James Norrington

Norrington, James
Norrington, James
Norrington, James
For James Norrington of Pirates of the Caribbean fame.
==Background==
Commodore James Norrington is a man whose life is, essentially, the sea. He rose through the Royal Navy due to exemplary conduct as an officer and made it his life's duty to protect the waters of England's colonies from the rising pirate threat. However, things aren't ever simple when dealing with pirates and shortly after being commissioned as a Commodore, Norrington found himself on a madcap chase across the Caribbean to retrieve the woman he loved, Elizabeth Swann, and capture the pirate that had humiliated him, Captain Jack Sparrow.
To Norrington, Elizabeth represents all he hasn't yet achieved and all he needs to become a cornerstone in the colonial society of Port Royal. The only son of a former merchant, Norrington shared a love of the sea with his father but diverged on one special point: honour. While Norrington fought to defend the honour of the British Caribbean, his father was more than willing to make money by trading with pirates and privateers, and the stain of that money keeps Norrington from the upper echelons of society.
Port Royal, however, gave him a chance to excel and being the achievement-minded man he is, Norrington seized his opportunity by rising quickly through the ranks under the watchful eye of Governor Weatherby Swann. While he honed his political skills, Norrington also kept an eye on the governor's daughter, and thought of her as a friend long before she blossomed into the woman he wanted to take to wife.
Elizabeth's kidnapping during a pirate raid throws Norrington single-mindedly into finding her and returning her to Port Royal and safety. At the time, Elizabeth's kidnap only serves as an affront to Norrington's sense of justice and honour and he needs her back to keep from being cuckolded.
However, true feelings had developed on his part and by the time he recovers Elizabeth from the Black Pearl, he'd half fallen in love with her. This love is only heightened by her acceptance of his proposal from the beginning of the movie, and he enters Dusty Trails before said betrothal is broken and Elizabeth goes to be with Will Turner.
==Personality==
James Norrington is a man driven by honour and it is that quest, however misguided it might be, that drives the core of his personality. Like any good member of the Royal Navy, he is not unafraid of hard work and has done every job on a ship--making him a sound and effective leader. Norrington's downfall, however, is his complete reliance on rules and protocols, making him less of an innovative sailor than Sparrow, Elizabeth or Will.
Truly, if given a day all to himself, Norrington would likely not know what to do with himself. While he is capable of relaxing, his devotion to his duty overrides any sort of sensual pleasure and it is only in the absence of a purpose that he allows himself to go lax. This is most evident in his physical appearance--while commissioned by the Royal Navy, Norrington is sharp, alert and well-dressed, even in the middle of a firefight. Without the honour and duty of a commission, Norrington is aimless and lost and fails to groom himself and drinks excessively.
Norrington has a great sense of duty and responsibility and wants, desperately, to be seen as a moral authority figure, standing for what's right. His downfall is that he's easily deluded by the illusion of authority and will blindly follow conventions--he is certainly not the man to start a mutiny, nor follow one. Rather, Norrington is the kind of man to blindly serve authority until it's too late.
==Inventory==
[1] Uniform standard to an officer of the Royal Navy, including breeches, shirt, cravat and boots.
[1] powdered wig with black ribbon
[1] cutlass
[1] pistol