Ice King

Ice King is the main antagonist (often unintentionally) of Adventure Time. His typical misdeed is to kidnap a princess and force her to marry him, which Finn and Jake foil every time. As his name suggests, Ice King is also his title, announcing himself as King of Ice. He rules the Ice Kingdom. His Ice Powers are stolen and are contained in his crown, and he is therefore powerless without it.

Appearance
Ice King is a short, blue, eldery man with unusually tiny fingers, pointy toes, and a long, tusk-like proboscis. He wears a dark blue tunic and has a large beard which covers most of his body. Though the robe gives him the appearance of a larger man, Ice King's body is actually very withered and skinny. Ice King is seen most of the time with a jeweled crown on his head. Without the crown on, it is revealed that he has a small length of white hair on the top of his head. He does not wear shoes on his slender feet.

Nice King
Nice King is the beardless alter ego of the Ice King, who appears in "Loyalty to the King." The reason for his existence was the Ice King's choosing to shave his beard, in hopes that it would make him more attractive to princesses after innumerable failed captures. When going out in public in his beardless form, a misinterpretation by Slime Princess when introducing himself ("a nice king," instead of "an ice king") ultimately leads to the princesses' trying to court him. He also dubs Finn and Jake his loyal "Nice Knights," commanding them to interview his prospective princesses auditioning for a date.

Horse
In "The Eyes," Ice King spies on Finn and Jake, disguised as a creepy horse. The horse has a very "un-horse-like" face with ever-staring eyes and a protruding tongue. Its innocuous expression leads Jake to suspect it has a case of "whacked-out poo brain." When Finn finally kicks him, Ice King pops out of the inflatable horse costume (But in later scenes it shows Ice King putting on the head of the Horse, so it is identified as a plothole). According to the Frederator Blog, the design for this horse was inspired by Kate Beaton's ''Hark! A Vagrant'' comics, which features a similar Fat Pony character.

Personality
Ice King is normally portrayed as disagreeable and short-tempered. A genuinely lonely character, Ice King spends most of his time kidnapping and imprisoning the various princesses of Ooo, in hopes of someday marrying one. Due to his poor social skills and arrogant nature, Ice King is unable to woo any of his prisoners and learns to resort to a forced marriage instead of the loving relationship he craves. With no companions or friends aside from Gunter, his other penguin guards, and numerous ice creatures, Ice King expresses a continual zeal to spend time with anyone who will tolerate his company, especially his archenemies Finn and Jake. In "The Eyes," he takes on the disguise of a horse to spy on Finn and Jake in an effort to learn how to be happy but fails that as well.

Ice King's personality is perhaps best characterized in "Prisoners of Love":

He is generally unliked by Finn and Jake, but in the episode, "When Wedding Bells Thaw," Finn and Jake become a little more accepting of him, evidenced when Finn says, "I'm kinda happy for him." In that same episode, Ice King asks Finn and Jake to throw him a "Manlorette Party." However, this acceptance soon wilts when Finn and Jake discover the Ice King's diabolical hypnosis of his would-be wife. In the episode "What Have You Done?," he calls Finn his "bosom" when they release him free from jail after Finn learns that Ice King had committed no recent crime. Although after Finn's "death," Ice King howls in pain for ten seconds, he subsequently drops his "corpse" to the ground, which Finn declares mean and cruel.

It seems that the Ice King will steal any adult female so long as she has the word "Princess" in her name. This is shown in "The Chamber of Frozen Blades," in which he steals Dr. Princess, even though "Princess" is merely her surname. Despite Ice King's more common antagonistic role, he plays the part of a protagonist in "Mortal Recoil," helping Finn and Jake to defeat Princess Bubblegum by freezing her Lich-possessed body; in the mini-episode, "Let's Work Together," he actually helps Finn and Jake regardless of the fact that Finn said to "sacrifice" himself, but unbeknownst of the fact that it also changed his face.

Ice King seems to only attack Finn and Jake upon provocation. Old age and visions of supernatural creatures, due to the effects of his Wizard Eyes, have made Ice King slightly insane.

Abilities


When Ice King is wearing his magic crown, it gives him the power to control all forms of ice and snow. This includes, but is not limited to, throwing ice lightning, moving ice with telekinesis, creating living manifestations of ice, flash freezing his enemies, and the ability to onset wintry weather on cue. In "What Have You Done?," it is revealed that the crown was infused with stolen magic. His beard is apparently animated, operating much like a limb with partial shape-changing abilities, which he can wield in close combat. His beard also forms tiny wings that allow him to fly, although he must be wearing both his beard and crown to fly. Because of his quick temper and arguably slow wit, he isn't able to wield his powers as effectively as he should, but has proven himself capable of defeating Finn and Jake when amply provoked.

Ice King can also play the drums, though with debatable skill, and on a drumset with "#1 Babe" across the front. The set consists of a bass drum, a floor tom, a snare, two ride cymbals and a hi-hat. In "The Chamber of Frozen Blades" the Ice King is shown to have studied the Ice Ninja art of Frigjitzu, but because he doesn't practice this technique openly in battle, he isn't very good at it. In the episode, "Loyalty to the King", he is unable to fly because he shaved off his beard.

Main Article: Wizard Eyes

Ice King also possesses a power known as "Wizard Eyes", which allow him to see certain things that normal people can't. However, it also causes him to constantly see strange, freaky creatures. He notably used this power in "Mortal Recoil" when he witnessed The Lich take over the melted body of Princess Bubblegum. These freaky creatures are caused by the lack of control the Ice King has over his wizard eyes.

Quotes
See Ice King/Quotes

Major Appearances

 * Prisoners of Love
 * Ricardio the Heart Guy
 * What is Life?
 * When Wedding Bells Thaw


 * The Eyes
 * Loyalty to the King
 * The Chamber of Frozen Blades
 * Mortal Folly
 * Mortal Recoil
 * Let's Work Together
 * Hitman
 * Still

Minor Appearances

 * Evicted!
 * It Came from the Nightosphere
 * Conquest of Cuteness

Trivia

 * Ice King has a tattoo of a penguin on his butt, as seen in the episode "Prisoners of Love" during his dream sequence.
 * His cut out has Ricardio sticking out under the beard.
 * In the episode "When Wedding Bells Thaw" Ice King, without realizing it, marries Jake. However, their marriage was annulled soon after. According to Adam Muto, "At the end of the episode, Ice King came around looking to celebrate not being married to Jake."
 * Ice King's crown has red jewels, however in "What Have You Done?", he has pink ones because of the lighting.
 * Ice King has a computer which he uses to play video games, as seen in "What is Life?" and to make rudimentary drawings of himself with princesses, seen in "The Chamber of Frozen Blades".
 * According to Natasha's formspring, the Ice King's species is Wizard.
 * As revealed on Mr. Muto's formspring, one of the gems on Ice King's crown provides the same effects as the magic gems used by Princess Bubblegum, protecting him from The Lich's mind control effects.
 * According to Pendleton Ward's formspring, Ice King is around 600 years old.
 * According to Pen Ward's Formspring, Ice King's favorite videogame is Battle Babe, most likely the one he played in "What is Life?"
 * In Mortal Folly when Ice King tried to lift the latch on the on a window to get to see Princess Bubblegum he used a small card that has the word Wizard printed on it.
 * In "Hitman", Ice King states that Lumpy Space Princess and Ghost Princess are his least favorite princesses.
 * Ice King has a gender swap: Ice Queen
 * In "Still", Finn states that they are friends.

Appearances in other media

 * Ice King is a character in FusionFall.
 * On New Year's Eve 2010, there was an Adventure Time marathon, and it featured bumpers with the Ice King.
 * He appeared in 2 Hole in the Wall bumpers, in which he is a contestant. He tries to freeze the wall, or runs away in fear. A third bumper features Rath from "Ben 10: Ultimate Alien"
 * In Regular Show's "See You There", one person is dressed like the Ice King. He is seen many times.