One word love: Curiosity.

First of all, you know how Jack's compass won't work? The one that points directly to what he wants most in the world? And then it points at Elizabeth but oh whoopsie she had the papers or the map or whatever that would get him closer to immortality so it must have been that then never mind? MIND. The writers themselves confirmed what was implied throughout the whole movie--Jack was in love with Elizabeth to the point of a genuine dilemma between her and immortality. His feelings are canon. Oh, he makes little 'it would never work' jokes but that motherfucker wants her as much as wants to live forever.

And Elizabeth??? Excuse me??? With her own arc descending into a pirate's morality by way of extreme flirtation with the lifelong pirate? Packing chemistry that Will could never muster for a single second of his entire life? Will and Elizabeth have perfectly good devotion and care for one another, but excuse me ma'am you come to LIFE when you're around Jack, thank you.

And then the third movie just made it Worse.

She's the Pirate King. THE. Pirate King. KING OF THE PIRATES. And she's a damn good one. An inspiring leader. A clever woman. She fits into piracy and piracy molds itself to her in ways that make for a banger character arc, so why in the FUCK are we waiting on a beach for however many years while Will serves his time? The guy who doesn't want piracy but is forced to serve? Meanwhile the lifelong pirate who embraces the world you fit into is a no???? And not to harp on chemistry, but you expect me to watch Elizabeth fall into that kind of fire with one person and then NOT end up with him?

I do not understand. The arc and evolution of Elizabeth starting out with her childhood sweetheart and then over time growing up and rising into what she really wants in both a life (piracy) and Jack (not the boy-next-door good girls are supposed to dream about) would have been so compelling to watch alongside the main plot. Plus, for the time the original trilogy was made, it would have been mind blowing to see a love triangle where she doesn't wind up with the guy she was originally interested in or the Safe One. Hell it'd be a nice twist now.

Why is it ALWAYS the Safe One? These days there's a whole """bad boy""" subgenre to compensate, but it's mostly in books and they're mostly just assholes or abusive. I've been gnawing my enclosure for twenty years over this, and it's a huge reason why I never win love triangles whenever I wind up caring about them. Jack, Phantom, Gale, my track record for canon sucks but the straight ladies writing """bad boys""" don't get it either. Bad boys do not work unless they're also good men. He either grows into it or it's hidden for as long as you want but at some point it has to be Bad Boy, Good Man. That's where the money is.