LeChuck

From MIwiki

Captain LeChuck (sometimes Chuckie) is the primary villain of the Monkey Island series. In all of his appearances he is an undead pirate obsessed with Elaine Marley with a solemn intent to marry her. His plans to marry Elaine are consistently foiled by either Guybrush or his own ineptitude as a villain.

1 Backstories
2 Role in games
3 Forms and Powers
4 Guybrush's Brother?
5 Prominent henchmen
6 Game appearances
7 Voice actor
8 Quotes

Backstories

LeChuck's backstory was noticeably retconned from the third game onward. Originally he was simply a pirate obsessed with impressing Elaine. He disappeared while looking for The Secret of Monkey Island and was turned into a ghost (this story is told to the player by Estevan in the first game). In later games, however, LeChuck's origins are more closely tied to the back-story of Grandpa Marley. In the third game it's explained that LeChuck raced Marley to Big Whoop and that his death and resurrection as an undead pirate were a direct consequence of this. A noticeable modification to the plotline was again made in the fourth game which attempted to tie Herman Toothrot and Ozzie Mandrill to the backstories of Grandpa Marley.

Role in games

In the first game LeChuck appears on Mêlée Island in the guise of sheriff Fester Shinetop. He antagonises Guybrush and plans to catch him red-handed when he attempts to steal the Idol of Many Hands from Elaine's mansion. Though he succeeds Guybrush is saved by Elaine, but only to the point when he attempts to leave the mansion. Fester ties Guybrush to the idol and drops it in the bay. Thinking he has killed Guybrush, LeChuck then kidnaps Elaine and takes off to Monkey Island.

He later returns to Mêlée Island in order to get married in the church there. Guybrush attempts to stop the ceremony but to the surprise of all Elaine shows up having escaped of her own accord. LeChuck and Guybrush then do battle which is going in LeChuck's favour until Guybrush sprays him with root beer and causes him to explode.

In the second game, LeChuck is revived by his loyal right-hand man Largo LaGrande who snatches his ghostly beard from Guybrush. Throughout the second Part of the game LeChuck taunts Largo to not allow Guybrush find the map-pieces of Big Whoop but soon the player does discover them and takes them to Wally. LeChuck then captures Wally and lures Guybrush to his fortress.

Attempting to rescue Wally Guybrush gets caught. LeChuck intends to kill Guybrush with an insanely complicated contraption of death and leaves him to his fate. Guybrush and Wally are, however, able to escape.

LeChuck finally confronts Guybrush beneath Dinky Island where he intends to torture him with a Voodoo Doll, but due to the shoddy materials used to make the doll is only able to send Guybrush into the neighbouring room. After a long cat-and-mouse game Guybrush is able to make a Voodoo Doll of LeChuck. The events from here on become difficult to disclose. After seemingly defeating LeChuck by twisting his leg off, he removes his mask to reveal him to be his creepy brother Chuckie. He and Chuckie, as kids, come out of a strange ride.

The manual for the third game declares that this whole sequence of events was a hex put on Guybrush by LeChuck to trap him in the Carnival of the Damned.

In the third game LeChuck resumes his quest to marry Elaine. His ship, The Death Starfish, attacks her fortress on Plunder Island. To his great surprise Guybrush floats to the scene and is captured. LeChuck then plans to destroy the walls of the fortress with a flaming Voodoo Cannonball. However, Guybrush unwittingly foils his plan and the Voodoo Cannonball explodes in LeChuck's face, destroying him temporarily.

His boots, still smoking with his evil essence, are salvaged by an unlucky pair of pirates and LeChuck arises once more, as a flaming, demon pirate. He forcibly converts the unlucky sailors into his skeletal army and returns to Monkey Island where his Rollercoaster of Death is converting unlucky pirates as well. In the meanwhile he is sending his trusted lackey, Dinghy Dog, to look for Guybrush and Elaine. He finally tracks them down on Blood Island where they are captured.

Back on Monkey Island LeChuck reveals many unanswered mysteries before intending to kill Guybrush. Guybrush annoys him however and LeChuck then turns him into a child. Guybrush is, however, able to escape and turn back into an adult after which LeChuck faces him off on the Rollercoaster. Guybrush demolishes a part of the ride burying LeChuck beneath a mountain of ice.

He escapes in the fourth game, with the assistance of Ozzie Mandrill, and resultantly destroys the Carnival. He then helps Ozzie in his hostile takeover of the Caribbean. Posing as Charles L. Charles LeChuck runs and wins for the office of governor on Mêlée Island. After Ozzie fails to use the Ultimate Insult to wipe out all the pirates LeChuck turns on him, possessing a giant statue made in his image, he captures Elaine and intends to crush Ozzie but falls foul to the power of the Ultimate Insult.

He then fights Guybrush, Jojo Jr. and Herman Toothrot who are armed with a Giant Monkey Robot. During the battle LeChuck is tricked into freeing Elaine and smashing Ozzie when he begins smack his head after three draws in monkey Kombat. He also destroys the Ultimate Insult and the resulting surge of Voodoo energy seemed to have destroyed him.

Forms and Powers

LeChuck's power appears to be directly in relation to whatever form he appears to have taken in each game. In the first game he appears as a translucent spectre with amazing physical strength and the ability to fly (or at least jump great distances). He is also able to make a believable disguise to make himself appear human, assuming the identity of Sheriff Fester Shinetop. He displays a weakness to root beer and explodes when Guybrush sprays him with a bottle.

In Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's body is resurrected using his ghostly beard that was the only thing left of him (stolen from Guybrush by Largo LaGrande). In his zombie-form LeChuck doesn't display many powers except a slight aptitude for Voodoo. However, the backstory of the third game claims LeChuck hexed Guybrush into believing he was a child, which would suggest that LeChuck did retain some dark powers in his resurrected state. He is defeated at the beginning of the third game when a Voodoo enchanted cannonball explodes, literally, in his face.

His restless spirit then takes the form of a "flaming" demon. In this form LeChuck retains his partially skeletal appearance with his beard now made out of pure heck-fire. In this form he is able to fly as a ball of fire, shoot fire from his hands and transform people. In this game he actually transforms Guybrush into a child (though it is debatable whether this is the second time he's done it). LeChuck is not destroyed per se, but instead buried beneath a mountain of ice, from which he is saved by Ozzie Mandrill.

In the fourth game he displays the ability to shapeshift at will and takes on his previous forms periodically whilst running for the position of Governor of Mêlée Island under the guise of Charles L. Charles. LeChuck also manages to posses a gigantic statue in which form he battles Guybrush, Herman Toothrot and Jojo Jr.'s gigantic robot monkey. In this form he is enslaved by Ozzie with The Ultimate Insult and destroyed when he is tricked into breaking the Insult, which causes an explosion of Voodoo energy.

Despite having been defeated several times, according to the Voodoo Lady: "True evil can never be destroyed completely" Which she explains as the reason why LeChuck will always return. In the third game she also says that LeChuck's purpose in life is to torment Guybrush and Elaine until he succeeds.

Guybrush's Brother?

The ending of Monkey Island 2 seemed to suggest that the first two games were merely created in the imagination of Guybrush. At the end Guybrush comes out of an amusement park ride with his brother Chuckie. This has caused some confusion amongst fans as to whether or not LeChuck is actually related to Guybrush. While this might have been the original intention of Ron Gilbert this ending was later explained in the third game to have been a hex placed on Guybrush to think he was a child, though some evidence suggests that he actually became a child (such as the sudden disappearance of his facial hair).

As such, in the current canon LeChuck and Guybrush are not related.