Calypso

"Calypso. An old legend." "No, the goddess herself bound in human form. Imagine all the power of the seas brought to bear against our enemy."

- Sao Feng and Hector Barbossa

Calypso was a sea goddess and the lover of Davy Jones.

Love and loss
"The king and his men stole the queen from her bed / And bound her in her bones."

- from Hoist the Colours

Calypso was as harsh and untamable as the sea itself, but nevertheless fell deeply in love with Davy Jones. She asked him to carry out the duty of ferrying souls drowned at sea to the afterlife, giving him use of the Flying Dutchman to visit the dimension between worlds that came to be known as Davy Jones' Locker. As a reward for carrying out a decade of service, Jones would be reunited with Calypso for a single day, and if she was faithful, he could come and go on land or sea forevermore afterward.

Jones remained true to his word, and spent the next ten years faithfully carrying out his duty. Calypso was not waiting for him when he returned to the land of the living, however, as her very nature would not allow her to wait. Enraged, Jones carved out his own heart and locked it in the Dead Man's Chest, and left the dead to wander aimlessly in the Locker. For abandoning his duty, Jones was transformed by Calypso into an amalgamation of human and tentacled sea creature to reflect the man inside, and his crew suffered similar disfigurements.

Seeking revenge, Jones made a deal with the first Brethren Court to imprison Calypso in human form. Led by the original Pirate King, the Pirate Lords' nine pieces of eight were used to bind Calypso into the body of Tia Dalma, and only with all nine pieces could she ever be released. With Calypso's fiery and unpredictable nature bound, the Brethren Court deemed the seas safe to travel as they so pleased.

The wrath of Calypso
"I will be free, and when I am I would give you my heart. And, we would be together, always. If only you had a heart to give."

- Calypso to Davy Jones

As Tia Dalma, Calypso became a mystic living out of a shack on the Pantano River. She kept with her a locket that matched one carried by Davy Jones, and would play a mournful tune that hinted at their lost love. Dalma befriended Jack Sparrow during his early life; the man who would go on to become the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean Sea, and thus integral to Calypso's desire to escape her human form.

With the death of Hector Barbossa, Lord of the Caspian Sea, came a prime opportunity for Dalma. Her voodoo powers resurrected Barbossa, ensuring his complicity in her attempt to break free. After Jack Sparrow was dragged to Davy Jones' Locker by the Kraken, Barbossa set off on a mission to free him, and therefore ensured that his Piece of Eight was not lost.

By this time, the machinations of Lord Cutler Beckett had forced the Brethren Court to convene for the fourth time in its existence, and it was here that Barbossa brought up the notion of releasing Calypso. During the meeting, Ragetti absconded with all but two of the Pirate Lords' Pieces of Eight&mdash;the eighth was collected by Barbossa himself from Elizabeth Swann and the ninth from Jack Sparrow. All nine were gathered aboard the Black Pearl, where Tia Dalma had been bound. Ragetti completed the incantation that would release Calypso, and the pieces of eight set alight. Moments before she was released, Calypso finally learned who had called upon the Brethren Court to capture her all those years ago: William Turner informed her of Davy Jones' betrayal.

Enraged, Calypso, still in Dalma's form, grew massive in size, dwarfing the crew of the Pearl, before exploding outwards in a shower of crabs. Calypso's spirit, free at last, disappeared into the air, though her influence on events was not ended. As the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman prepared for a showdown, Calypso used her powers to create a maelstrom in the middle of the ocean, evening the balance for the Pearl and causing Davy Jones to let out a cry of anguish as he realized what the storm signified.

The battle that followed sealed Davy Jones' fate, as Jack Sparrow helped Will Turner stab Jones' disembodied heart. With his last breath, Jones whispered Calypso's name, and toppled into the maelstrom, which soon abated when the Flying Dutchman itself followed its former captain. Whether Calypso and her love were reunited after Jones' death remained unknown.

Behind the scenes

 * Prior to dissolving into a swarm of crabs, Calypso shouts an incantation which in the script reads: "Malfaiteur en Tombeau, Crochir l'Esplanade, Dans l'Fond d'l'eau!". This roughly means "Across all the waters, find the path to he who wrongfully entombed me" in French, evidently referring to Davy Jones.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End