How Each Game Relates to the Amusement Park (Theory)

[demone]

Ever since the confirmation that the original Secret was that Guybrush was indeed indulging in his fantasies within a massive pirate-themed amusement park, my mind has gone wild with viewing each game in this context. I'll admit, I've never done this prior to Return coming out because I wasn't that big a fan of that being the Secret, but now with how Return has handled it, I've grown to love it. With that being, I thought I would create a thread with some of my own thoughts and headcanon thrown into the mix with regards to how each game's narratives fit into the Secret of Guybrush visiting and amusement park.

 

The Secret of Monkey Island

Guybrush, having grown up in an orphanage after his parents abandoned him (at least in his mind) and bullied by his peers for his name, escapes reality to indulge in a fantasy world with a massive pirate-themed amusement park. He starts with the Melee Island park, where he completes carnival games to become a pirate, winning T-Shirts and other prizes. He is greeted by the park owner, Stan, at one point, though he finds him a bit sleazy and only obsessed with the profits the park brings in for him. Regardless, Guybrush enjoys meeting new kids, who despite finding his name weird, embrace him rather than bully him. He meets the park's fortune teller, the Voodoo Lady, who creates the scenarios for the park and guides where visitors can go for adventure.

 

Guybrush begins making genuine friends and is in awe of the park, the attractions and especially the animatronics. However, there is one that genuinely disturbs him and that is the animatronic of LeChuck, the park's most iconic villain, inspired by the most bloodthirsty and notorious pirates of all time. An amalgamation of the worst of the worst and something that even begins to contaminate the fun fantasy that Guybrush was having up until that point. However, he also meets Elaine, another park visitor, and the pair really hit it off. Guybrush's fantasies begin taking control as his love for Elaine collide with absolute fear of LeChuck and thus, we have the basis for the first game's narrative. Guybrush and Elaine become good friends, though Guybrush's newfound ego of having friends and believing himself to some sort of hero eventually put a strain on it.

 

LeChuck's Revenge

Guybrush's ego cause Elaine and him to have a falling out. Guybrush's reality begins to break down with his imagination slowly fading throughout the game, noticing more of the real world in his fantasy. To distract himself from these feelings, he embarks on one of the park's most iconic prizes, Big Whoop, going through the extensive park attractions to get the map pieces and win the prize, which turns out to be an E-Ticket at the Dinky Island park. However, Guybrush's feelings of loneliness begins to seep back in. At one point, he hits his head and has a disturbing dream indicative of his feelings of his parents. When he needed them the most, they abandon him to the mercy of LeChuck, inspired by the animatronic, but has now become a symbol of Guybrush's fears and loneliness, something truly frightening that even his imagination can't control. 

 

He also comes across a bully, Largo, and his imagination has him as LeChuck's right hand man. All the negative aspects of his life are now revolving around LeChuck as a representation of his fears, resentments, and loneliness, explaining how LeChuck knew Guybrush grew up in an orphanage. By the time Guybrush wins the E-Ticket, his discovers the maintenance tunnels for the park and his reality comes crashing down. His negative feelings of his parents, now dead to him, cloud his mind, appearing as skeletons. It's at this point his son, Boybrush, puts his own spin at the end and the weird ending plays out. In reality, Guybrush realizes he is simply in an amusement park, but to sustain the illusion, he comes up with the scenario that the park was constructed by LeChuck, Big Whoop was a dimensional gateway to hell, the tunnels connected the islands together, and LeChuck put him under a spell.

 

The Curse of Monkey Island 

This one takes places many years later with Guybrush, now a flooring inspector, rekindled his love with Elaine and the pair have been in a relationship for several years. Guybrush asks her out on a date to the park where they first met, where he plans to propose to her. However, upon arriving in a bumper car, Guybrush is amazed by all the updates Stan has made to the park with new attractions and LeChuck now a demon; Guybrush's fantasies take over once more, slowing down his proposal to Elaine.

 

In the end, Guybrush proposes to Elaine, she accepts, and they get married several months later at the church in the Melee Island park, catered by questionable food of the Scumm Bar restaurant.

 

Escape from Monkey Island

The park begins to fall on hard times since its popularity has dwindled over the years. Stan, desperate, turns to a shady business man, who plans to update the park to be less pirate themed and more family oriented to appeal to larger commercial interests. Yes, this is my attempt to include Ozzie Mandrill. He slowly begins to update the park, even creating a new carnival game for something called the Ultimate Insult, much to the dislike of Guybrush and Elaine, who see the park as a literal part of their lives. Guybrush's fantasies imagine the previous incarnations of LeChuck teaming up with this businessman, threatening to taking away everything that made his life with Elaine. Through some of their life savings, Guybrush and Elaine are able to help Stan out, prevent Ozzie from taking over the park, and reupdate it to garner more visitors once again.

 

This cements Guybrush as a good friend to Stan, who allows him to visit whenever he wants, even trusting him with his keys and to close the park down at times. The whole giant Monkey Robots and JoJo Jr. the talking Monkey, are a result of Boybrush's active imagination. 

 

Tales of Monkey Island

Elaine and Guybrush's marriage is hitting a slight snag, as Guybrush begins to wonder if they are truly meant to be together forever. He begins to worry that Elaine will eventually leave him for someone else. That fear manifests itself as the human LeChuck, while Guybrush meets a park employee, Morgan. Guybrush begins to wonder if the park is nothing more a childhood dream he can't let go, beginning to slightly resent the park and the fantasies it creates, which manifests as the Voodoo Lady pulling the strings since she creates the scenarios of the park. Morgan and Guybrush hit it off, but Guybrush's feelings never wander from Elaine, which Morgan eventually accepts and greatly admires. 

 

In the end, Guybrush talks to Elaine and she reaffirms to him that she will always be by his side, same way that he is always by hers. Guybrush's fears of losing Elaine are banished once and for all, realizing all that the park, and the Voodoo Lady, has done for him in his life.

 

Return to Monkey Island

I think this is covered pretty extensively, so I won't go into extreme detail, but I think it's the adventure of Guybrush finally earning the most coveted prize, The Secret, in an intricate quest of earning keys in in-depth carnival games. The Secret is T-Shirt for him, but the amusement park for the player. In the end, Guybrush finally lets go of his resentment for his parents and is no longer afraid of LeChuck, who is banished to hell to fight for a meaningless Secret in the fantasy, and an animatronic that Guybrush shuts down in reality.

 

Guybrush and Elaine start a family with Guybrush retelling the Tales of Monkey Island to his son, who puts his own spins on them with his own reimagining. Eventually, Guybrush and Elaine take Boybrush to the original amusement park, where it all began, and enjoy it as a family.
 

Edited October 20, 2022 by demone