pirates
The Green Flash.

The Green Flash.

"Ever gazed upon the green flash, Master Gibbs?"
"I reckon I seen my fair share. Happens on rare occasion. The last glimpse of sunset, a green flash shoots up into the sky. Some go their whole lives without ever seeing it. Some claim to have seen it who ain't. And some say—"
"It signals when a soul comes back to this world from the dead."
―Hector Barbossa, Joshamee Gibbs and Pintel[src]

The green flash (also capitalized as Green Flash), also known as green ray or flash of green (also capitalized as Flash of Green), was a meteorological optical phenomena that sometimes occurred transiently around the moment of sunset or sunrise, usually seen at an unobstructed horizon, such as over the ocean. When the conditions were right, a distinct green spot was briefly visible above the Sun's upper limb; the green appearance usually lasted for no more than two seconds. According to legend, the green flash was happened on rare occasion and signaled the return of a soul from the world of the dead, with some going their wholes lives without seeing it, and some claiming to have seen it, but have not.

History

"And the green flash happens at sunset, not sunrise."
"'Over the edge'...Ah, it's driving me over the bloomin' edge. Sunrises don't set."
―Will Turner and Joshamee Gibbs[src]
The flash of green was one of the riddles found in the navigational charts.

The flash of green was one of the riddles found in the navigational charts.

The flash of green was a legend marking the passage of a soul lost at sea, in which a green ray flashed up into the sky, with sailors believing it as a sign of a soul returning to the land of the living from the world of the dead.[1][2][3][4][5] It happened on rare occasion at the last glimpse of the sun, which some go their whole lives without ever seeing it, and some who claimed to have seen it who have not.[1][2][3] The Map to the Land of the Dead, ancestral navigational charts that dated back to a time called the Dark Dynasty,[5] had one of the ancient poems and riddles to decipher, accompanying a central depiction of an intrepid Chinese junk, circled by a diagram of the phases of the moon, most notably written from Chinese characters lined up to English on the charts, "Over the edge, over again, sunrise sets, flash of green." At the spiritual realms and the land beyond death, they must invert the ship, then roll it over at sunset, so that when the ship completes its roll and pops back up in the water, it will be setting at sunrise.[3]

Following the deal with Davy Jones, the cursed captain of the Flying Dutchman, the green flash appeared when Jones raised the Wicked Wench from the sea bottom, along with her captain, Jack Sparrow, who renamed the Wench as the Black Pearl.[6]

Over thirteen years later, during the quest to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl from Davy Jones' Locker, when Will Turner read the riddle on the navigational charts aboard the Hai Peng, Captain Hector Barbossa asked Joshamee Gibbs about the green flash, a legend that Pintel finished for him.[2] They learned firsthand about the green flash when the crew of the Black Pearl were trying to get back from the Locker. Will and Gibbs discussed the green flash, with Will saying it happened at sunset, Gibbs saying that sunrises don't set, and Jack Sparrow being able to figure out what to do by playing with the map, turning the rings around, when several Chinese characters lined up and suddenly he could read the words "Up is Down." After that, Jack started running from port to starboard and back again, repeating until the ship capsized and tilted over, rolling underwater and, with the green flash from the sunset, mystically came to be back upright in the world of the living at sunrise.[3][4]

In the aftermath of the death of Davy Jones, and Will Turner becoming the new captain of the Flying Dutchman and spending his one day with Elizabeth as newlyweds, the green flash occurred two known times. It first accompanied the departure of the Dutchman to the Land of the Dead,[3] though the flash was for several of the now-free crew members of the Dutchman that decided to stay behind in the world of the living.[7][8] Ten years later, it signaled Will's return to this dimension to Elizabeth and their son,[3] Henry.[9]

Behind the scenes

The Green Flash first appeared in media relating to the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.[3] It was first identified as "flash of green" and "green ray" in the reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide,[1] and made its first full appearance as the "green flash" in T.T. Sutherland's junior novelization.[2] "Green Flash" was notably capitalized in The Pirates' Guidelines,[4] while "The Flash of Green" was capitalized in the 2010 update of the Pirates of the Caribbean website.[5]

Director Gore Verbinski filmed Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann's romantic tryst—dubbed "Sex on the Beach"—with Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and ILM on location in Hawaii. Method created a subtle composite for a closeup of Swann's face as she watches her lover on board the Flying Dutchman returning to the immortal realm via a green flash. Visual effects supervisor Alex Frisch related, "It was technically a simple composite. We added reflections in Keira's eyes, some color treatments on her face and the background, but it was a difficult effect to create. Gore wanted to suggest the reflection of the green flash was somehow going to Elizabeth's soul."[10]

Following the theatrical release of At World's End, co-writer Ted Elliott responded to a post on Wordplay asking about what the Green Flash after Will leaves Elizabeth aboard the Dutchman signify, as opposed to when Jack Sparrow returned from Davy Jones' Locker earlier and as opposed to when Will returns to Elizabeth ten years later.[3] Elliott said he got an e-mail from a fan who posted over on Keep to the Code ("Stab O' the Cutlass," aka Valerie), asking if the Green Flash was for the members of the Dutchman crew that stayed behind in the world of the living. His response was "because not all of the now-free crew of the Dutchman made the same choice as Bootstrap."[7][8]

Appearances

Sources

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide pp. 86-87 "Sao Feng's Map"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Pirates' Guidelines, p. 97
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 DisneyPirates.com
  6. ↑ The Price of Freedom
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wordplayer.com: MOVIES Message Board: Re: Green Flash When He Left as Well, posted by Ted Elliott (May 29, 2007)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Wordplayer.com: MOVIES Message Board: Re: Extra green flash, posted by Ted Elliott (June 15, 2007)
  9. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  10. ↑ Cinefex, issue 110 - "Into the Maelstrom"