User:MR.Flix/The Lich

The Lich King, also known simply as The Lich, or Sweet P in his baby form, is a mutated and completely evil being, obsessed with the death and destruction of all life. He makes his first appearance in "His Hero" in a flashback, where he is shown to have once been defeated by the legendary Billy. The Lich serves as the main antagonist of Adventure Time, and Finn's most dangerous enemy.

Overview
The Lich makes his first appearance in "His Hero", in which he is shown to have been defeated by Billy in a flashback, who uses The Gauntlet of the Hero to punch him into oblivion. In "Mortal Folly", it's revealed that following the Lich's defeat, he was encased inside a prison of ember in the center of the Candy Kingdom. After Princess Bubblegum takes Finn and Jake to the his prison, the Lich possesses a snail from Finn's backpack and is able to break himself out and escape, putting the entirety of Ooo in danger. The Lich is followed by Finn, armed with Billy's gauntlet, to his lair beyond Iceberg Lake. There, Finn and Jake, along with Ice King and Princess Bubblegum find the Lich drinking from his Well of Power. He is eventually defeated when Finn uses the sweater given to him by PB to destroy his physical body. However, he is able to possess Princess Bubblegum and survive through her as a host when Ice King accidentally drops her into his well.

In "Mortal Recoil", the Lich-possessed Princess Bubblegum is taken back to the Candy Kingdom and hospitalized, although she eventually recovers. When Finn visits her bedside, the Lich, through PB, asks him to fetch her gasoline, lighter fluid, plutonium, bleach, ammonia, and other chemical substances. He then scares Jake by lighting the room and fire and wilting all the flowers around them. When Finn and Jake once again return, the Lich has locked himself in the bathroom and has grown in size by consuming the various chemicals given to him by Finn. Reaking terror on the Candy Kingdom and destroying several buildings, the mutated PB is once again defeated by the combined efforts of Finn and Ice King, but falls over after being frozen and shatters upon impact. PB is once again hospitalized, and the lich finds his new host: a Snail.

The Lich's spirit continues to live within the Snail throughout all of Season Three and half of Season Four, making cameos in every episode.

In "In Your Footsteps", The Lich, still possessing the Snail, recruits the help of Bear. After Bear becomes close to Finn and Jake, eventually taking up residence in their Treehouse, he is able to steal the Enchiridion. Although he is caught, Finn gives it to him as a gift, and Bear delivers it to the Lich who is residing in a large cave.

The Lich makes a cameo in "King Worm after Finn dreams of his greatest fears in order to defeat the King Worm, the Lich being one of them. He comes out of Finn's belly button and then has tea with Princess Bubblegum.

In "The Lich", the Lich first appears in Finn's premonition dream with the Cosmic Owl, apparently leaving the Snail and killing Billy while flipping through the Enchiridion. After killing Billy, the Lich wears his skin as a "suit" in order to fool Finn into thinking he's the real Billy. When Finn shows up to tell "Billy" about his dream, they set out on an adventure to collect all the power gems from around Ooo so they can unlock the Enchiridion's ability to open up a portal to another dimension. The Lich, however, tricks Finn, and later reveals himself after a Gumball Guardian blows off part of Billy's face. Finn destroys the echiridion, therefore allowing the Lich to enter a portal into the Multiverse. He is followed by both Finn and Jake.

In "Finn the Human", The Lich enters the domain of Prismo the wish master, so he can wish for the destruction of all life. He is stopped, however, when Finn wishes for a universe in which the Lich never existed, thus creating the Farmworld timeline. In this alternate universe, The Lich's nuclear bomb never reached Earth due to the efforts of Simon Petrikov, who stops the bomb with the magic of his crown. In "Jake the Dog, when Farmworld Finn puts the crown on himself, he triggers the bomb with ice by accident, allowing the Lich's magic to reappear. After Farmworld Jake is dipped into the radiation, he transforms into a Lich-like monster. Jake eventually erases the Lich's wish for the eradication of all life.

In "Wake Up", the Lich is revealed to still be stuck in Prismo's time room after Jake atered his last wish. Because his primary function is to cause death, and is unable to do so, he is stuck in a "standstill" while Prismo's friends take selfies with him during his party. Finn and Jake return to the time room in order to find Finn's father, who is trapped in the Crystal Citadel. To get there, they must awaken Prismo's true form, thus temporarily ending Prismo's existence. However, before they can get there, the Lich unexpectedly wakes up and kills Old man Prismo, committing a cosmic crime, and granting him access to the Citadel.

In "Escape from the Citadel", the Lich uses his dark powers to corrupt and drain the life from all of the inmates, so he can assemble an army to help him conquer all life. When the Lich once again confronts Finn, he makes him fall with one word and then utters a cryptic speech:

When the Lich gets close enough, Finn uses the guardian blood to cause growth on the Lich's bare skeleton, which begins to form organs and flesh. Eventually, the Lich is completely covered in a new skin, resembling a giant chubby baby with the Lich's trademark horns. Finn and Jake bring the baby lich back to Ooo and leave at the doorstep of Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig, who adopt him as a child of their own.

Appearance
The Lich appears as a skeletal figure with rotting skin hanging off of him. His eyes are black with tiny green pupils, and he wears a golden crown with a hood and faded green robe. He also has two horns on top of his head, one of which has been broken. In "Mortal Folly", "Mortal Recoil", and "His Hero", he wears a light green cape connected with a string of bones and two ruby pendants over his robes. Loose flesh and tendons can be seen hanging from his arms.

As Princess Bubblegum, he has greyish skin and dark pink hair, and black and green eyes. After mutating, he appears as a monsterous creature with mangled arms and legs and sharp teeth.

After killing Billy and wearing his body as a suit, half of Billy's face is later ripped away, revealing the Lich's own skeletal face, giving him a grisly appearance. In "Escape from the Citadel", the rest of Billy's skin falls off, revealing the Lich's bare skeleton, and what appears to be a wooden board nailed over where his heart should be. When the Lich is transformed into a baby, he appears as a chubby infant with two horns.

Personality and Traits
The Lich is completely devoid of any feeling or emotion - his only purpose and wish is to exterminate all life, and bring death and opression upon all of existence. In this way, he is very sociopathic, often laughing manically at his evil schemes or actions. Though he believes himself to be stronger than any other being, he sees Finn as "strong", and wishes to recruit him into his army of evil.

As an infant, the Lich has a completely different outlook on life and personality. He is much less intellectually developed, and apparently lacks all memories from his life as the Lich. His feelings are easily hurt, as he is sheltered and cared for by Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig, and he is much more innocent as a result.

Powers and Abilities
The Lich is an extremely powerful being, and is easily capable of killing most of his foes. In "Mortal Folly" and "His Hero", he is shown to be able to shoot green flames out of his hands. He is also shown to possess the ability of mind control, and can only be resisted with a protective gem (in Princess Bubblegum's case, the one located in her crown). His breath and simple touch spread decay and death, as seen when he wilts all of the flowers in Princess Bubblegum's bedroom. As seen in "Escape from the Citadel", he can cause people to do what he wishes with just a simple word, shown when he tells Finn to "fall".

Major Appearances

 * "Mortal Folly"
 * "Mortal Recoil"
 * "The Lich"
 * "Finn the Human"
 * "Jake the Dog"
 * "Wake Up"
 * "Escape from the Citadel"
 * "Gold Stars"

Minor Appearances

 * "His Hero" (Flashback) (Debut)
 * "In Your Footsteps" (As Snail)
 * "King Worm" (Cameo)
 * "Jake the Brick"
 * "The Cooler" (Cameo)

Mentioned

 * "Goliad"
 * "Billy's Bucket List"

Trivia

 * The Lich is still referred to by his old name, Lich King, in various official episode summaries and clip descriptions on Cartoon Network's site, indicating that the name change may have been done very late in production.
 * In fantasy fiction, a lich is a powerful magician who has transformed himself into an undead creature to achieve immortality.
 * The Lich is the first world threat that Finn and Jake have dealt with, the second being Flame Princessand the third being Gunter.
 * The Lich was redesigned at least once; the creators felt that his original design was not scary enough.
 * The Lich's final design is similar to that of the Horned King from the 1985 Disney film The Black Cauldron, which is an adaptation of Lloyd Alexander's series of novels The Chronicles of Prydain.
 * The Lich's partially decayed arms resemble those of Blackwolf, the villain of the Ralph Bakshi film,Wizards.
 * Pendleton Ward originally wanted to cast Tom Waits as the Lich.[2]
 * In France/Belgium, there was a translation problem with Lich King's name. During his appearance in "His Hero," he is called "Le Roi sangsue," which translates to "Leech King." In Portuguese too, because his name was "Rei Lagarto," which translates to "King Lizard."
 * In "The Lich," when Jake asks the Lich (disguised as Billy) how many gems were left, he told him without speaking. This could be because the Lich could not talk to Jake since he was holding the power gems.
 * Despite being undead, he can apparently eat, as seen in "The Lich" when he was disguised as Billy.
 * In all of his appearances after "King Worm" (not including the Snail) the Lich's face is noticeably less detailed than it was in "Mortal Folly/Recoil."
 * When the Lich originally appeared he had 2 full horns, later one of his horns is broken.
 * Peppermint Butler seems to be capable of sensing the Lich's presence.
 * The Echo of the Lich is similar in nature to a lich's phylactery in common myth. The phylactery, like the Echo, is used to store away a part of the Lich to ensure his survival.
 * In the official Adventure Time Encyclopaedia, Hunson Abadeer admits the Lich is his only real rival, stating that, while he finds the Lich "pathetic," the fact that the Lich is capable of destroying all of Ooo causes Hunson to take their rivalry seriously and that, had Finn not defeated him, he would have taken matters into his own hands. (Note: This was written before the episode "The Lich" was made.)

Appearances in other mediaEdit

 * The Lich is a playable character in Adventure Time Battle Party.
 * On CartoonNetwork.com, you can set your profile picture as the original Lich.