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It's all her fancy, that: they never executes nobody, you know.
—Gryphon[src]

The Gryphon is a fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll in the popular book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. True to the conventional view of a griffin, he has the head, talons, and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.

Role and personality

The Gryphon appears to be somewhat overbearing and dismissive of the obsessions and dismays of other characters, such as the Mock Turtle's sorrow and the Queen of Hearts' executions, neither of which (according to the Gryphon) have any basis in fact. He speaks with a slightly ungrammatical Cockney-like accent and makes demands of the Mock Turtle, which are obeyed despite the latter creature's implicit objections. In addition, he is prone to making cough-like sounds written as "Hjckrrh!", which seem to have little meaning and may be involuntary.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Gryphon features with the Mock Turtle in Chapter 9, "The Mock Turtle's Story", Chapter 10, "The Lobster Quadrille", and briefly at the start of Chapter 11, "Who Stole the Tarts?". The Gryphon was ordered by the Queen to take Alice to meet the Mock Turtle; this he did, and stayed with them for a long time, demanding that the Mock Turtle tell its history, as well as several poems. The two creatures go on to explain certain features of their world which are apparently nonsense to Alice, before Alice and the Gryphon are summoned to a criminal trial, leaving the Mock Turtle behind.

Film adaptations

  • The Gryphon appeared in the 1933 Alice in Wonderland, played by William Austin.
  • The Gryphon was to be featured in Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland, but the part was deleted. Although he and the Mock Turtle appeared in a Jell-O commercial.
  • The Gryphon appeared in the 1966 Alice in Wonderland TV film, played by Malcolm Muggeridge.
  • The Gryphon appeared in the 1976 Alice in Wonderland film, played by Spike Milligan.
  • The Gryphon appeared in the 1985 Alice in Wonderland movie, played by Sid Caesar.
  • The Gryphon appeared in Dreamchild, performed by Ron Mueck and voiced by Fulton Mackay.
  • The Gryphon appeared in the 1999 Alice in Wonderland TV film voiced by Donald Sinden. The Gryphon was operated by David Alan Barclay, Adrian Getley, and Robert Tygner.
  • In the 2010 Alice in Wonderland film, the Gryphon appeared as an "in memoriam" drawing on the wall of the Red Queen's palace, having been killed by the Jabberwocky.

In other media

  • Gryphon appeared in the video game American McGee's Alice.
  • In the anime and manga series Pandora Hearts Gryphon is a chain for Xai Vessalius who is also similar to the Gryphon in the book.
           Alice in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Through the Looking-Glass | The Hunting of the Snark

🐰Universe🎩
Characters
Alice | White Rabbit | Dodo | Bill the Lizard | Caterpillar | Duchess | Cheshire Cat | March Hare | Hatter | Dormouse
Queen of Heats | King of Hearts | Knave of Heats | Gryphon | Mock Turtle | Red Queen | White Queen | Red King
White King | White Knight | Tweedledum and Tweedledee | Sheep | Humpty Dumpty | The Lion and the Unicorn
Bandersnatch | Jubjub bird
Locations
Wonderland | Looking-glass world
Related
Lewis Carroll | The Annotated Alice | Mischmasch
Works based on Alice in Wonderland (Films and television | Disney franchise)
Translations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Translations of Through the Looking-Glass | Unbirthday

🐰Media🎩
Film
1903 | 1910 | 1915 | 1931 | 1933 | 1949 | 1951 | 1966 | 1972 | 1976 | 1982 | 1985 | 1987 | 1988 (Czechoslovak)
1988 (Australian) | 1995 | 1999
Stage
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (ballet) | Alice in Wonderland (musical) | Alice in Wonderland (opera)
But Never Jam Today (Carroll musical) | Wonderland (Wildhorn musical) | Peter and Alice (2013 play)
Wonder.land (Albarn musical)
Television
Fushigi no Kuni no Alice | Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Poems
"All in the golden afternoon..." | "How Doth the Little Crocodile" | "The Mouse's Tale" | "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"
"You Are Old, Father William" | "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster" | "Jabberwocky" | "The Walrus and the Carpenter"
"Haddocks' Eyes" | "The Mock Turtle's Song" | "The Hunting of the Snark"
Sequels
A New Alice in the Old Wonderland (1895) | New Adventures of Alice (1917) | Alice of Wonderland in Paris (1966)
Alice Through the Needle's Eye (1984) | Automated Alice (1996)
Wonderland Revisited and the Games Alice Played There (2009)
Retellings
The Nursery "Alice" (1890) | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland retold in words of one syllable (1905)
Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland (2010)
Parodies
The Westminster Alice (1902) | Clara in Blunderland (1902) | Lost in Blunderland (1903)
John Bull's Adventures in the Fiscal Wonderland (1904) | Alice in Blunderland: An Iridescent Dream (1904)
Imitations
Davy and the Goblin (1884) | The Admiral's Caravan (1891) | Gladys in Grammarland (1896) | A New Wonderland (1898)
Rollo in Emblemland (1902) | Justnowland (1912) | Alice in Orchestralia (1925)
Reimagining
Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1966) | Alice or the Last Escapade (1977)
Adventures in Wonderland (1991) | The Looking Glass Wars (2006) | Alice (2009) | Malice in Wonderland (2009)
Alice in Wonderland (2010) | Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
Literary
Alice in Murderland | Alice in the Country of Hearts | Miyuki-chan in Wonderland
Video games
Alice no Paint Adventure (1995) | Alice in Wonderland (2000) | American McGee's Alice (2000) | Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Alice: Madness Returns (2011)

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