Characters / The 10th Kingdom

Virginia Lewis

Played by: Kimberly Williams-Paisley

• Boyish Short Hair: After Wolf is forced to cut her long hair with the magic axe, she accidentally ends up with this look. It was previously a Tomboyish Ponytail.
• Damsel in Distress: Despite being the main character this still happens to her more than once, though it's perfectly justified since she's in a world she doesn't understand and, as she herself points out, she's just a waitress. Tony and Wolf both also end up needing rescue several times as well.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Initially standoffish and somewhat cold, but time in the kingdoms sheds light on why she is the way she is and she eventually falls for Wolf for real.
• The Hero: Set up as such by the spirit of Snow White.
• Heroic BSoD: When she causes her mother's death she loses it and then falls asleep for nearly two days. In her defense it was self defense and unintentional on top of that.
• Honor Before Reason: When Tony and Wolf save Virginia from the Huntsman, they manage to knock him out and Wolf wants to kill him. Virginia refuses to do so while he's helpless. Wolf points out he'll just wake up and come after them again, but she still insists they leave him alone.
• Promoted to Parent: Played with. Since her mother left them when she was a kid, she's sort of become her dad's caretaker. He does help but it's clear she's doing more than she really should have to.
• Spiritual Successor: invoked To Snow White. Snow White uses her story of being a lost little girl in the woods to compare herself with Virginia, who in turn faces down the new Evil Queen, her mother Christine. In turn Wendall when honoring her as the heroine of the Nine Kingdoms, and presenting her with the flower Snow White had given him, recalls the final words his grandmother told him, before she left the kingdom forever.
  King Wendall: She said that one day I would meet her again, though she would never return. I understand her words now.
• Troubled, but Cute: Quite pretty, but her abandonment issues from her mother leaving when she was a child has left her heavily emotionally damaged.

Tony Lewis

Played by: John Larroquette

• Heir Club for Men: Virginia accuses him of this when they are both under the spell of the mushrooms. In her defense his fantasy in the same sequence did include having Dog Wendell as a "son".
• I Choose to Stay: He stays in the Nine Kingdoms as he's a wanted man back home and he has better career prospects there.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's greedy, lecherous, and rude, but he really does care about Virginia and comes around to caring about Prince Wendell and, somewhat reluctantly, Wolf.
• The Load: He causes a lot of problems during the journey, freezing Prince into a gold statue by accident, breaking the magic mirror, etc. He takes a level in badass later, though.
• Papa Wolf: Downplayed, but definitely has his moments.
• Parents as People: Make no mistake, Tony loves Virginia very much, but his selfish, buffoonish side is too prominent to be able to care for her properly.
• Phrase Catcher: Wendell refers to Tony as "manservant".
• Undying Loyalty: Eventually he grows to care about Prince so much that he refuses to abandon him even when multiple opportunities to return to New York present themselves. The only other person he risks his life for more is Virginia.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He knows he's in the land of fairy tales. He's just not always correct about which fairy tale.

Wolf

Played by: Scott Cohen

• Abhorrent Admirer: To varying levels to Virginia, abhorrent is probably an exaggeration but she repeatedly acts like she wants nothing to do with him until she finally admits she wants him too. To be fair, he did try to cook and eat her grandmother.
• The Big Bad Wolf: Serves as a deconstruction.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Virginia and Tony fall asleep in the swamp and are seemingly about to be consumed by the plants, Wolf shows up to save them after seemingly leaving for good in Kissing Town. Virginia and Wolf shortly have Rescue Sex offscreen after this.
• Big Eater: "I have a substantial appetite! BORN TO GORGE!!! ...that's me."
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: His Mood-Swinger tendencies come across an awful lot like PMS.
• Fake Defector: After Virginia rejects him for being selfish he appears to come and save her later only for it to be revealed he's led her into the Queen's trap... Only to then reveal it was the Queen he was lying to and he was really just pretending to betray Virginia in order to protect her.
• Guile Hero: Wolf much prefers to use his quick wits and his natural charm to solve problems. In fact, he never tries to use physical violence to defend himself, only resorting to it when he has to stand between Virginia and the Huntsman.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Claims to be "half-wolf". Whether this is just another way of describing a werewolf or actually referring to some kind of Bestiality Is Depraved past is unclear...
• Love at First Sight: With Virginia, though it takes her a while to reciprocate.
• Love Redeems: His love for Virginia is stronger than his loyalty to the Queen, that even with her magic and spells at play, he still is able to side with Virginia, Tony and Prince against her, and help save the Nine Kingdoms.
• Oral Fixation: Called out by name.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Never fully transforms but clearly is inspired as equally by Werewolf tropes as he is Big Bad Wolf ones.
• Secretly Selfish: He could have bought the Traveling Mirror with his winnings from the Kissing Town casino, but instead plans a lavish dinner and date for Virginia culminating in a proposal with a magical singing ring, all to convince her to try and stay in their realm instead of returning to New York, which he knows is what she truly wants. Virginia calls him out on it when he finally confesses how he could afford it all.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Has shades of this with Virginia, their arguing clearly just makes him want her more and when they first meet she smashes a vase over his head causing him to... smile adoringly.
• Wolves Always Howl at the Moon: Not only him but his entire family, says his mother was obsessed with it.

Prince Wendell White

Played by: Daniel Lapaine

• Alliterative Name: AND HOW!!! His full name is Prince Wendell Winston Walter White
• Break the Haughty: His whole arc.
• Famous Ancestor: He is the grandson of Snow White, one of the Great Queens of Legend.
• Forced Transformation: Trapped as a dog, not only in body but as the story goes along his mind begins to be affected as well.
• Namedar: Virginia and her friend name him "Prince" before she knows he's anything but a normal dog.
• The Peeping Tom: Downplayed, but in dog form he sleeps in Virginia's bed at her grandmother's place with her, and the camera lingers on his head on top of her back, which is naked under the sheets, implying he's enjoying this situation.
• Prince Charmless: Initially while he was a kind and loving child, akin to what would be expected from the grandson of Snow White, his parents' deaths and his attempted poisoning by his stepmother left him as a spoiled and selfish individual. But after his time as a dog, he rediscovers his humility and compassion.
• Spoiled Sweet: Downplayed. He's actually just a Spoiled Brat in the beginning but slowly he starts to actually give a damn while still retaining most of his spoiled attitudes and behaviours.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He mellows out and becomes considerably less spoiled and haughty as he spends time as a dog. Snow White even says the transformation has been very good for him.

The Queen, Christine Lewis

Played by: Dianne Wiest

• Affably Evil/Faux Affably Evil: Maintains a patient maternal air most of the time, when the mask falls it falls hard but that doesn't necessarily mean the moments where she is congenial are insincere.
• Avenging the Villain: Tells the Snow White story to the Dog Prince as if the Evil Queen was the victim and vows to avenge her.
• Big Bad: There are a few minor villains but none even come close to usurping her role as the primary antagonist.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Relish... it doesn't last long.
• The Chessmaster: Her greatest asset, she's always ahead of everyone else.
• Death Equals Redemption: Slightly so, while she will always be remembered as the most evil woman in the history of the Nine Kingdoms, King Wendell, out of his affection for Virginia and Tony ensures that Christine's body is treated with utmost respect.
• Dragon Ascendant: To the original Evil Queen/The Swamp Witch.
• The Dreaded: To the entire Nine Kingdoms, even the trolls are terrified at approaching her cell. She is also this to Tony who panics at the sight of her and rips the magic mirror out of Virginia's hands and throws it away in fear that she might see them.
• Dying as Yourself: Getting swiped by the poisoned comb removes the original Queen's corruption, and she spends her final moments not as the Evil Queen, but as Christine, the mother of Virginia.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Naturally as the current holder of the "Evil Queen" role in the Nine Kingdoms.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: As she dies she seems to momentarily remember her old life, her love for her daughter and even seems to regret her choices.
• Karmic Death: She is very fond of poison and ends up dying after getting slashed by her owned poisoned comb.
• Lady of Black Magic: Downplayed. She does have some magical ability, she was able to enchant Relish into letting her out and form a Psychic Link with Wolf, but her primary advantage is her intellect. Most of her powers seem to come from the magic mirrors. The most impressive thing she does without them is enchant her dog to switch bodies with Wendell and this is implied to have taken her several years to achieve.
• Magic Mirror: Unlike the original story, she has more than one! They all have different powers. Such as Cool Gate, Mind-Control Device, Video Phone and Sinister Surveillance.
• Master Poisoner: Calls it a science of hers.
• Morality Pet: Virginia. Even when she barely remembers who she or Virginia is she admits she was going to let Virginia go free anyways rather than harm her.
• Offing the Offspring: She tried in the past to kill her stepson Wendell but in the present her hatred of him has grown to the point that she'd rather see him alive and locked away (as a dog) to rot. Revealed as Virginia's mother, she not only tries to kill her in the present in her persona as the Evil Queen but she had also attempted to drown her as a child while in the grips of a psychotic break.
• Pet the Dog/Kick the Dog: LITERALLY. Alternates between both of these with her treatment of the Dog Prince. Also with Virginia, who she was originally going to let go, but then screams that she was nothing but an accident who should have been killed at birth.
• Redhead In Green: Her most common outfit is a purple dress under a dark green cloak which nicely pairs with her greying red hair.
• Surrounded by Idiots: With the Trolls. I'm surprised Dianne Wiest didn't sprain her vocal cords shouting "MORONS!!!"
• Would Hurt a Child: It's strongly implies she kills the peasant family who find Prince Wendell in their barn and he admits he's really a dog, including the little girl. When she infiltrates Prince Wendell's coronation, she threatens the staff to follow her orders by telling them she'll kill their children in front of her if they don't comply or attempt to warn anyone. And there's the fact she tried to kill her own daughter.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Virginia asks Snow White's magic mirror who is the fairest in the land, and the Queen appears, Tony mentions that Christine was noted in New York society for her grace and beauty.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To Relish, she actually feel this about him pretty quickly, but it takes awhile for her to decide the right way to implement it.

Relish the Troll King

Played by: Ed O'Neill

• All Trolls Are Different: Human sized, live in a castle not under bridges and obsessed with shoes.
• Dragon with an Agenda: He acts as the Dragon to the Queen but only under the false pretense that they are equals, once this pretense drops...he quickly turns on her.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Genuinely loves his children even if he doesn't show it very well.
• I Can Rule Alone: Betrays the Queen pretty quickly after deciding she's taking too long to reward him, also taking exception to her talking to him like a henchman.
• Off with His Head!: Probably done post-mortem rather than being his cause of death (which was pretty clearly poisoning) but his disembodied head is showcased pretty specifically.
• The Starscream: He betrays the Queen in favor of taking Wendell’s kingdom through force rather than wait for the Queen to meet her end of the deal. His betrayal leads to his death.

Blabberwort, Burly and Bluebell

Played by: Dawnn Lewis, Hugh O Gorman and Jeremiah Birkett

• All Trolls Are Different: Human sized, live in a castle not under bridges and obsessed with shoes.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: They are a trio of siblings who work together to capture Wendell for the Queen. They also love their father and are genuinely distraught when they think Virginia is responsible for his death.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Blabberwort is not impressed by a self-help book she finds titled “Women Who Love Men Who Hate Women”. Her brothers, on the other hand, seem intrigued by it.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: They disappear as the story gets more serious only to show up again towards the end.
• Mundane Object Amazement: One of their running gags is them being amazed by a boom box they stole from a couple in Central Park.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: They are never presented as a clear threat. Tony of all people takes them all down more than once.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Only played straight with Burly, who looks nearly identical to his Dad except younger, but Blabberwart and Bluebell don't look like him at all. It's stated they have two or more different mothers.
• Smurfette Principle: Blabberwort is the only female troll among the trio.

Snow White

Played by: Camryn Manheim

• Adaptational Curves: While still played by a lovely woman she is portrayed as plus sized which is unusual for the character. She is intended to be Snow White in her later years (having at least one grandchild at the time of her passing) but notably she doesn't seem to be elderly just not the svelte stereotype of a fairy tale princess.
• Fairy Godmother: Claims to have become this, she may just be joking or exaggerating as she's the spirit of a once living person rather than a fairy but could be a case of Our Fairies Are Different.
• The High Queen: She was one of the Five Great Queens of Legends, and is remembered as a kind and wise leader of the Fourth Kingdom.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: A staple for the character.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: When she offers Virginia one wish, Virginia accidentally wishes for two. Still Snow White graciously grants both.
  Snow White: You may ask for one wish, and I shall try to grant it, but make sure to ask the right thing.
  Virigina: Okay, I wish that dad's bad luck was over-Oh-and that his back wasn't broken anymore!
  Snow White: Strictly speaking that's two wishes, (smiling) but it's done!
• Spirit Advisor: To Virginia.

The Huntsman

Played by: Rutger Hauer

• Badass Longcoat: His sole look.
• Because Destiny Says So: His outlook on life.
• The Determinator: Never once wavers in his pursuit.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: To the Queen.
• Implacable Man: "I move slowly but I always get what I want."
• Knight of Cerebus: Compared to Relish and his children, he is actually threatening without a hint of comedy.
• Offing the Offspring: Did this to his own son unintentionally. It's implied that this incident is what led him to his above "because fate says so" POV.
• The Stoic: To increase his menace.
• The Quiet One: Part of what makes him scary.

The Dog Prince

Played by: Daniel Lapaine

• Easily Forgiven: He goes unpunished for his part in the Queen's machinations. Understandable, as he is just a dog.
• Forced Transformation: Wants to be returned to his dog form equally as much as Wendell wants out of it!
• Punch-Clock Villain: He takes part in the Evil Queen's plan to take over the Nine Kingdoms, but he obviously doesn't want to and is only going along because of the Queen's threats.
• Refuge in Audacity: How does he pass Cinderella's third test? By basically telling her the truth, that he's really a dog and doesn't deserve to be king. She buys it.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Almost literally. For all the crap he goes through, he gets to return to normal and King Wendell decrees the poor dog will live out the rest of his life in luxury with a "mountain of bones".

Acorn

Played by: Warwick Davis

• Affably Evil: Possibly, he was in prison for aggravated assault when we first meet him but he's nothing but nice to the heroes thereafter, especially after they help him escape of course.