Headcanon time: Morph’s Name
Let us take a moment to consider these two lines:
Now, Silver is a pretty creative guy linguistically. Just look at the “Makings of Greatness” and “Rattle the Stars” speeches, or even his attempts to flatter Amelia. He is exceptionally eloquent in his own rough, pirate-y kind of way.
So why does he call his pet morph “Morph”? It’s basically the equivalent of calling your dog “Dog.” Nothing is wrong with it persay, but it’s kinda odd. I mean, this guy gives Jim 3-4 nicknames over the course of the movie, it seems like he could easily have come up with something more creative to name his pet. And Morph’s analogue in the original Treasure Island, the parrot, is quite amusingly named “Captain Flint,” so it isn’t like this comes from the original cannon or anything.
We know Silver rescued Morph (on Proteus One), but I believe that when Silver first saved Morph, he did not in any way shape or form plan to keep him as a pet. Yet Morph just kept following him around, and Silver put up with it, still planning to dump Morph off once they are somewhere safer for the endearing annoying little blob. And of course, the number one rule for not bonding with a cute little animal is DO NOT NAME IT. So for months, Silver just thinks of Morph as “the morph.” He is NOT going to make the mistake of naming the thing, thank you very much,
But Silver has a soft spot, so slowly “Get back here ye silly morph!“ transforms into "Come here, Morph,” because somehow Silver never seems to have the right opportunity to leave Morph somewhere and Morph starts to learn that the word “morph” refers to him.
Basically, the word Silver used to avoid giving Morph a name and bonding with the little blob becomes Morph’s actual name because Silver bonds with him anyway. And after the first time “Morph” transforms into “Morphie” Silver just has to stop kidding himself and accept that this is his pet now. But that’s fine, pirates can have pets, and Morph has his practical uses like turning into keys to break out of prison cells and turning into tools to help him repair his cyborg parts, so, yeah… no big deal.
It’s not like he’s going to make a habit of adopting little lost troublemakers or anything, right?
John Silver: master of not getting attached.
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