What's the Deal with Magic in Adventure Time? 

"He turned all the water into hair, and we were so thirsty we drink it, then we all went bald." *Scribbles a picture of what Glob said*

Did you ever notice how the ice elemental were always crazy about preserving themself and did not care that the element would continue on

"Before the series end," That was harsh to hear, I already miss it

Dark theory : There is only so much magic, and everyone gets a tiny bit. When the bomb wiped out so many, there was plenty of magic for the remaining peoples.

Well if magic is born/fueled by madness and sadness, then perhaps a great cataclysm like the mushroom war simply caused a lot of madness and sadness... (As any post apocalyptic anything tends to imply, desperation breads madness, and loss is a known cause of sadness.)

No only did Patience freeze herself, she made ice sink.

I like to think that it's because the bomb caused so much sadness and madness, and that sadness and madness made magic stronger.

I like how PB literally sponsors a wizard battle royale, and then in a later season doesn't believe magic is real an actively tries to disprove it.

Maybe the reason Finn and Jake can't use the magic they learned is because they don't have enough sadness/madness.

"Hopefully we'll find out before the series ends" guess we'll never know

"Magic is just science I haven't figured out yet" - Tony Stark

I always thought it was implied the Mushroom Bomb of Adventure Time was made from the catalyst comet which contained the lich. So not only did it go full nuclear but it also spread mutagenic magical energy. Kinda showing what PB says that magic and advanced technology are the same. Nuclear bomb material, magical comet containing death incarnate.

Pendleton Ward was actually asked about Finn and Jake's magic from when they were training under that frog wizard and he said their powers were all contained in the training robes, and the robes were destroyed. So that's at least why they don't have that magic anymore.

I find it interesting that the "mushroom bomb" is never specified as nuclear, which might suggest that the bomb itself was a utilisation of magic power in a non-magic world.

So what I’m hearing is that in the show’s canon, Magic is a scientific concept that was harshly stigmatized because dabbling in it often lead to cognitive decline. Then, a sequence of events called the mushroom wars, lead to the wide spread normalization of magic use. I’m coming to some conclusions here. Something to do with magic and mushrooms 🤔

Theory: all magic is derived from golb which is why it drives everyone who uses it insane to some degree. Magic is channeled through some medium to give it some degree of separation from golb and make it safer to use, which is why all wizards are themed around some element or idea except for magic man who wielded the closest thing to pure magic and thus was exceptionally crazy. The crown should also wield pure magic which is why it also makes people extra crazy but it was corrupted by its first wish to make whoever uses it into a copy of the original ice elemental. After the mushroom war the litch who was a scholar of golb was released into the world which might have increased people's access to magic. Finn and Jake lost their magic powers because they had both been given their powers from outside sources, in season one that power came from the school they joined so they lost their power when they quit in season two their powers might have been stolen from the ice king who in his desire to make ice ninja into a thing had created a way for others to copy his power for a time. Then they would've lost their powers when the ice king got bord with the idea.

There was a role playing game in the 90's called Rifts that had a similar situation. A nuclear war killed off most of the population, and magic had returned. IIRC the life energy from all those people dying energized dormant ley lines, opening up inter-dimensional rifts and bringing in strange creatures and technologies.

From what I understand the mushroom war is that time's version of the catalyst comet. The same way Finn used to be a butterfly, the comet was a nuke bomb once.

"The very structure of realities are held by the perception of it's inhabitants"

I loved how he used the song "Sis Puella Magica" to talk about magic, and it works because in adventure, the same as in Puella Magi, the magic is also tragic.

Well it was stated that Finn and Jake lost their magic powers because their robes were destroyed and they forgot the ice spells because they didn't have enough tine to remember them.

the magic is actually quite consistent, in the the two cases you mentioned Finn and Jake just simply borrowed magic from Bufo and Ice King respectively, and to me its workings are quite simple, magic in AT is inherently linked to defiance of reality (most commonly found in madness), thus a time in which the majority of sapient beings are logic-driven diminishes its power, my guess is that the reason why the crown is still extremely powerful regardless its because its wish magic which the elementals stressed it so powerful it can threaten reality itself also I think your theory about the bomb that spawned the Lich having portions of a catalyst comet is semi-confirmed, remember the comet that killed the dinosaurs was green and had horn-shaped flames, it heavily implies this is how the Lich originally arrived Earth

Seeing alot of these theories and alot of the re visited locations and how dark the series can get it really makes me want a elder scrolls/fallout like rpg in the adventure time universe

I know this is head canon, but I always took the Lich's catalyst comet as being part of the mushroom bomb. Like researchers found the impact crater, dug it up, turned it into a bomb, and that's what gave the Lich his true form.

I just realized the hungry looking rainbow are rainicorns

The catalyst comet could be a, cleansing agent, like the reapers in mass effect, killing off life every 1000 years and allowing new life to form, how it forms is a mystery as it could be the entity inside using its own abilities to create life, or even natural ways

The magic in this is takes deep roots in D&D. A lot of this series pays homage to it actually.

If magic is madness and sadness then why aren’t I the most powerful magic user ever hmmm

"he turned all the water into hair and we all got so thirsty we drank it and when we drank it we went bald" comedy fucking gold right there

I personally like to think that the reason the mushroom bomb "brought" magic into the world was because Magic was always an inherent force in the world, but that it's also a finite resource. The Earth became non-magical because there were simply too many living beings around trying to use it, so nobody could really have it. When the Mushroom Bomb went off, it wiped out a vast portion of all the living things on the planet, freeing up tons of Magic for people to use again.

Remember when magic in AT was a norm and magecraft was just an episode where Fin & Jake became top class wizards in a singel day?

I have a theory about the cause of magic in Ooo, We saw that the elementals didnt have strong power during the civilization times hinting that there is not enough chaos, sadness, madness. But when the nuclear bomb happened chaos, sadness and madness happened and magic started to exponentially grow again

The thing that gave jake his powers and the thing that came out of the comet do look somewhat simular

"If one is not careful, they can drown in the deep." Me: "Don't worry, Lumpy is on life guard duty."

Since things in AT tend to be metaphorical I always assumed that the bomb itself was the catalyst comet, the "agent of change" that time around.

“To be adept in magic you must show signs of sadness and madness” Maybe I am wizard

Everybody has already said this but the Finn comet missed Earth in the Farmworld universe due to the world being frozen over after Simon's death. That's why there's no crater that we know of.

Maybe there were less magic users in modern times, and medieval times and such, and they were seen as evil and persecuted (like "witches" in medieval times), so now that basically everyone except magic people had died on earth and history kind of restarted, without the past assumptions about how those who used magic were evil, the magic users could finally use their powers as they wished.

Fin and Jake CAN use magic, but they don't WANT to and that's just the funniest thing

Honestly I think the answer is right in Betty’s observation. Magic appears alongside Madness and Sadness. The Mushroom War caused untold devastation long after it was over. During the fear and insanity of the time many beings awakened to their Magical Potential and became wizards. Magic in the wrong hands can cause massive changes to the world and it probably did which could go long ways to explaining why the world of Adventure Time is so magical.

I know this might be a bit of a tangent but I think "them hungry looking rainbows" is a reference to Rainicorns as we know they have a taste for humans. So does this mean Rainicorns aren't native to the crystal dimension and are in fact mutations or simply that they regularly left it to hunt humans? Regardless of the answer I think this means they probably had a part in the extinction of humans (not counting the islanders) I just thought this could be a bit interesting as I haven't seen anyone else bring this up

I love this video and also that you used Madoka music in your video about magic. Amazing.

“Hopefully we’ll find out before the series ends” 😩 The best shows are the ones that end while they are good.

I believe something about The Lich is inherently magic, as he said he's the Last Scholar of Golb, meaning he's likely one of the Monsters that existed LONG before everything ever existed, so I believe he somehow created the Mushroom Bomb, or perhaps influenced it, so it would cause him to start existing within Ooo's world

I think that the lore doesn't have to be messed up by Finn and Jake's use of magic the first and second season because in both episodes they wear things that aren't part of their typical attire: the robes and the ninja headbands. Maybe these items could grant the person who wears them limited magical ability and, with instruction (whether from a teacher or a book), non magical beings can learn to unlock the magic in those special items. Obviously it isn't as potent as like the ice crown, but I think the theory can still hold..

Could the comet hit the bomb, causing a double event?

In my opinion, magic in Adventure Time is actually connected to what we would call technology and mutant powers. Even Ice Kings crown, the most powerful magical object in the show is described as being made of "Phantasmal Circuitry" and shown to have circuit-like structures inside. It very well might be just a form of reality manipulation using technology, mutant powers left by the touch of technology, like the mutagen bomb

When everyone else is theorizing and your just happy about The madoka magica music

i miss Magicman. I'm not coming back...

This show is deep. I remember when episodes were just funny and weird

Off topic, but the madoka magica music fits so well in the video my god

Fallout: Elder Scrolls Edition

I wonder if the show will end with Jake becoming another cosmic entity and leaves into space to bring change to the next planet. The creature that bit Joshua looks like it's from the same species as the comet creature Finn talked to in space. This could be how cosmic beings are born. In son of mars when Lincoln tells Jake he'll be ejected out into space as cosmic dust Jake says he's "way into that stuff" Jakes croak dream in space could be representative of Jake shedding his dog form. This would explain why Lich/Jake develops powers so quickly in Farmworld. It would bring the story full circle as Finn was a comet in a past life.

I just thought - if Jake turned into the Lich in the Farmworld Timeline, that means somebody needs to be behind the real Lich too. You think we'll ever get to explore that persons background? I mean, Sweet Pie seems to know a lot of stuff subconsciously.

In many asian lores there is a finite amount of cycling power throughout the world and more people pulling from the mana pool means less people can use mana effectively

3:52 One of my favorite funniest jokes on Adventure Time 😂😂

I like to combine the ideas from D&D and GURPS when thinking about Adventure Times magic. More than one system or source of magic can co-exist. And the reason the pre-mushroom war world was a a low-magic world is too un-explained for me to hold an opinion on.

In the alternate universe, whenever the world freezes over, Marceline mentions how it shifted the Earth out of place (Or something along those lines) and then it shows a comet flying past and narrowly missing the Earth. I feel this was most likely the catalyst comet and it never impacted with the Earth in the alternate universe cause it missed.

My question is why the Lich’s catalyst comet caused an extinction level event on the earth, whereas Finn’s catalyst comet disappeared 1/16 or so of the planet’s mass, and also does not appear to have severly damaged the rest of the planet’s surface? If anyone’s willing to shoot some theory out about this I’d appreciate it!

WHY IS THIS SO SATISFING TO WATCH??? I'm here at least once a month. Anyone else?

Excellent use of the Madoka Magica themes!

Didn't the catalyst comet miss the earth in the farmworld?

I'm impressed with how much lore this guy conjured up about this show, I've been watching this show for years and never even thought about this kinda stuff

The more Mad/Sad the world gets the more magical it becomes. The same as the wizards. The more ordered the world becomes and as it also heals/forgets the wounds of the past, the mushroom war, it slowly becomes less magical. Late but here for a great show like adventure time.

Cool! Have you thought about the possibility of Magic being Programming? like, writing code? both have been heavily implied to be connected by the appearance of magic artifacts (specially the crown with all its circuitry) and the entire episode of A Glitch is a Glitch is an allusion to this. Magic could be the ability to play with the code of reality itself, to alter the physical forms and properties of things and creatures through reprogramming, by editing the information that dictates how they look like and what they're capable of.

In stakes one of the humans said that something big was going to happen and that was before Marcy was a vampire so it was probably a semi short amount of time after the mushroom war. Maybe that was the comet.

of course, what pb says about magic isn't necessarily true in oo just because she says it. i know she usually know what's up because of her smarts and covert information network, but in this case, as a person with a scientific world view, she is biased, apt to dismiss magic or frame it scientifically. though i will admit hers is a fair criticism

I always assumed the magic mad-sadness could be a two way street. The bomb made the survivors mad and sad thus making their connection to magic greater.

Elk! You missed two big things! 1st is Beladona (if I recall the namd correctly), the monster that when released caused all Magic to be suppressed (its when ice king gets his old self back, and brings betty from the past). this monster might appear again? maybe he was responsible for the low magic eras. 2nd: the martians (lincoln or grob, I cant recall completelly) said something, at some episode, that the comet missed one visit (and was late for the more recent one)... so I think he didn't came at all in the period of the mushroom war.

I still miss magicman... BUT MY AIM IS GETTING BETTER I'll show myself out. Thank you

Every other year I get this video recommended on my feed and I always get drawn back into the lure

@5:10 The way I understand it, the Lich's soul was somehow INSIDE the original mushroom bomb, maybe similar to how Finn's soul was inside the comet once before he became a butterfly. This gives me the idea that maybe the people who created the bomb knew that, despite the world being "non magic" there were elements of magic that they could harness as a weapon through their technology, and somehow put the Lich's soul into their bomb (which he probably wanted anyway). I'm assuming this because when Finn wishes "I wish the Lich never even ever existed" in Prismo's wish room, it alters time simply by freezing the bomb over and not allowing it to explode.

didnt the finn/catalyst commit miss farmworld in the alternative timeline. i could be wrong though

The part about you drowning in the deep end of magic... "You forgot your floaties..." Now it makes sense!

Bonus points for using the Madoka soundtrack. Great video

3:36 I agree Because a long time ago, there were tons of magic users. Then it was the 4 people and they seemed like they weren’t too powerful.

So my thoughts are that the comet has most impact based on the implication that the lich was a catalyst comet (there was a comet with the single horn that the lich is known for) at the same time I don't think the lich was born from the mushroom war based on sweet peas "before there was everything there was nothing, and before that there were monsters" bit. My theory is that the lich and magic are in a weird way one and the same which is why farm world finns world 'where the lich never existed' is a world without magic. But it'd explain why the lichs 'birth' and the birth of a magic world would synch up with the mushroom war and the catalyst comet, if we assume that the two happened at fairly consistent times

"this means those with tragic pasts are more likely to be drawn to magic, and those who chase after it while content may have their lives spiral out of control." This might sound kinda crazy or awesome depending on what type of person you are. But As a life long creative and weirdo. I see this MnS magic theory as basically a metaphor for creativity, which operates via very similar madness/sadness rules they laid out. Creativity is often an outlet for people with troubles that prefer introverted escapism to "projecting" their problems onto others. Having also observed hundreds of creatives, of different disciplines, in my days as an average young book artist, bad animator, toy graffiti writer and Journeyman street artist and established studio artist, during the past 15 years it rings true to my experiences and interactions. I don't think Magic being a loose metaphor for creativity is that weird considering the shows creators are all extremely creative people who all will have tackled with the unique snares of the power of creating. And likely most of there friends are also creatives and strange folk. And it would but that uncommon running into people who fall into the "darkside" of creativity dancing with the madness. It is easy to become seduced by inspiration when exploring ideas, characters and world building. The more disconnected from your body and journey into your mind can easily provide more original and inspiring ideas/magic. But is fickled and difficult beast to tangle with. But the more you are prone the emotional and physical instability. But the harder the reality come down is. They are extreme nature highs and lows. Some get there via drugs, coffee, mental exhaustion or emotional trauma. But i tend to get there via focusing more on my ideas and projects than my physical needs. There is an easy creative state know as the "the flow" and trying to hold onto this state too longer or at the wrong time can access the wild uncontrollable creative magic that can destroy its welder. The effects on the user mood can change their perception of their subjective reality threaten your world via straining perceived Objective reality you share with others close to you. I think of it a lot like using Kaio Ken or Sasukes curse seal; A powerful tool of burning tomorrows energy to crush todays task with x4 productivity, but at a harsh cost to your well being. The side effects are often not worth it though. Limitations of having a body. lol. Through discipline and training you can learn to access a lot of the originality and creativity without going deep in the madness trap and rather just briefy dance with it and leave to with what you need while staying healthy. If you don't take care of yourself via eating regularly/well, exercising/going outside and by socialising in a relaxed way with RL friends your magic/creativity can turn dark. I wouldnt be surprised if the Ice King was informed by Pendleton Wards anxiety and distorted self image after going too deep into a creative introvert zone. It can be hard to explain to normies what you are going through in these times since there many common experiences to reference. Artists are the ones who can visit the madness, find some magic and bring it back for the rest of us Half blood and muggles to enjoy. It is probably the weirdest skill there is. Imagination. This may sound like i am projecting a lot of my own perception onto this and maybe/probably I am. But if you have read much Discworld, which is probably one of the purest more expansive expressions of creativity, you may be familiar with the themes explored by characters existing in a fictional world that works via fictional logic but where all logical extremes are explored and ideas have their own magical power that transcends our logic but strong ideas from our world echo in tropes or slip in via dimensional rifts as ethereal influences and entities. At its best creativity is a smoothing, and cathartic process. Not unlike productive meditation that can salve a mind beset with troubles. Depending on if you bring relaxed or ambitious energy to the practice It is probably for the best if you can't relate. But if you can take care of yourself sweet dreamers.

The lore and backstory of this show fascinates me so much, it's crazy. I want an almanac of every lore and story tidbit of this show.

how you found the time to get all those clips is astounding, awesome content man thanks for your thoughts on it i feel i learned a whole new perspective to the show

This was a great theory! I also was thinking about the different things about magic. Really great, hope to hear more before the end of the show this year. P.s. Love the Madoka Mágica music in the background, really gave it that magical and frightening feel to the video :)

How to some up Magic in Adventure Time. Crazy as hell

I literally just ended Adventure time and I'm loving your videos

Oh UncivilizedElk, I thought you were awesome before but hearing the music from Madoka Magica : The Rebellion Story at 5:14 just made you even cooler!!

*Sees the video is only 10 minutes.* There's never enough time to explain madness I guess...

In the Farmworld dimension, the comet never hit. The show literally shows the audience that through the short scene that you used a picture of! You can see the comet coming close, but missing Earth.

"Before the series ends" *sobs*

Wait what the, I heard madoka magica rebellion music in the background. Dude you're a madoka fan? Sick.

nice

i still think that the lich is the creature from the green comet that was used for making the bomb for a war like a super weapon or something. like the catalist comet it was meant to bring a change to the planet, but a destructive one.

when I heard the accordion intensified during the end of the video i knew i love this RU-vidr

Adventure Time kinda has Shadowrun magic rules if you ask me It's a mysterious force which power varies in cycles.

The mushroom bomb destroyed the authority that existed in the before times, plunging the world into chaos. This bomb also killed many peoples' loved ones and left people in an uncomfortable and stressful post-apocalyptic scenario. The mushroom bomb infused the world with great madness and great sadness.

Catalyst, in chemistry, any substance that increases the rate of a reaction without itself being consumed.

Thanks for your videos!

My theory on magic: Magic has always existed in the multiverse, but come and goes on Earth, and the mushroom bomb was made of the green catalyst comet, and that is what caused the earth to change, as those comets change the world whenever they hit.

Its interesting how the catalyst comet's true violet form looks like the monster that impregnated jakes Dad ....

Cmon it’s literally called the catalyst comet. Less energy needed fir the reaction to occur. Like the power of magic is a constant but when the comet rolls around it requirs less energy fir people to use the power of magic. Explaing the boom of magic when the comet does show up... i think

Hey, great video! I just noticed the Madoka Magica 's soundtracks and I needed to comment.

I think Magic in AT is a metafor to ART and The relationship artists have to it. The madness and melancholy elements are both known elements to The life of Painters such as Van Gogh and Goya, and to acting methods such as The Stanislavski who bring real emotional baggage to roles. Marina Abramovich also Said that ART is The right place to broken people as It is presented in The show.