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We Lay to Fiddler's Green

@redstarsarc / redstarsarc.tumblr.com

Tired and a little too obsessed. I write Pirates of the Caribbean fanfiction on AO3 and FFnet | multifandom blog: that-vibe-i-cant-explain | writing blog: cat-esper

Finally decided to migrate this over to AO3.

Summary: James Norrington was killed aboard the Flying Dutchman and left for the sharks. A day later, he woke up. But this second chance comes with a price and now, with a curse slowly consuming him and the undead pirate, Jolly Roger, on his tail, he seeks out the only person who can help him. Captain Jack Sparrow.

All chapters are up now.

this has probably been pointed out before but I was rewatching dmc and I noticed davy jones uses his tentacles to keep his hat on when the ship goes underwater

and that's such a neat detail idk

So like... it's a Thing in all fandoms where fans sort of latch onto fanon versions of characters and their dynamics with each other that are actually completely off-base, right? I don't know if this phenomenon has an official name, but I've seen it so many times and it's fascinated me every time. Especially when a character's popular fanon selves don't end up just diluted from their source material, but straight up OPPOSITE their canon portrayal.

So one of my "favorite" variations on this was how the early PotC fandom used to get Will EXTREMELY wrong, especially in comparison to Jack, and it made finding in-character fics SO. DAMN. DIFFICULT.

I've talked about this MULTIPLE times before, as have several other fans. It's a dead horse being beaten. But basically certain prevalent takes on fanon!Will have in the past leaned towards a personality that was very patient and grounded and even demure to contrast against Jack's off-beat personality and Elizabeth's fiery rebelliousness. Because Elizabeth has the drive to push back against social norms, Will became the foil who fell back to his pre-pirate version, reluctant to break rules unless she pulled him into it, even in post-CotBP timelines. Likewise, Jack was the one with the WTF decision making, while Will was more rooted in reasonable decisions.

And by their appearances, archetypes, and certain elements of their world views, you'd THINK that's how it works. When we meet Will in the governor's foyer, Will is so lovestruck and doe-eyed and subservient to the governor, I think that people thought that's just Who He Is. Especially because he often acts as Jack's straight-man foil in the comedic elements. Straight-laced. Rigid. Even boring or timid.

But if you actually pay attention to the movies, it's very much the opposite. In canon, Jack's USUALLY the level-headed one who just happens to have chaos follow him, because of the way he can wield it. He thinks in long run, tries to solve problems with words and as little fighting as possible as often as he can. Ideal situations for Jack are more like a thief--he wants to be in and out of the job as silently and slick as possible. The scenarios he's in are insane, because the way he throws other people around with those scenarios is kind of insane, but he himself remains largely cool and collected.

That's Jack.

THIS is Will:

Canon!Will starts out literally so impulsive and rash, Jack has to physically manhandle him at certain points to keep him from blowing up his plans--and then still gets taken out because he underestimates his listening skills and impatience. Will corners Jack into what is functionally a cage match to the death by sanely locking the door with his sword and very nearly wins. He is constantly at 11, constantly demanding things be done faster, more directly, and at the same time quietly scheming behind Jack's back almost from the get-go. He does flashy jumps and flips off of things because using the stairs is too slow or whatever. He shows up in DMC yelling at Jack to give him his compass at the point of the sword, and insisting he'll get Davy Jones' key by just "cutting down everyone in his path."

Even when Will mellows out significantly in AWE, there are remnants of this contrast still there. Jack's plan for leading Beckett to Shipwreck Cove seems to have been a very reasonable and underhanded effort to deliberately make sure Elizabeth is inside the Cove while Will is on Beckett's ship, in command of the Compass. Meanwhile Will's plan was to leave a breadcrumb trail of vulture-sea gulls feasting on dead soldiers' corpses.

What I'm getting at is, yeah, Jack's a charismatic "rogue" and Will's a "romantic hero" TECHNICALLY. Jack makes quippy jokes, and Will glares and scowls and WTFs back. But not only are they are both more alike than people give them credit for, they are also totally opposite their roles' traditional personalities in ways that the fandom tends to overlook.

TLDR; Jack's crazy, Will's a sweetheart. But Will is also a manic gremlin, and Jack doesn't always know what to do with him about it, so they often end up something like this:

And more fans need to play with this fact, the end.

McBride also touched on the design of the Kraken and the effort that went into visually conveying how ancient this creature is with an array of anchors and harpoons piercing his tentacles. He pointed out one quick Easter Egg: during the first lingering glimpse of the beast around an hour and a half into the movie, keep a close eye out and you'll see a skeleton trapped on one of his flailing tentacles. That's one of the skeletal models from The Curse of the Black Pearl. x

I've looked out for this specific Easter Egg for years and years, and only just recently discovered that the skeleton is mostly cropped out of the widescreen DVD release. But, the thing about the fullscreen version? It's apparently exclusive to certain Region 3 releases. God bless whoever uploaded the widescreen/fullscreen comparison videos to youtube.

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Reblogged

Ok,I was commissioned by @homelesspersonchic inspired on her post about the original AWE script, Captain Elizabeth Swann, and Admiral Norrington fight.

  1. My first time painting a pirate ship and without reference, I'm so damn proud. It looks like concept art
  2. The color palette 🙏 and the details of Lizzie's costume
  3. Now I want to make a comic of the whole scene
  4. "I am a pirate, you are a princess.We could sail the seven seas"
Anonymous asked:

Do you know POTC fanfics? I want to read them

yes!! if you're a willabeth fan then @elventhespian made a collection on ao3 and she is currently writing the ultimate magnum opus of an elizabeth/will sweeping romantic 1.5 sequel. @swannposting writes sparrabeth + delicious beautiful one shots focused on jack and teague's relationship; the notorious sparbossa gaslighter @everythingispirates (love you elvy 💖) does insane AU's and in-universe character explorations (i still need to read all of them!!) and I'm also tuned in locked in gnashing my teeth over @pastellashine 's college AU, it's amazing

and definitely check out the gift exchange compilations @piratesgiftexchange !!

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I've been away from this blog for about a year and now it's so quiet, where did everybody go

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