Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Encyclopedia
Davy Jones is a fictional character and antagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)
Pirates of the Caribbean is a series of fantasy-adventure films directed by Gore Verbinski and Rob Marshall , written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

 series. Davy Jones is the captain of the Flying Dutchman (based on the feared ghost ship of the same name featured in nautical lore), roaming the seas in search of souls to serve upon his vessel for a century. In the story, his original purpose was to carry souls of those who died at sea from this world to the next on his vessel. He was charged with this duty by his one true love, a sea goddess named Calypso. For every ten years at sea he could spend one day ashore to be with her. Ten years after first being charged with the duty, Jones prepared to be reunited with his true love on land, but became enraged and saddened when she did not show. Unable to deal with Calypso's betrayal, he ripped out his heart and placed it in a chest, burying it on land. This chest became known as the Dead Man's Chest, the primary object being sought after in the second film. Jones then abandoned his duties, and instead ruled the seas as a tyrant
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...

 with a damned crew bound by oath to serve aboard the Dutchman for one hundred years each. Bound to the duties of the Flying Dutchman both he and his crew slowly transformed into sea monsters.

The computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 used to complete Jones was highly praised, with Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

 naming him as the second most convincing computer generated film character in film history, only behind King Kong
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...

 from the 2005 film adaptation
King Kong (2005 film)
King Kong is a 2005 fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a remake of the 1933 film of the same name and stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody. Andy Serkis, through performance capture, portrays Kong....

. The work on Davy Jones by Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...

 earned them the 2006
79th Academy Awards
The 79th Academy Awards ceremony , honored the best films of 2006 and took place on February 25, 2007 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC. Ellen DeGeneres hosted the ceremony for the first time. The producer was Laura Ziskin. The announcers were Don LaFontaine and Gina Tuttle.The nominees were...

 Academy Award for Visual Effects
Academy Award for Visual Effects
The Academy Award for Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects.-History of the award:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects to movies at its inaugural dinner in 1928, presenting a...

 for Dead Man's Chest.

The character is based on the legendary devil of the seas
Davy Jones' Locker
Davy Jones's Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea: the state of death among drowned sailors. It is used as an euphemism for death at sea ....

 with the same name according to superstition among sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Conception and creation


Before officially casting Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...

, producers also met with Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...

, Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...

 and Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...

 for the role.

Like the entire crew of the Flying Dutchman (except "Bootstrap Bill"), Davy Jones's physical appearance is completely 3-D computer-generated
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

. Nighy's performance was recorded using motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...

 during actual filming on the set, with Nighy wearing several markers in both a grey suit and his face, rather than in a studio during post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...

. Nighy also wore make-up around his eyes, since the original plan was to use his real eyes, if necessary to get the proper lighting, in the digital character; he also wore make-up on his lips and around his mouth, to assist in the motion capture of his character's Scottish accent. Briefly during the third film, Jones appears as a human for a single scene, played by Nighy in costume. Several reviewers have in fact mistakenly identified Nighy as wearing prosthetic makeup
Prosthetic makeup
Prosthetic makeup is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects...

 due to the computer-generated
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 character's photorealism
Photorealism
Photorealism is the genre of painting based on using the camera and photographs to gather information and then from this information creating a painting that appears photographic...

.

Design and appearance

Davy Jones' physique was designed by the films' producers to be a mixture of various aquatic flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

 features. Jones' most striking feature is his cephalopod
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...

-like head, with octopus-like tentacles giving the illusion of a thick beard. Throughout the films, Jones uses the tentacles of his "beard" like fingers to manipulate objects, such as the Dead Man's Chest key (he shows this during a game of Liar's Dice
Liar's dice
Liar's dice, or Liar dice, with roots originating in South America and popularized in early Spanish History, was brought to Spain by the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro during the 16th century. It became extremely popular in Hong Kong and consequencially China...

), his hat (when his ship submerges), and the keys of his vast pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

; while dueling Captain Jack Sparrow
Captain Jack Sparrow
Jack Sparrow is a fictional character and the central protagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series created by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, portrayed by Johnny Depp. He is first introduced in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl...

 in the climactic maelstrom
Maelstrom
A maelstrom is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water. A free vortex, it has considerable downdraft. The power of tidal whirlpools tends to be exaggerated by laymen. There are virtually no stories of large ships ever being sucked into a maelstrom, although smaller craft are in...

 battle sequence of the third film, he waves, wags, wiggles all of his "beard-tentacles" at once while screaming in frightening fashion in an effort to scare Sparrow. A prominent sac bulges from under the back of his barnacle-encrusted tricorne
Tricorne
The tricorne or tricorn is a style of hat that was popular during the 18th century, falling out of style by 1800. At the peak of its popularity, the tricorne was worn as civilian dress and as part of military and naval uniforms...

. Jones' face lacks a nose, and instead has one short, hollow tentacle called a siphon (on the left side of his face) that acts as part of his respiratory system, capable of inhaling and exhaling, which is seen in the second film as he smokes his pipe. It is revealed in the bonus features of the Special Edition DVD that the face's color was partly inspired by a coffee-stained styrofoam cup which was then scanned into ILM's computers to be used as the skin. The character of Davy Jones has also a crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

-style claw for his left arm, a long tentacle
Tentacle
A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...

 in place of the index finger on his right hand, and the right leg of a crab (resembling a pegleg
Pegleg
A pegleg is a prosthesis, more specifically an artificial limb of carved wood fitted to the remaining stump of a human leg, as often seen in pirate movies...

). He also speaks with a clearly distinguishable, albeit thick, Scottish accent that's slightly altered to account for his lack of a nose, and presumably, a nasal cavity and/or sinuses. Originally, director Gore Verbinski
Gore Verbinski
Gregor "Gore" Verbinski is an American film director, writer and musician. He is best known for directing the films The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Rango.-Early life:...

 wanted Jones to be Dutch, as he is the captain of the "Dutch-man". Nighy however responded, "I don't do Dutch. So I decided on Scottish." Nighy later revealed that Scottish sitcom Still Game
Still Game
Still Game is a Scottish sitcom, produced by The Comedy Unit with the BBC. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who play the lead characters - two Glaswegian pensioners, named Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade respectively....

 influenced his choice of accent, stating: "I had to find an accent no one else had. Although Alex Norton is Scottish, mine was slightly different. We wanted something that was distinctive and authoritative...I have seen Still Game and I am a fan. The sort of extremity of the accent was inspired in that area."

In At World's End, Jones briefly appears as his original, human self during his final personal encounter with Tia Dalma
Tia Dalma
Tia Dalma, played by Naomie Harris, is a fictional character from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and a primary character in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, in which a significant amount of the plot revolves around her and her powers...

. It was revealed in this same scene that Jones' mutation was a curse he brought on himself by breaking his oath to ferry lost souls to World's End.

Background

Davy Jones was born in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

; nothing is known about his youth. He fell madly in love with Calypso, the "heathen god[dess]" of the sea who gave him the charge of ferrying souls
Psychopomp
Psychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage...

 who died at sea to the "other side," Fiddler's Green
Fiddler's Green
Fiddler's Green is a legendary imagined afterlife, where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire...

. Calypso gave Davy Jones the Flying Dutchman to accomplish this task. Her reason for this is unknown. She swore that after ten years she would meet him and they would spend one day together before he returned to his duties. He kept to his charge for ten years, knowing he would see his love again. Calypso however, after those ten years, failed to show up because of her capricious nature, which had drawn Jones to her in the first place. Enraged and heartbroken, Jones turned the Pirate Brethren against her, saying that if she were removed from the world
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

, they would be able to claim the seas for themselves. They assembled in the First Brethren Court and Jones taught them how to imprison her into her human bonds (Tia Dalma); the Court agreed with him to imprison her forever.

Jones then proceeded to rip out his heart and place it in the "Dead Man's Chest". Containing a powerful lock, the Chest was sealed and placed within a larger wooden chest along with Jones' numerous love letters to Calypso and all other items having to do with her, except his matching musical locket. This was then buried on Isla Cruces
Geography of Pirates of the Caribbean
This is a complete list of islands and other locations in the Pirates of the Caribbean films series. Some locations in the series of films are real, others are fictional...

, a plague island. Jones then departed, keeping his unique double-stemmed key to the Chest with him at all times. Since then, Jones has abandoned his post and sailed the seas, making deals and doing as he pleased. Though immortal, his disregard for his duty brought punishment, mutating him into a parody of humanity, and with him, his ship, and whomsoever served on it. His crew is lured into service by the notion that they can forestall their "final judgment" for 100 years by serving aboard the Dutchman, however, they don't know that they will slowly mutate into creatures like Jones until they are essentially barnacles on the ship's hull, ultimately useless. The lore of the "feared Flying Dutchman" begins as Jones' eerie ship sailed about destroying ships to recruit for crew. With his supernatural power, he becomes ruler of the oceans' realm and comes to command the Kraken, a feared mythological sea monster.

In the book series
Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow
Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow is a series for young readers of nine to twelve years written by Rob Kidd. The series is published by Disney Press and was written to go with the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The events in the series take place before the events in the movies. The books...

 about Jack Sparrow's earlier adventures, Davy Jones shows interest in the Sword of Cortes, also sought by Jack. He is a minor character, but finally appears in the cliff-hanger ending to book 7 as Jack and his crew encounter the Flying Dutchman.

Jones also appears in the prequel book
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom is a 2011 adventure novel written by Ann C. Crispin. The book details the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow as a young man after the events of Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow and before the events of Pirates of the Caribbean: Legends of the...

 about Jack's first years as a captain. He helps the Brethren Court to identify the traitor among them, who turns out to be Borya Palachnik, the Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. After Cutler Beckett
Cutler Beckett
Lord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character portrayed by Tom Hollander in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He appears as a main antagonist in Dead Man's Chest and in At World's End...

 sank Jack Sparrow's ship, the Wicked Wench
Black Pearl
The Black Pearl, originally Wicked Wench, is a fictional ship in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. In the screenplay, the Black Pearl is easily recognized by her distinctive black hull and sails. The ship was originally named Wicked Wench before she was ordered burned and sunk by Lord Beckett...

, Davy Jones approaches Sparrow with a deal: Jones will raise the Wench back from Davy Jones' Locker
Davy Jones' Locker
Davy Jones's Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea: the state of death among drowned sailors. It is used as an euphemism for death at sea ....

, allowing Sparrow to be captain for 13 years if Sparrow agrees to serve on the Dutchman for 100 years.

Dead Man's Chest

The character of Captain Davy Jones is introduced in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006); the time now being 13 years later, he seeks to claim Sparrow's soul. It becomes clear that Jack Sparrow and Cutler Beckett are after the Dead Man's Chest and its key; one to buy time against Jones and the other to secure Jones' power over the seas (respectively). After several events (none including Jones), Sparrow and the Black Pearl arrive at what seems to be the Flying Dutchman, but is really a merchant ship destroyed by the Kraken. The real Dutchman rises from the sea and captures the men on board, including Will Turner
Will Turner
William "Will" Turner, Jr. is a central character in the first three titles of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He is played by Orlando Bloom . Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal...

, who was tricked there by Sparrow. Jones makes his first appearance as he approaches the fearful crew and asks, "Do you fear death?", his catchphrase. After one frightened sailor answers that he will serve, Jones responds mockingly, his crew then proceeding to laugh. He realises that Will is on the ship because of Jack and, after spotting Sparrow on the overlooking Pearl, he teleports
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...

 to the ship. Jones confronts Sparrow about their expired deal, and refuses to accept Jack's excuse that he was only captain for two years until Barbossa
Hector Barbossa
Hector Barbossa is a fictional character and pirate in the Disney film series Pirates of the Caribbean. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the main antagonist of the first film, and pirate captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack...

's mutiny, stating that he was "a poor captain, but a captain nonetheless", and also reminds him of his constant self-introduction as "Captain Jack Sparrow". Jack strikes up a deal with Jones; Jack will be spared enslavement on the Dutchman if he brings Jones one hundred souls to replace his own within the next three days. Jones accepts, removes the black spot
Black Spot (Treasure Island)
The Black Spot is a literary device invented by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel Treasure Island. In the book, pirates are presented with a "black spot" to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgment. It consists of a circular piece of paper or card, with one side blackened while the...

 from Jack's hand, and retains Will, keeping him as a "good faith payment."
While on the Dutchman, Will challenges Jones at a game of liar's dice, the purpose of which was to find out where Jones hides the key to the Chest. The stakes for which they gambled were Will's soul for an eternity of service, against the key to the Dead Man's Chest. Although Will was saved by his losing father, Bootstrap Bill, Jones did give Will a glimpse of where he kept the key to the Chest. The next morning, Jones realizes the key is gone and summons the Kraken to destroy the ship carrying Turner, forcing Bootstrap Bill Turner to watch the scene; the Dutchman then sails to Isla Cruces to stop Sparrow from getting the Chest.

Arriving, Jones sent his crew to retrieve the Chest; they return to him with it. The Dutchman then goes after the Black Pearl, and shoots at the Pearl but is outrun anyway and pretends to give up. Jones summons the Kraken instead and it attacks the ship, finally pulling it down onto Davy Jones' Locker along with Jack Sparrow as Jones surveys. He afterwards opens the Chest only to find his heart missing, it having been taken by James Norrington. Shocked and believing that Jack Sparrow took the heart with him to Davy Jones' Locker, he screams "Damn you, Jack Sparrow!"

At World's End

Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...

 returns as Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, now being under the control of Cutler Beckett for the use of the East India Trading Co. Beckett threatens to have his men shoot Jones' heart should he disobey, knowing that if the heart is destroyed, Jones will die. The Flying Dutchman is ordered to roam the seas in search of pirate ships to destroy, which it does without mercy, much to Beckett's annoyance who needs prisoners to interrogate. Mercer, a henchman of Beckett's, names Jones "a loose cannon". To ensure Jones would obey, Beckett also ordered him to kill the Kraken in case he attempted to use it against him and the East India Trading Co. Lord Beckett afterwards orders Jones to seek and attack the Pirate Lord, Sao Feng; Jones subsequently kills Sao and captures Elizabeth Swann
Elizabeth Swann
Elizabeth Swann is a major character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. She appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End...

, who had been named captain by Sao Feng upon his death. When Admiral James Norrington
James Norrington
James Norrington, CB is a fictional character in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He is played by English actor Jack Davenport.-Character history:...

 dies on board the Dutchman freeing prisoners, Jones claims Norrington's sword (originally crafted by Will Turner) after he attempted to kill Jones. Jones then attempts mutiny and has his men kill the Company's marines on the Flying Dutchman. However, Mercer organizes a defense on the Chest which includes Mullroy and Murtogg aiming a cannon at it, forcing Jones to continue under Beckett's service.
Beckett later summons Jones to his ship, the Endeavour, where Jones confronts Will Turner
Will Turner
William "Will" Turner, Jr. is a central character in the first three titles of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series produced by Walt Disney Pictures. He is played by Orlando Bloom . Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal...

 again and divulges the truth of his own story while learning of Jack Sparrow's escape from the Locker. The three men then plan to arrive at Shipwreck Cove.
Jones later confronts Calypso in her human shape of Tia Dalma, locked in the brig of the Black Pearl; here, the two former lovers engage in a poignant conversation wherein several crucial subplots between the two are revealed, such as the reasons for which Calypso did not meet him after Jones' first decade of service on the Flying Dutchman and the subsequent mutation of Davy Jones. Tia Dalma touches his chest, and Jones is briefly seen in his original human form (also portrayed by Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...

), which bears striking similarities to his grotesque appearance, including a long and full beard with multiple braids parallel to his facial tentacles. Jones, despite his attempts to hate her, seems unable to truly do so and instead tells her that his heart will always belong to her. Tia Dalma says that after her release, she will fully give her love to him and will help him fight the Brethren Court. However, Will Turner later reveals to her that Jones had revealed how to enslave her to the Brethren Court.

After the parlay between Beckett, Turner, and Jones with Swann, Hector Barbossa
Hector Barbossa
Hector Barbossa is a fictional character and pirate in the Disney film series Pirates of the Caribbean. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the main antagonist of the first film, and pirate captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack...

, and Sparrow, the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl sail into battle as flagships for their sides. A monstrous maelstrom
Maelstrom
A maelstrom is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water. A free vortex, it has considerable downdraft. The power of tidal whirlpools tends to be exaggerated by laymen. There are virtually no stories of large ships ever being sucked into a maelstrom, although smaller craft are in...

 (caused by the now-free Calypso) forms between them and both enter it, engaging in an epic battle. During the battle Jones kills Mercer and retrieves the key to the Chest. After Mercer is dead, he fights Jack Sparrow for his Chest – an intense sword fight atop the mast of the Dutchman. In the end of the battle, Jack acquires both the Chest and the key while Jones battles Will and Elizabeth. Jones quickly overpowers Elizabeth, and is subsequently impaled through the back by Will before he can finish her off. Undaunted, Jones bends the tip of Will's sword so he cannot remove it and kicks him aside; realizing their relationship, he holds Will at sword-point, asking if he fears death. At that moment, Jack appears, having acquired the heart, and taunts him in a desperate bid to save Will. Before Jack can stab the heart, Jones thrusts and twists his sword deep into Will's chest. Suddenly Will's father jumps upon Jones to fight him, but is quickly defeated. Moments later, Sparrow helps Turner put his hand on his broken sword and plunge it into Davy Jones' beating heart, mortally wounding him. Jones staggers backwards and looks up into the sky, in which a blast of lightning is visible. The heart stops beating and Jones then dies, his last word being "Calypso." He then tumbles backwards off the ship, and falls into the still raging maelstrom.

Personality

Davy Jones is a character written to be highly ruthless and sadistic particularly to his crew, believing that every human should suffer in the afterlife with much pain
Pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

. This is shown by his proclamation of "Life is cruel. Why should the afterlife be any different?!". In addition, though he often demands good faith and payment from those he makes deals with, Jones is treacherous and cannot be counted on to do the same. Despite Jones' vicious nature, his character has appeared to be deeply influenced by situations involving love and passion
Passion (emotion)
Passion is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something....

, as a result of the ruined relationship he had with Calypso, the sea goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....

, in the past. As revealed in At World's End, Jones' character fell madly in love with the goddess Calypso. His character's passionate nature is rarely shown to others, such as when he plays his theme on the pipe organ whilst shedding a single tear over Calypso and ultimately meeting her aboard the Black Pearl.

In the films, Jones possesses a locket that plays a distinguishable melody, and he is known to play the same melody on his pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

. This melody is also his character's theme, and can be heard throughout the film's score. It comes in two variations: The soundtrack version and the film version. The soundtrack version is never heard in its full splendor during the film (only in the end credits), and its melody is heard only in Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a 2006 adventure fantasy film and the second film of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, following Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl . It was directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and produced by...

. The film version is played in both films multiple times, and is heard last during the climax of the film. Because Jones and Calypso own matching locket musicboxes, Tia Dalma's theme is similar to that of Davy Jones, albeit in a different arrangement.

Powers and abilities

Davy Jones' character was given a large arsenal of supernatural abilities at his disposal. Though normally relying on the strength of his crew, ship, and the Kraken, Jones has proven quite powerful on his own. He is seen in At World's End as a brilliantly skilled swordsman and was able to break Jack Sparrow's sword with his crab-claw hand as well as defeat everybody that opposed him. Jones is capable of teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...

 on board the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl and can pass through solid objects, although he is never seen going through people. This ability to teleport was thought to be a plothole, as he is not seen to teleport to different ships during battle. When asked, the producers of Dead Man's Chest simply said that they noticed the plot hole as well, but chose to say that his teleportation skills only work at night-time.

Jones is immortal, capable of surviving injuries that would be fatal to mortals. However, he is not impervious to pain, as demonstrated when Jack was able to cut off some of his facial tentacles during their battle, causing a scream of anguish, as well as shouting in pain after Will impales him through the back. The severed tentacle, displaying both animation and loyalty to its master, later inched across the ship deck with the key to Jones' chest. Nonetheless, Jones does seem to have a large pain tolerance, as evidenced when he quickly recovered from the pain of Will's sword, even continuing to fight with the weapon stuck in his body, and was completely indifferent to being stabbed in the shoulder by a dying Norrington. Jones can also track any soul that is owed to him using the black spot
Black Spot (Treasure Island)
The Black Spot is a literary device invented by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel Treasure Island. In the book, pirates are presented with a "black spot" to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgment. It consists of a circular piece of paper or card, with one side blackened while the...

, which any member of his crew can mark a victim with, but only he can remove.

Davy Jones' character has only two real weaknesses: his inability to come on land, and his heart. Anyone who possesses his heart can "control" him by extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...

. Because he can only go on land once every decade, Davy Jones sends his crew to accomplish whatever task he needs done on land. However, in At World's End, Jones is seen on "land" (actually a sandbar in the middle of the ocean), standing in a bucket of water, which means that there may be several loopholes to this rule.

As Davy Jones was appointed by Calypso to be the one to use Flying Dutchman to ferry the souls of those who died at sea, he cannot die without a successor. This is expressed with the phrase "The Dutchman must have a captain", repeated over the course of the film, which means that whoever kills Davy Jones has to take his place as the new captain of the Flying Dutchman and ferry the lost souls to the other world. This position is eventually assumed by Will Turner.

Jones has also the power to control and call forth the Kraken, a sea monster which can destroy ships upon command by Jones and tracks down those marked with the Black Spot. It is also revealed in the third film that Jones thinks of the Kraken as a pet, and when Beckett
Cutler Beckett
Lord Cutler Beckett is a fictional character portrayed by Tom Hollander in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He appears as a main antagonist in Dead Man's Chest and in At World's End...

 forced to Jones to kill his beast, Jones display unease with Beckett's statement.

Merchandise

Davy Jones was part of Series One of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...

 set produced by NECA
National Entertainment Collectibles Association
The National Entertainment Collectibles Association or NECA is an American manufacturer of collectibles typically licensed from films, video-games, sports, music, and television based in New Jersey...

. Although the initial run of figures had a sticker on the box that proclaimed that the figure came with the Dead Man's Chest and Jones' heart, both props (as well as the key) were released with the Bootstrap Bill figure in Series Two. Jones also made an appearance as a smaller figure with crew members Angler, Wheelback and Penrod. Jones was issued as a plush toy as part of Sega's
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

 "Dead Man's Chest" plush assortment. Jones was also part of a 3 figure pack as a 3.75 inch figure with Hector Barbossa and a limited edition gold Jack Sparrow for At World's End. Davy Jones and his ship, the Flying Dutchman, were produced as a Mega Blocks set for the movies Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Although his minifigure counterpart in the Dead Man's Chest set has more bluish tentacles then his counterpart in the At World's End set, which has more greenish tentacles.

He will be made as a Lego minifigure in November 2011, with 4184 Black Pearl.

A children's and adult Halloween costumes were released for Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

 2007.

Davy Jones was released as a PEZ dispenser, along with Jack Sparrow and Will Turner.

Hot Toys
Hot Toys
Hot Toys is a Hong Kong based production house for designing, developing, and manufacturing highly detailed collectible merchandise to worldwide markets. Established in 2000, the company initially focused on producing 1/6 military special force gear set before extending to producing toys based on...

 also announced plans to make a 1:6 version of Davy Jones which became available Q2 2008, and is widely regarded as more detailed than those produced by NECA
National Entertainment Collectibles Association
The National Entertainment Collectibles Association or NECA is an American manufacturer of collectibles typically licensed from films, video-games, sports, music, and television based in New Jersey...

.

External links

  • Davy Jones at the Pirates of the Caribbean wiki
  • Davy Jones Music Box Forum with public questions & answers about Pirates of the Caribbean music boxes
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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