User blog:Icanhascheezeburger/My own analysis of Adventure Time characters

My mile-long blog posts have been noted and unbelievably I have been requested by other users to post my opinions on Adventure Time characters.

Well, it's currently 04:17AM as I type this, so I'm perhaps not going to speak too coherently and I'm only going to do one for now, but here goes:

1. The Ice King


 * Many cartoons have a typical cliche supervillain, a person who you are always able to call the 'enemy'. At the beginning of the series, the Ice King was originally this person - kidnapping princesses, attacking Finn and Jake, being generally moody. But then as the series carried forward, we began seeing some MAJOR character development. He became an anti-cliche. A character that immediately looks like it's going to sway into a cliche yet avoids it neatly with a completely abstract and new characterization, very much like Princess Bubblegum.


 * It was revealed that the Ice King is INCREDIBLY lonely. We always see him trying to "befriend" Finn and Jake. He goes so far as to freeze them so that they will not attack him on sight. He tricks them into running what is effectively a stag party because he hopes to have their attention and he invites them to his wedding. Of course, the wedding was a complete hoax, but all this still happened.


 * The Ice King is a character that we now pity more than anything. Living in his life of solitude, he craves the attentions of Ooo's greatest heroes and his kidnappings are seen as little more than a nuisance. Finn and Jake apparently have a huge influence on his actions - he fanboys over them. He writes fanfictions about their genderbent selves and ships a 13-year-old female version of Finn with himself.


 * From the episode "Holly Jolly Secrets", the Ice King became a tragic character. We saw how he was once a normal, rather handsome young human researcher, how he had found the crown in Scandinavia (a real country, connecting the Ice king with our world), and how trying it on had completely destroyed his life and his mind.


 * We learn about his insanity. We learn that he was terrified of hurting people and he apologised in advanced for all his future sins. But the two most important things we had learnt from this experience are these:


 * a) He was a survivor of the 'Great Mushroom War', meaning that he had possibly seen some terrifying things, his entire died, and his history is the key to unlocking a large portion of that of the Land of Ooo, if not ALL of it.


 * b) He feels the need to kidnap princesses in the memory and subconscious search of his dead wife, who he had nicknamed "Princess". This makes us instantly forgive all of his misdeeds when kidnapping and flirting with Princesses.


 * We lose ALL of our hate for the guy and are only left with an overwhelming sense of pity.


 * So after Holly Jolly secrets we never view Simon Petrikov the same way ever again.


 * However, we are always reminded that the Ice King is still a big jerk. He still retains some of his original traits. He still often commits rather selfish acts, like creating Princess Monster Wife, and tricking Finn in 'Beyond this Earthly Realm', and being incredibly fussy over what princess he wants to marry, etc. etc. But I think this only really adds to his interest. He has been all alone for so long, treated like the criminal he has become and shunned by all, that he now has a rather bitter view of the world and has lost his moral code. He hardly behaves differently to Marceline to be honest, just more exaggerated - Marceline showed traits of selfishness in several episodes. I suppose that it's because they both have learnt to fend for themselves in this depressing post-apocalyptic world full of irradiated monsters.


 * Interestingly, in Finn's 'fake death scene' in 'What Have You Done?' the Ice King shrieks in agony for a minute, curing the Candy Kingdom of the plague he had unintentionally caused but would not fix, and then proceeds to drop Finn's body and walk away as if nothing had happened. Perhaps he has been desensitized from friends dying, what with the apocalypse and living with no friends but penguins, penguins not exactly being immortal. And of course all the lovely princesses he's been chasing in the past dying. He's lived through a thousand years worth of generations. Death does not phase him incredibly.


 * The episodes "Beyond this earthly realm" and "Princess monster wife" showed mixed views on the Ice King. In the former, we discover that he constantly sees horrific spiritual creatures and that these contribute to his madness in a large way. He offers Finn freedom from the spirit world in return for Finn ridding the creatures from his sight. At first, after Finn goes through the effort of removing these creatures that Simon is visibly disturbed by, we learn that it was a ploy to trap Finn in the spirit world to be his friend forever.  But he does actually try to help Finn by breaking the lamb, and although he fails at first, him and Finn successfully free themselves at the end. In PMW, we see him create a wife out of body parts from many of Ooo's princesses - his favourite parts - but despite her grotesque appearence he actually seems to love her. This is the first person who has not turned his affection away immediately and he loves her for who she is, he spends the episode trying to make her feel good about herself. The episode's punchline is that the Ice King cares more about her giving back all the Princess parts he stole than her actual (heartwarming) departure.


 * It seems that the Ice King wants a loving family. He makes one out of Finn and Jake and PMW in the episode. His solitude drives his insanity further and I really hope that he finds someone who can heal his wounds, bring a little part of Simon Petrikov back at a time, and help him break through from his lonliness.


 * I think that the Ice King has a tragic case of "the Wall". The "wall" of social alienation and isolation.


 * My final point here - it is now 05:05am and I have been writing for almost an hour because I'm pretty slow this morning - is that the Ice King is deeply insecure. He is anorexic. He thinks he is fat, which is what the size of his robes causes us to originally interpret, whereas he is really a stickthin old man.


 * So the Ice King is a very, very tragic character despite original appearences. He is still obnoxious though. But I think that he is potentially the most interesting character on the show. Heck, I think a LOT of characters on this show are interesting, like Princess Bubblegum, Lemongrab, Marceline, Finn, but so far the Ice King's backstory is the most mind-blowing thing I have ever come across on a cartoon character.


 * And this analysis barely scratches the surface. I really can't describe how amazing the Ice King is.


 * Next up, tomorrow, if this goes well I will post about other characters. But for now, adios! 5:10AM! Dang, this isn't even one of my longest posts, but I don't remember taking so long to finish something.