How old is Guybrush exactly?

[Irishmile]

it was a different time.

[Epic Kiwi]

liek omg no cuz monkey island was all a dream and hes been in a mental hospital the whole time

Point taken. I still wonder how old she's supposed to be, though. Not that it really matters.

[Zepheera]

Regardless of how old Guybrush is, and I concur that he must be somewhere between 26 and 31 years old as of this game, I've noticed that groupies/fangirls (or just about anyone for that matter) tend to exaggerate when confronted by, and gushing to, their hero.

Morgan could be just 18 and have been following his career since Secret, which would have made her about 8 years old, easily classified as a little girl. I've noticed that teenagers and young adults in general tend to refer to their past selves as "little" up to about 12 years.

Obviously, this is definitely debatable and contains a lot of supposition, but Guybrush could be just 26 (inferring from the decade statement and taking into account the ages mentioned in the early games). Morgan could be 22, if he started his exploits at 16, while she was 12, this could fit into the logic of Morgan's hero worship story while still leaving them fairly close in age.

[Zepheera]

It's fairly recent that the age of majority and marriage was limited to 18 being the acceptable age to marry.

Just take a look at as recent as a little over 100 years ago.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was 10 years younger than her husband. She WAS 18 when she got married, but at that time it was not unusual for women to get married as early as 15 or 16.

As time has gone by, the age of majority has gone up. Maybe in another 150 years, you'll be considering a child until you're 30 and the average life span will be 110 years

[PecanBlue]

In the case of Elaine's age, I don't know how politics would work in this universe, but maybe her age doesn't really matter and she immediately took over governor after her grandfather was pronounced dead or whatever. (assuming she was the only heir) I'm a bit sketchy on the details anyway, but since I'm sure she's a bit older than him, 18 or 19 in the first game would be my only safe guess.

Also, can anyone explain her reference to the timeline in court? I just replayed the game and I'm sure she actually said "then he left me hanging over a pit and went to look for the treasure of Big Whoop. I didn't see him for three years after that." This sounds like she's talking about the events near the end of MI2; I can't see how it relates to something that happened in between MI1 and MI2. If Guybrush is 19 in MI2 and 20 in MI3, how does her suggestion of three years make sense?

[Irishmile]

My wife is Asian... some of her sister's got married to older men when they were just teenagers... different culture.

[GuruGuru214]

Originally Posted by Jade Zealot

I wonder how old Elaine is, then. She was the governor of Melee Island in MI1, and if Guybrush was only 16... robbing the cradle, anyone?

Elaine's always been depicted as being fairly close to Guybrush in age, and I'm not so sure about the three years bit. I really doubt he was just 16 in Secret. My guess is he was at least 18 in that game.

Also, I don't have any memory of the three years line, so I'm just going off of what others have said for that. I can't see it referring to the MI2/Curse gap. I mean, even in the Monkey Island universe, three years is a long time to survive in a coffin without food or water. Plus Elaine was poxed at the time and spewing all sorts of nonsense (assuming the line was said during this game. I honestly don't have any idea when she's supposed to have said it). I'm definitely more inclined to believe Stan on that than Elaine.

[FitzoliverJ]

From what I personally have seen:

in MI2, Guybrush is 19. Since Largo's been on the track of the mystical beard of LeChuck for "years", Guybrush was probably 16 in MI1 (although allegedly the game manuals put just a month between the two games).

In CMI, I gather Guybrush claims 20, consistent with other indications in the game (eg Wallys subscription to LeChuck's pirating course) that a year has passed snce MI2. However, in TMI Stan says it was only three months, and Elaine says it was three years.

EMI is meant to be three months after CMI, but obviously that's not true. Obvoiusly Guybrush and Elaine postponed their three-month honeymoon in order to settle down living together in the mansion, get Timmy, move Guybrush's stuff into the mansion, rebuild the interior of the mansion, move the SCUMM bar..... OK, but let's say he's still 20.

A 'decade' of adventures in TMI seems reasonable to date from Elaine giving up all her political appointments to become a full-tiime pirate at the end of EMI - so, TMI must be tennish years later, Guybrush about 30 years old

[puzzlebox]

Originally Posted by Jade Zealot

I wonder how old Elaine is, then. She was the governor of Melee Island in MI1, and if Guybrush was only 16... robbing the cradle, anyone?

Tutenkhamun was 9 years old when he became pharoah, Henry the Young King was crowned at the age of 15, and even the current British monarch Queen Elizabeth II began her reign at the relatively young age of 25. Given the time period of Monkey Island, I think it's perfectly plausible that Elaine is no older than 20 in SMI.

[pilouuuu]

Ok, just reading all you said and my personal gut is that Guybrush is in his late 20's or early 30's and Elaine is probably one year older than him.

[Ash735]

Originally Posted by FitzoliverJ

In CMI, I gather Guybrush claims 20, consistent with other indications in the game (eg Wallys subscription to LeChuck's pirating course) that a year has passed snce MI2. However, in TMI Stan says it was only three months, and Elaine says it was three years.

It can still fit in regards to Stan comment, Guybrush could of been 19 years old and 11 months in MI2, add three months on to that and you get 20 years old and two months. I just gather that Elaine is bad with her time keeping or an easy script error, Three Months and Three Years are close, just one word wrong.

[Takun]

It could all just be a simple case of "just a phrase" too yknow. Lots and lots of evidence and facts but it's our beloved Monkey Island, not the hunt for Obama's birth certificate. Most people I know who say "follow something their whole lives" is a grey area that can be anywhere from "watching a movie of them at age 5" to "discovering them on the still-young internet at age 13". If Morgan has been following Guybrush all her life, it still wouldnt mean too much. If he was 15 in the first game and it's been about 13-15 years since then, then our Morgan could easily be in her early twenties.

As far as Guybrush's age, wasn't there some article saying that it had been (like real time) 10 years since MI4, and Guybrush has spent the entire time crafting the cutlass? That'd make him about 31 I'd say.

[GuruGuru214]

Originally Posted by GuruGuru214

Also, if Elaine's reference to leaving her for three years is indeed an indication to the time between the first and second games, that would make him 16 in Secret and might also explain why she was so pissed off at him in Monkey 2.

Okay, I finally saw that line in context tonight (I think I went straight for the sponge the first time I played chapter 4), and it's definitely intended to be referring to the MI2/Curse gap. Given that Stan wouldn't have survived in a coffin for three whole years, plus Elaine's tendency to exaggerate while poxed, I'm sticking with Stan's three months and saying that we have nothing at all to indicate his age in Secret.

[Toothless Gibbon]

Originally Posted by GuruGuru214

Given that Stan wouldn't have survived in a coffin for three whole years

But he would for 3 months?!?!

[GuruGuru214]

Yeah, three months is also a long time to survive in a coffin, but it's not much less plausible than having business cards made up while locked inside that coffin, and it's much more plausible than three years.

[jmm]

That's easy: here's an equation

              2^((pi*(n+m)/s)
Age =  V*-------------------
                   h+H

where
n = number of pixels in the original Guybrush sprite 1 while idle (from MI 1)
s = number of times Stan moved his arms on all MI games (up to MI 5)
m = number of times Elaine thought about Guybrush
V = Voodoo Lady's constant of unknown, doom and foretelling
h = number of "har" "spoken" by LeChuck
H = number of "har" written on screen in the non talkie versions

You'll have to find the V constant though, by some oddity I have forgotten after asking the Voodoo Lady...

[Avistew]

I'm sorry, I know it's an old thread, but I was about to start a new one on this same subject and I thought using this one might be better?

I'm inclined to believe Stan when he says he was locked in the coffin for three months (survived by eating a previous corpse if I remember correctly. Doesn't explain how he kept hydrated but that's cartoon logic for you).

I too was wondering about the "three years" Elaine mentioned...
But I'm going to say that she's poxed and pissed, so she's mixing up her timeline (seems more likely than Stan thinking he was locked in a coffin for 3 months when it was 3 years).

And since sometimes when you complain about someone, you say things out of order...
I'm going to say she didn't see him for 3 months after the Big Whoop thing, but she also didn't see him for three years between secret and revenge (or less but she exaggerated, could be a bit over two years for instance), and she just got herself mixed up while complaining.

So... I would say Guybrush would be 16-17 in the first game, then we know he's 19 in the second, 20 in the third (the two ages that are given in-game), then three months pass so he has to still be 20, and since they adventured for about ten years together he'd be around 26 in Tales.
Morgan might be 20 or so, meaning she'd be 10 at the time of Secret, and followed Guybrush since then.
Elaine I always pictured as older than Guybrush by at least a few years but I'll agree there is nothing definite about that since her age is never given anywhere.

Does anyone has other theories and/or do we have any official word about the "three months" vs "three years" thing?

EDIT: oh, and about Stan and his jacket. I'd say he's exaggerating more than lying. He wear a different jacket in MI2 due to it being coffins (so he chose more... funeral colours) but I think he really means he's had that jacket for about 20 years, even though he didn't wear it non-stop.
He also says his mojo comes from the pattern, so I'd say he became a salesman about 20 years ago. If he started as early as Guybrush that would make him ten years older than him, or 26 in Secret and 36 in Tales. But he could also have started later and be more around 30 in Secrets and 40 in Tales.

I think that's all for the recurring characters. I wouldn't try to figure out the Voodoo Lady's age because she probably uses voodoo, and Murray is already dead so that's irrelevant.
And LeChuck, well he died too. I'd say human LeChuck was probably the age of LeChuck when he died rather than the age he would be if he was still alive.

[apenpaap]

Originally Posted by avistew

I'm sorry, I know it's an old thread, but I was about to start a new one on this same subject and I thought using this one might be better?

I'm inclined to believe Stan when he says he was locked in the coffin for three months (survived by eating a previous corpse if I remember correctly. Doesn't explain how he kept hydrated but that's cartoon logic for you).

HE ATE A CORPSE? I never heard that! That's gross.

I too was wondering about the "three years" Elaine mentioned...
But I'm going to say that she's poxed and pissed, so she's mixing up her timeline (seems more likely than Stan thinking he was locked in a coffin for 3 months when it was 3 years).

And since sometimes when you complain about someone, you say things out of order...
I'm going to say she didn't see him for 3 months after the Big Whoop thing, but she also didn't see him for three years between secret and revenge (or less but she exaggerated, could be a bit over two years for instance), and she just got herself mixed up while complaining.

I agree with this.

So... I would say Guybrush would be 16-17 in the first game, then we know he's 19 in the second, 20 in the third (the two ages that are given in-game), then three months pass so he has to still be 20, and since they adventured for about ten years together he'd be around 26 in Tales.
Morgan might be 20 or so, meaning she'd be 10 at the time of Secret, and followed Guybrush since then.
Elaine I always pictured as older than Guybrush by at least a few years but I'll agree there is nothing definite about that since her age is never given anywhere.

I agree with this too, except that it sounded more like 10 years since they had been adventuring together, which would be Curse, not Secret. So Guybrush would be 30 in Tales.

Does anyone has other theories and/or do we have any official word about the "three months" vs "three years" thing?

Since Guybrush says he's 19 in Revenge and 20 in Curse, there can't be 3 years between them, but three months could be, so I'd say your explanation is right.

oh, and about Stan and his jacket. I'd say he's exaggerating more than lying. He wear a different jacket in MI2 due to it being coffins (so he chose more... funeral colours) but I think he really means he's had that jacket for about 20 years, even though he didn't wear it non-stop.

There's no reason to assume he started shortly before Secret. He could have been in business and weasring his jacket for 6 years already then.

I think that's all for the recurring characters. I wouldn't try to figure out the Voodoo Lady's age because she probably uses voodoo, and Murray is already dead so that's irrelevant.
And LeChuck, well he died too. I'd say human LeChuck was probably the age of LeChuck when he died rather than the age he would be if he was still alive.

I always picture LeChuck in his fourties or maybe fifties.

[Avistew]

Originally Posted by apenpaap

There's no reason to assume he started shortly before Secret. He could have been in business and weasring his jacket for 6 years already then.

Or 10 is the "ten years adventuring" start at Secret. But yeah, that's what I think too.

About Stan surviving in the coffin, I honestly can't say I'm 100% sure, but I seemed to remember that was what happened. I think I read it somewhere or other, that could be wrong. I'm probably going to play Curse again soon so I'll tell you about that then.

EDIT: I think I might have read it on wikipedia

Stan ends up in a crypt on Blood Island and manages to survive by feeding on the remains of a previous corpse until Guybrush frees him in The Curse of Monkey Island a year later.

Of course, considering it's wikipedia (and that they say "a year later" but that could be due to his age going from 19 to 20), that doesn't mean anything. That could just be someone's theory, or that could be something Stan says if you question him in Curse. Does anyone know more about that?

[Uzrname]

Originally Posted by avistew

So... I would say Guybrush would be 16-17 in the first game, then we know he's 19 in the second, 20 in the third (the two ages that are given in-game), then three months pass so he has to still be 20, and since they adventured for about ten years together he'd be around 26 in Tales.

Umm actually I think he's a tad older in the first game. Although not certain, I think I've read somewhere that he was 19 or so in SMI. There were three years that passed between SMI and LCR, putting him at 22 (however, inside Phatt Island library he says he's 21 upon making the library card). There is at least sixth months between LCR and SMI, so that would make him still 22 years old in CMI. In EMI, however, his age has never been pointed out since we're not sure how long their honeymoon was. But let's say it was also 5-6 month, so that would put Guybrush at 23 years old in EMI. Subsequently, in Tales he already comes from a "year long" adventure as he states, but Elaine says there was an interval of three years between Tales and CMI, therefore, Guybrush must be something like 24 or 25 years old.

As for Elaine, she's a little bit older than him. I think, though unsure again, she was 22 in SMI. So that would put her, with the same count, at 27-28 in Tales. And Morgan, yeah, I think she's barely 20.