Marty

"Set topsails and clear up this mess."

This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.
Please follow the article standards laid out in the Layout Guide and the Manual of Style and complete this article to the highest level of quality before continuing on other articles. Remove this message when finished.

"And Marty the dwarf. He's got a fighten' spirit, I tell 'ee, several sizes larger than his size."

―Joshamee Gibbs^[src]

Marty was a dwarf pirate during the Age of Piracy. It was said that the best things came in small packages; the diminutive but tough and hardy Marty was no exception. Marty packed a powerful punch, a short-statured guy with a fighting spirit that more than made up for his size.

When Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner came looking for a crew in Tortuga, Jack's loyal first mate Joshamee Gibbs paraded a crew, including Marty. United by danger, Marty sailed with the crew aboard the Interceptor in pursuit of the Black Pearl at Isla de Muerta and rescue Elizabeth Swann from Hector Barbossa's crew until the Interceptor was destroyed by the Pearl. Marty and the crew were taken to the brig by Barbossa's crew until they were able to escape by taking the Black Pearl, which they later used to sail under Captain Sparrow. About one year later, Marty was captured along with the rest of Sparrow's crew at the Isla de Pelegostos by the Pelegostos tribe, but managed to escape and subsequently accompanied Sparrow in the search for the Dead Man's Chest, which ended with Marty being one of the few to survive the attack of the Kraken. During the war against Lord Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company, Marty journeyed to World's End, accompanied Sparrow and Barbossa in the meeting of the Fourth Brethren Court, and fought against Beckett's armada in a battle between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman. After the battle, Marty left Sparrow and joined Barbossa aboard the Black Pearl, hoping to find the Fountain of Youth, only for Barbossa's crew to discover that Sparrow took the map. Many years later, having survived an attack by Blackbeard, Marty rejoined Sparrow in Saint Martin and sailing aboard the Dying Gull in the quest for the Trident of Poseidon, which ended with Marty serving under Sparrow aboard the Black Pearl once again.

Biography

Early life

Little is known of Marty's early life other than that he was from the island of Tortuga, and that he was short-statured as a dwarf. He was just like anyone else on pirate ships. As long as he was being paid, it was all good, but like Marty didn't have an allegiance to anybody but himself. Marty was determined to get to where he wants to go through life and be respected. Before he became a pirate, Marty was quite a womanizer, wearing keys around his neck that represent the keys to women's hearts.^[8] According to one legend, Marty the dwarf pirate had a brother named El Grande.^[2]

Jack Sparrow's crew

Isla de Muerta

"Jack owes us a ship!"

―Marty to Elizabeth Swann^[src]

When Captain Jack Sparrow came to Tortuga looking for a crew, men mad enough to join him on his dangerous adventure aboard the Interceptor, Jack quickly finds a loyal first mate, Joshamee Gibbs, who recruited Marty. Sparrow was shown "faithful hands before the mast," as Gibbs paraded the crew, including Marty, Kursar, Tearlach, Matelot, Moises, Ladbroc, Cotton and his parrot. Looking at Marty and the crew, young blacksmith Will Turner doubted their skill, but Jack didn't mind as he knew that sailors had to be either mad or stupid to sign up for the kind of mission he has in mind, which was to regain the Black Pearl from his mutinous first mate Hector Barbossa. They faced their first test when a ferocious storm hit the ship. Despite striking all but the mainsail, the Interceptor was swamped by the mountainous waves. United by danger, Marty and the crew battle with the storm and survive,^[9]^[10] though there was doubt about Sparrow's compass.^[1]

As the Interceptor arrived to Isla de Muerta, Marty and the rest of the crew looked over the railing into the sea as the ship passed through a dangerous passageway, watching several sharks and other fish below them as the ship moved slowly onwards with Cotton's Parrot saying "dead men tell no tales eerily. The pirates soon snapped back to work on orders from their captain. They later arrived at their destination, Isla de Muerta, where Sparrow and Turner went into the island alone, leaving the crew behind, ordering them to keep to the Pirate's Code.^[1]

Will later came back out without Jack, instead with a rescued Elizabeth Swann, but the crew kept to the code and went on without him. When the Black Pearl attacked the Interceptor, Marty manned the ship's cannons alongside the other crew. Marty and the rest of the cannoneers survived and were taken prisoner, along with the other crewmen, by Barbossa's cursed crew to be imprisoned, left under the watch of two cursed pirates, Mallot and Grapple. However, they were later freed from their cell by Elizabeth and, despite the latter's futile attempts to convince them to go back for Will and Jack, took over the Black Pearl, leaving her on a longboat. When Swann had tried to convince them to save Jack, Marty pointed out that Jack owed them a ship to which the other pirates nodded in agreement before sending Elizabeth away. Though they refused to help her rescue Will and Jack from Isla de Muerta, the pirates, now under Gibbs and crewman Anamaria with ten new recruits, later rescued Jack from the gallows and allowed him to become captain once more.^[1]

The Dead Man's Chest

"Did we kill it?"
"No. We just made it angry."

―Marty and Joshamee Gibbs referring to the Kraken^[src]

Marty commented that Jack was acting stranger than usual during his hunt for the key to the Dead Man's Chest. The crew was captured by the Pelegostos after Jack realized the Kraken was pursuing them, and Marty was one of the few to escape Pelegosto Island. He informed the crew the Flying Dutchman was falling behind during the chase off Isla Cruces, and supervised the crew in hoisting a net of gunpowder during the attack of the Kraken. He survived the battle and joined the diminished crew in lamenting the loss of both Jack and the Black Pearl at Tia Dalma's shack. Marty agreed to travel to World's End to bring Jack back from Davy Jones' Locker.^[3]

At World's End

No mission would be complete without some reinforcements ready to wade in when things started to go wrong, and if anyone could achieve the impossible, it was Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti, Cotton and Marty—who actually specialise in making things look impossible in the first place. The unsinkable crew managed to slip through the ring of enemy agents disguised as coconuts.^[10] Marty participated in the battle in Singapore, firing a large gun whose recoil knocked him backwards. He was part of the shore party that happened upon the corpse of the Kraken, and alerted his captain to the presence of the Empress.^[4]

Afterwards when Jack questioned if anyone came to his rescue just because they missed him, Marty was the first to raise his hand and was joined by a few others which pleased Sparrow.^[4]

He later used a Blunderbuss to take potshots at Davy Jones' crewmen during the battle around Calypso's maelstrom. Marty remained on board the Black Pearl when Barbossa staged his second mutiny, continuing to serve aboard the ship.^[4]

Quest for the Trident of Poseidon

Leaving Jack

"You want us to pay you?"

―Marty to Jack Sparrow^[src]

Many years later, by 1751, Marty helped steal the entire bank of Saint Martin along with Joshamee Gibbs, Scrum, and the rest of Dying Gull crew. When the robbery failed, Marty was outraged when Jack suggested the crew pay a captain's tribute since the robbery was a failure. The crew abandoned Jack, only to be paid by Henry Turner to help free Jack and Carina Smyth on the day of their planned executions. With the help of Henry and Carina, Jack Sparrow led the crew on a quest to find the Trident of Poseidon, in a race against Armando Salazar and the Silent Mary.^[7]

Mutiny

After the escape, the crew went in search of the Trident of Poseidon, not knowing why their re-appointed captain was interested in doing so. The Trident could be found with Diary of Galileo Galilei, which was in possession of Carina Smyth and despite initially being denied help, they managed to help. However in less than a day of travel the crew when the crew discovered that they were being pursued by the dead they immediately aim their guns at Jack in frustration, which Jack then decides to call upon mutiny, having Henry Turner and Carina Smyth join him on a rowboat. The mutiny ended up putting Joshamee Gibbs as the captain.^[7]

Capture

Shortly afterwards, Gibbs discovered that the Essex were following with the intent to arrest them. Gibbs quickly surrendered his post as Captain to Scrum and when they were captured, Scrum was badly beaten by the Navy soldiers as a result.^[7]

After that, the crew were placed in a cell as Gibbs planned their escape by stating they need something sharp. Marty interjected by saying he wouldn't find anything sharp in the cells before they noticed Scrum's sharp toenail and held him down to remove it.^[7]

On the Black Pearl again

The escape was successful as the crew broke out of the cell and made their way on a rowboat. After putting good distance between them, Gibbs discovered that the Black Pearl had been returned to its natural state and sailing again. Seeing the opportunity, the excited crew quickly made their way to the vessel and Marty joined the crew in fighting off Salazar and his undead crew who soon retreated after the Pearl reached Black rock island.^[7]

Marty stayed aboard the ship while Barbossa, Jack, and Carina transverse the island to locate the trident. After the destruction the Trident of Poseidon, which caused all the curses of the sea to be undone; the walls of the sea started closing in on the tomb threatening to drown all those left inside. Barbossa had the crew lower the anchor to save everyone and made the decision to sacrifice himself to save his daughter and defeat Armando Salazar for good. Upon learning of his former captain's demise, Marty held his hand on his chest in respect.^[7]

Afterwards Marty joined the crew of the Black Pearl in accepting Jack as their captain, his faith in Jack was restored as he was shown following his orders with no problem as the ship sailed off into the sunset.^[7] Marty's further fate is unknown.

Personality and traits

It was said that the best things came in small packages; Marty was no exception. Marty packed a powerful punch,^[11] with a fighting spirit that more than made up for his size.^[2] Small but deadly, Marty was a pirate of short stature but tall spirit, unafraid to go up against adversaries three times his size. Like other crew members, Marty was a distinctive pirate. He was bald and had a long thin beard that was woven into a single strand, along with an earring and a multi-colored waistcoat with a white shirt, a belt, a pair of black shoes and baggy breeches.^[1] On his neck Marty wore many keys, symbolizing that before he became a pirate, he was something of a womanizer, possessing the keys to womens' hearts.^[8]

Behind the scenes

"My character was originally named Dirk, but somebody—I think it was Gore Verbinski—preferred to use my real name instead. Marty is from the island of Tortuga, and obviously he's a short-statured guy, but the one thing about pirates is that they didn't discriminate against anybody. They'll treat you as an equal as long as you pull your own weight. Marty is just like anyone else on the Black Pearl. As long as he's being paid, it's all good but, like the others, Marty doesn't really have an allegiance to anybody but himself. [...] Once you get into it, it's like—boom!—I'm not Marty anymore, I'm Marty. Well, that doesn't make any sense, but I'm totally different when I'm in character. Marty's determined to get to where he wants to go through life and be respected. And he's enjoying the opportunity to work with one of the greatest pirates."

―Martin Klebba^[src]

Marty first appeared, portrayed by Martin Klebba, in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl^[1] According to Klebba, the character was originally named Dirk, but someone, presumably director Gore Verbinski, preferred to use the actor's real name instead.^[8] Klebba reprised the role in the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,^[3] the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End^[4] and the 2017 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.^[7] James Arnold Taylor voiced Marty in the 2006 video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.^[2]

While Marty was only referenced in images in the 2006 reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide,^[9] he would be mentioned by name once in the 2007 reprint Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide.^[10] The 2007 book Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean featured several details about Marty, including "Dirk" being the character's original name. According to Klebba, the keys that Marty wore around his neck had a symbolic meaning and costume designer Penny Rose "decided that before I was a pirate, I was quite a womanizer, so these actually represent the keys to women's hearts". In his portrayal of Marty, Klebba did all of the stunt-work that the character was subjected to.^[8]

In Terry Rossio's original 2012 screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, Marty was introduced as having ended up working in a brothel in Georgetown, San Domingo. Marty was present at Barbossa's wedding ceremony, after which Marty helped Barbossa realize his young bride, Nadirah, was actually the villainous Sea Widow in disguise.^[12]