Marceline, the Vampire Queen (full name: Marceline Abadeer) is one of the main characters in Adventure Time and a half-demon/half-Vampire who is over a millennium old. During her first encounter with Finn and Jake, she requests that they leave their tree fort as the area belongs to her. Depiste initially being their enemy, Marceline quickly becomes one of Finn and Jake's closest friends. Her father is the demon who rules the Nightosphere. Background
Marceline is over a thousand years old, as she said in "Evicted!" and "Daddy's Little Monster." In "Memory of a Memory," one of Marceline's memories shows her as a young girl playing near the burning ruins of a city, presumably during the Mushroom War. Later on in "I Remember You," a flashback shows the Ice King giving Marceline a doll, which is eventually named Hambo, to comfort her during the war. In "Finn the Human," it is confirmed that Marceline met the Ice King before the war as they were together before the detonation of the Mushroom Bomb.
As a teenager, Marceline's relationship with her father was damaged when he ate her fries in the ruins of a diner. She later sang about this event in her "Fry Song." The first memory where she is chronologically seen as a vampire is when she moved into the Tree Fort (that would later become Finn and Jake's home) with her boyfriend Ash. She would later dump him for selling Hambo as it was her most prized possession. Marceline has also mentioned her mother, but no in depth information has been given about her or their relationship yet.
In "Evicted!" Marceline says that she has been all over the Land of Ooo, claiming that she has ridden a Giant Goldfish and traveled to the Fire Kingdom. However, according to Natasha Allegri[citation needed], she was lying and trying to show off. She has also apparently gained several places of residence throughout her life, which may have been in her attempts to get away from the Ice King.
It's unknown exactly when or how Marceline became a vampire, although she did not have a bite mark on her neck when she was younger. As revealed by her alternate version in Farmworld, Marceline does consider herself half-demon, which may be a major contribution to her longevity. However, this side does not give her any magical powers or abilities such as flight and transformation as well as a similar eternal youth to her father, which she appears to have gained due to her vampire powers.
Appearances
Marceline first appears in "Evicted!" when she arrives in Finn and Jake's tree fort and forces the two to leave. Marceline claims that the place is rightfully hers as she used to live in it. Finn and Jake reluctantly leave when they decide that they are no match for Marceline's powers. After the two finally settle down in a new home, Marceline immediately turns up and shows them that she owns that place as well. She also fights Finn and pretends to kill Jake, but she reveals that is was a trick, and she was really just having fun.
In "Henchman," Marceline forces Finn to be her henchman and Jake tries to save him. She tricks Finn into doing things that seem wrong. However, she is just having fun with him and their deeds were actually harmless or even good. Near the conclusion of the episode, Jake knocks away Marceline's umbrella and attempts to kill her while she is in pain due to the sunlight. Finn tries to convince him that she is a good person who just likes to "play games" and make things seem worse than they are. Eventually, Jake leaves after Finn deceives him into thinking that Marceline was dead. However, Finn had secretly helped Marceline survive the attack by letting her hide in his backpack.
In "It Came from the Nightosphere," Finn helps Marceline record a mournful song she wrote that questions her father's love for eating fries that she had bought in the past. Marceline reveals the only way to see her father is to perform a ritual to open a portal to the Nightosphere. Finn immediately follows her instructions and allows her dad, Hunson Abadeer, to enter Ooo. Marceline is angry at Finn for releasing her father and is upset even further when Hunson Abadeer steals her ax bass. Finn immediately sets off to stop the Lord of Evil from causing chaos in Ooo, and Marceline comes along so she could take the bass back from her dad. Finn eventually manages to get Hunson Abadeer to start talking things over with his daughter and uses this distraction to send him back to the Nightosphere. Although upset that Finn interrupted the two right when they were beginning to make up, Marceline is relieved that the drama is over.
In "Go With Me," Marceline gives advice to Finn to help him attract Princess Bubblegum's attention so he could attend Couples Night with her. Marceline gives Finn various ideas and advice, but they all backfire and gets him kicked out of the Candy Kingdom. Later, Finn asks Marceline to go to the movies with him, but she misunderstands this as a date proposal and responds angrily. However, she accepts Finn's offer after he explains that he merely asked her as a friend. At Couples Night, the two find the film disgusting and crash the event before riding off with her on wolves.
In "Heat Signature," Marceline reveals more of her condescendingly playful nature when she and her ghost friends trick Finn and Jake into believing they have become vampires. However, Marceline's friends go too far, putting Finn and Jake's lives in danger, and she ends up saving them from the ghosts and revealing to them that she was tricking them all along.
In "Memory of a Memory," Marceline is put under a sleeping spell by her ex-boyfriend Ash. When Finn and Jake explore her memory to wake her up, bits of her past are shown, from a moment when she plays with Hambo alone in the ruins of a city, to her tearful fry incident with her dad, to her angry breakup with Ash after he sold Hambo to a witch. After Finn and Jake manage to wake Marceline and remind her of why she broke up with Ash, Marceline lets Finn help her beat up her ex-boyfriend.
In "What Was Missing," it is evident that Marceline and Princess Bubblegum care for each other to an extent, despite ending their relationship on seemingly bad terms. Marceline sings I'm Just Your Problem out of frustration, confessing that she does not feel like she is enough for Princess Bubblegum, but wants to make up with her regardless. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Princess Bubblegum's most prized possession is Marceline's old rock shirt.
In "Marceline's Closet," Finn and Jake hide in Marceline's house and end up hearing her recording some of her deepest secrets in song. They are caught when they try to escape her house while she goes to bed. She surprises them by saying she does not mind that they hid in her house, and explains that she hides at their place "all the time."
In "Return to the Nightosphere" and "Daddy's Little Monster," Marceline invites Finn and Jake to visit the Nightosphere, but is bothered by her dad, who wants her to follow in his footsteps and take his place its ruler. She refuses, and sings "Not Just Your Little Girl" with Finn and Jake, but is transformed into demon form by the Nightosphere amulet her dad gave her. Finn and Jake eventually manage to remove the amulet from Marceline's neck and when they are about to escape the Nightosphere again, her dad runs up and tells her he is proud of her anyway.
In "I Remember You," its revealed that Marceline and Ice King were friends during the Mushroom War, while the wizard was still Simon Petrikov. Ice King drops in on Marceline at her house uninvited for a jam session, bringing with him some old papers and memorabilia as inspiration for songs. When Marceline recognizes old pictures of her and Simon and some of Simon's writing, she tries to jog Ice King's memory, but it is no use. Marceline gives up trying to reason with Ice King, who cannot seem to remember any of his past. They sing an emotional song together, using a note that Simon wrote to Marceline long ago as lyrics. Marceline ends up in tears as she sings. Simon wrote the note as an apology to Marceline for when he would not remember her.
In "Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog," it is shown what Marceline would be like if she had not become a vampire, and remained as a half-demon. In the Farmworld timeline, she is an overweight, crazy old lady. She protected Simon's body (as he died since he never became the Ice King), and tries to warn Finn about the crown before she is killed by the Mushroom Bomb. Jake, however, undoes Finn's and the Lich's wishes, and the world returns to normal.
In "Bad Little Boy," Marceline overhears Ice King's stories about "Fionna and Cake" and tells him and his previously kidnapped princesses a story of her own. This version introduces her fictional male counterpart, "Marshall Lee."
In "Simon & Marcy," Marceline tells Finn, Jake, and the Ice King about some of her and Ice King's adventures almost 1000 years ago while he was still Simon Petrikov. Her tale is set after the Great Mushroom War, and little Marcy ends up getting sick. Simon goes to great lengths trying to make her better while protecting her from the dangers around them. She tries to discourage Simon from using the crown for its powers due to its negative effect on his sanity. Marceline recovers after Simon finds some chicken soup for her, but, unsettlingly, ends up calling her "Gunter" instead of "Marcy."
In "Sky Witch," Marceline enlists Princess Bubblegum's help to find Maja the Sky Witch, so that she can get Hambo back. After Bubblegum gets them past Maja's outer barrier, Marceline fights Maja's Crabbit Familiar, while Princess Bubblegum attempts to look for Hambo. Princess Bubblegum eventually encounters Maja, and they make a trade: Princess Bubblegum gives the witch the rock shirt Marceline gave her, while Maja gives Princess Bubblegum Hambo. Maja is satisfied with the trade, explaining that the prized shirt holds far more "sentimental freshness" and "psychic resonance" than Hambo does. Marceline and Hambo are reunited.
In "Red Starved," Marceline, Finn, and Jake, go to an ancient ruin to find the Spoon of Prosperity. After Jake eats the red erasers Marceline brought for food, she reveals that if she goes too long without feeding, she will lose control and would kill anyone around her. Knowing this, Jake ties her up, but she later escapes. Fortunately, Princess Bubblegum bursts through the wall in her Sand Worm just before Marceline is about to kill Jake. Marceline drinks all of the pink ("low-grade red") from her, but Princess Bubblegum puts the spoon on her nose and returns to normal.
In "Betty," Marceline, Finn, and Jake are in the middle of a jam session when she receives a call from Simon, who asks her for help finding Betty and tells her to bring Hambo. When she arrives at the Ice Kingdom, she is very happy to be reunited with her old friend.
Personality
Marceline is described as a wild rocker girl. Centuries of wandering the Land of Ooo have made her a fearless daredevil. She is a lover of all things exotic and still travels across the land often. She has a mischievous personality and is rarely intimidated. Despite seeming evil in her first two appearances ("Evicted!" and "Henchman"), Marceline is a trickster at heart, and her "evil plans" often turn out to be nothing more than elaborate jokes. She is described by Finn as "a radical dame who likes to play games." She loves to play pranks on Finn and Jake. She also occasionally has violent outbursts, as shown in "It Came from the Nightosphere." Though during her line in the song, in "Evicted!" she stated that since she has been alive for over a thousand years she had lost her moral code.
She can also be sentimental. She was very emotionally attached to her teddy bear Hambo, which was given to her by Simon Petrikov; after Ash sold it to Maja, she was furious and broke up with him. Later, Princess Bubblegum got Hambo back in the episode "Sky Witch."
Marceline seems to be very emotional. For example, in "What Was Missing," she seemed to be more aggressive towards Princess Bubblegum than she usually is. She is also very independent, and in early episodes would often act without concern for Finn or his friends. It is easier for Marceline to express her feelings through music, as seen with "The Fry Song" and "I'm Just Your Problem," but has trouble expressing them otherwise. She keeps a diary that she uses for inspiration for songs as seen in "Marceline's Closet." When Marceline read the lyrics to "Remember You," the song that Simon Petrikov wrote for her, she began to cry.
Appearance
Marceline has light blue-gray skin and long, midnight black hair that reaches to her feet. She also sports two marks on her neck, which are presumably the marks of the bite that turned her into a vampire. Despite being over a thousand years old, her appearance and personality is that of a 18 to 20 year old. In the episode "Go With Me," her hair is shaved into an undercut, which reveals that she has pointy ears. She is very thin and sometimes appears to be thinner than Princess Bubblegum; however, her shape can vary slightly depending on who is drawing her.[1][2] She is usually floating in the air but when she stands next to the other main characters she is taller than them; however in "I Remember You," she was just at Ice King's size (or slightly shorter). In most of her transformations, she is shown to have green eyes. Her looks are more likely as a result of her half-demon heritage than her "vampirism."
Clothes
Marceline wears different outfits in most of her episode appearances. Her style seems to be punk rock, or grunge with colors normally red, black, grey, and other dull colors.
Powers and abilities
Powers
Marceline has many supernatural abilities, some of which exceed those traditionally associated with vampires and therefore might be due to her half-demon heritage instead. She has been shown to possess the following powers:
Levitation: She has the ability to float and even to fly with careful control and rapid speed. She can even sleep while floating, as shown in "Marceline's Closet."
Pyrokinesis: She can light fire with only her mind, as seen in "Evicted!" when she lit up all the candles in the tree-house.
Telekinesis: She can move things using her mind, as shown in "Evicted!" and "Daddy's Little Monster."
Invisibility: She can turn invisible, as seen in "Heat Signature," "Bad Little Boy," and "Red Starved."
Necromancy: She can raise the dead, as seen in "Henchman."
Rapid healing: She appears to heal quickly from injuries, at least damage from sunlight, as shown once she was returned to the shade in "Henchman."
Shape-shifting: She has the ability to shape-shift into numerous monstrous forms, including a bat, a wolf, a reptilian creature, and a large tentacled monster. She appears to be able to preserve her clothing, even after changing into large forms that would cause it to break: in many appearances, the clothing disappears until she returns to her humanoid form, whereas in "Sky Witch," she performs numerous transformations while still wearing her outfit.
Eating shades of red: Unlike traditional vampires, Marceline is capable of sustaining herself on "shades of red," such as the color in strawberries, rather than being limited to surviving on blood. She has claimed in her first appearance in "Evicted!" to "sometimes" consume blood, but this has never been proved or referenced again. According to the note she left on her door in "Marceline's Closet," she gets lucid dreams when she eats tomatoes.
Marceline additionally seems to have control of how her long hair moves.
When she wears the Nightosphere amulet, she gains the ability to shoot green lasers which either vaporize or transform whatever they hit. She can also create or transform into a large cloud of blood mist with the ability to shoot green lasers. In addition to these things, she also gains the ability to devour souls.
Abilities
Bass player: She is an expert bass player.
Singer: She is a proficient singer.
Basketball player: She can play basketball and perform a slam dunk without floating.
Weaknesses
Marceline is very vulnerable to sunlight, as is common in vampire lore, but she does not dissolve right away however. The nuance to this in the Adventure Time world is that vampires are specifically vulnerable to direct sunlight. Marceline is capable of unrestricted movement on a bright sunny day provided that she shields herself, which she usually accomplishes with a combination of a parasol and a large sunhat, sometimes with the addition of full-length gloves to cover her arms. According to Marceline, moving around on a bright day still hurts mildly, comparable to scraping her knee, but she can bear it. Exposure to direct sunlight will cause Marceline to painfully melt into a pile of goo, though if she retreats into cover she can heal back to normal within moments. It is not clear if prolonged exposure to direct sunlight will eventually kill Marceline outright.
Also like typical vampires, Marceline cannot see her own reflection in a mirror. In "Heat Signature," Marceline explains to Finn and Jake that vampires cannot defeat ghosts: "It's like a rock-paper-scissors thing." It is unknown if Marceline is negatively affected by garlic because her only known exposure to it happened when Jake pelted her in the head with large cloves of it, so the pain she experienced may have come from the impact and not the exposure. It is also unknown if Marceline can be slayed with a wooden stake since she hid when Jake attempted to do so, although a wooden stake to the heart would kill just about anything.
Music and instruments
Marceline is a very talented musician and songwriter, and is proficient at singing and playing her basses. Because she is ambidextrous like Finn, she is capable of playing her basses with either hand, and may even be able to employ double-handed tapping which allow her to combine simple rhythm progressions with lead parts. As seen in "It Came from the Nightosphere," Marceline is familiar with the production of chords, which is a technique not normally employed by bass players.
Marceline has three bass guitars, one seen in "Evicted!" a butterfly bass seen in "Heat Signature," and her ax bass in "Henchman" and "It Came from the Nightosphere." She seems to be most attached to and protective of her ax bass. The ax bass is supposedly a family heirloom as mentioned by her father in "It Came from the Nightosphere," and it was originally a weapon before Marceline modified it. It is shown in "Daddy's Little Monster" that she also plays and has a banjolele, or banjo ukelele. Though she has amplifiers, she does not usually need to plug her instruments into them.
In "Five More Short Graybles," Marceline is in search of a Wizard Bill's music store to find a guitar known to play the 'most savory licks in Ooo.' Whether or not she bought the instrument is uncertain, but she was shown playing it before the scene panned.