Tia Dalma

Tia Dalma is a character from the movies Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, played by Naomie Harris. She seems to be a practitioner of Voodoo, and is an associate of both Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

Tia Dalma's name is an anagram of Dalmatia. The Dalmatian Coast was a historical haven for pirates - once known as the Roman province of Illyricum and before that the kingdom of Illyria. Illyria was a pirate kingdom - plundering Roman and Greek vessels in the Adriatic - ruled by the pirate queen, Queen Teuta.

Character history

Template:Spoiler Tia Dalma's firefly-surrounded dwelling is a homage to a small shack seen at the beginning of the famous Disneyland ride. Fans have noted similarities between Dalma and the Voodoo Lady of Monkey Island series of games. They point out similarities also between their hut interior, as well as the landscape they are located (both in bogs and swamps).

Little of Tia Dalma's past was known, save for an association with Jack Sparrow at some point prior to his recruitment of Hector Barbossa at Tortuga. It was thought they had been lovers—Jack confessed to having "known" her at a time when they had been "inseperable"—and Dalma provided him with his compass; a mysterious device that pointed to that which its user truly desired.

In the young Jack Sparrow books, she is mentioned to have turned a girl named Constance into a cat. It is also revealed that Jack has known her since he was a child. However, in the movies, she appears younger than Sparrow (although not as young as Will and Elizabeth), this might be further evidence to her as-of-yet-unknown powers- not aging, or simply delaying the process. He also calls her "Mommy dearest" in the seventh book.

Fictional Biography

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Tia Dalma is the voodoo priestess who traded Captain Jack Sparrow his famous compass seven years prior for gold (as told in Disney Adventures). In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Sparrow seeks Dalma's assistance for information about Davy Jones and the Dead Man's Chest. In exchange, he gives her Jack, Barbossa's undead monkey, whose sudden good behaviour in Tia Dalma’s hut foreshadows Barbossa's presence, illustrated by Jack perching atop a pair of boots of an unseen individual in the room adjacent to the protagonists during their visit. She later provides shelter and comfort for the surviving Black Pearl crew after the Kraken destroys the ship and takes their captain. It is Tia who proposes sailing to the World's End to rescue Jack; but she first reintroduces the resurrected Captain Barbossa to the stunned survivors.

File:TiasLocket.jpg

Tia's crab/heart shaped locket.

Fans speculate Tia Dalma is actually Calypso, goddess of the sea and Davy Jones' lost love. Clues include a locket that is seen in Dead Man's Chest when the Black Pearl crew first arrive at Dalma's hut. When Dalma goes into the back room, Jack Sparrow swipes a ring next to a locket on the table. This locket resembles the lock on the Dead Man's Chest, a crab in the shape of a heart, and another locket lying near the organ on Davy Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman. Also, Tia Dalma's in-depth knowledge of Jones' origin, as well as her personality and her surety, and indeed passionate description, that it was a woman Davy Jones fell in love with, and not the sea, could indicate that she is the "changing, harsh, and untameable as the sea" woman that Davy Jones fell in love with.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

In an interview by FilmFocus, Naomie Harris reveals that Tia Dalma will journey with the Black Pearl's crew to the World's End. She is, "...not really who she says she is. She is a lot more powerful." It is hinted that she and Davy Jones were past lovers and that Dalma is the sea goddess Calypso. She also hints that they will have a relationship in the movie.

The trailer does not show much of Tia Dalma, all that is known is that she and Barbossa are guiding the others to where Jack is.

It's hinted that Tia Dalma and Jack Sparrow were once romantically involved, based on Sparrow's apprehensiveness over seeking her assistance and his reaction to her flirtations with William Turner. Although the exact nature of their relationship is unknown, in an interview with Naomie Harris, she says that Jack Sparrow and Tia Dalma probably were lovers. It is also thought that Barbossa and Tia Dalma are going to have an affair in the movie. Coincidently Tia Dalma's theme (as heard on the soundtrack) contains many motifs from Barbossa and the Haunted Pirates' theme song from the first movie, which may foreshadow her hand in his resurrection at the end of the previous movie.

In another clip from the moive it shows her holding the locket in her hand looking sad.

External links

• Tia Dalma at the Pirates of the Caribbean wiki