Funny how these can sound like silly little jokes. Fionna basically dismisses them as idle chatter. But WE know these are all references to what these folks are in the 'original' F&C Timeline/in Ooo. They are just as important as Fionna’s dreams (if not more cause as far as we can tell they are 100% accurate, without Fionna's Sailor Moon Filter on everything).
Everyone in this universe is haunted by memories of their original, magical selves.
fionna's world being represented by a dandelion makes so much sense ... they're weeds. yet people make wishes through them, changing their whole meaning from something meant to be destroyed to something hopeful.
dandelions are also resilient and it makes sense that something associated with them would. you know. perservere despite the destruction caused by the scarab.
but ultimately i think what REALLY made me tear up over this is that dandelions are really boring plants. when you're a kid you blow on them and make your wish but they're not eyecatching or anything but still, fionna's final wish was for her old world to still exist as it was when she left it (> plain and simple. boring even).
like the moment she realized she would lose her friends, and that her friends might forget each other if the world got its magic back, she immediately decided she didn't want it and I think that ties back to the dandelion metaphor so well... like, do you really need magic to be real to find it everywhere? or can you turn something boring into something magical?
hey now that we’ve gotten content of them again for the first time in a decade, everyone needs to rewatch marshall lee and lumpy space prince’s scene in s8e9