Tales of Monkey Island/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acceptable Targets: There’s plenty of emphasis on the Marquis being French. Except that he denies it.
  • Angst? What Angst?: Guybrush isn't particularly upset by the loss of his hand. Elaine gets over it pretty quickly herself.
  • Awesome Music: Tons.
  • Broken Base + Fan Dumb:
    • Oh yes. The Telltale Games forum was a peaceful and likeable community, until Tales was introduced, and the place was overrun by insane loudmouths. Both of the "This sucks compared to the previous games" and "You aren't allowed to dislike it just because it's Monkey Island" varieties. It eventually calmed down though and now the place is friendlier than ever. But you STILL get comments on any Tales-related YouTube video saying "omg teh 3d sux dey shud scrap all da work theyve done and redo it all in 2d!!!!!".
  • Cargo Ship:
    • Before there was Winslow/Anemone, there was Winslow/The Map.
    • Apparently, he and The Map are still platonic friends, as he keeps bringing it up even after he is paired with Anemone.
  • Complete Monster:
    • The Marquis De Singe.
    • LeChuck ascends from Affably Evil to monster territory in this game for the first time since the second game.
    • Also, McGillicutty in Chapter 2, when he reveals during the ship battle that he is looking for La Esponja Grande only to destroy it in order to remain poxed with his crewmates forever.
  • Contested Sequel/Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The general consensus is that the game, while not quite as good as the first three, is a significant improvement over Escape from Monkey Island.
  • Ear Worm:
    • Largo's theme is an in-universe example in Chapter 2, while Guybrush is waiting for his mast to be repaired.
    • From Telltale (a Shout-Out to a fan video and the third game): "Oh, there's a monkey in my pocket,/he's attracting all my change,/his tail is a magnet,/and I think that he's got mange..."
  • Epileptic Trees: Tales is like an incomplete puzzle that invites fans to submit missing pieces: especially regarding the role of the Voodoo Lady in setting the story in motion, and her allegiance and motivation. Also begging to be explained is Elaine's seeming prescience (see Xanatos Roulette on the Video Game page, made even more puzzling as she is not in her right mind most of the game) -- people even theorise that Elaine has voodoo-like powers.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Poxed Elaine in Guybrush’s eyes, which makes him wonder if he secretly craves LeChuck.
  • Faux Symbolism: According to Telltale Games' forum thread, there are PLENTY of examples of faux symbolism. They include:
    • In Chapter 3, Guybrush and his friends last a few days in the belly of a manatee, similar to when Jonah survived for three days in the belly of a whale.
    • Guybrush befriends Morgan and then gets betrayed by her and handed over to the Marquis De Singe on Flotsam Island for 30,000 pieces of silver... kind of like when Jesus befriended Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed him and handed him over to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.
    • In Chapter 4, Guybrush is brought to trial for charges, including that of spreading the Pox of LeChuck, and almost sentenced to death before LeChuck arrives to save him. In the Bible, Jesus was brought to trial before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate and Herod before being condemned to death with no one to help him, in order to fulfill the Biblical prophecy of long ago.
    • In the same chapter, Guybrush cures Elaine and everyone else across the Gulf of Melange of the Pox of LeChuck, and then gets betrayed by LeChuck and pierced by his Cutlass of Kaflu before dying; kind of like when Jesus was pierced by the nails of the cross and died to save humanity from all ills.
    • In Chapter 5, the map of the Crossroads is shaped like a cross where Christ was crucified. The map patterns are: Gateway = feet, Center = heart, Swordfight path = right hand, Treasure Hunt path = left hand, and Thieves' Den = head. Coincidence?
      • Arguable since it resembles more the veve/symbol of Papa Legba, who, like Galeb, is an important figure in Haitian Vodou who stood at the Crossroads and was responsible for allowing/denying communication between the land of the living and the afterlife, often portrayed as an old man with a walking staff, a pipe and an affinity for dogs, sound familiar? This makes it less of Christian symbolism and more a case of the people at Telltale Games actually doing the research.
    • In the same chapter, Guybrush makes his journey through the Crossroads, manages to unite himself in spirit with his body, and returns to destroy LeChuck once and for all through his trials and pains, before closing up the Crossroads with a sacrifice of his Shred of Life and using Elaine's ring as a part of the Crossroads exit spell to return to life and reunite with Elaine in the living world in his fully revived body. All of this makes a pattern to Jesus' descent into the netherworld and resurrection from the tomb to destroy death and Satan once and for all. Guess that's one more bit of faux symbolism added to this trope!
  • Ho Yay: Winslow's man-crush on Guybrush. The fans have exaggerated this.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: Even as cool as Chapter 4 is, did anyone really believe Guybrush would stay Killed Off for Real, especially with that zombie hand running around? Even Morgan's death felt a little too rushed, with a suspicious moment of Never Found the Body.
  • Moral Event Horizon: LeChuck trying to drown Guybrush, hanging him above a pit of acid, chasing him around with a voodoo doll, trapping him in a cursed theme park and stealing his wife was all in good fun. But LeChuck's running Guybrush through with his sword after pretending to be redeemed is something completely different.
  • Most Annoying Sound: LeChuck's horrendous Evil Laugh in the PC download version of Chapter 1.
  • Never Live It Down: Adam Harrington. Due to his LeChuck's aforementioned horrendous laugh above, fans referred to him as "Mr. 'Harrr harrr harrrrr!' Harrington".
  • Nightmare Fuel: Now has its own page.
  • Shipping: Some players think Guybrush should ditch Elaine for Morgan.
  • Special Effect Failure: In the scene in De Singe's lab in Chapter 2, De Singe and Morgan are quite blatantly standing in front of a flat image of the lab. Presumably this had to be done due to the filesize limit on the Wii Ware release.
  • Squick: Guybrush gets creeped out wherever the Voodoo Lady's personal life is concerned. As the plot involves tracking down one of her ex-boyfriends, it happens quite a bit.
  • The Woobie:
    • While Guybrush has always been this to some extent, in this game, it's taken up a notch.
    • Jerkass Woobie: Hemlock McGee's life keeps getting worse and worse. He only partly seems to deserve it.
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