The Voodoo Lady [Spoilers]

[Hande]

Okay, Tales of Monkey Island managed to do something quite shocking. It really began to change my perception of the relationship between Guybrush and the Voodoo Lady. In Chapter 4 when LeChuck declares the Voodoo Lady being responsible for everything that has transpired up this point I was a little torn but generally thinking that he was lying and that he was going to turn on the heroes at some point. I only felt a hint of doubt about that because of Guybrush's reaction to the whole thing - but even then I never seriously thought about the chance that the Voodoo Lady was upto anything sneaky or sinister.

Then comes the post credits scene in Chapter 5 and my jaw drops. So is she evil? Did she just hire Morgan to fetch LeChuck's demonic essence to make sure he'd never escape? Or did she do this because she's planning to do something with it (potential launch-pad for a sequel)? I was torn because on one hand it kinda gave me a glint of hope that Morgan might return in a future game by Telltale, yet at the same time it felt like a character who's been at the core of the series for its entirety has now gone through a major change.

What were your thoughts after seeing that last scene?

[Fearless Flying Monkey]

I don't think Morgan has changed really, she was just doing that for survival. But has the Voodoo Lady really changed? Did she ever actually help Guybrush? In MI2 she gave him a voodoo doll, but apart from that she seemingly just always sent him against LeChuck. I don't really think we have any idea what she's up to really. We need a ToMI 2 to find out.

[Zlata]

I hope that whatever she's up to, will be explained well coz i wasn't very happy with what they did to her in this game. She was a rather minor character and the 'Mystery Lady' that most games seem to have and i think it should have remained that way. She may be good, but believes that LeChuck and Guybrush are destined to fight forever so she's just making sure that neither dies. Or she may be the real villain. Who knows?

[blanket]

Nothing was spoiled for me, luckily I didn't read all the messages in this topic. I shouldn't have even opened up this topic, I was just quickly clicking through all the unread topics. But anyway, maybe the Voodoo lady is another disguise for LeChuck, like SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T PLAYED SMI


Fester Shinetop in SMI, but maybe the Voodoo lady WAS good, but LeChuck possesed her body!


the end of spoilers

[Hande]

@Coolio25 - Um, hate to say this but you clearly haven't seen the ending of TOMI.

Spoiler: show

LeChuck's been reduced to a jar of green sludge at the end.

@FFM - Well, I dunno if telling Guybrush where to find the ring to break the curse on Elaine in the third game or assorting Granpa Marley's wedding gifts in the fourth game would count as helping. But admittedly you raise a good point, the Voodoo Lady always seemed very self-contradictory about the events relating to the second game where he just sends Guybrush to his fate and then in the third game she actually says he should have never gone after Big Whoop to begin with. This of course could be just the shift in writing staff between the second and third game messing up the continuity (it's been known to happen *cough*escape*cough*) but certainly the Voodoo Lady's portrayal before TOMI has been more as a helpful or neutral character (she doesn't actually play a large role in SMI) as compared to what we see towards the end.

[Fearless Flying Monkey]

Ah. I forgot about the ring. But still, she doesn't actually do all that much. I suppose the only thing we can do is wait, I'd quite like it if she turned out to be the villain though.

[FaNaTiC]

@ Hande - Coolio hasn't played TOMI, last we heard, he hadn't even bought it yet.
@Coolio - The topic is clearly labelled with a Spoiler warning and is in the "TOMI" forum, in general, since you haven't played the game yet, any thread in this forum may contain spoilers that you did not wish to see! Even if they are minor or accidently unlabelled.


As for me, I'm unsure about my feelings toward the Voodoo Lady after the game. I definitely felt less connected with her than I had in previous games - which is a shame - as particularly in CMI, I felt she may have been my favourite character. As far as her motives -

Spoiler: show

while she does seem to be a balancing force - I don't like the idea of her maintaining any sort of balance in the gaming world. I always saw her as simply a messenger - a prophet - a seer - not a meddler in the supernatural herself. I liked it better that way. She remained distant and mysterious, while still having purpose, function, and her own identity. She was also one of the only links to any sort of Caribbean identity in the game...sure it's a stereotype as well, but isn't everything now adays?

[Hande]

All very good points Fanatic, I quite feel the same and FFM of course is right that there's real no way to know until/if they make another game. I'm just asking for people's general opinion here though.

I felt that the Voodoo Lady acted rather cold in Chapter 5 (in Chapter 4 she just seemd unphazed by what was going on around her), but I did get an almost sinister vibe from her at the end. I really don't know where they're going with this and I wasn't quite happy with it either but at the same time it kinda left the game on a nice little cliffhanger since the final scene of the game proper (on the ship with Elaine) was a little underwhelming. I guess I'm saying that I'm a bit conflicted about it.

[blanket]

Okay then. I'll just be leaving now...

*walks out crying*


just joking Hande

[Karim]

It's been a while guys! Hope you're all alright.

I really enjoyed ToMI and I rank it just before EfMI (which I liked as well). As for the ending, I mean enjoying the game must mean enjoying the ending as well (at least for me) and I believe the Voodoo Lady turns out to be evil. Well we've never had proof that events occur because "the fates allow them", for that has always been what the Voodoo Lady said. She could well be the all-powerful puppet master or so to speak.

[pieces of eight]

From memory the Voodoo lady has only ever helped Guybrush when he has asked her for help. Maybe there is a hidden motive behind all her actions but in the end she never forced Guybrush to do anything, all she did was assist Guybrush to complete his own personal agenda. Would he not have gone searching for Big Whoop or searched for the Uncursed ring if he knew the Voodoo Lady was setting him up to meet LeChuck? I think he would still carry out the Voodoo lady's will whether or not he knew about her intentions if it would save Elaine/The world from LeChuck. I think if she was really "Pulling their strings" as LeChuck seems to claim then it wouldve been the same. She would simply have been giving LeChuck information rather than commands, and it was LeChuck's decision to follow through for his own personal gain. Would he not have searched for demonic powers or brought himself back from the afterlife had he known she was purposely setting him up with a confrontation with Guybrush? In my opinion he would still carry out the Voodoo Lady's will regardles of whether or not he knew about her intentions if he thought it would bring him unimaginable power and reunite him with Elaine.

In the end all she did was informed, and helped when she was asked to. It was ultimately LeChuck's decision to relentlessly persue Elaine and it was ultimately Guybrush's decision to try stop him and then ultimately LeChuck's decision to seek terrible power for revenge. If she is behind everything as they claim then she was using them just as much as they were all using her. The only difference was she was more secretive about it. Though I have to say that scene after the credits was extremely ominous

[HaydenWCE]

I believe that she is neither good nor evil. Perhaps her role on earth is to maintain balance between the forces of good and evil, and must use others in order to do this. LeChuck is a very powerful evil force; his existence would throw out the balance greatly, so she needed a way of ridding the world of him, using Guybrush and Elaine in order to do so. And, by 'using them', I don't mean 'her dictating their every action as though they were puppets', I think that free will is something that she doesn't mess with, but that she merely causes a series of events and circumstances to take place in order to ensure that her will is carried out. She can probably use outside factors to cause certain things to happen - perhaps control over the weather, control over nature and animals, control over dreams, control over... physics; all of these things can potentially be used to put people in certain situations and subject them to particular circumstances. And she can also use verbal persuasion in order to convince people to carry out her will, perhaps even bribery at times . Anyway, what I'm basically tying to say is that a) the Voodoo Lady is not good or evil, b) she is possibly a keeper of the balance between good & evil, c) she uses others to maintain this balance and carry out tasks, d) she doesn't do this by messing with free will, but does it using outside factors.

[Zlata]

Pieces of eight and hayden have very good points. I'd much prefer if their predictions were correct, rather than see the Voodoo Lady as the real villain.

[HaydenWCE]

Pieces of eight and hayden have very good points. I'd much prefer if their predictions were correct, rather than see the Voodoo Lady as the real villain.

Yeah, the thought of her had never even crossed my mind once before 'Tales...', so I really don't think that I'd want the Voodoo Lady to be revealed as an evil force. I mean, I wouldn't be entirely against the idea, and I don't think I'd 'hate' it if she were to be revealed as a villain, but I'd prefer it if she weren't.