As a member of the Vampire King's court, The Empress enjoyed all the luxuries the vampire hive had to offer such as devoted servants and premium blood decorated with gold leaf. Marceline fought The Empress centuries ago when she was on a mission to protect the remaining humans from vampires. Marceline managed to defeat her and gain her powers of invisibility. The Empress' dialogue in The Empress Eyes suggests that she met and hypnotized Simon Petrikov before he fully transitioned into the Ice King. She seemed to have made him perform a series of degrading acts to toy with him.
The vampires are resurrected after Princess Bubblegum removes Marceline's vampire essence from her. After a short period, the Vampire King and his court manifest. The Empress makes a case for resurrecting the vampire hive, suggesting that they conquer and enslave the local populace. When it appears that disagreements are breaking up the vampire court, The Empress parts ways with the group to go rebuild her army.
She heads towards the Ice Kingdom, where she apparently mesmerizes the Ice King and gets him to deliver Finn so she can attempt to feast on his human blood after she expressed dissatisfaction with penguin blood. After Ice King has captured Finn and later Marceline, the Empress orders him to kill the latter, only for him to refuse and start an argument with her. After Finn and Marceline have freed themselves, the former distracts the Empress, allowing the latter to use the Ice King's powers to trap her in ice. Before Marceline can stake the Empress, Ice King prevents her to do so by blocking her path, but ignores the Empress' demands, eliciting her to put him deeper under her spell. However, it is later revealed that Ice King is too crazy and stupid to be mesmerized, and is only doing her bidding because "she is a woman". The Empress then upsets the Ice King by scolding him, leading Finn to console him. After the two left, Marceline stated that it will be the last time the Empress toys with Simon's feelings and attacks the Empress, but is quickly overwhelmed by her. However, before the Empress can hypnotize her, she is immobilized by Bubblegum, allowing Marceline to stake her and suck her soul.
Appearance[]
The Empress wears a long black dress, with a golden snake that is wrapped around her waist and neck. Her eyes are also covered by her dark purple headscarf, which has a pink gem in the middle and tied into a bun. Underneath, she has large blue eyes, which she uses to hypnotize people and put them under her spell. As demonstrated by The Fool, she is able to hypnotize people with her gem rather than using her eyes or chanting. Jake describes the Empress as "black drapes on a cake pop".
Powers and abilities[]
As a vampire, the Empress has several unique powers:
Power of Hypnosis: The Empress can hypnotize people with her eyes to control their every move. When the Empress wants to hypnotize people, the golden snake wrapped around her waist and neck will slither up to her headscarf and pull it up. It also requires her to chant to hypnotize people. However, she is unable to hypnotize people who are "too thick" and stupid, as shown when she tries to enthrall Ice King in "The Empress Eyes."
Invisibility: She is able to turn invisible at will, a power that Marceline inherits when she stakes her and claims her soul.
Sound Waves Production: She can produce pink sound waves with the gem in the middle of her headscarf to attack people. However, the effects of the sound waves are unknown as the Empress is overwhelmed by the Ice King's powers before she can harm him and Marceline.
Abilities[]
Glass Harmonica Player: She is seen playing a Glass Harmonica in "Vamps About."
Trivia[]
She is named after the third trump or Major Arcana card in traditional Tarot decks. The Empress card represents beauty, femininity, and abundance. Similarly, Empress is the most feminine vampire in the Vampire King's court and marveled for her beauty by Ice King. She has refined taste and high standards; rather than subsist on Penguins' blood, she demands "the top drawer stuff," AKA human blood. In the reversed position, the card can represent a dependence on others, which is in keeping with her primary power of hypnotizing individuals to do her bidding for her.
Jake describes her as looking like "Black drapes on a cake pop."
The shape and color of the gem in the middle of her headscarf is the same cut as the gem of Rose Quartz, from Steven Universe. The color is a deeper magenta.
