Monkey Island (island)

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This article describes the fictional Island. For other uses of the name, see Monkey Island.

Monkey Island is the namesake and the most well-known location in the Monkey Island series of adventure games. The games involve Guybrush Threepwood, the main character, searching for Monkey Island or being stranded on the island and trying to escape.

The island's general geography remains pretty much the same through the series, though one can only explore the island freely in the first, The Secret of Monkey Island (SMI), and the fourth game, Escape from Monkey Island (EMI). 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.

[edit] Giant Monkey Head

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.

[edit] Trivia

• With the exception of CMI, LeChuck is rarely if ever defeated on Monkey Island.
• Though mentioned as being nigh-unreachable, the Carnival of the Damned collected quite an audience. Then again this could have been the cause of LeChuck's effective marketing campaign (a Big Whoop-brochure and a Dinghy Dog plushie can both be found in CMI).
• In CMI it is revealed that the carnival actually drove the vegetarian cannibals away. Most of them, including Lemon Head, relocated to Blood Island.
• In The Secret of Monkey Island the player must use a rowboat to reach the cannibal village in the North. This marks the first of three occasions throughout the series where the player gets to use a rowboat.
• Continuity Error : At the beginning of CMI Monkey Island is quite clearly shown with its high view point and the Carnival built into the volcano on the RIGHT (this is where the fault lies). In SMI the volcano, dormant at this time, is shown to be on the LEFT of the Island, now this doesn't constitue a problem as viewed from the other side the volcano would be on the RIGHT, however this means that the "hook" at the top of the map in SMI would be clearly visible in the CMI opening shot and it is not, this then leads to believe that the island is viewed from the other side and there is a simple error of the Monkey Head and volcano being on opposite sides. HOWEVER this means that the beaches on this side of the Island (where Guybrush first lands in SMI and the beach on the strech before the Monkey Head) would be visible on the opening shot of CMI which they also are not. This is a simple continuity error of the layout of the Island however it leaves an unsolved puzzle of how the island really is layed out. It is also said that the cannibal's were driven away by the carnival however they lived on a completely different part of the island only accessible by boat therefore it shouldn't have disturbed them, (unless tourists used a boat to get to the village which is most likely)