Queen of Hearts (Lewis Carroll)

The Queen of Hearts is the main antagonist of Alice in Wonderland, and all other versions of the story of the same name. She is a mean, nasty, short-tempered tyrant who rules Wonderland with an iron fist.

Role in the book
The Queen first appears when three Card Soldiers - Two, Five and Seven - are hastily painting some roses red rather than white, and the Queen first meets Alice, and she dislikes her immediately, showing her evil by saying "Off with her head" when Alice rightly says "How should I know - it's no business of mine!" and the King is the only one to stand up for Alice. The Queen orders the Soldiers executed but Alice protects them by hiding them in a flower pot. The Queen gets furious about the Chesire Cat appearing there without a body and orders him beheaded, but the Queen needs the Duchess for this and she summons her out of prison but gets furious at her presence so she yells at her to leave. The Queen takes Alice to meet the Mock Turtle.

During a trial to see who stole the Queen's tarts, Alice grows to giant size and confronts the Queen. She then leaves Wonderland, and she serves as an inspiration for the rest of the inhabitants of Wonderland to rise up and dethrone the Queen.

Portrayals
Modern portrayals in popular culture usually let her play the role of a villain because of the menace the character exemplifies, but in the book she does not fill that purpose. She is just one of the many obstacles that Alice has to encounter on the journey, but unlike other obstacles, she makes a higher potential threat. It should be noted one of her actors was Miranda Richardson, who also played Lady Van Tassel, both of these characters love decapitation.

Henchmen
She has an army of human-sized playing cards. Her most loyal servant is the White Rabbit.

Once Upon a Time
In Once Upon a Time 's version the Queen of Hearts, named Cora, was a Millers daughter who fell in love with Rumplestiltskin. She wanted to run away with him but decided against it as she wanted to be in a position of power and was engaged to someone of royalty. She then became the mother of the Evil Queen and was cruel towards to her daughter which led her on the path of becoming evil. She was expelled from the Enchanted Forest by her daughter in a moment of desperation, and ended up in a universe called Wonderland which she took over and ruled over by taking the citizens hearts. She taught the Red Queen magic.

Tim Burton's 2010 film Alice in Wonderland
See: Red Queen (Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland) There is a similar yet separate cruel monarch called the Red Queen who is the main antagonist of Tim Burton's 2010 film Alice in Wonderland. Though she is actually the Red Queen and not the Queen of Hearts which are two seperate characters, the personalities of characters have been fused together for the films.

Alice, SyFy Mini-Series
A version of the Queen of Hearts is played by Kathy Bates in the SyFy original Series "Alice". The character closely resembles the original.

Dora in Wonderland
One version of the Queen of Hearts is seen in the Alice in Wonderland themed episode of Dora the Explorer in which she is greedy and selfish (as was evident when she was given her strawberry tarts by the white rabbit). Unlike other versions of herself, this version of the Queen of Hearts has managed to redeem herself and be a better queen for her subjects. She was voiced by Sara Ramirez (who ironically voices another queen, Queen Miranda from Sofia the First).

The Pagemaster
The Queen of Hearts briefly appears in The Pagemaster. When the Dragon swallowed Richard Tyler, he landed in his stomach which was a pit filled with books. Richard looked through the books and saw Alice in Wonderland and opened it. The Queen of Hearts' large head popped out of the book yelling "Off with his head!" Startled, Richard closed the book and the Queen's head went back inside the book.