Fountain of Youth

"There's more than one way to live forever. Gents, I give you the Fountain of Youth."

- Hector Barbossa to the crew of the Black Pearl

The Fountain of Youth, sometimes known as just the Fountain or Aqua de Vida, was a legendary spring which was said to restore youth to anyone who drank from it. Juan Ponce de León searched for the the Fountain, in Florida, sometime during the 1500s. After the Battle of Calypso's maelstrom, Captain Jack Sparrow began his search for it. The struggle for eternal youth is symbolized by a tug of war between a skeleton and an angel, aligned with the main symbol of the Fountain is the Chalices.

First search
According to the legends of the Arawaks—a tribe native to the western Caribbean islands—the Fountain was located somewhere north of Cuba, in a land called Bimini. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León searched for the Fountain in Florida, but according to legend, he never found it.

Second search
"If I do not make it to the Fountain...neither will you."

- Blackbeard to Jack Sparrow

Following the Battle of Calypso's maelstrom, Captain Jack Sparrow set off in search of the Fountain of Youth, using navigational charts stolen from Hector Barbossa, along with his compass. Barbossa had also intended to find the Fountain, but the quest was postponed because of the loss of that particular map in the charts. During his search, Jack was forced aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, since its captain, Blackbeard, also wanted to find the Fountain for himself.

Special Powers
"Don't be a fool Jackie. The Fountain will test you."

- Teague to Jack Sparrow

The Fountain of Youth has special powers, but there are series of things that are needed in order to make the Fountain work. One of them is a mermaid's tear. The other things needed are currently unknown.

Behind the scenes

 * The Fountain of Youth appears in Tim Powers' novel, On Stranger Tides, which will be used as a plot basis for the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
 * In an extra for the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest DVD, Gore Verbinski stated that the Fountain of Youth was one of the many of possibilities for a plot on the second one.
 * In the first screenplay draft of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Barbossa starts to search for the Fountain of Youth, using the captain's journal of Juan Ponce de León that he took from Tia Dalma who received it from a mermaid.
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Fountain of Youth was the proposed title of the fourth installment of the POTC movie, which was highly used by both critics and fans. However, on September 11 2009, Johnny Depp announced that the film was going to be called Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and that it would be released Summer 2011.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides