Earl of Lemongrab

''"This castle is in UNACCEPTABLE CONDITION!" —The Earl of Lemongrab''

The Earl of Lemongrab first appears in "Too Young." The son of his not-so-proud mother, Princess Bubblegum, he was an experiment of Princess Bubblegum's gone wrong, yet this connection allowed him to usurp the throne to the Candy Kingdom after Bubblegum's de-aging, until her original age of 18 was restored. Once Princess Bubblegum was 18 again, he was fired, and returned to Lemongrab (Earldom), the place of which he is the Earl.

Appearance
He has yellow, lemon textured (as revealed in a close-up of his face) skin, a lemon-shaped head, a long nose similar to that of the Ice King and the Fire Count, round teeth and ovals for eyes with black circles as pupils. Like many of the Adventure Time characters, he has thin, noodly limbs and a lean torso- however, his belly and behind are noticeably chubbier than the rest of him, as his body shape greatly resembles a jelly bean. This is most prominent in the storyboards. He doesn't have toes. The Earl wears a dark-gray bodysuit, black boots, and a green belt with a lime-shaped buckle. He carries a sword in a brown scabbard. He also wears one piece light gray pajamas with snaps on the butt to sleep and uses a pair of large, thick half-moon spectacles to read.



Biography
The Earl was "born" in his mother Princess Bubblegum's laboratory. Seeing as how Princess Bubblegum was about fifteen years old when she created him, he is very young (judging by the amount of years). However, he has the apparent voice of an older teenager or young man still going through puberty; his voice cracks constantly. Upon being created, the Earl of Lemongrab screamed hysterically and violently, manically flapped his arms at Princess Bubblegum, causing The Princess to realize that something had gone wrong in his creation. He was created for the purpose of ruling the Candy Kingdom if the Princess ever became unable to do so. However, since he was "one of her first experiments gone wrong," it can be presumed that she referred to the Earl's sour personality as the "wrong" attribute.

His whereabouts and activities during the time between his creation and "Too Young" are currently hazy at best- he gained the ability to speak, somehow became the earl of an earldom named after himself, and acquired Lemon Horse, but how exactly this all happened is up to speculation. However, Jesse Moynihan stated on his Formspring that after he was born, Princess Bubblegum "stuck him in Castle Lemongrab," and has lived an extremely sheltered, isolated life ever since.

Upon being informed that Princess Bubblegum was "too young" to rule the kingdom, the Earl traveled to her castle on his Lemon Horse, immediately declared her castle to be in "UNACCEPTABLE CONDITION," and threatened to send its residents to the dungeon. Intent on performing the task he was created to do, he ruled the kingdom in the manner that made sense to him- screaming at the candy people and sending them to the dungeon for long periods of time for their presumed crimes. During his brief time as ruler of the kingdom, the Earl was pranked by Finn and the young Princess- although reacting with outrage and hysterics, he promised not to leave. After the pain and embarrassment of the spice prank, he sentenced all of the Candy Kingdom residents to "one million years dungeon." After Princess Bubblegum returned to correct ruling age, the Earl of Lemongrab was unceremoniously fired, and insulted. He rode off into the sunset on his trusty lemon horse, obviously upset and muttering to himself. He returned to Lemongrab.

Personality and Traits
According to his creator, Jesse Moynihan, he is "off-putting, weird, angry, and alienated with an inability to read social cues." Because of this, and because of the fact that his sour disposition is naturally repellant, he doesn't get along with other people very well, if at all. He seems to suffer from many mental and emotional issues, and overreacts to small problems in the manner of an angry child. He appears to be a bit of a neat-freak, as he is noticeably agitated when he sees that Princess Bubblegum's Castle is "unacceptable" by his standards. He also appears to not like being touched- after Finn touched his hand, he screamed in outrage, glared at him, then gasped in alarm. He is very strict, threatening to send Candy People to the dungeon without a trial. He became so angry after being pranked by Finn and PB, that he sentenced candy people to the dungeon without knowing who did it. However, once Peppermint Butler assures him that it was in fact a prank "for laughs," The Earl calms down and begins to laugh. After being punched in the gut by the "little ghost pranksters" and pushed to the ground, the Earl still tried to laugh it off, claiming that he wasn't going anywhere. Although, after eating the spicy solution that PB put on his food (causing him much humiliation and pain), Lemongrab becomes as angry as ever and puts her in the dungeon along with Finn and the other candy people. He also tends to raise his voice and scream a lot- all but a couple of his lines are screamed. He only smiles twice in the episode; once after being pranked by "the thing," and once after being beaten up by Princess Bubblegum and Finn- although in an unused storyboard, he is seen holding a rice cake and grinning to himself, saying, "Jealous of my rice cake, little ghost pranksters?" According to Andy Ristaino, Jesse Moynihan said this storyboard was a reference to Lemongrab liking really bland foods. This can presumably be the reason he was excited about the mashed carrots. The Earl of Lemongrab has little to no sense of humor, but he apparently tries to have one, albeit unsuccessfully. He also tries to rule the kingdom to the best of his ability in a way that makes perfect sense to him. The earl is not evil- just perpetually confused and unintentionally harmful to his subjects. He is overly-sensitive, touchy, and high-strung, and easily offended, but tries his best and is under the dellusion that he is doing the right thing. Andy Ristaino claimed on his Formspring that the earl's sour temper and perpetually unhappy disposition are due to a combination of his willingness to stay bitter, and circumstances that caused him to be this way. The earl does not get along with others, and according to Jesse Moynihan, he doesn't have any friends. Lemongrab doesn't appear to think logically; he claims to not know where food comes from. More evidence of his lack of thought would be his sentencing everybody in the Candy Kingdom to one million years in the dungeon; he didn't seem aware of the fact that he, and the candy people, wouldn't even exist for that much time. His actions appear to be driven by unspecific anger and not direct malice towards anything or anyone in particular. Despite his negative attributes seemingly outweighing any positive ones he may have, the earl is shown to be a fairly stubborn, resilient person, which occasionally seems to work in his favor in times of adversity. Despite being despised by everybody else, he stuck to his job until he was required by law to leave.

Abilities
Although not particularly tolerant of pain (screaming when slapped on the hand by Finn, weeping after being punched in the stomach and pushed down, and moaning after falling from the apple tree), the Earl of Lemongrab apparently has a high tolerance to physical injury. This is shown by the fact that he fell head-first out of the window of the tall castle's tower, and out of a tree, and was completely uninjured. This is because his body is made of extremely hard lemon candy- after falling from a great height, he leaves a deep indentation in the ground.

It is a common medical condition amognst candy people to explode when they are frightened. However, Patrick Seery claims that Lemongrab is immune to this condition, because he is so "hard-shelled." It appears that his hard exteriour makes him impervious to many injuries.

He always carries a sword, but his proficiency in swordfighting is, of yet, unknown, as he hasn't had to use it yet.

Finn


Finn reacted angrily after Lemongrab raised his voice at the young Princess Bubblegum. The Earl presumably dislikes Finn after being touched by him and pranked by him. After Finn slapped him, he screamed angrily, glared at him, gasped in mortification, and proceeded to rub his hand and explain his reason for being in the castle, pretending the incident never occured. Being a neat-freak, Lemongrab likely has an aversion towards Finn because Finn claims to never bathe. In an unused storyboard, he refers to Finn and PB as "little ghost pranksters," apparently hating pranks and trying to make them jealous of his rice cake. Finn seems to think of the earl as more of an infuriating nusiance than a real enemy- although Finn jokingly threatened to set Lemongrab's butt on fire, he doesn't seem like he would do more harm than a few mean pranks. They don't seem to hate each other or harbor any real malice towards each other- they seem to be more of rivals with conflicting intentions and interests than enemies. However, Finn dislikes Lemongrab enough to prank him multiple times (and sometimes purposefully painfully) and punch him in the stomach, and Lemongrab later sent Finn to the dungeon for doing so. Lemongrab doesn't seem to dislike Finn more than he dislikes anybody else (because he dislikes everyone by default,) and Finn's disliking of the earl seems to come from a need to protect the Candy People, and Princess Bubblegum. In an unused storyboard, it was shown that Finn and PB were shocked and horrified when the earl sent a candy person to the dungeon for speaking up against him.

Princess Bubblegum


These two have an exceedingly complicated relationship. According to Jesse Moynihan, Princess Bubblegum is Lemongrab's mother. Despite the fact that Lemongrab is Princess Bubblegums' son, they don't seem to regard each other with any warmth or affection typical to most parent-child relationships. Princess Bubblegum isn't above insulting Lemongrab or hurting him physically if protecting her people is her first prioity, and Lemongrab doesn't have a problem with sending the princess to the dungeon, if he feels that her behaviour or actions conflict with his agenda. Because Finn didn't know about Lemongrab until the events of Too Young, it is possible that Princess Bubblegum was so embarassed and annoyed by her son that she didn't bother mentioning his existence to her friends. After Lemongrab was born, she stuck him in Castle Lemongrab presumably to live a live of iscolation. Before telling Finn that she created Lemongrab, she sighed heavily and closed her eyes. Although they do not hate each other, they have a mutual dislike of each other (Bubblegum wanting Lemongrab to leave, and Lemongrab wanting Princess Bubblegum imprisoned in the dungeon,) but acknowledge the other's royal titles. The Princess temporarily allowed Lemongrab to rule the kingdom after being de-ageified, and after she returned to the age of 18, he left- although unhappy about the disrespectful manner of his dismissal. In an unused storyboard, he refers to Princess Bubblegum and Finn as "little ghost pranksters," apparently hating pranks and trying to make them jealous of his rice cake. Princess Bubblegum, when she is of age, has greater authority over the earl- he adresses her as "Princess Bubblegum," while she simply calls him "Lemongrab," or just "Earl." In addition to this, Lemongrab (Earldom) is located inside of the Candy Kingdom- therefore, Lemongrab (the person) has to submit to Princess Bubblegum's authority.

Lemon Horse
His trusty steed. Lemon Horse has yet to talk. It is unknown whether Lemon Horse was another lemon candy creation of Princess Bubblegum's, or a creation of Lemongrab himself, or a natural animal. It is also unknown how exactly Lemongrab and Lemon Horse met each other, or why Lemon Horse seems to tolerate the companionship of his less-than-pleasant master at all. Despite looking very much alike, their personalities seem to be opposites. Lemon Horse calmly tolerates the earl's outright rage and anger towards everybody, calmly watching as he screams at people with little provication. However, like everyone esle, Lemon Horse is startled by sudden outbursts of his master- Lemon Horse's eyes widen, and it flinches, when Lemongrab abrutply screams at people.

Peppermint Butler


Strangely, Lemongrab has a bit of respect for Peppermint Butler - releasing him early from the dungeon, then claiming "I decide what is early, and what is late, Mr. Peppermint." He is the only one to call Peppermint Butler "Mr. Peppermint," indicating a certain kind of respect (as everyone else simply calls him Peppermint Butler). Also, he made a small bowing gesture and respectfully closed his eyes for a moment as he said this to Peppermint Butler. However, as Peppermint Butler tried explaining the origins of food, Lemongrab cut him off, scolding him by saying "That is why I am royal, and YOU are servile!" Andy Ristaino stated that his politeness was probably more about Lemongrab needing someone to feed him than anything else.

Candy People


He doesn't like them. He repeatedly sends them to the dungeon for petty crimes. He considers the Candy People's ways as "unacceptable," and is extremely irked and taken aback by their rowdy, unorganized behaviour and the messy condition in which they left the castle. Although Lemongrab is technically a candy person, he is mentally and socially iscolated from the rest of the candy people, due to his, literally and figuratively, bitter disposition. The candy people are afraid of and annoyed by this sour person, because he's almost always screaming and disproportionately punishing them for extremely small mistakes.

Quotes
See Earl of Lemongrab/Quotes

Trivia

 * It is noted that "Lemongrab" can refer both to the Earl's name, as well as the land of which he is the Earl. His own creator refers to him as Lemongrab, and Andy Ristaino referred to the Earl's location as Lemongrab, a place in the Land of Ooo.
 * Though he was an antagonist in his first episode appearance, it can be noted that he is not evil- "just completely unadjusted to living," as claimed by Adam Muto on his Formspring.
 * Apparently, The Earl of Lemongrab is extremely far-sighted; needing a pair of very large reading glasses to read "the thing," and it took several long moments for him to do so, though the text itself was ludicrously big.
 * Lemongrab's personality is befitting of a lemon.
 * The character's original name was "Lemonsnatch," but the network censors wouldn't allow it. "Lemonsnatch" was likely a pun based on the phrase "sourpuss," an apt description of Lemongrab's personality.
 * He sets his alarm clock for eight o'clock in the morning.
 * His voice is similar to that of Oscar from Fish Hooks, because he is voiced by the same actor. He and Oscar are also neat-freaks. Oscar's neat-freakiness is well emphasized in the episode "Dances with Wolf Fish."
 * His obsession with cleanliness could be a reference to the acidic properties of the lemon, which is often used in kitchen cleansers.
 * When PB reminisces of her creating Lemongrab, there is a flask with a green liquid in it on the nightstand. But, when she pours the liquid on Lemongrab it's red.
 * An official synopsis released to TV Guide and other websites stated that "Too Young" was about PB's "uncle" trying to claim the throne. Andy Ristaino joked that "uncle" is a term describing a failed science experiment. The confusion was likely caused by the fact that these episode descriptions are often written before the episodes are completed, and they sometimes change during production. In the original storyboard, PB claims, "I wanted to create an uncle for myself," but he didn't turn out as planned. In the final version of Too Young, Lemongrab is not PB's uncle- he is her son.
 * He was noted as one of the first "experiments gone wrong" by Princess Bubblegum; another experiment by Princess Bubblegum that had gone wrong were the Candy Zombies from "Slumber Party Panic."
 * He is made of lemon candy, rather than lemons.
 * It may be so that Lemongrab is younger than 18, aside form the fact that PB created him making him younger by time of actually being alive. Lemongrab declared that he will be in charge until PB turns 18 again. But, PB says, "...and now that I'm younger than him, he inherits the right to control the throne." This indicates that when PB turns 18 again, she will be older than Lemongrab. However, what was not taken into account was that PB is technically still 18, but her outward appearance is 13.
 * Princess Bubblegum appeared to be eighteen when she created Lemongrab. That would make his physical age only one or two years old. Though he appears to be an adult, he is "completely unadjusted to living," like somebody much younger. His ACTUAL age has yet to be stated in the show. At the moment, even Jesse Moynihan isn't quite sure what age the earl is supposed to be.
 * He is mentioned briefly in the first issue of the Adventure Time comic, on the first page, in the sentence: "Not pictured is the Earl of Lemongrab, who is currently sitting in a chair in an empty room, screaming."
 * Jesse Moynihan said that Lemongrab will appear in Season 4. According to him, we're going to learn more about his backstory and his past.