The Frost King (The Frost King's Realm)
One version of the Frost King was native to Manik in a universe that was often referred to as simply the Frost King's Realm. He was a powerful being, active on a multiversal scale, and a member of the Council.
Description
Physical appearance
The Frost King appeared as a towering humanoid with a “crown” of three spikes protruding from his head, and the impression of a frost-covered beard growing out of his face. In his ghostly form, he was blue and translucent. (PROSE: The Frost King's Treasure, The Winter Quests)
Personality
Despite his great powers, the Frost King was somewhat bumbling, often misjudging situations or causing collateral damage through carelessness while going about his day. He had a childish habit of downplaying or outright denying his culpability in such cases, even when it was patently obvious to all observers, and of trying to put a more self-aggrandising spin on events in his life when he later recounted them. Despite all these flaws, he was ultimately a benevolent and even helpful figure, with genuine love for Madame Tarsa and Joybuzzer, whom he treated as adopted family. (PROSE: The Winter Quests)
Powers and abilities
Being “the Frost King”, the King could manipulate or summon ice and snow at will. He could also teleport himself and others in flurries of ice, or, sometimes, enter places as a single patch of frost that grew back into his full form. As a spirit, he possessed telekinetic powers, although it was unclear if he had possessed those prior to his “death”. His nature as a spirit also had its drawbacks, however, as he could be banished back into the Spirit Realm or trapped in a magical prism. (PROSE: The Winter Quests)
Biography
This version of the Frost King died at an unknown point, though he retained his plentiful supernatural powers in death, making his nature as a spirit a somewhat incidental detail in some respects (though the King himself was especially prone to minimising it). He did, however, begin residing in the Spirit Realm when not willfully visiting a specific place, and could be banished back there by magic-users like Tarsa. This Frost King had the ability to teleport at will in a flurry of ice and snow, including across dimensions. This led this Frost King to cross paths with, and uneasily befriend, Madame Tarsa. She once rescued him after he was trapped by a wraith-wyvern. On another occasion, after the King accidentally destroyed the village of the Miniature Mahoganies during a game of Cosmic Foosball, the Council called Tarsa in to rectify the subsequent crisis. (PROSE: The Winter Quests)
In December 2O19, Prime Universe time, he had been absent from Manik for some time. His very existence, and that of his legendary hoard of miscellaneous treasure, had become a half-forgotten legend to the people of the village next to the mountains. Darius crashed Doctor Curious's Void Ship next to his throne (which was located in a crater at the top of the tallest of the mountains) and adopted it as a base for a while, luring a collection of his enemies there with promises of the King's treasure. He proved to have bitten off more than he could chew when these gathered foes overpowered him and banished him. Dandy-432, who was one of their number, then accidentally broke one of the huge ice-throne's legs and discovered the treasure. Though they didn't deplete it completely, all the treasure-seekers then had their pick of the loot, little suspecting that the ghostly Frost King returned soon after they'd all departed, baffled at what had happened in his absence. (PROSE: The Frost King's Treasure)
In December 2021, he teleported into the Workshop. By then, he was functionally family to Tarsa, with her son Joybuzzer referring to him as “Uncle Frost”). The King suggested that they go out and look for a Christmas tree as a family; though displeased by the King barging into the Workshop uninvited using his magic, she eventually gave in, and the King transported the three of them, plus the robot CS-NA, to another universe where they found a suitable tree. After chopping it down and preparing it for transport, the three got into a playful magic-aided snowball fight, which Tarsa and Joybuzzer won. They then returned to the Workshop to decorate the tree using ornaments crafted by Joybuzzer. These experiences taught CS-NA about the importance of family spirit to a successful Christmas party. He subsequently invited Tarsa and her family to the party he organised in the Homeworld according to the principles he had learned on his travels; there, after handing out presents, the three snuck off to have a friendly sparring match with the Mechanical Sphinx. (PROSE: The Winter Quests)
Behind the scenes
The term of “Frost King” is sometimes used for the folkloric figure of Jack Frost. In L. Frank Baum's public domain 1902 children's book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, the Frost King was a distinct, otherwise-unnamed figure, and the father of the younger and more mischievous Jack Frost.
The version of the Frost King used in The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids in 2019's The Frost King's Treasure and later used as a more prominent character in further stories, was clearly distinct from popular conceptions of Jack Frost, and given the use of Baum's Land of Oz in the Cupids series starting in PROSE: The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids in Oz, it could be assumed that he is a version of Baum's Frost King, although likely not from the same continuity as the more Baum-compliant Oz seen in the aforementioned later explicit crossovers.
