Pirate Wisdom Applied to William Parry

Let us examine the wise words of a wily pirate, Jack Sparrow. “Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly…stupid.” He means that a dishonest man will always cheat and lie because that is how he handles every situation. It will never occur to him that telling the truth might get him out of the situation just as easily in some cases. The honest man is hard to predict. He normally tells the truth and you expect him to. When he does actually lie you won’t know it because you take everything he says to be truth. When an honest man takes a turn for the worse you don’t expect it so never trust him.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UT9Y6coFT8

Now take Jack’s words of wisdom and apply them to Will Parry. Lyra asks the alethiometer whether Will is a friend or an enemy. The alethiometer replies that he is a murderer. It doesn’t really answer the question but Lyra takes this as a sign that Will is a person she can trust. Put in context with what Jack Sparrow said, then a murderer can always be trusted to be a murderer. It’s the man that doesn’t kill that can’t be trusted. Now follow me here, since Will has already murdered once he can be trusted to do it again. Lyra knows that he’s not a coward now and that if they get in situation that involves killing in self defense that Will will go through with it. It’s like that old saying “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.” Lyra knows what to expect from Will now rather than not knowing if her companion would be capable of killing. Making Will Parry the murderer you want on your side. Savy?