| For other uses, see Blood Ritual (disambiguation) |
| This article is about the ritual used for the Treasure of Cortés. You may be looking for the musical cue. |
- "Begun by blood. By blood undone."
- ―Hector Barbossa
The Blood Ritual was an ancient Aztec ceremony used for those who ran afoul of the curse that lied upon the Treasure of Cortés.
History[]
- "There is one way we can end our curse. All the scattered pieces of the Aztec gold must be restored and the blood repaid. Thanks to ye, we have the final piece."
"And the blood to be repaid?"
"That's why there's no sense to be killin' you...yet." - ―Hector Barbossa and Elizabeth Swann
The Aztec Empire delivered a stone chest with 882 pieces of Aztec gold to Hernán Cortés in an attempt to stop the slaughter of their people. But in his greed, Cortés refused to halt his conquest. In response, the heathen gods placed a curse upon the gold, so that any mortal who removed a single coin from it would be punished for all eternity. The only way to lift the curse was to return all the Aztec gold pieces to the chest and pay the heathen gods back in blood.[1]
The 882 medallions after Will performed the blood ritual.
Sometime after taking all the Aztec gold pieces, Captain Hector Barbossa's pirate crew ran afoul of the Aztec curse, during their finding the treasure at Isla de Muerta. It wasn't until Barbossa ridded himself of Bootstrap Bill Turner did the crew realized the ritual's requirements. By the time the crew collected all but one of the gold pieces, Barbossa and his men already gave their blood to the gold. However, they needed the blood of their last crewmen, who was lost to them, from their only child. Barbossa's first attempt on lifting the curse failed when they used the blood of a young woman, who they assumed to be Turner's child. The second attempt was delayed until after battle outside of Isla de Muerta, in which Bootstrap Bill's real child, Will Turner, lifted the curse. Jack Sparrow, having stolen one of the pieces of gold shortly before the battle, also added his own blood at this time by covering his coin in it and tossing it to Will.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
- "What was begun by blood, let blood now end!"
- ―Barbossa
- The name "Blood Ritual" is taken from the soundtrack music of the same name for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
- In The Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Barbossa performs the ritual while saying, "Begun by blood. By blood undone." While in the film's first screenplay draft, Barbossa says "What was begun by blood, let blood now end!"[2]
Appearances[]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First appearance)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
- Kingdom Hearts II (Non-canonical appearance)