Scimitar

"I've never even heard of Ammand the Corsair. So he can't be too bad. My—I mean, I've heard, uh, Spanish noblemen complaining about the Barbary pirates for years, and his name never came up."
"He's new. They say he murdered the last Pirate Lord and his entire crew by himself, using only his scimitar and deadly skill. He took the title with violence, and ever since he has been wreaking havoc from Morocco to Turkey."

―Carolina and a sailor

A scimitar is a single-edged sword with a backward-curved blade, associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. The term includes a broad family of swords, and does not refer to one specific sword type. These swords include the Persian shamshir (the origin of the word scimitar), the Arab saif, the Indian talwar, the North African nimcha, and the Turkish kilij. The blade of a scimitar is generally narrow and equal in width along most of its length. The upper third of the blade either narrows or widens toward the tip, and in some designs the upper third of the back edge of the blade is sharpened as well.

History

The Barbary Corsairs under Ammand, as well as the Indian pirates under Sumbhajee Angria, were known for their usage of scimitars. Notably, both of the aforementioned Pirate Lords' flags featured scimitars in their designs. Others who carried scimitars included the pirate Bo'sun aboard the Black Pearl, the guards of the Turkish Prison, and the cursed pirate Piper aboard the Flying Dutchman.

Behind the scenes

Scimitars first appear in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. They are first identified by name in Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide and Day of the Shadow. One of the weapons in the cancelled video game Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned was a Pirate Lord's Scimitar.

On March 12, 2025, Principal Dimensional Designer Steve of Walt Disney Imagineering showed one of Blaine Gibson's original pirate maquettes from Peter Pan's Flight in Magic Kingdom.

Appearances

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide (First identified as scimitar)
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First appearance)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

External links

• Scimitar on Wikipedia