Hector Barbossa's pirate sword

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"We are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things." The title of this article is conjectural. Although this article is based on canonical information, the actual name of this subject is pure conjecture.

Hector Barbossa's pirate sword
Production information
Type	Cutlass
Usage
Owner(s)	Hector Barbossa
Behind the scenes
First appearance	The Curse of the Black Pearl
Last appearance	At World's End
Cause	Barbossa became a privateer in the employ of England

"If any coward here dare challenge me, let him speak!"

―Hector Barbossa to his crew

This sword was a cutlass favored by Captain Hector Barbossa during the Age of Piracy. It may not be exactly like an admiral's sword, but in Barbossa's hands it was a lethal weapon. Barbossa most notably used this sword while he was captain of the Black Pearl and Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea.

History

"The rigging had come to life! Our own ship turned against us. Tangling the crew, wrapping around them like snakes...and wrapping around my leg. But me arms were free and my sword was at hand."

―Hector Barbossa to Jack Sparrow

Little is known of the early history of this sword, other than Hector Barbossa had acquired this cutlass sometime during the Age of Piracy. He kept the sword on his belt and used it on several occasions after he became captain of the Cobra, having kept it years after the destruction of his ship by the rogue pirates, and when he joined the crew aboard the Black Pearl as the first mate under Captain Jack Sparrow, with its first known use during the quest for the Shadow Gold. Barbossa still had the sword on his belt in the years following the mutiny against Jack, notably when Barbossa's crew battled a seemingly young castaway named Palaimon, at some point during the ten-year quest for the cursed crew of the Black Pearl to lift the Aztec curse.

Ten years after Barbossa's mutiny against Jack Sparrow, after the failed attempt to lift the curse at Isla de Muerta, Barbossa pulled out his sword after some of his crew pulled out their own swords to oppose him. Barbossa also pulled out his sword shortly before the battle between the Black Pearl and the Interceptor, ordering his crew to fire. In his last moments of being cursed, Barbossa used the sword in a duel with Jack Sparrow during the battle at Isla de Muerta.

Following his return from the dead by Tia Dalma, Barbossa had the sword when he revealed himself to the Sparrow's crew. Barbossa wore the sword throughout the war against Lord Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company, notably during the battle of Singapore, the voyage to rescue Jack Sparrow in Davy Jones' Locker, and his brief duel with Ian Mercer during the escape from the HMS Endeavour. This sword perhaps earned its best honor during the battle in Calypso's maelstrom, when Captain Barbossa fought against EITC soldiers and the crew of the Flying Dutchman while performing the marriage of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann aboard the Black Pearl, as well as having severed Morey's head with both his and Morey's swords. After the battle was won, Barbossa kept his sword on his belt as the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman attacked the Endeavour.

Barbossa later had the sword when he stole the Black Pearl from Sparrow once again, and upon discovering that part of the navigational charts was missing. Years later, Barbossa had this sword when his crew came under attack by Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, and Blackbeard himself used the Sword of Triton to turn the Pearl's rigging against her crew. As the ship's rigging wrapped around Barbossa's leg, he used his sword to cut off his leg. The fate of this sword is unknown, as Barbossa abandoned it when he became a privateer in the employ of King George II of Great Britain.

Behind the scenes

Hector Barbossa's sword first appeared in the 2003 junior novelization by Irene Trimble, where it was identified as a cutlass, for the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. According to a product description for "Limited Edition Hector Barbossa Sword" from Master Replicas, Barbossa's sword was inspired by a French Cavalry sword from the Napoleonic era.

In Irene Trimble's novelization for The Curse of the Black Pearl, near the end of the battle at Isla de Muerta, Barbossa grabs Elizabeth Swann and puts his sword to her throat. Whereas in the film, Barbossa aims his flintlock pistol at Elizabeth.

Appearances

• The Price of Freedom
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow
• Six Sea Shanties: Strangers Bearing Gifts
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) (First appearance)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War (In flashback(s))
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Mentioned only)

Non-canon appearances

• Pirates of the Caribbean (ride) (post-2006 revamp)
• Kingdom Hearts II
• Disney Infinity
• Kingdom Hearts III

Sources

• Master Replicas (First identified as Hector Barbossa Sword)