The Lore of Calypso and Davey Jones in The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy

Growing up, one of my favorite movies of all time was the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. I grew up with Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann being my heroes and aspiring to be just as genius as Captain Barbossa or Jack Sparrow. One of my favorite stories within the franchise is the idea behind Calypso and Davy Jones.

According to what you can piece together from Dead man's chest, and At World's End, is that Calypso and Davy Jones were once lovers, and Calypso tasked Davy Jones with the job of taking souls lost at sea to the underworld, ten years at sea, and one day on shore, every ten years to be with her. Unfortunately for Davy Jones, she did not show up after the ten years, when asked why, she said "I am who I am."

Angry with her, many years before at the first brethren court, which is a gathering of the many pirate captains of the sea that Davy Jones showed them how to bind Calypso to human form so that the Captains could rule the sea.

In pain with love for Calypso, Davy Jones, carves out his heart and puts it in a chest, and whoever stabs the heart becomes the Captain of the Dutchman.

Curious about the appearance of Tia Dalma is how interested she is in Will Turner. When she first sees Will she announces that he has a 'Touch of Destiny' about him.

A Touch of Destiny: The Fate of a Son

Tia Dalma as the Goddess Calypso is privy to many secrets that belong to the sea. This is probably why she found herself becoming a witch-like creature, hiding in between the sea and the land. Forever doomed to be in one form. What is most important to note with Tia Dalma is what she doesn't say. She doesn't outright tell Will what his destiny is. She does however allow him to be led to the truth.

In a roundabout way, Jack actually leads him into his destiny by trapping him among the crewmen of The Flying Dutchman. This shows how deeply Disney plans their stories, as they put this whole idea of Will having a destiny between two movies. An ingenious way of telling a story, because in order to watch either of these movies you need to watch them in order to get the full story.

Throughout the film Dead Man's Chest, you learn more and more about Davy Jones, learning how he gets his crew, and more about how to defeat him with the chase to find his heart between Jack's crew, Will meeting his father, and becoming entranced with the idea of saving the father he had never gotten to know. A fate that ends up befalling his own son, Henry in the fifth movie of the franchise.

One of my favorite scenes of Dead Man's Chest is when Davy Jones comes across Will Turner for the first time and seems almost offended at his presence.

"You are neither Dead nor Dying. What is your purpose here?" --Davy Jones

I think this is an important point here. According to the rules of Davy Jones, he cannot curse a man into service unless they are dying or dead. Will's father entered his service at the depths of the sea drowning from being tied to a barrel forcing him under the sea. Davy Jones cannot curse Will because he is not dead or dying. Will eventually win's over Jones in a game of chance, sealing his freedom while his father condemns himself to an eternity of servitude.

Will initially begins his journey wanting to save himself and Elizabeth from the gallows, where they have been condemned because of helping Jack, many months before. While Will is tricked by Jack, onto the Dutchman to find the key to take out the heart of Davy Jones, therefore, taking away Jack's debt. He of course meets his father there and finds himself wanting instead of saving Elizabeth to be crusading in undoing his father's foolish choice of being trapped an eternity of servitude on the Dutchman.

According to what Will's father explains in Dead man's chest, is that the 100 years of servitude you become more and more, a part of the ship. What Will and his father learn, is that the Dutchman needs a living heart, and if there's no Captain there's no one to have the key. This is how Will learns that Davy Jones has the key that he's looking for in the first place. As Tia Dalma tells Will once more in World's End, The Dutchman needs a Captain.

The Curse of Calypso

While Dead Man's Chest is full of a journey of trying to defeat the horrible Davy Jones and his foul beastie, At World's End, was supposedly in the service of saving Jack, but as you watch the movie, you figure out its less about saving Jack and more about saving the world from Cutler Beckett's hold against those of the Caribbean isles, and the sea. In the very first scene, the members of the gallows about to be hanged start to sing a shanty, the song, is something Cutler Beckett has clearly been waiting for. As are the many members of the pirate ships of the sea.

As Tia Dalma, Barbossa, and Elizabeth state to both Jack Sparrow and the leader of Singapore, Sao Feng, 'The Song has been sung'. The song hails a gathering of pirate lords to form the Brethren Court. The ones that were responsible for cursing Calypso to human form. Beckett while he doesn't know what exactly the court is gathering for, he needs them to gather so he can defeat all the pirate lords and forever eradicate piracy from the Caribbean Isles.

Barbossa has had one plan throughout the movie. He claims that the song has been sung and that the nine pirate lords must convene and release Calypso. Throughout the movie, he is found to be searching for the pieces of eight of the nine lords. He went all the way to the End of the World, and the world beyond to bring Jack back from his watery grave all for his piece of eight. While Calypso is indeed returned to her godly form, she seems to not be interested in helping anyone, after Will tells her who is the one who showed the Brethren court how to curse her.

Ironically her disappearance opens up a whirlpool, which doesn't recede until Davy Jones is bested by Jack in the form of Will. I think that Calypso caused the whirlpool so that Davy Jones could be defeated. Because it wasn't until he is defeated that the pirate lords have a chance to defeat Cutler Beckett. Calypso was the one who said Will had a Touch of Destiny. I think she knew the entire time, that Will would one day take Davy Jone's place.