Faithful Bride

General information
Location	Shoat Alley, Tortuga
Notable occupant(s)	Arabella Smith Smith Laura Smith
Chronological and political information
Affiliation	Smith family

"Like many stories of adventure, villainy, and thievery, it began on the Island of Tortuga, in a tavern called the Faithful Bride...."

―Jack Sparrow's log

The Faithful Bride was a tavern on the island of Tortuga in the 18th century.

History

A bar fight inside the Faithful Bride

"Why don't I stay here with the ship? I can keep an eye on things. While you're gone. Trust me, I'll take good care of the Pearl."
"Nonsense. I need your keen eye and sound judgment in choosing a crew, Barbossa. A noble offer, but I insist you accompany me to the Faithful Bride."

―Hector Barbossa and Jack Sparrow

Prior to the quest for the Sword of Cortés, Arabella Smith worked as a barmaid in the Faithful Bride, owned at the time by her father and her mother, Laura. One night, the infamous pirate captain Torrents came to the tavern and kidnapped Laura. A few years later, Jack Sparrow started a brawl in the tavern, leading to Arabella joining his misfit crew.

Some time later, an adult Sparrow returned to the tavern with Hector Barbossa and Billy Turner in tow so as to find some new crew members for his ship, the Black Pearl. He recruited a drunkard called Catastrophe Shane and was about to sign on another pirate named Henry when the Pirate Lord Eduardo Villanueva arrived and forced Henry and several of the other men in the tavern into joining his crew aboard the Centurion.

Many years afterwards, Sparrow brought Will Turner to the tavern while he met with Joshamee Gibbs to procure a motley crew for the journey to Isla de Muerta. Some time later, Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann, was kidnapped by Sparrow's former crewmember Hawkins and locked in one of the rooms in the Bride. While Jack fought a duel with Hawkins, Elizabeth decided not to wait for him and Will and escaped on her own.

During the War of Jolly Roger, Carver was the bartender of the Faithful Bride. At some point before the War Against Piracy, the former Gunner of the legendary pirate ship Nemesis became a regular visitor in the tavern, often telling the stories of the time he served under captain James Sterling to other visitors of the tavern. Some time later, Arabella Smith returned to Tortuga to take over as the owner and operator of the tavern. On one occasion, Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs celebrated the taking of a prize in the Faithful Bride. After the seventeenth toast, Gibbs fell asleep under the table, drunk, and Sparrow used that opportunity to borrow without permission some of Gibbs' share of the loot so he could use a room and a good wench.

Physical appearance

The Faithful Bride appeared, from the outside, to be little more than an oversized shack, and was constructed from the timbers of wrecked boats. It was said that the tavern smelled of tar, salt, seaweed and fish. The roof was noticably too weak to keep rain from dripping inside the tavern. The hanging sign above the door was a politically-incorrect painting of a smiling bride holding a bouquet of flowers, her wrists manacled and chained.

Behind the scenes

Concept art from Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned.

The Faithful Bride appeared in media relating to the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, first published in Irene Trimble's junior novelization. It has since been used in various Pirates media, most notably Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's first screenplay draft, as Jack Sparrow led Will Turner toward the Faithful Bride, it was described as a pub with the emblem over the door being a politically incorrect painting of a smiling woman holding a bouquet in her chained-and-manacled hands. While this emblem did not appear in the final cut of the film, it was retained as a hanging sign in the junior novelization.

According to the reference books Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and The Complete Visual Guide, the location where Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs tried recruiting a crew of 99 souls in the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was identified, albeit incorrectly, as the Faithful Bride tavern. However, it was only described as a "cantina" in Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay, also adapted into the junior novelization, though it was never named onscreen. The cantina was identified as Twelve Daggers in the video game Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

By 2011, a backstory appeared to be made where, at some point after Rob Kidd's book series Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow, Arabella Smith returned to Tortuga to take over as the owner and operator of the Faithful Bride, which would be renamed "Tortuga Tavern" and the old Faithful Bride sign can be seen put into a wagon. However, the canonicity of the renaming is unknown.

The Faithful Bride appears in the video game Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned and the graphic novel Pirates of the Caribbean: Six Sea Shanties. But, since both were cancelled, it is unknown if the tavern's appearance in those products is canon or not.

In the 2011 novel The Price of Freedom, when Jack Sparrow mentions The Faithful Bride to Captain Nathaniel Bainbridge, his superior officer on the EITC merchant vessel Fair Wind, the older man refers to it as "That tavern in Port Royal". It is unknown if Bainbridge's statement is a continuity error or if the captain simply did not know the real location of the tavern.

Appearances

• Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm
• Jack Sparrow: The Pirate Chase (Mentioned only)
• Jack Sparrow: Silver (Mentioned only)
• Jack Sparrow: The Tale of Billy Turner and Other Stories (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
• The Price of Freedom (Mentioned only)
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean
• 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)
  • Fluch der Karibik
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
• Disney Adventures: "Revenge of the Pirates!"
• Disney Adventures: "The Duel!"
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Six Sea Shanties
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide
• The Pirates' Guidelines