His Hero

Synopsis
Finn meets with Billy, the greatest hero in the history of Ooo. But the hero has now taken a path of non-violence and wishes for Finn and Jake to do the same! Can they save people while being as non-violent as possible?

Plot
Finn and Jake are fighting Swamp Giant, who has captured the Mini Queen. After falling down a long cliff, they beat up Swamp Giant and save Mini Queen. As they were walking home, they find the sword of the greatest warrior that ever lived-Billy. After a series of flashbacks about Billy's greatest achievements, they try to remove the sword, which opens up Billy's cave. They walk in to find Billy himself, only much older. When the heroes ask Billy to make him be their apprentices and fight monsters better, Billy says fighting monsters is a waste of time as they will always come back, so he tells Jake and Finn to help people without being violent. Finn and Jake take Billy's advice, and leave.

While they are walking, they run into a cobbler being chased by a dragon. The cobbler ask for help, but Finn and Jake tell they can only help if he has a non-violent problem. The cobbler says he is hungry, so they leave to go to make food for poor people. When they reach a town, they feed the townspeople free gruel, but Finn put too many Stoneskin Potions in the gruel thinking that it would help them become more tough, and the townspeople grow stone armor. The heroes decide to go take the cobbler's place while he goes to the dermatologist, and a woman going to a funeral asks for Finn and Jake to fix her shoe. They do, but the shoe becomes a weapon when Finn puts a magic nail in it. They later decide to be doctors, and do plastic surgery on Lumpy Space Princess so she can fit in her new swimsuit. The operation is successful, but Finn uses another magic nail and turns Lumpy Space Princess into a cyborg.

The heroes realize they suck at being non-violent, and believe to never be helpful. But Swamp Giant makes a return when he tries to grind up an old lady, so Finn finally gives in and beats up the Swamp Giant and saves the old lady. Though they save her, Finn feels guilty as he betrayed Billy. The old lady makes him feel better by saying that he can help people with violence, because that was what he was born to do. They go back to Billy's cave, and tell him he was wrong, and they can help people by being violent. This fixes a hole in Billy's stomach, as his heart is repaired, and that Finn and Jake are his heroes. Billy kicks Finn and Jake out of his cave, and they run off laughing happily as Billy's old spirit returns.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Billy
 * Old Lady
 * Cobbler

Minor characters

 * Mini Queen
 * Dragon
 * Lumpy Space Princess
 * Fine Lady
 * Townspeople
 * Snail
 * Swamp Giant

Flashback characters

 * The Lich
 * Fire Count
 * Cotton Candy Princess
 * Giant Bear
 * Evil Ocean

Music

 * "Billy's Song﻿"

Trivia

 * The title card is a homage to fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer.
 * The Lich makes his first appearance in this episode.
 * Billy said that the Mini Queen was probably dead after Finn and Jake rescued her. In the original storyboard she was taken by goblins after she left Finn and Jake.
 * After Finn saves the Mini Queen, she writes "THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME, XOXOXO, CALL ME" on his hand.
 * Billy is enemies with the Fire Count and friends with Cotton Candy Princess, whereas Finn is enemies with the Ice King and friends with Princess Bubblegum. However, Billy has slain the Fire Count, but Finn has not slain the Ice King.
 * The vow of non-violence stated by Billy in the epsode is based on Ahimsa, a Buddhist/Jainist term meaning to do no harm. Ahimsa also means that non-violence is most essential religious duty for everyone.
 * This is the first episode (and the only season 1 episode) to be banned from airing on Cartoon Network Australia.

Episode connections

 * Billy was the only person known to have harmed the Lich until Finn does the same in "Mortal Folly."
 * In the flashback of Billy fighting with the Lich, we can see that this one have both horns, but in the episode “Finn the Human“, in another flashback prior to being defeated by Billy, he already lost one.
 * The way Cotton Candy Princess gives Billy some of her hair is similar to how Princess Bubblegum gave Finn some of her hair in "To Cut a Woman's Hair;" though, Finn decided to keep the hair while Billy ate it.
 * Billy slaying the Evil Ocean is similar to Finn conquering his fear of the ocean in "Ocean of Fear."
 * When Billy defeated the giant bear, it is similar to when Finn rehabilitated the Bear in "In Your Footsteps," which ironically leads to Billy's death at the hands of the Lich with the Bear's help in "The Lich."


 * When Billy is shown beating the Lich, he is wearing his gauntlet, proving it was the only known weapon to harm the Lich as stated in "Mortal Folly."

Errors

 * When Finn saves the old lady, she is slightly larger than Jake. However, when they arrive at Billy's lair, she is smaller than Jake, as she is able to ride his buns (note: Jake did not size-change, as he is still the same size relative to Finn).
 * When Jake said, "You up for some serious plastic surgery?," there was probably supposed to be new logo saying "Surgery Time" with a medical tool going through "Time" instead of the original logo. This may or may not be an error. Therefore this is unknown.

Production notes

 * This episode was originally titled "Finn Meets His Hero." The episode is still called this in the Charter, AT&T U-Verse, Netflix, Optimum, DIRECTV, and iTunes descriptions.

Censorship
''This episode was refused airing on Cartoon Network Australia. See Censorship of Adventure Time on Cartoon Network Australia for more information.''