Elaine Theory
Having experience writing stories that get out-of-hand complicated, I'm not usually prone to in-depth character analysis when I know much of the work involved wasn't necessarily choreographed as carefully as it would seem in retrospect. But what can I say: it's RotPG.
The Voodoo Lady said something to the effect of "Elaine not believing in voodoo". I'm gonna take this statement and run with it. I think it provides a pretty nice canonical explanation of her occasionally baffling behavior this episode.
I feel like Elaine approaches a voodoo spell in one of two ways. Either she
1) is pulled under its control, but feels independent regardless. For example, she trusted LeChuck because of the voodoo trust belt, but justified it to herself by saying she was "playing along". This allows her to "not believe" in its power over her. Also, she went along with becoming LeChuck's "demon bride" because she doesn't believe voodoo can make her do anything she doesn't want to do. Makes the choice a lot easier, and makes the "plan she had all along" easier to swallow.
2) pulls it under her control, by literally making it do what she expected it to do. I'm sure there are other examples where this could be explained, but I like it mostly because it makes sense out of her knowing to give Guybrush her wedding ring. The way I figure, LeChuck told her about the spell, she reinterpreted it to be about marriage and figured it could be used to come back from the dead if Guybrush ever needed it. But I don't think it would have just worked out of nowhere, I like a bit of Elaine-voodoo mysticism thrown in. It also makes the Voodoo Lady's chat about Elaine's relationship with voodoo make a lot more sense (though I forget precisely what it is she said.)
The kernel I guess is that Elaine's "disbelief" is in the sense that she doesn't believe it can control her, and thus one of these two things happens.
Anybody know of somewhere else in the series that might fit this pattern? I'm too drained to go through ToMI to find some at the moment XP
The Voodoo Lady said something to the effect of "Elaine not believing in voodoo". I'm gonna take this statement and run with it. I think it provides a pretty nice canonical explanation of her occasionally baffling behavior this episode.
I feel like Elaine approaches a voodoo spell in one of two ways. Either she
1) is pulled under its control, but feels independent regardless. For example, she trusted LeChuck because of the voodoo trust belt, but justified it to herself by saying she was "playing along". This allows her to "not believe" in its power over her. Also, she went along with becoming LeChuck's "demon bride" because she doesn't believe voodoo can make her do anything she doesn't want to do. Makes the choice a lot easier, and makes the "plan she had all along" easier to swallow.
2) pulls it under her control, by literally making it do what she expected it to do. I'm sure there are other examples where this could be explained, but I like it mostly because it makes sense out of her knowing to give Guybrush her wedding ring. The way I figure, LeChuck told her about the spell, she reinterpreted it to be about marriage and figured it could be used to come back from the dead if Guybrush ever needed it. But I don't think it would have just worked out of nowhere, I like a bit of Elaine-voodoo mysticism thrown in. It also makes the Voodoo Lady's chat about Elaine's relationship with voodoo make a lot more sense (though I forget precisely what it is she said.)
The kernel I guess is that Elaine's "disbelief" is in the sense that she doesn't believe it can control her, and thus one of these two things happens.
Anybody know of somewhere else in the series that might fit this pattern? I'm too drained to go through ToMI to find some at the moment XP
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