The Chamber of Frozen Blades

Synopsis
When the Ice King goes away to treat a sick Gunter, Finn and Jake perform a ninja stakeout of his lair to try and find proof he's captured another princess.

Plot
The episode starts with Finn surveying the Ice Kingdom through binoculars and Jake reading a ninja manual. After stating there has been no change in 6 hours, Finn asks Flambo if "this tip is good." Flambo tells Finn he swears the Ice King is planning to nab a princess that day. When Finn starts to get restless, Jake tells him to calm down and that a true ninja can sense the intentions of his enemies. Flambo laughs and tells Finn and Jake ninjas aren't real. Finn responds by saying he and Jake are real ninjas. While demonstrating a ninja skill, Finn hears a noise coming from the Ice King's Castle. He looks up to see the Ice King pack an overnight bag and leave his castle with Gunter. Finn tells Jake the Ice King looks pleased with himself and Jake responds by saying he must have stolen a princess.

Finn and Jake sneak into the Ice King's Castle and look for the princess. When they don't find one anywhere, Finn thinks that they have stepped into a trap, but Jake states that the reason they can't find a princess is because the Ice King is doing it right now. When they go to look for proof, Jake finds the Ice King's diary and reads, "Dear Diary, and you better write me back this time! Today I'm bringing home a special new cutey." This is enough proof for them and Finn decides to hide until the Ice King comes back so they can catch him. Finn and Jake jump into the Ice King's hamper, but after a short time, Jake complains that it reeks inside and leaves. This angers Finn to throw a meatball from the hamper at Jake, but is missed and hits the Ice King's holo-computer instead. When Finn and Jake look at it, they find pictures the Ice King drew and start to play around, until Finn accidentally knocks the computer into a thin sheet of ice, revealing a secret ninja cave. Meanwhile, the Ice King arrives in the Rock Kindom's hospital. He freezes several Rock People in order to get up to the front of the line and asks for a doctor to treat his sick penguin. Back in the Ice Kingdom, Finn and Jake look around in the cave. Jake starts to play with things and says it is too late to leave no trace. Finn finds a First Edition Ice Ninja Manual and starts to read it, until Jake steals it away. Finn suggests that since the Ice King is so into ninjas, that they are kinda lame. Jake says that they are still cool and starts to destroy things with ice nunchaku he summoned. Finn asks Jake to show him how to do that.

Back at the Hospital, Ice King and Gunter are waiting on a doctor. He suggests that Gunter make more noise, and The Ice King tells her not to oversell it. Soon, Doctor Princess walks in and starts to diagnose Gunter. He says that without Gunter, he will be all alone and explains that he is a widower without Ice King knowing whats the meaning of the word which leads him to a conversation with Doctor Princess. While he is talking, Gunter starts to expand and the Ice King yells that she is embarrassing him. In the Ice King's cave, Finn and Jake are having a ninja duel, summoning different ice weapons. Finn and Jake further destroy Ice King's lair with their ninja techniques. While Finn and Jake are fighting, Jake makes clones of himself, following Finn saying that is one too many Jakes. Then Jake shoots an Arrow of Ice at Finn, but Finn catches it and shatters it, causing Jake to stare in awe. However, they are quickly interrupted by the Ice King returning home. Finn and Jake jump out at him to catch him with the princess, but are surprised to find him without one. Ice King tells Finn and Jake that Gunter was actually pregnant and he was talking to the egg, since it is such a "cutey". It doesn't take the Ice King long to realize the destruction to his home, and is furious with Finn and Jake. He calls them jerks and Finn wants to make it right. Ice King tells Finn to take his overnight bag to the cage. While Finn is doing so, he hears a noise and the Ice King tells them to put it down. Finn unzips the bag to reveal that Ice King had kidnapped Doctor Princess. Ice King explains that Gunter's egg was the perfect distraction to abduct a princess. Finn, Jake and the Ice King then engage in ninja combat, with the Ice King producing a sansetsukon and Finn and Jake producing a shuriken and nunchaku respectively. In the middle of the fight, Doctor Princess asks Gunter how the egg is doing, and it starts to hatch. When the egg hatches, a pink cat with a heart on its forehead comes out. The Ice King is pleased with it, and is then kicked by Finn and Jake at the same time to end the episode.

Major characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Ice King
 * Gunter
 * Doctor Princess

Minor characters

 * Flambo
 * Rock People
 * Kitten
 * Snail

Fridjitzu

 * For a full list of Fridjitzu powers, see Ninjas of the Ice: The Art of Fridjitzu


 * When asked whether Finn and Jake will use ice ninja powers in future episodes, writer Adam Muto responded "Not likely. They didn't have enough time to commit the incantations and hand positions to memory."

Trivia

 * When Finn sees the three copies Jake made of himself, Finn says, "That's one too many," meaning that two Jakes would have been acceptable.
 * Jake's "ice clones" were lighter in color and none of them had the black headband that Jake was wearing.
 * When Jake says "Gunter's a woman?" the Ice King immediately denies it, but then looks between Gunter's legs to determine the sex.
 * Fridjitzu is a portmanteau of the words "frigid" and "ninjitsu."
 * On the desktop of Ice King's holographic computer the eight folders shown are labelled: Secrets, Roms, Misc, Drawings, Untitled Folder, Princesses, Muscles, and Gunter's Stuff.

Cultural references

 * This episode's title card is done in the style of martial arts movies from the 70's and appears at both the beginning and end of the episode. To go along with this theme, this is the only title card to feature the Cartoon Network Studios logo and the statement "produced in Burbank, California."
 * The scene in which Ice King freezes the Rock People to get to the front of the line is similar to the café scene in the movie Despicable Me; however, according to storyboard artist Adam Muto, this was unintentional.
 * The promotional art shows Rebecca Sugar wearing a forehead guard from Naruto. The symbol on it is the symbol of Naruto's home-village, Konohagakure.
 * The Ice King calls his secret ninja lair his "secret sanctum." This could be a reference to the comic book super hero Doctor Strange also calls his hideout the "secret sanctum."

Production notes

 * In one version of the episode's storyboard, Gunter's offspring was going to be a hybrid Ice King/penguin creature ; however Adam Muto explained that he originally drew a glowing kitten, but Thurop Van Orman wanted it to be an Ice King/Penguin offspring, which they thought would be a "cool gross-out moment." Cartoon Network vetoed the idea and it went back to being a kitten.

Videos
"The Chamber of Frozen Blades" Animatic|Animatic