Saddest Adventure Time Moments

Adventure Time is a show that is filled with hilarious scenes due to its zany setting and characters. However, the show demonstrated in its eight years on the air that they could handle drama as well. Here are ten tear-jerking moments from the legendary cartoon series.

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The Top Ten
1 "Remember You" (I Remember You)

Marceline and Ice King found each other when they were both alone and fighting just to live. they had to leave each other so they could keep fighting, this song highlights that.

Both Ice King and Marceline have lived very tragic lives. Ice King was once a regular human named Simon who slowly lost his mind after putting on a crown that allowed him to take control of the ice and snow. Marceline was born to a demon father and a human mother and was left without anybody to care for her once the Great Mushroom War began. By Adventure Time's fourth season, those who followed the show knew about both of these characters' backstories. However, no one was prepared for the emotional sucker punch that the classic episode "I Remember You" was preparing to deliver. The episode includes the first on-screen interaction between these two characters, and it's immediately immanent that they have had history together. Ice King naively pesters Marceline to help him write a song to attract princesses while she generally seems depressed and frustrated by his presence. The awkwardness of the episode reaches a climax when Marcy notices an old picture of herself with a poem ...more

2 Finn's Backstory (Min and Marty)

Throughout the show's history, fans had always wondered about Finn's backstory. They asked questions like: "Is Finn really the last human in Ooo? " "Who are Finn's human parents and where are they if they're still alive? " "What happened to all the humans? " "How did Finn wind up in the Land of Ooo? " For about seven years, fans had created theories attempting to answer all of these questions until Adventure Time finally decided to delve into the main character's past with the Season 8 miniseries "Islands". I have been on record saying that I believe the "Islands" miniseries to be the greatest thing that Adventure Time has ever done. While it starts off a bit standard with the main characters travelling to strange locations (which is par for the course for Adventure Time), the miniseries truly delivers in its second half of episodes, which are the greatest stretch of episodes in the show's history, in my opinion. The episode ...more

Finn is such a strong character.

3 Ice King's Final Tape (Holly Jolly Secrets Part II)

Prior to the show's first holiday special in 2011, Ice King was seen as an antagonist in Adventure Time. But even then, he wasn't threatening or intimidating like the main antagonist in The Lich, and was just seen as a minor annoyance that would always be defeated easily. He was just as goofy as everyone else, and you could tell deep down that he wasn't actually evil, and that he just wanted companionship from other people. "Holly Jolly Secrets" is a two-parter that mostly consists of Finn and Jake watching Ice King's secret videotapes in order to potentially discover his evil secrets. And boy did they discover a HUGE secret. We learn that long ago Ice King was once a kind-hearted human named Simon Petrikov who lost his mind once he put on a magical crown that gave him his ice powers. It's so heartbreaking learning how Simon lost everything in his life, how terrified he was of what he was becoming and how he apologized for anything he would eventually do once he completely lost his ...more

4 Princess Cookie's Suicide Attempt (Princess Cookie)

"Princess Cookie" is truly one of Adventure Time's more underrated episodes and Princess Cookie is one of my favorite one-off characters in the show. In this one singular episode, we get the story of one troubled member of the Candy Kingdom and how his dreams of becoming a princess were crushed at a young age, leading him to a life of crime. Princess Cookie starts off the episode as a typical villain that our heroes must defeat, but as time goes on, he becomes a very sympathetic character as it is revealed that he grew up with practically nothing and just wanted to achieve happiness in his own unique way by becoming a princess just like Princess Bubblegum. While Finn and PB put the safety of his hostages as their top priority, Jake identifies with his struggles and agrees to help him out. While Princess Cookie and Jake make their escape from the guards, Cookie comes to a realization that all of his running and all of his crimes will never get him any closer to achieving his dreams. With tears in his eyes, he thanks Jake for helping him feel special and fulfilled for once and hurls himself off a cliff in an attempt to end his life with a calm smile on his face. Fortunately, he survives and is put into a mental rehabilitation center where Jake makes him a princess crown so he can finally feel happy. I'm still shocked that Cartoon Network allowed Adventure Time to show a legitimate suicide attempt on screen, but I'm glad they allowed such a heavy and emotional moment to play out. Adventure Time also handled the situation with the utmost respect and seriousness. That moment on the cliff is both a depressing and beautiful moment at the same time with vibrant colors, somber music, and phenomenal voice acting from both John DiMaggio and Donald Faison, whose performance as Princess Cookie is one of the best guest performances in a cartoon that I have ever heard.

5 Finn Loses His Arm (The First Time) (Escape from the Citadel)

Losing one's wife and son can do a lot to somebody. As we saw in the future "Islands" miniseries, Martin Mertens was a con artist who attempted to become a more honest and genuine person by settling down with his girlfriend Minerva and having a son who he could become better for. Once those two things were violently ripped away from him, he reverted to his duplicitous nature because that was the only thing he had left. Martin is truly a tragic story. We see how scummy he is and view him as a deadbeat dad who seemed to never care about his son except for when personal gain came out of it, but then realized how he was a misunderstood person who was turning his life around only for it to be ruined by demons from his past. When we first meet him, he is truly a terrible person who does not seem to care about his son at all. When Finn makes a last ditch effort to keep him in his life, his arm gets ripped off and he is left emotionally and physically scarred. This moment left a mark on Finn ...more

6 Princess Bubblegum Breaks Down (Varmints)

Princess Bubblegum is a misunderstood character both by many people in show and by a large portion of Adventure Time's fan base. If you were to look at the "Worst Adventure Time Characters" list on this website, she sits comfortably at the top. And I never really understood that. Sure, she was a tad bland as Finn's love interest during the show's earlier years and she came off as a little bit too controlling, but I always liked her and found her engaging. "Varmints" is the episode that made me love PB as a character. This episode pairs her up with her friend/crush Marceline, and its everything awesome that an episode that feature these two characters as the leads promises. Its funny, its action-packed, its exhilarating, and it also includes the one moment that properly showcases how strong of a character PB is and redeems every questionable decision that she might have made in the past. After years of watching her being on top of things and being firmly in control of every situation she finds herself in, it's quite a stunning moment to watch her allow all of her emotions and pain roll out in such a compelling scene. In a rare moment of vulnerability, she breaks down in tears lamenting how her focusing on running her kingdom only managed to push everyone that she loved away, and that she is very regretful of the decisions that have hurt other people in the past. It really is a heartfelt scene that not only showcases how strong the relationship between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum is, but how it finally was able to get people to realize how sympathetic, complex, and compelling of a character that Bonnie is.

7 Princess Bubblegum Goes Back to Being 18 (Too Young)

I have to be honest here. I hate using the word "shipping" but I totally practiced that term in describing the relationship between Finn and 13-year-old PB after the events of "Mortal Folly" when her age was reverted. I was 12 at that time and was beginning to go through puberty, was getting into girls, and I related a lot to Finn because he was going through the same stuff that I was going through at the time. I found it so cool that even in this wild and crazy fantasy world, there was still a main character that was maturing at the same time that I was and I was so happy that he could potentially have a girlfriend who was the same age as him. It just felt so...right. Throughout the entity of "Too Young", Finn and Princess Bubblegum are so damn adorable together. So when PB had to make the difficult decision to sacrifice her youth and romance with Finn for the sake of protecting her people from the tyranny of Lemongrab, it broke my heart just as much as it broke Finn's. I anticipated ...more

8 Fern Dies (Come Along with Me)

Fern was a character that was introduced in the later seasons of the show that was both an interesting character and an interesting concept at the same time. He was essentially a clone of Finn who happened to be made of grass. He has all the memories of Finn and essentially has the same personality as Finn only with a slightly different voice and much more internal darkness due to not knowing what he's supposed to be. Finn really grew to care about the guy and viewed him like the biological brother that he never had. However, jealousy of Finn and hatred of himself led Fern down a bad path and led to him eventually trying to kill Finn and aligning himself with Princess Bubblegum's Uncle Gumbald. At the very end of the show's finale, he and Finn finally rectify their differences before Fern's life is stripped away from him as he blows away in the wind. This is a very significant moment seeing as how he's the only important character in the show I can think of that actually dies on screen.

9 Finn Says Goodbye to His Mother (The Light Cloud)

Ever since we met Martin, speculations rose in Adventure Time's fan base over who Finn's mother was. Were everyone's predictions about Susan being Finn's mom correct or was there someone else out there? And even if there was, would she even be alive? "Islands" answered all those questions in such a beautiful and heartbreaking manner. Finn is finally able to meet his biological mother Minerva Campbell (the resemblance is very palpable) where he learns that she had uploaded her mind into the computers of the human society in order to save her species with the price of her own life. As a result, she does not want Finn to leave Founder's Island because she knows how dangerous it is out there. After reasoning with his mother, she finally allows him to leave before sending him into her virtual house where they share a hug. After all these years, it was so satisfying to actually see Finn's mother and it was such a beautiful moment as the two once again were temporarily forced to say goodbye ...more

10 Simon Leaves Marceline Behind (Everything Stays)

Simon Petrikov loved Marceline so much and was very, very protective of her. So when he could feel himself losing his sanity more and more, he had a very difficult decision to make. He could either stay by Marceline's side as his mind was continuing to be warped by the crown and potentially put her in physical and mental danger or leave her behind, never see her again as himself, but she would be much safer without him. In the end, he ended up choosing the second option. When Marceline was about 10-12, Simon was almost entirely the Ice King with only a fragment of his original identity left. He decided to leave Marceline behind with the intention of getting her father Hunson to come back and actually take care of his biological daughter. In a beautifully tragic moment, he attempts to console a crying Marcy by wiping a tear from her eye only for it to freeze and cut her skin. The very instance of causing her any amount of pain was too much for Simon and through him into a panic. He ...more

The Contenders
11 Princess Bubblegum’s Lemonhope Song (Lemonhope Part II)

This isn't just sad, it is borderline depressing. I didn't shed a single tear at I Remember You and found it to be one of the most boring episodes. Simon and Marcy was better

12 The Tree House Gets Destroyed (Come Along with Me)
13 Finn Tries to Fix His Depression with Love (Breezy)
14 BMO Forgets Finn's Name (Distant Lands)
15 Marceline Hears Her Mom's Voice Message (Obsidian)
16 Marceline's Backstory (Stakes Part 2: Everything Stays)
17 Finn and Jake Reincarnate Together (Together Again Distant Lands)

I think it's beautiful that they spent there life together and were able to find each even after death and spent another life together.

18 Finn Betrays Princess Flame (Frost and Fire)
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