King of Hearts

**The King of Hearts** is a minor character in *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*.

## Appearance

The king has the appearance of an old king of hearts-card, with literally white skin and hair.

He wears richly ornamented garments in blue, gold and red, with heart symbols both on his crown and down the middle of his coat.

## Personality

The king is a very nervous and timid individual, most likely due to his wife's homicidal temper. He takes great care not to make the queen angry (or, if she already is, not to make her angrier) and indulges her every whim, even when said whim includes the execution of an innocent subject via beheading.

He is not completely spineless and cruel however, as he secretly pardons almost everyone the queen sentences to death behind her back and does his best to protect his subjects from her when she has one of her murderous temper tantrums.

## Synopsis

### Before Forever After

The king was supposedly present at the fateful croquet party, where due to Tank and Cheshire Cat messing with things, Alice first drew the Queen of Hearts' ire.

### Forever After

The king presides over the trial of the Knave of Hearts, who is accused of stealing the queen's execution wig. The king speaks up to suggest that the knave truly isn't the culprit. The queen demands who else could have stolen it and the court quickly assures her that no Wonderland-citizen would dare to, meaning that the true thief must have been an outsider. The king notes that the only outsider in Wonderland is Alice, causing the queen to angrily scream for Alice's head. When the knave tells her that no one knows where Alice is, the queen goes on to order the execution of everyone in Wonderland.

Later on the king is once again present at the trial of Alice, who has turned themselves in to deal with the queen head-on. The king orders the court scribes to write down the queen's words, but hastily tells them to stop when Alice starts dismantling the queen's arguments and accusations. Eventually, Alice asks when the queen wore her execution wig last and the queen replies that it was, naturally, at the last execution, but falters when she realizes she can't remember when the last execution actually was. She orders the king to tell her, which makes the king even more nervous. He tries to avoid the question by bringing up the fluidity of the rule of law and the frequent writs of pardon that are handed out, but Alice quickly sees through him and correctly deduces that the queen has never actually executed anyone, because the king has secretly been pardoning everyone she sentenced behind her back.

He disappears together with almost everyone else present when Alice causes Wonderland to fade away, presumably turning back into a regular playing card.

## Relationships

### The Queen of Hearts

The queen is the king's wife, but doesn't treat him any more kindly than she does the rest of her subjects. The king, for his part, pointedly avoids setting her off and does his best to appease her, even at the cost of their subjects and outsiders. He seems to hold some fondness for her, as he often calls her by pet names.

### The Knave of Hearts

The king seems to care at least a bit for the knave, as he was willing to speak for and defend him during his trial.

### Alice

The king sees Alice as an outsider and doesn't seem to value their life much. He immediately offered up their name when the queen looked for a culprit to the theft of her execution wig.