Monday, 23 April 2012

Wonderland - The Mad Hatter

Our spotlight-steeling secondary character is none other than the Mad Hatter. Always ludicrous and often making no sense at all, he is the driving force behind the plan to recruit a saviour and stop the Unfit Kingdoms.

At best he uses the wrong words to describe things, and at worst, he spouts entire sentences of nonsense and riddles without answers. He’s obsessed with the idea of tea time, never liking to stray too far from his table, and always with a cup of tea in hand. He also loves birthdays, often deciding to celebrate them, despite the date.

He’s an excellent singer, though again this comes out as warped nursery rhymes. He’s certainly not intelligent, but does sometimes see things in an interesting light, which can lead to inspiration.

Not being very good in a fight, his first instinct is to run, but when backed into a corner his first line of defence is usually his tea, or failing that, a sandwich. However one scene does involve him sword-fighting with a teapot.

He gets on particularly well with Alison, even though his antics often cause her frustration. However he seems to have a vendetta against the mysterious Skinster, who works for the Unfit Kingdoms. The two certainly have a past. As the Mad Hatter himself puts it:

“We have something of a congratulatory relationship…”

Definitely one of the most fun and easy characters to write the only thing I need to be wary of with the Mad Hatter is writing forever, because his conversations are so odd and cyclical.

From early on I made the mistake of making him odd and eccentric as opposed to mad. I went back, read the source material and decided to add a few traits from the book. I’ll admit, the usage of incorrect words was something of my own invention, but everything else appears within the text.

He was originally intended to have a much darker past, with his madness having come from years of torture at the hands of the Queen of Hearts, but this conflicted with the rest of Wonderland’s inhabits who are all naturally mad.

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