Flotsam Island

From Monkey Island wiki

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 docks in its southwest portion, with most of the rest of the island's surface covered in thick jungle (containing ancient ruins dedicated to the wind gods of Flotsam). Besides the strong winds preventing anyone from leaving the island (and attract a mysterious death cloud), the waters surrounding the island are filled with razor-sharp coral that tear nearby ships.

Guybrush Threepwood 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 and 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.

Flotsam Island becomes a pivotal location in the series as it serves as not only the location where La Esponja Grande is completed and cures the pox, but also where Guybrush and Morgan Leflay are murdered by LeChuck, as well as where the villain abducts Elaine for the fifth time in the series. The rest of the island is later attacked by LeChuck after he reabsorbs his voodoo power from La Esponja, murdering a majority of the inhabitants on the island.

Flotsam Island is located in the Gulf of Melange. One of Morgan LeFlay's Fliers is posted in the town docks, probably having blown onto the island without Morgan's knowledge.

Reefs

This concept art for Flotsam Island shows the reefs rather prominently.

The Flotsam Island reefs are particularly sharp and dangerous reefs. While the island's unique winds draw sailors in, the reefs are what ensure that their ships are wrecked before they even wash up on Flotsam's shores. Gaffer Crimpdigit, the town's glassblower, uses these sharp materials to make his unbreakable bottles and possesses a horn that is the only known way of cracking them. Crimpdigit is the only person who talks about the reefs to Guybrush and they do not seem to pose a problem for the Screaming Narwhal as it finally sails away from the island.

Locations

• Jungle
  • the Voodoo Lady's shack
• Docks
  • The Courthouse
  • The Flotsam Times (mentioned)
  • Club 41
  • The Keelhauler Gazette
    • replaced by Stan's Courthouse Souvenir Emporium
  • Jail
  • Well, Blow Me Down Glassworks
  • the Marquis De Singe's House
  • the Screaming Narwhal

Residents

• Wallace Grindstump
• Hemlock McGee
• Marquis De Singe
• Vaycaylians (before human settlement)
• Reginald Van Winslow
• Joaquin D'Oro
• Bosun Krebbs
• Davey Nipperkin
• Gaffer Crimpdigit
• Rockrib
• The Voodoo Lady

Etymology

"Flotsam" is a word used to describe marine debris sent floating in the ocean after a shipwreck.

Appearances

• Tales of Monkey Island - "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal" (first appearance)
• Tales of Monkey Island - "The Siege of Spinner Cay" (visible on map but inaccessible due to winds now blowing outward)
• Tales of Monkey Island - "The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood"
• Tales of Monkey Island - "Rise of the Pirate God"