[Name]: Silas
[Age]: 22
[Contacts]:
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capriciously_wayward♦ AIM: brobdignagian713
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[Timezone]: -5 CST
[Other Characters]: N/A
[Name]: Jack Sparrow
[Canon]: Pirates of the Caribbean
[Age]: 40's
[Gender]: Male
[Canon Point]: Post-Dead Man's Chest.
[History]:
I wrote out a history for Jack Sparrow. It's about seven pages long, and you can find that here.
Or, if you prefer, you can go to the Pirates Wikia, over here.
[Personality]:
aka, Twenty Essential Things You Need To Know About Captain Jack Sparrow
The very first and most important thing you need to know about Captain Jack Sparrow is his massive ego and vanity. And by vanity, I don’t mean that he cares about what he looks like or what other people think of him or that he puts any effort into his personal hygiene because that is, in fact, the exact opposite of the truth. What I mean is that Jack has made quite the name for himself, mostly around the Spanish Main, but extending outward to include the entire world as well. And Jack is very, very proud of the reputation he’s earned throughout the years.
He prides himself on being a captain, demanding that everyone he meets address him as such. He’s also gained the prestigious title of Pirate Lord, one that he worked for and rightfully earned, unlike certain people who will not be mentioned
And, somewhere along the way, Jack started trying to make his own name a thing. He honestly believes his name is that big and therefore is honestly insulted when people don’t automatically equate “Captain Jack Sparrow” with “able to do the impossible.”
Keep trying, Jack. Maybe one day it will work.
The second thing is the amount of pure ambition Jack possesses. Assisted by his compass, which points in the direction of the thing you want most, Jack almost always knows what he wants, and what goal he needs to accomplish in order to achieve the thing he wants. When he was young, his ultimate goal for his entire life was to gain the title of Captain. A goal that he achieved by the age of 25, which is fairly young for that time.
But his ambition extends to more things than childhood dreams. Whether it’s getting revenge, finding treasure, escaping jail or defying impossible odds, when Jack Sparrow wants something… his mind is made up and there is absolutely no changing it.
The third thing and, going hand in hand with ambition is Jack’s single-minded determination. He doesn’t do anything half-way – I’m fairly certain he actually does not know how to do something without giving it his all. When he has a goal, he doesn’t let anything detract him from that goal. And, if you try, you will find yourself: dead, manipulated, manipulated and then double crossed, or removed from the situation entirely. This is a trait that has served him swell over the years. His determination and refusal to let thing lay constantly leads him to saying the exact right thing and the exact right time and gives the impression, in Jack’s opinion, that the world bends to his will.
For example, when Jack mentions the Black Pearl to Murtogg and Mullroy in the beginning of Curse of the Black Pearl, it’s nothing more than an off-handed comment. They were talking about fast ships and his ship, the ship he’s determined to get revenge for, happens to be the fastest ship in the Caribbean. However, after Elizabeth has been taken hostage, Murtogg and Mullroy (again, off-handedly) mention to Will Turner that Jack had mentioned the Black Pearl, the ship which had taken Elizabeth hostage. This, in turn, leads Will to breaking Jack out of jail and, ultimately, Jack achieving his goal of revenge.
While the world does not actually bend to Jack’s will, that single-minded determination and focus certainly doesn't hurt.
Because of the previous ambition and determination, Jack found himself with the title of Captain at the age of 25. Which leads us to the fourth thing, Jack’s quality of being a natural leader. Being captain of a ship is akin to being the president of a democratic group of people. If the pirates sailing under them decide that their captain is unfit to do his job, they can, and will, mutiny against them.
(It should be noticed that, yes, while Jack has been mutinied and marooned as Captain, it was not as a result of his abilities as captain, but rather for personal reasons Barbossa held against Jack for several very long years.)
In all other aspects, Jack is a good captain. He doesn't panic under pressure, he doesn't needlessly sacrifice his crew, he makes smart, educated decisions that has in fact saved his crew from almost certain death, and he’s very aware of the limits that his crew, as well as his ship, can take, and acts accordingly. You could do a lot worse than having Jack Sparrow be captain of your ship.
The fifth thing is loyalty. An unusual trait for a pirate to have, but is nevertheless important to Jack Sparrow’s character as a whole. When Jack was a child, he had loyalty in spades, completely unjaded from the world. But, as he grew up, the loyalty he had for other people faded away, a direct result of the loyalty other people had for him all but disappearing. But that doesn’t mean Jack’s loyalty died away, because while it might be hidden under layers upon layers, it’s still very much present.
A good example of this would be in Dead Man’s Chest, when Davy Jones told Jack he had three days to sacrifice one hundred people, or else he would be dragged to Davy Jones’ Locker by the kraken. And not once -- not once -- did Jack ever consider sacrificing Gibbs or his crew in order to save his skin. And, when Jack was making his way to Isla Cruces, the island where the heart of Davy Jones was buried, he left those he was most loyal to on his ship, including Gibbs and Marty and Cotton. Jack had several opportunities to sacrifice his crew for his own benefit and time and time again, he proved his loyalty to those who were loyal to him.
The sixth thing is the amount of charm Jack has. Even Cutler Beckett admitted that Jack is more charming than anyone else he knows. The presence and aura that Jack gives off, the smile he has and the words he speaks, definitely endear him to you before anything else. He gives off a vibe of being harmless and trustworthy that anyone is likely to fall for and, in reality, most do. He walks with confidence and self-assurance that make you either want to be exactly like him or be his best friend.
And, worst of all, Jack knows it. He’s very well aware of his charm and plays it up whenever possible. He sweeps ladies off their feet, and he has successfully pulled off the impersonation of Lords, judges and clergymen. It is a trait he uses to his advantage whenever possible.
The seventh thing is a little contradictory in and of itself. Because while Jack has no formal education whatsoever, having been raised by pirates who do not place importance upon such things, Jack is actually quite intelligent. He owns a collection of books, some given to him by his father, some he obtained on his own – including a book of mythological pirate lore and various books by Shakespeare.
And because he does, in fact, know how to read (which is, again, impressive for the time), his vocabulary is extremely impressive as well. He commonly uses words like egregious and miscreants. He is also very well-traveled, having been around the world, from Africa to Asia, to the Americas to the Caribbean. This results in him knowing the cultural traditions of the various countries he’s been to, and he adopts them onto his person as needed.
The eight thing is his improvisational skills. “Do you think he plans it out, or just makes it up as he goes along?” Lieutenant Groves was not the first, nor would he be the last, person to ask that question of Jack Sparrow. And the answer is simple. While some pirates like to stop and think out long, drawn out plans
How do I know? Well, Jack says so. In On Stranger Tides, Jack flat out admits to improvising everything his does. But it also becomes clear in At World’s End. Jack, having just returned from Davy Jones’ Locker, comes up with and follows through with an extremely vague plan – get on the Flying Dutchman and stab the heart of Davy Jones – that was made up the very moment Cutler Beckett told Jack where the heart of Davy Jones was.
He can think on his feet extremely well and... I would give various examples but I would end up citing all four movies because nothing, nothing Jack does is ever planned out.
The ninth thing and, going along with improvisation, is Jack’s spatial awareness. He keeps a watchful eye on the things and the people around him at all times, just in case something happens and he needs to make a quick escape. This, combined with Jack’s expense knowledge of what ships need and how they run, a working knowledge of the laws of physics, and his own limitations, give him more than enough ability to get out of any situation.
Examples of this include Jack using the rigging from both the Flying Dutchman and the Endeavor in order to escape being surrounded by enemies. Throwing himself off the battlement in Curse of the Black Pearl to avoid capture by Norrington. Making a parachute from things lying around on the defeated and abandon Flying Dutchman. And, devising an escape route within seconds of being imprisoned and brought before King George.
The tenth thing is his extremely poor judge of character. Despite whatever Jack himself thinks, he is simply not a good judge of other people.
• The first instance of this was when he was just a teenager. Having run away from home and obtaining a fishing boat named the Barnicle, Jack went on a myriad of adventures. But, at the end of those adventures, the only one who hadn’t gone his separate way was a boy named Fitzwilliam. Being the only one left, naturally, Jack trusted him. However, Fitzwilliam was only manipulating Jack, having aligned himself with the Royal Navy and the East India Trading Company in an attempt to capture Jack’s father. Naturally, it failed, but it taught him a lesson – that maybe you can’t trust everyone you meet.
• The second instance is when Jack was in his early 20s. He’d met a man named Christophe, and they became fast friends. Christophe helped Jack improve his sword fighting, they drank together, and they even had plans to go treasure hunting together. But, when Christophe was accused of being one of the rouge pirates that weren’t abiding by the Code and killing off other pirates, Jack couldn’t believe it. Loyal to his best friend, Jack broke him out of jail. However, Christophe was one of the rouge pirates and, in his thanks, he kidnapped Jack upon his ship and forced him to become a rogue as well.
• And the last instance is, perhaps the most well-known betrayal of all -- Hector Barbossa. The two pirates had met briefly, before Jack was kidnapped onto Christophe’s ship. The next five years, Jack and Hector had no contact, until he showed up in Tortuga with his status as a Pirate Lord, the Black Pearl and in need of a crew. And there he found Barbossa, who just happened to be shipless. And so, Jack did what everyone else would have done – he employed Barbossa as his First Mate.
What Jack didn’t know was that Barbossa had a grudge on him that was five years in the making. Two years serving under Jack, Barbossa comes up to him, asking for the coordinates of the Treasure of Cortes. Since everything should be shared between Captain and First Mate, Jack gave them up. That night, he found himself mutinied and marooned, left on a deserted island left to die.
But despite all of these things that Jack’s had to put up with over the years, the eleventh thing you need to know about Jack Sparrow is that he is not prone to anger. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel anger because Jack is, in fact, a human being and feels all the things that normal humans do. But it takes a lot to truly anger Jack and, when he is angry, he has a tendency of not showing it. The closest thing to actual anger we get from Jack are in Curse of the Black Pearl and On Stranger Tides.
In the first movie, what pushes Jack over the edge is Elizabeth Swann, the evil dragon woman who had burned all the rum on the deserted island they were stranded on. I mean, really what kind of person does that? But even when he’s obviously enraged and actually considering shooting her, he doesn’t raise his voice, and he even has enough rationalization to walk off before he does something he knows he’ll regret. And then, when Elizabeth’s stupid plan ends up stupidly working, his anger legitimately disappears.
In the last movie, it was Barbossa that drove Jack into a murderous rage.
The twelfth thing and, in the same vein, while Jack doesn’t outwardly show his anger, he does hold grudges. The most obvious example of this trait is, again, Barbossa. When Barbossa had mutinied and marooned him, Jack devoted the next ten years of his life to getting revenge. Because, not only did Barbossa leave him to die on a deserted island, be he also stole his ship.
There is a list of thing that are Okay and Not Okay for pirates to do to one another in the Golden Age of Piracy. And, stealing a man’s ship and leaving him to die – let alone stealing the Black Pearl from Jack Sparrow -- well. That’s on the top of the Not Okay list. Revenge was only a matter of time.
Speaking of time, the thirteenth thing, and another trait you wouldn’t expect Jack Sparrow to have, is patience. This is, once again, shown by Jack’s revenge scheme for Barbossa. After all it did take him ten years for him to track down Barbossa, confront him, and extract his revenge.
It was a good thing he waited, too. Because, up until the end of that time, he had been completely oblivious to the fact that the Aztec Gold had been actually cursed. If he had tracked down Barbossa and shot him within a year, it wouldn’t have worked at all because Barbossa wasn’t alive.
This trait is also shown in At World’s End when Jack’s plan to get on board the Flying Dutchman took him the entire movie to accomplish. And not once did Jack get frustrated that his plan was taking so long, or get impatient. No, he stuck to his plan, as vague as it was, and remained confident that it would work if he gave it enough time and waited for exactly the opportune moment.
The fourteenth thing is Jack’s ability to keep his promises. Whether it’s promising himself he would get revenge, promising a pharaoh to return a magical bracelet to his homeland, promising a magical princess that he would return her to her kingdom, or promising Will Turner they would save Elizabeth Swann, Jack always keeps his word.
And, unlike certain pirates
The fifteenth thing is an obvious trait, considering I’ve been writing about Jack Sparrow. He’s selfish. After all, he can’t exactly afford to be anything else. It became increasingly obvious to him throughout his life that the only person he could count on time and time again to watch out for himself… is himself. And so, Jack doesn’t exactly pay a lot of attention to the needs of the people around him, since he knows for certain that they aren’t paying attention to his.
A good example of his is in Dead Man’s Chest. When Will and Elizabeth separately come to him, saying they need his help, because Elizabeth is imprisoned and Will has been press-ganged, Jack completely disregards what their motivations and goals could be, in favor of focusing on his own.
The sixteenth thing is his penchant for manipulation. Despite his previously mentioned poor judgment, Jack does have a basic understanding of other people. Add that together with his talent with words and his charm and, really, manipulation is easy.
The best example of his is the entire move of Dean Man’s Chest. It really shows just how often and how easy it is for Jack to manipulate everyone around him. Jack manipulated Will Turner, using him to find the key for the chest of Davy Jones. He manipulated Elizabeth, using her to find the chest of Davy Jones. And he even manipulated Davy Jones himself, finding a loophole in the deal they had made thirteen years previous, and exploiting it as much as he could.
The seventeenth thing is the fact that Jack has a moral code. Unlike Barbossa, who has a reputation for being known as “The man so evil Hell itself spat him back out,” with a distinct lack of a moral code, Jack does have things he believes in and he will fight for them. The most important of which are these:
• Jack doesn’t kill anyone unless they have offended him personally. It’s what kept him from killing Will Turner when they were dueling each other when they first met. It’s what caused him to lose interest in the Fountain of Youth in On Stranger Tides, once he found out it required a sacrifice in order to the ritual to work. It’s what stopped him from taking the deal Davy Jones had given to him in Dead Man’s Chest, because he would have needed one hundred souls to exchange for his own.
• Jack believes that people are people. An impressive ideology at the time, he does not discriminate against race, color or gender. After all, Jack, possibly more than anyone else, is well aware of just how frightening and skilled woman can be. But also, when he was 25 and working under Cutler Beckett in the East India Trading Company, Beckett proposed a deal. If Jack would transport slaves, Beckett would let Jack buy his ship – the Wicked Wench and soon to be Black Pearl -- for one shilling. But Jack simply could not go through with it. He released the slaves on an island that Beckett could not find. For his good deed, Jack was imprisoned and then branded a pirate.
The eighteenth thing is that he, like all other pirates, is nostalgic. There is a purpose for all the beads and jingles in his hair, as well as the dangles on his belt and the fabric around his wrists. Every single one of them are souvenirs from his adventures, every single one has a different story to tell about the things Jack have done, the places he’s been or the people he was with. It’s very much the same with his tattoos that are spread all over his person, and the scars he’s acquired over the years.
The most obvious souvenirs that Jack has is the tattoo of a sparrow flying in the sunrise and the ‘P’ brand that are on his right forearm, as well as the shinbone from a reindeer and his piece of eight that are tied into his hair. There are many, many more, and every single is as important as the last. His whole life story is there, hidden upon the folds of his clothes.
The nineteenth thing is the fact that Jack is overly personal. Things like personal space and formalities are things he honestly does not grasp the concept of. Whenever he stands next to someone, no matter who it is -- pirate, navy, friend or foe -- he stands close, inside their person bubble and simply doesn’t understand that it could be an issue. He pokes and prods at people and simply cannot keep his hands to himself.
But that’s not limited to people. Oh no, Jack also pokes away at anything he can whenever he enters a room, looking through drawers, opening lids and peeking in cabinets. It’s mostly due to his insatiable curiosity, but also because he believes if there were truly something that would be worth hidden, it wouldn't be out in the open and, anything that is in plain sight, is available for him to steal.
But his overly personal nature doesn’t end there. He calls everyone he meets by their first names: Will, Elizabeth, Hector, whether they want to be called by their first name or not. It’s something that’s strictly limited to Jack Sparrow, and something, on some level, he's aware he does. When he impersonates the judge on On Stranger Tides and he’s impersonating a lord in his youth, he knows when to use the proper titles of people. But when Jack Sparrow is Jack Sparrow, all bets are off.
And finally, the last, twentieth and perhaps the other most important thing you need to know about Jack Sparrow is this. It’s the idea he cherishes the most -- freedom. Ever since he was a child, living in Shipwreck Cove, Jack has always coveted the idea of being free. An ideal that was completely backed up by the Pirate’s Code, Jack took the idea and ran with it, using it to justify his running away from home.
When he was a teenager, going on his numerous adventures, he ran into a group of mermaids. These mermaids were dangerous, because with their song, they made you act out your strongest desires. Thankfully, Jack was immune and was able to save the rest of his crew because Jack’s strongest desire? Is freedom.
It’s what he equates with the Black Pearl, it’s what he equates with being a pirate. After all, for Jack Sparrow, being a pirate is less about pillaging and plundering and rifling and looting. It’s about being able to do what you want, when you want, and never having to answer to anyone but yourself. It’s about being a pirate. And, more than anything else, Jack Sparrow loves being a pirate.
[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]:
Abilities
→ Jack Sparrow is the best shot in the entire series. This is a hard-earned ability, having taught himself how to shoot by throwing empty rum bottles into the sky and off the edge of his father’s ship when he was a boy. It’s served him quite well over the years, for each movie has an instance where Jack has to make one single shot count, and pulling it off perfectly.
• In Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack shot Barbossa before he could shoot Will, and exactly when the curse was lifted.
• In Dead Man’s Chest, Jack shot a barrel of falling gunpowder in order to injure the kraken.
• In At World’s End, Jack shot the chest out of Davy Jones’ hand. While swinging on a rope around the mast.
→ Jack is actually the most experienced sword fighter. Having been independent and taking care of himself from an early age, Jack has a good amount of skill will a sword, managing to keep up with every other sword fighter in the series. However, he is not the best sword fighter. In fact, he ranks behind Will Turner (1st), Norrington and Barbossa (tied for 2nd). He has been disarmed and lost every major battle he has been in, which leaves him the option of having to fight dirty and cheating.
Weakness
→ Jack’s moral code. I’ve gone into detail in the personality section, but here it is, plain and simple: Jack doesn’t kill people who don’t deserve it, and he thinks of people as people. Both of those things have gotten Jack in trouble, whether it’s branded a pirate, or imprisoned.
→ Jack’s honest streak. Whether you believe it or not, Jack does tell the truth the majority of the time. And, just as often as Jack’s moral code gets him in trouble, so does his honest streak, plaguing him at the worst possible times or, in a bit of reverse karma, coming around to bite him in the ass.
→ Jack’s loyalty. If you happen to be on the very short list of people that Jack Sparrow cares about, and you truly need help, he will give it. Of course, this goes hand and hand with…
→ Jack’s poor judge of character. Many a time, Jack has gotten screwed over because someone whom he thought was his friend, truly was not He’s nearly gotten himself killed, numerous times, because of a combination of these two traits.
→ Jack’s selfishness. All of his actions are to the benefit of himself and himself alone because, truly, if he doesn’t watch out for himself, no one else will. This makes it a bit hard for Jack to make friends, seeing as the people he meet usually end up manipulated for his own means.
→ Jack’s fear of death. It’s the one thing he truly fears. Jack will go to extreme lengths, including making a deal with Davy Jones himself, in order to get out of death. Dying only increased that fear and Jack then spent the next two movies -- At World’s End and On Stranger Tides -- trying to find the key to immortality.
[Limited Powers]:
Jack Sparrow is, to his unending displeasure, only human. He has tried several times to gain immortality, but each time circumstances have prevented him from becoming The Immortal Captain Jack Sparrow. He's very aware that he's going to die -- in fact, he already has! However... he knows next time he won't be as lucky. And while he'll plan on doing everything he can to gain immortality, he is still only human and can only do so much.
[Other Important Facts]:
[Samples]:
♦ Thread: Test Sail Link
♦ Post:
[ Jack's handwriting is hard to read, slanted and, perhaps, the exact definition of chicken scratch. ]
Weren’t the Locker supposed to be worse than this?
Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t complaining. An ocean, ships for sail (Not the Pearl, but she’s gotta be here somewhere), treasure to be found, islands to explore. Sounds great.
A little too good to be true, if you ask me. After all that build up about the Locker being a place of torture and punishment and the worst fate a person could ask for…
If this truly be the Locker, mark my words. Things ain’t gonna stay this pleasant forever.
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