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Each entry in the Monkey Island series of adventure games takes place in a fictional archipelago in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy in the early Eighteenth Century. Most games focus on the fictional "Tri-Island Area", yet other areas include the "Gulf of Melange" and "Monkey Island" itself. The first island to appear within the series, "Mêlée Island", is identified in the opening sequence of The Secret of Monkey Island as being "Deep in the Caribbean."

The games have a wide cast of characters and locations many of which reappear throughout the series. Each entry in the series revolves around three main characters: Guybrush Threepwood (the protagonist) ; Elaine Marley (The primary foil as the object of Guybrush and LeChuck's affection); and LeChuck (the primary antagonist).

Caribbean

Tri-Island Area

The Tri-Island Area consists of "Mêlée", "Booty", and "Plunder Island", all of which are all ruled by Governor Elaine Marley in place of her long lost grandfather, Horatio Torquemada Marley. The remaining islands are considered part of the greater Tri-Island Area, but are not governed by Elaine (i.e. "Phatt Island" has its own governor, "Scabb Island" lacks a form of government, etc.). "Spittle" and "Pinchpenny Island" are the only known islands within the Tri-Island Area not to be visited in-game.

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Blood Island

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Blood Island, close to Skull Island, is one of the few islands seen at night. It was previously a recreational island with the finest hotel in all of the Caribbean, the Goodsoup Family Resort, with two rooms for rent. Blood Island also has a lighthouse, which plays a part in the tragic tale of the Lost Welshman, and a grave-yard featuring the Goodsoup family crypt and tombstones with lyrical epitaphs similar to those on Scabb Island. The island has become quite desolate, the only occupants of the island being Griswold Goodsoup, the resort owner; Madame Xima (whom Guybrush calls "Eczema"), a creepy fortune teller who specializes in tarot reading; Mort the gravedigger, Stan, and the Vegetarian Cannibals.

Blood Island houses a volcano, Mount Acidophilus, which was quite active due to the Cannibals of Monkey Island, who had relocated and were constantly trying to appease Sherman the Volcano God through human sacrifice, until they discovered that he was lactose intolerant. This, however, hurt the business of the Goodsoup Family Resort which had previously entertained tourists with a barbecue built over the continuous stream of lava. During the game Guybrush feeds the volcano cheese to provoke an eruption. According to Griswald Goodsoup, reservations for the resort began pouring in as soon as the volcano erupted.

Skull Island

Skull Island is home to the infamous smuggler known as King Andre. It is only reachable via a small dinghy operated by the ghostly "Flying Welshman" (an allusion to the legend of The Flying Dutchman). While living, the Welshman became lost in the fog surrounding Skull Island when the lighthouse on neighboring Blood Island was broken. Guybrush needs to get to Skull Island in order to get a diamond he needs to lift the curse cast on Elaine by LeChuck's cursed ring. In order to get to Skull Island, he must fix the lighthouse and make a compass for the Welshman.

Skull Island is one of the smallest islands in the Monkey Island series (the player can only interact with a few things on the island and it is contained by only four perspective shots). Many characters claim that Skull Island is in the shape of a skull. When the island is finally shown, however, it more closely resembles a duck than a skull. An astonished Guybrush grumbles "It should be called Duck Island." The Welshman (who insists it looks like a skull) reluctantly responds, "Well if you turn your head and squint..." to which Guybrush insists, "If you turn your head and squint it looks like a bunny".

Booty Island

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Booty Island celebrates Mardi Gras all-year-round. The governor's mansion is located on a secluded island on the Northwest part of Booty. Being a part of the Tri-Island Area, Booty Island's governor is Elaine Marley. There is also a bizarre treehouse located at the Eastern end of the island, while the southern end is lined with steep cliffs.

There are a number of businesses on the island: Stan's Previously Owned Coffins, an Antique store (in which it is possible to see items such as Indiana Jones' whip) and a costume shop (with Sam & Max, Bart Simpson, Huckleberry Hound, Popeye and Fred Flintstone costumes). Local activities include a pirate "spitting contest" and attending the governor's Mardi Gras ball (by invitation only).

Notable inhabitants include Elaine Marley, Captain Kate Capsize (who's fond of near-grog and runs a glass-bottom boat business), and Stan (who after being sealed in a coffin by Guybrush during MI 2, ends up on Blood Island).

Jambalaya Island

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Jambalaya Island was the second of two new islands in Escape from Monkey Island and supposedly the location of the pieces of a powerful Voodoo talisman called The Ultimate Insult. However, when Guybrush and his crew arrive, they find that the island has been completely overrun by tourists, and that all the real pirates have been driven off the island to the neighboring Knuttin Atoll. Guybrush himself comments, "Ozzie must have been real busy here".

Jambalaya's town holds three businesses: Planet Threepwood (a theme restaurant parodying the Planet Hollywood chain that tributes Guybrush, with waitresses who, despite being dressed as Elaine, never recognize the real Guybrush); Starbuccaneer's (a parody of Starbucks); and a micro-groggery which also has a mechanical manatee ride. Stan has also started a new business on the island, which is home to (in the period of the game) the biggest artificial plank-dive in the world.

Knuttin Atoll

Knuttin Atoll is a small atoll off the coast of Jambalaya Island. By contrast, Knuttin is a dark and decaying place where pirates are afraid to amass in groups of three or more for fear that Admiral Ricardo Luigi Pierre M'Benga Chang Nehru O'Hara Casaba the Third, the paranoid overseer of Knuttin, might suspect a conspiracy and fire a cannonball at them. Knuttin also houses a school, founded by Ozzie Mandrill to train pirates into productive members of society. The school holds several in-jokes. For instance, there is a magazine (an obvious parody of Mad Magazine), whose cover is a reproduction of the box cover of The Curse of Monkey Island, a boat on wheels (from Hot Keels) which is in reference to Hot Wheels, and a collecting card (showing LeChuck as "LeChukichu") made in the style of Pokémon.

Lucre Island

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Lucre Island is the first new island featured in Escape from Monkey Island. Lucre is home to the Second Bank of Lucre (there is no first bank—it is named as such in order to suggest experience in the field) and smaller businesses such as a Bait Shoppe, a Cane Shop and a Prosthesis shop. Ozzie Mandrill owns a mansion on the island, and it is also home to the villain Pegnose Pete.

Guybrush and his crew go to Lucre in order to meet with Elaine's family-lawyers in order to place a restraining order on the demolition crew that has been hired to bring down the Governor's Mansion on Mêlée Island. At the law-offices Guybrush receives a letter from Horatio Torquemada Marley which reveals that he left some wedding-gifts at the Lucre Island bank and that they also contain the secret to assembling a Voodoo artifact known as the Ultimate Insult. Pegnose Pete frames Guybrush for bankrobbery and in order for the player to leave the island he must clear his name and retrieve the Marley's Chest which Pete stole.

It is interesting to note that in-game maps depict Dinky Island off Lucre's northwest coast, despite Dinky also being depicted as a small atoll off Monkey Island.

Mêlée Island

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Mêlée Island is the capital island of the Tri-Island Area and the home of governor Elaine Marley. Mêlée is largely covered by a thick forest of pine trees despite the games' Caribbean setting. In The Secret of Monkey Island, Mêlée Island is sparsely populated. Apart from Mêlée Town, the island features a used ship lot run by Stan, a small traveling circus, a swordfighting school run by Captain Smirk, and the Swordmaster's house. Mêlée Island is the only island, other than the titular Monkey Island, that appears, in some form, in all four games.

Mêlée town itself is home to a pirate bar (The SCUMM Bar), which has been replaced by the time of Escape from Monkey Island with a trendy, tourist-friendly place called the Lua Bar. Both bars are named after the scripting languages used to create the respective games: EMI marked one of the first games that used the Lua programming language rather than LucasArts' venerable SCUMM engine. The town also houses a general store (closed by the third game), a church, a jail, a voodoo shop run by The Voodoo Lady, and the governor's mansion.

The alley behind the church appears briefly in MI2, as an illusion created by Big Whoop. Portions of The Curse of Monkey Island also allows Guybrush Threepwood to briefly "revisit" Mêlée Island. Guybrush's head emerges from a stump in a forest; this stump was the basis of an infamous joke in The Secret of Monkey Island. He quickly retreats because "stunningly-rendered rabid jaguars" are coming to get him. Several dozen commands to walk into the sea on the Blood Island shore eventually give access the scene on Mêlée where Guybrush drowns.

Hook Island

Hook Island is a tiny island just off the northeastern shore of Mêlée, on which Meathook has a house. Until Escape From Monkey Island there is no bridge, so Guybrush visits using a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle.

Phatt Island

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Phatt Island is one of three fictional islands Guybrush Threepwood can explore in the second game. It also appears briefly at various points in Escape from Monkey Island on a revised map which departs considerably from earlier ones.

Phatt is run as a fascist dictatorship by Governor L. Phatt, a morbidly obese man, who lives in a mansion on the south side of the island. The island's law enforcement consists of a single large, muscular guard armed with a sword, a pistol, and a large helmet which obscures his eyes, and his dog Walt, the jail-keeper. Phatt Island has the Tri-Island Area's only library, which is located in Phatt City, a coastal town on the northern part of the island. The books in the library contain numerous inside jokes about Guybrush Threepwood, modern popular culture, game design, et cetera. To the north-west there is a waterfall containing a secret passage to a smaller island immediately to the left of Phatt island, where the drunkard Rum Rogers Jr lives in a cottage.

The topography and background music are Japanese-influenced, although the population is mainly Anglo-descended pirates.

Pinchpenny Island

Pinchpenny Island is an island in the game Escape from Monkey Island. It is depicted on the map of the Tri-Island Area, which shows it to be located roughly halfway between Lucre Island and Phatt Island. From the map it appears slightly smaller than Lucre, and slightly larger than Phatt.

No other reference is made to Pinchpenny Island at any point in the series and the player never has an opportunity to visit it.

Plunder Island

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Plunder Island is one of the primary islands of the Tri-Island Area, under the rule of governor Elaine Marley. Although it does not have a governor's mansion like Mêlée or Booty Island, it does have a seaside fortress in the island's port, Puerto Pollo, on the south-eastern side of the island. The town's barbershop, Barbery Coast has its own barbershop trio currently consisting of Haggis McMutton, Cutthroat Bill and banjo virtuoso Edward Van Helgen. The town also has a Shakespearian theatre, the shady young businessman Kenny Falmouth, and Blondebeard's Chicken Shoppe, in which a skeletal pirate, apparently Manny Calavera from Grim Fandango, wears a button reading "Ask me about Grim Fandango," a parallel with the "Ask me about Loom" button in the first game.

The name of the town actually means Chicken Port in Spanish, after the native feral chicken population, which were briefly on the menu at Blondebeard's Chicken Shoppe, until they were supposedly freed by the feral demon chicken El Pollo Diablo and were once again scattered throughout the island. The islanders remained deadly afraid of the ancient evil that came from the forest. The island itself is erroneously referred to as Puerto Pollo by Guybrush and the Voodoo Lady in Escape from Monkey Island.

On the outskirts of Puerto Pollo lies a swamp which houses Voodoo 'n' Things, the Voodoo Lady's latest establishment. To the east lies the Brimstone Beach Club and Smorgy, a members beach reserved for retired, rich pirates. To the north of the town lies a large grass field where competitions are fought, most famously the caber toss. On the North-West part of the island lies Danjer Cove, which is a small bay where some local pirates have dropped anchor, and which lies in eternal darkness.

Scabb Island

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Scabb Island is the first island featured in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. The island is inhabited by an anarchistic yet peaceful community of pirates. As the game opens, the island is terrorized by Largo LaGrande, a short but physically mighty pirate and former right-hand-man of LeChuck. He bullies the other pirates for their money and prevents any ships from leaving the island (referred to as The Largo Embargo).

Despite the fact that it's sunny on both Booty and Phatt, Scabb is always covered in darkness. The capital town of Scabb is Woodtick, located on the island's north coast. Much of Woodtick is formed from ships which have been wrecked on the rocks. Woodtick has several businesses and was the original home of Wally.

Located on the beach near Woodtick is "Steamin' Weeinie", a hot dog shack owned by the late Rapp Scallion. In the eastern part of the island is a swamp which houses the "International House of Mojo", run by the Voodoo Lady. A graveyard is located at the southeast end of the island, and the houseboat (named the Jolly Rasta) of the Jamaican pirate Captain Dread is docked at a peninsula in the southwest.

According to a book in the Phatt Island Library, "Scabb Island History. An Introduction.", Scabb island was first settled as a quarantine island for skin diseases. It later became a haven for pirates because of its distinctive lack of authority figures. The "Men of Low Moral Fiber (Pirates)" make their second (and last) appearance on Scabb Island. The tombstones in the cemetery have amusing, lyrical epitaphs similarly to those on Blood Island.

Spittle Island

Spittle Island is an island in the game Escape from Monkey Island. It is depicted on the map of the Tri-Island Area, which shows it to be located slightly to the south-east of Jambalaya Island.

No reference is made to Spittle Island at any point in the series and the player never has an opportunity to visit it.

Gulf of Melange

The Gulf of Melange is the primary island archipelago found in Tales of Monkey Island. It is the first group of islands—besides Monkey Island and Dinky Island—outside the Tri-Island Area to be featured in-game.

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Boulder Beach

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Boulder Beach is an island that appears on the in-game map of Tales of Monkey Island. It features only a small rocky beach area.

Brillig Island

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Brillig Island appears on the in-game map of Tales of Monkey Island. It features only a small beach area, with some coconuts.

Flotsam Island

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Flotsam Island is the first island featured in Tales of Monkey Island. It is so called because of the island's unique winds which cause various sailors and debris to become marooned there, e.g. flotsam and jetsam. Flotsam features a small local town in its southwest portion, with about 95% of the island's surface covered with thick jungle (containing ancient ruins dedicated to the wind gods of Flotsam). Besides the strong winds preventing anyone from leaving the island, the waters surrounding the island are filled with razor-sharp coral that tear nearby ships.

Guybrush ends up on Flotsam Island after destroying Elaine's ship while battling LeChuck. He has to come up with a plan to once again muster a crew, a ship, and find out the secret of getting off the island. He discovers that the Voodoo Lady has relocated to Flotsam Island. Additionally, he encounters the Marquis de Singe who not only is responsible for the island's problems but shows an especial interest in Guybrush's poxed hand.

Isle of Ewe

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The Isle of Ewe is a small island that appears on in-game map of Tales of Monkey Island. It features only a small beach area.

Jerkbait Islands

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The Voodoo Lady sends Guybrush to the Jerkbait Islands in search of 'La Esponja Grande'.

Roe Island

Roe Island is part of the Jerkbait Islands and supposed location of 'La Esponja Grande'.

Spinner Cay

Spinner Cay is a cay and the location of the second episode of Tales of Monkey Island; "The Siege of Spinner Cay". It is the epicenter of the Jerkbait Islands and inhabited by mer-folk.

Spoon Isle

Spoon Isle is part of the Jerkbait Islands.

Rock of Gelato

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The Rock of Gelato is a small island rock with a sandy beach. It is the initial setting of Tales of Monkey Island where Guybrush unwittingly unleashes the "Pox of LeChuck". The name is a play on the Rock of Gibraltar; Gelato is the Italian word for ice-cream.

Monkey & Dinky Island

Monkey Island is the island from which the series takes its name. Although featured on the Escape from Monkey Island map which illustrated the world of Monkey Island at the time of the game, it—along with the associated Dinky Island—is not part of the Tri-Island Area (illustrated as such with the "cloud barrier" on the map). Initially the location of Monkey and Dinky Island were a mystery with a Voodoo spell required to reach Monkey Island. Later on in the series, it became easier to reach the islands.

In official maps of Escape from Monkey Island, Dinky is identified as both the island off the coast of Monkey Island and the island off the north-west coast of Lucre Island.

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Dinky Island

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Dinky Island is a small island believed to be the hiding-place of the legendary treasure of Big Whoop, and the second act of LeChuck's Revenge involves locating four map pieces of the island. None of the characters in LeChuck's Revenge spell the name of the island correctly suggesting that Dinky is fairly unknown. It is a small tropical island inhabited by Herman Toothrot in MI2 who has started to teach philosophy on the beach. Dinky Island is also home to much exotic topiary, thought to be created by Herman Toothrot.

Dinky Island is the source of continuity issues in later games. In The Curse of Monkey Island, Big Whoop is revealed to be the name of the Carnival of the Damned on Monkey Island. This, along with Herman's arrival on the island, was explained later on when Dinky Island was revealed to be close to Monkey Island, and connected by a series of tunnels. This in turn caused issues regarding the back-story of LeChuck and Horatio Torquemada Marley, since Monkey Island is often featured as being located South-East from the rest of the Tri-Island Area.

It is interesting to note that in official maps of Escape from Monkey Island, Dinky is identified as both the island off the coast of Monkey Island and the island off the north-west coast of Lucre Island. Dinky Island being off the coast of Lucre (and thus closer to the Tri-Island Area proper) makes sense based on the in-game dialogue of Monkey Island 2. However, it just further confuses the issue regarding Dinky's location and connection to Monkey Island.

Monkey Island

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Monkey Island is the island from which the series takes its name. The south end of the island is mainly covered by jungle, at the west end there is a volcano, at the east end lies the famous Giant Monkey Head and located at the north end of the island is the cannibal village. The North and South sides of the island used to be separated by a mountain-line, but between the third game, The Curse of Monkey Island (CMI), and EMI the volcano turns active once more and the island is divided by a river of lava.

The island's only inhabitant besides the local cannibals is Herman Toothrot, who moved to Dinky Island between the first two games and back to Monkey by the time of EMI. During the time between SMI and EMI the Giant Monkey Head was surrounded by the infamous Carnival of the Damned named Big Whoop. The Carnival is destroyed by LeChuck before the happenings of the fourth game. (It should be noted that in CMI, it is revealed that the carnival actually drove the vegetarian cannibals away. Most of them, including Lemon Head, relocated to Blood Island.)

Cast

Primary characters

Guybrush Threepwood

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Guybrush Threepwood is the protagonist of all five games. On a quest to become a pirate, he encounters the love of his life, Elaine Marley, and repeatedly fends off the evil LeChuck. He can also hold his breath for ten minutes.

Elaine Marley

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Elaine Marley is the heroine of the series, and the governor of the Tri-Island Area. She is also the granddaughter of Captain Marley who searched for the legendary treasure of Big Whoop.

LeChuck

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LeChuck is the main villain of the series, an undead pirate who takes on a different form in each of the first three games, and is able to transform between them in the fourth. He is intent on marrying Elaine, even if he has to kill her first.

Secondary characters

Herman Toothrot

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Herman Toothrot spends all four games shipwrecked on Monkey Island and its neighboring island, Dinky. He suffers from amnesia and he can't remember his real name, although it is later revealed in the fourth game. He wears no pants.

Stan

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Stan is a fast-talking, fast-moving salesman. The squares on his plaid shirt always seem to be perfectly aligned with the screen. His product changes throughout the series, from used ships, to Coffins, Life Insurance, and Timeshare.

Voodoo Lady

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The Voodoo Lady, whose name is never revealed, appears in all five games as Guybrush's guide. Travelling between islands, she foretells the future, and in the second game she helped Guybrush to make a Voodoo doll.

Ancillary characters

Bob the Ghost Pirate

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Bob is LeChuck's right hand man in the The Secret of Monkey Island. He warns LeChuck of Guybrush Threepwood's arrival on Mêlée Island and discusses Guybrush's progress with LeChuck throughout the game.

Bob's head often comes loose from his body and is often seen bouncing around like a hackysack. At the end of the first game, Guybrush finally encounters Bob, who had been left behind by the Ghost Pirate ship after his head had fallen into the surrounding lava. Bob informs Guybrush of LeChuck and Elaine's wedding and then apparently leaves with Guybrush and his friend Herman Toothrot to Melee Island. Alternatively, tenacious players have the option of having Guybrush destroy Bob.

Carla the Swordmaster

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In the first game in the series, Carla was the famed Swordmaster of Mêlée Island, living in secret isolation. The Storekeeper of Mêlée Island is known to have a huge crush on Carla and mistakenly lead Guybrush Threepwood right to her. After her defeat at Insult Swordfighting and the kidnapping of Governor Marley, Carla agrees to join Guybrush's crew and set sail to Monkey Island. She and her crew mates, Meathook and Otis, mutiny and are later marooned on Monkey Island and captured by the Cannibals. By the fourth game, she had escaped Monkey Island, and joined Guybrush's crew again when he managed to arrange a Cushy Government Job for her on her return.

Carla was voiced in Escape From Monkey Island by Pamela Tyson.

Largo LaGrande

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Largo LaGrande is named after the town La Grande, Oregon, where Monkey Island designer Ron Gilbert grew up. His name is also a joke within the game, from Spanish it could roughly translate as 'The Great Length' which is playing on the fact that Largo is actually quite small. He was a local bully on Scabb Island who prevented any ships from leaving (a situation known as the "Largo Embargo"). As such, he was universally loathed on Scabb Island, with many island inhabitants playing tricks on him, such as the barkeeper slipping laxatives into his drinks. The Voodoo Lady constructed a voodoo doll of Largo using, among various other things, Largo's bra.

He was one of LeChuck's original followers when the pirate was still alive. After LeChuck's demise in the first game, he and some others had been scouring the Caribbean looking for a living piece of LeChuck that will enable him to bring back his old master. Later in the game, Largo resurrects LeChuck as a zombie using his beard. Largo has not reappeared in any game since, although he was mentioned in one of the lines of dialog when Guybrush uses the ventriloquist book with Captain Rottingham in the barber shop ("Make me balder than Largo LaGrande!") and had a drink named after him at Planet Threepwood, "Largo Lemonade."

In 2002, the mixnmojo.com fan site released three soundbites along with an announcement of a fifth game, supposedly named Return to Monkey Island. In these, later revealed to be an April Fools' joke, Largo reappeared voiced by Dominic Armato, the voice of Guybrush. The sketches were largely written by Andrew Langley of the site, and were not from any planned game.

Marquis de Singe

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The Marquis de Singe is the only practicing physician on Flotsam Island. Former court physician to King Louis himself, the Marquis was exiled to Flotsam Island due to alleged crossbreeding experiments on the Queen's prized pet poodles. The Marquis was the first person to be exiled to Flotsam Island, but the strange winds have sent him many pirate patients over the years to continue his work, which mostly consists of amputating body parts from unlucky pirate patients that seek his expertise. The Marquis is the main villain of the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Guybrush first meets the doctor part-way through the episode seeking medical help for his possessed hand. The Marquis tells Guybrush his hand may contain the secret to life itself and promptly restrains him, insisting that the only option is a quick, clean amputation. After escaping from the Marquis' lab, Guybrush discovers that it was the Marquis himself who is causing the fluctuation of the islands winds in order to keep a steady supply of patients ending up on the island. The doctor seems to dabble a bit in mad science as well as biological experiments, and as far as notable inventions go, the doctor has a pet monkey with an electromagnetic tail, a mouse-run electricity generator and an air-powered rifle that is 'as wimpy as the guy who carries it'.

Meathook

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Meathook is bald, and has lost both of his hands (replaced by hooks) and an eye to a "ferocious beast" similar to one that he keeps locked up in his house, which was later revealed to be a parrot. Meathook also has a skull-shaped tattoo on his chest that he can manipulate so it appears to be talking, using his ventriloquist skills.

Meathook lived as a hermit on the former vacation spot of Hook Isle on Mêlée Island. After Guybrush proved his courage by touching the "ferocious beast", Meathook became one of the three original members of Guybrush's crew sailing to Monkey Island. However Meathook, along with Carla and Otis, are marooned on Monkey Island after their ship is sunk by a flying rock. In Escape from Monkey Island, he returned to his home on Mêlée Island and took up wax painting as a hobby (despite having no hands).

Meathook was voiced in Escape From Monkey Island by Cam Clarke.

Men Of Low Moral Fiber

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These three pirates known as the Men of Low Moral Fiber are shifty characters and tell long tall tales to Guybrush when pressed for information. The tallest pirate, wearing a hat, is named Frank and acquires a peg leg because of an accident with a rodent that occurs in between the first and second games. Fred is the heavy-set balding pirate who says little and laughs a lot; while Fin is the other pirate, with a goatee and headband, and is rather fond of rats.

In The Secret of Monkey Island they have stopped pirating (due to fear of the Ghost Pirate LeChuck) and claim to be starting a circus troupe. They also pay Guybrush to take their minutes from the Mêlée Island PTA meeting claiming it was a treasure map. In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge the men have taken to hanging out up on ledge (afraid this time of Largo LaGrande) in the village of Woodtick on Scabb Island. The Men of Low Moral Fiber claim to have abandoned their prior circus troupe idea in favour of a successful catering business, which they later sold to the Governor of Phatt Island.

After that venture they claim to have set out to find "Drinky Island" in search of the treasure of Big Whoop in a glass bottomed boat. After being shipwrecked they encountered a philosopher, presumed to be Herman Toothrot; and upon returning to Scabb Island with Herman's advice they began their new business of "performing" (sleeping) up on the ledge of a boat. This time around Guybrush can polish Frank's peg leg for a few pieces of eight (or saw it off), wake the three pirates up with a blow horn, trap their pet rat "Muenster Monster" and argue with them for the possession of a wooden bucket.

The three crewmembers Guybrush recruits on The Curse of Monkey Island seem to be loosely based on these three characters.

Monkey Island Cannibals

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The Monkey Island Cannibals, Red Skull (who appears to be the leader), Sharptooth (the most ferocious of the three) and Lemonhead (who is somewhat gullible) are heavily featured in the first game. They lock Guybrush up for stealing a banana (and he later escapes though it is possible to be captured again indefinitely, resulting in the cannibals finding better locks, from crossing the door with chains to a high-tech vault door), and later negotiate with Guybrush for items such as the wimpy idol, the banana picker and the Head of the Navigator. The Cannibals also help Guybrush to finally dispose of the Ghost Pirates by brewing up ghost-killing root beer. By the time of the third game they have gone vegetarian.

The Cannibals have also been known to leave memos around Monkey Island addressing grievances to either Herman Toothrot or LeChuck and his Ghost Pirates. In the sequel, the Cannibals have apparently written many books listed in the Phatt Island library.

By the time of The Curse of Monkey Island the cannibals have left Monkey Island as they can no longer stand the racket caused by LeChuck's Carnival of the Damned. Some of them moved to Blood Island and became vegetarian, most notably Lemonhead, who now appears to be their leader.

Lemonhead was voiced in The Curse of Monkey Island by S. Scott Bullock.

Murray the Demonic Talking Skull

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Murray was formerly a member of the Zombie Pirate LeChuck's (literal) skeleton crew until, at the start of the third game, Guybrush blows Murray's boat out of the water and thus separates him from his body. Murray's arm is later of use to Guybrush, while his skull appears in various places around the Tri-Island Area, attempting to spread evil and occasionally helping Guybrush.

At the very end of the credits in the third game, Murray announces that he will return, which he does in the fourth game, when he is a greeter at the Planet Hollywood-inspired "Planet Threepwood", in which his arm from the previous game is also visible on display. There is also a secret mini-game based on pong, called "Murrayball", that features Murray's skull as the ball. He appears on-screen and laughs if the word "skull" is typed during the game.

Originally, Murray was only intended to appear in the opening scene of The Curse of Monkey Island, in which Guybrush "decapitates" him with a cannon and then knocks him off a piece of timber. However, when the opening scene of the game was released as a demo, his delusions of grandeur and over-the-top mannerisms were so popular with gamers that the developers decided to write him into the rest of the game. Despite being a disembodied skull, he has become one of the game's most popular characters.

Murray was voiced by Denny Delk.

Otis

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Otis appears in the first and fourth games of the Monkey Island series. He was dark-haired in the first game and wore a moustache, and turns red-haired in the fourth game and gets a beard without the moustache. When talking, he tends to exchange looks directly with the player (the camera). He is most often seen locked up in jail (frequently for picking protected flowers); though he constantly protests his innocence and claims to be a "victim of society". Many of his friends try to help him escape, including his Aunt Tillie and the Cook on Melee Island, by baking him various food items with files concealed inside. Unfortunately for Otis, he is seemingly too stupid to recognize that he is being helped at all. He has also been known to suffer from halitosis and claims to despise rats. Otis was named after the town drunk from The Andy Griffith Show, who was also frequently jailed.

Otis has been one of Guybrush Threepwood's crewmen on two occasions. The first time, he was marooned on Monkey Island, an experience which scarred him psychologically. The second, he joined at the insistence of Carla, another of the original crewmembers, when Guybrush managed to give them contractual "Cushy Government Jobs".

Otis was voiced in Escape from Monkey Island by S. Scott Bullock.

Ozzie Mandrill

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Ozzie Mandrill is the first major antagonist to be introduced in the series since its original villain, LeChuck. (Largo LaGrande, LeChuck's henchman from Monkey Island 2, could be argued to hold this distinction; however, Largo appeared prominently only in the game's first portion and as an undeniably minor character in its remainder).

Ozzie is a land developer (from Sydney, according to the Voodoo Lady) who plans to buy out the entire Caribbean. Due to his deeply-rooted hatred of pirates, he wants to eradicate them entirely and make the area tourist-friendly. By using cryptic insults composed almost entirely of Australian slang, Ozzie has intimidated many business-owners on Jambalaya Island and Mêlée Island into signing their deeds over to him. Indeed, the player can go to Ozzie's mansion and engage in insult swordfighting with him, which Ozzie always wins. Ozzie's ultimate goal is to find "The Ultimate Insult", a voodoo artifact of great power that will help him "transform" the pirate population into "productive members of society".

Partnering himself with LeChuck is also part of Ozzie's big plan, for LeChuck, under the guise of Charles L. Charles, looks to make himself the new governor of the Tri-Island area so that through him, Ozzie can own the Tri-Island area legally (LeChuck was promised Elaine Marley's hand in marriage in exchange for his services). LeChuck, however, later double-crosses Ozzie and possesses a giant statue of himself to crush the greedy real estate tycoon. But even LeChuck isn't immune to the Ultimate Insult, which Ozzie uses to control LeChuck in a final battle of "Monkey Kombat" against Guybrush (armed with a giant monkey robot to counter the statue).

Ozzie gets himself killed at the end of the game, when the Monkey Kombat between the statue and the robot ends in a third draw, prompting the statue to beat itself over the head where Ozzie is sitting.

Wally B. Feed

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Wally B. Feed is a short, red-haired and meek character, who acts as a sidekick for the protagonist of the Monkey Island games, Guybrush Threepwood. Although he only appears in two games, Wally rather undeservingly bears a good deal of abuse in each. Apparently even the developers occasionally felt sorry for Wally (they cut a scene from LeChuck's Revenge where Wally is on a raft and accidentally drops his monocle overboard. While attempting to retrieve it, Wally falls off the raft entirely.)

In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Guybrush Threepwood first meets Wally on Scabb Island. Wally is a cartographer that Guybrush enlists to help assemble a treasure map. Guybrush steals the extremely myopic Wally's monocle, rendering him virtually blind; later, however, he replaces it with a lens that allows him to see. The zombie pirate LeChuck kidnaps Wally as a result of his efforts, and he and Guybrush are suspended over a pit of boiling acid. In attempting to escape, Guybrush spits on Wally repeatedly; when they are finally freed, a massive explosion hurls Guybrush to a nearby island. Although Wally obviously survives, the game doesn't reveal where he ends up or what happens to him.

The diminutive mapmaker reappears early in the third Monkey Island game, The Curse of Monkey Island: through a series of motivational seminars, LeChuck has managed to brainwash him into becoming a pirate under his reign. Wally's meek personality prevails, however, and Guybrush easily convinces him to give up his identity as "Bloodnose". Guybrush leaves Wally sobbing inconsolably in the hold of LeChuck's ship, which is blown up shortly afterwards by a voodoo cannonball. Wally survives by being "thrown clear" of the explosion (in his own words, he is thankful he wasn't wearing his seatbelt) and appears in a cut scene before the second chapter of the game begins, revealing the effects of an engagement ring Guybrush offers his fiancée Elaine, albeit too late. Wally is not seen again until near the end of the game.

Key plot elements

Big Whoop

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Big Whoop was supposedly the greatest of pirate treasures. In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Guybrush Threepwood sets off to find the map that will lead him to Big Whoop. Exactly what Big Whoop is and where exactly it is located are never decisively explained. In The Curse of Monkey Island, LeChuck explains that Big Whoop is a gateway to Hell located on Monkey Island; when LeChuck passed through it, he became a ghost. Big Whoop is also the name of the Carnival of the Damned where Guybrush was trapped between MI2 and Curse of Monkey Island. It may mean that the carnival is the gate to hell, called Big Whoop.

The name of the carnival itself is likely a reference to the fact that, although legends speak of it as the greatest of all pirate treasures, the secret of Big Whoop proves to be... hellishly disappointing. This probably bears a relation to the phrase "big whoop", a sarcastic remark about making much ado about nothing.

Giant Monkey Head

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The famous landmark of Monkey Island, the Giant Monkey Head is a key element in the Monkey Island games and was once worshipped by the Cannibals of Monkey Island. When first encountered in SMI, the Giant Monkey Head was the gateway to the Caverns of Meat, which originally lead to LeChuck's hideout. In CMI it was rigged as the infamous "Roller coaster of Death" which went through the mouth of the Giant Monkey Head and led its passengers to a horrific death in pools of lava below which transformed them into undead skeletons.

In EMI it is revealed that the Giant Monkey Head is in fact the control room of a giant Monkey Robot, powered by a combination of steam and pedalling monkeys and fueled with the power of the Ultimate Insult. Guybrush and his crew travel back to Mêlée Island in this robot for a decisive round of Monkey Kombat.

The Ultimate Insult

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In MI4, the Ultimate Insult is a Voodoo talisman that can dissolve the egos of even the mightiest pirates, turning them into cowards. The talisman flings insults spoken in an ancient forgotten language (the root-language or Monkey Jabber), insults which are so vile that they are capable of breaking the very soul of the victim. The Ultimate Insult is formed from three parts of which one looks like a golden man, the second like a silver monkey-head and the third like a bronze hat.

It is revealed near the very end of the game that the ancient language of the insults is the first four words of the monkey language, and that the Ultimate Insult is another manifestation of Monkey Kombat. Herman Toothrot reveals there is a hidden fourth part to the Ultimate Insult, the Gubernatorial Seal of Mêlée Island. The villainous Ozzie Mandrill is seeking the Insult in an attempt to gentrify the pirate-infested Caribbean.

In Tales of Monkey Island, the Ultimate Insult is listed as one of the ingredients necessary to make the voodoo cutlass Guybrush uses at the beginning of Episode 1.

Activities

Insult swordfighting

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In Monkey Island, Insult Swordfighting consists of a series of Call and Response exchanges, in which an insult must be countered with a witty retort. Should the responder counter with an appropriate retort, they win the right to call the next insult; fail to respond, and the caller gains an advantage. Win enough of these exchanges, and the duel is won.

A well known insult from The Secret of Monkey Island, in which the insults were written by author Orson Scott Card, is "You fight like a dairy farmer!" to which the correct response would be "How appropriate. You fight like a cow!"

The series introduced several variations on the theme. In The Curse of Monkey Island, the call and response were required to rhyme, for example the correct response to "You're as repulsive as a monkey in a negligee!" is "I look THAT much like your fiancée?". In Escape from Monkey Island, Insult Arm-Wrestling with Ignatius Cheese operated in much the same manner as Insult Swordfighting. Also in the fourth game, the player, as Guybrush Threepwood, can enter into a swordfight with Ozzie Mandrill, but the Australian's use of slang confuses Guybrush, rendering him unable to respond. In the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, Guybrush begins, "Oh yeah? Well, you fight like, uh..." before Elaine tells him there's no time for it.

Insult Swordfighting in both the first and third games begins with a series of duels with lesser pirates. Every time his enemy uses an unknown insult or response, Guybrush remembers it and it is available for the player to select in subsequent duels. Later, when Guybrush encounters his enemy (the Swordmaster of Mêlée Island in the first game, or Captain Rottingham in the third), they use an entirely separate set of insults. The player is forced to choose responses from the original set, which may involve a clever twist of meaning in relation to the new insult, until the duel is won. Insult Arm-Wrestling in the fourth game skipped the initial duels, unlocking all insults from the start.

The literary precedent for the concept is Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, who composed an insulting ode to his opponent while beating him in a duel.

Monkey Kombat

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Monkey Kombat is a parody of well known fighting games such as Mortal Kombat. It operates on similar principles to Rock, Paper, Scissors, where combatants move from one battle stance to another in order to beat each other, and each battle stance beats two other, and is beaten by two others. The Battle stances in Monkey Kombat are given the names Anxious Ape, Bobbing Baboon, Charging Chimp, Drunken Monkey, and Gimpy Gibbon (it should be noted that the stances represent the Tiger, Crane, Snake, Mantis, and Monkey styles of Chinese Martial Arts).

To move from one stance to another combatants must use the correct combinations of the four basic monkey-words: eek, oop, ack and chee. Repeating the same word thrice allows the combatant to remain in his current pose. In the game, which insults correspond to which stances and the order of stance precedence is randomized in every game.

Recurring items

Grog

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Grog is mentioned multiple times as a pirate's choice of drink. The Monkey Island version of grog is acidic enough to dissolve a pewter mug and solid metal bars, and is also sold in bottles through Coca-Cola-style vending machines. According to the Important-Looking Pirates in the first game:

"Grog is a secret mixture that contains one or more of the following: Kerosene, Propylene Glycol, Artificial Sweeteners, Sulphuric Acid, Rum, Acetone, Battery Acid, red dye #2, Scumm, Axle grease and/or pepperoni".

Rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle

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This famous inventory item was first featured in The Secret of Monkey Island. It was used as a means of transport between Mêlée Island and Hook Island, which were connected by a cable. This item was later turned into a running gag in the games' fan community. In The Curse of Monkey Island the item is possessed for a short period of time. It is found inside a snake, but is of no particular use; it is lost at the next scene. The item also appears in Escape from Monkey Island, wherein Guybrush briefly finds the item in Grandpa Marley's heirlooms and is given another (or the same one) by his future self in the Mystes O' Tyme Marshe. The rubber chicken also appears in another Lucasarts game, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, activated with a certain cheat code. In episode 3 of the first season of Sam and Max (The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball) a reference to this item is made by Sam when trying to purchase a random item in Bosco's Inconvenience Store. It was also mentioned during A Vampyre Story When looking around the Gyspy's Caravan, the main character finds what she believes to be a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle only for it to be revealed it's just be a regular chicken and there is no pulley in it.

References

1. ^ Compare the location of Dinky in both http://www.miwiki.net/images/WallpaperMI4-04_640x480.jpg & http://www.miwiki.net/images/TriIslandArea.jpg . Both maps are from Escape from Monkey Island, courtesy of Monkey Island Wiki.
2. "LeChuck's Revenge: Books". The Scumm Bar.
3. "The SCUMM Bar".
4. "April Fools Madness". mixnmojo.com. 2002-04-01. Retrieved 2008-07-07. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
5. "Game Credits for The Secret of Monkey Island".

External links

• Monkey Island Wiki
• The World of Monkey Island - Islands and their contents
• Complete list of books found in the Phatt City Library, as well as Guybrush Threepwood's comments on them.
• The Legend of Monkey Island - Characters

• Fictional islands
• Monkey Island
• Video game locations
• Monkey Island characters