Alice the Chess Pawn

[Josephine]

We were talking in chat and I was trying to recall the stories of Alice in Wonderland and the sequel Through the Looking Glass.  Disney has really mixed up the two stories and most people don’t know the true versions unless you’ve read the books.  Essentially, Alice in Wonderland is all about a game of cards and Through the Looking Glass is a large game of chess.  Surprisingly, the only characters that are in both stories is Alice and a vague and usually missed reference to the Hatter and the Hare.  Otherwise, it’s a completely different story.

Now that I know how to play chess Through the Looking Glass makes much more sense.  Alice goes through the mirror and ends up meeting the Red Queen, who starts her out on a journey to become a Queen, herself.  Anyone who plays chess knows that if your pawn reaches the last row it becomes a Queen.  So Alice, the pawn, goes off on her journey and “plays” the game.  In the end, she reaches the end of the field with the sleeping Red King, knocks over the Red Queen and wins the game.  Then she wakes up. 

The point of that little retelling is do you thing Wonderland will take a bit of this story and incorporate it into the tale.  Maybe the Red Queen sets Alice off on this wild journey across lands (i.e. the chessboard) in order to get Cyrus back.  She has to “play the game” in order to be reunited with her lover. 

Both books are worth a rereading for anyone who wants to bone up on their Alice adventures.

 

[RumplesGirl]

Ok, I love this chess motif and now that I know how to play (like Jo) I think it’s going to come in a lot in OUATinWL.

We have several pieces on the board and several main characters. For the purpose of our discussion I am going to say the main characters are:

Alice
Cyrus
The Red Queen
Jafar
The Knave
The White Rabbit

Now what if those main characters correspond to pieces on a board, like so:

Alice = pawn (she is a pawn in Looking Glass) (also, it’s a metaphor)
Cyrus = I’m going to call him the White King. And he is being held by the opposite side
The Red Queen = The Red Queen. Obviously
Jafar = The Red King. I don’t know if this implies romance between RQ and Jafar but it does imply that he he is out to stop Cyrus and Alice from taking him, because in chess you win once you’ve checkmated the opposite side.
The Knave = Bishop.
The White Rabbit = The Knight. Now, the reason I’m putting knight for WR are this: one, animal motif. Two, have you ever seen a rabbit move? It’s somewhat erratic. The knight (horse) moves really oddly on the board, it can only move two up and one over or some combo there of. The WR is also the one who opens portals (moves strangly). Maybe a stretch but I’m going to go with it for now.

So objective: check mate the king.

What we know from the preview is this: The RQ has somehow “captured” Cyrus (we know he is not dead). It is the equivalent of check, which comes before Checkmate. Alice’s job is move to across the game board (in this case I think the game board is the whole Onceiverse–so many many many lands) to get to Cyrus. She stars off as a pawn but once she has reached the RQ and Jafar, in WL, I assume, she becomes the White Queen just like a pawn becomes a Queen when it reaches the opposite end of the board.
We know A and E have said that first season of OUATinWL is an open and closed book, one whole story. So I think it’s a chess match. Get to Cyrus, check mate the RQ and Jafar and along the way we flashback to see character development and the adventures of Cylice before he was taken.

*claps* Ok, next!

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[RumplesGirl]

Also think about this: along the way the Red side of RQ and Jafar will send out their own pawns and knights against Alice.

Possible RQ/Jafar team

–Cheshire Cat
–The Tweedles
–The Jabberwoky
–Iago (from Aladdin)

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[Slurpeez]

“Oh, the cleverness of you”

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Josephine]

*claps*  We are brilliant!

I can totally see this happening.  It’s one big giant game that Alice has to win in order to get Cyrus back.  She needs the Knave and White Rabbit to help her along the way.  Now that we’ve talked it out, it makes perfect sense.  We have a beginning and closure and it won’t be a repeat of the things we’ve already seen in Ouat’s visit to Wonderland with Jefferson.  They might incorporate things in, but we know that the Mad Hatter/Jefferson isn’t going to have a part (other than a rumored cameo) in the storyline.  The chess match theory gives us an outline of what should happen.  They might not come out and specifically say it’s a chess match but I think it’s a plausible idea as a framework for the show.

For those who don’t know how, it’s really worth it to learn to play chess.  I know it has a nerdy reputation, but it is really fun to play.

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[Slurpeez]

So, could Alice’s fellow white chess pieces be Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, the Magic Carpet, the genies of the lamp, and the Sultan of Agrabah in a match against Jafar and the Red Queen?

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Phee]

For those who don’t know how, it’s really worth it to learn to play chess. I know it has a nerdy reputation, but it is really fun to play.

My grandad showed me how to play when I was a kid. Never stuck with it though, so I just know the basics.

If, in the finale, we don’t see Alice all up in the RQ’s face saying, “Check. Mate.” I’ll now officially be disappointed.

BTW, the Tweedles typically are on the side of the White Queen.

[RumplesGirl]

So, could Alice’s fellow white chess pieces be Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, the Magic Carpet, the genies of the lamp, and the Sultan of Agrabah in a match against Jafar and the Red Queen?

Exactly! Not to mention any other WL characters that they want to incorporate into the show since they seem to be combining both Alice’s Adventures in WL and Looking Glass.

My grandad showed me how to play when I was a kid. Never stuck with it though, so I just know the basics.

If, in the finale, we don’t see Alice all up in the RQ’s face saying, “Check. Mate.” I’ll now officially be disappointed.

BTW, the Tweedles typically are on the side of the White Queen.

Good to know about the Tweedles! I think I am just predisposed to hate them.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[kfchimera]

I love this, and agree, they have to say checkmate at the end.

Now I want a chess set inspired by their version. I love looking at different chess sets, and imagining character based versions.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

[Josephine]

I downloaded and began to read  Through the Looking Glass since it’s been years and I’ve forgotten parts of it.  I’m on chapter three and it’s interesting that the Red Queen isn’t evil.  She just sets her off on a journey after Alice expresses her desire to go across the chessboard land.  So the queen sets her up to play the game.  She’s a White Queen’s pawn since the White Queen’s daughter Lily is too small to play the game.  That’s how she got to be for the white side.

What’s also interesting, and we talked in chat about this a bit last night, is that the land isn’t specified as Wonderland.  It’s the land “through the looking glass”.  I always wondered about that because Wonderland and Looking Glass each have a different feeling to me.  Each is full of nonsense and Alice navigating her way, but the land itself just seems different.

It will be interesting to see what they pull from each book for the new show.  I just hope that Adam answers the chess tweet.  Hopefully, he’ll give us some kind of answer, even if it’s a smart aleck, sassy one.

 

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[Author]

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