Dollmaker

"The train is coming with its shiny cars. With comfy seats and wheels of stars. So hush my little ones, have no fear. The man in the moon is the engineer."

- Dollmaker

The Dollmaker is the Wonderland incarnation of Dr. Angus Bumby, the true main antagonist in the video game; Alice: Madness Returns. He is the mastermind behind the Infernal Train, Wonderland's corruption and Alice's insanity.

As Angus Bumby
Bumby appears to be in his late forties, with a slim figure and broad shoulders. His face is very long and thin, with a pointy chin and defined cheekbones. His nose and hands are also very bony. His hair is dark brown, and is cut to the nap of his neck, and combed into a side parting to his right-hand side. He also has a full beard and mustache. His eyes are small and pale in color. Bumby dresses much more smartly compared to Alice and the other children who live with him. His outfit consists of black trousers, a white shirt and a gray waistcoat with a red tie. When outside, he puts on a brown coat and top-hat.

As the Dollmaker
The Dollmaker greatly resembles Bumby, except he is gigantic and corpse-like, his face is hollow, having no eyes and ruin oozing out of his mouth, nostrils, eye sockets and ears. The Ruin forms a dripping 'beard' where facial hair would be on Bumby. His hands appear to have been sewn together and have nails and doll heads embedded in them.

While Bumby finds children and turns them into mindless prostitutes, the Dollmaker lives up to his name by chasing after the Insane Children and turns them into mindless dolls. He is horrifically sadistic and sees his victims as toys, much like his manipulative and demented counterpart, Dr. Bumby, sees children as nothing more than sex slaves, or, in the true term, prostitutes.

Background
In his younger years, Bumby was an undergraduate at Oxford University and was tutored by Dean Arthur Liddell. Like other undergraduates, he was a frequent guest for tea to the Liddell Household, and he soon became attracted to Arthur's eldest daughter, Elizabeth Liddell, or, as many called her, Lizzie.

Lizzie had a poor opinion of all of the undergraduates and, of course, had no interest in him (calling him and the other undergraduates "toadies"), but Bumby became completely obsessed with her, believing that Lizzie did want his advances and was being a "tease." (This is a common mindset employed by most sexual predators to rationalize their actions, putting all of the blame on their victims.) Bumby's desire for her grew so out of hand that he would stalk Lizzie and try to force her to perform sexual acts for him behind her family's back. However, she still denied him and threatened to tell her parents.

One night, infuriated by Lizzie's "teasing," Bumby broke into the Liddell house and raped Lizzie, then either killed her or caused her to lose consciousness. To cover up his crime, Bumby then locked Lizzie's bedroom door and used a lit oil-lamp to set the house on fire, with the intention to kill everyone inside.

Only the youngest Liddell, Alice, survived the blaze, and she had witnessed Bumby entering the house that night. However, she convinced herself that she saw a centaur instead, and that the sounds coming from her sister's room had been Lizzie talking in her sleep (when it was really Bumby forcing himself upon her). As a twisted memento, Bumby kept Lizzie's bedroom key, and later used it as his pendant when hypnotizing his patients. The fire resulted in Alice's fall into insanity, and she was committed into Rutledge Asylum for ten years until the events of American McGee's Alice.

Alice's Psychiatrist
After Alice was deemed sane enough to leave Rutledge, her former nurse Pris Witless got her a place to stay in Houndsditch Home as a maid. Here, Bumby treated Alice to hypnotherapy, promising to help her forget the memories of the fire so she could recover the remains of her sanity.

His treatment seemed in vain, however, as Alice began descending into madness again, seeing Wonderland consumed by a strange black ooze and destroyed by a twisted train. Realizing that she had to face her problems her own way, she returned to her psyche to unravel the mystery of this new corruption. Along the way, she began recollecting her lost memories, including some of her therapy sessions with Bumby.

As Alice traveled deeper into Wonderland, she came to realize that it was Bumby who killed her family; his hypnosis sessions were really an attempt to cover his tracks. She also realized another terrible truth: Bumby had been using Houndsditch Home as a front for turning its vulnerable children into mindless prostitutes, stripping away their memories so they completely forget who they were. He viewed children solely as commodities to be used, manipulated, and exploited. He even believed that he was doing nothing wrong; by turning otherwise "worthless" children into prostitutes, he was providing a service to the public.

Confronting Angus Bumby
Note: These events took place at the same time as when Alice confronted the Dollmaker, however, these events were in the real world and not through Alice's delusions of Wonderland

After regaining her memories, Alice confronted Bumby at Moorgate Station for his crimes. He casually confirmed her accusations, and even admitted he was trying to break down Alice into a mindless prostitute too, but she proved too stubborn and too full with guilt to forget.

As Alice's Wonderland self destroyed the Infernal Train and the Dollmaker, she threatened to tell the police and have Bumby hung after being raped himself by "some half wit bruiser." In spite of this, Bumby laughed at Alice, pointing out that no one would believe a former lunatic accusing a well-respected man of such a hideous crime. Upon being told to leave, Alice snatches Lizzie's key from Bumby, stunning him, and, after transforming into her Wonderland self, pushed him in front of an oncoming train, instantly killing him and avenging her family.

The Dollmaker
The Dollmaker presumably appeared in Wonderland following Alice's first therapy session with Angus Bumby. Taking advantage of Wonderland's weakened state following the Queen of Hearts defeat, he began spreading ruin all over the realm, in order to corrupt Wonderland and ultimately destroy it. As his grip over Wonderland tightened, he started to abduct insane children, transforming them into murderous, mindless dolls which would serve as his minions.

At some point prior to Alice's return in Wonderland, he took over the Dollhouse, remaking it into a nightmarish factory patrolled by Ruin monsters and killer dolls. He also either manipulated the  March Hare and the Dormouse into constructing the Infernal Train, or took control of it shortly after it was unleashed. Eitherway, the train ended up in his control and he used it to tear Wonderland asunder. Notably, he used it to destroy the Deluded Depths, and the train can be seen destroying parts of Queensland as Alice journeys through it.

The Dollmaker attempts to eliminate Alice countless times during the game by sending his ruin monsters after her, to no avail. When she reaches The Dollhouse, he unleashes his army of killer dolls, but they prove unable to stop her and Alice manages to reach his lair.

Confronting the Dollmaker
Note: These events took place at the same time as when Alice confronted Angus Bumby, however, these events were in Wonderland and not in the real world's Moorgate station.

When Alice meets the Dollmaker, she quickly sees that it's Dr. Bumby, who she has come to recognize as the murderer of her family. Bumby, as the Dollmaker, is destroying whatever is left of Alice's mind, thus in turn destroying Wonderland, as well as tormenting the other children who are as insane as she is and turning them into submissive "dolls." The Dollmaker claims he's performing a service (Just as Bumby does at Moorgate Station, where he explains to Alice that he believes that he is doing a favor for the public by selling children as sex slaves) and remarks that Alice could've forgotten and been 'cured'.

Alice declares that she shall stop the train if it's the last thing she does, and the Dollmaker claims, 'It will be'. He grabs her, and turns her into a doll, claiming, 'You're lost and where your body is your mind will follow. Perhaps it's already there.' He drops Alice into the train making her join the other children he turned into dolls. However, Alice gets one last burst of inner strength and her mental projection transforms back from a doll to her human form in the Classic dress, allowing her to make her way to the locomotive's engine room, where the Dollmaker serves as the driver of the train.

During the final showdown at the head of the train, the Dollmaker taunts Alice and tries to stop her from succeeding in defeating him. His form had become even more twisted, with a snakelike body comprised of Ruin, disembodied and mutilated hands held to his body with strings and a disgusting tongue comprised of Ruin and doll heads. He uses his hands to taunt Alice, by making his hands perform gestures he pictures children doing. His attacks mainly consist of trying to grab and crush Alice with his hands and fingers, as well as summoning lesser forms of Ruin to distract her.

It is only when she defeats the Dollmaker that his evil influence toward Alice, Wonderland and other innocent people has been diminished for good and Wonderland is restored once more. Simultaneously in the real world, Alice pushes the real Dr. Bumby in front of an oncoming train killing him. By doing so, she has avenged her family, the underage victims of Bumby's memory erasure, and her own sanity, and made sure that he will never hurt anyone ever again.

Angus Bumby

 * In Wonderland, Bumby is represented by the Dollmaker, a monstrous incarnation of himself.
 * In-game, Alice's collectable memories of Bumby are represented by a pearly image of his glasses.
 * Before Alice kills Bumby, she appears to transform into her Wonderland form (both dress and physical features) before him and he appears shocked by her sudden change.
 * In her previous memories of the fire, Alice remembered Bumby as a centaur; a creature from Greek mythology which is part human and part horse. Although in modern culture, centaurs are presented as clever and honorable, they were originally symbolic of chaos and unbridled passions. The latter description fits Bumby, as he is was the indirect source of Alice's insanity, and he had a lustful, uncontrollable passion for Lizzie.
 * The drastically different appearances and mindsets of Wonderland's citizens in Madness Returns are the result of a metaphysical "Hard Reboot" imposed by Doctor Bumby's treatments for Alice.
 * Bumby may have been the "benefactor" who sent Alice the photograph of her family. On the other hand, it would not make much sense, as his very ambition is to make his victims forget all about their past.

Dollmaker

 * There are actually several strong hints throughout the game signifying the Dollmaker and Dr. Angus Bumby's evil intentions. In the first level, a memory references Bumby referring to the Looking Glass Line as inefficient and that a Mock-Turtle as Conductor wouldn't do. During Alice's hallucination of the asylum, Bumby flat-out states that Alice should respect him as much as the Queen of Hearts, and to 'trade the tentacles for the train. It's all together a better ride'. Considering that the Queen was attempting to show Alice who would benefit from her madness, not to mention that in the previous burning door cutscene the player could clearly see that the arsonist was wearing Bumby's glasses, this obviousness is possibly intentional.
 * As the Dollmaker appears to be the source of the Ruin that plagues Wonderland, the various creatures formed from it are likely acting on his orders, rather than on the mindless impulse to destroy.
 * After Alice exits the Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth, a girl can be found apart from some other children playing, facing a wall. She recites "The Sandman's coming in his train of cars, with moonbeam windows and wheels of stars. So hush you little ones, and have no fear. The man in the moon, he is the engineer." Furthermore giving clues of the Dollmaker.
 * This poem was taken from a song called, "Hush, Here Comes The Dream Man" by Evelyn Griffiths and Charles Hawtry.
 * It could be possible that another end that the Dollmaker could have sought in his plans was to build a new Wonderland after destroying the old one, albeit a dark, twisted and perverted one in his favor; this is proven in the very start of the game in the opening sequence when Alice witnessed Wonderland being corrupted by Ruin; Dr. Bumby told Alice to let the "new Wonderland" emerge, though this could be just Bumby trying to manipulate Alice's mind as usual. It is unknown if the Dollmaker has done this "reconstruction plan" on the other children's dream worlds if they have any.
 * The fight with the Dollmaker truly shows how dark Dr. Bumby's intentions really are. His left hand has a boy's doll's head which he uses to grope Alice in a perverted manner. His right hand is far more effeminate in comparison, and uses it to inappropriately pinch Alice. Both of these hands are used to sexually taunt Alice (he uses the faces on his hands and his fingers to perform gestures that mimic hip thrusting and mooning, or showing one's buttocks). From where Alice stands in the fight, it could be a reference to her fighting for her virginity, as the two columns that stand either side of the battle grounds could be a motif for her own legs, as he reveals his black-ooze covered tongue, which strongly resembles oral sex.
 * The name "Dollmaker" may be a reference to the Deep Web, where evidence of child prostitution was found and the criminals were named "Dollmakers." The similarity of these people with Bumby may be a factor that determined the name.
 * The "job" for Dr. Bumby is a therapist. Though looking further upon inspection on the name it can be turned in to "the-rapist."