King of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
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The King of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He seems to, when compared to the Queen of Hearts, be the moderate part of the Wonderland government. As an example, when the Queen, who enjoys ordering beheadings, attempts to have Alice executed (charged with being unable to answer who is lying down in front of her) the King of Hearts reminds her that she is only a child.
The King also quietly pardons many of the subjects the Queen has ordered be beheaded when the Queen is not looking. This guarantees few people are actually beheaded. Nevertheless, when the Queen plays a game of croquet in the story, the only players who remain at the end are himself, the Queen, and Alice.
At the Knave of Hearts' trial, however, where he acts as judge, he is revealed to be quite juvenile, with such lines as, "don't be nervous or I'll have you executed on the spot" to the Mad Hatter, or asking the Duchess's cook irrelevant questions such as, "what are tarts made of?" Between the two of them, the King and Queen appear to present a fairly accurate portrayal of why Wonderland is as childish, reckless and confusing as it is.
[edit] Disney version
The Disney movie portrays the King of Hearts as dwarfish with an extremely tall crown, and much more highly subdued to the Queen.
White Rabbit-Her Imperial Highness; Her Grace; Her Excellency; Her Royal Majesty; The Queen of Hearts! (crowd cheers)
King of hearts- (taps White Rabbit's shoulder)
White Rabbit- ...and the king (single person in crowd-"Hooray!")
He also seems to be less bright. For instance, when he first sees Alice, he thinks she is another card. He also squeaks happily behind the subject being ordered beheaded, once the Queen gives the order, taunting the guards that are carrying away the subject to be beheaded, as if he'd given the order himself.
He appears briefly when the Cheshire Cat entangles the Queens croquet mallet (actually a live flamingo) in her dress, causing her to fall over exposing her underwear. The King cries, "Save the Queen!" which makes everyone, except Alice, form four protective walls around her. This causes the Queen to blame Alice for the embarrassing situation. Just before she orders her head off, the King of Hearts asks if they could have a trial beforehand. This irritates the Queen, to which the King adds that it will only be "a little trial." The Queen accepts, and when the trial begins she offers an interesting approach towards justice: sentence before verdict (the same stance taken by her original portrayal in the book with regard to the Knave of Hearts).
The King again stops her, saying they should call witnesses first. The witnesses called are the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse. The Cheshire Cat also reappears and upsets the Dormouse. The mouse runs all over, and in attempt to crush the mouse the King of Hearts manages to hit the Queen with the gavel. The Queen, of course, blames Alice for it, and is going to have her beheaded. But Alice eats mushrooms she had earlier procured, which make her grow bigger. So although the King announces rule #42, which 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. The Queen actually manages to give the order without interruption this time, and as Alice flees, the King uses his oversized crown as a megaphone to tell the guards to "do as her Majesty says".
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