Penguins make their first appearance in the original animated short, wherein Pen (known as Finn in the main series) and Jake use them as snowboards. Penguins live in the Ice Kingdom and they seem to like the Ice King, Finn, and Jake as they were seen tickling Ice King and riding on Jake in "Prisoners of Love". They are friendly creatures, though some of the penguins work for the Ice King. In general, they don't seem to have any concerns or motivation; they will do what Ice King asks but are easily distracted.
Penguins appear in the episode "Prisoners of Love", as well as in the opening scene of every episode that plays during the Theme Song. Many penguins have their souls sucked by Hunson Abadeer in "It Came from the Nightosphere".
As of "Princess Monster Wife", it has been revealed that there are many distinct penguins which all have names pronounced similarly to "Gunter" (such as "Goonter," "Gunther," "Günter," and "Goonther").
During Finn's dream in "King Worm", penguins form the Ice Penguin Monsters and chase after the Ice King.
In "The Tower", Finn takes some penguins and uses them to create the tower along with parts of the Ice Kingdom.
Appearance[]
They all have eyes that look similar to Jake's. Unlike real penguins, they have a head the same size as their body. Their outer feathers are black, while their inner feathers are white.
Element[]
Ice Element[]
In the episode "Winter Light", it was revealed that the penguins had become a part of the Ice Elemental and were now completely ice. They were all seen lying down and when the Ice King interacted with them, they shared no response. This indicated that they were no longer sentient.
Guard Penguins[]
The Guard Penguins first appeared in the episode "What Have You Done?". They carry axes made of ice and guard the Ice King's castle. They patrol only a very small area, so it is easy to sneak past them. Finn and Jake did this by ducking and rolling from different points. It is unknown whether they patrol any other locations in the Ice Kingdom.
Notable penguins[]
- Gunter (Primordial Monster formerly disguised as a penguin; currently an Ice Wizard)
- Penguin With Flower
- Guntalina
- Gunther
- Gunder
- Goonder
- Goonthy
- Gonter
- Ginthy
Trivia[]
- Ice King doesn't seem to care much about most of the penguins he keeps in his company, as he throws several in the garbage after they bathe him in "Five Short Graybles".
- They are allowed to drink the Ice King's tears as seen in "Five More Short Graybles".
- Some penguins are allowed to vote what movie they want to play by the Ice King in "Another Five More Short Graybles".
- The concept of riding penguins may have been inspired by the pilot of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- Oddly, penguins are often heard making quacking sounds, contrary to the sound of the emperor penguin in real life.
- Unlike many of the animals in Ooo, they did not acquire the ability to speak English after the Mushroom War.
- The guard penguins can be picked as a setting on the Mixit Video Creator, and also appear in the game Legends of Ooo.