Captain Barbossa

"*For too long I've been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing. Not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea. Nor the warmth of a woman's flesh. You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner... you're in one!*"
—Barbossa

## Barbossa

### First appearance

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

### Films

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

### Attractions

A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas
Barbossa's Bounty
Disney Pirates Summer
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
Siren's Revenge
Tortuga Tavern

## Biographical information

### ship(s)

The Wicked Wench
The Black Pearl (formerly)

## Physical description

### Species

Human
Undead (formerly)

### Eye color

Blue

**Captain Hector Barbossa** often referred to simply as **Captain Barbossa** or **Barbossa** is the main-antagonist of the film *Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl* (2003), and a recurring character in the *Pirates of the Caribbean* franchise. Barbossa's character and franchise had noticeable impact on the Jungle Cruise film, with Jack also being a prominent Adventureland character connected to the lore of the *Jungle Cruise* franchise.

## History

### Background

*The extent of intersection between the continuity of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Pirates of the Caribbean attractions are unknown. The movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) is not to be considered (fully) cannon due to continuity errors with established lore and characterization of prior Pirates of the Caribbean stories.*

#### Origins

Hector Barbossa was a West-English/Portuguese man born around the late 17th century. By the 1710s, Barbossa became a pirate of the Caribbean. Barbossa was hired out of Tortuga to be first-mate of Captain Jack Sparrow aboard his vessel The Black Pearl on an expedition to find conquistador Cortés' treasure of Isla de Muerta, an island which could only be found by those who already knew where it was.

Barbossa manipulated Jack out of the island's coordinates and then lead a mutiny, becoming the Black Pearl's new captain and leaving Jack marooned on a small island with nothing but his compass, sword and a flintlock with one shot to commit suicide with. Barbossa and his crew then took to Isla de Muerta where they stole 882 identical Aztec gold medallions from a stone chest, ignorant to the legends of the gold having been cursed by mesoamerican gods as punishment for Hernán Cortés' crimes against their people.

After leaving the island, Barbossa's crew came to be aware that they were cursed by the gold to be unfeeling, undying, and to be turned into rotting skeletal corpses in the moonlight. When crew-mate William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner sent off his medallion to his son, claiming that they deserved the curse and to stay cursed, Barbossa had his men strap Bootstrap's bootstraps to a cannon and send him off to the bottom of the ocean. It was only after this that Barbossa learned he needed the blood of every member of the crew who stole from the chest to be returned in-order to undo the curse.

At some point, Barbossa came into possession of a chunk of wood which was actually one of the, "Nine Pieces of Eight" used by the Brethren Court to imprison the goddess of the sea, Calypso. This belonging made Barbossa one of the nine pirate lords of the Brethren Court, holding the title, "Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea". Barbossa left the wood in the possession of his crew-mate Ragetti who carved it into a wooden eye.

#### The Curse of the Black Pearl

Around 1721, Barbossa found the lost medallion in possession of Governor Weatherby Swann's daughter Elizabeth in Port Royal, Jamaica. Elizabeth arranged a parlay with Barbossa to give him the medallion in return for him leaving, while assuming the fake name of Elizabeth Turner to keep her noble-birth a secret, a name she took from William Turner whom she met when making the crossing from England. Because of this, Barbossa believed her have Bootstrap Bill's blood needed to life the curse. Meanwhile, the real Will Turner was assisted by Jack in finding Barbossa to save Elizabeth, while Jack was plotting to reclaim the Pearl.

When Will realized Jack's true intentions, he rendered him unconscious and left him for Barbossa while making off with Elizabeth on the Pearl. Barbossa then took Jack captive and sought after the escapees, destroying their ship in the process. After negotiating with Will for Elizabeth and the crew's safety, Barbossa marooned Jack and Elizabeth on the same island where he marooned Jack years prior. Before he could kill Will for his blood, Jack returned once more and told him that he and Elizabeth had arranged for the British navy to ambush Barbossa outside of Isla de Muerta.

Jack and Barbossa made peace with the two sending out Barbossa's cursed men to kill the navy, only for Jack to betray Barbossa and use Will's hand-blood to end the curse. This caused the crew of the Black Pearl to be arrested by the British, while Jack shot Barbossa in the heart with the same gun he left him marooned with. Barbossa exclaimed, "I feel cold" before dying in the island's treasure chamber.

#### War on Piracy

The late Barbossa's monkey Jack stole a medallion from the chest to become once again undead, before the island sank into the sea. After this, Barbossa's corpse came into the possession of Voodoo practitioner Tia Dalma, actually Calypso bound in human form. Calypso used her magics to resurrect Barbossa with the end-goal of using his Pirate Lord status to manipulate the Brethren Court into freeing her in return for his own survival.

After the Black Pearl was sunken by the Kraken with Captain Jack Sparrow aboard, Calypso revealed Barbossa to be alive to the Pearl's survivors, being a captain who knew the waters of the dead. After this, Barbossa headed the expedition to travel to Davy Jones' Locker at World's End and recover both the sunken Black Pearl and Sparrow's soul for Calypso's plans meanwhile the British East-India Trading Company waged a war on piracy using an enslaved Davy Jones. Barbossa, Elizabeth Swann, William Turner, Calypso, and various others travelled to Singapore to acquire the mystical *Mao Kun Map* by Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, Sao Feng.

Using the map, Barbossa charted a course off the edge of the world and to the land of the dead where they recovered Jack and the Black Pearl. Jack and Barbossa were thus forced to co-captain the Black Pearl as they made their escape to the land of the living. Upon taking the Pearl to Shipwreck Cove to meet with the assembled Brethren Court, Barbossa failed to convince the court to free Calypso; with the Court instead being manipulated by a compromised Jack into voting Elizabeth Swann in as Pirate King so she could wage war on the British and unknowingly lead the pirates into a trap.

When Jack's traitorous status was revealed, Elizabeth sold him to the British in-return for her lover William's freedom, though stayed adamant in going to war with the British. Before Jack was taken away, Barbossa sliced his Piece of Eight from where it was braided to his hair to use in freeing Calypso on his own. Barbossa proceeded to use the nine pieces of eight to free Calypso, and while he retained his life, Calypso turned on the court for its crimes against her and created a maelstrom as the British and the pirates fought.

Amidst the battle, William and Elizabeth had Barbossa officiate their marriage mid-fight. Barbossa was also amongst the pirate leaders to lead the order to gun-down the East India Trading Company's flag-ship *The Endeavour*, after trapping it between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman under the command of William Turner; killing EITC leader Lord Cutler Beckett in the process while assuring victory for the pirates. Following this, Jack and Barbossa went to Tortuga where Barbossa lead another mutiny against Jack, stealing the Black Pearl and Mao Kun Map so he could find the Fountain of Youth. However, Barbossa came to find that the map's contents were actually carved out and stolen by Jack who set off to find the fountain on his own.

#### Treasure Cove

After the War on Piracy, Barbossa would have a presence on the pirate occupied isle of Treasure Cove. Here, Barbossa opened a tavern known as, "Barbossa's Bounty".

#### Treasures of the Seven Seas

After Calypso was freed, Barbossa and his crew competed with that of Jack Sparrow to acquire her *Treasure of the Pacific*. The Treasure of the Pacific was within the possession of the Umbala Tribe of North Africa who turned pirates which sought out their treasure into undead mounted skulls. Captain Jack Sparrow earned the favour of Calypso, and stole the Treasure of the Pacific before Barbossa and his crew were able to.

#### On Stranger Tides

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#### Sacking Puerto Dorado

At some point in time, Barbossa came to be the captain of a red & gold pirate ship known as *The Wicked Wench*.

### Development history

Barbossa was created for the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, loosely inspired by the attraction's Captain of the Wicked Wench (modelled after the historic pirate Blackbeard) along with various skeletons from the attraction. In 2006, Barbossa was integrated into the original attraction, replacing the captain who inspired his creation.

## Jungle Cruise connections

### Attractions

#### A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas

In the, "Heads you Lose!" mission, Barbossa and Jack compete to rob the Treasure of the Pacific from the Headhunter tribe originating from the Jungle Cruise.

#### Trader Sam's

Captain Barbossa's ship *The Wicked Wench* appears within a bottle in both *Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar* and *Trader Sam's Grog Grotto*. When the drink *Shipwreck on the Rocks* is ordered, the Wench comes to life and sinks in a storm while the bartender and waiters imitate pirates abandoning ship.

### Film

#### Jungle Cruise (film)

Lope de Aguirre's curse is very similar to that of Captain Hector Barbossa from *Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl* (2003), the first major blockbuster film to be based on a Disney Parks attraction.

### Other connections

#### Skipper Canteen

In the Skipper Canteen's library is a book titled *Profiles of Legendary Pirates of the Caribbean* by Gibson. This is an allusion to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction and would likely include Barbossa's profile within.

#### Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

In the *Aladdin* themed missions, various pirates of Puerto Dorado are seen aiding Jafar, Iago and Hades in hunting-down Merlin. While none are shown, the implication is that they would belong to the Wicked Wench's crew from the attraction and therefore, Barbossa's command.

## Trivia

* In *A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas*, Barbossa is incorrectly identified as, "**Captain J. Barbossa**" despite his first-name being Hector.
* The chimpanzee named Maggie imitates another one of the Wicked Wench's captains in Disneyland's Jungle Cruise.

## References

1. ↑ On Stranger Tides has inconsistent continuity references in the parks