pirates
Jack Sparrow's hands are locked in iron manacles.

Jack Sparrow's hands are locked in iron manacles.

"Oh, no, Mr. Beckett. Haven't you ever heard of the power of cold iron over eldritch things?"
"Of course. When you put it like that, it all makes sense."
―Jack Sparrow and Cutler Beckett[src]

Iron was a chemical element and a metal. It was, by mass, the most common element on Earth, and one of the most abundant elements in the Earth's crust, being mainly deposited in its metallic state. Iron was one of the elements undoubtedly known to the ancient world, having been worked, or wrought, for millennia. However, iron artefacts of great age were much rarer than objects made of gold or silver due to the ease with which iron corrodes. The technology developed slowly, and even after the discovery of smelting it took many centuries for iron to replace bronze as the metal of choice for tools and weapons.

History

"We have iron here on the island. We can mine more of it. And, once the iron is taken from the ground, we wil need to know how to cast it into cannons. How to make pistols and muskets."
―Amenirdis to Jack Sparrow[src]

At some point in the Golden Age of Piracy, the pirate captain Sharkheart Sam assembled a treasure worth a fortune. The most valuable part of the treasure was an iron box filled to the brim with precious stones.[1]

Cortés wore an armor made of iron and silver.

Cortés wore an armor made of iron and silver.

During the quest for the Sword of Cortés by young Jack Sparrow and the crew of the mighty Barnacle, Jack spoke a magical incantation over the Sword and inadvertently summoned from the dead the spirit of the sword's first owner, Hernán Cortés. When the phantom appeared before the crew, he was dressed in a conquistador's armor, made of iron and silver, glowing slightly with heat.[2]

When the merchant vessel the Sea Star docked in Bermuda, the crewmember Billy Turner was arrested by the local authorities for possessing a counterfeit ticket printed by pirates. When confronted by the Royal Navy admiral the ship's captain David Donovan and the cook Mr. Hawk denied ever seeing the boy, even though both of them knew him well. Billy's anger was so great he wanted to kill the captain on the spot, but his hands were bound in iron, and his anger, no matter how strong, could not have broken the chains.[3]

During his service as the Director of West African Imports and Exports for the East India Trading Company in Calabar, Cutler Beckett owned a cast-iron bath tub.[4] Following the Wicked Wench's return to Calabar from the seemingly unsuccessful search for the island of Kerma, Captain Jack Sparrow reported to his superior Cutler Beckett that he fought and killed a revenant. Beckett showed his surprise, asking if one didn't need an exorcism to perform such a task, but Jack reminded him of power of cold iron over eldritch things.[5]

Tia Dalma's shack teemed with jars of weird objects, many of which used for her powerful incantations, including an iron-bound jar hanging from a rafter, filled with dozens of staring eyeballs.[6][7]

Unlike the ceremonial sword he made for Commodore James Norrington's promotion ceremony, Will Turner's weapon looked simple. It had a plain cast-iron grip, and a "half-basket" hilt protected his hand. The blade was special as, by using the methods of Spanish swordsmiths, Will had made it immensely strong, yet light and flexible. It also had a double edged point for cutting and thrusting.[8][9]

By the time of the search for the Dead Man's Chest, Bootstrap Bill Turner's sword was known to be forged from the native iron of the seabed.[10][11] The Dead Man's Chest itself was bound in bands of iron and locked tightly, but when Jack Sparrow found it on Isla Cruces the sound of a single deep beat could be heard coming from inside.[12]

During the quest for the Fountain of Youth, Joshamee Gibbs had a sheathless leather swordbelt, probably plundered from a previous adventure, with an iron buckle.[13] Following the massacre of the crew of the HMS Monarch the ghostly Spanish Navy Capitán Armando Salazar found the young sailor Henry Turner locked up in the brig below deck, and walked straight through the iron bars that separated them.[14][15]

Behind the scenes

Iron first appeared in media relating to Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, and was identified by name in the souvenir book, which detailed the lacy iron grillwork of the balconies of New Orleans Square.[16]

In Tim Powers' 1987 novel On Stranger Tides, which serves as a basis for the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, cold iron disrupts the magic known as Voodoo.[17] In in the film's visual guide, as written about the Jack Sparrow voodoo doll, metal disrupts dark magic.[13]

Appearances

Sources

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Climb Aboard If You Dare!: Stories From The Pirates of the Caribbean, p. 7
  2. ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Pirate Chase, pp. 117-119
  3. ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Tale of Billy Turner and Other Stories, pp. 56-59
  4. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Seven: Lost and Found
  5. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Eighteen: Exodus
  6. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, p. 58-59: "Tia Dalma's Shack"
  7. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, p. 58-59: "Tia Dalma's Shack"
  8. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 20-21 "Will Turner"
  9. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 22-23 "Will Turner"
  10. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 50-51 "Jack's Bargain"
  11. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 50-51 "Jack's Bargain"
  12. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization), p. 118
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide
  14. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, p. 37
  15. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  16. ↑ Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, p. 34
  17. ↑ On Stranger Tides, Chapter Twenty-Three