Jake the Dog

Jake (full title: Jake the Dog), the deuteragonist of Adventure Time, is a dog/shape-shifter hybrid, referred to by others as a "magical dog", and Finn's constant companion, best friend, and adoptive brother. He is voiced by John DiMaggio. Jake has a unique set of abilities called Stretchy Powers that allow him to manipulate the shape and size of his body, coming in handy on innumerable occasions throughout his and Finn's adventures. Jake was 28 years old at his debut in "magical dog years," and ages throughout the series, though he rarely acts mature. It is inferred that magical dogs have a lifespan similar to Humans, as demonstrated by an aged Jake in "Dungeon Train". Then again, how exactly magical dog years correlate to human years remains to be seen, although both Finn and Jake were shown to be babies around the same time, showing that they age slightly faster, however, his age as of "Joshua and Margaret Investigations" suggests that it slows down to the rate of human's aging at some point. Jake is currently in a relationship with Lady Rainicorn, and, by "Jake the Dad," they are the parents of five Rainicorn-dog hybrids.

Appearance
Jake can morph into all sorts of fantastic shapes with his powers, but typically takes the form of an average sized yellow-orange bulldog. As revealed in "Donny", he wears transparent pants made of spider webs spun by pixies. In "What Was Missing", he borrows the pair of pants that Marceline wore in "It Came from the Nightosphere". In the animated short, he looked very similar to how he does now, but his eyes stayed the same throughout the episode, and his hands had no fingers except for when he was meditating.

Due to a curse placed upon him by a wizard some point before the series began, his innards emit a vanilla odor, as stated by him in "The Silent King".

Abilities
Jake's Stretchy Powers enable him to modify the size, shape, and dimensions of every part of his body. Not only can he stretch and contort himself into highly specific forms, but he can also rearrange his internal organs, bones, and teeth. In "Evicted!", he was able to shrink and move his internal organs and blood into his left thumb. Also in "Jake vs. Me-Mow", he enlarged his liver fifty-one times a dog his size, preventing him from succumbing to Me-Mow's poison. One frequent use of his powers is Key Hand, which he uses to pick locks. He has also used his arm as a bow able to accurately shoot arrows at a short distance.

Although he lacks the zeal for fighting that Finn possesses, Jake is a capable fighter. What he lacks in Finn's talent for swordsmanship, he makes up for in toughness and magical brawn. He is a capable hand to hand fighter, and can transform his limbs into weapons. He can also stretch to entangle enemies, or grow to gain a height and weight advantage. His shapeshifting can grant him supernatural strength, allowing him to simply overpower his enemies. However, Pendleton Ward has said in an interview that Jake uses his powers lazily and does not know their full extent, often hindering Jake's effectiveness in combat. Despite stating outright that he's multiple times stronger than Finn, Jake often leaves the brawling to his adoptive brother.

As shown in "Mystery Train", Jake is also able to stretch himself to "create" an entirely new person, as long as they remain connected to him. In "You Made Me," he is shown to be able to move objects through his body freely when he lets Princess Bubblegum jump into his mouth and then pushes her up through his back. Jake can be stretched by force as seen in "Ocean of Fear", when Finn stretched Jake's ears to avoid making contact with the ocean and in "Beautopia" when forced into a paddle. Jake's powers are sometimes used against his will, as in "Power Animal" where Jake's stomach took the shape of a fist and punched him so that he would wake up and eat.

Jake's stretching ability is subject to the principle of conservation of mass as seen in "The Limit". However, the ratio at which he retains mass is different than what applies to other masses in Ooo. It is revealed that while Jake can stretch his body to incredible lengths, his body could be pulled so long that it becomes dangerously thin. Once his mass is distributed along a certain length of his body, it becomes difficult for him to support himself; at one point, Jake was forced to walk along the ground. If he were to stretch beyond his absolute limit, it is presumed that he would completely thin out and die.

Without his magical powers, Jake is rather weak and can barely even run, as seen in the episode "The Witch's Garden". In the same episode, Jake claims to have obtained his powers by rolling around in a magical mud puddle as a puppy, but in an interview Pendleton Ward stated that this is not how Jake got his powers, he just could not remember. It is likely that Jake's amorphous powers come from the same creature that bit his father's head in "Joshua and Margaret Investigations," though this is unconfirmed.

Being a magical dog, Jake has an acute sense of smell, as he can apparently smell the precise location of an object miles away. In "The Chamber of Frozen Blades" he stated that his sense of smell is "1,000 times better" than Finn's, although compared to normal dogs this is a low estimate, suggesting that he was either just guessing, or his sense of smell is similar to that of an average dog. He also claimed in "The Enchiridion" that he could not only smell the book, but also that it was in a room inside of a castle.

He also owns a sword, a shield and an axe but seldom uses them in combat. In "Mystery Train," when disguised as the Conductor, he briefly uses a sword to fight Finn, who defeats him effortlessly. During the same time, he also displays a prowess for skateboarding, as he performs jumps, ollies, and grinds, several atop a moving train.

Jake also has a supernaturally powerful imagination (on the verge of having psychic powers) as seen in "Rainy Day Daydream". Anything he imagines becomes reality; however, only he can see his own creations.

Skills & Hobbies
Jake is a proficient dancer, and at one point even showing a dancing bug "how it's done."

Jake also claims to be very proficient at the board game Card Wars. He has a very good understanding of the game, since he was able to explain all of the rules to Finn. However, Finn was able to nearly beat him easily (he purposefully lost to spare Jake's feelings).

In "Freak City," Jake claims he can sense when Finn is about to cry, saying "it's like a mother-daughter thing." Apparently, Jake can also calm Finn down with his saliva.

Jake can also speak Korean, which he uses to communicate with Lady Rainicorn. In "Her Parents," he writes a note to Lady's mother and father using Hangul, the Korean writing system, and greets them speaking the formal Korean language.

In "Power Animal," Jake's body is filled with the energy of "a thousand partying demons," as a catch from his wish granted by the Party God. As a result, a few temporary powers were granted to him, such as the ability to fly (although, this might not have been flight, but merely a sort of homing beacon to find Finn, because Jake did not appear to have any control over his direction). In receiving these powers, his body began to glow, and his eyes became stars flashing multiple colors.

In "The Chamber of Frozen Blades," Jake and Finn both gain powers similar to the Ice King by reading the Ice Ninja Manual, but lose their powers after the episode is over, as they did not have enough time to commit the incantations and hand positions to memory.

In "The New Frontier", Jake says that he will probably live another hundred years suggesting that his magical powers also make it so Jake will live much longer than the average dog.

In "Dad's Dungeon", Jake farts on the Fruit Witches while climbing away from them (holding Finn) causing the witches to fall down presumably due to the stench.

In "Blood Under the Skin", Jake is shown to be able to easily understand poems by feeling it.

Barking does not come naturally as seen in "Up a Tree". However, this conflicts with occasions during "Gut Grinder" where he barks at citizens of the town for calling him cute.

As shown in "The Great Bird Man", Jake knows how to read Braille, which was taught to him by his ex (who was revealed to be Moniker who debuted in Daddy-Daughter Card Wars.

Jake has also shown to be a skilled thief as revealed in the episode "One Last Job", having stole the Baker's Shard, one of the most highly protected jewels in the Candy Kingdom.

Jake also lacks the ability to do math. In many episodes it is shown that he can barely even count to ten.

At various points in the series Jake has been shown to be a very proficient chef who regularly experiments with new techniques and dishes.

Personality and character traits
Jake is generally laid-back and tends not to worry about things. He relies heavily on his powers (or Finn) to get him out of any dangerous predicament. While he often cracks jokes at serious times, Jake always has a lecture or a song to cheer Finn up if he is feeling disheartened. Acting as Finn's world-wise mentor, Jake is always willing to give input and advice about a situation, but his suggestions are usually inconsistent, ranging from encouraging and helpful suggestions to ridiculous nonsense. He can be somewhat irresponsible at times, frequently leaving Finn to fight most of a battle on his own, but he always pulls through when he is needed most.

Jake may be dyslexic, as evidenced by the fact that he writes backwards, as shown on his note to Finn in "Storytelling". However, Finn also writes backwards in several episodes, indicating that this may be the result of Joshua and Margaret's parenting style or a common mistake in the Land of Ooo. Jake is easily persuaded into doing dangerous and irresponsible things, as in "The Limit" when he states that he will do anything if someone says his name three times.

Jake loves to eat. He likes junk food, especially pie, burgers, and ice cream, but he has stated in "Slumber Party Panic" that eating chocolate or fudge would probably kill him, much like a normal dog. He is not afraid to try new foods (as seen in "Her Parents") and invents many of his own foods. There is evidence of his ability to cook; he makes Korean food for Finn at the beginning of "Apple Thief", and he cooked all the food that he used to make the Everything Burrito. He made coffee in "Beautopia", bacon pancakes in "Burning Low" and also scrambled eggs in "Frost & Fire". He used his cooking skills to create an incredible sandwich in "Time Sandwich" that contained several unusual and original ingredients such as lobster soul and a bird from the kitchen window.

Jake also possesses symptoms of ADD. He can literally forget about a conversation in a moment, and start doing something completely unrelated, such as putting an ice cream cone in a toaster. This is shown in "Power Animal" when he gets continually distracted by his surroundings while looking for Finn. Cinnamon Bun summarizes it quite nicely, saying, "Jake, you don't really focus at all." This is also shown in "Burning Low," when he falls asleep twice: once when Princess Bubblegum is trying to explain why Finn cannot be with Flame Princess, and again when Finn tries to get poetry ideas from him.

Jake can be rather fickle at times. A prime example of this is in "The Duke", when he convinces Finn to blame the Duke of Nuts for turning Princess Bubblegum green and bald, but later spends the rest of the episode trying to convince Finn to confess that he did it. In "Freak City", he spends most of the episode trying to convince Finn to remain a "good-smelling" foot, and uncharacteristically tells Finn to give up hope. This behavior is somewhat explained later by his confession that he kind of always wanted to be a foot.

At times, Jake is shown to have somewhat of a dark side. Throughout the series, Jake makes some questionable comments and actions that come off as evil or selfish, such as in the episode "My Two Favorite People", when he laughs evilly. Furthermore, in "Susan Strong", he says "We can rule them like gods. Angry gods." Another example of Jake's darker side is seen in the episode "Apple Thief," when he mentions that he used to "[steal] old ladies' purses" and "hock stolen bikes." Jake also acts questionably in "Conquest of Cuteness", when he suggests squishing all the cute people instead of helping them feel better, like Finn wanted to do. In "Morituri Te Salutamus", Jake shouts at the cute animals to go away after saving them. Jake has a tendency to steal items without realizing what he is doing, as seen in the episodes "The Witch's Garden" and "City of Thieves". He also steals valuables from the graveyard in "Ghost Princess", but his excuse was that he "didn't know it was wrong." This could be a result of his criminal past. In the episode "Hot to the Touch", when Finn and Jake are flying in the robot suits Neptr made, Jake says "I feel like I could touch the heavens, and sock angels."

Jake is generally easy-going, but certain things have been known to set him off. In "Goliad", Jake yelled and barked at the children when they would not calm down. He is also shown to take some games very seriously, such as Card Wars and Kompy's Kastle. In "Card Wars" Jake becomes visibly upset when Finn starts to beat him, and BMO reveals that when it won against Jake before, he would not talk to BMO for a month. In "Who Would Win" Finn breaks Jake's portable Kompy's Kastle game (which Jake has to play every day in order to maintain his rank) and Jake responds by physically attacking Finn. Jake is not afraid of death as shown in "The New Frontier."

It is possible that Jake has a particular phobia of intruders, and or interlopers. As in the episodes: "Conquest of Cuteness", "Evicted!", and in "Earth & Water", when he perceives that someone has entered their house without permission, and remains unseen, he is quite petrified with fear; rushing to Finn and clinging to him, or simply screaming and falling prone on the ground. This could imply that he is not a natural guard dog, either by nature or by nurture; despite his career path of adventuring, perhaps preferring the up-front adversity.

He is a firm believer in fate and destiny. Jake also believes in Grob Gob Glob Grod and Glob World. He is also not very willing to do things that require effort sometimes as shown in "The Witch's Garden" when he is unwilling to run and save Finn from Gary. His lack of effort is also shown in "Who Would Win" when he states that he would rather play Kompy's Kastle than train. Jake's firm belief in determinism is underpinned, or at least is indicative, of a possible commitment to the philosophical creed of stoicism. In the episode "Puhoy" Jake consoles Finn's love induced melancholy by suggesting he 'focus on what's real' as opposed to "getting all hung up on imaginary problems." To explain this he throws his favorite cup out the window in order to make it "not real" so he does not care about it anymore. This is a direct reference to the third aphorism of stoic philosopher Epictetus' Enchiridion (135AD), which in turn may be the influence on the Enchiridion that was destroyed by the Lich. However, later that episode he fishes the cup out so his belief in determinism is somewhat inconsistent.

Jake also seems to like boots, as seen in "City of Thieves" Jake steals boots from a store, and also in "Incendium" when he goes out to find Finn a new love interest, he puts on a pair of boots, meaning that Jake likes wearing boots sometimes. He has also been known to have a great love for sandwiches as seen in "Jake the Dog", "The Limit", and "Dungeon". Jake the Dog and Dungeon being more prominent seeing as how he was willing to waste his only wish for a sandwich, and choose a sandwich as a weapon, respectively.