A character guide
Through the Looking-Glass
A familiar name, but a fuzzy memory? Get reacquainted with the cast and pick up the thread, with descriptions drawn from the book itself.
This guide covers the whole book and includes spoilers. Descriptions are generated by AI and may contain mistakes.
The cast
Names as they appear in this editionAlice
A curious seven-and-a-half-year-old girl who enters the Looking-Glass world and becomes a White Pawn in its chess game.
Dinah
Alice’s old cat and the mother of the kittens. Alice wonders whether Dinah became Humpty Dumpty in her dream.
White Kitten
Also known as Kitty
A kitten being washed by Dinah; Alice talks to it and imagines it as the Red Queen.
Black Kitten
A mischievous kitten that unravels Alice’s ball of worsted.
Snowdrop
A kitten whose milk the Black Kitten tries to take. Alice addresses Snowdrop while Dinah washes the White Kitten.
Alice’s sister
Alice’s sister, mentioned as someone Alice once argued with about pretending to be kings and queens; Alice later tells her about the dinner-party and her theory that Kitty was the Red Queen.
Alice’s old nurse
Alice’s nurse, whom Alice once startled with a pretend game.
Red Queen
A chess queen Alice meets in the Looking-Glass world. She guides Alice through the chessboard country, tells her she can become a queen, and later joins the White Queen in examining and hosting a dinner for her; Alice suspects the Red Queen was Kitty in her dream.
Red King
A chess king who sleeps under a tree; Tweedledum and Tweedledee say Alice exists in his dream. Alice wonders whether he or she dreamed the Looking-Glass adventure.
White King
A chess king whom Alice lifts and dusts after he falls among the ashes. He gives Humpty Dumpty a cravat and promises to have him rescued if he falls.
White Queen
A chess queen and Lily’s mother. Alice helps her with her shawl and hair; she later appears as the Sheep in a shop and joins Alice’s examination and dinner-party.
Lily
Also known as “Lily.”
The White Queen’s young daughter and a White Pawn, too young to play at first.
White Knight
A chess knight mentioned in the White King’s memorandum as sliding down a poker. Later, a White Knight rescues Alice from the Red Knight and escorts her toward the last brook.
Jabberwock
A fearsome creature in the poem, slain by the young hero with a vorpal sword.
Jubjub bird
A dangerous bird named in the poem as a creature to beware.
Bandersnatch
A fearsome creature named in the poem as one to avoid.
Young hero
Also known as my son · beamish boy
The son addressed in the poem, who kills the Jabberwock and returns with its head.
Father in “Jabberwocky”
The speaker who welcomes his son after the Jabberwock is slain.
Tiger-lily
A talking flower who leads the garden’s conversation and comments on the other flowers.
Rose
A talking flower who teases Alice and tells her about the thorny flower that can move.
Daisy
One of the talking daisies in the garden, which chimes in with the others.
Violet
A talking flower who criticizes Alice.
Larkspur
A talking flower who hears the Red Queen approaching.
Thorny flower
A red, bushy flower that can move about like Alice and wears thorns around its head.
Elephant
A large elephant Alice sees making honey among the enormous flowers.
Guard
A train official who demands Alice’s ticket and tells her she is travelling the wrong way.
Gentleman in white paper
A passenger on Alice’s train who advises her to take a return ticket whenever the train stops.
Goat
A train passenger sitting beside the gentleman in white paper.
Beetle
A train passenger who says Alice will have to go back as luggage.
Horse
A train passenger who puts his head out of the window and explains that the train must jump a brook.
Hoarse-voiced passenger
An unidentified passenger who begins to say “Change engines” before being cut off.
Gentle-voiced passenger
An unidentified passenger who suggests Alice should be labelled “Lass, with care.”
Gnat
A talking insect who rides with Alice on the train and later discusses insects and names with her.
Rocking-horse-fly
A wooden insect in the Looking-Glass wood that moves by swinging from branch to branch.
Snap-dragon-fly
A fantastical insect with a plum-pudding body, holly-leaf wings and a raisin head burning in brandy.
Bread-and-Butterfly
A fantastical insect with bread-and-butter wings, a crust body and a sugar-lump head.
Fawn
A gentle creature who walks with Alice through the nameless wood; when they leave it, they recognize each other as a Fawn and a human child.
Tweedledum
One of two brothers Alice meets in the wood; he quarrels with Tweedledee over his new rattle.
Tweedledee
One of two brothers Alice meets in the wood; he recites “The Walrus and the Carpenter” and quarrels with Tweedledum.
Crow
Also known as monstrous crow
A huge crow whose arrival frightens Tweedledum and Tweedledee and interrupts their planned battle.
Walrus
A figure in Tweedledee’s poem who lures the Oysters on a walk and eats them.
Carpenter
A figure in Tweedledee’s poem who walks with the Walrus and eats the Oysters.
Eldest Oyster
The eldest of the Oysters in the poem, who refuses to leave the oyster-bed.
Young Oysters
The Oysters in the poem who follow the Walrus and Carpenter onto the shore and are eaten.
King’s Messenger
A royal messenger whom the White Queen says is imprisoned before his trial and before his crime has occurred.
Sheep
Also known as White Queen
An old, spectacled Sheep who knits in a shop and takes Alice rowing; she is the White Queen transformed.
Humpty Dumpty
An egg-shaped character seated on a high wall. He speaks with Alice about language and explains the poem “Jabberwocky”; the White King and Queen gave him a cravat.
Haigha
The White King’s Anglo-Saxon Messenger, who skips and wriggles when happy. He brings the King news and food, and introduces Alice to the Unicorn.
Hatta
The White King’s other Messenger, recently released from prison. He watches the Lion and Unicorn fight and reports on it to the King.
Lion
One of two creatures fighting over the White King’s crown. He competes with the Unicorn and calls Alice a monster.
Unicorn
One of two creatures fighting over the White King’s crown. He meets Alice, who thought Unicorns were fabulous monsters, and makes a bargain to believe in each other.
Red Knight
A knight in crimson armour who claims Alice as his prisoner and fights the White Knight for her.
Speaker in “The Aged Aged Man”
The narrator of the song the White Knight sings, who questions and mistreats an old man.
Aged aged man
Also known as old man in “The Aged Aged Man”
An old man in the White Knight’s song who describes his strange ways of making a living.
Creature with a long beak
An unidentified creature who briefly speaks from behind the door at Queen Alice’s entrance and refuses admittance until the week after next.
Frog
A very old, yellow-clad Frog with enormous boots who tells Alice to leave the door alone.
Leg of mutton
Also known as Mutton
A personified joint introduced to Alice at her dinner-party, which bows and speaks in protest when she tries to serve it.
Pudding
Also known as plum-pudding
A personified plum-pudding at Alice’s dinner-party that objects when she cuts it a slice.