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Behead

️Mon May 06 2013

Two heads — Two severed heads in Saint Martin.

"And what of you? The mighty Blackbeard. Beheaded, they say. Still, your body swam three times around your ship, then climbed back onboard."

―Jack Sparrow to Blackbeard^[src]

Decapitation was the total separation of the head from the body as capital punishment. Such an injury was inevitably fatal to humans and most animals, since it deprived the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs were deprived of the involuntary functions that were needed for the body to function. The term beheading referred to the act of deliberately decapitating a person, either as a means of murder or as an execution; it may be performed by an executioner with an axe, sword, or knife, or by mechanical means such as a guillotine. Less commonly, decapitation could also refer to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead, to be done to take the severed head as a trophy, for public display, or for other, more esoteric reasons.

History[]

"I believe I was making a point. If you could just be patient."
"No! My head's about to be lopped off, hence the urgency!"

―Carina Smyth and Jack Sparrow^[src]

During the East India Trading Company merchant vessel Wicked Wench's journey to the island of Kerma, Captain Jack Sparrow accidentally kissed one of his passengers, Princess Amenirdis, and quickly stated he shouldn't have done that. When Amenirdis asked Sparrow for explanation, he said if he had done that on Kerma, her brother Shabako would probably have his head chopped off for taking such a liberty with his sister.^[1] During the attack on the Wicked Wench in the Bahamas, one of the crewmen, Micah Wilson, had his head shot clean off by the enemy's cannonball.^[2]

During the rescue of Jack Sparrow at Fort Charles, as Will Turner fought the Executioner, he narrowly avoided being beheaded by the executioner's metal axe.^[3] Beheadings were a common form of torture among the pirate confederation in China led by the ruthless Mistress Ching, the Pirate Lord of the Pacific Ocean.^[4]^[5] During the battle around Calypso's maelstrom, Captain Hector Barbossa fought and beheaded Morey.^[6]

Jack guillotine — With the newly-invented guillotine, the executioner of Saint Martin prepares to decapitate Jack Sparrow.

By 1750, as recalled by Jack Sparrow, it was believed that the infamous pirate Blackbeard was beheaded and his headless body swam three times around his ship before climbing back onboard.^[7] At some point, the French invented the guillotine, a machine for swift decapitation. By 1751, beheading became one of the common forms of capital punishment in the British colony of Saint Martin, most notably done with executioner on Jack Sparrow, only for the infamous pirate to escape with the help of his crew and Henry Turner.^[8]

Behind the scenes[]

Overview[]

Beheading first appeared in the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,^[6] having been identified by name before in the official website,^[4] and later in the "Inside the Brethren Court" DVD bonus feature.^[5]

Dead Men Tell No Tales[]

In Terry Rossio's 2012 screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, when Admiral John Benbow offers the assembled pirates a pardon for their past crimes, the pirate McCallister asks if such crimes include fraudulent identification of a person with the intent they should die in one's stead by beheading.^[9]

In Jeff Nathanson's 2013 early screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, during the escape from Port Royal, Jack Sparrow took one of the severed heads and fired it from a cannon, destroying the nearby gallows and saving Carina Smyth's life.^[10]

The severed heads seen in the guillotine basket in Dead Men Tell No Tales were props modeled after the heads of the film's directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.^{[citation needed]}