He’s the
Mad Hatter’s oldest friend, always sticking by him through thick and thin. He’s
grown accustomed to the Mad Hatter’s antics, almost coming to enjoy his
constant obsession with tea time.
The Dormouse
is a far simpler creature, spending most of his life asleep. This is due to his
awe-inspiring power of omniscience. So that the raw power of seeing everything
at every moment doesn’t blow up his head, he needs to be almost constantly
sleeping.
On the
occasions when he does wake up, it is to offer cryptic prophesies about the
future. It was one such prophecy that influenced the Mad Hatter into seeking
out Alison in the first place.
The March
Hare and the Dormouse were another case of characters who changed very little
since they were introduced. In the case of the March Hare, he went a long time
not being quite mad enough. Looking to the original book, he simply seems to
share many of the habits of the Mad Hatter, however I wanted to make him more
of an individual character. This was why I gave him the split personality. I
had earlier toyed with the idea of giving him no free-will, being forced to do
whatever he is told.
The
Dormouse, it could be argued, is exactly as he appears in the book, sleeping most
of the time, only waking to deliver lines of nonsense. When I read the original
book I thought it would be fascinating to consider that the Dormouse’s nonsense
might have something more to it. The story he delivers at the Mad Hatter’s tea
party, was one I took to be the creation of Wonderland. And later, at Alice’s
trial, I seem to remember he noticed Alice was growing, certainly before
everyone else. It was from these pieces of evidence that I decided to make him
omniscient and prophetic.
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