Tales of Monkey Island: Difference between revisions

* [[Ambiguous Gender]]: The Merfolk in chapterChapter 2. The gender for two of the three on-screen samples is suggested, but never stated outright. Their leader is classified as male at one point by Elaine, but even that does not stop it from remaining ambiguous.

** [[Word of God]] says that even after {{spoiler|Reginald Van Winslow falls in love with the female-ish Anemone, "her" gender is supposed to be a mystery - ''including to him''.}}.

*** [[Word of God]] is inconsistent, as the official walkthrough for {{spoiler|chapterChapter 5 refers to Anemone as "she" and "her" (sans the quote marks)}}.

*** But then, if you're going to make family-friendly games (even if they're as bizarre as the ''Monkey Island'' series), adding in a casual could-be-gay couple might get some disapproving letters from more traditional parents, and referring to the apparently genderless Anemone as 'she' may be purposely to deflect this one. Guybrush refers to Anemone as 'she' in PartChapter 5 as well - although having said that, Van Winslow most likely [[If You Know What I Mean|knows hir]] better and never specifies. And there's that [[Ho Yay|'Isle of Ewe' joke with the map]], which made it past the family-friendly radar; so who knows?

* [[American Accents]]/[[Deep South]]: In Chapter 5, the Thief in the Crossroads speaks in a deep voice with some sort of Southern Hillbilly accent. And he seems to have some [[Sacred Hospitality|Southern hospitality]], despite the fact that he is a thief from the start.

* [[And I Must Scream]]: {{spoiler|1=If the after-credits sequence of EpisodeChapter 5 is to be believed, LeChuck, who's basically trapped as an ethereal goop. He ''can'' scream, but nobody except the Voodoo Lady is likely to do anything about it}}.

* [[And Your Little Dog, Too]]: Parodied in Chapter 1, when {{spoiler|the Marquis De Singe is defeated by Guybrush and leaves, promising to have revenge on him, "and [his] little hand, too!"}}

** Also, in Chapter 3, {{spoiler|there are manatees that speak in their own language that Guybrush is not good at understanding. He discovers that he needs to be a successor to [[Speaks Fluent Animal|Santino]] by getting the [[Translator Microbes|manatee language book]] from the Marquis De Singe [[Grand Theft Me|via the Voodoo Lady]], and by getting the [[Translator Collar|Tongue of the Manatee]]. Once Guybrush obtains both, he can communicate with the manatees in their own language, while the subtitles act as interpreter for the manatee language, regardless of whether you've turned them on or off.}}.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: {{spoiler|The entire Gulf of Melange in Chapter 5, right between [[Apocalypse How/Class 0|Class 0]] and [[Apocalypse How/Class 1|Class 1]], and bordering on [[Apocalypse How/Class 3 A|Class 3 A]]. And it seems that the Caribbean just isn't pretty much the same since [[Big Bad|LeChuck]] regained his voodoo powers and [[Hero-Killer|killed Guybrush]].}}.

* [[Ass Shove]]: {{spoiler|1=Near the end of Chapter 5, while Morgan stabs LeChuck after Guybrush has trapped him, Elaine gives the villain one by stabbing him with the Cutlass of Kaflu... let's just say... ''right in the fundament''! [[Avoid the Dreaded G Rating|And this is an E10+ rated game, too!]]}}!

* [[Attending Your Own Funeral|Attending Your Own Wake]]: In Chapter 5, {{spoiler|1=when Guybrush (as a ghost) goes through a rip in the Crossroads to Club 41 ''before'' going to the Manatee Mating Grounds in order to find the Voodoo Lady's locket (via another rip), Bugeye tells him to be quiet when he and W.P. Grindstump are "in the middle of a pirate wake", and Guybrush is surprised to find his own body [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|holding a dartboard and wearing a party hat]]. He can look around the club and talk to Grindstump to find out what happened after Guybrush died at the hands of LeChuck. Afterwards, he can exit his own wake and continue on in his quest to get back in his own body, as before.}}.

* [[Back from the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Guybrush}} at the end of chapterChapter 5.

* [[Battle in the Rain]]: Chapter 1 starts out like this on [[It Was a Dark and Stormy Night|a dark and stormy night]] as Guybrush tries to finish the ingredients for the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu in order to destroy LeChuck, {{spoiler|but due to the botched up moves and the last-minute substitutions, it ends with Guybrush [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|ending up turning LeChuck into a human and getting infected along with all the others by an outbreak of the voodoo pox]].}}.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: In the fourth chapter, {{spoiler|1=LeChuck shows up at the last minute and bails Guybrush out of court. Though, of course, this was actually a [[Villainous Rescue]], as LeChuck is only doing this in order to let Guybrush power up La Esponja Grande and get all of the Pox out of everyone in the Gulf of Melange, so that LeChuck can [[Hero-Killer|kill him later]].}}.

** In the fifth chapter, when {{spoiler|1=Van Winslow attacks LeChuck's ship with an army of merfolk and saves Guybrush from being murdered by a demonic Elaine.}}.

* [[Big No]]: {{spoiler|1=McGillicutty in Chapter 2, when [[Hoist by His Own Petard|his own cannonball blasts off the Screaming Narwhal's rubber tree mast and ends up sinking his own ship]].}}.

** Also, {{spoiler|De Singe in Chapter 4, when the moths completely destroy his turban holding Guybrush's hand as his only source of "Jus de Vie".}}.

* [[Big Sleep]]: Almost averted at the end of Chapter 4, {{spoiler|when the mortally wounded Guybrush's eyes open wide in a blank stare at a saddened Elaine (almost in a [[Dies Wide Open]] position), but then gently close as he collapses and "falls asleep" with his mouth open.}}. (Possibly [[Foreshadowing|foreshadowed]] in a way previously in Chapter 1, {{spoiler|when Guybrush looks at the quarters door of either Elaine's ship or the Screaming Narwhal and says, "[[Warren Zevon|I'll sleep when I'm dead.]] Or later tonight."}})

** In Chapter 3, {{spoiler|after extracting the formula from Guybrush's Poxed hand,}}, De Singe becomes joyous, then mutters to himself in French, "La mort est tuée..." (albeit without the "é") which, when translated, means "Death is killed.". {{spoiler|This becomes a key plot point for De Singe in Chapter 4, and later for Guybrush in Chapter 5 when he repossesses his decaying corpse and [[Blessed with Suck|keeps himself "alive" with the Spirit Gum]].}}.

* [[Black Comedy Rape]]/[[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)]]: Attempted, actually: Inin Chapter 4, {{spoiler|just when Guybrush is about to answer to his criminal charge, a Poxed Elaine barges into the Flotsam Courthouse, threatening to pillage and plunder for "spoils, swags, booty and boodle", then sees him and calls him a "bonnie lass" before adding, "Step into me captain's quarters and let me ravish you silly!" and doing a [[Dance of Romance|freaky waltz with him]]. But then she sniffs his jacket and, thinking that he had an apparent affair with Morgan, triggers a [[Berserk Button]] as Elaine charges after her in an attempt to kill her.}}.

* [[Blasting It Out of Their Hands]]: {{spoiler|1=Happens in Chapter 5, as a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Curse of Monkey Island]]'', when Elaine, as LeChuck's [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette|demon bride]], raises her demonic power-infused Cutlass of Kaflu to kill her [[Inhuman Human|undead husband Guybrush]], and Winslow shoots the Cutlass off of her hand and onto the rail of LeChuck's ship.}}.

* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: Especially evident in chapterChapter 4, when a couple of people get impaled but the swords stay clean.

* [[Blowing a Raspberry]]: Defendant Guybrush does this when Defense Attorney Guybrush tries asking him(self), "What's your impression of the plaintiff's case?".

* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: Played straight, but then subverted in {{spoiler|1=chapterChapter 5 of ''Tales''. While LeChuck is beating the increasingly rancid pulp out of zombie Guybrush, Guybrush asks why he isn't being rigged to [[Death Trap|Death Traps]] like some elaborate rollercoaster of doom. LeChuck basically says he's learned from his mistakes.}}.

* [[Bottomless Bladder]]/[[Nobody Poops]]: Averted in chapterChapter 4 where there is a bathroom, and Guybrush does use it.

* [[Brain Bleach]]: EpisodeChapter 1: Guybrush Threepwood goes to open a closet, which the Voodoo Lady yells for him not to open before adding, "It's where I keep my... unmentionables." Guybrush shudders, and the closet from then on is named "The Scariest Closet in the World.".

** Also, when the Voodoo Lady apparently goes into too much detail about a previous romantic relationship with De Cava, Guybrush covers his ears and blocks her out between "[her] supple-" and "-like a volcano!".

* [[Break the Cutie|Breaking the Cutie]]: Over the course of the episodes, a real number is done on the happy-go-lucky Guybrush. First, it starts out harmless enough with Elaine seemingly willing to trust a human LeChuck over Guybrush's objections, then {{spoiler|he loses his hand along with his wedding ring}}, he breaks down in grief {{spoiler|1=after failing to protect Morgan LeFlay from being fatally stabbed by LeChuck}}, he's backstabbed twice {{spoiler|(maybe three times if you count the Voodoo Lady)}}, he suffers a [[Heroic BSOD]] {{spoiler|1=when it looks like Elaine has done a complete [[Face Heel Turn]] to leave him for LeChuck}}, and it all ends with one [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|terribly brutal beatdown]] {{spoiler|1=from LeChuck}} that leaves Guybrush in such physical agony he can't even joke anymore. [[The Woobie|The poor dear]] really just needed a hug at the end.

* [[Brick Joke]]: A possibly accidental one: The [[The Secret of Monkey Island|first game]] has Guybrush state "half the people I know are called Guybrush." The brick comes crashing down in Chapter 4 when he explains to Bosun Krebbs {{spoiler|that she had attempted to carry out revenge on the ''wrong'' Guybrush Threepwood.}}. Apparently, he even gets his mail.

* [[Brief Accent Imitation]]: In Chapter 4, Morgan does this when she tells Guybrush that the Marquis De Singe, with the ridiculous French accent, wants to study his ''"unique strain of Pox."''.

* [[But Thou Must!]]: Played with in EpisodeChapter 2, when Elaine asks you to work with LeChuck. You get a whole dictionary of the various forms of "No", but every time Elaine just looks at Guybrush with puppy eyes and asks him with an increasingly sweet voice until your only dialog option left is "...Fine.".

* [[But Wait! There's More!]]: Spoken by LeChuck in Chapter 4, {{spoiler|1=when, after confessing to the court that he was the one who spread the Pox of LeChuck, he has something else (i.e., the Voodoo Lady's diary) to show to the court.}}.

* [[By the Lights of Their Eyes]]: One of the buttons on De Singe's Auto-Trepanation Helmet in Chapter 4 causes the entire "laboratorium" to go dark temporarily, with only Guybrush's eyes visible when he says, "Ack! I'm blind!" Thankfully, the lights turn back on.

* [[The Cake Is a Lie]]: Parodied in Chapter 4, {{spoiler|when Judge Grindstump asks Guybrush on what grounds the latter is not guilty of spreading the [[Hate Plague|Pox of LeChuck]], after which one of the four reasons listed is "The Pox is a lie!"}}.

** Also, at the beginning of Chapter 4, Guybrush thinks there would be "ice cream cake" when Flotsam's citizens arrive. {{spoiler|Instead, he is summoned to court on civil and criminal charges.}}.

** In Chapter 5, {{spoiler|the first time Guybrush repossesses his own corpse, he can say, "I surrender!" and get put in the Flotsam Island Jail. The first time, he is in the left cell, and he can wait until he gets dispossessed from his body. If he manages to get Bugeye in jail, and then say, "I surrender!" upon repossession of his own body, he gets put in a jail cell next to Bugeye's, but he can't escape from jail, even through a hidden tunnel without getting dispossessed again. Only if he manages to get root beer and (in his bodily form) use it to create Spirit Gum and eat it up will he now be able to escape through a tunnel, which can later be a key to finding one of the ingredients for the Diet of the Senses spell.}}.

* [[Cat Fight]]: Between Elaine and Morgan in EpisodeChapter 4.

* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: The series has always been "funny characters in a serious plot" to a certain extent, but Tales has been steadily ramping up the drama, {{spoiler|especially with the [[Wham! Episode]] that is PartChapter Four.4}}. The games are still funny, though.

** Elaine's mention of a troubling encounter with an enchanted aardvark in partChapter one1 is especially odd when you consider the trope's [[Cerebus the Aardvark|namesake]]. Seems like a case of unintentional foreshadowing.

* [[Character as Himself]]: In a [[Shout-Out]] to the original ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'', the end credits of Chapter 5 finishes the "Cast" section with "and Franklin as himself.".

* [[Chekhov's Boomerang]]: Plenty of items are used in at least two different puzzles. The Pyrite Parrot of Petaluma goes the extra mile, though. He's used for an important puzzle in Chapter 1, used for ''two'' puzzles, in two very different ways, in Chapter 2, lost in Chapter 3, seemingly destroyed for good in Chapter 4, and then used for ''one last puzzle'' in Chapter 5, despite all that's happened to it. Handy little hunk of fool's gold, isn't he?

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: {{spoiler|You receive Elaine's wedding ring in chapterChapter 2 and keep it throughout all of the episodes, but Guybrush refuses to use it for anything. It's the solution to the last puzzle in the game.}}.

** To a lesser degree, {{spoiler|Guybrush's last shred of life which you start out with in chapterChapter 5. It's used in the climax of the second-to-last puzzle.}}.

** {{spoiler|Apparently, the Voodoo Lady's status as this has been vaguely confirmed in episodeChapter 5. Whether she's really evil or not remains to be seen.}}.

** {{spoiler|Elaine is revealed to be a rare good version of this trope in the same episode.chapter}}.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: It's unusual to see this trope in practice in this series, but ''Tales'' likes it. There are several references to previous ''Monkey Island'' games, particularly in a lot of optional dialogue in partChapter 4. Example: ask Elaine to vouch for your character, and she'll give a long list of your deeds. {{spoiler|Just don't expect her to emphasize the positive, as heavily Poxed as she is.}}.

* [[Conveniently Precise Translation]]: The flag on the Courthouse of Flotsam Island in Chapter 1 reads [[Gratuitous German|"Die Luf[t] der Flotsam saugen"]], which is German for "The wind of Flotsam sucks", which is a bit odd, since those who studied the Stanford flag (whose German motto is [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/president/speeches/951005dieluft.html "Die Luft der Freiheit weht", or "The wind of freedom is blowing"]) [[Did Not Do the Research]] (Luft is German for "air", and "Wind" is German for "wind"). A more appropriate German sentence would have been "Der Wind von Flotsam saugt". (Althoughalthough [http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9963&page=3 Telltale may have done it to tick off the Germans], but exactly why is beyond this troper.).

** Also, in Chapter 3, Guybrush calls La Esponja Grande "[[Gratuitous Spanish|La Esponja Gordo]]", with "gordo" being another Spanish word roughly meaning "big", but it also means "fat", while he talks with De Cava, and later calls the same sponge he finds "La Esponja Pequeño" ("the small sponge");, and in Chapter 4, he addresses it as "Señor Esponja Not-So-Grande". In these cases, "gordo" and "pequeño" are incorrectly used in the masculine, while "señor" is used in the masculine, though the Spanish word for "sponge" is a feminine noun. The proper adjectives for the sponge should have been called "gorda" and "pequeña", while the proper noun title should have been called "Señorita Esponja Not-So-Grande", since the title "señorita" is Spanish for "Miss", which is a title for a young woman.

* [[Courtroom Antic]]: EpisodeChapter 4 in a nutshell.

* [[Creator Cameo]]: Chapter Four4 features portraits of caricatures of Telltale's chief officers Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner. The series also mentions a "Nor Treblig".

'''Elaine:''' ''[under the influence of the Pox]'' What do you mean by that, you worthless piece of *cough cough cough* ooh, excuse me. }}

* [[Cute Ghost Girl]]: {{spoiler|1=Morgan LeFlay in Chapter 5.}}.

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: {{spoiler|1=LeChuck just impales Guybrush, rather than go for an overtly elaborate [[Death Trap]].}}. Possibly [[Foreshadowing|foreshadowed]] in a way, in the second episodechapter, when he says that {{spoiler|if he wanted to kill Guybrush, he would just throw him off a cliff}}.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Currently, ''Tales'' seems destined to become the darkest entry in the series, as {{spoiler|Guybrush got his hand cut off, a character dies, and there's another character that dies in the game, and that's... ''Guybrush''.}}. Also, the more "adult" jokes are much more frequent and overt than they were in the previous games.

** Not to mention that, unlike previous games, ''Tales'' has fewer [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Fourth Wall Breaks]]. Other than Guybrush talking to [[Im Talking To You|himself]], there are very few in-game references to the wall. One exception is Guybrush investigating the chest in the Voodoo Lady's shack a second time in Chapter 1 (after the Voodoo Lady tells him it will be important "many moons from now"), and saying "It's a mysterious chest that I won't be opening in this episode"."

* [[Darkest Hour]]: {{spoiler|1=In Chapter 4, Guybrush watches Morgan die from a stab wound (which had been inflicted by LeChuck). As if that wasn't enough, he and Elaine get caught in clamshell traps set up by De Singe just as the former is finishing the Feast for the Senses for [[MacGuffin|La Esponja Grande]];, and after he destroys De Singe and cures everyone of the Pox of LeChuck, the villain himself breaks free, creates a bit of a [[Hope Spot]] for Guybrush and Elaine by temporarily freeing them, and then erases it by [[Hero-Killer|killing the former]] and capturing both the latter and the sponge. While Guybrush is thinking up some means of escape in the Crossroads of the afterlife, LeChuck knocks Winslow off the Screaming Narwhal and sets it adrift at sea, damages Flotsam Island by destroying many of its inhabitants, destroys Spinner Cay and its many Vaycaylians, damages the entire Gulf of Melange and makes it his own [[Villain World]]. Right after Guybrush creates another [[Hope Spot]] and opens the rips in the Crossroads, the villain gets his chance to erase it again by tossing the sponge into the rip and drawing voodoo power from the Crossroads. And to make matters worse, Elaine agrees to be turned into his demon bride who then sprays Guybrush with voodoo root beer, zapping him back to the Crossroads! A truly dark hour indeed!}}!

'''Guybrush:''' Yeah, well, [[Screw Destiny|I don't]] [[Prophecy Twist|plan on]] [[Foreshadowing|dying today]]. }}

* [[Dead Guy on Display]]: {{spoiler|Guybrush in Chapter 5. His entire corpse is standing on display wearing a [[Nice Hat|party hat]] and [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|holding a dartboard]] during a wake in Club 41 when Bugeye and W.P. Grindstump are considering [[Due to the Dead|burning the corpse in effigy]]; Guybrush eventually [[Inhuman Human|repossesses his own decaying corpse]], though.}}.

* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: {{spoiler|Happens in the living world in Chapter 5 from the time that Guybrush (as a ghost) has opened up the rips in the Crossroads up to the time that he manages to repossess his own corpse.}}.

* [[Died in Your Arms Tonight]]: In Chapter 4, {{spoiler|1=both characters die, one each in the arms of another: Morgan in the arms (or rather, [[Hook Hand]]) of Guybrush, Guybrush in the arms of Elaine. Even weirder is that both incidents take place on a starry night in Flotsam Island in reference to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua26qTEK25U Cutting Crew's song "(I Just) Died in Your Arms"].}}.

* [[Dies Wide Open]]: In Chapter 4, {{spoiler|1=Morgan LeFlay falls in a slump after whispering to Guybrush about LeChuck and [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|dies with her eyes half open]]; Guybrush becomes grieved at her loss, then pulls the sword from her [[Bloodless Carnage|not-bleeding body]] and has her hands enclose its hilt, tilts her head in a proper death pose and closes her eyes before getting up and walking away.}}.

** Averted at the end of the same chapter, {{spoiler|when the mortally wounded Guybrush's eyes open wide in a blank stare at a saddened Elaine, but then gently close as he collapses and [[Big Sleep|"falls asleep"]] with his mouth open.}}.

'''Guybrush:''' "{{spoiler|[[Brain Bleach|Gewghh....]]}}...."

''{{spoiler|The closet then renames itself "The Scariest Closet in the World".}}'' .}}

* [[Dying Alone]]: Defied twice in Chapter 4: {{spoiler|1=once when LeChuck fatally stabs Morgan in De Singe's laboratory and leaves her alone to die, [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now|yet she lives long enough]] for De Singe to discover the incident before he leaves, and for Guybrush to discover and [[Hold Me|hold her in her final moments]] as Jacques the Monkey sadly watches;, and once at the end of the chapter, when it appears that LeChuck would leave Guybrush alone to die after stabbing him, with only Elaine right by his side, but then the villain returns as a transformed Demon Pirate at the last second to [[I Wished You Were Dead|taunt him]] and watch him [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|die in the arms of his grieving wife]].}}.

* [[Dying Clue]]: Parodied in Chapter 4, when {{spoiler|1=Morgan LeFlay's rather lengthy dying speech (unheard by the player) is completely misunderstood by Guybrush, leading him to think that [[Mad Scientist|the Marquis De Singe]] killed her instead of [[Big Bad|LeChuck]]}}.

* [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette]]: {{spoiler|1=Elaine in Chapter 5, from the time that she willingly becomes LeChuck's demon bride, up to the time that Guybrush manages to shrink [[MacGuffin|La Esponja Grande]].}}.

* [[Electric Instant Gratification]]: Jacques the monkey in episodeChapter 1. The commentaries state that funnily enough, they did it like that to get the ESRB to approve it - "See, we're not torturing the monkey; he's enjoying it!"

* [[Epic Fail]]: Parodied in Chapter 3: at one time when Guybrush guesses the answer to one of De Cava's three-out-of-six questions wrong, Morgan rolls her eyes and says, "Fail,", in a [[Shout-Out]] to the "FAIL" meme from ''[[Blazing Star]]''. (Eveneven De Cava says "Failure!" when the question is guessed wrong.). However, this trope (and imminent death) is averted as many times as possible, when De Cava will always repeat the same first series of the three questions thanks to the repeated pleadings from Guybrush.

'''{{spoiler|1=LeChuck}}:''' ESPECIALLY that. }}

'''Voodoo Lady:''' [[Sure, Let's Go with That|Er, sure. Why not?]] }}

* [[Evil All Along]]: {{spoiler|1=LeChuck. From the moment that Guybrush Threepwood inadvertently [[Humanity Ensues|turns him into a human]] who acts like a [[Harmless Villain]] and helps out on Guybrush and Elaine from Chapter 2 up to Chapter 4 (all the while wearing his [[Glamour|charming]] [[Instant Allegiance Artifact|belt buckle]]), then kills Guybrush in a clever ambush as soon as our hero cures everyone of the [[Hate Plague|Pox of LeChuck]]; Elaine sees that "with or without all that voodoo, [LeChuck is] still nothing but an evil sack of scumm"."}}

* [[Evil Hand]]: Guybrush, in chapterChapter 1.

* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]: {{spoiler|1=LeChuck in his human form. Subverted/inverted at first in Chapters 2-4, when he acts like a good guy, but then doubly subverted at the very end of Chapter 4, when he kills Guybrush before regaining his voodoo powers.}}.

'''LeChuck:''' YOUR wife? Nay, Elaine is destined to be MY bride! }}

'''Guybrush:''' I'm pretty sure she was talking to me. }}

'''LeChuck:''' [[Arc Words|Till death do you part]], eh? We'll have to do something about that. }}

{{quote|{{spoiler|1='''Guybrush:''' I've told you a million times, LeChuck, I'm already married to--}}--

{{spoiler|1='''LeChuck:''' "Till DEATH do you part," Threepwood! And that part has already been taken care of!}} !}}

** {{spoiler|1=However, all of these are finally subverted when Guybrush returns Elaine to normal, destroys LeChuck with help from her and Morgan LeFlay, and eventually returns to life at the end of Chapter 5.}}.