The man the myth, the legend.
Long enough have fans awaited this moment where I'm about to reveal the full plot behind the name of Guybrush Threepwood. It took a great deal of research and the evidence are undeniable by anyone for all eternity.
So, back when Lucasarts development team were starting to work on Monkey Island, Murray, the chief executive for the operation, proclaimed that they needed a name for the character they were working with. Brady, which was the working name, wouldn't sell as well as something corny.
So Murray, in all his wisdom and glory, gathered the personnel and told them that all they needed to know about the character was that: a, He was a male and b, He was a bit of a tool. Also, he continued, it would be cool with something subtly sexy- because sex sells! Then, he ajourned the meeting.
Dave, the programmer, went back to working with the game. -A male, he thought. -A male that is a bit of a tool. He worked for several hours on the geometric design of some of the shapes used in the program to create the hero of the adventure. -A male, he said loud to himself. -Meh whatever, I'll save it as Guy.
Now, the program used for creating these forms used a fileformat called ".brush" when saved. Dave leaned back in the chair, happy with his work for the day and took a sip from his coffee. All of a sudden, while he was staring at the screen, it came to him. -A male, he said. -A male who is a bit of a tool! -Guy.brush. -Guybrush!
Dave, extremely satisfied, left the office and got in his blue Volvo so he could get home. The city's light were flashing by as he drove towards the city center. He knew he really shouldn't, but he went there anyways. The idea of the name Guybrush had made him crave cigarettes. It didn't make any sense, but he didn't care about that. This was a time for celebration. And what better way to celebrate the discovery by buying cigarettes. He stopped by the nearest open Seven Eleven.
Now, Dave was never a man who had it easy with the ladies. In fact, he was a bit of a tool himself in that aspect of life. However, he had realized his unfortunate situation and also assumed he wouldn't find anyone he was attracted to that would be attracted of him. A Catch 22 of love, so to speak. When he stepped out of the car he noticed two prostitutes standing outside of the store's entrance. He hesitated a bit, but decided to ask. After all, this was a night of celebration!
- Ehh, how much?, he asked.
The taller of the two women smiled shyly, then took a few steps towards him. He blushed and looked away. Then he felt an intense pain in the groin. She had kicked him right in the nuts. He fell to the ground.
- You freaking scumbag, what do you think this is? Some kind of whore depot?, the woman shouted before she went back to her friend, immediatly leaving the scene together snickering.
Dave tried to get up from the asfalt, but it hurt too much so he decided just to stay put for a while untill the majority of his pain had settled.
- A whore depot?, he said quietly for himself.
- What bogus crap wasn't that?
He started to play around with the idea of Guybrush having the name Whoredepot as surname. Guybrush Whoredepot. He remembered his boss saying it was supposed to be sexy, but in a subtle way. He thought, since Guybrush sounded kinda french, that maybe it could be a little bit more subtle. Maybe something like Hordepeaux or something along those lines. He was just about to get up when it hit him. Instead of rearranging the name, why not just make an anagram out of it?
He got up and went back home, still thinking about possible anagrams.
Pedoworthe? - Nah, too kinky, he thought. After all, the target audience would be children.
Deepoworth? Nah, would just be ironic since he felt there was no value in being deep.
Hedropower? Well, that would surely alienate the gay masses.
Threepwood? Threepwood! He tasted the name in his mouth. It tasted blood, sweat, tears and a bit of asfalt. He stood up and went back to the car. He drove home and went to bed.
The following morning he went to work. He got there a bit late but still managed to reach the office just in time as people were settling down for the morning meeting.
- Let's see, said Murray. What names have you all conjured up?
- Me first, me first! Stanley shouted. Stanley was the creative brain of the team, always coming up with stupid ideas that noone liked.
- Hrrrm, hrrm. Listen to this!, he proclaimed with a booming voice.
- Malcolm Meathook!
Everyone were silent. Stanley jumped up and down while anxiously waving his arms while trying to explain.
- Malcolm like Malcolm X, like a rolemodel!!!
- And Meathook is just classic piratestuff! Isn't it grand???
Everyone were quiet.
- I've got one, said Dave.
- Ok, let's hear it, responded Murray.
Stanley gave Dave the evil eye, but Dave didn't see him. He felt like Moses must've felt returning from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
- Guybrush....Threepwood, he said calmly.
- Eeeeh...what the hell?, Stanley shouted.
- How is that a good name? It's sounds totally retarded!
- It has male in it, it has a tool in it and it is subtly sexy, Dave responded then quickly went to the whiteboard and chalked up the anagram.
Everyone laughed, but Stanley who continued to rave:
- That name is absolutely stupid! Guy...brush Threepwood? Oh look at me, look at me, I can come up with names too! If guybrush is ok, then why not something like errr...man....errr... comb, yeah that's it! Mancomb Threepwood!
His head was looking like it was about to explode, but he continued to shout:
- Oh no wait! Something subtly sexy is good, but subtly disgusting is better! People like to be disgusted. Mancomb...Pees good. Yeah, that's it! Mancomb Peesgood. And let's make it subtle so noone realises is, Mancomb Seepgood! Taataaa!
Stanley looked around, trying to get someone to agree with him. Noone looked at him. He turned around to Murray.
- Murray, I'll have your head on a platter for this! You will regret this silly name!
He stormed out of the room.
And that is the true story about Guybrush Threepwood.
So, back when Lucasarts development team were starting to work on Monkey Island, Murray, the chief executive for the operation, proclaimed that they needed a name for the character they were working with. Brady, which was the working name, wouldn't sell as well as something corny.
So Murray, in all his wisdom and glory, gathered the personnel and told them that all they needed to know about the character was that: a, He was a male and b, He was a bit of a tool. Also, he continued, it would be cool with something subtly sexy- because sex sells! Then, he ajourned the meeting.
Dave, the programmer, went back to working with the game. -A male, he thought. -A male that is a bit of a tool. He worked for several hours on the geometric design of some of the shapes used in the program to create the hero of the adventure. -A male, he said loud to himself. -Meh whatever, I'll save it as Guy.
Now, the program used for creating these forms used a fileformat called ".brush" when saved. Dave leaned back in the chair, happy with his work for the day and took a sip from his coffee. All of a sudden, while he was staring at the screen, it came to him. -A male, he said. -A male who is a bit of a tool! -Guy.brush. -Guybrush!
Dave, extremely satisfied, left the office and got in his blue Volvo so he could get home. The city's light were flashing by as he drove towards the city center. He knew he really shouldn't, but he went there anyways. The idea of the name Guybrush had made him crave cigarettes. It didn't make any sense, but he didn't care about that. This was a time for celebration. And what better way to celebrate the discovery by buying cigarettes. He stopped by the nearest open Seven Eleven.
Now, Dave was never a man who had it easy with the ladies. In fact, he was a bit of a tool himself in that aspect of life. However, he had realized his unfortunate situation and also assumed he wouldn't find anyone he was attracted to that would be attracted of him. A Catch 22 of love, so to speak. When he stepped out of the car he noticed two prostitutes standing outside of the store's entrance. He hesitated a bit, but decided to ask. After all, this was a night of celebration!
- Ehh, how much?, he asked.
The taller of the two women smiled shyly, then took a few steps towards him. He blushed and looked away. Then he felt an intense pain in the groin. She had kicked him right in the nuts. He fell to the ground.
- You freaking scumbag, what do you think this is? Some kind of whore depot?, the woman shouted before she went back to her friend, immediatly leaving the scene together snickering.
Dave tried to get up from the asfalt, but it hurt too much so he decided just to stay put for a while untill the majority of his pain had settled.
- A whore depot?, he said quietly for himself.
- What bogus crap wasn't that?
He started to play around with the idea of Guybrush having the name Whoredepot as surname. Guybrush Whoredepot. He remembered his boss saying it was supposed to be sexy, but in a subtle way. He thought, since Guybrush sounded kinda french, that maybe it could be a little bit more subtle. Maybe something like Hordepeaux or something along those lines. He was just about to get up when it hit him. Instead of rearranging the name, why not just make an anagram out of it?
He got up and went back home, still thinking about possible anagrams.
Pedoworthe? - Nah, too kinky, he thought. After all, the target audience would be children.
Deepoworth? Nah, would just be ironic since he felt there was no value in being deep.
Hedropower? Well, that would surely alienate the gay masses.
Threepwood? Threepwood! He tasted the name in his mouth. It tasted blood, sweat, tears and a bit of asfalt. He stood up and went back to the car. He drove home and went to bed.
The following morning he went to work. He got there a bit late but still managed to reach the office just in time as people were settling down for the morning meeting.
- Let's see, said Murray. What names have you all conjured up?
- Me first, me first! Stanley shouted. Stanley was the creative brain of the team, always coming up with stupid ideas that noone liked.
- Hrrrm, hrrm. Listen to this!, he proclaimed with a booming voice.
- Malcolm Meathook!
Everyone were silent. Stanley jumped up and down while anxiously waving his arms while trying to explain.
- Malcolm like Malcolm X, like a rolemodel!!!
- And Meathook is just classic piratestuff! Isn't it grand???
Everyone were quiet.
- I've got one, said Dave.
- Ok, let's hear it, responded Murray.
Stanley gave Dave the evil eye, but Dave didn't see him. He felt like Moses must've felt returning from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
- Guybrush....Threepwood, he said calmly.
- Eeeeh...what the hell?, Stanley shouted.
- How is that a good name? It's sounds totally retarded!
- It has male in it, it has a tool in it and it is subtly sexy, Dave responded then quickly went to the whiteboard and chalked up the anagram.
Everyone laughed, but Stanley who continued to rave:
- That name is absolutely stupid! Guy...brush Threepwood? Oh look at me, look at me, I can come up with names too! If guybrush is ok, then why not something like errr...man....errr... comb, yeah that's it! Mancomb Threepwood!
His head was looking like it was about to explode, but he continued to shout:
- Oh no wait! Something subtly sexy is good, but subtly disgusting is better! People like to be disgusted. Mancomb...Pees good. Yeah, that's it! Mancomb Peesgood. And let's make it subtle so noone realises is, Mancomb Seepgood! Taataaa!
Stanley looked around, trying to get someone to agree with him. Noone looked at him. He turned around to Murray.
- Murray, I'll have your head on a platter for this! You will regret this silly name!
He stormed out of the room.
And that is the true story about Guybrush Threepwood.
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Comments
Seriously though, interesting post, already sorta knew the basics around his first name.
now, give us the Ricardo Luigi Pierre M'Bengu Chang Nehru O'Hara Casaba III story
I'd love to hear someone misidentify him as that now.
Except it was made on the Amiga and used deluxe paint, whose file extension is .brush, making it not only possible but the very long established explanation of how he got his first name.
The Threepwood part come from Dave Grossman (apparently).