Disney Wiki
Advertisement
Disney Wiki

Time is a cruel master.
No, Time is a thief, and a villain.
―Alice and her mother describing Time[src]
I used to think time was a thief. But you give before you take. Time is a gift. Every minute. Every second.
―Alice to Time about her changed opinions about him.[src]


Time is the main antagonist in the 2016 Disney film Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to the 2010 film.

Background[]

Time himself, is, as per his namesake, the personification of the concept of time. He presides within his castle in The Void, carrying out his duties of monitoring the lifespans of Underland's residents. His body is described to be 'half human half clock', built very much like a clockwork automaton, and it shows within the Grand Clock mechanism on his chest and the contraption on his nape.

Personality[]

Initially, Time presents himself as an eternal and immortal figure, eager to display his majesty to his visitors - in front of other people, he is strict, only wanting concise answers and is demanding, especially of his minions, the Seconds. So demanding, in fact, that he can even come off as nonsensical in an Underlandian fashion. He often refers to the concept of time in regular conversation as himself, of course. Even if he treats the Seconds rather strictly, if he knows that he has been too stern, he cares deeply for his Seconds as if they were his children.

He desires to be treated with respect (albeit not getting it most of the time, with his general treatment from Iracebeth and Tarrant Hightopp's friends), often ticked off if he is made fun of for a prolonged time; if he is tricked in a way that is detrimental to his plans, say, Tarrant tricking him out of waiting for no-one through basic wordplay: "I didn't say she was coming, old bean, I said I had only invited her!", he is not above punishing those who have gone too far with an appropriate punishment, being halting them until Alice arrives.

Once he is in a relationship, however, he is eager to please the other party at even his own expense. To exemplify this is his list of services to his lover, Iracebeth: he built her a castle within a day, gave her an entire court of plant people, often gives her gifts and is ever willing to give anything else up, even Wilkins. His only boundary set for himself is the Chronosphere as his duty to protect his own lifeforce. He is also very gentle with the lives he has ended as well, treating them with respect and putting them away in a manner that is akin to tucking them in and putting them to sleep.

He even offers to fix anything that has been presented to him, for example Charles Kingsleigh's watch, not even thinking of the possibility that he may be gifted it. This implies that he is far too generous for his own good, only thinking for the good of others; this makes him a very fatherly figure much like the portrayal of Father Time.

Appearances[]

Alice Through the Looking Glass[]

Time is first seen when Alice enters his castle to retrieve the Chronosphere, or at the very least ask for permission to be lent it for how long she needs to save the Hightopps. Time is first seen extinguishing the life of Brilliam Hinkle, framing him as a villain, but quickly subverting it when he treats the dead soul with care. He catches Alice and introduces himself as the infinite, eternal, immortal and immeasurable (if without a clock) Time, and tells her that if she has something to say, she has to make it quick. He shows her the Grand Clock, he shows her his Seconds and his butler Wilkins, then brings her to the palace parlor to discuss what she needs. Alice tells him a long winded contextual story of the Hightopps' demise and the mortal danger her friend is in, but Time speeds it up only to halt it at the mention of the Chronosphere - he denies the use of it, and wills her to leave.

He prepares for a date with his esteemed liebchen, Iracebeth, and presents her a gift upon her arrival - she chucks it away and mopes about her desire for the Chronosphere, to which Time tries to comfort, while Alice swipes the Chronosphere, right behind his back. It injures him, prompting him to run to Alice's location and dispatch the Minutes. As Alice leaves and escapes from the Minutes, he is slapped by Iracebeth, then goes to build the Tempus Fugit, a handcar-esque time travel device that makes him catch up to her. He confronts Alice and knocks her into Toomalie Day, subsequently being swept into near the same timeframe, right into Tarrant's tea party.

During the tea party, he is under the belief that Alice is arriving when she was only invited, and is treated to puns about his name en masse by Tarrant, Mallymkun, and Thackery, then Chessur. Once he realizes their diversion, he locks the triad a minute before tea-time before leaving. This is not the pause that was shown in the previous film, as that specific pause was due to Tarrant attempting to kill Time just after Horunvendush Day; this pause was resolved by younger 9-year old Alice.

Later when Alice outside studies Tarrant's father, she then remembers Time in the Underlandians Deceased section where it is then known that the names of the Hightopp family are not displayed there but rather missing. Time then confronts Alice at the clock shop in Fell Day, commanding Alice to give her back the Chronosphere to keep the Grand Clock active, warning her that the Grand Clock must not stop as Alice cannot escape from him. Alice then tells Time that she will use the Chronosphere one last time to travel to the past Horunvendush Day event, but Time warns her that she will alter the present if she brings the missing family from the past to the present. Time then attempts to catch her, but fails to do so in time as Alice escapes from him via mirror.

Later, Time then reports to his lover Iracebeth about the Hightopps under the impression that she knows where Alice is, and that he has not retrieved the Chronosphere back, which results in him being chained to a chair beside the dead Ilosovic Stayne, hair and eyepatch affixed to his skull, his skeleton in his armor and all. He is then sent back to his castle by the Underlandian animals and the Tweedles after they free themselves (plus Alice and Tarrant) from their cage, and is encrusted with rust just before Alice manages to get the Chronosphere on the pedestal in time. She does manage it, though.

At the end of the movie, he forgives Alice's actions and gratefully receives her gift of her father's watch, accepting her as a friend, only to tell her to never come back (hopefully only referring to his palace).

During the 2D animated scene in the credits showing the aftermath of the movie, Time is drinking tea with the Mad Hatter and the others. He tries to trick the Hatter but is then promptly out-tricked, showing that he has his own sense of humor.

Trivia[]

  • Time is based on the mentioned character of the same name from the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland book. In it, the Hatter explains that a year prior he had been asked to perform at the Queen of Heart's concert. Because he was poor at keeping time in his song (as the Queen put it, "murdering the time"), he and Time have been on poor terms since, and Time has kept him stuck at six o'clock (tea time).
  • Time was mentioned in the video game adaptation of the first film, in which Tarrant Hightopp explains that Time ran away because Tarrant tried to kill him when Alice didn't return, keeping Tarrant frozen in time.
  • At first, he seems to be the film's main antagonist, and is marketed as such. However, it is revealed that he is actually the anti-hero and the Red Queen was the main antagonist. Despite this, the Red Queen begins her redemption at the end of the movie.
  • Time was conceptually going to have a pet serpent that resided within the moat of his castle, but was removed. A possible reason for this is because the serpent itself was comprised of or covered in bodies.[1][2]
  • James Bobin, the director, thinks of Time as a buffoon.
  • Time's skin was edited to be reminiscent of silicone.[3]
  • The sides of the cylindrical contraption on his neck is reminiscent of the letter wheel on the back of the Pierre Jaquet-Droz writer automaton. Therefore, the function of the cylinder itself may involve language processing.
  • If he fixes a broken life watch, it reverts himself (all time) or generally the present back to when the person was not dead, and possibly results in the person not dying. This is the safest way to travel back in time, though the one experiencing it will not be able to retain their memories. As the one he fixed is Charles Kingsleigh, (given that the reader of the book source chooses to do so, and is the only example of this happening) it is implied that Alice Kingsleigh's father is Underlandian. Ergo, Alice herself may be Half-Underlandian. [4]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. "Graphic Design for Film". karenteneyck.com (2016)
  2. "Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass". laurentbenmimoun.myportfolio.com (2014).
  3. Redd, Jay (June 21, 2016). "Alice Through The Looking Glass: Jay Redd – VFX Supervisor – Sony Pictures Imageworks". Art of VFX.
  4. A Matter of Time, p. 107
v - e - d
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland logo
Media
Films: Alice in Wonderland (video/soundtrack) • Alice Through the Looking Glass (video/soundtrack)

Video Games: Disney INFINITYDisney Infinity: 2.0 Editionvideo gameDisney Crossy Road
Music: Almost Alice

Disney Parks
Alice in Wonderland MazeMad T Party

Halloween: The Nightmare ExperimentTreat Trails

Characters
Alice KingsleighCharles KingsleighMargaret KingsleighHelen KingsleighLady AscotLord AscotHamish AscotFiona and Faith ChattawayNivins McTwispTarrant HightoppThackery EarwicketMallyAbsolemThe Tweedle BoysChessurUilleamBielleBayardFrog ServantsTall FlowersThe Red QueenThe White QueenKnave of HeartsMonkey ServantsBandersnatchThe Jub Jub BirdJabberwockyArmored CardsArmored Chess PiecesRed Queen's CourtiersExecutionerTimeWilkinsSecondsKing Oleron and Queen ElsemereZanik HightoppTyva HightoppHightopp ClanDr. Addison BennetNobody
Objects
PishsalverUpelkuchenOraculumVorpal SwordChronosphereMad Hatter's hat
Locations
EnglandLondonUnderlandThe Red Queen's CastleThe White Queen's CastleTime's Castle
Songs
Alice's ThemeAliceJust Like FireWhite Rabbit
See Also
1951 filmThe Lion and the UnicornOmaque Umpqua


v - e - d
Disney infinity logo
Games
Disney InfinityDisney Infinity: 2.0 EditionDisney Infinity: 3.0 Edition
Playable Characters
Disney Infinity: Jack SparrowMr. IncredibleSulleySorcerer MickeyLightning McQueenWoodyMaterBuzz LightyearMike WazowskiRandall BoggsHector BarbossaDavy JonesElastigirlDash ParrViolet ParrSyndromeJohn ReidTontoJack SkellingtonPhineas FlynnPerry the PlatypusJessieWreck-It RalphVanellope von SchweetzRapunzelElsaAnnaHolley ShiftwellFrancesco Bernoulli

Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition: Iron ManCaptain AmericaHulkBlack WidowThor OdinsonHawkeyeNick FuryLoki LaufeysonMaleficentMeridaSpider-ManVenomIron FistNovaGreen GoblinRocket RaccoonGrootStar-LordGamoraDrax the DestroyerStitchTinker BellAladdinJasmineDonald DuckBaymaxHiro HamadaFalconYonduSam FlynnQuorra
Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition: YodaUltronLuke SkywalkerFa MulanAnakin Skywalker/Darth VaderLeia OrganaHan SoloAhsoka TanoDarth MaulObi-Wan KenobiFinnReyPoe DameronKylo RenJoySadnessAngerFearDisgustMinnie MouseOlafChewbaccaHulkbuster Iron ManEzra BridgerKanan JarrusGarazeb OrreliosSabine WrenBoba FettSpotJudy HoppsNick WildePeter PanBalooCaptain America - The First AvengerBlack PantherVisionAnt-ManAliceMad HatterTimeDoryNemo

Non-Playable Characters
Disney Infinity: HammRexSlinky DogZurgJoshamee GibbsPintel and RagettiMaccusEdna ModeRick DickerMirageLuigiRamoneFloChick HicksThe KingGuidoFinn McMissileCarla VelosoTractorsArtScott "Squishy" SquibblesTerri and Terry PerryDon CarltonEaster Bunny

Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition: WaspCaptain MarvelAnt-Man (Hank Pym)SifMODOKFrost GiantsIron PatriotWinter SoldierMysterioDoctor OctopusBlack CatWhite TigerLuke CageJ. Jonah JamesonCosmo the SpacedogThe CollectorThe WitchPleakleyGolden Harp
Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition: R2-D2C-3POJabba the HuttJar Jar BinksMace WinduPadmé AmidalaKing CandyMarshmallowYokaiBattle DroidsMarlinBruceAnglerfishSeagullsHankDestinyBaileyJellyfish

Objects
SparksCruella's carRatcatcherPumpkin CoachLightsaberDarkwing Duck's gas gunBlack PearlIdentity DiscPlasma Blaster Mark ICandy KartKing Candy's Royal RacerPizza Planet TruckRecognizerBathtubLight RunnerPixar BallThe Jolly Roger (Disney Parks version) • The Electric Mayhem BusBaseball Launcher


v - e - d
Disney Crossy Road Logo
Media
Disney Crossy RoadSoundtrack
Disney
Mickey Mouse & Friends: MickeyMinnieDonaldDaisyGoofyPlutoFifiPeteClarabelle CowHorace HorsecollarWillie the GiantChip and DaleMortimer MouseChief O'HaraDetective CaseyButch the BulldogGolden HarpFather TimePeter Pig

The Lion King: SimbaNalaShenzi, Banzai, and EdOstrichGazelleRhinoHippoZebraBlue BeetleGrubZazuRafikiTimonPumbaaMufasaScar
Tangled: RapunzelFlynn RiderStabbington BrothersPub ThugsAttilaVladBig NoseHook HandUlfShortyPascalMaximusMother GothelThe KingThe QueenCaptain of the GuardsWarthogThe Lantern
Wreck-It Ralph: RalphVanellopeFelixSgt. CalhounKing CandyTaffyta MuttonfudgeCandleheadSurge ProtectorGeneNicelandersRancis FluggerbutterOther Sugar Rush RacersSour BillBlue RacerGeneral Hologram
Big Hero 6: Hiro HamadaBaymaxRobert CallaghanGo Go TomagoHoney LemonWasabiFredFred's DadTadashi HamadaCassYamaAlistair KreiHeathcliffAbbigail CallaghanMegabotSergeant GersonCass
Zootopia: Judy HoppsNick WildeFlashClawhauserGazelleYaxBogoMayor LionheartBellwetherDougFinnickMr. BigMr. OttertonManchasGideonJerry Jumbeaux Jr.NangiPriscillaMr. HoppsMrs. HoppsBusiness LemmingDuke WeaseltonFru FruKozlovOfficer McHornWrangledWreck-It RhinoPig Hero 6
The Jungle Book: MowgliKaaBalooAkelaRakshaGrayShere KhanColonel HathiKing LouieBandar-Log MonkeyFlying SquirrelCrocodilePeacockVultureElephantBee HiveClassic BalooClassic King Louie
Alice Through the Looking Glass: Alice KingsleighDormouseTweedledee and TweedledumCheshire CatBandersnatchBayardWhite QueenMarch HareWhite RabbitMad HatterAbsolemTimeWilkinsHumpty DumptyRed QueenBorogroveFrog Delivery ManGentleman FishVegetable SoldierVegetable ServantVegetable ExecutionerArmored Chess Piece
Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack SparrowWill TurnerElizabeth SwannJoshamee GibbsTia DalmaJames NorringtonMartyCottonBootstrap BillPintelRagettiAngelicaBlackbeardPrison DogMaccusDavy JonesHelmsmanPhilip SwiftSyrenaCaptain SalazarGhost LesaroShansaHenry TurnerCarina SmythThe RedheadMurtoggMullroyTreasure ChestStray CatTinyPirate With PigsGhost SharkGhost SeagullAuctioneer
Aladdin: AladdinJasmineThe SultanPrince AchmedGazeemRazoulRajahIagoAbuGenieJafarMagic CarpetPink FlamingoBeggar JafarGolden Scarab BeetleMagic LampSnake CharmerGolden Camel
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack SkellingtonSallyLock, Shock, and BarrelOogie BoogieSanta ClausBehemothWolfmanCorpse FamilyVampiresMummy BoyMayor of Halloween TownDr. FinkelsteinJewelHarlequin DemonZeroCreature Under the StairsHanging TreeHelgamine and ZeldabornMelting ManSkeletal ReindeerEaster BunnyMr. HydeIgorWinged DemonDevilCyclopsMummy BoyAccordion Player, Bass Player, and Saxophone PlayerZombie Toy DuckVampire Teddy
Mulan: MulanYao, Ling, and Chien PoFa LiFa ZhouHayabusaKhanCri-KeeLittle BrotherMushuShan YuCaptain Li ShangThe Emperor of ChinaThe MatchmakerGeneral LiGrandmother FaFirst Ancestor FaChi-FuGreat Stone Dragon
Moana: MoanaSinaFrigatebirdChief TuiGramma TalaPuaFrigatebirdKakamora ChiefMauiHeiHeiGhost MataiEelTamatoaFrog MonsterSloth MonsterEight Eyed BatChicken FeedMaui's HookThe Ocean
Beauty and the Beast: BelleMauriceChip PottsMrs. PottsGastonLeFouFrouFrouChapeauPlumetteBeastCogsworthLumiereThe Enchantress
Lilo & Stitch: Lilo PelekaiNani PelekaiDavid KawenaMrs. HasagawaMertle EdmondsStitch
DuckTales: Scrooge McDuckDonald Duck (Classic)Huey, Dewey, and LouieWebbigail VanderquackMrs. BeakleyBeagle Boys (Big Time, Burger, and Bouncer)GyroDarkwing DuckFalcon GravesPixiu Chinese DragonPeghook's GhostLaunchpad McQuackHack and Slash SmashnikovGizmoduckShadow MagicaMa BeagleFlintheart GlomgoldPharaoh Toth-RaHeadless Man-Horse

Pixar
Toy Story: WoodyJessieBuzz LightyearHammEmperor ZurgRexSlinky DogMrs. NesbitBo PeepWheezyBabyheadBullseyeLennyThe ProspectorMint in the Box ProspectorTrixieBig BabyGreen Army MenBabyfaceJaney DollStretchBookwormRocky GibraltarMr. PricklepantsChucklesButtercup

Inside Out: JoySadnessAngerDisgustFearBing BongFrank and DaveForgettersJanglesRainbow Unicorn
Finding Dory: DoryDebGurglePearlSheldonTadGillBloatSquirtNemoMarlinJacquesBubblesDestinyBaileyGeraldFlukeRudderHankCrushMr. RayBeckyJellyfishAnglerFishOtterCharlieJennyPhilip Sherman
Monsters, Inc.: BooNeedlemanWaxfordC.D.A. AgentMike WazowskiCelia MaeFlintMr. WaternooseJames P. SullivanRandall BoggsRozPhlegmCharlieSimulation KidGarbage CubeHarleySpike
The Incredibles: Bob ParrHelen ParrDashVioletJack-JackLucius BestSyndromeEdna ModeRick DickerGilbert HuphKari McKeenBomb VoyageRusty McAllisterThe UnderminerOmnidroid

Disney Parks
The Haunted Mansion: Professor Phineas PlumpMaidGargoyleCaretaker and DogButlerSally SlaterHeadless KnightExecutionerSpiderMadame LeotaRavenConstance the BrideThe OratorThe Cat LadyThe MedusaThe MuseArmorDoom Buggy
Advertisement