The Looking Glass Wars is the first book in the trilogy. It was first released in the United Kingdom in 2004, and released in the United States in 2006. The second book in the trilogy, Seeing Redd, was released in 2007 and the third book, ArchEnemy, was released on October 15, 2009. The series includes a spin-off comic book series entitled Hatter M.
Plot
The premise of the book is that Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice in Wonderland was fiction, but that the character Alice and the world of Wonderland is real. Carroll's novel is said to have been inspired by the images, ideas, and names related by Alice to the author, whom she had requested to make a book of her personal history.[1]
The book's prologue tells of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson showing Alice Liddell (who claims her name to be spelled "Alyss") his manuscript for Alice's Adventures Under Ground. Alyss is shocked by the book's contents and refuses to speak to Dodgson ever again.
The story then begins many years earlier, on Alyss' seventh birthday in Wonderland, which is ruled by imagination and is the source of all imagination for all other worlds. Wonderland features a class system similar to that seen in England during the 17th century. The government is a queendom with an advising Parliament dominated by a playing card based hierarchy, with the Heart family at the top. The Wonderland queen is a member of the Heart family, and the parliament is composed of reigning members of the Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds.
Wonderland, ruled by Queen Genevieve Heart, is still recovering from a civil war between White Imagination and Black Imagination which ended twelve years prior to the beginning of the story. Alyss' companions include tutor Bibwit Harte (whose name is an anagram of "White Rabbit"), the queen's bodyguard Hatter Madigan, Alyss' best friend Dodge Anders, childhood troublemaker Jack of Diamonds, and military commander General Doppelganger.
During a bloody coup d'état led by Alyss' Aunt Redd, the enemy of White Imagination, Alyss flees Wonderland in the company of Hatter Madigan, with Redd's top feline assassin (called only "The Cat") in pursuit. Queen Genevieve and Redd battle and Genevieve is killed by Redd.
Hatter and Alyss enter an inter-dimensional gateway called the Pool of Tears, from which they emerge into Earth. Alyss is separated from Hatter during the journey; she arrives in London, England, and Hatter in Paris, France. Alyss gets adopted by the Liddell family, whereby she is given the name "Odd Alice" for her tales about Wonderland. When Dodgson plagiarizes her stories rather than write them verbatim, she shuns her imagination and resolves to believe Wonderland is false.
Meanwhile, Hatter is searching for Alyss. Along his search he trails people alight with the glow of White Imagination, knowing that Alyss would most likely glow the brightest. After thirteen years of searching for the lost princess, Hatter finds Dodgson's book; he uses this to track down the author, and in turn, find Alyss, who is now twenty years of age. Upon arrival in Oxford, Hatter discovers that the princess is to marry to Prince Leopold. Before Hatter is able to rescue the princess, he is unexpectedly wounded and driven back to Wonderland. Dodge himself goes into the Pool of Tears and rescues Alyss.
For thirteen years, the people of Wonderland have suffered under Redd's dictatorial reign of Black Imagination. The Wonderlanders still loyal to White Imagination have gathered within the Whispering Woods and have been surviving on their own, led by military leader General Doppelganger and Bibwit Harte. They are called the "Alyssians" and stage unsuccessful battles and skirmishes against Redd's forces.
When Alyss returns to Wonderland, she is immediately taken in by the Alyssians. With the assistance of the Alyssians, Alyss is able to find and locate the Looking-Glass Maze. When Alyss passes through the maze, she finds her Heart Scepter and moves on to fight against, and defeat, Redd. While Alyss and Redd battle, Dodge fights against The Cat; Dodge kills The Cat three times, leaving The Cat with one life left. Redd, seeing her imminent failure against Alyss, throws herself into the Heart Crystal, who is followed by The Cat.
Alyss, having defeated Black Imagination, is crowned as the Queen of Wonderland.
Alyss Heart (Alice Liddell): Based on both Alice of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the real-life Alice Liddell. The Princess of Wonderland forced to flee to the real world when her Aunt Redd takes over Wonderland. Alyss eventually comes to believe Wonderland to be nothing but a dream. She also appears to be based on Lily, the White's Queen daughter from Through the Looking-Glass.
Hatter Madigan: Based loosely on the Hatter from Carroll's books, he is the queen's bodyguard and the leading member of Wonderland's security force, the Millinery. During Redd's attack on the Palace, Hatter ordered by Genevieve to watch over Alyss until she is old enough to rule. After their escape from Redd's coup, Hatter and Alyss are separated. He spends the next thirteen years searching for her. After finding Alyss, he returns to Wonderland to help her in defeating Redd. Hatter Madigan has his own comic book series regarding his adventures searching for Alyss
Redd Heart (born Rose Heart): She is the main villain of the book and Alyss' aunt; based on both the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. As Genevieve's sister, she was raised and educated within Heart Palace. She is a user of Black Imagination, a negative form of magic, and responsible for the murder of Alyss' parents. Since that time, Redd has crowned herself Queen and rules over Wonderland promoting evil and Black Imagination. After a battle with her niece, she jumps into the Heart Crystal, disappearing, leaving Alyss and the rest of her friends to wonder whether she is alive or dead. Redd was born under the name Rose as the daughter of Queen Theodora and King Tyman of Wonderland. Worried that Rose would make a tyrannical monarch, Theodora and Tyman removed her from succession and named Rose's sister, Genevieve, heir to the throne. Being removed from succession took a heavy toll on Redd/Rose. In a fit of madness, she murdered her mother in her sleep before Theodora could announce her decision to the general public. Redd/Rose assumed the throne. However her sister, Genevieve, aware that Redd had killed their mother, defeated her sister and banished her to the Chessboard Desert.
Dodge Anders: Son of Sir Justice Anders, Captain of the palace guard, and a soldier of Alyssians with the purpose of killing The Cat. In the second and third books he is given the role of Queen Alyss' love interest.
Bibwit Harte: The tutor to the Heart family. His name is an anagram of White Rabbit. After Alyss and Hatter disappear, he seems to work for Redd, but secretly helps the Alyssians. When Alyss returns to Wonderland he joins the Alyssians openly.
The Cat: Redd's assassin, loosely based on the Cheshire Cat from Carroll's original books. He kills Sir Justice Anders and attempts to pursue Alyss and Hatter when they escape from Wonderland. He ordinarily resembles a bipedal feline equipped with melée weapons, but can take the form of a kitten. He possesses nine lives. Over the course of the book, he loses all but one of these, variously to Hatter, Genevieve, Redd, or Dodge. At the last minute, he follows Redd into the Heart Crystal.
General Doppelgänger: The commander of the Royal Army, made up of equal parts General Doppel and General Gänger. When split he is referred to as 'they', rather than 'he', and each is able to act independently of the other. General Doppelganger can also split into multiple Generals, of which each acts on his own free will. He is based on Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Homburg Molly: She is half civilian and half Milliner. She helps the Alyssians to find the Looking-Glass Maze, and eventually fights along their side in the battle of Mount Isolation. When Alyss is crowned as queen, Molly becomes her bodyguard.
Jack of Diamonds: The Jack of Diamonds is intended to become Alyss's fiancé when they are both still children. Jack acts as a member of the Alyssians while delivering information to Redd about their activities. During the final battle with Queen Redd, his betrayals are discovered by Dodge, and he is subsequently taken prisoner by Alyss. He is most likely based on the Knave of Hearts.
Prince Leopold: Prince Leopold is infatuated with Alyss. Based on the real-life Prince Leopold.
Supporting characters
Queen Genevieve Heart: Queen of Wonderland, mother of Alyss, younger sister of Redd Heart, and wife of Nolan Heart. She is the ruler of Wonderland prior to Redd's coup. She is killed by Redd on Alyss's seventh birthday. She appears to be based on the White Queen, with her title being based on the Queen of Hearts.
King Nolan Heart: King of Wonderland, husband of Genevieve, and father of Alyss. He is killed by Redd on Alyss's seventh birthday. He appears to be based on the White King. The sequel reveals he was in a relationship with Genevieve's sister Redd Heart/Rose Heart when they were teenagers, but when Redd/Rose was disowned by her parents and denied the crown, Nolan turned his attentions on Genevieve, Rose's sister, who had become the new heiress to the throne.
King Arch: Ruler of Boarderland, a kingdom to which King Nolan is sent to attempt to gain as an ally against Redd. King Arch's views on women and Wonderland's status as a queendom makes him reluctant to ally with Wonderland.
Sir Justice Anders: Captain of the Palace Guard and father of Dodge Anders. He is killed by The Cat on Alyss's seventh birthday. He is based loosely on the White Knight.
Blue Caterpillar: Based on the Caterpillar from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Blue Caterpillar is the head of six oracle-like caterpillars who act as guardians to the Heart Crystal. Blue tells Alyss how to find the Looking Glass Maze.
The Liddells: Alyss's adopted family. Reverend and Mrs. Liddell of Oxford and their three daughters, Edith, Lorina, and Rhoda. The children's governess is Miss Prickett. None of the Liddels believe that Alyss tells the truth when referring to Wonderland.
ReverendCharles Lutwidge Dodgson: The mathematics lecturer of Christ Church and author of Alice's Adventures Underground under the penname Lewis Carroll which, in The Looking Glass Wars, he wrote based upon Alyss's recounting of her life in Wonderland.
An additional special issue (numbered 2.5) was given away at summer conventions in 2006. A scanned copy of this issue can be viewed at IGN Comics[3] as a part of a Hatter M-centric story published September 1, 2006.
The second Hatter M graphic novel, named Mad With Wonder, was released October 15, 2009, with art by Finnish artist Sami Makkonen. Hatter explores America during the Civil War and is committed to an asylum. In Volume 3, The Nature of Wonder, Hatter Madigan searches America's wild west in search of Alyss and confronts his past.
Writing
Beddor commissioned Doug Chiang to help him write the novel by creating art work of some of the places and peoples in the novel based on Beddor's descriptions. "I had my concept artist on this shoulder and Lewis Carroll on this shoulder, so I had a lot of helpers," said Beddor.[4]
Most of the characters featured in the series are based on the original characters from Lewis Carroll's novels.
Humpty Dumpty is featured in the third book in the series, ArchEnemy, as a character named Mutty P. Dumphy.
The Eaglet is referenced in ArchEnemy as a character with the anagram name of Mr. Taegel, a weapons inventor that provides Alice with "spy gear" and is credited with having invented the special mirror barrier that once hid the Alyssian camp.
In the UK edition, Alyss accuses Lewis Carroll of turning General Doppelganger into Tweedledee and Tweedledum while reading Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. This was removed in the US edition as the Tweedle twins originally appeared in Through the Looking-Glass, rather than the first book.
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a novel published on 27 December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. There she finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 English children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. The artist John Tenniel provided 42 wood-engraved illustrations for the book.
Alice Pleasance Hargreaves 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 became the classic 1865 children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She shared her name with "Alice", the story's protagonist, but scholars disagree about the extent to which the character was based upon her.
The Hatter 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 very often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll. The phrase "mad as a hatter" pre-dates Carroll's works. The Hatter and the March Hare are referred to as "both mad" by the Cheshire Cat, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the sixth chapter titled "Pig and Pepper".
The Queen of Hearts is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. She is a childish, foul-tempered monarch whom Carroll himself describes as "a blind fury", and who is quick to give death sentences at even the slightest of offenses. One of her most famous lines is the oft-repeated "Off with his/her head!" / "Off with their heads!"
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass. The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen, and was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske. With the voices of Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway, Jerry Colonna and Kathryn Beaumont in her film debut, the film follows a young girl, Alice, who falls down a rabbit hole and enters a nonsensical world, Wonderland, which is ruled by the Queen of Hearts, while encountering strange creatures, including the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.
Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) have been highly popular in their original forms, and have served as the basis for many subsequent works since they were published. They have been adapted directly into other media, their characters and situations have been appropriated into other works, and these elements have been referenced innumerable times as familiar elements of shared culture. Simple references to the two books are too numerous to list; this list of works based on Alice in Wonderland focuses on works based specifically and substantially on Carroll's two books about the character of Alice.
Dreamchild is a 1985 British drama film written by Dennis Potter, directed by Gavin Millar, and produced by Rick McCallum and Kenith Trodd. The film, starring Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley, is a fictionalised account of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Frank Beddor is a former American world champion freestyle skier, film producer, actor, stuntman, and author. He worked as a producer on There's Something About Mary and Wicked, and wrote the book The Looking Glass Wars.
The King of Hearts is a character from the 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He is the husband of the Queen of Hearts.
Alice in Wonderland is a musical by Henry Savile Clarke and Walter Slaughter (music), based on Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). It debuted at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in the West End on 23 December 1886. Aubrey Hopwood (lyrics) and Walter Slaughter (music) wrote additional songs which were first used for the 1900 revival.
Seeing Redd is a 2007 novel written by Frank Beddor inspired by Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass.
The Red Queen is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Lewis Carroll's fantasy 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass. She is often confused with the Queen of Hearts from the previous book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), although the two are very different.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1949 French film based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 fantasy novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Directed by Dallas Bower, the film stars Carol Marsh as Alice, Stephen Murray as Lewis Carroll, and Raymond Bussières as The Tailor. Most of the Wonderland characters are portrayed by stop-motion animated puppets created by Lou Bunin.
Alice in Wonderland (1931) is an independently made black-and-white Pre-Code American film based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, directed by Bud Pollard, produced by Hugo Maienthau, and filmed at Metropolitan Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglican deacon. His most notable works are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems Jabberwocky (1871) and The Hunting of the Snark (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense. Some of Alice's nonsensical wonderland logic reflects his published work on mathematical logic.
ArchEnemy is a 2009 science-fiction and fantasy novel by Frank Beddor and the third novel of The Looking Glass Wars trilogy. The book was published on October 15, 2009 by Dial Press and is heavily inspired by Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass.
Alice, the main protagonist of Lewis Carroll's novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871), has been adapted to several media.
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass is a 2001 stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass. It was written by Adrian Mitchell. A 2 hour adaptation of both of Carroll's novels, it holds the distinction for currently being the most comprehensive stage adaptation of the books yet made, with the endings of both novels intact and only minor changes made for theatrical staging reasons.
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