Simon's 'reformation', or more accurately, his mental health recovery arc is genuinely well done at many points, and does a lovely job of showing the value that a good support system can have for those who are going through mental health struggles. I will note that as representation of mentally ill people Simon and Betty do both absolutely have many positives. He is initially portrayed as an 'evil wizard who kidnaps princess' in an over the top and silly sort of way, but as the show starts to subvert this trope through developing his character and treating his mental health issues more seriously, it also means that you can't brush off the 'kidnapping people' part of his character as him being a silly villain anymore, and thus you have to treat it more seriously! His main motivation for his excessive pursuing of romance is also directly related to his backstory, which strongly features addiction and consists of allegories to dementia and alcoholism. His impulsivity, lack of social skills, poor memory, mood swings, and difficulties communicating, among many other things directly contribute to his treatment of women. Especially since the show does not separate these behaviors from his mental health issues, but in fact directly links them. He is never depicted as (or implied to be) committing acts of sexual violence, and his behavior towards women is usually framed as silly and not actually threatening, but it's still not a nice depiction of mentally ill people. Much more uncomfortably though, he stalks and kidnaps women in attempts to romantically pursue them. As for specific things he does, he lashes out and has violent outbursts when upset, and attacks the main characters at multiple points. Simon is rarely depicted as being a genuine threat, he is powerful but easily 'defeated'.

But she also has far less screen time and is (properly) introduced much later in the series, while Simon is introduced within the first few episodes.

Simon in particular shows prominent symptoms of multiple specific disorders - mostly, and probably intentionally, depression (could be either MDD or bipolar), dementia, addiction (often specifically paralleling alcoholism), and bulimia, but to a lesser extent (likely unintentionally) autism.īoth of these characters are depicted sympathetically (though Simon is not initially), but both also play roles as antagonists.īetty is depicted as being much more dangerous - she even becomes the final antagonist of the series (though she is still kept in a sympathetic light). The characters Simon (Ice King) and Betty are both blatantly depicted as being mentally ill.

Fern voice actor adventure time