Film / Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Spoilers for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

"World's still the same, mate. There's just less in it."

"You know the problem with being the last of anything; by and by there be none left at all."

— Barbossa

At World's End (2007) is the third movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

The third installment chronicles the adventures of Will, Elizabeth, and a newly resurrected Captain Barbossa in their journey to retrieve Jack from the afterlife. It resolves with the final showdown between the forces of Cutler Beckett (now with Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman as their flagship), and the assembled pirate forces of the world, with an angry sea goddess thrown into the mix.

This installment was the most expensive film ever made at the time, costing $300 million before marketing, a record it held until its Trilogy Creep, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, came out in 2011, with a cost of $378.5 million.

The film’s events are adapted into a world for Kingdom Hearts III.

Unrelated to the 2013 movie The World's End or the video game World's End (though this movie did receive its own video game adaptation, by Eurocom and Disney Interactive Studios).

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End provides examples of:

• Abnormal Ammo: During the climactic battle in the maelstrom, Pintel and Ragetti stuff Jack the undead monkey into a cannon and fire him towards the Flying Dutchman.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: A surprising number of them. Davy Jones' very emotional reunion with Tia Dalma and Barbossa's conversation with Jack next to the dead Kraken are several good examples, as is Jack's brief discussion with his father, Captain Teague.
• Aggressive Negotiations: This is played with. Captain Teague, Jack's father, shoots another for questioning the pirate code. However, nothing really major happens — the dead pirate is a nobody, and none of the assembled pirates really want a fight to break out at their meeting — despite a fight having broken out minutes before over the course of action to be taken in response to Beckett's declaration of war.
• And Starring: The cast roll here ends "with Chow Yun-fat and Geoffrey Rush".
• Appeal to Inherent Nature: Calypso justifies her failure to meet Davy Jones after his ten-year sojourn aboard the Dutchman with this trope. She then points out that it was her tempestuous, flighty nature that had led him to fall in love with her in the first place, so he's being a hypocrite to condemn her for not remaining true to that.
• Arc Symbol:
  • Will/Bootstrap's knife.
  • Jack's compass.
  • The pieces of eight.
• Arc Welding: Downplayed, but co-screenwriter Ted Elliot's stated Davy Jones calling Calypso a heathen god was meant to subtly tie her to the previously established divine elements from the first movie:
  Ted Elliot: One thing I'm really happy with—and it's a small, subtle thing—[relates to] one of the criticisms we've had with all the movies: [the assertion that] death has no meaning [because] nobody stays dead. In At World's End, there's a little thing that Davy Jones says that ties these escapes from death to the same source—Calypso, from the original Aztec curse, which refers to Calypso as one of the heathen gods, a callback to how Barbossa describes the effects of the curse in the first movie. It's one of those things that's there for somebody who might notice it. It's not necessary to get to understand but that was actually our intent—to make this temporary death state have a singular cause. Of course now that Calypso is free, that may not exist.
• Arc Words:
  • "The Dutchman must have a captain."
  • "It's just good business."
  • "Part of the crew, part of the ship."
  • "Hoist the colours."
• Argument of Contradictions: Jack and Barbossa get into one after Jack expresses support for Elizabeth's desire to fight.
  Barbossa: You've always run away from a fight!
  Jack: Have not!
  Barbossa: You have so!
  Jack: Have not!
  Barbossa: You have so!
  Jack: Have not!
  Barbossa: You have so and you know it!
  Jack: Have not, slander and calumny! I have only ever embraced that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions. I submit now that here, now, that is what we all must do; we must fight... to run away!
• Armour-Piercing Question: When Will and Davy Jones meet up, Will manages to shoot down Jones's angry ranting about Calypso (tellingly, Jones doesn't even try responding to the question).
  Davy Jones: She pretended to love me. She betrayed me!
  Will: And after which betrayal did you cut out your heart, I wonder?
• Artistic License – History: The film's portrayal of Singapore is both fantastic and inaccurate. At the time the story is set, Singapore was a small village within the Malayan Sultanate of Johor, not a decrepit port-city full of Chinese imagery like we see in the film. This last point is rather baffling, as it makes the same sense as if they had portrayed Shanghai as a city full of mosques and people with beards and turbans.
• Artistic License – Military:
  • Norrington is promoted to Admiral (from Commodore, a temporary position appointed to or held by the most senior post-Captain, made a substantive rank in 1997). Promotion to Admiral was based strictly on seniority (hence the later change in the rank of Commodore), so short of murdering every Captain above him and at least one Admiral, there is no way the East India Trading Company could "influence" such a promotion (having a dismissed Captain reinstated is within the realm of possibility, though, albeit unlikely).
  • At the end of the film, the Endeavour is destroyed at will by the Pearl and the Dutchman because Becket freezes on sheer Villainous BSoD and his second-in-command will not break the chain of command to order to fire back. In real life, while proper command was certainly a big deal in the uptight Royal Navy (and we could expect Becket to be fussy about it), there were basic circumstances where lieutenants would not only be allowed, but expected to take initiative on the best interests of his ship, as they are today. Being under direct attack and watching his immediate superior issue no orders at all (and looking visibly unable to do so) would have been considered a textbook example of a situation mandating the guy to take command and order to fire himself. In fact, the same official later breaks the chain of command anyway to order the crew to abandon the ship, begging the question of what impeded him to do the same minutes earlier to avoid its destruction. On the other hand, one could argue that, taking previous scenes into consideration, it falls in line with Beckett wanting to control everything with an iron grip, to the point that that even such standard liberties among those under his command would be considered unacceptable for him; they wouldn't dare act without his command. And this scene shows why his ways ultimately wouldn't work, and why such liberties do exist.
• Artistic License – Physics: When the Black Pearl and the newly allied Flying Dutchman charge the Endeavor, the opposing ships rush each bow-first with all their sails at full billow. This would require the wind to be blowing from two directions at once.
• Ass Shove: Hinted at (though a bit tongue-in-cheek, given the size of the damn thing) when Elizabeth pulls a really big gun from her Trouser Space.
• The Atoner: Elizabeth's motive for joining the "Save Jack from the Locker" mission. While sacrificing Jack to the Kraken was the only way to save everyone aboard the Pearl, Elizabeth was visibly conflicted and she's been guilt-ridden in the months since. Ironically, none of the others realize this (Will especially since he's spent the interim mistakenly thinking his fiancee's fallen for Jack and that's her actual motive).
• Attempted Rape: While holding her captive, Sao Feng tells Elizabeth he'll give her his "desire" if she consents. When she asks him what he'll do if she refuses, he states he'll have her fury and forcefully kisses her. Had the ship not been hit, it's not unlikely he would've forced himself on her.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: For the King of the Brethren Court, Captain Elizabeth Swann.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: For all his selfishness and scheming, you've got to "Awww" at the look on Jack's face when Will gets stabbed.
• Babies Ever After: The Stinger shows that Elizabeth and Will conceived a son during his one day on shore before he left to captain the Dutchman. She reared the boy and they return to meet him after ten years.
• Barehanded Blade Block: During the Final Battle, Davy Jones intercepts Jack's sword with his crab claw arm, then breaks it.
• Bathtub Mermaid: Negotiations are taking place on a sandbar, but since Davy Jones is cursed to be unable to set foot on land, he's standing in a big wooden bucket of seawater, with several others visible behind him.
• The Beast Master: Tia Dalma, who used crab pieces in a few of her magic rituals in the previous film, is shown in this film to have some control over crabs. Since she's actually the Goddess of the Sea it's not too surprising. When she's released from human form, she breaks up into millions of crabs.
• Beat Still, My Heart: Davy Jones' heart (and Will's, at the end) continues to beat from inside the Dead Man's Chest.
• Big Book of War: The Pirate's Code. Amusingly, the actual book itself is apparently only a few pages of actual code — the rest is discussion on what the code should be.
• Blatant Lies:
  • A given whenever Jack is involved.
    Barbossa: Isla de Muerta, remember? You shot me.
    Jack: No I didn't.
  • Barbossa tells Tia Dalma he never reneges on a bargain once struck. This is as he's trying to weasel through their bargain.
• Boats into Buildings: Shipwreck City is an Exaggerated example. The town itself is built out of of hundreds of scuttled ships piled haphazardly atop each other in a Shipwreck Cove, an inlet found within the dormant volcano known as Shipwreck Island. The structure of Shipwreck City easy reaches over a dozen stories into the air. No-one knows precisely how old the city is, though according to legend its foundations consist of Greek triremes, Roman galleys, and dragon-prowed longships.
• Bowel-Breaking Bricks: Pintel and Ragetti each grab a cannonball, planning to drop them on the bodies floating in the water while escaping Davy Jones' Locker. As they're about to, they see Tia Dalma standing there. The camera cuts to their lower bodies, as they drop the cannonballs on the deck.
• Brick Joke:
  • Jack (and monkey-Jack's) quest for peanuts.
  • Once again, Jack makes a comment about Will and groins — this time angrily referring to him as a "codpiece".
  • The compass which shows you your heart's desire — at the end, it first points to the rum.
  • After the (failed) Mexican Standoff, Pintel suggests using the defunct pistols as clubs. In the climactic battle, Jack notices one of Jones' soldiers has his pistol, and hits him on the head with it before shooting Jones.
• Brought Down to Normal: In the backstory, the sea goddess Calypso (Tia Dalma) was trapped in mortal form by the first Brethren Court to make it easier for pirates to rule the seas.
• The Bus Came Back: After sitting out Dead Man's Chest, Murtogg and Mullroy and Grove all return as part of the EITC armada. Justified, as Norrington's disgrace and resignation in the last film meant the British Navy lost its POV character (with Beckett, Mercer, and the EITC filling in during the interim). Norrington's return to grace now means the British Navy's presence in the narrative's fully restored and thus Murtogg and Mullroy and Grove are all along for the ride again.
• Call-Back: Jack escapes from the Dutchman's jail using the same trick that Will used in the first film to free him, after repeatedly telling himself "Think like [Will]."
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You:
  • More like, "You can't stay dead, still need you." Barbossa is back, and eventually so is Jack, but they have been resurrected from the dead because they were Pirate Lords when they died, and failed to name a successor before they died. Tia Dalma brings both of them back so they can attend the Brethren Court, otherwise they probably would've stayed dead. As a Pirate Lord, Jack was also carrying one of Nine Pieces of Eight when he died; retrieving it along with Jack is necessary for the "Free Calypso" gambit.
  • Also, Beckett wants to find the location of Shipwreck Cove in order to destroy The Brethren Court, but he knows that the only option he has is to use Jack's Compass that can lead him to his hearts' desire — which unfortunately for him in this moment is seeing Jack dead. He attempts to invoke Cutting the Knot, thinking that if he kills Jack here-and-now, the Compass might then lead him to the Court. Only for Jack to say that Shipwreck Cove is well-fortified and that the other Pirate Lords could shelter there for years waiting for Beckett to eventually give up. But with Jack as a Pirate Lord on the inside, he could convince the other Pirate Lords to leave.
• Celeb Crush: As part of their Batman Gambit, the pirates must enact a ritual involving words spoken as if to a lover, but the pirates are Large Hams who've never known a love they didn't pay for... except one:
  Ragetti: [whispers tenderly] Calypso... I release you from your human bonds.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Wyvern's rambling from the previous movie becomes important in this one, particularly the one about the Dutchman needing a captain.
  • Jack's sword, which gets broken during his fight with Davy Jones.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: Calypso's transformation. She's not completely powerless, summoning a whirlpool on command, but she has no physical body anymore because it turns into a mass of crabs, which promptly fall into the ocean.
• Continuity Nod: While imprisoned on the Dutchman, Jack and his illusionary counterparts alternate between muttering "think like Will" and "think like the whelp", as Barbossa referred to Will at one point during Curse of the Black Pearl.
• Contrived Coincidence: Invoked by Sao Feng in the opening scuffle. Will, Barbossa, and the others show up in Singapore...and the EITC shows up at exactly the same time? Sao Feng calls bullshit — though ironically, it really was a coincidence.
• Cosmopolitan Council: The Court of the Brethren is made up of pirates from around the world, including French, Spanish, Arab, Chinese, and African contingents.
• Cue the Falling Object: After a short scuffle between the EIC and the pirates and Jack Sparrow's daring escape from the ship, Beckett order the Endeavour to pursue the Black Pearl... only for the main mast, damaged by a cannonball fired by Jack earlier, to crack and fall in the background, delaying the pursuit.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The HMS Endeavour had absolutely no chance against fighting both the Black Pearl and the hijacked Flying Dutchman at once.
• Dangerously Loaded Cargo: Subverted and enforced. When Jack figures out how to escape Davy Jone's locker, he starts running from one side of the Black Pearl to the other with the crew accompanying him to get it to capsize. Barbossa heads below deck and orders the rest of the crew to unstow the heavy cargo and cut the gun deck's cannons loose, since everything being properly stored and tied down was preventing the ship from capsizing. With the additional shifting weight from the loose cargo and cannons, the Black Pearl is able to fully capsize, although two crew members are killed in the process; one of whom is crushed by one of the main deck's cannons as it careens across the ship.
• Darker and Edgier: Not only is it darker than its predecessor films, it is a very strong contender for being the darkest film Disney has ever (directly) released. The film opens with the extrajudicial hanging of hundreds of people, including a child. It doesn’t let up from there either, with nightmarish imagery matching the previous films and a plot that focuses on the end of piracy and freedom on the sea. Several sympathetic characters bite the dust in sudden and heartbreaking ways, and much of the movie has a somber and tragic feeling. The final battle, while awesome, has an almost apocalyptic tone, and includes the violent onscreen death of a main character. This movie is not the same fun adventure as the first two, it’s a true epic with incredibly high stakes and moments of extreme tragedy
• Death Glare: Captain Teague gives a deathly cold, silent one to the other Pirate Lords in response to Jack asking them if they intend on breaking the Code by refusing Elizabeth's elected authority as Pirate King.
• Death Is Cheap: Deconstructed. Jack's resurrection is a unique instance because he was taken body and soul to the Locker. No one else has ever gone into the Locker, rescued a prisoner, and escaped (and the film makes it clear the Black Pearl characters got lucky and that duplicating this jailbreak would be all but impossible). With Barbossa, his resurrection in the last film likewise turns out to also be unique because Tia Dalma is actually the goddess Calypso. Even bound, she still had enough divine juice to pull him out of the afterlife — and she has no problem revoking Barbossa's second lease on life unless he fulfills her terms (summoning the Brethren Court, destroying the Nine Pieces of Eight, and releasing her from her bindings). As Barbossa and Jack discuss later, yes they both beat the odds and came back — but they're still ultimately an exception to the rule. There's never a guarantee of coming back, but passing on is dead certain (and indeed, Barbossa will prove this with his final death in Dead Men Tell No Tales).
• Death of the Hypotenuse: Norrington's Death by Unrequited Love.
• Defiant to the End: The pirates that are to be hung at the beginning of the movie start singing "Hoist the Colours" to call the Brethren Court to rally, but the song is also a warning to Beckett that the way of pirates will never die.
• Delayed Reaction: When Tia Dalma uses her sand crabs to locate and bring Jack back to the crew of the Black Pearl, it takes a while for Witty Jack to figure out that his ship has been suddenly ferried, without effort, across Davy Jones' Locker, after he himself was trying his damnedest to move it with a piece of rope. It takes even longer for him to realize that the ship is moving at breakneck speed, and he will soon be left behind if he does not catch up.
• Demoted to Dragon: Davy Jones has been coerced into following orders from Lord Cutler Beckett, as Beckett possesses Jones' Soul Jar, delivered to him by Norrington at the end of Dead Man's Chest. That being said, he is not happy at all with this situation, and tries to revert it any time he gets, while being as unhelpful as he can to the EITC. Also, he is still the most powerful individual on the field, and the only reason Beckett has now the higher ground in the war against piracy, making him border on Dragon-in-Chief.
• Dented Iron: Downplayed, but going into the climax of the Final Battle, this is the Pearl's situation when it looks like it's just her alone against the Endeavor (and before the Flying Dutchman resurfaces on their side). The Pearl just fought Davy Jones' ship and the natural forces of the Maelstrom for the last half an hour. She's damaged, her armaments have been all but depleted, and our heroes are exhausted (and dealing with the emotional turmoil of Will's apparent death). By contrast, Beckett and his flagship are rested, undamaged, and fully armed and ready to rock.
• Descriptiveville: The Brethren Court meets in the town of Shipwreck, in Shipwreck Cove, on Shipwreck Island. As one might imagine, it's easy for a ship to run aground there, and the town is made up of dozens of foundered ships. Lampshaded:
  Jack: For all that pirates are clever cobs, we are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things.
  Gibbs: Aye.
  Jack: I once sailed with a geezer, lost both of his arms and part of his eye.
  Gibbs: And what'd you call him?
  Jack: Larry.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Upon escaping the Locker, Jack refuses to join up with the rest of the Pirate Lords. While the characters argue the EITC will hunt them all down one by one unless they unite, Jack admits he actually likes this outcome. After all, think of what this would mean for his own legend: Captain Jack Sparrow, the Last Pirate. An irate Barbossa then asks Jack how he, said Last Pirate, will feel about having to face Davy Jones alone and with no backup or allies. Jack sheepishly admits he's still working on that plan.
  • Beckett tightens the leash on Jones by having the Dead Man's Chest returned to the Flying Dutchman, with guards ready to destroy it on command. He clearly doesn't expect the chain of command to be disrupted by an active combat situation.
  • Similarly, after learning that Jones was the one who helped the original Pirate Lords bind Calypso, it doesn't occur to Beckett to reach the obvious conclusion from the revelation. If Jones was working with the First Court, then he must know Shipwreck Cove's location and the EITC doesn't actually need Will's assistance at all (not to mention that Jones has known this all along and intentionally withheld it from Beckett out of spite).
• Did You Actually Believe...?: It appears for a moment that Jack expects Beckett to honor their bargain; Beckett, preparing to attack the Black Pearl, can't believe Sparrow is actually that naïve.
  Beckett: It's Nothing Personal, Jack. It's just good business.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: James Norrington stabs Davy Jones with his final breath instead of accepting his offer.
• Dismantled Macguffin: The Nine Pieces of Eight turn out to be the missing ingredients in a spell to free Calypso. Jack's resurrection is required because he was carrying his when the kraken got him.
• Disney Villain Death: After getting stabbed in the heart, Davy Jones falls over the side of the ship and plummets into the maelstrom during the final battle.
• The Dog Bites Back: Davy Jones moves to regain control of the Flying Dutchman at every possible opportunity, eventually throttling Mercer with his tentacle beard as soon as they're alone.
• Dope Slap: When in need of his Piece of Eight, Barbossa asks it from Ragetti, to whom he entrusted it. It happens to be his wooden eye, and Barbossa makes it pop out of his eye socket with a dope slap.
• Double-Meaning Title: At World's End refers to both the edge of the world, which the group fall off of to reach Davy Jones' Locker, and the end of the world of piracy as orchestrated by Beckett.
• Dragon Lady: Mistress Ching. We do not see much of her dragon ways but additional sources show her to be a formidable and rather vile example.
• The Dreaded: Captain Teague, Keeper of the Pirate Code. Even the Pirate Lords, all hardened men and women, are visibly nervous in his presence, while Jack looks absolutely scared shitless. If Teague was your father, you'd understandably be scared shitless too.
• Dynamic Entry: Jack's cannonball stunt, except no-one gets hurt in the process and it doubles as a Dynamic Exit.
• Emergency Transformation:
  • Subverted when Davy Jones makes an implied offer to save Norrington's life in exchange for his joining the crew of the Flying Dutchman. Norrington replies by spearing Jones with his sword.
  • Toward the end, Will Turner becomes the Captain of the Flying Dutchman. Jack gives up his own chance at immortality to save Will by helping him stab Jones' heart. The crew then cuts Will's heart out to replace it.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • Jack figures out how to escape Davy Jones' Locker when he's fiddling with the map and his bad angel makes a remark that causes him to realize he has to capsize the ship so it will be upside down when the sun sets.
  • Will manages to determine Davy Jones was in love with Calypso when the two are in Beckett's office, and Jones is grumbling about Calypso.
• Evil Is Petty: Beckett and Davy Jones (the latter even more compared to the last film due to his resentment and rage at being leashed by Beckett). Their mutual preference for this trope also is why they both make a critical mistake going into the final battle: Taking Jack alive and imprisoning him aboard the Dutchman instead of killing him. Given how dangerous and unpredictable Jack is, the wiser course of action would be to just shoot him and be done with it. But because Beckett and Jones both hate Jack, they need and want him to suffer. This of course, backfires, as Jack inevitably gets loose, gets the Heart, and helps Will kill Jones (which turns the Dutchman against the EITC and allows them to finally sink Endeavor with Beckett aboard). In the case of Davy Jones, his previously established love for this trope is also what kills him in the climax. Despite Jack literally holding his life in the palm of his hand if he harms Will, Jones just can't stop himself from stabbing Will in the heart out of spite.
• Evil Versus Evil:
  • Beckett and Jones clearly do not get along, even with Jones under Beckett's thumb. On the two occasions Jones sees a chance of breaking free, his crew immediately start killing Norrington and Mercer's soldiers.
  • The whole conflict of the movie, which is between thieving, murdering pirate outlaws and a thieving, murdering Company. The two main factors which distinguish the pirates as being the lesser of two evils is their willingness to compromise under specific conditions, along with the fact that they are rarely — if ever — seen killing unarmed combatants or civilians (unlike the crew of the Black Pearl in the first film). Both of these are in contrast to Beckett's utter lack of ethics, and borderline sociopathic willingness to lie, cheat, extort, manipulate, and mass murder anyone (including innocent civilians) who dare to impede him in his quest to obtain even more power for himself.
• Excuse Me While I Multitask: Elizabeth and Will Turner are getting married by Captain Barbossa while in the middle of a furious melee against the cursed fish people of the Flying Dutchman.
  Barbossa: You may now kiss the— [turns and chops up an opponent] You may now kiss— [interrupted by another enemy] You may now kiss— [and again] Just kiss!
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: There's a moment in the Singapore bathhouse when Sao Feng holds a man he suspects to be on the side of Barbossa at sword point.
  Sao Feng: Drop your weapons or I kill the man!
  Barbossa: Kill him, he's not our man!
  Will: [realising] If he's not with you [nods to Sao Feng] and he's not with us, who's he with?! [cue EIC soldiers storming the place]
• Exposed to the Elements: The journey to Davy Jones' Locker features the crew sailing through a frozen ocean. One unnamed Chinese crewmember's foot is frozen through, to the point that he accidentally snaps his big toe off. The rest of the crew are still wearing the same clothes they had in Singapore, yet suffer no ill effects apart from Pintel and Ragetti shivering.
• Exposition Already Covered: Played for Laughs. Mr. Gibbs, the series resident Mr. Exposition, begins explaining to Will what a green flash of light at sunset means, commenting that he's seen his fair share despite the rarity of the event. Cue Pintel, somewhat excitedly, blurting out that it just means a soul has returned from the land of the dead. Pintel notices Gibbs glaring at him and he apologizes.
• Extended Disarming: Elizabeth is stripped of weapons before being allowed into Sao Feng's sanctum. It takes a while. The scene starts with some degree of realism — sure, she's carrying a lot of guns, but that was standard practice in those days because you got only one shot out of each of them, and female clothing of that time period had lots of places to conceal things. Then she pulls out a blunderbuss. The gun's size along with her gestures while taking it out and Barbossa's confused look lend to some rather disturbing theories as to where exactly she was hiding it.
• Fan Disservice: While sneaking into Sao Feng's bathhouse under the floorboards, Ragetti manages to find himself a spot where he can look up Elizabeth's skirt, and offers Pintel the spot. Unfortunately for Pintel, by the time he gets in position, Elizabeth has moved and there is now a very overweight, shirtless Chinese man standing above him instead.
• Fantastic Racism: Played for Laughs, when Jack's recovering his stuff (and the Heart), and encounters the two incompetent marines again. One of them blames the breakdown of discipline on "the fish people" (rather than the pitched battle going on outside).
  Mullroy: Ohhh, so fish people, by dint of being fish people, automatically aren't as disciplined as non-fish people, is that it?
  Murtogg: Seems contributory, 's all I'm saying.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: Davy Jones does this when facing off against Jack, Barbossa, and Elizabeth on the sandbar.
• Fauxshadowing: During the EIC's raid on Sao Feng's lair, one of Sao Feng's henchwoman is unceremoniously shot in the head. Her identical twin sister catches her, briefly laments her loss, and turns to give a Death Glare to her killer. The way the camera lingers on her suggests she'll become important, possibly a supporting character, but the very next time we see her, she's dead too.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing:
  • Sao Feng threatens to kill a mole (spotted by his fake tattoos) in his hideout, and Barbossa shrugs and tells him to go ahead; he's not with them. But as Will notes, "If he's not with you, and he's not with us... who's he with?" Cue the soldiers of the East India Company smashing down the wall.
  • A subtle one near the climax happens when the Black Pearl and the Endeavour have a face-off. Gibbs notes that the wind is with them, and two minutes later Beckett (from his own ship) makes the same remark, which should be contradictory — except a maelstrom is forming, so both ships actually do have the wind behind them.
• Flat "What": Elizabeth's reaction to Jack using his vote to make her the Pirate King.
• Foregone Conclusion: Downplayed, but if and when the characters reach the Locker and rescue Jack, the truth about what really happened aboard the Black Pearl at the end of the last film (i.e. Elizabeth sacrificing Jack rather than Jack's "Heroic Sacrifice") is gonna come out. The dramatic tension lies in knowing it's coming and wondering how bad the inevitable damage is gonna be (especially between Will and Elizabeth). Indeed, the damage leads to a loss of trust and schism between the two characters until late in the film.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The Pirate Lord Eduardo Villanueva, in the "Hoist the Colours" scene, appears to have a flag very reminiscent of Blackbeard's◊ real-life flag. (However, in On Stranger Tides Blackbeard's flag is different.)
• Funny Background Event: In Jack's hallucination in Davy Jones' locker, one of the Jacks can be seen suffering some strange, pants-related malady, which soon involves two more Jacks trying to help.
• Gambit Pileup: Comes to a head in the movie. Jack, Will, and Barbossa make and break deals willy-nilly with friend and foe alike in order to accomplish their separate goals.
• Genre Blindness: After the First Brethren Court bound her, Calypso never considered or realized the obvious implication: These pirates and mere mortals couldn't have done it on their own. Somebody showed them how to bind a sea goddess. Who in her inner circle would have had the tools and knowledge? Who else could have betrayed her, but Davy Jones? Could be justified by Calypso being a deity and not thinking in human terms and perceptions. It's also possible Calypso was blinded by her love for Jones. Indeed, her muted, almost desperate aggressiveness when Will reveals the truth implies that on some level, Calyspo knew. She just couldn't accept her lover would do that to her (or perhaps hoped she was wrong and that there was an alternate explanation) until Will's revelation.
• Genre Shift: After beginning in the previous film, At World's End completes the transition from the Low Fantasy of the first film to epic High Fantasy.
• Ghostly Death Reveal: Elizabeth finds Governor Swann among the lost souls in Davy Jones's Locker, despite him being alive before she set off on the journey to revive Jack, revealing that Cutler Beckett really did follow up on his Deadly Euphemism about him.
• Godzilla Threshold: Implied to be such with the singing of the "Hoist the Colours" song. The way it's treated throughout the movie is that it's sung as a warning to all pirates regardless of allegiance. Lord Beckett is pleased when the threshold is reached, as he knows it means that the Brethren Court will be convened and he can eliminate the last great pirates at a stroke. It's even implied that the song is a magical summons to the Court itself, which can be heard through coins at a distance like through a conch shell, helping it spread.
• Gone Horribly Right:
  • At the end of the previous film, Norrington stole the Heart of Davy Jones to present to Beckett in order to get his life and Naval position back. If anything, it worked better than he could've been expected; Beckett's not only restored his old commission, but promoted him from Commodore to Admiral. However, it's not a win for Norrington, because his new flag rank leaves him commanding the EITC's armada and stuck as The Dragon (or at least Co-Dragons with Jones) to a sociopath who wants the love of his life dead instead.
  • Jack spends much of the film manipulating events to ensure he winds up on the Dutchman and have a shot at stabbing Davy Jones' heart and becoming its new immortal Captain. It works and he does indeed end up on the ship going into the Final Battle...only to instead be locked in the brig with no way out. The Multiple Jacks naturally lampshade the trope (not that being locked in the brig keeps Jack down for long).
• Gondor Calls for Aid: From the Pirate Lords of the Seven Seas, using the Nine Pieces of Eight. Calypso isn't too happy with their request, but since she's even more pissed at Davy Jones, the maelstrom she whips up helps them out more than their foes.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Jack has one of these moments when trying to make sense of the map:
  Jack Sparrow: [reads the map] "Up is down." Well, that's just maddeningly unhelpful. Why are these things never clear?
  Left Mini-Jack: Clear as mud, Jackie.
  Jack: What?
  Left Mini-Jack: Stab the heart.
  Right Mini-Jack: Don't stab the heart.
  Jack: Come again?
  Right Mini-Jack: The Dutchman must have a captain.
  Jack: Well, that's even more than less than unhelpful.
  Left Mini-Jack: Sail the seas for eternity.
  Jack: I love the sea.
  Left Mini-Jack: What about port?
  Jack: I prefer rum, rum's good.
  Left Mini-Jack: Making port.
  Right Mini-Jack: Well, we can get rum and salty wenches once every 10 years.
  Left Mini-Jack: What'd he say?
  Jack: Once every 10 years.
  Left Mini-Jack: 10 years is a long time, mate.
  Jack: Even longer, given the deficit of rum.
  Left Mini-Jack: But eternity is longer still.
  Right Mini-Jack: And how will you be spending it? Dead? Or not?
  Left Mini-Jack: The immortal Captain Sparrow.
  Jack: Ooh, I like that.
  Right Mini-Jack: Come sunset, it won't matter.
  Jack: Not sunset... [Jack re-examines the map] "Sundown and rise up."
• Gratuitous Latin: The Latin phrase that Jack quotes, "Res ipsa loquitur, tabula in naufragio." Literally for the first part, "The thing itself speaks", usually taken to mean "The thing speaks for itself" or "The facts speaks for themselves" in contemporary legal matters. Jack is trying to point out that, as difficult as it is for him to accept, Elizabeth's wanting to fight is the best option... for now. The second part means "plank in a shipwreck," and generally means something that will keep you from failing when in a terrible situation.
  Jack Sparrow: We must fight... to run away.
• Grand Finale: Of the original Pirates Trilogy.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Davy Jones is revealed (among other things) as the one responsible for Calypso's binding, making him responsible for the whole's trilogy conflict.
• Hands Looking Wrong: As Tia Dalma reminds Barbossa that she's the one who brought him back from the dead and could send him back if she chooses to, she grabs his wrist. Barbossa's hand shrivels and turns skeletal, as when he was cursed by the Aztec gold, before returning to normal, leaving the pirate quite unnerved.
• Heart in the Wrong Place: When Will Turner reappears after becoming captain of the Flying Dutchman, the scar from his impromptu heart surgery is visible high on the left side of the chest.
• Hidden Depths: Ragetti points out the (dead) kraken is actually a cephalopod, not a fish, when Pintel taunts its corpse. He later releases Calypso from imprisonment by whispering to her as if to a lover.
• Historical Domain Character:
  • You know Pirate Lord Mistress Ching? She's based on pirate Ching Shih, who was an absurdly successful Chinese pirate queen, who commanded the largest pirate fleet in history. She was so good, in fact, that the government allowed her to retire because they couldn't actually beat her. She's in the wrong century, but Rule of Cool.
  • The pirate lord of the Indian Ocean, Sumbhajee, was a real person as well, though he's less time-displaced than Ching.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • During the Brethren Court summit, Barbossa admits the First Court binding Calypso has ultimately backfired on the modern Pirate Lords. Yes, binding the Goddess of the Sea granted the Pirates control over all the oceans — but with hindsight, it also opened the door to someone like Beckett and his ilk.
  • During the final battle Will gets fatally stabbed by Davy Jones, who at this point's armed with the sword Will made for Norrington back in the first film (and which Jones claimed for himself after Norrington died).
  • Perhaps Beckett's single biggest mistake is relocating the Dead Man's Chest to the Flying Dutchman. It's done out of frustration with Jones chafing at Beckett's orders and to keep him in line. Instead, putting the Heart on the Dutchman backfires spectacularly and ultimately gets both Beckett and Jones killed. Beckett didn't account for actual combat conditions, which of course disrupts the guarding of the Chest. In the chaos of the Maelstrom battle, Jack's able to steal the Heart and help Will stab it — thereby killing Jones, installing Will as the new Captain, and removing the EITC's control of the Dutchman. Had the Chest remained aboard Endeavor, the heroes would never have been able to get access to it and stop Beckett.
• Homage Shot: The shot of the ship sailing on the night sky was an homage to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
• Hostage-Handler Huddle: One such exchange takes place when Barbossa reveals his plan to unbind Calypso to the other pirate lords:
  Pirate 1: Shoot him!
  Pirate 2: CUT OUT HIS TONGUE!
  Jack Sparrow: Shoot him AND cut out his tongue, and shoot his tongue... and trim that scraggly beard!
• I Did What I Had to Do: Elizabeth's defense after Will learns the truth about Jack's "heroic sacrifice" at the end of Dead Man's Chest and confronts her. Interestingly, Will doesn't actually dispute this. He knows that Davy Jones had backed them into a no-win situation with the Kraken; if Jack had been with them, then they'd have all died on the open water in the longboat. Rather, Will's angry because Elizabeth lied to him (and because her deception left him thinking for months that she'd fallen for Jack rather than really being guilt-ridden over sacrificing him).
• I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Norrington's reason for freeing Elizabeth and committing a Heroic Sacrifice to effect her escape.
• Imminent Danger Clue: Twice in one scene. The first is when Sao Feng sees a nearby pirate's fake tattoos melting off in the bathhouse and realizes he's a spy. The second is when Barbossa tells Sao Feng he's not their spy either, and both sides simultaneously realize whose spy he actually is, right before the EITC breaks down the doors.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Barbossa tells Sao Feng he has nothing but peaceable intentions. Immediately afterwards, his crewmembers who are hiding under the floorboards toss swords up to him and Elizabeth, who catch the swords without missing a beat.
• Internal Reveal: The Pearl survivors finally learn what really happened at the end of the previous film once they reach the Locker. Jack takes gleeful delight in outing Elizabeth's betrayal once he realizes Will and none of the others knew.
• In the Doldrums: Davy Jones' Locker is a barren wasteland (for a while, anyways). Nothing but perfectly flat, white desert in every direction. It's called "The Doldrums" twice, and it is true to the original definition — it is a sailor's hell, after all: no wind to sail on nor even water to sail in; just Jack, his ship, and a bunch of crabs.
• In-Universe Factoid Failure: Jack admits to the wenches that he didn't know Pizarro, but he then claims to love Pizarro's pies.
• Ironic Echo:
  • When they first met in The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack cut a deal that Elizabeth found underhanded and horrifying, especially as how it worked to her personal detriment. She protested, to receive only:
    Jack: Pirate!
  • In this movie, Elizabeth cuts a deal with Beckett that Barbossa doesn't approve of. He protests.
    Elizabeth: King!
• Ironic Hell: For Jack, the Black Pearl has always represented the freedom to go anywhere and do as he pleases. In the Doldrums of Davy Jones' Locker, he has his ship, but there's no sea to sail it on and nowhere to go.
• It Works Better with Bullets: The pirates' guns don't work with wet powder.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Jack suggests not releasing Calypso mainly so he can advocate his own plan, but he points out Calypso isn't going to be thankful and will take her anger out on them. Indeed, she is plotting to violently kill them all at that very moment.
• Keystone Army: The enormous Imperial Armada Beckett brought with him to annihilate the pirates: they all turn tail and run when the Endeavour is sunk, despite it being heavily implied that they vastly outnumber the entire pirate fleet. This may simply be a case of Lazy Backup, but on the other hand; 1. None of them even like Lord Becket, 2. They didn't want to be there and Were only there because they were under orders, 3. They are up against the Black Pearl, which is pretty infamous for her actions and 4. They are up against the Flying Dutchman, which would probably have made it a Curb-Stomp Battle given how everyone keeps saying "Control the Dutchman, control the seas."
• Kick the Dog:
  • Jack, while in Davy Jones' locker, "kills" another Jack for not doing a satisfactory job.
    Captain Jack: Mister Sparrow! What say you of this tack iron?
    Crewman Jack: It be proper to my eyes, sir.
    Captain Jack: It is not proper, nor suitable, not adequate, nor acceptable. It is in fact an abomination.
    Crewman Jack: Begging pardon sir, but p'rhaps if you gave a man another chance?
    Captain Jack: Shall we? [runs him through with his sword] That sort of thinking is what got us into this mess.
  • Davy Jones really shows pride and craftmanship in exercising this trope every chance he gets.
• Kingmaker Scenario: In the vote for Pirate King, every pirate has voted for themselves as they always do... when it gets around to Jack. Jack realizes he isn't going to win and having the vote fail works against his interests, so he can essentially make whoever he wants king. And since newly minted Pirate Lord Elizabeth Swann just seconded his plan...
• Large Ham: Barbossa was a little more subdued in the previous film, but here he is clearly enjoying himself and living LARGE after being brought back to life.
• Lazy Backup: The final battle. The Black Pearl faces down the Flying Dutchman, and then Beckett's Endeavour, without any help from the pirate armada assembled behind them. Justified because the maelstrom prevents other ships from intervening. And once again, when the Dutchman does its Heel–Face Turn, Beckett's much-larger armada may be scarpering because the situation has just gotten too weird to cope with, or perhaps they just don't care for the man enough to continue fighting after his death.
• Living Forever Is Awesome: Jack's motive for wanting to stab Davy Jones's heart. Jones is already enjoying the fruits of this trope as the immortal lord of the sea.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • The Black Pearl survivors initially still believe Jack sacrificed himself to the Kraken to save them in the climax of the last film. Nobody knows or suspects that it was actually Elizabeth who sacrificed Jack. While feeling conflicted and guilt-ridden, Elizabeth has intentionally withheld the truth from Will and the others in the months since (and despite knowing that if they do reach the Locker and find Jack, the truth is going to come out). Will is not happy when he learns Elizabeth lied to them all (and to him in particular).
  • Beckett initially withholds details of Jack's escape from the Locker from Jones (as he needs Jack alive long enough to lead him to Shipwreck Cove and the news will only set off Jones). That plan goes down in flames after Will gleefully reveals the truth to Jones when he comes aboard the Endeavour.
  • Downplayed, but the reunion between Davy Jones and Calypso all but confirms he knew all along where Shipwreck Cove was and withheld its location from Beckett out of spite.
• Loophole Abuse: Davy Jones can only touch land once every ten years... so when there's a truce being held on a small stretch of dry land, he attends the meeting by standing in a shallow bucket of water so he's not technically touching the land.
• Loss of Identity:
  • Already a problem for the Flying Dutchman's crew as established in the last film, it kicks into overdrive in this one, with the crew largely reduced to a single-minded hoard, who repeat each other's sentences.
  • After falling past the Despair Event Horizon, Bootstrap's been afflicted as well, merging with the ship, and becoming incapable of remembering things for very long. After meeting Elizabeth, he loses even that, becoming part of the ship.
• Love Makes You Evil: Davy Jones. When Calypso broke his heart, he said to hell with all of it and shirked his rightful duties, which led to him and his crew becoming corrupted and inhuman.
• Madness Mantra: The clearest sign of Bootstrap Bill losing his mind is when he starts repeating "Part of the crew, part of the ship." After Davy Jones' death, the entire remaining crew of the Flying Dutchman start speaking that mantra in unison as Bill carves his son's heart out to make him captain.
• Magic Map: The charts acquired early in the movie can guide the reader to sites that will never appear on more accurate charts, and also bear vague warnings to aid in overcoming obstacles.
• Married at Sea: Elizabeth and Will get married by Barbossa in the middle of the climactic battle.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The assembled pirate fleet at Shipwreck Cove starts to cheer as the first East India Company ship comes into sight. It then rapidly loses all of its bravado when dozens of other ships also appear.
• Mauve Shirt: A couple of them, the most prominent being Tai Huang, Sao Feng's mustachioed Number Two who sails with the heroes to Davy Jones' Locker, outlives his employer and later escapes the Flying Dutchman with Elizabeth.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • Elizabeth justifies not telling Will about leaving Jack for the Kraken, claiming "It was my burden to bear." Will repeats that phrase after revealing the secret deal he made with Sao Feng.
  • Elizabeth quotes Barbossa's speech to the Brethren Court when she's later addressing the crew of the Black Pearl.
  • The Madness Mantra of Bootstrap Bill and the other Dutchman crew members. "Part of the crew, part of the ship..."
• Mexican Standoff: A particularly interesting one, involving five people (one of whom isn't even directly related to the argument and pulls out his guns because everyone else does), each with two guns pointing at two other people. During the course of a conversation, they constantly switch who they are pointing their guns at. The whole thing becomes moot when Jack tries to shoot Barbossa, and the shot is a dud. This prompts everyone else to fire at each other, with the same result. Turns out that all the guns were waterlogged.
• Misfit Mobilization Moment: One after Elizabeth's Rousing Speech drives all the pirate crews to truly fight for their way of life. They raise their banners and prepare for the fight while most of the captains stand motionless as the colors are raised.
• Mistaken for Special Guest: When Barbossa details his plan to free Calypso from her mortal form, Sao Feng thinks he's talking about Elizabeth, turning her into a Living MacGuffin for a brief round of pirate negotiations.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The faint sounds that accompany the black screen just before cutting to Jack Sparrow's first scene in the film, is audio from the original Disney Parks POTC attractions.
  • The location of the Fountain of Youth shown on the mystical chart is the general location of Orlando, Florida.
  • Johnny Depp based many of his signature mannerisms for Jack Sparrow on Keith Richards, reasoning that pirates were the rock stars of their time. Here, he plays Jack's father, Captain Teague.
• Never Be Hurt Again: A variation with Jack after escaping the Locker. Having died and spent time in, for all intents, hell, Jack understandably does not want to wind up in that situation again. This is why he wants to kill Jones to claim that immortality and avoid death (the cost be damned).
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Norrington frees Elizabeth and Sao Feng's crew, he leaves the cell unlocked, allowing Bootstrap to get free, resulting in his own death.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Nine Pieces of Eight — they're actually just bits of junk (a cup, a pince-nez, Ragetti's wooden eye, etc.) the first Brethren Court was carrying, because they were, to a man, flat broke.
  Pintel: So change the name!
  Gibbs: What, to "Nine-Pieces-of-Whatever-We Happen-to-Have-in-Our-Pockets-at-the-Time"? Ohhh, yes, that sounds very piratey.
• Noodle Incident:
  • What exactly Jack did to wind up on Sao Feng's shit list. All we learn is that Jack paid Sao Feng great insult (which, given this is Jack, could mean anything).
  • Implied, albeit downplayed, with Barbossa and Jack the Monkey. But something must have happened during the decade Barbossa had the Black Pearl to convince him to train his undead pet and accomplice how to use firearms (let alone make him think that it was actually a good idea).
  • Jack's prior history with Beckett, which was set up in the previous film, ultimately remains this in the final cut of At World's End (as the Resolved Noodle Incident portion of their first scene together was left on the cutting room floor).
• Nothing Personal: Beckett uses those exact words as he prepares to renege on his agreement with Sparrow.
• Nuclear Option: Releasing Calypso is essentially a fantastical, non-nuclear version of this for the Brethren Court. It's their "Break Glass In Case of Emergency" option that *might* give them a chance against the EITC and the Dutchman. But as Jack counter-argues, there's also a very good (if not high) chance arming and deploying the fantastical nuke's gonna blow up in all their faces. After all, Calypso's been bound for centuries by the Pirates and is understandably feeling more than a little pissed at her captors.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • The Kraken is killed offscreen, with only a throwaway comment and a scene where they find the body afterward.
  • Immediately after the maelstrom fight ends, several ships from both pirate and East India Company fleets can be seen in the background either sinking or burning.
• One-Woman Wail: Heard when Davy Jones' heart is stabbed and he plummets off the Flying Dutchman.
• Orbital Kiss: At the climax, after Will and Elizabeth's Wartime Wedding at Sea while That One Theme plays.
• Papa Wolf: Watching Davy Jones stab his boy breaks Bootstrap Bill Turner out of his Loss of Identity and he furiously throws himself on his captain.
• Pet the Dog:
  • A quick one for Davy Jones: seeing incoming cannon fire, he throws himself on Mercer to protect him from the blast. The fact that he quickly remembers he hates the man and promptly chokes him to death just reinforces the fact that he would have protected any member of his crew in the same way — or he just wanted the pleasure of personally throttling Mercer.
  • Jack also gets one when he helps the dying Will stab Davy Jones' heart, and thus gives up his chance at immortality (which he had been working for during the entire film) to save Will's life.
• Pirate Song: In the opening, "Hoist the Colors" is sung by several pirates being executed.
• Pistol-Whipping: Suggested by Pintel after a failed Mexican Standoff between Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa. They fire their pistols, but the powder is wet.
  Pintel: We can still use 'em as clubs! [Ragetti bonks him on the head with a pistol]
• Poking Dead Things with a Stick: Upon discovering the kraken's massive carcass washed up on a beach, Pintel and Ragetti poke one of its tentacles with a branch and then climb on top of it after confirming it is dead.
• Power High: When Tia Dalma is released from her human form and regains her godly powers by becoming Calypso, she makes a familiar expression that makes her enjoyment very evident.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Beckett after Mercer returns from Singapore with the intel about the Nine Pieces of Eight. Mercer is dismissive, arguing that with the Dutchman under the EITC's control, nothing the Pirates have in their arsenal can possibly stand against it. However, because they're dealing with the supernatural, Beckett disagrees. He's savvy enough to recognize there are any number of potential x-factors out there the EITC didn't anticipate or foresee — such as these mysterious Nine Pieces of Eight.
  • Given what happened in the backstory of the first film, Jack correctly anticipates Barbossa's going to try to screw him over and steal the Pearl again after the final battle. He takes precautions this time by stealing Sao Feng's charts and leaving Gibbs aboard as his loyal ace in the hole. Unfortunatley for Jack, only the former precaution works. Jack didn't anticipate Gibbs would fall asleep at his post and that Barbossa would deposit the slumbering first mate on the Tortuga dock before running for the figurative hills.
• Recoiled Across the Room: Played for Laughs when Marty charges up a ramp, fires a gigantic blunderbuss, and is thrown back down the ramp.
• Record Needle Scratch: In the form of Teague snapping a string on the guitar he's playing in response to Jack questioning the other Pirate Lords if they intend on breaking the Code by refusing Elizabeth's election to Pirate King.
• Redemption Equals Death: For poor James Norrington. Rescues Elizabeth from the Flying Dutchman, and gets a wooden spear in the gut for his trouble.
• Rescued from the Underworld: Barbossa, Will, and Elizabeth (each for their own reasons) lead an expedition to Davy Jones' Locker to rescue Jack Sparrow from his Ironic Hell.
• Ridiculously Difficult Route: Getting from the normal world to Davy Jones' Locker involves sailing through a frozen sea, into an ice cavern, and straight off the edge of the map. Literally. And getting back is harder.
  Barbossa: We're good and lost now.
  Elizabeth: Lost!?
  Barbossa: For certain ye have to be lost to find a place as can't be found. Elseways everyone would know where it was.
• Rousing Speech: Barbossa gives one to the Brethren Court about reclaiming their roles as masters of the sea through honest work and not using someone like Davy Jones or Calypso to give them assistance. He really seems to mean it, too, and Elizabeth's repeating his words later convinces him to go all-in with helping. Though her version is the truly moving, awesome one.
  Captain Barbossa: Revenge won't bring your father back, Miss Swann, and it's not something I'm intending to die for.
  Pirate King Captain Elizabeth Swann: You're right... [walks back a few steps towards the crew] Then what shall we die for?
  [Beat]
  Elizabeth: You will listen to me... LISTEN! The Brethren will still be looking here to us, to the Black Pearl, to lead. And what will they see? Frightened bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No... No, they will see free men! And FREEDOM! And what the enemy will see is the flash of our cannons! They will hear the ring of our swords and they will know what WE can do! By the sweat of our brows... And the strength of our backs... And the courage of our hearts! Gentlemen... Hoist the colors.
  Will: [nodding] Hoist the colors.
  Ragetti: Hoist the colors.
  Pintel: Hoist the colors!
  Gibbs: Aye. The winds on our side, boys! That's all we need!
  [all cheer]
  Pirate King Captain Elizabeth: [screaming] HOIST THE COLORS!
• Rule of Cool: Given as the in-universe reason why the Brethren Court calls their "Pieces of Eight" by that name:
  Pintel: Those aren't pieces of eight. They're just pieces of junk!
  Gibbs: Aye, the original plan was to use nine Pieces of Eight to bind Calypso, but when the first court met the Brethren were, to a one, skint broke.
  Pintel: So change the name!
  Gibbs: What, to "Nine-Pieces-of-Whatever-We-Happen-to-Have-in-Our-Pockets-at-the-Time"? Oh yes, that sounds very piratey!
• Sadistic Choice: Jack realizes that Will is faced with one: he wants to save his father from Davy Jones, but the one who kills Davy Jones must take his place as captain of the Flying Dutchman, meaning that Will would be separated from Elizabeth. Jack, who seeks Jones' immortality, offers Will a third option: he be the one to kill Jones and become the Dutchman's captain, and then free Will's father. Will points out that if Jack takes Jones' place, he'd have to be the one to ferry souls to the afterlife, or else be mutated like Jones.
• Saharan Shipwreck: The Black Pearl, and Jack Sparrow with it, have been cast into Davy Jones' Locker, an endless, flat white desert. It's an Ironic Hell for Jack — he has his ship, but no sea to sail it on.
• Scars Are Forever: Subverted. When the Black Pearl is revealed in the Locker, all of the damage the Kraken inflicted during the climax of the previous film has been repaired. Good be Handwaved away by the nature of the Locker and Jones ensuring the ship was intact as part of Jack's Ironic Hell.
• Screw the Rules, They're Not Real!: Justified and subverted. It turns out there is a good reason why, while all pirate characters bend the ever-living hell out of the Pirates' Code to suit their needs, they never actually violate the Exact Words, and that reason is Captain Edward Teague, the Keeper of the Code. When one of the Indian pirates says "Hang the Code!" without knowing Teague is present, Teague immediately shoots him dead and asserts "The Code is the law", which makes all of the other pirates in the room, the so-called "Pirate Lords" included, immediately ditch that train of thought.
• Sequel Hook: At the end, Jack sets a course for the Fountain of Youth using Sao Feng's maps.
• Serial Escalation: With the shift from the Low Fantasy of the first film to High Fantasy completed, the third film ups the stakes with a global scale and scope, divine entities, and otherwordly realms.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Calypso's entire subplot actually adds nothing to the film except to have everybody running around for a while. The filmmakers suggest that the maelstrom scene was designed so that she would "Provide the arena," which pretty clearly translates to, "Yeah, we weren't really sure what she was doing in our script either."
• She Is the King: Elizabeth Swann, Pirate King. They're just giving the bloody title away! The Nine Pirate Lords themselves have two females among them.
• Shoot the Messenger: Making the scene where Teague shoots someone at the Pirate Lords' meeting for questioning the Code, it's not even the speaker's idea to question it: he's a mouthpiece for one of the Lords, and was just saying what his boss wanted him to.
• Shout-Out:
  • The musical lockets representing the connection of Davy Jones with Tia Dalma is taken from the connection of the musical pocket-watches in For a Few Dollars More.
  • The theme music during the sandbar parlay is near-identical to one during the final duel in Once Upon a Time in the West.
  • The shots of Beckett as the serene center of the screen as his ship disintegrates around him are extremely similar to shots of Scorpius in a similar situation in the Farscape episode "Into the Lion's Den".
• Shown Their Work: The Green Flash is a very rare optical illusion, caused by refraction of light in the atmosphere. It is indeed best glimpsed at sea.
• Shrunken Head: During a conversation with Captain Teague (his father), Jack asks, "How's Mum?" Teague shows him a shrunken woman's head.
  Jack: She looks great...
• Sinister Suffocation: Davy Jones kills Ian Mercer by suffocating the man with his tentacles, all the while sporting a sinister grin on his face. This murder is meant to symbolize Jones' anguish and hatred after being forced to serve the East India Trading Company, and is uncharacteristically drawn-out and gruesome as a result.
• Slasher Smile: Tia Dalma sports one in Singapore when her booby trap blows up a dozen Mooks.
• Someone Has to Do It: "The Dutchman must have a captain." And if the position is ever vacant, well, You Kill It, You Bought It. Though it's never made clear as to what happens if the Dutchman's captain attempts to commit suicide.
• Squirrels in My Pants: After Calypso regains her powers and transform into an enormous swarm of crabs washing over the pirates, Ragetti ends up with a crab in his pants.
• The Stinger: After the credits, a Time Skip of ten years shows Elizabeth and her son awaiting the reappearance of Will from his duties aboard the Dutchman.
• Stating the Simple Solution: During the voyage to the Locker, Pintel asks a very good question which also addresses an obvious potential plot hole: Do they even have to go to the Locker? Why doesn't Tia Dalma just bring Jack back to life the same way she brought back Barbossa at the end of the previous film? Tia Dalma quickly shoots him down, explaining she can't. Barbossa was only dead, whereas Jack has been taken body and soul down to the Locker. Therefore, the only to way to bring Jack back is to go into the Locker and get him themselves.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: A Mexican Standoff instantly and literally fizzles out when everyone has just come up from underwater, so all their guns are completely waterlogged.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Governor Swan is killed off-screen by Beckett's orders, after he learns too much. It even appears to be one in-universe, since when he sees Elizabeth in Davy Jones's locker, he actually seems confused as to whether he's dead.
• Taught by Experience:
  • Played for levity after the climax when Jack and Elizabeth say goodbye to each other. Elizabeth starts to give Jack a parting hug. However, after what happened the last time Elizabeth gave him such a hug (i.e. sacrificing him to the Kraken), Jack understandably declines any more such physical contact with Elizabeth.
  • Having had Barbossa mutiny and steal the Pearl from him once before, Jack correctly anticipates Hector's gonna try it again after the final battle and takes precautions (which only half-work).
• Tension-Cutting Laughter: During the Mexican Standoff mentioned above, after a minute goes by they all start laughing... but then they remember that, yes, they do all have people to threaten.
• Time Skip: In an aversion for the Immediate Sequel Trope usually associated with a Two-Part Trilogy, At World's End doesn't pick up right where Dead Man's Chest ended. Instead, several months have elapsed in-universe (which makes sense, as it would've taken the Black Pearl survivors time to arrange transportation and make the voyage to Singapore).
• Took a Level in Kindness: In a weird way, Barbossa when he steals the Pearl for the second time at the end of the film. Yes, he screws over Jack again — but this time, Barbossa isn't vindictive about it. He doesn't maroon Jack on a deserted isle, but instead leaves him stranded in Tortuga and in the comforts of civilization. It may also alternately count as Pragmatic Villainy from Barbossa; after all, being vindictive towards Jack last time set off the chain of events that ultimately got Barbossa killed at the end of the first film.
• Turned Against Their Masters: A non-sentient variation of sorts in the climax when Will ends up getting fatally stabbed by his own sword — or rather by the sword he made for Norrington's promotion to Commodore back in the first film (which Davy Jones claimed for himself after Norrington's death earlier in the film).
• The Unintelligible: Calypso, when in 50-foot giant form, rants unintelligible things at the pirates after they set her free. Word of God says that she's cursing them, and basically telling them to go fuck themselves. This ties into what Jack said; no matter that they've freed her, she was still imprisoned before that, and is not happy about the time she spent confined in a human body. And she's not entirely unintelligible — French speakers get a Bilingual Bonus in the form of two very familiar and vulgar syllables: "Va chier!" (a scatological version of "Go fuck yourself").
• Vapor Wear:
  • After an Extended Disarming sequence in Singapore, Elizabeth is left wearing only a shirt. Ragetti, who is hiding under the floorboards, gets a peep up her dress and informs Pintel. During the interval, however, Elizabeth has moved forward, resulting in Pintel getting an eyeful of the privates of one of Sao Feng's male group.
  • Unlike Elizabeth's "corset", this is a rare (probably accidental) bit of authenticity: panties (and male underpants) haven't been invented yet — nobody wore anything under between their undersides and their clothes but a "shift" (the garment Elizabeth spends most of the first film in) if they were female or a long shirt if they were male (or a cross-dressing female pirate, of course.)
• Viewers Are Geniuses: Those familiar with ocean weather patterns get an Oh, Crap! moment when two captains facing off both claim the wind is on their side. Cue the maelstrom.
• Villainous Breakdown: Beckett goes completely lifeless when both the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman are preparing to blow him to pieces.
  Beckett: It's just... good business.
• Villain Respect: An ironic example played for Black Comedy after a dying Norrington tries to stab Davy Jones. It doesn't work and Jones claims Norrington's sword for himself. After examining the weapon, Jones admits it's actually a nice sword. So, of course, Jones is complimeting its maker — which means he's unknowingly complimenting Will Turner.
• Visual Innuendo:
  • Barbossa and Jack, feuding over who is captaining the Black Pearl, both pull out their telescopes. Jack is disappointed when his is significantly smaller. Later, he steps up to the rail with an enormous, sagging spyglass. Barbossa gives him an Aside Glance.
  • At the gathering of the Brethren Court, Barbossa bangs on a table with a chain shot (two cannonballs connected by a chain) for emphasis. Later he stands up and we have a perfectly framed shot of his legs, with the two cannonballs dangling in between.
    Jack: Whose boons? Your boons?
• Vocal Dissonance: One of the Pirate Lords has his underlings speak for him at the meeting, because his own voice is very high and squeaky.
• Wartime Wedding: Will and Elizabeth not only get married in the middle of a war, but in the middle of a battle. On a pirate ship.
• Waterfall into the Abyss: The secret entry to Davy Jones's locker apparently involves sailing right over the edge of the world — once you get to a place where the Earth is no longer round.
• Wedding Smashers: Inverted — Will and Elizabeth interrupt the battle with their wedding, seeing how they could be about to die.
• Wham Line: Davy Jones gives one when Will reveals to him and Beckett that the Brethren Court intends to release Calypso.
  Davy Jones: No! They cannot! The first Court promised to imprison her forever! That was our agreement!
  Beckett: Your agreement?
  Davy Jones: I... showed them how to bind her. She could not be trusted. I... she gave me no choice!
• What Would X Do?: When Jack is imprisoned, he escapes by imagining what Will would do.
  Jack: [muttering to himself] Think like the whelp. Think like the whelp.
• Woman Scorned: If Calypso is released, as Jack points out during the Brethren Court, she would be an incredibly angry god who's just gotten all her powers back. He even mentions the trope by name. Not helping is that just as she is released, Will clues her in on the fact that only Davy Jones could've given the original court the means to betray her.
  Jack: As my learned colleague so naively suggests, we can release Calypso, and we can pray that she will be merciful... I rather doubt it. Can we, in fact, pretend that she is anything other than a woman scorned, like which fury Hell hath no? We cannot.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: During the parlay on the sandbar, Beckett is basking in his Chessmaster status and watching the Pirates squabble and eat each other alive as he expected they would do. He doesn't realize that while the bickering isn't entirely feigned, Elizabeth and company are playing him too. They get Will back (with both the compass and his intel about who betrayed Calypso) and Jack ends up aboard the Dutchman (where, knowing Jack, he'll eventually get loose and make a play for the Dead Man's Chest).
• Would Hurt a Child: The opening scene shows that Beckett is willing to execute children for being pirates or even associating with pirates, in order to draw out his real foes, the Court of the Brethren.
• Xanatos Gambit: The aftermath of the Parlay in theory leaves the Pirates with one on the board. Jack's now a prisoner aboard the Dutchman where, knowing Jack, he'll get loose and make a play for the Heart. If he can stab it or at least get it off the ship, they can remove Beckett's leverage over the Dutchman and the big gun of the EITC Armada. Back on the Pearl, they've got Jack's Piece of Eight and can now free Calypso and hopefully turn the tide of battle in their favor — provided she doesn't kill them all first. This being Pirates, of course, complications arise, ensue, and are overcome. While neither side of the Gambit fully works out, both ultimately contribute to a Piratical victory (albeit not how Jack or company anticipated). Thanks to Will's intel about Davy Jones' betrayal, Calypso doesn't destroy the Brethern Court or the EITC Armada. Instead, she creates the Maelstrom to level the playing field and let both sides go at it and kill each other (battle conditions which ultimately do allow the Pearl characters to board the Dutchman). Jack does get the Heart, but he ultimately has to let a dying Will stab it to save his life (which still ultimately gives the Pirates control of the Dutchman and allows them to take out Beckett.)
• "Yes"/"No" Answer Interpretation: Davy Jones likes to ask men about to die whether they fear death, as he can offer them servitude on his ship instead. When he asks Norrington, all he gets is a stab in response. He says he takes that as a "no".
• You Are in Command Now: When Sao Feng is mortally wounded while sailing to Shipwreck Cove, he uses his last moments to name Elizabeth his successor as Captain and a Pirate Lord, giving her his Piece of Eight. Of course, he was under the impression that Elizabeth was Calypso, and she did nothing to disabuse him of this notion.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: Whoever kills Davy Jones has to take his place. Cue dilemmas for Will, who swore an oath to kill Davy Jones, and Jack, who thinks Living Forever Is Awesome. But there's a catch — do the job of ferrying souls to the afterlife, or become a Cthulhumanoid like Jones. In the end, Jack helps Will to kill Jones as an Emergency Transformation. Ten years at sea is preferable to immediate death, for both Will and Elizabeth.
• You Need a Breath Mint: Combined with Weaponized Stench. Jack weaponizes his bad breath to make Will fall off of the Black Pearl.

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