Return to Monkey Island: Part 3 - Hard Mode Walkthrough

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Walk to Monkey Island
Follow LeChuck’s map to The Secret of Monkey Island
Find a way to sneak back on to LeChuck’s ship+−
- Return to Madison with physical secret and get disguise
Return LeChuck’s secrets to Captain Madison+−
Presenting LeChuck’s secrets to Captain Madison

When Part 3 of Return to Monkey Island starts up, Guybrush Threepwood finds himself at the bottom of the ocean, a convenient six-minute walk away from the shores of the island. Although he doesn’t stay underwater for long, the rest of the chapter is full of puzzles and classic Monkey Island hijinx.

If you get stuck at any point in the game’s third chapter, don’t worry. The throwback Lucasarts adventure game can certainly be obtuse at times and call you to use items in your inventory that you either don’t know you had or may have forgotten about. Regardless of why you may need help, use the guide below to get through Return to Monkey Island‘s third chapter.

It’s worth pointing out that this walkthrough is for those playing through the game on Hard Mode. That said, the puzzles aren’t too different from the ones found in Casual Mode so if you’re playing on the lower difficulty, the guide below will still be able to get you through the chapter. You may notice that there are additional steps to solving the puzzles that you won’t need to do in order to find solutions. You can simply ignore them then and proceed.

More Return to Monkey Island guides:

Walk to Monkey Island

There’s not much to do while you walk to the island. You have the option to look at a handful of things, but there’s really nothing to interact with in a meaningful way other than a completely optional trivia card. Walk all the way to the right and you’ll eventually land on the shore.

Follow LeChuck’s map to The Secret of Monkey Island

Once you get back on dry land, open up the map that you stole from LeChuck. There are five steps to it:

Begin your search at the red berry bush.
Follow the stone monkey hand.
Stick to the path by the wooden chicken.
Sneak past the bees and heed the sign.
X marks the spot!

First, head to the far left side of the area and pick up the skill that’s sitting in the sand. It won’t be useful yet, but you’ll end up needing to collect six skulls on the island for a puzzle later. With the skull in hand, walk to the jungle exit on the top edge of the screen.

There are several landmarks that you can go to on Monkey Island from here, but first start by going to the red berry bush that’s slightly northwest of the beach you landed on.

This section works similarly to the map you had to use to find the mop handle tree in Part 1 of the game. Instead of the steps being randomized, however, you’ll be able to just follow the instructions from the map. First, walk to the path next to the giant stone monkey hand. Then follow the path near the wooden chicken. Follow the sign to the secret by the bees and you’ll find yourself at a clear ‘X’ in the dirt.

Once you get to the ‘X,’ step towards the shovel in the center of the area and you’ll fall into a rope trap. The pirate leaders will reveal themselves and you’ll talk to them for a moment before they cut you down and give you a new task: finding out LeChuck’s secrets.

Find a way to sneak back on to LeChuck’s ship

In order to learn LeChuck’s secrets, you’ll need to get aboard his ship once more. The only problem is that you don’t have your disguise anymore. Go to the Giant Monkey Head on the east side of the island. When you arrive in the area, walk to the right, picking up another skull along the way, and you’ll eventually run into the pirate leaders.

Talk with them and say “I’m worried LeChuck’s crew will recognize me at the ship.” The pirates will tell you that you need to find an item that belongs to a crew member for her to make you another magical disguise.

Return to Madison with physical secret and get disguise

Once Madison tells you that you need an item from the crew, head to Volcano Beach on the west side of the island. As soon as you get to the beach, grab the skull that’s on the left side of it. After grabbing the skull, examine the ship and Guybrush will walk into the water towards it.

When you get underwater, walk to the left until you come across LeChuck’s ship’s anchor. Before examining it and climbing up, keep heading to the left and you’ll find another skull to pick up. Once you’ve got it, return to the anchor and climb up.

Once you’re on the ship, shimmying your way around its midsection, head to the left towards the rudder and then climb down to it.

Here, you’ll find that Gullet is still stuck to the rudder. He won’t recognize you since this is his first time seeing you as Guybrush and not in disguise. Talk with him and ask about the notebook he was writing in and he’ll tell you that he was writing poems. Offer to help him with his poem and provide him with rhymes.

After he’s done, talk with him again and ask him to show you the rest of the poems. He’ll reject you, so open up your inventory and show him the business card that was given to you by the curator at the Museum of Pirate Lore back in the first chapter. He’ll give you the book, so climb out of the water and head back to the pirate leaders at the Giant Monkey Head.

Once you’ve made it back to the pirate leaders, give them the poetry book. Madison will make a disguise spell for you that will transform you into Gullet. With the disguise at the ready, head back to the ship (which you can travel to directly now.) Instead of going to the rudder, however, put on your disguise and climb up to the main deck.

Return LeChuck’s secrets to Captain Madison

Like other tasks in Return to Monkey Island, you can tackle the next section in any order you please. You’ll need to find LeChuck’s theme song, his catchphrase, and his favorite food. All of the answers can be found on his ship. Once you have all three, head back to the pirate leaders.

Find LeChuck’s theme song

Talk to Flair below deck and she’ll reveal that she’s working on writing the music for LeChucks’ theme song. She won’t give it to you, so you’ll need to get her away from it long enough to snag it. Head above deck and ring the bell behind the ship’s wheel to initiate a vote.

After you do, Flair will leave her music on the table she was sitting at. Go run down to it and pick it up. One down.

Learn LeChuck’s catchphrase

Head to LeChuck’s quarters. Inside, you’ll find his personal diary on the shelf to the right of his desk. Pick it up and then open it inside your inventory.

Read the diary and you’ll find several mentions of different catchphrases. The proper one is in the entry for February 17. While there’s another catchphrase that appears later in the book, LeChuck ultimately decides that he wants to go with the one from the 17th.

Find LeChuck’s favorite food

Go to the galley and talk to Putra. Ask about LeChuck’s favorite food and she’ll tell you that you’ve never been interested in her talents before. Say “You’re the best chef I’ve ever known” and she’ll be so appreciative that she’ll give you the name of LeChuck’s favorite dish: tentacles with daisy sauce. Ask her to make some.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t have any tentacles for the dish, so you’ll have to find some. Head back to the beach and you’ll find a “very dead” squid washed up on the right side. Use your knife to cut off a tentacle and then go back to Putra.

Give Putra the tentacle and she’ll cook up the dish. Pick it up and you’ll be good to go.

Presenting LeChuck’s secrets to Captain Madison

Once you have all three secrets and have returned to the pirate leaders, they’ll tell you that you need to play LeChuck’s theme song. You’ll be reunited with Murray, so say hello and then grab the bone that’s located underneath him. If you use it on him, you’ll realize that he makes a musical note when hit. Put the rest of the skulls you’ve gathered on the posts around him.

If you’ve been following this guide, you should still be missing two skulls so leave the area and go to the cliff in the center of the island to “see the view.” Here, you’ll find another skull. Then, go to the shipwreck just south of the Giant Monkey Head. As soon as you get on the beach, you’ll see the final skull. With the last two skulls in hand, head back to the pirate leaders and put them on the poles.

Now that you have all the skulls on the post, open your inventory and take a look at the music that you stole from Flair. It’ll tell you the correct order to play the notes using solfege.

Conk each of the skulls and you’ll be able to see what their solfege note is when you walk up to them. Read the sheet music and hit the skull that corresponds with each note. You’ll need to play the notes in the following order:

Before you hit the final note, take a look at LeChuck’s catchphrase in the February 17th entry of his diary. The catchphrase changes for each playthrough so you’ll need to check it yourself. Memorize it and then hit the final note.

Once you’ve played the song correctly, the pirate leaders will walk over and ask you for LeChuck’s catchphrase. Say it properly and then eat the tentacles.