The very ambiguous ending to Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge has drawn considerable debate amongst fans of the series. The explanation that many of them give to it, is that Guybrush is, in fact, just a little boy who has simply imagined his entire adventure from Secret of Monkey Island on while he was in a theme park, incorporating his brother Chuckie as his nemesis LeChuck. At the end, while he and Chuckie are in the basement of the theme park, they are discovered by two park employees who sent them outside to their parents. Although the parents claim that they send Chuckie to find Guybrush, Guybrush still seems to be oblivious to the truth. However, in the ambiguous final scene, Chuckie's eyes glow diabolically, and Elaine can be seen wondering if LeChuck may have cast some sort of spell upon Guybrush.
Some fans who support the theory that Guybrush has indeed been imagining everything point to several observations. For example, that Guybrush seemed to simply appear on Melée Island in Secret of Monkey Island, without any explanation of how he got there (indeed, he is never seen arriving at the dock with a ship); the world within the games look suspiciously like a theme park, which often consists of separate (is)lands, and where treasures or rewards often come as commemorative T-shirts; and the Voodoo Lady in the first game already told Guybrush to beware of what he would find out about himself and his world.
Some even postulate that the theme park that young Guybrush is in, is actually Disney Land itself; the maintenance area where Guybrush ends up in at the end of Monkey Island 2 looks suspiciously like the underground maintenance area in Disney Land which connects all its attractions; the location of the Treasure of Big Whoop, Dinky Island, sounds a bit like 'Disney Island'; many locations that Guybrush visits look a lot like attractions at Disney Land (e.g. The Swiss Family Treehouse), and in the basement, Guybrush finds an 'E ticket', which was the most exclusive ticket that could be purchased at Disney Land (Guybrush' ticket even has a Disney-like castle on it). This has lead to the theory that this may have been the 'secret of Monkey Island' alluded to in the first game, to be fully revealed in the third game when the series was planned as a trilogy. However, Ron Gilbert, who created the first two games, left the company after that, and his work was taken over by other programmers who continued the storylines with ideas of their own. In the beginning of Curse of Monkey Island, they imply that everything happened for real, and that the final part of Monkey Island 2 was an elaborate curse placed on Guybrush by LeChuck.
Gilbert has never revealed how he intended his series to end. So we may have glimpsed the original secret of Monkey Island at the end of part 2, but we may never know for sure.
Some fans who support the theory that Guybrush has indeed been imagining everything point to several observations. For example, that Guybrush seemed to simply appear on Melée Island in Secret of Monkey Island, without any explanation of how he got there (indeed, he is never seen arriving at the dock with a ship); the world within the games look suspiciously like a theme park, which often consists of separate (is)lands, and where treasures or rewards often come as commemorative T-shirts; and the Voodoo Lady in the first game already told Guybrush to beware of what he would find out about himself and his world.
Some even postulate that the theme park that young Guybrush is in, is actually Disney Land itself; the maintenance area where Guybrush ends up in at the end of Monkey Island 2 looks suspiciously like the underground maintenance area in Disney Land which connects all its attractions; the location of the Treasure of Big Whoop, Dinky Island, sounds a bit like 'Disney Island'; many locations that Guybrush visits look a lot like attractions at Disney Land (e.g. The Swiss Family Treehouse), and in the basement, Guybrush finds an 'E ticket', which was the most exclusive ticket that could be purchased at Disney Land (Guybrush' ticket even has a Disney-like castle on it). This has lead to the theory that this may have been the 'secret of Monkey Island' alluded to in the first game, to be fully revealed in the third game when the series was planned as a trilogy. However, Ron Gilbert, who created the first two games, left the company after that, and his work was taken over by other programmers who continued the storylines with ideas of their own. In the beginning of Curse of Monkey Island, they imply that everything happened for real, and that the final part of Monkey Island 2 was an elaborate curse placed on Guybrush by LeChuck.
Gilbert has never revealed how he intended his series to end. So we may have glimpsed the original secret of Monkey Island at the end of part 2, but we may never know for sure.
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