List of Pirates of the Caribbean characters
This is a list of characters appearing in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
Main characters
Captain Jack Sparrow
Captain Jack Sparrow is portrayed by Johnny Depp. First introduced in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, he later appears in the sequels Dead Man's Chest, At World's End, On Stranger Tides, and Dead Men Tell No Tales. With the character originally written by screenwriters Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie, and Jay Wolpert, Depp based his characterization on The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards as well as the Looney Tunes cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Pepé Le Pew. He insists on being introduced as "Captain" Jack Sparrow.In the first film, Sparrow is the former captain of the Black Pearl. After a mutiny by his first mate [|Hector Barbossa], he is left to die on an island. Though Barbossa and his crew are immortal as a result of a curse, Sparrow craves revenge. With the help of [|Will Turner] and [|Elizabeth Swann], he lifts the curse and kills Barbossa.
In Dead Man's Chest, it is revealed that Sparrow once made a deal with Davy Jones. Jones raised the Black Pearl from the sea in exchange for a guarantee of service as a crewman on the Flying Dutchman. When Jones attempts to collect on the bargain, Sparrow flees. He attempts to find the Dead Man's Chest, which contains Jones's heart; this would give Sparrow leverage over Jones. At the end of the film, Sparrow is betrayed by Elizabeth Swann and dragged to Davy Jones's Locker by the Kraken.
In the third film, it is revealed that Sparrow is one of the members of the Brethren Court, acting as Pirate Lord of the Caribbean. Calypso, a sea goddess, needs all nine Pirate Lords to free her from a curse laid upon her by the original Brethren Court. She resurrects Barbossa, who is also one of the Pirate Lords, and organizes an expedition to rescue Jack from Davy Jones's Locker. Through a complex series of negotiations and betrayals, Jack schemes to kill Davy Jones and take his place as the immortal captain of the Flying Dutchman. After Will Turner is mortally wounded, Sparrow allows him to kill Jones, thus sacrificing his chance at immortality to save his friend. At the end of the film, Barbossa once again commandeers the Black Pearl, but it is revealed that Sparrow has stolen the ship's charts which point the way towards the Fountain of Youth.
In the fourth film, Jack journeys on a quest for the fabled Fountain of Youth. Prior to the film, he gained some renown as the pirate who knew and memorized its location. Jack arrives in London to rescue his first mate Joshamee Gibbs as a disguised judge before finding himself in the forced audience with King George II. Hector Barbossa, now a privateer who lost his leg and the Black Pearl, which he believed to be sunk. After escaping King George's Royal Guards, Sparrow becomes reacquainted with his love interest Angelica, a woman from his past and the daughter of Blackbeard, who forces him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. Throughout the quest, Sparrow must contend with zombies, mermaids, and a rendezvous with Barbossa. Jack learns from Angelica that the Profane Ritual for the Fountain of Youth requires a mermaid's tear and two silver chalices located on Ponce de León's ship, the Santiago, and the person who drinks the water with the tear gets all the years of life from the other. Angelica also shows Jack Blackbeard's collection of captured, miniaturized ships in glass bottles, including the Black Pearl. After Jack figures out Hector's agenda and accuses him of it, Barbossa admits a desire for revenge against Blackbeard, detailing Blackbeard's attack on the Black Pearl. After locating the Fountain of Youth, a battle between Barbossa and Blackbeard ensues, in which Angelica cuts her hand trying to remove Barbossa's poisoned blade from Blackbeard's chest. Filling the chalices with the remaining drops of water from the Fountain, adding Syrena's tear, Jack tricks Blackbeard into drinking the chalice lacking the tear. Jack maroons Angelica on a small island, unsure if he can trust her. Later, Jack reunites with Gibbs, who used Sparrow's compass to locate and retrieved the shrunken Black Pearl in the hope of restoring it to normal size, yet determined to continue living the pirate's life.
In the fifth film, Jack is suffering a series of bad luck to the point that he trades his compass for a bottle of rum. This results in the release of Armando Salazar, an undead Spanish pirate hunter whose death in a confrontation with Jack established Jack's own reputation. When faced with execution, Jack is rescued by Henry Turner, the son of Will and Elizabeth, who seeks Jack's help in finding the Trident of Poseidon, which gives its wielder control of the seas. Jack Sparrow reunites with Hector Barbossa, who restores the Black Pearl to her former glory. At the film's conclusion, the destruction of the Trident breaks all curses on the sea, restoring Salazar to life in time for him to drown while fighting Jack while Jack reclaims the restored Pearl and Will is able to return to Elizabeth now that the Flying Dutchman no longer needs a captain.
Captain Jack Sparrow is also the subject of two series of books, Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow and Pirates of the Caribbean: Legends of the Brethren Court, and one standalone novel, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom. The character has also appeared in numerous video games, such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.
Captain Hector Barbossa
Captain Hector Barbossa, portrayed by Geoffrey Rush, appears in all five films of the franchise. With the character originally written by screenwriters Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie, and Jay Wolpert, he was originally Captain Jack Sparrow's first mate turned archenemy, a pirate captain later revealed to be one of the nine Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court. In the fourth film, On Stranger Tides, Barbossa briefly becomes a privateer in the Royal Navy and is ordered to be Jack's guide on an expedition for the Fountain of Youth.In the first film, Barbossa is captain of the pirate ship Black Pearl. He was the former first mate of the Black Pearl and led a mutiny against former captain, Jack Sparrow. Barbossa persuaded Jack to reveal the bearings to Isla de Muerta where the Chest of Cortez was hidden. After Sparrow divulged the location, Barbossa and the crew left Sparrow to starve on a tiny island. After stealing the gold, Barbossa and his crew became undead and unable to feel physical pleasure.
To lift the curse, the crew must return all 882 medallions to the chest and offer their blood. Their shipmate Bootstrap Bill Turner believed that they deserved the curse as punishment for their mutiny, and sent one coin to his son, Will. In retaliation, Barbossa tied Bootstrap to a cannon and threw him overboard. For years, Barbossa searched for the last coin and Bootstrap Bill's child, needing both to break the curse. Elizabeth Swann takes the medallion from Will Turner when he was rescued as a young boy. Barbossa, believing she is Bootstrap Bill's daughter, kidnaps her. He later learns that Will is Bootstrap Bill's child; he captures Will and plans to execute him to break the curse. As Jack and Barbossa duel, Will breaks the curse by returning the last coin and offering his blood. Barbossa, mortal again, bleeds out from his wounds.
In Dead Man's Chest, Captain Barbossa's undead monkey "Jack" appeared aboard the Black Pearl before Jack Sparrow gave the monkey to the voodoo mystic Tia Dalma as payment. Sparrow's crew see Barbossa's corpse lying there, with only his boots visible. The final scene of the film, Barbossa is revealed to have been resurrected by Tia Dalma before biting an apple.
Returning in At World's End, Barbossa was first named "Hector" onscreen by Jack Sparrow. In the film, Barbossa joins forces with Will, Elizabeth, and the Black Pearl crew in their attempt to rescue Jack from the Locker and rally the Brethren Court against Lord Cutler Beckett. To break the curse confining her to human form, the sea goddess Calypso needs the Pieces of Eight from all nine Pirate Lords. It is for this reason that she resurrected Barbossa, the Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. At the meeting of the Fourth Brethren Court, Barbossa gathers the Pieces of Eight from the other pirate lords and uses them to release her. During the battle against Davy Jones, he officiates a makeshift wedding for Will and Elizabeth. After defeating Jones and Beckett, Barbossa once again steals the Black Pearl from Jack and sails in search of the Fountain of Youth, only to find out Sparrow stole the charts from Barbossa.
By the events of the fourth film, the Black Pearl is attacked by Blackbeard, who uses the power embedded in the Sword of Triton to turn the ship's own rigging against Hector Barbossa's crew, forcing Barbossa to cut off his own leg to escape with his life, turning Barbossa into a mortal enemy vowed on revenge. Unbeknownst to Barbossa, who believes the Pearl was sunk, Blackbeard magicked the ship into a glass bottle. Nevertheless, Barbossa lost his ship, his leg, and had vengeance as a goal since the very night it happened. He approached the British and offered his services as a privateer in service to King George II. By the quest for the Fountain of Youth, Barbossa gained much information and learned at least the basics on Blackbeard. Barbossa knows the name of Blackbeard's ship, his obsession to find the Fountain of Youth, and even the importance of Blackbeard's sword in that the sword had the power to rule the winds of the ocean, as well as everything associated with the wind, including the ships at sea, their rigging, sails, etc. and that its powers were diminished away from the ship. After Jack Sparrow's capture and escape from King George, Barbossa sails the HMS Providence with Joshamee Gibbs, Groves, Gillette, and an entire British crew to find the Fountain before the Spanish. Barbossa's crew continue on foot after the Providence is attacked by mermaids, while Barbossa himself rendezvouses with Jack on the Santiago, who finds the chalices have been taken by the Spanish. Before retrieving the chalices, Jack figures out Hector's agenda and accuses him of it, and Barbossa admits a desire for revenge against Blackbeard, detailing Blackbeard's attack on the Black Pearl. Barbossa and Blackbeard meet the Fountain of Youth, which leads to a battle between the British and pirate crews, in which Barbossa stabs Blackbeard with a poisoned sword. After that, Barbossa claims Blackbeard's ship, crew, and sword for his own, and returns to a life of piracy.
In the fifth film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, Hector Barbossa settled into a growing and prosperous pirate empire, taking possession of the Queen Anne's Revenge as a result of defeating Captain Blackbeard. While the down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa controls a wealthy fleet of ten ships. After his fleet is threatened by the ghostly Armando Salazar, Barbossa promises to lead him to Jack Sparrow. When Sparrow escapes to an island, Barbossa promises to go to land and retrieve Sparrow, but he and his crew double-cross Salazar to team up with Sparrow, Henry Turner, and Carina Smyth to find the Trident of Poseidon. Knowing the Black Pearl was in a bottle in Sparrow's possession, Barbossa releases the Pearl from its imprisonment, restoring the ship to its former glory, and they attempt to outrun Salazar. Hector reveals in a conversation with Jack that he is Carina's father, having left Carina at an orphanage after her mother Margaret's death to give her a chance at a normal life. Barbossa also left Carina a journal with a red ruby on its cover. The journal contains a map that leads to the Trident, and Carina uses the ruby to reveal the path to the Trident. After the Trident is destroyed, resulting in Salazar becoming mortal, Salazar pursues Jack, Henry, and Carina as they try to climb to safety. As they escape, Carina learns that Hector is her father, who calls her "treasure" before sacrificing himself to kill Salazar, giving Sparrow, Carina, and Henry a chance to escape.
According to actor Geoffrey Rush, he may not appear in any future Pirates of the Caribbean movies. However, other interviews imply otherwise, as producer Jerry Bruckheimer said they can bring characters back, and Rush himself didn't seem completely opposed to returning to the series because he said, ''" could come back like Hamlet's father, as a ghost. Just to annoy Jack."''