Isla de Muerta
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Featured in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, the mysterious skull-shaped Isla de Muerta (pronounced /'isla de 'mwerta/) is a fictional island where the Black Pearl's pirate crew hide treasure. Its name is Spanish for "Island of Death."
[edit] History
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
According to Sparrow it is, "an isle of the dead which [sic] cannot be found, except for those who already know where it is." To locate it, Captain Sparrow uses his unique compass—rather than pointing north, it points to what its holder most desires. What Sparrow desires is the Black Pearl, anchored at the island.
The isle is blanketed in thick fog and surrounded by a graveyard of sunken ships; its waters swarm with sharks. It is largely unexplored, save for a maze of caves where Captain Barbossa's crew hoards treasure looted from ports and ships throughout the Caribbean. Here is where the dreaded Chest of Cortez containing the cursed Aztec gold is kept.
Captain Barbossa tells Elizabeth Swann that 882 solid gold coins were placed in a stone chest and given to Cortés by the Aztecs. "Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies. But the greed of Cortés was insatiable. So the heathen gods placed upon the gold a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity."
The curse is the epitome of, be careful what you wish for, and any person who takes even a single coin from the chest is granted invulnerability as one of the undead. They may walk the earth forever, and no one can stop them from taking anything they want. But no amount of food will sate their hunger, no amount of drink will quench their thirst, no amount of heat will warm their bodies, and no amount of pleasurable company will slake their lust. In short, the world is theirs for the taking, but nothing they take will give satisfaction. A fitting punishment. Only when every piece of gold, annointed with the blood of each thief, is returned to the chest can the curse be lifted.
To lift the curse, the pirates gather on Isla de Muerta to return the final coin to the chest, unaware Jack Sparrow and the British Royal Navy are also headed there. The island becomes the site of a climatic battle between the undead pirates and the navy, as well as the final duel between Barbossa and Jack Sparrow. Barbossa is killed, and his body is left amongst the pirates' swag.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, it's learned that the island and its treasure, and presumably Barbossa's corpse, were reclaimed by the sea.
Isla de Muerta is also a location in the Port Royal world in the video game Kingdom Hearts II. As in the movie, it contains the cursed treasure, and serves as the site of the final battle between Jack Sparrow and Barbossa. However, in the game, Jack is assisted by Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy; in the movie he had the aid of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann.
| Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean | |
|---|---|
| Films | Curse of the Black Pearl | Dead Man's Chest | At Worlds End |
| Music | Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) | Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack | Curse of the Black Pearl soundtrack | Dead Man's Chest soundtrack | Pirates Remixed |
| Video games | Pirates of the Caribbean | The Legend of Jack Sparrow | Dead Man's Chest | Pirates of the Caribbean Online | Pirates of the Caribbean Multiplayer Mobile |
| Locations | Port Royal | Isla de Muerta | Tortuga | Pelegosto | Isla Cruces |
| Primary characters | Captain Jack Sparrow | Will Turner | Elizabeth Swann | Hector Barbossa | Davy Jones | James Norrington | "Bootstrap Bill" Turner |
| Other characters and creatures |
Weatherby Swann | Joshamee Gibbs | Anamaria | Pintel and Ragetti | Cutler Beckett | Tia Dalma | Jack the monkey | Kraken | Minor characters |
| Ships | The Black Pearl | The Flying Dutchman | The Dauntless | The Interceptor | The Empress |
| Other | Theme park attraction | Timeline of films | East India Trading Company |
