Alice Madness Returns: The Story Explained

Comments · 3.3K

• OM

  @omegagiga43 · 5 years ago

  I haven't heard this title in years...Seriously, one of the best games I've ever played. The story is fantastic, and Alice is such a well-written character. She's mentally ill, has trauma, selfish, smug, and sarcastic, but she's also intelligent, empathetic, righteous, caring, and truly good underneath all the walls and hard edges she puts up. And I love how her mental illness and trauma were not romanticized. They were treated something she has to live and deal with, and she dealt with them like how a person with obligations and other daily responsibilities would deal with them. I really hope American McGee continues more with Alice, whether that's a prequel, sequel, inter-quel, whatever. I don't want her story to be over yet.

  6.9K

• MA

  @MagicalMaster · 5 years ago

  I think the reason the vale of tears is initially beautiful is that it's her outermost layer of her mind. The small part of herself that's managed to heal somewhat and can put forward a lovely face to the outside world. It's even called the Veil of Tears because it represents the healthy grieving she's done and how it's allowed her to heal a little bit with the dead Jabberwock as one demon slain, but sadly there are many more to go.

  2K

• KA

  @katieneves · 2 years ago (edited)

  “You’ve used me and abused me, but you will not destroy me.”- Alice Liddel.<br>such a powerful line there, I (whose also suffers from a mental illness) find this incredibly empowering because for me, just because I suffer mentally and ppl label me as useless and dare I say crazy, it doesn’t mean that I’m a threat to society or dangerous, I had gotten to the point where I just felt bad for not being like anybody else who was “normal” when I was younger

  2.2K

• EV

  @Evilgidgit4Ever · 5 years ago

  If I could elaborate on a few more things, specifically what certain characters symbolise -- this is what happen when I obsess over a game for 10 years!<br>-Dr. Bumby killed the White Rabbit early on, as he was a direct link to Alice&apos;s memories and higher senses.<br>-The Cheshire Cat is likely Alice&apos;s conscience or inner voice, telling her what to do and info she must hear.<br>-The Jabberwock personified Alice&apos;s guilt. His bones appear because she overcame her guilt in the first game.<br>-The Mad Hatter is Alice&apos;s self-preservation, taken apart by his former friends to allow the Infernal Train to be built. The Hatter blames Alice for ignoring/forgetting what she sensed about Bumby&apos;s actions (&quot;Forgetting is forgetting, then they call it something else.&quot;)<br>-The March Hare and Dormouse personify the parts of Alice&apos;s mind that wished to forget the past, but also the cruelty of the Industrial Revolution.<br>-The Mock Turtle not only personifies Alice&apos;s grief and depression, but also may have been a key part of her mental defences, removed from his position as the conductor of Looking Glass Line, a necessary move to let Dr. Bumby insert the train into Alice&apos;s psyche.<br>-The Carpenter is Alice&apos;s own ignorance, sending her on a wild goose chase to hide the truth from her. The Walrus likely personifies how Alice sees sexual predators and clientele for prostitutes.<br>-The theatre&apos;s contributors (drunk octopus, bottle-shaped music fish, oyster girls) represent alcoholism and prostitution.<br>-The Caterpillar is Alice&apos;s high senses, inner wisdom, logic, and reason.<br>-The White King&apos;s insistence on sacrifice symbolises Alice&apos;s need to sacrifice her own focus on her own pain to save the children.<br>-The Tweedles are based on two orderlies who abused Alice in the asylum.<br>-The little girl who leads the Insane Children is the part of Alice&apos;s mind that knew the truth, but the Dollmaker later rips her eyes out to stop Alice from gaining &quot;clear sight&quot; of things.

  9.4K

• MA

  @MariuigiKhed · 5 years ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoTP3Mm25f0&amp;t=1054">17:34</a> I always feared the Executioner, now I can&apos;t stop laughing after I deafeted him. <br>Everytime he ungrips his scythe, I can&apos;t stop thinking him saying &quot;I don&apos;t get paid enough for this sh-t.&quot;

  585

• MR

  @MrKlausbaudelaire · 5 years ago (edited)

  Something fascinating about the game is how the &quot;infection&quot; works its way like a violent industrialization of Wonderland. By erasing memories and making the children blank, its like he turned the organic part of their mind mechanical, just like the corruption is represented by an oil-like sludge that burns bright and is carried by a massive train, how the Hatter&apos;s workshop became an imposing factory and how the very last level, the &quot;attic&quot; of the dollhouse, looks like a sweatshop where Bumby turns children into &quot;dolls&quot;.<br>Also, the soundtrack of this game is SUBLIME! My first time playing it I actualy stopped at the menu because the song got me so enthralled I forgot what I was doing xD

  1K

• MA

  @margaretmcfarland793 · 5 years ago (edited)

  At <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoTP3Mm25f0&amp;t=1188">19:48</a><br>I think it was hinted in the first game that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle dum were real nurses who treated Alice when she was in the asylum through some of their dialogues. I remember them mocking Alice a lot before she fought them.

  2.6K

• MI

  @MirthCap · 5 years ago (edited)

  Also, if any of you didn&apos;t notice; there are different astrological symbols on each of the pocket dresses she wore. Each of them shows the meaning of the themes with each own current stages like Misstitched dress with Mars (♂) Ruler of lust; represents the Dollmaker. <br>The other symbol is Ceres which is the Roman goddess and ruler of the harvest (harvesting children for lustful purposes), during her time at the Dollhouse, near the end. If want to know, there&apos;s the wiki that shows each meaning for each dresses. The deeper meaning of significant details that had given were pretty much understated, so props to McGee. Like damn.

  1.2K

• CO

  @Coin_operated_doll · 4 years ago

  When the kid said “Don’t desert us…again” It hurt because Alice is the only one who has not been brainwashed by the doctor to forget…But whilst she is gone the doctor resumes his Horrible acts upon all the kids…

  5.6K

• WI

  @winged_cat_4571 · 5 years ago

  My interpretation of the ending of the game is Alice breaking free from her past and pain finding the strength to move forward. As a result of this she no longer sees reality as painful instead seeing it as a safe place thus making the two worlds one.

  888

• GL

  @gladiusexe3870 · 5 years ago

  I personally think that the most interesting thing about this game is how The Dollhouse appears now that The Dollmaker rules it. It gives the vibe that it may have once been a place full of happy doll children and bright colors, but now it is a place built out of fragments and ruin as the surviving inhabitants hide from their corrupted former friends.

  461

• SE

  @SeraliaAerials · 4 years ago

  I never realized that Madness Returns was a sequel. It definitely makes sense but that game does such a good job of keeping you up to speed and telling the story that as long as you have basic knowledge of Alice in Wonderland you can make the connection easily.

  1.3K