Blackbeard (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, better known by the name Blackbeard, was a legendary pirate captain from real-world history. He is named for his long black beard which he braided beards and lit fuses into to scare his enemies.
As a famous historical figure, Blackbeard has appeared in different incarnations in several Disney-related products. In the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, he serves as the main antagonist of the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, as well as appearing in the Disney Parks attraction.
==Background==
===Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides===
This Blackbeard is much different than the one who appears in Blackbeard's Ghost, being adapted from Tim Powers' interpretation of Blackbeard in his novel On Stranger Tides, where Blackbeard escaped his historical death by way of voodoo magic.
According to Blackbeard's official character description in Disney's website for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides:
:The blackest soul and the darkest heart of any pirate who ever lived, striking fear into the bravest of sailors.
:Blackbeard, a name uttered in terror by all who sail the sea, or any unfortunate enough to encounter him on dry land. His flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, is manned by zombies, festooned with the bones of his victims and spits fire from its bow to incinerate enemy ships, or the occasional crew member fallen out of favor. Blackbeard dabbles in the Black Arts and wields a sword imbedded with one of the three sapphires of Triton. But Blackbeard lives under the shadow of a prophesied death, his only hope the restorative waters of the Fountain of Youth. Whatever it takes, no matter who is crushed beneath the weight of his heartless ambition, Blackbeard will get there, by any possible means.
Though Angelica's identity as the daughter of Blackbeard was questionable, this is her backstory in according to Disney Second Screen:
:The wee newborn Angelica was brought to a nearby convent by her father upon her mother's untimely passing. Angelica's heartbroken father, who dearly loved Angelica's mother, could not bear to raise their child alone himself, and thus entrusted her to the nuns for a proper upbringing. Angelica lived there, in the convent, as a child, and then as a young novitiate. Her father regularly sent monies (considerable monies at that) for her care. The nuns never asked how he came about his riches. They told the little Angelica that her pappy was a fine sea captain, away across the ocean on important business, and that he loved her very much. And that was all they dared tell her.Disney Second Screen: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
==Film appearances==
===Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End===
While not directly featured in the film, audio of Paul Frees' portrayal of the Blackbeard-inspired Pirate Captain from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride is played in this film. After the Hai Peng passes over a waterfall to enter Davy Jones' Locker, a voice clip of the Blackbeard-inspired Pirate Captain shouting out, "Strike your colors, you bloomin' cockroaches!" can be heard along with an instrumental version of Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) playing in the background.
===Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides===
Before the events of On Stranger Tides, Blackbeard was the pirate all pirates fear as captain. He was ruthless, malicious, and cruel to his prisoners, often torturing them mostly for his own selfish amusement, occasionally murdering men just so they could remember who he was. Blackbeard dabbles in the Black Arts and wields the Sword of Triton, embedded with one of the three sapphires of Triton. His ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, is manned by zombie officers. Through mysterious means, Blackbeard could turn full-sized ships into individual ships in bottles, keeping each as a prize.
At some point before the events of the film, Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge attacked Hector Barbossa's Black Pearl, with Blackbeard using his sword to turn the ship against Barbossa's crew with the ship's own rigging. Unbeknownst to Barbossa, who escaped by chopping off his right leg and believed the Pearl to be sunk, Blackbeard shrunk the Black Pearl down with his voodoo magic and placed it in a bottle. Angelica met with Blackbeard, serving as his first mate and claiming to conning the infamous pirate to be his daughter. As his age began to catch up with him, Blackbeard received a prophecy from his zombie quartermaster that a "one-legged man" would end his life. His only hope is to seek the legendary Fountain of Youth, and no matter who is crushed beneath the weight of his heartless ambition, Blackbeard will get to the Fountain, by any possible means.
Having heard that Jack Sparrow had been to the Fountain of Youth, Blackbeard began sent Angelica to press-gang Jack into his crew, with Angelica also impersonating Sparrow in London to recruit more crew-members to serve under Blackbeard's zombies. Five days into the voyage, Blackbeard met Jack face-to-face and forced him to lead them to the Fountain with the threat of a voodoo doll. With help of Jack and Angelica, Blackbeard continued his quest for the Fountain. He captured the mermaid Syrena for her tear as part of the ritual to gain the years of life from another and badly wounded Philip Swift, the missionary she was in love with to get it. At the Fountain of Youth, Blackbeard met Barbossa, the one-legged man in the quartermaster's prophecy, and fell victim to a stab from Barbossa's poisoned sword. Jack then tricked Blackbeard into drinking from a chalice without the mermaid's tear in it to save the life of his daughter, who had also been poisoned by the sword. Blackbeard's remains now lay at the Fountain's ruins. Afterwards, Angelica confronts Jack Sparrow, who showed extreme fury towards Jack for the death of her father.
==Printed media==
===Kingdom Keepers I: Disney After Dark===
One of The Overtakers from Pirates of the Caribbean identifies himself as Blackbeard, resembling the character's incarnation from the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride. He rides on the XP-40 Space Cruiser from Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and uses the ship's laser to attack the protagonist Finn Whitman.
==Video games==
===Kinect: Disneyland Adventures===
Blackbeard appears as the main-antagonist of the Pirates of the Caribbean mini games within this video-game. However despite the name, the character here seems to be an analogue for Hector Barbossa as they have effectively the same design just with a color-swap (and no beard). Regardless he fights with the player and Black Barty (likely a Jack Sparrow analogue) to get to a treasure first.
===Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game===
Blackbeard reprises his role from the films in the On Stranger Tides segments of this video game. Furthermore, he can be unlocked as a playable character within the game.
===Disney Crossy Road===
Blackbeard is a playable character within this mobile app game, based off of his On Stranger Tides incarnation.
==Disney Parks==
===Pirates of the Caribbean===
Edward Teach, better known as the infamous Blackbeard, served as inspiration for the "Poster-Pirate" for Disneyland and Disneyland Paris' pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Disneyland's poster shows him with a parrot on his shoulder, digging up the treasure-chest of William Kidd while Disneyland Paris' shows him approaching the island of Isla Tesoro with a cutlass in hand. Walt Disney World's poster shows a clearly Blackbeard-inspired captain albeit with a blue coat and brown hair, in modern times some have taken this to represent Hector Barbossa.
====1967-2006====
Although none of the characters in the original attraction are a depiction of an actual historical figure, Blackbeard was inferred to be the Pirate Captain (voiced by Paul Frees) of the ride's central pirate ship The Wicked Wench. However, according to Jason Surrell's book From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, the character was only inspired by the historical pirate, with the only things missing are the lit fuses that he would braid into his beard to give himself a demonic appearance that helped to cower his foes. In the ride, the black-bearded Pirate Captain would be seen on his galleon the Wicked Wench as he shouted insults and threats to the Spanish soldiers in the seaside fortress he was attacking in search for its cursed treasure.
The captain of the Wench was heavily based on the real-life Blackbeard in that he had a long braided black beard, decorative ribbons tied into his facial hair, a leather baldric which held multiple pistols. The character as seen in the ride was developed from concept-art made of the historic pirate captain by animator Marc Davis. Even later into the attraction, his facial features were drawn very similar to historic illustrations of Edward Teach. The flag flown by the Wicked Wench was also historically the Jolly Roger flown by Blackbeard.
Between 1997 and 2006 at Disneyland's incarnation, a reproduction of Blackbeard's portrait from Blackbeard's Ghost was stashed within the treasure that a pair of pirates were struggling to drag up the lift-hill at the end of the ride. This was included due to that refurbishment having had taken influence from the film in new tableaus applied to the town pillaging scene and the Pooped Pirate.
In the year 2006, the Blackbeard-inspired Pirate Captain's animatronic was replaced by that of Hector Barbossa from the film series. It should be noted that Barbossa himself was an adaptation of the Pirate Captain from the original ride.
====2011-2017====
On February 11, 2011, actor Ian McShane (Blackbeard) appeared on a soundstage in Los Angeles for a special "head shot" that would be featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction on May 20, to coincide with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Walt Disney Imagineering writer Michael Sprout, (who wrote the script for Bill Nighy as Davy Jones several years prior) was on hand to direct the special shoot with Ian McShane. Sprout said, "He came in wearing his complete Blackbeard costume, including the sword, saying it helped him stay in character!"Blackbeard Comes Aboard at Disneyland Park and Magic Kingdom Park May 20 However, as this was a "head shot", the sword would not be seen in the ride itself.
In 2011, Blackbeard was added to the ride in Disneyland in Walt Disney World where his face would be projected onto a waterfall guests pass through. Ultimately this effect would be removed from all but the Florida variation of the attraction where his face would alternate with that of Davy Jones.
At some date unknown in November 2013, Blackbeard (the character portrayed by Ian McShane) was removed from the mist waterfall scene in the attraction with Davy Jones now only appearing in the ride until 2018, when the mist waterfall scene was replaced with the original 1967 narration in Disneyland.
Afterwards, at the Disneyland version, only his disembodied voice would be heard speaking to guests as they are transported from Isla Tesoro in the 18th century to 19th/20th century New Orleans. This dialogue will switch between that of Davy Jones, and that of Blackbeard's, with both undead pirates mentioning how they will encounter guests when they set sail again and how they narrowly averted death. In the Magic Kingdom version, only Blackbeard would be heard.
====Disneyland Paris====
The Blackbeard-inspired Pirate Captain leads the pirate raid on Isla Tesoro rather than Barbossa continues to be featured in Disneyland Paris' version of Pirates of the Caribbean. In this version of the attraction however, his pirate ship looks considerably different; possibly indicating it to be a different ship than the Wicked Wench. This version of the pirate's ship has a black hull with red stripes, red sails and gold ornamentation; the same color-scheme as the Queen Anne's Revenge from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Up until 2017, the Captain made an additional appearance in the town pillage scene. In this scene, a swashbuckling citizen of Puerto Dorado engaged in a sword-fight with the Captain to protect a nearby maiden from him. While this effect continues to exist, both animatronics were seemingly replaced or re-sculpted and while the swashbuckler was recreated, the Captain was replaced by a lady pirate in an eyepatch. This was likely due to the effect having a troubled history with the sword-fighting audio-animatronics legitimately damaging one another with their swords.
In 2017, the mist waterfall scene showing either images of Blackbeard or Davy Jones during the scene when the boats are going up a large hill leading to the fort in the Disneyland Paris attraction was added on July 24, 2017, as part of the attraction's reopening when Disney announced that the Paris version would have characters from the film in June 2017. Additionally the restaurant of the Blue Lagoon would be refurbished as, "Captain Jack's" which in its backstory formerly belonged to Blackbeard's daughter, here identified as, "Angelica Teach".
====World of Color====
During the Pirates of the Caribbean segment, Blackbeard appears, saying "And what fate befalls mutineers? Now we know the answer to that, do we not?" Blackbeard raises the Sword of Triton while saying "Mutineers...Hang!" before the next part of the segment.
===Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island===
The name, "Blackbeard" is written on a chest located on the rafts which transport guests from New Orleans Square to Tom Sawyer Island. It is possible that the implication is this is a chest of treasure which was amongst the treasure smuggled to Jackson Island by its piratical residents.
===Tortuga Tavern===
A mural of Blackbeard appears within this tavern-themed restaurant. Additionally, there is a book kept by the shop-keep Arabella "Belle" Smith which details her customers and is opened to the pages of the Black Pearl and the Queen Anne's Revenge. Blackbeard/Edward Teach is mentioned on the page for the Queen Anne's Revenge as a customer of the tavern with the page also listing his crew from the On Stranger Tides film, notably Angelica as First Mate.
===A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas===
Blackbeard is the main-antagonist of the Treasure of the Mediterranean mission of this interactive game found in the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland. In it he competes with Jack Sparrow and Sparrow's operatives in the Pirate League in a race to obtain the Treasure of the Mediterranean after being informed by his spies.
===Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar===
A cannon in Trader Sam's possession has a tag on it which reads, "Traded this from a mean looking pirate with a black beard...and a pretty daughter". This referencing not only Blackbeard but also Angelica. A miniature Wicked Wench also appears bottled up on the shelf in both Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel and Trader Sam's Grog Grotto in Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. The Wicked Wench will come to life and sink when the, "Shipwreck on the Rocks" is ordered, incidentally resembling how Blackbeard bottled up ships in On Stranger Tides.
===Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure===
In the queue for this attraction, Blackbeard's wanted poster can be seen amongst those for Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and Davy Jones within Fort Snobbish. The illustration of him in the poster is made to resemble his historic wood-cut inking from Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of Pyrates (1724).
==Differences from History==
*Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is set around the year 1750. In real life, Blackbeard died in 1718, over thirty years before the events of the film, which depicts his history as legend, such as his beheading. Furthermore, the Queen Anne's Revenge is his ship in the film, while in real-life it was wrecked in 1718.
*With more supernatural elements written into his character, Blackbeard is shown to be a voodoo practitioner in this film. Not only did the historic Blackbeard have no affiliation with voodoo, but voodoo is a religion practiced by black people of the Americas while Blackbeard (in history and the film) is clearly white and English. While pop-culture depicts Haitian-Voodoo along the same lines as witch-craft, it is in reality a fairly normal religion which has simply been vilified and heavily fictionalized by pop-culture due to racism regarding the black community.
**Blackbeard is shown using a Voodoo Doll in the film. Voodoo dolls have no actual affiliation with voodoo and instead comes from European witchcraft, only being affiliated with voodoo in the 1930s due to pop-culture vilification.
*The Queen Anne's Revenge is shown to be capable of projecting Greek Fire from its stern. In history, Greek Fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine empire around the 7th century. Greek Fire's recipe remains a mystery and absolutely would not have been known by 18th century colonial pirates in the Americas.
*The Jolly Roger flown by the Queen Anne's Revenge is a fanged skull surrounded by fire with blood dripping from its mouth. This Jolly Roger is completely fictitious and not resembling any of the historically documented or proposed flags Blackbeard used.
*Blackbeard is shown to die by disintegrating in a vortex at the Fountain of Youth. In real life he died in North Carolina after he had been sliced 20 times by Lt. Robert Maynard, shot five or six times, decapitated, and had his decapitated body sink to the ocean floor not before having circled around the ship three times while his head was suspended from the bowsprit of Lt. Maynard's sloop (so the reward could be collected). His real life death was one of his legends in the film, in which he was beheaded, swam around his ship three times then climbed back on board.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*According to Disney Pirates: The Definitive Collector's Anthology, Marc Davis originally intended to put historical pirates like Blackbeard, Sir Henry Morgan, Anne Bonny, and Captain Kidd into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride but he eventually decided to "find ways to add something that people could get a laugh out of" instead. However, as implied by such sources as Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, the Pirate Captain from the attraction was based on Blackbeard rather than the historical pirate himself.
*Blackbeard's quote "If I don't kill a man every now and then, they forget who I am" was inspired by a quote from the historic Blackbeard which he reportedly said after accidentally shooting his former sailing master Israel Hands in the knee while attempting to murder the man beside him during a game of cards.
**Jack Sparrow's comment about his being dead and Blackbeard's reply in their first meeting was a reference to how Blackbeard had died in real life: he had been sliced 20 times by Lt. Robert Maynard, shot five or six times, decapitated, and had his decapitated body sink to the ocean floor not before having circled around the ship three times while his head was suspended from the bowsprit of Lt. Maynard's sloop (so the reward could be collected).
**When Blackbeard appears to sedate the mutiny, his beard is slightly burning: this is a reference to the real-life habit of Teach to tie lighted fuses to his beard in order to scare his enemies.
*Teach is the first real-life pirate to appear in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
*Before Ian McShane was cast as Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Javier Bardem and Benicio del Toro were considered for the role (Bardem was later cast as Captain Salazar in the following film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales).
*Actor Ian McShane was slated to voice the Ghost Host in Guillermo del Toro's unproduced film adaptation of the Haunted Mansion. The Ghost Host was voiced by Paul Frees who also voiced the Blackbeard character in the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
*Captain Edward Teague from the Pirates of the Caribbean films appears to be modelled after the, "Captain of the Wicked Wench" design of Blackbeard from the ride.
**The name Edward Teague also seems to be a portmanteau of Edward Teach. Teague's clothing and facial hair are similar to written accounts of Blackbeard's appearance.
*Blackbeard from the rides inspired the creation of Barbossa from the film series.
**Barbossa quotes Blackbeard from the ride twice in the film-series. First saying, "Strike your colors, you bloomin' cockroaches!" while in battle with the HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and, "Raise yer colors ya bloomin' cockroaches!" while commanding the Queen Anne's Revenge at the end of Stranger Tides.
**In original scripts, Barbossa was referred to as "Blackheart", which was likely inspired by Blackbeard's own moniker.
==See also==
*Blackbeard (Blackbeard's Ghost)
*Black Beard
==References==
==External links==
*
*Blackbeard on Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki
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