The Lich is the few rare characters that are written as flat negative character. That's why a lot of people enjoy him as a villian, there are so many villians nowadays that are sympathetic and relatable.
finn was never his goal tho. He probably understood that finn was capable of stopping him for some time or delaying his plan, but as soon as he admitted his strength, he wanted to crush finn from the inside out. like not to get rid of him, but making him understand that lich doesn't need to get rid of him.
The Lich design notes-- _"THE LICH KING IS NOT FUNNY"_ _"The Lich King embodies absolute evil. He doesn't give long monologues about how he's going to rule the world, or waste time by sending out evil henchmen. When he wants something destroyed, he just raises a legion of undead knights, marches in and destroys everything in his path."_
Was his original name The Lich King? It would make sense because of his crown but that name is already taken so I guess they had to stick with just Lich.
@@happybalint Pretty much. I don't think "Lich King" is copyrighted, though, so I think they just wanted to keep it more unique to the show. And also make him less of a ruler, more of a "it's this psychopath on his own" sort of thing.
The Lich is not mortal, he is beyond them, beyond the small little world that they live and die in. He has always been here, and will always stay… Unlike us mortals who live our lives questioning our purpose for being here, and fearing what is to come after death… 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐡 knows exactly what his purpose is. He knows what he is here to do and the true purpose behind his existence in this grand cosmos, AND HE. WILL NOT. BE. STOPPED. He will come back again and again, over and OVER… Until his function has been fulfilled
@@alirezaomrani7650 Exactly. The Lich knows how bad his actions is and that's what makes him so much worse. The Lich has clear moral agency but still wants to destroy everything just because.
@@ScarletKingSCP001 Erm… No. I don’t think you got the meaning of my comment. Morality is a JOKE to The Lich He doesn’t see it as anything more than a bunch of stupid flesh-blobs trying to make themselves feel good about themselves by coming up with some strange and irrational sentimentally-focused system of formalities that totally go against logic-based survivability and pragmatism. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐡 KNOWS what he’s here for. He KNOWS what his purpose Is. He’s not some clueless mortal full of questions and doubts about why he exists and who created him. He is just a machine who accepts his role in the Universe and fullfills his purpose. That’s all. He is an existence who is fully in-tune with what he was meant to do and in what way he is supposed to use his power and knowledge. That is why his actions cannot be comprehended on a humane-level. He is not Human, nor will he ever be, he is an entity completely enlightened from the petty nature and uncertainty of mortal beings. In a World that Doubts and Questions Itself, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐡 knows exactly what he is… He Is The Ceaseless Wheel, The Last Scholar of GOLB… He is Our Doom.
What makes the Lich really terrifying for me is that he takes the strongest hero, and mentor figure, Billy, and kills him in the most morbid and perverted way possible. The idea of taking a strong infallible character and having them brutalized so harshly is so out of place in a kids show.
@@SolarFlareAmerica if you look closely, even in this video, the lich just straight up make a hole in billy's chest and then he basically skin him and use his skin as a costume
@@marek-ru9xg I’m pretty sure the Lich is a personification of death/decay like the actual grim reaper and is a necromancer so he can probably just possess a body
That bit about The Lich being unable to change is so on point. In The Lich's final episode, Whispers, Finn says, "You're so evil it's boring!" That was the best encapsulation of his character in the whole show.
I’m not sure he even NEEDS to change, I mean...he’s The Lich. He is the harbinger of Extinction the King of ruin, the catalyst comets agent of change who represents the end. He IS the last scholar of GOLB and his mission is one that will eventually be fulfilled either way. There’s no need for him to submit to our petty morals......there never was.
I find it extremely creepy that he just snaps out of the freezer state so fast that no body saw him rushing to kill the wish man like he passed savagery levels.
in fact he was never frozen, he was just motionless waiting for the right opportunity to act, he is kind of a zombie so it makes no difference to him if he is frozen or not. but it's still scary
@@shawnoconnor8075 They got comfortable, as said in the video he was basically neutralized for good, sure, he could attempt to slaughter anyone who entered, but his goals are not murder for the sake of murder. The moment there is a chance to get rid of Prismo, he wakes up his corporeal form, and once Prismo is gone, THEN he kills him, having achieved his goal to escape.
I interpreted the Lich as a form of entropy. All he wants is destruction and he is inescapable. I wouldn’t consider him to be death, as there is a peaceful quality to death in adventure time, but as we saw in distant lands the Lich doesn’t just want everyone dead he wants no one to live. He wants a permanent lack of novelty or complexity throughout the multiverse.
@@visionofsolace8961 RIGHT! It’s a great sentence. For most fans, questions like “How strong is character A?” or “This guy is OP!” are commonplace. We usually think, “You need to get stronger before you fight this enemy” but the Lich is different. He makes it clear that strength is a thing in the world, but he’s *beyond* strength. No matter how powerful you get, you can’t destroy him. Only stall him. Billy defeated the Lich, and, again, that only forestalled the Lich from doing harm. When Finn uses Billy’s gauntlet, the Lich destroys it like it was never a threat to begin with. The Lich eventually possesses Billy and later takes a gumball guardian blast to the face, only to burn away Billy’s foreskin and leave the Lich unharmed. By simply saying the word, “Fall” he stuns Finn and Jake I could keep going on, but those are the biggest moments that stand out to me
Something else I find really interesting is the lich’s connection with nuclear materials like bombs and pools of radiation , multiple times we see his powers cause massive explosions that look like mushroom clouds, we see that the lich was only created in the farmworld universe when jake was exposed to nuclear sludge, and even in his debut episode his well of power that rejuvenates his powers is a big hole of nuclear liquid. He’s not just the inevitability of death in the present, he was the inevitability of death by humanity’s own hand before the mushroom war
Although there is the point he is sort of embodied in that comet that killed Evergreen, I think it's fair to say he, in his proper form, can only exist by the hands of humanity. He takes purposeless, neutral death and gives it a drive and a humanoid manifestation
From what I've heard the lich wasn't created it simply always was. According to the lich it's one of the last true students of glob. Not only that but it only spawned in finns world because of a comet that contained the essence of the lich and when it crashed on finns world the lich was born kind of like how Finn was born with the need to be a hero because he is the reincarnation of another comet that carried the essence of being a hero.
@@alchemist0019 that is true, but I was referring to the fact that while the lich as a concept has always existed in ooo, the lich as we know him in the show wasn’t created until the fallout from the mushroom bombs mutated an unlucky person and gave the lich a physical form. This is also the case in the farmworld where the frozen mushroom bomb being detonated was what caused the lich to assume a new form through jake. In both cases the lich became the threat he is today because of humanity. Small side note: if the lich’s physical body came from nuclear fallout it probably also means all of his powers (the ones like the green fire he had before being killed for the first time) come straight from nuclear radiation, effectively making him a nuclear wizard which is a badass concept
"Finally dead, aren't you child?" The way he delivers that, even in death, the Lich still wins to a certain extent. Fin can't live forever, but the lich can just return over and over again. However many hero's stand against him, he'll claim his prize in the end.
@@victinhomatadordeporco1322 not exactly, Sweet Pea isn't the Lich, he is just the body that Lich used for a millenium, in the glimpse of the 1000 years future of adventure time he is still there and become a hero, in the last season he killed the Lich hand that fell in their world
@@italucenaz The thing is, the Lich Hand entered every dimension, and given that the Enchiridion probably exists in other worlds too, should even one lich succeed in their world they would likely continue their conquest to others. Even at the end of the series the Lich's victory is only delayed, not prevented.
@@16caldwellj95 I doubt there is an enchiridion with all the gems in other dimensions, the only ones that were similar were the main one and Farm world, because this reality was literally created after the wish, there is no infinite universes in Asventure Time, so I doubt a lot of them would be similar enough to have the same book witht he same enchantments
Fuck the speech dude, just hearing the word “Fall” in that commanding tone is enough for me. Christ, The Lich blows so many other villains out of the water.
_I will command a great and terrible army. We will sail into a billion worlds, we will sail until every light has been extinguished. You're strong, child; but I am beyond strength. I am the end._ - The lich
I feel like the Lich didn't need to engage with the other characters seeing that there were other villains, like Ice King and Goliad, who interact with the main protagonists super freqently. In Ice King's case, almost too much. This contrast helped set him apart from the light-hearted pseudo-villains and emphasize his role as a really disturbing, evil, nihilistic character
@@DrSilk-mo8cw I mean he was a villain at the start regardless of whether that was his fault or not but yeah later on he got reformed and eventually was reverted back to his sane mind
Him, Golb, and the Vampire king are my favorite adversaries, the Lich and Vamp king for their personality and Golb because of what he represents. The Lich is like an ancient evil but Golb is literally a force of nature. It doesn’t want to kill anything, it just wants to tear everything apart.
I mean could you not tell lmao you realize Ice kings just crazy right he's never actually been evil he's crazy I mean same with Marcy like you know her dad's evil and she was a vampire so everyone things she's just gonna be bad but it's actually her dad that's the evil one
Man the lich was my first brush with cosmic horror and inevitable erasure and I wouldn’t say it shaped me as a person but it definitely shaped my taste in media
@gabriel raspatelly Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft.
@gabriel raspatelly .... Why are you and I arguing I was trying to say he's a mix of cosmic horror and supernatural because yes he's undead but he's also a constant and an inevitable thing so why is this stupid argument still going? What do either of us have to gain from this besides nothing?
@gabriel raspatelly No matter his genre, I feel he definitely has cosmic horror influences. Like his backstory and being a scholar of Golb, a clear love letter to cosmic horror.
@@CosmosGatito yes. thanos is strong but the lich is beyond strength. jokes aside the lich is beyond thanos, their ideals cant co-exist and the lich just operates on a diffrent level. How can Thanos ensure peace and balance with the lich ruining all life, and I mean all life. Thanos would have to take on the Lich, and how? my boi says "fall" and its gg, night night.
@@TheEmeraldBeast135 thanos with the heart of the universe can erase even abstract and outerversal beings (meaning beings that's not even from the marvel universe)
Hes basically just a representation of "The End". No one can really beat him, you can try and you might win, but eventually he'll get you because everything has an end
@@Eco-pu2zs Yeah which is why Finn is a contrast to Lich They are eternally arch-nemesis, what the Lich brings about, Finn is to quell or use that to convert to something else With the destruction of a Kingdom(Lich), another shall rise(Finn)
As a child i was so scared of the lich i couldn't even look at it. Now, as an anxious teenager, I'm scared of the inevitable and can't stop thinking about it. It's kinda funny.
@@leviathan7058 it's all a matter of perspective. If you fear the unknown you fear death but if you are willing to embrace the fear and accept the unknown than you're no longer afraid.
I loved the Lich as a villain. He wasn't a bad guy like Ice King or a villain like Marceline's dad. The Lich was straight up doom itself. He never really arrived in the picture, but he was always in the background. And when he was there, he was there suddenly. And the entire atmosphere of the episode (Finn and Jake could be fighting cotton candy spiders with BMO) just immediately becomes sinister.
Kinda like the Dark One in the Wheel of Time books. The Dragon returns from death time and time again to fight the Dark One, but if the Dark One ever won, there wouldn't be another fight.
@@DISTurbedwaffle918 yes, but, in the end of the wheel of time things change. In adventure time the lich is presented as entropy, the eventual end of all things. The dark one is not so patient, nor is he the eventual winner. He is simply another part of the wheel.
The lich is one of the very few villains from popular kids shows that can easily be dropped into adult perspective and content and still work,arguably more
“I find this interesting, simply because, normally, when you have a villain who’s sole purpose is to kill everything, they’re usually just some kind of mindless monster that goes around eating people or whatever.” Yes, you’re exactly right. And a prime example of a villain who is “just some kind of mindless monster that goes around eating people or whatever” is Kid Buu from Dragon Ball Z.
The Lich is actually one of (if not) THE most evil character Cartoon network has ever put to screen. The fact that his body is a cadaver, his soul/spirit is omnipresent, and his mind is focused on nothing but death is terrifying. And his goal to end all life in the universe and multiverse isn’t even coincidental, it’s on purpose. And finn even after the Lich’s first appearance is still tormented by him. As the lich itself, as billy, as Bubblegum, as a skeleton, as Jake, and even as a hand, Finn can never escape him. Legit when the Lich’s hand gets stabbed he makes Death’s son kill his dad and take the role as the new death, he possessed him and destroyed the dead worlds and almost succeded in making reincarnation impossible showed that even in death, he’s still evil
Entropy is a useless thing because you have no control whatsoever over the end its a building block of the universe like light gravity or time it’s useless to try to work against or even think of
What I like about that moment is that the Lich isn't really delaying anything as he makes the speech, or giving the hero an opportunity to come up with something. He's saying it as he's walking over to fucking murder Finn with his bare hands, and he--and by a consequence, every living being in the entire universe--is only alive because Finn fell in a puddle of life goo.
Lich is so badass, like there's lots of adventure time spooky, powerful creatures but Lich even though he's your common spooky skeleton he just doesn't give a shit and is able to fuck them up anyways. I really like that no matter how much of "baddies" other spooky creatures are every single one of them will bend to his destruction.
He's the self described "Last scholar of Golb", who is sort of just a primordial force of chaos incarnate from what we've seen of him that's literally beaten (or at least slowed down) by the characters singing their hearts out because their song was in harmony, the opposite of chaos. So if we view the Lich as sort of an aspect of Golb rather than just chaos outright, I think maybe he represents entropy? It'd fit with the theme of the show that "everything changes," but put a darker twist on it by going on to say "And everything, inevitably, falls." Maybe I'm just grasping at threads but like, there's probably some truth in there.
THe songs were just things golb liked cus he is a baby. But that could also be the reason why fins power of liking someone hurt the lich like the power of harmony against golb
And when the Lich finally wins, it will all begin again. Everything changes, and when everything is nothing, then nothing must change into everything again.
I think the lich offers the show a lot more than just the depressing reality that all life will eventually end, to me he’s symbolic of the idea that we as living beings can’t give up and have to keep fighting. Our heroes fight with the lich will never end no matter how many times they win, but the lich only has to win once and it’s over, but despite the inevitable finn and jake continue to persevere, even after death. The lich to me doesn’t feel like a representation of the inevitable, but a representation of what happens when you accept defeat and give up.
@@madman7544 nope Lich never went inside sweet p he trap inside him as healing blood that got splashed on the Lich gave his decayed body flesh and gave life and basically almost reseted him in way of making Lich somewhat forget his previous life
Something else interesting is in his last episode, whispers, the Lich says he was the last scholar of Golb, the embodiment of chaos that is sorta this looking creepy space baby until the last episode
@@myself9030 Glob isn't really an omnipresent entity of any kind. They are just a powerful demi-god of sort. GOLB is pretty much above god level - he's the entropy itself.
Golb is interesting because he seems to mean represent a kind of non-existence. You get eaten by Golb, you don't just die, you cease to be on some fundamental level. I always thought that was a pretty interesting if dark thing for the show to have in it.
@@olivercuenca4109 not like dark themes aren't common in american cartoons. Case in point, Invader Zim, one of the most articulate spit in the face of god to date
I think my favorite thing about the Lich is something that was written in the notes of his character sheet by the writers: "THE LICH IS NOT FUNNY." And sure enough, he isn't, not deliberately anyway. He doesn't make jokes, or quips, or witty comebacks; he's always brutally blunt and direct. even when he's dramatically monologuing the Lich doesn't make light of the fact he's going to murder all life in existence. He does mock Finn at one point- "you are alone, child... there is only darkness for you and only death for your people"- but it's not to laugh at his expense, the Lich is simply stating the fact that Finn is going to die by his hand and there's nothing he can do about it.
I like how he says you can't kill the lich which is entirely true from a mythology stand point. Lich's are essentially zombie wizards and are anchored to the world by an enchanted item, this is the lich's phylactery. You can kill a lich as many times as you want but it'll come back everytime unless you destroy it's phylactery and then kill the lich.
I think the Lich represents inevitability of evil. Finn is the embodiment of the catalyst comet, he embodies ultimate good. The Lich compliments Finn in the cycle of adventuring. He might not just be the inevitability of evil, but the call to adventure. He isn’t THE inevitable, he is merely the last scholar scholar of Golb.
@@0rangeeige199 I disagree. Prismo's magic was simply incapable of reverting anything Golb touches, while he was able to at least stall The Lich and even revert or manipulate his wish
The Lich is the truest embodiment of Neutral Evil. He does not hate nor love anything or anyone. He does not express his opinions. He does not interact in any way that doesn't further his goal, and he has just _one_ goal: that is to kill all life anywhere and everywhere, no matter how, no matter when, no matter what. And that makes him a terrifying and compelling villain.
No. I dont think humans created that. I think the lich came to earth in that comet that the older ice king was trying to prevent from hitting earth by creating the crown
Putting aside how much the Lich is an epic character, I have always respected his great power. Being completely immortal, existing from eons, killing divine beings and was many times defeated by Finn and Jake, the Lich always came back! Now he has a copy of his own hand in the multiverse and no one knows what they are doing right now. His enormous power allowed him to continue to exist in Sweet P even 1000 years after the series. When Sweet P once dies, by wounds in battle or age, Lich will come back once more.
Lich is like a metaphorical expression of the destructive human nature, in all dimensions he exists he is always born by the will of someone to kill destroy or dominate, and just like in the real world, people like that will never stop existing, you can contain them, but you cant escape and stop them forever
Worse than that. It's litteraly the end of eveything, because everything Will die, from the smallest bacteria to the most massive black Hole, everything that is or ever was Will slowly but surely cease to exist.
I also like how he usually winds up "activating" whenever the slightest possibility of enabling himself to bring about the end of all life presents itself, if Bubblegum never brought Finn and Jake to the Lich's prison, he never would have possessed that snail and never have gotten out. I like to think that he also represents what humanity winds up doing when trying to avoid death in it's entirety, if we never paid any mind to the possibility of us dying or at least didn't try to act against the inevitability of it, we would live far longer and maybe even happier lives than if we had devoted ourselves to acting against it and feeding our fear of death, which would of course lead us to live paranoid lives, never allowing ourselves anything, but the risk of bringing ourselves closer to the fruition of the end.
Yeah, that always bothered me about how the lich was introduced. It's so contrived how he only escaped when Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum showed up.
One thing about the Lich is that even tho he acts machine like when it comes to his ideas, there have been rare moments where he surprises us with realistic reactions. Like when he believed he successfully brainwashed Sweet Pea and was gonna use his help to kill Finn and the rest of all life, he was genuinely shocked when Sweet Pea said he wasn't evil like the Lich
I like how Sweet Pea was portrayed as a timebomb but it's shown in Distant Lands that he became the protector of Ooo. A giant with a hero's sword that stops any threat to life is a fitting end to a reverse lich.
“Before there was time, before there was anything, there was nothing. And before there was nothing, there were MONSTERS.” The Lich reveals his own backstory here. He is the void before time, the embodiment of nothingness itself, which existed primarily to end the chaos of the time of monsters. The universe could not have existed without the lich to end the previous universe, yet he sees the beginning of time as a new era of monsters, and wishes to being the universe back to the state of peace that only pure nothingness can provide.
It is stated that the Lich was created in the Mushroom War after a weapon of mass destruction with green gas was detonated, it's also stated that his "soul" of some sorts came to Earth in a comet 65 million years ago, but I kinda agree with you that the idea of the Lich existed before everything
I prefer to think the Lich represents Entropy - the literal inevitable decay of all things..... though science wise entropy is just the growing of chaos in existence.
If I'm reading into the lines correctly the lich represents the eventual end of everything Entropy since he is always there slowly ticking away at the clock as time goes on he can be slowed down but never stopped because eventually everything ends no life no death nothing
Not they're own version of the lich King more like different pieces of the lich King he is a concept beyond variations beyond reality he is everywhere and nowhere
@@mr.mischiefiknowyourpasswo8224 words are just symbols and noise. Your reading this and I never spoke a sound. Mind powers si? You got what I meant anyway but thanks.
The Lich has always been chillingly haunting to me, I wish more was done with him in the show but honestly leaving his potential to the imagination is even scarier. Who knows, maybe we'll see him in one of the next distant lands specials.
He is what i wish people would do with villains. For the Lich, hes scary because of his power, his patiences, and his constantly preserving and unbending will. When he plays or toys with someone you know it because you know his power. He doesnt need to state it he simply does it. Its what makes his Fall monologue so good. You really begin to understand the thing that makes the Lich such an insurmountable force, yet still beatable. He has power, he has drive, and he is smart and a schemer, and in the arrogance of his power and his will he is okay with allowing himself to be beaten. Its like he takes pleasure in being defeated so when he wins its truly absolute. He couldve not become sweet p, he couldve not let fin defeat him after escaping the candy kingdom, but he did so all the same.
Basically, the Lich is the end, the decay of all things. What awaits all things in time. Though it can be delayed, such a power is not stoppable. Only ever changing. The lich goes from his original form, to a snail, to a jake hybrid, to a hand, sweet p, etc. yet he still is ever unbending in his goal. His will being constantly pushed, his goals constantly being strived for, the death of all things ever encroaching and imminent, only with the vain desperateness of things which merely prolong its inevitable arrival.
Entropy. He's like a personification of the eventual gradual, but inescapable decay of all things; an existential dread, which for the purposes of the show, has the capacity to explain itself... making it all the more terrifying. 😨 Very much a representation, in my view, of Friedrich Neitzche's abyss... gaze into it too long, and it gazes back into you- meaning that you begin to see the nothingness itself as an entity, and become aware of its intentions... to bring life, stars, the universe, and everything that exists to its inevitable end... which is why trying to reason with him is like trying to debate with gravity. 💀 In a show filled with songs, and wizards, and adventuring, he's a superb antagonist, because he represents the antithesis to that beautiful 'joie de vivre' the show has... the terrible, creeping awareness that all the world, and everything, will one day end- and how he is overcome is the same way it can be overcome in our lives- through the celebration, and exaltation, in all its forms, of the concept of life. 🌱🙂🌷🌳
@@gaminggoof1542 I think that was just one of many means/potentialities. It would have happened somehow or another and maybe has a little less to do with backstory and more with the idea OF him
Xam Oaks its common belief that nuclear war usually leads to the end of humanity, so maybe because so much was lost during the war that it started the end of ALL things?
The Lich first came in as one of the Catalyst comets, a meteor that brings about change every few years. The Lich is undoubtedly the catalyst of evil and death, which is how the dinosaurs in Adventure Time went extinct. It’s also the reason why Ice Kings crown was made, to literally try to push The Lich’s first form back into the stars. The Mushroom War just gave The Lich the means to return into a new form through the means of those radioactive nuclear bombs that presumably cause the end of humanity.
in the fionna and cake episode, jerry the lich got what he wanted and killed everyone. He was sad and lacked fulfillment because there was no one. He complains to golb later in the episode and dies by her hands
@Powernogrief true I even noticed him trying to put himself back together and I won’t forget that one scene where glob was powering up never thought a kids character could be more scarier than dc characters. he got what he deserved in the end it’s not about death it’s only about chaos and that’s what glob is the embodiment of chaos and glob really wanted to show lich that
Did anyone else remembered that the Lich is already in every dimension? Except for the one where Finn is the Ice King. Another thing, I don't think that the Lich is just the Lich from the beginning. He's true form must be the one we know as Sweet P. There are two things that I think will support my theory: first the Guardians Blood and then LSP resetting Ooo. The Guardians' blood can heal right? It healed the Lich when it got contact with it. Then the time LSP reset Ooo to its real state (its Primal/Original state), Sweet P (The Lich) got reset too but he didn't turned back into being the Lich he just regrew his horn. The Lich is probably corrupted by something else. The Lich was something/someone else before he became the Lich that we know.
I haven’t watched the show in a while so I might have forgotten something but I have a theory that all versions of the lich used to be someone and that it’s inevitable that in some way in every dimension a lich will be born. Because the lich isn’t a being it’s a concept this permanent force of chaos. I think it’d be really poetic if it was that the lich was truly unstoppable you might be able to stop or contain one lich but there will always be the concept of the lich.
The way I see it, The Lich isn't supposed to be a representation of death, because death is only an end, the closing of one persons chapter and the beginning of another The Lich to me represents entropy, The End, the closing of the final chapter altogether, when every story is told and done
Honestly, thats what made the kich scary for me, it was a force of nature. Something inevitable, like death. But they decided to nerd the lich at the end and humanize him x.x inatead making Golb the inevitable. But it just doesnt hit the same way as we grew up with the lich.
The lich is the manifestation of the end. But in the most literal way possible. He is the embodiment of entropy itself given a form. For every action, some energy becomes unusable, every micromoment of every conceivable time scale, some amount of energy simply becomes unusable. This is what will inevitably lead to the heatdeatg of the universe. The lich is interessting because he doesnt just act like a force of nature, he is a force of nature. No wonder he feels so, alien. So inhuman. Its because he is. His physical form is just a way so that he can directly interact with the natural world. He is the end, stagnation given form, entropy incarnate. That is what makes him so fucking cool
I would say that lich is a "call from abyss" ,he is an incarnation of that voice in your head. When you look down from high spot and you wonder "what if i jump". He is a force that calls for destruction and end of all things. Thats why he will allways be not as a character but as that force.
The most chilling thing the Lich has ever said was... "I wish for the extinction of all life..." his intentions are clear and if making a wish to do that will fulfill his goal at the cost of even his own life, then he is the most scary villain of all time.
Truly terrifying. The Lich is one of of the scariest villains I've ever seen, and it's definitely shaped my opinion on movie villains, if only a little.
actually, it’s more like he wants everyone dead (instead of him wanting to kill everyone, it’s not a self thing). So he tries to be the driving force to enforce that. in the new show, when Simon and his friends go to the universe where everyone’s dead except the lich, he doesn’t kill them bc he doesn’t need to. bc Simon and his friends will die without his intervention (if they stay in the universe)
"You are strong, child. But I am beyond strength" is honestly such a fantastic line
“I am the end, and I have come for you, Finn.”
Savage anime lines be like
True, but he was not above life.
Erik M
And generally true, tbh.
"Before there was anything there nothing and before there nothing there were monsters."
The Lich is menacing largely due to his great voice done by Ron Perlman
Oh yeah he totally sells those speeches, absolutely chilling
The lich created the mushroom bomb
Also his terrifying face
@@jimmyhale6392 indeed
Fin... Aren't you cold...?
“Aren’t you cold, Finn?... Walk into the well... Aren’t you cold?”
Chilling.
No!
I have a sweater on!!!!!
@@daviddoubled8625 🙄😏 ya stole my line, dude.
@@ethanproctor6695 yea bruh
The way he says it actually makes you feel cold 🥶
chilling? just walk into the well
The Lich is the few rare characters that are written as flat negative character. That's why a lot of people enjoy him as a villian, there are so many villians nowadays that are sympathetic and relatable.
Well pure evil is hard to write
He's not a negative character. He's actually the most neutral character ever.
@@YellowJelly13 chaotic neutral
@@kiloklavdi1185 Actually, he would be closer to Neutral Evil.
@@SgtRock-et7zl No. He destroys everything and does not abide by any laws. Be it bad or good,he wants it dead
I like how even thought he wants to kill Finn, The Lich still respects his strength
Crushing such life is what he lives for
finn was never his goal tho. He probably understood that finn was capable of stopping him for some time or delaying his plan, but as soon as he admitted his strength, he wanted to crush finn from the inside out. like not to get rid of him, but making him understand that lich doesn't need to get rid of him.
Effectively like Thanos with Tony in Infinity War.
The fact that he mentions him by name shows he respects his strength while knowing Finn is his greatest enemy
He is beyond strength tho
The Lich design notes--
_"THE LICH KING IS NOT FUNNY"_
_"The Lich King embodies absolute evil. He doesn't give long monologues about how he's going to rule the world, or waste time by sending out evil henchmen. When he wants something destroyed, he just raises a legion of undead knights, marches in and destroys everything in his path."_
Actually he did gave monologue about what will happen when sweet p was born.
Was his original name The Lich King? It would make sense because of his crown but that name is already taken so I guess they had to stick with just Lich.
@@happybalint
Pretty much. I don't think "Lich King" is copyrighted, though, so I think they just wanted to keep it more unique to the show. And also make him less of a ruler, more of a "it's this psychopath on his own" sort of thing.
Where’s your pfp from? It looks familiar
@@Leminies
Negima! Magister Negi Magi
I don't remember if it's a fanart or official, though... I've had it for quite a while.
My favorite line from the Lich is "while the mortal world doubts and questions, I know exactly what I am"....that line lives with me.
The Lich is not mortal, he is beyond them, beyond the small little world that they live and die in.
He has always been here, and will always stay…
Unlike us mortals who live our lives questioning our purpose for being here, and fearing what is to come after death…
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐡 knows exactly what his purpose is. He knows what he is here to do and the true purpose behind his existence in this grand cosmos, AND HE. WILL NOT. BE. STOPPED. He will come back again and again, over and OVER…
Until his function has been fulfilled
@@alirezaomrani7650100% agree.
@@alirezaomrani7650 Exactly. The Lich knows how bad his actions is and that's what makes him so much worse. The Lich has clear moral agency but still wants to destroy everything just because.
@@ScarletKingSCP001 Erm… No. I don’t think you got the meaning of my comment. Morality is a JOKE to The Lich
He doesn’t see it as anything more than a bunch of stupid flesh-blobs trying to make themselves feel good about themselves by coming up with some strange and irrational sentimentally-focused system of formalities that totally go against logic-based survivability and pragmatism. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐡 KNOWS what he’s here for. He KNOWS what his purpose Is. He’s not some clueless mortal full of questions and doubts about why he exists and who created him. He is just a machine who accepts his role in the Universe and fullfills his purpose. That’s all. He is an existence who is fully in-tune with what he was meant to do and in what way he is supposed to use his power and knowledge. That is why his actions cannot be comprehended on a humane-level. He is not Human, nor will he ever be, he is an entity completely enlightened from the petty nature and uncertainty of mortal beings. In a World that Doubts and Questions Itself, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐡 knows exactly what he is…
He Is The Ceaseless Wheel, The Last Scholar of GOLB… He is Our Doom.
I'll find a conversation to drop this line in in like 3 years
What makes the Lich really terrifying for me is that he takes the strongest hero, and mentor figure, Billy, and kills him in the most morbid and perverted way possible. The idea of taking a strong infallible character and having them brutalized so harshly is so out of place in a kids show.
I never understood, how exactly does he kill him again?
@@SolarFlareAmerica it's really not clear but given he wears him as a meat suit it's not gorey
@@SolarFlareAmerica if you look closely, even in this video, the lich just straight up make a hole in billy's chest and then he basically skin him and use his skin as a costume
Seriously, that is insane.
@@marek-ru9xg I’m pretty sure the Lich is a personification of death/decay like the actual grim reaper and is a necromancer so he can probably just possess a body
1:11
"the Lich has a very simple and relatable goal"
me: Wait a miniute...
Who are you?
Relatable? Hold up
Speak for yourself. I find it relatable
@@dawidek4267 never said I didn’t
*Pumped up kicks starts playing in the background*
That bit about The Lich being unable to change is so on point. In The Lich's final episode, Whispers, Finn says, "You're so evil it's boring!" That was the best encapsulation of his character in the whole show.
It was a perfectly "Finn" way of saying it, too.
I know right? and ironically it's his simplicity that makes him so interesting!
The Lich doesn't even try to deny it!
I’m not sure he even NEEDS to change, I mean...he’s The Lich. He is the harbinger of Extinction the King of ruin, the catalyst comets agent of change who represents the end. He IS the last scholar of GOLB and his mission is one that will eventually be fulfilled either way. There’s no need for him to submit to our petty morals......there never was.
And thats when Adam muto made the final strike and said begone pendleton ward and your weird fantasy show and hello boring lesbian existential drama
I find it extremely creepy that he just snaps out of the freezer state so fast that no body saw him rushing to kill the wish man like he passed savagery levels.
in fact he was never frozen, he was just motionless waiting for the right opportunity to act, he is kind of a zombie so it makes no difference to him if he is frozen or not. but it's still scary
@@zrshh4807 they should have interacted with him more, or at least tried to do something about him just sitting there waiting 😂
@@shawnoconnor8075 They got comfortable, as said in the video he was basically neutralized for good, sure, he could attempt to slaughter anyone who entered, but his goals are not murder for the sake of murder. The moment there is a chance to get rid of Prismo, he wakes up his corporeal form, and once Prismo is gone, THEN he kills him, having achieved his goal to escape.
Prismo just revealed how to get a one pu way ticket of of there in front of him
I interpreted the Lich as a form of entropy. All he wants is destruction and he is inescapable. I wouldn’t consider him to be death, as there is a peaceful quality to death in adventure time, but as we saw in distant lands the Lich doesn’t just want everyone dead he wants no one to live. He wants a permanent lack of novelty or complexity throughout the multiverse.
Extinction
@@orionar2461 That works too
Omnicide
@@monkeywheel5522 Yes, but the Lich wanted everything dead, not just humanity.
That’s literally the Auditors from Discworld
2:17
"hes got this really awesome speech prepared for whenever he shows up"
*FALL*
The line "For I am beyond strength..."
Is etched into my brain
@@visionofsolace8961
RIGHT!
It’s a great sentence. For most fans, questions like “How strong is character A?” or “This guy is OP!” are commonplace. We usually think, “You need to get stronger before you fight this enemy” but the Lich is different.
He makes it clear that strength is a thing in the world, but he’s *beyond* strength. No matter how powerful you get, you can’t destroy him. Only stall him.
Billy defeated the Lich, and, again, that only forestalled the Lich from doing harm.
When Finn uses Billy’s gauntlet, the Lich destroys it like it was never a threat to begin with.
The Lich eventually possesses Billy and later takes a gumball guardian blast to the face, only to burn away Billy’s foreskin and leave the Lich unharmed.
By simply saying the word, “Fall” he stuns Finn and Jake
I could keep going on, but those are the biggest moments that stand out to me
@@couragew6260 Things will end, the Lich will win, but not now, someday.
I believe that
The Lich will reappear once Sweet P lives his natural life cycle.
@@couragew6260 haha billy's foreskin
Nah, it's definitely cause he's a spooky skeleton man
I mean, you're not wrong
Sixty nine
A good old tale
*spooky scary skeletons*
Agreed
Something else I find really interesting is the lich’s connection with nuclear materials like bombs and pools of radiation , multiple times we see his powers cause massive explosions that look like mushroom clouds, we see that the lich was only created in the farmworld universe when jake was exposed to nuclear sludge, and even in his debut episode his well of power that rejuvenates his powers is a big hole of nuclear liquid.
He’s not just the inevitability of death in the present, he was the inevitability of death by humanity’s own hand before the mushroom war
Although there is the point he is sort of embodied in that comet that killed Evergreen, I think it's fair to say he, in his proper form, can only exist by the hands of humanity. He takes purposeless, neutral death and gives it a drive and a humanoid manifestation
From what I've heard the lich wasn't created it simply always was. According to the lich it's one of the last true students of glob. Not only that but it only spawned in finns world because of a comet that contained the essence of the lich and when it crashed on finns world the lich was born kind of like how Finn was born with the need to be a hero because he is the reincarnation of another comet that carried the essence of being a hero.
@@alchemist0019 that is true, but I was referring to the fact that while the lich as a concept has always existed in ooo, the lich as we know him in the show wasn’t created until the fallout from the mushroom bombs mutated an unlucky person and gave the lich a physical form. This is also the case in the farmworld where the frozen mushroom bomb being detonated was what caused the lich to assume a new form through jake.
In both cases the lich became the threat he is today because of humanity.
Small side note: if the lich’s physical body came from nuclear fallout it probably also means all of his powers (the ones like the green fire he had before being killed for the first time) come straight from nuclear radiation, effectively making him a nuclear wizard which is a badass concept
He is Oppenheimer
@@informedconsumer5293 Oppenheimer if he approved of nuclear annihilation
"Finally dead, aren't you child?" The way he delivers that, even in death, the Lich still wins to a certain extent. Fin can't live forever, but the lich can just return over and over again.
However many hero's stand against him, he'll claim his prize in the end.
Sweet P is supposedly immortal, and is able to match the Lich easily (they're the same entity, after all)
@@victinhomatadordeporco1322 not exactly, Sweet Pea isn't the Lich, he is just the body that Lich used for a millenium, in the glimpse of the 1000 years future of adventure time he is still there and become a hero, in the last season he killed the Lich hand that fell in their world
@@italucenaz The thing is, the Lich Hand entered every dimension, and given that the Enchiridion probably exists in other worlds too, should even one lich succeed in their world they would likely continue their conquest to others. Even at the end of the series the Lich's victory is only delayed, not prevented.
@@16caldwellj95 I doubt there is an enchiridion with all the gems in other dimensions, the only ones that were similar were the main one and Farm world, because this reality was literally created after the wish, there is no infinite universes in Asventure Time, so I doubt a lot of them would be similar enough to have the same book witht he same enchantments
which episode did the rich say that?
The Litch's "FALL" speech is still one of my all time favorite monologues.
Indeed but I also love Gold Star, shows even as he’s inside that baby, that flesh prison, he’s still always thinking... waiting for be set free
How have got 500 likes without anyone correcting your spelling?
Because he put it as it really is
Fuck the speech dude, just hearing the word “Fall” in that commanding tone is enough for me. Christ, The Lich blows so many other villains out of the water.
theres also the one he holds jake and says "sleep"
_I will command a great and terrible army. We will sail into a billion worlds, we will sail until every light has been extinguished. You're strong, child; but I am beyond strength. I am the end._
- The lich
Rieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeieeeeeeeeeeueeeueueeeueeueueueeueeueueueeueuieeuieueeuieueueeuieueueeueueueueuueueeuueeueuueeueuueeuueueeueueueeueeeueueeueueueuueeueueuuduuueeeeeuieurieeiirrieieieiieeiiririrririririeiriruureueeuerrruueeruueiiuurruueruruerreyeurireiruureiruruururruurrururrueereuerurieieirurieieeiirieieeiieierueiieururirieirieirieieieirieeiurrieiirieirieieeiueieueurueurieueirueieueieieurureiieurieueurueurruururieueieirueururueurururururieieieieeiirirruriiieeirieieeeieueiiirurieieieireiri
Miiiiii
@@lordbean5641 Si
I'm the 666th like, you're welcome
Here's 999 almost to 1k
Gives me chills just reading it
I feel like the Lich didn't need to engage with the other characters seeing that there were other villains, like Ice King and Goliad, who interact with the main protagonists super freqently. In Ice King's case, almost too much. This contrast helped set him apart from the light-hearted pseudo-villains and emphasize his role as a really disturbing, evil, nihilistic character
i wouldnt call him nihilistic since he doesnt just not care about life, he actively wants to destroy it, as his pretty much only goal
@@DrSilk-mo8cw I mean he was a villain at the start regardless of whether that was his fault or not but yeah later on he got reformed and eventually was reverted back to his sane mind
Him, Golb, and the Vampire king are my favorite adversaries, the Lich and Vamp king for their personality and Golb because of what he represents. The Lich is like an ancient evil but Golb is literally a force of nature. It doesn’t want to kill anything, it just wants to tear everything apart.
Goliad is only in a single episode and then makes a few cameos in the background. What are you on about?
I mean could you not tell lmao you realize Ice kings just crazy right he's never actually been evil he's crazy I mean same with Marcy like you know her dad's evil and she was a vampire so everyone things she's just gonna be bad but it's actually her dad that's the evil one
Man the lich was my first brush with cosmic horror and inevitable erasure and I wouldn’t say it shaped me as a person but it definitely shaped my taste in media
@gabriel raspatelly he's more like an unholy combination of the two which is scary in its own right
@gabriel raspatelly Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft.
@gabriel raspatelly .... Why are you and I arguing I was trying to say he's a mix of cosmic horror and supernatural because yes he's undead but he's also a constant and an inevitable thing so why is this stupid argument still going? What do either of us have to gain from this besides nothing?
@gabriel raspatelly
No matter his genre, I feel he definitely has cosmic horror influences.
Like his backstory and being a scholar of Golb, a clear love letter to cosmic horror.
Thanos: “I am inevitable.”
The Lich: “That’s cute.”
Yes🔥
would the Lich just straight up kill Thanos?
@@CosmosGatito yes. thanos is strong but the lich is beyond strength.
jokes aside the lich is beyond thanos, their ideals cant co-exist and the lich just operates on a diffrent level. How can Thanos ensure peace and balance with the lich ruining all life, and I mean all life. Thanos would have to take on the Lich, and how? my boi says "fall" and its gg, night night.
@@CosmosGatito even if thanos had the chance to create a universe without the lich he would still appear just like he did for finn
@@TheEmeraldBeast135 thanos with the heart of the universe can erase even abstract and outerversal beings (meaning beings that's not even from the marvel universe)
Hes basically just a representation of "The End". No one can really beat him, you can try and you might win, but eventually he'll get you because everything has an end
Together again
A lot of people don't realise he's just golbs henchman. nothing scary about that lol
Perhaps, but doesn't that include the Lich itself? And is anything ever truly gone? Aren't all endings just another beginning?
@@Eco-pu2zs Yeah which is why Finn is a contrast to Lich
They are eternally arch-nemesis, what the Lich brings about, Finn is to quell or use that to convert to something else
With the destruction of a Kingdom(Lich), another shall rise(Finn)
@Vyacheslav no lich is just a henchman
As a child i was so scared of the lich i couldn't even look at it. Now, as an anxious teenager, I'm scared of the inevitable and can't stop thinking about it.
It's kinda funny.
What's there to be anxious about.
U need a psychologist
@@cameronash5492 the fact death is inevitable is scary, because we know nothing after said death
@@leviathan7058 it's all a matter of perspective. If you fear the unknown you fear death but if you are willing to embrace the fear and accept the unknown than you're no longer afraid.
You should go fishing
I loved the Lich as a villain. He wasn't a bad guy like Ice King or a villain like Marceline's dad. The Lich was straight up doom itself. He never really arrived in the picture, but he was always in the background. And when he was there, he was there suddenly. And the entire atmosphere of the episode (Finn and Jake could be fighting cotton candy spiders with BMO) just immediately becomes sinister.
You have to win every time.
The Lich needs only win once.
Kinda like the Dark One in the Wheel of Time books. The Dragon returns from death time and time again to fight the Dark One, but if the Dark One ever won, there wouldn't be another fight.
@@DISTurbedwaffle918 yes, but, in the end of the wheel of time things change. In adventure time the lich is presented as entropy, the eventual end of all things. The dark one is not so patient, nor is he the eventual winner. He is simply another part of the wheel.
U say that but he won then Jake changed his wish
Molag Bal?
The Lich arcs literally scarred me as a kid, that shit got dark a lot of times lol.
Fucking terrifying to me, even now, years later
and then he got converted into a weird little kid.....like you were.....
@@beanthebean3563 really tho, and that's why I love him as a character, he's so fucking badass
That shit was/is genuinely terrifying. Part of the reason why Adventure Time is such a good show
The lich is one of the very few villains from popular kids shows that can easily be dropped into adult perspective and content and still work,arguably more
“I find this interesting, simply because, normally, when you have a villain who’s sole purpose is to kill everything, they’re usually just some kind of mindless monster that goes around eating people or whatever.”
Yes, you’re exactly right. And a prime example of a villain who is “just some kind of mindless monster that goes around eating people or whatever” is Kid Buu from Dragon Ball Z.
No he has an ulterior motive
@@drewtoocool2681 and that, is to kill everything he comes to contact with
Kid Buu was such an unhinged menace that it worked out. If the enemy was a boring dark lord it would have sucked
The Lich is actually one of (if not) THE most evil character Cartoon network has ever put to screen. The fact that his body is a cadaver, his soul/spirit is omnipresent, and his mind is focused on nothing but death is terrifying. And his goal to end all life in the universe and multiverse isn’t even coincidental, it’s on purpose. And finn even after the Lich’s first appearance is still tormented by him. As the lich itself, as billy, as Bubblegum, as a skeleton, as Jake, and even as a hand, Finn can never escape him. Legit when the Lich’s hand gets stabbed he makes Death’s son kill his dad and take the role as the new death, he possessed him and destroyed the dead worlds and almost succeded in making reincarnation impossible showed that even in death, he’s still evil
The Lich is just how animators explain entropy to children
Entropy?
Wow, when you put it in that way it makes so much sense
Entropy is a useless thing because you have no control whatsoever over the end its a building block of the universe like light gravity or time it’s useless to try to work against or even think of
Entropy is so cool
@@Little_Sams_Top_Guy such is chaos
Heh, no wonder he's a scholar of golb
“You are strong, child. But I am beyond strength. I am the End, and I have come for you...”
What I like about that moment is that the Lich isn't really delaying anything as he makes the speech, or giving the hero an opportunity to come up with something. He's saying it as he's walking over to fucking murder Finn with his bare hands, and he--and by a consequence, every living being in the entire universe--is only alive because Finn fell in a puddle of life goo.
God damn this thing actually made it to one mil
Good stuff ramblers
Lich is so badass, like there's lots of adventure time spooky, powerful creatures but Lich even though he's your common spooky skeleton he just doesn't give a shit and is able to fuck them up anyways. I really like that no matter how much of "baddies" other spooky creatures are every single one of them will bend to his destruction.
can we talk about how sick and genius his design is though
It's not too genius considering he's based on the hundreds of other Lich/necromancer characters in media and games. Still a great design nonetheless.
I know it’s legit terrifying
HIS DESIGN STILL SCARES ME TO THIS DAY
Looks like the horned king
@@omni8568 Memento Mori
He's the self described "Last scholar of Golb", who is sort of just a primordial force of chaos incarnate from what we've seen of him that's literally beaten (or at least slowed down) by the characters singing their hearts out because their song was in harmony, the opposite of chaos.
So if we view the Lich as sort of an aspect of Golb rather than just chaos outright, I think maybe he represents entropy? It'd fit with the theme of the show that "everything changes," but put a darker twist on it by going on to say "And everything, inevitably, falls."
Maybe I'm just grasping at threads but like, there's probably some truth in there.
THe songs were just things golb liked cus he is a baby.
But that could also be the reason why fins power of liking someone hurt the lich like the power of harmony against golb
Golb is more entropy. The Lich represents extinction.
And when the Lich finally wins, it will all begin again. Everything changes, and when everything is nothing, then nothing must change into everything again.
Lichen is the embodiment of inevitable extinction
Glory to the rot father
Praise be to nurgle
"finally dead, aren't you child?" Even in his more pathetic hand state he's still horrifying and just awesome
I think the lich offers the show a lot more than just the depressing reality that all life will eventually end, to me he’s symbolic of the idea that we as living beings can’t give up and have to keep fighting. Our heroes fight with the lich will never end no matter how many times they win, but the lich only has to win once and it’s over, but despite the inevitable finn and jake continue to persevere, even after death. The lich to me doesn’t feel like a representation of the inevitable, but a representation of what happens when you accept defeat and give up.
scary how season finaly we see giant Sweet P in the future, the moment sweet P dies of old age or is killed we have massive Lich that no one can stop
He might not die of old age?
If the Lich is immortal then sweet p is prob immortal too
I think sweet p was just a normal baby before Lich enters his body and now he's a normal creature again.
@@evilhutdug4665 immortal can still die from unnatural causes
@@madman7544 nope
Lich never went inside sweet p he trap inside him as healing blood that got splashed on the Lich gave his decayed body flesh and gave life and basically almost reseted him in way of making Lich somewhat forget his previous life
Something else interesting is in his last episode, whispers, the Lich says he was the last scholar of Golb, the embodiment of chaos that is sorta this looking creepy space baby until the last episode
Theory:
Glob is to God as Golb is to Satan
@@myself9030 Glob isn't really an omnipresent entity of any kind. They are just a powerful demi-god of sort. GOLB is pretty much above god level - he's the entropy itself.
Golb is interesting because he seems to mean represent a kind of non-existence. You get eaten by Golb, you don't just die, you cease to be on some fundamental level. I always thought that was a pretty interesting if dark thing for the show to have in it.
@@olivercuenca4109 exactly, we never got to see magic man's wife anymore.
@@olivercuenca4109 not like dark themes aren't common in american cartoons. Case in point, Invader Zim, one of the most articulate spit in the face of god to date
I think my favorite thing about the Lich is something that was written in the notes of his character sheet by the writers: "THE LICH IS NOT FUNNY." And sure enough, he isn't, not deliberately anyway. He doesn't make jokes, or quips, or witty comebacks; he's always brutally blunt and direct. even when he's dramatically monologuing the Lich doesn't make light of the fact he's going to murder all life in existence. He does mock Finn at one point- "you are alone, child... there is only darkness for you and only death for your people"- but it's not to laugh at his expense, the Lich is simply stating the fact that Finn is going to die by his hand and there's nothing he can do about it.
Now Golb has shelved him forever
The Lich is so cool he tricked me into watching all of Adventure Time.
Actually what makes me watch all the friggin episode are because the story and everything everything
Cool I just bought the Suiter DVD and got into adventure time years ago it's like it was yesterday though 😔
you're telling me the existence of marceline wasnt enough???? maybe I'm gayer than I thought
@@oneringtorulethemagicarp7199 oof
@@luckasta6269 (ooo)f
"The litch has a simple and reliable goal, to kill everyone"
Ah yes, a truly relatable goal.
i agree
Yep, sometimes you just gotta go commit mass genocide
@@jamestomlin5525 it's not like you gotta, sometimes you just wanna
@@meat1533 true, true
Truly a man of the people
I like how he says you can't kill the lich which is entirely true from a mythology stand point. Lich's are essentially zombie wizards and are anchored to the world by an enchanted item, this is the lich's phylactery. You can kill a lich as many times as you want but it'll come back everytime unless you destroy it's phylactery and then kill the lich.
Wizard zombie = lich
phylactery = horcrux
lich = Voldemort confirmed
@@7ORD6ANTI read another book
Except there’s no phylactery here
Just the Lich
@@7ORD6ANTI hate to break it to you, but the idea of a lich has been around way longer than those shitty books
Most of liches are Necromancers but not this lich some of them aren't
I think the Lich represents inevitability of evil. Finn is the embodiment of the catalyst comet, he embodies ultimate good. The Lich compliments Finn in the cycle of adventuring. He might not just be the inevitability of evil, but the call to adventure.
He isn’t THE inevitable, he is merely the last scholar scholar of Golb.
the show makes him out to be more op than golb himself
@@0rangeeige199 I disagree. Prismo's magic was simply incapable of reverting anything Golb touches, while he was able to at least stall The Lich and even revert or manipulate his wish
Everybody gangsta until The Lich says “FALL”.
*B U R N*
*SLEEP*
It all it takes to defeat the champion of Ooo
It's true
*Bake me cookies, Finn*
“Simple and relatable goal, all he wants do do is kill everyone.”
Sure thing, what's your point?
Doing taxes, getting registered for something, and signing Pretty much anything Makes you want to kill not everyone, Everything.
Including yourself.
@@jaczylijaaleniepowiemkto3243 r e l a t a b l e
@@evantanuwidjaja8017 yes, what's wrong with that?
@@evantanuwidjaja8017 if you go to twitter and reddit you'd probably understand what hes talking about
He done it know,in Fionna and Cake,and he is seriously depressed
The Lich is the truest embodiment of Neutral Evil. He does not hate nor love anything or anyone. He does not express his opinions. He does not interact in any way that doesn't further his goal, and he has just _one_ goal: that is to kill all life anywhere and everywhere, no matter how, no matter when, no matter what. And that makes him a terrifying and compelling villain.
Its funny to think that a man created an unapologetically ruthless force of the cosmos called the Litch, aslo created BMO. Lol
It had to slip my mind, where was it said that the bombs were made by BMO's papa?
No. I dont think humans created that. I think the lich came to earth in that comet that the older ice king was trying to prevent from hitting earth by creating the crown
@@goofygoober2382 im actually talking about the creators of the show. Not the actual lore
@@thescoundrel2 Bro you absolutely missed
Well, BMO is like the Lich's antithesis; probably why they were the key to defeating Golb.
Putting aside how much the Lich is an epic character, I have always respected his great power. Being completely immortal, existing from eons, killing divine beings and was many times defeated by Finn and Jake, the Lich always came back! Now he has a copy of his own hand in the multiverse and no one knows what they are doing right now.
His enormous power allowed him to continue to exist in Sweet P even 1000 years after the series. When Sweet P once dies, by wounds in battle or age, Lich will come back once more.
He should definitely do an update with “distant lands together again” no spoilers but he should watch it if he hasn’t already
four years later and the lich has actually changed
@Powernogrief wdym "kind of" a version of him literally decided to stop killing things thats a complete change
Lich is like a metaphorical expression of the destructive human nature, in all dimensions he exists he is always born by the will of someone to kill destroy or dominate, and just like in the real world, people like that will never stop existing, you can contain them, but you cant escape and stop them forever
Yes this need s more likes
*My 10 nuclear bombs say otherwise*
Worse than that.
It's litteraly the end of eveything, because everything Will die, from the smallest bacteria to the most massive black Hole, everything that is or ever was Will slowly but surely cease to exist.
Exactly, he's just as persistent too. The Lich differs only in that he is patient, which is the scariest part of his design for me
Nah, humans destroy because they want power.
I also like how he usually winds up "activating" whenever the slightest possibility of enabling himself to bring about the end of all life presents itself, if Bubblegum never brought Finn and Jake to the Lich's prison, he never would have possessed that snail and never have gotten out. I like to think that he also represents what humanity winds up doing when trying to avoid death in it's entirety, if we never paid any mind to the possibility of us dying or at least didn't try to act against the inevitability of it, we would live far longer and maybe even happier lives than if we had devoted ourselves to acting against it and feeding our fear of death, which would of course lead us to live paranoid lives, never allowing ourselves anything, but the risk of bringing ourselves closer to the fruition of the end.
"one often encounters their destiny on the path he takes to avoid it"
Yep but the show took this to another level
Yeah, that always bothered me about how the lich was introduced. It's so contrived how he only escaped when Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum showed up.
it was eventually going to happen, it was.... inevitable
And now he is a tetris block
the worst thing, it's that the lich win in the end.
One thing about the Lich is that even tho he acts machine like when it comes to his ideas, there have been rare moments where he surprises us with realistic reactions. Like when he believed he successfully brainwashed Sweet Pea and was gonna use his help to kill Finn and the rest of all life, he was genuinely shocked when Sweet Pea said he wasn't evil like the Lich
or also when he realized that his order was changed with the prism, he didn't know what to do
Or that brief bit of pettiness when he said"heres your gold star" to the king of oo
The Lich scared the absolute shit out of me as a kid, especially that jumpscare of his face from the nightmare Finn had
Man the lich scares me NOW
i love how snappy this video is! all the info u need in under 10 minutes, no padding, just feels super-satisfying to watch
theory: After the Lich ends all life, BMO will be the only survivor because he/she's a robot.
There are plenty of other robots in the show.
Don't forget Air.
@@callofhaloinfinite6336 YO DUDE YOU REMEMBER!!!
@@callofhaloinfinite6336 he got married wit bmo rite
@@ariffahmi3051 It's been a while but I believe so.
"The Lich is very evil"
*turns into a big child*
"Look how they massacred my boy."
And then they did nothing with it. I thought that sweet p was going to turn evil.
@@amarabertelson9106 They literally did do something with it, he kills the farm world lich and becomes a big giant with a sword in the future
@@alfalldoot6715 and when Sweet P dies the og Lich will resurface as a giant skeleton... Scary to think about tbh
I like how Sweet Pea was portrayed as a timebomb but it's shown in Distant Lands that he became the protector of Ooo. A giant with a hero's sword that stops any threat to life is a fitting end to a reverse lich.
5:35 Is that... a Texas shaped device?
“Before there was time, before there was anything, there was nothing. And before there was nothing, there were MONSTERS.”
The Lich reveals his own backstory here. He is the void before time, the embodiment of nothingness itself, which existed primarily to end the chaos of the time of monsters. The universe could not have existed without the lich to end the previous universe, yet he sees the beginning of time as a new era of monsters, and wishes to being the universe back to the state of peace that only pure nothingness can provide.
It is stated that the Lich was created in the Mushroom War after a weapon of mass destruction with green gas was detonated, it's also stated that his "soul" of some sorts came to Earth in a comet 65 million years ago, but I kinda agree with you that the idea of the Lich existed before everything
I prefer to think the Lich represents Entropy - the literal inevitable decay of all things..... though science wise entropy is just the growing of chaos in existence.
He represents extinction, golb represents chaos
Before there was time, before there was anything... There was nothing. And before there was nothing
*There were monsters.*
If I'm reading into the lines correctly the lich represents the eventual end of everything Entropy since he is always there slowly ticking away at the clock as time goes on he can be slowed down but never stopped because eventually everything ends no life no death nothing
And he's alive as multiple hands in other dimensions that may already have they're own version of lich..
they're is a conjunction of They and are. "Their" is a possessive pronoun.
Not they're own version of the lich King more like different pieces of the lich King he is a concept beyond variations beyond reality he is everywhere and nowhere
@@mr.mischiefiknowyourpasswo8224 words are just symbols and noise. Your reading this and I never spoke a sound. Mind powers si? You got what I meant anyway but thanks.
@@calebhayden4124 You're* FFS please try to use at least a semblance bit of grammar in your sentences. This physically hurts me.
@@mr.mischiefiknowyourpasswo8224 you're a person wasting his time in youtube comments correcting grammar, it's safe to say you're a failure.
The Lich has always been chillingly haunting to me, I wish more was done with him in the show but honestly leaving his potential to the imagination is even scarier. Who knows, maybe we'll see him in one of the next distant lands specials.
He is what i wish people would do with villains. For the Lich, hes scary because of his power, his patiences, and his constantly preserving and unbending will. When he plays or toys with someone you know it because you know his power. He doesnt need to state it he simply does it. Its what makes his Fall monologue so good. You really begin to understand the thing that makes the Lich such an insurmountable force, yet still beatable. He has power, he has drive, and he is smart and a schemer, and in the arrogance of his power and his will he is okay with allowing himself to be beaten. Its like he takes pleasure in being defeated so when he wins its truly absolute. He couldve not become sweet p, he couldve not let fin defeat him after escaping the candy kingdom, but he did so all the same.
Basically, the Lich is the end, the decay of all things. What awaits all things in time. Though it can be delayed, such a power is not stoppable. Only ever changing. The lich goes from his original form, to a snail, to a jake hybrid, to a hand, sweet p, etc. yet he still is ever unbending in his goal. His will being constantly pushed, his goals constantly being strived for, the death of all things ever encroaching and imminent, only with the vain desperateness of things which merely prolong its inevitable arrival.
@@beckgrit3688 due to all that the lich is widely regarded as one of the evilest villains ever in a cartoon series
"You may have swag child, but i am beyond drip"
this was such an awesome video, amazing breakdown of the lich but with such a chill tone, subscribed immediately
Lich’s line of “Before nothing, there was monsters” will never not be terrifying to me
Entropy.
He's like a personification of the eventual gradual, but inescapable decay of all things; an existential dread, which for the purposes of the show, has the capacity to explain itself... making it all the more terrifying. 😨
Very much a representation, in my view, of Friedrich Neitzche's abyss... gaze into it too long, and it gazes back into you- meaning that you begin to see the nothingness itself as an entity, and become aware of its intentions... to bring life, stars, the universe, and everything that exists to its inevitable end... which is why trying to reason with him is like trying to debate with gravity. 💀
In a show filled with songs, and wizards, and adventuring, he's a superb antagonist, because he represents the antithesis to that beautiful 'joie de vivre' the show has... the terrible, creeping awareness that all the world, and everything, will one day end- and how he is overcome is the same way it can be overcome in our lives- through the celebration, and exaltation, in all its forms, of the concept of life. 🌱🙂🌷🌳
What’s his backstory? Wasn’t he literally created from the nuke?
patient and persistent and persistenly patient
@@gaminggoof1542 I think that was just one of many means/potentialities. It would have happened somehow or another and maybe has a little less to do with backstory and more with the idea OF him
Xam Oaks its common belief that nuclear war usually leads to the end of humanity, so maybe because so much was lost during the war that it started the end of ALL things?
The Lich first came in as one of the Catalyst comets, a meteor that brings about change every few years. The Lich is undoubtedly the catalyst of evil and death, which is how the dinosaurs in Adventure Time went extinct. It’s also the reason why Ice Kings crown was made, to literally try to push The Lich’s first form back into the stars.
The Mushroom War just gave The Lich the means to return into a new form through the means of those radioactive nuclear bombs that presumably cause the end of humanity.
in the fionna and cake episode, jerry the lich got what he wanted and killed everyone. He was sad and lacked fulfillment because there was no one. He complains to golb later in the episode and dies by her hands
who’s here after golb killed the lich
@Powernogrief true I even noticed him trying to put himself back together and I won’t forget that one scene where glob was powering up never thought a kids character could be more scarier than dc characters. he got what he deserved in the end it’s not about death it’s only about chaos and that’s what glob is the embodiment of chaos and glob really wanted to show lich that
Did anyone else remembered that the Lich is already in every dimension? Except for the one where Finn is the Ice King.
Another thing, I don't think that the Lich is just the Lich from the beginning. He's true form must be the one we know as Sweet P. There are two things that I think will support my theory: first the Guardians Blood and then LSP resetting Ooo. The Guardians' blood can heal right? It healed the Lich when it got contact with it. Then the time LSP reset Ooo to its real state (its Primal/Original state), Sweet P (The Lich) got reset too but he didn't turned back into being the Lich he just regrew his horn. The Lich is probably corrupted by something else. The Lich was something/someone else before he became the Lich that we know.
Probably got tainted by dark arts as a mortal.
I haven’t watched the show in a while so I might have forgotten something but I have a theory that all versions of the lich used to be someone and that it’s inevitable that in some way in every dimension a lich will be born. Because the lich isn’t a being it’s a concept this permanent force of chaos. I think it’d be really poetic if it was that the lich was truly unstoppable you might be able to stop or contain one lich but there will always be the concept of the lich.
3:04 yea, he kinda is when you think about it! Gives the flower back, let’s them go, gives Simon some advice, pretty chill dude
The way I see it, The Lich isn't supposed to be a representation of death, because death is only an end, the closing of one persons chapter and the beginning of another
The Lich to me represents entropy, The End, the closing of the final chapter altogether, when every story is told and done
I've watched this video multiple times for your delivery of the lich is the inevitable.
"Appropriate Thanos quote"
- Me, 2020
"You're not the only one cursed with knowledge"
"I am inevitable"
"Perfectly balanced. As all things should be"
"he also made bmo"
im sold.
He lost in the very end
I loved the Lich. Personally, I think they never did enough with him.
It makes me laugh how PB' looks back an whispers "I would if I could".
She doesn't age and I really believe she can live inderterminantly
@@italucenaz She does age, she just doesn't age so fast, and also she can die or become otherwise incapable of living.
3:51 i always really liked the detail of orgalorg beeing there.
To think that gunther is by far one of the oldest characters in the series... man.
and yet he's one of the smaller monsters there... chilling
The Lich is a perfect example of a one dimension character done right.
Honestly, thats what made the kich scary for me, it was a force of nature. Something inevitable, like death. But they decided to nerd the lich at the end and humanize him x.x inatead making Golb the inevitable. But it just doesnt hit the same way as we grew up with the lich.
ruclips.net/video/6-JqQg3JfeE/видео.htmlsi=y6y09vipBQ5gUFow
wait.... did you just... say "relatable"
The Summary:
The Lich is competent
The lich is the manifestation of the end. But in the most literal way possible. He is the embodiment of entropy itself given a form. For every action, some energy becomes unusable, every micromoment of every conceivable time scale, some amount of energy simply becomes unusable. This is what will inevitably lead to the heatdeatg of the universe.
The lich is interessting because he doesnt just act like a force of nature, he is a force of nature.
No wonder he feels so, alien. So inhuman. Its because he is. His physical form is just a way so that he can directly interact with the natural world.
He is the end, stagnation given form, entropy incarnate.
That is what makes him so fucking cool
I would say that lich is a "call from abyss" ,he is an incarnation of that voice in your head. When you look down from high spot and you wonder "what if i jump".
He is a force that calls for destruction and end of all things. Thats why he will allways be not as a character but as that force.
Dude I love the lich's voice so much and his laugh ITS SO COOL and evil and menacing but he is freaking terrifying
The most chilling thing the Lich has ever said was... "I wish for the extinction of all life..." his intentions are clear and if making a wish to do that will fulfill his goal at the cost of even his own life, then he is the most scary villain of all time.
Truly terrifying. The Lich is one of of the scariest villains I've ever seen, and it's definitely shaped my opinion on movie villains, if only a little.
“And before there was nothing… there were MONSTERS.”
actually, it’s more like he wants everyone dead (instead of him wanting to kill everyone, it’s not a self thing). So he tries to be the driving force to enforce that. in the new show, when Simon and his friends go to the universe where everyone’s dead except the lich, he doesn’t kill them bc he doesn’t need to. bc Simon and his friends will die without his intervention (if they stay in the universe)
He’s literally just entropy
“So basically if you don’t stop him he’s gonna destroy the universe in like an hour” LMAOOO😂
Also can we appreciate the amazing voice acting from Hell Boy himself? They fit each other perfectly, its honestly terrifying
Aww thank you so much, I really appresiate it!
I remember when the Lich first appeared. Scared me as a kid and it changed the show so much