Crossroads
From Monkey Island wiki
The Crossroads is the place where the living and spirit worlds meet. All spirits end up here, but usually only pirates stay there after death in order to choose their ultimate destiny: specifically, sword fighting, treasure hunting or thievery. The Crossroads serves as a sort of limbo, allowing people to determine whether or not they are ready to take their chances and see what awaits them after finishing their destines in the Crossroads. It appears though that no one has an infinite amount of time to decide this and, over time, the Crossroads will eventually take them to where they belong in the afterlife. Guybrush Threepwood finds himself at the Crossroads as a spirit after being fatally stabbed by LeChuck—in fact, every pirate that Guybrush encounters in the Crossroads is also revealed to have been killed by LeChuck. Newly dead pirates are ferried from the Gateway entrance of the Crossroads to the Center of the Crossroads by the Ferryman.
In the first episode, the Voodoo Lady has a rug in the shape of the Crossroads. When Guybrush asks about it, she tells him that the Crossroads is the place that all the world's voodoo energy comes from, and that all who wish to learn the voodoo arts must offer sacrifices to the Crossroads. (There is also a Crossroads symbol atop the door outside her shack.) When Guybrush notes that he has "never seen LeChuck offer anything to anyone," the Voodoo Lady responds that LeChuck is too selfish to follow the natural order of things. The Voodoo Lady also tells Guybrush about Nor Treblig, the guardian of the Crossroads. Although he never appears in the game, Nor Treblig was referenced in "I Wonder What Happens?", when a fan speculated that Guybrush would have to steal a key from him in order to escape Hell.
While it is implied that the living cannot enter the Crossroads, ghosts that possess a shred of life to link their souls to the physical realm and zombies can pass through, including LeChuck and, later in the series, Guybrush himself.
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Role in Tales of Monkey Island
In order to escape the Crossroads, Guybrush has to use the same spell that LeChuck used prior to the events of The Secret of Monkey Island. The spell requires a Guide, an Anchor, Courage, and a Sacrifice to be combined in a ring at the center of the Crossroads. The first time Guybrush escapes, Franklin is used as a Guide, an actual ship's anchor is used as an Anchor, grog is used as a bottle of liquid Courage, and Morgan LeFlay places her reputation (and independence) on the line as a Sacrifice. Unfortunately, when Guybrush escapes in this fashion, it opens the way for LeChuck to tear the entire Crossroads apart using the Monkeys of Montevideo. Galeb tells Guybrush that his Shred of Life is what's keeping the Crossroads open. At the time, Guybrush is unwilling to sacrifice himself that way, but in the final battle with LeChuck, he does so to trap his archenemy there. After LeChuck is killed, Guybrush (in his zombie form) is left there all alone. This time, he escapes by holding up Elaine's wedding ring at the center of the Crossroads, returning to the Screaming Narwhal at dawn in his newly resurrected and renewed body.
Known residents
The following are known to have visited the Crossroads following their death:
- Guybrush Threepwood
- LeChuck
- Morgan LeFlay
- Galeb
- Three members of Captain McGillicutty's crew
Places
Trivia
- In the PS3 version of "Rise of the Pirate God", there are eight out of eleven hidden trophies related to the Crossroads in the PlayStation Network Trophy Achievements. These include:
- Bronze: Grave Ribber (having Guybrush read every gravestone and cenotaph in the Gateway, including his own; a spoof on the words "grave robber"); Say What? (having him ask Morgan if it wasn't the Marquis De Singe who killed her); Grog, Grog, Grog! (having Guybrush use a whole eight in the Grog Machine and try pressing every grog-labeled button prior to pressing the one for a bottle of "liquid courage")
- Silver: Morgan's Secret (Guybrush asks her what the most important thing was to her while she was alive); All Roads Lead to LeChuck (Guybrush opens up the rip in the Crossroads Center with help from Morgan; a spoof on the idiom "All reads lead to Rome"); Does This Corpse Make Me Look Fat? (he uses the Diet of the Senses spell to shrink La Esponja Grande at the Center); A Credit to Pirates Everywhere (Morgan hands LeChuck's remains to the Voodoo Lady for some purpose)
- Gold: Fall of the Pirate God (Guybrush sacrifices his shred of life to close the rip in the Crossroads on LeChuck and destroy him with help from Morgan and Elaine)
- Also, in "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal", if Guybrush examines every nook and cranny of both ships and of Flotsam Island and repeatedly talks to Elaine and LeChuck and other people in proper order prior to meeting the Voodoo Lady and examining Nor Treblig's shrine, the reward is a "Why Is My Older Brother Laughing?" bronze trophy.
