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Jacoby was a pirate with a very long beard and dreadlocks, and had fuses woven into his beard. He most notably served among Captain Hector Barbossa's crew aboard the Black Pearl, and was one of those cursed by the Aztec Gold found in the treasure of Cortés.

Biography

Jacoby was presumably recruited by Captain Jack Sparrow in Tortuga, prior to the mutiny that saw Barbossa lead the quest to Isla de Muerta. There, the crew became cursed, and spent the following nine years tracking down all 882 Aztec coins to lift the curse. Jacoby joined the assault on Port Royal to find the final piece.^[2]

During the siege, Jacoby caused damage to the town's structures by throwing several hand grenades, but was hindered by Will Turner, who threw a hatchet into his back. Later, Turner came face-to-face with Jacoby once more, who had survived by dint of the immortality that came with the curse. Jacoby threw a grenade, but it turned out to be a dud. Will was summarily knocked out and Jacoby made his escape with the rest of the crew back to the Pearl.^[2]

Jacoby confronted Will once more in Isla de Muerta, during the attack on the HMS Dauntless. There, he cornered Will and was about to kill him when Elizabeth Swann knocked him off his feet with a gaffe. Turner and Swann teamed up to spear Jacoby along two others together on the gaffe. Will placed a grenade inside Jacoby's skeletal form, and pushed him out of the moonlight, trapping it in his flesh-and-blood body. Jacoby exploded, his last words a comment on the unfairness of the situation.^[2] The explosion killed Jacoby once and for all before the curse was lifted.^[3] Sometime later, Jacoby's remains were swallowed by the waters when Isla de Muerta was retaken by the sea.^[4]

Behind the scenes

Jacoby first appeared in media relating to the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Although unidentified by name, the character made his debut in the trailer for The Curse of the Black Pearl,^[5] and made his first full appearance in Irene Trimble's junior novelization.^[1] Vince Lozano was credited as Jacoby in the film.^[2]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's first screenplay draft for The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jacoby's role was slightly larger. Jacoby replaced Pintel as the one who was shot by Captain Barbossa and replaced Bo'sun as the one who said "You brought us the wrong person!" in Isla de Muerta.^[6] In a production draft for The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jacoby's head and spine crashes down in a pool of moonlight after the explosion, and protests to Will Turner that he was cheating, before being picked up and flung into the water by Elizabeth Swann.^[7]

For The Curse of the Black Pearl, a lot of work went into designing the individual characters so that they are recognizable in both live action and as cursed skeletons. Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisor John Knoll said, "Some of them have particular bits of wardrobe or particular facial features that we try to carry through. [...] Jacoby has got this very long beard—kind of in the form of dreadlocks—and he's got fuses woven into his beard."^[8] Make-up artist Ve Neill detailed how they built a big beard for Jacoby, and within the beard they added dreads that have wire in them with little copper sockets at the end. They insert these incense wedges, fire them up, and he smokes the whole time. And it's kind of a big ordeal, because every take we have to replace the incense and relight them. He's been burned a couple of times, and when he's doing action stuff, when his beard flips around, he might burn somebody, or it might start part of his beard on fire, or singe... You kind of always smell burning hair around this guy.^[9]

While unconfirmed, Jacoby's gimmick of lighting fuses into his beard was likely inspired by Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, who braided and platted his black beard in pigtails, tying the ends with colorful ribbons, twisting it with lighted lengths of cord to give off smoke for an even more frightening appearance,^[10][11] so he was always fiery and smoky.^[12] Despite the apparent death of Jacoby in The Curse of the Black Pearl, it has been debated frequently on whether or not he perished in the explosion or if he died because he didn't manage to put his bones back together before the curse was lifted. By 2017, Vince Lozano confirmed that Jacoby died before the curse was lifted.^[3]

In video games, Jacoby appeared in the 2005 video game Kingdom Hearts II,^[13] where he was voiced by John DiMaggio.^{[citation needed]} Jacoby also appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.^[14] While unconfirmed, Jacoby's skeleton appearance, clothing and preferred weapon, grenades, is similar to that of Jolly Roger's Undead Grenadiers from Pirates of the Caribbean Online.^[15]

In 2011, Jacoby's name appeared in the Black Pearl crew roster book at Walt Disney World's Tortuga Tavern restaurant.^[16]

When The Curse of the Black Pearl was shown on BBC, as the movie was edited to remove its violence, the sound of the impact when Will Turner threw his axe into Jacoby's back as Jacoby's scream of agony were taken out for censorship reasons.^{[citation needed]}

Appearances

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) (First appearance)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
  • Fluch der Karibik
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow

Non-canon appearances

• Fantasmic!
• Kingdom Hearts II
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Gods and Ghosts M

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: "An Epic At Sea"

Notes and references

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization)
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Vince Lozano (@vincelozano) on Twitter (post on November 10, 2017): "@An_EqualSociety Yes your right! I died before curse was lifted." (backup link not available) (screenshot)
4. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
5. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Greg's Preview - Yahoo! Movies
6. ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
7. ↑ PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Production Draft by Jay Wolpert, Revisions by Stuart Beattie, Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
8. ↑ KeepToTheCode.com: Pirates Presskit (June 24, 2003) (backup link)
9. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: "An Epic At Sea"
10. ↑ Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, p. 13
11. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: "Scoundrels of the Seas"
12. ↑ POTC4 Presskit
13. ↑ Kingdom Hearts II
14. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
15. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean Online
16. ↑ Crew rosters for the Black Pearl and Queen Anne's Revenge (Blackbeard's ship) in Tortuga Tavern by Inside the Magic on Flickr (March 27, 2011) (screenshot)

v • d • eCursed Crew

Captain: Jack Sparrow Black Pearl Hector Barbossa – Bo'sun – Clubba – Dog Ear – Grapple – Hawksmoor – Jacoby Katracho – Ketchum – Koehler – Mallot – Maximo – Monk – Nipperkin – Pintel –Ragetti Scarus – Scratch – Simbakka – Twigg – Bootstrap Bill Turner – Weatherby Captain: Hector Barbossa Black Pearl Bo'sun – Clubba – Dog Ear – Grapple – Hawksmoor – Jack the Monkey – Jacoby Katracho – Ketchum – Koehler – Mallot – Maximo – Monk – Nipperkin – Pintel –Ragetti Scarus – Scratch – Simbakka – Twigg – Weatherby