Tag: discovering the honor in piracy ( gillette headcanons )

Mun Note: Based off the timeline set down by Jack, I’ve decided to lay down a quick timeline for Gillette, who is 32 as of CotBP. This will help me in the event I need to make verses plopping him around.

  • 1697: Daniel Gillette is born
  • 1713: Joins the army
  • 1715: Makes lieutenant
  • 1718: Makes captain, seduced by Lord Wilson
  • 1720: Lord Wilson claims credit for a victory Gillette and his men obtained 
  • 1721: Lord Wilson attempts to force Gillette’s retirement
  • 1721: Gillette transfers from service in the Army to the Navy, with agreement to steer clear of Lord Wilson and his affairs for the remainder of their lives
  • 1723: Gillette passes Navy lieutenants examination, joins Dauntless
  • 1725: Gillette withdraws Theodore Groves from an extremely dangerous relationship
  • 1729: Curse Of The Black Pearl

Gillette is not an artistic man in the traditional sense; he sees the world in too practical a manner to get lost in paintings or fashion. Theater was a luxury he did not afford himself, when he could instead spend his time advancing his knowledge of the articles of war, the histories of battles recent and far gone. He had a passion for reaching back in time and seeing how others managed their odds, and fashioning scenarios and resolutions.

Soon, he found himself writing down operations, calculations and various other elements in order to better exercise his understanding of command. He eventually engaged his mother in the game, and slowly it evolved to something more. Now, when he gets letters from her, he gets several tests to work on, scenarios and battle plans, and he writes like a man running out of time to work out the best solutions, the clearest paths to victory, never knowing that more often than not his plans are not nearly as hypothetical as he believes them to be.

This is a permanent starter call for Daniel Gillette, of Pirates of the Caribbean explicitly.

These calls give me a heads up on who is open to interacting with whom (which is handy for those who have exclusives among my crew! ) and gives me an excuse to kick you starters whenever something crosses the mind, or blow up your inbox knowing who would be most wanted.

These calls also serve as a final tag dump – when this call is posted it indicates a character has been fully moved into the blog and is ready for action!

For other starter calls, check the tag HERE.

It is mentioned ( albeit vaguely ) in Gillette’s profile that his return to duty after the hurricane is counted as miraculous. This will be linked in to provide the context that Gillette himself is unaware of.

Daniel’s survival was touch and go for nearly two months after the Dauntless was destroyed off the coast of Tripoli. Though he was stabilized by a local surgeon, he needed to be transported and tended to by a specialist back in England. It was predicted then that if he lived, he may likely wish he had died.

For six months, Daniel could not walk and was in fact near to that point of depression and misery where he did indeed resent his survival and the efforts taken to preserve his existence when he saw so little to do with it. Eventually his father managed to convince him he could continue to be of service from a clerical standpoint – and though he was bitter and tired, Daniel applied himself to the task all the same.

His mother, however, could see the life draining away from him. She knew well what the loss of his legs meant for Daniel – and seeing as they were not removed so much as simply not responding, she believed she knew a way to return the spirit to her son if she played her cards right.

Unbeknownst to Daniel, his mother made a deal with a witch known both for her miracles and her curses. Everything comes with a price, and what Sarah Gillette paid is not something that need be discussed – what is best understood and addressed is the results of the bargain she struck.

Eighteen months after the hurricane, Daniel was encouraged to try to stand one more time by his mother – this success shocked him, and lead to him undergoing a recovery period as he regained his strength and his trust in his ability to walk again. Less than seven months later, he was back in service to the Navy and convinced his recovery was no more than luck and a blessing unexpected.

Though he has had little reason to wonder about it, despite the damages his body took, he has suffered no ill effects. His immune system, in fact, is stronger than it has ever been. As part of the bargain, the witch strengthened his abilities to withstand infection – which in essence, includes such small irritations as colds and flus.

However, she could not repair everything – not without it being suspicious, and drawing attention to the Gillette family in an unfavorable manner. Thus, the pains and swellings he suffers from are the price he pays, for a deal he doesn’t even know was made. Nevertheless, were he to learn of it chances are he would not be alarmed; having personally fought undead pirates, being healed by a witch seems a rather minor bit of magic, all things told.

First allow me to direct you to this friendly reminder concerning Lieutenant Daniel Gillette. Now let it be known that this man is considered the undisputed heavyweight champion of both his division and Lieutenant Groves’ division, and has only once been truly challenged by anyone. The legendary drinking challenge of Groves and Gibbs will likely go down in sailor history as a sure fable, but that is a whole other story.

Seeing as his reputation keeps anyone from challenging him while on duty, Daniel plays his games during shore leave against unsuspecting sailors at various pubs. Indeed, men of his division often pub crawl along with him to enjoy the spectacle and even throw their own money in just to encourage the hapless they swindle to throw down far more than they should and thus, lose spectacularly.

The men are abundantly supportive of Daniel’s games, as the lieutenant’s proceeds from these matters are always split equally and sent toward any widows made during the latest of seafaring adventures. ( He has, on lower paying evenings, added from his own pocket as well, though few know of this. )

His men also on a low key level fear him, for Daniel Gillette has never once awakened from these events with a hangover. Never even once. He has no sympathy for men with raging headaches induced by alcohol for he has never experienced one and that, in and of itself, is terrifying.

Daniel Gillette transferred to the Dauntless as soon as he passed his lieutenants examination at the age of twenty seven. He had been serving as the active lieutenant aboard HMS Euterpe as a result of the previous lieutenant being killed in action.

Coming from a past of exemplary military service, his rise to midshipman and then to lieutenant taking place in less than three years was not considered too terribly surprising, however the fact that two others aboard Euterpe managed to pass the examination was considered noteworthy.

Desperate to be free of Euterpe and it’s nosy crew, Daniel swiftly volunteered himself for transfer, and was consequently shipped off to serve the Dauntless. He has since been a great deal more at ease, as the rumors of his past are very quiet aboard her and few see fit to talk too loudly of a man of his rank and status in any case.

As of CotBP, Daniel had been serving the Dauntless for two years; this means that Groves is in fact his senior, despite being the younger of the two, as he was aboard the Dauntless four years prior to Daniel’s arrival. Daniel, thereore, is second lieutenant to Theodore’s first.

An important point of interest regarding Lieutenant Gillette is the fact that he came to the Navy quite late in life and after having established something of a career for himself in the armed forces.

In a time when it was common to see boys as young as twelve pressed into service of the Royal Navy, and able bodied sailors were practically treated as trade goods, a man in his mid-twenties boarding a ship for the first time with a midshipman rank was rare enough; coming from the background he did, Gillette was subject to no small amount of scrutiny ( when he wasn’t getting sick on deck and facing punishment for refusing to answer superior officers’ inquiries toward matters he deemed immaterial to the missions at hand. ) Perhaps had he served among the marines, matters would not have seemed as unusual – but prior to boarding his first vessel at the age of 24, Gillete had never once been on deck of a ship.

Nevertheless, he persevered both out of his internal sense of duty and his familiarity with chain of command and general tactics and strategy. Although hardly familiar with the workings of a ship, he understood warfare intimately well and over time, earned his way through the ranks through wit and in no small part, his skill with sword and gun whenever boarding prize ships or being boarded by enemy combatants.

Gillette’s skills lie in equestrianism, swordsmanship, and long game planning. He comes from a politically aligned family, and has a strong sense of decorum and diplomacy when it suits him. He is intimately aware of propriety and generally will not do anything to besmirch the dignity of another. However, in times of duress, his top priority is always the preservation of life before the adherence of rank and dignity. If he sees a threat to a superior his responses are instinctive, and damn the fallout.

By the time Gillette joined the Dauntless, Groves had established his role among the men quite well. From second lieutenant to first as a result of transfer, Groves was known to the men as a firm hand when it came to all matters of business and ship management – but a gentle one in all times off duty. He made active efforts to get to know the men – and on a complement of roughly six hundred, this was no small feat.

Nevertheless, Groves was the man to go to if you had any need, great or small. He would know whom to trade with if one needed ink or charcoal or paper for drawing and note taking, whom to exchange coin with for thread in the event of darning that for one reason or another, should not be listed on the ship’s log, whom to sit with if one preferred silence or stories, cards or dice. He would introduce the new men to the crew and would be the one to ensure that what fights did break out, were mollified swiftly.

The extent of his kindness did not halt there, however. Theodore lacked a fundamental fear of illness, making him willing to check on men with fever and ensure they drank and ate enough to recover. It did not matter to him if he knew them well or if they were so far from his own division he had no idea what their name was; if there was a need beyond what the surgeon provided, when he had time, Theodore would fill in the role provided the man in question had none else to do so – and even if they did, he still checked on their recovery. In a word, having Theodore aboard the Dauntless was not unlike having a mother again, which might be the closest thing to a malicious rumor whispered about him.  

By contrast, Gillette was aloof with the men and nigh impossible to approach. Everything with him was business oriented, his responses clipped and sure to the point. He did not linger among the men as Theodore did ( for rather than eating or sleeping in the lieutenant’s berth, he was often found eating with the men and sleeping propped somewhere among the homesick cabin boys who would never admit to needing an adult, but certainly did not object to the presence of one ) but rather taxed himself with extra duties.  

Gillette would relieve men of their posts if he noticed them tiring, and wordlessly. What good favor he gained among the men was earned through his ferocious dedication, his steadfast manner and occasionally, his praise – something offered so rarely, that when it was granted those who received it knew they had done exemplary indeed to earn the man’s warmer side. Within a year aboard the Dauntless however, he became exposed to the relentless kindness of Theodore Groves and found himself frankly confused and mildly fascinated by the man’s demeanor – often wondering how such a man ever attained his rank.

Upon taking fairly grave injury during a raid, Gillette found himself on the direct receiving end of Theodore’s brand of care, which lead to clipped conversation and eventually, to Gillette relenting to the man’s fussing. After this, the two began working more closely with one another – Gillette learning the ways of the men through Theodore, and in turn, teaching the man some sterner tactics that did not go entirely against his nature. By the time of CotBP, they were nigh inseparable, and had a way of bantering among themselves that somehow held a vaguely familiar air to those men who had two parents back ashore.