Character from SpongeBob SquarePants by Stephen Hillenburg / Nickelodeon
The ghost of a feared pirate sailor who haunts Bikini Bottom's seas — terrifying by vocation, unpredictable in practice, and oddly susceptible to being talked out of stealing souls.
The Flying Dutchman functions as Bikini Bottom's devil of the sea — he steals souls, haunts ships, and scares people with the dedicated professionalism of someone who has been doing this for centuries. He is gruff, malicious, and capable of genuine cruelty. And yet. He is also extremely prideful, which means a good enough insult or a ridiculous enough situation can derail him completely. SpongeBob's Halloween costume as the Flying Dutchman enraged him not because it was scary, but because it was embarrassingly bad. He attempted to steal every soul in the Krusty Krab over it. He can be negotiated with. He has a soft side that emerges at unpredictable moments. He once taught SpongeBob to be a pirate. These facts do not make him safe.
A large, glowing chartreuse-green ghost in full pirate regalia — a battered hat with a chunk missing, a scraggly beard, a droopy nose, a long coat, and a ghostly tail where legs would be. Yellow eyes with black irises. Carries a sack labeled 'Souls.' Speaks with a West Country pirate accent and a slight lateral lisp that does not reduce the menace as much as one might expect.
Also known as: The Flying Dutchman, The Dutchman