"Oh, Guybrush. I know I shouldn't have anything to do with you, but there's something about your weakness and ineptitude that I find infectious."

Elaine Marley-Threepwood is the primary female-lead/damsel-in-distress in the Monkey Island series. Though she sometimes requires rescuing by the series' main character, Guybrush Threepwood, she is depicted as a confident, charming, and tough woman. She is constantly pursued by the undead pirate LeChuck, who never ceases to pursue her affections and attempts to turn her into his undead bride for his own self-serving purposes, but Elaine instead falls in love with the hapless Guybrush. Elaine is consistently kidnapped by LeChuck, prompting Guybrush to attempt a rescue, although Elaine is usually more than capable of escaping predicaments by herself. Over time she and Guybrush develop more of a co-operative method of handling problems; writer Michael Stemmle says that she has an "usual uncanny ability to think 23 moves ahead."

She is the former governor of the Tri-Island Area, which is comprised of Mêlée Island, Booty Island, and Plunder Island (but in Escape from Monkey Island appears to consist of several others including Lucre Island, where her family lawyers live and work). Though she resigned from her governing duties on Mêlée temporarily (having dumped Guybrush) she apparently retained her position by The Curse of Monkey Island. During her time in power, Elaine has two mansions, one on Mêlée and one on Booty, and a fortress on Plunder. She also had an unorganized array of assistants and personal guards that seemed incapable of protecting her from her various kidnappings. She eventually marries Guybrush and relinquishes her gubernatorial responsibilities to her grandfather, traveling with Guybrush to the fictional Gulf of Melange to cure the outbreak of a voodoo-empowered pox.

Elaine's first name is a reference to the 1967 film The Graduate. In initial development on The Secret of Monkey Island she was known simply as The Governor.