World of Monkey Island

The Monkey Island series takes place in a fictional world supposedly located deep within the Caribbean Sea and set roughly during the Golden Age of Piracy, some time in the late 17th century. The current article describes in-game elements present in one or more of the series' five main installments.

Contents

Locations

Monkey & Dinky Island

Tri-Island Area

The Tri-Island Area appears in the first four Monkey Island installments. It consists of a dozen of small to mid-sized islands, three of which ("Mêlée", "Booty", and "Plunder") are ruled by Governor Marley, four ("Phatt", "Blood", "Skull" and "Jambalaya") are ruled by some other authority, while the final two ("Scabb" and "Lucre") are independent, presenting their own forms of government. "Spittle" and "Pinchpenny" are the only known islands within the Tri-Island Area not to be visited in-game.

Gulf of Melange

The Gulf of Melange is the primary island archipelago appearing only in Tales of Monkey Island. It is the first group of islands—besides Monkey Island and Dinky Island—outside the Tri-Island Area to be featured in-game.

Common elements

Characters

Primary characters

There are three primary characters in Monkey Island: Guybrush Threepwood, Elaine Marley and Captain LeChuck. They define the plot of every game and are tightly related to each other: both LeChuck and Guybrush are in love with Elaine, but she only shows feelings for Guybrush, which creates a love triangle causing all three of them to live various adventures.

Guybrush Threepwood

Main article: Guybrush Threepwood

Guybrush Threepwood is the protagonist of all five games. On a quest to become a pirate, he encounters the love of his life, Elaine Marley, and repeatedly fends off the evil LeChuck.

Elaine Marley

Main article: Elaine Marley

Elaine Marley is the heroine and primary foil of the series as the object of Guybrush and LeChuck's affection. Later marries Guybrush

LeChuck

Main article: LeChuck

LeChuck is the main villain of the series, an undead pirate who takes on different forms throughout the series. He is intent on marrying Elaine and gaining ultimate voodoo power to assume control over the seas.

Secondary characters

Secondary characters are those recognized as the series' trademark, most of them appearing in every installment. They are not so tightly related to the plot, but often guide Guybrush or help him achieve his in-game goal (whether willingly or not).

Herman Toothrot

Herman Toothrot (Voiced by Wally Wingert) is an old, ragged castaway hermit residing on Monkey Island from the first up to the fourth installment. He suffers from a partial memory loss and, possibly, severe dementia. Herman accepted his new life on the island and, instead of trying to escape, enjoys his solitude by meditating and often plays mind games with those whom he encounters.

In Secret of Monkey Island, Herman tells Guybrush that about twenty years ago he and his crew mate set sail to find the "secret" of Monkey Island, but got stranded on the island with no means to escape. After his mate died, Herman spent years in vain await of rescue, arguing with Monkey Island's resident tribe of cannibals, and surprisingly, building his own ship (which he couldn't sail all by himself).

In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Herman resides on Dinky Island in a hammock shack and meditates about life philosophy.

The character had no "live" role in The Curse of Monkey Island other than cameoing as a "dynamo-monkilectric" roller coaster diorama figure at LeChuck's Carnival of the Damned.

Herman returns for the last time in the series in Escape from Monkey Island. Still suffering from severe amnesia, he gradually begins to remember his past with help from Guybrush. His life story, however, turns out different than what was presented in Secret: Herman remembers being in fact Horatio Torquemada Marley, the former governor of the Tri-Island area and Elaine's grandfather (whom the name "Herman Toothrot" borrowed "H.T." initials from), who was en route to uncover the Ultimate Insult before the artifact turns into the evil hands of Ozzie Mandrill. Mandrill, regrettably, had beaten Marley in their race (with LeChuck's help) and was the first to possess the Insult, sending Marley's ship and crew into a whirlpool at the same time. Marley alone survived the wreck, but was marooned on Monkey Island ever since with no memory of these events.

This story was largely criticized by the fan community as being inconsistent with the main storyline of events presented in LeChuck's Revenge. According to it, LeChuck and Horatio were both looking for the treasure of Big Whoop, each of them setting sail to find it about three years ago. LeChuck was the first to reach Big Whoop and stepped in, turning himself undead. Marley tried to stop him, but failed, and disposed of the map to Big Whoop instead, ripping it to four pieces, one of which he kept for himself. When LeChuck confronted the governor in his undead form, he offered him life in exchange for the map piece, but double-crossed him instead and sent Marley's ship into the whirlpool. LeChuck then killed the crew members one by one in search for the other pieces.

Stan

Smilin' Stan S. Stanman, or simply Stan, is a fast-talking, fast-moving salesman who always waves his arms as he speaks. Stan appears in every installment and is depicted as a huckster running different independent marketing businesses, often with a dubious origin and the only purpose of confusing his buyers. Stan's trademark appearance includes black tap dance loafers, a bluish-purple checked jacket (which also appears grayish-black in LeChuck's Revenge) and a white Mexican sombrero. His method of overwhelming potential customers usually consists of interrupting them by shouting long phrases filled with commercial terms that sometimes even Stan himself doesn't know the meaning of. He also often addresses Guybrush as "kid" or "kiddo" and never admits cheating with his customers.

Stan's jacket features a pattern that stays at the same place (in reference to the background) while he moves. Originally this was due to technical limitations but it has since been continued in later games, becoming a source of in-game jokes as well as a running gag. In Tales, this pattern even becomes one of the plot elements. In the special edition re-release of Monkey Island, Stan's jacket is a neatly painted purple jacket in the same style as the rest of the artwork, but thin, straight, teal lines remniscent of a video card malfunction are overlaid.

Stan was initially conceived as a parody of Southern American car sellers and first appeared as a used boat salesman on Mêlée Island in The Secret of Monkey Island, who sells Guybrush a ship he sails to Monkey Island on. Stan's past was uncertainly explained at the moment and never really elaborated since in the other installments. Near the end of the game, LeChuck arrives at the harbor and punches Stan across the Caribbean for trying to sell him a ship.

Turning up again in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge as the proprietor of "Previously Owned Coffins" shop on Booty Island, Stan explains his choice of business as having no negative consequences since dead customers are unable to come back and complain. In between the first and second games, he also operated "Stan's Previously-owned Restaurant Supplies", and sold an ineffective flame-retardant apron to Rapp Scallion, who burned to death in a flash fire staged by LeChuck. In the course of the second game, Guybrush traps Stan inside one of his own coffins by convincing him to lie down in it as to prove that it has enough room.

Stan ends up in a crypt on Blood Island and manages to survive by feeding on the remains of a previous corpse until Guybrush frees him in The Curse of Monkey Island about three months later (as indicated in Tales of Monkey Island). Supposedly given "a new lease on life", Stan immediately begins selling death insurance (which is a play on life insurance explained by Stan as "making sure that if you are dead, you stay dead") from his new office in the crypt. Stan then explains the death insurance policy in the following terms: "When you die, whoever holds that policy gets a lot of money." Guybrush then scams Stan once again by purchasing a policy in his name, faking his own death afterward, and winding up collecting a large payout upon his return, much to Stan's disappointment.

Guybrush's scam convinces Stan to get out of the insurance industry and he resurfaces once more in Escape from Monkey Island as the owner of an emporium selling timeshared real estate on Jambalaya Island to all those who fall asleep during his three-hour long campaign presentations. Guybrush, however, manages to stay awake during the whole speech, forcing Stan to provide him with financial damage coverage consisting of a meal voucher at a restaurant on the island.

In Tales of Monkey Island, Stan appears as the prosecuting lawyer as the Pirate Court places Guybrush on trial for various crimes, all of which carry the death penalty. Stan claims to have attended law school between "Escape" and "Tales", which he funded by being a part time exotic dancer. He also sets up a stall selling "crime of the century" novelty items depicting himself and his case victims: Guybrush, the Voodoo Lady and LeChuck.

The voice of Stan was provided by Patrick Pinney in Curse and the Special Editions of the first two games, Pat Fraley in Escape, and Gavin Hammon in Tales.

Voodoo Lady

The Voodoo Lady appears in all five games as Guybrush's guide. The proprietor of the voodoo shop chain International House of Mojo, she is a voodoo priestess. She is voiced by Leilani Jones Wilmore in all of the games except for Tales of Monkey Island, where Alison Ewing had the role instead. The Voodoo Lady's role in The Secret of Monkey Island is to provide Guybrush with a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle on Mêlée Island and to predict Guybrush's future, which involves sailing to Monkey Island, entering a giant monkey, and either being helped or eaten by the Monkey Island cannibals. In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, she opens a voodoo shop in a swamp on Scabb Island. In addition to providing much helpful information, she creates a voodoo doll of Largo LaGrande and gives Guybrush a book on the legend of Big Whoop.

By The Curse of Monkey Island, the Voodoo Lady has moved to Plunder Island, setting up another shop in a ship half-sunk in a swamp and spends time playing with "the Voodoo Kids". The Voodoo Lady helps explain some of the plot between the second and third games, and tells Guybrush how to lift a curse placed on Elaine by a cursed diamond engagement ring, directing him to Blood Island to do so. In Escape from Monkey Island, she returns to Mêlée Island. She informs Guybrush about the "Ultimate Insult", a powerful and dangerous voodoo talisman, and helps him find its components. In that game it is revealed that the Voodoo Lady uses her business to sell voodoo products which, do to the issues in that game, she is low on. The Voodoo Lady emerges again in Tales of Monkey Island, in which she is an informant for a local newspaper on Flotsam Island, using her powers to get stories from the other islands, as Flotsam's winds stop ships from leaving. She tells Guybrush how to cure the voodoo pox that has afflicted his hand. In the penultimate chapter of the ToMI storyline LeChuck exhibits a journal, proving that the Voodoo Lady has masterminded every single event in the Caribbean since The Secret of Monkey Island, thus contributing to unleash LeChuck's menace on the world. Voodoo Lady doesn't deny this, hinting at deeper motivations beneath her seemingly malevolent actions. Guybrush and Elaine lose their trust in the Voodoo Lady and after killing the again-evil LeChuck, they believe they are free from the endless loop of killing LeChuck. However, the Voodoo Lady pays dead pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay for giving her LeChuck's remains by returning her the mortal world. It is suggested that the Voodoo Lady plans to continue the cycle.

Both Guybrush and LeChuck have noted that no one knows the Voodoo Lady's name. When confronted, she states that it is not important, although later she admits that names have power. Guybrush asks if his name has power, which she answers with "Sure, Why not?"

In Tales of Monkey Island, it is revealed that the Voodoo Lady once had a boyfriend named Coronado De Cava who was a world explorer, who searched for La Esponja Grande on her behalf.

Ancillary characters

References

  1. ^ http://miwiki.net/images/WallpaperMI4-04_640x480.jpg
  2. ^ "The SCUMM Bar". http://www.scummbar.com/games/index.php?game=2&sub=info&todo=1. 
  3. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7DheaM4B9c

External links

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