| “ | So cheeseball, any last words before I smash your atoms into oblivion? | „ |
| ~ New Death about to kill Finn. |
| “ | I didn't realize that when I took out Death, I'd be chained to all his stuff. So how about it? You ready to get chained to my stuff? | „ |
| ~ New Death challenges Finn and Jake to kill him. |
| “ | Mom…? | „ |
| ~ New Death's last word. |
New Death is the secondary antagonist of the 2020-2021 HBO Max limited series Adventure Time: Distant Lands special "Together Again".
He is the son of Death and Life and the former ruler of the Land of the Dead and the Dead Worlds after his father. It is later revealed that he was manipulated by The Lich's hand into usurping Death, and tried to stop reincarnation as part of the Lich's quest to end all life in the multiverse. He is also the final archenemy of Finn and Jake.
He was voiced by Chris Fleming in his first villainous role.
History[]
Prehistory[]
As the son of Life and Death, beings of two extremes with jobs that never end, he had no purpose in the world. He is implied to have been neglected by them both, and grew desperate for relationships. He likely looked elsewhere for attention, which allowed him to be manipulated by The Lich who he regarded as his best friend.
Distant Lands (past)[]
One day he was summoned by Death who wanted his help raking his Zen garden, he refused his father's offer by stating his friend was waiting for him and attempted to walk away. Death was persistent and handed him the rake. As the two raked, (the soon to be) New Death grew frustrated that Death was essentially keeping him from hanging out with his new friend and attacked his father. Death caught his son's attack and rather than retaliating, he embraced his son with a hug. While his father's guard was down, the son overheard The Lich's voice ordering him to strike down his father. In his panicked state of confusion, he bit his father in the back. Death suddenly transformed into a large green tree as his son continued to look on in confusion from what he had just done. Suddenly, his skin fell off his face and his body changed as he became the New Death of the Dead worlds.
New Death consolidated his rule and turned the Dead worlds to fit his rule. He neglected his father's castle, allowing it to fall in to dishevelment and personalized his lair. As New Death, he prevented many spirits from ascending levels, keeping most of them trapped in the first level. Except for level 50, a level of serenity that transcended from his control. At some point, he bonded with The Lich's hand and The Lich became his new right hand, hiding The Lich with a pair of black gloves. Together, the two planned destroy all the Dead Worlds and permanently end the cycle of reincarnation.
Distant Lands[]
At some point, Finn finally passed away and entered the Dead world. Now that he was dead, Finn sought out to find Jake and reunite with him after many years of separation. He went to New Death and asked for his help to find Jake. New Death debated killing Finn permanently for bothering him, but once he heard Finn was trying to reach the 50th Dead World, he saw a chance to reach the untouchable level and he let Finn go to find Jake.
When Finn reached the 50th Dead World, New Death followed him and entered the level. However, he immediately grew disappointed when he discovered the level was nothing like he expected. He quickly grew bored with the level and slammed his scythe on the ground, forcing everyone in the 50th Dead World down to the first level. Through his rampage, he halts the cycle of reincarnation, enraging his mother, Life. She helps Finn and Jake by giving them a weapon capable of killing Death, The Kiss of Life.
The two brothers returned and prepared to fight New Death using the Kiss of Life, however they couldn't figure out how to activate it. As New Death charged the two, they used Margret's note to freeze New Death in suspended animation. They present New Death an ultimatum: to fix the Dead worlds or stay frozen forever. New Death proclaims that he never wanted to become Death. When questioned, New Death explains that he didn't realize at the time when he killed his father that he would become New Death. He then challenges Finn and Jake asking which one of them will kill him and take his place as the Newest Death. Horrified by the realization, the two brothers opt to just leave New Death frozen forever. New Death begins laughing at them until he's stopped by a familiar voice. The voice begins chanting and slowly burning the note as New Death's hand begins wiggling. Finn recognizes the voice and ungloves New Death's right hand to see it to be The Lich. The two brothers realize the whole time The Lich has been manipulating and controlling New Death. As the note burns, the brothers argue over who should kill New Death and The Lich, thus becoming the Newest Death.
While they argue, Mr. Fox intervenes and takes the Kiss of Life from them. However, the note finishes burning and The Lich fully possess New Death. The Lich charges the three of them and ready to kill them all. Mr. Fox then uses the Kiss of Life to bite New Death. New Death comes to his senses with his last words being "Mom" before he explodes into a pile of tumbleweeds.
Personality[]
New Death is selfish, careless, and only cares about ruling the Land of the Dead with an iron fist. He is served by a team of winged demons called Undertakers and has no problem killing any of his servants for any minor errors such as allowing Finn to come to his domain, and he even didn't worry that he and Jake were already going to kill him. More focused on the fact that if Finn, Jake or anyone defeated him, they would become the replacement for New Death, and started cackling, though this may turn out that the Lich is starting to completely possess him (since the Lich used New Death as his puppet in order to rule the Land of the Dead and supporting him in destroying all life, thus luring New Death to the dark side by killing his father and become the Land of the Dead's new supreme ruler).
With that being said, New Death doesn't seem to be completely heartless. Despite not seeing eye to eye with his father, he never intended to kill him when being manipulated by the Lich into fatally biting him and was genuinely mortified by what he did. Once he became Death's successor, one of the latter's rakes rake can be seen in his room, indicating that New Death did care about him. Furthermore, he was shocked by the revelation that his own mother played a role in his demise, as shown by his last words.
Appearance[]
New Death is a snake-like entity with a muscular physique such as defined abs and large biceps, a rattlesnake-like head, four eyes and dark cyan scales. He wore a ripped shirt, blue jeans torn at the knees, and two black boots. After he killed Death, New Death lost the skin on his head, and gained his father's hat. Additionally, his muscular arms became masses of coiled serpents, the ends of which he covered with black gloves (with one on his right likely covering The Lich).
Quotes[]
| “ | I don't care if you hate my new friend! He's cool, he's got a cool vibe! What have you ever done for me, huh?! made me scrape stupid shapes in your stupid sand! Why aren't you answering me?!!! | „ |
| ~ Death's son ranting to Death. |
| “ | Finn: Look, you can stay like this forever, or you can fix the Dead worlds. New Death: I didn't even want this stupid job. |
„ |
| ~ New Death to Finn and Jake. |
| “ | You think I can't take you dad? | „ |
| ~ Death's son attacking Death. |
| “ | What did I do? Mom's gonna kill me. (Groans in pain) Ahh! Best friend, help me. | „ |
| ~ New Death before his transformation. |
Trivia[]
- New Death is the only known cosmic entity to be created via birth from two other cosmic entities.
External Links[]
- New Death on the Adventure Time Wiki
