Tattoo

Blackbeard's zombie quartermaster aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge had tattoo designs all over his body.

"It was awful. Knives flashing, fists flying. Then, Left-Foot Louis ripped open his shirt to display his thick chest covered with strange tattoos that looked like quill markings."

―Jean Magliore

A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Although tattoo art has existed since ancient times, the way society perceives tattoos has varied immensely throughout history.

The history of tattooing goes back to ancient times, practiced across the globe by many cultures, and the symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes and techniques, including hand-tapped traditional tattoos. Tattoo art throughout most of the world was associated with a limited selection of specific "rugged" lifestyles, notably sailors and prisoners, but people chose to be tattooed for artistic, cosmetic, sentimental/memorial, religious, and spiritual reasons, or to symbolize their belonging to or identification with particular groups. Tattoos may be decorative (with no specific meaning), symbolic (with a specific meaning to the wearer), or pictorial (a depiction of a specific person or item). Many tattoos serve as identification, rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, marks of fertility, pledges of love, amulets and talismans, protection, and as punishment, like the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts.

History

"I saw this, and thought at first it was a bruise. But it's not."
"No. It's a tattoo."
"What is it? I never saw anything like that before. Did you have it when we... the first time?"

―Jack Sparrow and Esmeralda

When Jack Sparrow and Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III asked Tia Dalma for help in retrieving the golden gem and saving their shipmate Arabella Smith who was taken captive by her mother Laura Smith aboard the Fleur de la Mort, Dalma replied that she could get them the gem, but she demanded payment. Since Jack had nothing in his pockets, Dalma mysteriously proclaimed that she would take from Fitzwilliam what was lost to him, and which he would soon recover. To make sure he didn't forget his debt, Dalma magically made a deep, black tattoo of a crab on Fitzwilliam's neck.

Lady Esmeralda Maria Consuela Anna de Sevilla had a tattoo of a grinning skull above her right hipbone, an ancient design that was imprinted on the blood money demanded by Hernán Cortés from the Aztecs. Many natives of Easter Island were tattooed. The cannibal tribe of Isla de Pelegostos decorated their bodies with various tattoos. All the Chinese pirates loyal to Sao Feng were required to wear the tattoo of the dragon, with the dragon considered to be benevolent and good luck.

Jack Sparrow's tattoo of a sparrow.

Captain Jack Sparrow had his first tattoo, which he put on his right forearm just above the pirate "P" brand he received from Cutler Beckett, that depicted a sparrow, flying free, over stylized ocean waves. Both the "P" brand and this blue tattoo of a small bird in flight across water was how Commodore James Norrington identified Jack Sparrow, following the stranger's good deed of saving Elizabeth Swann from drowning. According to legend, Jack's tattoo as seen on Jack's wrist was commonly known as the mark of the sparrow, the symbol which testified that he sailed in all the oceans of the world many times over. At some point, he had another mark, an ancient poem called the Desiderata, tattooed on his arms, chest, and back. By the time of the search for the Trident of Poseidon Jack Sparrow was known to have added countless tattoos on his fingers.

In London, England, there was a Paddy Wagon Gaoler who had a tattoo of a skull and crossbones on his right arm, indicating that he associated with pirates, but still had ties with King George's Royal Guards. Aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, several of Blackbeard's zombie officers, notably the Quartermaster, had their bodies covered in weird tattoos.

Hector Barbossa's tattoo of the constellation from Galileo's diary.

At some point prior to the search for the Trident of Poseidon, the pirate Captain Hector Barbossa had a cluster of five stars, a constellation from the cover of Galileo Galilei's diary, tattooed on his right arm. Shansa the sea witch was a striking figure, with piercing eyes and sharp cheekbones and intricate tattoos patterned across her bare head, arms, and legs.

Behind the scenes

• Tattoos first appeared in the 2003 junior novelization for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
• In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's original screenplay draft for At World's End, Will Turner was brought to Singapore disguised as the treacherous Chinese pirate Lang Si, his face covered with a hood and the fake tattoo of a dragon on his back the only thing confirming his identity. When he was brought before Sao Feng and Dragon Lady, who wanted revenge for the death of Lady's brother at the hands of Lang Si, Barbossa attempted to trade him for the charts to Davy Jones' Locker, but the tattoo started melting, revealing the deception.
• In Jeff Nathanson's 2013 screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Hector Barbossa's tattoo was a clover. In the final cut of the film, it was a constellation from the cover of Galileo Galilei's diary.

Appearances

• The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
• Jack Sparrow: The Siren Song‎
• Jack Sparrow: City of Gold‎
• Jack Sparrow: Dance of the Hours
• Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father
• The Price of Freedom
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean‎
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East‎
• The Island of Fortune
• 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: The Curse of the Black Pearl (comic)
• The Guardians of Windward Cove
• The Capture of Jack Sparrow!
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: The Movie Storybook
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization)
• The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization

Sources

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

External links

• Tattoo on Wikipedia
• Sailor tattoos on Wikipedia