Jack Sparrow

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Character
Name: Jack Sparrow
Occupation: pirate
Relationships: Will Turner (friend/ally), Elizabeth Swann (friend/ally), Hector Barbossa (frenemy), Edward Teague (father)
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Other: Portrayed by Johnny Depp
"illustration of Jack Sparrow leaning to the left and holding an apple, in the background is a ship's mast"
Jack Sparrow by Bohemian Weasel (2008)
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Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the fictional main characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and is portrayed by Johnny Depp. Jack is arguably the most popular character in the PoTC fandom. He appears in most fanworks, either as a main or supporting character, and he is the "little black dress" of the fandom, appearing a wide variety of pairings.

Canon

Sparrow appears in all POTC films. He is a bit of trickster, always trying to outwit his fellow pirates and the British while trying to regain ownership of the ship The Black Pearl.

Fandom

Pairings

Sparrow is perhaps the most popular character in the fandom.[1] He's a bit of a Little Black Dress and appears in a wide range of pairings, mainly slash with some het. After the first film, Jack/Will was highly popular, and probably initially represented the dominant pairing in the fandom. Other popular pairings included Jack/Norrington, which has grown in popularity over the years, Jack/Elizabeth, and the Jack/Will/Elizabeth threesome. Other characters he's occasionally paired with include Anamaria, Hector Barbossa, Cutler Beckett & "Bootstrap" Bill Turner. Works sometimes take literally the idea that he loves the sea first and foremost, leading to a surprising number of works labelled "Jack/Pearl", "Jack/the Sea" or "Jack/Ocean". Pairing Jack with original characters is also pretty common.

There is also gen fanworks that focus on his friendships, usually with Will and/or Elizabeth.

Common Tropes and Storylines in Fanworks

  • Pastfic: stories that examine Jack's history are common, and often include supernatural elements. How he came by his hair ornaments & eyeliner gets some attention.
  • Canon Divergence AU: stories that diverge from canon are common, where to diverge varies, but two popular points seem to be after the first film or after the third film.
  • Action/Adventure: similar to canon, a lot of fanworks will have Jack going on pirate adventures, perhaps to find treasure, etc.
  • Crossover: it is not uncommon to find Jack meeting characters from other Age of Sail fandoms. There is also a great deal of crossovers with fantasy fandoms like Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lord of the Rings, and Doctor Who, perhaps because these fandoms were also very popular at the time of the films release. These fanworks may also result in rare crossover pairings like Hermione Granger/Jack Sparrow and Jack Sparrow/Buffy Summers.
  • Supporting Character: although Jack is the main focus in a lot of fanworks, he is also a common secondary character in a lot of fic, these can be stories focused on other PoTC characters, original characters, or in crossover stories.

Example Fanworks

Fan Art

Fanfiction

Fan Vids

Meta

Example Art Gallery

Archives and Communities

Rec Lists

Resources

References

  1. ^ Archive of Our Own might not be typical of the fandom as a whole, but as of 24 January 2014, 1061 works were tagged Jack Sparrow, compared with 555 Will Turner, 536 James Norrington & 511 Elizabeth Swann.