The TMI plot explained in a nutshell

[ATMachine]

So working with the help of Kroms's bullet points, I have worked out what I think to be the Grand Backstory behind TMI. Master Plans and all are revealed here! SPOILERS AHEAD!

PLEASE NOTE: This is a REVISED version of the original post, in which I have modified my theories to incorporate things pointed out by fellow forum members.

Ahem.

So some time before Narwhal, Guybrush gets the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu recipe from the Voodoo Lady. (One of the dialogue options on first meeting her in Narwhal is "That cutlass recipe you gave me was a dud!" though Guybrush never says it out loud.)

However, this Cursed Cutlass would inevitably, when used, fail to kill LeChuck. Even if Guybrush hadn't tampered with the recipe, it would still fail because he isn't attacking LeChuck while he's crossing between worlds. This is intentional on the Voodoo Lady's part.

The Voodoo Lady desires to keep Guybrush and LeChuck eternally at each other's throats. By the end of Rise, she possesses Guybrush's poxed hand and an essence of LeChuck, which combined are enough to resurrect BOTH of them, if either should die, thus continuing the cycle infinitely. (Remi Olsen has pointed out that she was already seen shipping voodoo supplies to LeChuck in MI2!)

Elaine does NOT know at first that the Cutlass of Kaflu is destined to fail, since she tries to use it herself on LeChuck at the finale of Rise. Nor does she know yet that, to kill LeChuck, you need the help of someone standing on the other side of the Crossroads. (Guybrush has to tell her this in Rise.)

However, by the end of Rise she clearly believes that the Voodoo Lady is up to no good. The feeling is mutual. In the seagull scene in Rise, the Voodoo Lady calls Elaine a "loose cannon" who "does not trust in Voodoo." She's telling a half-truth in this last statement: Elaine does in fact trust Voodoo, just not the Voodoo Lady's voodoo.

Elaine has probably suspected the Voodoo Lady of nefarious deeds for a while now, since in Rise she says that she first let LeChuck capture her in order to demonstrate this to Guybrush. Most likely, though, she fully grasps how bad the Voodoo Lady is after LeChuck is humanized and the Pox is released.

Once she has been captured, Elaine watches Guybrush use the cutlass on LeChuck, not knowing for certain but half-suspecting it won't work at all, and hoping that Guybrush now realizes that the Voodoo Lady has been lying to him all along. He doesn't, of course.

LeChuck is turned human, and although Elaine knows he is still nasty and evil, she hopes to use him to get at the Voodoo Lady (by, for example, obtaining her diary). She doesn't tell Guybrush, of course. But she is thrown off her guard, and lulled into security, by the evil Voodoo of his belt buckle, and fails to adequately make plans for his eventual betrayal of them in Trial.

Elaine doesn't know yet that LeChuck can only be killed once he is crossing between worlds. But she goes along with LeChuck's plan to "give the monkeys new homes," even though she suspects it's all a lie, at least in order to convince him his disguise is working (as noted, the belt buckle clouds her judgment).

The Pox is released, and then Guybrush turns up with a quest from the Voodoo Lady to go after "La Esponja Grande." This is probably where the pieces all click together for Elaine. Since she knows Human LeChuck is still evil, she is certain that, once La Esponja absorbs all the voodoo energy of the Pox, LeChuck will simply take the sponge and reabsorb the voodoo into himself. She also knows that the Voodoo Lady PLANNED this to happen.

When Guybrush loses his hand to Morgan (and his wedding ring with it), Elaine supplies him with her ring instantly. She doesn't know EXACTLY what he'll need it for, but she DOES know that wedding rings are powerful items in voodoo spells, because of the pure love they represent. She wants Guybrush to be magically protected in case the worst should happen.

Elaine is blindsided by LeChuck killing Guybrush (which she WOULD have foreseen were it not for the demonic belt buckle). She didn't want Guybrush to enter the Crossroads by actually DYING.

Then once Guybrush returns as a ghost, LeChuck announces that the Cutlass of Kaflu is the only weapon that can kill him in the mortal world, and that he has enchanted it so that no mortal can touch it. Elaine is immediately seen going "Hmm!" Her next line after that is to LeChuck: "Make me your demon bride!" or some such.

Elaine obviously decides on the spot to become a demon, so as to get her hands on the Cutlass, and is counting on Guybrush (as she says in the very end of Rise) to restore her afterward, so she can kill LeChuck with the blade. (I guess she expects to keep holding onto it as a demon until she's exorcised!)

In other words, Elaine's master plan was never set in stone, but has had to change in numerous ways, due to unforeseen events. Such events included the Pox being released, or LeChuck surviving as a human, or Guybrush losing his hand, or LeChuck killing Guybrush (a major unforeseen event!), or LeChuck cursing the Cutlass to make it unusable by mortals.

When Guybrush is punted back into the Crossroads by LeChuck, Morgan shows up after an extended absence and stabs him with a new sword. Guybrush asks where she got it but she doesn't answer.

Answer: The Voodoo Lady gave Morgan the sword, in exchange for her retrieving LeChuck's essence after dispatching him. The Voodoo Lady wants to kill LeChuck for the moment, so that Guybrush will be lulled into a false sense of security and think LeChuck is finally truly dead. She knows, however, that if Morgan does her job right, she will soon have the Essence of LeChuck with which to revive the demon pirate at a later date.

LeChuck's plan, of course, is much simpler: Hypnotize the 13 Monkeys of Montevideo and place them at specified locations in the Caribbean, so as to reveal the physical location of the Crossroads in the mortal world, allowing him to crack it open, suck out its energy, and become the Demon Pirate God. Needless to say, his scheme fails until Guybrush unwittingly helps him out.

Comments?

NEW EDIT: After input from commenters, I've rewritten this so it's somewhat more plausible. People have pointed out that I thought Elaine knew far too much, and I think they're right!

[sedian]

All true.

[martymcfly]

Well done! Pretty much what I had been thinking myself, nice to see it all written out like this

[fergusdog]

Some good thoughts - especially the last two (I was also wondering if Morgan got the blade from the Voodoo Lady).

Elaine is smart but I don't think she has forseen the events that well. Partly, she probably just relied on gut feeling - ie she was sure Guybrush would need the ring, but probably didn't know the details.

I'm not buying into the Voodoo Lady controls everything theory. It's a too simple explanation and as she says herself she's just a pawn in a much bigger game. She certainly meddles with fate, but I believe she has in fact good intentions and there's more at stake as we can see. However, her owning LeChuck in a jar makes me think she has her very own agenda as well. I'm quite convinced she neither wants to resurrect him nor dispose of him but rather needs him for something else - which may be revealed in season 2.

[Seepgood]

Well done! There is no way I could have put that all together in one coherent body like that.
My only problem with it is the Voodoo Lady's plan to eventually bring back LeChuck. Since he knows that she has been using him, she can no longer use him. Thus she helps defeat him and takes his essence for safe keeping along with Guybrushes hand since it has some of LeChuck's voodoo in it. In the process of doing all this she also gets Morgan to fill LeChuck's role as hinted at in the whole Ghost Pirate Hunter Morgan LeFlay.
But that's mostly just my opinion.
Again well done!!!

[Diduz]

Following this route, the Big Whoop in MI2 was just another trap to keep Guybrush and LeChuck fighting forever?

Seriously, we already got the mystery behind MI2 ending, why adding other mayhem to the mayhem?

The things ATMachine wrote could've been explained at the end of Rise of the Pirate God. THAT would have made Rise REALLY shine.
As it is, I can't get Telltale's strategy on the final (?) episode.

[Secret Fawful]

I agree with this, especially the role of the Voodoo Lady. I think it makes much more sense, but you've left one part out, and that is how much hatred LeChuck feels towards her.

He's tired of being led around, and let's face it, he's gotten the hardest and worst end of the deal. He's become an evil foul sadistic monster all because of her meddling, and he has every right to be angry.

[Falanca]

LeChuck has a goal you know. He doesn't want to fight with Guybrush and spend his valuable time. He wants to marry Elaine and that's it. Being in a cycle makes his goal impossible for him to complete.

[pluizig]

Originally Posted by ATMachine

By the end of Rise, she possesses Guybrush's poxed hand and an essence of LeChuck

Wait, what? When does this happen?

[Seepgood]

Originally Posted by pluizig

Wait, what? When does this happen?

Its laying on her desk/table in the post-credits scene, its only visible briefly.

[PecanBlue]

Thanks so much for this, it helped me understand a lot. Especially on the subject of what Elaine had been planning to do throughout the whole game.

[Katsuro]

wow!
Awesome! This should be a sticky

[Seepgood]

Originally Posted by Diduz

Following this route, the Big Whoop in MI2 was just another trap to keep Guybrush and LeChuck fighting forever?

Seriously, we already got the mystery behind MI2 ending, why adding other mayhem to the mayhem?

The things ATMachine wrote could've been explained at the end of Rise of the Pirate God. THAT would have made Rise REALLY shine.
As it is, I can't get Telltale's strategy on the final (?) episode.

I don't think the Voodoo Lady was actually in complete control of both LeChuck and Guybrush all the time. Instead she just sort of gives things a nudge to keep them going in the right direction (ie. in a circle). Also, the MI2 ending isn't really much of a mystery, it seems to me like it was made pretty clear with the post-credits scene with Elaine that Guybrush was just under some spell of LeChuck's.

[One-Eyed Kijin]

Wow I indicated in earlier threads that I didn't like the story but after reading that - if Telltale actually planned all that - then the story is amazing.

Although I noticed a lot of the plot points the author noted, I failed to construct it as coherently as he did. In other words, I had no earthly idea what the fuck was going on in Episode 5.

Did anyone else feel the same way, or am I just an idiot?

Edit: If this is accurate, which I am fairly certain it is, then it should be stickied.

[pluizig]

This gives the story some structure, sure, but a lot of it is conjecture.

[thehardmenpath]

This is a great discovery. The Voodoo lady thing COULD REALLY BE the secret of Monkey Island.

Now the question is... Why is she interested in an eternal fight? What's good for her in it? What's bad for her if it ends?

[Acemaster]

Wait, how does Elaine suddenly know so much? Starting from that the cutlass is a failure?

And I'm still thinking she thought Guybrush needed the ring, but didn't know exactly when or how. >: )

[ATMachine]

The conclusions I draw contain some degree of conjecture, true, but all the things I have conjectured are reasonable inferences, based on clues scattered throughout TMI. If you can make the Master Plans map to the game plot equally well with an alternative explanation, however, feel free.

[ATMachine]

Terrible apologies for double-posting, but I ought to add this further clarification on my earlier remarks.

EDIT: This post was full of speculation I have since had to revise. Sorry!

[One-Eyed Kijin]

As interesting as that story is, your version of events would require Elaine to have a vast knowledge of Voodoo magic, which I doubt she has. If she does know all about these voodoo spells, then Telltale should attempt to explain how she learned about them all without Guybrush noticing his wife's interest in the occult. Although Elaine always does have a plan, I have a hard time accepting that she was that well informed.