The Lost Welshman
From Monkey Island wiki
The Lost Welshman, also called the Flying Welshman, is the ghostly ferryman who travels between Blood Island and Skull Island. His ferry used to travel regularly until the light of the lighthouse on Blood Island was smashed, leaving him trapped forever in the accursed mists. Since Guybrush needs to travel to Skull Island, he needs to fix the lighthouse. However, the Welshman refuses to help until the player can make him a compass.
Once on Skull Island the Welshman gives Guybrush advice and keeps insisting that the island looks like a Skull, although the rock formation on top of the island actually looks like a duck. After getting the Goodsoup Family Diamond from King Andre Guybrush asks the Welshman to bring him back to Blood Island, and both are glad not to have to return anymore. After his services are no longer needed the Welshman leaves for Scabb Island, having heard that that there is an opening for a chef there (a reference to the previous game, when Guybrush sabotages the chef, takes his job, and then is fired himself). After giving directions Guybrush suddenly realizes that his makeshift compass (a magnetized needle floating in a cork in a cup of water) only has magnetic properties for a short while.
In-jokes
- The Welshman is a target of several in-jokes in the game. His name is derived from The Flying Dutchman, a ghost-ship cursed to travel the seas forever. The Welshman himself has an appearance reminiscent of the Grim Reaper. When he answers to Guybrush's comments about mist being pretty he says: "Well SURE Mist is pretty, but EGAD, is it dull." This is considered by some to be a jab at the Myst series of 3-D adventure games.
- When Guybrush tells the Welshman he is not afraid to go to Skull Island, the Welshman responds in a "Yoda style", telling him "You will be. You WILL be," just as Yoda says to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back.
