Here are the guesses for the Candy Kingdom and its denizens.
Princess Bubblegum's weak elemental powers are because she's too entrenched in science to use her magic properly.
After having her elemental powers unlocked in "Elemental", Princess Bubblegum can barely summon one jellybean whereas Slime Princess can use her newly unlocked elemental powers like a natural. Considering that Bubblegum is a scientist who is skeptical of magic, it seems that she needs to get in touch with her magical side to use her powers properly. The city Simon and Marceline visited is the precursor to the Bubblegum Kingdom
It's too much of a coincidence there is a ton of bubblegum substance all over the city. The ooze monsters chasing them would eventually adapt and evolve into candy people while the bubblegum spreads into a kingdom. Lemongrab is the owner and ruler of all lemons within the wide vicinity of the Candy Kingdom.
Before the events of Too Young, Princess Bubblegum felt bad that Lemongrab was unable to be a good ruler/heir, so she gave him another title- ruler of all lemons. He owns them and monopolizes the lemon business (selling lemons,) and the people of the Candy Kingdom territories have to do things for him or give him things so he will give them lemons (because, according to the brain screenshot of All Your Fault, he finds money to be useless.) He can refuse to give a "customer" lemons if he doesn't like their tone (or them.) And when he gives lemons to people, he frantically chucks lemons at them until they leave. Buttgrab has joined Lemongrab in this endeavor, and on some days if you're in the Candy Kingdom, you can see those two crazy earls pelting lemons at hapless candy people. Princess Bubblegum will never be queen.
Looking through the episodes will reveal that the characters always refer to Bubblegum as "Princess", yet there is no king or queen in sight. This is because her parents only had one child before their mysterious disappearance: Bubblegum. But, the law system in the Candy Kingdom rules that no woman can rule the kingdom by herself. So, although she does have some control over her subjects, she will still remain a princess until the King and Queen return, if ever (In fact, she couldn't even do that until she turned eighteen, so they had Manfried as a temporary ruler. To this day, he still hangs in the main hall, monitoring Bubblegum's behavior and offering favors whenever he can).- Alternatively, royalty can simply be an acquired position in the politics of Ooo. The original pitch refers to her as a millionaire nerd, though it also calls her Bettie. She can't become a Queen because she simply didn't buy the position, rather than because of the above reason. This happened often in Real Life, even in surprisingly recent times: John Von Neumann's father Max bought a noble title from the Austrio-Hungarian Empire, for instance.
- Also possible that the Candy Kingdom is just a principality, and hence prince or princess is the highest noble title that exists there. Many of the Italian City States worked like this for a while.
- Partially Jossed. Princess Bubblegum has at least one known sibling named Neddy, and she was sort of not even born but spawned from the mother gum at the same time as him. She also reveals that she literally built the Candy Kingdom by scratch out of nothing (as seen in "The Vault" and "Bonnie and Neddy") so the latter half of this theory can't work. However, since she made the kingdom and yet still gets called a princess, she must like it that way and will most likely never be called queen.
- One caveat is that in the official comics (which may or may not be canon) a flash-forward has her called a queen alongside Marceline.
Princess Bubblegum is the created "maintainer" of the genetic stability of Ooo's inhabitants.
Any species can apparently have children with any other species; this can result in hybrid evolutionary dead-ends. Princess Bubblegum keeps things going by genetically boosting the various entities of Ooo to continue to be viable. (Using food and candy as a primary resource) Her experiments at creating life are a necessity to keep the population running.- She's been trying to create life-forms that don't require her, or at least a replacement that can do the same thing she can. (Goliad, for example.) She has been failing. This is why the Lemongrab "failure" has been allowed for so long; this was the first "non-candy" creation she came up with, she was hoping it would be sustainable, hence "accidentally" leaving the life-creation formula in Lemongrabs' brain; trying to create a hero to counteract the Lemongrab madness, etc.
- At this rate, once she eventually dies; the Candy Kingdom won't last more than generation or two. There will likely be riots once the Candy Kingdom realizes they're doomed. But that shouldn't happen for...a thousand years or so.
- The end of Lemonhope Part 2 feels like it makes this tragically accurate
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- The end of Lemonhope Part 2 feels like it makes this tragically accurate
- At this rate, once she eventually dies; the Candy Kingdom won't last more than generation or two. There will likely be riots once the Candy Kingdom realizes they're doomed. But that shouldn't happen for...a thousand years or so.
Seed-Wad will someday rule the Candy Kingdom.
Several years, possibly decades, will pass, and Princess Bubblegum will be unable to rule the kingdom. At this point, the Lemongrabs's kids are mostly adolescents, and can take care of each other well enough to be left alone sometimes. The Lemongrabs rule the kingdom for a while, then they will get old and be unable to rule. They will declare Seed-Wad to be the new ruler, and SEED-WAD WILL RULE WITH A SQUISHY FIST. That undersuit Peebles wears in "Lady and Peebles" is a heat suit.
Or whatever they're called. Rather than increase her physical strength on its own, it keeps her at an optimal body temperature in extreme low-temp climates (ie: the Ice Kingdom) as she isn't as endothermic as Finn or Jake. This also means her physical abilities are also brought up to 'optimal', though because she wasn't expecting to have to fight hand-to-hand, it's not meant to cool her - that's why she had to remove her coat, and why she's sweating while she rips Ricardio a new one. Actual gum freezes up pretty hard on ice, after all.- Of course, this also means going to the Ice Kingdom is a hardship for her.
Princess Bubblegum has forgotten her origin.
Princess Bubblegum has remarked and/or hinted about family members like a regular monarch, and rarely gives hints on how old she really is. Season 5 has shown than Bubblegum is at the very least three centuries old, and "The Vault" suggests she was around in the early days of Ooo. In truth, Bonnibel can't remember her early life-not because she's suffering Ice King syndrome, but simply because her memory isn't designed to deal with it all. Hinted at family members like Uncle Gumbald probably didn't exist, and are how Bubblegum tries to give herself an origin. Kind of like how Ice King claims he made the crown, even though that's the complete opposite of their relationship.- Jossed according to Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!. She does know how old she is.
Peppermint Butler's body is currently a vessel for a demonic entity.
When we first meet Finn's earlier life Shoko, we see a peppermint creation by Princess Bubblegum-without intelligence and lacking proper motor control-deliver her arm. This is clearly not the same person, and unless Bubblegum started messing with intelligence and genetic memory during her years of life-which would be odd, since Cinnamon Bun was allowed to stay as simple as he was-then Peppermint Butler has information he shouldn't. He has more access about demonic and dark-tendency powers than anyone else on Ooo, so it is fair to say that he is actively being possessed. Peppermint Butler is a mindless vessel, but it's for Princess Bubblegum
As a control freak who needs the image of a morally spotless ruler, she created a second body for herself through which she can eavesdrop on what her lower-class subjects really think about her, and do the necessary but morally dubious things like traffic with the powers of Hell and Death and throw people who sell fake Marceline gig tickets off roofs. Note the identical initials and opening "Bu-" sound, which help ensure that she never raises suspicions by failing to recognise her alias.
Princess Bubblegum is dangerously insane, if not evil.
Princess Bubblegum and her experiments always been morally dubious, all the way back to the very first episode, where she tries to play God and resurrect the dead. Quite a few people can even point the entire Lemongrab fiasco as being her fault.
However, what truly hints at this for me is the episode "Apple Wedding", where she desperately tries to prove that the King of Ooo is a fake, right down to breaking into his home. From what we've seen so far of him, he seems like a nice guy (save for that moment of cowardice from him at the last act) and even produces a valid marriage license when she tries to catch him on that. Even the cast thinks she went way too far and call her out on it, only for her to flip her shit and throw EVERYBODY in jail, including Finn and Jake, who just came in and wasn't even a part of that mob. She only releases them when Tree Trunks moves her to tears by marrying herself to the Pig under those conditions, and nothing more than that.
This, to me, was a Moral Event Horizon moment, because the girl is now willing to stoop to Lemongrab standards on innocent people when she can't stand being proven wrong. This is bound to come to a head sooner or later, when it'll be discovered that Princess Bubblegum is becoming more mentally unstable than anybody dares to admit.
- Her specific madness? She's becoming more of a Control Freak. The cause? Just about everything that has happened to her in the series. Both attempts at getting an heir, one of the traditional duties of a monarch, failed completely. A number of her law enforcers are incompetent(I'm looking at you Banana Guards) and she keeps being kidnapped by the Ice King. Then there's the fact that this has all been happening within just a few years, while Princess Bubblegum is 827. Dealing with all that would cause all but the most strong-willed individual to go mad. My guess is that Princess Bubblegum will become a
Lawful Evil tyrant who wants to have absolute control over her people because Utopia Justifies the Means.- Or shes starting to display lemongrab traits.
- I'm adding on to this - in the last scene of Lemonhope, it was implied that a second Mushroom War or something like that happened in the future of Ooo. Princess Bubblegum is the only character who is actively advancing technology, continuously displays more and more evil traits, and in Bad Timing, proved to be incredibly trigger-happy when it comes to wars. Connect the dots.
Princess Bubble gum will lead a coup
The Candy Kingdom, or Princess Bubblegum, will instigate a coup within the Lemon Kingdom. She'll force a reluctant and fearful Lemon Hope to represent the new kingdom. Castle Lemongrab was abandoned shortly after Lemon Hope went to wander the Earth.
Princess Bubblegum took the beleaguered population and integrated them into the Candy Kingdom. Whether this had negative repercussions or even eventually instigated the Second Mushroom War is pure speculation. Bonnibel is not Princess Bubblegum's first name.
It's her surname! In traditional fantasy and Real Life, princesses are addressed by their given names with their titles. There is no reason to expect the Land of Oo is any different. The only person who regularly calls her "Bonnibel" is Marceline, and this is generally assumed to be an indication of the past emotional connection between the two. But, we have seen plenty of evidence that Marceline tends to distance herself from other people when her relationships with them get painful. She ran out on her father. And in "I Remember You", Marceline's first words to the Ice King are, "I told you not to come around here anymore, Old Man". It takes her a while to start calling him "Simon" again and it clearly indicates that she has forcefully estranged herself from him because his deterioration is just too heartbreaking for her. She has done something similar with PB; by calling her by her surname, she is rejecting their former familiarity.- "There is no reason to expect the Land of Oo is any different" There is every reason to believe so, the Candy Kingdom wasn´t created from a human kingdom, why would they share such a superficial trait?
PB is going crazy from the pressures of being a leader.
PB is the leader of the candy kingdom, and as their creator, she feels she has a duty to protect them. It's implied that she may be up to a thousand years old. All those years trying to run a kingdom in a dangerous, magical world, and trying to protect her people. Many of her creations intended for law enforcement were either incompetent or dangerous, and her attempt at creating an heir went horribly wrong. She's not going to be able to leave her leadership position any time soon, so she's resorting to more drastic measures to keep things under control and to protect people.- Confirmed by her breakdown and heart-to-heart with Marceline in "Varmints".
Something happening to Neddy is what causes the evacuation of the Candy Kingdom
He's the source of the candy juice that keeps it going. If something happens to him, the CK is pretty much screwed- Maybe Neddy is fine, but after the King of Ooo Bubblegum realizes she needs a back-up.
Explaining the Bubblegum family line.
- The Mother Gum was a Mushroom War-era experiment. The plan was to create food which would remain untainted from fallout, and would last as long as possible. However the mutagens gave it self-awareness and it went rouge.
- Princess Bubblegum's "grandfather" is the scientist who developed the Mother Gum.
- "Great-Uncle Gumbald" is the brother of the Mother Gum's designer. He was either mutated into a gum-based creature or altered his body into some type of candy cyborg/mutant, allowing him to see his "great-niece."
- Princess Bubblegum and Neddy, as we see, budded off the Mother Gum. Phanel Boxinguy is another sibling of Princess Bubblegum, who budded off at some other time.
- Cotton Candy Princess is a "cousin" of sorts, origination from a Mother Cotton Candy.
- Chatsberry from "Evergreen" is a previous life of Princess Bubblegum.
The Mother Gum is the previous Candy Elemental.
The one seen in Patience St Pim's flashback. While she hid and the other two presumably died in the Mushroom War, the candy elemental of the human era had the misfortune of being mutated by the bombs. The result was the Mother Gum, however it was in a state of suspension between life and death, no memories or knowledge of what it was. The soul of the Candy Elemental was stuck, and only after 173 years managed to manifest a new body and life-force of itself in the drippings that would become Princess Bubblegum. Unlike Neddy she would retain human shape due to retaining her more human aspects from long past. The Wildberry Kingdom, Breakfast Kingdom and the Duchy of Nuts are all vassals of the Candy Kingdom
They already have one confirmed vassal state, the Earldom of Lemongrab, so why not more? Also, there are several Candy People that resemble fruit and nuts, which kind of blurs the lines between the different citizens. there's also the fact that the Breakfast Kingdom started off small, but grew bigger in later seasons, suggesting it might be fairly new.