- Note: This page is only for the prime version of the Vampire King. For his Vampireworld counterpart, see here.
“ | I am your king, and I say it's a new era! Old-fashioned ideas have no place here. | „ |
~ The Vampire King to the Hierophant. |
“ | I'm not afraid of the unknown! I have the power to change destiny! Queen of vampires! You weigh the scales of fate. Spill my guts, or face the unknown. Either way, I will not bite. For turning you would subject me to the wheel of fortune. And I am a king, not a hamster. My path runs straight into the void, on a sick flaming chariot! | „ |
~ The Vampire Kings famous speech to Marceline. |
The Vampire King is the main antagonist of the Stakes miniseries in Season 7 of the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time. He is the king of the vampires and Marceline Abadeer's arch-nemesis, as well as the one who turned her into a vampire.
He was voiced by Billy Brown.
Appearance[]
The Vampire King resembles a huge, muscular man with animalistic traits, such as a lion-like face, scaled reptile hands, avian-like feet, and a snake-like forked tongue. He is dressed in a white suit, a cape that is wine-red, and a crown that looks like tree or shrub branches. Jake says he resembles a stop sign emerging from a loaf of bread.
After the extraction of his vampiric essence at the end of "Checkmate," he was split into two beings: His mortal self was returned to its original form as a seemingly ordinary lion, while his vampiric essence evolved into a cloud monster resembling a lion with long, spindly legs and snakes growing out of his head.
The Vampire King manifested as a mental projection to Marceline when she used her demonic abilities to absorb the cloud, looking like a smaller replica of his vampire self.
Personality[]
The Vampire King has a strange, slightly quirky, and comical manner while being the monarch of vampires. He is later shown dancing with a cow, demonstrating his apparent affinity for animals. He is frequently joined by animals in the miniseries.
He does have a dark side since when Marceline killed all of his fellow vampires in the past, he acted very vengefully and cruelly; he bit Marceline moments before he was destroyed in an effort to preserve his species and as a kind of retribution. He first appears unconcerned about being a vampire and then acknowledges that he would like to shed his vampire status. He also doesn't seem to care about his vampire brethren, since he made no attempt to prevent them from leaving on their own.
His pure, vampire cloud-like half looks to be mostly mindless and vicious, with the drive to eat and turn others into vampires. In contrast, his mortal lion half looks to be a regular animal.
History[]
The Vampire King was staked by Marceline to protect the last remaining humans. After she staked the rest of his court and gained their powers she fought the Vampire King in a tough battle with Marceline being the victor but as a result he turned her in a Vampire, thus making her the Vampire Queen and the only remaining vampire in Ooo.
He returned after Princess Bubblegum drained Marceline's vampire essence. After Marceline faced him again after she killed The Fool she was ready to fight him but she decide to let him go after he told her The Empress was after Ice King. He is later mentioned by The Hierophant when he tries to convince Marceline to help him over thrown him but she refuses. After Marceline kills his court again and regains their powers he comes face him again and after the tough battle The Vampire King says he wants his vampire essence drained out of him to, which Marceline agrees to do. The Vampire King's essence is removed from both him and his pet vampire cow which restores the cow back to normal and turns him into a normal lion.
However, the Vampire King's essence is so powerful that it manifest itself into a giant black cloud in the shape of the king which destroys anything in its way. After multiple attempts to stop it by the people of Ooo Marceline decides that the only way to stop it is to suck it back into herself which she does, but becomes a vampire again in the process.
Afterwards the Vampire King's spirit is able to communicate with Marceline due to her sucking up his essence.
Powers and Abilities[]
Telekinesis - The Vampire King has powerful telekinesis. as he is able to crush and toss things with great force and ease.
Trivia[]
- He is based on the tenth tarot card, Wheel of Fortune, which represents change and taking action, as that change is inevitable and we don't always have control of our path, but we can decide how to respond. Similarly, the Vampire King accepted that the times changed and being a vampire is no longer worth it and asked for Marceline to help to remove his vampire juices. It also represents destiny, as it could be interpreted it was Marceline's destiny to remain a vampire for the rest of her life. The same thing can be interpreted with the reversed form of this card, that represents lacking control, setbacks, confusion, ongoing struggle, as well as bad luck, all talking about Marceline's inability to change her status as a vampire, even after going through all the trouble to defeat all the vampires once more, as she didn't make any progress but moved back to where she was. Another connection to Wheel of Fortune, many of the creatures that appear in the card are represented in Vampire King's body, such as a lion (head), a human (torso), a bird (feet) and a snake (hands), as well the Sphinx, which is a mix of all those beings. He also has a cow companion that represents the bull, although he doesn't seem to have anything representing the Anubis.
- Furthermore, he also references another tarot card in "Checkmate", the Chariot. The Chariot represents control and willpower, as the Vampire King was adamant about taking control of his destiny. The reversed form of the Chariot symbolizes opposition and lack of direction; this is akin to how most of his court opposed his decisions in "Vamps About" and each went their own separate ways.
External Links[]
- Vampire King on the Adventure Time Wiki