Elaine Marley
From MIwiki
Elaine Marley-Threepwood is the primary female-lead/damsel-in-distress in the Monkey Island series. Though she often requires rescuing by the series main character, Guybrush, she is depicted as a confident, charming, and tough woman. She is constantly pursued by the undead pirate LeChuck who is obsessed with marrying her and has captured her three times throughout the series.
She is the governor of the Tri-Island Area, which is comprised of Mêlée Island, Booty Island, and Plunder Island (but in Escape from Monkey Island appears to consist of several others including Lucre Island). Though she resigned from her governing duties on Mêlée temporarily (having dumped Guybrush for unspecified reasons) she apparently retained her position by Curse of Monkey Island. Elaine has two mansions, one on Mêlée and one on Booty, and a fortress on Plunder. She also has an unorganized array of assistants and personal guards that seem incapable of protecting her from her various kidnappings.
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Family
Elaine's family has never been seen or heard of. Her father is briefly mentioned in the first game and both of her parents are mentioned again in the fourth game. Apparently H.T. Marley thought they were deadbeats and advised Elaine, in the event they would come begging for a hand-out, to tell them "to take a long walk" off a short gangplank.
Elaine's grandfather was later revealed to be none other than Herman Toothrot.
Role in games
Elaine is introduced in the first game as the governor of Mêlée who the pirate LeChuck fell in love with, and as a result sailed away to Monkey Island in order to impress her. Elaine meets Guybrush when he attempts to steal the Idol of Many Hands from her mansion. Guybrush is apprehended by Sheriff Fester Shinetop but Elaine comes to his rescue when Fester attempts to drown him. After this she professes her love for Guybrush and urges him to complete his Three Trials of piratehood (this scene does not occur if the player completed the theft-trial last). Whilst Guybrush does so she is captured by LeChuck.
Though LeChuck attempts to marry her she somehow manages to escape (revealing that some of LeChuck's ghost-crew were apparently her friends when they were still alive). She attempts to surprise LeChuck by dressing a pair of monkeys as the bride. This also comes as a shock to Guybrush who interrupts the ceremony in order to rescue Elaine. A (very) one-sided fight ensues between LeChuck and Guybrush which he nonetheless survives, dissolving LeChuck with a bottle of root beer. Elaine appears whilst LeChuck is exploding against the night sky for a final exchange with Guybrush.
In Monkey Island 2, Elaine has apparently dumped Guybrush who during the events of the game is searching for Big Whoop. She left her mansion on Mêlée and moved to Booty Island without telling Guybrush of her whereabouts. As she puts it when they meet later in the game, "We were a mistake!". She plays only a minor role as the game focuses more on her grandfather's connection to Big Whoop. She does come to Guybrush's rescue when he breaks through the concrete over the underground pipes which run between Dinky and Monkey Island. Indeed, the whole game is told from Guybrush's point-of-view as he is hanging on for his dear life. When he finally finishes the story and asks Elaine to help him out his rope snaps and he falls down.
Elaine's last appearance in the game is over the pit, worrying over Guybrush's fate.
The Curse of Monkey Island opens to a scene of a battle off the coast of Plunder Island where LeChuck and Elaine are fighting. Guybrush drifts by in a bumper car and is captured by LeChuck. Guybrush's antics destroy LeChuck (albeit temporarily) and he inadvertently turns Elaine into a solid gold statue with a cursed engagement ring. Elaine remains in this state for much of the game until Guybrush cures her with an uncursed diamond ring and is resultedly punched in the face, the last action Elaine was going to do before transforming. Shortly afterwards the two are captured, however, and Elaine is once again at a risk of being forced to marry LeChuck, who decides to go one step further and turn her undead as well.
She once again escapes and helps Guybrush fight LeChuck by rerouting the Rollercoaster of Death so that Guybrush can't fall into the lava-pit. After Guybrush defeats LeChuck he and Elaine are finally married and sail off on their honeymoon.
Upon their return in Escape from Monkey Island Elaine realises all is not well on Mêlée. She's been declared dead, an election for a new governor has been announced and a greedy Australian land developer has bought up most of the property on the island. Elaine focuses on getting back on the election trail, but on its eve it is revealed that her sole opponent Charles L. Charles is none other than LeChuck. She believes this knowledge will help her win, but is soon crushed to realise that no-one believes her. LeChuck sweeps the election with his "Good Times & Free Grog" campaign.
Elaine goes into hiding but is later captured by Pegnose Pete and unwittingly provides him with the remaining piece of the Ultimate Insult, the Gubernatorial Seal of Mêlée Island. She attempts to escape when Guybrush sabotages Ozzie's attempt to infect a host of islands with the Ultimate Insult's power but is captured by LeChuck once again, who has now taken the form of a gigantic statue. LeChuck (under the insult's influence) fights Guybrush, Jojo Jr. and H.T. Marley. During the battle Elaine manages to slip away as LeChuck is tricked into crushing Ozzie and the Insult, causing a blast of Voodoo energy that destroys them both.
Elaine formally resigns from her duties, with her grandfather taking over the office of Governor, and she and Guybrush are apparently now free "to go where ever they want and do whatever they want."
Governing positions
Note: This section contains speculation
Elaine says in the fourth game that the position of Governor of Mêlée Island is a life-time term. She, however, resigned from her duties as governor of Mêlée in the second game and in the first game there is a re-election, something that would not be possible if the governor's position would be for life.
It is possible that during the time between the second and third games Elaine somehow combined the governing duties of several islands and may very well have also affected the position of governor being made a lifetime term. Apart from the Governor's Office the affairs are also seen to by a council of Town Elders (mentioned in the fourth game).
The limits of Elaine's power seem very ambiguous from game to game. In the third game she is said to only rule over Mêlée, Booty and Plunder, but in the fourth game, Lucre Island is also counted as belonging to the Tri-Island area. Since Jambalaya Island also doesn't have a specified government (like Phatt Island or Scabb Island) it is also potentially a part of the Tri-Island area.
Trivia
- Elaine's mugshot in the first game was apparently modelled after one of the female-designers working at LucasArts at the time.[1]
- One of the optional ending lines in the first game seemed to indicate that Elaine was already married prior to her meeting Guybrush. However, this was intended as a last-minute joke by the writing crew and later instalments of the series (and the three other reactions) altogether ignore this "revelation".
- Elaine was the only major cast-member to have different voice-actresses in her two last appearances. Alexandra Boyd, herself a British performer, did Elaine having a distinctly British accent. Charity James, an American voice-actress however, performed Elaine with a distinct American accent.
- Elaine has escaped of her own accord on almost all of the occasions where's she's been kidnapped, with a minor exception being MI4 where she receives partial assistance from Guybrush.
- A song Plank of Love was written and planned to be played over the ending of the third game, but due to time-constraints was not recorded or featured in the game. In this song Elaine and Guybrush would have shared a song.
- Elaine is an accomplished author, having written at least eight romance novels under the pseudonym Melanie Leary. She also wrote a non-fiction book of her breakup with Guybrush entitled Next to Nothing (see Bibliography below).
Pets
Bibliography
A list of cheezy romance novels can be found at the Phatt City Library by an author called Melanie Leary. As Melanie Leary is an anagram for Elaine Marley it is possible that Elaine wrote these novels under a pseudonym to hide her identity:
- Amour's Agonizing Adieu
- Desire's Distasteful Denouement
- Fascination's Final Frenzy
- Love's Lingering Lassitude
- Passion's Persistent Presence
- Romance's Wretched Residue
- Sin's Sordid Swan Song
- Yearning's Yellow Yesterdays
Elaine has also written a non-fiction novel about her relationship with Guybrush:
- Next to Nothing
Appeared in
- The Secret of Monkey Island
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
- The Curse of Monkey Island
- Escape from Monkey Island
Voiced by
- Alexandra Boyd (in CMI)
- Charity James (in EMI)
Memorable quotes
- "I... I can't. I'm washing my hair tonight."
