Isla de Muerta
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| Name: | Isla de Muerta |
|---|---|
| Owned By: | Barbossa's band of pirates. |
The Isla de Muerta (pronounced /'isla de 'mwerta/) is a fictional island featured in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It is a mysterious skull-shaped island where the Black Pearl's pirate crew hide treasure. Its name's literal translation is the "Island of Dead Female" (although the phrasing is somewhat off; "muerta" is the 'female' equivalent to the word "dead", therefore meaning "dead woman" or "female dead one". A more accurate wording would be "Isla de la Muerte" to mean "Island of Death", or "Isla de los Muertos" to mean "Island of the Dead")
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[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 hammerhead sharks and shoals of fish. It appears to be, for the most part, 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, for only when every piece of gold, anointed 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. His crew of undead thieves is soon brought back to the true form of living and, presumably, arrested.
[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 were reclaimed by the sea. Barbossa's corpse was presumably not sunk, and rather, taken by Tia Dalma to bring him back to life. His pet monkey, Jack, however, remained cursed, for the monkey took a single piece of gold from the stone chest, returning him to a cursed life. Due to the island being sunk, it is likely that the monkey would remain cursed forever.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
It is assumed that the Isla de Muerta will not appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts 2
In the video game Kingdom Hearts II, the world of Port Royal is based on Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. As such, Isla de Muerta is featured as visitable area in the game, and the one in which Sora and his allies do battle with Captain Barbosa and a Heartless dispatched by Pete. Later on, Luxord of Organization XIII steals the chest of cursed gold from Isla de Muerta, and four of the medallions must be retrieved from his Gambler Nobodies. After retrieving the chest, Sora and co. dump it overboard.
