The Executioner is a character who was supposed to appear in Alice in Wonderland. He was to serve the Queen of Hearts and the King of Hearts but for the final cut, he was ultimately scrapped in the final version of the film.
Background[]
The Executioner, as his name implies, is the royal executioner who serves the Queen of Hearts. Just like typical executioners in media, he is seen wearing a black executioner mask and is often equipped with an axe, albeit portrayed as a playing card rather than a human.
Origins[]
The Executioner is based on the character from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland of the same name by Lewis Carroll. The character is often depicted as a playing card (specifically a spade or a heart card) just like in the original story in many Alice in Wonderland-related media. In the original story, the Queen of Hearts sends the Executioner to kill the Cheshire Cat during an execution event, but the Executioner refuses, because all the Executioner saw was the Cheshire Cat's head, leading an argument between the Executioner, the King of Hearts, and the Queen of Hearts whether the Cheshire Cat should face execution or not to which the Executioner then argued that the Cheshire Cat "belonged to the Duchess", as it is shown that the Cheshire Cat stalled the execution just as the Executioner tried looking for the Duchess whom the Queen thinks she is in prison just before the Cheshire Cat's head begins fading away with the Executioner no longer around him. He makes no further appearances after that throughout the rest of the original story.
Yet, the Executioner seen in the Disney Parks is depicted as a singular anthropomorphic ace card wearing a black executioner mask often equipped with an axe with a heart icon on it, indicating that he serves the Queen of Hearts.
Appearances[]
Alice in Wonderland[]
The Executioner was originally going to appear in the film where the Queen of Hearts and the King of Hearts would introduce the Executioner throughout the film. Concept art shows that the Executioner is depicted more of a human rather than a playing card and is seen sitting on a guillotine. However, Walt Disney felt displeased for the original 1939 draft, feeling that David S. Hall almost completely designed the characters to be based on John Tenniel's illustrations making the characters too difficult to animate and the script written by Al Perkins was considered too dark due to many mature elements written in the script.
Years later, Alice in Wonderland was put back in production in 1945 when Walt Disney hired British author Aldous Huxley to rewrite the script and exclude many elements considered too dark for audiences from the original 1939 version. Although a song titled, "Entrance of the Executioner" was initially written for the Executioner and the song itself was recorded in 1947, both of the aforementioned elements were cut in the final version of the script, even with the script being rewritten.
For the final version of the film released in 1951, several spade cards take the actual Executioner's role and are often equipped with axes, where they serve the Queen of Hearts.
Disney Parks[]
Alice in Wonderland[]
The Alice in Wonderland attraction first opened in June 14, 1958 but did not include the scene where the Executioner appears as indicated via original 1958 audio, due to the fact neither scenes where the Queen of Hearts appears were included in the original 1958 version.
The attraction later reopened on April 14, 1984 where it reopened for a major remodeling, adding scenes of the Queen of Hearts' Castle in which one of the scenes included in this remodeled version includes the execution scene which takes place inside the Queen's Court. The execution scene is encountered after a small dark room featuring a lone hedgehog used during a game of croquet which the Queen of Hearts misses, causing her to become enraged for her loss to bring in the Executioner. In the scene where the Queen of Hearts yells, "Off with her head!", next to her is an animatronic of the Executioner (making his first appearance in Disney-related Alice in Wonderland media) who is wielding an axe following the Queen's orders and behind them are decorations of the King of Hearts and various heart cards in the background. The Executioner in this attraction is depicted as an ace card wearing a black executioner mask and is seen wielding an axe preparing to attack, but the guests on the vehicles suddenly escape from him and the Queen of Hearts, and later passing through various Card Soldiers (specifically the heart variants seen on decorations on the doors leading to the outdoor section of the attraction) attempting to attack the guests with their weapons to which they manage to evade them in time and later end up in the Unbirthday scene, the last scene of the attraction.
As of the 2014 revamp, the Executioner remained with the Queen of Hearts in the same scene, but the execution scene includes an animated projection of various Card Soldiers attempting to leap in front of the guests. The next scene after that features two animated projections of the Card Soldiers attempting to attack the guests with their weapons to which they manage to escape from them in time, successfully evading the Queen of Hearts, the Executioner, and the cards, in which the guests suddenly end up in the outdoor section of the attraction and later in the Unbirthday scene, the last scene of the attraction.
Alice's Curious Labyrinth[]
The Executioner is encountered during the walkthrough attraction's Queen of Hearts Maze part. In one of the scenes, the animatronic of the Executioner would turn to face the guests, giving out a warning (with pre-recorded dialogues) that he will attack anyone who approaches him under the Queen's orders to which guests manage to avoid him in time and escape the maze by evading the Queen of Hearts and her Card Soldiers.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite being depicted as an ace card, the Executioner somehow has a heart-shaped mouth rather than an ace-shaped mouth.
- The Executioner in the "Alice in Wonderland" ride and the "Alice's Curious Labyrinth" maze is the ace of spades which is known in card reading as the death card, which fits considering his job of beheading people
External links[]
See also[]
