Guybrush Threepwood

General CVG character
width=
name=Guybrush Threepwood


caption = Guybrush, as drawn by Steve Purcell for the "Secret of Monkey Island" cover.
firstgame = "The Secret of Monkey Island" (1990)
series = "Monkey Island"
voiceactor = Dominic Armato ^{(3rd and 4th Monkey Island games only)}
motionactor =

Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood is the main character of the "Monkey Island" series of computer adventure games by LucasArts. The voice of Guybrush is provided by actor Dominic Armato in the third and fourth games. Though a mighty pirate by his own account, it is a running joke throughout the games for characters to hopelessly garble Guybrush Threepwood's unusual name, either deliberately or accidentally, with variations including "Thriftweed", "Peepwood", "Gorbush" and "Threekwood". He is also frequently referred to by the nickname of "Fancy Pants".

The origin of the name "Guybrush" comes from Deluxe Paint, the tool used by the artists to create the character sprite. Since the character had no name at this point, the file was simply called 'Guy'. When the file was saved, Deluxe Paint automatically appended the extension '.brush'; before the designers could think of a proper name they got used to referring to 'Guy.brush' when talking about the sprite and decided to use it as the protagonist's actual name. [cite web | url=http://www.scummbar.com/resources/faq/ | title=Frequently asked questions about Monkey Island | format=HTML] "Threepwood" was the name of Dave Grossman's RPG character and was picked through voting. The name comes from P. G. Wodehouse's family of characters including Galahad Threepwood and Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth.

Incarnations

Guybrush's age is not strictly defined in the games. A dialogue choice in the second game, "", has Guybrush nearly admitting that he is nineteen years old before quickly lying that he is 21. The amount of time that passes between each game is vague. During the course of the third game, "The Curse of Monkey Island", Threepwood's SCUMM Actors Guild membership card states he is twenty years old.

Guybrush grows a beard and moustache in the second game, but is shaven in the third and fourth games. Guybrush makes a reference that he lost his beard between the second and third game but cannot remember what happened to it. In the third game however, if one tries to use the shaving cream, Guybrush says that he shaved last week. His initially brown hair changes to blonde in the later games; this is never addressed, but the same has happened to fellow adventure game protagonists Roger Wilco and Devon Aidendale.

In "Escape from Monkey Island" Guybrush's middle name is revealed to be Ulysses.

He is left-handed in Monkey Island 1 & 2, but he is right-handed in Monkey Island 3.Fact|date=May 2008

Attire

In "Secret of Monkey Island" Guybrush wears a white blouse; he wears a similar blouse in all the other games as well but this one appears to have shorter sleeves (although they could simply be folded). He wears black breeches, white socks and small, black shoes. In "LeChuck's Revenge" his attire changes radically. In which he wore boots, a long, blue coat and two belts, one of which was worn across his chest. In "Curse of Monkey Island" Guybrush's attire is similar to his attire in the first game, but he has brown breeches instead of black and a small brown waistcoat and red cummerbund sash.

Following Manny Calavera's ("Grim Fandango") example, in "Escape from Monkey Island" Guybrush has multiple outfits, which actually changed based upon which island (or rather which segment of the game) he is on. He starts out with a red, buttoned-up jacket, boots and a large belt with a belt buckle that has his initials on it (an in-joke from "Grim Fandango"). When venturing to Lucre and Jambalaya Island he wears a similar outfit to his appearance in the first game, except that his trousers are a light blue and his shirt has longer sleeves. When he is once more stranded on Monkey Island in the third act he wears his red jacket, but no shoes. His trousers have been ripped from knee down and his jacket seems slightly beaten up.

Appearances

"The Secret of Monkey Island"

When Guybrush first appeared in "The Secret of Monkey Island" he was an awkward teenager whose sole ambition in life was to be a pirate (the Monkey Island games take place in the Caribbean during a fictional time period; 17th century-style pirates exist alongside anachronistic objects such as vending machines that dispense grog in glass bottles). Guybrush, although portrayed as an attractive lad in closeups, is a scrawny blonde youth with minimal amounts of courage, intelligence and charisma. His primary talent is the ability to hold his breath for ten minutes and he certainly appears to be an unlikely candidate to be a buccaneer. He does exhibit plenty of persistence, however, and doggedly attempts to complete the three trials of piratehood.

In the course of exploring Mêlée Island, he meets and immediately falls in love with the Tri-Island Area's beautiful governor, Elaine Marley. Guybrush is not the only one interested in Governor Marley, however: the ghost pirate LeChuck has long been besmitten with her; Elaine, however, does not return his affection. She told him to 'drop dead', so he did. That's when things got ugly. When the villain kidnaps Elaine, Guybrush is compelled to try to rescue her from LeChuck's lair on Monkey Island. She proves quite capable of protecting herself (as she is the former captain of LeChuck's ghost crew), easily escaping LeChuck's clutches (unbeknownst to the bumbling Threepwood). Guybrush, improbably enough, manages to destroy the ghost pirate LeChuck and becomes a fearsome pirate himself.

"Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge"

In "Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge", almost the entire game takes the form of a flashback as Guybrush tells Elaine what happened to him. Thus, it is possible to die by falling into a pit of acid, upon which the game fades back to the storytelling screen, with Elaine asking him to tell what "really" happened since obviously he could not have died if he was right there telling her the story.

As "LeChuck's Revenge" begins, Guybrush has embarked on an epic new adventure to find the legendary treasure of Big Whoop. He soon runs into Largo LaGrande, LeChuck's former henchman, on Scabb Island. Largo discovers that Guybrush has LeChuck's ghostly beard, which he has kept as a trophy; he steals the beard and uses it to reanimate the corpse of his former boss. Thanks to Guybrush, LeChuck is now a seriously angry zombie with voodoo powers instead of a disgruntled ghost.

The Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush that LeChuck can only be stopped by the power of the legendary treasure of Big Whoop. To find it, he must travel to nearby Phatt Island and Booty Island in search of the four pieces of a treasure map. As he completes the map, he is captured by LeChuck; while attempting to escape, Guybrush causes an enormous explosion that hurls him to Dinky Island. Coincidentally enough, this happens to be where Big Whoop is hidden. Guybrush uses dynamite to "dig" for the treasure and finds himself in a maze of underground, concrete-lined tunnels.

The remaining portion of "LeChuck's Revenge" is surrealistic: One chases the other in a vague abandoned underground place that includes elevators, machines, an office etc. LeChuck claims that he is Guybrush's brother, in a parody of Darth Vader's "I am your father" scene with Luke Skywalker in "The Empire Strikes Back". After Guybrush finally defeats LeChuck with a voodoo doll, he kneels and removes the pirate's "mask". LeChuck is revealed as Guybrush's bullying older brother "Chuckie". Suddenly, both Guybrush and Chuckie are children at an amusement park looking suspiciously like Booty Island, with their parents; both games seem to have been daydreams by a young boy obsessed with pirates. Only a brief scene during the closing credits hints that this may be untrue: Elaine Marley idly wonders if Guybrush has fallen prey to some evil spell of LeChuck's, and we see "Chucky" has red eyes with an evil glow. On this note, the game ends.

"The Curse of Monkey Island"

It should be noted that Ron Gilbert, founder of the Monkey Island series, left LucasArts after the second game. The storylines of the third and fourth games are thus the work of different writers.

Similar to the gap between the first two games, Curse of Monkey Island opens with Guybrush floating in the Caribbean in a bumper car, writing in a journal.

We learn that the surreal subterranean place and childhood theme park where Monkey Island II ended were actually the result LeChuck's deceptive spell. LeChuck had built a sinister theme park known as the Carnival of the Damned. The "revelation" that they were brothers was simply part of the evil scheme. After an undisclosed period of entrapment, Guybrush managed to escape in a long, conspicuously unrecorded, adventure.

As he is writing his memories, Guybrush suddenly finds himself in the middle of a battle between the forces of Plunder Island (led by Elaine) and LeChuck's undead crew. Guybrush stumbles into LeChuck's cargo hold and finds an enormous diamond ring, which he decides to use to propose to Elaine. Unfortunately, the ring is cursed, and immediately transforms Elaine into a statue made of solid gold.

The Voodoo Lady once again provides magical help, informing Guybrush that the curse can only be broken by replacing the ring with another containing a diamond "of equal or greater value". The ineffectual hero must assemble a pirate crew and sail to Blood Island and Skull Island. Eventually he manages to break the curse and restore Elaine to flesh and blood. LeChuck, who was killed in the earlier battle, resurfaces as a demon pirate and captures Guybrush.

LeChuck returns Guybrush to the Carnival of the Damned and once again transforms him into a child. Improbably, Guybrush manages to change himself back to normal and blow up a section of the Roller-Coaster of Death, burying LeChuck under a mountain of ice and snow. Elaine and Guybrush finally marry and sail off into the sunset together.

"Escape from Monkey Island"

After a three-month-long honeymoon, Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley-Threepwood return to Mêlée Island. While the couple was gone, Elaine was declared dead, legally ending her lifetime appointment as governor. The governor's mansion is scheduled for demolition and a slimy politician named Charles L. Charles is poised to take over the position. With no other choice, Elaine begins a desperate campaign for re-election against Charles (who, unsurprisingly, reveals himself to be none other than LeChuck in disguise). As Guybrush wanders around Mêlée, he finds that all the local businesses are being taken over by Ozzie Mandrill, an Australian developer who is winning the deeds in matches of various "insult games", such as insult swordfighting. He is also rather annoyed when people refer to him and Elaine as Mr. and Mrs. Marley, rather than Threepwood.

Guybrush discovers that Ozzie wants to take over the entire Caribbean. Ozzie is seeking a powerful voodoo talisman called the Ultimate Insult, which he will use to turn all pirates into clean, productive members of society. LeChuck is helping Ozzie in exchange for Elaine's hand after her will has been broken by the Ultimate Insult.

Once again, Guybrush must assemble a reluctant crew, sailing this time to Lucre Island and Jambalaya Island before ending up on Monkey Island. There he finds an enormous, robotic monkey and uses it to return to Mêlée. Ozzie has acquired the Ultimate Insult; he uses its power to enslave LeChuck, who has taken on the form of a gigantic statue of himself. Guybrush, piloting his robotic monkey, manages to hold off defeat long enough to allow Elaine to escape. The statue briefly gains a moment of free will, and crushes the scalp-mounted Ozzie as well as the Ultimate Insult. The power of the Insult causes an immense explosion that seemingly destroys LeChuck as well.

Trivia

* Guybrush is able to hold his breath for ten minutes, which he mentions on several occasions. This unusual ability is a clever way of implementing LucasArts' frequent policy of not allowing players to lose the game, either by character death or placing the game in an unwinnable state. There is exactly one way, however, (out of all the Monkey Island games) in which Guybrush "can" die. In "The Secret of Monkey Island", he is trapped underwater; if the player takes longer than ten minutes to figure out how to escape (or simply takes no action), Guybrush drowns. At this point, the action menu (which normally consists of commands such as "Pick up", "Give" and "Talk to") is replaced with intransitive verbs he is already doing, such as "Duck" and "Float", as well as a command to "Order Hint Book". This command causes Guybrush to say the former phone number of the Lucasarts support/sales line.
* Guybrush's ability to hold his breath is referenced in Quest for Glory V, where, should the player drown, he is presented with the message: "This is the lesson you've been taught — Guybrush Threepwood you are not. When by water you are surrounded -- Get to shore before you're drowned".
* A similar message is given when drowning in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. The message reads: "Unfortunately Indy couldn't hold his breath as long as Guybrush Threepwood". [cite web | url=http://www.worldofmi.com/features/trivia/references.php#2 | title=References to Monkey Island | format=HTML]
* Also in , if the player asks to be sent to Calypso's shop from a still hung-over genie, the second time he'll end up at the bottom of the ocean. Upon returning to the cave Simon mentions that the ability to hold one's breath for 10 minutes is "a standard requirement for any adventure game hero".
* Yet another nod to Guybrush's lung capacity can be found in the 2004/2005 Xbox game, Fable. A gravestone in the Lychfield Graveyard area reads, "No man can hold his breath for ten minutes." [cite web | url=http://www.worldofmi.com/features/trivia/references.php#36 | title=References to Monkey Island | format=HTML]
*In the third and fourth games, Guybrush mentions an inexplicable fear of porcelain. In a 2003 interview with Chris Purvis (a designer on "Curse of Monkey Island") it is suggested that this unusual fear may originate in "Secret of Monkey Island" when a vase is smashed during an off-screen fight between Guybrush and Sheriff Fester Shinetop. [cite web | url=http://www.scummbar.com/resources/articles/index.php?article=1011&newssniffer=readarticle| title=Chris Purvis Interview| format=HTML]
* Guybrush appears as a hero unit for the Lanun civilization in the Fall from Heaven mod for Civilization 4.

References