Pirate Questions

June 19, 2004 12:34 PM

How did Captain Barbossa and his men satisfy the curse of the heathen gods? [mi]

In Pirates of the Caribbean, the pirates must satisfy the Incan gods to free themselves from the curse. To do this, they must pay the price in gold and blood. But how can they satisfy this latter condition when they can't bleed?

posted by SPrintF to media & arts (30 comments total)

I can only presume that the cursed didn't immediately become skeleto-pirates, but rather over time as the thousand daily physical insults of pirate life began to take their toll.

As an added point, I would very much like to know what became of Bootstrap Bill, who went to the bottom of the ocean attached to a cannon, but who was evidently under the same curse as the others.

Last thing: it's nitpicky, I know, but it was Aztec gods, not Incan gods.
posted by coelecanth at 12:41 PM on June 19, 2004

i believe they planned to kill someone else, thus blood.
posted by bob sarabia at 12:58 PM on June 19, 2004

also, if i remember correctly, bootstrap bill wasn't involved in the curse, since if he was, you couldn't kill him. I think it was something like he objected to what the crew was doing so they killed him
posted by bob sarabia at 12:59 PM on June 19, 2004

they could bleed... elizabeth stabbed barbosa before she found out about the curse, and the knife came out of his chest bloddy.
posted by rhapsodie at 1:01 PM on June 19, 2004

I imagine if Bootstrap was cursed, he'd have spent a good long, lonely time at the bottom of the ocean. Then the curse was lifted, and he drowned.

But I think he avoided the curse. Tried to get the pirates to go easy on the gold, was told to go swimming. So he'd have drowned soon after being strapped to the cannon(ball?)

The curse was lifted by the blood of a pirate being offered the the godz. Specifically, a pirate from the bloodline of the cursed pirates.

Which begs the question as to why they simply didn't slaughter any one of the innumerable brood they must have spawned during their human years. I don't for a moment believe Bootstrap would have been the only pirate that didn't wrap his willy while pillaging and plundering villages.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:04 PM on June 19, 2004

Tune in to the sequels for more answers...
posted by billsaysthis at 1:06 PM on June 19, 2004

They did need someone from the bloodline of the cursed pirates, and they found that person in Bootstrap Bill's son. Therefore, Bootstrap Bill WAS cursed. Also, he must have been killed while the curse was in effect because before he died, he sent the medallion to his son in England. In fact I THINK they specifically needed Bill's blood because he INITIATED the curse by removing and mailing off that medallion. Because he was mad about the mutiny.

So he probably DID drown, unless of course he looks and talks just like Michael Caine -- in which case there probably will be a sequel.

(Sorry -- I just watched this. And I am spending WAY too much time on the web.)
posted by coelecanth at 1:22 PM on June 19, 2004

Thought the curse started because all the pirates took the gold, and removing it demanded blood from/of each pirate?

I still don't get it - how could Bill have been killed while the immortality curse was in effect?
posted by casarkos at 1:26 PM on June 19, 2004

fff is right about the blood thing, it wasn't required to have blood from each pirate, i know that much.

and from here a poster says that in the dvd commentary they state that bill is indeed alive at the bottom of the sea, but is effectively stuck there due to the deepness of the sea. so i guess that's another opinion
posted by bob sarabia at 1:54 PM on June 19, 2004

At the end of the film a pirate was blown up by a grenade in his ribcage and didn't look like he'd be coming back for more, so perhaps the crushing depths of the ocean would pulverise Bootstrap Bill. Or he'll turn up in the next one with a pegleg.
posted by TheCuriousOrange at 2:00 PM on June 19, 2004

Wasn't the whole, point of the Pirates chasing down Kiera Knightley to get her blood? And wasn't the big plot hole in the film that the heroes should actually have freed them from the curse so that they were then vulnerable, rather than working so hard to stop the removal of the curse.
(And a smaller point, why wasn't knightley cursed, since she had a gold coin herself?)
posted by biffa at 2:19 PM on June 19, 2004

She nicked it from Bloom, not the Aztec box.
posted by TheCuriousOrange at 2:21 PM on June 19, 2004

is effectively stuck there due to the deepness of the sea

was stuck there. The curse has been lifted, ergo he is now dead, either turned to dust like the other pirates, or drowned when he was released from the spell.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:33 PM on June 19, 2004

I thought the blood part was supposed to be Elizabeth's, didn't they initially prick her finger to make her bleed on the coins? I am a sucker for that movie.
posted by GriffX at 3:00 PM on June 19, 2004

was stuck there.

ah, right right. OR since they turn into bone and dust in the darkness, once he got to the bottom of the sea, his boney form enabled him to slip from his restraints. Then he swam for the surface, ready for the sequel!

and yeah it was supposed to be elizabeths blood, for what reason i dont know.
posted by bob sarabia at 3:12 PM on June 19, 2004

hmm i guess he would have to be at the depth so that there's darkness but not enough pressure to crush you into grossness. which i think is possible in movieland
posted by bob sarabia at 3:16 PM on June 19, 2004

I thought the blood part was supposed to be Elizabeth's, didn't they initially prick her finger to make her bleed on the coins?

She gave her last name as Turner when she got caught, so they thought they needed her blood.
posted by Pockets at 3:41 PM on June 19, 2004

Wasn't the whole, point of the Pirates chasing down Kiera Knightley to get her blood?

Wow. Ummm. No.

The point was that they had to get the blood of every person who had taken gold from the box....

I thought the blood part was supposed to be Elizabeth's, didn't they initially prick her finger to make her bleed on the coins?

The pirates kidnap Kiera (aka Elizabeth) in error thinking she is Bootstrap Bill's child (she's of the right age, she has the coin, she gives Will's last name as her own), and spill her blood thinking it will break the curse.

However, she took the coin from (and gave the last name of) from Orlando Bloom's character (who is actually Bootstrap Bill's child) when she found him shipwrecked when they were both children. Its his blood they need to break the curse.

They break the curse by putting all the gold back in, along with the blood of Will (Orlando Bloom, Bootstrap Bill's son) and Jack (Depp, who stole gold out of the box just prior to the final battle).

Depp and the Director say pretty clearly in the commentary that Bootstrap Bill is alive throughout the movie, just chained to something heavy at the bottom of the sea and unable to escape. We should presume he drowns when the curse is broken.
posted by anastasiav at 3:47 PM on June 19, 2004

OR since they turn into bone and dust in the darkness

Actually, they turn all skeletal in the moonlight.

And I was wondering about the fate of Bootstrap too -- thanks for the info from the commentary.
posted by rafter at 3:50 PM on June 19, 2004

Then he swam for the surface, ready for the sequel!

I'd be surprised if he wasn't in the sequel, but he shouldn't be in the sequel: with the breaking of the curse, he should by all rights be as dead as every other one of the zombie pirates.

Zombie pirates. Mmmmm!
posted by five fresh fish at 4:29 PM on June 19, 2004

And Inca most definitely != Aztec, just FYI.
posted by signal at 5:36 PM on June 19, 2004

I'd be surprised if he wasn't in the sequel, but he shouldn't be in the sequel: with the breaking of the curse, he should by all rights be as dead as every other one of the zombie pirates.

Unless he'd managed to free himself from his chains and had long ago walked ashore, and was now trying to find his son, while avoiding his former crewmates like the plague.
posted by hob at 8:15 PM on June 19, 2004

I think the zombie pirates got to be alive again after the curse lifted. Capt. Barbosa had just come back to life when he was shot and the other former zombies gave up in the middle of battle when they discovered they were alive again.

And if the zombies could walk under water, as we saw, maybe bootstrap bill dragged his canon along and made it out.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:47 PM on June 19, 2004

Didn't the zombies subsequently turn to dust, though? They aged 100 years in a few minutes, no?
posted by five fresh fish at 9:59 PM on June 19, 2004

It had only been ten years. Most were fighting the Royal Navy on board -- was it Dauntless? -- and were either run through or surrendered, presumably to be hanged.
posted by coelecanth at 10:44 PM on June 19, 2004

Really? I could have sworn we saw them croak.

If not, then Dad must show up in the sequel. I hope he's as hammy as Depp.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:16 AM on June 20, 2004

two points:

1. While the medallions are clearly inspired by Aztec art, and IIRC may be referred to as Aztec sold, for whatever odd reason, the coffer they are kept in clearly displays Incan motifs. Make of this what you will.

2. Bootstrap has had about thirteen years (ten? seems liek a number is mentioned) to get out of the chains. We see the pyrates walk on the bottom of the ocean. How long would it take to climb out of the Marianas Trench? He's been undead in hiding, is now alive, and will feature prominently in the next film. With any luck he'll be played by Ricky Gervais.

So says mwhybardini.

BTW, the sound design on the DVD is very nearly as good as The Two Towers, both of which films have led me to get up and open my apartment door to check on a noise in the hall, only to realize it was from the film.
posted by mwhybark at 12:48 AM on June 20, 2004

Speaking of Johnny Depp and Dad, rumor is Keith Richards will cameo as Jack Sparrow's father in the sequel.
posted by dong_resin at 4:15 AM on June 20, 2004

Is that just for the shots in moonlight, or all the time?
posted by coelecanth at 8:39 AM on June 20, 2004

I only just saw this movie and absolutely loved Johnny Depp in it and I'm so tickled to read this serio-comic discussion of the plot
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:54 AM on June 20, 2004