Christine White

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christine White a.k.a. The Evil Queen (Dianne Wiest) a fictional character in Hallmark Entertainment's, and NBC's cult television Mini-series The 10th Kingdom by Simon Moore.

Contents 1 Fictional character history 1.1 Early life 1.2 Married Life 1.3 Life in the 4th Kingdom 2 In the series 3 Comparisons to other fictional characters

[edit] Fictional character history

[edit] Early life

Christine Slevil was born in Manhattan, New York City to a wealthy family. She was raised in the ways of the rich and the powerful by her mother, a member of New York's elite who's only interest was money. Her father is never mentioned.

Raised by her mother to be the centre of men's attention, Christine had her pick of any bachelor in New York by the age of 19; her beauty, charisma and charm had caught the attention of many - including successful businessman, Tony Lewis whom she had first met whilst on holiday, skiing in the mountain slopes of Aspen - a favourite vacation spot for her as, according to her mother, Christine always loved the snow.

[edit] Married Life

Tony rushed into marriage with Christine without a second thought after she agreed to marry him, becoming Mrs Christine Lewis in the process. Their marriage did not go well however. Just a short time into their marriage, Christine discovered she was pregnant and wanted an abortion but Tony wore her down in the hopes that a baby would solve their marriage problems. Tony and Christine Lewis then had their first and only child, a daughter they named Virginia.

Christine's drop from high society with her husband occurred when Tony went and put all his faith and almost all his money into bouncy castles, which he had become very taken with. When the investment failed, the Lewis family lost their fortune, and Tony managed to get a job as a janitor that came free with an apartment building on the edge of Central Park in which to support his family.

The drop from wealthy New York socialite to janitor's wife took a heavy toll on the highly narcissistic Christine who already suffered from bipolar tendencies and anger-management issues along with other mental and emotional instabilities. Consequentially she fell into deep depression and became addicted to prescription drugs. She went on to have numerous torrid affairs with other men with which she was never discreet about and although Tony was perfectly aware of Christine’s adultery he never said anything. When Virginia was about seven years old, Tony realised that Christine's neurotic behaviour was becoming increasingly erratic, and again Tony could only ignore it to keep his family together - until one night when Christine attempted to drown Virginia in a fit of madness. Tony saved his daughter and Christine fled the apartment and her family.

Running through Central Park, Christine found a mysterious portal where an old and crippled woman beckoned to her saying "Are you lost my child? Are you lost? Let me show you the way. Come with me and you will lose your pain forever". The old woman then took Christine through the portal to the magical world of the Nine Kingdoms. In the fourth kingdom, the old and crippled woman was revealed to be the Wicked Step-Mother of Snow White. She told Christine, "I am dying, but my work is unfinished. The House of Snow White survives. You will do my work for me... and I will give you all my Power."

[edit] Life in the 4th Kingdom

In the few years that followed, Christine forgot about her old life as she was trained by the Wicked Queen, now known as the Swamp Witch as her apprentice. The witch mentored Christine in the ways of the Nine Kingdoms, witchcraft, how to command her Magic-Mirrors (five of which were given to Christine) and also the art of poison.

When Christine was ready she went to Castle White - where Snow White's only son King Whitney and his wife, Queen Ashley lived with their son Prince Wendell. She infiltrated the castle as Prince Wendell's new nanny, and had access to all three members of the House of White. Christine began her plot by slowly poisoning Queen Ashley until she died in her sleep, and while the 4th Kingdom mourned - Christine pretended to comfort the now widowed King Whitney who in the end was so charmed by Christine that her took her as his new wife and queen.

Now the new Queen of the Fourth Kingdom, Christine continued her plan by slowly poisoning her new husband King Whitney until he too died. At this point in time she also gained the services of her own personal Huntsman. Now she turned her attention to the young Prince Wendell who would inherit the throne to the Fourth Kingdom when he turned twenty one and so to finish the Swamp Witch's revenge and to ensure her own absolute power over the Fourth Kingdom, Christine started to slowly poison Prince Wendell, however when the royal physicians tended to him they discovered he was being poisoned and after an investigation the new Queen's plot was discovered; Christine was sentenced to 1000 years (or 10,000 years in the novel adaptation) imprisonment in the Maximum Security wing in the Snow White Memorial Prison. Presumably Christine had learned how to magically prolong her life from the Swamp Witch.

[edit] In the series

At the start of the show, Relish the Troll King breaks into the Snow White Memorial Prison to free his three idiotic children. Christine (now known only as the Evil Queen) magically calls out to him and compels him to release her from her cell. When the Queen is released, she along with the Troll King and his children, ambush Prince Wendell (at the prison on a routine courtesy visit), and she begins her plan to regain power. Having already enchanted the Golden Retriever she was for some reason allowed to keep in her cell for company, she uses her magic to physically change her dog into the exact likeness of Prince Wendell - and Prince Wendell into the exact likeness of her Golden Retriever, essentially giving her a dog-brained Prince Wendell puppet at her command and rendering the real Prince Wendell into a position where he cannot tell anyone about what had happened to him.

Prince Wendell, now trapped in the body of a dog, subsequently escapes at full speed running into the corridors of the Snow White Memorial Prison and is pursued by the Troll King's children, the Evil Queen, slips off into the cell corridors and discovers an incarcerated half-wolf called Wolf - who in exchange for his freedom will enter her services and find the real Prince Wendell and bring him to her before the Trolls can find him. The newly escaped Evil Queen tells the Troll King her plan to conquer the Fourth Kingdom and offers him half the kingdom. The Prince Wendell impostor goes to wait in the forests outside the Snow White Memorial Prison along with Relish the Troll King. Along with Prince Wendell's royal carriage and footmen they wait for hours (or a day) for the return of the Troll King's children with the real Prince Wendell - but the Evil Queen needs to leave to make sure that no-one saw Prince Wendell acting like a dog, and she heads off in Prince Wendell's royal carriage to somewhere she can hide and begin training the impostor-prince - while the Troll King heads off on foot for his own kingdom, hidden from sight via his Magic Invisibility Shoes.

At the climax of the series, after she is revealed to be Virginia’s mother, Christine attempts to kill her daughter in a climactic showdown but is defeated when Virginia strikes her with the poisoned comb with which the Swamp Witch attempted to kill Snow White. Christine dies in her daughter’s arms.

[edit] Comparisons to other fictional characters

Christine was most obviously inspired by the Evil Queen from Snow White who appears in the series as Christine’s mentor. Both use magic mirrors, attempt to kill their respective daughters and use poison to great effect. Both are short-tempered, arrogant and proud.

It is also worth noting that Christine loves the snow, possibly to draw similarities between her and other evil “ice queens” in fiction such as the Snow Queen and the White Witch.

Christine also shares certain similarities with Darth Vader, one of the main antagonists of the Star Wars films. Both are formerly good people (relatively) who have been corrupted by anger, pride and the lust for power and as a result have fallen under a malign influence, in Vader’s case, Palpatine, in Christine’s case, the Swamp Witch. Both are gifted adepts with dark powers who attempt to gain domination over their respective fictional universes and are eventually defeated by their children, in Vader’s case Luke Skywalker, in Christine’s case Virginia. Both also die in their children’s arms.