Pishsalver[1] (pronounced pish-alver) is a potion that exists in Underland. When someone drinks it, it makes them shrink to a certain size depending on the amount ingested, as seen in the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland.
Background[]
When someone drinks a Pishsalver potion, they will shrink to a certain size that is determined by the amount of the potion that was ingested. The more a Pishsalver potion is drunk, the smaller whoever drank it will shrink. It has a very unpleasant taste.
In terms of appearance, Pishsalver is a clear liquid with a slight yellow-green tint.
Recipe[]
The recipe for Pishsalver is:
- A pinch of worm fat
- Urine of a Horsefly
- Buttered fingers
- Three coins from a dead man's pocket
- Two teaspoons of Wishful Thinking
The recipe ends with the White Queen spitting into the mixed ingredients.
Appearances[]
Alice in Wonderland[]
After Alice fails down the rabbit hole into the Round Hall, she finds a door that is too small to fit through. She finds a bottle of Pishsalver labelled "DRINK ME" and drinks some, coughing at its vile taste. The potion makes her shrink until she is small enough to fit through the door. Later, at the Mad Hatter Tarrant's tea party when the Knave of Hearts arrives in search of Alice, the Hatter makes Alice drink some more Pishsalver so that she will become small enough to hide inside of a teapot. Finally, after having eaten some Upelkuchen earlier, a large Alice arrives at the White Queen's castle, where she is taken to the kitchen. The White Queen brews some Pishsalver and has Alice drink some, returning her to her normal size.
Alice Through the Looking Glass[]
Though it is not seen in the movie, it is likely what the Red Queen used to shrink the Hightopp Clan so as to trap them in an ant farm. In a deleted scene, a bottle of dark purple liquid similarly labelled "DRINK ME" is seen on a table in the Red Queen's chambers in her Outlands lairamong instruments of torture and her decapitation toy.[2]
In its novelization, in the ruins of Horunvendush Day after the Jabberwocky's attack, Alice sees a pig-like creature (mistakenly referred to as a tove) drink from a spilled barrel of Pishsalver and shrink as it walks away.[3]
Trivia[]
- The equivalent of Pishsalver in the animated film is the Drink Me Bottle.
- Unlike the drink in both the animated film and the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which has a pleasant mixed flavor of various foods, Pishsalver tastes very bad.
- The potion's name is likely a portmanteau of the following words:
- The Irish word "pis" (pea, referring to the drink making one small), the Scots word "pish" (vulgar slang for urine, referring to the drink's bad taste), and/or the English phrase "pish posh" (meaning nonsense)
- "Halver" (referring to how the drink reduces, or halves, one's size) or "salver" (in English, one who salves or cures; in Danish, a form of "salve", referring to an ointment or salve).
- Though the word is pronounced "pish-alver", the subtitles for the video game adaptation and on Disney+ spell it Pishsalver. The first film's official novelization mistakenly spells it both ways, though it's sequel's novelization spells it properly.
- In the video game adaptation:
- Although the drink in the movie only has a mild yellow-green tint, it is a vibrant green in the video game adaptation.
- Similar to the early draft of the film, when Alice meets the White Queen she is smaller than normal instead of larger. As opposed to that draft or the movie, the White Queen gives her a yellow drink called Perfectly Normal, which returns the drinker to their normal size.
References[]
- ā Video game and Disney+ subtitles
- ā Alice Through the Looking Glass Blu-Ray deleted scene: "Racie in the Castle"
- ā "There was nobody to hear, except for a lone tove. The piglike animal slurped at the spilled liquid of a pishsalver barrel. As it trotted away, it began to shrink, but Alice was focused on a wink of blue sheād just noticed amid the devastation." (Alice Through the Looking Glass novelization (Chapter 9, p. 57) by Kari Sutherland)
