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- "You're not a eunuch are you?"
- ―Jack Sparrow to Will Turner
A eunuch was a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function, and had performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures, with eunuchs having been documented in several ancient and medieval societies, including the Byzantine Empire, China, the Ottoman Empire, and various Middle Eastern cultures. Eunuchs would usually be servants or slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence.
History[]
During the Age of Piracy, Captain Jack Sparrow met Tarek, a eunuch bodyguard of Princess Amenirdis from the mythical island of Kerma.[1]
When a young blacksmith named Will Turner met Jack Sparrow, now an infamous pirate, the pirate assumed the blacksmith to be a eunuch.[2] Sparrow later referred to Turner as a eunuch to Hector Barbossa aboard the Black Pearl.[2] While he was chief of the Pelegostos Tribe, Sparrow spoke in their language and said, much to Will's concern and the astonishment of the Pelegostos, "Eunuchy. Snip snip."[3] Many years later, when Will Turner's son Henry met Sparrow in his quest to break the father's curse of the Flying Dutchman, Sparrow referred to Will as a "cursed eunuch."[4]
Notable eunuchs[]
Behind the scenes[]
While the term was first mentioned in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,[2] eunuchs first appeared in the 2011 novel The Price of Freedom by A. C. Crispin.[1]
Originally, the line in The Curse of the Black Pearl was not even in the script, but Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow) ad-libbed and added the line in the fight scene between him and Orlando Bloom (Will Turner) in the forge.[citation needed] He uses the line again in the scene when Will confronts Barbossa aboard the Black Pearl. Barbossa asks who Will is and Jack gave a very unbelievable explanation, which included that Will was a eunuch.[2]
In "The French" deleted scene in The Curse of the Black Pearl DVD release, when Barbossa's cursed crew captures Jack Sparrow, Sparrow starts talking about the French being eunuchs, to which Pintel responds by saying that he used to date a eunuch.[5]
When Jack makes the eunuch joke in Dead Man's Chest, he goes up to Will while speaking to the Pelegostos. Jack speaks their language, with the last words being "Eunuchy. Snip snip.", much to Will's concern and the astonishment of the Pelegostos.[3]
Appearances[]
- The Price of Freedom (First appearance)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First mentioned)
- Fluch der Karibik (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization (Mentioned only)
