Hadras — pirates

"Your bravery is wasted. I shall pry the chest away from your cold...dead...hands."

Hadras served as a crew member aboard the Flying Dutchman under the command of Davy Jones. As with other members of the crew, Hadras had, over time, taken on aspects of the sea flora and fauna the crew resided amongst. He spoke Cantonese, possibly indicating his place of birth.

Biography

"Hainido! (Over here!) Hainido! Follow my voice! Follow my voice! To the left—no, turn around! Go to the right, go to—no...that's a tree."

―Hadras to his headless body^[src]

At some unknown point in his life, Hadras became a member of the crew of the Flying Dutchman under Captain Davy Jones. Hadras's body was covered with coral and barnacles, though most notably was the fact that his head was ensconsed within a conch shell. More, his head had in fact transformed and merged into a hermit crab that could move independently of his body, propelled by a number of small, crab-like legs. When William Turner Jr. appeared aboard the Scuttled ship, the crew fought the young man, Hadras among them. Eventually, Crash knocked him out. Davy Jones boarded the ship, and Turner revealed that Jack Sparrow was nearby aboard the Black Pearl. Hadras and the other crewmen boarded the Pearl, and held back the Motley crew as Jones and Sparrow negotiated. He threatened Lejon.^[2]

Later, Hadras and the other crewmen worked around the ship. He watched as Davy Jones had William Turner Sr. punish his son, and was one of the crewmen who threw William Turner Jr below deck. He watched as Maccus, Koleniko, and Clanker played Liar's Dice, and then looked on as William Turner challenged and played against Davy Jones. Hadras was, later, one of the crewmen who turned the Kraken Hammer, and was whipped by Jimmy Legs. He executed a crewman of the Edinburgh Trader after the ship was ripped apart by the Kraken.^[2]

During the fight for the Dead Man's Chest on Isla Cruces, Hadras' head became detached from its body thanks to a well-aimed coconut thrown by Jack Sparrow. The head was forced to shout directions as Hadras' body blundered about blindly trying to relocate it. He managed to pick up his head, and carried it under one arm. Hadras later confronted James Norrington, in possession of the chest, who, in an act of apparent cowardice, threw the chest into Hadras' arms and fled. However, this meant the pirate was forced to drop his head to catch the chest, and his body forgot to retrieve it when the rest of the crew arrived. Hadras's body raced with its fellow crewmen back to the Flying Dutchman, with his disembodied head scuttling after, desperately trying to catch up.

The Motley crew escaped with their lives, much to the dismay of Davy Jones. Later when the Dutchman ambushed the Pearl off Isla Cruces, Hadras manned the cannons and fired on Jack Sparrow's ship. The ship got away, but was soon tracked down and torn apart by the Kraken. Hadras witnessed Jones' rage when he opened the chest and discovered his heart was not there.^[2]

He was present as the East India Trading Company crew of the HMS Endeavour under Lord Cutler Beckett boarded the Flying Dutchman. Jones pushed past him to talk to Beckett. The East India Company soon took over the ship. By order of Beckett and Jones, he and the crew attacked Sao Feng's flagship, the Empress, and executed most of the crew. Hadras was shocked to later find Admiral James Norrington dead at the hands of Bootstrap Bill Turner. He fled to the captain's cabin at Maccus' command.^[3]

During the battle around Calypso's maelstrom, Hadras fought and killed a pirate. However, the Dead Man's Chest landed on Hadras' head, pushing it into his torso and sending him toppling overboard. He was reverted back to his human form when the curse was lifted.^[3] His further fate is unknown.

Behind the scenes

Character art by Aaron McBride of Hadras.

Hadras first appeared, albeit unidentified, as one of Davy Jones's crew members in the junior novelization for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.^[1] Reggie Lee, who also played Tai Huang in At World's End,^[4]^[3] portrayed the character in Dead Man's Chest, credited as "Headless" in the ending credits.^[2] Ho-Kwan Tse, who also played Ho-Kwan in Dead Man's Chest,^[2] portrayed Hadras in At World's End.^[3] Although the character "Headless" was named "Hadras" in Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay,^[5]^[6] the name "Hadras" was first appeared in character development art by Aaron McBride for Dead Man's Chest featured in the book The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean,^[7] as well as being named in the video game adaptation of At World's End.^[8]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for Dead Man's Chest, the first description of the character was "HADRAS, a crewmen with starfish-shaped hands (formerly HEADLESS) pauses over the chest, picks it up --" and was depicted as speaking a mixture of Japanese and English.^[5] Headless spoke Cantonese and English in the film.^[2] In the screenplay draft of At World's End, titled Calypso's Fury, Hadras' name was misspelled as "Haddrass" in his only appearance during the battle in the maelstrom between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman. When the chest fell from Davy Jones' grip, it smashes down on Hadras as he tries to sit up, his entire head forced down into his body, and the chest tumbles just as Will Turner lands on the deck, arrived from the Pearl. Hadras also didn't fall from the Dutchman into the maelstrom,^[6] unlike the final cut of the film.^[3]

In video games, Hadras first appeared in the Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2, and Windows PC versions of the At World's End video game.^[8] In LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, when Jack Sparrow takes the Heart of Davy Jones out of the Dead Man's Chest, he puts Hadras' head in its place. Jones later discovers this when he opens the chest.^[9]