3/9

3/9 Drake Liddle brings the Hatter directly into the Liddle family. He is Alice's brother and Johnny's uncle. Before Wonderland, he was already abusing Johnny. The supernatural transformation comes after that human cruelty, which matters when tracing where Johnny's damage began. Charles Dodgson discovers what Drake has done and sends him through the mirror. Drake's own origin story places him at the mercy of the March Hare and the horrors of the tea party. The man who emerges as the Hatter is someone Wonderland has remade, but the realm did not invent his capacity to hurt a child. That is part of what makes Drake so disturbing. His position in the family should have made him someone Johnny could trust. Instead, he is dangerous before the mirror and dangerous on the other side of it. By the time Calie encounters the Hatter in Return to Wonderland, the costume conceals a connection to her own family. Understanding that connection changes the encounter considerably.