Hector Barbossa

Hector Barbossa is a Pirate Captain and the main antagonist of Disney's 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and later, the main protagonist from the last three Pirates of the Caribbean series from 2006-11. He was Captain Jack Sparrow's first mate when Sparrow was Captian of the Black Pearl, but after leading a mutiny against Jack became the Captain of the Black Pearl himself. He has a strange liking for apples. He is portrayed by Geoffrey Rush.

Personality
Barbossa was a tall man speaking with a strong West Country accent and uses the pirate "arrgh".

His face was covered with pockmarks or freckles and he had many scars, the most notable one is under his right eye. He wore his auburn, greying hair long and partially loose, partially tied up to a thin plait. He had a straggly beard running down to the base of his neck. Barbossa also had a braid descending from the top of his head to the back of his head. After his resurrection, he painted his long and sharp fingernails black.

With the curse upon him, Barbossa's face became weathered and gaunt over time, with yellowed eyes giving him a particularly sinister appearance. Under the light of the moon, Barbossa transformed into a living corpse with rags for clothing. Interestingly, his appearance in the moonlight showed somewhat less decomposition than that of his crewmen; for example, the soft tissues of his nose remained, whereas most of his crew's nasal cavities were exposed.

Barbossa wore fine clothing befitting a man of his stature and status, and he carried many valuable items about his person. His suit consisted of dark brown, full breeches, a brown, double-breasted waistcoat elaborately ornamented by a pattern and a grey coat with black cuffs, black liner and thin black brims around the buttonholes, fitted with buttons made from melted down Inca silver stolen from Spanish ships. He also wore brown leather swash boots and a faded light-green bandanna. At the end of his time as the Cursed Crew's captain his shirt was dirty and grey, but after his resurrection, he wore a shining white one. A yellow sash worn under a leather baldric with a patinated bronze buckle and a leather baldric with a big, frame-shaped silver buckle, a smaller silver loop and a silver cover at the end, all 3 elaborately ornamented, complete his outfit. On his left hand he wore a black leather gauntlet, presumably in order to protect the hand.

He was rarely seen without his big, round, dark hat which is decorated with blue ostrich feathers as a show of vanity. There were several holes and cracks in the hat's brims and during Barbossa's duel with Jack Sparrow on Isla de Muerta his opponent has cut off some of the ostrich feathers.

The jewellery he wore consisted of a silver ring, which bore the image of a lion's head, plundered from a Venetian ship and signifying Barbossa's status as leader of his pirates on his right ring finger, a golden snake pendant on a 26-inch long metal chain which features four white crystals set in a square around a much larger shining red stone at the centre of the piece and a silver earring with an attached fang of an unknown big carnivore in his left ear. It is unknown whether the last 3 items have any symbolic meaning.

Barbossa carried a broadsword and a flintlock pistol. This elegantly engraved weapon was won in a duel against a Spanish pirate and allowed him to kill his enemies in the way of a gentleman.

The Curse of the Black Pearl
When Barbossa was Jack Sparrow's first mate, he asked Jack for the location of Isla de Muerte, and then once he had the location led a mutiny against Jack and took over the Black Pearl. They left Jack on an island with only a single-shot pistol, while Barbossa and the rest of the crew found the Aztec gold on Isla de Muerte. They shared it among themselves bringing an ancient Aztec curse down on them in the process. To lift the curse, Barbossa and the crew realized they must return all 882 pieces of the Aztec gold to Isla de Muerta, with a blood sacrifice from all who removed them. This was a task made difficult as "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, who was against the mutiny, sent a piece of the gold off to his son, believing that Barbossa and his crew deserved to be cursed and stay cursed. Not pleased with this Barbossa had Bootstrap tied to a cannon and thrown overboard afterwards realizing that they needed a blood sacrifice from him.

When under the curse, Barbossa and his crew turned in to rotting skeletons under the moonlight. They could not be killed by any weapon when cursed. It was said about Barbossa that he was so evil that hell literally spat him out. He has a pet monkey, named Jack.

Jack Sparrow and Barbossa soon dueled each other in the cave of the cursed gold, this duel ended when Barbossa was shot by Jack Sparrow (with the same single-shot pistol Barbossa had left him) shortly before the 2 final coins with the necessary blood are returned to the chest. Barbossa feels old as he falls down, defeated.

Dead Man's Chest
Barbossa is in one ending scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. At the end of the movie, he walks in and asks what become of his ship as he takes a bite out of a green apple.

At World's End
Barbossa led Jack's former crew to a meeting with Sao Feng in his Singapore bath house, intending to barter Feng's navigational charts to lead them to World's End. Mindful that negotiating with Feng would be difficult, Barbossa dispatched Will Turner to break into the temple of Sao Feng's uncle and steal the charts.

Barbossa himself went to the negotiations together with Elizabeth Swann and he ordered the rest of the crew to prepared a support for them if something would go wrong. During their meeting, Barbossa tried to acquire Feng's navigational charts, and requested a ship and safe passage through the waters of Singapore. Feng ultimately told Barbossa that he thought that it was odd that they would ask for his navigational charts on the same day they were almost stolen by a thief caught while attempting to break into his uncle's temple. Feng then revealed the thief: Will Turner, who was captured by Feng's men and kept in a pool of water, to his guests. Barbossa told Sao Feng that Will was not their ally, but when Feng moved to kill Will in order to prove whether it is true, Elizabeth let out a shriek. Knowing that Barbossa and Elizabeth lied to him, Feng asked why they were going to such lengths to acquire his charts. Barbossa attempted to change the subject by telling that the Song was sung and summoning him, as one of the Pirate Lords to the Brethren Court, in order to decide what was to be done against the forces of East India Trading Company––which was systematically exterminating pirates around the world.

Feng was hesitant to enter into open war with the East India Trading Company and remarked that pirates were betraying each other instead of holding together. After this, Elizabeth declared him a coward. Feng was impressed by Elizabeth's assertiveness but instead of answering her, he pointed out that Barbossa had still not said why he wanted his charts. Barbossa and Elizabeth both refused to answer, but Will revealed that they needed the charts to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker. Feng became angry because Sparrow had insulted him once, and declared that the only reason why he not wanted Jack Sparrow to remain dead is that he wanted to kill Jack himself. Barbossa then stated that Sparrow was one of the nine Pirate Lords and could not pass on his Piece of Eight befor being dragged into the Locker, and therefore they could not open the Brethren Court without him.

The meeting became much more tense, when Feng suddenly noticed an unfamilliar man with a fake tattoo among his soldiers—undoubtedly another spy. Assuming that the man belonged to Barbossa’s crew, Feng called on his soldiers, who came out of their hideouts. Barbossa tired to calm his opponent, but without success. Barbossa’s men who were hiding under the floor, realized that this attempt has failed and that Barbossa and Elizabeth needed help, so they threw four swords through slots between the planks forming the floor of the bath house and Barbossa and Elizabeth grabbed two of them each. Feng immediately seized the spy and declared that he would kill him if Barbossa did not drop his weapons. Barbossa, however, encouraged Feng to kill the man, claiming that the spy was not his, but at that moment the beginning confrontation between Feng on one side and Barbossa, Will and Elizabeth on the other side was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a large group East India Trading Company soldiers led by Mercer. Barbossa and Feng briefly united their forces against a common enemy and fought their way through the harbour. During the battle Will Turner made his own deal with Feng without Barbossa's knowledge; he acquired the charts himself, and provided Barbossa with a crew of Chinese pirates led by Tai Huang and a junk ship, the Hai Peng. They took the ship and left for World's End.

After escaping safely from Singapore, the crew sailed through uncharted, frozen wastes to reach the World's End, although Barbossa was unable to decipher the charts' cryptic instructions for returning from Davy Jones' Locker. Undaunted, Barbossa showed no fear neither when he led the Hai Peng into a giant ice cave, where they got lost, what he claimed to be necessary to find a place that can't be found else ways, nor when he sailed the ship over the world's edge, plunging the junk and its crew into the underworld. The ship was wrecked, though the crew survived and were reunited with Jack Sparrow. Barbossa brought up their last fateful meeting in conversation, though Jack brushed this off and continued to refer to himself as captain of the Black Pearl. Barbossa contested this, knowing that Jack could not leave the Locker without the charts now in Barbossa's possession. Thus, the two rivals were forced to co-operate as the Pearl set sail on the endless seas of the Locker.

When sailing these mysterious waters, Barbossa and Jack were constantly fighting over who had the right to be captain, but finally he and Jack decided that Barbossa was to be captain of the starboard side, and Jack captained the port side. Sparrow ultimately worked out the meaning of the charts, and coerced the crew into tipping the Pearl upside down. Barbossa understood Jack’s plan and ordered the crew to loose the cannons and the freight in order to make capsizing the ship easier and even hacked some ropes securing the barrels himself to accelerate the process. The capsizing happened coinciding with sunset in the Locker that resulted in a green flash and the return of the Pearl to the land of the living.

The moment Barbossa was sure he was back in the real world, he pulled his flintlock on Sparrow, forcing him to agree to meet with the Brethren Court and Shipwreck Cove. Immediately, Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner, Joshamee Gibbs and Jack the monkey, also drew their pistols and pointed them at each other, so that a few seconds later numerous barrels pointed at Barbossa who was treating Sparrow with one pistol and Joshamee Gibbs with another. The tense stand-off was diffused when Jack Sparrow attempted to shoot Barbossa and found out the crew's pistols malfunctioned due to wet powder, so they put them away and set about locating a source of water at a nearby island.

However, Barbossa and Sparrow nearly quarrelled once again because they mistrusted each other so much, that none of them could afford the risk of leading the landing party and leaving the other one aboard the Pearl, because he had to fear that the one who stays aboard might commandeer the ship in his absence and sail away leaving him behind on the island. Will Turner solved the situation when he proposed that both Jack and Barbossa should go ashore leaving him as the Pearle's acting captain.

After the arrival on the island, Barbossa and Sparrow happened upon the corpse of the Kraken, and Barbossa remarked upon the certainty of death to counter Jack's insistence to the contrary. However, Barbossa, like Sparrow, would contemplate his own mortality in the time to come. For now, more pressing matters were at hand.

After this short philosophical conversation between the two captains, the landing party continued exploring the island. The group could discover a spring but the death body of Steng, the East India Trading Company spy who was killed with a fid, was lying in it. Barbossa tasted the water and found out that it was poisoned by the decaying corpse. After seeing Sao Feng's flagship, the Empress, arriving at the island and coming closer to the Black Pearl, Tai Huang and his men suddenly drew their weapons and turned on Barbossa's crew. Jack Sparrow immediately denied his captaincy and claimed that Barbossa is the captain. They were brought aboard the Black Pearl, where they met Sao Feng who had seized the Pearl immediately before their arrival. There, Turner's betrayal was revealed.

Soon afterwards, the HMS Endeavour appeared. Jack Sparrow was transferred to the Endeavour and the rest of the crew including Barbossa remained aboard the Black Pearl, chained and guarded by Feng's soldiers and some Blue Coats led by Mercer. When Jack Sparrow spoke with Lord Beckett in the latter’s cabin aboard the Endeavour, he declared that he was willing to deliver Barbossa and the other Pirate Lords to Beckett. Meanwhile, Barbossa was able to bargain with Feng by mentioning Calypso and making him believe that she is Elizabeth. Feng, already disappointed of the Company because Mercer broke their agreement and refused to give him the Black Pearl, was intrigued, and agreed to join Barbossa in opposition to the East India Trading Company in exchange for Elizabeth. His men freed the prisoners while he returned to the Empress together with Elizabeth. The Rescue crew and the Chinese pirates turned on the East India Trading Company Marines aboard the Black Pearl and defeated them. During this skirmish Barbossa duelled briefly with Mercer, kicked him in the stomach and forced him to escape from the ship by jumping overboard. After damaging the Endeavour with some shots, the Black Pearl made for Shipwreck Cove, once again co-captained by both Barbossa and Jack Sparrow who returned safely to the Pearl near the end of the skirmish.

When they already reached the coast of Shipwreck Island, Barbossa had a conversation with Tia Dalma on the Pearl's forecastle. The Voodoo priestess accused him on intending to betray her and therefore reminded him on the reason he was brought back from the dead by her powers, and his fate should he fail to free Calypso and demonstrated her abilities by briefly turning Barbossa’s right hand rotten. Barbossa however told her that she is the one who needs him, Jack Sparrow and the other Pirate Lords since only the nine Pirate Lords had the power to release Calypso from her bones. He ordered Pintel and Ragetti to arrest her and lock her in the brig, ensuring she is unable to escape before the Brethren can free her. He stayed on the deck, impressed by Tia Dalmas powers and contemplating his debt.

At Shipwreck Island, Barbossa served as the de facto leader and the Master of Ceremonies of the meeting, using a Chainshot as an improvised gavel.

Barbossa declared the fourth Brethren Court opened and ordered all the present Pirate Lords to lay their Pieces of Eight into a bowl, what all except Jack Sparrow did. He took Ragetti’s eyeball and put it into the ball as well. Barbossa now had all but two Pieces of eight and waited for Sao Feng's arrival, but it was Elizabeth Swann who appeared in his place. She proclaimed that Feng is dead, killed by the Flying Dutchman, and Elizabeth has been made the Empress' new captain and the new Pirate Lord of Singapore. When asked what to do, Elizabeth proposed to face Lord Beckett's armada in an open sea battle, but Mistress Ching preferred staying at Shipwreck Cove and holding out a siege.

Barbossa, now undoubtedly the captain of the Black Pearl which sailed under his colours, ordered to sail into the maelstrom. Elizabeth asked him, as the best steersman aboard, to man the steering wheel, and Barbossa did it with joy. The Flying Dutchman sailed into the maelstrom as well. When the two ships entered the Maelstrom, Barbossa ordered to prepare for the battle, but waited with firing the guns until the Black Pearl came near enough to the Dutchman and assumed the right position which allowed to use her guns most efficiently. Then he gave the order for firing a full broadside. The two ships rotated in the whirlpool and fired at each other until they finally came close enough for boarding.

After the pirates' victory, the Black Pearl sailed back to Tortuga. While Jack was in port impressing women, Barbossa rallied the crew, left the sleeping Joshamee Gibbs on the pier and commandeered the Black Pearl once again, planning to use the charts he obtained from Sao Feng to find the Fountain of Youth. However, some time later, when Barbossa was feeding Jack on the bridge of the Black Pearl, a group of crewmen consisting of Pintel, Ragetti, Marty, Mullroy and Murtogg, who all felt unwell because they left Jack Sparrow behind, demanded him to show them the charts in order to calm them. Barbossa promised them "Eternal life" and agreed to show the charts, but when he furled the charts he was dismayed to find that Jack has cut the middle out of the charts. His further fate remains unknown.

Disney Parks
Barbossa has been added to the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride onboard the Wicked Wench as part of its 2006 refurbishment. He replaced Captain Blackbeard.

Kingdom Hearts II


Hector Barbossa was originally the Black Pearl's first mate under Captain Jack Sparrow. Barbossa persuaded Sparrow to reveal the bearings leading towards the Isla de Muerta to him and the rest of the crew. Sparrow divulged its location, but that night, Barbossa led a mutiny and commandeered the Black Pearl, leaving Sparrow marooned on a tiny island, with only a single-shot pistol with which to commit suicide. The newly captained Barbossa and the crew stole the cursed Aztec treasure, which bestowed each member of the crew with the same curse. The crew had become Undead Pirates, unable to enjoy the pleasurable things in life and trapped between life and death. To lift the curse, the crew must return all the Aztec gold to the chest on Isla de Muerta and offer the blood of all who had touched the treasure. The pirates also needed the blood of their former shipmate, "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, the only one to hold out against the mutiny and then sent his medallion away to his son before being tied to a cannon and thrown overboard.

For a decade, Barbossa searched for the last coin until he detected the coin's "signal" from Port Royal. Pete visited the world at the time the Black Pearl came to plunder and loot Port Royal, extending his hand in aid to Barbossa. The pirates kidnapped Elizabeth Swann, thinking she was the daughter of Bootstrap and gaining the Aztec medallion she possessed. Barbossa reveals their cursed state to Elizabeth, as well as the blood payment, with a child of Bootstraps being a substitute. Upon arrival to Isla de Muerta, Barbossa performs a ritual offering a small amount of Elizabeth's blood to break the curse. However, nothing happens. In his anger, he fails to notice Will Turner taking away Elizabeth. Jack Sparrow is left behind in the cave, and he is taken prisoner aboard the Pearl as it catches up with the Interceptor. After a lengthy battle for the medallion, Sora and the ship's passengers are taken captive. Will Turner comes to the rescue, threatening to commit suicide if his friends are not released. His noble act fails as Pete knocks him out cold and the rest are tied up in the Interceptor's cabin, with explosives scattered around the deck.

Back at Isla de Muerta, Barbossa performs the ceremony with Will, but as he is about to spill his blood, Sora, Jack and the others crash the party. While Sora and gang dealt with the crew, Jack duels Barbossa until Jack is stabbed. However, Barbossa is stunned to find that Jack was under the curse as well; secretly taking an Aztec coin from the chest. Barbossa calls for Pete's help, which is granted in the form of the Illuminator Heartless, who absorbs the moonlight, making Barbossa immune to the Keyblade. Sora and Jack destroy the Illuminator and defeat Barbossa while he lurks in the moonlight. Jack cuts his palm while Barbossa is recovering from his defeat, throwing the bloodied medallion to Will who bleeds on his own medallion. Jack then shoots Barbossa with the same pistol Barbossa marooned him with ten years before. Barbossa laughs until Will drops the two bloodied final coins into the chest, lifting the curse. With that, Barbossa is overcome with the pain of death, saying he feels cold as he collapses.

Trivia

 * The DVD commentary of The Curse of the Black Pearl revealed Barbossa's first name, though writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio maintain that Johnny Depp came up with the name himself while joking with Geoffrey Rush about Barbossa's first name. It was spoken on screen for the first time, by his character, in At World's End, as Jack Sparrow's first line to Barbossa.
 * Hector Barbossa is one of only five Disney villains ever nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, the others being Davy Jones, Scar from The Lion King, Queen Jadis the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland.
 * The scene in which he drinks rum from a bottle in his skeletal form is a reminiscence to the ride.
 * Barbossa's pet monkey (Jack) is never seen in Kingdom Hearts II. However, his monkey swing is seen in the Black Pearl dining room.
 * Barbossa is one of the main reasons that Kingdom Hearts II received an E10+ rating, mainly in reference to his drinking alcohol, and blood.

El Capitán Barbossa