the Mad Tea Party section of the aforementioned mini game.
===Disney Heroes: Battle Mode===
The Queen of Hearts appears in the game as a ten-token unlockable character, previously she had the ability to summon the cards with the white ability but now her abilities have changed places and now she can also speed up allies.
==Disney Parks==
The Queen of Hearts is a character commonly featured in the Disney theme parks around the world; mostly in material centering the Disney Villains franchise, such as promotional animation, entertainment, and merchandising.
===Disneyland Resort===
In the Disneyland Park, the Queen of Hearts appears as an audio-animatronic in the dark ride based on the film Alice in Wonderland. She's also featured for meet-and-greets in Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A., and occasionally joins in the popular musical chairs game hosted by Alice and the Mad Hatter.
For entertainment, the Queen of Hearts is commonly featured alongside other Disney villains during Halloween events, such as Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Oogie Boogie Bash.
===Walt Disney World===
In Florida's Magic Kingdom, the Queen of Hearts has her own spell card known as "The Queen of Hearts' Card Army" in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. For live appearances, she was one of the villains in Disney Villains Mix and Mingle (in which she was given her own solo dance at the end of the 2011 version). The Queen of Hearts was also one of the villains that appeared in Disney's Not So Spooky Spectacular. During Halloween, the Queen can commonly be found during the festivities of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, such as parades and meet-and-greets.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2013 and 2014, the Queen of Hearts was present during the Unleash the Villains event. In 2016, the Queen of Hearts debuted as a face character during the Club Villain event. She was also among the villains featured in Wonderful World of Animation.
===Tokyo Disney Resort===
The Queen of Hearts serves as inspiration for the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, which appropriately features her likeness throughout. A statue of her and the King of Hearts is prominently displayed overlooking the hall, in regard to this.
For meet-and-greets, she can often be found in Tokyo Disneyland's Fantasyland. In the same park, she appeared prominently during Alice's segment of the castle show Once Upon a Time, and currently makes daily appearances during the Dreaming Up! parade.
===Hong Kong Disneyland===
During the Halloween season, the Queen appears in the Villains Night Out! parade alongside other Disney villains.
===Shanghai Disneyland===
The Queen of Hearts appears (as a face character) as a featured villain in Villains Cavalcade. Interestingly, her float is accompanied by the Red Queen's guardsmen that appear in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, rather than the card soldiers of the 1951 animated film.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*She, along with Scar from The Lion King, are the only primary Disney Villains who didn't get the role as the leader of the villains.
*Though the Queen of Hearts was not one of the prominent villains in Mickey's House of Villains, she is featured on the cover of the DVD and home video.
*Despite appearing on the game cover of Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, the Queen of Hearts never made an actual appearance in the game itself.
**However, a float of her appeared in the Floatyard in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
*The Queen of Hearts is an amalgamation of the Queen of Hearts and the Duchess from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the Red Queen from Through the Looking-Glass. The Red Queen appears in an alternate Disney retelling of the story.
==See also==
*Cora Mills
*Bridget (Descendants)
*Queen of Hearts (Alice's Wonderland Bakery)
*Red Queen
*Anastasia (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland)
==External links==
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