An origin story for many things in Ooo is told when an Ice Elemental wizard named Urgence Evergreen and his dinosaur servant/apprentice Gunter work to prevent the impact of a deadly supernatural comet by finishing a crown that can grant the truest wish of its first wearer.
Tropes:
- All Up to You: With Evergreen incapacitated by the lava monster, Gunter is the only one able to use the crown. It doesn't end well...
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- The Crown will grant the user's truest desire, one they may not be willing to admit if aware of it, and be locked to that specific purpose. It is Wish Magic of that magnitude that keeps the other elementals from wanting to get involved.
- Gunter puts on the crown and wishes to be like Evergreen. The crown grants his wish, but also drives him insane as it turns him into a clone of Evergreen who randomly fires ice magic out his hands and shouts only two words, "Gunter, no!" This was due to the crown reacting to how he viewed Evergreen as: an abusive man who ordered him around.
- Body Horror: Not only does the crown drive Gunter insane, it also transforms him to look like Evergreen.
- Comet of Doom: The Lich Comet. Evergreen warns the other Elementals that unlike the previous comets, this one will actually kill them.
- The Chain of Harm: Evergreen treats Gunther like a slave, and Gunther takes out his frustrations on Nina in turn.
- Downer Ending: The Lich Comet isn't stopped and slams into the Earth, killing everyone. Even worse, another comet is coming to present day Ooo.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: The whole story is a recurring dream of Ice King.
- Eldritch Abomination: The meteor, which is heavily implied to be the original form of the Lich.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: During the lava monster battle, the drummer gets his face melted by lava.
- Foreshadowing: The Comet is initially dismissed by Evergreen's colleagues as a part of the natural cycle of destruction and resurgence that happens periodically. Evergreen rebuts that this comet carries genocidal malice with it. The episode closes on a shot of another comet on its way to Ooo.
- Gone Horribly Right: Evergreen's crown was designed to grant its wearer's deepest wish, which for Gunter was to be a magician like Evergreen. And it did so! Unfortunately, from Gunter's viewpoint "a magician like Evergreen" meant "a tall blue-and-white figure with a long nose and a white beard constantly firing ice magic and shouting 'Gunter, no!'"
- Good is Not Nice: What Evergreen wants to do is, overall, good: protecting the world from destruction. And nothing says that he wouldn't defrost the other elementals once everything was solved. But he is a jerk, and more than a bit of an egomaniac.
- Heel Realization: When Gunter turns into a clone of Evergreen and is driven to madness by the crown, Evergreen tries telling him to use focusing chants to regain his sanity "like I taught you", only to realize he never got around to teaching him anything. He goes silent as the realization that his mistakes have come back to bite him in the butt dawns on him.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Evergreen's plan to stop the comet fails because of his arrogance and negligence in teaching Gunter magic.
- Internal Homage: The title card of this episode mimics the final shot of the opening theme song.
- It's All About Me: Between Evergreen only caring about the comet because it will kill "not just everyone but us, but us", his refusal to teach Gunter anything, and his legitimate confusion over why the lava monster he robbed and nearly killed chose to attack him, it is clear Evergreen only really thinks about Evergreen.
- Jerkass: Evergreen, who is a lousy teacher for Gunter and freezes his colleagues for refusing to get involved in Wish Magic. This behavior is what led to the demise of pre-human civilization (and the dinosaurs).
- Jerkass Has a Point: Evergreen is quite right that the Comet needs to be stopped. It's the only thing he's right about though.
- Legacy Character: Gunter, the assistant to Evergreen. Because he made the crown grant his wish of turning its wearer into a copy of Evergreen, that includes having an assistant named Gunter to yell at. This is why Ice King calls his penguins Gunter.
- Madness Mantra: After Gunter turns into a clone of Evergreen and is driven insane by the crown, all he can say is "Gunter, no!".
- Mood Whiplash: The end of the episode goes from Gunter the dinosaur's Sanity Slippage to modern-day Ooo, where Ice King is jumping up and down on the bed and shouting in his sleep. Then he falls off the bed and makes explosion noises representing the comet hitting the Earth and causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. Then he wakes up and rambles about the weird dream he just had, and we see his penguin minions cowering in the corner, deeply concerned for their master.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Evergreen has this reaction when he tries to tell Gunter to use a counter spell on the crown's magic only to realize he never got around to teaching him anything.
- Never My Fault: Evergreen, when Magwood attacks him in his home for stealing his gems.Evergreen: Hey! Come on, now! What did I ever do to you?
- Not Quite Dead: Magwood the lava monster was thought to have been killed by Evergreen, but comes back during the climax and incapacitates him.
- Parental Substitute: Gunter sees Evergreen as his poppa, but the feeling's one-sided.Gunter: Are you my father?
Evergreen: No, but I stole your egg and mutated your brain. - Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs: The Lich meteor goes unstopped as Gunter becomes consumed by his desire to be like Evergreen.
- Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot: Gunter has always wanted to learn magic, but Evergreen hasn't gotten around to teaching him. When saving the world is put on his shoulders, it doesn't go well...
- Surrounded by Idiots: How Evergreen sees himself. To be fair the other Elemental Guardians really don't seem to think the Comet's a big deal, even though it's Obviously Evil.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Evergreen's attempt to stop the Comet does nothing except cause the existence of the Ice King's Crown.
- Uplifted Animal: Gunter is a therapod dinosaur that was granted sentience by Evergreen to be his apprentice.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Evergreen wanted to stop the Comet, it's just he was also a complete jerk.
- Wham Shot:
- Gunther's eyes opening to reveal that they have become like Evergreen's.
- A second comet is coming and is heading towards Ooo.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Besides the last minute or so, which revealed the framing device, the episode is entirely in flashback. It goes much further back than any previous flashback—not only before The Magic Comes Back or the Mushroom War, but all the way to before the magic disappeared in the first place.
