Davy Jones

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Davy Jones, a mortal Scottish pirate and a great sailor, fell in love with the sea goddess, Calypso. She entrusted him with ferrying the souls of those who died at sea to the next world and gave him the Flying Dutchman. She swore that after ten years, she would meet him and they would spend one day together before he returned to his duties. When Jones returned to shore after ten years, Calypso failed to appear. Believing Calypso had betrayed him, a heartbroken and enraged Davy Jones turned the Pirate Brethren against her. They assembled in the First Brethren Court and Jones successfully taught them how to imprison her into her human form. Despite betraying her, Jones still loved Calypso, and in despair and guilt he carved out his own heart and placed it in the 'Dead Man's Chest.' The chest was sealed and placed within a larger wooden chest, along with Jones' numerous love letters to Calypso and all other items having to do with her, except his matching musical locket. The chest was then buried on Isla Cruces. Jones kept the chest's key with him at all times. With Calypso gone, Jones abandoned his duties and returned to the Seven Seas. As a result, Jones gradually became monstrous, his physical appearance merging with various aquatic fauna. Jones recruits dying sailors by promising them a reprieve from death in exchange for 100 years of service aboard the Dutchman. During this time, he comes to command the Kraken, a feared mythological sea monster.

In Their Own Story

In Dead Man's Chest, Davy Jones attempts to collect on his bargain with Jack Sparrow, sending Bootstrap Bill to threaten Jack and give him the black spot to attract the Kraken. Jones had raised the Black Pearl from the sea for Sparrow in exchange for Sparrow's soul after captaining the Pearl for 13 years. Sparrow attempts to escape the deal by providing Will Turner as a substitute. Jack falsely strikes a new deal: Jack will be spared servitude if he brings Jones one hundred souls within three days. Jones accepts, removes the black spot, and retains Will as 'good faith payment.' While on the Dutchman, Will challenges Jones at a game of liar's dice, wagering his soul for an eternity of service against the key to the Dead Man's Chest. Bootstrap Bill joins and purposefully loses to save Will. The next morning, Jones realizes the key is gone and summons the Kraken to destroy the ship carrying Turner. The Dutchman sails to Isla Cruces to stop Sparrow from getting the Chest. Arriving, Jones sends his crew to retrieve the Chest; they return with it. The Dutchman chases the Black Pearl but is outrun. Jones summons the Kraken, which drags Jack Sparrow and the Pearl to Davy Jones's Locker. He afterward opens the Chest only to find his heart missing, taken by Jack Sparrow and subsequently stolen by James Norrington, who gives it to Cutler Beckett. In At World's End, Jones is under Beckett's control under threat of death. Beckett orders Jones to sink pirate ships but is infuriated when Jones leaves no survivors. Beckett also orders Jones to kill the Kraken. Later, Jones attacks the Pirate Lord Sao Feng, kills him, and captures Elizabeth Swann. When James Norrington dies on board the Dutchman while helping Elizabeth escape, Jones claims Norrington's sword.

Reader's Guide

The physique of Davy Jones and the other crew of the Flying Dutchman was designed to be a mixture of various aquatic flora and fauna features. In the third film, Tia Dalma reveals it is the fate of the captain and crew of the Dutchman should they fail or abandon their duties on board. Jones has prehensile octopus-like appendages resembling a beard, a prominent sac on his head, and a siphon in place of his nose. He has a crustacean-style claw for his left arm, a long tentacle in place of the index finger on his right hand, and the right leg of a crab resembling a pegleg. Jones' skin color was partly inspired by a coffee-stained styrofoam cup scanned into ILM's computers. Jones speaks with a distinguishable, thick Scottish accent. Originally, director Gore Verbinski wanted Jones to be Dutch, but Nighy responded, 'I don't do Dutch. So I decided on Scottish.' Nighy later revealed that the Scottish sitcom Still Game influenced his choice of accent. The computer-generated imagery and motion capture technology used to complete Davy Jones earned VFX company Industrial Light & Magic the 2006 Academy Award for Visual Effects and was considered revolutionary. Despite the mixed reception of Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, Nighy's performance as Davy Jones was praised, and the character was named as one of Entertainment Weekly's '10 Favorite CG Characters' in 2007.

Did You Know?

• Bill Nighy's performance as Davy Jones was recorded using motion capture during filming on set, with Nighy wearing markers in a grey suit and on his face, rather than in a studio during post-production.
• Davy Jones briefly appears as a human for a single scene in At World's End, played by Bill Nighy in costume.
• Several reviewers mistakenly identified Nighy as wearing prosthetic makeup or a latex mask due to the computer-generated character's photorealism.
• Jones' skin color was partly inspired by a coffee-stained styrofoam cup scanned into ILM's computers.
• When the Disney theme park ride was revamped in 2006, the character of Davy Jones as portrayed by Bill Nighy was added to it.