✠ application
[ Character's Name ] : Ace
[ Character's Age ] : early-mid 20s
[ Series ] : Heart no Kuni no Alice
[ Canon Point ] : between post-chapter 17 and chapter 20. So after the event with Julius and Blood, but before meeting Boris.
[ History ] :
In terms of actual character history for Ace, there actually is not a lot known about him, nor does the canon really delve into his past that much. However, he does play an important role in the canon; literally. He comes from the Country of Hearts, part of an alternate world of Wonderland, and Ace plays the role of the Knight of Hearts. In the original Wonderland story by Lewis Carol, the ace cards were assigned the “role” of executioner. Just like his original counterparts, Ace is essentially the main executioner for the Queen of Hearts.
However, his role plays more of an important part in his world. There are twelve role holders, and each of them are the main characters of the original story, like the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, etc. Ace is not only a knight of hearts for the Castle of Hearts, but he is also what is called a “role holder”. Each person must play their role until the end of the “round” or “game”, though it is still unclear what exactly the game is. But what makes this more confusing and complex is Ace and the other role holders are not normal “people” as we know it. Other than their violent culture and lack of self-identity, each role holder actually represents an hour of time. What hour Ace is has yet to be revealed, though it doesn’t particular matter, though his role and the very nature of their lives gives him a great personality complex that will be discussed later.
In terms of canon timeline, he first meets the main heroine, Alice, while trying to find his way to Julius’ clock tower and wandering through the bushes. He offers to lead her to the castle to see Peter White, but due to his lack of sense of direction, they wind up at the Hatter’s mansion instead. It is there that he learns Alice is a foreigner and exclaims how he’s never seen one before. After a brief fight with Elliot that is broken up by Blood, they finally reach the castle. From there, Ace leaves to go to Julius.
When Alice returns to Julius’ clock tower, it is revealed that Ace is actually working for him; and it’s a bloody job. Though it is not revealed at the time, Ace is being a rebel. He’s trying to go against his role, and therefore volunteered to help Julius by gathering the clocks of those who died so Julius can repair them. This usually involves fighting and killing shadows called “afterimages”. Under Julius’ command, he doesn’t tell Alice the details at the time, saying that he and Julius were good friends.
It is also during this conversation that he says he wants to be free from being a “role holder” and the watches. The want to be free is one of the core characteristics for Ace, and he is always looking for ways to escape. Even if it means using people like Alice.
While everyone else in the world is in love with Alice, Ace doesn’t feel the same way. In fact he can’t really understand why people are so fond of her and often asks people this whenever they show a lot of interest in her. He is interested in Alice, but not in the same, genuine way the others like Peter White - something he admits to envying.
After getting lost (again), Alice and Ace wind up setting camp. After Ace asks her if Alice doesn’t mind being alone with him in such an isolated and secluded place, he tells her he loves her and tries to kiss her. Alice stops him, saying he’s not telling the truth, to which he responds that she’s a foreigner. He then hugs her and mentions how he can hear her heart beat. When he places Alice’s hand over his chest, it is revealed that it’s not a heartbeat she hears, but a ticking clock. In his world, the clocks are their “heart”, but they can be repaired. Thus they don’t really have as much meaning. Ace tells her that while he doesn’t love her, he does genuinely like her.
Ace shows Alice his ability to kill firsthand when a group of faceless people attack him in the garden labyrinth at the castle. Here it is revealed that Ace really doesn’t care about killing people when he has to, and that the roles of the person are more important in that world, not the lives. Though Alice tries to explain to him that lives should be important, Ace is unable to accept her way of thinking. He understands what she is saying, but it doesn’t go with the rules and the nature of the world.
Another point in time where Ace notices the effect Alice has had on everyone is when Blood goes to Julius’ tower. Blood is attempting to force Julius to “release” Alice from his care so that she could stay at the mansion. When Julius declines (saying Alice has the right to choose), Blood attacks Julius. Ace managed to come in just in time to stop Blood, though not without revealing who he was. When Julius tells Ace why Blood had come by and tried to attack him even though it was against the rules (the Clock Tower is a neutral zone), Ace once again sees how much “everyone loves Alice” and is irritated by it.
It’s from this point that he’s coming into Vatheon, but in the following chapters, more is revealed about the not-so-right-in-the-head knight and why he is in his current state of mind.
Though this occurs after the point I'm taking him from, Ace is actually willing to try and kill Alice. This is brought up when he meets Boris and also tries to kill him after observing how much he had changed. The reason for his more than unusual and lost behavior has been due to his observations of the people who have changed because of Alice’s influence. He just can’t understand her or why everyone is taken by her. He had hoped that perhaps he would change if he stayed by her, but he found nothing had changed at all and only became more confused. This is a reason why he would try such drastic measures like trying to kill Alice.
It’s also revealed that he is trying to leave his role as a knight for the queen by moonlighting as Julius’ helper via collecting the clocks. It goes against the rules, but he does it anyway in an attempt to change. It should be noted that he doesn’t actually kill Alice, saying that he would miss her heartbeat - that one symbol of life they don’t have - though how serious he was about the threat is still questionable.
One last thing. Before Alice arrived, Elliot had broken one of the rules. He had destroyed his friend’s clock after he had died, an act that is forbidden by their world. As such, Ace, under his disguise, had come and taken Elliot to jail. However, Blood had saved Elliot, making the same promise to break Elliot’s clock should anything happen. Elliot does not realize the “masked man” was Ace, but Blood now knows after the run-in back at the clock tower. Ace also repeatedly shows up at the Hatter’s mansion not just because he gets lost. He is actually trying to finish his job: kill Elliot and Blood for breaking the rules.
[ Personality ] :
The quick and dirty:
Ace is a very complicated young man. On the surface he seems to be the polite, slightly airheaded knight. He always has a smile on his lips and is always helpful to those who need him. He will carry out his duties to the “T” and will do it efficiently. He’s also friendly, giving him a bit of innocent, charm.
However, beneath that “nice” mask lurks a bit of a psychopath. He’s not exactly one, nor is he a killjoy. When he does fight or kill, however, he is completely detached to the situation. He has grown so used to it; he doesn’t have any reason to feel any remorse. Ace has also grown “accustomed” to the rules and logistics of the game, even if he hates it. In a way, he’s grown numb to those kinds of feelings.
He seeks change, and will try anything he thinks might help bring that about and eventually get him out from the game. If this means breaking the rules or doing something unconventional, he’ll try it.
Ace isn’t necessarily crazy or evil; it’s just how his thought process works and he’s just a little off in the head. One could argue that he is just wearing a “nice” mask to fool the others, but there is some genuine quality to those nicer personality traits. Everything is a part of his character.
The tl;dr in-depth essay:
His main issue is the notion of “every life is significant”. Before Alice arrived, the very concept was unthinkable. In a world where their lives were literally meaningless, where people could be “replaced” without so much of a thought and had no faces unless they had a role, no one really had that much self worth. The only way to “escape” the endless cycle is to break the watch. As he tells Alice early on, he hates them, and there is a good reason why.
The watches are also a reminder that they have no real hearts, no real identity. Instead it's as if they have a limited time, and conversely, infinite time. Time never stops, and watches can always be fixed unless they're broken. It's a reminder of the kind of life they live. There is also the fact that Ace represents an hour of time. He is a part of time itself. Thus they essentially have no individuality. Even if they die, they can be replaced and no one will remember/care. They have no meaning unless there is a clock. While time will always exist with or without one, there is no physical recognition. Ergo, their life is meaningless, and Ace is well aware of this. Essentially, he's trying to break out of his role as time itself. That's why he can't just quit and killing himself would just fulfill the whole "insignificant life" trope.
There is also his hatred for his role. Again this is linked back to the lack of self identity and having to follow the rules. As the Queen of Hearts, Vivaldi will order executions left and right, and Ace would have to follow his job, his role. He had no say in the manner. His only chance of “rebellion” was by working other jobs. Yet even though he was trying to rebel, Vivaldi knew about it and didn’t say anything. The role was thrust upon him for no known reason, and he can’t just leave it. Even if he probably wouldn’t mind breaking the rules, the consequences are probably too great for him to do so. Otherwise, he would have “just left” long ago.
Ace’s role as the executioner and having to kill so many people also affect his mindset. He has a firsthand look at how insignificant their lives really are. Ace isn't actually as prone to killing and fighting as the others are. He doesn't actually try to pick any fights. However, the fighting always does come to him. Thanks to Peter actually trying to send people to kill him and the others who come along to steal the watches, Ace is forced to kill them lest he himself be killed, so he got used to it and accepted it as part of his role/life.
However, he does not hesitate. While he might not provoke fights, unless it was with other role holders or has a reason to, he doesn't hold back and willingly engages and goes for the kill. Even when he is fighting the other role holders, he has a chilling, if deceptively light and cheery, attitude about it. The only times he has purposefully tried to kill another role holder are with Boris and Blood, though the latter was in defense for Julius.
For Boris, he had grown rather mentally unstable, so to speak. By this point he had been trying to change himself and after seeing Alice change everyone else, including Julius, he had hoped it would work for him, too. However, since it didn't and he became more lost in his thoughts and watching everyone else essentially leave him behind, he is left edgy, uncertain, and frustrated to a degree. He becomes increasingly annoyed at naive, innocent thoughts like how Alice cares for everyone and that everyone can have a purpose. In his mind, that only works for foreigners, not their world. To see Boris be so defensive about it annoys him enough to want to kill the cat and attempts to do just that.
Ace has a lot of trouble understanding, which only causes him to “lose it” even more. In a way, he resents Alice's innocent philosophies at first. They all sound fine and dandy, but in Ace's mind they could never work in their world and in the Game. She was just a foreigner, what does she know what happens here? And also because everyone loves her. She has a heart, the thing they all long for most. He just can't seem to understand why, especially since he doesn't have the same feelings as everyone else. His emotions and intentions for Alice aren't "pure" as he puts it. This makes his cheery attitude and appearance more fake than ever.
But as stated before, because he's killed so much and seen so much death, he's basically numb to it. Emotionally detached. He's used to the concept that their lives have no meaning. He has said in canon that when something irritates him enough, it makes him want to kill (with a smile). Of course that just screams "PSYCHO" so don't irritate him. That can set him off.
Then there is issue of Ace getting lost all the time. In truth, Ace doesn't know what to do with himself, really. He doesn't want to be the Knight of Hearts, so he tries to find something else. He tries to find some identity but he has none. He plays different roles and does different jobs. His long wanderings are also probably some way to try to find a way out -- metaphorically or physically. It is shown in canon that when he's more uncertain about himself or mentally unstable, he becomes more lost and takes longer to find his way to his destinations.
But there is another reason why he gets lost. By being lost, he also doesn't have to do any of his duties. If he's not there, he can't perform any of his jobs, so he may intentionally get lost so he can be "free" for as long as he can. He likes being outdoors and camping out, and nature has always been a symbol for freedom. Out there he doesn't have to worry about anything and he can just keep to himself. If he could, he probably would stay out there forever, but because of the Game Rules, he has to come back eventually.
There is actually a final and concrete reason. He ends up going to the Hatter mansion a lot because he has to kill Blood and Elliot as mentioned in the background. It makes sense; they broke the rules. So he gets "lost" but he's also wandering around getting info. This again shows his persistence and tenacity to getting a job done. Even if it’s for a job or role he hates, he will do it and make sure it is complete.
As mentioned before, Ace does fake a lot of his “nicer” emotions. However, not all of it is fake. A great deal of it is, to be sure, but not 100%. He can be genuinely charming and helpful. This may be due to his role of a knight, but regardless he can be sweet. He is always friendly to other people, until they annoy him in some way. Then we see the yandere.
But he is also relatively calm and knows how to have fun and have a good time. And he can easily throw in the pouty face on to make him seem disarmingly cute and innocent. Still, he can be a chivalrous knight, and will protect if needed. He does have one good friend - Julius - and he does care for him. This shows and proves that Ace does have a genuine caring side to him, at least to those he finds important.
On the flip side, Ace can be very scary. What makes it scary and creepy is when he shows his "dark" side, he's almost always smiling. That is, he has the mask. But his demeanor will have changed to hint at that colder disposition. He doesn't frown or actually show rage. It's more passive, colder, and in some ways more frightening. You can't see his true emotions on his face: only in his eyes.
He can also be quite forceful and dominant. Though he seems likes the nice, sweet, innocent type on the outside, when he has his eyes on something, he doesn't let go, and when he shows his affections, it's anything but sweet. Let's just say, he probably likes it rough and likes giving it rough. And is dirty. Oh so dirty. Add in the fact he's pretty strong and you definitely got your seme. Suggestive, sly, doesn't really try to hold back...yep. He can also be the jealous type, and be both passive and aggressive.
Also, he can be rather cunning and, well, mean. Not evil, just mean. He can be honest to the point of being blunt, yet also be vague and secretive at the same time. This makes him an effective troll of sorts. He doesn’t always, but if the chance arises, he’ll take it. Also, though he can be protective of others, he can also use people to fit his means, like using Alice as a shield knowing Peter wouldn't shoot. He also tries to use Alice to help meet his own gains. He wants to change and he thought Alice could change that. He is also willing to kill her because it would be interesting to see what happens and there was nothing against the rules. So yes, using things to his advantage is another thing he'll do as well as trying out different things no matter what the means. This does not mean he’s a manipulative bastard, but he is an opportunist.
In the end, however, all Ace wants is to be his own person and to be able to live how he wants to live.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
Ace is an excellent swordsman and can wield his weapon with great dexterity and expertise. In fact, he’s one of the strongest characters in the series. It’s a toss up between Gray and Ace, though Gray has been said to be the strongest with Ace right behind him. He is also very agile. For example, when Elliot tries to shoot him from near pointblank range, he is able to dodge it and swing his sword up so that the hilt is against the hare’s neck.
Like the other role holders, he has an object that can transform into a gun. His main weapon, his sword, can change into a gunblade looking shotgun. Yes. It’s the heavy artillery for Ace. He doesn’t really use it that often as he prefers his sword, but he also isn’t against using it either.
He also has a great knack for getting lost. Whether because he really is directionally challenged, his unstable mentality, various job tasks, or whatever it is, it is a 100% guarantee he will get lost before finding his way to where he needs to go.
Ace also has a bit of a psychotic mental issue, particularly about the significance of life. For him, as explained up in the personality section, life in his world never really meant anything other than survival. There was no real sentimental value or anything “worth living for” so to speak. So understanding that kind of life is going to be a bit difficult for a while.
[ Other Important Facts ] :
His blood type is O, he’s pretty tall (185~190cm) and he likes the outdoors.
No one knows where/how Ace can produce his complete camping set, but he has it wherever he goes. And by complete I mean a full blown tent, sleeping bags, lantern, basic kits, etc. There’s either some hard core “object transformation” going on like the weapons or Ace has access to hammer space.
Wasn’t sure where to stick this, but when Ace does his clock collecting job, he wears a cloak and mask. He also states that the Queen does know about his side-job, but she pretends to not notice and still makes him play his role.
It’s also later revealed that he also works for the Jokers in Joker no Kuni no Alice. So he does have that job (and who knows what else, thanks Quinrose.), but he would not tell anyone about it, not even Julius. Yes, there is yet ANOTHER reason why he gets “lost”, sigh.
[ Character's Age ] : early-mid 20s
[ Series ] : Heart no Kuni no Alice
[ Canon Point ] : between post-chapter 17 and chapter 20. So after the event with Julius and Blood, but before meeting Boris.
[ History ] :
In terms of actual character history for Ace, there actually is not a lot known about him, nor does the canon really delve into his past that much. However, he does play an important role in the canon; literally. He comes from the Country of Hearts, part of an alternate world of Wonderland, and Ace plays the role of the Knight of Hearts. In the original Wonderland story by Lewis Carol, the ace cards were assigned the “role” of executioner. Just like his original counterparts, Ace is essentially the main executioner for the Queen of Hearts.
However, his role plays more of an important part in his world. There are twelve role holders, and each of them are the main characters of the original story, like the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, etc. Ace is not only a knight of hearts for the Castle of Hearts, but he is also what is called a “role holder”. Each person must play their role until the end of the “round” or “game”, though it is still unclear what exactly the game is. But what makes this more confusing and complex is Ace and the other role holders are not normal “people” as we know it. Other than their violent culture and lack of self-identity, each role holder actually represents an hour of time. What hour Ace is has yet to be revealed, though it doesn’t particular matter, though his role and the very nature of their lives gives him a great personality complex that will be discussed later.
In terms of canon timeline, he first meets the main heroine, Alice, while trying to find his way to Julius’ clock tower and wandering through the bushes. He offers to lead her to the castle to see Peter White, but due to his lack of sense of direction, they wind up at the Hatter’s mansion instead. It is there that he learns Alice is a foreigner and exclaims how he’s never seen one before. After a brief fight with Elliot that is broken up by Blood, they finally reach the castle. From there, Ace leaves to go to Julius.
When Alice returns to Julius’ clock tower, it is revealed that Ace is actually working for him; and it’s a bloody job. Though it is not revealed at the time, Ace is being a rebel. He’s trying to go against his role, and therefore volunteered to help Julius by gathering the clocks of those who died so Julius can repair them. This usually involves fighting and killing shadows called “afterimages”. Under Julius’ command, he doesn’t tell Alice the details at the time, saying that he and Julius were good friends.
It is also during this conversation that he says he wants to be free from being a “role holder” and the watches. The want to be free is one of the core characteristics for Ace, and he is always looking for ways to escape. Even if it means using people like Alice.
While everyone else in the world is in love with Alice, Ace doesn’t feel the same way. In fact he can’t really understand why people are so fond of her and often asks people this whenever they show a lot of interest in her. He is interested in Alice, but not in the same, genuine way the others like Peter White - something he admits to envying.
After getting lost (again), Alice and Ace wind up setting camp. After Ace asks her if Alice doesn’t mind being alone with him in such an isolated and secluded place, he tells her he loves her and tries to kiss her. Alice stops him, saying he’s not telling the truth, to which he responds that she’s a foreigner. He then hugs her and mentions how he can hear her heart beat. When he places Alice’s hand over his chest, it is revealed that it’s not a heartbeat she hears, but a ticking clock. In his world, the clocks are their “heart”, but they can be repaired. Thus they don’t really have as much meaning. Ace tells her that while he doesn’t love her, he does genuinely like her.
Ace shows Alice his ability to kill firsthand when a group of faceless people attack him in the garden labyrinth at the castle. Here it is revealed that Ace really doesn’t care about killing people when he has to, and that the roles of the person are more important in that world, not the lives. Though Alice tries to explain to him that lives should be important, Ace is unable to accept her way of thinking. He understands what she is saying, but it doesn’t go with the rules and the nature of the world.
Another point in time where Ace notices the effect Alice has had on everyone is when Blood goes to Julius’ tower. Blood is attempting to force Julius to “release” Alice from his care so that she could stay at the mansion. When Julius declines (saying Alice has the right to choose), Blood attacks Julius. Ace managed to come in just in time to stop Blood, though not without revealing who he was. When Julius tells Ace why Blood had come by and tried to attack him even though it was against the rules (the Clock Tower is a neutral zone), Ace once again sees how much “everyone loves Alice” and is irritated by it.
It’s from this point that he’s coming into Vatheon, but in the following chapters, more is revealed about the not-so-right-in-the-head knight and why he is in his current state of mind.
Though this occurs after the point I'm taking him from, Ace is actually willing to try and kill Alice. This is brought up when he meets Boris and also tries to kill him after observing how much he had changed. The reason for his more than unusual and lost behavior has been due to his observations of the people who have changed because of Alice’s influence. He just can’t understand her or why everyone is taken by her. He had hoped that perhaps he would change if he stayed by her, but he found nothing had changed at all and only became more confused. This is a reason why he would try such drastic measures like trying to kill Alice.
It’s also revealed that he is trying to leave his role as a knight for the queen by moonlighting as Julius’ helper via collecting the clocks. It goes against the rules, but he does it anyway in an attempt to change. It should be noted that he doesn’t actually kill Alice, saying that he would miss her heartbeat - that one symbol of life they don’t have - though how serious he was about the threat is still questionable.
One last thing. Before Alice arrived, Elliot had broken one of the rules. He had destroyed his friend’s clock after he had died, an act that is forbidden by their world. As such, Ace, under his disguise, had come and taken Elliot to jail. However, Blood had saved Elliot, making the same promise to break Elliot’s clock should anything happen. Elliot does not realize the “masked man” was Ace, but Blood now knows after the run-in back at the clock tower. Ace also repeatedly shows up at the Hatter’s mansion not just because he gets lost. He is actually trying to finish his job: kill Elliot and Blood for breaking the rules.
[ Personality ] :
The quick and dirty:
Ace is a very complicated young man. On the surface he seems to be the polite, slightly airheaded knight. He always has a smile on his lips and is always helpful to those who need him. He will carry out his duties to the “T” and will do it efficiently. He’s also friendly, giving him a bit of innocent, charm.
However, beneath that “nice” mask lurks a bit of a psychopath. He’s not exactly one, nor is he a killjoy. When he does fight or kill, however, he is completely detached to the situation. He has grown so used to it; he doesn’t have any reason to feel any remorse. Ace has also grown “accustomed” to the rules and logistics of the game, even if he hates it. In a way, he’s grown numb to those kinds of feelings.
He seeks change, and will try anything he thinks might help bring that about and eventually get him out from the game. If this means breaking the rules or doing something unconventional, he’ll try it.
Ace isn’t necessarily crazy or evil; it’s just how his thought process works and he’s just a little off in the head. One could argue that he is just wearing a “nice” mask to fool the others, but there is some genuine quality to those nicer personality traits. Everything is a part of his character.
The tl;dr in-depth essay:
His main issue is the notion of “every life is significant”. Before Alice arrived, the very concept was unthinkable. In a world where their lives were literally meaningless, where people could be “replaced” without so much of a thought and had no faces unless they had a role, no one really had that much self worth. The only way to “escape” the endless cycle is to break the watch. As he tells Alice early on, he hates them, and there is a good reason why.
The watches are also a reminder that they have no real hearts, no real identity. Instead it's as if they have a limited time, and conversely, infinite time. Time never stops, and watches can always be fixed unless they're broken. It's a reminder of the kind of life they live. There is also the fact that Ace represents an hour of time. He is a part of time itself. Thus they essentially have no individuality. Even if they die, they can be replaced and no one will remember/care. They have no meaning unless there is a clock. While time will always exist with or without one, there is no physical recognition. Ergo, their life is meaningless, and Ace is well aware of this. Essentially, he's trying to break out of his role as time itself. That's why he can't just quit and killing himself would just fulfill the whole "insignificant life" trope.
There is also his hatred for his role. Again this is linked back to the lack of self identity and having to follow the rules. As the Queen of Hearts, Vivaldi will order executions left and right, and Ace would have to follow his job, his role. He had no say in the manner. His only chance of “rebellion” was by working other jobs. Yet even though he was trying to rebel, Vivaldi knew about it and didn’t say anything. The role was thrust upon him for no known reason, and he can’t just leave it. Even if he probably wouldn’t mind breaking the rules, the consequences are probably too great for him to do so. Otherwise, he would have “just left” long ago.
Ace’s role as the executioner and having to kill so many people also affect his mindset. He has a firsthand look at how insignificant their lives really are. Ace isn't actually as prone to killing and fighting as the others are. He doesn't actually try to pick any fights. However, the fighting always does come to him. Thanks to Peter actually trying to send people to kill him and the others who come along to steal the watches, Ace is forced to kill them lest he himself be killed, so he got used to it and accepted it as part of his role/life.
However, he does not hesitate. While he might not provoke fights, unless it was with other role holders or has a reason to, he doesn't hold back and willingly engages and goes for the kill. Even when he is fighting the other role holders, he has a chilling, if deceptively light and cheery, attitude about it. The only times he has purposefully tried to kill another role holder are with Boris and Blood, though the latter was in defense for Julius.
For Boris, he had grown rather mentally unstable, so to speak. By this point he had been trying to change himself and after seeing Alice change everyone else, including Julius, he had hoped it would work for him, too. However, since it didn't and he became more lost in his thoughts and watching everyone else essentially leave him behind, he is left edgy, uncertain, and frustrated to a degree. He becomes increasingly annoyed at naive, innocent thoughts like how Alice cares for everyone and that everyone can have a purpose. In his mind, that only works for foreigners, not their world. To see Boris be so defensive about it annoys him enough to want to kill the cat and attempts to do just that.
Ace has a lot of trouble understanding, which only causes him to “lose it” even more. In a way, he resents Alice's innocent philosophies at first. They all sound fine and dandy, but in Ace's mind they could never work in their world and in the Game. She was just a foreigner, what does she know what happens here? And also because everyone loves her. She has a heart, the thing they all long for most. He just can't seem to understand why, especially since he doesn't have the same feelings as everyone else. His emotions and intentions for Alice aren't "pure" as he puts it. This makes his cheery attitude and appearance more fake than ever.
But as stated before, because he's killed so much and seen so much death, he's basically numb to it. Emotionally detached. He's used to the concept that their lives have no meaning. He has said in canon that when something irritates him enough, it makes him want to kill (with a smile). Of course that just screams "PSYCHO" so don't irritate him. That can set him off.
Then there is issue of Ace getting lost all the time. In truth, Ace doesn't know what to do with himself, really. He doesn't want to be the Knight of Hearts, so he tries to find something else. He tries to find some identity but he has none. He plays different roles and does different jobs. His long wanderings are also probably some way to try to find a way out -- metaphorically or physically. It is shown in canon that when he's more uncertain about himself or mentally unstable, he becomes more lost and takes longer to find his way to his destinations.
But there is another reason why he gets lost. By being lost, he also doesn't have to do any of his duties. If he's not there, he can't perform any of his jobs, so he may intentionally get lost so he can be "free" for as long as he can. He likes being outdoors and camping out, and nature has always been a symbol for freedom. Out there he doesn't have to worry about anything and he can just keep to himself. If he could, he probably would stay out there forever, but because of the Game Rules, he has to come back eventually.
There is actually a final and concrete reason. He ends up going to the Hatter mansion a lot because he has to kill Blood and Elliot as mentioned in the background. It makes sense; they broke the rules. So he gets "lost" but he's also wandering around getting info. This again shows his persistence and tenacity to getting a job done. Even if it’s for a job or role he hates, he will do it and make sure it is complete.
As mentioned before, Ace does fake a lot of his “nicer” emotions. However, not all of it is fake. A great deal of it is, to be sure, but not 100%. He can be genuinely charming and helpful. This may be due to his role of a knight, but regardless he can be sweet. He is always friendly to other people, until they annoy him in some way. Then we see the yandere.
But he is also relatively calm and knows how to have fun and have a good time. And he can easily throw in the pouty face on to make him seem disarmingly cute and innocent. Still, he can be a chivalrous knight, and will protect if needed. He does have one good friend - Julius - and he does care for him. This shows and proves that Ace does have a genuine caring side to him, at least to those he finds important.
On the flip side, Ace can be very scary. What makes it scary and creepy is when he shows his "dark" side, he's almost always smiling. That is, he has the mask. But his demeanor will have changed to hint at that colder disposition. He doesn't frown or actually show rage. It's more passive, colder, and in some ways more frightening. You can't see his true emotions on his face: only in his eyes.
He can also be quite forceful and dominant. Though he seems likes the nice, sweet, innocent type on the outside, when he has his eyes on something, he doesn't let go, and when he shows his affections, it's anything but sweet. Let's just say, he probably likes it rough and likes giving it rough. And is dirty. Oh so dirty. Add in the fact he's pretty strong and you definitely got your seme. Suggestive, sly, doesn't really try to hold back...yep. He can also be the jealous type, and be both passive and aggressive.
Also, he can be rather cunning and, well, mean. Not evil, just mean. He can be honest to the point of being blunt, yet also be vague and secretive at the same time. This makes him an effective troll of sorts. He doesn’t always, but if the chance arises, he’ll take it. Also, though he can be protective of others, he can also use people to fit his means, like using Alice as a shield knowing Peter wouldn't shoot. He also tries to use Alice to help meet his own gains. He wants to change and he thought Alice could change that. He is also willing to kill her because it would be interesting to see what happens and there was nothing against the rules. So yes, using things to his advantage is another thing he'll do as well as trying out different things no matter what the means. This does not mean he’s a manipulative bastard, but he is an opportunist.
In the end, however, all Ace wants is to be his own person and to be able to live how he wants to live.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
Ace is an excellent swordsman and can wield his weapon with great dexterity and expertise. In fact, he’s one of the strongest characters in the series. It’s a toss up between Gray and Ace, though Gray has been said to be the strongest with Ace right behind him. He is also very agile. For example, when Elliot tries to shoot him from near pointblank range, he is able to dodge it and swing his sword up so that the hilt is against the hare’s neck.
Like the other role holders, he has an object that can transform into a gun. His main weapon, his sword, can change into a gunblade looking shotgun. Yes. It’s the heavy artillery for Ace. He doesn’t really use it that often as he prefers his sword, but he also isn’t against using it either.
He also has a great knack for getting lost. Whether because he really is directionally challenged, his unstable mentality, various job tasks, or whatever it is, it is a 100% guarantee he will get lost before finding his way to where he needs to go.
Ace also has a bit of a psychotic mental issue, particularly about the significance of life. For him, as explained up in the personality section, life in his world never really meant anything other than survival. There was no real sentimental value or anything “worth living for” so to speak. So understanding that kind of life is going to be a bit difficult for a while.
[ Other Important Facts ] :
His blood type is O, he’s pretty tall (185~190cm) and he likes the outdoors.
No one knows where/how Ace can produce his complete camping set, but he has it wherever he goes. And by complete I mean a full blown tent, sleeping bags, lantern, basic kits, etc. There’s either some hard core “object transformation” going on like the weapons or Ace has access to hammer space.
Wasn’t sure where to stick this, but when Ace does his clock collecting job, he wears a cloak and mask. He also states that the Queen does know about his side-job, but she pretends to not notice and still makes him play his role.
It’s also later revealed that he also works for the Jokers in Joker no Kuni no Alice. So he does have that job (and who knows what else, thanks Quinrose.), but he would not tell anyone about it, not even Julius. Yes, there is yet ANOTHER reason why he gets “lost”, sigh.