Earl of Lemongrab

Earl of Lemongrab
Name	Earl of Lemongrab
Gender	Male
Age	Unknown
Species	Candy Person
Occupation	Earl, Heir to the Candy Kingdom Throne
Relatives	Princess Bubblegum (creator)
Introduced in	"Too Young"
Voiced by	Justin Roiland

The Earl of Lemongrab first appears in the episode "Too Young." He is the high-strung, overly-zealous, stubborn ruler of the land of Lemongrab, and the heir to the Candy Kingdom. He is the creation of Princess Bubblegum and the first of her experiments gone wrong. He was able to usurp the throne of the Candy Kingdom on the technicality of Bubblegum's de-aging. Once Princess Bubblegum was 18 again, he was fired, and returned to Lemongrab. He will return in an upcoming episode in season four entitled "You Made Me!"

Appearance

He is one of the few overtly humanoid candy people. 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, a green tongue, and oval eyes with black circles as irises.

A newborn Lemongrab, screaming and flapping his arms at Princess Bubblegum

Like many of the Adventure Time characters he has thin, noodly limbs and a lean torso; However, his behind sticks out noticeably and the profile of his body resembles a Jelly Bean. He does not have toes, nipples or a belly-button. He often has lines around his eyes when stressed, and visible frown lines when particularly upset. The Earl wears a dark-gray bodysuit, black boots, a green belt with a lemon-shaped buckle and carries a sword in a brown scabbard. For bed he wears a light gray one-piece with snaps on the butt. . He sometimes uses a pair of half-moon spectacles to read.

Biography

The Earl was created in Princess Bubblegum's laboratory; it is yet unknown how long ago, but he is much younger than he appears, in terms of years. Upon being created the Lemongrab screamed hysterically and violently flapped his arms, causing the Princess to realize that the experiment had gone wrong.

Little is known about his location and life between his creation and the events of "Too Young." He somehow became the Earl of an Earldom (known as Lemongrab) and acquired Lemon Camel. Jesse Moynihan has stated that after he was born, Princess Bubblegum "stuck him in Castle Lemongrab," and he has lived an extremely sheltered, and presumably wealthy life ever since. He was raised by servants and became spoiled and ignorant due to having everything he wanted handed to him without a connection to its source. In the storyboards, it was shown that the Candy People said things like "Who's that again?" when he came to Princess Bubblegum's castle, indicating that he had been isolated from the rest of the people of Candy Kingdom.

After being informed that Princess Bubblegum was under eighteen, the Earl traveled to the Candy Castle on his Lemon Camel and immediately began giving orders and threatening the Candy People with time in the dungeon. Princess Bubblegum conceded his right to the throne because, as she claimed, he was currently older than her. As acting ruler he behaved in the manner that made sense to him—screaming at the candy people and sending them to the dungeon without trial. Finn and the young Princess Bubblegum attempted to force the Earl to leave by playing pranks on him, but he refused to go anywhere. After the pain and embarrassment of the spice prank, he sentenced Finn, Princess Bubblegum and Peppermint Butler to one million years in the dungeon. After Princess Bubblegum returned to correct, ruling age, the Earl of Lemongrab was unceremoniously fired and insulted. He rode off on his Lemon Camel, upset and muttering to himself.

Personality and traits

According to 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 is not inherently harmful to anybody but himself because of his unnamed disorder, and is merely "dysfunctional" mentally and as a person rather than destructive. Though he was an antagonist in his first episode appearance, he is not evil, "just completely unadjusted to living," as claimed by Adam Muto on his Formspring. However, Cole Sanchez merely calls him an "off" person who unjustifiably and arbitrarily treats others badly. According to Patrick Seery, he likes order, and he can only properly function in a society in which everybody obeys him and agrees with him. The actions he takes against people are not entirely unreasonable in his perspective -- he only punishes those who don't adhere to his strict standards of behavior. He at least tolerates those who do. Although he is exceedingly sensitive to his own emotions, Lemongrab is extremely insensitive to other people's feelings up to the point of being unintentionally cruel and harmful. Although this is due to his extreme social awkwardness, he has a knack for making other people miserable, and even afraid. In an unused scene, it was shown that Lemongrab had no qualms about sending a small candy child to the dungeon for an extremely petty reason, and terrorizing the youngster up to the point of making the child cry. Most likely, he doesn't realize how toxic he is to other people. Even though he's an exceedingly troubled, pitiful person, he brings a great deal of misery upon himself, by being mean, rude, and obnoxious to everyone around him who even remotely disagrees with him. Although the circumstances of how he came into existence and became a sourpuss are regrettable and depressing at best, a great deal of his unhappiness is self-inflicted due to his steadfast willingness to stay unhappy and impose that unhappiness on others when the opportunity arises.

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 have aphephobia - a fear of being touched. He screamed and acted alarmed when Finn slapped him on the hand, and he sentenced Peppermint Butler to five extra years dungeon for pulling on the leg of his pants. 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), the Earl 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- though this was 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. He also seems to be fond of the colors green and grey- all of his clothes are grey, and his belt and Lemon Horse's saddle are green.

The Earl of Lemongrab has little to no sense of humor, but he seems to try having 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 delusion 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.

The Earl 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. It most likely didn't occur to him at the time that he would only be in power for five years; only until the princess turned eighteen, as he said. In addition to this, he imprisoned all of the castle staff for seven years (twelve for Peppermint Butler,) but immediately released Peppermint Butler once LG realized that he was hungry and couldn't make food for himself. Despite his bossy, nasty disposition, he often hints to having a kind of helplessness resembling that of a child's. 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, and 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- rather than quit and neglect his responsibilities.

Abilities

The Earl of Lemongrab apparently has a high tolerance to physical injury. This is shown when he landed head-first after falling out of one of the Castle's windows, and later out of a tree, seemingly uninjured.

It is a common medical condition amongst candy people to explode when they are frightened. However, the Earl may be incapable of exploding due to his hard, candy shell.

He always carries a sword, but his proficiency in sword fighting is of yet unknown, as he hasn't been shown using it.

Relationships

Finn

Finn angrily slapping the Earl's hand

Lemongrab's first interaction with Finn is when Finn slaps his hand for yelling at Princess Bubblegum. Lemongrab lets this pass, though Finn still does not like him and attempts to prank him (along with Princess Bubblegum) until he leaves the Candy Castle. Lemongrab tries to take the pranks in stride, but the spice prank pushes him over the line and he sentences Finn to one million years in the dungeon. While in the dungeon, Finn helps Princess Bubblegum return to her real age in order to get rid of Lemongrab once and for all.

Princess Bubblegum

"Too young! Too young to rule the kingdom!"

Princess Bubblegum is Lemongrab's mother; Although, it is not clear if this is simply because she created him in her laboratory or if she is genetically related to him. Even though she is his mother, Lemongrab is technically older than her during the events of "Too Young." Due to this, and the fact that she cannot rule until she is eighteen, Lemongrab is able to usurp the throne. Princess Bubblegum does not like Lemongrab or the way that he treats the Candy People, and she is the first one to suggest that she and Finn do something to make him leave. After several pranks, Lemongrab sentences her to one million years in the dungeon; However, while she's in the dungeon, Bubblegum Princess devises a way to return to her true age. Once she's over eighteen again she fires Lemongrab, and insults him.

Peppermint Butler

Peppermint Butler serving Lemongrab.

Lemongrab relies on Peppermint Butler to serve him. When Lemongrab needed someone to feed him he released Peppermint Butler from the dungeon so that he could make a meal. Lemongrab refers to Peppermint Butler as "Mr. Peppermint," though he still looks down on him and calls him "servile." Peppermint Butler does not like Lemongrab and aids Finn and Princess Bubblegum during the spice prank. The extent of Peppermint Butler's dislike shows when he screams for Princess Bubblegum to spice the dirt that Lemongrab is eating.

Candy People

"Thirty days in the dungeon!"

Lemongrab believes that the Castle is in unacceptable condition and routinely sentences the Candy People to time in the dungeon for their behavior. Most of the Candy People accept his authority, but they are constantly confused by his behavior and what he says. While in the dungeon, Princess Bubblegum suggests that she needs to return to her true age in order to get rid of Lemongrab, but she needs Candy flesh. The Candy People offer pieces of themselves in order to accomplish this.

Quotes

See Earl of Lemongrab/Quotes

Episodes featured

Major appearances

• Too Young
• You Made Me!

Trivia

• The Earl of Lemongrab seems to be extremely far-sighted, needing a pair of very large reading glasses to read a note left by his bed.
• He is made of lemon candy, rather than lemons.
• Princess Bubblegum may have put some of her own candy matter into Lemongrab when she was making him.
• Lemongrab is shorter than Princess Bubblegum (at her normal age).
• A recent piece of artwork produced by lead character designer Andy Ristaino depicts Lemongrab as having light brown highlights in his eyes. This extra detail in Ristaino's piece could indicate that Lemongrab's eyes are very dark brown, rather than black.
• Although Lemongrab has only appeared in one episode so far, he has been depicted on two t-shirt designs among a group of the show's more prominent characters.
• At the end of "Too Young," Lemongrab is muttering to himself incomprehensibly, upset about being fired. In the Spanish version he says, "Nadie me quiere. Todo el mundo me odia," which translates to "No one wants/loves me. Everyone hates me."
• In one scene of King Worm, Finn's face looks uncannily similar to Lemongrab's.

Name

• The character's original name was "Lemonsnatch," but the network censors wouldn't allow it.
• "Lemongrab" can refer both to the Earl's name as well as the land of which he is the Earl, but the location of Lemongrab has not been decided yet.
• In the German version his name is "Lemongraß," which contains an additional pun. ß is pronounced as "ss" in German, so his name directly translates to "Lemongrass."
• In the Italian version his name is "Limoncello," which is a type of Italian liquor made from Sorrento lemons.
• In the Spanish version his name is "El Conde de Limonagrio," which directly translates to "The Count of Lemonsour." The title Count is very similar to that of Earl.
• According to Jesse Moynihan, Lemongrab's title of Earl and his all-grey wardrobe are a reference to Earl Grey tea.

Storyline analysis

• Lemongrab's actual age has yet to be stated in the show, though Princess Bubblegum considers him to be older than her while she was thirteen. At the moment, even Jesse Moynihan isn't quite sure what age the Earl is supposed to be.
• Lemongrab sent several Candy People to the dungeon for varying amounts of time, ranging from three hours to one million years. However, he only had claim to the throne until Princess Bubblegum turned eighteen again, so any Candy People sent to the dungeon could be released by her after five years.
• When he dismounts Lemon Camel, the candy people murmur to themselves in puzzlement. In the storyboards, it was shown that they were saying "Who's that again?" This could indicate that Princess Bubblegum stuck him in Castle Lemongrab before he could interact with the candy people.
• Princess Bubblegum created Goliad to replace her when she died, but Goliad is currently locked in an eternal psychic battle with Stormo, so Lemongrab is still the rightful heir.

Production notes

• Jesse Moynihan said that Lemongrab will appear in Season 4 and we will learn more about his pastimes/hobbies in future episodes.
• An official synopsis released to TV Guide and other websites stated that "Too Young" was about Princess Bubblegum's uncle trying to claim the throne. Andy Ristaino joked that "uncle" is a term describing a failed science experiment. In the original storyboard for "Too Young" Princess Bubblegum says, "I wanted to create an uncle for myself," but in the final version he is (according to Jesse Moynihan) her son.
• During early production of "Too Young," Lemongrab's character was much different; He was a one-dimensional jerk like Xergiok. However, Moynihan wanted Lemongrab's personality to have more depth, so he gave him social problems and a very quirky personality.
• Lemongrab is voiced by the same actor as Oscar from Fish Hooks. Coincidentally, both characters are loud, socially awkward, neurotic neat-freaks who scream a lot.

Appearances in other media

• He is mentioned briefly in Issue 1 of the Adventure Time comic, in the sentence: "Not pictured is the Earl of Lemongrab, who is currently sitting in a chair in an empty room, screaming."

No matter what universe he's in, he always gets the short end of the stick.

• He makes his first appearance in the comic in Issue 4, at Princess Bubblegum's beach party.
• An "Adventure Tim" universe counterpart of Lemongrab appeared on Adventure Tim's chart in Issue 5 of the comic. His name is "The Duke of Limesnatch," in homage to Lemongrab's original name. Limesnatch was described as being "lawful neutral."
• He appeared in the Gaia Online Adventure Time Chance Item.
• Lemongrab makes an appearance in the "Adventure Time Dude-It Yourself Journal" standing among a group of Candy People.

Errors

• During the flash-back of Princess Bubblegum creating Lemongrab in "Too Young" there is a flask with a green liquid in it on the nightstand, but it's red when she pours the liquid onto Lemongrab. However, it is possible that she may have poured the wrong liquid onto him, which would explain how he "went wrong."

Gallery

The full image gallery for Earl of Lemongrab may be viewed at Earl of Lemongrab/Gallery.