History VideoGame / MonkeyIsland

** There's actually a way to die in each of the six games, but only the first and sixth ones count: In ''Secret'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMq762wbQS8 Guybrush drowns]] if he stays underwater for too long after ten minutes (the rest of the games, excepting ''Escape'', perhaps, he automatically surfaces after the ten minutes are up). ''Revenge'' [[HowWeGotHere is being told after the fact]], so if Guybrush dies (by way of failing to disable [=LeChuck=]'s [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts Rube Goldberg Death Trap]] and is lowed in to deadly acid), Elaine tells him to stop screwing around and tell the real story, and in ''Curse'', you need to fake your death to progress. The ''Curse'' example actually comes with not one, but two [[BreakTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] {{lampshade|Hanging}}s; one from Guybrush, telling the kids not to try this at home, and one from the barkeep and the gravedigger, wondering how Guybrush managed to die in a [=LucasArts=] game. In ''Escape'', Guybrush can shoot his future self in the Mysts o'Tyme Marshe and then go around and get killed by his past self. ''Tales'' has one way to die, [[spoiler:and surprisingly, it's not an Easter egg, but rather a part of a story to progress on from Chapter 4 to Chapter 5.]] ''Return'' does the same gag ''Revenge'' did, [[spoiler:since Guybrush is telling the story to his son. However, after the first two times you try to drown Guybrush, doing it a third time cuts the framing device off, explicitly tells you Guybrush died and his adventure was cut short, gives you an achievement for your trouble, and returns to the title screen. Hope you saved beforehand!]]

* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Guybrush prides himself on being capable to hold his breath underwater for ten minutes. It's one of his less goofy feats.

-->'''Guybrush''': Hey, it's pointing north! Science is fun when you know the secret!

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Happened to [=LeChuck=] a few times, particularly in the first act of ''Curse'' when his zombie body is destroyed up by the demon-fueled cannon ball he created to blow up Elaine's fort. The trope is subverted most of the time, though, because he usually comes back even stronger. In this case, the voodoo cannon ball led to his reincarnation as the Demon Pirate [=LeChuck=].

* HeroesWantRedheads: Guybrush for the red-haired Elaine.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Guybrush talks directly to the player in each game, and [=LeChuck=] also does this. In ''Curse'', Guybrush and refers to himself as "a lovingly inept cartoon character with the potential for a few more sequels".

** It's played with, as the second game suggests that this may be due to [[spoiler:the entire game being the fantasy of a child lost in a theme park. Many of the supposed anachronisms were possibly subtle hints towards this]]. As the original creator and team left before the mystery could be answered, however, this became an AbortedArc and the remaining games have played the trope straight.

** There's actually a way to die in each of the five games, but only the first and fourth ones count: In ''Secret'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMq762wbQS8 Guybrush drowns]] if he stays underwater for too long after ten minutes (the rest of the games, excepting ''Escape'', perhaps, he automatically surfaces after the ten minutes are up). ''Revenge'' [[HowWeGotHere is being told after the fact]], so if Guybrush dies (by way of failing to disable [=LeChuck=]'s [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts Rube Goldberg Death Trap]] and is lowed in to deadly acid), Elaine tells him to stop screwing around and tell the real story, and in ''Curse'', you need to fake your death to progress. The ''Curse'' example actually comes with not one, but two [[BreakTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] {{lampshade|Hanging}}s; one from Guybrush, telling the kids not to try this at home, and one from the barkeep and the gravedigger, wondering how Guybrush managed to die in a Creator/LucasArts game. ''Escape'' sums up two ways to die: 1. by drowning in the second dive underwater after surfacing upon Guybrush's running out of breath in the first dive; and 2. having him kill his future self in the Mysts of Tyme and then going around and having himself get killed by his past self. ''Tales'' has one way to die, [[spoiler:and surprisingly, it's not an Easter egg, but rather a part of a story to progress on from Chapter 4 to Chapter 5.]] ''Return'' does the same gag ''Revenge'' did, [[spoiler:since Guybrush is telling the story to his son. However, after the first two times you try to drown Guybrush, doing it a third time cuts the framing device off, explicitly tells you Guybrush died and his adventure was cut short, gives you an achivement for your trouble, and returns to the title screen. Hope you saved beforehand!.]]

* WelcomeToTheCaribbeanMon

* DependingOnTheWriter: Elaine's characterization is different in every game ([[AdaptationDyeJob as is her appearance]]).

* {{Retcon}}: Has happened to the biographies of [=LeChuck=] and Horatio Torquemada "Herman Toothrot" Marley so many times that it takes several contortions of logic to form coherent backstories. See Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}.

** Though the first game is named after the Secret, it does not appear at all in the plot.

** Finally, ''Return'' has Guybrush go on a quest to find the real Secret, which turns out to be [[spoiler:a T-shirt, just like the Legendary Lost Treasure of Mêlée Island. Moreover, the story is told by a very UnreliableNarrator, with the implication that there is no definitive answer as to what the Secret is, and everyone can come up with their own answers.]]

** There's actually a way to die in each of the five games, but only the first and fourth ones count: In ''Secret'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMq762wbQS8 Guybrush drowns]] if he stays underwater for too long after ten minutes (the rest of the games, excepting ''Escape'', perhaps, he automatically surfaces after the ten minutes are up). ''Revenge'' [[HowWeGotHere is being told after the fact]], so if Guybrush dies, Elaine tells him to stop screwing around and tell the real story, and in ''Curse'', you need to fake your death to progress. The ''Curse'' example actually comes with not one, but two [[BreakTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] {{lampshade|Hanging}}s; one from Guybrush, telling the kids not to try this at home, and one from the barkeep and the gravedigger, wondering how Guybrush managed to die in a Creator/LucasArts game. ''Escape'' sums up two ways to die: 1. by drowning in the second dive underwater after surfacing upon Guybrush's running out of breath in the first dive; and 2. having him kill his future self in the Mysts of Tyme and then going around and having himself get killed by his past self. ''Tales'' has one way to die, [[spoiler:and surprisingly, it's not an Easter egg, but rather a part of a story to progress on from Chapter 4 to Chapter 5.]] ''Return'' does the same gag ''Revenge'' did, [[spoiler:since Guybrush is telling the story to his son. However, after the first two times you try to drown Guybrush, doing it a third time cuts the framing device off, explicitly tells you Guybrush died and his adventure was cut short, gives you an achivement for your trouble, and returns to the title screen. Hope you saved beforehand!.]]