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In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), we see Tia Dalma claiming she gave Jack his compass. In her wiki:

So it was to this mysterious and beautiful mystic that Jack Sparrow occasionally turned to for help, who once provided him with his unique compass.

However, in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), we see that his compass was given to him by his former captain, Captain Morgan, after he perished against Salazar.

In the compass's wiki:

[Jack] bartered [the compass] from the voodoo mystic Tia Dalma and later inherited from his captain.

So... Did Dalma give the compass to Jack's former captain and eventually it reached Jack? How and why? Seems quite far-fetched, so I'm leaning towards continuity error between films.

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Reference to The Compass and Jack Sparrow's Compass

Did Dalma give the compass to Jack's former captain and eventually it reached Jack?

Yes.

The origin of this unique compass is shrouded in mystery.

Around the time of Jack Sparrow's quest for the Sword of Cortés, the compass would be in the possession of Laura Smith`, the captain of the infamous pirate ship La Fleur de la Mort. When she and the crew of the fishing boat Barnacle, led by Jack Sparrow, escaped from the Pirate Guard in New Orleans, Laura used the compass to find her ship, which was invisible at that time because its magical sails were unfurled. Sometime afterward, the compass would end up in the possession of the mystic Tia Dalma through mysterious circumstances.

At some point, Jack Sparrow would barter the compass from Tia Dalma years prior to his search for the treasure of Isla de Muerta.

It is unknown what Jack gave to Tia Dalma in exchange for the compass.

However, the compass somehow found its way into the hands of Morgan, the pirate captain of the Wicked Wench, under whom Jack was serving at the time. When Morgan was mortally wounded during the battle off the coast of the mysterious Devil's Triangle, he gave the compass to Jack, telling him with his last breath never to betray the compass.

We saw in Dead Men Tell No Tales, that Jack Sparrow holds the compass desiring something that would help him save the Wench and her crew from their attacker, the notorious Spanish pirate hunter Armando Salazar and his dreaded warship the Silent Mary, Jack took command of the Wench, steering her toward the Triangle. At the last moment, Jack tricked Salazar into sailing into the Triangle where all the Spaniards were killed in the explosion of gunpowder when the Silent Mary hit the reefs.

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Cross posted from my answer on Sci-Fi.

I'm not sure exactly how canon it is but according to the Pirates Wiki page on the Compass:

Jack Sparrow's compass was an unusual navigational instrument most notably used by Captain Jack Sparrow, which he bartered from the voodoo mystic Tia Dalma and later inherited from his captain.

So apparently he bartered it from Tia Dalma, somehow lost it, gave it away, or alternative and then got it back in the flashback scene we see in Dead Men Tell no Tales.

The same page goes on to say:

However, the compass somehow found its way into the hands of the pirate captain of the Wicked Wench, under whom Jack was serving at the time.

So it appears to be unclear how the compass left Jack after he bartered it off of Tia Dalma till it comes back to him again.

So it doesn't appear to be a continuity error but more that both events happened with Jack bartering the compass from Tia Dalma. He then somehow loses possession of it, this part is a grey area, and lastly inherits it from the captain.

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  • Any reason this was downvoted?
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 10:40
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    I didn't downvote, but its probably because your answer is entirely speculation with no sources to answer the OPs question. On top of that, in Dead Men Tell No Tales, it looks like Jack is seeing the compass for the first time with the captain needing to explain what it does to him. This is besides the fact that Wikia is usually not considered Canon.
    – Mennyg
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 13:14
  • @Mennyg How is the wiki not a source? It's not speculation, it's based off of the wiki. Regards to him seeing the compass for the first time, that's not what I took from the scene, note Jack looks puzzled/inquisitive most of the time. Also that explanation contradicts my source: the wiki. My answer also states my un-sureness of the canonicity(?) of the wiki.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 13:16
  • wiki is editable by anyone, which makes it very unreliable. If Jack has the compass before the captain, the captain would not have had to explain its function to him. At the very least, even if the captain did not know that Jack had owned the compass at one point, Jack would've been nodding his head in a way as if "I know that already". He doesn't. He looks clueless.
    – Mennyg
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 13:21
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    I have read some of the young Jack Sparrow Novels and the Wiki is accurate in terms of information that has been provided in what is considered cannon. There are "grey" areas in it's origins and if Jack knew about the betrayal prior to these events. It's possible the next film(s) (DMTNT trailer = "The finale adventure begins") may address this, as the first trilogy sets up a redemption arc and the new films are now delving further into Jack's past, which also includes tying together some of POTC's mythology better.
    – Darth Locke
    Commented Sep 11, 2017 at 15:11

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