Queen Redd
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Queen Redd Heart is a fictional character and the main antagonist from The Looking-Glass Wars and its sequel Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor. The books are based on Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland books. The character Redd is based on the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen but has little in common with them other than the Queen of Hearts' bloodlust and fondness for decapitation.
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[edit] Fictional character history
Prior to the start of the story, Redd was the daughter of Queen Theodora and King Tyman of Wonderland. Whilst being highly intelligent and with a powerful Imagination (in the Wonderland of the story, Imagination has magial powers), Redd was utterly unruly and arrogant as a teenager and exhibited behaviour consistent with Oppositional defiant disorder. She was also addicted to artificial crystal, a drug common in Wonderland. Worried that Redd would make a tyrannical monarch, Theodora and Tyman removed her from succession and named Redd's sister, Genevieve, heir to the throne. Genevieve appears to be based on the White Queen. Being removed from succession took a heavy toll on the highly narcissistic Redd who already suffered from anger management issues and violent mood swings. In a fit of madness, she murdered her mother in her sleep before Theodora could announce her decision to the general public. Redd assumed the throne and her father, Tyman went mad. Regarding her father with contempt, Redd let him live. However her sister, Genevieve, aware that Redd had killed their mother, defeated her sister and banished her to the Chessboard Desert.
[edit] The Looking-Glass Wars
The book starts with Redd murdering Nolan, Genevieve's husband, invading the Royal Palace of Wonderland and killing Genevieve. Genevieve's daughter, Alyss Heart, the main protagonist escapes and flees to Earth.
In her absence Redd becomes dictator of Wonderland, turning it into a dark, evil place where corruption and violence are promoted. Soon a rebellion, calling themselves the Alyssians after Princess Alyss, arise to challenge Redd. Redd fights them with the aid of her second-in-command, The Cat (an evil assassin and a parody of the Cheshire Cat) and her secret police, The Cut. Redd soon learns that Alyss is alive on Earth. She sends The Cat along with some of her minions to Earth to kill her. Alyss escapes with the help of Dodge Anders, her childhood sweetheart whose father was killed by The Cat.
Alyss and Dodge return to Wonderland through a portal and rejoin the Alyssians. Furious, Redd hinders Alyss on her quest for The Looking-Glass Maze. Alyss eventually finds the Maze and succeeds in passing through it, gaining the Sceptre which amplifies her powers.
Alyss then goes to Redd's fortress on Mount Isolation in the heart of the Chessboard Desert with the Alyssians and does battle with Redd's forces. In the midst of the battle, Alyss and Dodge infiltrate the fortress and while Dodge duels with The Cat, Alyss goes to the Throne Room and confronts Redd. Desperate to eliminate her opponent, Redd attacks Alyss with all of her Imaginative powers and fighting skills and uses illusions in an attempt to confuse Alyss and make her break psychologically. Nevertheless at the last Alyss defeats Redd and disarms her. Consumed by rage, Redd throws herself into the Heart Crystal, a gigantic crystal which is the source of all Imaginative power in the Universe and which immediately absorbs Redd. She is swiftly followed by The Cat.
[edit] Seeing Redd
In the second book of the series, Redd and The Cat are reincarnated in the imagination of a French artist on Earth. The artist unwittingly channels the essence of Redd and The Cat into a painting which they subsequently tear out of. Redd spares the artist's life on the grounds that he was "Not important enough" to kill. She later recruits her former tuitor, Vollrath, a corrupt albino who was banished from Wonderland and a Black Imaginationist called Master Sacrenoir. She then goes about the world rallying other evil villains to her cause. She eventually discovers that the Reverend Charles Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carrol has written a book about Wonderland, pieced together from information given to him by Alyss during her time on Earth. Enraged that a human has dared to write a book about her "nauseatingly well intentioned niece", Redd captures Dodgson and forces him to write a book about her. She later returns to Wonderland and begins searching for her Looking-Glass Maze which she eventually finds it and passes through, gaining her own Sceptre in the process. When she passes through the Maze and is reunited with some of her old memories, including Queen Theodora removing her from succession, it is revealed that Redd's true name is Rose. Presumably she changed it soon after being banished to the Chessboard Desert. She goes to the independant Kingdom of Boarderland and forcibly recruits King Arch, her former lover. Redd then marches on Wonderland but meanwhile Arch's superweapon is activated. Wonderland is saved but Redd is temporarily stripped of her powers and forced into a retreat.
[edit] Personality and traits
Redd is portrayed as an utter sociopath with sadistic and masochistic tendencies but unlike most clinically diagnosed sociopaths, she makes no attempt to mask her ruthless behaviour, lashing out anyone when given the chance. What drives Redd toward enslaving Wonderland and its inhabitants is her megalomaniacal sense of entitlement. A bitter and insecure individual, she appears obsessed with being removed from succession and is constantly consumed by anger and hatred over it. Redd's pugnacious nature is evident in her self appointed style of address, "Her Imperial Viciousness." Redd is a practitioner of Black Imagination, the darker side of the Imaginative power spectrum which thrives on dark thoughts and emotions, similar to the Dark Side of the Force from Star Wars and the Dark Arts from Harry Potter. Users of Black Imagination are inherently corrupt and evil. If there's anything positive to be said about Redd it is that she is an astonishingly brave individual, displaying acts of fearlessness and an abnormal lack of nervousness on numerous occasions.
One of Redd's more uncharacteristic traits is her self-proclaimed love for Alyss's late father, King Nolan. In the epilogue of Seeing Redd, Lewis Carrol describes his interview with the evil Queen and in the interview, Redd declares that she was once in love with Nolan. This however, did not prevent her from killing him although this was most likely out of jealousy for him marrying her hated sister, Genevieve.
[edit] Comparisons to other fictional characters
Redd's name is an obvious derivation of the Red Queen from Alice Through the Looking Glass although her personality is clearly inspired by the Queen of Hearts from whom she takes her catchphrase "Off with his/her/its/their head(s)." Both she and the Queen of Hearts are selfish, bloodthirsty and hot-tempered.
Her personality is reminiscent of Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter. It is also worth noting that Redd and Voldemort both changed their names. Redd's true name is Rose and Voldemort's is Tom Marvolo Riddle. Both Redd and Voldemort murdered the parents of the main protagonist.
The plot of The Looking-Glass Wars is similar to that of Hamlet in which Prince Claudius of Denmark murders his brother, King Hamlet and takes his throne, later being defeated by King Hamlet's son, the main character. In this, Redd could be seen to represent Claudius although they are greatly different in terms of personality.
It must also be noted that one of Claudius's motives was his infatuation with Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, similar to Redd's self-proclaimed affection for Alyss's father, King Nolan.
Redd also shares similarities with Azkadellia, the evil queen from Tin Man which is based on The Wizard of Oz.
