Is Jake dead? Fionna and Cake ep.4
I think that the clear implication that the first four episodes of Fionna & Cake has given us is that yes, by this point in the story, Jake has died.
Our estimation based on Finn's current design is that it's been 15+ years since the finale.
Finn and TV talk about Jake's love for the Fionna and Cake books in the past tense. "He loved that series"
Bearded, depressed Prismo watches video of Finn and Jake, and Prismo tells Fionna and Cake that Ooo is special because it "had [his] favorite guy" (implied Jake)
F&C-era Finn has the Jake chest tattoo that was seen in Obsidian (which has been widely interpreted as an in memoriam gesture). But, importantly: Prismo's flashback at the beginning of F&C ep3 shows Jake and the chest tattoo coexisting simultaneously. So what gives? What do we know?
The circumstances of Jake's death are unknown--just, in Together Again it's confirmed that Jake's death preceded Finn's death, when Finn was an old, old man.
We're going to observe Finn's known designs in an attempt to narrow down at what point in the narrative Jake dies. Between Adventure Time and Obsidian? Between Obsidian and Fionna & Cake? After?
AT finale end credits montage: Finn and Jake welcome ships of humans to Ooo.
Obsidian: bearded but skinny Finn shows up to help out PB. The Jake tattoo is here.
Fionna & Cake flashback: medium beefiness, hair contained
Fionna & Cake modern age: buff boy fullbeard, full-Mertens mane.
And then there's Together Again, death-aged Finn.
With that established, let's return to what very little we know about Jake's death. The first scene of Together Again, features a monster-induced hallucination where Finn loses Jake "again". Curiously, Finn's design in this sequence is his familiar teenaged design from the main series.
So, with teenaged Finn losing Jake "again," should we conclude that Jake died while Finn was teenaged? No. It's a mistake to take Finn's appearance in this sequence at face value. For starters, Finn has both arms here. This is old Finn's nightmare, and in order for him to feel the pain of losing Jake again, it's required that he thinks he's experiencing a time in his life that he and Jake coexisted.
The "Not again" line is preceded by a quick flash to old Finn's actual face and surroundings. Old Finn is the one saying "not again", scrambling to hold onto the dream of hanging out with Jake in his youth. It doesn't mean that Finn was that age when Jake died. His arm is proof this sequence can't be taken at face value. Jake outlived Finn's arm. We know this.
Our next piece of evidence that Jake died before the events of Fionna & Cake is the existence of the Jake tattoo. But, again, Prismo's flashback at the beginning of F&C ep3 shows Jake and the tattoo coexisting.
Soooo........? Is the tattoo not actually a memorial tattoo? I'm pretty sure that events played on Prismo's screen are just straight up supposed to be taken at face value. The scenes are totally divorced from the linear timeline. In ep 4, when Prismo says Ooo is special because it "had" his favorite guy, we see this scene with Jake and teenaged Finn. This is clearly the past.
The evidence would seem to suggest that Jake dies somewhere before Obsidian. Finn got the memorial tattoo. He never appeared again. Everyone talks about him in the past tense.
But there's that one pesky scene on Prismo's screen where he's alive during Finn's 20-somethings, concurrent with the tattoo.
So I will posit a few theories to you:
No body, no death. Jake is alive. He's living in a different universe now and that's why Prismo says Ooo "had" his favorite guy. Now Jake lives in the Crystal Dimension with Lady Rainicorn but can return to Ooo from time to time. Remember: rainicorns are native to the Crystal Dimension. We've even pointed out previously a pretty undisputed fan theory that Crystal Dimension rainicorn pup descendants were featured in Graybles 1000+. It makes sense that Jake would seek a future there. And I don't think it's out of character that Finn would get that tattoo as a sign of devotion to Jake when Jake makes that big decision to set off on his own. Jake will die later.
Jake has become displaced from time and had an unspecified number of adventures in future eras. (i.e. Jake is extracted from the timeline before Obsidian and presumed dead, but then appears sporadically at other times throughout Finn's life, like in the scene shown on Prismo's screen). @uncivilizedelk posted a video analyzing the F&C intro and concludes that time shenanigans are probably incoming.
Theory 3 would be that Jake died via normal means after the scene on Prismo's screen but before the events of Fionna & Cake. And I'm sorry, but I don't buy it.
The whole thing screams red herrings and misdirections. I'd wager Jake appears alive at some point during this series in a large fan-pleaser moment.
Jake's death has been foreshadowed in this series for so long I just cannot imagine they'd let us off easy and have him die offscreen. We'll see it someday. Some way.
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