Captain Jack Sparrow

Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional pirate and one of the primary characters of the Pirates of the Caribbean film trilogy: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Dead Man's Chest (2006), and the as of yet unreleased third installment At World's End (2007).

Johnny Depp portrays Sparrow and won great acclaim for his comic performance, basing the character off Keith Richards. Following the sudden popularity of the character after his debut in The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow reappeared in the two sequels which were produced back-to-back, as well as a series of prequel books, video games and even in the Disney theme park ride which inspired the films.

Character history
Depp claims that Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who has a cameo role as his father in the third movie, and Pepé Le Pew (from Looney Tunes) were both inspirations for his performance (although Errol Flynn &mdash; primarily in Captain Blood [1935] &mdash; 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. This performance made Johnny Depp the only man to be nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for a Disney movie. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio compared his character to Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx on the DVD commentary for the first film.

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 British Colonial India and was once employed by the East India Trading Company. Jack 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. (In the original screenplay by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, Gibbs tells Will Turner that Jack served as a cartographer's apprentice.)

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 many adventures aboard a tiny fishing ship called The Barnacle. The adventures included a search for the legendary Sword of Cortés, and a trip to New Orleans that turned the city into bronze. Along the way, they battled pirates, ancient curses, witchcraft, sirens, and the power of the sea.

Appearance
Jack Sparrow's appearance has been altered slightly from film to film. Most changes relate to the general color scheme of his clothing, while others are more noticeable.

Sparrow has dark brown eyes and long, dark brown to black hair, which he wears mostly in braids and dreadlocks. He has a facial hair in a goatee type style, the beard he makes into two long braids. He wears several strands of beads in his hair, a single piece of eight draped over his bandanna, a silver chain-link charm, and a reindeer shin bone needle. On the right side of Sparrow's jaw is an open wound, reminiscent of a scrape. For some unusual reason (a fact pointed out by Johnny Depp in the DVD commentary for the first film) this wound never heals. Sparrow's bandanna is dark red in the first film, although in the second and third installments it has a much more faded appearance giving it a pink hue.

Over his puffy white shirt, Jack wears a long vest. This vest is blue on the front and dark gray on the back, the back being shorter than the front. In the sequels, the vest has been altered slightly adding a pinstripe pattern to the back.

Jack Sparrow also wears dark brown (dark gray in the first film) drop front breeches, which are tucked into his brown suede leather boots.

Jack has a leather baldric with a silver filigree buckle slung over his shoulder, which holds the scabbard for his black sabre. The color and buckle were changed from first film to the sequel.

Jack's leather tri corner hat is medium brown. The back side of the hat is rolled up like a scroll. Jack also has a dark blue-grey frock coat.

Four rings adorn Jack's hands. One is a skull ring with a green emerald on his right index finger. Another is a black onyx flower ring on his left ring finger. In Dead Man's Chest, he steals an oval amethyst ring from Tia Dalma's shack and places it on his left index finger, moving the silver oriental dragon ring to his left thumb. This ring appears to be the same one Captain Barbossa wore in Curse of the Black Pearl. He also has two leather glove bands on his right middle and ring fingers which attach his leather glove.

Jack wears a red-striped sash and 2 belts around his waist. In the first film, only his compass is attached to his belt. In the second film, a second belt and more trinkets were added such as a small animal skin, a chicken foot, an animal vertebrae, and a small red sculpture of a mermaid which serves as a fertility symbol. In the third film, a large tuft of gray hair has been added that is actually a shrunken voodoo head from the cannibal island.

Interestingly, in the deleted scenes for the first film, Jack reveals what appears to be a severe burn mark on his left forearm when Elizabeth questions his legend. However, in the second film (most noticeable as Jack hangs off the rigging of the Pearl, bidding farewell to the Pelegostos), this scar is clearly missing. Having only existed in a deleted scene, this scar is non-canon.

Weapon skill
Average in height and build, Jack relies more on intelligence, agility, and quick wit to protect himself, rather than physical strength. According to the filmmakers, Jack is nearly as skilled with a blade as Barbossa or Norrington, while Will is described as the best swordsman among them. Jack can hold his own in a duel with any of them by manipulating whatever is at his disposal: unstable terrain, distracting his opponent's attention, releasing a bag of soot, and so on. Jack's trickery has also included pulling his flintlock on Turner and merely exiting a fight by rolling off a roof (such as the three-way battle with Norrington and Turner on Isla Cruces). Whenever possible, he prefers escape or negotiation in lieu of combat.

According to the book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, Jack learned swordplay from an Italian fencing master in exchange for captured Chinese silk. He later "trained himself to shoot by taking aim at empty wine bottles tossed from the Black Pearl's deck rail."

Demeanor
Sparrow's trademark physical characteristic is a slightly drunken swagger, accompanied by slurred speech and awkwardly flailing hand gestures that make him appear unfocused.

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
Sparrow is particularly fond of rum. 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 he pulls out his pistol and is momentarily tempted to use his single shot on the oblivious woman. However, when Commodore Norrington spots the smoky cloud and rescues them, Jack grouses to himself, "There'll be no living with her after this." While aboard the Dauntless, Elizabeth accepts a previous marriage proposal made by Commodore Norrington. Upon hearing this, Jack exclaims "Wedding?! I love weddings! Drinks all around!" When Elizabeth boards the Pearl in Dead Man's Chest, Sparrow turns and whispers to Gibbs, "Hide the rum," fearing she will try to 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, "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 and an unusual compass.

Jack's sword is a hanger (a 17th and 18th century style of sabre), rather than a cutlass, the weapon preferred by most cinematic pirates. The sabre's longer blade allows him to keep his enemies a few inches further away than a cutlass.

In The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack carries a single barreled pistol given to by Barbossa when he maroons him. The weapon was made by and bears the name of a smith named "Perry." He does not use the pistol until the end of the film, having saved his only shot to kill Captain Barbossa. During his escape from the Turkish prison in Dead Man's Chest, he carries a double-barreled pistol. He later returns to his original, single barreled variant, using it to prove to Tia Dalma that the monkey is undead.

After his compass, 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 unwittingly picked up by nearby Turkish 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 sabre and attacking the monster.

Compass
Captain Jack's compass was obtained in a barter with Tia Dalma (as established in Dead Man's Chest). Rather than point north, its needle points to whatever the person holding it wants most. That can be treasure or other valuable items, but also a person or a geographical location. It works for anyone using it, but only if they know what they truly want. It will even work while lying untouched on the ground, if the possessor is nearby. When it fails to work properly for Jack, Tia explains that it is because he does not know what he truly wants, "or do you know but are loath to claim it as your own".

When Captain Jack Sparrow is arrested after saving Elizabeth Swann from drowning (in the first "Pirates" movie), Commodore Norrington searches through his possessions. Most of what he finds appears to be junk, including the compass that does not point north. In fact, the four geographical directions are not even specified on it.

Later, a hint of the compass' true nature is revealed. When Will notices Jack using the odd instrument to navigate through a storm, he asks Gibbs how they're supposed to find Isla de Muerta with a compass that doesn't work. Gibbs replies, "The compass doesn't point north. But we're not trying to find north, are we?" The compass points them to the island.

When Elizabeth discovers Lord Cutler Beckett wants Jack Sparrow's compass, she mistakenly believes he is searching for the treasure on Isla de Muerta and warns him about the cursed Aztec gold. However, Beckett says that the compass does not only point to Isla de Muerta and that there are "other chests of value in these waters." During the Kraken's attack, Jack deserts the Black Pearl and his shipmates in a longboat. He pauses a moment to look at his compass. Although it is not shown where the needle points, he returns to the ship and saves his crew.

Traits
Sparrow is a decent, if self-serving, man who adheres to the "Pirates' Code." He believes pirates can still be "good men," which was his evaluation of "Bootstrap" Bill Turner. 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 of the reasons his crew mutinied him.

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, after checking his compass, he chooses to return and saves his shipmates. What or who the magical compass was pointing towards is not established.

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 appears to be the first woman he is unable to forget. Interestingly, in the novelization of the second film, Jack tells Elizabeth that marriage is, "like a wager to see who will fall out of love first." As a youth, Jack unsuccessfully flirted with deadly mermaids and with Arabella, a crewmate on the 'Barnacle'. A mature Jack is more adept at sweeping ladies off their feet, although his conquests seem to have a sour memory of him. Former flames, Giselle and Scarlett, slap him or anyone looking for him. However, Tia Dalma, whom he apparently has a history with, is rather pleased to see him when he visits her, although Jack's anxiety 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 took 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 Sparrow's breath during later close encounters with him.

Catchphrases
Sparrow's most commonly used words and phrases include "savvy?" ("Understand?"), and "bugger" when something does not go according to plan. He makes repeated references to using someone or something as "leverage" and to waiting for "the opportune moment". "That's interesting", is used frequently as well.

Sparrow uses seemingly educated terms that are in fact nonsensical to the context. At the conclusion of The Curse of the Black Pearl, he utters the line, "I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually, ecumenically... grammatically". In Dead Man's Chest he tells Will, "Because the finding of this finds you incapacitorilly finding and/or locating in you discovering the detecting of a way to save your dolly belle, ol' what's-her-face. Savvy?" .

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow", is also used by him as a simple explanation of his cunning craftiness. When Barbossa asks how he escaped from the island they stranded him on, Jack responds, "You're forgetting one very important thing, mate - I'm Captain Jack Sparrow".

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 shortly after. It is also attempted to be used in the second movie, when he is escaping the Pelogosto natives.

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 practicing long hours with swords rather than courting ladies. In an effort to hide Will's identity, Jack tells Barbossa&mdash;and later Davy Jones&mdash;that Will has a "lovely singing voice" and is a soprano (making oblique reference to Castrati). While addressing the Pelogosto natives about the hog-tied Will, he refers to him by saying, "Eunuchy, snip-snip."

Another popular saying is "Why is the rum gone?" Jack asks this question twice after Elizabeth burns the rum to make a smoke signal in the first movie. In the second movie, after realizing his bottle of rum is empty, he asks, "Why is the rum always gone?"