Adventure Time: 5 Fan Theories 'Come Along With Me' Confirmed (& 5 We Still Wonder About)
Cartoon Network's Adventure Time is a complex and beloved show filled to the brim with bizarre backstories and interesting lore. What started back in 2010 as a lighthearted and simple kids' show rapidly morphed into one of Cartoon Network's best shows as the show progressed and its original audience grew older.
Similar to the way JK Rowling's Harry Potter series matured as its audience and characters grew, Adventure Time matured into something truly nuanced and meaningful, especially for the children who had grown up alongside its primary character, Finn. The show's original run finally came to an end in late 2018 with a fantastic conclusion episode titled "Come Along With Me," answering many questions and both confirming and debunking many fan theories.
10 Still Wondering: Ooo Is Actually The West Coast Of The Pre-War US
Fans have a few reasons to suspect the land of Ooo is actually the remains of a pre-Mushroom War United States. In the episode "Simon and Marcy," which takes place a short time after the Mushroom War, Simon and young Marceline fight for survival in the smoldering remains of a large city. A past relationship between Marceline and the Ice King had been teased before through song in the episode "I Remember You." In the episode, they come across a highway overpass with a wrecked car on it. Some fans have noticed that the license plate vaguely resembles the design of California plates. Later in the episode, the characters flee into a large concrete drainage ditch that strongly resembles the Los Angeles River. Unfortunately, this was never confirmed.
9 Confirmed: Golb As The Show's Final Villain
For a long time, Golb was a mythical character within the Adventure Time world. He was mentioned several times throughout the show's run, and was even seen by Finn and other characters in visions. But really, all fans knew about Golb before the finale was that he had once decimated Mars, he had eaten Magic Man's girlfriend Margles, and that he was someone the Lich looked up to. That all changed when Golb floated down from that portal above Ooo and started attacking the candy armies. The fans were right about this one.
8 Still Wondering: The Hyoomans Were Genetically Engineered
One popular fan theory that was never confirmed or denied on the show is that the tribe of fish-people, among whom Finn finds Susan Strong, were actually genetically engineered by scientists before the Mushroom War. Fans didn't see much of the Hyooman tribe, which got its name after Finn mistook them for members of his own species, and they only appeared in three or four episodes. As of the end of the show, their origins are still unknown.
7 Confirmed: Pup Kingdom
This fan theory is somewhat unique in that it was actually started by a member of Adventure Time's creative staff. The Pup Kingdom was born from the imagination of Steve Wolfhard, a writer and storyboard artist for the show. He was the primary mind behind the future version of Ooo seen in "Come Along With Me" and "Graybles 1000+."
When Wolfhard's Pup Kingdom brainchild made its mysterious debut in "Graybles 1000+" as the enigmatic Korean antagonists to the episode's main character Cuber, fans were quick to speculate that the distant descendants of Jake and Lady Rainicorn's superpowered pups developed a spacefaring civilization in the thousand years since Jake's original puppies were born. "Come Along With Me" confirmed that convoluted theory in just about every way imaginable, including a brief cameo by Gibbon, Jake's daughter Charlie's future son that was foreshadowed in "Daddy-Daughter Card Wars."
6 Still Wondering: There's A Vibrant World Outside Ooo
Adventure Time takes place almost entirely on the continent of Ooo. In fact, there are only two instances of any characters traveling outside of Ooo, not including the various trips to space the characters make many times in the later seasons. As such, fans have speculated over the years about what may lie beyond the rolling hills and magical kingdoms of the show's primary setting. One theory states that civilization exists on other continents as well. Fans were offered a glimpse of what lies beyond in the episode "Daddy-Daughter Card Wars," where Charlie is shown traveling to an ancient and decrepit pyramid on the distant side of the planet. Additionally, the "Islands" miniseries proved that it was possible for civilization to blossom outside of Ooo, even if the titular islands weren't too far off the coast.
5 Confirmed: Finn Was Ooo's Greatest Hero
Ever since the introduction of Billy as the former greatest champion of Ooo, fans have wondered where Finn might one day stack up when compared to the larger-than-life legend. They were given a spectacular answer in the intro to "Come Along With Me." At the beginning of the episode, there can be seen an absolutely massive toppled statue of Finn. Though the statue had collapsed due to the ravages of a thousand years, the fact that such a tremendous tribute to the hero was even constructed proves his importance to the people of Ooo. Finn accomplished more before he turned 18 than Billy ever managed to, and the fallen statue is proof that Finn continued to help people long after the end of the series.
4 Still Wondering: The Show Is Finn's Coma-Dream
Due to the bizarre, dream-like quality of Adventure Time and its extremely frequent dream and vision motifs, many fans have long suspected that the entire show takes place in Finn's imagination. This theory takes many forms, with some asserting the show is a game of Dungeons and Dragons, and others claiming Finn imagines the events of the series from a lengthy coma. This theory was never confirmed, and it doesn't sound like the kind of theory the show's creators would want to address. But after the Inception-esque events of "King Worm," there's no telling what's real.
3 Confirmed: The Vampire King Is Still Trapped Inside Marceline
Ever since the conclusion of the "Stakes" miniseries, fans have speculated that the Vampire King, whom Marcy consumed at the end of "The Dark Cloud," would make a reappearance. That didn't quite happen as some fans were hoping, but the Vampire King does inadvertently aid Marceline during the battle against Golb. In one of the most impressive feats of strength in the whole series, Marceline briefly turns into a modified version of the Vampire King's dark cloud form in order to protect Princess Bubblegum from a mutant monster, thus proving that he still exists within her in some form.
2 Still Wondering: Finn Is Still Alive Inside The Finn Sword
This fan theory wasn't created until after the finale had aired, but it wasn't confirmed one way or the other during "Come Along With Me." It states simply and hopefully that Finn is preserved 1,000 years in the future within the Finn sword embedded in the tree that sprouted when Finn planted Fern's body at the site of the destroyed treehouse.
Some fans even claim that Princess Bubblegum and Marceline could go visit their old friend in the tree long after the original Finn had grown old and died. We may never know if this is true, but it's a nice thing to think about.
1 Confirmed: Bubbline
Most Adventure Time fans are aware of the name for the long-time ship between Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen. Fans have desperately wanted the two of them to get together onscreen since it was first implied they had history way back in season three. From that moment on, the creators of the show continued to very gradually tease a romantic interest between the two characters, but they always fell short of outright confirming a shared past. In "Come Along With Me," however, fans of Bubbline were finally vindicated, as the two fan-favorite characters shared a kiss onscreen. This was the most popular fan theory confirmed by the series finale, and viewers everywhere were extremely glad to see Cartoon Network stand behind this brave choice.