Ice King

The Ice King (formerly Simon Petrikov) 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 is the ruler of the Ice Kingdom. His magical abilities, including his flight and ice powers, are contained in his crown, and he is therefore powerless without it. His crown is also the cause of his loss of sanity, his unusual blue skin color, his goblin-like nose, his white eyes, and his beard. Some time before the Mushroom War, he discovered the Enchiridion.

Despite being the show's main antagonist for most of the series, he can turn tragic hero and prove to be a valuable ally, as seen in the Season Three finale in Mortal Recoil.

Appearance
Ice King is a short, blue, elderly man with unusually pointy fingers, pointy toes, sharp teeth, and a goblin-like nose. He wears a dark blue tunic and has a large white beard that covers most of his body. Though the robe gives him the appearance of a larger man, Ice King's body is in fact exceptionally thin. Despite this, Ice King reveals that he is on a diet in "What Have You Done?" Ice King is rarely seen without his crown; without it he is powerless and he is revealed to have a short length of white hair atop his head. The only time he has been seen in shoes was when he was working out before Slime Princess came to talk to him in "Loyalty to the King."

Origin
Sometime before the Mushroom War, Ice King was a normal, olive-skinned, dark-haired, glasses-wearing human named Simon Petrikov studying to be an antiquarian (a specialist in the knowledge of ancient artifacts). He had a young fiancée named Betty, whom he referred to as his "princess" and loved dearly. In "I Remember You" it is revealed that Simon Petrikov discovered The Enchiridion at some point in his career, with the article pictured mentioning he was a professor of archaeology.

At some point in his career, he purchased a strange jeweled crown from an old dock worker in Northern Scandinavia. After bringing the crown home, he put it on his head to make Betty laugh, but the crown caused him to black out and experience odd visions.

Petrikov had no recollection of what he had said or done while wearing the crown, though it was enough to frighten away his fiancée. Simon never heard or saw Betty ever again and began to record himself on VHS tape so people would know his story. As time passed, Petrikov would hear voices and continued having disturbing visions without even putting the crown on. Over time, his skin turned light blue, his nose became pointy and long, his eyes and hair turned white, he grew a full beard, and his body temperature dwindled to an unnatural low of 30°C (normal human body temperature is 37°C). Despite these unnatural body conditions and being in a land covered by snow, Petrikov managed to survive.

As his mind and body became further twisted by the crown, Simon thought himself "too far gone" to find an escape from its influence, though he hoped that he could one day regain his sanity enough so that Betty, his "princess," would come back and love him again.

For a period, Simon was friends with Marceline, a young girl who survived the Mushroom War. The two of them bonded, but even she realized that Simon was changing due to the effects of the magic crown. During a period of the Mushroom War before Simon was completely lost, he discovered a crying Marceline in the wreckage, where he gave her a stuffed toy from a toy shop destroyed in the conflict to comfort her. This toy would be Marceline's precious Hambo, which she would keep and cherish until it was sold to a witch by her ex-boyfriend Ash.

Sometime when the Ice King was still Simon Petrikov, he found the ancient text of heroes, the Enchiridion. This is shown in a newspaper clipping that Marceline shows him in the episode "I Remember You" The newspaper heading reads, "Simon Petrikov unearths Ancient Treasure" and later reads "Silly man returns from expedition with a marginally exciting discovery" This newspaper clipping can be seen in an image above.

As many years passed, Petrikov became disassociated from his original identity so completely that his only reaction to watching a video of his past was embarrassment at the idea of having once worn glasses. Further proof of his dissociation is shown in "What Have You Done?" when he responds to Jake's accusation of him stealing the crown with, "I didn't steal it. I made that item! Made it with the magic that I stole!" showing that he doesn't remember how he really found the crown.

He is no longer human; the power of the crown not only twisted his mind but his body as well. His species/race is now Wizard according to the writers. In "Mortal Recoil," when Princess Bubblegum was at a risk of dying, Ice King mentioned something about if she dies, he would be lost in his own labyrinth of emotions, similar to what Petrikov says in "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II."

Personality
Ice King is normally portrayed as disagreeable, and short-tempered, but is more of a nuisance than an enemy and "isn't usually a serious threat," according to Princess Bubblegum. A genuinely tragic, lonely, and sympathetic 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, enduring short attention span and arrogant nature, Ice King is unable to woo any of his prisoners and often resorts to a forced marriage instead of the loving relationship he craves. However he can be a loving person as revealed in "Princess Monster Wife." 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 so-called "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. He has been labeled a "sociopath" by the Cosmic Owl.

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 is often misunderstood as being evil, when he is actually quite benign. Despite doing mostly bad things like kidnapping princesses, and stealing, it can be said that his behavior is because he is lonely, and desperate for companionship and attention. However, in the episode "Loyalty to the King," when he does have the opportunity to marry many princesses, he secretly plots to make an elite army of wives to take over the world with, so his misunderstood intentions may be in question. His crown has made him insane over the years, affecting his social skills, causing him to do bad things, yet friendship, and companionship is all he really wants, but just goes about it the wrong way. In "I Remember You," it is shown that he was caring as Simon Petrikov. He cared for Marceline when she was a child left alone in the wreckage of the Mushroom War.

Finn and Jake
Ice King has a mixed view on Finn and Jake. In earlier episodes, he would often be annoyed by them and occasionally get into fights with them, usually ending with a humiliating defeat on the Ice King's part. He would also remain neutral to them and even try to avoid conflict with them, as shown in "The Eyes." He seems to agree on the fact that Jake is also an enemy to him at times. Ice King has difficulty keeping princesses in his castle without Finn attacking him and saving them. This is one of the main reasons Ice King usually has negative feelings towards Finn and Jake. However, as of "Mortal Recoil," Ice King has a more positive reaction to them. From then on, he frequently tries to be friends with them (in his own misguided way) and has willingly made alliances with them. In the episode "Still," the Ice King freezes Finn and Jake so they can have "bonding time."

In "Hitman," the Ice King makes it clear that he doesn't want to kill Finn or Jake—the most he would do is "punch [them] in the gut and make [them] spit up [their] lunch." At worst, they are battling rivals, as Finn openly disapproves of the Ice King's habit of stealing princesses and causing mischief. At best, they are playful rivals, even friends. In "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II," the Ice King is shown to have a locket with the pictures of Finn and Jake. Near the end of the episode, the three are shown snuggled up side-by-side by a roaring fire, wearing Christmas sweaters.

Gunter and the other penguins
The Ice King's moodiness in life is expressed towards them. He will portray paternal feelings towards them, often referring to himself as "daddy" in the third person, and can even be understanding to their childlike antics, such as when Gunter was breaking bottles in "Still." However he also treats them as slaves, often seen yelling, abusing, and in "Five Short Graybles" he threw several of them in the garbage and marooned Gunter on a drifting iceberg for his own selfish reasons. Though annoyed, Gunter came back, so the penguins seem to be quite loyal. In "Princess Monster Wife" they are also shown to act in fear of Ice King. In "Reign of Gunters," he is the only one who could stop Gunter from causing terror in the Candy Kingdom.

Princess Bubblegum
Princess Bubblegum is Ice King's main love interest, but it's unrequited love. Since Finn had a crush on Princess Bubblegum (before meeting Flame Princess), this made it even harder for Ice King to maintain any relationship that will last with her. Finn and Ice King would usually be seen fighting for the affections of Princess Bubblegum in earlier episodes. It seems that he also captures her more than any other princess and enjoys being near her. The reason behind this must be because of his quotes while transforming into the "Ice King," such as when he says, "... and then maybe Betty my princess will love me again." He had a picture of Betty in a lab coat, and Princess Bubblegum is shown in a lab coat many times for her love of science. This somewhat explains his obsession of her.

In "Mortal Folly," he even tries to get her attention and marry her, and even tells her that he loves her. However, after she temporarily turns thirteen, he is not interested in her. As of "What Have You Done?," Princess Bubblegum is completely willing to hurt the Ice King if forced to. In "Holly Jolly Secrets part II," however, it has been shown that Princess Bubblegum and the Ice King are capable of being civil, even hanging out, presumably when Finn is around to prevent anything bad from happening. The three were shown wearing Christmas sweaters, drinking cocoa, and watching tapes in a content way.

At the end of "Lady & Peebles," Princess Bubblegum creates a new heart for Ice King after rescuing him from the dungeon where Ricardio was. Although Princess Bubblegum dislikes Ice King, she does not wish for him to die.

Other princesses
Aside from Princess Bubblegum, Ice King has shown an obsession with all the other princesses. His most common is Wildberry Princess, for unknown reasons. In "Hitman," Ice King states that Lumpy Space Princess and Ghost Princess are his least favorite princesses. This is due to the fact that he cannot hold Ghost Princess with his "love mitts." He also dislikes Lumpy Space Princess as he prefers smooth princesses, as stated in "Loyalty to the King." Despite being the opposite elemental, Ice King has recently started showing attraction to Flame Princess, which presents a major problem since Flame Princess is Finn's girlfriend, and she is under-age.

Ricardio
Ricardio was revealed to be the Ice King's own sentient heart in "Ricardio the Heart Guy." It literally left his body to pursue its own agenda. It seems to share the same passions as the Ice King, including the fixation on marrying Princess Bubblegum. Naturally, the Ice King is desperate for Ricardio to return to the inside of his body but Ricardio has no empathy for the Ice King, even beating him up and throwing him into a dumpster to die. Without his heart the Ice King is virtually, but not completely helpless, and will likely die without it after a time. In "Lady &amp; Peebles" Ricardio escapes once again taking Ice King's internal sinews to fashion a body without regard for Ice King's well-being. Ricardio also calls the Ice King "Simon" in the episode "Lady &amp; Peebles."

Marceline
In "I Remember You," Ice King is revealed to have known Marceline in the past during the aftermath of the Mushroom War. He is also the one who gave Marceline her old toy, Hambo. Although as much as Marceline remembers Ice King as Simon, he doesn't seem to remember her as much as she explains to him. It is implied through Marceline's dialogue that Ice King has repeatedly sought her out at her different residences over the years, but does not remember their past friendship or his life as Simon, something that angers Marceline and sometimes even drives her to tears.

A letter he wrote for her in the past indicates that Simon stayed away from Marceline because he was aware the crown's powers were sapping his sanity (and keeping him alive) as he turned into the Ice King, and that he was afraid of saying or doing something harmful to her based on recent events. He remains a fan of her music even as the Ice King, and irritates her by showing up at her doorstep to write a song to help him get princesses. However, despite her frustration with Ice King's behavior, Marceline maintains some affection for him, turning away Finn and Jake when they offer to wallop him for her, and eventually performing the duet "Remember You " with Ice King based on their past relationship. She also admits in her song "Nuts" that while she is deeply annoyed with Ice King, she is always glad to see him when he shows up. In addition the Ice King seems to still hold some concern for Marceline, immediately apologizing for shoving her and then hides on top of the refrigerator, showing more guilt than he does when doing much worse things against Finn or the other people of Ooo.

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 "Thank You," the Ice King makes a full armor of ice and says that it is "invincible." However, Finn and Jake eventually chopped away the ice.

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 have 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 swiftly defeating Finn and Jake when amply provoked, as shown in "When Wedding Bells Thaw" and "The Eyes." In "Loyalty to the King" he spouts blue fire like energy fom his hands.

Ice King can also play the drums, once demonstrating a drum solo, and owns two drum sets, one of which is a green one with "#1 Babe" across the front. The set consists of a bass drum, a floor tom, a snare, a crash cymbal, a ride cymbal and a hi-hat. His other drum set, a red one, is in terrible shape, and smashed to pieces in a corner of his castle. He can also play the keyboard fairly decently. The fact that he has so many instruments lying around his castle indicates that he has a fair amount of musical ability.

In "The Chamber of Frozen Blades," the Ice King is shown to have studied the Ice Ninja art of Fridjitzu.

Aside from his magic, Ice King owns a pair of nun-chucks that uses during the Wizard Battle to "cheat" as opposed to using his ice powers.



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. In "Mortal Recoil," as in the picture on the above-right, the camera briefly shows the viewer what the Ice King is seeing at the time. It gives the impression that the Ice King is imaginatively, completely' insane. 'In the episode "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II," Simon Petrikov says that he saw strange visions while wearing the crown. In "Beyond this Earthly Realm," it is revealed that his Wizard Eyes allow him to see into the Spirit World, explaining that the freaky creatures surrounding him are spirits like Finn when he is transported to the Spirit World.

The Ice King also has the Demonic Wishing Eye and the Ghost Pouch. The Demonic Wishing Eye's powers were shown in "Reign of Gunthers" when Gunther used it to (temporarily) conquer the Candy Kingdom.

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 vacuous expression leads Jake to suspect it has a case of "whacked-out poo brain." Finn and Jake try many things to get rid of him. When Finn finally kicks it, Ice King pops out of the inflatable horse costume. 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.

Ice Finn
In "Still," The Ice King freezes Finn and Jake with "Freezing Potion A" so that they can bond. One of his bonding activities is better understanding each other's perspectives by dressing up like each other. He knots his robe so that it's the same length as a t-shirt and colors his feet black with a marker to make his clothes look like Finn's. He then wraps his beard around the top of his head and pulls two tufts out of the top to mimic Finn's hat. As the finishing touch, he creates a backpack out of ice to look like Finn's pack.

Quotes
See Ice King/Quotes

Major appearances

 * "Animated Short"
 * "Prisoners of Love"
 * "Ricardio the Heart Guy"
 * "What is Life?"
 * "When Wedding Bells Thaw"
 * "What Have You Done?"
 * "The Eyes"
 * "Loyalty to the King"
 * "The Chamber of Frozen Blades"
 * "Mortal Folly"
 * "Mortal Recoil"
 * "Let's Work Together"
 * "Hitman"
 * "Still"
 * "Wizard Battle"
 * "Holly Jolly Secrets Part I"
 * "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II"
 * "Five Short Graybles"
 * "Princess Monster Wife"
 * "Beyond this Earthly Realm"
 * "Reign of Gunters"
 * "I Remember You"

Minor appearances

 * "Evicted!"
 * "It Came from the Nightosphere"
 * "Conquest of Cuteness"
 * "Fionna and Cake"
 * "Thank You"
 * "King Worm"
 * "Lady & Peebles"
 * "The Lich"
 * "Finn the Human" (Farmworld Simon Petrikov)

Mentioned

 * "Business Time"

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 his beard.
 * 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, as seen in "The Chamber of Frozen Blades."
 * In "Mortal Folly," when Ice King tried to lift the latch on a window in order to see Princess Bubblegum, he used a small card that has the word "Wizard" printed on it.
 * He sometimes falls asleep with his eyes open, as seen in "Still."
 * As Simon Petrikov, a Scientific Parasite is visible in his coat pocket.
 * In the ending of "Fionna and Cake," it is revealed that Fionna, Cake, Prince Gumball, and all the other gender-swapped characters exist only in fan-fiction written by the Ice King.
 * Ice King's gender swapped character is Ice Queen.
 * Ice King is older than Marceline as seen in the episode "I Remember You."
 * An old newspaper clipping featured in "I Remember You" shows Simon Petrikov as the discoverer of the Enchiridion.
 * The Ice King loves filling his bathtub up with milk and sitting in it like he's a magic angel. This is revealed in a fast-forwarded portion of Ice King's tapes in the episode "Holly Jolly Secrets Part I."
 * Even though, as seen in "Mortal Recoil," the Ice King does seem draw the line at how old a girl would have to be for him to capture and marry (which seems to be 18 years old), he is still somehow attracted to females at least 14/15 years and up. He mentions, for example, Finn's current girlfriend Flame Princess in his song "Oh, Bubblegum" in "I Remember You," and even his fictional, gender-swapped version of Finn, Fionna.
 * In "Mortal Recoil," Ice King states that he doesn't want his "future wife" to be physically unattractive, but is not bothered by how Princess Monster Wife looks. (However, this may be because to him, she is not physically unattractive, seeing that she is made out of his "favorite parts" of his "favorite princesses".)
 * 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. As shown in "Princess Monster Wife" he's still attracted to her.
 * Ice King's favorite princess's are Princess Bubblegum, Muscle Princess, Skeleton Princess, Turtle Princess, Hot Dog Princess, Wildberry Princess, Elbow Princess, Slime Princess, and not an actual princess, Dr. Princess.
 * Even though he has been changed by the crown, Ice King still shows signs that some vestiges of his former self remain. This can be seen in certain things he says and does. For example, in "I Remember You" when he finds his old scrap book filled with poignant reminders of the man he once was and his shared past with Marceline, he absent-mindedly describes the pages as "wet with tears." The implication is that during a recent moment of lucidity he was crying over them and has since forgotten doing so. He brings the diary entries with him as inspirational material for the song he wants Marceline to help him compose.
 * Ice King's obsession with princesses comes from his fiancée Betty, who he refers to as his "Princess."
 * In the note of Simon Petrikov, there are visible writings of the lyrics to "Oh, Bubblegum". He stated that he wrote the lyrics down on those papers, and since that picture of young Marceline had notes on the back, it might refer that somewhere in Ice King, Simon was trying to communicate and ask for forgiveness to Marceline.

Cultural references

 * The manipulative influence of Ice King's crown, its magical powers, and the fact that it gives its wearer unpleasant visions make it reminiscent of the One Ring from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series. The Ice King's reaction to the crown is, as a consequence, very similar to the effects of the Ring on Gollum/Smeagol (unnatural long life, loss of sanity from obsession and isolation).
 * The fact that Simon was an antiquarian who found an artifact that drives him insane is very similar to many H. P. Lovecraft stories, in which most of his characters are scholars and antiquarians. Insanity caused by an artifact or event is a main theme in most of his stories.
 * The design of the Ice King seems to be at least partially inspired by the Winter Warlock from Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970). Both are robed wizards with cold/winter related powers, have long pointy noses, long white beards, similar crowns, eyebrows, and triangular teeth. Similar to Ice King's Gunter, the Winter Warlock also befriends Kris Kringle's penguin, Topper.
 * The Ice King's appearance, powers and tragic past are somewhat reminscient of Batman nemesis Mr. Freeze.

Appearance in other media

 * Ice King is a character in FusionFall, and his crown is a wearable item.
 * On New Year's Eve 2010, there was an Adventure Time marathon, and it featured bumpers with the Ice King.
 * He appeared in two Hole in the Wall bumpers in which he is a contestant. He tries to freeze the wall, or runs away in fear.
 * In Regular Show's "See You There," one person is dressed like the Ice King. He is seen many times throughout the episode.
 * He appears in the Cartoon Network TV show MAD in the episode "Avenger Time." He is called by the same name and voiced by Tom Kenny, but he has a much shorter beard and hunches over.
 * There is a licensed Halloween costume of Ice King.