The Lich (episode)

Synopsis
Finn is led by Billy on a quest to save the world and beyond from the Lich.

Plot
The episode begins with Finn having a dream about the Cosmic Owl screeching, Billy kissing his lady, and the bear and the snail reading the Enchiridion. At one point, while he is laughing, Billy's image flickers to the Lich and back again. Suddenly, the snail turns into the Lich and attacks Billy. Then Finn wakes up. He tells Jake about his dream and Jake says it is a premonition dream. He then says they should go tell Billy because he was in the dream, turns into a car, and then drives Finn to Billy's home.

Once there, Billy yells at them saying that it's three in the morning and asks why they are there. Jake says that they wanted to make sure he wasn't dead, to which Billy asks why they would think that, and Finn proceeds by explaining about the dream. Then a surprising look appears on Billy's face after Finn is done explaining his interesting dream. Billy asks them if they want to save all life from the Lich and they agree. After they head out. Billy tells them that they need to collect all the magical gems from all the princesses and Ice King's power crystals that protect them from the Lich.

After some time spent collecting crystals, the group stops to rest for a bit and Jake asks Billy how many more crystals they need. Billy indicates that there is one left. Finn gets hungry and rummages through Billy's knapsack looking for candy, finding the Enchiridion after being smacked out by Billy and asking why he had it. Billy says that he found it in the mouth of a bear and Finn blushes with embarrassment as he remembers giving the book away to the bear. Billy says it has magical powers and tells him to turn the sword on the cover of the book which Finn does. The circle on the front opens up showing 9 slots where all the gems go in mystically (except Lumpy Space Princess's which just falls over the book) and shows a brief diagram about what would happen if all the slots where filled. At first, Jake and Finn wonder what all the holograms are, but Billy uses the blue crystal on his face to activate another hologram. A man named Booko appears and explains what the first set of holograms represent, which is all the known universes and dimensions, and how they are connected. Jake tries to play around with it, but it frightens him and he calls it off. Booko goes on to mention that in the center of the universe is the Time Room where Prismo dwells. Billy states that he's going to push the Lich into there, seemingly to place the Lich in non-existence. While Finn and Jake are agreeing with Billy's idea, Billy has another interesting look on his face.

They then go to the Candy Kingdom to get Princess Bubblegum's gem (she is experimenting with little creatures, cutting off their legs and reattaching them). Finn breaks through the roof, failing at trying to do so quietly, and after regaining himself, asks for the crystal on her crown. Princess Bubblegum is shocked and refuses, forcing Finn to grab it without explaining why, during which, Princess Bubblegum accidentally cuts Finn's cheek with the scissors she is still holding from her experiments. They stare at each other for a brief moment, both stunned, and Princess Bubblegum says "That was an accident." Finn removes the gem from her crown, drops the crown and is grasped by Jake who stretches out of the room from the hole Finn made when he fell in. Finn and Jake run off with the gem with Princess Bubblegum not far behind who has taken the stairs. Once outside, he then puts the gem in the final slot. Lights start to flash out of the stones on book. Then the book starts to shake while the pieces start to fall off as the Enchiridion turns black (or to some rock-looking substance) after the pieces of the cover slide off and/or illuminate. As Finn is running, Billy (being behind the trees in the Candy Kingdom ) tells Finn to hurry with the Enchiridion. Then, Princess Bubblegum runs out telling him that Billy is really the Lich.

Just as she says this, one of the Gumball Guardians gets up and blasts Billy, detecting the Lich's presence, thus revealing half of Billy's face, and showing the Lich's true face. The Lich then asks for the book. Finn realizes that the Lich "messed Billy up" and after dodging a grasp from him, smashes the book with his knee. Then Finn is knocked out by the power of the Enchiridion. Finn, not knowing what had happened, woke up seeing that his action accidentally opens up a wormhole. The Lich laughs because he is pleased and thanks Finn, tauntingly. As the Lich tries to pass through, Jake grabs him, reacting to Princess Bubblegum's request, and stretches as to not go through. Jake, though, is slowly being dragged into the portal as the ground under him gives way. Finn tries to stop Jake from getting pulled in but instead is pulled in with him.

The scene changes to how Finn looked like in his reflection seen in their dream in "King Worm." Finn is playing his flute with Jake, who appears to be a regular, non-talking dog, sitting outside a small house with a barn next to it. His mother calls him in for what she says is "something important," and the episode ends with Finn assuming he has done something wrong and he and Jake quickly run inside.

The story continues in the Season 5 opening episode "Finn the Human."

Major characters

 * The Lich (Billy)
 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Princess Bubblegum

Minor characters

 * Mrs. Mertens
 * Farmworld Finn
 * Farmworld Jake
 * Booko
 * Ice King
 * Princesses
 * Engagement Ring Princess
 * Emerald Princess
 * Lumpy Space Princess
 * Embryo Princess
 * Hot Dog Princess
 * Gumball Guardian

Mentioned

 * Prismo

Dream characters

 * Bear
 * Snail
 * Old Lady
 * Cosmic Owl
 * Billy

Trivia

 * This is the third episode to be a season-ending cliffhanger, the first two being "Mortal Recoil" and "Incendium."
 * Lumpy Space Princess' royal star gem was the only stolen gem not needed to unlock the Enchiridion; though it floated to the book with the other gems, it simply bounced off of the book cover and fell to the side.
 * In the portal, a shred of land appears to be in the shape of Texas.
 * When Jake enhances the hologram on the map of the multiverse on their dimension, Earth (with its chunk missing) is shown as the second planet from the Sun, and not the third. The map shows Venus, Earth (and its Moon), Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (along with its rings and one of its moons).
 * The Latin phrase that Billy chants to activate the Enchiridion's holographic multiverse map is "Excipio Carnotum," which translates "I take out the Chart."
 * Several of the gems don't match any known characters, including a deep blue, yellow, and violet gem.
 * Both Hot Dog Princess and Embryo Princess have a red gem, though only one was used for the Enchiridion. Also, they took all three of Ice King's jewels on his crown, but only the middle jewel was used.
 * The strap on the Farmworld version of Finn's chest is brown instead of green like it was in "King Worm."
 * The Enchiridon is destroyed in this episode.
 * Finn's hair has grown down past his neck.
 * In the original storyboard, Billy/the Lich explains he would push the Lich into the Crystal Citadel, a prison that no one can escape from, one of the prisoners being Finn's father.
 * When Billy/the Lich tells Finn, Finn does not know he was adopted, even though he has the memory of Joshua and Margaret taking him from the woods.
 * The Lich was originally supposed to convince Finn to give him the Enchiridon by bringing back his birth parents.
 * The title song of this episode has been played a couple times in some episodes like "The Pods" and "Dad's Dungeon".
 * In the title card, the Lich's pupils look like Finn and Jake.
 * There is a picture of Jake and Joshua in place of a picture of Lady Rainicorn hung on Jake's bed door.
 * The scene when Princess Bubblegum is chopping off the limbs of the little creatures and reattatching them was censored in the UK showing of the episode, and the entire scene was cut.

Cultural references

 * The tapestry with the unicorn in Finn's dream is based on The Unicorn is in Captivity and No Longer Dead which is part of a series of famous tapestries known as The Hunt of the Unicorn.
 * When Booko talks about "Items of great power," a hologram of someone holding a paddle ball is shown.
 * In Finn's dream, the monitor that he is looking at in his dream has a similar appearance to an iMac G3.
 * On the Enchiridion's lock appears J.R.R. Tolkien's elven alphabet, the Tengwar. The writing appears to be the beginning of the inscription on the One Ring.
 * At the start of the episode, Jake looks like Putt Putt the car from the Humongous Entertainment kids games Putt Putt Goes to the Moon.

Episode connections

 * The plot of this episode is continued in "Finn the Human."
 * This was Billy's first appearance since "His Hero."
 * During the dream, a page of the Enchiridion flies in front of Billy's face; it was the first page of chapter five (How to Kiss a Princess), which was seen in "The Enchiridion!."
 * When Finn mentions the Cosmic Owl was in his dream, Jake claims it was a premonition dream, similar to his own in "The New Frontier."
 * Farmworld Finn appears when Finn looks in the mirror in "King Worm."
 * Booko resembles the Key-per from "The Enchiridion!" and the Door Lord from "What was Missing."
 * The flute that Farmworld Finn is playing in the alternate universe at the end of the episode is also seen in "Prisoners of Love" and in "Finn the Human."
 * Farmworld Finn's arm is similar to the one in Finn's "yoga dream" in "Mortal Folly."
 * When Billy says he found the Enchiridion in the mouth of a bear, Finn blushes remembering the end of "In Your Footsteps."

Errors
After Finn and Jake took Emerald Princess' Emerald, it has a ring when Finn tossed it to Jake's Bag, when they pop it out, it doesn't have a ring.
 * Though Billy is normally seen to have 6 fingers on a single hand, he has 7 fingers when he picks Finn up to ask if he's ready for the next adventure. Strictly speaking, this might be not an error given that that wasn't the real Billy.
 * When Finn realizes that Billy is the Lich, Jake's nose is the color of his fur.
 * The scene where Finn tries to rummage around inside Billy's saddle bag is the only scene in the episode where Billy is actually wearing it.
 * When Princess Bubblegum reattaches the little creature's limbs for the first time and sets him down, his right arm is missing.
 * Before Finn smashes the Enchiridion on his knees, the cut on his face disappears, then reappears.
 * The Gumball Guardians weren't seen sitting on the candy walls.
 * The little candy house moves when Finn is struggling with Princess Bubblegum.
 * When Jake picks Finn up, and carries him out of Prinncess Bubblegum's room, he is not holding anything to move himself, he seems to float up.
 * After the portal closes, LSP's gem is there too although it wasn't used.
 * PB's gem seems to have change its size when Finn took it from her crown.

Storyline anaylsis
 * There are a few clues within the show that foreshadow Billy's possession by the Lich:
 * During Finn's dream, when Billy is laughing he switches to the Lich in one frame then back.
 * Also in Finn's dream, the Lich went into Billy's heart to possess him.
 * Billy never physically touched the gems, and refused when Finn tried to hand one to Billy.
 * Billy had said he found the Enchiridion in the mouth of a bear, yet it was revealed in "In Your Footsteps" that it was directly delivered to the Lich.
 * Billy was unable to speak to Jake while he was using his head as a gem holder. As seen in the Lich's original appearance, the Lich cannot communicate with anyone wearing a magical gem on their head.
 * After Finn tells him about his dream, Billy asks him if he is ready to help him save the world from the Lich. However, Finn didn't say anything about the Lich being in his dream.
 * Also in Finn's dream, the bear is wearing a mask, probably sybolizing he was not who he seemed.