Land of Ooo

The Land of Ooo is the main setting of Adventure Time, and is the home of Finn and Jake, along with all of their friends and foes. It is divided into different kingdoms, of which the most prominent are the Ice Kingdom, Candy Kingdom, Wildberry Kingdom, Lumpy Space, Fire Kingdom, and Cloud Kingdom. There are also many geographical areas not known to be part of any kingdom, such as the Evil Forest and the Bad Lands. Pendleton Ward has confirmed that the Land of Ooo is a continent.

Map
Two different official maps of the Land of Ooo were released by Frederator Studios along with the original Adventure Time pitch documents: the ' seen in the infobox to the right and a ' seen in the gallery below. Of these, the black-and-white one drawn by Ghostshrimp is probably more accurate for several reasons:
 * 1) Its general shape matches the aerial view of Ooo seen in "Business Time" (see picture in gallery below.)
 * 2) A slightly modified version of this map appeared on Princess Bubblegum's hologram map in "The Other Tarts."
 * 3) On the black-and-white map, the names of certain places match up with the names used in the show and by its creators, while some of the names on the color map do not.

Map-Only Locations
The two official maps show many locations that have never been mentioned or seen on the show. It is unknown if these locations are canonical, and nothing is known about them other than what appears on the maps.

On the color map, a Mystery Temple appears on an island off the east coast of Ooo. It resembles a real world Mayan temple. Also on the color map, the Fire Kingdom is labeled "Burning Lands" and the Grass Lands are called the "Verdant Plains." An area called "Red Rock Cliffs" might correspond to Red Rock Pass, and a note indicates that Marceline's cave is located there.

On the black-and-white map, there are many places that have never been seen in the show. To the North of Ooo is the Sea of Something, which contains a small island chain called The Shiney Isles, which appear to have crystals on them. On a northern peninsula near the Ice Kingdom are The Unknown Lands. Nothing is known about them.In the comic this place seems to have a purple hue. A cloud or island in the northwest corner of the map is called the Cloud Forest, which appears to be covered in clouds with trees on top of them.

The Sea of Sure Death is off the southwest coast of Ooo, near the Lost Cliffs. The map shows a dragon in the sea near there. The Isle of Steam appears off the coast of Ooo next to the Fire Kingdom. Just to the south of it is the mysterious Chicken Blood Cove. The Squid Ink Sea is to the southeast of Ooo, and features several unidentified islands. In the ocean near there is a Whirlpool of Sharks. The Floating Gems appear to be actual large gems floating in the sea on the easternmost edge of the Land of Ooo.

The Haunted Swamp is just east of the Grass Lands and north of the Spooky Forest. Strangely, in the hologram map that appeared in "The Other Tarts," its name was changed to "The Haunted Swan." The Hole Near the Center of the World is, as its name suggests, a hole near the middle of Ooo. Its nature and size are unknown.

Government
Ooo exhibits a mix of democracy, dictatorship, and feudalism as well as what appears to be monarchy. Most kingdoms are ruled by one or more members of royalty, such as the Ice Kingdom and Fire Kingdom. The Grand Meeting of Ooo Royalty shows that the various rulers of Ooo do meet together for discussions on a regular basis, though the topics were not revealed. Dictatorship has only been exhibited in "The Silent King" where Xergiok has taken control of the Goblin Kingdom by force. Party Pat is the chief of the Bears, but they do not display any form of government. In the episode "Paper Pete," Mildwin is the democratically elected leader of the Moldos.

Ooo has also not been shown to have an army or any type of military force that protects the land as a whole. Therefore, each kingdom provides its own military or police force. The most prominent example of this would probably be the Candy Kingdom, which has fortified walls (albeit candy ones) and the Banana Guard, along with other security forces. On the other end of the spectrum is the City of Thieves, which appears to have no police force whatsoever, and all of the citizens constantly steal from one another.

Religion
One of the primary deities worshiped in Ooo is Grob Gob Glob Grod. The Cosmic Owl apparently is also known as some kind of spiritual entity that appears in Croak Dreams. Ooo seems to have a number of other potentially godlike beings such as Party God and Death.

In "Holly Jolly Secrets Part I" many Christmas-themed items appear, but none of the characters show knowledge of the holiday itself (instead of Christmas, the holiday is called a day for wearing sweaters and watching secret tapes). Natasha Allegri has stated that the picture of a mother and child in Marceline's house is Mary and baby Jesus. However, there's no direct evidence that Marceline actually holds religious beliefs, and the significance of the picture has never been addressed by the characters. Since Marceline is over 1000 (and is shown in "Memory of a Memory" as having lived through some massively destructive war), if anyone remembers it would presumably be her.

In the episode "Marceline's Closet," just before Jake and Finn play Cloud Hunt, Jake mentions a central Buddhist theme. When asked what he is doing, Jake responds with, "Just eliminating desire from my mind. It helps to pass the time." Which is the ultimate goal of the Eight-Fold path and a central idea behind the four noble truths. Jake has also stated his belief that when he "croaks" his consciousness will become one with everything while Glob tallies his deeds. This statement is a rough combination of several religious beliefs; that upon dying one's soul becomes part of everything and also that one's deeds in life determine the soul's fate after death.

Currency
The only currency shown in the series is dollar bills, although some store owners (Choose Goose) prefer to trade. The dollar is made in at least 2 sizes (regular and giant). The dollar was first shown in The Enchiridion! when Finn stole a giant dollar from an Ogre. The dollar was also seen in To Cut A Woman's Hair, when Finn payed Simon to play for him on his violin. The dollar probably doesn't come in tiny size, because then Finn would've used a tiny dollar to pay Simon. Another appearance of the dollar come in the episode Donny when Mr. Bank puts himself together. Also, in the episode Hitman, the Ice King tried to pay Scorcher not to kill Finn and Jake. Gold and jewels are also used, and even accepted as a form of tax payment in "Burning Low."

Languages
English seems to be the primary language in Ooo, though many other seem to be spoken. Some include:
 * Korean: The Rainicorns shown speak Korean, Jake and PB can understand it.
 * German: In What Have You Done?, Princess Bubblegum spoke some German.
 * French: As shown in "Incendium," the Flame King speaks some when talking to Jake. Jakes sings Alouette, a song sung in French, in "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II."
 * Japanese: In "Marceline's Closet," Jake says a Japanese phrase. Jake also spoke some Japanese in "Return to the Nightosphere".
 * Latin: In "Hug Wolf," the book Jake consults to discover what sort of beast Finn turns into after he was hugged by the alpha hug wolf, has its title in Latin. Also the wizard BUFO, who first appears in "Wizard", takes his name from the Latin word for toad: "bufo". The incantation used to open a portal to the nightosphere is also in Latin.

Post-apocalyptic setting
Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time, has stated in an interview that the Land of Ooo is actually a post-apocalyptic world, the result of a global disaster called the Mushroom War, hence the ruined pieces of modern technology scattered across the land.


 * For a full list of scenes involving post-apocalyptic relics and technology, see: Mushroom War

Humans
It is also possible that Finn may be the sole human being left in Ooo (besides Susan Strong, whose species remains unknown), although it's unknown whether the Mushroom War was responsible for killing off most other humans. It's presumed that most of the other humans mutated into something, died, or mixed with mutants. In "Her Parents", Lady Rainicorn`s parents mention that humans are supposed to be delicous.

For more information on Finn as the last human, see the "Status as the last human" section on Finn's article.

Trivia

 * The name, Ooo, may have came from the area distinction that might have used right after the Mushroom War. As normal national borders became meaningless, they may have started to refer the some region as "Area XXX," where XXX is the numbers. "Ooo" might have came from the this categorization, as in "Area 000."
 * In Jake's croak dream, the Earth in the background did not have a big "chip" missing. However, this could just be one of the Banana Man's astronomy instruments (such as the Saturn in the background was one of the Banana Man's tools when Jake, Finn, and the Banana Man were all in the lake).
 * While Pendleton Ward says the Land of Ooo is a continent, Adam Muto says it is the size of a smallish island nation.
 * The map of Ooo vaguely resembles an eagle or phoenix.
 * The Land of Ooo could be based in Europe, as in The Mushroom War, it says that the Ice Kingdom could be a European city, making Ooo located in Europe also.
 * In the secret video of Ice King in Holly Jolly Secrets Part II, a pre-mushroom war Simon refers to money as pounds. He also references buying the Ice Crown from a Scandinavian dock worker.