Will Turner
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| Name: | William Turner Jr. |
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| Job: | Former Blacksmith |
| Portrayed by: | Orlando Bloom |
| Ships used: | The Interceptor, The Black Pearl, Edinburgh Trader,The Empress |
| Weapons: | Pistol, Cutlass, knife, sword |
Will Turner, full name William Turner Jr., is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He is played by Orlando Bloom, and is also one of the main characters. Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal. He is in love with Elizabeth Swann the governor's daughter, a woman he can never hope to attain due to his inferior social rank. Will is the best swordsman in the trilogy, although he lacks actual experience compared to swordsmen like Jack Sparrow, who understands that there are no rules when fighting for one's life. Will: "You didn't beat me. You ignored the rules of engagement, in a fair fight, I'd kill you." Sparrow: "Then that's not much incintive for me to fight fair then is it." Although mild-mannered, Will is fiercely loyal to those he cares about and would risk everything when they, especially Elizabeth, are in danger. At his best, Will is clever, heroic and courageous. He can also be preoccupied and brooding.
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[edit] Character history
Apparently, Will Turner is a character created by a writer who sent his script to Disney that was rejected. Like Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann, the other two principal heroes of the saga, Will's name is linked to birds. Whereas the others are more direct references, Will is named after the ornithologist William Turner, much like another Ornithologist-Inspired hero, James Bond. However, the captain of the doomed RMS Lusitania, torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland in 1915, was also named William Turner.
[edit] Appearance
Will's final costume in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is reminiscent of Errol Flynn's movie pirate characters. There is also a nod to Douglas Fairbanks when Turner uses his knife to glide down the ship's sail in Dead Man's Chest, just as Fairbanks did in the 1926 film, The Black Pirate.
In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl when Turner and Jack are fighting in the blacksmith's shop, there is a glimpse of Orlando Bloom's wrist tattoo of the Elvish word for "nine." Bloom and the eight actors who comprised the "Fellowship of the Ring" in The Lord of the Rings trilogy all have this tattoo to commemorate their participation in the films.
In the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, there are frequent shots of Will wearing an earring in his left ear.
[edit] Fictional Biography
[edit] Early Life
Will is the only child of the pirate, William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner. According to Jack Sparrow, he strongly resembles his father, both in appearance and physical ability. However, his father was absent during his childhood in England, and Will grew up believing him to be a merchant seaman. After his mother's death, Will, age 12, journeyed to the Caribbean to search for his father. Ironically, his vessel was attacked and sunk by the Black Pearl, the same pirate ship his father once served on and that is now under the command of Captain Barbossa. Turner later teams up with Jack Sparrow, who tells him his father was actually a pirate, although he also claims he was a good man.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a young Will Turner, the sole survivor of a pirate attack, is rescued by a British naval ship. On board is Lieutenant James Norrington, an officer in the British Royal Navy. Also aboard is Port Royal's new governor, Weatherby Swann, and his daughter Elizabeth, 12. It is Elizabeth who spots Will among the floating debris, and he is placed under her care for the duration of the voyage. When Elizabeth discovers a rather pirate-esque gold medallion around his neck, she hides it to prevent anyone from mistaking him as a pirate. Over the next eight years, Will and Elizabeth develop a tentative friendship. This attachment apparently blossoms into romantic aspirations, but because of their class distinctions, Will conceals his true feelings for Elizabeth, although her emotions appear more obvious.
In Port Royal, Will becomes a blacksmith's apprentice and a craftsman of fine swords, although it is his oft-drunken master who usually receives credit for Will's exquisite workmanship. Will is also an exceptional swordsman but lacks practical fighting experience. Although he is technically superior, Will is bested in a sword fight by Captain Jack Sparrow because Will insists on following "the rules of engagement," allowing Sparrow to outwit him. When Will later admonishes Jack for cheating and says he would have killed him in a fair fight, Jack retorts, "That's not much incentive for me to fight fair then, is it?" He impresses upon the naïve young man that the only rules that matter are, "What a man can do, and what a man can't do." It is a lesson Will is unlikely to forget.
In a fateful twist of irony, Will, a peaceful and law-abiding man, learns his father was the pirate "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, who served aboard the Black Pearl when it was commanded by Captain Jack Sparrow. When First Mate Barbossa and the crew mutinied and marooned Sparrow on a deserted island, only Bootstrap defended him. After finding the Chest of Cortez containing Aztec gold, the pirates fell under an ancient curse that left them as "walking dead." To break the curse, every coin must be returned to the chest. Believing the crew deserved to remain cursed for betraying Jack, Bootstrap sent a gold medallion to his son, Will. In retaliation, Captain Barbossa had Bootstrap tied to a cannon (humorously enough, by his bootstraps) and thrown overboard. Barbossa and the crew later discovered that every man, including Bootstrap, also needed to offer their blood to break the curse. With Bootstrap sitting on the ocean floor, only Will can provide Turner blood.
Even though Will despises pirates, he resorts to piracy and forms an alliance with Jack Sparrow when Barbossa kidnaps Elizabeth, and Commodore Norrington fails to take effective action. Will helps Jack commandeer a royal navy ship, and they sail to Isla de Muerta to rescue her. Unknown to Will, Jack intends to use Will's blood to bargain with the cursed pirates to get back the Black Pearl. When Will learns Jack's true motive and his own role in lifting the curse, he barters himself to Barbossa to free Elizabeth and the crew. In the end, Jack and Will lift the curse; Barbossa is killed and his crew is defeated. To repay Jack for helping him and believing he's being unjustly executed, Will risks his own life to save him from the gallows. Will declares his love for Elizabeth, and she for him. Jack escapes by falling off the rampart wall into the bay and is hauled aboard the Black Pearl, which has arrived just in time.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Will returns with the other main characters from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. His appearance is more pirate-like, reminiscent of Errol Flynn's swashbuckler movie characters, and reflects Will's evolution from naïve boy to world-wise man. For aiding Jack Sparrow's escape, Will and Elizabeth are arrested just prior to their wedding ceremony by Lord Cutler Beckett, a man made wealthy and powerful by profits from the East India Trading Company. Beckett offers them clemency if Will finds Sparrow's compass. He also has a Letter of Marque with which to recruit Jack as a privateer.
While Elizabeth is in jail, Will frantically searches for the Black Pearl. He finds the crew captive on Pelegosto, a cannibal-inhabited island. They escape, and Jack agrees to give Will the compass if he helps him find a key, although he has no idea what it unlocks. Will, Jack, and the crew row upriver to see Tia Dalma, a voodoo priestess. She takes a particular interest in Will, whose name she already knows and says he has a touch of destiny about him. Tia tells Jack the key is to the Dead Man's Chest containing the heart of Davy Jones. Whoever possesses the heart controls Davy Jones and the seas. The crew searches for Davy Jones, but Will soon finds himself stranded on a wrecked vessel that Jack deviously claimed was Jones' ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman. When the real Flying Dutchman suddenly arrives, Jack attempts to barter Will to Davy Jones to repay his debt, but Jones refuses, saying one soul is not equal to another. Instead, he keeps Will and demands an additional ninety-nine souls, otherwise Jack must surrender or face the Kraken. Sparrow made a bargain with Davy Jones to raise the Black Pearl from the ocean bottom and make Jack captain. After thirteen years, Sparrow would serve aboard the Dutchman for a hundred years.
Aboard the Dutchman, Will meets his father, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, who is now an indentured sailor on the Jones' ghost ship. Will challenges Davy Jones to Liar's Dice, a game of deception, betting his soul against the key to the Dead Man's Chest. Bootstrap joins in and purposely loses to free Will, although he is now eternally enslaved. That night, Will steals the key and escapes in a longboat, vowing to one day free his father. A passing ship rescues him, but Jones commands the Kraken to destroy it. Will survives and stows back aboard the Dutchman, now headed for Isla Cruces where the chest containing Jones' heart is buried.
When Will arrives, he finds Jack Sparrow and is reunited with Elizabeth, who escaped from jail. Also there is ex-Commodore James Norrington, now a member of Jack's crew. They find the chest, and key in hand, Will intends to stab the heart to kill Davy Jones. But he finds himself at the point of Jack's sword and caught in a three-way duel between himself, Sparrow and Norrington, all claiming the heart. Jack manages to get the heart, but Norrington steals it and the Letter of Marque and escapes just as Davy Jones' men attack.
The Black Pearl sets sail and outruns the Flying Dutchman, but Davy Jones summons the Kraken. Drawing on his previous experience fighting the monster, Will leads the crew in temporarily in fending it off, giving them time to abandon ship. Realizing the Kraken is only after Sparrow, Elizabeth distracts him with a passionate kiss while handcuffing him to the mast. Will witnesses this and believes Elizabeth now loves Sparrow. From the longboat, the crew watches as the Kraken drags the Pearl and Sparrow beneath the sea.
Will, Elizabeth, and the crew seek refuge from Tia Dalma. As they mourn their captain, Will is particularly despondent, although not only over Elizabeth and Jack. Tia understands his despair—with the Black Pearl Will could defeat Davy Jones and free his father. Gibbs proposes a toast to Jack, to which Will glumly raises his mug. Seeing Elizabeth's tearful face and believing she loves Sparrow, he tries comforting her. "If anything could be done. . ." Tia Dalma interrupts, asking would he be willing, would they all be willing, to travel to the World's End to return Jack and the Black Pearl. All agree, including Will. Tia Dalma says they will need a captain who knows those waters. To their astonishment, a resurrected Captain Barbossa descends the stairs.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Turner journeys to the World's End with Elizabeth, Barbossa, Tia Dalma, and the rest of the Black Pearl's crew to rescue Jack. He is shown standing in at the Dutchman's wheel with his shirt open and a large scar across his heart. In other shots, an earring in his left ear is clearly visible.
In the trailer, Will is shown being held captive by someone unknown and fighting with the other pirates in a battle near a whirlpool. In the midst of the battle, he asks Elizabeth if she will marry him, to which she says "I don't think now is the best time!".
[edit] Other appearances
Will Turner appears in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, Port Royal, of Kingdom Hearts II. In the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II as well as in the movies he's voiced by Daisuke Hirakawa, who was also the Japanese voice for Legolas, another famous character portrayed by Bloom. Crispin Freeman provided the voice of Will for the U.S. version of the game since Orlando Bloom was unavailable due to the filming of Dead Man's Chest. Freeman was also the voice of Will in the video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.
[edit] Hero's Journey
The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is what is known as a Hero's Journey. In this sense, Will can be considered the main Hero of the trilogy. Others characters in fiction that are like him are Rocky Balboa,Luke Skywalker, his father Anakin Skywalker and Harry Potter
