#dmtnt

Dead men tell no tales. Dead men tell no tales. It's in the movie title, Salazar says it himself, yet he completely contradictions himself a moment later when he tells Barbossa his tale.

If the movie started off with a flashback of young Jack Sparrow and alive Salazar, then there would be no need for this info dump towards poor Barbossa. He could have learned this info from Jack himself or any other source since Barbossa already knew who Salazar was due to his reputation. Granted back then, determining how someone died or if they're even dead was more difficult to tell, we have Jack who could have told the tale. It could have been a story he told once, and it spread like wildlife or something. Pirates loved telling stories about their quests and whatnot.

I'll only give Salazar the benefit of the doubt because maybe he really just wanted to talk to someone after being stuck in that triangle for over 50+ years. Besides, he's a broken man now, maybe that's why he's contradicting himself. Unless it's another weird manipulation tactic. Or maybe I'm just gaslighting myself at this point.

Anyways, that's today's rant coming from me. Do with this as you will.

No, no, people misunderstand.

"Dead men tell no tales" -

That means - the dead can't tell stories because they don't have the right to have a voice.

Why don't they have a voice? Because they're imprisoned.

Why are they imprisoned? Because they can't get out.

THAT'S THE POINT.

"I'd tell him myself, but Dead men tell no tales."

"I'd tell him myself, but my voice has been taken away, and I can't. That's why I'm sending you with a message. If it weren't, I wouldn't bother you with this."

His voice has been taken away because he's imprisoned.

When he's free, he'll get his voice back.

That's how also Henry explained it to Sparrow in his cell.

That doesn't mean they don't tell stories, because they don't. It means they're imprisoned, and therefore they can't. Do you get the idea?

The dead have escaped the Triangle - the dead have regained their voices. They can speak again, they're free. They can spread their stories about themselves personally. They don't have to send intermediaries.

To tell stories you must be able to speak. They were imprisoned, they couldn't contact anyone, they also couldn't get out, so they couldn't speak to anyone, so basically they didn't have a voice on the seas. So they sent back people that came in to speak in their name. Understand now?

I don't know if you watch movies about the paranormal, but it's common for a house to be haunted because a demon entered it, suggested something bad, something terrible happened, and the inhabitants died. Now this demon imprisons their souls, preventing them from escaping. What's more, he forbids them from contacting people—he's more powerful and can do whatever he wants to them. If he allowed it, they would learn from the souls what happened there and could do something to weaken the demon's influence and free the souls.

It's similar here, but they're trapped by the energy surrounding the triangle, which they can't cross.

But... quite similar and even analogous, because the curse essentially convinced the prisoners that it wasn't her fault, but Sparrow's. She found a cleverer way to solve the case. "It's not my fault, it's him, blame him, don't think about me!"

So... basically, it's almost the same, only a bit different and cleverer. Unfortunately, that's worse for... everyone except the curse and the triangle, really.

Moving on, what is important and interesting is that Salazar remembered his story at all and was even able to tell it.

He was tormented in the triangle, probably by the spirits of his victims. No, it wasn't an ordinary, peaceful stay in a dark cave, no. For him, it truly was a nightmare. He was a powerful, hard man, but described it as "Hell on Earth." Imagine that.

But he was a stronger entity than they, so they couldn't break him. But they changed him. They were the ones who directed Salazar's rage at Sparrow. (They had to introduce this surname to him...) That's why he remembered and even knew him for so long. But that's absurd, because the curse is the main culprit. But he wasn't completely broken by them psychologically; he was too strong. Hence the personality disorders, the emotional ones, not the complete breakdown and mental surrender. Hence the demonic nature – they changed him, they didn't completely break him. Made something terrifying out of him. And after such a long period of exposure to such treatment, he finally kinda lost his bearings, and it escalated to delusions, mental disorders, and antagonism. Almost that scale as possession. I even wonder if what he was humming in the triangle weren't the voices of ghosts and not some childhood song. Besides, we saw that his facial expression, his gaze, and his behavior changed significantly, for the worse. But it didn't lead to a complete break, no. Even though he's deeply twisted and transformed into something very evil, it's not his fault, nor is his anger at Jack his fault, but the fault of the entities who instilled it in him. And his suffering, in turn, could have fed the curse. That's why it chose him. Jack was really unlucky. And he was convinced that they just died...

It wouldn't work so well on the crew, because they're weaker, which is why Salazar himself is mentally ill, not the crew. But also, because he's so strong, there's a remnant of his former self within him, but mostly it's twisted, repressed, muted, and changed. For example, he's polite, but not with good and sincere intentions, now he only uses it for manipulation.

And for these reasons, it's truly amazing that he even remembers those times. Look how strong he is; he didn't give up. And he was even able to dredge up such memories. This shows how truly mentally powerful he is, even. A strong character and will...

(Green apple again, hahaha!)

But he still remembered things in a slightly altered way: he named the ship "Silent Mary," already in the triangle, originally, back then the ship was called "Rotterdam." Moreover, according to the novelization, it was he who killed his father, not the pirates. And his mother died from hard labor.

But should we really count it? Idk. Those things even weren't fully in the movie. Counting the fact how much he remembered, just 2, and much older things, seem not important.

But Salazar is truly admirable for enduring so much. He's almost a tragic figure.

Let's create a committee of admiration and support for Captain Salazar!!!

Yeah, I mean. He's demonstrated to extend a certain level of sympathy for others who have wronged him in specific circumstances, and I don't see him doling out floggings left and right or whatever. And the concept of what patterns of corruption he resists compared to Jones is kind of key to the mirrors of their narratives. So it's definitely an interesting idea!

But I think one small thing I would disagree with is that I personally think that specific scenario with Henry would have less to do with how Good Will is, and more to do with him getting wiser and less rash with age.

Because the thing is the scenario DMTNT starts with puts Henry in danger, so to begin with it's not the same as Jones just stabbing people for the sake of it. And Will just doesn't have any established qualms in the trilogy with slicing or blowing people up when they're a perceived threat to him or his loved ones. Like the guy has exploded people by stuffing a grenade in a living man's rib-cage, and one of his first inclinations when meeting Jones' crew was to start stabbing and cutting with a fire sword. He pretty always waits for a sign that the other party is an aggressor before attacking--same with his pettiness and betrayals, he waits until he's been betrayed or is certain he will be betrayed first. But once he's got that understanding that someone's trying to attack him or his with intention, violence is his kind of his established go-to answer.

The main problem with his younger trilogy self is that that violence can often be responded to in ways where he loses pretty severely. And I think one of the nice things about the trilogy is watching how by At World's End, he's learned to be a little more cautious and calculated before launching himself into fights. Most of the time.

So I think if someone threatened Henry, he wouldn't have a problem with protecting him through violent means--which is separate from Jones' cruelty for cruelty's sake. But I think he would also be more calculating about what fights are realistic, and refuse to put his son in danger when running away is an option (ironically like Jack does for himself). And in that context sending Henry away does make sense.

But the problem for me is fundamentally that I don't believe the entire crew would all turn out like Bill did around the time he killed Norrington as one massive hive, even if there was a good reason for the curse kicking in.