Knave of Hearts (Disney)

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“	If you're hiding her, you will lose your heads.	„
	~ The Knave of Hearts threatening the Mad Hatter and his friends on the whereabouts of Alice Kingsleigh.

Ilosovic Stayne, better known as The Knave of Hearts, is the secondary antagonist of the 2010 Disney live-action fantasy film Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and a posthomous minor character in its 2016 sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass.

He is the right-hand of the Red Queen. Although feigning loyalty to her, however, the Knave is actually even more malevolent and sadistic than the mad tyrant and plays upon her insecurities in order to skillfully manipulate her into doing what he wants. He is taken from the traditional English nursery rhyme, The Queen of Hearts, and is based on the Jack of Hearts playing card as well as the late Niccolò Machiavelli.

He was portrayed by Crispin Glover, who also played Grendel in Beowulf, Willy Wonka in Epic Movie, Fifi in Open Season, Stan Bittleman in Like Mike, and Thin Man in Charlie's Angels.

Personality[]

“	Well, if it isn't my favorite trio... of lunatics.	„
	~ Knave of Hearts.

In Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, the Knave of Hearts is a sort of knightly figure. Throughout the film, you see him ordering the Queen's men and on the day that the Jabberwocky attacked the White Queen you see him clutching the Vorpal Sword like a hero. It is at the end of the film that you see his true bravery melt away to see true cowardice. He also inflicted himself upon Alice (or at the time 'Um') by pushing her up against a wall and trying to confess his true feelings for her. In a sense he is also slippery, by blaming Alice for seducing him in fear that the Queen would have his head if she found out that he had actually tried to seduce Alice. He is loyal, due to the fact that he had served the Red Queen for such a long time even though he hated her. He was also close with the Red Queen, having brung back the Oraculum and also protecting her thoughts when it came to beheading (than again it may have been out of fear for his own head). He would being killed for trying to kill the Red Queen, his murder was the Red Queen. He also is very good at trickery, making the Queen favor him.

Biography[]

Alice in Wonderland[]

The Knave of Hearts is first seen obtaining the Oraculum and taking it to the Red Queen as he shows her Alice slaying the Jabberwocky. Soon after, Stayne is briefly seen talking Bayard the Bloodhound, getting him to believe that if he found Alice for him, he would let his wife and pups go free, a deal he had no intention of upholding.

Stayne is next seen talking to The Mad Hatter, The March Hare and the Dormouse, unaware that the Hatter is hiding Alice in a teapot. As the Hatter attempts a random distraction, Stayne threatens that if they were hiding Alice, they'd lose their heads as he chokes the Hatter, who then remarks that they'd 'already lost them'. He releases the Hatter and then leaves as Bayard runs off, pretending to have found Alice's scent.

Later on in the film, Stayne is seen in the hallway of The Red Queen's castle, telling Alice, who was posing as another person named Um, that he likes her, but Alice immediately turns away from him. One of The Red Queen's subjects overhears this and tells the Queen. She gets infuriated with Stayne and, when he convinces her that Alice was the one obsessed with him, she screams 'off with her head'. Stayne is then seen attempting to take the Vorpal Sword away from Alice, but is interrupted by the Bandersnatch (who had become friends with Alice after she returned its missing eye). Further into the film, during the final battle, Stayne duels The Mad Hatter and would've been killed by him if Alice hadn't slayed the Jabberwocky and stopped the battle. After The White Queen declares to banish both Stayne and The Red Queen, Stayne attempts to kill The Red Queen, much to her shock due to her genuine feelings for him, but fails due to The Mad Hatter's interference.

He is then banished from Underland and sentenced to the Outlands for eternity with The Red Queen, pleading for death at the White Queen's hands rather than a life with the Red Queen, who is now infuriated at him for his treason. He is denied the mercy of death, for the White Queen owes him no kindness.

Alice Through the Looking Glass[]

The Knave's skeleton appears in the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass. Time was sitting on a chair next to him and saw his skeleton, with a blade embedded in his chest, and wondered what happened to him, either the Queen killed him for trying to kill her or she hired one of her men to kill him for the very same reason. His head later falls off at one point.

Other Media[]

In the TV miniseries Alice, he appears as a protagonistic character named Jack Chase (real name: Jack Frederick Heart), who after he got captured in Wonderland, found out that he is the son of the King and Queen of Heart. He is also engaged to the Duchess.
In the novel series "The Looking Glass Wars", he is re-imagined as the Jack of Diamonds, one of Alyss's friends who is a coward and intends to become her fiance. She works for both the Alyssians and Queen Redd, but when Dodge finds out of his actions, he is sent to prison.
In the otome game Heart no Kuni no Alice, he appears as Ace, also known as the Knight of Hearts who usually gets lost and one of the characters who fall in love with Alice.
In Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland, the Knave of Hearts makes a cameo appearance.

In Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland game for Wii and PC, he is the second boss of the game. He uses a red sword to attack. The player must distract him from capturing Alice and traps him on a cage. As he tries to escape, he tripped, and his sword fell. In this chance, the player must make the sword invisible with Cheshire Cat. He will rage and draw up his twin sword. In this time the player can damage him. The player must repeat the same thing, on the second time the player must use The March Hare's Telekinesis to throw a rock at him as he escapes. On the third time, he rages and break the cage with spinning attack. The player must attract him to a pole near the Bandersnatch's cage. As he strikes, his sword will strike on the pole. The player must use The March Hare again to throw a javelin at the ferocious Bandersnatch. As the Bandersnatch rage, it will kick him, throwing his sword away. The player must make the sword invisible immediately and attack him.

In the anime and manga series Pandora Hearts he is re-imagined as Jack Vessalius, the instigator of the tragedy of Siberia all for in his love for Lacie.

In the Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland game for Nintendo DS, he is the boss of Chapters II and III. Using any of the characters, the player must roll behind Stayne and hit him in the back to slowly deplete his health. In Chapter II he attacks the player near the Mad Hatter's tea party. His most powerful move is where he spins around like a tornado - the player can dodge this continuously using the roll until he falls dizzy and can be hit a large number of times. After his defeat, Stayne flees.

When he reappears in Chapter III at the Red Queen's castle bridge, Stayne must be defeated using a similar pattern except he now has more health. He also now has another move where he pulls out a spiky sphere and rolls it towards the player. As the ball rolls, Stayne will quickly regenerate health, and if it hits the player it will almost entirely deplete his/her health. However, the player can use the White Rabbit to reverse time over the sphere and send it back towards Stayne; this will cause him to run but fall and lose a fairly large amount of health. After his second defeat, Stayne falls unconscious and drops a piece of Underland which allows the player to venture deeper into the castle.

Trivia[]

In the original book the Knave of Hearts was put on trial after the Red Queen accuses him of eating one of her tarts, but in the film this role is given to one of her frog servants and the Knave is instead put on trial for trying to seduce Alice.
Contrary to popular opinion, the Knave of Hearts did appear fleetingly in the 1951 film at the tail end of the March of the Cards preceding the arrival of the Queen of Hearts. He was presented in that film as a living playing card, the Jack of Hearts (indeed his sole line in the film is to announce himself as "Jack!").
Although the Knave of Hearts said or did little in the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, he is first presented carrying the crown for the King of Hearts, implying he is a personal flunky to the King and Queen.
In an animated Japanese series based on the Alice books, he is depicted as their son; in a PBS television adaptation he was depicted as the Queen's lover (as in the 2010 Disney film), and he also seemed in that version to have an attraction to Alice despite the fact she is supposed to be seven (although she was played by an adult actress, Kate Burton, whose father the late Richard Burton appeared as the White Knight). And in a Hallmark television version, he was depicted as the nephew of the King and Queen, and was called "Sir Jack."
In the original illustrations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Victorian caricaturist Sir John Tenniel, he is drawn after the Knave of Spades rather than the Knave of Hearts in the standard card pack, and he was also drawn with a shaded nose, implying he was a bit of a drunkard, in order to make him look all the more guilty at his trial (for allegedly stealing the Queen's tarts, as stated in the classic nursery rhyme).
In the original Alice books, just as the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen were separate characters, the Knave of Hearts and the Red Knight were separate characters as well, the Knave from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Red Knight from Through the Looking-Glass. And where the Knave was a living playing card, the Red Knight was a living chess piece.
The Red Knight only had a brief but dramatic/comic appearance in the original Through the Looking-Glass in which the White Knight rescues him from capturing Alice.

External Links[]

Knave of Hearts on the Disney Wiki
Knave of Hearts on the Alice In Wonderland Wiki
Knave of Hearts on the Near Pure Evil Wiki
Knave of Hearts on the Villains Wiki

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