Marceline the Vampire Queen

Origin

Wild and fearless, Marceline the Vampire Queen’s origin is somewhat vague and ambiguous. She is over a thousand years old, and as her title suggests a vampire queen. She is also half demon, as confirmed by her alternate Farm World self. She has been suggested as not always have been a vampire, and as a child we know that her most prized possession was a run down, slightly worn down teddy bear called Hambo given to her by Simon Petrikov known as the Ice King now. She is said to be a survivor of the great Mushroom War, a near cataclysmic event which dramatically altered the world at the time. Her relationship with her father Hunson Abadeer “King of the Nightsphere” was also strained after an incident in the past where he partook in eating her fries, and was further exacerbated when he stole her axe bass guitar. Although Marceline will often try to convey that she is evil and dark, it is much more of a pretense and act, unlike her actual father who is actually the lord of all evil. Despite her wild, scary and unpredictable nature, she is friends with Finn and Jake. She also appears to have a complicated love hate relationship with Princess Bubblegum hinting at a deeper and more complicated relationship. She often likes to jam on her custom made battle-axe bass guitar, she sustains herself on shades of the color red, as opposed to blood, and there is said to be no Vampire King, as Marceline is said to have killed him.

Marceline often puts a brave face on, and has a sassy, independent and wild personality and exuberance about, however in quieter times she has revealed a soft vulnerability and admitted to feeling as if having no friends. She is musically gifted and often likes to jam and record music. Still stoic as well Marceline is yet to be intimidated, and despite embracing her dark image and gifts, she is really much more of a trickster. Marceline also has her own band, Marceline and the Scream Queens, with her Keila as her guitarist, Bongo on drums and Guy on keyboards. They do tours and albums. Marceline also once had a pet dog named Pickles.

Creation

Marceline Aberdeen, the Vampire Queen first appeared as a cartoon character on the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time with Finn and Jake. She was created by Pendleton Ward, the show creator, and voiced by Olivia Olson. Phil Rynda also contributed to the design of the character. Marceline’s first appearance was in the episode Evicted released in the first season. Her first appearance in comics was under the comics publisher Boom! Studios, in the comic book Adventure Time, her appearance here penned by Ryan North with art by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb. Creator Pendleton Ward cites her as his favorite character, owing to it to her mysteriousness. In 2012 Marceline starred in her very own mini-series Adventure Time: Marceline Scream Queens written by Meredith Gran.

Character Evolution

Originally created for the hit animated cartoon series Adventure Time with Finn and Jake, Marceline is now considered one of the main characters not only of the show but the franchise. Out of the traditionally considered core characters, Marceline was the last to appear, and also fulfilled an antagonistic role in her first appearance. She would soon take a softer approach to the two main characters of Adventure Time Finn and Jake, shifting into more of a friend and big sister role. Adapted into the comic series of the show, Marceline has even on to star in her own comic book mini-series Adventure Time Presents: Marceline and the Scream Queens. The character’s quirky mannerisms, gothic rocker girl appearance, laid-back attitude, and tremendous singing vocals provided by real-life vocalist Olivia Olson have earned the character a loyal and cult following. Although created for what’s generally considered an all-ages program, there is quite a lot of controversial fan speculation about the subtext layered beneath Marceline and Princess Bubblegums’ friendship and its true nature. Although presented as quite mysterious and ambiguous in origin over time more has been revealed about Marceline’s origin and nature, and connection with other characters, most notably the Ice King. Marceline creator Pendleton Ward attempting to give Marceline depth and complexity conscious of her gender and common pitfall has explained in reference to Marceline “With the girl characters I just try not to — I was actually just explaining this earlier today to someone — with the female characters it’s easy to either write them as clichés or write them as the extreme opposite of those clichés. I feel like a lot of girl characters in anything usually end up being either extremely tough or extremely ditzy. There’s always some sort of extreme personality trait that they have. I like to try writing girls that feel like normal people, like normal women that you’d meet in real life. So I just try to make them have faults and strengths just like Finn and Jake have. And to not… well, I’m also trying not to overthink it either. I do know that you can fall into a lot of traps with girl characters when you’re considering, you know, all the girl characters in the past.”

Marshal Lee

Marshal Lee is a boy version of Marceline created by the ice king like his female counterpart he has issues with Prince Bubblegum and thinks himself evil but is a mean-spirited trickster at best.

Becoming the Vampire Queen

In the following years, Marceline roamed the Land of Ooo and eventually befriended a tribe of humans. She became their guardian and ally, and she helped them kill vampires, who had taken over much of the land. Marceline soon discovered that, upon killing a vampire, she was able to acquire their unique abilities thanks to her demonic power to absorb souls. However, when she tried to fight the Vampire King himself, he pinned her down and bit her. Although she eventually managed to slay him, she was turned in the process, becoming the last vampire in Ooo.

Roaming Ooo

At some point, Marceline met Princess Bubblegum, the sovereign of the Candy Kingdom. Marceline gifted her a Rock T-shirt during a music performance and they became romantically involved. The two would often avoid official royal meetings and explore the Candy Kingdom’s elaborate rock candy mining complex although as time went by and the mounting stress of running the Candy Kingdom became more and more demanding, Bubblegum started pushing Marceline away. This reached its climax when Marceline accompanied Bubblegum to the Glass Kingdom who had asked for her help defeating a dragon attacking their kingdom. However, Marceline didn’t take the whole thing seriously and bugged Bubblegum for attention causing her to lash out and tell her to go home. Hurt, Marceline sang an angry song to her about how she didn’t care about her or her “stupid Candy Kingdom”. Marceline’s song managed to defeat the dragon but this signified the end of her and Bubblegum’s relationship. The animosity between them would last for many years.

Major Story Arcs

The Lich King

Marceline is playing her ax guitar at home unaware that the Lich King is free and on the loose with The Super Dangerous Bag of Holding, which he is using to capture and contain as many things as he can suck into it. He has already sucked in The Candy Kingdom and Princess Bubblegum into his bag, and he proceeds to capture Flynn and Jake, as well as the Ice King. Marceline is left last, and she puts up a good fight, throwing various items at Lich King and transforming and shapeshifting into one of her giant bat creatures before falling victim to his magical super bag, The Super Dangerous Bag of Holding. Marceline is teleported within the bag, where she ends up finding her friend Princess Bubblegum. The two are stranded on a small deserted island. Marceline swears revenge on the Lich King promising his butt will be kicked. Marceline and Bubblegum make small jokes at each other’s expense, before eventually working together and creating a makeshift sailboat with Marceline’s winged bat form providing the sail. They eventually find Lumpy Space Princess and Ice King. Eventually, they also group up with Finn and Jake, and working together they create an army of ice and sand Finn and Jakes. Princess Bubblegum lends Marceline her crown which helps her protect herself against the Lich’s mind control, and Marceline is elected to go head to head with the Lich since she is the toughest. The group’s combined powers are enough to overthrow the Lich King and his Super Dangerous Bag of Holding.

Pebbles and Anbaris

On one occasion as Marceline was traveling through a forest she happened to come across an enchanted magical guitar. A fiery lion-like goat referring to itself as Anbaris emerged from the musical instrument, before Marceline, beckoning her to play the guitar to upon which the creature would grant Marceline any wish she would desire. Marceline is skeptical, but decides to jam on the guitar, seemingly focused on a wish she plans to make. Marceline sings about her long-lost pet dog Pickles, and how he would pee on her guitar and eat her sweaters. This heartfelt song completed Anbaris begins to thank Marceline for releasing him from the instrument. He had needed someone to play the instrument in order to free him, and he had to lure people by making promises he could not keep. Furious that she would not get his wish granted Marceline transforms into a giant like a shadow cat and chases after Anbaris. Anbaris flees and is chased by an angry Marceline. He flees to a young boy who is overwhelmed by sudden happiness at having seen his pet Anbaris returned. Marceline pauses as she pays witness to a reunion between a boy and his pet. She has a change of heart, seeing such good fortune befall the two reminiscings of her own pet. Marceline plays a song with her two new companions.

Marceline and the Scream Queens

Marceline prepares to go on her first proper tour with her band Marceline and the Scream Queens. Her fellow band members, Keila, Bongo and Guy seem really excited about the prospect and although Marceline is as well, she seems a bit reluctant over how successful it might be. It doesn’t help that her and Princess Bubblegum are having their typical clash of personalities and egos, with Princess Bubblegum being overly critical of Marceline’s band’s type of music. Princess Bubblegum accuses Marceline’s band of being egomaniacal, and that rock music is shallow and only about image. Marceline initially seems to not care, as she leaves to prepare. The Scream Queens perform for the Candy Kingdom successfully. Princess Bubblegum’s criticisms seem to weigh heavily on Marceline though, unaware that Princess Bubblegum had actually really enjoyed the concert. Princess Bubblegum decides to join the group’s tour as a manager to help organize things for the band after tracking Marceline down after the concert. The tour starts off predictably rocky given Marceline and Princess Bubblegum’s personality differences and habits, a frustrated Princess Bubblegum having to clean up after the group and make sure they are ready for interviews. Marceline finds herself meeting up with a record producer after being pushed into the arrangement by Bubblegum. However Marceline’s hunger starts to bear on her and Lord Slicko, the music producer’s lips are unusually plump and red causing further salivation on the part of Marceline. Presumably ending the chance of being signed.

A Bad Review

While continuing on the Scream Queens land of Ooo tour, Marceline would start to have bad nightmares. While at a photoshoot she would miss reading a review of the Scream Bands music. Princess Bubblegum would try to prevent Marceline from reading the review, but could not stop it. Marceline would have a rather strong reaction to the harsh criticism presented in the review, even transforming herself rapidly and violently mirroring her mood. Bongo would try and lighten the mood by referring to the Scream Queens as only the “second corniest band in Ooo” which would further exacerbate Marceline’s mood causing her to breathe flame at Guy’s keyboard melting it into slag. She would fly off in an emotional and angry state. Later on at their next concert, Marceline would use the opportunity to vent back at the music magazine review dismissing that she didn’t care. However, it would seem more like a front, with an angry Marceline asserting she wouldn’t need anyone’s approval. Marceline and the Scream Queens would next play a gig at the Sound City, an underwater location, as requested by the Ocean Princess. Around this time Marceline starts to notice that Guy and Princess Bubblegum appeared to be getting romantic. After venting her frustration out on a telecommunications tower, she would have a small argument with Princess Bubblegum, in which Bubblegum would realize that Marceline has still been reading negative reviews about herself. The two would argue some more revealing insight into each of their personalities and baring a few of each other’s feelings. Their moment ended by the sudden end of the calm, something that happens when Sound City is cleared of water.

Nightosphere

After a successful well-received concert in Sound City, the Scream Queens accompanied by Tree Trunks head to the dangerous and awe-inspiring Nightosphere, Marceline’s father the Lord of all Evil Hunson Abadeer s realm. Princess Bubblegum asks Marceline if she is excited to play her hometown show, Marceline is just hopeful the inhabitants of the Nightsophere still like her. So far that appears to be true, with a resident informing Marceline that her father has promised not to devour the souls of any of her friends. Marceline would take her band to meet her father for a meal, with Tree Trunks making and serving up some of her infamous gooey sweet pie for all to taste. Mr. Abadeer would play host very warmly joking around with Bongo, before identifying Princess Bubblegum and revealing to Princess Bubblegum much to Marceline’s embarrassment that his daughter spoke of Bubblegum quite often. Marceline would rush everyone out the door keen to get them away from her father, even forsaking pie. The Scream Queens would wander around the Nightosphere, with Marceline running into an old associate Tuff. For their performance in the Nightosphere, Marceline and the Screams Queens would be playing a special acoustic set. Marceline would give a very touching performance, and the audience would respond appropriately. Hunson Abadeer would seek his daughter out after the performance to praise her performance. He would also dismiss the criticisms of various music gossip magazines pointing out they were worthless. Marceline would be horrified to realize that even the Nightosphere had such gossip-styled magazines that were especially harsh and critical of her and her music. Marceline runs off distressed.

Marceline and Bubblegum

Princess Bubblegum would catch up to Marceline and attempt to comfort her friend and alleviate her worries. Marceline had almost fallen off a cliff and Bubblegum would tell Marceline she was worried. Marceline would snap back with anger telling Bubblegum that she should tell Guy about her theories. Marceline would sulk into a rant about how the whole tour had been a disaster and how the entire world hates her. She had intended for the tour to change people’s lives, make people happy and content, alas. Bubblegum would take Marceline’s words dismissively, asserting that the tour had changed her life, but pointing out apparently to Marceline it didn’t matter. She would turn around and leave. Marceline would attempt to stop her but then withdraw and shout at her angrily. Upset Bubblegum would prepare to leave to head back to the Candy Kingdom. She would have a heart-to-heart talk with Guy telling him to be who he is. Marceline in the meantime would be talking to Tuff contemplating just staying in the Nightosphere. The Scream Queens would be on a low after Marceline and Bubblegums fight and Bubblegums departure with Keila trying to motivate a fussy Marceline into giving one last show, their final farewell show. During the final concert, Marceline tries to compose herself, however, a proud fan in the crowd would reveal his Marceline socks, causing much ruckus among the crowd who also wanted their own Marceline socks, causing the crowd to chant “Marceline Socks” loudly over and over. Marceline’s human-inspired and already built-up anxiety is causing an imbalance and it starts to manifest itself as Marceline begins a transformation onstage into a large dragon-like creature. She would shoot flame towards the audience, with her band trying to calm her down. The mysterious Guy would shapeshift into a giant bear to fight the rampaging Marceline to little success. Princess Bubblegum would arrive on the scene to try and pacify her friend.

Super Guts Punch III

Marceline swings by to catch up with Finn and Jake who are watching Blood Drive, a movie about race cars and vampires and vampire race cars. Marceline would apologize for being late, but then motivate the guys by challenging them asking if they are ready, referring to video games. Jake and Finn would get excited, and BMO would get especially excited! The four would get ready to play video games, BMO explaining that he had a special treat for the trio, a game where a prince is kidnapped by ninjas and you play as a plumber who must rescue the prince, by fighting inside his guts. Finn would be amazed to realize he was about to play Super Guts Punch III, supposedly the hardest, most fun game of all time. Jake and Finn would freeze with excitement to Marceline’s curiosity. BMO would explain that they tended to do that and then tell Marceline to get ready, as he was about to teleport all of them to inside him and the game’s virtual reality, reminding them to remember that if they die in the game, they die in real life and to have fun. Marceline would find herself as a pixelized avatar version of herself alongside a pixel version of Finn and Jake inside Super Guts Punch III. Marceline would have 4 extra lives because she is Marceline. Being shrunk down they would be launched down the digital prince’s throat, the prince looking rather similar to a certain Prince Gumball. Finn and Jake would almost die by a fall into acid if not for Marcelines saving them and carrying them to safety. Marceline would find the first boss cute and hug it before Jake would attack it killing it. The trio would go on a monster killing level scoring play-through of the first level. There would be an underground level, sea level, pyramid level, race-level among others before Marceline, Finn, and Jake would get to the final level. The game almost seemed to easier though, and Marceline would kill the boss with just one hit. By that point, she has also accumulated 99 extra lives. The game would glitch and Marceline would see the coding spelling out the name Ewlbo, the Software Wizard. They would manifest into reality and ask BMO about the very strange experiences within the game. Then ask him who Ewlbo was? BMO would act very oddly though and dismiss their concerns.

BMO is Creepy

Marceline, Finn, and Jake would notice that BMO was acting much weirder and creepier than usual. BMO would assert that computers were perfect and never bust-up. Then BMO would go on a bizarre tangent about how he was romancing the coffee machine. They would then witness BMO both professing his love to the coffee machine, before insulting it, and then shaking the table that it was on. Marceline would be surprised they even had a coffee maker but reassert that BMO was acting really strange. Marceline would pause and reflect musing that she had seen something similar before. Marceline would theorize that based on BMO acquiring the game Super Guts Punch III and the game glitching would all be related to his strange behavior and that BMO had a computer virus courtesy of Ewlbo.

Powers and Abilities

Marceline the Vampire Queen is over 1000 years old, and beyond that, she seems especially powerful, even by vampire standards, with supernatural levels of strength, speed, agility, durability, resilience, healing among powers such as shapeshifting, size-shifting, flight, telekinesis, levitation, pyrokinesis and invisibility. Marceline can breathe fire. Her hair appears to be somewhat prehensile as well. She can also transform into an impressive array of monster forms, including those of a werewolf-like create, a small bat-like creature, a dragon, a giant bat-like creature, a giant, a reptilian creature, and an amorphous jet black like creature with tentacles. Marceline does not need to feed on blood like most traditional vampires, instead, she is more open to choice as just anything a shade of red will revitalize her. This includes organic and inorganic objects, possibly even abstract objects. Marceline often appears to alter her form subconsciously when particularly emotional, growing, and taking more of a supernatural form. Considerably powerful in his own right, the Ice King was quite easily intimidated by Marceline when the two confronted him.

She is very skilled and adept with a battle-ax bass guitar and is a gifted singer. Marceline is ambidextrous. As with many of the other vampires in Adventure Time, Marceline is vulnerable to direct sunlight, but she usually circumvents this weakness by wearing large hats and otherwise covering up adequately. Marceline also possesses a really wickedly cool laugh. Although not strictly a power it should be mentioned. Another interesting note is that ghosts may be immune to some of her powers, due to power interactions between vampires and ghosts.

Other Media

Adventure Time (2010)

Evicted

In her debut episode, Marceline makes an unexpected return to her former home, a treehouse which is where Finn and Jake now reside. Aggressively to the point but with an indulgent air of authority and fear about her, she evicts both Finn and Jake reasserting her possession of the treehouse. Not before telling them of her adventures in Ooo, including riding enormous Giant Goldfish and acquiring Nut Creatures. After Finn and Jake move into a cave after deciding it was best not to challenge Marceline, she arrives and reveals that the cave is her property as well. After a small fight, Marceline unexpectedly becomes more affectionate, warm, and friendly, saying she enjoyed and was amused by Finn and Jake. She gives the treehouse back to them both as a gift and sets up residence in the cave.

Henchman

This was Marceline’s second appearance and transitions her from being an episode foil and into Finn and Jake’s circle of friends. Marceline happens upon Finn and Jake and decides to screw with them. Or with Finn specifically as her game seems to be directed at him and she scares Jake away (at this time Jake is still terrified of her and will play into the secondary plot). Finn intercedes when Marceline appears to bully an old man. Marceline tells them he is her henchman for life, correctly predicting that Finn will volunteer to take his place. Marceline then proceeds to give Finn seemingly sinister orders that have innocuous or beneficial resolutions. Finn eventually catches on to her game and begins playing along, somewhat to her surprised amusement. This is also the episode that established Marceline can survive in sunlight as long as she has some covering. Jake exposes her to direct sunlight and believes he has staked her, but she survives by a switch-out. The episode ends with her “firing” Finn because he figured out her game.

Heat Signature

Finn and Jake go to Marceline’s house to watch a favorite movie with her. Already there is a trio of ghosts that are old friends of Marceline that she knew from “a gang in the underworld.” However Finn and Jake find Marceline’s couch far too uncomfortable to sit on for the movie. Marceline apologizes to the boys, explaining that she never sits on the couch because as a vampire she floats over things. This gives our heroes the brilliant idea to have Marceline turn them into vampires so they can avoid sitting on the couch. True to form she can’t resist messing with them and pretends to turn them. Shenanigans ensue under the guise of “vampire training.” This is also where the “Spooky vampire walk” meme originated. The three ghosts trick Fin and Jake into dangerous activity before deciding to just suck their guts through their brains. Marceline seemingly arrives for another last-minute save but she reveals that vampires can’t beat ghosts. They are not killed however when they hear Finn and Jake just wanted to watch the movie Heat Signature.

Marceline’s Closet

Marceline invites Finn and Jake to her house for a jam session, with express orders for them to not enter her house until she gets there. During a game of Cloud Hunt however Jake decides to hide in Marceline’s house, much to the panic and terror of Finn. Entering to get Jake to leave both are trapped in Marceline’s house and subsequently her closet when she arrives. Assuming she is alone, Marceline goes about her usual daily activities as we get a glimpse into her life. As Finn and Jake try to leave her house without her noticing, they are caught. Marceline is to their surprise, not that bothered at all by their intrusion also revealing that she often hides in their house as well, creating a slight sense of paranoia with Finn and Jake.

What Was Missing

A powerful Door Lord, with the ability to teleport via the act of opening random doors to other locations, steals items from Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum. With BMO and Marceline in tow, the group finds the hiding spot of the Door Lord. They have barred entry by a magical door that can only be unlocked through music. After an emotional argument with Princess Bubblegum Marceline with her bass ax sing and play their way to opening the door with a powerful and emotionally charged song. Failing to finish the song the door fails to unlock completely, until later on when the entire group plays together. It is then revealed that the Door Lord had not stolen anything from Marceline and that Princess Bubblegum’s missing item was a t-shirt Marceline had given her, something she seemed to have great sentimental value towards.

Memory of a Memory

When a mysterious and strange Rag Wizard appeals to Finn and Jake that Marceline needs their help, they are only too quick and willing to aid their vampiric friend. Going into her subconscious to help her retrieve a memory that according to the Rag Wizard will allow her to wake up from a deep slumber. Here in her subconscious, they find a child Marceline among other memories, including that of Marceline’s ex-boyfriend Ash. When they return to reality, the Rag Wizard reveals his deception, demonstrating that he was Ash, Marceline’s former partner she had broken up with after he sold her teddy bear Hambo to a witch. He had actually tricked Finn and Jake into removing Marceline’s memory of having broken up with him. Ash and a freshly awoken Marceline depart. Finn uses his memory of her memory to reveal Ash’s deception to Marceline and she proceeds to kick him with Finn and Jake joining in.

I Remember You

Marceline is at home doing her thing when the Ice King appears to her looking for her help to write a song. He requires help with lyrics so he can have a better chance at “crushing it” with the Princesses. Marceline is resistant to his request, even off-put, and demands he leaves. Ice King fumbles about before ensnaring himself in the wire. Finn and Jake burst onto the scene to apprehend Ice King but Marceline takes pity on him tells them it’s okay she was helping Ice King with his song. Ice King starts singing but quickly has an emotional breakdown that he doesn’t understand. Marceline becomes tense and annoyed as she is forced to deal with the shell of her former friend and protector, the tragic Ice King too far gone in his mind to remember Marceline as a child even as emotions from his past life rise to the surface. Finding a note he had written to her before losing his mind, she begins to sing-read it as Ice King plays accompanying music. The episode ends with a brief flashback revealing a deeper history between the two.