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Hector Barbossa magically transformed into a living skeleton under the moonlight.

"Esmeralda, you've been sailing around the Caribbean for a long time. You know about curses, and magic, and hoodoo, and Obeah. You know that, in the Caribbean, they really exist. Right?"
Jack Sparrow to Esmeralda[src]

Magic was the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation, ceremony, ritual, the casting of spells or various other techniques that presumably assured human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature.

History

Ancient times

"They say the pharaohs were all buried with heaps of gold and gems. Picture us finding some old pharaoh’s final resting place."
"La Vipère has too much draft to make it up the Nile, Jacques. Besides... didn’t those Egyptian priests have magical powers? You want to talk about curses, mon ami...
"
Jack Sparrow and Christophe-Julien de Rapièr[src]

Magic has been practiced in many cultures, and utilized ways of understanding, experiencing and influencing the world somewhat akin to those offered by religion, though it was sometimes regarded as more focused on achieving results than religious worship. Magic was often viewed with suspicion by the wider community, and was commonly practiced in isolation and secrecy.

SwordOfTriton

The Sword of Triton

The Sword of Triton, a magical blade with great powers, was believed to be made by the Greek god Triton himself.[1] Triton's father, the god Poseidon, also posessed a magical weapon, the legendary Trident of Poseidon.[2] The sea goddess Calypso designed a special metal chamber in which the mermaids locked Poseidon's magical gems, thus making themselves immune to the power of the Trident.[3]

The priests of Ancient Egypt and Kush were known to use magic. Their magic was powered by the green jewel that was given to them by the god Apedemak himself. When some of the Kushites moved to an island in the Atlantic Ocean, they took the jewel with them, continuing to practice their magic in their new homeland.[4]

Age of Discovery

"This is the cursed sword that gave Cortés the power to conquer the Aztec empire! Legend has it that the sword made him unstoppable in battle....And it gave him strange powers, like convincing the Aztecs that he was a god."
Arabella Smith about the Sword of Cortés[src]

By the time of the age of discovery, the use of magic among the Europeans was in decline. However, after the discovery of the Americas in 1492, several individuals who came to the New World used magic in their conquests of new lands. The Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés used a magical sword which made him unstoppable in battle. The powers of the sword convinced the Aztecs that Cortés was a god in human form.[5]

Cortés and his armies quickly conquered the Aztec Empire, slaughtering the Aztecs. Desperate, the Aztecs placed 882 identical pieces of Aztec gold in a stone chest which they gave to Cortés, hoping that he'll stop the carnage. But instead of satisfying Cortés, it merely fueled his greed. In response, the heathen gods placed a curse upon the gold: any mortal who removed a piece of the gold from the chest would be punished for eternity. The only way to lift the curse was to return all the Aztec gold pieces to the chest and a blood debt repaid to the heathen gods. Ultimately, the treasure of Cortés would end up in the caves of Isla de Muerta, an island that could only be found by those who knew where it was.[6] In the following decades, the dark magic of the treasure cursed the island itself.[7]

Approximately a century later, the sea goddess Calypso fell in love with the sailor Davy Jones. Jones agreed to an immortal life, with a single day out of every decade to spend with Calypso. In exchange, Jones would ferry the souls of those who died at sea into the afterlife, as well as saving those who were shipwrecked and drowning. To carry out this duty, Calypso gave him the Flying Dutchman, a ship with the magical abillity to sail to the world of the dead and back.[8]

Age of Piracy

AWEJackCompassFountainSearch

Jack Sparrow's compass was one of the best known magical items in the Caribbean.

"Why is it always magic and curses and metal ships and weird little dolls?"
Jack Sparrow[src]

By the early 17th century, the Age of Piracy began. The pirate captains wanted to secure the rule of the seas for themselves. And so they made an alliance with Davy Jones, who felt betrayed after he didn't find Calypso waiting for him after he carried out his duty for a decade. He showed them how to bind her, revealing them the secrets from the Journal of the Ancient Seas.[9] The Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court used the pieces of eight to bind Calypso in her bones, and the powerful magic trapped her in the human form of Tia Dalma.[8]

In 1630, the undead crew of the ghost ship known as the Black Pearl terrorized the Caribbean. Their reign of terror ended when Nathaniel Hawk and Danielle Greene found a mystical Incan artifact and used its magical powers to destroy the dreaded ship.[10]

Behind the scenes

"Heartier souls than I thought ye'd be. Aye, you must be stouthearted, indeed, to enter this cursed place. Ah, but there be magic here too, mateys. Anything can happen, as...you...shall...see."
Talking Skull[src]

Appearances

Notes and references

External links

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