Unleash Kong's Fury

My father, Carl Denham chartered the initial expedition to this very island and captured the infamous King Kong. I have returned in order to learn the fate of my father and document my experiences in the hope of one day sharing them with the world. Through my conversations with the Tagatu Storyteller, called Penjaga, I have created this map with key locations. An essential story that enthralled me was the origin of King Kong, ostensibly the last of his kind and his battle to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of the pseudo-sentient saurian monster, Gaw.

In my encounters on the island, I learned that Skull Island, apparently named for the vast skull-like mountain that dominates its profile, also appears in the shape of some anthropomorphic skull when observed from above. Stranger still, obscure Tagatu legend suggests that the mountain’s eerie visage may not be completely natural in its origin. Could it be possible that in aeons past the Tagatu civilization, having reached such heights of knowledge, attempted to carve their own face into the mountain to stare challengingly at the heavens? That they dared think of themselves as gods, and were humbled by the island’s denizens with only a skull’s eerie visage left to remind them of their hubris? There are even indications that beneath the present mountain’s visage lay not a human, but saurian foundation, which the human invaders were attempting to erase! There are untold layers of mystery still to be uncovered… 

One fact is certain: After defeating Gaw, Kong ascended the heights of Skull Mountain and made it his throne. From there his roars thundered and echoed to every corner of the island leaving no doubt in any creature’s mind: Kong was King!

Skull Island uniquely sits at the intersection of 3 tectonic plates. The resulting geological upheaval has revealed enormous concentrations of a unique mineral polymorph containing high levels of ancient water known by the locals as ‘skullite.’ Because of this, bacteria from the dawn of time that still exists in skullite has permeated the water of the island’s eco-system with consequences that cannot be quantified. Every living thing on that island has been affected by it–tens of millions of years on the indigenous life, perhaps tens of thousands of years on the human civilization, and the Kongs themselves. The effects of skullite on every aspect of Skull Island and its inhabitants have barely begun to be understood. 

The island itself contains a wide variety of different locations and different habitats including swamps, jungle, beaches, thickets, mountains, and a deep underground subterranean network of passages and caves. The vast, stepped falls reveal various forms of Skullite under constant erosion, often appearing in a variety of spectacular, shimmering colors through shallow flowing water.

To understand the beginnings of King Kong and his ancestors’ relationship with the people, I traced the origins of the native cultures back to before their initial migration to Skull Island. The roots of the Tagatu culture were in an area that formerly existed in southeastern Asia near Myanmar. The Tagatu were originally a combination of two great tribes: the peaceful Tagu who were masters of the biological sciences and the roving Atu tribe who were masters of war. 

Beginning in 18,000 BC, a mysterious offshoot of the Tagu culture, the Zantu, began to pursue a zen-like relationship with enormous, nomadic, anthropoids they called “Kongs”. Enamored by the power and intelligence of these apex giants, the Zantu diligently observed them to understand their ways to the point of eventually bonding with them in a unique, symbiotic relationship, which was to prove pivotal in years to come.

When the fierce Atu first discovered the location of the Tagu around 15,000 BC, they immediately invaded with the Atu quickly gaining the upper hand. Tagaya, a legendary Storyteller of the Tagu culture, called upon the Zantu’s loyalty to help defend their former people. In a great final battle, the Tagu people were joined by dozens of Kongs and Zantu. Together they defeated the Atu invaders. Magnanimous in victory, the Tagu convinced the Atu to join them to defend against the roving hoards of proto-humans and giant creatures of their epoch that threatened them both. This eventually gave rise to a united Tagatu people. The Zantu returned to their mysterious ways and, with the Kongs, continued to defend the outer perimeter of the Tagatu lands against all threats.

With natural catastrophe imminent, the Tagatu sent several expeditions to Skull Island, scouting 8 different locations before deciding on the most hospitable place to start their new civilization. Locations 4,5, and 6 held extremely rocky shorelines that proved too dangerous for large landings, whereas landing zones 2,3,7, and 8 were deemed unsuitable for living. It was agreed that the peninsula on the southwestern part of the island was the only ideal spot. It contained adequate beachfront for landing their ships, fertile grounds for planting, and perhaps most importantly a geologic bottleneck across which a protective Wall could be built to protect them from the island’s dangers. As their former lands sank beneath the sea, the Tagatu civilization began a mass Exodus to their mysterious Skull Island destination and prepared to face the new dangers to come. The accompanying Kongs and Zantu played a pivotal role in the survival of the Tagatu civilization

That survival was to take a toll. The Tagatu and Kongs were not alone on Skull Island. They were challenged from the very beginning by terrible physical and emotional reactions to the Skullite infused environment, and even more lethal, vicious attacks from the island’s indigenous population of intelligent saurians and their monstrous Queen, Gaw. With the Zantu and Kongs fighting beside them, the Tagatu managed to finish the Wall and eventually repel Gaw and her minions. The Tagatu suffered great losses, and the battles took their toll even on the mighty Kongs. Few in number to start, the surviving Kongs were barely able to continue the species. But the war was won.

This led to a full flowering of the Tagatu civilization and eventually its complete mastery of virtually all aspects of Skull Island and its inhabitants. It was a Golden Age, with the development of botanical repellents able to control and ward off the island’s monsters. This enabled the Tagatu to leave the Wall behind and build a great city, replete with bio-engineered architecture and myriad other marvels at the center of Skull Island. Long before the flowering of the great Egyptian and Grecian civilizations came to be, the Tagatu people on Skull Island reigned supreme. 

Such greatness was not to last. Resurrected internal rivalries fanned by a fanatical Atu cult ripped the Tagatu civilization apart and a great schism took place. This time the Atu sect had prevailed. They banished all Tagu-related remnants to life back behind the decaying remnants of the old Wall.  

Divided, and vulnerable in their arrogance, the Atu usurpers let slip the defenses surrounding the great city. As though sensing their weakness, in the late 7th century BC Gaw and her army of Deathrunners re-emerged and the attacks began again. The Atu tried to replenish the burning repellents used to guard against outside threats both above and below ground without success. The formulas needed to create the repellents were guarded secrets of the Tagu Pendonjira, leaders of the Tagu sect that had been banished.

Gaw and the Deathrunners succeeded in overthrowing the City and forcing the Atu survivors to flee back to the Wall in the southern part of the island. They begged forgiveness at the foot of the Wall’s great door and the Atu remnants were mercifully allowed in by the very Tagu they had banished years before. The newly reunited Tagatu culture, again living in fear behind the Wall, would eventually once again fall prey to a small group of Atu fanatics who had hidden themselves within the ranks of Atu refugees. In time a cunning Atu madman, Bar-Atu, seeks to undermine the wisdom of the Pendonjira once and for all. He and his followers seize power by captitalizing on the people’s fear of the omni-present danger lurking beyond the wall-Gaw and her vicious followers, the Deathrunners. Claiming to be Gaw’s intercessor, Bar-Atu begins the horror of offering human sacrifices to appease Gaw. These sacrifices continued following the rise of Kong as King of Skull Island, but with a very different result than imagined following his rampage and capture…

The Kongs survived in low numbers without their human counterparts and became feral; the Zantu by now having all but disappeared.  But it was Gaw and the Deathrunners who ruled the island once again and they sought to hunt the surviving Kongs to extinction. The Kongs were forced to occupy the high places of the far mountain to survive. One day an orphan from their ranks would rise up and fight back to again become King of Skull Island…

The iconic Wall that my father journaled about was first built by the Tagu people during the great war with Gaw and the Deathrunners around 9,000BC, then reinforced after the Tagu banishment back behind the Wall about 12,000 BC. It remains intact to this day to protect the native culture. Many important secrets were discovered in the wake of Kong’s breaking through the giant doors in the 1930’s. The resulting damage revealed a series of long hidden chambers, catacombs, and subterranean passageways buried within the Wall itself. Artifacts and discoveries of every kind entombed within the Wall have been augmented further by findings from the Old City itself by my father, Carl Denham and Penjaga, the Storyteller. There are many more passageways and hidden mysteries that have yet to be explored. The discoveries and secrets within the Wall are believed to hold the key to the survival of Tagatu civilization on Skull Island.

Gaw and her saurian followers are the result of 65 million years of continued saurian evolution on Skull Island. They are thinking creatures, extremely dangerous, and should be avoided at all costs. The terror-carnosaurs collectively referred to as “Gaw” by the Tagatu, are still something of a mystery even though no other creature—apart from King Kong himself—has figured more prominently in the island’s history and lore. Some believe that Gaw cannot die naturally, but must be killed, others that Gaw is in reality not one saurian, but a continuing line of such creatures that arise in response to a biological need. In either case, she has an enormously long, undetermined lifespan. 

Tagatu legend holds that Gaw appears for one of two reasons. The first is to continue the Deathrunner species. The Tagatu believe that smaller Deathrunners are extremely long-lived, perhaps achieving ages of 200 years or more, and when a Gaw appears at intervals of from 400 to 600 years (or less if any precipitous decline in Deathrunner numbers occurs) it is to the lay eggs for the generation to come.

Her minions, or Deathrunners as they’ve become known to the natives, move swiftly and in packs, which can mean a quick and untimely death for any that cross them. They are cunning, formidable foes and only one as intelligent and powerful as Kong can take them down alone.

During my time on the island, I’ve also observed a variety of dangerous creatures. From gigantic crabs to subterranean worms with razor-sharp teeth that can cut through human bone, to caves filled with venomous spiders. The skullite-infused environment of Skull Island has given many of the fauna immense size, causing exotic evolutionary mutations not found anywhere else on earth. It was an unpredictably dangerous environment for the young Kong to conquer on his quest to avenge his parents. He left a terrible  path of destruction in his wake.

Among the greatest mysteries of Skull Island are its complex subterranean passageways formed by the ongoing erosion of skullite into the surrounding waters. The size and location of these tunnels are always changing. These maps reflect the studies of the Tagatu culture over the course of thousands of years, but now serve only as general guides because the island’s bowels continue to be altered by natural erosion. A wide variety of exotic–and potentially lethal–life forms can be found in the tunnels underneath the island that defy the known biological and ecological sciences. I can only guess at the scientific and medical miracles waiting to be discovered there…