Ice King

"I am the king! I am the king of c-c-cool!"- The Ice King

The Ice King (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 rules the Ice Kingdom. His 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 and his unusual skin color.

Appearance
Ice King is a short, blue, elderly man with unusually tiny fingers, pointy toes, and a long pointed nose. 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, he is powerless and it is revealed that he has a small length of white hair on the top of 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 dark-haired, glasses-wearing human named Simon Petrikov who was studying to be an antiquarian of ancient artifacts. Petrikov never believed in the supernatural himself but admitted to a fascination with superstitions. At some point he purchased a magical crown from an old dock worker in northern Scandinavia. After coming into contact with the crown he started to hear voices and lose memory of the times he wore it. Early on, the crown's influence scared away his fiancée Betty, whom he referred to as his princess and this may be the reason he's obsessed with the princesses of Ooo. Through repeated contact, he began to lose his sanity while it turned his skin blue, made his nose grow longer, and lowered his thumb|right|305pxbody temperature at a supernatural rate. (At the time he claimed it was 13 degrees Celsius which was sufficient enough to turn his skin blue, although, considering his transformation was not yet complete, it may currently be lower). Just as the Mushroom War was starting, he had mostly, if not completly fallen into a demented state with severe memory blackouts. As his mind became more and more altered by the crown he began to become manic and possibly violent. The Ice King that exists in present-day Ooo is not sane enough to remember his past as a human, or his fiancée. It is also notable that the Ice King's former surname, "Petrikov," is of Slavic, possibly Russian, origin. It has also been said that the crown kept him from harm during the Mushroom War. As you can see in the background of the window, it began to snow. This may have suggestted that he was frozen solid, and kept from any harm during the war, but definitely implies that either there was some sort of nuclear winter occuring or, more likely, his transofrmation was causing the weather, as later on in the tape he seemed to be still indoors yet snow was falling around him.

The tale of Ice King is similar to that of Gollum of J.R.R. Tolkien's works: a humanoid being who gains power by way of a precious artifact but becomes twisted in mind and body into an immortal yet strange state.

It may also be the explanation to Ice King's saying ''When you have stanky old wizard eyes its like Crazy Crazy all the time... *Sigh* all the time...''

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. He has been labeled a "sociopath" by the Cosmic Owl.

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. Jake also states that he will clasp Finn for a "ka-jillion" years. In "Still ", Finn and Jake declared that they and the Ice King are friends. Ice King writes fan fiction about Finn and Jake. (Fionna and Cake)

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 (though the crazed visions that Ice King associates with his wizard eyes may truly be visions forced on him by his crown, and completely seperate from his Wizard Eyes, or his Wizard Eyes could be how the crown manifests its visions upon him).

This being said, the Ice kings personality is completely different than the person he actually is, Simon Petrikov. After putting on crown, it took over his mind, showing him visions and driving him insane. In Simons final message, he pleaded that people forgive him until he could regain his sanity.

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. 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.

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.



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.

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 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.

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
 * Wizard Battle
 * Holly Jolly Secrets Part I
 * Holly Jolly Secrets Part II

Minor Appearances

 * Evicted!
 * It Came from the Nightosphere
 * Conquest of Cuteness
 * Fionna and Cake
 * Thank You

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.
 * However, as seen in "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II", the Ice King is (or once was) human. This could mean that the crown not only warped the Ice King's mind, but made him inhuman.
 * 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. This is due to the fact that he cannot hold Ghost Princess with his "love mitts."
 * He sometimes falls asleep with his eyes open as seen in "Still."
 * In "Still," it is revealed that despite his constant battles with them, he is friends with Finn and Jake, but the friendship only goes one way.
 * According to Natasha Allegri, the Ice King thinks he's fat (in his imagination zone).
 * It is possible that he might be ambidextrous because in "Hitman" he signs Scorcher's note with his right hand and the second time he signs it with his left hand.
 * Natasha Allegri has joked that Ice King's character is based off Pendleton Ward.
 * As Simon Petrikov, what appears to be a Scientific Parasite is visible in his coat pocket.
 * In What Have You Done the Ice King states that he made his crown with the magic he stole, but in Holly Jolly Secrets Part I he bought the crown when he was human.
 * It's possible that Ice King is an evil spirit that travels from host to host (like the Lich), except through the crown. This would mean the current Ice King (who bought the crown) is not the original Ice King (who created the crown).

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.
 * He appears in the CN TV show "MAD" in the episode "Avenger Time." He is called by the same name, but he has a much shorter beard and hunches over.