Why Bootstrap Bill?

[Capt. Morgan]

AAAAARRRGGGHHH! Apologies if this has been asked b'fore, but why the blood o' ol' Bootstrap? Was it ever explaned in the film why it had to be Bootstrap's blood that released the curse? I be assumin' its b'cuz his mates murdered him, or mebbe cuz Bootstrap was the purest of heart (fer a pyrate) cuz he objected to the mutiny against ol' Cap'n Jack... mebbe I be soaked in too much rum, but I not be findin' a definate answer in the movie... any help from ye swabs?

[Paisley]

good question mate...tell me if i've had too much rum too...

if the pirates were cursed because they had the gold...then bootstrap was cursed, right? so when they strapped him to a cannonball and watched him sink, was he still alive underwater for ? years? and only died as curse was lifted?

tell me i'm crazy...i know i am....

[Captain Emerald Shaunassey]

Best guess I can offer ya is because he was one of them what took a gold piece from the chest and the last to pay the debt of blood to lift the curse. I assumed that it would take every piece of gold returned and blood from all who took a piece from the chest to lift the curse.

Anyone else better informed?

[Capt. Morgan]

I be thinkin the same thing.... I keep havin' images in me 'ead of ol' Bootstrap's bones strugglin' to free 'imself of 'is chains ev'ry time the moon is full! Sends chills down me spine jus' thinkin' about it!

[Capt. Flint]

Because it was in the script...........

[Rumba Rue]

Because it was in the script...........

<snicker> I truly appreciate someone who thinks like me. :angry:

Yup, it was in the script.

RumbaRue

**I had a mind once, I'm still looking for it**

[Merrydeath]

This is from the Script. It explains why he and his kin were needed...sorta.

BARBOSSA

Where's his child? The child that

sailed from England eight years

ago, the child who is the real

owner of that medallion, the child

in whose veins flows the blood of

William Turner?! Where?

and then..

Ah, William Turner. Stupid blighter. He

threw in with us after we relieved Jack

Sparrow of his captaincy, but turned

out, it never sat well with himparticularly

after we found Cortes'

treasure, and its peculiar condition.

He thought we deserved to be cursed,

for leaving ol' Jack to the fate we

did. That's why he sent off a piece of

the treasure -- to you, as it were: so

it would never be recovered, and so

cursed we_ remain.

[El Pirata]

In laymans terms Bootstrap sent his son one of the pieces of the treasure and thus he thought the pirates would never be able to find Will with the coin and end the curse.

While Barbossa was scaring the crap out of Elizabeth on the Black Pearl Barbossa said something along the lines that the feel of the curse took awhile to set in. Later when Jack steals a piece from the chest he does not become cursed or at least does not show that he is cursed until he receives a mortal wound.

We have talked a little before about Bootstrap being at the bottom of the sea chained to a cannon. I think not that he had to wait for a full moon to be alive again since in the first raid on Port Royal the pirates are getting killed and walking away. You'll also see that only in the light of the moon do they show their curse but the curse is with them at all times. Imagine for the plot of #2 Bootstrap is alive and well. That would be an interesting turn of events.

[endkaos]

Bootstrap, being a pirate and all, most likely escaped from Davy Jones' Locker. Afterall, he needn't hold his breath while the curse be in place for the 8 years. He be hiding out to avoid being found, thus adding another obstacle to lifting the curse. He be livin on an island with a native tribe.

[El Pirata]

I know if I were Bootstrap I sure would have figured out a way to untie the knots or wiggle free from the chain holding me to the cannon in less than the 10 reign of Barbossa. Maybe the producers thought about the fact people would ponder this bit of information since they do show a scene of the pirates walking along the bottom of the bay.

[El Pirata]

Now here's another question to ponder, did the curse end for Bootstrap? I mean he didn't put his blood into the chest, his son did in his place. Bootstrap himself never put his blood into the chest so is he still cursed, or did Will uncurse him with his blood?

The pirate with the severe yellow eyes that was always hanging out with the pirate who was missing an eye had said, "it was only after that we realized that we needed his blood to lift the curse." Somewhere along those lines.

It was not like one of the mutaniers aboard the Black Pearl would have mailed a letter for Bootstrap after he was dead so the ship had to have put to port at some place in time. Barbossa also talked about them spending the cursed coins and slowly they realized they were cursed themselves.

I mean if bootstrap was so PO'd at Barbossa for marooning Jack and mailed a coin to his son, why in the heck would he have gotten onto the Black Pearl again with Barbossa to search for the coins to end the curse and then PO Barbossa enough to send him to the bottom?

Lots of questions here.

[JoshuaRed]

Something I always wondered is why does Barbossa get so agitated when Elizabeth holds the doubloon out over the side of the ship when she first gets kidnapped in Port Royal? Why not just let her drop it over the side and then tell one of his crew to "take a walk" on the ocean floor and pick it up?

[StichWitchJane]

That be a decent question there, Joshua. Perhaps he didn't want dear Elizabeth to know they was cursed. Or perhaps is be for the sake of the plot. Who knows? Only the director and the crew of the movie.

Cheers!

Jane

[El Pirata]

Easier to take it from her than the bottom of the bay.

[Charlotte Doyle]

Yeah -- there was a chance, if slight, that once Elizabeth dropped the coin, they'd be unable to find it again; ya don't wanna lose something as small as a medallion to the depths of the ocean if you can help it. :) So I suppose their fears were reasonable enough.

I imagine the curse would have been removed for Bootstrap when Will dropped his bloody coin into the chest. All the coins had been returned, and the full blood debt repaid -- if Will was returning the blood debt in place of his father (but without having ever been really cursed himself), then I think the curse would have been lifted for all. So I doubt that, if Bootstrap does happen to still be alive, that he's running around still cursed.

I have to say, I'd rather see Bootstrap return in PotC2 than Barbossa -- I really love Barbossa's character, but I'm just not convinced it's such a good idea to bring the guy back . . . ;-)

BTW, I too had trouble figuring out why it was Bootstrap's blood that was needed. I was even beginning to wonder if perhaps Jack was related to Bootstrap, because of the scene where he cuts his own hand before tossing the coin to Will. But someone finally pointed out to me that the rule is simply, if you take a coin from the chest, you must put it back with some of your blood (or your kid's blood, apparently ) to lift the curse. Barbossa's entire crew did actually bleed into the chest already as they returned the coins, though off-camera -- as Barbossa is launching his inspirational speech to his crew before cutting Elizabeth's hand, he asks them, "Who paid the blood debt [or "sacrifice," I forget which] owned to the heaten gods?" and his crew roars and points at themselves. So, despite being wildly understated, there was nothing "special" about Bootstrap where his blood was needed -- he was just the last crewmember they needed to give his blood to break the curse.

I mean if bootstrap was so PO'd at Barbossa for marooning Jack and mailed a coin to his son, why in the heck would he have gotten onto the Black Pearl again with Barbossa to search for the coins to end the curse and then PO Barbossa enough to send him to the bottom?

See if this theory of events makes at least moderate sense. *grins* I think the pirates, Bootstrap included, marooned Jack on the island, then went to Isla de la Muerta and stole the coins. They got the coins, started spending them, and realized they were cursed.

Now, maybe they didn't understand the full extent of the curse yet. Maybe they didn't realize that they had to do much else but return all the coins to the chest. If they realized only that much, Bootstrap could have sent the coin off to Will then, wanting to punish the crew (and himself?) for marooning Jack on the island. Barbossa, furious that Bootstrap has just cursed them forever and ever by sending one coin missing (I doubt Bootstrap volunteered the information that he sent it to his son; he probably just said that he got rid of it), sends Bootstrap to the bottom of the ocean.

THEN, after dumping Bootstrap to the depths, Barbossa and Co. realize that they need the blood, of EVERY crew member, to break the curse, in addition to returning all the coins to the chest. But of course, then it's too late, so they begin looking for the child they knew Bootstrap had, in addition to the coin that went missing . . .

This is all surmising, but it's the best I can figure to make sense of the script. Having them figure out the curse, and how to break it, in pieces, is the only way I can figure it would make sense -- but I suppose it's possible enough! :)

[Capt. Morgan]

Good thinking there, Charlotte! That actually makes really good sense! Whether Bootstrap is special, or all the crew's blood was needed, here's to a damned good movie, and cheers to the thoughts of another!

[Merrydeath]

From the script on the fandom page..

BARBOSSA:

Ah, so you don't know as much as you

pretend. Back when Cortes was cutting a

great bloody swath through the New

World, a high priest gave. him all the

gold they had, with one condition: that

he spare the people's lives. Of course,

Cortes being Cortes, he didn't.

(nods)

He'd've made a great pirate, that one.

Barbossa stands, moves to a shelf. Puts a key to a mediumsized

polished wooden box -- the Captain's chest. Opens it.

BARBOSSA (CONT'D)

So the priest, with his dying breath,

called on the power of the blood of his

people, and put on the gold a curse. If

anyone took so much as a single piece,

as he was compelled by greed, by greed

he would be consumed.

Inside the chest are charts, some gold, a sextant -- and a

few pages of a Mayan CODEX, pieces of tree bark inscribed

with Mayan glyphs. Barbossa removes them carefully, sets

them on the table. Pours over them.

BARBOSSA (CONT'D)

Within a day of leaving port for Spain,

the treasure ship carrying the gold ...

something went wrong. The ship run

aground, every man aboard dead, save

one. He survived long enough to hide

the gold ashore.

(beat)

Over time, the dark magic of the curse

seeped into the place, making it a

cursed island. An island of death. Isla

de Muerta.

(etc.)

BARBOSSA

You idiot girl! It's no makebelieve!

My crew and I, we found

the gold, and we did more than

take one piece, we took it all.

Rich men we were and we spent it

and traded it and gave it away in

exchange

for drink and food and pleasant company. But we found out:

the drink could not sate us, and the food turned to ashes

in our mouths, and no amount of pleasant company could ease

our torment.

(regains his composure)

We are cursed men, Miss Turner,

condemned, to be forever consumed by our own greed. Gold

calls to UB, always, and we are driven, always, to find

more, and add it to the treasure.

Barbossa picks up the priceless Codex. Crushes them in his

fist.

BARBOSSA (CONT'D)

There is but one way to remove the

curse. All of the scattered pieces

of the treasure must be restored

in full, and the blood repaid.

(he throws the pages

aside)

We've recovered every piece --

save for this.

(holds up the medallion)

And as for the blood ... that's

what we have you for.

(contd)

BARBOSSA

Here we stand before the cursed

treasure of Cortez himself. Won by

blood, it demands blood in return.

[El Pirata]

BTW, I too had trouble figuring out why it was Bootstrap's blood that was needed. I was even beginning to wonder if perhaps Jack was related to Bootstrap, because of the scene where he cuts his own hand before tossing the coin to Will.

Jack cut his own hand because he too became cursed when he stole the coin from the chest when he was bartering with Barbossa. Thus his blood was needed to lift the curse in addition to Bootstrap's which was donated by Will.

[Charlotte Doyle]

Jack cut his own hand because he too became cursed when he stole the coin from the chest when he was bartering with Barbossa. Thus his blood was needed to lift the curse in addition to Bootstrap's which was donated by Will.

Yeah, I got that now. But for some reason, it took someone like five posts at another pirate message board I frequent to get this concept through my head. The girl trying to explain it to me kept saying it in different ways, but I just wasn't getting it -- and finally she's like, "LOOK, they ALL had to drop some of their blood into the chest to break the curse, EVERYONE who took a coin has to give their blood back as well, we just don't SEE it on screen," and I was finally like, "OOOH, NOW I get it!!!" It was a great moment for me.

Yah, I can be a bit dense now 'n' then . . . ever have something just refuse to compute for ya? Such was the case for me with this. :) I'm good now though. Thanks though!

[El Pirata]

Yes, Barbossa and the rest of his crew had all previously given back their blood. They were just waiting for Bootstrap's debt to be paid by Will.

[TalesOfTheSevenSeas]

Here's another curse question that's probably been asked already, but inquiring minds want to know....

How come Elizabeth, who technically stole the coin from William as a little girl, didn't get cursed herself?

Was it because she took it to protect him from Norrington, who she thought would hang him and the curse does not apply itself to those who steal with good intentions?

Might that then be the case with Bootstrap Bill? Perhaps the curse did not apply itself to him and he drowned?

To curse or not to curse... that is the question!!

[JoshuaRed]

I think Elizabeth didn't get cursed because greed was not her motive when she took it from Will. As in the script:

If

anyone took so much as a single piece,

as he was compelled by greed, by greed

he would be consumed.

Inside the chest are charts, some

[Charlotte Doyle]

Actually, I think Elizabeth wasn't cursed when she stole the medallion from Will ('cause she really did _steal_ it) because she stole it from Will and not from the chest itself. Listen to what Barbossa tells her -- "Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity."

So it's not enough to steal one of the pieces from someone -- ya gotta snatch it from the chest itself.

(...I figured this out because me and me mother were having an argument about it awhile back; she insisted that Elizabeth should have been cursed because she did technically _steal_ a piece, and so there was a plot hole; I insisted there must be an explanation. When I caught Barbossa's line there, I was ecstatic. I spent the rest of the film that time leaning over to my mother to whisper, "FROM that stone chest! FROM the chest!" For some reason, she didn't think I was as amusing as I thought myself. *wink*)

[El Pirata]

I agree that the coins needed to be taken from the chest itself. Otherwise anyone who took a coin dishonorably, like stealing one that habeen used to purchase something, would be cursed too.

[Omega]

Exactly.. to be cursed, you have to take it from the chest.. otherwise the coins would have cursed an awful lot of people while they were in circulation..

It's good to see some other people putting this plot through the ringer.. I thought I was the only one :-)