Jack Sparrow

Captain Jack Sparrow as portrayed by actor Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, featured in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and the not yet released third installment Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007). Captain Jack Sparrow was created for the film series and later added to the Disney Parks attraction. The character is portrayed in the films by actor Johnny Depp.

Inspirations

Depp claims that Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who will play his father in the third movie, and Pepé Le Pew (from Looney Tunes) were both inspirations for his performance (although Errol Flynn — primarily in Captain Blood [1935] — was also an influence). Depp has also said that he imagined pirates as being "like the rock stars of their day" and that he likes to portray Sparrow as "sexually ambiguous".

The part earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, a rarity for a comic performance. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio compared his character to Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx on the DVD commentary for the first film.

Biography

Early life

According to the official Disney website and the game based on the film series, Jack Sparrow, the son of Captain Grant Sparrow, was born in Colonial India and was once employed by the East India Trading Company. He helmed the Wicked Wench, an EITC merchant vessel, performing odd jobs for Cutler Beckett. When Jack refused to transport slaves and instead freed them in Africa, Beckett sanctioned the torching (and sinking) of the Wicked Wench, and literally branded Jack Sparrow a pirate. Jack came to embrace his outlaw status, becoming a successful pirate with no desire to return to life under the command of others. Later, Jack petitioned Davy Jones to raise his ship from the ocean floor. He rechristened her the Black Pearl.

Disney Press began a book series for young readers in June 2006, chronicling Sparrow's adventures as a teenager. Written by Rob Kidd, the first four books follow Sparrow and a young, motley crew in a continuing search for the legendary Sword of Cortés. Along the way, they must battle pirates, ancient curses, sirens, and the power of the sea.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

About a decade prior to the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow was searching for the legendary Chest of Cortez containing a cache of Aztec gold. First Mate Hector Barbossa convinced Jack to share the bearings to the treasure. When he did, Barbossa and the crew mutinied and marooned him on an island with only a pistol containing a single shot (allowing the option of suicide over starvation). After three days, Sparrow bartered passage off the island with rum runners who stored their cache there. Seeking revenge, Sparrow kept the pistol to kill his former first mate. After finding the gold, Barbossa and the crew learned it was cursed, transforming them into immortal skeletons whose true appearance is only seen in moonlight.

Arriving in Port Royal approximately ten years later, Sparrow is arrested for piracy after saving Elizabeth Swann from drowning. Wearing a too-tight corset, Elizabeth faints and falls off a rampart and into the bay during a marriage proposal from Commodore James Norrington. A medallion she is wearing is the final piece of Aztec Gold that the crew of the Black Pearl have been looking for, and the pirates lay siege to Port Royal to claim it. Elizabeth is captured and taken to Captain Barbossa. Under parley, she negotiates with him to leave Port Royal in exchange for the medallion. Barbossa agrees but keeps her captive. Being the daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann, she identified herself as "Elizabeth Turner" to conceal her identity. However, she's unaware the pirates are looking for someone with that surname. The next day, the imprisoned Sparrow is visited by Will Turner, a young blacksmith who loves Elizabeth and wants to rescue her. Sparrow realises Will is the son of William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, his onetime shipmate and the lone holdout in the mutiny—an action that landed Bootstrap on the bottom of the ocean strapped to a cannon. Familiar with the legend of the "heathen curse" that struck the Pearl's crew, Sparrow knows Turner's child is needed to help break the curse—the blood of those who took the Aztec gold must be "repaid" along with the coins. Will Turner is the only source of his father's blood, and Sparrow sees this as a means to get back his ship. Sparrow does not share this information with Will. Captain Barbossa, meanwhile, believes Elizabeth is Bootstrap's child.

To save Elizabeth, Will agrees to help Sparrow escape and commandeer the Royal Navy ship Interceptor. They sail to Tortuga to recruit a crew before heading to Isla de Muerta. Once there, Sparrow and Will infiltrate the cave, but Will, having learned Sparrow intends to use him to get back the Pearl, leaves him behind unconscious. Will rescues Elizabeth, and they escape to the Interceptor, but the Black Pearl pursues them. After a fierce battle, the Interceptor is sunk and the crew is captured. Barbossa maroons Sparrow and Swann on the same island Sparrow was previously stranded on. To Jack's horror, Elizabeth burns an abandoned rum stockpile as a signal fire that is spotted by Commodore Norrington. To save Will, Elizabeth persuades Norrington to attack Isla de Muerta. At the island, Sparrow enters the cave and interrupts Will's sacrifice by informing Barbossa that the navy is waiting outside to ambush them and persuades him to form an alliance. After Barbossa sends the crew to fight the navy, Sparrow attacks him. Barbossa impales Jack with his sword, believing he has mortally wounded his opponent. But when Jack stumbles backwards into the moonlight, he is revealed to be an immortal skeleton—having sneaked a coin from the chest to curse himself. Sparrow and Turner lift the curse just after Sparrow fatally shoots Barbossa with the shot he has carried for ten years. The remaining now-mortal pirates are defeated. Sparrow is arrested and returned to Port Royal for execution, but with help from Will and Elizabeth, he escapes by accidentally falling off the rampart and into the bay. The Black Pearl is waiting, and Sparrow once again takes his rightful place as its captain.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Thirteen years ago, Captain Sparrow obtained the Black Pearl from Davy Jones by bargaining his soul in exchange for 100 years service aboard the infamous ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman. Now the debt is due. One night, Jack's former shipmate, "Bootstrap Bill" Turner appears and marks him with the Black Spot, a sign the Kraken is hunting him. Meanwhile, Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company has forced Will Turner to search for Sparrow's compass and recruit him as a privateer. Otherwise, Will, Elizabeth Swann, and former Commodore James Norrington will be executed for aiding Sparrow's escape. Will finds Sparrow and the crew held captive by cannibals on Pelegosto. They escape, barely making it to the Black Pearl.

Rowing upriver, they visit Tia Dalma, a voodoo priestess with whom Sparrow hints he was once close. Jack shows her a drawing of a key; he does not know what it unlocks or where to find it, and his magical compass has failed. Tia Dalma says it will not work because Jack does not know what he truly wants. She tells them the legend of Davy Jones and the Dead Man's Chest. When Jones lost his true love, his pain was so deep that he carved out his heart and buried it in the chest. He keeps the key with him. Back at sea, the Pearl encounters Davy Jones who has come to claim his debt. Bartering a deal to exchange 100 souls in exchange for his own, the devious Sparrow deceives Will, and Jones keeps him as a "good faith payment."

In Tortuga, Jack and Gibbs recruit unsuspecting sailors. A fallen James Norrington also applies and, blaming Jack for ruining his life, wants to shoot him. A brawl erupts, but Elizabeth, who has escaped from jail, suddenly arrives and stops the fight by knocking out Norrington. Elizabeth and Norrington go to the Black Pearl. Confronting Sparrow, Elizabeth demands to know what happened to Will. Jack regrets to report he was press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew. Although he claims he is blameless, Norrington is skeptical. Jack reveals the compass' secret, telling Elizabeth that if she finds the Dead Man's Chest, she will save Will. The compass works at last. After setting sail for Isla Cruces, Elizabeth discloses it was Cutler Beckett who sent Will and shows Jack and Gibbs the Letter of Marque, which Jack takes from her. Norrington overhears the conversation and sets his own plan in motion. The captain then expresses an amorous interest in Elizabeth, who coyly rebuffs his attempts to woo her. He tries to kiss her, but when the Black Spot suddenly reappears on his palm, he hastily retreats. The Kraken is on the hunt again.

On Isla Cruces, Sparrow, Elizabeth and Norrington find the chest. Will arrives with the key (having escaped from the Flying Dutchman) and confronts Jack and Norrington; all claim the heart. Turner hopes to free his father, Sparrow wants to escape his debt, and Norrington schemes to reclaim his career. Sparrow extricates himself from their three-way sword fight and gets the heart. However, Norrington steals it and the Letter of Marque and escapes while Jones' crew retrieves the chest, unaware it's empty. Back at sea, the Dutchman chases the Pearl, but they outrun her. Jones summons the Kraken. In a moment of cowardice, Sparrow deserts the Pearl as the crew valiantly fights the monster. However, Jack's underlying loyalty and honor compel him to go back and save his shipmates. Knowing the Kraken will return, he gives the order to abandon ship.

As the crew leaves the ship, Elizabeth tricks Sparrow by distracting him with a passionate kiss and cuffs him to the mast. Realising the Kraken is only after Jack, she says she isn't sorry; but a smirking Jack simply responds, "Pirate." Elizabeth climbs into the longboat and, unaware Will witnessed the kiss, tells the others Jack elected to stay behind. Sparrow frees himself and bravely battles the ferocious beast as the Pearl is dragged underwater. Davy Jones declares their debt settled, but is enraged when he discovers the chest is empty. Meanwhile, Norrington delivers the heart and the Letter of Marque to Lord Beckett, hoping to reclaim his career.

The saddened crew make their way to Tia Dalma's. As she consoles them, she asks if they would be willing to sail to Worlds End to bring back Sparrow and the Pearl, to which all agree. She says they will need a Captain who knows those waters. Just then, the very alive Captain Barbossa descends the stairs.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

Template:Spoiler Although few details have been released about At Worlds End, it has been confirmed that Jack will cross paths with his father, Captain Grant Sparrow (portrayed by Keith Richards).

A video unveiled to attendees of Comic-Con International in San Diego included brief scenes from the film, with Sparrow fighting against Davy Jones in a crow's nest and against Barbossa aboard the Black Pearl. Template:Endspoiler

Personality

Appearance

Sparrow has brown eyes and long, dark brown to black hair, which he wears mostly in braids and dreadlocks. He wears several strands of beads in his hair, a single ocean coin draped over his bandana, a silver chain-link charm, and a long bone. Sparrow's bandana is dark red in the first two films, although in the third film it contains a light shade of purple.

Numerous rings adorn Jack's hands, including a skull ring with a green emerald, a ring with an an oval amethyst, two rings made out of driftwood, and a silver oriental dragon ring with several dragons and encrusted with a large green gem. In Dead Man's Chest, he steals a ring from Tia Dalma's shack that may have belonged to Captain Barbossa.

Wrapped around Jack's waist is a pink striped sash held up by a belt. In Pirates 1, only his compass is attached to the belt. In Pirates 2, a second belt and more trinkets were added such as a small animal skin, a monkey paw, a single vertebra, and a miniature siren sculpture. In the third film, a large tuft of gray hair has been added.

Average in height and build, Jack relies more on his agility, intelligence, and quick wit to protect himself, rather than physical strength.

Captaincy

Sparrow has an unwavering ambition to captain the Black Pearl, and the majority of his actions in Pirates of the Caribbean are the means to get his ship back. He truly loves being a pirate, and can't conceive of any other life.

He insists on being addressed as Captain. At his execution in Pirates 1, when the list of condemned prisoners is read aloud and his name is given without his rank, he mutters, "Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow."

Demeanor

Sparrow's most obvious physical characteristic is a slightly drunken stagger, accompanied by awkwardly flailing hand gestures that make him look unfocused (which has been attributed to somewhat mirror the gestures of a recovering heroin addict). His seemingly perpetual drunkenness could also be why he often slurs his speech. At one point Joshamee Gibbs explained to Will Turner that Sparrow had been marooned on an island and managed to find a way off -- but not before he'd "gone mad with the heat." Turner replied, "Ah, so that's the reason for all the..." and proceeded to imitate Sparrow's mannerisms.

Jack sports a distinctive tattoo of a sparrow flying in front of a setting sun over the ocean on his right forearm. This is apparently a well-known identification mark of the infamous pirate as Commodore Norrington immediately recognized it. The letter "P" (for pirate) was also branded on his right wrist by the East India Trading Company. While handling a red-hot P branding iron, Cutler Beckett tells Will Turner that he and Sparrow each left their "mark" upon the other. Beckett branded Jack with the letter "P", but he refrains from saying just how Jack marked him.

Rum

Jack is particularly fond of rum, more so than any other character, save Gibbs. After Barbossa maroons Jack and Elizabeth on the deserted island, Elizabeth burns the cache of smugglers' rum to create a smoke signal. Jack is so outraged that the rum is gone that he pulls out his pistol and is momentarily tempted to use his single shot on the oblivious girl. However, when Commodore Norrington spots the smokey cloud and rescues them, Jack grouses to himself, "There'll be no living with her after this." When Elizabeth boards the Pearl in Pirates DMC, Sparrow whispers to Gibbs, "Hide the rum," fearing she may get rid of it. In another nod to his fondness for the drink, upon finding his bottle of rum empty, Jack groans, "Why is the rum always gone?" Standing up, he staggers a bit and mutters smugly, "Oh, that's why."

When Jack is visited by "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, he wonders if it's a dream, but Bootstrap says no. Jack resignedly sighs, "I thought not. If it were, there'd be rum," to which Bootstrap proffers a bottle that Sparrow has to pry from his barnacle-encrusted hand.

Jack's effects

Jack carries a number of items on his person at all times, including his pistol, sword, coat and tricorne hat. He also has an unusual compass that he obtained in a barter with the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma (as established in Dead Man's Chest). Rather than pointing north, its needle points to whatever the person holding it wants most. Usually that is treasure or other valuable items, but it can also be a person or a geographical location. It works for anyone using it, if they know what they desire. It will even work while lying untouched on the ground.

In Dead Man's Chest, Jack's compass appears to malfunction, although Tia Dalma tells him it fails because he does not know what he truly wants or he is unable to claim what he wants as his own. However, it later works for Elizabeth when she focuses on finding Will, after Jack tells her that the only way to find him is by finding the Dead Man's Chest. On board the Pearl, and later on Isla Cruces, both Jack and Elizabeth find the compass pointing to the other while they are holding it, causing each to question what they truly desire.

After his pistol, Jack's most prized possession is his hat. He is rarely seen without it, and he always mentions it when discussing his "effects." When Jack orders the ship to head for land to escape the Kraken, his hat is tossed overboard by Jack the monkey. A panicked Sparrow commands it be left behind, which so surprises the crew they are literally struck motionless. The hat, which is picked up by nearby fishermen, is eaten by the Kraken when it attacks the wrong ship. Jack spends the entire film searching for a suitable replacement and even walks through a pub fight trying on the brawlers' tricornes. He eventually regains his own hat when it is regurgitated by the Kraken as is about to devour him. Covered in mucus, Jack merely shakes it off and puts it back on before drawing his cutlass and attacking the monster.

Traits

Unusually altruistic for a pirate, Jack will risk himself to save others, most notably Will and Elizabeth. In the first film, it's implied that Jack's benevolence is one reason his crew mutinied. Sparrow is an honourable, if self-serving, man who adheres to the "Pirates' Code." He believes there are pirates who can still be "good men," which was his evaluation of "Bootstrap" Bill Turner.

As often as Jack saves Elizabeth and Will, however, he also tricks them to serve his own purposes and even offers up Will to Davy Jones in exchange for himself. In a weak moment of cowardice, he deserts his ship and crew to save himself from the Kraken. However, his intrinsic loyalty and heroism ultimately win out, and he returns in time to save his shipmates.

Jack considers himself a ladies' man, explaining that he has a "tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature." However, he is seemingly unable to commit to a long-term relationship, although Elizabeth Swann appears to be the first woman Jack is unable to forget. Interestingly, in the novelization of the second film, Jack tells Elizabeth that he likes marriage because it is "like a wager to see who will fall out of love first." Jack is adept at sweeping ladies off their feet, but his conquests seem to have a sour memory of him. His former flames, Giselle and Scarlett, slap him or anyone looking for him. However, Tia Dalma, who he apparently has a history with, is rather pleased to see him when he visits her, although Jack's initial concern over their impending reunion indicates they may have parted on less than good terms.

Jack apparently suffers from extremely bad breath, although this may just be from drinking alcohol. Commodore Norrington had to take a step back when Sparrow got a little too close, and Governor Swann nearly gagged when face-to-face with him. When Jack attempts to romantically approach Elizabeth during Dead Man's Chest, she notes their various differences, including "personal hygiene." However, she seems unaffected by his breath during later close encounters with him. Ironically, Sparrow tells Commodore Norrington that he smells funny (after he was thrown into a pig sty).

Catchphrases

Sparrow's most commonly-used words and phrases include "savvy?" ("Do you understand me?") and "bugger", when a situation is not playing out as planned. He makes several references to waiting for "the opportune moment", and immediately corrects anyone omitting "Captain" from his name.

As an endnote, Sparrow frequently says, "This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." Twice in the first two films, the line is cut off to comedic effect; the only time he manages to complete the line uninterrupted, he is knocked out and arrested.

Sparrow often uses "eunuch" as an insult. During his first duel with Will Turner, he asks him if he is one, given his penchant for long hours practicing with swords rather than courting ladies. In an effort to hide Will's identity, Jack tells Barbossa—and later Davy Jones—that Will has a "lovely singing voice" and is a soprano (referring to the practice of castrating talented prepubescent choir boys [castrati].) While addressing the natives about a hog-tied Will, he refers to him by saying, "Eunuchy, snip-snip."

Other appearances

• Jack Sparrow appears as Terri Clark's fantasy lover in the video for her country music song, "Girls Lie Too" (though not portrayed by Depp).
• Sparrow appears in Kingdom Hearts II as a member of the party in the Port Royal world. James Arnold Taylor voices Jack Sparrow in the English release of the game (as the movie cast were unavailable because of filming Dead Man's Chest); Hiroaki Hirata (who voiced Jack Sparrow in the Japanese dub of Pirates) plays the character for the Japanese release.
• Sparrow's name makes an appearance in the game Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters on a tombstone in the Lychfield Graveyard. The grave reads "Cpt. J. Sparrow: A wind at your back forever, sir". Depp utters a similar line as George Jung in Blow.
• The character of the Pirate King in the 2006 Opera Australia production of the classic operetta The Pirates of Penzance is played by Anthony Warlow as a dead ringer impersonation of Jack Sparrow.
• Sparrow is the protagonist of the video game titled Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow for the PC, and PS2 platforms. The game follows the events of Sparrow's past, including his escape from the island on which he was marooned and how he sacked Nassau Port without firing a shot. Johnny Depp supplies the voice for Jack Sparrow, which is unusual for a game based on a film. None of the other cast members perform their character's voices.
• In the spring of 2006, Disney retooled their Pirates of the Caribbean ride to include more references to the film. Jack Sparrow makes three appearances in the attraction, hunting for the town's treasure. The final scene sees Jack victorious in his efforts, sitting on a throne surrounded by treasure, singing the "Yo-Ho" song happily.
• In issue #24 of the DC Comics series 52, Jack Sparrow makes a cameo appearance in a group of time-displaced pirates and robots.