| Knave of Hearts | |
| Series: | Alice |
| First: | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| Creator: | Lewis Carroll |
| Portrayer: | Crispin Glover (Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland) Paul McGillion (Once Upon a Time) Michael Socha (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland) |
| Nickname: | Jack of Hearts |
| Species: | Human |
| Occupation: | Knave |
| Gender: | Male |
| Nationality: | Wonderland |
The Knave of Hearts is a character from the 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
The Knave of Hearts is mentioned first in chapter 8, and later in chapters 11 and 12, which deal with his trial for a tart burglary in which the King of Hearts presides as judge. Alice eventually defends the Knave after the evidence becomes increasingly absurd and she is called as a witness.
The White Rabbit announces the charges as:
The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,All on a summer day:The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!
The Knave rarely speaks during the trial. The Mad Hatter is called to give evidence but spends his entire time being nervous in front of the King and Queen of Hearts, and the Duchess's cook is summoned to tell the court what tarts are made of. Neither is a convincing witness, and the Knave does not provide the King of Hearts with a very good self-defense. He denies he wrote a letter that mysteriously appears in the court, but that he already knows isn't signed.
Alice diverts the attention of the court by growing ever and ever larger and arguing more and more, lastly with the Queen over the concept of "sentence first—verdict afterwards". Before a verdict can be reached for the Knave's innocence or guilt, Alice reaches full size and forcefulness, and then calls them "nothing but a pack of cards!"
It is believed by some people[1] that since Sir John Tenniel's illustration of the scene in chapter 12 has the Knave with small club outline shapes on his blouse, the ultimate nonsense is that the King and the Queen do not even have the correct person standing trial, this isn't the Knave of Hearts at all, and whoever it is is unwilling to clarify the matter. However, this would also suppose Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and everyone else missed it as well, and that Carroll inserted an unintroduced character. After calling him "the Knave of Hearts" twice in chapter 8, the rest of the chapter simply refers to him as "the Knave". The only other non-heart card characters in the book are the three gardeners (drawn as spades), the ten soldiers (described and drawn as clubs), and the ten courtiers (described as diamonds). For other illustrations involving the Knave, the original art by Carroll for chapter 12 and the chapter 8 drawing by both Carroll and Tenniel show no markings.[2] [3]
The Knave of Hearts appears briefly in the lineup of card soldiers as the Jack. Alice is put on trial by the Queen of Hearts when the Cheshire Cat made the flamingo she was using to turn her upside down to frames Alice instead of the Knave of Hearts being put on trial for stealing tarts made by the Queen.
| Ilosovic Stayne | |
| First: | Alice in Wonderland (2010) |
| Creator: | Lewis Carroll and Tim Burton |
| Portrayer: | Crispin Glover |
| Nickname: | Knave of Hearts |
| Occupation: | Knave |
| Gender: | Male |
| Nationality: | Wonderland |
Crispin Glover played the Knave of Hearts in the 2010 Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland.
His real name is given as Ilosovic Stayne who has a very tall appearance and wears a heart shaped eye patch covering his scarred left eye.
In the film, the relationship between the Knave and the Red Queen serves more as the Knave being the Queen's personal assassin. However, much like the other servants of the Queen, Stayne secretly hates her though he plays on her insecurities to secure his position.
During the fight between the Red Queen's army and the White Queen's, the Knave of Hearts fights against the Mad Hatter. After the Jabberwocky is slain by Alice, Stayne is also exiled to Outland with the Red Queen. He tries to kill the Red Queen only to be thwarted by Mad Hatter. As both of them are dragged to their exile, the Red Queen shouted "He tried to kill me" while the Knave of Hearts begged the White Queen to kill him.
He is also a major villain in the video game adaptation of the film and the second boss.
In the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, the Knave's skeleton is seen implying that he got his wish to die. At one point, a weakened Time asked the Knave's skeleton what the Red Queen did to him.