Sandbox / Adventure Time: Marceline

Adventure Time Main Character Index
Main Characters (Finn | Princess Bubblegum | Marceline) | Secondary Characters | Antagonists and Enemies | Minor Characters | Multiverse Characters

Marceline Abadeer/Marceline the Vampire Queen

"Dang, man, I didn't think you'd ever catch on!"

^{Click here to see her as a 7-year-old} 

^{Click here to see her as Marshmaline the Campfire Queen} 

Voiced by: Olivia Olson, Ava Acres (Young Marceline, show-only), Audrey Bennett (Young Marceline, "Obsidian")

The queen of the vampires (by default as she killed all the other vampires, including the king). Known to be extremely unempathetic but never cruel, simply doing whatever she pleases even at the expense of others. Was alive at the time of the apocalyptic 'mushroom war'.

Usually decked out in punk-rock apparel. She generally tries to be cool and rather unfeeling, she harbors a very broken spirit due to loneliness in living forever, among other things. Whenever her more sensitive or emotional side is shown, she gets angry. She and fellow immortal Ice King also share a long and painful history together, and she spends much of her time finding and moving into new houses to avoid him.

---

A-L

• Action Girl: She can definitely handle herself in wild situations. Although her lazy side makes it so she doesn't get to show it off much.
• Affably Evil: When she was an antagonist (which lasted for about one episode, not counting her trickery in "Henchman"); since then she's settled into a more neutral type of personality with a general Lack of Empathy, being more Affably Amoral than anything.
• Affectionate Nickname: Finn and Jake sometimes call her "Marcie". Ash calls her "Mar-mar".
• All-Powerful Bystander: As one of the most powerful creatures in Ooo, she could easily defeat almost any other character in the show, especially if she started eating souls and stealing powers, but she prefers to either stand back and watch, or simply ignore everything. Justified, As after spending centuries traversing the Land of Ooo, Marceline had become rather cynical and does not believe much will change in the end even if she did help.
• Always a Bigger Fish: To the vampires. In a more literal twist on this trope, this isn't due to Marceline being significantly more powerful than the vampires, but because she devours them just as they devour humans, and more effectively for that matter since Marceline devours their entire physical forms and even get their powers.
• Amazon Chaser: Shows very obvious signs of attraction to Susan Strong in the Islands mini-series.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: She used to hunt vampires, even dedicating herself to wiping them all out, but was turned while taking down the Vampire King and his minions.
• Anti Anti Christ: It's suggested because her father is evil incarnate and a Satanic Archetype.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Does this all the time, but thus far never in her Cute Monster Girl look; she prefers scaling herself up into monstrous forms for combat purposes. See One-Winged Angel below.
• Author Avatar: For Rebecca Sugar. She's a bisexual musician with a sensitive and soulful heart.
• Bat Out of Hell: Frequently turns into a odd-looking bat when she wants to hide, and she has a giant version that she assumed in her first appearance. She also begins transforming into this state when extremely hungry.
• Betty and Veronica: She the chaotic, black-haired Veronica to Finn's sweethearted and blonde Betty for Princess Bubblegum's Archie.
• Breakout Character: Marceline started as a somewhat more prominent than normal secondary character. Although she doesn't appear in many more episodes that she originally did, she has more or less became a main character. She got her own 8-part miniseries exploring her past in the seventh season.
• Broken Bird: She's had a very harsh life, been betrayed by a lot of people, and scares people away out of fear of it happening again.
• Brought Down to Badass: When her vampire essence was removed, she reverted back into half-demon with soul stealing abilities.
• Cannibalism Superpower: She got her wide variety of powers by eating the souls of other vampires who previously possessed them.
• Chaotic Neutral: In-universe-assigned alignment in the comic series.
• Characterization Marches On: Goes from being antagonistic to a Heroic Neutral.
• Combat Sadomasochist: A minor case.
  "Yeah, it hurts, but I kinda like it. It reminds me of when I'd scrape my knees up as a kid, and my mom would patch me up. You know what I'm sayin'?"
• Combo Platter Powers: Has a large and varied set of abilities and an ability to easily get more.
• Companion Cube: Her childhood teddy bear, Hambo, mainly because it was given to her by her father figure and best friend Simon Petrikov. It was sold to Maja the Sky Witch by her abusive boyfriend Ash, causing them to break up. She reclaims it in the episode Sky Witch, only to lose it again in an effort to help Simon say goodbye to his lost love in Betty.
• Connected All Along:
  • She was close to the Ice King as a little girl when he was still in mid-transformation as Simon Petrikov; he acted as a father figure to her while journeying in the post-apocalyptic wastes, and he's the one who gave her Hambo.
  • While not outright said in the series, it's heavily implied in various episodes and confirmed via Word of God that she and Princess Bubblegum used to date in the past, and they renew their relationship in the series finale.
  • She used to live in the Tree House where Finn and Jake now live. A flashback in the "Stakes" ministries shows that she befriended and protected a group of human survivors who would go on to colonize The Islands, the archipelago where Finn was originally born.
• Consistent Clothing Style: She favors a dark, muted color palette (greys, blacks, dark blues and purples, red accents), denim, and either boots or sneakers.
• Cool Big Sis: She occasionally acts like this toward Finn.
• Cool Old Lady: In the farmverse, though she is pretty batty.
• Creepy Child: As a child, and spoken to her teddy bear as she was fixing it: "I'm hurting you because I love you." What really drives it home is that she's completely unfazed at the Scenery Gorn that the Mushroom War has brought.
• Creepy Good: She may be an ally, but Finn and Jake are still terrified of her.
• Cute Little Fangs: Though it's fairly clear that her entire mouth is full of sharp teeth.
• Cute Monster Girl: She's even referred to as "that sexy vampire lady" in her debut episode.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Sure, she's a Vampire Queen responsible for kicking Finn and Jake out of their house (although she does return it), but for the most part she just wants to jam on her axe and record albums with friends.
• Daywalking Vampire: Direct sunlight can still burn or even kill Marceline, but things as minor as a shaded hat or sunscreen can protect her. Her Healing Factor can also quickly reverse minor damage from the sun, which isn't surprising considering the vamp she got the power from could totally ignore sunlight.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: As the series progresses, Marceline becomes more open towards her friends.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Refer to her page image. And yes, she can get really creepy when she wants.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Almost everybody Marceline has ever loved has either betrayed her and/or abandoned her. Following her mother's death, she was raised by the Ice King, who became a father figure to her during the early days of the apocalypse, but he doesn't remember his past with her due to his insanity. After that, communication with her birth father is infrequent and often results in him hurting her feelings. Later, a boyfriend steals and sells her stuffed bear, the only memento she had of her days with Simon. Finally, she had a major fallout with Princess Bubblegum, who used to date in the past. As a result, she has a tendency to bottle up her emotions and drive others away before they can get close to her.
• Extremely Protective Child: Marceline is quite protective of her Parental Substitute Simon Petrikov/Ice King, and he's one of the few characters that can bring out her softer side. In the "Stakes" miniseries, a rival vampire angers Marcy by insulting Simon, and she angrily exclaims "That's the last time you toy with his heart!" before staking the vamp through the heart.
• Fanservice Pack: The outfits she wore in later episode tended to be a little more revealing.
• Felony Misdemeanor: By itself, her dad eating her fries would seem this, but with a little closer look it serves as another indication that her father never took her thoughts or feelings into consideration, and that taking something that belonged to her, which at this point happened to be something completely trivial, was the final straw.
  (singing) "Daddy, do you even love me? Well I wish you would show it, because I wouldn't know it. What kind of dad eats his daughter's fries, and won't look her in the eyes? There were tears there. If you saw them would you even care?"
  • Then we find out he ate those fries in the aftermath of the apocalypse where Marceline was scrounging around for anything edible. He's a deathless immortal, she was a starving teenager.
• Flight: Her most used power. It's fairly rare to see her actually touch the ground.
• Friendless Background: In "Memory of a Memory" we see a flashback of her as a child, describing her stuffed animal Hambo as her only friend; in "Marceline's Closet" she writes a song to the same effect. We later discover that she did have an Intergenerational Friendship growing up with Simon, who gave her Hambo, but that didn't end well.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Depends how she sees you. She can be your best friend or worst enemy.
• Fur and Loathing: The dress she wears in "Henchman" is made from a Whywolf. "Marceline's Closet" shows that she also has a large fur-lined coat, with the head and claws built into it.
• Giant Flyer: Again, see One-Winged Angel.
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: If she doesn't want to kill you with her powers of vampirism, she could use her demonic axe bass.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Played With. She's the Vampire Queen, and she can be unpleasant, but is nice mostly.

• Goth Girls Know Magic: She's a Perky Goth with a punk rock style, and has supernatural powers as a vampire and demon.
• Half-Human Hybrid: She's a cambion (half human, half demon) who later became vampirized, giving her a unique set of abilities.
• Heel–Face Turn: In her original appearance, she comes in the middle of the night and kicks Finn and Jake out of their own house, leaving them out in the open trying to find a place to live. When they finally do find a place, it just so happened to have been Marceline's... and so she almost kills Finn and Jake, but in the end, gives them their house back because she forgot how much she liked the cave. Second appearance, and Finn and Jake still consider her an enemy. Finn unwillingly becomes her accomplice to her many dark deeds that all turn out Double Subverted. The last scene shows that Finn and Marceline have gained some trust for each other. Third appearance, Finn is hanging out at her house playing music with her and they spend the entire episode together, trying to get her soul-sucking father back into the Nightosphere.
• Heroic Neutral: She's far and away the most powerful ally that Finn and Jake have, but is very difficult to motivate into helping solve a problem due to her general apathy. And in some situations, she's either outclassed by the threat (facing her father) or some supernatural rule prevents her from doing much.
• Human-Demon Hybrid: She is the child of a demon lord and a human woman, who subsequently got turned into a vampire.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Strongly implied. In 'What Was Missing', the Door Lord didn't actually steal anything from her, she just wanted to hang out with her friends and gets intensely embarrassed when this is pointed out. In 'Memory of A Memory', it's shown that she was a borderline Extreme Doormat when it came to her abusive boyfriend Ash until he sold her only fond childhood treasure for an entirely pointless reason.
  • If you don't take it as a expression of Les Yay, Marceline's song to Bubblegum can be considered an expression of this; she doesn't even remember why Bubblegum is angry at her and feels she shouldn't have to apologize, but implies she still wants to.
  • She outright admits that she hides tears because she has no friends in "Marceline's Closet". And in "I Remember You", she desperately cries while unsuccessfully trying to make Ice King remember his life as Simon and their old friendship.
• I'm a Monster: The episode "Go With Me" indicated Marceline occasionally feels this way about herself, likely due to her semi-demonic heritage.
  Marceline: Oh, Yeah? No one would want to go to the movies with... (turns into giant tentacle monster) this!
  • This gets further explored in the special "Obsidian", thanks to a series of flashbacks that explains how Marceline came to view herself as a monster. After using her demonic soul-sucking powers to save her mother from a mutated wolf, she believed that she scared her mother away after she told her to leave (in reality, Marceline's mother tricked her to do so, so she wouldn't see her dying). During a conversation with her imaginary friends, she convinced herself that, the reason why everyone was afraid of her, was because she wanted them to.
• Immortal Immaturity: She's been around for at least a thousand years, but she's really not too much more mature than Finn himself is. At times, he's even more mature than her. She acknowledges this in Stakes, and thinks she can only move on with her life if she starts aging.
• Immortality Begins at Twenty: Zig-zagged. If she were never bitten, her demon ancestry would have just made her Long-Lived, with her aging being slowed after hitting adolescence. She only fully stopped aging when she became a vampire, with the fact that she was physically in her late teens/early twenties at the time just being a coincidence.
• Immortality Bisexuality: The series finale reveals that not only did Marceline and Bubblegum have previous romantic history, but also has them rekindling the relationship.
• Important Haircut: Signifying her depression and wanting to grow up, Stakes cuts her hair short.
• Instrument of Murder: She turned the family axe into a bass guitar.
• Invisibility: Uses it to sneak in on Ice King's "Fionna and Cake" reading session, and for cheap laughs in "Heat Signature". (It's apparently a vampire power... but she's in the midst of messing with Finn and Jake when she says so.) Given her personality, it's not surprising that she doesn't use it often.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Had one with Simon Petrikov during the aftermath of the Mushroom War. Has one with Finn and Jake.
• It Amused Me: This is her reason for everything she does, Jerkassy or not.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Seemed to be a straight-up Jerkass in her introduction episode (in the "Evicted" song, she sang that she was "1000 years old and just lost track of her moral code"). "Henchman" would then reveal that she's actually a pretty cool chick who simply enjoys screwing with people but never actually aims to hurt them, and by the end of the episode she and Finn strike up a friendship.
  • By "Heat Signature" even Jake has warmed up to her, with that same episode also providing a good example of this; she pranks Finn and Jake into believing that they're vampires and fools them into doing various embarrassing things, but draws the line at her old ghost gang brutally kicking them for no reason and goes berserk when Finn and Jake are tricked into nearly jumping to their deaths.
• "Just Joking" Justification: During her more dickheaded early days in show, she leads Finn on a massive mind scarring prank day as her minion. Though he takes it in good stride when he finds out.
• The Lad-ette: Clearly demonstrated (in a kid-friendly way) through her willingness to fight everyone and everything, in the same way that Finn does. Not to mention several episodes clearly demonstrate her lack of appreciation for hygiene, whether it be her picking her nose, not washing her hands, or remarking that her armpits stink.
• Last of Her Kind:
  • Although the non-canon comics show other vampires, the show eventually establishes her as the last vampire on Earth. It's revealed that she killed all of the others in order to protect what remained of humanity, and the last one made her into a vampire in the instant he was dying.
  • For much of the series, Marceline could also be considered the last living member of Pre-Mushroom War Humanity, or at least the only one who actually remembers what humanity was like. Though, this is Averted after Simon regains his memories and other Pre-Mushroom War humans are brought to Ooo like Betty Grof and Patience St. Pim.
• Lead Bassist: Marceline's bass often accompanies her when she sings, making her a Type B.
• Lesbian Vampire: While not a lesbian per se (she's actually bisexual), she ends up in a relationship with PB in the series finale.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Finn. 'Go With Me' confirms that neither of them have feelings for each other that way.
• Living Forever Is Awesome: Of the two immortal characters, she's the one that has the most fun. Subverted in "Stakes", when she believes her lack of aging is keeping her from solving her personal problems, and tries to get it taken away.
• Long-Lived: Originally; the Farmworld version reveals that as a half-demon, her lifespan is well over 1000 years naturally, but without the added bonus of vampirism, her body and magic will vastly deteriorate into old age.
• Looks Like Orlok: When she gets too hungry, as seen in Red Starved. She also makes her nose look more bat-like when she wants to pick it.

M-Z

• Master of None: In regards to the various vampire abilities she has acquired. While Marceline has used all of the powers she's acquired to some degree, she doesn't seem to be capable of some of the more extreme feats that the other vampires displayed, most notably The Moon's Nigh-Invulnerability and sunlight-nullifying Healing Factor, or the Vampire King's more impressive telekinetic abilities.
• Morality Pet: Even a thousand years later, Simon/Ice King still cares about her, even if he can't remember why, and she's notably one of the few characters he's actually cared about when he believed they were hurt.
• Ms. Fanservice: Lampshaded/Discussed in the House Hunting song in Evicted.
  “You know you should have stayed and fought that sexy vampire lady”.
• Mundane Utility: She uses her powers whenever convenient.
• Necromancer: "Corpses buried in mud that's black, from death I command you to come BACK!" She did it to throw a party.
• Nightmare Face: Marceline can do this voluntarily and to great effect. In "Henchmen", she just does it for the reaction on Jake's face, as he is still afraid of vampires. The Adventure Time Team's portion of Frederator blog has a small collection of the faces she made throughout the episode.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: She was already a demon/human hybrid before becoming a vampire.
• Noble Demon: Noted by Finn in her second episode, she releases him from being her minion as it's "not as fun when they realize it."
  • She and Lumpy Space Princess raise havoc in Breakfast Princess' place, stealing her things, vandalizing the castle, and assaulting the guards, but they do draw the line at killing them, being visibly relieved when the guy they pushed through a high improvised window landed in something soft.
• The Noseless: Like the other humanoids. Though she can morph a nose when she wants to smell something or pick it.
• Not a Date: Goes to watch a movie with Finn in "Go With Me", both insisting it's not a date.
• Not So Stoic: Under her cool and trickster-like demeanor lies a sensitive girl that will cry easily if the right buttons are pushed. (Pissing her off is still a no-no.)
• Odd Friendship: With Finn, which doubles as an extreme form of an Intergenerational Friendship. Later on she's befriended Jake (though she likes to scare him) and appears to have had one with Bubblegum in the past, though Finn seems to have helped her and Bubblegum patch things up.
• Official Couple: With Princess Bubblegum as of "Come Along with Me".
• One-Winged Angel: She often employs this in a serious fight (or when she's trying to scare people), and one of the most memorable is a giant, bat-like creature.
  • In the finale, when she briefly thinks that Bubblegum was killed, she takes on the Vampire King's giant cloud ram form.
• Our Demons Are Different: She is a half-demon, with the demon half from her father's side. Apparently, it's responsible for her unique anatomy, such the white skin, the fangs, and the pointy ears, since she only became a vampire when she was a teenager, and young Marceline already had said traits. It also doesn't influence her morality much.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Marceline claims that she sometimes drinks blood, but only because it's red, and she mainly "eats" shades of red, and sleeps in a normal bed instead of a coffin. Other vampires could just eat red, but they didn't want to which is why she killed them before even becoming a vampire herself. Sunlight and garlic aren't instantly fatal, but they still hurt like a mother. As long as she takes precautions not to be struck directly by sunlight (generally by wearing a sunhat or, more often, a parasol), she can be active at any time of day. All of her abilities come from vampirism except the soul-sucking power that let her absorb those powers from other vampires. There's also the fact that she was a Half-Human Hybrid with her dad being a demon, being that being a cambion vampire makes her unique.
• Out of Focus: Does not receive as much screentime in season 6 compared to previous seasons, having only one episode featured on her ("Princess Day") along with a couple of minor appearances. Previous seasons features her at least twice per season. Season 7 reversed this and gives her much more screentime including the eight-part miniseries Stakes.
• The Performer King: Marceline is often referenced as "Marceline the Vampire Queen" and usually found writing songs and performing them publicly on her bass. While she is no queen to vampires (having exterminated all of the other vampires centuries prior), her father is the Ruler of the Nightosphere, so the trope still technically applies.
• Pointy Ears: Comes from being half-demon, assuming her father is an appropriate representation of demons.
• The Quincy Punk: Slightly; she's a wild and reckless sort of person, but Ooo in general doesn't seem to find her particularly dangerous. She seems to like the aesthetic more than anything.
• Really 700 Years Old: She's an immortal half-demon vampire who is thousand years old at the start of the series, with her childhood (where she was just half-demon) taking place during the events of the Mushroom War.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Does this when she gets upset. Usually an extremely bad sign for whomever made her upset.
• Sad Clown: Unfortunately she sings from the soul and gets upset when she notices she's let her defenses down.
  Marceline: How can- anyone relate to me? When they cannot see what I see- My vampire eyes see... only blood red- skies. Blood red skies make tears inside that I always hide.
• Sense Freak: When she briefly became mortal again, she gorged herself on non-red food.
• Sole Survivor: For much of the show, Marceline could be considered the last remaining member of Pre-Mushroom War Humanity, or at least the only one left who remembers anything about them. This becomes Averted once Simon is freed from the Crown and other Pre-Mushroom War humans like Betty and Patience come to Ooo or are revived.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: She drives people away out of fear of being abandoned and betrayed again.
• Spear Counterpart: Marshall Lee. Though, because his only characterization came from when Marceline was telling a Fionna and Cake story - that is, she's describing him and how he would act - he ends up coming off to the viewer as a self-deprecating parody of her.
• Sudden Anatomy: In "Marceline's Closet," she grows a pair of bat-like nostrils when trying to sniff out Finn and Jake.
• Superpower Lottery: She has an enormous list of supernatural abilities. Though, it wasn't so much a lottery, as she had to earn every single one of her various vampiric powers.
• Tank-Top Tomboy: Over half her costumes have involved tank tops, and she has all the tomboy characteristics.
• Telekinesis: Briefly uses some on Finn in "Henchman", curling his arms so he can't interfere with her pranking. It's unclear if it's a demon or vampire power, but the affected object glows red.
• Tentacled Terror: She has the ability to turn into a giant tentacle monster. She did it in order to dissuade Finn from asking her out before realizing that he wasn't interested in a date.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Princess Bubblegum's Girly Girl.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She does wear dresses and fairly pretty blouses on occasion.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While she started out as an antagonistic Troll, Marceline would become notably more considerate and friendly over time. She would later show genuine concern and even go out of her way to save Finn, Jake, and Bubblegum in a few situations.
• Troll: Finds a lot of joy in screwing with people in general and Finn in particular, though she seems to draw her limits at actual physical harm, at least lately.
• Tsundere: Shows quite a few signs of being one to her friends in general, and very strongly suggested to be one in "What Was Missing".

• The Undead: She is a vampire, after all.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Averted. How many outfits has she worn now? Notably, since she had a different outfit for each of her appearances, she was the first character to avert Limited Wardrobe. Considering that she's over a thousand years old, it's probably not that weird to see her having many clothes.
• Unscrupulous Hero: She sometimes saves the day only because she wants to, and screwing with an evil person like herself is more fun than screwing mortals over.
• Vampire Hickey: Marceline has two noticeable bite marks on her neck, giving the indication that she was turned some time in the past. The "Stakes" mini-series eventually reveals in a flashback, to when she was just a common cambrion half-demon (human mother, demon father), that this was from the vampire king who bit and turned her just as she was staking him. In the present day of the story, when she regains the last of his vampire power, the vampire essence puts the marks back on her neck as she's absorbing the power.
• Vampire Hunter: She used to hunt vampires to keep her human friend (later friends) safe. She personally would have wiped them out if not for the last one turning her as he died.
• Vampire Monarch: Specifically, she's the Vampire Queen. There aren't any other vampires left to rule over (she refuses to turn anyone as she rarely drinks blood, instead getting by by draining out the color red from objects), but her presence at the meeting of Ooo royalty suggests that her position is at least somewhat meaningful.
• Vegetarian Vampire: She'll drink blood if she's desperate, but she mostly just drains the color from red objects. Sometimes the objects are fine afterwards, sometimes they seem shriveled up.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Thinking Golb's abomination murdered Bubblegum, she cries her name before turning into Vampire King's cloudy form and nearly tearing it to shreds.
• Visual Pun: Her bass is an axe.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Has a habit of going from her cute normal form to very grotesque monster forms and back again at the drop of a hat. Her second episode really plays this up.
• Weakened by the Light: Though, oddly, only by direct sunlight. She'd be just fine on a sunny day with as little as a large hat or parasol, though she does mention that it is painful in a very minor way. It appears to burn quite severely - barely a second's exposure results in a bunch of painful-looking boils (that she can heal away, but still).
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: She wishes for the approval and attention of her neglectful father, as she isn't secure if he even loves her. He does, but is not good at showing it.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Marceline has occasionally griped about this, with this serving as the catalyst for the Stakes miniseries. Though her big complaint is less about being long-lived and moreso the eternal youth, as her vampire nature has trapped her in a state of arrested development, mentally unable to truly mature as a person due to being physically in her late teens forever.
  Marceline: (singing) They don't know what it's like to live forever and forget who they even are...
• Wound That Will Not Heal: She has two bite marks on her neck from the bite that turned her. They go away when her vampirism is removed.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: She became the Vampire Queen by killing the Vampire King.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: She inherited the ability to suck out a person's soul from her father. Besides a longer lifespan, she's said it's the only special ability she has from being half-demon.

---