Flying Dutchman (SpongeBob SquarePants)

"I heard you don't believe in ghost, (Squidward: Ghost!?) as in the Flying Dutchman!"

- Flying Dutchman to Squidward Tentacles

The Flying Dutchman is a recurring villain from Spongebob Squarepants and a powerful ghost who haunts the ocean named after the legendary ghost ship of the same name. He is of enormous size compared to the other characters and captains a floating ghost ship with a green glow similar to his own, of which he appears to be the sole permanent crew member. He appears to be mainly interested in "scaring" undersea creatures rather than actually causing serious harm.

The Dutchman's exact nature and role is inconsistent between episodes. It can be inferred from his appearance that he is the undead spirit of a pirate, and one episode mentions that the reason he haunts the seven seas is because his corpse was used as a mannequin in a clothing store window and he was never put to rest. In another episode he states that he has not worn laced shoes in five thousand years, yet pirates did not exist that long ago. Other episodes suggest the Flying Dutchman as a Devil/Grim Reaper–like figure, primarily Born Again Krabs where he attempts to put Mr. Krabs in the undersea version of Hell, "Davy Jones' Locker", which turns out to literally be a locker cabinet belonging to a person named Davy Jones, and in a much later episode it is revealed that the Davy Jones in question is in fact none other than the Monkees member.

The Flying Dutchman notably appears as an enemy in several if not most SpongeBob SquarePants video games, most notably "Revenge of the Flying Dutchman" where he is the titular main antagonist.