NOTE: This page is only for the prime version of the Lich. For his Farmworld counterpart, see here.
“
FALL. You are alone, child. There is only darkness for you, and only death for your people. These Ancients are just the beginning. I will command a great and terrible army, and we will sail to a billion worlds. We will sail until every light has been extinguished. You are strong, child. But I am beyond strength. I am the End. And I have come for you, Finn.
„
~ The Lich confronting Finn in "Escape from the Citadel".
“
Stop. I have learned much, from you. Thank you, my teachers. And now, for your... education. Before there was time. Before there was anything... there was nothing. And before there was nothing... there were monsters. Here's your gold star.
„
~ The Lich in Sweet P's body.
The Lich is the main antagonist of the Adventure Time franchise.
He is an ancient undead cosmic entity who is hellbent on eradicating all life in his reality with nothing but himself remaining. He was the archenemy of Billy and later became the archenemy of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog. While his original body was destroyed upon first facing the duo, the Lich was able to survive many defeats by adopting different forms.
He was voiced by Ron Perlman, who also voiced the Farmworld Lich in the same show, Mr. Grasping in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island, Slade in Teen Titans and the Podestà in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.
While he is the embodiment of evil, he shares the same moral agency as his Farmworld counterpart who clearly understands right and wrong but enjoys being evil.
He's the show's first truly evil threat, lacking the comedic traits other villains have.
Attempted to destroy life in his universe multiple times.
In the past, he converted the planet's life force to destroy Ooo before being defeated by Billy.
After being freed from his amber prison, he goes on a destructive frenzy to regain his power while attempting to destroy all life.
He destroys the Gauntlet of the Hero, which was a sentient being.
He takes possession of Finn the Human's mind and attempts to have him fall into his Well of Power.
He possesses Princess Bubblegum's body and goes on a rampage across the Candy Kingdom, forcing her to attack Finn, Jake, and one of her Gumball Guardians.
He kills Billy for imprisoning him and wears his skin in order to manipulate Finn and Jake into aiding him in his evil plans to destroy all of life.
He tricks Finn into creating a portal to Prismo with the Enchiridion by making him believe he'd trap the Lich in the time room, having him steal the gems of power from all of the princesses across Ooo.
After having opened the portal to the Time Room, he taunts Finn by mockingly thanking him for his help.
He makes a wish to Prismo the Wishmaster to destroy all life while madly laughing in delight at having succeeded in his ultimate goal.
Although his wish was ultimately reversed thanks to Jake wishing to alter his wish, this still created the Extinct World, an alternate universe where his counterpart from that reality succeeded at wiping out all life in the universe, leaving the Earth to decay with BMO as its sole survivor.
Lich is extremely furious at Jake for undoing his wish, as he plans to execute Finn and Jake (mostly Jake).
He kills Prismo to be sent to the Crystal Citadel, sadistically laughing at his death.
He busts out the worst of the universe's cosmic criminals to go on a campaign to wipe out one planet after another.
While he is used to be honorable and admires Finn for being strong, this is later subverted since he then tried to kill Finn right after that.
After using his powers to bring Finn to his knees, he prepares to kill Finn.
Although he ends up transformed into an innocent giant baby, Sweet P, this is absolutely not a mean of redemption, as Sweet P and Lich clearly has completely different personality.
Possessed his host, Sweet P, and almost forced him to kill the King of Ooo and Toronto when they tried to burn down the boy's home, which would have surely left scars on Sweet P had he succeeded considering the latter would never have done such a thing in his own innocent mind, regardless of the King of Ooo's actions.
Nearly succeeded in forcing Sweet P to kill Finn when his Farmworld counterpart tried to bring him out.
Trivia[]
In the Villainous short Villain Orientation: The Lost Files of Ooo, Black Hat, the embodiment of evil who is the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire Cartoon Network multiverse, expresses respect towards the Lich for the latter's heinous nature. As Black Hat subjects all other Cartoon Network villains to mockery and scorn for falling short of his high standards for evil, this further emphasizes the Lich's status as a Pure Evil.
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Pure Evils
