Calypso is a figure from Hellenic greek myth and character in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
History[]
Biography[]
Origins[]
Calypso was the goddess of the seas who at some point personified her powers into the Treasures of the Seven Seas. Calypso also oversaw The Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship with the duty of ferrying the souls of those who die at sea to the afterlife. The curse of the Dutchman, however was that its captain could only step on land for one day every ten years.
At some point, a sailor named Davy Jones fell in-love with Calypso. To prove his love, Jones took the duty as captain of the Flying Dutchman with a promise that on the one day he would be free, that they could be together again. However when that one day came, Calypso did not show up as was her oceanic nature to be unreliable.
Tia Dalma[]
Heartbroken, Jones sought out the pirate guild known as the Brethren Court and taught them how to bind Calypso in human form so that they could rule the seas in her stead. The court bound her into the body of a Haitian woman named Tia Dalma with Calypso going on to live in a shack on the Pantano river of Cuba. The only way that Calypso could be freed was if the nine, "Pieces of Eight" used to bind her were assembled by the brethren's Pirate Lord and burned in her presence.
Jones was heartbroken over the affair and used his own dark powers to carve out his own heart. Jones hid the heart in a chest with love-letters he shared with Calypso and buried the chest on the uninhabited shores of Isla Cruces in the Caribbean Sea. Heartless, Jones no longer ferried the dead and as he corrupted his purpose he likewise corrupted his physical form and the physical forms of his crew whom he enslaved with faustian bargains.
Pirates of the Caribbean[]
At some point prior to around 1711, Tia Dalma met pirate Jack Sparrow who bartered and enchanted compass from her that pointed towards whatever its user wanted most. Following 1721, she obtained the corpse of Jack's rival Captain Hector Barbossa when his resting-place of Isla de Muerta was engulfed by the sea. Within her shack, Calypso resurrected Barbossa in promise that he would work to have the Brethren Court free her.
When Jack Sparrow himself died at the hands of Davy Jones and the Kraken, it was Tia Dalma who arranged for Barbossa to lead the voyage to Davy Jones' Locker and escape with his soul. Calypso did this due to Jack having died with one of the nine pieces of eight required for her freedom. With Jack returned, the Brethren Court was assembled and after Barbossa failed to negotiate Calypso's release, he instead stole Jack's piece of eight.
Before going to war with the British Empire and East-India Trading Company, Barbossa oversaw the ritual to free Calypso in hopes they would aid her. However, Calypso and Jones were secretly conspiring to seek vengeance on both the pirates and the British. Upon being freed, Calypso created a maelstrom on the site of the battle though Jack Sparrow would kill Jones, causing him to fall into it.
Treasures of the Seven Seas[]
Returned to her goddess state, Calypso would become allies-of-circumstance with Jack Sparrow. Calypso assisted Sparrow and his crew in seeking out the Treasures of the Seven Seas so that they could not be obtained by Blackbeard, the British Empire and Barbossa, respectively.
Jungle Cruise appearances[]
A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas[]
This attraction had guests as members of the crew of the Captain Jack Sparrow, hunting down Calypso's Treasures of the Seven Seas at some point after Calypso's release. One of these was the Treasure of the Pacific, in the possession of the Headhunter tribe.
Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar[]
One of the identical lockets belonging to Jones and Calypso appears in the possession of Trader Sam. Davy Jones is also referenced in the description for the drink Shipwreck on the Rocks which is themed to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. This drink is affiliated with the ship The Wicked Wench, the vessel of Captain Barbossa whom Calypso resurrected.
Other connections[]
Adventureland[]
Calypso's seven treasures are spread throughout Adventureland. Calypso was also a live-performed character during the Pirate Takeover! event of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Jungle Cruise[]
The headhunters are characters from the Jungle Cruise. The Treasure of the Pacific itself bore a resemblance to the Khmer ruins of the the Jungle Cruise, most notably affiliated with Jayavarman VII.
Jungle River Cruise: Pirate Takeover![]
Calypso was live-performed in this Adventureland overlay.
Phantom Manor[]
There is a portrait of the Flying Dutchman in Ravenswood Manor, the same mansion connected to alleged Falls family member Captain Rowan D. Falls.
Trivia[]
- In mythology, Calypso was a sea-nymph who seduced the sea-faring hero Ulysses and kept him at sea for seven years.
- Sam's pet clam Shelly bares a resemblance to a giant clam that Calypso animated during Treasures of the Seven Seas.
- Tia Dalma is affiliated with Haitian Voodoo. In the Jungle Cruise, this religion has been most notably integrated via the Voodoo tribe from Jungle River Cruise: Curse of the Emerald Trinity.
- Tia Dalma's shack along the Pantano River of Cuba in the films is inspired by the Blue Bayou of New Orleans from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
- Various Hellenic deities have connections to the Jungle Cruise. Zeus', "God with a Rod" statue appears in Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar, and Hades was over-arching main-antagonist of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.
Gallery[]
