Tia Dalma was a practitioner of Vodou and was known as a mystic and witch doctor. She resided in a shack on the Pantano River on Pelegosto Island.
Biography
Early history
- "No worries! Tia Dalma and I go way back. Thick as thieves. Nigh inseparable we are. Were. Have been. Before…"
- ―Jack Sparrow
Tia Dalma in her shack.
Tia Dalma was originally the goddess Calypso. During this time, Davy Jones fell in love with her. Calypso gave him the task of guide the spirits of the dead lost at sea and Jones' accepted the task out of love for her. However, she scorned him when he returned to see her ten years later.
At the first meeting of the Brethren of the Coast, it was decided that Calypso should be bound to a human form to make the seas safer. The Pirate Lords managed to do this and each was given a Piece of Eight. All nine Pieces of Eight were needed to break the seal.
Little of Tia Dalma's past from this point on, save for an association with Jack Sparrow that went back to at least Sparrow's teenage years. By Jack's sixteenth year, Tia Dalma was already established on the Pantano River, and was considered to be the greatest mystic in the Caribbean. She returned to Jack the eye of Stone-Eyed Sam along with two beads that allowed him to summon the spirit of Montecuhzoma to defeat the phantom Hernán Cortés. Later, during a meeting with the crew of the Barnacle, Dalma professed to have divined something of Sparrow's future, and seemed to be aware that the Chest of Cortés would play a part in his later life. It was during this time that Dalma provided Jack with catnip; the means to return Constance Magliore to her human form, after Dalma herself transformed the girl into a cat.
It was thought that Tia and Jack became lovers at some point during the latter's adult life—Jack confessed to having "known" her at a time when they had been "inseperable"—and Dalma provided him with his compass; a mysterious device that pointed to that which its user truly wanted.
Tia's crab/heart shaped locket.
Perhaps most intriguing, and at the same time most mysterious, was a possible connection between her and Davy Jones, ruler of the sea and Captain of the Flying Dutchman. Tia had a great knowledge of Jones' life and exploits, and knew that he had carved out his own heart after losing his one true love. Curiously, the crab-shaped music box that Jones carried with him, echoing with memories of his lost love, was of the same design as one owned by Dalma herself, and kept in her shack along with an assortment of other trinkets. It was unknown how deep this seeming connection truly ran.
Jack's return
- "A touch… of destiny!"
- ―Tia Dalma
Many years after she and Jack last parted ways, Sparrow returned to Tia Dalma in need of her assistance. Pursued across the Caribbean by the dreaded Kraken, Jack planned to find the Dead Man's Chest, and in doing so taking control of Davy Jones's heart, resting within, and ensuring his control over Jones and his Kraken. Although Tia seemed pleased to see Jack upon his arrival at her shack, she appeared more interested in his companion, Will Turner, to whose boyish good looks Tia was instantly attracted. Jack, with more than a touch of jealousy, got straight to business.
A series of trades took place, leaving Jack with the location of the Flying Dutchman—divined by Tia through the "reading" of crab claws&msash;and a jar of dirt to protect him from Jones, while Dalma now found herself in the possession of an undead monkey belonging to the late Captain Barbossa. Sparrow departed with his crew to track down Davy Jones, leaving Dalma alone in her shack—or so they believed.
World's End
Tia Dalma with members of Jack Sparrow's former crew.
Jack's crew would soon return to Tia Dalma's shack, but this time without their Captain. Jack had fallen to the Kraken, going down with his ship as the beast dragged the Black Pearl down to Davy Jones' Locker. Tia had apparently foreseen this eventuality, and informed the mourning crew that there was a chance to save Jack. Their journey would take them to the ends of the Earth, but, though Tia would be joining them on their quest, they would need the leadership of a Captain who knew the waters of World's End. With that, she introduced the resurrected Barbossa to the stunned crew.
It appeared that Tia had been responsible, either partly or perhaps completely, for Barbossa's return to the world of the living after Jack shot him in the heart on Isla de Muerta a year earlier. Tia, seemingly more powerful than any of the crew could have guessed, seemed set to lend her mystical aid to the return of Captain Jack Sparrow at World's End.
Tia Dalma sailed with the rest of the crew to Singapore and took part in the fight against Lord Cutler Beckett's men. She went with the group as they sailed to Davy Jones' Locker. Her power let her command the crabs there to drag the Black Pearl back to the sea.
At Shipwreck Island, the Brethren Court decided to release Calypso from her human form. To do so, they burned the pieces of eight, and Ragetti spoke the incantation, "Calypso, I release you from your human bonds" as a lover would. Once released, Calypso showed her wrath by summoning a maelstrom and forming a whirlpool by striking the sea with lightning.
Behind the scenes
- Tia Dalma was portrayed by Naomie Harris.
- Tia Dalma's name is an anagram of Dalmatia, a region whose coast was a haven for pirates when it was known as the Roman province of Illyricum, and prior to that, the pirate kingdom of Illyria, ruled at one time by the pirate Queen Teuta.
- The character may draw possible inspiration from the Voodoo Lady from the Monkey Island games. The Pirates of the Caribbean series has drawn other inspirations from that series.
Appearances
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow 1: The Coming Storm (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow 2: The Siren Song (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow 4: The Sword of Cortés
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (First appearance)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Sources
Template:Hector Barbossa's crew