Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Question: After Elizabeth is brought to the Pearl, she threatens to drop the medallion overboard. Barbossa feigns disinterest but when Elizabeth pretends to drop it, the pirates gasp in panic. Why? So she drops it, big deal. They can't drown, the gold "calls to them" so what does it matter if she were to drop it?

Jacordx

Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.

Tailkinker

Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?

Reverse psychology.

Ssiscool

What do you mean by reverse psychology?

By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.

Ssiscool

I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.

That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.

lionhead

Question: Why did Jack cut himself before throwing the coin to Will? I thought the curse only needed Will's blood?

Answer: The curse needs the blood of everybody who took a coin from the chest. All the other pirates have already contributed so, as the movie opens, the only blood needed is Will's, substituting for his father. During the finale of the movie, Jack takes a coin from the chest, adding himself to the curse, so his blood is now required as well as Will's.

Tailkinker

But I didn't see any blood on the coins, and none of the pirates cut themselves, even before Will became part of the mix.

Yes, the other pirates did cut themselves before Will came into it, off-screen. The lack of blood on the coins can simply be explained as most of it dripping to the bottom of the chest, it being washed away by storms blown into the cave, or by the fact that they didn't drop that much blood on it in the first place.

When they had Elizabeth they believed she was Bill Turner's daughter, but they all thought the curse had failed, none of them had cut themselves so it makes zero sense.

They had been collecting back the coins for years. During that time they repaid their own blood. All they needed was the last coin and the blood of Bill Turner to break the spell.

lionhead

Question: There are numerous mentions of the fact that Depp based his performance as Jack Sparrow on Keith Richards. But I'm sure I saw an interview/making-of programme where he said that Jack Sparrow was a combination of two real-life 'characters'; one was Keith Richards, and try as I might, I can't remember the other one. Did anyone else see this? Who was the other inspiration for Jack Sparrow? (It may have been another actor e.g. Orlando Bloom talking *about* Johnny Depp's influences etc.).

Answer: On Disc 3, Johnny explains, "Take something as solid as Keith Richards and combine it with Pepé Le Pew... I felt... he would resemble a modern day Rastafarian..." Pepé Le Pew is a Looney Tunes cartoon character, based on Charles Boyer's romantic character, Pepé Le Moko. Pepé Le Pew, however, is a romantic amorous cartoon skunk and he has a huge flaw - his 'odor', which he emits in a grand way.

Super Grover

Question: When Will and Jack climb aboard the Dauntless, Jack says, "everyone remain calm we are taking over the ship". What does Will say after him and what does it mean?

Answer: Will said, "Aye! Avast!" Aye means yes. Avast means stop or cease. Jack turned and gave Will the eyeball because Will sounded silly, and Will looked at Jack and gave him a look back as if he wondered in his own mind, "What? What did I do/say that's so bad?"

Super Grover

Question: Why did the Black Pearl's crew just give up when the curse was lifted? I get that it may have been a shock, but they had to know that getting convicted of piracy lead to hanging (so they'd die anyway). Not one of them realised this and tried to have a fighting chance?

Answer: There is one major gap in your question: not every pirate was hanged. Being a sailor in the 17th century was very dangerous, and there generally was a shortage of experienced sailors. What usually happened was that the captain was hanged to make an example, while the crew was forced to serve on trade ships, for example, the ones sailed by the WIC. The crew, even when giving up, had pretty good chances of survival.

Friso94

Question: When Elizabeth throws her dress back to Barbarossa how does he know its still warm if he said earlier he cant feel the warmth of a woman's flesh?

Answer: He knows that it's still warm, because Elizabeth's only just taken it off. He can't feel it, though - he's making a joke for his crew.

Tailkinker

Question: Jack Sparrow was never cursed by the "aztec gold medallion" until near the end of the movie, he grabbed one gold medallion. At that time, he and Will started to fight the cursed pirates and it has been shown to all the watchers that he, Jack cannot be killed, after Barbossa stabbed him. Knowing that the cursed pirates were looking for William Turner's blood (he wasn't cursed, nor was Elizabeth Swan) to disenchant the curse, how come Jack Sparrow cut his hand too? If Jack is cursed, how can he bleed?

Answer: It's shown on at least one other occasion (when Elizabeth stabs Barbossa) that those under the effects of the curse do bleed when stabbed. They have to in order to lift the curse, which requires a sacrifice of blood from each person affected by it, or, in Bootstrap Bill Turner's case, a close blood relative (namely his son).

Tailkinker

Question: In one of the deleted scenes on the DVD, Elizabeth asks Jack if any of his stories are true. In answer he lifts his sleeve and shirt to show her lots of scars. Does anyone know how he might have got those scars or what stories Elizabeth is referring to?

Answer: No - it's not revealed. The references to stories and his scars are merely there to show that Jack has had an eventful career and gained a considerable amount of notoriety. The closest we get is the story about escaping from the island, which turns out to be untrue anyway, and the interestingly varied list of charges being read out at his execution - "impersonating a cleric of the Church of England" sounds like a particularly bizarre tale.

Tailkinker

Question: We find out in the beginning of the film that Will was found at the age of 10 and it's been about 8 years later so he's about 18. Well obviously Jack is older but does anybody know exactly how old? or at least a decent guess?

bessytheevilcow

Chosen answer: Given that Jack is a contemporary of Bootstrap Bill Turner, Will's father, it's a safe guess that he's about 20 years older, so maybe 38?

Question: In the final battle scene, Jack was protected from death because he had possession of a single gold coin from the Aztec loot. If possession of a single gold coin could turn Jack into an invulnerable, living skeleton under the moonlight, how did the curse not affect Elizabeth after she had in possession the medallion for so many years? I believe she should have been turned into an undead person as well, since her gold coin was indeed part of the loot.

hotch0c

Chosen answer: Elizabeth was unaffected by the curse because she never removed the coin from the Aztec chest. Neither did Will Turner, who Elizabeth took the coin from, then hid it. It was only those who stole a coin from the chest who were cursed. Losing it, having it stolen, or giving to someone else does not pass on the curse to the new recipient. Jack delibertately took a coin from the chest, therefore cursing himself, albeit to protect himself so he could defeat Barbossa.

raywest

Question: Does anyone know what the spiral and dot on the back of the Pirates of the Caribbean medallion mean/represent?

Answer: The symbol on the back is called the "chimali". It's a symbol of harmony, similar to the yin yang.

Greg Dwyer

Question: If Bootstrap Turner took a coin from the chest, then how did he die? He should be cursed and therefore invulnerable. I know they later show that he is with Davey Jones, but that means that he is dead, or if he isn't dead, wouldn't the curse demand his blood, not his sons?

Simpsonholic

Chosen answer: When the curse was lifted he was still at the bottom of the sea (alive due to the curse), Davy then offered him 100 years of serving him or death, and he chose the 100 years.

Disney-Freak

No, he says in the second movie that he was "unable to move, unable to die" as he was tied to a cannon and being crushed by the weight of the water. Davy came along and offered him a way out. Technically you could say he was dying, just not able to die, and dying or being dead doesn't necessarily seem to be a requirement to join Davy's crew since Will was able to wager his soul in servitude to Davy during the dice game. As for needing Will's blood and not his father's, the pirates didn't seem fully sure it would work. But since it's doubtful they bothered to mark where in the ocean they dumped Bootstrap, they had to go for their best option.

Question: Why did Jack not turn into a skeleton in the moonlight in the prison (near the beginning), but at the end he did turn into a skeleton in the moonlight?

Answer: He wasn't cursed at the beginning because the crew mutinied against him before they reached the island with the Aztec gold. He becomes cursed during his speech to Barbossa near the end when he takes a few gold coins from the chest and returns most, but not all, of them.

Phoenix

Question: Does it ever explain why or how Mr. Gibbs went from not liking pirates in the beginning of the movie to working with Jack and other pirates 8 years later? (00:01:05 - 00:51:40)

Answer: Nope.

Grumpy Scot

Question: My question is related to the end of the movie after Jack has escaped. Governor Swann says "Perhaps on the rare occasion that the right course demands an act of piracy; piracy itself can be the right course." What does he mean? Is he referring to something else in the movie?

Answer: He is saying that sometimes you have to break the law to do good things. By this he acknowledges that pirates can be decent people as well, and that this can earn them a second chance. What he is specifically referencing is the crimes Jack and Will committed to rescue Elizabeth and destroy Barbossa.

Twotall

Question: I want to know: after the curse has been lifted, we see Barbossa's crew surrendering to Norrington's crew. Some of them collapse. My friend tells me this is because these pirates have been 'killed' or stabbed many times before, and once they are human, they therefore die. My question is: Is this true; and if so, why does this not happen to Jack, who was stabbed with Barbossa's sword when he became cursed?

Answer: No, it's not true. There's a vague suggestion in the film that the change from human to skeletal form (or vice versa) causes wounds to be healed. Barbossa, for example, dies of Jack's gunshot, despite the curse being in effect when he's actually shot - he doesn't change during that timeframe, therefore the wound is still in place. Jack, on the other hand, has shifted form multiple times since being run through, so his wound has been dealt with. Likewise Pintel, who was shot through the heart by Barbossa earlier in the film, is seen to survive, as he has shifted several times since then. Only a few of the pirates actually seem to die on the Dauntless - any wounds sustained during the battle should have been healed by their final shift back to human form (when the curse lifts). Any subsequent deaths can be put down to the pirate in question continuing to fight for a brief moment after the lifting of the curse and being run through or shot, unaware that they're no longer invulnerable to harm.

Tailkinker

Question: I feel like an idiot for encouraging the way the entire plot of this movie is laid out in the questions page, but, how do the pirates know exactly what they need to do to lift the curse? Does Aztec gold come with an instructions manual or something?

Answer: The Aztec chest has inscriptions on all of its sides. After Barbossa and the rest realized that there indeed was a curse, they went back to Isla de Muerta and learned how the curse can be undone, by deciphering the inscriptions. This is when William Bootstrap Turner decided that they all deserved to be cursed and remain cursed and then sent one piece of the gold to Will, his son, living in England.

Super Grover

Question: When the pirates have Will in the cave and are just about to lift the curse, why does Jack stop them and make them go out and fight when they can't die? Isn't he on the 'good' team?

Answer: Jack sends them out into combat so that, when Will lifts the curse, they'll be unprepared for it and almost totally at the mercy of Norrington's men. Had he let them continue lifting the curse on their terms, they'd be aware of their new mortality and would be more prepared for a possible battle on leaving the caves. Plus, of course, Will would be dead, which Jack would prefer to avoid.

Tailkinker

Question: Why didn't Elizabeth turn into a skeleton when exposed to moonlight? She had Will's medallion for more than half a decade after all.

Answer: The Aztec coin must be removed directly from the Aztec chest in order for the curse to take effect. Hence, Jack getting cursed deliberately when he palms one of the coins while Will witnesses Jack's actions. That is also why both Will and Elizabeth do not have the curse upon them, they never removed the coin from the chest.

Super Grover

Question: After the credits, when Jack the monkey swims back to the cave and takes a coin, does that mean Barbossa is still alive because he took some too?

Answer: No. Barbossa dies because ALL of the gold, with its blood repaid, is returned to the Aztec chest, thus the curse is lifted and they are not immortal any longer. The fresh bullet is fatal to Barbossa, when Will drops the two coins in. Later, when the monkey takes a coin, it is his own new curse that seals his own fate. The monkey's curse does not alter anyone else's fate.

Super Grover

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Either the first shot has a gratuitous view of the fort or the composite people neglected to add the fort in the second shot. Norrington says, "...this is the day that Capt. Jack Sparrow almost escaped. Take him away." The night shot that follows, shows the bridge archway, and beyond it the pier, Interceptor, the fort and its parapet. After Will breaks Jack out of prison, they approach the same archway and beyond it is the pier and Interceptor, but in this shot we don't see the fort and its parapet, nor the line that Jack slid down the day before. The camera angle is exactly the same. (00:27:15 - 00:44:30)

Super Grover

More mistakes in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Barbossa: You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one!

More quotes from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
More trivia for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

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