(in the musical, alice missed her chance to go to wonderland when she was a girl, so hatter was created in her stead, and takes on all the pain and disappointment that alice experiences as she grows up)

“What a shame that they must wither and die,” spits the Hatter. She holds the flowers that she herself caused to wilt with a grip so fierce her knuckles are white, but she’s really talking about herself, a towering corpse made of abandoned and forgotten dreams.

Well, she’s turned out better than Alice could have hoped, so now she just has to do some pruning and deadheading and she’ll be ready to step into her reflection’s shoes.