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The Ice King's crown was a magical artifact crafted by the ice elemental Urgence Evergreen with the function to grant its wearer their deepest wish in an attempt to destroy an incarnation of the Catalyst Comet. However, an unfortunate turn of events made it so the crown would turn anyone who wore and bonded to it into a distorted version of Urgence.

The crown was worn by several individuals over the centuries before coming into the possession of Simon Petrikov which led to his transformation into the Ice King.

The crown was ultimately reverted to its original wish-granting state before being used by Betty Grof to fuse with GOLB and later got assimilated by Gunter to become Ice Thing.

Numerous alternate versions of the crown exist across the multiverse. Some are identical to the main crown and have the same effect over their wearers, while others are in one way or another different.

Appearance[]

The crown is golden, topped with three points and adorned with three red rubies.

History[]

In "Evergreen," it was shown that the crown was created by an ice elemental named Urgence Evergreen during the Mesozoic Era in an attempt to stop a deadly incarnation of the catalyst comet from destroying life on Earth by giving its first user their deepest wish. Evergreen slayed the lava dog, Magwood, for his ruby eyes to use as a power source for the crown. Unfortunately, Evergreen's assistant, Gunther, was forced to try to use the crown, and, because his wish was to be like his master Evergreen, it transformed him into his own, twisted perception of Evergreen; a man who is constantly firing ice magic and ordering people around. This resulted in the little dinosaur turning into a miniature version of Evergreen, shouting "Gunther, no!" Evergreen tried to tell him to use a concentration spell or a basic focusing charm to counteract the crown's effects, only to realize he never taught him anything. This permanently set the crown's powers, resulting in the same transformation in anyone who would be the first to wear the crown should it not be currently bonded to someone, namely Simon Petrikov, along with the comet hitting Earth.

Years before the Mushroom War, Simon Petrikov purchased the crown in Northern Scandinavia from "an old dockworker" as a part of his studies to be an antiquarian of ancient artifacts. He showed it to his fiancée Betty and put it on in an attempt to make her laugh. While wearing it, Simon experienced visions, which he frantically fought with and shouted at. He also underwent a personality change that he apparently couldn't remember afterward. He realized the crown was doing these things to him and took it off quickly, only to find his fiancée terrified and looking at him with "such contempt." He never saw her again. After repeated exposure, Simon Petrikov's body underwent radical changes with subsequent use of the crown. The visions he gained told him that the crown would "protect" Simon "with its frost," though he didn't know what this meant at the time. Simon realized that the crown's effects were becoming permanent, but knew he was "too far gone" to do anything. After the first time he put on the crown he started a series of videos chronicling what had become of him, in hopes that one day someone would help him to free himself from the things the crown was doing to his mind. In the end, the crown turned the calm and intelligent antiquarian into the emotionally confused madman known as the Ice King.

In "What Have You Done?," Ice King mentions that he did not steal the crown, although he did make it with stolen magic. It is proved that this is untrue, as stated in "Holly Jolly Secrets." Adam Muto commented Ice King is an unreliable narrator and disassociated from the past of Simon Petrikov, so he presumably does not remember where he got the crown and simply made up the fact that he made it himself. Another possibility is that due to long contact with the crown has caused some of its memories to rub off on him; being totally amnesiac, he may have assumed it was one of his own memories, most likely the memory of when Evergreen stole the ruby eyes from Magwood. In the episode "The Lich," Ice King has one of the gems used to unlock the Enchiridion's true power. It is shown that this gem is the source of Ice King's ice powers in the episode "Crossover" in which Farmworld Finn attempts to use his powers against the Lich, but fails due to the main gem of the crown being in the Enchiridion.

In the episode "King's Ransom," Ice King was forced to give the crown away as ransom for the kidnapped Gunter, the foxes who stole the crown then gave it to an unknown employer, later revealed to be Betty Grof who proceeded to upload an A.I. of herself in attempt to reprogram the crown from the inside and make her fiancé sane again. In a cave, the crown floated and turned neon blue, with many polygons and lines almost resembling circuits. Shortly after, Betty held Gunter up with a device on his head that had a wire running to the crown, apparently using him as part of her tampering. Betty then pressed Gunter on the stomach and his eyes glowed with the image of Orgalorg's face. The crown stopped glowing and Betty held up their finger and a shining orb of light flew into the crown from their finger and the crown began to glow once more. When the Ice King donned the crown again, it briefly flashed and the Ice King stated, "Feels kinda... different."

In the episode "Broke His Crown," it is revealed that Simon's quote about a labyrinth was not just allegorical. It appears that not only does the crown manipulate any wearer's power, it creates a copy of their personality. Anyone that has ever worn the crown is stored inside the crown's close circuitry system, while they remain sane and their actual body influenced. These victims include Gunther, Sveinn, "the first Santa Claus," and Simon. Betty had uploaded an A.I. of herself to fix the crown, that would in addition "fix" Simon. She was cured of her madness after Simon reminded of the memories he had of her. Ice King's mind, however, still remains senile after the crown is stabilized.

In the episode "Skyhooks II," The Crown jumps onto Lumpy Space Princess's head along with the three elemental jewels. This suggests that the ruby jewels are the elemental jewels of ice.

In the series finale, "Come Along With Me," after Betty, King Man, and Maja summon GOLB to Ooo, GOLB attempts to consume Betty, Ice King, and Finn. Inside GOLB, Betty and Ice King are reset to their "essential forms," thus Ice King becomes Simon Petrikov and Betty loses her magic powers. In addition, the crown was reset to its essential form, thus allowing it to once more grant its wearer their deepest, truest wish. Betty attempted to wish GOLB out of existence, but it did not work, so instead she wished for the power to protect Simon. She is then fused with GOLB, combining the two into a single being. The new GOLBetty left through a portal, but left the crown behind once again in its essential form. Simon remained in his essential state and the crown landed next to Gunter, who then grabbed the crown and put it on. Jake feared this, thinking he would wish to turn back into Orgalorg but instead, the crown fused with Gunter and he transformed into a being similar to Ice King (with penguin feet among other differences), as his wish was supposedly to be like him (similarly to Gunther with Evergreen) and for a drumset like his.

Alternate Versions of the Crown[]

Farmworld Crown[]

The Farmworld crown had a similar history to the main universe's crown, up until Simon Petrikov used it to freeze the Mushroom Bomb, preventing an apocalypse. The crown, grieving the loss of its host, causes a spasm of magic that places the world in an ice age for 400 years. Ever since, the crown had been watched over by Farmworld Marceline. In the episode "Finn the Human," Farmworld Finn donned on the crown to protect his family, falling under the crown's madness almost immediately. In "Crossover", after Finn helps free his counterpart from the crown, Prismo returns it to Simon's head the day the Mushroom Bomb activated, destroying the crown. A single gem from the crown survived, found by Farmwold Finn's son Jay prior to the events of "Destiny". He gave it to Little Destiny as a gift, unaware of its true nature, unwittingly causing her to get sick from keeping it in her possession. When Simon of the main universe appeared alongside Fionna and Cake, the former quickly recognized the gem for what it was and used it to reprogram Prismo's remote to locate other Ice Crowns across the multiverse.

Winter King's Crown[]

In "The Winter King", the Winter King's crown had a similar history to the main universe's crown, until one day, the Winter King decided to free himself of its madness by casting a spell that would force it onto Princess Bubblegum, transforming her into the Candy Queen. For 100 years, the Winter King ruled over a winter wonderland that was constantly attacked by the maddened Candy Queen, until one day Fionna, Cake, and Simon arrived. After saving the Winter King and Simon from the Candy Queen, Fionna gives the Winter King a kiss. However, for reasons unknown, Fionna's touch removes all magic from the crown, rendering it inert. Without the crown's magic, the Winter King aged to dust and Princess Bubblegum was restored to normal.

Vampire World Crown[]

In "The Star", Simon Petrikov was killed by vampires after the Mushroom War, allowing the Vampire King to obtain his crown. The Vampire King uses the crown's magic to create clouds that blot out the sun, allowing him and his vampire subjects to roam the Earth without trouble, leading to a vampiric conquest of the post-apocalyptic Earth. Due to his immense magical ability, the Vampire King is not rendered insane by the crown. Cake attempts to nab the crown from the Vampire King but fails before she, Fionna, and Simon depart for another universe.

Extinct World Crown[]

During one of his drumming sessions, the Ice King places his crown in his drum kit. When he suddenly died due to the Lich's wish to exterminate all life in "Finn the Human", and his kingdom melted, the crown remained in the drum until the events of "Jerry", where Fionna obtains it. The trio then use the crown to power Simon's ritual. Simon attempts to wear the crown in order to become the Ice King again, but he is prevented by GOLBetty, who shunts his mind into Shermy's body. After coming to terms with his and Betty's relationship, Simon attempts to wear the crown one last time, before throwing it into the void in frustration.

Victims of the crown's influence[]

Other wearers[]

Description[]

Abilities[]

For more details on the Ice King's powers, see Ice Magic.

The Ice King's crown is shown to possess immense magical properties. It was created with magic jewels as the source of the object's power, and phantasmal circuitry to have it bond with its first wearer and grant their deepest desire: for Gunther's wish, the first being to use the original crown, he became like his master Urgence Evergreen and as such, whomsoever was the first to wear the crown afterwards would experience the same effect. This became the crown's primary function for many millennia.

In this state, he crown bestowed powers over ice and snow to its wearer. It had the capability to keep the wearer it bonded to alive regardless of age. Despite this, it did not make them completely immortal, as they could still die from other means. Should the bound wearer die, the crown would then be left without an owner and bond again to the next being to wear it.

Along with this, the crown protected the Ice King from the evil brainwashing spells of the Lich.

When the crown is in its original wish-granting state, it is capable of remarkable feats. It was able to fuse Betty Grof and GOLB into one single being after she wished to protect Simon. It later merged with Gunter to turn into Ice Thing due to his wish to be like Ice King.

Side effects[]

Along with the power ice and snow that the crown granted after Gunther's wish, it also had a few noteworthy side effects after prolonged use as it transformed the user into a twisted version of Urgence Evergreen:

  • The wearer's skin turned blue; most likely a physical change of the wearer's body temperature lowering to about 30° C.
  • Their nose grew long and pointed.
  • Their hair turned white and lengthened, and they may grow a long, white beard as well.

The crown would also alter the user's mental state. Initially, the crown had an addictive effect that created a desire to wear it. However, the danger of using the crown and the subsequent powers it bestows is evident when Simon became more and more "weird" after each successive use until he became the Ice King.

The rate at which the crown deteriorated its wearer's sanity was proportional to how much resistance each one possessed. In "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II," it was shown that Ice King had used the crown over an extended period of time before the physical changes and control of the crown was initiated. This was likely because Simon Petrikov directly resisted the crown's influence, thus allowing him to retain his sanity for a longer period of time. However, in "Jake the Dog," Farmworld Finn's appearance quickly started to change and he immediately shows a descent into madness. Here, Farmworld Finn puts the crown on to exact revenge on the Destiny Gang and to save his family, thus making him willingly embrace the powers granted by the crown.

However, considering how Vampire World's Vampire King wore the crown for a long time and wasn't affected by its side effects proves that beings of immense power, such as the Vampire King himself, are immune to the crown's side effects and can wield its wish-granting abilities to their will. This is shown when the Vampire King created clouds to cover the sun so that the vampires can freely roam around Ooo and didn't even lose his own sanity.

Sentience[]

Shelf-of-Penitence

The Ice King's crown on the Shelf of Penitence

..I see the visions always whether or not I wear the crown. They tell me the secrets... the secrets of the ice and snow... that the power of the crown will save me with its frost.

—Simon Petrikov

In "What Have You Done?" the crown is shown to speak and feel regret in the scene where it cries on the Shelf of Penitence. It has a feminine voice. Also, in "Finn the Human", Farmworld Marceline stated that the crown had frozen the world in its grief.

In "Simon & Marcy," Ice King refers to young Marceline as Gunter multiple times, showing another possible effect of wearing the crown: forgetting names, and instead naming people and animals a different name (which in this case is Gunter). This may also be the reason why Ice King's penguins are all (often interchangeably) named Gunter, albeit with several different variations and pronunciations.

The transformed Simon, who was partway Ice King, has been heard on multiple occasions calling Betty his 'princess'. He does so in a frantic state while searching for her, and later when recording a video lamenting that he never found her. This may also be a side-effect of the crown, as opposed to a pre-existing nickname he had for Betty, as there is no evidence of him calling her that prior to him wearing the crown.

The consistent occurrence of these two names is that he has called things in a parent-child relationship Gunter, and those he pursues romantically 'Princess'. As the crown has been indicated to feel emotion, speak and communicate in images, these could be involved in the conveyance of these titles.

Trivia[]

  • In its original wish-granting state, the crown appeared to surpass the abilities of Prismo since it was able to do things that he apparently could not.
    • The crown was what fused Betty and GOLB into one being after her wish to protect Simon. Whether Prismo could achieve such a feat with his wish-granting abilities is unknown.
  • The gender-swapped version of the Ice King's crown is a tiara, as tiaras are worn by female Ooo royalty. Ice Queen referred to it as a tiara when it was knocked off her head in battle in "Fionna and Cake."
    • In "Fionna and Cake", Fionna smacks the tiara off Cake's head, saying "You'll catch her crazy!" Since Ice King wrote this fan-fiction, one can speculate that somewhere deep down in his psyche, Ice King may know that the crown can drive someone mad.
  • It has been shown that even when the crown was bonded to someone, other beings could wear it and wield its ice powers.
    • Multiple other characters, including Jake, Gunter, and Abracadaniel, have worn the crown without it having any effect on their sanity. This is most likely either because they had not worn it long enough and/or because the crown already had a living host: the Ice King.
    • However, Gunter had gone mad with power sometime after wearing the crown and using the Ice King's magic, though it is unclear if this was the crown's doing or if he simply enjoyed wielding said magic.
  • In the short "The Wand", Ice King's crown has five points for a brief moment after he sacrifices himself to stop the magic wand.
  • Before he reached the state he is currently in as "Ice King", every time Simon wore the crown, his hair and beard would suddenly grow longer, and his nose would grow long and pointed. However, when he removed the crown, his hair, beard, and nose would revert back to their normal lengths.
  • The crown seemed to have a drive to protect its wearer. This is implied in "Holly Jolly Secrets Part II," where Simon Petrikov said that the voices he heard while wearing the crown told him that the crown's power would save him. In "Finn the Human," after Farmworld Simon Petrikov was killed by the mushroom bomb, the crown grieved the loss of its master and retaliated by freezing the entire planet. However, this protection was clearly something of a Faustian bargain, as it came at the cost of the wearer's sanity. Simon still existed inside of the Ice King (otherwise the crown would have failed to protect him) but was largely suppressed, almost to the point of non-existence.
  • In the comics, the Ice King also has another spot for another gem on the inside of his crown. It is currently unknown what the purpose of this gem was. Although, given the nature of the comics, this is most likely just for a joke and is not meant to have any significance.
    Tumblr ms5qg3kae91rm7i00o6 1280

    The Ice King placing a mysterious heart-shaped gem into the crown

  • In "Betty," it was shown that the crown's jewels turn gray when drained of magic. This was seen again in the sequel series.
  • The crown is similar in many ways to the One Ring of Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings as it grants the wearer magical powers, protects the wearer from aging, warps the wearer’s personality, and its use is addictive.
    • The crown is also similar to many artifacts in the works of author H.P. Lovecraft; being an ancient artifact of technology that grants massive power but also leads to its user's insanity. A gem being associated with the secret power of The Enchiridion may also link the book to the similar powerful Lovecraftian artifact of the Necronomicon.
  • It is interesting to note that when Gunter/Orgalorg puts on the crown in "Come Along With Me," it becomes assimilated with his/her/its form while transforming into Ice Thing.
    • While both Gunther and Gunter wished to be like their respective masters, for some reason Gunter's wish actually fused the crown to his physical being.
  • While Gunter (as Ice Thing) appears sane in "Come Along With Me", the future-Ooo shown in "Graybles 1000+" depicts Ice Thing as a disembodied flying head attempting to devour Cuber, suggesting that the crown's madness does eventually consume Gunter as well.
  • It is also ironic that the original wish by Gunther to be like Evergreen eventually caused Simon to be Ice King, which Gunter (named after Gunther due to the crown's influence) wanted to become and did, leading to a Gunther-Gunter full circle.
  • Despite driving its users insane, the crown (or rather, the gem set in its center) seems to protect the mind of its bearer from being manipulated by other magical beings, such as the Lich and the Empress.
  • The crown was probably the most ancient object Simon Petrikov had in his collection, as it dates from the Mesozioc era.
  • Simon wears a fake crown during the events of "Obsidian" as a coping mechanism for his time as the Ice King.[1]
    • He also wears his blue robe and Marcelline's freezer open in the same scene, trying to interact with it when he is found by the Glassassins.
  • In the Fionna & Cake episode "Destiny", Simon states the crown smells like fresh cut grass.

References[]

  1. Ahhh, ahhh! What! This is how I cope!
    Events of Obsidian
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