Throughout Women's Month, we'll be counting down the top five female protagonists and antagonists in video games. This isn't going to be your usual babe list though, because we're not going to be counting down based on looks. What we're looking for has more to do with how cool the character is, what she can do and, most important, her franchise power. Of course, any kind of countdown list like this will be biased in some way or another, so if you feel that our top five isn't good enough, let us know. In fact, send us your top five so we can see just what you think. Here's today's pick.

#4 – The Queen of Hearts

First Appearance: The books of Lewis Carroll

Video Game Appearances: American McGee's Alice
                                        Kingdom Hearts series

Movies: Disney's Alice in Wonderland

The Queen of Hearts was a difficult pick for us, not so much because we weren't sure if she should have been in the list or not, but because we didn't know which version to go with. In the end, we went with the two versions of the Queen which we found most relevant.

In actuality, The Queen of Hearts had her start in the Lewis Carroll books, but the character and different interpretations of its concept have had quite a bit of impact over multiple forms of media and genres, including theatre, film and video games. The two different video game incarnations of The Queen that we're looking at today take two very different views on the character and its meanings.

To start, the Kingdom Hearts version of The Queen of Hearts is based on the character from Disney's Alice in Wonderland. In a very similar fashion, The Queen jumps to conclusions, disregards much of what she is told, and has a particular liking for declaring peoples' heads be lopped off. The Queen's story in Kingdom Hearts follows her believing that Alice has attempted to steal her heart, thus resulting in her declaring that Alice lose her head. The main characters of the game, Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy, bring her evidence to the contrary, but she disregards it and calls on her card soldiers to attack them. She also appears in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, in which she accuses Alice of aiding the Heartless (bad guys). In the end of her story, Alice's quick thinking pacifies The Queen and no one loses their head.

The American McGee's Alice version of the Queen of Hearts is likely the more interesting one, being that she is described as the very incarnation of the sum of Alice's negative feelings. She is a ruthless, sadistic dictator who holds an iron fist over Wonderland. She appears almost human the first time Alice meets her, though she has tentacles instead of legs and hair, and a mask covers her face. In her final form, she is revealed as a gigantic demon. Alice kills The Queen of Hearts, bringing all those who died under her reign back to life, and restoring Wonderland to normal.

We'll be rounding out the rest of the top 5 female protagonists and antagonists in video games throughout the rest of Women's Month, so stay tuned.