pirates
Two severed heads in Saint Martin.

Two severed heads in Saint Martin.

"And what of you? The mighty Blackbeard. Beheaded, they say. Still, your body swam three times around your ship, then climbed back onboard."
―Jack Sparrow to Blackbeard[src]

Decapitation was the total separation of the head from the body as capital punishment. Such an injury was inevitably fatal to humans and most animals, since it deprived the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs were deprived of the involuntary functions that were needed for the body to function. The term beheading referred to the act of deliberately decapitating a person, either as a means of murder or as an execution; it may be performed by an executioner with an axe, sword, or knife, or by mechanical means such as a guillotine. Less commonly, decapitation could also refer to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead, to be done to take the severed head as a trophy, for public display, or for other, more esoteric reasons.

History

"I believe I was making a point. If you could just be patient."
"No! My head's about to be lopped off, hence the urgency!"
―Carina Smyth and Jack Sparrow[src]

During a massive sea battle, the young pirate Jack Sparrow tricked the pirate hunter Capitán Armando Salazar of the Spanish Navy into sailing his ship, the Silent Mary, to his death at the Devil's Triangle. The bow of the mighty Spanish ship hit the reefs, causing an explosion of gunpowder, which heavily damaged the ship, while at the same time, decimating Salazar's crew, with several crewmembers killed by decapitation. Despite this, the mysterious supernatural powers of the Triangle resurrected and cursed them as headless ghosts.[1]

When the East India Trading Company merchant vessel Wicked Wench sailed for the island of Kerma, Captain Jack Sparrow accidentally kissed one of his passengers, Princess Amenirdis, and quickly stated he shouldn't have done that. When Amenirdis asked Sparrow for explanation, he said if he had done that on Kerma, her brother Shabako would probably have his head chopped off for taking such a liberty with his sister.[2] During the attack on the Wicked Wench in the Bahamas, one of the crewmen, Micah Wilson, had his head shot clean off by the enemy's cannonball.[3]

During the rescue of Jack Sparrow at Fort Charles, as Will Turner fought the Executioner, he narrowly avoided being beheaded by the executioner's metal axe.[4] Beheadings were a common form of torture among the pirate confederation in China led by the ruthless Mistress Ching, the Pirate Lord of the Pacific Ocean.[5][6] During the battle around Calypso's maelstrom, Captain Hector Barbossa fought and beheaded Morey.[7]

With the newly-invented guillotine, the executioner of Saint Martin prepares to decapitate Jack Sparrow.

With the newly-invented guillotine, the executioner of Saint Martin prepares to decapitate Jack Sparrow.

By 1750, as recalled by Jack Sparrow, it was believed that the infamous pirate Blackbeard was beheaded and his headless body swam three times around his ship before climbing back onboard.[8] At some point, the French invented the guillotine, a machine for swift decapitation. By 1751, beheading became one of the common forms of capital punishment in the British colony of Saint Martin, most notably done with executioner on Jack Sparrow, only for the infamous pirate to escape with the help of his crew and Henry Turner.[1]

Behind the scenes

"You think a display of power is in order? A beheading?"
―Queen Inez to Marquis Ramon[src] (2012 screenplay)

Beheading first appeared in the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,[7] having been identified by name before in the official website,[5] and later in the "Inside the Brethren Court" DVD bonus feature.[6]

Beheading appears in Tim Powers' 1987 novel On Stranger Tides, which was used as the basis for the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.[9]

In an earlier, storyboarded version of the sneak attack on the HMS Dauntless in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, one of the skeletal pirates is decapitated by a British Royal Navy crew member, with the skull landing on the deck.[10] This version of the scene was also pre-visualized by the filmmakers as a 3D animatic.[11]

In Terry Rossio's original 2012 screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, when Admiral John Benbow offers the assembled pirates a pardon for their past crimes, the pirate McCallister asks if such crimes include fraudulent identification of a person with the intent they should die in one's stead by beheading.[12]

In Jeff Nathanson's early 2013 screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, during the escape from Port Royal, Jack Sparrow took one of the severed heads and fired it from a cannon, destroying the nearby gallows and saving Carina Smyth's life.[13]

The severed heads seen in the guillotine basket in Dead Men Tell No Tales were props modeled after the heads of the film's directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.[citation needed]

Appearances

Sources

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  2. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Fourteen: Hard Bargains
  3. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Thirteen: "Red Flag...Ho!"
  4. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization), p. 169
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 DisneyPirates.com: MISTRESS CHING-Lord of the Pacific Ocean. A blind lady with hundreds of ships to her armada that rules with terror up and down the coast of China – controls the pirate confederation in China since her husband's death. Profiteer of smuggled trade goods between Japan and China. Her pirates are known to victimize their opponents, with beheadings being the preferred torture.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End "Inside the Brethren Court" featurette
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  8. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  9. ↑ On Stranger Tides, Chapter Eighteen
  10. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: Image Gallery: "Dauntless Capture"
  11. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: The Lost Disc - Sneak Attack Animatic
  12. ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio
  13. ↑ Dead Men Tell No Tales script by Jeff Nathanson, second draft, 5/6/2013