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(continued from Tawm's thread.)

It's occurred to me that the three main characters of Monkey Island (Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck) have changed quite substantially over the course of the series - but Guybrush's character has changed the most. Observe:

1. Monkey Island 1: The Secret of Monkey Island.
a. Guybrush is an innocent who matures very little over the course of the game. He is almost child-like in his infatuation with Elaine. Despite having to negotiate with tough salesmen, fight (presumably) tough pirates, and survive in harsh environments (especially the jungle), Guybrush has essentially a child-like frame of mind about it all.
b. Elaine is an enigma to start with. While she is tough-as-boots, her kidnapping (which is quite out of character, given that we later learn that she really CAN take care of herself - and against LeChuck, too!) must happen because it drives the plot. However, she too changes very little during the game.
c. LeChuck, of course, is the villain of the piece. This game sets him up - he is cunning, ruthless, bloodthirsty (at times) and evil - but somewhat gullible.

2. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.
a. An unfortunate development. Guybrush has lost his innocence, but has become rather bratty and pompous. He also does some revolting and (sometimes) unethical things, like getting the chef fired, stealing Wally's eyepiece etc. From a child, Guybrush has become a teenager - and an obnoxious one, at that.
b. Elaine stays largely out of this one. Given Guybrush's personality, I don't blame her.
c. LeChuck somehow comes back into the plot - as, of course, he must. Given the way that Guybrush has been behaving, he truly deserves (metaphorically) a right old punishment - which LeChuck (almost) delivers. This has to be the darkest and most evil death that LeChuck has ever devised for Guybrush (which is why is so fun!). However, as a character, LeChuck changes very little.

3. Monkey Island 3: The Curse of Monkey Island.
a. Ron Gilbert's departure seems to have changed things quite a lot. Guybrush seems to have matured a little, at least psychologically. He seems to have gained a little wisdom and consideration for others, which is a plus. Also, no more pompous Guybrush - yay! He is also literate now, or at least keeps a diary.
b. Elaine stay on the sidelines for most of this one (again) - but this time, she's forced to. She has apparently come to terms with her messy love life - given the choice between a maturing (if somewhat child-like and impulsive) wannabe pirate, and continually-returning-from-the-dead demon from heck, who can blame her for choosing Guybrush?
c. LeChuck is, if anything, even more bloodthirsty and evil - although his cunning is possibly turned down a little. Seriously, an amusement park? No wonder that in MI4, Murray says that LeChuck was "embarrassed by it all".

4. Monkey Island 4: Escape from Monkey Island.
a. After the honeymoon, Guybrush is at Elaine's beck-and-call - dare I say, slightly henpecked? He still strikes me as a little immature; however, after landing on Monkey Island (again), he shows even more maturity, determination and resolve than before. Quite possibly, the pep talk from "Herman Toothrot" helps.
b. After spending two games on the sidelines, Elaine understandably wants to get back into the driving seat - which she does to start with. However, she is continually frustrated by you-know-who and his Aussie partner...
c. For the first time, LeChuck seems to have appreciated the advantages of subtlety and misdirection (thanks to the aforementioned Aussie!). He is still as bloodthirsty as ever (and, in fact, even alludes to this in the cinematic that closes Act III: "Are you sure I can't kill him (Guybrush -Ed.) yet?") His frustration obviously boils over in the end, though - and I'm still not sure why he chose to blow up like that during the final Monkey Kombat. Any ideas?

(Oh, and by the way - I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that the "Monkey Kombat" thing was silly and far too long)...

5. Tales of Monkey Island.
a. Guybrush, possibly thanks to Elaine's influence, seems to have matured quite a bit. He is no longer as impulsive as he used to be, nor is he quite so suggestible. In fact, he manages to win over both Morgan Le Flay and Captain Winslow to his side. He is also incredibly loyal - sometimes too loyal, perhaps? Possibly an idea for the future...
b. Elaine, if anything, is tougher and smarter. I assume this has to happen, so that she wouldn't be shown up by Guybrush! However, it's quite obvious that this is no longer a competition between them - they're both genuinely in love (d'awwwww... ). Where to next for these two, I wonder? Ron Gilbert has suggested that he might like a finger in that pie...
c. Finally, LeChuck... I'm not quite sure how he is back, to be honest, given the ending of MI4! I thought he blew up into smithereens? But you can't keep a good villain down, I guess. How will he be brought back next time? Or will Morgan become the villain next time? Or a temptress/love interest for Guybrush?

Stay tuned - same Monkey time, same Monkey channel...! Any thoughts?

Ah, but you miss the point of his bad behavior in MI2. He has achieved his goal: he wanted to be a pirate. However, his pursuit of being a pirate is what causes Guybrush's downfall in this one. The opening shot of the game on its own is his whole character arc in a nutshell - he chose greed over love, and now he's dangling from a cliff holding onto a treasure chest while his ex is biding her time saving him.

COMI took a different approach because a different writing team took over. In Ron Gilbert's universe, Guybrush and Elaine never marry, so the official canon went slightly off-tangent. If anything, COMI is where Guybrush is more of a humbler pirate. But not so much considering his first puzzle is "How do I make Wally cry?" So there's no discernible arc in this game other than "and then he got married".

I thought EFMI was a little more clever than people give it credit for. Guybrush has gotten all the pirate hen-pecked (good word for it!) out of him, and the game is an up-and-down process of finding himself again. It could even be a metaphor for a mid-life crisis. It's all summed up nicely when Elaine asks Guybrush for a favor, and he excitedly anticipates a pirate quest only to find out it's "go talk to my lawyers".

"Tales of Monkey Island" had an excellent approach by asking what would happen if you took these characters out of their respective roles. What if Guybrush meets someone else? What if Elaine ends up with LeChuck? What if LeChuck isn't evil anymore? It also dared to have Guybrush explore the darker side of being a pirate since there were a few legitimate "this isn't fun and games anymore" moments. He pays for all his mistakes in this one, and I'd love to see where TOMI2 (fingers crossed!) takes it now.

Ahh... so that's why Guybrush ends up like that in MI2. Hmm... so does that mean that LeChuck's amusement park in MI3 (and Guybrush's marriage to Elaine) was never meant to exist? If so, then the ending of MI2 is ambiguous: we can see kiddie-Guybrush and kiddie-Chuckie/LeChuck plus parents at the amusement park, and they're off to ride the Madly Rotating Buccaneer - obviously this is a riff on Disneyland. Meanwhile, Elaine thinks "I wonder what's keeping Guybrush? I hope LeChuck didn't cast some nasty voodoo spell on him..." So far, so clear. However, we then see LeChuck/Chuckie give a nasty grin, and lightning flashes from his eyes (???) - does this mean that the whole thing is part of his dastardly plan (as per MI3), or that he plans to return to the Monkey Island world, while leaving Guybrush as a child in the amusement park...? It's hard to tell. Did Ron Gilbert ever mean to return to this, or was this where the series was meant to finish (at least according to Ron)?

Hmm... on reflection, I agree that there's very little character arc in COMI (other than Guybrush's new-found literacy, and LeChuck's increasing insanity). Perhaps it was meant as a way to introduce Murray's crusade of eeeevil? On the plus side, we get Murray, and also one of Kay Kuter's last appearances in LucasArts games (as the voice of Griswold Goodsoup - he has a wonderfully distinctive voice!)

I agree that EFMI was more clever than it's given credit for. I found the first half of the game - the lawyers and resulting hoop-la, the trip to the various islands plus diving competition, etc. - pretty hilarious. Since I have a background in Russian, I also enjoyed the First Church of LeChuck; Father Rasputin is very funny. "Yes, tovarisch?" Unfortunately, the Monkey Kombat part is very slow; I also didn't particularly like the lava rides (trying to get to the right spot) and the "throwing the rocks into the right channels" puzzle (in order to get the rock to hit the banana tree). Both are timer-puzzles, which I'm not too good at. *shrug*

As for the future... yes, fingers crossed for TOMI2... especially considering the ending of TOMI. Here's hoping...!