Chessgate is for real ya'll... Queen Max ♕
When Max wakes up from her coma/trance, there are these two interesting details. One is the red crate above her head in the frame, which Robin used as a metaphor for Vecna's mind (in the same episode). The other is the red book under the boombox. On the spine, it says "Speed Queen." Speed, as in, Max's self-titled role in D&D, "Zoomer." And Queen, as in, the Red Queen, Alice's chess opponent, who if the party save, it would be "Checkmate" or "Endgame" to defeating Vecna (or to losing). The red book signifying her color. I made another post explaining chessgate and the show's Through The Looking-Glass connection.
Further proof is the idea that Max is present in the final D&D game, despite not being interested in playing beforehand. This is significant as the Red Queen is there at Alice's finale banquet before she "wakes up." Keep in mind, the Red Queen in the book is not the Queen of Hearts like the 2010 film. Instead, she is Alice's strict, bossy tutor who teaches her how to "go backwards" to win, like how Max teaches Holly to travel through Vecna's mind. The character turns out to be a black kitten in the book after Alice wakes, and Max's binder is black (with a cat on it?). Both Holly and Mike represent Alice ("you are your brother").
At the end of the book, it's not certain that once Alice captured the Red Queen, won the game, and woke up, if she actually had woken up or if she and the reader were a part of the Red King's dream the entire time. Just like how we the audience are not sure if Mike's in Vecna's mind or if the epilogue is all a part of his curse (the red crate when Max wakes up signifies the former).
