the Dalaverse

Last full character analysis:


James Norrington

Here is my final impression of Norrington in DMC: Norrington is alone.

Throughout CoBP, he is never alone, not even intimately alone with just one other person. True, he's not officially one of the main characters, but that's not my point. My point is -- name me a scene without Norrington surrounded by bustling sailors, lieutenants, marines, hangers-on, etc. When he's proposing to Elizabeth, and again during the deleted scene on the Dauntless, it's only semi-private because they've got their voices pitched low and the gathered masses are keeping their distance. Likewise when he's walking with the governor on the night of the attack on Port Royal. There's not one character in the movie who has as many eyes fixed solely on him as Norrington does during his promotion ceremony.

By the time DMC opens, he has lost every one of those people. Not just Elizabeth, the woman he hoped to marry; not just the governor, the friend/father figure/social equal; not just Jack, his snarky antagonist; not just Groves and Gillette, his faithful seconds-in-command. Norrington has lost all the silent extras -- the men who follow his orders, the others he serves as well as himself (his superiors in the Navy, as well as the people he has made it his life's work to protect).

This, I feel, rips the cloth that is James Norrington more than anything else. There's a parallel here between Jack losing the Pearl in the mutiny and Norrington losing everything after his failed pursuit, The Hurricane, and his resignation. It's like Elizabeth succeeding at effective ruthlessness where Will doesn't. Losing the definition of himself doesn't break Jack (perhaps because of his eternal faith in one Captain Jack Sparrow); it does break Norrington. And why shouldn't it? He says it in the film, and I'll keep saying it here -- he loses everything due to the events of CoBP. What's more, despite his angry words to Jack, Will and Elizabeth, I think deep down he blames himself. Norrington drinks himself into a stupor and then goes seeking out Jack Sparrow, the man who would be blamed. Now, I could say that he could easily kill Jack at several points in the film, but that's not possible for two reasons.

Firstly, his desire to return to the rule of law means he obviously still believes in it. I'm betting Beckett will wake him up a bit on that point; as I've seen pointed out elsewhere, Norrington doesn't yet know Beckett for the evil, selfish bastard he is. I can't remember if we see him learning about his own death warrant, but I doubt he would argue with it. He gives Beckett the heart in order to make up for what he's done, but he never questions the notion that his own role in Jack's escape ought to be punishable (neither does Elizabeth -- remember 'A fair trail for Will ends in death,' or whatever the line precisely is). Therefore, no matter Norrington's personal vendetta against Jack, I don't believe he would perform the execution himself before a trial. Nor do I really get the sense he's trying to kill Will -- trying to defeat him and Jack, yes, but not to kill them in cold blood. His line about old habits is totally just him fucking with Jack like he's prone to do.

Secondly, killing Jack would not absolve Norrington from his own responsibility. Jack's a pirate, but Norrington gave him his one day's head start, and Norrington presumably gave the orders to sail through That Hurricane (can you tell how much importance I attach to this plot point? He tried to sail through a hurricane. A HURRICANE!), and Norrington resigned his commission. Also, Norrington released Elizabeth from her promise (more on that later). Yes, he retreats into some self-pity, but once the opportunity comes up? He tries to fix it all with the whole heart thing.

Because in his heart, he's still the man who believes in doing the right thing because it's right -- Jack Davenport's delivery of 'Oh, I prefer to think of it as a chance for redemption' makes him sound much more like he embodies Jack's accusation about the dark side of ambition, but he is speaking to Jack Sparrow after all, and he's playing the role with as much bravado and bluster (and fun) as Johnny plays Jack. Beneath the snark, I think, is hope for true redemption, both from what he's done on his slide to rum-soaked deckhand, and the rather piratical methods he's used to crawl back up again. That's why I think his character arc will eventually swing back around, because he'll see true ugliness of ambition in Lord Cutler Beckett's attempts to use everyone and everything, including the Navy, for his own personal gain. Norrington thinks he's hit bottom, but he doesn't know bottom until he finds himself in debt and allegiance to a man like that.