As I may have mentioned a couple of times, when I was a young teenager I created an original character to live within the Pirates of the Caribbean universe. Her name was Destiny Dalma, and she was the daughter of Tia Dalma and Captain Jack Sparrow.
Her name came from the “ you have a touch of destiny about you, William Turner” line as I wanted to sail off into the sunset with Orlando Bloom and live happily ever after. Again, I was like fourteen, maybe a tad younger.
Now, Destiny was created in my own image to allow me to live my dream of being part of the crew of the Black Pearl while also having magic from being the daughter of Calypso. The problem? I am very white. Any proper daughter of the pair I chose would have been mixed. I did not write her that way. And as she was not in public writings, I didn’t even think about the issue.
However, now that I want to bring her into stories and cosplays outside my own private stash, her story needs an upgrade. I am not going to pretend of know what it is like being a mixed female, so I decided to change her heritage. Her father is still Jack Sparrow (unless I write her into a story that requires that to change due to copyright. Fan fiction is still fine), but now her mother is a sea nymph that died in child birth.
Destiny Rose was still raised by Tia Dalma/ Calypso, and she still has magic. Her personality has not changed. Really, I only changed the aspects that made her a problematic character. As I should have a long time ago.
She may still claim Dalma as her family name. I still haven’t yet decided. But if you see #destinyrose or #destinydalma on TikTok and Instagram, know that’s me! And feel free to reach out with your own original characters. They’re so much fun!
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