What are the crabs at World's End?
When Jack Sparrow is stranded inside Davy Jones' Locker, in At World's End, he is there alone (if we exclude any of his clones) with the Black Pearl on a desert.
He finds a mysterious moving rock, and throws it away. The rock turns out to be some sort of disguised crab and runs off. It fetches hundreds of other crabs, and they all come together to help bring the Pearl back to shore.
What are these crabs? I believe they must have some sort of symbolic meaning (e.g., they are the souls of other lost sailors that gave up going back to sea inside the locker), but I don't really have anything to go on aside from pure speculation.
What are the crabs helping Jack, why did they do it, and what do they represent?
Best Answer
From the scifi answer in the comments:
It wasn't Davy Jones', but Tia Dalma's which, afterwards, is revealed to be Calypso.
This is set clear a couple of times during the movie. The first time, while still in the locker and they find Jack, the remaining crabs get under her skirt. Later in the film, when Calypso is released (the scene where she is tied to the ship's mast and starts growing) she scatters into these crabs.
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Why does Calypso turn into crabs?
In the days of myth and legend, the beautiful Calypso ruled the seas, and all sailors both loved and feared her, even though she too had mortal blood. As a heathen goddess, Calypso was able to take many forms, but since the crab was attributed as her symbol, she chose the form of a crab.Did Calypso send the crabs?
The first time, while still in the locker and they find Jack, the remaining crabs get under her skirt. Later in the film, when Calypso is released (the scene where she is tied to the ship's mast and starts growing) she scatters into these crabs.Did Tia Dalma send the crabs?
While it wasn't revealed in the At World's End video game, it was shown in the film and in the non-canonical LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game that the crabs were a part of Tia Dalma.Why did Davy Jones turn into a squid?
But the pain of Calypso's betrayal caused him was too much to live with, so Davy Jones carved out his own heart and locked it away in the Dead Man's Chest. Abandoning his duty, Davy Jones turned into a hideous humanoid sea monster, with an octopus face, a tentacles beard, a claw of crab as a hand and a giant crab leg.The Giant Japanese Spider Crab
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