Doctor Doolittle - The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts (1920) written and illustrated by Hugh Lofting, introduced the 'man who could talk to the animals.'
Unseen in The Heist, the Doctor nevertheless maintains quite a presence in scenes involving his animal companions Chee-Chee, the talking monkey and Jip the dog. Chee-Chee has faith that Doolittle will come to rescue them and nothing will stand in his way. He later comes to doubt this but not the ability of Doolittle.
Traditionally portrayed as a rotund and amiable middle aged man, rumour has it that Doctor Doolittle is one of the class of characters whose life and even appearance have been completely altered since his arrival in the Mythlands - if he shows, expect a more formidable character than the one you're used to!
Chicken Licken -Chicken is not Henny Penny or Chicken Little. While those dopplers may have assumed a larger significance in popular culture, Chicken is the original real mccoy. His story originated in European folk tales as part of the oral storytelling tradition. Early print versions of the story were first published in the first few decades of the 19th century.
The Mythlands Chicken-Licken is male - for decades he suffered from visions and prophetic nightmares about the sky falling or the end times. Seeking professional help, Chicken worked through his problems, sometimes with the help of psychiatrists and occasionally by self institutionalizing or travel to seek out new philosophies and the art of medication, zen and other calming techniques.
Eventually, cured of his nightmares, he built a life and in the present day is Professor of Human Studies at Domain University, specializing in an examination of mortal world humanity and it's history in relation to myth and legend. Highly respected, he has taught many Mythlanders including Jessica Bunny and her friends Goldie Lochs and Lara, a tomb raiding adventurer.
The Professor was distraught when his nightmares and visions began to return recently but when Jessica got in touch about the Magic Mirror's prophesy, Chicken was relieved he wasn't going insane and agreed to help. He aided Jessica, the Hare and their allies in decoding vital information and continued to stay in touch to offer further assistance.
Chicken is a talking animal (and not an anthropomorphic upright) albeit one that wears clothes. He looks like any fluffy yellow chick you might find in the mortal realm, but is often clothed in a miniature tweed jacket and waistcoat and occasionally uses a tiny pair of reading glasses.
Brilliant and devastatingly cute, are three words that best describe him.
His office is regular size so he is often to be found on a small chair on top of his desk and assisted by his graduate student PA Rupert the Bear who fetches books and types for him
The Two of Hearts - Many characters that populate the Mythlands are not primary or named supporting - a lot are background players, but these make up most of the population.
Unlike many - example 'Villager from Hamlin.' The Two of Hearts has a name and identity that he's content with. He has never seen the need to re-invent himself as he is simply 'The Two of Hearts.'
The Two logically first appeared at the same time the Queen of Hearts did, which makes him a background player to events occurring in 'Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland.' published in 1865. The Two is a pompous officious oaf and jobsworth, who takes petty pleasures in small things - he likes to boast of his status and vintage as a Lewis Carroll creation. The reborn Lewis Carroll once met him and has avoided him like the plague ever since.
Originally a proud member of the Queen's Guard, Hearts Pack, at some point in his Mythlands existence, he was either discharged or expelled from the Guard. Or the Hearts disbanded - the latter may be the answer as the Two remembers his time there fondly and without too much bitterness over his new circumstances.
The former Wonderlander now lives with his wife Joan in Domain City, where he is employed as a custodian or night janitor at the corporate offices of Mythical Creatures Incorporated. He is the sort that would look at his watch, counting down until the exact second he needs to lock a door, and then if an employee returned a minute later having forgotten, say an umbrella and it's pouring with rain, he'd shrug through the glass door, look apologetic and say 'Sorry mate, can't let you back in. Rules is rules. More than me jobs worth!'
The Two likes to talk people's ears off, mostly whining and complaining about his mother in law and how he's not given the respect he deserves and has been overlooked for promotion.
In appearance he is about four to five feet tall, a ruddy complexion and wide build with hearts and card markings. He inexplicably sounds like a London cockney.
The Two first appears encountering The Hare, who was in a desperate situation. With The Two unintentionally blocking him from doing what he needed to do, the Hare's only recourse was to punch the Cardman out. The Two was temporarily in a coma but awoke and gave evidence which led to The Hare being declared a terrorist by the Zodiac.
This was despite being injected with a potion to induce memory loss - it didn't work because the Two's dull and uninspired brain chemistry rejected it.
The Two of Hearts appears several times and a running joke is that he keeps annoying people and getting punched unconscious.
The Teddy Bears - In 1907 the American composer John Walter Bratton wrote the melody for popular children's song 'The Teddy Bear's Picnic.' In 1932 the Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy added the famous lyrics that are known to mother's and children right through to the present.
Kennedy lived in Staplegrove Elm near Taunton in Somerset and it's believed that a small wooded area in this idyllic piece of English countryside, inspired the setting - 'If you go down to the woods today ...'
Though it was never specified how many teddy bears were at the picnic, some two hundred or more manifested in The Mythlands - unlike many other flesh and blood creatures from the lands, these were actual stuffed and animated talking teddy bears.
The trouble was apart from their sense of family and group loyalty, the generally benevolent and kind hearted bears, had no identity. Like a good portion of the population, they sought to reinvent themselves. So far two of the bears have shown up in Mythlands stories, though more have undoubtedly occupied the background of scenes, especially in The Picnic Bar (or Picnics), a popular Domain City bar and eatery, which serves as a gathering place for many of the teddy bears and the general populace of the city. Picnics is the place to go for a good meal, drinks, a game of pool or to watch sports on the wall mounted flatscreens.
Schlomo Goldbloom is the owner of Picnics. He was one of a sub group of the teddy bears who decided to adopt Jewish culture and names as their identity. Schlomo sounds somewhat stereotypical and the Hare, who knew Fagin, once asked why he sounded like Fagin. Oy Vey!
Rufus Goldbloom is a cousin or brother of Schlomo, though he first appeared in Story 2 (I Saw a Shooting Star) of the companion collection MYTHICAL ORIGINS, which starred The Little Match Girl. As many of the teddy bears still struggle with issues of identity and how they came to be in The Mythlands, Rufus attended a self help group for Displaced characters in Domain City attended by The Count of Monte Cristo, Old Mother Hubbard, Bo Peep, The Tin Soldier and his bride The Paper Ballerina and led by The Huntsman who used to work for the Evil Queen.
It was there he met and befriended Miranda, the Little Match Girl and invited her to meet some of the other teddys - their paths also crossed with Jessica and The Hare at a crucial moment.
Rufus was described as a small beige bear - as even a short girl like Miranda was able to hold his hand as they walked off without stooping, it's logical that Rufus is roughly 2 to 3 feet high. The teddy bears may differ slightly in height but probably by no more than half a foot from the shortest to the tallest.
Family relationships among the bears are unknown so they may just call each other brother, sister or cousin for convenience. While most of the teddy bears live in Domain City, it's possible a portion of them live elsewhere, even if they often reunite with their close knit community.
Colditz Castle - The original castle or schloss resides in the town of Colditz in Saxony, a state in Germany in the mortal world. It's origins go back to the 11th century, although several rebuilds and renovations have occurred since. However it became iconic in the psyche of the mortal collective consciousness after being used as a prison camp during the Second World War.
Several films and television series based on the prison days cemented this image of Colditz Castle into everyone's minds and inevitably that legendary status led to an exact replica appearing in the Mythlands.
The duplicate Colditz sits at the edge of the Magic Forrest, surrounded by a wide moat and accessible by a stone bridge. It's location being under the jurisdiction of The Domain and MCI, The Tortoise decided to once again use it as a prison.
In the recent present it served as a Supermax facility, ancient on the outside but with cutting edge tech in the interior. The castle is fortified with tungsten steel, electronic tripwires, multiple redundancy alarms and lazer grids.
It's sole prisoner is kept in an iron lung, his jaw muzzled - two dozen elite guards who used to work for the Evil Queen stand guard in case the homicidal maniac ever escapes.
That maniac's profile will be revealed in the next part, but seeing as you've already read Book One, you know that I'm talking about ... The Gingerbread Man!