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Pre-Release
Will's transformation is during the ten years
It could be possible that before he could go back to Elizabeth and their child, Will is going to have a hard time being the new Davy Jones, staying focus on the goal for a long period of time could take a toll on him in a way, but luckily and hopefully, Jack will be there to help him find his way again. The Flying Dutchman will be a Godzilla Threshold
How do you battle an army of ghost pirates? With the ship that is supposed to bring them to the afterlife. Also, Will can't in all likelihood be present for the whole movie. If he's metamorphosing into the next Davy Jones, one of the things that comes with that is that he and his ship are both going to be overpowered as hell. After all, the only way to kill Davy Jones was to stab his heart. In Will's case, unless something's changed, his heart is with Elizabeth instead of buried on some random island. Someone that wanted to kill Will would have to know all three of these things: a.) Will is the new Davy Jones, b.) That destroying the heart is what kills him, c.) Where the heart is, which in the original trilogy could only be found with Jack's compass. There are probably only a handful of people with access to that information, and even fewer that have any inclination to do it, as the ones that do know that they must take his place.- Jossed. It only serves the plot as Henry's motivation.
Will is more or less stuck as the Captain of The Flying Dutchman
The Captaincy can be passed to someone else when the current one's one day on land comes around, but Will didn't want to subject anyone else to that fate or was unable to find anyone who would take on the role or that he was confident would do the job correctly before he was forced back to sea for another ten years.- Confirmed.
Brenton Thwaites's character Henry is actually Will and Elizabeth's son.
The curse he's trying to break is Will's duty to the Dutchman, which has kept them apart all these years.- This, in turn, will lead to several callbacks to previous films ("Good man. Good pirate. I swear you look just like him.").
- Confirmed. Except there's no flashbacks to other movies.
Brenton Thwaites's character Henry is not Will and Elizabeth's son. He's Jack's or Barbossa's.
Don't the clues pointing to WxE=H seem a little too obvious? Obvious to the point of intentional misdirection, really. The first snag is that you're talking one hell of a time skip from OST to this movie. Source materials suggest that the events of On Stranger Tides happen "several" years after At World's End - but not quite a decade. So, assuming Henry's about the same age Will was at the start of Curse of the Black Pearl - 18-20ish - you're probably talking about (obviously) a decade between At World's End and the stinger (where Will and Elizabeth's son is a little older than nine) and nearly another decade between that and DMTNT. This would, by the way, make Jack Sparrow well into his fifties, near sixty, given that he's born *about* forty years before CotBP. And for Barbossa, who was in his fifties/about sixty, would be well into his seventies. And you can't use the (literal) Fountain of Youth handwave for obvious reasons. In any case, from what we've seen of them in the trailers, Jack and Barbossa don't look anywhere near the ages they would be if enough time had advanced in-universe to age Will and Elizabeth's son into a young man. They are both old enough, though (and got around enough), to have fathered a son some time before Cot BP who could be a young man by the time of this story. Jack in particular. By the time we meet him in Cot BP he's had explicitly mentioned sexual relationships with Tia Dalma, Angelica, and at least two Tortuga prostitutes. And that's just the ones we know happened. (We don't know, for example, that Jack and Anamaria didn't have a thing. There are certainly hints that something might have happened between them.) As for the curse - Will, Jack, and Barbossa have all been resurrected from death. Also, maybe Salazar himself is the curse. Maybe Salazar knows of Henry's parentage. What if his happening upon Henry's ship and requesting Henry to deliver the message to Jack (as seen in the trailer) wasn't a coincidence?- He's outright referred to as "Henry Turner" in this behind the scenes video
, so unless the filmmakers are outright lying about his identity this is probably Jossed.
Will is succumbing to the Dutchman's curse because Elizabeth has died.
Either he refused to escort her soul on, or the act of doing it so thoroughly broke him he's abandoned his duty.- Keeping Salazar and his crew imprisoned may be one of the Dutchman's responsibilities. Even Davy Jones, who also went rogue over a woman, knew better than to let that happen. Losing Elizabeth could be the only thing capable of breaking Will so completely.
- Jossed for the moment. Elizabeth is confirmed to appear in the film and has not died offscreen. Whenever she's Back for the Dead however has yet to be confirmed.
- Jossed completely. Elizabeth appears only for a short while at the end, but alive and well.
There will be a sixth film after this
The latest trailer as of this guess says that this will be the final adventure. That doesn't necessarily mean this will be the final film in the series. We'll probably see a repeat of the formula from the first three films: one film that consists of a self-contained story (On Stranger Tides), followed by two more that tell a longer 2-part story (Dead Men Tell No Tales and the sixth film).- There IS a Stinger at the end of the movie.
If this truly is the last film, though...
- Will's duty to the Dutchman will be fulfilled, allowing him to reunite with his family.
- Confirmed!
- Barbosa will permanently die, probably at the hands of Salazar.
- Confirmed, except it's a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Jack will become captain of the Flying Dutchman, albeit for noble reasons (being the only way to defeat Salazar, perhaps), allowing the series to go out on a high note (the Immortal Jack Sparrow, forever sailing the seas...).
- Or, Jack, after finally growing a conscience after all the shit with Will, Elizabeth, Davy Jones, and Angelica, sacrifices himself. He finally achieves immortality but not in the way he had been planning for: as a legendary pirate many will tell tales of for years to come.
- Both Jossed, Jack simply regains the Pearl and his crew.
Jack will be a Shipper on Deck for Henry and Carina
He'll see the obvious chemistry between them and spend most of the film trying to get them to get together. Bonus points if Jack says they remind him of Will and Elizabeth.- Confirmed!
Barbossa is functionally immortal, except for one condition - he can (and must) die by drowning at sea.
Remember that Calypso was the one that resurrected him - and it was implied in one scene in At World's End that Calypso has the power to take that life away. Calypso didn't die at the climax of At World's End - she returned to her essence: the sea. And since Calypso was/a personification of the sea itself, perhaps the power of the sea keeps Barbossa alive and is yet the one thing that can kill him?- No indication of that in the movie, but he does die at sea.
Salazar is Death - and is specifically targeting Jack (and possibly Barbossa) not simply because he's a pirate, but for another reason.
What do all three of these particular pirates have in common? They all died and were brought back through eldritch means. Salazar specifically instructs Henry to tell Jack "Death will come straight for him." Perhaps (part of) Salazar's function in this universe is to retrieve souls that have toyed with the laws of nature by experiencing death and then escaping. This makes him distinct from Davy Jones in that whilst Davy Jones was the ferryman from death itself to the afterlife (a characterization that more than likely drew some inspiration from Greek mythology's Charon), Salazar was death itself - more akin to Thanatos or the Grim Reaper. This would make him the most natural final adversary for Jack and antagonist for the series as opposed to Davy Jones. Why? Because literally the entire series revolves around characters trying to delay or escape death.- No indication of that in the movie. In fast, the exact terms of Salazar's curse aren't properly explained.
Salazar is responsible for Will Turner's fishy appearance.
His raising the dead is stopping Will from being able to ferry their souls to the afterlife, causing Will to be considered an oathbreaker like Jones. This is also why (at least from the quick shot of him in the trailer) he still seems to be mostly human, as he's only been cursed for as long as Salazar has been active and it hasn't progressed very far yet.- Jossed.
Cotton's Parrot will return.
The parrot was known to use nautical catchphrases such as "Don't eat me", "Shiver me timbers", and "Dead men tell no tales."- Jossed. Almsot everyone is back, except for Cotton and the parrot.
Barbossa's privateer uniform is a disguise.
Considering he returned to piracy and became the Captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge last time we saw him, he's most likely wearing a disguise. It could possibly be an intentional Take That! by him and his crew to the Royal Navy, as his uniform is clearly more extravagant and flamboyant than the one he wore in On Stranger Tides.- Confirmed. He is not a privateer in this movie.
The climax will be a 3 vs 1 ship battle.
The Black Pearl, the Flying Dutchman and the Queen Anne's Revenge against the Silent Mary.- Jossed.
Angelica will appear in The Stinger
Salazar will "survive" the film's events and recruit her for help. This will lead into them being the antagonists in the sixth film (the true final adventure) and will also be an Actor Allusion to the real-life marriage of Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.- Jossed.
Possibilities for the last line of dialogue in the film.
- "Savvy?"
- "Bring me that horizon."
- Closest one!
- "A Pirate's life for me."
- "Drink up me hearties, yo ho!"
Post-Release
The meaning of The Stinger
So Davy Jones is Back from the Dead but why, and more importantly HOW? Even if the trident can break any curse, the dead NEED a ferryman. With everyone on board freed of the curse, the Dutchman is now crewless, and the natural order has been upset. Perhaps Calypso or some other force has brought Jones back to act as their emissary to drag Will back to his duties- Alternately the studio will pull a surprise and reveal that Jones isn't an enemy but has come to warn Will of the new danger
Barbossa becomes the new Ferryman/Davy Jones.
He died at sea, he's acquainted with a sea goddess, and the Dutchman must always have a captain.- And he was the unwavering advocate for the Pirate Lords releasing her back in World's End, paying back the favor he owed her for (as Tia Dalma) resurrecting him. So she knows that Hector, unlike Jones, will fulfill his end of a bargain with her.
Jack's captain took the compass from Tia Dalma.
After killing Salazar, Jack brought it back to her, but she simply let him keep it. This would explain the blatant Continuity Snarl with the compass' origin.- Alternately, Jack visited Tia Dalma to find out how the compass works. Hence, she "gave" him the power of the compass.
Jack's captain selected Jack as his successor because Jack received the compass from Tia Dalma.
If he knew anything about Tia Dalma's true identity - or even simply if he believed in her magical power - it would follow that he and some of the crew might have believed that Jack was "blessed" by her. So he had started grooming Jack to take over for him - maybe even made him First Mate. That would explain why everyone fell in line under his command so easily when the Captain died, despite his comparatively young age. Although his age might also explain why he was mutinied upon implicitly not long after this event. (In DMC he mentions he was captain of the Pearl for two years - although in a case of Exact Words he may be may have been regarding the Wicked Wench and the Black Pearl as two separate entities note . Or, more simply, that ship wasn't the Wicked Wench at all. It'll be nice when supplemental material ever explains what the heck's going on.) Why Will was still stuck on the Flying Dutchman and cursed even though the curse should have been broken after 10 years of Elizabeth being faithful to him.
- He couldn't find someone else to pass the curse on to and so decided to stay even though he could have left.
- The curse is specific about Elizabeth having to go and meet him every year for it to be lifted; one year she was sick or otherwise incapacitated and couldn't meet him so the curse took effect.
- The curse means Will has to stay with the Dutchman forever. Him going all barnacled was simply an effect of the curse due to him having no heart; Jones went all tentacled due to the curse making his outside match his inside IE heartless.
- Calypso was pissed off and changed the terms of the curse as revenge on men for binding her inside a human body for centuries. She was the one with control over the curse and could - and, given she was known for having a somewhat mercurial personality anyway, probably would - alter it at will. (There's a Pun there somewhere...)
- Will himself messed up the curse's escape-clause, because when he saw that Elizabeth on shore was accompanied by their son, he flipped out from excitement at realizing he's a father, and set foot on land before the requisite 10 years were quiiiiiiiite over. He doesn't explain this to Henry because he doesn't want the boy to feel guilty over Will's failure to escape the Dutchman.
Scrum switched to Jack's side after leaving Barbossa's crew some time between the events of On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales.
This is why he's seen as part of Jack's crew during the events of Dead Men Tell No Tales. Henry was lying when he said that his mother never talked about Jack.
Even as a young boy, Henry had this image of Jack Sparrow as this amazing clever badass pirate who would be able to help him find the Trident and break Will's curse. He must have heard about Jack's adventures and that Jack knew his parents from somewhere, and since he only saw his father once a year at best, he most likely heard most of it from Elizabeth. But Elizabeth knew that if Jack found out she had told Henry about him he would have been obnoxious about it, so she made Henry promise that if he ever ran into Jack to tell him that she had never mentioned him. Basically Elizabeth did it to mess with Jack. And it worked. Scarfield sunk the Dying Gull and Barbossa took the Silent Mary after the events of Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Carina will become Captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge.
Calypso will be the antagonist of the next film
The main theme of the films so far has been magic fading from the world as more of it is discovered. The destruction of the trident broke every curse to fit this theme. In the next film, Calypso will resurrect Davy Jones and the two will be the villains. Davy Jones might even be working against her leading to an uneasy alliance with Jack and co. The sixth film will retcon Calypso as the source of every curse and supernatural power Jack has encountered across his life; she is the heathen god who cursed the Aztec treasure in the first film, we already know she's the source of Davy Jones, she will be revealed to have trained Blackbeard in voodoo magic during her time as Tia Dalma, she will be the creator of the Fountain of Youth as well. Calypso will also be revealed as Poseidon's daughter, explaining her power over the seas and why Poseidon's Trident would have power over her magic. Shansa is either Calypso's sister, daughter or a former disciple. She might even be Calypso herself, imprisoned in human form once again with the explanation that trapping Calypso in human form requires a human host (if Naomie Harris declines to return). At the end of the film, Calypso will either die or be trapped in human form without her powers with this bringing about the end of magic in the Pirates universe. With this retconning, Calypso would be the ultimate final threat and bring the entire franchise full circle. And searching for a way to kill a god is a suitable final journey for our heroes. The next film will involve Jack's own Spin-Offspring
It would be fitting for him having to deal with his own kid after having to be around the ones of the other protagonists. Maybe to really bring some closure, their mother will turn out to be Anamaria which would explain her absence after the first film.- Or maybe Angelica wasn't lying when she mentioned she had Jack's child at the end of the last movie.
The villain for the next movie, if ever, will be Spanish.
If you noticed in the original trilogy, in Curse, the English are sitting in the background as a third party among the heroes and arrive to clean up the mess at the end. In Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, a British entity (the EITC) is part of the Big Bad Duumvirate. In the fourth movie, the Spanish too are a bit of a third party and they mop up what's left of their rival expeditions at the end. Then here comes this one and another Spaniard is the villain. I can see a pattern forming wherein a major empire (or at least, their citizens) are somewhat destined to be entwined in Jack and company's adventures. The sharks on the Silent Mary were already dead before the ship was cursed.
I doubt a ship of the 1700s (even of the Silent Mary's size) could have the ability to store live sharks - and even if they did, why would they? Perhaps Salazar and the crew did a bit of shark hunting (ala Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag) beforehand and decided to keep the bodies as meat or maybe even souvenirs. The Triangle IS the reason why the Silent Mary and her crew are cursed.
Since the movie doesn't explain much about the specifics of the curse, perhaps in this universe, the Triangle has a curse that, anyone who enters it will become living ghosts and trapped inside it. The compass is also the reason why Davy Jones has returned.
The curse of the compass relases anyone's worst fears should you choose to betray it. And Salazar notwithstanding, who else has Jack come to fear the most over the years? Will got barnicled because he brought Elizabeth back to life.
So Elizabeth got sick of not getting any for ten years so she decided to look for a way to free Will and oh what luck, she hears about the Trident of Poseidon. She sets out to search for it but something goes wrong and eventually she is killed during the hunt. Husband and wife then reunite on the edge between worlds and Elizabeth spills everything, about the trident and about the lengths she went through to get it. Will is obviosuly not going to ferry her to the other side and he can't keep her on the Dutchman because he won't let their son be an orphan so he brings her back to life, breaking Calypso's rules and corrupting his purpose. Which also explains why he freaked out when Henry became so determined to save him. Henry will inherit the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Sword of Triton
in the next movie.With Barbossa dead (again) and assuming his naval fleet is loyal enough, Carina will inherit all his riches and possessions. Being more of a scholar though, she will likely be disinterested in acquiring a supernatural vessel and an equally magical weapon. Henry, however, being a sailor and being romantically involved with Carina, will likely have these inheritances entrusted to him. The whale carcass where Jack's "wedding" took place was actually the Kraken.
