‘Pirates of the Caribbean Plot’ Holes That Make No Sense Even Now
The "Blood Price" for Will Turner
In The Curse of the Black Pearl, the pirates need the blood of Bootstrap Bill Turner to break their curse because he was one of the original thieves. By the end of the film, however, Will’s blood is used instead because he is Bootstrap’s son. The movie never explains why a descendant’s blood works just as well as the original thief’s, especially since the curse was tied to the individuals who made the pact.
Jack’s Compass Trade in Dead Men Tell No Tales
This is arguably the most glaring continuity error in the series. In the fifth film, we’re told that if Jack “betrays” the compass, it releases his greatest fear—Salazar. Jack trades it for a bottle of rum, triggering the curse. However, in Dead Man’s Chest, Jack gives the compass to Lord Cutler Beckett, and in On Stranger Tides, he hands it over to Joshamee Gibbs. In both cases, he willingly gives it away, yet Salazar remains trapped for years, contradicting the rule introduced later.
The Origin of the Compass
The fifth movie includes a flashback showing a young Jack receiving the magical compass from his dying captain. This directly contradicts Dead Man’s Chest, where Tia Dalma (Calypso) explicitly states that she traded the compass to Jack herself. Unless Jack’s captain was secretly Tia Dalma in disguise, these two origin stories cannot coexist.
Barbossa’s Changing Motivation for the Medallion
In the first film, Barbossa is desperate to find the final coin to end his undead misery, repeatedly claiming he “feels nothing.” Yet later sequels and flashbacks show him as a powerful, successful pirate even while cursed. His extreme desperation in the first movie feels inconsistent with later portrayals where he seems to thrive on the power and fear his immortality provides.
Elizabeth and the Kraken’s Slime
In Dead Man’s Chest, the Kraken tracks its prey by the scent of the Black Spot. Once Jack is marked, the creature relentlessly hunts him. However, during the final battle, Elizabeth Swann is drenched in the Kraken’s own slime and spends considerable time on deck. Despite the Kraken’s supposedly hypersensitive senses, it never targets her, focusing solely on Jack—even when he isn’t aboard the ship.
The Rules of the Dutchman’s Heart
The lore states that “the Dutchman must have a captain.” When Will stabs Davy Jones’ heart, he becomes the new captain. However, the timing is unclear. Will’s heart is removed and placed in the chest, yet he remains alive. If the heart is the source of life, why didn’t Davy Jones have to remove his heart when he first became captain centuries ago? The captain’s “undead” status seems to change based on what the scene requires.
Calypso’s Inconsistent Powers
In At World’s End, the Pirate Lords free Calypso from her human form, expecting her help against the East India Trading Company. Instead, she transforms into crabs, grows into a giant, and creates a maelstrom that kills people on both sides. If she is truly a sea goddess, she could have effortlessly destroyed the entire fleet. Her revenge feels oddly restrained and inefficient for a deity.
The Underwater Walk
In the first film, the cursed pirates walk along the ocean floor to ambush the Dauntless. While visually striking, it ignores basic physics. At that depth, ocean pressure and currents would make coordinated movement nearly impossible. They also move at an unrealistically fast pace, implying they’d need Olympic-level speed to reach the ship in the time shown.
Pintel and Ragetti’s Survival
Pintel and Ragetti lose their immortality when the curse is broken at the end of The Curse of the Black Pearl and are promptly arrested. By the second film, they’ve somehow escaped prison and rejoined the crew. Given that they’re now ordinary humans and hardly criminal masterminds—their unexplained escape stretches credibility.
The Silent Mary’s Ghost Status
In Dead Men Tell No Tales, Salazar and his crew are ghosts who can’t step on land. Yet their ship, the Silent Mary, can physically destroy other vessels. If the ship is a ghost, it shouldn’t be able to interact with wood and metal. If it’s physical, it shouldn’t have survived the Devil’s Triangle explosion. The film treats the ship as both intangible and solid whenever it suits the CGI spectacle.
