In an early conversation with Domino, Manny states he doesn't know what sin he commited in life that made him a DOD agent. As far as I know, he (and we) never finds out.
I've always thought it'd be neat if the agent that helped Manny when he died couldn't get his ticket on the train. But the ending nixes that idea.
Anyone have any ideas on what Manny did, or why he became an agent?
His dead body was shown wearing a pirate suit in a Monkey Island game. Perhaps he was a pirate who looted from ships?
shareperhaps that was an irrelevant cameo
shareTheories have been created pointing out those three lines Manny has on his forhead, maybe they have something to do with them.
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If you can't say anything bad about yourself I'm not interested.
It is a common idea in many mytholigies that civil servants in the land of the dead are people that have commited suicide. Perhaps that's what Manny did.
shareIm sure Manny would remember if he commited suicide...
share*Ending Spoilers*
I'd like to point out: Salvador Limones was a reaper, yet it turned out Sal had a ticket on the Number Nine. Who's to say Manny didn't have a ticket also? I always assumed that there was no bad deed, both Manny and Sal were each scammed into thinking they had a debt to repay when in reality they didn't.
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I have to say I agree. His ticket on the number nine was probably stolen and used by someone else which is why he has to work off some debt.
Incidentally, Manny's cameo in Monkey Island 3 with the "Ask me about Grim Fandango" badge is a reference to Monkey Island 1 where you meet a character with and "Ask me about Loom" badge, Loom being another Lucasarts adventure game.
Since Monkey Island 3 was created before Grim Fandango, perhaps it has every relevancy.
I'm assuming he does not remember what he was (a pirate [or anything else]) to keep the player guessing.
Real tickets weren't sold, Hector was amassing them for himself. He sold fake tickets. Many would have found his ticket in the case if he had one.
share[deleted]
I always thought he committed suicide, and just didn't understand why it would condemn him to years of DOD service.
shareManny's inability to remember his damning sin or sins is a reflection of and most likely a deliberate reference to Rick's active disinterest in discussing his past in Casablanca. And like Rick's past life before he met Ilsa, Manny's past is largely irrelevant to the story. As far as we need to know, for all intents and purposes, Rick's life didn't really begin before he met Ilsa, and Manny's afterlife didn't truly begin until the day he met Meche.
shareI'd have to agree with this, I thought it was another Casablanca reference.
shareThis is a ludicrous discussion, it's made very very clear that manny was in fact a very nice person who didnt do anything wrong at all, he ended up working at the DOD as another poster said because he was tricked out of his ticket on the number nine, along with everyone else who should have got there ticket, very simple.
shareThis is a ludicrous discussion, it's made very very clear that manny was in fact a very nice person who didnt do anything wrong at all, he ended up working at the DOD as another poster said because he was tricked out of his ticket on the number nine, along with everyone else who should have got there ticket, very simple.If Manny had been tricked out of his ticket, he could've attempted the journey to the Ninth Underworld on foot, but he states in the intro that he isn't allowed to begin that trek. He's stuck working at the Department of Death to pay a debt incurred in life. You're saying the bad guys are keeping Manny in the city, but they haven't the means or the motive. Why keep a nosey, troublesome guy around indefinitely? So we can assume The Powers That Be truly are responsible for Manny's "Community Service," especially considering that said service actually turns out to be a vital mission.
It's implied (albeit vaguely) that Manny died in a car crash. When you examine the Bone Wagon he states "If I had a car like this back when I was alive, things would have been different."
Whatever that means.
Take into consideration that Salvador did have a ticket, but he was a DOD travel agent, just like Manny. So there obviously is a way of tricking people into believing they have to stay and work.
shareManny could have just been an ok guy, not a saint but not a bad guy either. So maybe all he was entitled to was just a "sports car" or a "luxery ocean cruise" or something even less, but not a ticket on the Number Nine Express Train. That would explain why he said that he just received his ticket and it would explain why no ticket jumped out at him from the suitcase.
As far as there being no way for Hector and Domino to trick good people into thinking that they have to be agents, Salvador was entitled to a ticket on the number nine itself and yet at one time he was tricked into working for the DOD. So it is clearly possible to trick good people into working for the DOD, even saintly people like Salvador who surely would have known that they hadn't done anything bad, let alone anything drastic enough to warrent such a punishment as working at the DOD. In fact, saints are almost always overwhelmingly humble, thus most of them would probably believe that they do deserve punishment, even though they do not.
Manny just being an ok guy accounts for him not knowing what he did to be made work at the DOD and for him not having a ticket on the number nine either. So far everyone has been talking as if working at the DOD or getting a ticket on the number nine are the only two alternatives.
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