Giant Monkey Head

From MIwiki

"That's the second biggest Monkey Head I've ever seen" - Guybrush Threepwood, The Secret of Monkey Island

The Giant Monkey Head is a notable landmark of Monkey Island. It has been featured in the first, third and fourth games, each time serving a slightly different purpose. In the first game it leads to a hellish catacomb of flesh (referred to as The Caverns of Meat in MI4) that can only be navigated by using The Head of a Navigator. Guybrush must make his way through these caves in order to reach LeChuck's ghost-ship.

In Monkey Island 3 the caverns have mysteriously sealed (as explained by Herman) but still lead to a fiery lava-pit. The Rollercoaster of Death at the Big Whoop amusement park leads down here and will instantaneously burn, kill and resurrect it's passengers as undead skeletons, adding more "recruits" to LeChuck's army of the undead. By the fourth game the lava-pit has seemingly disappeared, and the Monkey Head is now the control-room of a Giant Monkey Robot.

The Monkey Head was once worshipped by the Monkey Island Cannibals until the Big Whoop amusement park was build in the grounds around it. The Monkey Head can only be opened with the use of a large key (shaped like a giant Q-Tip) by sticking it in the Monkey Heads left ear. Alternatively it can be opened by a switch in the left nostril of the Monkey Head.