Hector Barbossa

Development

Barbossa's first name, "Hector", was revealed in a director's commentary on the Curse of the Black Pearl DVD, but was not revealed by any of the characters until the third film of the series (when they rescue Jack Sparrow, and Barbossa greets him, Sparrow says: "Ah, Hector! It's been too long! Hasn't it?"). It was revealed that co-star Johnny Depp played a decisive part in providing the name.

The Curse of the Black Pearl

In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Barbossa is captain of the pirate ship, the Black Pearl. He was originally the ship's first mate under Captain Jack Sparrow. Barbossa persuaded Jack to reveal the bearings to Isla de Muerta where a chest of Aztec gold was hidden. After Sparrow divulged the location, Barbossa and the crew mutinied and marooned Sparrow on a tiny island, with only a single-shot pistol with which to commit suicide. For the next ten years, Barbossa believed that Jack was dead.

Barbossa and the crew found the Aztec treasure, but ran afoul of a curse placed upon the gold by the Aztec gods, which rendered the pirates undead. To lift the curse, the crew needs to return all 882 coins to the chest and offer their blood. They still need the blood of their former shipmate Bootstrap Bill Turner; Turner was the lone holdout against the mutiny. Believing the crew deserved to remain cursed for betraying Jack, he sent one coin to his son, Will. In retaliation, Barbossa tied Bootstrap to a cannon and threw him overboard; it was only afterward that the pirates learned of the requirement for Turner's blood. For years, Barbossa searched for the last coin, which was now possessed by Elizabeth Swann. Barbossa sets sail for Port Royal after detecting a "signal" when the coin touched the sea. Unknown to him, Jack Sparrow is also in Port Royal.

Believing Elizabeth is Bootstrap's daughter (and thus, the means to breaking their curse), Barbossa abducts with her and takes the medallion. He reveals their curse en route to Isla de Muerta. Elizabeth's blood is offered, but the ritual fails. Will, aided by Sparrow, rescues Elizabeth and escapes with the medallion. Sparrow is taken prisoner aboard the Pearl, and Barbossa pursues them. Barbossa learns Will's true identity and tricks Will into believing that Jack, the crew, and Elizabeth will be freed. He instead maroons Jack and Elizabeth on a deserted island while he takes Will to Isla de Muerta to be killed. As Barbossa is about to kill Will, Sparrow makes another unexpected return. Jack reveals to Barbossa that he has led the British Royal Navy to the island, and he convinces Barbossa to capture the HMS Dauntless, leaving Jack the Black Pearl.

While the undead pirates battle the Royal Navy, Jack and duels Barbossa. When Barbossa attempts to kill Elizabeth, Jack fatally shoots him. Barbossa questions why Jack has wasted a shot on an undead pirate, while Will returns the final coin to break the curse. Barbossa begins to bleed out from the bullet wound, and his last words are "I feel...cold."

Dead Man's Chest

Barbossa does not appear on-screen until the final scene. Having met his demise in the previous installment, Barbossa is resurrected by Tia Dalma in order to save Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker. In the scene, Tia Dalma says they will need a captain who knows the waters of World's End. Barbossa enters, biting into a green apple, showing his fully restored human form.

During a previous scene at Tia Dalma's hut, someone's lower body can be partially seen lying on a bed in a back room; this is most likely Barbossa. Jack the Monkey perches on a boot-clad leg, alluding to Barbossa being resurrected.

To keep Barbossa's return a surprise, Rush was not credited for his role.

At World's End

Barbossa joins forces with Will, Elizabeth and the Black Pearl crew to rescue Jack from Davy Jones' Locker.

To reach World's End, the gateway to the Locker, Barbossa needs the navigational charts belonging to Sao Feng (Chow Yun-fat), the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea. During a meeting with Feng, Barbossa and Elizabeth admit that they are planning to retrieve Jack Sparrow, Feng's enemy. Feng is furious over an earlier attempt by Will to steal the charts, but after the East India Trading Company attacks his bathhouse, he is persuaded to loan them the charts and a ship.

Barbossa and the crew sail to World's End, eventually arriving in Davy Jones' Locker. There they find Sparrow and the Black Pearl. Sparrow finally agrees to be rescued, though he and Barbossa continually dispute who is captain. Jack and Barbossa eventually command different sides of the ship, often while issuing orders simultaneously. While searching for an escape route, Sparrow and Barbossa form a tenuous alliance when Jack is told that Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) now possesses the heart of Davy Jones and is eradicating pirates.

Returning to the living world, the crew sight land and stop to restock supplies. Distrusting one another, both captains go ashore with a landing party, leaving Will temporarily in command. Barbossa tells Sparrow that as two of the nine Pirate Lords, they must attend the Brethren Court convening at Shipwreck Cove, although Jack refuses, intent on seeking immortality. A surprisingly eloquent Barbossa urges Sparrow to look beyond his own self interests and consider the greater good, telling him piracy is being exterminated and there is little nobility or purpose in being the only pirate left in the Caribbean.

Sao Feng arrives in his warship, the Empress, claiming the Pearl and betraying Will. Barbossa implies that Elizabeth is the goddess Calypso; she leaves with Feng in exchange for the Pearl. Will is thrown into the brig by Sparrow as Barbossa and Sparrow head to Shipwreck Cove.

It is revealed that Tia Dalma, who is in fact Calypso in human form, resurrected Barbossa in order for him to free her from her mortal form. After she angrily reminds him of the reasons she bought him back, Barbossa points out that she needs to keep him alive, since he is also one of the pirate lords.

At the Brethren Court, Barbossa proposes releasing Calypso from her human form to help them fight Beckett. He argues that the first court imprisoned the goddess only because it served their own needs, but in doing so, they provided an opportunity for forces like Beckett to threaten them. The other lords remain opposed, however, fearing the sea goddess' power and retaliation. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Swann, who has succeeded Sao Feng as the Empress' captain and the Pirate Lord of Singapore, arrives at the court. Elizabeth is elected Pirate King and declares war on Beckett. Unnoticed, Barbossa steals the Pieces of Eight from the other Pirate Lords.

As the pirates prepare for battle, Barbossa frees Calypso by burning the Pieces of Eight. He pleads for her intervention, but Calypso refuses to aid either Davy Jones or the pirates kept her imprisoned; her fury creates a giant maelstrom.

Barbossa takes the Black Pearl into battle against the Flying Dutchman; amidst the combat, he reluctantly pronounces Will and Elizabeth married. After Beckett's defeat, Barbossa again commandeers the Pearl, stranding Jack and Gibbs in Tortuga. The crew demands that Barbossa share the bearings to the Fountain of Youth, mirroring the original mutiny that made Barbossa the Pearl's captain. Barbossa agrees and unrolls the chart, only to discover that Jack has stolen the map.

On Stranger Tides

In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Hector Barbossa is now a privateer in King George II's Royal Navy. Barbossa reveals that the Black Pearl was attacked off the coast of Hispaniola by the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's pirate ship. Using his magical sword, Blackbeard brought the Pearl to life, causing it to attack its own crew. Barbossa believes the ship was destroyed and that he is the only survivor; he escaped lost his leg in the escape. He now uses a peg leg and crutch and regrets the fact that he did not go down with the Pearl after the attack. Although Barbossa claims the British Navy recruited him by offering a "nice retirement package", his true intention is to seek revenge against Blackbeard.

King George summons Barbossa for a meeting. Barbossa realizes that the King has captured Jack Sparrow to commission him as a crewmember of Barbossa's. Jack escapes, and Barbossa is sent on an expedition to locate the Fountain of Youth before the Spanish. Barbossa, commanding the HMS Providence, forcefully enlists Joshamee Gibbs to help to find the Fountain and pursue the Queen Anne's Revenge. Blackbeard, with Jack Sparrow now aboard, arrives at Whitecap Bay.

Blackbeard captures a mermaid. Her tears, along with two magical chalices, are needed to activate the Fountain. The Providence is sunk during a mermaid attack, forcing Barbossa and the crew to search for the Fountain on foot. Barbossa hikes through the rainforest and secretly collects poison frogs to poison his sword for a final fight with Blackbeard. He finds Sparrow alone at Juan Ponce de León's decaying flagship, but realize the chalices are missing; the Spanish found them first. Barbossa and Jack enter the camp and take the chalices, but the Spanish recognize them as enemies and arrest them. Barbossa reveals his true intentions to Jack, and they both escape in a final struggle for the chalices.

The two agree to join forces against Blackbeard, and Sparrow leads Blackbeard's crew into a trap located at the fountain, where Barbossa engages Blackbeard in single combat. The Spanish arrive and destroy the fountain due to their Catholic beliefs. Barbossa gets up and fatally stabs Blackbeard with his poisoned sword, then claims Blackbeard's magical sword, the Queen Anne's Revenge, and assumes command of Blackbeard's crew. Renouncing all ties to the Crown, Barbossa once again returns to piracy.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Geoffrey Rush had commented on returning as Barbossa in a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film, saying "If they keep shapeshifting this character, absolutely" as well as implying he may return as the villain. He also said that Barbossa's megalomania "could explode in horrific ways." In December 2014, Rush confirmed his return for the fifth installment Dead Men Tell No Tales where Barbossa and Sparrow were "at the heart of it and there's a whole new set of story lines."

Background

In the "Becoming Barbossa" featurette on the "Lost Disc", Geoffrey Rush shared his personal take on Barbossa's history: his family was noble but poor, and he ran away from home when he was 13. He went to the sea, and seeing how well the captains and officers lived, decided to become a captain himself. At first, he wanted to be an honest seaman, but quickly recognized that piracy was easier and more lucrative.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom, Barbossa is the pirate captain in the Caribbean. After his schooner, the Cobra, is attacked and destroyed by the infamous rogue pirates, he goes to Shipwreck Cove to inform the Pirate Lords of his disaster. With the help of a young pirate Jack Sparrow, Barbossa discovers that the leader of the rogues is Borya Palachnik, the Russian Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. After he was captured and sentenced to hang, Borya gave his Piece of Eight to Barbossa, thus making him the next Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea.

Hector Barbossa is fond of apples, which appear throughout the first film. He offers one to the captive Elizabeth and later tells her that once the curse is lifted, he wants to eat a whole bushel. There are also apples in his cabin, and when Jack is taken to the brig, Barbossa grabs the apple Jack was eating and throws it in the water in anger. When he dies at the end of "Curse of the Black Pearl", an apple rolls from his hand; he brought it to eat as soon as the curse was lifted. His cameo appearance at the end of Dead Man's Chest shows him biting into his favorite fruit. In At World's End, he is shown eating one apple when aboard the Black Pearl. In On Stranger Tides, he is seen eating apple slices aboard his ship.

According to the audio commentary from the first Pirates of the Caribbean DVD (featuring the scriptwriters), Hector Barbossa is skilled with a sword, and is considered one of the finest swordsmen in the Caribbean. According to the commentary, Barbossa's skills are equal to James Norrington (Jack Davenport) and exceeded only by Will Turner. His prowess with a blade is evident in his duel with Jack Sparrow, and in the maelstrom battle against the East India Trading Company. In the first film, the Black Pearl crew were hesitant to attack Hector Barbossa, even simultaneously. The only person known to have survived a one-on-one duel with him is Jack Sparrow, in the treasure caves of Isla de Muerta—and even that was with the aid of a pistol. Geoffrey Rush comments that Hector Barbossa supposedly used a sword from a very young age, possibly as early as 13.

He uses the same flag as the notorious pirate "Calico Jack" Rackham.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, Hector Barbossa is described as being attentive to his appearance, as his elaborate clothing shows. He wears a large ring bearing a lion's head symbol and has purplish blue ostrich plumes and a pheasant feather in his hat. His coat buttons are made from recast Incan silver, and his pistol once belonged to a Spanish pirate, won in a duel.

Other appearances

Reception

Barbossa was chosen by IGN's Orlando Parfitt as his 13th top fantasy villain.