Biographical informationGenderMale[1]Ethnic group
Hector Barbossa was a legendary pirate of the Caribbean as well as the archenemy, nemesis and rival of Captain Jack Sparrow. A captain of treacherous morality, a vile pirate cursed then resurrected from the dead, and a master of his own fate and secret agreements, Barbossa was the ultimate survivor. Ruthless and cunning, information was Barbossa's treasure as he swiftly rose through the ranks. Not one to be trusted, he had a tendency to honor the Pirate's Code only when it suited him. With Captain Barbossa, only a monkey, an apple, and a personal agenda were guaranteed as he looked for any opportunity to prove his superiority and achieve his own goals, no matter how unattainable they may seem.
In his youth, through unknown and mysterious circumstances, Hector Barbossa was an honest sailor who left to make an easier living as a pirate. By his early forties, Barbossa became captain of a ship, a schooner named Cobra, and was attacked by the Koldunya, a Bermuda-rigged sloop belonging to Boris "Borya" Palachnik, the Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea and Barbossa's old friend. Hector Barbossa was found by Don Rafael, the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, who took Barbossa to Shipwreck Cove to tell his tale of rogue pirates to the assembled pirates, including Captain Edward Teague, Pirate Lord of Madagascar as well as Keeper of the Code, and Jack Sparrow. After it was discovered that Borya was the rogue pirate captain, Borya apologized to Barbossa and gave him one of the Nine Pieces of Eight, though the latter was unaware of its importance as the sign of pirate lordship, thus making Barbossa the eventual Lord of the Caspian Sea.
Years later, Hector Barbossa signed on as first mate on the Black Pearl, serving under Captain Jack Sparrow in the quest for the Shadow Gold and the venture to find the treasure of Corts. Barbossa swiftly became captain after leading a mutiny against Jack, in which the mutinous crew left Sparrow marooned on a desert island and given a pistol with one shot to kill himself with. In spite of the mutiny, Barbossa acquired a pet monkey, later mockingly named "Jack" after their old captain. Because they didn't believe the "ghost story" Sparrow told, Captain Barbossa's crew found the treasure at Isla de Muerta and soon fell under the Aztec Curse, becoming walking undead skeletons in the moonlight and unable to feel their pleasures. To lift their terrible curse as living corpses, Barbossa led a search to restore all 882 Aztec gold pieces they frittered away and the blood repaid, the latter payment they ironically didn't learn until after Barbossa sent former crewman William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner down to the crushing depths. Ten years into their search, Barbossa's cursed pirates kidnapped Elizabeth "Turner", believing her to be the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner and the blood they needed. Ultimately, the pirates' curse was lifted by the real child of Bootstrap Bill, Will Turner, at which time Barbossa was killed at Isla de Muerta by his old captain and now archenemy, Jack Sparrow, who used his one shot to kill his former first mate.
Through mysterious circumstances, even death was not the end of Hector Barbossa as he was resurrected by the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma, secretly the heathen goddess, Calypso, in human form. The two struck a bargain: in return for being brought back from the dead, Barbossa agreed to summon a meeting of assembled Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court, so they could release the goddess from her human bonds. In an uneasy alliance, Barbossa led the desperate quest to find and rescue his nemesis Jack Sparrow, from making accords with the Chinese Pirate Lord Sao Feng of Singapore to sailing at World's End to Davy Jones' Locker. He then convened the Fourth Brethren Court and freed Calypso as a plan of action in the war against the forces of the East India Trading Company, led by Lord Cutler Beckett, who had control over Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman. After the pirate showdown with the East India Company, Barbossa stole the Black Pearl from Sparrow and planned a pursuit for the Fountain of Youth, only to find that Sparrow had outwitted Barbossa by having already stolen the map to the Fountain in anticipation.
At some point later, the Black Pearl was attacked by the fearsome pirate Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, who used the power embedded in the Sword of Triton to turn the ship and its rigging against the crew, and Hector Barbossa was forced to cut off his right leg to survive. Unbeknownst to Barbossa, who believed the Pearl was sunk in battle, Blackbeard magicked the Pearl into a ship in a bottle. Afterwards, Hector sported a wooden leg, traded his pirate regalia for a British Royal Navy uniform, and claimed to owe his allegiance to King and Country in service as a privateer in King George II's court. As captain of the HMS Providence, with Joshamee Gibbs as navigator, Barbossa sailed forth without fear on stranger tides during the quest for the Fountain of Youth. Near the end of the quest, Barbossa admitted that it was revenge rather than valor that pushed the navy captain toward the Fountain, a rendezvous with Jack Sparrow, Blackbeard and destiny.
As a result of defeating Blackbeard, Captain Barbossa returned to piracy, taking possession of Blackbeard's Sword of Triton and the Queen Anne's Revenge. He then quickly amassed a fleet of ten ships that ruled the Caribbean Sea as the scourge of the New World, and settled into a growing and prosperous pirate empire. However, the return of the malicious Spanish pirate hunter Capitn Armando Salazar and his crew of deadly ghosts threatened Barbossa's command of the sea. Although Capitn Salazar initially forced the old pirate to help him find Jack Sparrow, Hector allied himself with Jack once again, determined to find the legendary Trident of Poseidon. Along the way, Barbossa released the Black Pearl from its bottled prison and learned that Carina Smyth, a brilliant astronomer who was in possession of the Map No Man Can Read, was his long-lost daughter. By the time Carina became aware of her familial connection with Hector, the weathered sea captain would meet his ultimate demise when he sacrificed himself by piercing Salazar through the back, thereby saving his "treasure", and disappeared beneath the water and collapsing waves.
Over the course of time, Captain Hector Barbossa was a master manipulator, a bedeviling schemer ready to lie, cheat, and swindle his way into new treasure, with his trusty monkey on his shoulder. He combined life experience with reckless daring and fearlessness as he achieved his own goals. Tough and vengeful, Captain Barbossa is looking for any opportunity to survive and prove his superiority to his rivals. Despite his dishonesty and many deceptions, the prudent Barbossa did not mind dying for treasure, since he was and always would be a pirate. When Barbossa's reign of the sea came to an end, the old pirate's legacy lived on through his daughter, Carina, who adopted the Barbossa family name.
Like most pirates, Hector Barbossa came from England's West Country.[7] Not much is known of Hector's familial history, other than that his mother was Irish.[2] Although his history prior to engaging in piracy remains mainly shrouded in mystery, it was known that Barbossa grew up on a farm, possibly somewhere near Bristol, and he ran away to sea at the age of 13 because he came from a background of poverty.[27][28]
In his youth, Hector Barbossa would be on board ships where he'd seen very grand cabins and the captains living in spacious and elegant quarters. Barbossa may have had earnest desires to be a man of the sea, but he soon realized that he could gain a lot more if he broke the rules, lied, and killed a few people in the process. He became greedy, with horrible social pretensions. He became a horrible liar, pretending to be a gentleman of the sea, and a dirty, cunning rogue. Barbossa also had a sword on his belt and learned how to skewer people and survive by using preemptive logic to map out his plans and deceive people.[29][30]
c80f0f1006