Throughout
Women's Month, we'll be counting down the top five female
protagonists and antagonists in video games. This isn't going to be
your usual babe list though, because we're not going to be counting
down based on looks. What we're looking for has more to do with how
cool the character is, what she can do and, most important, her
franchise power. Of course, any kind of countdown list like this will
be biased in some way or another, so if you feel that our top five
isn't good enough, let us know. In fact, send us your top five so we
can see just what you think. Here's today's pick.
#4
– The Queen of Hearts
First
Appearance: The books of Lewis Carroll
Video
Game Appearances: American McGee's Alice
Kingdom
Hearts series
Movies:
Disney's Alice in Wonderland
The
Queen of Hearts was a difficult pick for us, not so much because we
weren't sure if she should have been in the list or not, but because
we didn't know which version to go with. In the end, we went with the
two versions of the Queen which we found most relevant.
In
actuality, The Queen of Hearts had her start in the Lewis Carroll
books, but the character and different interpretations of its concept
have had quite a bit of impact over multiple forms of media and
genres, including theatre, film and video games. The two different
video game incarnations of The Queen that we're looking at today take
two very different views on the character and its meanings.

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To
start, the Kingdom Hearts version of The Queen of Hearts is based on
the character from Disney's Alice in Wonderland. In a very similar
fashion, The Queen jumps to conclusions, disregards much of what she
is told, and has a particular liking for declaring peoples' heads be
lopped off. The Queen's story in Kingdom Hearts follows her believing
that Alice has attempted to steal her heart, thus resulting in her
declaring that Alice lose her head. The main characters of the game,
Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy, bring her evidence to the contrary, but
she disregards it and calls on her card soldiers to attack them. She
also appears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, in which she
accuses Alice of aiding the Heartless (bad guys). In the end of her
story, Alice's quick thinking pacifies The Queen and no one loses
their head.
The
American McGee's Alice version of the Queen of Hearts is likely the
more interesting one, being that she is described as the very
incarnation of the sum of Alice's negative feelings. She is a
ruthless, sadistic dictator who holds an iron fist over Wonderland.
She appears almost human the first time Alice meets her, though she
has tentacles instead of legs and hair, and a mask covers her face.
In her final form, she is revealed as a gigantic demon. Alice kills
The Queen of Hearts, bringing all those who died under her reign back
to life, and restoring Wonderland to normal.
We'll
be rounding out the rest of the top 5 female protagonists and
antagonists in video games throughout the rest of Women's Month, so
stay tuned.