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Elaine Marley

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Elaine Marley-Threepwood
Monkey Island character
A woman depicted in a stylized art form. Possessing long red hair and green eyes, the woman wears a traditional pirate outfit with a blue headscarf. An earring with a large diamond hangs from her left ear.
Elaine Marley in Tales of Monkey Island
First gameThe Secret of
Monkey Island (1990)
Created byRon Gilbert
Voiced byAlexandra Boyd
Charity James (Escape from Monkey Island)

Elaine Marley (from Escape From Monkey Island onward called Elaine Marley-Threepwood) is a fictional character in the Monkey Island series of graphic adventure video games. Created by Ron Gilbert for LucasArts, the character first appears in The Secret of Monkey Island and is one of the core characters in the franchise. Originally conceived as a ruthless island governor, the character evolved during development into the protagonist's love interest. While the first two games in the series did not feature voice acting, Elaine was voiced by Alexandra Boyd in The Curse of Monkey Island and by Charity James in Escape from Monkey Island; Boyd would reprise the role for later entries in the franchise.

Elaine is the governor of the Tri-Island Area, a fictional group of pirate islands in the Caribbean. She is loved by the undead pirate LeChuck, who never ceases to pursue her affections and attempts to turn her into his undead bride, but Elaine instead falls in love with hapless protagonist Guybrush Threepwood. Elaine is consistently kidnapped by LeChuck, prompting Guybrush to attempt a rescue, although Elaine is usually more than capable of escaping predicaments by herself. She eventually marries Guybrush and relinquishes her gubernatorial responsibilities to her grandfather. The two have many further adventures together, including traveling to the fictional Gulf of Melange to cure the outbreak of a voodoo-empowered pox, finding the lost Secret of Monkey Island, and eventually giving birth to a son, Boybrush.

The character has enjoyed positive critical reception. Several sources commended Elaine's aberration of the damsel in distress stereotype. Elaine has been ranked on a number of lists regarding the best female characters in the video game industry, and has received praise for her visual design and resilient personality. Critics have also complimented Boyd's and James' voice acting for the character in the later installments of the series, though some expressed disappointment at the character's reduced lines in The Curse of Monkey Island.

Character design

The original script for The Secret of Monkey Island called for a character simply named "the Governor"; Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert had envisioned her as a far more ruthless character.[1] The name "Elaine" was created later in development by Dave Grossman, who wrote the final scenes of the game in which protagonist Guybrush Threepwood disrupts the wedding of antagonist LeChuck and the governor. One of Grossman's options for gatecrashing the wedding is having Guybrush scream "Elaine!" in a parody of a similar scene in the 1967 film The Graduate;[1] Gilbert appreciated the reference, so Elaine was adopted as the governor's name. As development on the game further progressed, the character evolved from being a ruthless governor to the player character's love interest.[1]

When the player talks to a number of characters in The Secret of Monkey Island, a close-up portrait of the character is shown. Elaine's appearance in this portrait was based on Avril Harrison, an artist working at LucasArts.[2] Gilbert always felt bothered by these close-up portraits, stating that "while they were great art, I never felt they matched the style of the rest of the game".[1] In the 2009 Special Edition, these close-ups were redone in the same stylized artwork featured in the rest of the game.

In The Curse of Monkey Island, Elaine realises that Guybrush is her true love, and marries him. However, Ron Gilbert did not intend for the relationship between the characters to develop in this way, stating that Elaine "never really liked Guybrush and thought of him as more of a little brother".[3] Gilbert was not involved in the production of The Curse of Monkey Island; while thinking that the new development team "did a pretty good job of capturing what Monkey Island was about", the relationship between Elaine and Guybrush "was the thing that bugged [Gilbert] the most about The Curse of Monkey Island".[3]

The Curse of Monkey Island was the first Monkey Island game to feature voice acting; in it, the part of Elaine Marley was given to British actress Alexandra Boyd. Boyd explains that she got the part of Elaine as she had worked with voice director Darragh O'Farrell previously; O'Farrell brought Boyd in to read for the part.[4] Boyd joked that "I figured I got the part because I have red hair like her".[4] Boyd was not contacted to return as the character for Escape from Monkey Island;[4] Elaine was instead voiced by American actress Charity James.[5] Nevertheless, Boyd reprised the role for Telltale Games' Tales of Monkey Island and the later enhanced remakes of the first two games.[6] Boyd was glad to return, stating that the character "is very well written and it’s fun doing all that shouting at LeChuck and Guybrush! Exhausting but fun".[4] Rather than travelling to Telltale's studio in San Rafael, Boyd instead recorded her lines for Tales of Monkey Island in London, communicating with the director remotely with Skype.[7] The development of Elaine's character was one of Gilbert's aims for Tales of Monkey Island; Gilbert wanted Elaine to "be better informed and more capable than most of the other characters".[8]

Attributes and depiction

The top half of the image depicts a woman with red hair, green eyes and a headscarf talking with a young man, whose face is obscured. The image is rendered in mostly realistic pixel art and is set against a non-descript red background. The bottom half depicts the same situation; however, the art style is far more stylized, drawing on cartoon elements. The background is more substantial, showing the walls and a window behind the woman.
Elaine's original close-up portrait in The Secret of Monkey Island was modelled after LucasArts artist Avril Harrison.[2] However, creator Ron Gilbert felt that these portraits did not match the art style of the rest of the game.[1] The later Special Edition took a more stylized approach that was consistent with the rest of the artwork.

Intelligent and highly resourceful, Elaine is depicted as a caring and kind person. She is usually more than capable of taking care of herself; on the multiple occasions that she is kidnapped by LeChuck, she is usually able to escape at her own volition and formulate plans to defeat her adversaries.[7] In addition, Elaine is proficient in personal combat and displays an understanding of strategy in battle, reinforced by calm personality that allows Elaine to use common sense and stay composed despite dire situations. While attracted to piracy, Elaine is initially wary of pursuing a relationship with pirates due to a bad liaison with LeChuck while the pirate captain was still alive. Nevertheless, Elaine falls in love with Guybrush, seeing past his faults in favor of his kind personality and sharp wit. While Elaine is the dominant partner in their relationship, she still has faith in his abilities regardless of Guybrush's hapless disposition.[7]

Elaine is usually depicted as a beautiful woman with long red hair and with green eyes. She wears a variety of pirate clothing consistent with the game's Golden Age of Piracy setting; her outfit usually consists of pantaloons, a blouse worn under a lightweight tunic, a sash, boots and a headscarf. Elaine usually wears gold earrings, though by Tales of Monkey Island, she wears her diamond engagement ring as an earring until Chapter 2. Her appearances in The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge are in the form of pixel art, with appearances slightly differing between the EGA, Amiga and VGA versions of the games.[9] By The Curse of Monkey Island, Elaine is rendered in a cartoon art style by LucasArts artists Larry Ahern and Bill Tiller, although the character's choice of clothing remains consistent. Escape from Monkey Island translated Ahern and Tiller's depiction into 3D graphics, while the later special editions and Tales of Monkey Island produced a more stylized art form for the character. While under LeChuck's influence as his demon bride in Tales of Monkey Island, Elaine is dressed in a Gothic wedding dress and a tiara, her eyes are pupiless and her skin is given a green hue.

Reception

The character of Elaine Marley has garnered a positive reception from critics within the video game industry. Described by GameSpot as the impetus for the whole series,[10] critics lauded Elaine's non-conformity to the damsel in distress stereotype. GameSpot noted that Elaine is usually much more proficient at escaping trouble "than the so-called hero who comes to save her",[10] while the video game culture journal Eludamos approved of the character for allowing a level of "feminine expression which did not necessary always conform to passive ideals of the damsel in distress".[11] The website "That Guy with the Glasses" put Elaine as the eighth best female character in gaming, describing her as possibly the only staple character in the series to have "a shred of sanity and smarts",[12] praising the character's independence and resilience as well as noting that as a woman in the Golden Age of Piracy, Elaine has risen to a position of power far above what would be historically considered normal for the time.[12]

Eurogamer commended Elaine's design as "worthy of acclaim",[13] naming her the "Best Female Supporting Character" in their 2001 annual Gaming Globes awards,[14] while IGN described her alongside Guybrush and LeChuck as one of "the most beloved adventure characters of all time".[15] Alexandra Boyd and Charity James too have been praised for their voicing of Elaine; Computer Games Magazine described Boyd's work for The Curse of Monkey Island as "wonderful", though lamented that she did not speak more in the game,[16] while Macworld admired the character's depiction in Escape from Monkey Island as "beautiful and plucky".[17] Gadgette also listed Elaine as 4th of their favorite female video game character.[18] IGN India, The Guardian, and GamesRadar all claimed that Elaine and Guybrush were the best video game romance,[19][20][21] but TheGamer laments Elaine's perceived tonal shift in Return to Monkey Island, saying that "she is Elaine in name and appearance only, demoted to a background role when she should be at the fore".[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gilbert, Ron (2009-06-01). "Stuff and Things and Monkey Island". Grumpy Gamer. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  2. ^ a b "The Secret of Monkey Island: Stan's Previously Used Trivia". The International House of Mojo. Archived from the original on 2009-10-18. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  3. ^ a b "Ron Gilbert Chat Transcript". The SCUMM Bar. 2003-07-21. Archived from the original on 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  4. ^ a b c d Mulrooney, Marty (2009-07-24). "INTERVIEW – In Conversation With Alexandra Boyd". Alternative Magazine Online. Archived from the original on 2009-10-11. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  5. ^ Deci, T.J. "Escape From Monkey Island – Credits". Allgame. Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  6. ^ Tong, Sophia (2010-03-10). "Monkey Island 2 SE takes LeChuck's Revenge on consoles, PC this summer". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  7. ^ a b c Constantinescu, Andrei (2009-11-25). "Alexandra Boyd Interview". The Tales of Monkey Island Blog. LFNetwork, LLC. Archived from the original on 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
  8. ^ Constantinescu, Andrei (2010-01-20). "Everything you wanted to know about Tales of Monkey Island, but were too afraid to ask-week, part II". The Tales of Monkey Island Blog. LFNetwork, LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-01-10. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  9. ^ "Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley: A Visual History". ATMachine's House of LucasArts and Sierra Oddities. 2006-10-01. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
  10. ^ a b "The Ten Best Female Characters". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2010-05-16. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  11. ^ MaCallum-Stewart, Esther (2008). "Real Boys Carry Girly Epics: Normalising Gender Bending in Online Games". Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2 (1): 27–40. doi:10.7557/23.5970. S2CID 7456966. Archived from the original on 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
  12. ^ a b Smith, Billy (2009-03-25). "Top 10 Women in Gaming". That Guy with the Glasses. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
  13. ^ "Tales of Monkey Island: The Siege of Spinner Cay Review". Eurogamer. 2009-08-25. Archived from the original on 2009-09-29. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  14. ^ Staff (2001-03-26). "Gaming Globes 2001: The Results". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  15. ^ "Videogame Hall of Fame: The Secret of Monkey Island". IGN. Archived from the original on 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  16. ^ Yans, Cindy. "The Curse of Monkey Island". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on 2003-07-05. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  17. ^ Cohen, Peter (2001-07-01). "The Game Room (Aspyr Media's Escape From Monkey Island adventure game)". Macworld. Mac Publishing. Retrieved 2009-09-18. [dead link‍]
  18. ^ Boyle, Emma (August 11, 2015). "10 of our favourite female video game characters". Gadgette.
  19. ^ "IGN India's favourite video game couples". IGN India. February 13, 2017.
  20. ^ "Six of the best game romances". the Guardian. September 15, 2013.
  21. ^ Staff, GamesRadar (February 14, 2020). "14 greatest video game couple of all time". gamesradar.
  22. ^ Bamsey, Ryan Thomas (2022-10-11). "Return To Monkey Island Ruins Elaine's Character". TheGamer. Retrieved 2022-10-14.

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