Kraken

"Well, if you believe such things, there's a beast does the bidding of Davy Jones&mdash;a fearsome creature with giant tentacles that'll suction your face clean off, and drag an entire ship down to the crushing darkness...The Kraken. They say the stench of its breath is like...(shudders)...Imagine, the last thing you know on God's green earth is the roar of the Kraken and the reeking odor of a thousand rotting corpses. If you believe such things."

- Joshamee Gibbs to Will Turner

The Kraken was an enormous sea creature, said to be the length of ten ships, closely resembling a giant squid. The Kraken was the subject of many legends that circulated for centuries on the high seas.

Legend
"Let no joyful voice be heard! Let no man look up at the sky with hope! And let this day be cursed by we who ready to wake&hellip;the Kraken!"

- Davy Jones



The Kraken was controlled by Davy Jones, ruler of the sea, and commanded to prey upon ships to ensure Jones had many unwilling candidates for service aboard his vessel, the Flying Dutchman. The Kraken could be summoned from aboard the Flying Dutchman, with the use of a giant hammer that sent a shock wave through the ocean that served as a call to the creature. Jones would recite a chant while his crew summoned the beast. Jones was visibly saddened when Beckett rehashed the time when he ordered the Kraken's death from its owner.

The Kraken was unleashed upon those who had been marked with a Black Spot, and could only be called off if Jones himself removed the mark. A person given the Black Spot would be ruthlessly tracked down by the Kraken, and even items of clothing or personal belongings left by the target would attract the creature on its hunt. Davy Jones was further able order to attack specific ships, as he did against the Black Pearl off Isla Cruces.

Jack Sparrow
"Jones' terrible leviathan will find you and drag the Pearl back to the depths, and you along with it!"

- Bootstrap Bill Turner to Jack Sparrow

Captain Jack Sparrow was given a Black Spot by Bootstrap Bill Turner, on behalf of Davy Jones, and was forced to avoid the open water to escape the Kraken. Ultimately, however, he was forced into a confrontation with the beast, and was consumed by it aboard his ship, the Black Pearl. Witnessing this, Jones stated that Sparrow's debt was paid.

Death
"I would have thought you'd learned that when I ordered you to kill your pet."

- Cutler Beckett to Davy Jones

Shortly after obtaining Davy Jones' heart, Cutler Beckett ordered Jones to kill the Kraken, thinking that Jones may command it to attack the East India Trading Company and he threatened Jones of having his heart stabbed so Jones did as commanded. Upon returning from Davy Jones' Locker, Jack Sparrow and Barbossa discovered the dead beast washed up on Black Sand Beach. Pintel and Ragetti approached the Kraken's face, Pintel poked it with a long stick. They mused on calling themselves "Kraken Slayers" and turning the creature into an exhibit. Sparrow reflected on his own mortality while looking into the beast's glazed eye.

It is unknown how Jones killed the Kraken, but presumably he just ordered it to beach itself and thus lead it to death by dehydration.

Biology
"You stupid fish!" "Actually, it's a cephalopod."

- Pintel and Ragetti

The Kraken was a cephalopod-like beast, with a squid-like mantle, a number of long, suckered tentacles at the base of its head, Some of these were as thick around as a galleon's main mast, most significant are the two long forearms powerful enough to split a ship into fragments in mere seconds, and the suckers were strong enough to rip the flesh from a man's face. The Kraken used the tips of its tentacles to feel its way around a ship before deciding where best to strike. It also had a long, sharp tail similar to a squid and large round eyes with orange irises and black pupils. It had a large, maw-like mouth surrounded by fangs below its large eyes, and a massive body at least twice as long as its tentacles. The overral length of the Kraken was similar to the length of ten ships, which would be approximately 1400 feet in total length. Its body resembles a massive, cuttlefish-like cephalopod.

Destroyed ships
"It's after you not the ship. It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see? I'm not sorry." "...Pirate."

- Elizabeth Swann and Jack Sparrow



During the search for the Dead Man's Chest, the Kraken destroyed four ships: the Edinburgh Trader, a Turkish fishing vessel, the scuttled ship that Jack Sparrow said to be the Flying Dutchman, and the Black Pearl. In its life, the Kraken was believed to have destroyed many more ships, but the ones stated are the only known.

Northern Mythology
"I don't think it's "Kraken," anyways. Always heard it said "Kray-kin."" "What? With a long "A"? Na-na-na-na, "Kroh-ken"'s how it's pronounced in the original Scandinavian, and "Kraken"'s closer to that." "Well we ain't original Scandinavians, are we? "Kray-kin." "It's a mythological creature, I can calls it what I wants!"

- Pintel and Ragetti

In Norse mythology, the Kraken was a creature from the sea so large that on the surface it was mistaken for a chain of islands. Seamen were often lost when they camped on what they thought was an island, only to be drowned when the creature swam back to the bottom of the sea. It had large tentacles and suckers with which it could seize large ships and drag them down. The Norse believe the Kraken would rise to the surface at the end of the world.

Behind the scenes
"Hello, beastie."

- Jack Sparrow


 * The Kraken's appearance in Dead Man's Chest marks the first time the creature has been realized using modern computer graphics, made by ILM, who also did the undead skeletons in Curse of the Black Pearl as well as Davy Jones and his crew.
 * The Kraken is a Scandinavian mythological creature that comes from a legend.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow: The Siren Song
 * Pirates of the Caribbean Online
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Call of the Kraken
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
 * LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game