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Crab

StabbedSkeletonandCrabConceptArt
"You will be going with us, mon ami, non?"
"No. Once all your men's cells are unlocked, I'm taking those keys and scuttling out of here as fast as a crab on a white sand beach, Christophe."
―Christophe-Julien de Rapièr and Jack Sparrow[src]

A crab was a 10-legged animal that walked sideways. The foremost legs were in the form of claws. Most crabs lived in the oceans, but many lived on land.

History

Giant Crab
"I'm in need of a few things. An Undead Witchdoctor took my favorite crab recipe. Recover it for me, along with some o' that sweet crab meat, of course."
―Gil Derga to a pirate[src]

As a heathen goddess, Calypso was able to take many forms. But since the crab was attributed as her symbol, most notably by pirates, she chose that form.[1] During the Age of Piracy, crabs inhabited many islands in the Caribbean. Some crabs however were cursed by Jolly Roger into joining his army of creatures that inhabited most islands.[2] When the natives from the island of Opawy Wato replaced their golden idol with the figurehead of the pirate ship Nemesis, the angry deity brought upon them a terrible curse which transformed them into crab-like monsters.[3]

Crabs, knives, coins

Steamed and buttered crabs were one of Jack Sparrow's favorite meals.[4] When Jack found the body of One Tooth Tommy in Shipwreck Cove, a bunch of crabs were already beginning to eat the corpse.[5] More than a decade later, when Jack Sparrow and Will Turner rowed inside the caves of Isla de Muerta, they saw a crab near a skeleton with a sword sticking out of its back.[6] Also, cursed crabs existed at the neighboring Rumrunner's Isle.[2] A year later, when Bootstrap Bill Turner came onboard the Black Pearl to give the Black Spot to Jack, he caught and ate a tiny little crab.[7]

With a clatter of crab claws on a rough wooden table, the voodoo mystic Tia Dalma used crab claws as they hold unfathomable powers, revealing a person's fate and spelling out your destiny, despite their fears.[7] With crab claws, Tia Dalma could see what ordinary mortals could not by gently throwing the claws on the table and "reading" their positions.[8]

Behind the scenes

"Perfect. What would my torment be without unusual crabs here to mock me."
―Jack Sparrow[src]

In Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, there was a skeleton pirate sprawled on the beach, with a crab nearby, located within a treasure-filled cavern in Dead Man's Cove.[9] This was adapted into a quick shot in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, in a scene where young blacksmith Will Turner suspects the pirate Jack Sparrow would betray him at Isla de Muerta.[6][10]

One of Mark "Crash" McCreery's artworks for The Curse of the Black Pearl shows the undead Barbossa with a tiny crab coming out of his empty left eye socket.[11]

In Terry Rossio's 2012 screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, after gaining possession of Philip Swift's Map to the Mermaid Trove, Jack Sparrow accidentally swallowed, hocked up, caught and ate a hermit crab.[12]

Crabs were meant to appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, a video game which was scheduled to be released in 2011.[3] But since that game was cancelled, it is unknown if its appearance in the game is canon or not.

Appearances

Sources

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: "Pirates Secrets Revealed" DVD leaflet
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pirates of the Caribbean Online
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
  4. ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Sword of Cortés, p. 41
  5. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Six: The Wicked Wench
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  8. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 58-59: "Tia Dalma's Shack"
  9. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies
  10. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl "Spirit of the Ride" featurette
  11. ↑ The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean, p. 34
  12. ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio