Notes on Norrington
Will Turner chose his dad but okay
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is considered the bi-panic series of a post Mummy generation, with Elizabeth, Will, and Jack laying the foundation for those who saw the movies in theaters twenty years ago (that's not a typo).
But because characters don't know what genre they're in, we're presented with someone on the fringes who really just got lost in a supernatural action/adventure when he was supposed to be comfortably in the soft landscape of a Jane Austen novel: Commodore James Norrington.
My own tastes aside (all my attention is on Elizabeth at any given time), it does seem a universal truth that the older we get the more we can agree: Norrington was the greater choice for her, but only after his life fell apart.
In the first movie we see a cleanshaven man in a powdered wig with affection for a beautiful young woman, and a government job as his whole personality. By 18th century standards a catch but the modern audience is to be swayed by the passionate blacksmiths assistant with the dark hair and unblinking gaze. By the end of Curse of the Black Pearl he has willingly stepped aside as a romantic choice like the city boyfriend in a Hallmark movie, for her happiness, with no real harm done.
In the second movie he reappears, apparently harm was done and he's now a downtrodden Hozier in a tattered naval jacket looking for a fight. Consider me interested.
Elizabeth takes pity and the few scenes they have left together are more down to earth and familiar than any between her and Will. Elizabeth and Will are declarations and drama, Elizabeth and James are cut from the same cloth that somehow ended up in the sails of a pirate ship. She finds herself in this world that feeds her in ways a comfortable life as a governors daughter or Commodores wife cannot, and I think if he weren't so intent on clawing his way back to the wrong story, he would've found prosperity in a life of piracy.
“Go. I will follow.” Is one of the last things he says to her, and I believe he meant that in every sense. Some say that he died only after he changed from Commodore Norrington to pirate Norrington, but I argue he died only after he went back to a life that deep down he knew was not the noble profession he was set for. The Navy didn't change, he did, and there was no place for him in it anymore.
Before using his last moments to save Elizabeth he kisses her and says
“Our destinies have been entwined Elizabeth, but never joined.”
WILL TURNER WHO???
James is an interesting case of a man trying to play by the rules even after he finds the game is rigged. The world is full of Norringtons, men who refuse to let go of the roles they were told would reward them, despite a constant shift in society. Elizabeth cannot grow in the that world and embraces an alternative, seeing opportunity beyond the walls of the naval base. When he realizes she was right all along it's too late, his refusal to let go is the end and he knows it.
In another timeline James Norrington accepts that the Navy and East India Trading Company used him, and willingly joins the crew using his knowledge of naval insights to outsmart the Queen's fleet and serve as Elizabeth's right hand man during her reign as pirate king.
RIP James Norrington. You would've loved Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice.