Retcon

Retroactive continuity was employed on Jack Sparrow's compass several times across Pirates of the Caribbean media.

Retroactive continuity—commonly contracted to the portmanteau word retcon for short—refers to deliberately changing previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. It is a literary device in which facts in the world of a fictional work which have been established through the narrative itself are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which recontextualizes or breaks continuity with the former. The change itself is referred to as a retcon, and the act of writing and publishing a retcon is called "retconning."

There are various motivations for applying retroactive continuity, including:

• To accommodate desired aspects of sequels or derivative works which would otherwise be ruled out.
• To respond to negative fan reception of previous stories.
• To correct and overcome errors or problems identified in the prior work since its publication.
• To change or clarify how the prior work should be interpreted.

Retcons can be diegetic or nondiegetic, to be used by authors to increase their creative freedom, on the assumption that the changes are unimportant to the audience compared to the new story which can be told. They are common in pulp fiction, and especially in comic books published by long-established publishers such as DC and Marvel. The long history of popular titles and the number of writers who contribute stories can often create situations that demand clarification or revision. Although the concept is older, the term "retroactive continuity" was popularized in 1983 by DC Comics writer Roy Thomas, and the shortened form "retcon" on Usenet in the late 1980s.

Pirates of the Caribbean movies

Jack Sparrow's compass

Captain Jack Sparrow's unusual compass appeared for the first time in the 2003 film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, where its origin and purpose was left unclear in the final cut of the film. In Irene Trimble's 2003 junior novelization, based on Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft for the film, the compass was acquired around the time Jack served as a cartographer's apprentice, as well as featured the fact that the compass never pointed to true north but always pointed the way to Isla de la Muerta. It was confirmed in the film's screenwriter's commentary that Jack had the compass with him ten years before the events of The Curse of the Black Pearl, prior to Barbossa's mutiny on the Black Pearl when Sparrow showed up in Tortuga as captain of the Black Pearl and going after the treasure of Cortés at Isla de Muerta, adding that the compass was how Jack knew where to search for the treasure of Isla de Muerta. Following the second film in the franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, it is revealed that (though the needle never points to the north) Jack Sparrow's compass actually points to whatever its user wants most, which became its usage in the sequels. Although the supernatural qualities of the magic compass is sometimes described in other media as "what his heart desires most" or "its owner's greatest desire", Elliott and Rossio made it clear that the compass points to whatever he or she wanted most at the moment.

Who originally gave the magic compass to Jack Sparrow? Tia Dalma? Captain Morgan? Javier Bardem as Armando Salazar is seen holding the compass on the set of Dead Men Tell No Tales.

In Dead Man's Chest, it is revealed Jack Sparrow bartered the compass from the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma. According to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and The Complete Visual Guide, beginning with information relating to The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack acquired the compass from the voodoo priestess "seven years earlier". Contrary to what was originally stated in The Curse of the Black Pearl screenwriters commentary, the compass doesn't appear in the Rob Kidd book series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Legends of the Brethren Court, which is set before Barbossa's mutiny against Sparrow. In addition, the Disney Adventures comic The Compass of Destiny!, published in 2006, seemingly established that Jack intended to search for the treasure of Cortés right after Tia Dalma trades the compass to him. While in the original English comic, Sparrow says "When have I ever not used something wisely, madam?" Sparrow instead says in the Spanish and Russian editions, "Now the treasure of Cortés is in my hands!", which would imply the story is set before Barbossa's mutiny.

When Ann C. Crispin was contracted by The Walt Disney Company to write the novel Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom, she specifically asked the Disney employees if the book could use the compass, and they answered positively. Published by Disney Editions in 2011, The Price of Freedom showed Jack Sparrow in possession of the compass when he was a twenty-year-old pirate. The specific date when he received the compass was not given but it was confirmed that it was Tia Dalma who gave it to him when he was younger than Chamba, the liberated slave turned cabin boy. The boy's age was never stated in the novel itself beyond the claim that he was a teen.

In the 2016 Joe Books comic books series, which is set immediately after The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow doesn't have the compass, and is forced to use a treasure map to search for the legendary Weather Gauge.

In 2017, Disney released the fifth installment of the film series, Dead Men Tell No Tales, which shows another origin story of Jack's compass that seemingly retcons all the previous stories, added by directing duo Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg along with screenwriter Jeff Nathanson. A flashback scene in Dead Men Tell No Tales shows an eighteen-year-old "Jack the Sparrow" aboard the Wicked Wench, receiving the compass from the mortally wounded Captain Morgan, who tells Jack to never betray the compass, which Jack does years later, resulting in the cursed Captain Armando Salazar and his ghostly crew being freed from the Devil's Triangle. In one of the earlier versions of Nathanson's script, the original owner of the compass was Captain Salazar.

Young Will Turner/Henry Turner

Young Will Turner and Henry Turner.

In 2007, Walt Disney Studios released the third installment in the film series, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. In At World's End, two of the main characters, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, end up married by Captain Hector Barbossa during the battle of Calypso's maelstrom. Though Will becomes the captain of the Flying Dutchman and is forced to abandon Elizabeth, the two consummate their marriage before Will's departure. In the after credits scene, Elizabeth and her nine-year-old son await Will's return for his one day ashore after ten years of service. Portrayed by Dominic Scott Kay, the character was credited as "Young Will Turner" in the film's credits. The character was also named William in the first draft of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay.

In 2013, Jeff Nathanson was hired to write the script for the fifth film in the series, Dead Men Tell No Tales, after Terry Rossio's 2012 screenplay was rejected. In Nathanson's early drafts, to escape the wrath of the undead pirate hunter Captain John Brand, Jack Sparrow joined forces with Henry Maddox, a young captain's servant aboard the HMS Monarch. The story ended with Henry deserting from the British Navy and joining the crew of the Black Pearl.

Although supposedly hinted by a Disney contact in 2012, it was ultimately decided to bring back the Turner family into the fifth film, following their absence in the fourth film. In further drafts of the script, Henry Maddox was merged with Young Will Turner into Henry Turner. Initially advertised as a young Royal Navy sailor who is on "a vigorous quest to help save a father he has barely known from a terrible fate" or "eternal damnation", the story ended up being a quest to free Will Turner from the curse of the Flying Dutchman. As seen in Dead Men Tell No Tales, released in 2017, Lewis McGowan played a twelve-year-old Henry Turner in the opening scene, while Brenton Thwaites was cast in 2014 to play Henry in the rest of the film.

Pirates of the Caribbean comics

Henry Morgan and Blackbeard in The Buccaneer's Heart!

Henry Morgan and Blackbeard are deceased in their first appearance, but they are very much alive in their later appearances.

The infamous pirate captains Henry Morgan and Edward Teach appear for the first time in Pirates of the Caribbean universe in The Buccaneer's Heart!, a Disney Adventures comic short story published in the Summer of 2004. The Buccaneer's Heart! is chronologically set between the events of the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the 2006 sequel Dead Man's Chest. In The Buccaneer's Heart!, both Morgan and Blackbeard are long dead, with their spirits trapped inside the magical object known as the Buccaneer's Heart. During a conversation with Will Turner, Blackbeard indirectly references his death in 1718.

In 2008, Disney Press launched Pirates of the Caribbean: Legends of the Brethren Court, a series of books that serve as prequels to the film series, with the final book in the series, Day of the Shadow, released in 2010. Day of the Shadow reveals that the main villain, until then known only as the Shadow Lord, is none other than Henry Morgan, who is presented as an alchemist who has achieved immortality through the use of the Shadow Gold. The book ends with Morgan defeated and captured by the forces of the East India Trading Company, but still immortal and apparently unkillable.

In 2011, Walt Disney Studios released the fourth installment in the film series, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. On Stranger Tides takes place years after the intended events of The Buccaneer's Heart!, and features Blackbeard, whose real-world history (specifically his death in Ocracoke Inlet in 1718) was considered legend in-universe. During the film, Blackbeard makes no mention of seeing Jack Sparrow before, even though both of them appeared in The Buccaneer's Heart!.

Overall universe

Timeline of the Pirates films

The "Arrest warrant for Elizabeth Swann" prop sets the date of Jack Sparrow's escape from the gallows at the end of The Curse of the Black Pearl on September 21, 1723, and the "Pardon letter from Governor Swann to the King" prop sets the date of Elizabeth Swann's escape from prison in Dead Man's Chest on March 24, 1724, originally placing the events of the first three films during the reign of King George I. However, these dates were retconned with the release of Dead Men Tell No Tales, which is set in the year 1751, according to the film's comic adaptation and the prop calendar of Henry Turner's waiting for his father's return. The fact that Henry Turner (born nine months after the main events of the third film, At World's End) is twenty-one years old during the events of DMTNT retroactively places the first three films near the end of the 1720s.

See also

• Fanon
• Canon
• Continuity errors
• Historical inaccuracies

External links

• Retcon on Wikipedia