Hector Barbossa

"For too long I've been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing. Not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh. You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one!"

- Hector Barbossa to Elizabeth Swann

Captain Hector Barbossa was the pirate captain of the Black Pearl after Jack Sparrow. At some point Barbossa became the Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea.

Early life
"[&hellip;] a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out."

- Mullroy

Barbossa's history prior to serving aboard the Black Pearl remains shrouded in mystery, though his name indicates possible Portuguese or Spanish origin. It is possible that he had once been an honest sailor, but corrupted himself upon realizing that he could gain a lot more if he broke the rules, even stooping to murder.

The mutiny
It was known that Barbossa was recruited by Captain Jack Sparrow in Tortuga, along with other members of his future crew, when Sparrow embarked on his quest to find the treasure of Isla de Muerta. Barbossa joined the Black Pearl as Sparrow's First Mate, but had designs on command himself. Three days after setting out from Tortuga, Barbossa demanded to know the location of the island, to ensure everything on the venture was of equal measure. The island could only be found by those who already knew where it was, so as soon as Barbossa learned its location, he had no further use for Jack Sparrow. The wily First Mate led a mutiny that night to usurp Sparrow and place himself in command of the Pearl. Captain Barbossa marooned Sparrow on an island with nothing but a pistol with a single shot, and set sail for Isla de Muerta with his crew.

This quest led to unforseen complications for the crew of the Pearl, for Barbossa and his men became cursed after taking a chest of 882 Aztec coins once belonging to Cortés. They became undead, still living but unable to feel or ever truly die. Only Jack was spared from the effect of the curse. Following the incident on Isla de Muerta, Bill Turner spoke out against Barbossa's mutiny against Jack, and was in turn betrayed by Barbossa, and sent to the bottom of the ocean&mdash;though due to Barbossa's uncovering of Cortés's treasure, Turner remained alive on the seabed, and was eventually press-ganged into Davy Jones's crew.

The curse
"Compelled by greed we were, but now&hellip;we are consumed by it."

- Hector Barbossa to Elizabeth Swann

Meanwhile, Barbossa's crew attempted to reclaim the treasure they had squandered, in an attempt to reverse the effects of the curse. However, it wasn't until after Barbossa sent Bootstrap Bill to the depths that the pirates discovered that returning all 882 coins was not enough -- the curse had to also be repaid with the blood of all who had taken from the stone chest. Over the course of the next eight years, the crew returned all but one of the coins to the island, and they soon learned of the whereabouts of the final piece. Barbossa led an assault on Port Royal, during which the coin was recovered, and the crew captured a girl going by the name Elizabeth Turner. This was advantageous to Barbossa, since he required the blood of a Turner to fully repay their blood debt.



The Pearl set sail for Isla de Muerta, and Barbossa staged a ritual that he hoped would reverse the curse. However, it transpired Elizabeth was not a Turner after all, and thus her blood had no effect on the cursed pirates. At that point, the girl was rescued, and during the confusion, Barbossa's crew encountered Jack Sparrow, having previously escaped from the island on which he had been marooned. Sparrow cut a deal with Barbossa, stating he knew whose blood the pirate needed, and the pursuit and capture of Jack's crew ensued. Barbossa's men captured Will Turner, the son of "Bootstrap Bill", intending to return with him to Isla de Muerta. First, however, Barbossa made Jack walk the plank, once more marooning him on the island&mdash;though this time with Elizabeth as company.

Duel with Sparrow
"You're off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters!"

- Hector Barbossa to Jack Sparrow



Barbossa's crew made for Isla de Muerta, though the Pearl sailed slower than usual due to damage sustained during the fight. By the time Barbossa began the ritual once more, this time with Will as the sacrifice, Jack had managed to escape the island with the help of the Royal Navy, and had arrived on Isla de Muerta. The stage was set for the final confrontation, where Barbossa set his men against the sailors aboard the HMS Dauntless, while he himself remained in the treasure cave with Will, Jack and Elizabeth. Here, Jack revealed his true loyalty, and engaged Barbossa in a duel, in which Barbossa appeared to gain the upper hand. Ultimately, Barbossa gave up, knowing Jack could not kill him. Sparrow tried anyway, but Barbossa merely sighed in disappointment and stabbed Jack in the gut.

What Barbossa had not foreseen was the level of Jack's cunning. Prior to the fight, he had taken one of the Aztec coins from the chest, thus bringing the effects of the curse upon himself. The two immortals engaged once more in combat, which Barbossa commented would likely continue for all eternity. However, this was not to be the case, as the tables suddenly turned on Barbossa. Smearing it with his blood, Jack threw his stolen coin to Will, and Will put both of the blood stained coins in the chest;thereby lifting the curse from Jack, Barbossa and his crew. Jack shot Barbossa with the same pistol his former first mate had allowed him to keep ten years before. Barbossa, now mortal, realized what had happened, before toppling over, dead.

Rebirth
"So tell me, what's become of my ship?"

- Hector Barbossa

Barbossa's body remained in the cave at Isla de Muerta, until the entire island and its treasure were claimed by the sea. He did not arrive in Davy Jones' Locker, however, and was at some point resurrected from death by Tia Dalma. As one of the nine Pirate Lords, Barbossa was required to free Dalma's true form, Calypso, from her human bonds, and he resided at her bayou shack following his return to life.

He was present at Tia Dalma's house when Jack Sparrow and his crew arrived there seeking information about the Dead Man's Chest, though he did not reveal himself at that point. It was only after Jack's own death, when his crew returned to Dalma's house, did Tia Dalma introduce Barbossa as their new captain. She proposed the crew set out to save Sparrow from the Locker, meaning a voyage to World's End. Barbossa had prior knowledge of these waters, and wished to return Jack to life to further his attempt to free Calypso. His new crew set out for Singapore.

At World's End
"Ah! Hector, it's been too long&hellip;hasn't it?" Aye. Isla de Muerta, remember? You shot me." "&hellip;No I didn't."

- Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa



Barbossa led Jack's former crew to a meeting with Sao Feng in his Singapore bath house, intending to barter Feng's navigational charts to lead them to World's End. Mindful that negotiating with Feng would be difficult, Barbossa dispatched Will Turner to steal the charts, though Turner made his own deal with Feng without Barbossa's knowledge.

The negotiations turned sour when Barbossa failed to convince Feng to give up his charts, though the arrival of East India Trading Company soldiers led by Mercer saw Barbossa and Feng briefly unite against a common enemy. Will was able to acquire the charts himself, and provided Barbossa with a crew and a ship&mdash; the Hai Peng.

The crew sailed through frozen wastes to reach World's End, during which time Barbossa was unable to decipher the charts' cryptic instructions for returning from Davy Jones' Locker. Undaunted, Barbossa showed no fear as he led the Hai Peng over the world's edge, plunging it and his crew into the underworld. The ship was wrecked, though the crew survived and were reunited with Jack Sparrow. Barbossa brought up their last fateful meeting in conversation, though Jack brushed this off and continued to refer to himself as captain of the Black Pearl. Barbossa contested this, knowing that Jack could not leave the Locker without the charts now in Barbossa's possession. Thus, the two rivals were forced to co-operate as the Pearl set sail on the endless seas of the Locker.

Betrayals and alliances
"Still thinkin' of runnin', Jack? Think you can outrun the world? You know, the problem with bein' the last of anythin', is by and by there'll be none left at all." "Sometimes things come back, mate. We're living proof, you and me." "Aye, but that's a gamble of long odds, ain't it? There's never a guarantee of comin' back, but passin' on, that's dead certain."

- Hector Barbossa and Jack Sparrow

Sparrow ultimately worked out the meaning of the charts, and coerced the crew into tipping the Pearl upside down, coinciding with sunset in the Locker that resulted in a green flash and the return of the Pearl to the land of the living. The moment Barbossa was sure he was back in the real world, he pulled his pistol on Sparrow, forcing him to agree to meet with the Brethren Court and Shipwreck Cove. The tense stand-off was diffused when the crew's pistols malfunctioned due to wet powder, and they set about locating a source of water at a nearby island.



There, Barbossa and Sparrow happened upon the corpse of the Kraken, and Barbossa remarked upon the certainty of death to counter Jack's insistence to the contrary. However, Barbossa, like Sparrow, would contemplate his own mortality in the time to come. For now, more pressing matters were at hand when Tai Huang and his men turned on Barbossa's crew and delivered them to Sao Feng, now aboard the Empress. There, Turner's betrayal was revealed, though Barbossa was able to bargain with Feng by mentioning Calypso. Feng was intrigued, and agreed to join Barbossa in opposition to the East India Trading Company. The pirates turned on their captors, and Barbossa dueled briefly with Mercer, before the Pearl made for Shipwreck Cove.

The Brethren Court
"It was the first Court what imprisoned Calypso. We should be the ones to set her free, and in her gratitude she will see fit to grant us boons!" "Whose boons? Your boons? Utterly deceptive twaddlespeak says I."

- Hector Barbossa and Jack Sparrow



At Shipwreck Island, Barbossa served as the de facto leader of the meeting. At the meeting, he suggested that Calypso be released so that the East India Trading Company would have a harder time controlling the seas. Once Elizabeth was elected Pirate King, Barbossa advised her not to battle Lord Cutler Beckett, but she ignored him.

Master of ceremonies
"Dearly beloved, we be gathered here today&hellip;to nail ya gizzard to the mast, ya poxy cur!"

- Hector Barbossa

Barbossa took part in the battle against the East India Trading Company. During the battle, he performed a marriage for Will and Elizabeth.

After the pirates' victory, the crew of the Black Pearl sailed back to Tortuga. While Jack was in port impressing women, Barbossa commandeered the Black Pearl once again, planning to use the charts he obtained from Sao Feng to find the Fountain of Youth. However, he was dismayed to find that Jack had cut the middle out of the charts.



Personality and traits
"Dying is the day worth living for!"

- Hector Barbossa

Barbossa's personality was cold and gruff, and he was an able yet unforgiving leader&mdash;as evidenced when he shot Pintel in the heart in order to see if the curse has been lifted. He kept a monkey named Jack as his pet. At his best he was brave, a master seaman, and occasionally capable of wry humor, but at his worst he was ruthless and without mercy.

Barbossa had a penchant for apples, and he commented that after the curse was lifted, he would eat a whole bushel of apples. This seemed to be one of Barbossa's simple pleasures in life, that, due to his inability to feel or taste due to the curse, turned into a constant craving. He was holding an apple upon his death, and was eating one when he revealed himself to the late Jack Sparrow's crew in Tia Dalma's house.

Because of his apparent lack of fear, a number of Barbossa's actions seemed almost suicidal. Much to the dismay of his crew, he did not hesitate to sail right over the waterfalls at World's End, nor did he show much concern for sailing the Pearl straight into the huge whirlpool created by Calypso.

Barbossa carried a sword and a flintlock pistol. This elegantly engraved weapon was won in a duel against a Spanish pirate. He was a skilled swordsman, hinting at a lifetime of experience. It is possible he did not receive training at a finishing school, but instead learned through brawls since his teenage years.



Appearance
"Shoot him!" "Cut out his tongue!" "Shoot him and cut out his tongue and then shoot his tongue&hellip;and trim that scraggly beard."

- Ammand, Jocard and Jack Sparrow

Barbossa wore fine clothing befitting a man of his stature and status, and he carried many valuable items about his person. He was rarely seen without his hat, decorated with blue ostrich feathers as a show of vanity, and his coat was fitted with buttons made from melted down Inca silver stolen from Spanish ships. He also wore a ring plundered from a Venetian ship, which bore the image of a lion's head, signifying Barbossa's status as leader of his pirates. He wore his greying hair long and loose, and had a straggly beard running down to the base of his neck.

With the curse upon him, Barbossa's face became weathered and gaunt over time, with yellowed eyes giving him a particularly sinister appearance. Under the light of the moon, Barbossa transformed into a living skeleton, and his clothing turned to rags as his flesh rotted away. His ship was the Black Pearl.

Behind the scenes



 * Barbossa was portrayed by Geoffrey Rush in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and voiced by Brian George in Kingdom Hearts II and The Legend of Jack Sparrow.
 * The DVD commentary of The Curse of the Black Pearl revealed Barbossa's first name, though writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio maintain that Johnny Depp came up with the name himself while joking with Geoffrey Rush about Barbossa's first name. It was spoken on screen for the first time, by his character, in At World's End, as Jack Sparrow's first line to Barbossa.
 * "Barbossa" is derived from "Barbarossa", another name for the legendary pirate Aruj, or "Redbeard".
 * Similarities have been drawn between Barbossa and LeChuck, a character from the Monkey Island series, itself inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
 * A number of visual clues foreshadow Barbossa's return in Dead Man's Chest: Jack inspects his hat at Tia Dalma's shack, and Barbossa's boots are seen while Tia is searching for the jar of dirt. Jack instinctively returns to his master upon being released from his cage.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean (game)
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (video game)
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
 * The Accidental Pirate!
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
 * Pirates of the Caribbean Online
 * Pirates of the Caribbean (ride)
 * Kingdom Hearts II