Ghost Princess (episode)

"Ghost Princess" is the twenty-fourth episode in season three of Adventure Time.

Synopsis
Finn and Jake head into Ghost Princess' graveyard to find the cause of her death, while she finds something greater...and more tragic.

Plot
While camping, Finn and Jake find Ghost Princess haunting them. They help her find out how she was murdered so she can retire to the 50th Dead World.

They decide to go to the Graveyard in which she was buried, but find no clues. After interrogating the spirt that resides next to GP, the group meets a ghost named Clarence. Ghost Princess and Clarence make fast friends - However, Ghost Princess insists that Clarence is familiar to her. She and Clarence eventually decide to go to a Spirit Waves concert while Finn & Jake search the rest of the graveyard.

The guys dig up the grave of "Some Donkus" and find half of a broken dagger there. However, they are caught by several ghosts gravedigging and are narrowly rescued by Clarence and Ghost Princess. During the events of the concert, Ghost Princess decided she doesn't want to ascend to the 50th Dead World without Clarence and calls off the investigation.

While Finn & Jake are exiting the Graveyard, Jake reveals he looted the graves for treasure. Finn insists they return to the graveyard to return the items. While inspecting the broken dagger, Finn discovers that "Rence" is engraved on the side. Finn decides to dig in Ghost Princesses grave and discovers a half-dagger reading "Cla". He takes the other broken dagger and they fit together perfectly, reading "CLARENCE". Finn & Jake rush to find Ghost Princess and inform her that Clarence was the murderer, causing her to remember that she was once Warrior Princess, who fought and was killed by Clarence in battle, even though they were also in love. Remembering this causes her to ascend to the 50th Dead World while forgiving Clarence.

Only moments later, Jake recognizes Clarence's saying "My life is like a fart!" It is revealed by flashback that Jake and Clarence met in a convenience store called Squeez-E-Mart when Clarence was alive. Clarence screamed, "My life is a fart!" after eating a can of Softy Cheese. He committed suicide by consuming a huge serving of cheese from a Softy Cheese machine, causing him to explode. The cheese splashed all over Jake, traumatizing him.

Clarence then begins to ascend to the 50th Dead World with Ghost Princess, having discovered the cause of his death. The two kiss as they evaporate into the sky. Back at the campfire, Finn feeds Jake a hot dog with Softy Cheese, helping him get over his fear.

Characters
thumb|300px|right|Promo

Main characters

 * Finn
 * Jake
 * Ghost Princess
 * Clarence Donkus

Minor characters

 * Ghosts
 * Boilby
 * Muscular Ghosts
 * Spirit Waves
 * Ghost Announcer
 * Squeez-E-Mart Employee
 * Warriors

Trivia

 * This episode was initially going to include a plot point with Magic Man, but that part of the story was ultimatly developed as a standalone episode for Season 4. The mausoleum GP and Clarance are in when they assend has a sarcophagus with what appears to be a giant hand inside, perhaps a victim of the magic man.
 * It's the first episode based on Jesse Moynihan's idea.
 * This is the second episode in which the snail appears in a promo. The first was "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II."
 * The promo art for this episode is a parody for the poster of the 1987 horror film The Lost Boys.
 * Ghost Princess and Clarence's story is similar to the myth of Achilles and Penthesilea.
 * Ghost Princess' body was buried at the Hamburger Hill Cemetery. Hamburger Hill was a nickname for the location of an infamous battle during the Vietnam War, where U.S. soldiers suffered heavy casualties before overtaking the point (only to be ordered to pull out shortly after).
 * Clarence must have been alive recently due to the fact that Jake witnessed his death, however Ghost Princess has been in Hamburger Hill Cemetary longer than almost everybody according to the ghost of the individual buried next to her which seems to indicate she died far in the past.
 * When Jake is caught looting graves and is told that it's bad by Finn, he replies "Oh, I didn't know it was wrong." This is a continuation of Jake's trait of not always knowing right from wrong (starting in the episode Apple Thief) where Jake tells Finn that he used to steal bikes and old ladies' purses, not knowing that it was wrong. This is also a continuation of Jake's particular weakness to stealing (revealed in the episode City of Thieves).
 * In her mortal life, Ghost Princess was originally known as Warrior Princess and was also blonde.