Alice (American McGee's Alice)

Alice is the titular main protagonist of the Alice video game franchise created by American McGee, which is an adaptation of the classic Lewis Carroll novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and it sequel Alice Through the Looking-Glass.
Alice is the younger daughter of Mr. Arthur Lindell and Mrs. Leanne Liddell, as well as the sister of Elizabeth Lindell and she was born in Oxford city located in Central Southern England in 1856. She is the sole survivor of a house fire that killed her family and caused her immense trauma, affecting her reality, as well as her imaginary world, Wonderland, and all of its inhabitants .
She was voiced by Susie Brann, and Yuko Kobayashi in Japanese, whom also voiced Nico Robin in One Piece.
==Background==
At a young age, a little after the her second trip to Wonderland in novel Alice Through the Looking-Glass, she was orphaned when her parents and older sister, Lizzie, were burned alive in a house fire. Distraught, she fell into a catatonic state after a failed suicide attempt and was condemned to Rutledge Asylum for treatment. There she remained for roughly 10 years (as alluded to in the game's complementary casebook), faced with her own survivor's guilt and the consent mistreatment by other patients and workers at Rutledge. 
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Alice Liddell was born in 1856 in Oxford, England to Mr. Arthur Liddell and Mrs. Leanne Liddell, and was the younger sister to Elizabeth Liddell. Alice held a hyperactive and creative imagination, often creating world named "Wonderland", but also became skilled with the piano by her mother and her nanny, Nan Sharpe. Alice's imagination allowed her to go Wonderland within her dreams, where she met the Mad Hatter along with Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit and the Red Queen and other strange inhabitants. In November 5, 1863, a house fire was caused by Dr. Angus Bumby, which killed Alice's entire family. It's later revealed by Dr. Bumby was obsessed with Alice's older sister Elizabeth, who rejected his advances multiple times until he assaulted and murdered her the night of the house fire. Alice saw Dr. Bumby, but would think it was someone else and would repress the memory for years, and Bumby started the fire to cover his tracks.
Alice was left with first degree burns, and was taken to the Littlemore Infirmary, and some outlets accused Alice of causing the house fire. After a year of treatment, Alice was left traumatized from the incident and fell into a catatonic state, repressing her memories of the figure who burned down her home that night. Alice was then transferred to Rutledge Asylum in 1864 to handle her symptoms, and would document her mental state while under the care of Dr. Heironymous Q. Wilson. Alice would be exposed to numerous methods to remove her illness, such as going through shock therapy, leeches, blood-letting, solitary confinement, and sensory deprivation. All of the methods failed, however, and she would slowly begin to recover by 1874.
===American McGee's Alice===
One night, the White Rabbit comes to her and tells her she must return to Wonderland to undo the wicked deformities brought on by the dictatorship of the malevolent Queen of Hearts. It is revealed later that, by overthrowing the Queen of Hearts, Alice will not only save Wonderland, but her own sanity as well. This is evident when, in the aftermath of her victory, Wonderland and its inhabitants can be seen reverting to their original forms and Alice leaving the sunny gates of Rutledge Asylum accompanied by a cat presumably her family cat Dinah and carrying a packed suitcase.
===Alice: Madness Returns ===
In Madness Returns, a year after the events of the first game. Alice has fallen on hard times. Now living at Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth in Victorian London, Alice is under the care of Dr. Angus Bumby, a psychiatrist who uses hypnotism to help his patients forget their haunting memories. Believing the fire which killed her family was no accident, Alice investigates it whilst having hallucinations of Wonderland once again corrupted and beginning to fall apart, now by the Infernal Train and the Ruin monsters. She eventually learns her psychiatrist, Dr. Bumby, was responsible for burning down her home and raped her sister beforehand. The furious Alice confronts him at Moorgate station, where she retrieves her sister's bedroom key and then mercilessly pushes Bumby into the path of an oncoming train, which kills him instantly. After emerging from the station Alice's reality appears to now fused Wonderland and it created a brand new world named Londerland, Cheshire Cat remarked that her memory was safe for the time being.
===Alice: Otherlands===
After the events of Bumby's death and Londerland's discovery, Alice connected with and entered the mentalities and minds of those around her, further learning about the horrors of the human subconscious. Having unified the material and psychological worlds, Alice embraced her power, which allowed her to move freely between both realms. As she was no longer limited by mortal constraints, she can enter into and manipulate the psychological worlds of others. She became confident and powerful, and was able to help those in need – confronting manifestations of their psychological trauma, and thereby guiding them to resolution and tranquility.
== Personality ==
Alice is portrayed as psychologically damaged, traumatized, tortured, tormented, suicidal, emotionally and mentally unstable young woman. The Alice Lindell in the original Lewis Carol novels is gone as most of her happiness has been forcefully stripped away from her leaving her a shell of her former self. Alice is not usually happy and doesn't smile much; her mood is almost constantly apathetic, sad, miserable, depressed or angry. Alice is constantly haunted by the memories of the fire which claimed the lives of her parents and her sister, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and is shown to suffer from survivor's guilt as a result, which can manifest into extreme self-loathing and suicidal tendencies. Alice has stated she is not afraid of death because she has wished for it at times, and questions the point in living if she is only going to hurt others. It is implied Alice cut her wrists in an attempt at suicide. Alice uses Wonderland, her fantasy world and imagination as a coping mechanism to deal with her mental health, a term known as "escapism". In this sense, Wonderland is Alice's method of catharsis. Despite her cynicism and morbidness, Alice truly wants to set her mind free and restore peace to Wonderland and her own mind. Showing that despite her trauma and tragic life she still is a good person underneath it all.
She has shown to have understanding and sympathy towards the orphans and Insane Children who have also experienced an unfortunate childhood like herself. Later on, her guilt in having turned a blind eye to the sufferings of the other children is manifested in the Dollhouse level as well as Caterpillar's final speech. Alice's inaction and ignorance is condoning their suffering. Dr. Wilson thus describes her as having a "hero complex," with her inherent desire to help those around her, despite being unable to help herself, and having a compulsion to make the world right. She calls herself a "savior... of a sort." Wilson also noted that Alice is trying to 'unlock' the true meaning of her life, yet doesn't know who has the key. After killing Bumby, she is much more confident about overcoming her past and helping others. In killing Bumby she obtains the key metaphorically and literally to move on with her life and try and build a better future for herself and all those around her.
A misconception to those unfamiliar with the series, especially if someone merely sees art of Alice covered in blood or gore or the like, is that American McGee's version of Alice is an evil psychopath, feels no remorse for killing, and enjoys killing for no reason. However, if one plays the series, it is shown that despite her capacity to be vengeful and edgy, Alice is truly benevolent and cares about her animal friends in Wonderland very deeply, as well as protecting the abused orphans from Bumby. Alice's mission is to save Wonderland from the murderous Red Queen and, later, the mysterious Infernal Train destroying all of Wonderland. Alice also gives empathy to those who she feels deserve it, and has reasons for killing the monsters in her mind. So she has a moral compass she follows. Alice prefers the peaceful Wonderland full of life and heavenly beauty, not the hellish Wonderland full of suffering and slavery imposed by the Red Queen and the Dollmaker. In this sense, Alice can be viewed as a heroine.
Alice's sense of humor seems somewhat dark, for example, In the first game after returning to Wonderland she makes a joke about skinning the Cheshire Cat; in response, Cheshire Cat calls it a "most unpleasant metaphor" and asks her to please avoid it in the future. Noting this is presumably the first time the two have seen each other in around 10 years so its defiantly a odd thing to say.
==Appearance==
===Reality===
Throughout the series, Alice is usually portrayed as a young woman around the age of 19 with an underweight and fragile figure; she is borderline anorexic with a dangerously small waist, implying malnourishment. Her skin is sickly pale, she has medium length dark hair, a long oval-shaped face and large sunken in eyes with a shade of emerald-green. She is of average height for a woman being around 5 feet 3.5 inches, possibly slightly under average due to her looing short next to other women in game. Her clothes were given to her by Pris Witless; a filthy black-and-white dress with a striped, long-sleeved top that looks to be to small for her and black, almost brown skirt, complete with black stockings, ankle-high boots, and a dirty white apron with black and white square pattern looping around the edge of the base with tears at the bottom. Alice is unable to have her clothes and appearance washed properly, reflecting her poor borderline homeless life with no friends to speak of, almost once turning to prostitution so she wouldn't starve to death on the streets of London.
=== Wonderland===
Whenever Alice enters Wonderland she has a noticeably healthier complexion. Her hair is much straighter and longer hair going to the middle of her back and it has reddish tinge and appears to be wearing make-up in the form of peach lipstick and black eyeliner with dark pink eye shadow. In both games Alice wears a navy blue dress with short puffy sleeves, a fanned-out skirt that is cut to about mid-leg and a skull called Hollow Yves decorated with a white bow and ribbon. To complete the outfit, Alice wears a simple white apron over the dress, black-and-white stockings underneath, and black knee-high boots which are secured with silver buckles. The drastic change in her physical appearance from the real world to Wonderland could reflect how Alice sees herself in her mind, or what she wishes to look like in reality, its apparent she changes due to her mental state when she enters Wonderland, a place where her inner thoughts, desires and psyche can all manifest.
==Powers and Abilities==
===American McGee's Alice===
*Small Alice: Although not really an ability in the first game, after creating a Drink Me potion and drinking it, Alice becomes so small that she is the same size as an Antlion. There is no time limit to this form, and Alice can only return to her normal size after eating from the right-hand side of the Mushroom of Life.
*Rage Alice: After being sprayed by a Rage Box, Alice turns into a demonic creature, with red skin, claw-like fingers, and black twisted horns, and she even roars like a predatory animal. For the limited time Alice is in this state, her attacks are stronger than normal and deal more damage; some of the weaker foes can die in one hit. Before the effects of the Rage Box wear off, Alice returns to her normal self.
*Grasshopper Alice: From drinking Grasshopper Tea, Alice gains a bug-like appearance with green skin, black eyes, and a pair of wings on her back. As the name of the ability suggests, Alice is able to jump higher and run faster for a short amount of time.
*Invisible Alice: After staring into a Looking Glass, Alice becomes invisible for a period of time. This allows her to run past enemies unseen or to allow her to make sneak attacks. As she turns invisible, Alice displays a shocked expression on her face.
*Underwater: After helping the Mock Turtle, Alice is declared an "Honorary Reptile" and given a Turtle Shell as a thank you. It increases Alice's breath intake so she can stay underwater longer. Despite the fact turtles use their shells as protection, this shell does not give Alice any protection from underwater enemies.
===Alice: Madness Returns===
*Shrinking Alice: Alice uses a Drink Me potion – this time from bathing in a pool of it – to grow small. However, this time Alice can change size at will, and being small gives her Shrink Sense; an advanced sense of sight that allows her to see things she couldn't at her normal height, such as invisible platforms and drawings that tell her where to find her next target, or hidden items. Other helpful uses to being small is getting through small openings to enter hidden areas and using Shrinking Violets to recover health. However, being small means that Alice takes double the time to cover ground than she would being her normal size and she cannot jump, so it's not practical to stay small all the time.
*Gigantic Alice: The dual opposite to shrinking, after eating a piece of Eat Me cake, Alice becomes enormous in size. She cannot use weapons in this form, and can only attack using her feet and hands, but is able to crush walls and destroy towers.
*Hysteria Alice: Similar to Rage, Hysteria is a temporary form of destruction, but Alice can only enter this form in her last fraction of health (Unless she is wearing the Flesh maiden dress, which gives her the advantage to activate the ability anytime, no matter how much health she possesses). In this form, Wonderland is seen in gray-slate, and Alice appears in all white (except her hair) with blood-red eyes, and blood running from her eyes and mouth and covering her lower arms. Her weapons are covered in blood and bandages. Alice gains superhuman strength, dealing twice the damage, and invincibility.
*Butterfly Dodge: This power allows Alice to evade enemy attacks by turning into a swarm of butterflies and mist, which lets her move quicker than running. She will only be a swarm for a couple of seconds before turning back into her normal self.
*Floating: In addition to jumping, Alice can gently glide from platform to platform while floating. Using this ability allows Alice to reach levels that she cannot normally get to with normal jumps.
== Gallery==
File:Alice in Wonderland attire.webp
File:Vorpal Blade (AMA).png
File:Alice AMR.png
File:Vorpal Blade (AMR).png
==Trivia== 
*Unlike most interpretations of Alice, this iteration has brown hair and green eyes, which could be a reference to the real life Alice Liddell.
* Alice's necklace is the Omega symbol, which is commonly used to represent the end of something and it could represent how Alice is fighting to end her insanity, or symbolize death, the end of life.
*Alice may have regularly self-harmed while interned at Rutledge Asylum, her time in the facility healing her scars. In American McGee's Alice, Alice is shown lying in bed with what appears to be bandages on both her wrists. In addition, blood can be seen on her wrists in the main menu. While Alice's wrists are unscarred throughout the duration of gameplay, note that her appearance in Wonderland does not reflect her appearance in reality. Considering her depressed mental state, and that her signature weapon is a knife, such behavior would not be out of character for Alice. Of significance is that Alice once cut her wrists with a spoon, as noted in Wilson's casebook: "She turned the spoon on herself, digging it into her wrists, trying to open up her veins. I stitched her wounds... Alice shouldn't suffer any permanent physical scars."
*In the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Alice is mentioned to have a brother. However, in the games, Alice has no other sibling than Lizzie.
*She is intended to be linked to the book character, and has experienced the same history as Alice in the novels, except in the sense her parents were killed in a fire. She is an "alternate reality" Alice, combining qualities from both the book character and real-life historical figure. For example, she has the personality and history of the book character, while her hair color and surname are shared by the real-life Alice.
*She has been described by developer Ken Wong as being an unusual video game heroine, in the sense that "she's not physically strong, she's not even mentally strong, she's mentally unstable. She's not even really an anti-hero; she doesn't want to destroy stuff or get revenge, she's just trying to make sense of her own head."
*Alice has been accused of starting the fire herself, and Wilton J. Radcliffe suspects so. A newspaper called The Illustrated London News seen in Alice: Madness Returns Storybook also implies it. Due to being a child in catatonia who was mute for many years, Alice would be unable to deny such claims while interred at the asylum, giving Alice an unfair notoriety that was ingrained into society by the press for a long time.
==External Links==
*Alice (American McGee's Alice) — Alice Wiki
*Alice (American McGee's Alice) — Wonderland Wiki
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