Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Actor, Story and Fate

Davy Jones is the sea captain who commands the Flying Dutchman, a ship crewed by cursed men, and he is played by Bill Nighy in dead mans chest (2006) and at worlds end (2007), both directed by Gore Verbinski. He is credited simply as Davy Jones. Nighy played him through motion capture, so the character on screen is a digital creation built on his performance.

The franchise grew out of the Disneyland attraction that debuted in 1967, and its first film was curse of the black pearl (2003). Jones arrives in the second film as the creditor behind Jack Sparrow's trouble, and the story then carries him through the third.

What powers did Davy Jones have? He commands the Kraken, a sea monster he sends after ships and after Jack. He rules the Dutchman and its crew, and Bootstrap Bill is among the cursed men aboard. He also collects souls: he offers to free Jack from his debt if Jack delivers 99 more. His great weakness is that his heart sits in the Dead Man's Chest, and whoever holds the heart controls him.

If you are new to the saga, the pirates of the caribbean movies in order guide shows where he fits. The full pirates of the caribbean cast sits on its own page, and the rest of the ensemble is on pirates of the caribbean characters.

Davy Jones is bound to the other characters through debt, blood and control, and almost none of those ties are friendly.

Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) is the man who ends up owning him. Norrington gives Beckett the heart and the Letters of Marque at the end of Dead Man's Chest, and Beckett then commands Jones, the Dutchman and the Kraken.

Jack Sparrow is the man who owes Jones a debt, and the Black Spot is the mark of it. Jack buys time by tricking Will onto the Dutchman. Will Turner takes that place, meets his father Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) aboard, and later steals the key to the chest. Bootstrap Bill is one of Jones' cursed crewmen, which makes Jones both a jailer and the source of the family drama at the heart of the trilogy.

The Kraken is the nearest thing Jones has to a weapon of choice, and the films treat it as his to send. Davy Jones' Locker, meanwhile, is where Jack lands after the Kraken drags him under. In At World's End the Pearl crew sails there, so the films play it as a physical place, not just a sailors' saying. The pirates of the caribbean curses and pirates of the caribbean ships pages cover the Dutchman and its curse in more detail.

In my opinion, Jones is at his best when the films let him bargain rather than fight. The offer of 99 more souls for Jack's freedom is clean villain logic: it turns a monster into a creditor, and it explains why the Dutchman is crewed the way it is.

The Isla Cruces duel is the set piece I would pick first. Jack, Will and Norrington each want the heart for a different reason, and Jones' crew is hunting it too. It works because everyone's motive is visible, and the heart itself is the prize.

The Kraken attack on the Black Pearl comes second, because it shows what Jones' reach means in practice. It could be argued that the best twist in his arc is that the creature he sends after Jack is later killed on Beckett's orders in At World's End, which shows how far his power has fallen.

The final stabbing in the whirlpool, with the Pearl and the Dutchman locked in battle, is the payoff for the whole heart in a chest idea. Dead Man's Chest won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, and in my opinion Jones is a large part of why. If you want the fastest way to meet him, watch the Dead Man's Chest scenes where Jack's debt comes due and see how the film builds toward the chest.