What's A Fanlisting?
Definition from TFL.org:
A fanlisting is simply an online listing of fans of a subject, such as a TV show, actor, or musician, that is created by an individual and open for fans from around the world to join. There are no costs, and the only requirements to join a fanlisting are your name and country.
The Ghost/Zombie/Demon Pirate LeChuck
"Let's face it, LeChuck. You are an evil, foul-smelling, vile, codependent villain and that's just not what I'm looking for in a romantic relationship right now."
- Elaine Marley, Curse of Monkey Island
There you have it in a nutshell. LeChuck is the main villain from the Monkey Island series of comedy/adventure/RPG computer games, originally invented by Ron Gilbert but now owned and not-so-maintained by Lucas Arts. LeChuck is a stereotypical pirate - complete with large feathered hat, beard, sword and plenty of ARRR - but a dead one. Undead, technically. Note the decomposing/translucent body and the wriggling/flaming beard (depending on which game you're playing). His hobbies include the usual piratey things such as torture, kidnap and murder, along with a good dose of voodoo.
LeChuck tends to have a different form in each game. In the first game he was a ghost, in the second his material body was reanimated (making him a zombie), in the third he became a demon of sorts and in the fourth he was able to shapeshift between his three previous forms, plus a relatively normal-looking human form. He also took possession of a giant statue of himself, making it come to life.
His Back-Story
Of course, LeChuck was human at one point. He was a notorious pirate who fell in love with Governor Elaine Marley after being invited to her house for dinner (we'll never know what Elaine was thinking when she sent out that invitation). She rejected him. Her exact words were, "Drop dead." She got her wish. LeChuck sailed off in search of the Secret of Monkey Island which ultimately led to his demise.
LeChuck's ship went down in a storm and he was left stranded on Blood Island. It just so happened that Elaine's grandfather, H.T. Marley, had also just arrived on Blood Island. He and his crew of three (yes, three) were searching for the legendary treasure of Big Whoop. After plying one of them with rum, LeChuck learned that they had a map to this legendary treasure. He looked at the map for long enough to make a copy for himself and intended to get to the treasure before Marley and his crew.
But as he was without a ship, LeChuck needed to get one somehow. He worked his way into the affections of 'the belle of Blood Island' (in her own words), a young debutante named Minnie Goodsoup. They got engaged. But LeChuck's motive was not love; he was still very much in love with Elaine. He just wanted the colossal diamond from the Goodsoup wedding band. He stole it on the eve of the wedding ("He said he was just takin' it out to get some fresh air," Minnie's ghost explains) and took it to the smugglers on Duck Bunny Skull Island to procure money for a ship.
LeChuck managed to reach the location of Big Whoop. He arrived just ahead of Captain Marley's crew, therefore he was the one to discover that Big Whoop was, in fact, a gateway to Hell. When he passed through it, he became one of the living dead. Marley and his crew witnessed this and were so horrified that they split their map into four pieces and went their separate ways, hoping that nobody else would uncover the terror of Big Whoop.
'Blessed' with new powers as a result of his transformation, LeChuck carried on doing what he'd always been doing: being a ferocious pirate. Through Big Whoop, he had gained the ability to transform his victims into his undead minions. He planned to use this undead army not only to terrorise the Caribbean but to take Elaine captive and force her to marry him.
LeChuck, too, wasn't keen on the idea of anyone else finding Big Whoop. He hunted down Marley's crew and killed them all. But he didn't quite kill Captain Marley himself. He tortured him and sent his ship into a whirlpool, but Marley later turns up as the hermit who lived on Monkey Island. There are other versions of this story; when he regains his memory, the island-dwelling 'Herman Toothrot' remembers that he is in fact Horatio Torquemada Marley, but claims that it was someone else who sent his ship into the whirlpool. Mind you don't fall into the gaping plotholes, please.
The Secret of Monkey Island
Needless to say, local pirates feared LeChuck even more after his death. "I've got those sissy pirates so afraid of the sea, they're scared to even take a bath!" he boasts. He kidnaps Elaine and only Guybrush Threepwood, the protagonist, is brave enough to sail to the fabled, elusive Monkey Island and navigate the hellish passages beneath it to rescue her. He defeats LeChuck using a voodoo antiroot which destroys ghosts. He also falls in love with Elaine. LeChuck ain't gonna be too pleased about that when he comes back.
LeChuck's Revenge
And like all good villains, come back he does. LeChuck's Revenge does exactly what it says on the tin. Full of pride, Guybrush is looking for Big Whoop. But on the way, he inadvertently runs into the cruelly-named Largo LaGrande, who was once LeChuck's right-hand man. Guybrush can't resist bragging by waving around the still-wriggling ghostly beard that he took as a trophy when he blasted LeChuck's spirit to smithereens. Largo steals the beard and uses it to revive LeChuck's long-dead body.
Back from the grave, LeChuck is out for revenge. He manages to capture Guybrush and, in true melodramatic villain style, intends to kill him with a too-complicated piece of machinery that will lower him into a pit of acid. LeChuck would then take his enemy's bones, reanimate them and make a chair out of them. A screaming chair. This is a shining example of LeChuck's wonderful creativity.
Guybrush escapes, but LeChuck manages to flag him down with a voodoo doll and eventually puts him under a spell, making him believe that he is a boy trapped in a carnival and that LeChuck is actually his brother. There is some disagreement amongst fans about whether Guybrush and LeChuck really are just two brothers at a carnival; I am not going to get into that debate here.
The Curse of Monkey Island
Guybrush escapes the spell/carnival and manages to run into LeChuck again. This time the zombie pirate is laying siege to Elaine Marley's fort on Plunder Island. He plans to destroy the fort and everyone in it using a voodoo cannonball. His plan literally capsizes, however, when he captures Guybrush and the hero manages to sink his ship from within.
The explosion caused by LeChuck dropping the deadly cannonball destroys the ship, but it also turns him into a demonic being. When a group of hapless sailors picks up his boots, LeChuck takes the ship captive. His crew finds Guybrush and Elaine after a long search and they are brought to the carnival on Monkey Island, which is real: LeChuck claims that he built it for the purpose of turning innocent tourists into his undead workers. LeChuck intends to kill his rival and send his would-be bride through Big Whoop, which would make her undead. Guybrush foils his plans yet again by burying him beneath his own collapsed rollercoster.
Escape From Monkey Island
LeChuck remains buried until sometime pre-Escape From Monkey Island, when he is rescued by an Australian land-owner named Ozzie Mandrill. As payment for saving him, LeChuck agrees to help Ozzie in his scheme to take over the Caribbean and eradicate piracy. This may seem a bit counter-productive for LeChuck, seen as he's a pirate himself, but he will get something from Ozzie's success. Ozzie is searching for The Ultimate Insult, a voodoo talisman that can shatter the spirit of anyone exposed to it. He plans to use it on every single pirate in the Caribbean; LeChuck only wants to use it on Elaine.
But there is a slight problem. Elaine is now married to Guybrush. The happy couple return from their honeymoon to find that Elaine has been declared dead, many properties have been bought up by a mysterious Australian and there is someone else running for Elaine's governmental position. This 'someone' turns out to be LeChuck in disguise. He wins the election due to his 'Good Times, Free Grog' campaign - well, it couldn't fail. Guybrush, after a series of adventures, is captured and marooned on Monkey Island where he finds out that LeChuck has a church devoted to him, of all things. Guybrush manages to escape and returns to defeat LeChuck. Once and for all? Who knows.
Random Information
LeChuck is voiced by Earl Boen in the last two games; the first two games didn't have character voices.
His name was invented after a LucasArts manager said that he liked the name 'Chuck' and would like to see it in more games. The 'Le' may be a reference to historical pirate Jean Lafitte.
Comparisons have been drawn between LeChuck and Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean - well, they're both undead...
Better comparisons have been drawn between LeChuck and Davy Jones, also from Pirates of the Caribbean. Not only are they both supernatural beings who take over ships and force the crew into servitude, but their monstrous state (and personalities) are the result of unrequited love. Original Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert has stated that he believes Monkey Island had some influence on Pirates of the Caribbean aside from them both being influenced by the Disneyland ride. He has also said that if he'd thought of Davy Jones' wriggling tentacle beard first, he would have used that. LeChuck's beard does wriggle in MI1, but it isn't made of tentacles.
Quotes
Bob: Captain LeChuck...Sir...I...
LeChuck: Ah...there's nothin' like the hot winds of Hell blowin' in your face.
Bob: No, sir...nothing like it. Ah...Sir...I...
LeChuck: It's days like this that make ye glad to be dead.
Bob: Oh, yes, Sir...glad to be dead...
LeChuck: Ye are glad to be dead, right?
Bob: Oh, yes, Sir. I feel so lucky that you happened to capture my ship, then murdered me and everyone on board. Yes, sir...lucky.
LeChuck: Glad to hear it.
(disguised as Sheriff Fester Shinetop) "So long, Mr. Spicecake, or Droopface, or whatever your name is!"
"Largo, you have been my trusted henchman for many years but I will not hesitate to drag your entrails from the back of my ship if you do not bring me Guybrush Threepwood before he finds that treasure!"
"Guybrush Threepwood, you have finally been caught. I have searched every island...sailed every sea...and now you are mine."
LeChuck: Do you know what happens next?
Guybrush: Umm...well...
LeChuck: I will then take your bones, still alive and in great pain, and make them into a chair. I will call it my Screaming Chair. Every day I will sit in it and listen to you scream.
LeChuck: Any more questions?
Guybrush: Where do babies come from?
LeChuck: In your case, the orphanage.
LeChuck: We are bound to one another.
Guybrush: Like life and limb?
LeChuck: How appropriate.
LeChuck: I...am your brother!
Guybrush: No! No, that's not true!
LeChuck: Search your feelings, you know it to be true!
"Now, with the demon flames of this voodoo cannonball, I'll blast my significant other into the significant otherworld, haha! That'll show her how much I truly care."
LeChuck: Sail with me, and I'll make ye Queen of the Dead!
Elaine: I can't. I'm washing my hair tonight.
Elaine: Let's face it, LeChuck. You are an evil, foul-smelling, vile, codependent villain and that's just not what I'm looking for in a romantic relationship right now.
LeChuck: Darn yer riddles, ya saucy female! What d'ya mean?
"Burn down every island in the Caribbean if you have to, but bring me my bride...and more slaw! Curse these villains, they never give you enough slaw with these value meals."
"It was no mere nightmare, Guybrush! Search your feelings! You know it to be true!"
"I'm one of the walking dead! Formed not of flesh, but of fire and brimstone! How could I be in any more trouble?"
Guybrush: If you kill me... there wouldn't be anymore Monkey Island sequels. Then everyone will forget you.
LeChuck: Forget me? I'm the dead zombie pirate LeChuck! Noone will forget me!
Guybrush: Do you remember Bobbin Threadbare?
LeChuck: Er...no.
Guybrush: Exactly.
"Are you sure we should let him live? I've let him live before, and it's always been a big mistake."
"You're a sadist after my own blackened lump of a heart, Mandrill."
"I guess this just goes to show that you should never send an Australian girly man to do the work of a real pirate."
"You insignificant mortal flea! How dare you wield your pathetic voodoo magicks against the immortal might of the Demon Pirate LeChuck? I'll grind yer bones to make me grog, ya triple-timin' bas..." (LeChuck gets zapped by the Ultimate Insult before he can finish what he was saying.)
Rotation
"Darn yer riddles, ya saucy female!"
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