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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into List of minor characters in Pirates of the Caribbean. (Discuss) |
| Pirates of the Caribbean character | |
|---|---|
| The Kraken | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Destroys enemy ships for Davy Jones |
| Ships Used | Summoned by The Flying Dutchman |
| Weapons | Tentacles, mouth, teeth, stench |
| Status | Deceased |
| Master | Davy Jones |
| Ships Attacked | Turkish Fishing boat Edinburgh Trader |
| Appearance(s) | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End |
| Portrayed by | Computer Generated Imagery |
The Kraken is a fictional sea monster, based on the legendary monster of the same name, in
Walt Disney Pictures' 2006 film,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The
monster also briefly appears in the third film of the trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Description
There is only one clear shot of the Kraken in its entirety, after its death that occurred between the second and third films. It is lying, prone, on a beach. Two scenes show its gigantic mouth, lined with many rows of spiked teeth. Its massive main body is only viewed twice while it is alive; when Will Turner falls into the water and briefly glimpses it before resurfacing and swimming to safety, and earlier when it approaches a fishing boat on which is Jack Sparrow's hat. It resembles a gargantuan, deformed cephalopod, although its coloration makes it difficult to distinguish it from the surrounding water. Gibbs describes it as having giant tentacles that will "suction your face clean off," and breath that gives off a reeking odor of "a thousand rotting corpses."
In the book Pirates of the Caribbean: A Visual Guide, a profile view of the Kraken is seen, with a ship for scale; it is depicted as a cephalopod-like beast, with a ring of tentacles at the base of its head and a long, sharp tail.
The Kraken's tentacles were severely damaged by cannon
fire and an explosion during its first and second assaults on
It's also notable that the Kraken has two tentacles which are significantly larger than the others. The beast employs these to crush ships as a finishing move. The weight of the two tentacles can split a ship along its width.
Calling the Kraken
Davy Jones, ruler of the seas, summons the Kraken to destroy vessels. On-board his ghostly ship The Flying Dutchman is a massive hammer-like wheel with a carved Kraken on the top, the so-called Kraken's Hammer. To call the Kraken, the crew rotate the hammer clockwise, lifting it to its highest point. One crew member is whipping the pushers, making sure that they pull their weight. It then slams down, blasting shockwaves through the ocean, thus calling the Kraken. It usually does not take more than one shockwave to do the job unless the kraken is sleeping in a farther sea.
The Kraken Attacks
The Kraken stalks anyone marked with the Black Spot which is delivered to its victims by The Flying Dutchman crew and can only be removed by its captain, Davy Jones. According to the writers' commentary on the Dead Man's Chest DVD, those marked with the Black Spot are taken by the Kraken to Davy Jones' Locker, where they must experience their worst fear for eternity.
The Kraken attacks by stealthily approaching a ship, slithering its tentacles up the sides of the hull, and gripping tightly,
yanking it underwater. If the crew can fight back, the Kraken smashes the hull and masts with its tentacles and probes the decks
and holds with its sensitive suckers searching for victims. Somehow, it seems to know almost exactly where people are, giving the
effect that each of the tentacles is like a giant snake seeking out its prey. It uses its two powerful forearms to rip a ship
apart. Armed with his previous experience fighting the Kraken while aboard the doomed Edinburgh Trader, Will devises a
strategic defense against the monster when it attacks the
The beast is so powerful it can easily tear a ship in half in mere seconds. Davy Jones uses some, but not all, of these attacks to acquire new crewmen for the Flying Dutchman. As he surveys the survivors of one wrecked ship, he offers them an opportunity to delay their final judgment by joining his crew for a century. He terrifies at least one soul into service. Those who refuse are killed (in any way, shape, or form) and dumped over-board.
Victims of the attacks
The Kraken sinks or destroys four ships throughout the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: a fishing boat, a British
merchant vessel, Edinburgh Trader, and
The Kraken's first attack is a Turkish fishing boat. A sailor pulls Jack Sparrow's hat from the water and tries it on, unwittingly calling the Kraken (it is shown moving quickly underwater towards the boat). He and another crewman, who were fighting over the hat and seemed to be the only active occupants of the ship, soon hear rumbling from the ocean depths. A massive jet of water erupts as the Kraken violently pulls the ship under the sea. The whole attack takes just a few seconds. It is the quickest attack of the Kraken in the whole movie.
Later, the Kraken attacks a British craft. This wrecked ship is shown later in the film. Will boards it after being deceived by Jack and Gibbs into believing that it is the Flying Dutchman. Surrounded by his dead and dying shipmates, a traumatized survivor vainly attempts to perform his duties. Will tells him the ship has run aground, but the sailor can only mutter, "No– beneath us... Foul breath!" This implies that the massive creature was just below the ship. Will spots another sailor whose face has been sucked off; only a mass of rumpled skin and an eye remain. It would appear that victims of the Kraken who have had their faces sucked off can live at least for a little while, as the man who had his face sucked off was crawling through the water. When Will turned him over, his face was pulsating, indicating that he was trying to breathe. The man's eventual death was a result of suffocation. Will and the other survivors are then captured by Jones' crewmen and taken prisoner aboard the "Flying Dutchman". There they are asked if they would like to crew Jones's ship ("Do you fear death?"). Again, if they refuse, they are killed and shoved overboard. If they accept, they are sentenced to a 100 years of service to the Dutchman.
The Edinburgh Trader, a merchant vessel that rescues Will Turner after he escapes The Flying Dutchman, is the third ship attacked. The Flying Dutchman is in pursuit and Davy Jones commands the crew to summon his leviathan with The Kraken Hammer. Edinburgh Trader abruptly halts around the same time that their crew spots the Flying Dutchman. As Captain Bellamy gives orders, he is pulled off the ship by a tentacle. The alarm is raised and the crew members try to defend their ship with spears/harpoons, boarding axes, and muskets/pistols but to no avail as the tentacles snatch men and snap masts. Two massive tentacles rise from the water and smash the hull in two. A falling mast throws Will, who's standing on the top yard, away from the soon sinking ship. Underwater, Will catches a brief glimpse on the huge beast. He barely escapes and stows back aboard on the Dutchman. Jones orders the other survivors killed.
The final attack is upon
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Kraken appears briefly in the third film, but it has been killed by Jones under Lord Cutler Beckett's command, presumably to prevent the 'loose cannon' Jones using the beast against the East India Trading Company; and is seen beached on an island with black sand shortly after rescuing Jack from the locker. Pintel pokes it with a long stick. He and Ragetti jump on the Kraken calling themselves "kraken slayers". The Kraken's death is compared by Barbossa to piracy being purged, causing Jack to realize just how serious Lord Beckett's threat is. It is also here that Barbossa reveals that the Kraken is the last of its kind, doomed to have no purpose except the bidding of Davy Jones, and there is little nobility or purpose in Jack being the last of his kind (pirates) either. How the rest of the Kraken's kind died out is not revealed.
The Kraken looks like a large, dark green cephalapod. The large tail portion is similar to a squid, rather than a whale's tail. It also has large round eyes with orange irises and black pupils. Interestingly, the eyes seem to show pain, most likely from when Jones had to kill it, although it could also be the Kraken's default expression. The Kraken in this shot does not look as big as the given photo from the visual guide.Superscript text
See also
- Kraken (legendary creature)
- Kraken in popular culture
External links
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