Pirates of the Caribbean Question

[sraun]

There's magic in that universe - the curse is blatant proof of that, as is the whatever that the last piece of gold did when Elizabeth fell into the water with it.

So, what is the magic in the world? How does it work? And is Captain Jack Sparrow magical? In some magic systems, there is the concept of the warrior-monk or similar character - the person who uses magic to enhance their own strength, agility, dexterity, or luck. So - is Captain Jack that type of character?

Comments

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

I would say that the world of Pirates of the Caribbean is roughly the same as the world of the Indiana Jones movies: Magic exists, but it is the province of natives and primitive peoples, through their gods, having been forgotten/ignored by the more modern Western European civilization in favor of science.

As for Captain Jack, I would say that he is someone who could have become a mage had he born into a magic-using society, but since he wasn't, he is infused with the stuff of magic but is unable to control it.

[elorie.livejournal.com]

I don't think he's magical in an intentional way. But he certainly has the kind of luck that suggests something out of the ordinary, and the power of dedication to an idea.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Have you read Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides? (Not that there's that much similarity, but I could see PotC taking place in that world.)

[sraun]

No, I haven't. IIRC, one of Tim's early books was The Drawing of the Dark - I tried to read it three or four times, and could never get into it. I've never tried any other - his early style was so seriously not to my taste.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

His work has been very uneven, and The Drawing of the Dark really isn't representative. The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides are much, much better.

[fsf-rapier.livejournal.com]

Though I hesitate to mention it for fear of bringing up an RPG debate, the best description I have for Jack is that of an AD&D 2nd Edition Bard. The Bard was a little bit of everything, and since they were a jack-of-all trades (but master of none) then they usually survived on their wits and a lot of luck.
The bard had knowledge of a little magic, and had the lore to understand more than they could actually do. I think that describes Jack Sparrow pretty well.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

My take on this is that the magic in that world is very, very rare, and what there is, is godstuff.

Meaning, only a god or its Duly Authorized Representative (ie: priest/ess equivalent) can cause magic to come into being, but once it's in the world humans can interact with it, and if necessary counter it, if they can figure out how.

But the gods (all flavors) seem pretty chary of introducing magic. The coins were cursed in response to someone literally trying to wipe out the gods' worshippers and stop them from being worshipped, which would be a fairly serious thing from the god's POV (to put it mildly).

The reason I think magic is rare is that no one-- not Jack Sparrow, not his mutinous crew, not Elizabeth or Will or the Navy officers-- NO ONE-- believed the curse was real until they saw evidence of it with their own eyes. If magic was common as mud, and you ran into it all the time, they'd be less skeptical about the Black Pearl being cursed. So magic must exist, but happen so rarely that a large portion of the population has never been exposed to it.

So based on that, no, Jack isn't magical. He's just very, very lucky. (It is possible that he's lucky because a diety favors him, and tweaks events to make sure he comes out ahead, but there's no evidence of that in the movie.)

The Black Pearl, OTOH, might very well be a magical ship, either because it was god-touched at some time in the past, or because of a lingering magical 'residue' from the 10 years it spent under the curse.

All this is, of course, just MHO, based on speculation from very little data. But I think it fits the known facts pretty well.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I thought Jack was an aspect of Coyote...

[sraun]

Ooh! I like that thought! It ties in very nicely with Diane's (gryphons_lair) thoughts about magic in the world!

[sraun]

rolanni came up with the thought of Jack being an aspect of Coyote - that ties in so nicely with your world-view, and Jack's unusually high degree of luck (of both good and bad kinds).