LeChuck
From Monkey Island wiki
| Captain LeChuck
LeChuck, the undead demonic pirate
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| Aliases |
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| Home Island | none (attached to Monkey Island by the plot elements in some installments) |
| Species |
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| Gender | Male |
| Eye Color |
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| Hair Color | Black |
| Relative(s) | Claimed to be Guybrush's brother, with their supposed parents appearing soon after |
Captain LeChuck is the primary villain of the Monkey Island series and sets in motion most of the events that make up the entire series. In all of his appearances he is an undead pirate obsessed with voodoo and Elaine Marley with plans to marry her and obtain ultimate voodoo powers to assume control over the seas.
To accomplish these goals he usually makes plans to build up an unstoppable demonic army and acquire rare voodoo treasures and artifacts, including the treasure of Big Whoop, the Ultimate Insult, and La Esponja Grande, to wield their incredible powers for his own ends. His plans to marry Elaine and conquer the seas are consistently foiled by either Guybrush Threepwood or his own ineptitude as a villain. The secrets to his death and demonic voodoo powers are revealed as well as much of his past throughout the series.
Backstory
Rise of The Fearsome Pirate
At some point in his life, LeChuck became a pirate and started his own crew made up of sadistic cutthroats such as Largo LaGrande. His reason for becoming a pirate was not unlike Guybrushs', in that he lusted to be feared and seen as somebody famous. Unlike Guybrush though, LeChuck lost all sense of moral and conscience in his quest and became obsessed with torture and murder and soon developed an extreme disregard for personnel hygiene and lusted for any form of power and wealth at any cost. A possible abusive and troubling childhood and past may have served as LeChuck's motivation for becoming a pirate and take pleasure in committing sadistic crimes and murders. In addition to this information, it has been hinted throughout the series that LeChuck's original name was Chuckie, his current name apparently being one of his own creation to give himself a more fearsome title.
Even before he died LeChuck's life was very similar to his as an undead pirate in that he was still a bloodthirsty and sadistic villain with an appetite for destruction. Fashioning himself in traditional pirate clothing and his own twisted sense of humor including a wealthy pirate coat decorated with skulls, a pirate hat with a crow he killed strapped on top instead of just feathers, and an eerie skull necklace, LeChuck's very appearance illustrated both his love for wealth and violence as well as his poor hygiene. Even though he was an evil and sadistic pirate, he was extremely tall and built, possessing brute strength and was seen as very youthful, handsome, masculine, confident, charismatic, and strong. LeChuck often used these traits to his advantage to gain others' trust and give them a false sense of security.
Even before his transformation into one of the undead, LeChuck practiced in the arts of voodoo and used forbidden and demonic forms of the magic for his own ends. He also collected various voodoo artifacts such as a trust charm he decided to use as his belt buckle, to gain others trust and aid in his plans. He eventually recruited a Voodoo Priest into his crew, who helped him learn more about the secrets of voodoo. LeChuck soon developed an insatiable hunger for voodoo and power, lusting to accumulate massive amounts of the energy so that he will be able to seize control of the very seas themselves. LeChuck's control over voodoo allowed him to do incredible things, commit heinous atrocities, and torture numerous people in the most inhuman ways, such as through voodoo dolls. With his crew of sadists and his control over various voodoo spells and artifacts, LeChuck began attacking the Caribbean, leaving death and destruction wherever his crew attacked.
LeChuck was an extremely skilled fighter and swordsman and was incredibly brutal and vicious in attacking islands, ships, and towns. He also had a dark and morbid sense of humor in which he delighted in taunting, humiliating, torturing, murdering, and dismembering not only his enemies, but random people as well. Even the most fearsome and bloodthirsty pirates had never seen a pirate so inhumanly brutal and power hungry with no boundaries or remorse. The most fearless of pirates became deathly afraid of LeChuck and his crew, LeChuck's sadistic sense of humor and nature making him unmatched in piracy and fights. As LeChuck continued his reign of terror and became the most feared pirate ever to sail the seas, he sailed to Melee island where he met Governor Elaine Marley, with whom he soon became obsessed with after she invited him to dinner at her mansion.
The Journey to Power and Destruction
Having become obsessed with Elaine, LeChuck attempted to sweep her off her feet. Elaine, now seeing just how evil LeChuck was, rebuffed his advances and told him to drop dead. LeChuck refused to let go of his obsession and decided to set sail to find the legendary Secret of Monkey Island in order to impress Elaine. LeChuck and a portion of his crew sailed only to have a mysterious storm sink his ship and left his crew dead just a few days later at sea. LeChuck was able to survive the wreckage and was "rescued" by several sharks who washed him upon the shores of Blood Island. LeChuck stayed at the Goodsoup Hotel for several days, eating and drinking while contemplating what direction he should take his plans. Several days later, Captain Marley and his crew, Rum Rogers the first mate, Rapp Scallion the cook, and young Lindy the Cabin Boy, make port on Blood Island and LeChuck started up a conversation with Rum Rogers and got him drunk enough to reveal that they had the map to the legendary treasure of Big Whoop. LeChuck is soon able to get a good look at it and quickly memorizes all the major paths and landmarks to the treasure. LeChuck plans to beat Marley and his crew to the treasure and claim it for himself, but he would need to acquire another ship in order to have a chance at reaching the treasure first. He learns from the local bartender on the island, that his great aunt, Minnie "Stronnie" Goodsoup is looking to get married and has a very valuable and rare diamond diamond ring that has been in their family for generations.
LeChuck then plans to steal the diamond and use it to purchase a ship, but later learns that she is interested in another man, named Charles DeGoulash. Not letting such an obstacle hinder his plans, LeChuck brutally murders Charles while he was staying at the Goodsoup family hotel to vacant a spot in Minnie's eyes. After Charles' slow and painful demise, LeChuck easily sweeps Minnie off her feet and becomes engaged to her after just a few days, but only to obtain the diamond on her wedding band. LeChuck steals Minnie's diamond from the wedding ring on the eve of their wedding at the rehearsal dinner and sells it to some cutthroat smugglers on Skull Island for the cost of a new ship. Minnie is left standing at the altar and dies of a broken heart a week later, hinting that she committed suicide out of pure depression and hatred caused from LeChuck's heinous crimes against her and her loved ones. Unfortunately for her, she was not granted eternal rest and would remain in the Goodsoup family tomb as a ghost, haunting it until she married someone else.
With his new ship, LeChuck manages to easily reach Dinky Island ahead of Captain Marley and begins searching the island extensively for the treasure. While searching the jungles of Dinky Island, LeChuck discovers mysterious tunnels that eventually led him to Monkey Island. Searching further, LeChuck discovered a giant Monkey Head that led to none other than the treasure of Big Whoop. The evil pirate finds out, however, that Big Whoop was in fact a gateway to Hell, granting whoever passes through it special powers, but turning the individual undead at the same time. LeChuck willingly passes through, giving his life away, leaving his lifeless body somewhere on Monkey Island, and ends up at the Crossroads, the intersection of the world of magic and the world of the living. Using a voodoo spell he retained from the living world, which he later hides in the crossroads, and the sole shred of life he stole from another soul in the Crossroads, LeChuck returns to the land of the living with his plundered voodoo as a demonic ghost. Though LeChuck comes back as a ghost, Big Whoop granted him unique powers no other ghost had such as tangibility, human disguise, and the ability to turn other humans into the undead, a power LeChuck plans to use to build up his own army. LeChuck also possesses traits absent in other ghosts such as red eyes, bony fingers, and retains several facial features he had as a human. However, like all ghosts, he is lethally vulnerable to root beer.
The Murders of Captain Marley and His Crew
Captain Marley and his crew, who arrive on Monkey Island a half hour later, witness LeChuck pass through the portal of Big Whoop and flee the island in terror. When the crew leaves Monkey Island, however, their ship (the Elaine) gets shipwrecked on Dinky Island. Knowing that people believe this island to be the home of Big Whoop (it's actually an atoll off the coast of Monkey Island with tunnels connecting the two islands), the crew decides to use it to their advantage to further conceal its secret. They then make a chest containing an E-Ticket to pass as the treasure of Big Whoop and cement and bury it at the entrance to the tunnels that connect Dinky Island to Monkey Island and ultimately Big Whoop.
The crew then realized that they may need to return to ensure the secret of Big Whoop is always secured, but also had to insure their means of finding Dinky Island did not specifically give away the location of Big Whoop. Marley then destroyed their original map and made a new one that only outlined Dinky Island and not the elaborate route made in the first one. To insure that the map is as secured as possible, Marley tore the map into four pieces and gave one to each of his crew mates, keeping one for himself. All four of them were eventually rescued from the island, after which they alter much of their story, removing LeChuck and what the treasure even was. They began to spread rumors to others that the resting place of Big Whoop was Inky Island, hoping that people would believe all this and never find out the true treasure of Big Whoop and its power. LeChuck, on the other hand, wishes to use his new-found powers in order to continue his plans to conquer the seas and eventually persuade Elaine to fall in love and marry him, intending to turn her into his undead bride. LeChuck also intends to use the demonic power of Big Whoop to build up his army as one of his later plans once he secures a large portion of the Caribbean as his.
The crew then all went their separate ways, promising to keep their map piece safe. Rapp Scallion started up his own cook out on Scabb Island, cooking weenies and accumulating much success. Rum Rogers began brewing specially made grog from a bathtub in his cabin on Phatt Island and held drinking contests. Lindy went down on his luck and spent his time on Booty Island where he did panhandling. Captain Marley spent time with his beautiful granddaughter, Elaine, whom he loved and cared for deeply, always protecting her from anything.
To ensure that no one else would find Big Whoop, LeChuck begins a murderous search for Captain Marley and his three crew members, intending to see to it that they never reveal the location of Big Whoop. He learns that Rapp Scallion the cook has a habit of leaving his gas burners on in his shack on Scabb Island, and sends him a fully lit cake on his thirty-fifth birthday. The result is an explosion that reduces the cook to ashes. The shack is apparently reconstructed in his memory later and his ashes are locked in a crypt in the cemetery on Scabb Island. His piece of the map to Big Whoop somehow survives and is locked in with him. Rum Rogers is taking a bath in his cabin on Phatt Island while drinking rum and eating toast when LeChuck breaks in and pushes the toaster into the bathtub. His son, Rum Rogers, Jr., inherits the cabin and the map piece and keeps it near his father's corpse in the bathtub.
Young Lindy the Cabin boy could not bear living in fear and so finds LeChuck and begs for mercy. LeChuck lets him live and gives him a fortune, which he uses to build a successful advertising firm. LeChuck later sends him an account that ruins the business, forcing Lindy to sell everything he owns (including the map piece), join a circus, and die when he was shot from a cannon without a helmet. LeChuck ambushes Captain Marley while he is racing in the America's Cup and gives him the chance to live by granting LeChuck his blessing to have his granddaughter's hand in marriage. Wanting to protect his granddaughter, Marley refused to allow LeChuck to marry her. LeChuck then tortures him to insanity and sends his ship into a whirlpool that "not even the most accomplished captain could escape". It seemed that before this, Marley gave the map piece to his granddaughter Elaine, as she has it at her mansion on Booty Island. With all known people with information of Big Whoop dead, LeChuck is ready to start his reign of terror in the Caribbean.
Renewed Reign of Terror
LeChuck next captures a seemingly random vessel and murders the dozens of crew members (as well as animals) aboard and then reanimates them as ghosts. With his new army and vessel, LeChuck throws the Caribbean into the depths of terror. LeChuck and his demonic army soon begin to relentlessly attack the Caribbean, leading brutal and incredibly violent raids on islands to steal all their treasures while pirates themselves are ruthlessly hunted down and slaughtered. He destroys every ship he comes across and kills all the people, sometimes turning them into his expanding crew. Within a few months, LeChuck built up a destructive army and a demonic force, comprised of ghosts, fleets, and his original followers that did not accompany him on the doomed voyage to Monkey Island. Villages, towns, and entire islands are destroyed by LeChuck's rampage, leaving few survivors and all the treasures and valuables stolen.
LeChuck soon becomes infamous for his cruelty and is feared by all, especially the pirate population. These events make even the fearless pirates too afraid to sail the seas, and most of them abandon looting and pillaging in favor of simply drinking their lives away. LeChuck accumulates more wealth than any other pirate as he loots islands with little competition, and anyone who dares sail against him is quickly eliminated. With his fortune, LeChuck constructs a fortress to serve as a base of operations for keeping his loot and imprisoning and torturing his enemies. Over the months, LeChuck abducts hundreds of victims and tortures them in the most inhumane ways, leaving their mutilated corpses rotting around the fortress, which soon becomes host to hundreds of skeletal leftovers. Horrible events continue to occur as LeChuck continues to pillage and plunder, overwhelming all of the Caribbean as the murders, torture, destruction, and disappearances continue to grow.
As LeChuck tightens his grip on the seas, he regathers his old followers, specifically his first mate Largo LaGrande and his Voodoo Priest and sends them on a special mission. He orders them to search the area around Big Whoop and find his body that his spirit left as he was consumed by Big Whoop. They soon succeed and bring it back to the fortress where LeChuck keeps it safely hidden and intends to use it in case his spiritual form is destroyed. He entrusts both his corpse and fortress to Largo and the priest, instructing them to find a living piece of his spiritual essence and resurrect his body in case the worst should happen. All the while, LeChuck continues to plunder voodoo energy from the world of magic, causing massive chaos in the Crossroads, LeChuck becoming even more inhuman and demonic, and gaining the attention of the Voodoo Lady. This voodoo priestess soon seeks to destroy LeChuck and imprison his voodoo essence, knowing that his evil has accumulated so much vile voodoo energy that destroying him for good is not an option. Therefore, trapping him for eternity is the only way to defeat the villain for good.
Once LeChuck's goal of conquering the Caribbean seems almost complete, he turns his attention to Elaine, hoping to make her his bride and use her political power and control to further tighten his grip and aid in his plans. LeChuck plans to use Big Whoop to create thousands of more warriors and make Elaine his undead bride. With an army of thousand demonic warriors and Elaine's governor position in his control, LeChuck would be able to easily conquer all the seven seas. To this end, he murders the original sheriff of Mêlée Island and uses his demonic powers to disguise himself as the new one, using the disguise to accurately plan his kidnapping of Elaine and arresting and executing anyone that he saw as an obstacle. Not too long after this event, Guybrush Threepwood arrives on the island, who would soon become LeChuck's most hated enemy.
Role in games
LeChuck has played a major role in every game in the series up to date, each game usually expanding on his origins and past. While the methods of his resurrections and returns vary, LeChuck has served as a central villain for every game, always with a complicated and often clever plot for unlimited power, wealth, and Elaine's hand in marriage.
The Secret of Monkey Island
In the start of the game LeChuck, his ship, and crew are anchored in the gates of Big Whoop beneath Monkey Island. During his reign of terror, LeChuck uses Big Whoop as his main base and sends many innocent victims to their doom in the perpetual Hellfire that is Big Whoop. LeChuck is almost all set to kidnap Elaine when his first mate, Bob, arrives and informs him of a pirate wannabe that has arrived on Mêlée Island. LeChuck goes there in the guise of Sheriff Fester Shinetop, having murdered the original sheriff and replaced him. He takes a strong interest in Guybrush from the moment he first appears, and is able to catch him attempting to steal the Idol of Many Hands from Governor Marley. Thereafter he attempts to drown Guybrush, telling him that his plans for Elaine are much too important, and much too near fruition, to risk being upset by a would-be pirate. Thinking he has killed Guybrush, LeChuck then attacks the island, kidnaps Elaine, and takes her off to Monkey Island. Guybrush is able to easily escape LeChuck's trap though and completes the Three Trials to become a pirate, swearing to destroy LeChuck and save Elaine and the Caribbean.
While on Monkey Island, LeChuck instructs Bob to ensure a special voodoo root is kept secured in the bowels of the ship. The root would later be revealed to belong to the Monkey Island cannibals who were hoping to use it to destroy LeChuck and his army. They hope to do so in order to reclaim the island as their own as LeChuck has since converted it into a base of operations and has been torturing and murdering mass amounts of people who have come even close to the island. Once LeChuck got word of their plans however, he stole the root from their village and kept it locked up within the bowels of his ship. Guybrush, however, is able to get a crew and ship and is able to sail to Monkey Island using an old voodoo spell. Once on the island, the pirate is able to befriend the cannibals, infiltrate Big Whoop and LeChuck's ship, and steal the root back. The cannibals conjure up the voodoo root beer and give it to Guybrush, but LeChuck leaves the island before Guybrush can destroy him.
LeChuck returns to Mêlée Island and seizes control of the town in order to get married in the church there. Guybrush arrives on Mêlée soon after and destroys portions of LeChuck's army while en route to the church. He 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, sending his spirit to blow up in the night sky as his essence is sent back to the Crossroads and Hell. The remainder of LeChuck's army are systematically destroyed and his old followers are rounded up while peace returns to the seas. Guybrush keeps the last living piece of LeChuck's spirit, his beard, as proof of his triumph and is seen as a hero. However, Guybrush's fame would only last so long and LeChuck's remaining followers who eluded capture would search for a living piece of their master to reanimate him.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Several months after LeChuck's demise, the seas are peaceful although some of LeChuck's original followers were still scouring the Caribbean looking for a living piece of their master. LeChuck's former right-hand man, Largo LaGrande, has seized control of Scabb Island and runs it into the ground. When Guybrush comes ashore, hoping to find clues to the treasure of Big Whoop to uphold his reputation, the two are soon at odds until Guybrush uses a voodoo doll to torture him off the island, though Largo is able to steal LeChuck's beard from Guybrush. He soon resurrects the pirate as a zombie, who is slightly less interested in Elaine and instead focuses his attention on exacting revenge on Guybrush Threepwood. He quickly resumes his reign of terror and relentlessly attacks the Caribbean. As he later reveals toward the conclusion of The Curse of Monkey Island, this time however, his goal is to capture hundreds of people that are capable of constructing an amusement park that will in turn slaughter thousands and transform them into minions for LeChuck's new army. After numerous murders, abductions, blackmails, and intimidation, LeChuck eventually succeeds in this plot and enslaves thousands of workers and forces them to construct the carnival while they are slashing and burning acres of lumber on Monkey and Dinky Islands. For "fun", LeChuck would murder hundreds of the workers by staging "construction accidents", the rest falling victim to malaria or wild animals.
He sends Largo to find and capture Threepwood, who is looking for the four pieces of the map that will lead him to Big Whoop, while he instructs his voodoo priest to construct a voodoo doll of Guybrush. LeChuck and his followers then scour the Caribbean for ingredients for the voodoo doll, LeChuck going as far as to dig up Guybrush's deceased parents to use their bones as part of the ingredients. LeChuck then placed the corpses of the parents in the Dinky and Monkey Island undersea tunnels, mockingly placing them under a sign titled, "Lost Parents." LeChuck is desperately trying to prevent Threepwood from finding the pieces of the map, afraid that Guybrush will learn all of the secrets and answers to the mystery of Big Whoop and ultimately LeChuck's origins. LeChuck even goes as far as putting a bounty on Guybrush which causes some (in particular Governor Phatt) to attempt to capture Threepwood and hold him for LeChuck. Largo fails to find Threepwood despite the fact that he somehow has knowledge of him obtaining the map pieces. LeChuck in the meantime begins to further his plans for Big Whoop by capturing monkeys and using them as a power source for the rides, converting the tunnels between Monkey and Dinky Island as a storage facility for plundered carnival items, and making a roller coaster that goes into the very heart of Big Whoop and Hell itself.
LeChuck eventually lures Guybrush to his fortress by kidnapping his friend Wally (who was helping Guybrush decipher the map to Big Whoop) and having Guybrush retrieve the key to unlock Wally's cell, which turns out to be a trap. He hangs both Guybrush and Wally by their arms over a pool of acid, also taking some of Guybrush's hair, cloth, and spit, to perfect his voodoo doll to use as a fail safe should his plans not proceed as expected. LeChuck plans to have them fall in the acid until their skin burns off, so that he may then take the bones, reanimate them, and construct a chair. He would then sit on it every day and listen to their screams. LeChuck constructs an elaborate elaborate mechanism to lower them into the acid, but this gives Guybrush enough time to develop a way to escape. LeChuck's plans fail and his fortress is blown up during Guybrush's escape to Dinky Island. LeChuck survives the explosion but whether or not Largo survives is not revealed.
When LeChuck eventually catches up with Threepwood, he attempts to use a Voodoo doll to send him to Hell, but the doll proves defective, transporting him no further than a few rooms away. Threepwood eventually constructs a Voodoo doll of LeChuck and tears its leg off, causing LeChuck's leg to break off. LeChuck then claims to be Guybrush's long lost brother Chuckie (in a parody of The Empire Strikes Back) and takes him to a modern day amusement park and apparently back in time as Threepwood and LeChuck are now little kids about to be picked up by their parents. The reality was though that LeChuck placed a spell on Guybrush that made it appear to him that they were both kids and brothers. Everyone in the park, including Guybrush's parents, were skeletons in disguise working for LeChuck. The carnival would later be revealed as the notorious Carnival of the Damned, which LeChuck has finally finished and already used to slaughter thousands and reanimate them into undead warriors through the use of Big Whoop. Guybrush would soon be free of the curse but would become trapped in the Carnival until he devised a way to escape. LeChuck in the meantime sends his new army to rampage and loot the seas once more.
The Curse of Monkey Island
With Guybrush fooled into thinking he is a child, LeChuck returns his attention to pursuing Elaine's love, bombarding her coastal fortification on Plunder Island. Many other ships seem to have been destroyed by LeChuck, proving that his ship is near invincible. This is also shown by the fact that Elaine's cannon fire doesn't seem to leave even a scratch on the ship. The zombie pirate is either unaware or too busy to care that Guybrush has somehow escaped the Carnival; but Guybrush shows up again after some weeks at sea, having escaped LeChuck's evil amusement park. LeChuck has him captured and is about to kill him when Elaine interferes with her musket and keen eye. LeChuck has Guybrush thrown in the hold and intends to torture and kill him once his plans for Plunder Island and its governor are complete. He prepares an invasion force, which is dispatched in rowboats, while he constructs a powerful voodoo cannonball.
Unfortunately for LeChuck, Guybrush is able to gain control of a cannon in the hold and destroy the invasion force. This is mostly due to the fact that the pirate in charge of guarding Guybrush is his friend Wally, who apparently survived the explosion that destroyed LeChuck's Fortress. It seems that LeChuck had been able to brainwash Wally into joining his crew, but this later proves to be his undoing as Wally grows soft and admits he is not suited to piracy. He goes into a crying frenzy, no longer caring what Guybrush does to escape and disrupt LeChuck's plans. Guybrush is able to escape by cutting loose a cannon; the recoil from the weapon as Guybrush fires it blasts him into the cargo hold and shakes the ship, which in turn causes LeChuck to drop the voodoo cannonball. The weapon explodes, destroying both LeChuck's ship and his reanimated form. The arcane magic released in the destruction, however, transforms him into a demon pirate with a fiery beard, more powerful than ever.
Two unfortunate pirates come across LeChuck's boots from his last demise and take them to make a profit. LeChuck soon resurfaces and slaughters both men and reanimates them as skeletons. They do as instructed and sail to Monkey Island where LeChuck returns to his carnival and quickly puts it back into operation. He is able to rebuild his army again and once again sends it to attack, sack, and loot the Caribbean until Elaine is found. He has grown desperate and is willing to "burn every island in the Caribbean" to find his love, Elaine, and his archenemy, Guybrush. His forces attack Plunder Island again and capture Wally, who had been residing on the island at the time. LeChuck puts him in a situation that is almost exactly the same as that in the second game in which Wally is being hung over a pit of acid. LeChuck is able to finally learn of the location of Blood Island.
CMI was the first game to significantly alter LeChuck's past. In an effort to explain the strange ending of MI2, Big Whoop was revealed as an opening to Hell. LeChuck kidnaps both Elaine and Guybrush, intending to transform them both into undead creatures: Elaine as LeChuck's bride and Guybrush as a soldier under his command. LeChuck also reveals his history, his past plans and schemes, and what really happened on Monkey Island at the end of the second game. Once again, LeChuck does not kill Guybrush but puts the same spell on him as in the second game in which Guybrush is turned into a child. The pirate wannabe is able to create a remedy to the spell and returns back to normal. Again, Elaine escapes his clutches easily while the half-witted Guybrush manages to bury him beneath a mountain of snow and ice in his own carnival. Much or the carnival is destroyed in the incident, LeChuck's army is again neutralized, and the gates of Big Whoop are finally sealed up as all of its demonic power and energy are used up.
Escape from Monkey Island
Unsurprisingly, LeChuck turns up once more in the fourth game as the villain along with a newly introduced ally who rescued him from the large pile of snow under which he had been buried at the end of The Curse of Monkey Island. This new confederate is Ozzie Mandrill, an unpleasant, diminutive Australian developer with an intense hatred of pirates. After rescuing the demonic pirate, Ozzie brings LeChuck up to date on recent events, including Elaine and Guybrush's marriage, and tells him of the legendary Ultimate Insult. The Ultimate Insult was a voodoo talisman of incredible power, capable of pulverizing a pirate’s spirit. LeChuck and Ozzie make their plans to find the Ultimate Insult and use its power to seize control over the entire Caribbean. More specifically, LeChuck intends to use the Ultimate Insult to defeat Threepwood and render Elaine his obedient bride.
While their partnership seemed mutual, both Ozzie and LeChuck desired the artifact for their own purposes and to fulfill their own power hunger rather than help each other out of respect. LeChuck was also making his own secret agenda and was plotting to betray Mandrill when he served his purpose of obtaining the Ultimate Insult and rendering all pirates aside from LeChuck as cowards. After his return, LeChuck performs another ritual to draw magic from the Crossroads, giving him the ability to switch between his ghost, zombie, and demon forms at will. The ritual also gives him the unique power to possess other objects, a power LeChuck intends to use later in his latest plans. He next learns that the Gates to Big Whoop have been sealed up. He mentions in the Curse of Monkey Island that Big Whoop's power source wouldn't last forever if used continuously. Since the Carnival serves no further purpose, he destroys it and makes his way to Mêlée Island. There, he transforms into a human in which he calls himself Charles L. Charles (the L presumably standing for LeChuck) and has Elaine declared dead, initiating a new election for the office of governor. When Guybrush and Elaine arrive on the island, Elaine decides to run against Charles and win back her position as governor.
While Elaine tries her hardest to convince the pirates to vote for her, LeChuck's deception wins them over. LeChuck's whole campaign is based on lies as he tells the pirates that they will have good times and free grog if they elect him, which puts him in the lead by a landslide. This is all part of his and Ozzie's plans to gentrify and take over the pirate-infested Caribbean. LeChuck's true motives are to win the election and gain total control over the island so that he may use it as a base of operations and construct an Insult Amplification Tower on an atoll off the coast of the island. The tower is a device Ozzie plans to build in order to amplify the effects of the Ultimate Insult so every pirate in the Caribbean can simultaneously be exposed to its power. LeChuck also hopes that by gaining the office of governor, he will obtain the last power needed for the Ultimate Insult, which is rumoured to be connected with the governorship powers of Mêlée Island.
Meanwhile, Ozzie uses his skills in various forms of insult duels to seize control of pirate islands and transform them in his image while attempting to discover the secrets of the Ultimate Insult. The secrets are later revealed to lie within the Marley Heirlooms in Elaine's family's safe-deposit box, which are key items that can help locate the island where the pieces of the Ultimate Insult are. LeChuck and Ozzie cook up a scheme to obtain the Heirlooms and get rid of Guybrush at the same time. LeChuck has Elaine's mansion set up for demolition to get Guybrush to go to Lucre Island to obtain a deed for the mansion from the Marley Heirlooms in the Second Bank of Lucre. It is on this island where Ozzie will play his part in the plan. Ozzie hires Pegnose Pete, a clever and cunning criminal, to work for him some months prior to the start of the game. Ozzie has Pegnose disguise himself as Guybrush and rob the bank while Guybrush is checking through the heirlooms in the vault. Pegnose steals the heirlooms, locks Guybrush in the vault, and robs the bank, leading to Guybrush's arrest and Ozzie's learning the secrets of the Ultimate Insult.
While Ozzie learns what he needs from the Heirlooms, things don't go as planned as Guybrush is able to capture Pegnose Pete and prove his innocence. Pegnose is able to escape, however, and rejoins Ozzie, who decides to leave the island and join LeChuck on Mêlée Island to escalate their plans. After Guybrush clears his name and again obtains the heirlooms along with the loot and the deed to the mansion, LeChuck and Ozzie go in different directions. Once Guybrush returns from Lucre Island and LeChuck is ahead in all the election polls, he reveals his true form to Elaine and Guybrush in order to compel Elaine to tell the island this news, knowing full well that the population would believe her to be crazy and ensure his victory. LeChuck then lets Guybrush go to Jambalaya Island and find the pieces of the Ultimate Insult for him while he wins the election and gains control of the island. He enslaves all the people and rules the island as a tyrant as Ozzie arrives on the Island with Pegnose to begin construction on the Amplification Tower on the atoll. When Guybrush arrives, they interrogate him, steal the Ultimate Insult he assembled from him, and strand him on Monkey Island. LeChuck sends Pegnose to find Elaine, who has disappeared after LeChuck's victory. He forces the enslaved citizens of the island to construct a statue in his honour.
While Guybrush is on Monkey Island, it is revealed that LeChuck had his priest construct a church in his name so he can use it to marry Elaine. He even creates his own religion, despite the fact that he is an unholy demon pirate from Hell. LeChuck plans to return to Monkey Island and the church to marry Elaine, using the river of lava in the church to make her undead. It is assumed LeChuck choose Monkey Island to imprison Guybrush because he was planning on returning to the island to marry Elaine, making it all the more convenient to strand Guybrush there as he would be able to kill him and marry Elaine at the same time. Guybrush is eventually able to learn the secret language of the Ultimate Insult, monkey language, and masters the art of using it as attacks in the sport of Monkey Kombat. He creates a massive Ultimate Insult to counteract the one LeChuck has. With Herman Toothrot (who turns out to be Elaine's grandfather, Horatio Torquemeda Marley, who was the former governor of Mêlée Island until he was stranded on Monkey Island for over 20 years with amnesia) and a talking monkey named Jojo Jr., Guybrush escapes from Monkey Island using a Giant Monkey Robot infused with the power of the new Ultimate Insult Guybrush made and makes his way back to Mêlée Island.
LeChuck and Ozzie in the meantime finally find Elaine and are able to obtain the last piece of the Ultimate Insult from her, the gubernatorial seal of Melee Island. With the completed weapon in the villains' possession, they use it on Pegnose Pete, no longer in need of his services, to test its power. After reducing the pirate thief to nothing but a cowardly and pathetic shadow of his former self, Ozzie tells the thief to commit suicide and prepares to combine the Ultimate Insult's power with his Insult Amplification Tower before giving it to LeChuck to use on Elaine. However, Guybrush and his partners are able to sabotage the Amplification Tower and Ozzie's attempt to expose every pirate to the Ultimate Insult fails. LeChuck becomes infuriated that their plans have failed, believing the Ultimate Insult to be dud. With months of planning appearing as a waste, LeChuck blames Ozzie and decides to animate his statue to destroy him and all of the Caribbean in his rise to power. While animating the statue, LeChuck captures both Ozzie and Elaine, one in each hand, and attempts to kill Guybrush.
Inevitably, Ozzie double-crosses LeChuck, also unintentionally saving Guybrush by distracting LeChuck, and enslaves him using the power of the Ultimate Insult. Controlling the huge statue of the demon pirate, Mandrill is placed on the statue's head and plans another assault on piracy until Guybrush challenges him to Monkey Kombat using the giant monkey robot. After Guybrush cleverly tricks LeChuck into a draw three times, LeChuck performs the respective move for a third draw in Monkey Kombat, faltering his arms and then smashing his head. As a result, Elaine is able to escape as his arms falter and Ozzie is crushed to death when LeChuck smashes his head repeatedly. The Ultimate Insult Ozzie wields is destroyed, explodes, and sends LeChuck hurling into the stratosphere with the effects of the Ultimate Insult leaving his body as well. Elaine then grants the governorship back to her grandfather, Horatio Marley.
Tales of Monkey Island
LeChuck returns in Tales of Monkey Island, once again serving as the main villain, but his persona being quite different than previous titles. This time, he has a new, hideous form, which is described as a poxed infested demon throughout the game. LeChuck in this game seeks one of the rarest voodoo treasures of all time, La Esponja Grande, and hopes to use it's power to suck up limitless voodoo from the Crossroads themselves and become a Demon Pirate God. Through a series of unknown events, LeChuck learns that the Voodoo Lady has been manipulating many of the events surrounding the confrontations between him and Guybrush over the past decade and has been indirectly responsible for his numerous defeats and deaths. Infuriated, LeChuck sought a way to orchestrate his plans without the Voodoo Lady controlling his fate, eventually learning that the very vile voodoo energies that he had accumulated over the years were allowing the voodoo priestess to monitor his activities and alter his destiny.
LeChuck then planned to manipulate the course of events to become a human in order to be free of his voodoo curses and the Voodoo Lady's interference in his plans. He learned that a particular weapon called the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu could not only transform him back into a human and spread his voodoo energies to others, but that it was also the only weapon capable of killing the Voodoo Lady. LeChuck studied the workings of the magic of the cutlass extensively and learned all the means of using its' power. LeChuck sought the weapon to begin his latest master plan to find La Esponja Grande, but later learned that Guybrush was in possession of the weapon, intending to use it to destroy LeChuck once and for all. Armed with this knowledge, LeChuck made his plans to fool Guybrush into using the weapon to turn him into a human. Once that occurred, LeChuck could use his human form and his voodoo energies, once they have spread to other pirates, to manipulate others to find La Esponja Grande for him and then use it to reacquire his voodoo powers once it would be too late for the Voodoo Lady to stop him and conquer all the seas.
Some time after the events of Escape from Monkey Island, LeChuck scourged the Caribbean and abducted dozens of the Monkeys of Montevideo that are said to hold valuable and dark secrets in their minds and hoped to use their knowledge to learn more about La Esponja Grande and the Crossroads. The monkeys were unique in that they held the powers to open up the crossroads, a power that was hidden within them to presumably keep the crossroads safe. LeChuck next hijacked Elaine's ship, murdered her crew, abducted her, locked the monkeys in the hold, and sailed to The Rock of Gelato to perform a voodoo ceremony.
Launch of the Screaming Narwhal
The first episode, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, opens with Elaine tied up and LeChuck having finished sailing to The Rock of Gelato and informs Elaine that he intends to harness the voodoo energies in the rock to tap into the monkey's mental state, discover the secrets, and sacrifice them in exchange for powers that will enable him to conquer the seas and kill all his enemies. In reality though, LeChuck was hypnotizing each monkey to be under his complete control and gave them voodoo powers to aid him in his plans to open the rips of the Crossroads.
Guybrush arrives just as LeChuck is casting his spell on the last monkey and attempts to destroy LeChuck for good with the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu and some voodoo root beer. The voodoo root beer was meant to be sprayed on the sword to destroy LeChuck's spiritual essence once the cutlass was stabbed into LeChuck, while the magic energies of the sword itself would suck up his voodoo essence and leave his physical form to die without any voodoo or spirit to sustain him. LeChuck however causes Guybrush to break the root beer, intending to fool Guybrush into using the cutlass to turn him into a human, leaving the pirate to make last second substitutions to kill the demon pirate. As Guybrush attempts to do so, LeChuck learns all the secrets the monkeys possessed, specifically where the summoning artifacts that can lead others to La Esponja Grande are kept and where the rips in the Crossroads lie. When Guybrush finishes his substitutions and stabs LeChuck, the lack of the voodoo root beer left his spiritual essence perfectly untouched while his body was able to heal itself of the stab wound.
Instead of sucking up his voodoo essence, the cutlass's magic energies cause LeChuck's demonic voodoo energies to exit his body and left him as a human. The voodoo powers were then transferred into Guybrush's hand and pirates all over the Caribbean in the form of the Pox of LeChuck, turning them into short tempered and violent criminals. Guybrush's hand develops an evil mind of its own as the ship explodes, stranding Guybrush on Flotsam Island and leaving LeChuck with Elaine. With LeChuck now a human, the villain was now free to perform his plans without the interference of the Voodoo Lady as she would not be able to monitor his activities without any voodoo on him. The pox would also serve as the perfect way for LeChuck to manipulate others into performing his will while appearing reformed to Elaine and Guybrush, until the right moment to reveal his true intentions presented itself. LeChuck soon was able to get on board Guybrush's ship and uses it to rescue Elaine and the monkeys. At the same time, LeChuck disposed of Guybrush's crew who were in the hold and acquired the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu Guybrush left behind in the explosion for his own purposes.
The episode's last scene shows LeChuck on Guybrush's old ship, giving Elaine a flower, who accepts it and starts to admire the apparently reformed pirate. The flower was actually a rare Vacalian daisy that LeChuck gave to Elaine in order to give her the ability to communicate to sea creatures, a power that was necessary for LeChuck to continue with his plans. Elaine still did not fully trust LeChuck and still believed him to be an evil villain, but decided to stay with him and make sure he does no further harm. She also, like LeChuck, learned of the Voodoo Lady's manipulative ways and stayed with LeChuck knowing that he too had plans to expose her deception. She had hoped for Guybrush to learn the truth through LeChuck's plan, all the while keeping an eye on the villain to insure he doesn't do any harm once the Voodoo Lady is exposed. Unknown to Elaine, LeChuck was using a voodoo trust artifact disguised as his belt buckle on Elaine, compelling her to trust him much more than she anticipated and clouding her judgment and original plans. With the monkeys under his complete control, Elaine's trust, and the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu in his possession, LeChuck initiated the next step of his plans.
The Siege of Spinner Cay
In the second episode, The Siege of Spinner Cay, LeChuck uses the knowledge he acquired from the monkeys to learn where the summoning artifacts for La Esponja Grande are kept and sails to the Jerkbait Islands. The villain intended to acquire the artifacts and place some of the monkeys at a Crossroad rip on the islands, telling Elaine that he intends to make up for his crimes first by returning all the abducted monkeys back to their natural habitats starting with the ones that supposedly lived on the Jerkbait Islands. Even though this was all a lie used as an excuse to go to the Jerkbait Islands, the voodoo trust artifact made Elaine believe almost everything LeChuck said. When poxed pirates under the command of Captain McGillicutty lay siege to the islands and the merfolk that live on Spinner Cay, Elaine stalls both the merfolk and the poxed pirates while LeChuck goes off to collect one of the three artifacts that are capable of summoning the ocean creatures that can lead others to La Esponja Grande. The poxed pirates are after the same artifacts in order to find and destroy the sponge in order to eliminate the only cure of the pox and their new found powers.
Guybrush soon arrives on Spinner Cay after narrowly escaping the ruthless pirate hunter, Morgan LeFlay, and is asked by Elaine to aid LeChuck, to which he reluctantly agrees to. In the meantime, Elaine gave Guybrush her wedding ring to keep it safe should McGillicutty become even more violent. LeChuck claims to be completely voodoo free and reformed, but Guybrush does not believe him and thinks he has alternative motives. LeChuck, unshaken by Guybrush's correct accusations, continued to act reformed, but truly desired to obtain the artifacts to find the sponge and decided to manipulate Guybrush to find the sponge for him. He intended to use the pox, which has even affected Elaine at this point, to compel Guybrush to find the sponge without any hesitation, while he embarked on a scheme to place the rest of the abducted monkeys at Crossroad rips. After helping Guybrush in his quest of obtaining all three artifacts and getting rid of the poxed pirates, LeChuck persuades Elaine to stay with him to help him in returning the remainder of the monkeys while Guybrush goes to find La Esponja Grande. Elaine however was more motivated to keep an eye on LeChuck's activities rather than help him. LeChuck assures Guybrush that Elaine will be safe in his care, but Guybrush is still highly suspicious of LeChuck's motives.
Lair of the Leviathan
LeChuck's role is very minor in Lair of the Leviathan as he is only seen in one cut-scene with Elaine. Both are still sailing the oceans with LeChuck placing each set of monkeys at strategic locations around the Gulf of Melange where a rip into the crossroads lies, instructing them to use the voodoo powers he gave them from The Rock of Gelato to open the rips at the appropriate moment. Elaine and LeChuck seemed to have formed a strong bond due to the trust artifact and the scene ends with LeChuck stating that "it's only the beginning", the true meaning of his words hidden. Unknown to Elaine, LeChuck was already beginning the next phase of his plan and was manipulating the poxed pirates to hunt down Guybrush and bring him to Flotsam Island, where he intended to finish off both Guybrush and the Voodoo Lady and obtain La Esponja Grande. In the end, Morgan Leflay captures Guybrush and hands him over to the Marquis De Singe for his own plans and desires. The poxed pirates make their move though, capture Guybrush, and hold him on trial under false accusations and charges. Soon after LeChuck places the last of the monkeys at Crossroad rips, he sails to Flotsam Island to tie up all loose ends, with Elaine now fully under the pox's influence.
The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood
In The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood, LeChuck finally arrives on Flotsam Island alongside Elaine to seemingly help Guybrush with his trial, but first decides to orchestrate his plan to finally expose the Voodoo Lady. While Elaine is attempting to murder Morgan out of jealously for her romantic feelings for Guybrush, LeChuck goes off and steals the Voodoo Lady's journal, intent on using it to get her out of the way. After acquiring the journal, LeChuck also plans on removing Morgan as a potential threat. Shortly after Elaine is summoned to court, he sees Morgan breaking into De Singe's lab while the doctor is off to his weird experiments. The pair soon engage in a brutal and violent sword fight where Morgan fought diligently. She was nevertheless soon overpowered by LeChuck, who then proceeded to stab her with her own blade. Morgan was still alive when both De Singe and Guybrush visited the crime scene, however she soon dies and her body was eventually collected by the Voodoo Lady.
Acting further with his plan, LeChuck proceeds to interrupt the trial just as Guybrush is about to be found guilty of creating the pox and states that Guybrush is innocent of spreading the epidemic. He reveals to the the jury that it was his doing as it was his accumulated voodoo energy and lust for power that created the pox within himself before it was released into the world. LeChuck then accuses the Voodoo Lady of being the source of his power hunger and lust for Elaine, providing the journal he stole that outlined her plans through the course of many years as evidence. LeChuck's testimony convinces the court to release Guybrush and imprison LeChuck and the Voodoo Lady, both of whom are soon put in separate, but neighboring, cells. This action finally allows LeChuck to earn Guybrush's full trust and faith, but the Voodoo Lady assures him that things are not what they seem and that LeChuck was always destined to have a villainous life.
Guybrush soon creates a recipe to amplify the strength of La Esponja Grande and places it in the wind control device of Flotsam Island to cure the pox. After Guybrush kills De Singe, foils his plans, and cures everyone of the pox, LeChuck murders the prison guard and escapes. With the Voodoo Lady locked up and all other obstacles taken care of, LeChuck reveals his true hand and violently murders Guybrush in front of Elaine with the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu. It soon becomes apparent that everything that has occurred since the pox spreading was all part of an insidious plot of LeChuck's doing to find and use La Esponja Grande to plunder all the voodoo in the world and conquer the seas. LeChuck reveals that he was always evil even without all his voodoo powers, but hoped to finally win Elaine's hand by using his human form to be kind and polite to her. Elaine still does not accept his hand, prompting LeChuck to happily reacquire his voodoo energies from the sponge, transforming him back into the undead. He then reveals his plans to turn Elaine into his demonic queen before leading a conquest on the very heart of voodoo itself. Using his last breaths, Guybrush begs Elaine to destroy LeChuck, a request Elaine tearfully accepts and engages LeChuck in a sword fight as Guybrush dies.
Rise of the Pirate God
LeChuck was able to gain the upper hand on Elaine in the duel, defeats her, and abducts her. With Elaine captured and the sponge in his complete control, LeChuck proceeds to go on a mass killing spree, torturing and murdering many on his way to kill the Voodoo Lady. He learns however that she has escaped, causing him to interrogate and rampage the entire island. In the course of his rampage, LeChuck reanimated many of those he killed into new warriors for his army and took the Screaming Narwhal from Winslow and sent it a drift to sea to insure no one would follow him. LeChuck then summoned his own demonic ship, placing his legions and Elaine on-board and proceeded to lead a full scale assault on the seven seas, devastating all of the Caribbean and killing hundreds and thousands of people. No longer in need of his trust artifact, LeChuck locked it up in a chest in the jungles of Spoon Isle and murdered all who stood up to him on his first journey on the island out of pure revenge. LeChuck then proceeded to attack and destroy Spinner Cay, killing many while the surviving mer people retreated to the dark depths of the sea, and sailed his ship into the center of the Crossroads in the living world. With all the cursed monkeys in place, their powers combined to form the entrance to the Crossroads within the physical realm, yet the entrance would not open as it had to be unlocked from the realm of the dead.
While LeChuck had difficulty opening the Crossroads, Guybrush opened them in an attempt to escape the land of the dead. LeChuck took advantage of this and used La Esponja Grande to suck up immense energy from the crossroads, turning him into the pirate god. LeChuck revealed all his plans to Guybrush, that he was using the pox to manipulate others to do his dirty work and to compel Guybrush to find the sponge, that he used Guybrush to find the sponge for him, that he was placing the monkeys at the rips of the crossroads rather than helping them, and desired the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu as it was the only weapon capable of destroying the Voodoo Lady once infused with enough demonic energy. At Elaine's urging, LeChuck then proceeded to turn Elaine into his demonic bride and instructed her to spray Guybrush's ghost with root beer, sending him back into the crossroads. Unknown to LeChuck, Elaine only agreed to become LeChuck's bride so that she may obtain powers potent enough to hold the Cutlass of Kaflu in order to use it against LeChuck and his army. While the powers would cause her to become truly evil and demonic, she was counting on Guybrush to devise the means to transform her back to normal.
Guybrush in the meantime loses hope as he realizes just how much power LeChuck has at his disposal along with Elaine in his control and the Cutlass of Kaflu in his possession. However, with Morgan's motivation, Guybrush refuses to give up and decides to repossess his body so that he may become invulnerable to the voodoo root beer. With the Voodoo Lady's assistance, Guybrush is able to get back to his body with the use of her locket, but is still unable to hold the Cutlass of Kaflu as it is filled with too much demonic power to be wielded by mortal hands. LeChuck instructs Elaine to kill Guybrush once and for all with cutlass, but while Elaine takes the cutlass and prepares to kill her husband, she is stopped by Winslow, who proceeds to attack LeChuck's ship with other pirates assisting him. With LeChuck chasing him throughout the realms, Guybrush creates a counter voodoo spell and uses it to shrink La Esponja Grande back down from the crossroads, cutting off LeChuck's supply of voodoo, transforming Elaine back to normal, and rendering the voodoo cutlass much less powerful. LeChuck still remained calm, stating that even with La Esponja Grande gone, he has enough demonic energies to just enter the crossroads themselves and take as much voodoo as he desired.
When LeChuck attempted to do so though, Morgan stabbed him in the chest with a blade given to her by the Voodoo Lady, injuring his spiritual portion. Morgan told Guybrush that LeChuck must be defeated in both the physical and the spiritual worlds to destroy him for good. LeChuck punches Morgan out of the way, and throws Guybrush back onto his ship to finish him off personally. Aided by Winslow, Bugeye, the monkeys, and the mer people, Guybrush has a final duel with LeChuck on his ship. Though LeChuck has the upper hand most of the battle, Guybrush cleverly traps LeChuck in one of the rips in the Crossroads as Elaine kills his skeletal army with the Cutlass of Kaflu. As all the rips close once Guybrush sacrifices his one shred of life left, Morgan stabs LeChuck in the land of the dead and Elaine stabs him from the land of the living, inflicting immense pain and damage to his spiritual and physical forms simultaneously. The amount of damage caused to LeChuck's being, causes his forms to implode upon themselves and are destroyed, leaving nothing but his voodoo essence to roam the crossroads. Guybrush is eventually able to return fully alive with the use of Elaine's wedding ring, as it represents everything the voodoo spell does for returning to the land of the living. However, as the the ring represented a true love, it compelled both the spirit and body to reconstitute itself fully, giving Guybrush a brand new body, including a fully regrown left hand. Guybrush appeared fully alive on the Screaming Narwhal with Elaine and Winslow safely at his side. Elaine reveals that her true reason for giving Guybrush her ring was in case the worst should happen.
LeChuck's forces were completely destroyed, the Cutlass of Kaflu and the La Esponja Grande were lost to the depths of the sea, and all the seas were peaceful once again. LeChuck's voodoo essence is later revealed to have been captured by Morgan and placed in a voodoo container. Morgan later gives the voodoo container with an entrapped LeChuck in it to the Voodoo Lady, who allows Morgan to return to the land of the living as a ghost in return for her services. As of now, LeChuck is trapped in a sort of eternal limbo, but his grunts can still be heard inside the jar. It is unknown what plans the Voodoo Lady has for LeChuck, but the threat of him returning will never truly go away as his voodoo essence is seemingly impossible to destroy.
Personality
While LeChuck has to shown to have a comical disposition many times throughout the series, he is incredibly power-hungry, sadistic, and ruthless. A pirate of terrifying evil and violence in life, LeChuck pillaged and plundered his way throughout the seas, specifically the Caribbean, murdering and slaughtering countless lives in his mad quest for greater power and wealth. A villain who marveled at the very thought of destruction and sought to trap the seas in an endless time of pain and suffering under his demonic ruler-ship, LeChuck would soon become known as one of the mightiest and frightening pirates ever to sail the seven seas. His rampage may have gone forever unchecked had he not met Elaine Marley with whom the villain soon became obsessed with. While described as very handsome and youthful as a human, LeChuck's wicked aspirations for wealth and power, disregard for any type of life, numerous murders and countless other violent crimes, and lack of personnel hygiene compelled Elaine to despise the man and tell him to drop dead. LeChuck would not accept this and his obsession eventually led to his first death, leading many to enjoy a sense of relief with LeChuck finally gone.
It wasn't long, though, before LeChuck reemerged as a demonic ghost, having sacrificed what little humanity he had left in exchange for demonic voodoo energy and powers and turned him into a reflection of what is in his soul, evil. The evil in his heart had became as transparent as he was after obtaining powers from the bowels of Hell itself. LeChuck soon became a true menace in the Caribbean, killing and destroying everyone and everything that dared got in his path with ships, villages, and entire islands being consumed by his rage. On certain occasions, LeChuck would press gang some of those he murdered to join his crew after reanimating them into ghosts, building up a demonic army mainly comprised of innocent victims to his own reign of terror. LeChuck continued to plunder voodoo from the world of magic to aid in his plans, becoming more and more powerful and less and less humane after each defeat.
While LeChuck had incredibly poor hygiene, to the point of leaving a foul stench wherever he went and having a dead crow on top of his hat in certain games, LeChuck dressed very wealthy. His clothing is often lined with sparkling gold, illustrating his love for wealth and lust to showcase it to others. In addition to simply satisfying his own greed, LeChuck sought to build up his wealth in order to impress Elaine and bribe her to love him. While LeChuck is a monster, he does have a soft spot for Elaine, never giving up on his plan to marry her. While LeChuck loves Elaine given his own twisted definition of the word love, that will not stop him from torturing and murdering her friends and family, attacking the islands she governs, abducting and abusing her, and even attempting to kill her and reanimate her as one of the undead. LeChuck remains obsessed with Elaine and will never cease to stalk her until he wins or is destroyed for good.
At the start of the series, LeChuck becomes mortal enemies with Guybrush Threepwood from the very second they meet each other. Guybrush has continuously foiled LeChuck's plans, destroyed him numerous times, and even married Elaine, an action that only further infuriated LeChuck. Though LeChuck lusts to kill Guybrush, he has gained a very reluctant respect for the young pirate after getting out of so many dire situations. He soon acknowledges him to be a real threat and even takes advantage of Guybrush's resourcefulness several times later in the series for his own ends. LeChuck and Guybrush's relationship often goes into comical moments, such as the pair arguing and even sharing numerous stories with the two eerily being polite to one another. This contributes to LeChuck's possible fondness of Guybrush and that he may even see him as a formidable foe at times. Along with this, at random times throughout the series, LeChuck and Guybrush engage in very childlike bickering and their relationship mirrors that of typical siblings.
Despite his lack of common sense, LeChuck's skills are not something to be dealt with lightly and are considered without equal. He is arguably the best sword fighter in the series as he has bested many pirates in sword fighting and never losing even a single duel, having developed a brutal sword-fighting style along with his morbid sense of humor that often utterly humiliates his opponents before slaughtering them in violent ways. LeChuck is able to easily defeat Morgan Leflay, one of the best sword fighters in all the seas, and kills her with her own blade. Elaine herself, who has proven to be more than capable of defeating multiple opponents at once, is no match against LeChuck and is also defeated. LeChuck also appears to have so much might that not even the Ultimate Insult was potent enough to crush his ego, making LeChuck the only pirate in existence to withstand it's devastating power. Due to his skills in swordplay, his intense and brutal nature at pillaging and plundering, and demonic appearance and powers, LeChuck has earned a reputation as the mightiest and frightening pirate of all time (further evident when Guybrush wishes to be the mightiest pirate ever at a wishing well, he temporarily assumes the appearance of LeChuck).
While consistently evil, a very different take on LeChuck was shown in the first four chapters of Tales of Monkey Island. LeChuck, when transformed into a human, is shown be very kind, calm, patient, charming, and polite. He respects the feelings between Elaine and Guybrush and does not even attempt to win Elaine's hand. He has also shown regret and remorse for his past crimes and seeks to make up for them and make amends to all the people he's wronged. However, towards the end of the season, it is revealed that LeChuck's kindness was nothing more than an act to manipulate others for his own ends and had even committed several murders while in his human form. While LeChuck's kindness was only a ruse, his human form is a glimpse into LeChuck's manipulative personality, using his handsome looks and confident demeanor to fool others into a false sense of security.
The end result is that while LeChuck has comical aspects, he represents a true threat of evil who seeks to control all the seas with all its riches and voodoo powers, a demonic army under his command, Guybrush and the rest of his enemies dead, and Elaine by his side to do his bidding. He has proven to be a vicious and cruel mass murderer, a sadist who enjoys torturing others, a satanist with a love for black humor, a skilled and clever strategist, and an unmatched swordsman and pirate. While he claims to love Elaine, he truly has no idea what it means to love another person and seems to only want Elaine for her beauty and to cook and clean for him and aid him in his villainous acts and plans. Guybrush remains a constant obstacle in LeChuck's plans, with the villain continuing to take much away from Guybrush and Elaine, including many of their friends and family.
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 spectra 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 the second game, 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 back story 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 say, 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 shape shift 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 possess 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.
In the fifth game, he regains the sickly zombie form he had in the second game. When Guybrush stabs him with his improvised Legendary Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu, LeChuck is restored to human form, while his voodoo power is released into the Caribbean - as well as Guybrush's left hand - as the "Pox of LeChuck". As a human, he shows no evidence of any supernatural power, or any power for the matter save his brute strength. He eventually regains his voodoo power, restoring him to his zombie - or "Pox-infected" form.
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, and a similar transformation in Curse of Monkey Island).
In the current canon Guybrush and LeChuck don't appear to be related in any way.
Prominent henchmen
- Bob
- Bloodnose the Pirate
- Largo LaGrande
- Voodoo Priest
- Dinghy Dog
- Pegnose Pete
- Murray (before becoming just a skull)
- Ozzie Mandrill (partnership)
- Monty Meringue
- Wharf Rat
- Allegro Rasputin
Game appearances
- The Secret of Monkey Island and Special Edition (First appearance)
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
- The Curse of Monkey Island
- Escape from Monkey Island
Tales of Monkey Island - "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal"
- Tales of Monkey Island - "The Siege of Spinner Cay"
- Tales of Monkey Island - "Lair of the Leviathan"
- Tales of Monkey Island - "The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood"
- Tales of Monkey Island - "Rise of the Pirate God"
Voice actor(s)
Quotes
- "Search your feelings- you know it to be true!" -LR
- "Come on! I'm dying here!" -LR
- "Now, with the demon flames of this voodoo cannonball, I'll blast my significant other into the significant otherworld. (Laugh) That'll show her how much I truly care-" -CMI
- "Suffering Sailors! Tis good to be dead!" -CMI
- "Ugh! Neptune's naval, that was a close one!" -CMI
- "Argh! You'd better listen!" -CMI
- "Ah, she will be the death of me yet- I mean, again!" -CMI
- "Do ya mind? I be in the middle of an unholy ceremony here!" -TMI
- "... but where am I going to find a duck wearing burlap chaps?" -TMI
- "If I'm going to prove to you that I am on your side, I need to be able to face challenges the same way you do, instead of threatening to cut off your head when I don't get my way." -TMI
- "You wouldn't believe the number of monkeys it takes to complete an evil voodoo curse! What was I thinking!?" -TMI
- "You'll have to pry it from my no longer cold, dead hand!" -TMI
- "Ha ha! See if you can handle THIS, boys!" -TMI
- "Unholy THIS!" -TMI
- "Aren't you dead yet? I've got wedding plans to make!" -TMI
External links
LeChuck on Wikipedia
LeChuck at the Internet Movie Database
