Sparrabeth

Sparrabeth is the het ship between Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann from the Pirates of the Caribbean fandom.

Canon
Jack and Elizabeth share a chaotic and complicated relationship. Generally speaking, the two see each other as allies, and somewhat friends. However, they have also found themselves occasionally on opposing sides. Jack’s manipulative nature and scheming personality has resulted in the two coming at odds from time to time. Nonetheless, Jack has admitted to having an attraction to Elizabeth, whilst Elizabeth herself sees Jack as the embodiment of what she yearns for, freedom and adventure.

The two first met when Jack decided to save an unconscious Elizabeth from drowning. However, immediately after doing so he was confronted by the Royal Navy headed by Commodore Norrington. Instinctively, he took Elizabeth hostage and bargained his escape. Rationalising to the young girl that “I saved your life, now you saved mine.” Immediately thereafter, he attempted to escape but was later captured. Elizabeth would eventually be captured by Hector Barbossa, who sails the Black Pearl, Jack’s former ship, and Will Turner, who is in love with Elizabeth, partnered with Jack to rescue her.

For the most part, Elizabeth scorns Jack as a pirate. However, the more she came to know him the more endeared to him she became. In Jack she finds fulfilment in her love for adventure and slowly began to become more pirate like. Something Jack noted himself when she left him behind to be killed by the Kraken. Despite this, she was riddled with guilt for having killed Jack and agreed to go through great lengths to rescue him from Davy Jones’ locker. When she sees him again she starts to smile with joy and runs towards him before stopping herself, thinking that Jack might hate her for what she did to him. An example of Elizabeth’s endearment to Jack comes from a scene where she holds Jack’s mythical compass, which points to what the holder most desires in this world, and finds that when she holds the compass it points to Jack.

Elizabeth has a lot of faith in Jack. Acknowledging him as a clever individual who ends up doing the right thing in the end, even if reluctantly. When his crew were being hunted by the Kraken, she sees Jack had jumped ship onto a row boat, leaving them for dead, which left her feeling disgusted at his actions. But when Jack returned to save them she can be seen with a smile on her, clutches onto him and allows him to fire the crucial shot to destroy the gun powder over the Kraken’s tentacles, gravely wounding the beast. The two at one point were also marooned on a desert island together and it was here she discovered that the legendary feats that Jack was famed for were nought but lies. He revealed the truth to her and she can be seen being disappointed at this revelation. Nonetheless, the two happily drank rum and danced around a fire in the middle of the night, enjoying one another’s company. Here, Jack fondly told her of what a ship means to him, whilst Elizabeth taught Jack a song that he would come to love and happily sing from time to time. At one point, Elizabeth passionately kissed Jack as they fled the Kraken. However, it is difficult to determine if this was done to distract him from her handcuffing him to the ship, as the Kraken was only chasing Jack, or because she held hidden feelings for him.

Jack seems to admire Elizabeth. That underneath her noble upbringing lies a girl that is fond for adventure and has the metal to make it as a pirate. Jack had even teased her over this. This culminated in his decision to give his deciding vote to Elizabeth and make her the Pirate King at the Brethren Court. He held no grudge over her decision to leave him for dead to the Kraken, even admiring it and fondly referring to her as a pirate. When reunited in Davy Jones’ locker he seemed to not bear a grudge over his demise because of her, and instead nonchalantly revealed to everyone that she was the one that had killed him. Jack also seems to find Elizabeth very attractive, as during their first encounter he made her fasten his belt and put on his hat, enjoying the close proximity he was sharing with her. Elizabeth has had a positive impact on him. As although he can be selfish, her words of encouragement convinced him to face the Kraken that was hunting him down in order to save her and the rest of his crew and friends, as oppose to fleeing. Both of them had contemplated each other as partners, but reached the conclusion that it would never have worked between them. With Jack knowing full well that Will Turner was always her choice.

Despite his clear endearment to her, he is not above manipulating both her and the man she loves, Will. He had sent Will to a life of servitude aboard the Flying Dutchman in exchange for his own life, despite knowing he was Elizabeth’s betrothed, and later kept this hidden from her when they reunited. Elizabeth would get pay back for this, however, when she met the captain of the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones, and demanded he give Will back to her in exchange for Jack. However, it appeared that Jack had anticipated this all along and planned accordingly, or possibly improvised. Nonetheless, it would be Jack who saved Will’s life, after he began to die from a mortal wound, by making him the new captain of the Flying Dutchman, granting him immortality. However, the drawbacks of this meant Will could only step on land once every ten years. Jack, many years later, would rectify this problem alongside Will and Elizabeth’s son, Henry. Despite Elizabeth having condemned Jack to death, she had also played a key role in saving his life when he was about to be hanged at Port Royal. Whilst Will fought to save him she pretended to faint to distract some of the Royal Navy sailors.

Dead Man's Chest

 * When Elizabeth and Will are arrested, they insist that Beckett call Jack, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Fanon
Sparrabeth sailed in the first movie as a result of Jack rescuing Elizabeth and their further interactions through out the rest of movie, but was more or less drowned out by Willizabeth, which the first movie pushed for instead. The pairing's popularity grew to rival Willizabeth after the second movie that showed Jack had developed feelings for Elizabeth and played up the ship tease between the two. The ship's popularity has persisted even after Elizabeth betrayed Jack at the end of the second movie and married Will in the third movie.

On AO3, Sparrabeth is the second most written ship for Jack and Elizabeth. It is also third most written ship in the Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies) tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Capt. Jack Sparrow/Elizabeth S. on FanFiction.Net
 * Capt. Jack Sparrow/Elizabeth S. on FanFiction.Net

Trivia

 * In a deleted scene, Elizabeth is the one who teaches the sea shanty to Jack.