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BlackSpot

The Black Spot

"Any idea when Jones might release said terrible beastie?"
"I already told you, Jack. Your time is up. It comes now, drawn with ravenous hunger to the man what bears...the Black Spot.
"
Jack Sparrow and Bootstrap Bill Turner[src]

The Black Spot was a sign that one had been cursed or marked for death. A source of much fear and superstitions, pirates in particular were presented with a "black spot" to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgement. In some cases, the Black Spot consists of a piece of paper with one side blackened or a mark placed on the palm of one's hand.

Captain Jack Sparrow was much frightened by the Black Spot, after Davy Jones sent Bootstrap Bill Turner as an emissary to give the Spot to Jack, who owed Jones his soul as part of his debt. Now a marked man, Jack was determined to outwit Jones and avoid being hunted across the Seven Seas by the Kraken. However, Jack failed to escape his fate as the Kraken dragged the Black Pearl to the depths and Jack along with it.

History[]

"You have a debt to pay. You owe Davy Jones your soul. That was the agreement. Time's up. You're a marked man, Jack Sparrow."
Davy Jones[src] (trailer)
BlackSpot2

The Black Spot on Jack Sparrow's hand.

Thirteen years after Jack Sparrow made a deal with Davy Jones, to captain the Black Pearl for 13 years, Jones sent Bootstrap Bill Turner as an emissary to warn Sparrow that his debt had to be paid. Bootstrap Bill marked the pirate with the Black Spot, thereby making Jack marked for death. When he was cursed with the Black Spot, Jack Sparrow fled to Cannibal Island.[1] Upon first sight of Sparrow's Black Spot, Joshamee Gibbs, Pintel and Ragetti performed a ritual; patting their shirt pockets five times, spinning one counterclockwise rotation on the spot and spitting on the ground, likely borne from their superstitious natures.

Davy Jones himself removed the Black Spot while allowing Sparrow three days to gather one hundred souls in exchange for his own. The mark instantly returned, without any physical contact from Jones or his crew, after William Turner stole the key to the Dead Man's Chest from aboard the Flying Dutchman. Jones finally settled Sparrow's debt when the pirate captain was dragged down along the Black Pearl to Davy Jones' Locker by the Kraken. By the time Sparrow was rescued along with the Pearl from the Locker thanks to his crew, the Black Spot had faded away from Sparrow's hand.

Appearance[]

The Black Spot took the appearance of a bubonic plague-like lesion growing on the palm of a victim's hand. It was presumed that any member of Davy Jones' crew could mark a target with the Black Spot, as Bootstrap Bill Turner was sent to mark Jack Sparrow. Davy Jones himself, however, was the only one who could remove it.

Behind the scenes[]

"There's also the research phase. You start to think—what are key images? What are key ideas? What are key things to reference? In Pirates you start thinking, 'There was a black spot in Treasure Island. Can we use a black spot? If we did use a black spot, what would be our version of it?' You don't really know where it goes in the story yet, but if it sounds like a cool thing then it's in the mix."
Terry Rossio[src]
  • The Black Spot was a literary device created by Robert Louis Stevenson for Treasure Island. There, it took the appearance of a circular piece of black paper (presumably cut from the pages of the Bible) or card placed in a victim's hand to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgment.
  • In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, upon seeing the Black Spot on Jack Sparrow's hand at Tia Dalma's shack, Joshamee Gibbs brushed himself, then turns around widdershins (counterclockwise) and spits for luck, with Pintel and Ragetti quickly mimicking Gibbs. However, in Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay, Jack does this first after escaping the Pelegostos, where he stares at the water with clear terror and then shoos the evil off his body, turns one time widdershins, spits; Gibbs, Pintel, and Ragetti later do the same as before in Tia's shack, but no spit was mentioned.[2] The film's junior novelization follows what happened at Tia's shack, only for the three pirates to turn three times for luck instead of just once.
  • In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: The Movie Storybook the Black Spot reappears on Jack's hand after the Black Pearl escapes the Flying Dutchman off the coast of Isla Cruces.
  • Although Davy Jones claimed that Jack Sparrow's debt wasn't paid in At World's End, the Black Spot doesn't appear on Jack's hand. It is unknown why, though it is possible this may simply be because the Kraken was no longer alive to pursue him, rendering the Spot's purpose (to attract said beast to its bearer) useless.
  • In Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, the Black Spot would have played a pivotal role. After the young girl Cora June mentions that Jack Sparrow was the only sailor to ever survive the Black Spot, she reveals that she was given the Black Spot by the "Sea Widow" and that she is fated to die by a sea serpent which is chasing her. It would eventually turn out that Cora herself is the Sea Widow in disguise and the Black Spot was part of her ruse, seeking to take revenge on Jack Sparrow, who she blames for the death of her husband and children. However, the Black Spot would lead to her demise when Jack let her assemble the three pearls from the Trident of Neptune which would allow the sea serpent to find her and swallow her.[3] In the script annotations, Rossio noted how the purest among the fan base will lament that Jack and Scrum don't spit and turn widdershins three times, as did Gibbs, Pintel and Ragetti whenever the Black Spot was mentioned, but we can simply trust that Jack doesn't believe in that particular remedy.[4]
  • The Evil Curse of Doom featured in Pirates of the Caribbean Online bares a strong resemblance with the Black Spot. Unfortunately, there had never been anything related to this before it shut down, making its use a mystery. Even The Legend of Pirates Online has not indicated if they planned on doing any updates regarding this Evil Curse.
  • In the non-canon video game Disney Mirrorverse Jack Sparrow is cursed with the Black Spot, but Stellar Magic transforms his right arm into a magical skeleton hand, giving him the ability to turn curses into blessings by manipulating the magic within him.

Appearances[]

External links[]

Notes and references[]

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