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Fight on Isla de Muerta 37

Hector Barbossa's first death at Isla de Muerta.

"Do you fear death?"
"You've no idea.
"
Davy Jones and Jack Sparrow[src]

Death was the cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. It could also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of organs, such as the brain and heart, as well as occurring when breathing and the heartbeat ceased. Causes of death include old age, murder, suicide, disease, predation, malnutrition, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury. The bodily remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose shortly after death. Death is an inevitable process that eventually occurs in all organisms.

In society, the nature of death and humanity's awareness of its mortality has, for millennia, been a concern of the world's religious traditions and philosophical inquiry. Many cultures and religions have a concept of an afterlife and also may hold the idea of judgment of good and bad deeds in one's life. This may have included a belief in some kind of resurrection, reincarnation or rebirth, or that consciousness permanently ceases to exist, known as eternal oblivion.

Despite the "dead men tell no tales" warning offered as a chilling prophecy by pirates to those who braved the seas, the legendary pirate Captain Jack Sparrow was one man who seemed to defy that rule with great regularity, having been left for dead more times than he could remember, and yet somehow, he always managed to return to the living with stories of great adventures. Therefore, sometimes, dead men—or at least men who were supposed to be dead—did tell tales.

When a dead body had given up the part of its spirit that contained its will, someone else could provide that driving force, like the voodoo priestess, soothsayer and mystic Tia Dalma and the fearsome pirate and brujo Blackbeard, who were each able to have people return from beyond the grave as zombies, a fate worse than death as empty vessels stirred to life. However, Tia Dalma had the power to resurrect the vile pirate Hector Barbossa, bringing him back from the dead with his identity retained. Sao Feng's map, also used by Barbossa and Sparrow, had death-inspired passages that led its holder to spiritual realms and lands beyond death, particularly towards the Farthest Gate, Davy Jones' Locker, and the Fountain of Youth, the latter having depicted the struggle for immortality.

History[]

Contrary to popular belief, death and Davy Jones' Locker were not the same thing: death offered a form of peace from anything suffered while alive. Whereas with the Locker, it was a place where a person would be taken, body and soul, where with Davy Jones, it wasn't about the dying, but about the punishment. As most notably described by the pirate Joshamee Gibbs and voodoo priestess, soothsayer and mystic Tia Dalma, "the worst fate you can conjure for yourself, stretching on forever" was what awaited the dying in Davy Jones' Locker.[1] and Tia Dalma.[2]

Despite the "dead men tell no tales" warning offered as a chilling prophecy by pirates to those who braved the seas, the legendary pirate Captain Jack Sparrow was one man who seemed to defy that rule with great regularity, having been left for dead more times than he could remember, and yet somehow, he always managed to return to the living with stories of great adventures. Therefore, sometimes, dead men—or at least men who were supposed to be dead—did tell tales.[3]

The comfort of death was also denied to the undead. Those who fell under the Aztec curse, like Hector Barbossa's cursed crew of pirates, existed as the living dead, unable to be killed, wounded or maimed, but doomed to suffer eternal thirst, hunger and lust unless it was lifted by the blood ritual.[4] Upon Barbossa's death following a epic battle with Jack Sparrow at Isla de Muerta, the vile pirate would be resurrected by the voodoo mystic Tia Dalma,[5] Tia Dalma, also the goddess Calypso, brought Barbossa back from the dead because she needed all the Pirate Lords in order to assemble a meeting of the Brethren Court, so they could release her from her human bonds.[2] Years later, Hector Barbossa eventually faced a more permanent death upon making a sacrifice of himself for his long-lost daughter Carina Smyth.[6]

According to the story of Davy Jones and Calypso, Davy Jones carved out his own heart, and locked it away in the Dead Man's Chest. Now a supernatural force condemned for eternity as the captain of the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones then returned to the seven seas, where sailors everywhere would fear him to the death, for Jones had turned fierce and cruel, with an insatiable taste for all things brutal. The crew members that serve Davy Jones were also bound to the Dutchman, with Jones offering dying sailors an escape from death, then those accepting the choice fell under the curse of the Flying Dutchman. Later, having stabbed the heart of Davy Jones, Will Turner assumed his place as captain of the Flying Dutchman, having both died and resurrected once the Dutchman crew cuts out his heart and after Davy Jones falls into the maelstrom. With his death, Davy Jones was welcomed back into the dark embrace of the seas, while Will, his father Bootstrap Bill, and all the other crewmen on the Dutchman remain in a state between the living and the dead.[5][2] However, years later, Will became free of the curse following Henry Turner's quest for the Trident of Poseidon, only to have at least one dream of a seemingly-resurrected Davy Jones.[6]

Once mere men, the zombie officers that served the fearsome pirate Blackbeard returned from beyond the grave, empty vessels stirred to life. When a dead body had given up the part of its spirit that contained its will, Blackbeard provided a driving force through dark magic, with some zombie-fied crewmen retaining more of their original personality than others.[7] Shortly after the Cook's death by Greek fire,[8] Jack Sparrow saw the Cook in Blackbeard's cabin, revealing that the Greek fire was part of a voodoo ritual that turned the Cook into a zombie like the other officers. Jack looked into the zombie-fied Cook's cold dead eyes and knew his was a fate worse than death.[9] Although Blackbeard's zombie officers were unkillable, the zombies met their death upon Blackbeard's own death by the waters of the Fountain of Youth.[8][10][11][12]

Following an encountered with young Jack the Sparrow, the Spanish Navy Capitán Armando Salazar was outwitted by Sparrow, who caused his death at the Devil's Triangle. Salazar's crew aboard the Silent Mary died in the explosion and remained exactly the same as at the time of death; some of them are missing arms or legs, others have holes in their bodies, and Salazar is missing a third of his skull.[13] Now imprisoned as cursed ghosts in the waters of the Devil's Triangle, with no chance of ever setting foot on solid ground, the ghost-captain Salazar lurked in anticipation for the day when he and his crew, neither living nor dead, could break free and take revenge on Jack Sparrow, the pirate who doomed them to such a fate.[6]

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

External links[]

Notes and references[]

  1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  7. 7.0 7.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide, pp. 36-37: "Zombie Crew"
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  9. 9.0 9.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization), p. 81
  10. 10.0 10.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Collated Script a-o 2ND BUFF; October 18, 2010)
  11. 11.0 11.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2nd CHERRY REVISION; November 1, 2010)
  12. 12.0 12.1 In the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides screenplay, the zombies decomposed as Blackbeard died at the Fountain of Youth. But as that scene was altered, the fate of the zombies are unknown, though it is assumed that the zombies died as there were no zombies under Hector Barbossa's command.
  13. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Behind the Scenes
  14. Pirates 2: The Deadly Davy Jones - IGN
  15. Bill Nighy Eager To Sail Again For 'Pirates Of The Caribbean 4' - MTV Movies Blog - Archived
  16. 'Pirates of the Caribbean': About that death and post-credits scene - USA Today - Archived
  17. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Behind the Scenes, pp. 16-17
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