Marceline

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 Finn and Jake's first encounters with her, she requests that they leave wherever they are as long as the areas belong to her. Though initially an enemy to them, she quickly becomes one of Finn and Jake's closest friends. Her father is the demon who rules the Nightosphere.

Background

 * For storyline analysis of Marceline's history and origin see Marceline/Analysis of Marceline's origin.

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 the aftermath of the Mushroom War. It is later found out in "I Remember You" that the Ice King gave her Hambo during the war. It is revealed in "Finn the Human" that Marceline already knew the Ice King by the end of the war, confirming that the events shown in "I Remember You" happened during the war, not after. It has yet to be explained how Marceline returned to her family. It is revealed in "Finn the Human" that Marceline was still traveling with the Ice King as the events in that alternate universe cause the Ice King to die and she chooses to guard his dead body.

When Marceline was a teenager, her father ate her fries in the ruins of a diner, as Finn witnessed in her memory. This incident damages Marceline's relationship with her father, which she later sings about in her "Fry Song." At a later point in her life, the first memory where she is chronologically seen as a vampire, 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 her prized possession Hambo, a raggedy teddy bear that she carried close to her throughout the years of her life that the Ice King was shown in "I Remember You" giving her Hambo when she was young. 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 had been traveling all over the Land of Ooo, claiming that she has had adventures such as riding Giant Goldfish and traveling to the Fire Kingdom, although, according to Natasha Allegri, 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 doesn't 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 house and claims that their house is hers. She explains that she used to live in their house, and the place is still rightfully hers. Finn and Jake reluctantly leave their home when they decide that they are no match for Marceline's powers, and go house-hunting for a new place to live. When Finn and Jake finally settle on a house and get comfortable, 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 was actually still trying to just have fun with Finn, and did this by tricking him into doing things that seemed awful, but were good in the end. Near the conclusion of the episode, Jake knocks off her sunhat and makes her endure the pain of the sunlight, while 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. When Jake leaves, it is revealed that Finn secretly helped Marceline survive the attack, deceiving Jake and letting her hide in his backpack.

In "It Came from the Nightosphere," Finn helps Marceline record a mournful song she wrote about her father being ignorant for eating the fries she bought. Marceline reveals the only way to see her father is to draw a happy face on the wall, throw buttermilk at it, and say a chant. Finn quickly follows her instructions, and opens a portal that allows Marceline's dad to enter Ooo. Marceline is angry at Finn for releasing her father from The Nightosphere, and her history with Hunson Abadeer is revealed. Finn immediately sets off stop her father from causing chaos in Ooo, and she comes with him, though she says that she only wants her axe bass back from her dad. When Finn manages to distract Marceline's dad long enough for him and his daughter to start reasonably talking things over, Finn suddenly attacks him and quickly sends him back to the Nightosphere. Though Marceline is upset Finn took down her dad right when they were making up, she is relieved that the drama is over.

In "Go With Me," Marceline helps Finn to make Princess Bubblegum jealous and eventually go to the movies with him. She states that girls like 'fun', and gives Finn ideas to woo her, including wrestling her and letting wolves loose in her bedroom. When her ideas are counter-productive and get Finn kicked out of the Candy Kingdom, Finn asks her to go to the movies with him, but she misunderstands him and responds angrily; Marceline thought Finn was basically asking her to go out with him, but he really just wanted to go with her as a friend. When he explains this, she accepts, and they go to the movies, only to leave early to do more exciting because they both find the movie boring and gross.

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, although Marceline's past relationship with Princess Bubblegum ended on seemingly bad terms, the two still care for each other to some extent. Marceline sings I'm Just Your Problem out of frustration, confessing that she doesn't feel like she's 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 try to escape her house when she goes to bed, but she hears them leaving and stops them. She surprises them by saying she doesn't 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 as 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. When Finn and Jake finally manage to remove the amulet from Marceline's neck and they are about to escape the Nightosphere again, her dad runs up and tells her he is proud of her anyway, and he actually likes her friends, Finn and Jake.

In "I Remember You," its revealed that Marceline and Ice King were friends during the Mushroom War, when Ice King was Simon Petrikov and Marceline was a little girl. 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 writing of Simon Petrikov's she tries to jog Ice King's memory, but it's no use. Marceline gives up trying to reason with Ice King, who can't 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 Marcy for when he wouldn't remember her.

In "Finn the Human" and "Jake the Dog" it is shown what Marceline would be like if she hadn't become a vampire, and instead aged more normally. She is shown in Farmworld, and is an overweight, crazy old lady. She isn't a vampire, but is only a half-demon. She protected Simon's body (as he died since he never became the Ice King), and tries to warn Finn before she is killed when the Mushroom Bomb goes off. Jake, however, undoes Finn's and the Lich's wishes, and the world goes back to normal, with Marceline a youthful-looking vampire again.

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 and Marcy," Marceline tells Finn, Jake, and the Ice King about some of her and the Ice King's adventures almost 1000 years ago, when he was still Simon Petrikov and they were friends. 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, and has to use the crown, which increasingly makes him crazy but also gives him the powers to fight off dangerous creatures and protect his friend. He finds chicken soup to cure her, but, unsettlingly, he 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 PB attempts to look for Hambo. PB eventually encounters Maja, and they make a trade: PB 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 "sentimenal freshness" and "psychic resonance" than Hambo does. Marceline and Hambo are reunited.

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 at first, 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 late teenager. 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. She is usually floating in the air but when she stands next to the other main characters she is taller than them. 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.

Powers and abilities
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" and "Bad Little Boy."
 * 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 can't see her own reflection in a mirror. In "Heat Signature," Marceline explains to Finn and Jake that vampires can't 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 Marceline hid when Jake attempted to do so.