Pirates of the Caribbean: The Eye of the Wind
(Referring to the nautical term for the direction from which the wind is blowing;
also evokes a new foil for Jack, the goddess of the winds: Halcyone.)

SEQUENCE 1

OPENING IMAGE [SETTING]: Jack Sparrow, a bit older, despondent in a tavern on Tortuga, despairing of adventure. He sits alone at a long table, revelers in the background. He has a nearly full rum bottle in one hand and the compass in another, its magical pointer slowly rotating counter-clockwise as an emblem of his lack of enthusiasm.

OPENING DIALOGUE [CHARACTER]:

He brushes off the attention of tavern wenches and, when a starstruck sailor notices his tattoo and asks if he is “the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow” he stares at the rum and sighs.

“Jack Sparrow is a myth, mate. Just a legend, nothing more.”

As the sailor stumbles off in confusion, Gibbs sits down with a flagon of ale. He glances back and forth between Jack and the bottle, then performs a little fan-servicing: “Why is all the rum … all there?”

“How long have we known each other, Mr. Gibbs?”

“Too long,” he laughs and takes a drink. Noting Jack’s downtrodden look, he thinks again: “And not long enough. What’s knocked the wind out of your sails, Jack?”

“By now, most pirates would have retired, yes?”

“True. Voluntarily or …” He pantomimes being hung.

“So, why am I not setting up a quiet little life in some beach-side plantation in the Carolinas like…” he waves his hand.

“Like Master Pintel?”

“Him,” Jack points at the empty air. “With a nice, plump wife and house full of servants.”

“Or. like Master Ragetti, advising some exotic sultan on how to keep his shores clean of brigands like us?”

“Aye,” annoyed, “Selling out our fellow pirates for a steady stipend.”

Gibbs then tries to cheer Jack up by discussing rumors of “a French treasure fleet, commissioned by the church, headed through the Caribbean for an unknown destination.” When asked if he’s interested in setting the Pearl on this tack, Jack simply waves Gibbs off. Finishing his drink, Gibbs says, “I’ll go look into it then,” and exits.

“Rum?” Jack asks the compass, to no effect. “Gold? … Freedom?” and, after a long pause: “Angelica?” Nothing. There is nothing to drive him, which is the [THEME].

He sets the compass down. As he stares at it, a woman’s hand picks it up.

When Jack lifts his eyes, there are two women standing there: a stiff, steely-eyed redhead (Anne Bonny) and a swaggering brunette (Mary Read) [based loosely on the real-world female pirates]. Their rugged dress, serious manner, and the weapons on their belts indicate they are not mere bar wenches.

Mary Read, holding the compass, asks: “Jack Sparrow?”

Jack lifts a finger and opens his mouth, as if to say “Captain,” but simply closes it again.

“Oh, he’s Jack Sparrow alright,” says Anne Bonny to Mary, then turns to Jack: “I’ve had my eye on you.” They sit, Mary takes a swig from the bottle of rum, and Anne lays out a proposal, which will drive the [PLOT].

Anne and Mary have both recently been released from prison, having faked pregnancy by Calico Jack Rackham. Despite him being “yet another Jack,” they want Jack Sparrow to lead their fleet, explaining that pirates are bad at following the orders of women.

Jack protests weakly, “I once knew a pirate captain of the feminine persuasion … a pirate king, in fact… or queen?”

Anne interrupts him as Mary hands her the compass: “You still have the compass, I see.”

“Had,” Jack says. “That compass hasn’t worked for years, love.”

Anne (sarcastic): “Really, love? Well, take it up now and ask yourself … Wouldn’t you still like to be known as the immortal Jack Sparrow—” Jack attempts to interject, but only gets out a half-hearted Cap— “… the pirate who commands the winds?”

Jack, leaning back: “Commands the winds? And thus, the direction?”

Anne: “Ask the compass.”

Jack is intrigued, so he lifts the compass again. It sways lazily for a moment, then swings to point at Anne Bonny. When Jack repeats her “immortal?” as a question, she offers him the immortality he always desired, but is coy about how this would be achieved. She wants him to help her protect all of the free ports of the world from the encroachments of the church, and to return all of the riches the church has stolen from the New World.

“Adventure, piracy, and justice!” Mary adds, with gusto. So far she has acted as Anne’s sidekick, but clearly plays a lusty contrast to Anne’s business-like manner. She holds the bottle out to Jack, who accepts it and takes a swig of rum. His eyes glimmer and we begin to see a hint of the old Jack we know so well.

Jack: “And I’ll be the Captain.”

Anne: “You’ll be the Commodore of your own flotilla, headed by the Black Pearl.”

Jack (sitting up a little straighter): “My own fleet.”

Anne: “My fleet, your flotilla. There are two.”

Jack (holding up two fingers): “Two? Flotillas? Flotillae? Flotillain?”

Anne: “The men won’t follow us, but two names come to their lips that still carry respect: Jack Sparrow … and Hector Barbossa.”

Jack (visibly confused) : “Hector Barbossa is dead. Drowned.”

Anne: “You didn’t know him to be a strong swimmer?”

Mary: “He was a pirate.”

Anne: “A pirate lord.”

Jack (nervously): “If you’re bringing Barbossa into this, I have a man I’ll need to speak to.”

Mary: “So, you’re in?”

Jack: “I have a man I’ll need to speak to.” He scrambles to his feet, grabs his hat and the compass. Then, after a thought, the rum. “Stay in port. I’ll find you.”

ANALYSIS: We draw first on aspects of the Pirates milieu familiar to viewers, but spin them in a different direction: Tortuga, rum, and the compass. Where in the first trilogy these things represented desire and joy, here they initially take on an air of despair. Enter Anne Bonny to respark life into this imagery by rekindling the old dream: The Immortal Captain Jack Sparrow. Even so, there is a hint here that returning to piracy will mean something less than freedom this time, as he’ll be in someone’s employ. This evokes the offer made by Cutler Beckett in Part II. The dual commodoreship likewise invokes the false offer Jack made to Barbossa in Part I.

The theme of freedom/liveliness vs. servitude/weariness is embedded in the tension built into Anne Bonny’s tempting offer. What will Jack choose? And, who does he wish to see before he decides? (Finally, if this scene doesn’t fill out the sequence time, some foreshadowing scene of the villains—whom we’ll meet later—would round things out.)

_

SEQUENCE 2

DEBATE DIALOGUE [CHARACTER]:

Jack searches Tortuga, finds Gibbs, and quickly explains the offer. Gibbs is visibly dismayed at the mention of Bonny and Read, and warns Jack that Anne Bonny is dangerous business indeed, revealing the rumor that she once started a fire on a plantation [based on a real event in Bonny’s life] that the winds inexplicably kicked up to “burn the entire smoldering island from surf to mountain summit.”

Gibbs: “And she abandoned her former captain, also named Jack.”

Jack: “Not all Jacks are the same.”

Gibbs: “And she wants to butt heads with the church.”

Jack: “Are you not the Mr. Gibbs who lately enthused about picking off the church’s treasure fleet?”

Gibbs: “Enthused, aye, but for pickings. She’s talking about direct confrontation. Very unpiratey, and more trouble than the East India Company!”

Jack (glancing at the pirate brand on his wrist): “That’s true. But … more trouble means more treasure.”

Gibbs (scoffing at the clearly improvised maxim): “Trouble for your immortal soul, maybe, and treasure you can’t take with you.”

Jack, turning nonchalantly: “I might have other plans in that regard, as well.”

In the middle of their exchange, cannon shot tears through the town as Tortuga is invaded by the French navy [PLOT], who are cleaning up the pirate haven in the name of the church. This is the fleet Gibbs had heard of, but the rumors were terribly wrong. Cardinal Baldassaro [based loosely on Anti-Pope Baldassare Cossa] is introduced briefly, directing the battle efforts of the naval officers (in French) through Captain Jules. Jack and Gibbs see him from a hiding place.

Gibbs: “That seems to be the fellow in charge.”

Jack: “They’re French. Perhaps we should invoke parlay…”

Baldassaro (to Captain Jules): “Drive out all of the whores and infidels. Run them into the wilds to starve. And, any pirates you find … you may burn.”

Jack: “Perhaps not.”

Fighting French marines along the way in a typical swashbuckling Sparrow action sequence, Jack and Gibbs race to dockside. Blocked from reaching the Pearl, they leap aboard Anne Bonny’s ship Vengeance as it sets sail, lobbing cannon shot at the naval vessels.

As they flee the harbor by moonlight, looking back at the brightly glowing spectacle of burning Tortuga, reflected in the ocean and silhouetting other fleeing ships [SETTING & TRAILER SHOT], Jack comments to Gibbs: “There’s the end of Freedom, mate. And piracy on the Caribbean.”

Gibbs (doing one of his signature head tilts): “You haven’t been to Port Royal, lately.”

IMAGE: With the awful sound of wood splintering, a fleeing ship folds in half. Sparrow and Gibbs glance nervously at each other. Behind them at the wheel, Anne shouts to Mary: “He’s here!” She orders full sail, but the sailors are hesitant, staring over the gunnel as another ship is crushed. Anne shoves Jack in the chest.

Anne: “You’re up, Sparrow.”

Jack: “Oy! Full sail, you scalawags! I’m Captain … Commodore Jack Sparrow! Stretch canvas and bend those yards!”

The sailors recognize Sparrow and snap to, sails unfurl. As Jack watches, Anne takes a deep breath with her eyes closed, and the wind mysteriously rises to carry them off. As they race out of the harbor, a strange swelling in the water follows them for a while, then gives up the chase.

CUT: Cardinal Baldassaro on the dock as French marines drag from the water sailors who had been on the crushed ships. This is just to put another tent-pole in the villain’s CHARACTER.

Baldassaro: “What ship are you from, sailor? Speak up and no harm will come to you.”

Sailor: “Father, bless you!” (looking around at the other sailors soaking on the dock) “We’re all from the Sea Runner.”

Baldassaro (to Captain Jules): “Useless. Kill these and find me someone who fell from that witch’s ship. I need to know where she’s running.”

Jules nods at his men, who proceed to gut the sailors.

ANALYSIS: There’s our plot point, and Jack is on his way, somewhat reluctantly, on a new adventure. In this sequence we have the theme of freedom explored further, including a foreshadowing of Port Royal, which figures later in the story. The image of burning Tortuga develops both setting and theme through dialogue that props up the character of Sparrow and Gibbs. We meet our primary villain, Baldassaro, and get hints of something more mysterious going on. Viewers know we’re headed to find Barbossa. But who is this “he” Anne speaks of, the force that is crushing ships? What’s up with Anne closing her eyes as the wind picks up? Where is the Black Pearl?

_

SEQUENCE 3

CONFLICT DIALOGUE (CHARACTER):

On board Vengeance, Jack meets ship’s carpenter Bill Thicke, a large and very imposing man, who is Mary’s beau. Jack and Bill banter, Jack’s rakish wit contrasting with Bill’s ethical rhetoric, but they hit it off:

Bill (suspiciously, to Mary Read): “This is our new captain?”

Jack: “Commodore.”

Mary: “Not Commodore until we assemble the fleet. Captain Jack Sparrow, this is my beau and ship’s carpenter, Bill Thicke.”

Jack: “Nice to meet you, Bob.”

Bill: “It’s Bill.”

Jack: “Bill? Short for William, I suppose. A good solid name.”

Bill: “It’s just a name. It’s what a man does, not what a man’s called, that makes the difference … Commodore.”

Jack: “What you do is you’re carpenter for a pirate fleet, so what does that say about Bill Thicke?”

Bill: “Hang piracy. I’m here to help avenge the wrongs done in the name of good, in the name of the church, a church that has scoured the Earth claiming to bring salvation, all the while robbing every people they’ve met of their wealth, dignity, and freedom.”

Jack: “You see Cardinal Baldassaro as a pirate of a different … cloth, as it were.”

Bill: “I suppose you could say that.”

Jack: “So, you’ll be a good solid pirate instead.”

Bill (thinks it over, nods): “As it suits a purpose.”

PLOT PUSH: Mary reveals that they are heading to the site of a Turkish fortress [the prison from Dead Man’s Chest, thus SETTING] to recruit Barbossa, who is serving with Ragetti as an anti-piracy consultant to the Ottoman Sultan: a callback to the conversation Jack and Gibbs had about selling out other pirates. However, she tells Sparrow that Anne wants to stop at the tiny Mediterranean island of Lembia on the way.

IMAGE (SETTING): The white stone of a tiny Greek isle, a simple cairn set in a rocky fissure under trees.  Mary, Bill, Gibbs, and Jack stand back in a semi-circle, as Anne drops to her knees before the cairn.

Mary whispers to Jack: “It’s the grave of Anne’s first love, who was taken by the sea.”

Sparrow (quietly): “It’s not much of a grave. Shouldn’t there be a … cross or something?”

Anne turns to glare at him, then stands up. “Are you a priest?”

Sparrow (glancing at the others for some clue of what’s going on): “No, but I once impersonated a—”

“Then no more talk of crosses. Let’s get back to the ship. Back to Vengeance.”

PLOT, CHARACTER: Pull back to show Baldassaro’s flagship hiding behind a nearby island. Baldassaro, Captain Jules, and a few Marines are ashore, peering over some rocks at the pirate ships.

Captain Jules (closing a spy glass): “How did you know she would come here, to that tiny island in the middle of nowhere?”

Baldassaro: “When you have a long enough history with someone, Captain Jules, you learn their weaknesses.” (conspicuous rubs a large pearl button on his vestments, just below his large, golden cross) “Rig one of the smaller ships to look like a merchant, and have them hang back on the horizon to keep track of her. She has no idea we’re chasing her, so she won’t be running fast.”

_CUT to the Turkish fortress, where the remainder of Anne’s fleet lie at port. Barbossa meets them at the dock with a retinue of Ottoman sailors, and tells Anne that he has been considering her offer.

Barbossa: “I see you’ve recruited Sparrow. Nice to see you again, Jack.”

Jack: “Hector. It is my pleasure to say I would be greatly pleased if it were a pleasure to see you again.”

Barbossa: “And what has the lovely Mrs. Bonny put on the table for you? Beside the commodoreship, of course.”

Anne: “Immortality, if he’ll have it.”

Jack: “And command of the winds, eh?”

Barbossa (aside, as they stroll down the dock toward the ships): “Jack, Jack, Jack. You keep chasing eternal life. That dream is clearly not your true fate.”

Jack: “Seems yours.”

Barbossa laughs and slaps him roughly on the shoulder. Cannon fire booms from the port, taking them both aback.

_PLOT PUSH: Just as the church’s fleet attacks Bonny’s at port, the fortress is hit with an earthquake. We see Baldassaro again rubbing the mysterious pearl button. As the fortress collapses around them, Barbossa joins the quest, having little choice but to flee. The Vengeance sails off with the two Commodores on board, and more ships are mysteriously crushed behind them by a swelling in the waters.

Jack: “This is the second time we’ve been driven from port by the church and the splintering of ships.”

Anne: “What’s your point, Captain? Get to the helm!”

Jack: “Get me to the Pearl!”

Anne: “It’s the Vengeance that needs you now! We’re in combat!”

Jack (shaking his head): “You are being hunted. By whom?”

Anne glares at him and stomps below.

Mary: “Neptune.”

Jack: “Poseidon. I saw his trident broken.”

Barbossa: “Aye, as did I.”

Mary: “He yet lives. And holds that against you.”

After Mary follows Anne below, Barbossa explains to Jack – “The ancient lord of the sea was tamed by the Church, his storms calmed, his religion subsumed to mere myth and poetry. That’s how Calypso rose from a simple muse to become the Goddess of the Sea. All of the minor godlings who had been circling the ankles of the gods for centuries quietly slipped into power when those old deities were cast down or turned to better purposes.”

Gibbs: “Turned to the church’s purposes, you mean.”

Barbossa: “Aye, and as Anne Bonny is set against the church, Cardinal Baldassaro and his pet are set against her.”

Jack: “And why is she so set against the church?”

Barbossa: “Now there be an intriguing mystery. I wager we’ll find out.”

Gibbs: “Aye, and I wager too late.”

_

SEQUENCE 4

“FUN AND GAMES” SEQUENCE: This is the “promise of the premise” sequence of the film, and it delivers on a promise that the pirate films have never delivered upon: scenes of actual piracy by Jack and Barbossa. The pirate fleet sacks multiple cities (Boston, Charleston, St. Augustine, New Orleans) in search of a treasure Mary is hesitant to reveal or explain. They finally seek refuge at a tiny port in a lonely estuary … providing an opportunity for an inside joke with the audience about Washington, DC.

Sparrow (to Barbossa in his ship, berthed alongside): “What’s the name of this measly port we’re hiding out in?”

Barbossa: “Georgetown.” (With a sarcastic nod) “Named after our mutual friend, the King. It’s the last port up the Potomac, nothing but trappers and tobacco farmers surrounded by worthless tracts of swamps and woodlands that’ll likely never amount to aught but wilderness. As safe for a rogue with thievery in his heart as any place on earth, and ever will be!”

Sparrow (mouths “pooo-tooo-maaac”): “Oy, so why…”

Barbossa: “Our Lady wants a parlay, and this will be the place for it.”

PLOT PUSH: They indeed have a meeting at a tavern on the Georgetown waterfront, a conversation in which Anne reveals that they are seeking the Crown of Neptune, which she claims will free the old god and turn the tide in her war against the church.

Anne: “The Church has bound the old Sea God in the form of a snow-white leviathan—as the pirate lords had once bound Calypso, as Davy Jones had once bound the Kraken—and now he must follow the command of Cardinal Baldassaro.”

Gibbs: “And the Crown?”

Mary: “Lost among the church’s stolen treasures, likely bartered away by some priest for slaves or whores.”

Barbossa: “Or both.”

Mary: “We find the Crown and we can free Neptune from his servitude, if not his form.”

Jack: “Ah, he’ll no longer be a weapon handled by Baldassaro’s … hand. Handling him.”

Anne: “The old ways are gone, in both the Old World and the New. The Church has seen to that, and scoured Creation of its treasures in the process. All we have left to us is revenge.”

Bill: “And justice.”

Barbossa: “And booty. Never forget that, right Jack?”

Jack (ignoring Barbossa, to Anne in his iconic Sparrow flirty solicitousness): “Love, I cannot help but … notice. Obserrrrve. Recognize. The wind always turns in your favor. That’s not just luck. You’ve got an ace up your sleeve, darling, and I intend to know what it is.”

Before Anne can respond, a sailor bursts into the tavern and says: “He’s here!”

When they rush out to the dock, they see that mermaids have lashed in place, with hooks, the three flagships where they were anchored mid-river. Pirates and dock-hands are fighting with the mermaids, who are hauling them into the water. The main characters jump into their boats and row feverishly from dock to ships; they climb aboard as Bill Thicke sights a watery wake heading toward them. A white whale’s back breaks the surface, and blows.

Bill: “Thaaar she..”

Mary (cutting him off, with a cautioning glance toward Anne): “He.”

Anne (angrily, to Bill): “We see him!”

Jack frantically races along the Pearl‘s gunnel from hook to hook, yanking at each in a desperate effort to free it. None budge. Barbossa takes an axe to the hooks holding his ship, to no avail. Bill Thicke stands with both boots on the gunnel of Vengeance, pulling on a hook with all of his might. Anne’s mysterious winds pick up, but her ship is stuck fast. As the ship rocks, the hook in Bill’s hand budges only a little. He looks across the water to Jack.

Bill (angry and sarcastic): “You’re the famous Captain Jack Sparrow! What do we do?”

Jack (still yanking on hooks): “It’s Commodore now, Bill!” (mockingly) “I mean: Bob!” (looks puzzled for a moment) “Bob? … All hands to the guns! Lift the cannon on wedges!”

Gibbs (getting the idea): “Aye! Every scrap of wood you can scrounge! Lift ’em high, you dogs!”

Bill (slowly getting it): “Quickly, men! Aim at the skies!”

As Neptune, in the form of a white whale, barrels down on the Pearl, Jack gives the command to fire all. Cannons fire and the Pearl bobs down into the water, releasing the hooks from the gunnels. As the ship rebounds (and the crew comically lose their footing) the hooks and chains plop harmlessly into the river on all sides. Anne lifts the winds behind the Pearl, which slips forward just as Neptune arrives. The Whale side-swipes the stern, shaking the entire ship, but doesn’t hit head-on.

The other two ships follow Jack’s lead, and each are freed before the White Whale can destroy them. They race downriver to the open sea, through a gauntlet of Baldassaro’s ships firing at them from both sides.

SIDE PLOT: During the battle, Baldassaro eyes Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa, and realizes who Anne Bonny has recruited to help her. Jack and Gibbs also recognize Baldassaro and Jules from the burning of Tortuga. The four of them share a look as the Pearl passes by. Jack, aside to Gibbs, orders the colors raised and jabs his thumb at the Jolly Roger to bring Baldassaro’s attention to it.

_

SEQUENCE 5

“HISTORY IN A QUIET PLACE” [SETTING, CHARACTER, PLOT, THEME]: Jack, Barbossa, Bill Thicke, and Gibbs confer in the bowels of the Pearl. Jack seems hesitant to question Anne.

Barbossa: “Bill, you’ve been serving under Anne Bonny for a while now, and we need to know who it is we’re calling Admiral.”

Jack: “She seems a fine Admiral, in my book. If I had a book. If I could read a book.” (regaining his momentum) “We’ve hit seventeen ports and haven’t lost a ship!”

Barbossa (to Jack): “Which is the longest run you’ve had, not losing a ship, eh?” Jack gives him a dirty look.

Gibbs (to Bill): “Is it true she set fire to her father’s house and burned up an entire island?”

Jack: “Mr. Gibbs, if an entire island had burned up, I’m sure we would have heard of it.”

Gibbs: “I heard of it.”

Bill: “It’s not true.”

Jack: “See? Not true.”

Bill: “It was her husband’s house, and she burned it to keep him mum. And the island entire, in case any of the servants had escaped to tell her secret.”

Barbossa and Gibbs: “Secret?”

Jack (suddenly interested): “Secret?”

Bill: “Anne has had a string of pirate husbands … and partners. The latest being Mark Read, after Jack Rackham.”

Jack (aside to Barbossa): “All Jacks are not the same.”

Gibbs: “Mark Read? Mary Read’s brother, I gather?”

Bill: “No, my Mary herself, in disguise as a man. And of course the men were loathe to follow her once they figured out she was a woman, so there was you two.”

Jack (trying to soothe the intrigue): “And here we are…” (lifts a rum bottle as if in toast) “Successful. Possessful. Excessful.” (takes a drink)

Bill: “Before Mary, there was Jack Rakham, who was hanged. Before him, James Bonny who turned informant for the East India Company.”

Jack (rubs his right wrist): “Rotten.”

Gibbs: “Wait, is that Weasel Jim’ Bonny out o’ Nassau? That was quite some time ago.”

Bill: “And before that, a man who tired of piracy and settled down instead, pretending to be her father after time caught up with him.”

Jack: “What are you getting at, mate?”

Bill: “That plantation she burned? That was nearly 50 years ago. Anne does not age. I do not know why, and so long as we rob the Church of its ill-gotten riches, I do not care. But you should watch your step.”

Barbossa: “We’ve been doing very little church-robbing of late.”

Bill: “Mary and I have been … having words about that. At any rate, I wanted you fellows to know where we stand.”

Jack: “A good, square pirate!”

Bill glares at him, then gets up to leave. Barbossa follows him out.

Gibbs: “This seems a bad alliance, Jack. Maybe we should invoke the code and be on our way.”

Jack (distracted): “You heard Bill. So long as we … ill-gotten riches and all that.” (he waves Gibbs off)

After Gibbs leave, Jack is alone in the hold. He stares at the rum bottle and plugs it. “The immortal Captain,” he whispers to himself, “The immortal Commodore Jack Sparrow. Doesn’t quite have the same ring…”_

PLOT PUSH: As Jack stares into his rum bottle, Neptune appears [CHARACTER] before him—a muscular, white-skinned, bare-chested man wearing simple sailor’s trousers. His pale green beard seems made of bleached seaweed. Taken aback, Jack instinctively lifts the rum bottle to his mouth, and is surprised and disgusted when his tongue touches the cork he put there.

“Captain Sparrow, you know me?”

Jack: “Aye… Neptune, I presune. Presume. Only you’re looking a bit less … cetacean at the moment.”

Neptune: “Yes, the church has bound my power and my rage in the White Whale. I am myself but a wraith, an allegory in the mouths of good, church-going men who no longer believe in pagan gods. But you know my power, Sparrow, the power of the sea. You knew Calypso in her might. And you’ve been witness to the growing might of another goddess now.”

Jack: “Bonny. I knew she was blowing … smoke. Or something.”

Neptune: “Yes, indeed. She is Halcyone, Mistress of the Winds, bound in her flesh by bitterness and anger at the rise of the new faith. And now she seeks to bind you, as well, to her own purpose.”

Jack (looks behind him, at no one): “Me?”

Neptune: “She needs your name, your reputation, your legend…” (Jack seems pleased at this) “But she fears your free spirit, your …. eye for the horizon.”

Jack: “Oh, I do love the horizon, mate.” (he uncorks the bottle)

Neptune: “You still feel the lingering influence of the ancient gods, the old mystique of the sea that struggles for breath in this ‘Age of Enlightenment.’ She is drowning in her feeble rage and, holding tight to you as her buoy. And she will drag you down with her.”

Jack lifts the bottle to drink, notices his hand turning pale, like Neptune’s skin. He is, of course, dismayed to see this.

Neptune: “We gasp for life in this New World… to keep that mystique alive. To keep ourselves alive.”

Jack: “We? You and me?” (the whiteness creeps up his wrist, giving the East India Company branding a ghastly look) “Us?”

Neptune: “Rules and reason hedge in all around us, and our spirits struggle to be free.”

Jack (watches as his Sparrow tattoo is utterly erased by the encroaching whiteness): “Oy!”

Neptune: “Free…” His voice sounds hollow and deep, like the breath of a whale, as he fades away. Jack shakes his head to clear it, and finds himself alone, his hand returned to its usual shade.

_

SEQUENCE 6

(Henceforth, I’ll set up the tent-poles more quickly…)

PLOT: Jack communicates quietly to Gibbs, at the helm of the Pearl, that they should flee Anne’s fleet at their first opportunity. Anne rounds a mast and sidles up. Jack and Gibbs are startled, instinctively backing away.

Anne (menacingly): “Whispers on the wind.”

Jack and Gibbs glance at each other, then try to look innocent.

Anne: “Is one flotilla not enough for you, Jack?” (She nods across the water toward Barbossa’s ship. Jack and Gibbs follow her gesture. Barbossa is being held by several of Anne’s pirates. Another pirate throws a rope over a yard-arm. At the end of it bounces a noose.

Anne (shouting over): “Mr. Barbossa! Help us convince Admiral Sparrow of his destiny.”

Barbossa: “What’s the meaning of this?! Jack?”

Jack: “Wait, wait! You’re stringin’ him up if I stay, or if I don’t stay?” [CHARACTER: revealing the amity that has grown between Jack and Hector]

Anne: “You’ve wanted to put the old mutineer in his place for years now, haven’t you? You tell me how you want this to end.”

Jack: “Hector has proven himself … invaluable at times. Or, highly valuable at any rate. I’d hate to waste such an … ass” (pause) “et, but what exactly are you demanding in return?”

Anne: “Your absolute loyalty. An oath to serve beside me at the head of my fleet. Barbossa at the head of one flotilla and whomever you want at the head of the other.”

Jack: “I’ve made deals with heathen gods in the past, love. It never works out quite as I planned.”

Anne: “Clever Jack. So you know my secret. I thought I sensed that old turncoat Neptune skulking about. No doubt he’s been aboard for a visit, recruiting for Baldassaro.”

Jack: “Maybe he just likes me. He’s not my type, of course…”

Anne (thinking, focusing): “Perhaps he does. Perhaps your reputation precedes you. Kingmaker.”

Jack: “Kingmmm— oh, you mean that bit of business during the last war. The Queen of Pirates? Quibbles. She’s retired.”

Anne: “But, I haven’t retired and neither has Neptune. And we’re both in need of a Crown.”

[CHARACTER, PLOT] Jack continues to be reluctant, so Anne resorts to revealing that Angelica has joined Baldassaro’s fleet, seeking revenge against him. This harsh turn resigns Sparrow to his fate.

Anne [REVERSAL OF THEME AND REVERSAL OF JACK’S FLIRTATIOUSNESS]: “To find true freedom, you have to surrender a little freedom elsewhere.” She fishes something from her pocket, and tosses two shiny things to Jack. He opens his hand uncomfortably to look at them: a pair of rings. “Put an Admiral’s feather in that raggedy hat of yours, drop the nickname, and keep those rings for the ceremony.” She turns to leave, but looks over her shoulder one last time. “Love.”

Jack (looking a little sick): “Anne Sparrow, wife of Ca— Admiral …” (looking off into the distance, wearily) “Admiral John Sparrow?”

 

SEQUENCE 7

[SETTING, PLOT] The pirate fleet sails to Port Royal, to seal Jack’s pirate admiralty and secure Anne’s control of his leadership. Port Royal is revealed to be transformed into as rowdy a pirate port as Tortuga ever was, fulfilling Gibbs’s earlier foreshadowing. On a sandy spit that holds an entirely new stretch of the city, Barbossa, Bill, and Gibbs make a last-ditch effort to deter Jack from his fate.

Barbossa tells him: “Jack, Anne thinks you’re the Crown of Neptune for some reason.”

Jack: “Me? I thought it was a… thing.”

Bill: “Because he came to you in his true form. And because you empowered the last of the Pirate Kings. She thinks it’s a sign. She told Mary, and Mary told me. She intends to use you.”

Gibbs: “As leverage?”

Barbossa: “Perhaps, Jack, we have once again chosen the wrong side.”

Gibbs: “Which side then? The Cardinal’s not keen on alliance with pirates.”

Jack: “Pflegh! We’re caught between a god and a hard place. Best to stick with the devil we know, for now.”

Bill: “For now? This is marriage, Jack.”

Jack (rolls his eyes): “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Bill: “But this is Anne Bonny. She divorces with a vengeance.”

Gibbs: “Tell us you’ve got a plan, Jack.”

Jack (clearly out of sorts): “Making it up as I go along, mate. As always.”_

PLOT: Later, Jack and Anne are married at the site of Will and Elizabeth’s interrupted marriage from years before. Over their heads hangs the clock raised by Lord Cutler Becket years ago, ticking to Jack’s obvious annoyance. Jack is wearing his signature hat, with a gaudy feather tucked into the tattered cross-stitch holding the left flap up.

A voodoo priest weds them, and calls Anne by her real name: “Do you, Halcyone, Mistress of the Winds, promise to honor and cherish Jack, and support him with all within your power?”

“Command of the winds,” Jack mutters bitterly under his breath.

Later, when Jack mutters “I do,” the cross-stitch comes undone, the feather floats off and the hat’s left flap sags comically.

Afterward, a grand party is thrown. We see Mary Read and Bill Thicke unhappily slipping away from the revelers.

_

SEQUENCE 8

Gibbs awakens Jack with a tossed mug of water. Jack is in bed, notably alone.

Gibbs: “Bill and Mary have fled Port Royal. They fear Baldassaro and his servant will follow us here.”

Barbossa (rushing in): “Jack, ships arriving this morning bring ill news. The Cardinal’s fleet is on its way here!”

Gibbs: “Bill and Mary were right! Bonny’s luring them here for a fight.”

Jack: “What!? A fight?”

Barbossa: “She thinks you’re the Crown, Jack. She thinks you can free Neptune and steal the Cardinal’s greatest weapon from him.”

Jack (searchingly): “But… I’m not the Crown. I think. Am I?”

Barbossa: “Perhaps it’s time you stop making it up as you go along and come up with a plan to save us from your Missus.”

Jack rolls off of the bed and stumbles out of the room to find and confront Anne. He finds her fully dressed, hair tossed in a light breeze, sitting casually at a table overlooking the harbor and sipping a glass of wine.

Jack: “Every time we wait somewhere, love, our friends in red and white catch up to us, and this is no exception.”

Anne: “I have heard the rumors. When they come we’ll be ready.”

Jack: “If we don’t leave Port Royal now, all of these innocent people will suffer Neptune’s wrath.”

Anne (shrugs): “Let them suffer it, as I have.”

Jack (frustrated, sits): “Darling… I know you believe that I am this Crown you’ve been looking for, some fetish that’s the key to freeing Neptune, but if that were true don’t you think I would have stopped him the other times the Cardinal has found us?”

Anne (over the top of the wine glass): “Before now, I hadn’t done the proper ritual, because I didn’t know I had the Crown in my grasp.” She makes a suggestive underhanded clawing gesture, which causes Jack to grimace.

Jack: “Ritual?” (thinking) “Ah, I am your leverage.”

Anne grins and flashes her wedding ring at him. Jack looks at his own ring, notes a band of whitened skin to either side. He frantically tries to pull it off, but fails. He rushes off toward the docks, and is intercepted by Barbossa and Gibbs.

Jack: “I think the plan has been made for me.” He shows them the ring and whitening skin. “It’s me against the Cardinal’s war-dog. War-god. Er, war-whale.”

Gibbs: “Orders, Admiral?”

Jack: “I’ll stay behind. You keep to the code.” (Gibbs hesitates) “Flee!” (waving arms) “All of you, abscond and take flight! Before they get here!”

Barbossa: “We’ve been through many a scrape, Jack Sparrow, not always on the right side and not always on the same side. Good or ill, I shall stand by ye now.” [CHARACTER]

_

CLIMAX: Neptune’s earthquake hits and Port Royal is destroyed, buildings collapsing, Beckett’s clock nearly falling on Jack, and the new buildings along the sandy spit sinking into the sand. [These events are inspired by the real Port Royal earthquake and tsunami of 1692]

During the earthquake, Barbossa is killed sinking into the sand. Jack is unable to stop the quake though he stands atop a high wall (the same one he and Elizabeth fell from in the first film) chanting “freedom… be free… I am the Crown… free free free…” He steps back as the wall begins to crumble beneath him, then runs back into the tremoring fort.

As Jack rounds a dark corner, Neptune stands there. He glances mournfully at Jack’s whitened ring finger and says: “I shall do what I can if you promise to find the true Crown.”

Jack: “Aye!”

The earthquake jolts one last strong jolt, then subsides. Neptune, before fading away: “There’s little time. You must flee before the wave comes.”

Jack runs back to the table where Anne is now angrily watching the vanguard of the Cardinal’s fleet come ashore, slaughtering those trapped waist- or neck-deep in the sand. She realizes she was wrong about Jack being the Crown, and orders him to take her crippled fleet to sea. As they board, they see the bulk of the Cardinal’s fleet approaching and the Pearl jerks suddenly, listing to starboard. A sailor tumbles overboard and lands splat in mud.

Gibbs: “Jack!” (he gestures over the gunnel)

The water has receded from the docks, leaving the Pearl beached. Jack and Gibbs turn back to the horizon and see a great rise in the water, pushing the Cardinal’s ships quickly inland like surfers.

Gibbs (shouting): “Tidal wave!”

Jack (shouting across to Anne in her ship, Vengeance): “When that water comes back, we’re going to need some help getting us out to sea!”

Anne nods, and the breeze picks up. The winds are soon roaring down the slopes behind Port Royal and tugging at the sails of the beached ships. The wave rushes in, carrying the Cardinal’s fleet, and a swirling, chaotic battle ensues as the ships fire upon each other and struggle to maneuver through the eddies, ruins, and wreckage. During the battle, Jack notices Angelica at the helm of one of the Cardinal’s ships. At Baldassaro’s order, Captain Jules takes aim at Jack with a long gun, but only manages to shoot his hat off, breaking the cross-stitching holding the other flap.

Finally, with the help of Halcyone’s winds, they escape the watery maelstrom and head to sea. As they race from the port, Vengeance is struck violently by the Whale. Her ship sinking, Anne raises the winds to blow her over to escape onto the Pearl, which then quickly outruns the Whale.

Jack and Gibbs stand at the taffrail, staring at the soaked and smoking ruins of Port Royal.

Jack: “Commodore Barbossa.” (tips his now-floppy hat)

Gibbs: “This truly is the end of freedom.”

Jack looks at his whitened ring finger.

The film ends with Anne telling Jack that they are once again on the hunt for the Crown of Neptune, and searching for “those mutineers” Mary and Bill while they’re at it. When Jack hesitates, she threatens to blow him into the sky.

_

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