The royal and military names give Wonderland another set of recognizable roles: Queens, Kings, Knights, and the Ace of Spades.

The royal and military names give Wonderland another set of recognizable roles: Queens, Kings, Knights, and the Ace of Spades. The Ace is especially important in this later stretch because the conflict involves who gets to shape the realm. His takeover brings the difference between Calie’s purpose and her enemies’ purpose into the open. I read the card and chess language as a way of making power visible. A name immediately suggests a position, a side, or a relationship to other pieces. Then the actual character can complicate that expectation. That gives the later conflict a clear shape. Calie is trying to change the realm, while the Ace is imposing his own design on it. The names make the struggle recognizable; their choices give it meaning.