Apr 21, 2009 American McGee's Alice music- Jabberwock battle - Duration: 2:48. Athrix255 25,082 views. Jan 17, 2020 I either shorten it to Wonderland, Alice's Wonderland(ironically the title of one of Disney's first Alice comedies) or Alice. ALICE IN WONDERLAND- Behind the Scenes- Jabberwocky by SonyImageworks1. Paul Roland - Alice's house by martin venator. Alice Madness Returns Walkthrough - Part 52 - End Credits 1 by MahaloAdventure. Apr 09, 2011 Short clip from Alice in Wonderland when she slays the Jabberwocky. Short clip from Alice in Wonderland when she slays the Jabberwocky. Alice slays the Jabberwocky TheKrazyMusicLife.
'Vorpal sword' and 'vorpal blade' are phrases in Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem 'Jabberwocky', which have been taken up in several other media. Carroll never provided a definition of what it really meant.[1] The term has been adopted by the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, where 'vorpal' blades have the ability to decapitate opponents on lucky strikes.[2]
Context and definition[edit]
Carroll published Through the Looking-Glass in 1871. Near the beginning, Alice discovers and reads the poem 'Jabberwocky', which Humpty Dumpty later attempts to explain, to her increasing consternation. One of the poem's several nonsense adjectives, 'vorpal' is twice used to describe the sword a young hero employs to slay the poem's titular monster:[1]
He took his vorpal sword in hand,
longtime the manxsome foe he sought
So rested he by the Tum-Tum Tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And later,
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
As with much of the poem's vocabulary, the reader is left to guess at the meaning of 'vorpal' from the context. As befits the sword in a heroic ballad, 'vorpal' is frequently assumed to mean deadly or sharp. Carroll himself explained that many of the poem's words were portmanteau words playfully combining existing words from English, such that 'frumious' meant 'fuming and furious', 'mimsy' meant 'flimsy and miserable' and 'slithy' meant 'lithe and slimy'. Carroll seems never to have supplied meaning for 'vorpal', at one point writing, 'I am afraid I can't explain 'vorpal blade' for you—nor yet 'tulgey wood'',[3] although Alexander L. Taylor notes (in his Carroll biography The White Knight) that 'vorpal' can be formed by taking letters alternately from 'verbal' and 'gospel'.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ abGardner, Martin, ed. (1971) [1960]. The Annotated Alice. New York: The World Publishing Company. p. 153.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^'SRD:Vorpal - D&D Wiki'. www.dandwiki.com. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
- ^Graham, Eleanor (1981). Lewis Carroll and the Writing of Through The Looking Glass, Introduction to Through The Looking Glass in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass. Puffin Books.
- ^Taylor, Alexander (1952). The White Knight. Oliver & Boyd.