Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

Queen of Hearts
Alice character
John Tenniel's illustration of the King and Queen of Hearts at the trial of the Knave of Hearts.
First appearance	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Created by	Lewis Carroll
Portrayed by	Barbara Hershey (Once Upon a Time) Miranda Richardson Kathy Bates (Alice)
Voiced by	Verna Felton
Information
Nickname(s)	Red Queen (sometimes mistakenly)
Species	playing card
Gender	Female
Occupation	Queen
Spouse(s)	The King of Hearts King of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
Children	Ten Hearts
Nationality	Wonderland

The Queen of Hearts is a fictional character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll, in which she appears as the primary antagonist. She is a foul-tempered monarch, that Carroll himself describes as "a blind fury", and who is quick to give death sentences at the slightest offense. Her most famous line, one which she states often, is "Off with their heads!"

The Queen is referred to as a card from a pack of playing cards by Alice, yet somehow she is able to talk and is the ruler of the lands in the story, alongside the King of Hearts. She is often confused with the Red Queen from the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, although the two are very different.

Alice observes three playing cards painting white roses red. They drop to the ground face down at the approach of the Queen of Hearts, whom Alice has never met. When the Queen arrives and asks Alice who is lying on the ground (since the backs of all playing cards look alike), Alice tells her that she does not know. The Queen then becomes frustrated and commands that her head be severed. She is deterred by her comparatively moderate husband by being reminded that Alice is only a child.

Generally, however, as we are told by Carroll:

One of the Queen's hobbies – besides ordering executions – is croquet; however it is Wonderland croquet, where the balls are live hedgehogs and the mallets are flamingoes. This is presumably with the aim that the birds' blunt beaks should strike, but, as Alice observes, it is complicated by the fact that they keep looking back up at the players- as well as the hedgehogs' tendency to scuttle away without waiting to be hit. The Queen's soldiers act as the arches (or hoops) on the croquet grounds, but have to leave off being arches every time the Queen has an executioner drag away the victim, so that, by the end of the game in the story, the only players that remain are the Queen herself, the King, and Alice.