Pirate Parrot: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Diabolical Mastermind]]s have the [[Right-Hand-Cat]]. [[Pirate]] Captains have the '''Pirate Parrot'''. Expect these colorful feathered companions to [[Polly Wants a Microphone|be chatty and demand crackers]]. Pirate Parrots usually [[Parrot Pet Position|ride on the shoulder of their pirate owner]].

 

For capuchin monkeys, see [[Everything's Better with Monkeys]].

{{examples}}

* On ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', Vicious has an exotic bird perched on his right shoulder most of the time. This only heightens his mystique (and overall evil aura). It's a cormorant (a kind of sea bird that has acidic droppings and a nasty temper). This, combined with the fact that he [[Kick the Dog|blows it up]] in one of the final episodes, probably does say something about [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Vicious]]. It's inspired by Harlock's bird, noted below.

** [[Truth in Television]]: Cormorants are trainable to a certain extent, and some fishermen in Asia use them as pretty much an aquatic equivalent of hunting hawks. Having one would probably be ''more'' useful to a pirate than a parrot.

* The manga ''[[Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam|Crossbone Gundam]]'' gives [[The Captain]] a robot parrot as part of their fully embracing the "pirate" part of [[Space Pirate]]. Said parrot spouts random lines that [[Shout-Out|reference]] older ''[[Gundam]]'' works, leading to the [[Epileptic Trees|theory]] that it was made from [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Amuro Ray's]] [[Team Pet]] and ''Gundam'' [[Series Mascot]] Haro.

* [[Captain Harlock]], as a proud [[Space Pirate]], owns not a parrot but a strange alien bird—with black feathers, a long beak and a thread-thin neck—that pretty much cover the same role, up to mimicking human speech and sometimes riding on his shoulder.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Matilda in ''Randomveus'' has a large pet parrot—that somehow has a mustache.

 

* Iago from Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' is worth mentioning, even though he's not affiliated with a Pirate... {{spoiler|Then in ''Aladdin and the King of Thieves'' he goes off with Cassim, Aladdin's long-lost father and former leader of a band of thieves who would occasionally use ships.}}

* In ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', Long John Silver's pet was a small shapeshifting creature called Morph, who could mimic people in more ways than one.

* The villains of ''[[Rio]]'', though technically not pirates, actually both own a sulphur-crested cockatoo named Nigel.

* The Captain in ''[[Raggedy Ann and Andy A Musical Adventure]]'' has a pet parrot.

* The ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' trilogy:

** A mute pirate named Cotton owns a parrot who does the talking for him. It mostly says "parrot" stuff like "Ready the sails!" -- "We figure that means 'yes'." The parrot's repetition leads to a hilarious scene in the second movie:

'''Nitro Mike:''' [[Talk Like a Pirate|Arr.]] }}

* Captain Hook and his crew of pirates finally get one in the 2003 film ''[[Peter Pan (film)|Peter Pan]]''. (This trope had been averted in previous adaptations.)

 

== Literature ==

* This probably started (as most pirate-related tropes are) with Long John Silver, from ''[[Treasure Island]]'', who has a parrot named Captain Flint. Which makes this [[Older Than Radio]]. Also, Captain Flint's most common phrase is "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!".

* The ''[[Spellsinger]]'' novels have talking animals. In ''Day of the Dissonance'' there's a pirate who ''is'' a parrot.

* The pirate Littlejohn in [[James Thurber]]'s ''The Wonderful O'' has a parrot that annoys the book's [[Big Bad]] (by [[It Makes Sense in Context|using words containing the letter "O"]]); notable for repeatedly being on the receiving end of the memorable threat, "I'll squck its thrug till all it can whubble is geep!"

* Although the Free Traders of [[Andre Norton]]'s ''Solar Queen'' series are not pirates—more of unorthodox merchants, still their captain owns a small alien animal which looks like half-parrot-half-toad. That in addition to more conventional ship-cat.

* Though pirates are not featured anywhere in the stories, Harold of ''[[Bunnicula]]'' reads about pirates and wonders whether a "parrot" is an umbrella or a female pirate. Chester puts him straight.

* In ''[[Swallows and Amazons]]'', Nancy and Peggy's uncle, "Captain Flint", owns a parrot. Nancy and Peggy have often tried to teach it to say "Pieces of eight", and are disappointed that all it will say is "Pretty Polly".

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* The ''[[Blackadder]]'' episode "Potato" guest-stars Tom Baker as Captain Rum. He's not a pirate, but he has a ''dead'' parrot lying on his shoulder.

* Navi the robotic parrot in ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]''. Also the one responsible for leading the team towards the Greatest Treasure in the Universe through vague clues that only come about after she hits her head on the ceiling.

 

== Puppet Shows ==

** The game of the film features a parrot called Stevenson (as in Robert Louis) as the [[Exposition Fairy]].

 

 

* In the ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' adventure "Vapors Don't Shoot Back", the [[Big Bad]] pirate-wannabee Black-U-Brd has a parrot robot on his shoulder that repeats old pirate movie dialogue.

* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' supplement ''California Free State''. Captain Monday of Moro Bay not only dresses like a pirate but has a parrot on one shoulder. A decker posts a message that it isn't a parrot but a miniaturized eyekiller, an Awakened (magical) creature that can fire lightning bolts.

* The ''Asteroid 1618'' supplement for the ''Encounter Critical'' game. Space pirates can buy space parrots at a pet store on the asteroid. The parrot costs 75 gold credits if it already knows pirate lingo, or only 25 gold credits if it needs to be taught.

 

== Video Games ==

* Your explorer can find a rather foul-mouthed one in ''[[The Wager]]''.

* In ''[[The Sims Medieval]]'' expansion "Pirates and Nobles," most NPC pirates have parrots, and Hero Sims can get them whether they're members of a pirate crew or not.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Nodwick]]'', a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|ninja-pirate captain]] has a [http://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2004-08-04 ninja-parrot on his shoulder.]

* ''[[The Noob]]'' got [http://thenoobcomic.com/comic/205/ Pete the Parrot]^spoiler! - a "Cliche[[Mon]]" who may count as the mascot as he became a part of the site's decor. The bird even wears eyepatch, peg leg ''and'' black bicorne with skull, in case someone may entertain doubts as to its occupation.

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]'' has [http://notalwaysright.com/turn-that-arrrrr-into-an-awww this guy]. And a tiny bandana.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Jake and the Never Land Pirates]]'': The [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|good pirates]] have the talkative parrot Skully on their team.

* In the ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' episode, Mr. Bighead starts sleepwalking, dreaming that he's a pirate. He sees Rocko's house as an enemy ship, and Spunky as a parrot, which he steals in order to extort a treasure map from Rocko.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Pirate Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Avian Tropes]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]