The Muertes Archipelago, also known as The Five Deaths (Las Cinco Muertes in Spanish), is a chain of five islands 200 miles southwest of Costa Rica. They are named Isla Matanceros, Isla Muerta, Isla Sorna, Isla Tacaño and Isla Pena. The name comes from a Native American myth about a brave warrior facing a different execution on each of the five islands: burning, drowning, crushing, hanging and beheading. The islands were revealed in the sequel to the Jurassic Park film and novel.
InGen owned all of the Five Deaths according to the Dinosaur Protection Group's website,[1] although Isla Sorna was likely the only island populated with dinosaurs aside from Isla Nublar at any point in the franchise. As of 2018, there are no dinosaurs on Isla Nublar due to Mount Sibo's eruption, however, there may still be dinosaurs on Isla Sorna.[2] Some dinosaurs were pillaged on Sorna by Biosyn to be taken to their sanctuary prior to the Lockwood Manor incident, which released the Nublar dinosaurs onto the mainland United States.[3]
History[]
The Lost World: Jurassic Park[]
The shapes and positions of the islands are only seen when Kelly Malcolm sneaks into the trailer and sees a map on the wall. Another map of the Five Deaths appears in the Jurassic Park III Prop Set. This time the islands form a bow, as stated in the novel. The islands from left to right are: Isla Matanceros, Isla Muerta, Isla Sorna, Isla Tacaño and Isla Pena. Isla Nublar is placed halfway between the Five Deaths and the mainland.
Novels[]
The Lost World[]
The five islands were part of a group of at least twenty islands. They had temples with colorful illustrations of the executions that took place on each island in the myth. This artwork was documented by German scientists in the book Die Fünf Todesarten.
The shapes and positions of the five islands are not shown in the book, only a map of Isla Sorna is shown. Ian Malcolm says that the islands form a bow. They lie 15 kilometers from the mainland. There is a summary here.
Games[]
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (video game)[]
The video game The Lost World: Jurassic Park shows a map of the Five Deaths. Since the shape of Isla Sorna matches the version from novel, these maps might reflect the Five Deaths from the Novel canon; however, the islands lie in an X-shaped configuration, rather than the bow shape from the novel. The islands from top to bottom are: Isla Sorna, Isla Matanceros, Isla Tacaño, Isla Pena and Isla Muerta.
Jurassic World: Evolution[]
The bow-shaped configuration from the The Lost World: Jurassic Park is reprised for Frontier Developments's business sim. In this game, InGen owns all five islands, with all islands being locations for development and research.
Trivia[]
- In a later book by Crichton, Pirate Latitudes, there is an island in the Caribbean named Matanceros. This may be a reference to Isla Matanceros.
References[]
- ↑ Dinosaur Protection Group - Reports. Retrieved from http://www.dinosaurprotectiongroup.com/reports.html
- ↑ https://www.dinotracker.com/ Dinotracker.com
- ↑ Leaked Biosyn email dated December 24, 2018 on Dinotracker.com.