I just got back from seeing Pirates of the Carribean (yes I know I’m late, I would have gone sooner had circumstances been different). I’m confused about one part: why was the blood of William Turner (jr or sr) required to lift the curse. Was Bootstrap not cursed himself? He would have had to take part in the plundering, as he sent his piece to his son, so shouldn’t he have been cursed (and thus, either on the floor of the sea for 10 years, or he managed to get free and walk ashore), and what about his blood was so special? Or is it just a piece of the plot they never bothered to tie a knot in?
In order to lift the curse, each of the pirates who stole the treasure had to sacrifice a bit of blood to the chest. Since William Turner Sr. was at the bottom of the ocean somewhere (and therefore unattainable), his son was the next best thing.
Only saw it once, but IIRC, Bootstap Bill was the Captain of the Black Pearl after it was stolen from Jack, and the one to take the cursed treasure. His blood (which ran in “Jr’s” veins) was required along with ALL the gold to break the curse. One can only assume that he stayed down there on the bottom of the sea for those many years until the curse was lifted and then once he was alive again, died a swift, but agonizing death. The part about him being in Davy Jones’ Locker “alive” for so long was not embellished upon in the movie.
A more important question: why do sailors refer to the briney deep as one of the Monkee’s clothing storage units?
Someone more wise in the ways of pirates may correct me, Baggins, but I think Barbossa took over the captain… Captaincy? Captaining? Anyhoo, he took over for Jack. Bootstrap Bill was still loyal to Jack in his own way, and deliberately sent the coin to his son to begin the scattering of the treasure and thus activate the curse. As to what happened to Bill after he went to the bottom of the ocean, I’ve no idea.
Ahh yes, my memory is coming back. “Took over for Jack” would be the polite way of saying mutany! Jack and Bootstrap were loyal to each other and were both sent to their respective fates, although at different times. Jack was deserted on the island and after Bootstrap sent the coin, he took that long walk down to the bottom. Does that sound right?
Right about now, someone who has really paid attention will come along and give us a play by play and give us the straight dope on it.
William Turner (herein called Will) was needed because in his veins flows the blood of Bootstrap Bill Turner, his father (herein called Bootstrap). (Do forgive me if I start using direct phrases or quotes from the movie. I claim no ownership on them.)
Bootstrap and Jack were…well, friends, though I’d doubt a pirate of any sort would admit to having ‘friends.’ When Barbossa mutinied against Jack, Jack was marooned on some island, while Bootstrap (who was said to have been bothered by the morality of the mutiny–“It never sat well with Bootstrap.”) was sent to Davey Jones’ locker (I’ll let someone else field the naming of this) because his loyalty to (now Captain) Barbossa was questionable.
Now, Bootstrap, because he took Aztec gold directly from the chest, was cursed. (This is why neither Elizabeth nor Will were cursed; they never took the coin from the chest.) He was cursed when he was thrown overboard. It was not until after he was thrown overboard that the crew of the Pearl realized how to break the curse: they needed every coin and the blood of every person who took gold from the coin.
This is where Will and Elizabeth come in. Elizabeth has the coin, Will has the blood, being Bootstrap’s son. Thus, they needed Will–the only child of Bootstrap. I’m pretty sure it’s never explained why Bootstrap sent Will the coin, but I’m assuming it was because, as a “merchant sailor,” Bootstrap was away a lot, and wanted Will to have something to remember him by. What happened to Bootstrap after the curse was lifted is unknown, but I’ll bet it’s the basis of the sequel. After ten years under the ocean, I’d not be surprised if he managed a way out of the bonds and up to shore.
Oh, right, and Jack…well, we know what happened to him.
Bootstrap sent the coin to his son because he believed the pirates deserved to be cursed for what they did to Jack. They do say this, although not all in one sentence; IIRC Pintel (the balding pirate who’s buddy-buddy with the one-eyed guy, Ragetti) spoke of Bootstrap’s opinion (which is why he was tossed overboard with a cannon strapped to Bootstrap’s bootstraps), and Will came to the conclusion of why the coin was sent to him.
Right, I saw it this way, too – the cursed were only the ones taking it directly from the chest.
This is where it gets a little tricky. I didn’t originally interpret needing the blood of every person – it seemed to imply that they just needed Bootstrap’s blood (or his descendant). I don’t think they ever said this (needing it from everybody), but I’m perfectly willing to accept this interpretation – it makes more sense.
Except… Jack took a coin from the chest, and we see that he (intentionally) got the curse, when he was fighting with Barbossa. However, I don’t recall his blood getting dripped into the chest – only Will’s – when the curse was ended.
And I may have just changed my mind on this. I don’t believe skeletons bleed, do they? Then how could the rest of the crew give up some blood? (i.e. the cursed ones)
Barbossa says that they need the blood when he explains the curse, IIRC, and when he is rallying the crew around Elizabeth, who stands at the chest, he says “Who here has not paid in blood…etc” I forget the exact quote, but they reply that they have all indeed paid in blood. They do not bleed in moonlight AFAIK, but if you remember when Elizabeth stabs Barbossa on the Pearl after dinner, he does indeed bleed.
Before tossing the coin to Will, Jack deliberately slits his hand on his sword while holding the coin, so that his blood is smeared on the coin and therefore mixed with Will’s blood as he does the same thing before dropping the coin. So no ooops.
I’m figuring this is minor enough not to need spoiler boxes …
“If you stab a cursed undead pirate, does he not bleed?”
Barbossa does when Liz stabs him. Also, when he’s rallying the crew from atop the pile-o-treasure, he says, “Who has paid the blood sacrifice?” and the crew responds, “We have!”
Well, I suppose… but there’s only one punishment for setting alight the “condescending no oops” beacon.
I must not have caught that detail of Jack smearing his own blood on the coin. I’ve only seen the movie once so far, but I will catch up – just waiting for it to come out at the $1 theater here, then there will be repeat viewings!
I don’t mean to sound condescending, but why did so many people have trouble figuring out the curse in this movie? I’ve seen a lot of questions about it here and elsewhere, but the whole thing seemed pretty straightforward to me. You take the gold from the chest, you’re cursed. You put the gold back in the chest along with a little of your blood, and the curse is broken – provided all other cursed individuals do the same. I thought the script did a good job of letting us in on all of this without resorting to too much boring exposition.
The only thing that seemed illogical to me was that the blood of a direct descendant (Will) was apparently just as good as the blood of the actual curse victim (Bootstrap Bill). But goodness knows the pirates made a big enough deal about needing Bootstrap’s kid that it was clear that was the way the curse worked even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
This puzzles me as well. I don’t want to sound condescending either, but I’ve only seen POTC once and it all seemed pretty simple. They pretty much lay it all out in front of you. And yet there are a LOT of people posting here thinking that Will’s was the only blood needed. Search some of the other threads on this and you’ll even see some very complicated explanations people thought up to justify why Will’s blood was the only blood needed (according to their misunderstanding of the movie’s curse). And apparently a lot of people got confused by the trick Jack pulled of taking a coin from the Aztec chest to make himself unkillable, then returning it (smeared with his own blood) as Will returned his coin, to finally lift the curse on everyone. It’s just frustrating to read these posts over and over. I think, “Wha? Did you fall asleep? How could you miss that?”
So, I’m right there with ya, Lamia. Looking down our noses at the feeble-minded.
