Dream

Elizabeth Swann once had a dream about the HMS Dauntless crossing from England.

"Will! It's so good to see you! I had a dream about you last night."

―Elizabeth Swann to Will Turner

A dream was a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Particularly disturbing dreams were known as nightmares. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, although the dreamer may perceive the dream as being much longer than this.

History

"Jack. If this is a dream, you can keep the sword and boots on. If it's not..."
"It's a dream."
"No, it's not!"

―Angelica and Jack Sparrow

Although the Caribbean and the Caribbean Sea was a sight to enchant the eye of any sailor and adventurer, no map can prepare for the reality of a place which was more than half fantasy, and no chart could mark the place where hopes end and nightmares began. Faded lines may denote a lost island, or a sleeping Kraken, and forbidding waters offer only death, or a way back from the World's End. There was a world of ghouls, goddesses and cursed gold that haunts the edges of the mundane realm, and only the brave or the foolhardy venture into this world of piracy and peril. The Mao Kun Map, a Chinese allegory map and navigational charts, had rings that were symbolic of lands that could only be accessed through dreams, and have deciphered phrases and texts like "Forgotten Sailors Sleep with Eyes Open Dreaming of a Salt Water Death" as well as poetic locales like the "Blue Dream River."

Davy Jones was a legendary ruler of the ocean depths and the cursed captain of the Flying Dutchman, a huge ghost ship famous in nightmares and horror stories across the Seven Seas. After he tore his still-beating heart from his body and locked it away in a chest, he became a nightmarish creature more suited to his now-heartless state: half human, half sea beast, a claw for an arm, and a face with a beard made of octopus tentacles. He was also master of a realm called Davy Jones' Locker, a nightmarish place where the souls of sailors suffered for all eternity if they chose death over service as a crew member aboard the Dutchman.

During young Jack Sparrow's early teenage adventures, his worst nightmare involved "a certain Pirate Lord from Singapore and a certain tentacled captain." During the quest for the Shadow Gold, Captain Jack Sparrow's dreams were haunted by nightmares full of dark dream creatures with long arms and slithering bodies who were trying to steal the Black Pearl, his freedom, and his beloved hat. The creatures in the dreams started warning him about the Day of the Shadow coming. Eventually, the mastermind behind the shadow creatures began personally appearing in Jack's dreams, angrily demanding the Shadow Gold. In the last nightmare before the Pearl arrived to France, the shadows tormented Jack, seemingly feeding on his fear.

For several years after his encounter with Christophe-Julien de Rapièr and his pirate crew, Cutler Beckett suffered from nightmares, dreams where he was lying on the deck of the Lindesfarne, unable to move, while filthy, leering faces peered down at him, spat on him, and stabbed him with cutlasses.

Officer Roland McTavish of the HMS Peacock had frequent nightmares about Barbara Huntington, the wife of his superior Benedict Huntington. He was so afraid of her he would dream she decided to slit the throats of the entire crew on a whim, and he believed she could easily do that in real life.

Captain James Sterling was a young adventurer who had dreams of fame and fortune—having been raised by a poor father—but Sterling was killed by the Spanish admiral Maldonado on his maiden voyage through the Caribbean. Through the intervention of supernatural forces, Sterling was brought back to the world of the living and given a second chance as a legendary or a dreaded pirate captain, which would eventually decide the fate of Sterling's soul.

Eight years after their first meeting, Elizabeth Swann had a dream about the day she met Will Turner.

As the British Royal Navy vessel HMS Dauntless sailed from the crossing of England to the Caribbean in an unnatural fog, young Elizabeth Swann met Will Turner, took the boy's Aztec gold medallion, and saw the ghost ship known as the Black Pearl, then captained by Hector Barbossa and his crew under the Aztec curse. Eight years later, prior to Captain James Norrington's promotion ceremony at Fort Charles in Port Royal, Elizabeth slept in Governor Weatherby Swann's mansion, where she relived that day in a dream. After the newly-promoted Commodore Norrington made a marriage proposal to Elizabeth, a maid named Estrella told Elizabeth that it was a smart match, with Elizabeth herself saying that Norrington was what any woman should dream of marrying. All these years, Will had dreamed of his father, thought of him as a merchant marine and a law-abiding civilian, but after sailing with Jack Sparrow aboard the Interceptor to rescue Elizabeth from the clutches of Captain Barbossa's cursed crew of the Black Pearl at Isla de Muerta, Will had come to believe that everything was a lie and his father William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner was just another one of the group he hated most in the world—pirates. At Isla de Muerta, Barbossa's eyes began to twinkle as Jack had him dreaming of a fleet at his command, with Captain Sparrow in command of the Pearl and Commodore Barbossa taking the Dauntless as his flagship.

About one year later after retrieving the Black Pearl, as the crewmen were sleeping aboard, Captain Jack Sparrow reunited with Bootstrap Bill Turner, who everyone presumed to be dead and now served as a cursed crew member of Davy Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman. At first Jack thinks he had too much rum when he went to look for another bottle, finding only barnacles in the rum cellar and sand inside one bottle. It was when Bootstrap Bill himself appeared from the shadows that Jack began to get really surprised. "Is this a dream?" Jack asked Bootstrap, hoping he'd wake up soon, with his former crewmate replying "no." As Jack commented that if it were a dream, there would be rum, Bootstrap Bill raised his arm to offer a bottle of rum, encrusted with barnacles.

During Lord Cutler Beckett's war against piracy, as Jack Sparrow tried finding the heart of Davy Jones aboard Beckett's flagship, the HMS Endeavour, both Beckett and Sparrow talked about the latter's debt to Jones. Though Jack believed that account had been settled, Beckett pointed out Sparrow's death and apparent survival, in which Sparrow replied, "Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream. That's how I get by." Later, after Cutler Beckett brought up the issue of Calypso, Davy Jones spoke about how she was a heathen god who delights in "cursing men with their wildest dreams and then revealing them to be hollow and naught but ash."

From her earliest age, the orphan Carina Smyth had dreams of being told to hold on to the diary of Galileo Galilei. She came to believe that her father, who unbeknownst to her was the pirate Hector Barbossa, meant for her to have the book because it was her birthright.

During the quest for the Fountain of Youth, as Hector Barbossa took the wheel of the HMS Providence, he paused for a moment, his mind flashing back to the Black Pearl, a brief daydream that one of his officers, Lieutenant Commander Theodore Groves, snapped him out of before heading belowdecks to retrieve his navigator Joshamee Gibbs. As Jack Sparrow attempted a mutiny on the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, Angelica was sleeping in her cabin. Angelica told Jack if this was a dream, he could keep the sword and boots on. Despite Jack insisting it was a dream, Angelica knew it wasn't upon hearing the zombie and human crewmen fighting on deck. A space usually reserved for luxury, the captain's cabin of the Revenge was more like the den of an evil magician, where dark dreams and schemes emanate from Edward Teach's inner sanctum and murky lair, stowing all the mystical artifacts and paraphernalia of his dark arts, designed to fill visitors with fear. Later, as some of the crew were used as bait during Blackbeard's hunt at Whitecap Bay, Ezekiel spoke of how mermaids were "lovely as a dream of heaven" only to snatch a sailor out of a boat or off the deck of a ship and eventually eaten. After Jack Sparrow finds Ponce de León aboard the Santiago, Hector Barbossa tells about if 40 pirates dreamt 40 nights of treasure, it would not match the contents of the room.

Over a decade after Will Turner took Davy Jones' place as captain of the Flying Dutchman, young twelve-year-old Henry Turner took a long look at the two images that haunted his dreams and fueled his desire to learn everything about the sea; one was of the mythical god Poseidon holding a three-pronged Trident, while the other image was a simple drawing and the only image he had of his cursed father. Even nine years later into his quest to free his father from his curse, Henry Turner had also done his fair share of daydreaming about being caught up in an adventure with a beautiful girl. However, he had not dreamed that the adventure would include being tied to the mast of a dingy ship belonging to a rather crazy captain and manned by his delinquent crew, and yet that was exactly where this adventure had landed him with Carina Smyth tied to the mast of Jack Sparrow's ship, the Dying Gull.

Will Turner wakes up from a nightmare of the cursed Davy Jones, back from the dead.

Following the events of Henry's quest, Will was no longer bound to the Dutchman, only for Will to have at least one dream of Davy Jones, seemingly-resurrected and back from the dead. As a storm raged outside, the shadow of a cursed Davy Jones appeared across the wooden floor of a bedroom while Elizabeth and Will Turner are fast asleep. The shadow moved closer to the bed as the figure came to stand over the sleeping couple. Lightning flashed as Will sat up to see Jones's crab claw, only for Will to wake up and see nobody there. Assuming it was a nightmare, Will turned towards his sleeping wife and wrapped her in his arms, unaware of the barnacles lying on the floor next to the bed.

Behind the scenes

Overview

Dreams first appeared in the 2003 junior novelization for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Various members of the cast and crew of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise expressed how the dream of making a motion picture about pirates came true, notably producer Jerry Bruckheimer, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, actor Johnny Depp, and more. The term "nightmare" first appeared in the 2006 reference books Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, later republished in the 2007 reprint The Complete Visual Guide.

Film franchise

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said that the popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl not only fulfilled his hopes, but exceeded them, as the film had reinvented and breathed new life into a dead genre. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio had the experience every writer dreams of, as Elliott said, "For a writer, being on set every day is unheard of. From beginning to end, it was terrific. To be able to talk to the director, the producer, the actors and even someone like the makeup artist, to ask questions and find out why things are done a certain way, was such a wonderful education." They also pitched an idea for a pirate movie ten years earlier, but even though there was no interest from any studio, the writing duo refused to give up the dream. Actor Johnny Depp was wholehearted confident in the quality of the project when he learned of Elliott and Rossio's participation, which factored into his decision to accept the role of Captain Jack Sparrow, "To be a pirate—it's a childood dream, isn't it? To basically get away with everything...and get paid for it!" Director Gore Verbinski said that the "dream cast" for the film was a "chance of a lifetime." Actress Keira Knightley, who played Elizabeth Swann, said it was a dream and pleasure regarding working with Johnny Depp. Like Depp, Orlando Bloom also saw the role of Will Turner as a way to fulfill a childhood fantasy, raving "It's so exciting to work on a pirate movie. It's every boy's dream. To actually be living the dream out on the open seas has been great fun." Production designer Brian Morris was given total freedom with Verbinski to create the perfect pirate hideout with the treasure caves of Isla de Muerta, which Bruckheimer considered "a dream come true for any creative mind."

Most of the cast and crew of the The Curse of the Black Pearl returned for the back-to-back productions of Dead Man's Chest and At World's End. Among the stunt heroes during the Kraken attacks on both the Edinburgh Trader and Black Pearl was Orlando Bloom, who, as often as feasible (and as he would be permitted by production), performed his own feats of derring-do, sometimes more than 30 feet up in the rigging of the high masts of the Edinburgh Trader. "There's one scene in which I'm on the mast, jump into a sail, slash it with a dagger and slide down. This is like real Errol Flynn stuff, which is every boy's dream. I really do feel like I am living a lot of these boyhood dreams on a movie like this." Bloom also noted the long work hours and the challenges, but on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, "I feel like I'm living many dreams, all at the same time, whether it's swinging from ropes, rolling in a bone cage, sliding down sails, or kissing a beautiful girl." Keira Knightley concurs with her fellow Pirates stars, "I don't know how Gore's brain can focus on so many different things at once, but it’s very impressive. I think it's important that in a film like this, which is in the realm of fantasy and dreams, to actually have an emotional core that feels real. And that's what I think Gore does...he always makes it real." On Keith Richards wielding a flintlock pistol and strumming a guitar as Captain Teague, Depp said, "It was kind of a long shot to even think about getting Keith to do this. The fact that he agreed was above and beyond a dream come true. Experiencing his arrival on set was unbelievable. Every single person on the crew, including people you hadn't seen in months, suddenly showed up. It was a beautiful, perfect symmetry." Chow Yun-Fat, who played Sao Feng, confessed, "Because I am a fan of the first and second 'Pirate' movies, working with Johnny, Geoffrey, Keira and Orlando was just like a little child walking in dreams. Working with them gave me great pleasure, and I was very, very happy."

For production designer John Myhre, the task to design the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean epic, On Stranger Tides, was literally a dream come true. As soon as Rob Marshall was announced as director, Myhre admitted that he "literally started jumping around my living room like an 8-year-old boy." The reason was that Myhre had already collaborated with Marshall on all three of the director's previous features. Joining Myhre to manifest ideas, concepts and dreams into three-dimensional reality were Set Decorator Gordon Sim, U.S. Supervising Art Director Tomas Voth, U.K. Supervising Art Director Gary Freeman, and a huge team of designers, draftsmen and artists on both the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the world during the Pirates shoot. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said, "It's always a thrill, and very exciting, to be on a pirate ship. I think every kid wants to be a pirate, and working on these movies, we all have the chance to live our dreams." Even if that pirate ship is a floating nightmare, the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's vessel, served an extension of his own dark vision of life and death.

For Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, the directors of Dead Men Tell No Tales were big fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the opportunity to be part of the franchise was a dream come true. Sandberg said, "It's the kind of movie we grew up with and love. That mix of adventure, action and comedy is what we've always loved about big American movies." Rønning says, "We wanted to make the best 'Pirates' movie ever." Producer Jerry Bruckheimer commented, "We could only have dreamed when we did the first film that we were creating something that would have taken us this far. It's been such a privilege, and we owe it not only to the great artists and craftsmen on both sides of the camera who have worked on the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films, but to audiences around the world with whom these movies have struck such a chord.

Screenplays

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft for The Curse of the Black Pearl, after young Elizabeth Swann shuts her eyes tight on the stern of the HMS Dauntless, the story flash forwards eight years later with adult Elizabeth's eyes snap open while in bed in the Governor's mansion. As written in the script, "She remains motionless (were the images we just saw a nightmare, or a jumbled childhood memory?)" As further detailed in the story in the script, the junior novelization, and the final cut of the film, Elizabeth was dreaming about the day she met Will Turner on the Dauntless.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's production draft for Dead Man's Chest, when Jack Sparrow looks through his spyglass from aboard the Black Pearl at a distant Davy Jones speaking to Will Turner on the deck of the scuttled ship, only for Jones to glance back as if he senses Jack is there, the scene is described as "Slowly lowers the spyglass -- and Davy Jones is RIGHT THERE, on deck with him. The speed of his arrival is weird and disconcerting -- like in a dream."

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's production draft for At World's End, as Jack Sparrow searches for a way to get across the Black pearl from the Endeavour, Cutler Beckett looks to see Jack wrapping a rope around the cannon wheel, a burning fuse lighter in hand. When Beckett tells Jack that he was mad, Jack's response before lighting the cannon was "Oh thank goodness. Because if I am in fact not living some wretched fever dream, I doubt this will work."

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's production draft for On Stranger Tides, during Jack Sparrow's mutiny on the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard was described as "silhouetted against the moonlight, a nightmare of a man." Although described as wrapped in bandoliers, draped in pistols, surrounded by smoke from fuses twined into his black beard, Blackbeard had a much different design in the final version of the film. As Hector Barbossa was revealing to Jack the details of Blackbeard's attack on the Black Pearl, Barbossa told Jack that the order "abandon ship" came to mind, "The order no man who calls himself captain ever dreams he'll be givin'!"

Dead Men Tell No Tales/Salazar's Revenge

Despite the death of Davy Jones in At World's End, actor Bill Nighy expressed interest in returning for the fourth installment. "I am technically dead but then again, who cares? Everybody dies in the pirates movies. They killed Johnny [Depp] and Geoffrey [Rush]. Death is not permanent in the pirate world. I have a serious desire to come back." However, the fourth film, later titled On Stranger Tides, was released in 2011, without the character or Nighy in the cast. Although the post-credits scene of Dead Men Tell No Tales featured Will Turner having a dream of Davy Jones seemingly resurrected from the dead, directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg confirmed the scene was meant to "pay respect to a legendary villain in the franchise" as well as be a tease or hint that it could be the "beginning of the end" or "just a dream or nightmare".

Appearances

• Jack Sparrow: Dance of the Hours (Mentioned only)
• Jack Sparrow: Poseidon's Peak
• The Price of Freedom
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters (Mentioned only)
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) (First appearance)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Mentioned only)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization) (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Mentioned only)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization) (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Mentioned only)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization) (Mentioned only)
• The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide (First identified as nightmare)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide

External links

• Dream on Wikipedia