Treasure of Cortés

Treasure of Cortés
Object information
Made	Before 1519
Items	Aztec stone chest 882 Aztec gold pieces Curse of the Aztec Gold
Owner(s)	Aztecs Hernán Cortés
Affiliation	Aztecs Heathen Gods Cursed crew Isla de Muerta
Behind the scenes
First appearance	The Curse of the Black Pearl
Last appearance	The Legend of Jack Sparrow
Cause	As with Isla de Muerta, it was claimed by the sea.

"What I'd like to lay my hands on would be the Treasure of Cortés."
"You and every other buccaneer for the last hundred and fifty years. Nobody knows what happened to it."

―Christophe-Julien de Rapièr and Jack Sparrow

The Treasure of Cortés, also referred to as the treasure of the Isla de Muerta, was a cursed treasure, consisting of 882 identical pieces of Aztec gold in a stone chest. It was known to be buried at the Isla de Muerta, an island of the dead located in the Caribbean.

According to legends, the Aztecs delivered the chest to conquistador Hernán Cortés as blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon with his armies. But because the gold fueled Cortés' greed, the Heathen Gods placed a curse over the gold: any mortal that removes a piece from the chest shall be damned. The curse could be broken only if the plundered treasure was restored in total and a blood debt repaid. Only Hector Barbossa's crew of the Black Pearl were able to successfully find the treasure, though they would later regret it.

History

Legend

"This...it's some kind of sacred symbol?"
"It's an ancient design. The legends say it was imprinted on the blood money demanded by Cortés."
"Are you talking about the lost treasure? The one they say is on an island of the dead somewhere?"

―Jack Sparrow and Esmeralda

A piece of cursed Aztec gold.

In the early 16th century, during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in Mexico, the Aztec rulers placed 882 identical pieces of Aztec gold in a stone chest which they gave to the conquistador Hernán Cortés as "blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies." But instead of satisfying Cortés, it merely fueled his greed. In response, the heathen gods placed a curse upon the gold: any mortal who removed a piece of the gold from the chest would be punished for eternity. The only way to lift the curse was to return all the Aztec gold pieces to the chest and a blood debt repaid to the heathen gods. Ultimately, the treasure of Cortés would end up in the caves of Isla de Muerta, an island of the dead that could only be found by those who knew where it was. According to legend, after a ship carrying the treasure ran aground on the island, killing all but one of its crew, the lone survivor hid the treasure ashore before dying himself. Ever since then, the dark magic of the treasure cursed the island itself over time.

There the treasure remained, and became one of many legends in the Caribbean. The voodoo mystic Tia Dalma appeared to have been aware of its existence, particularly when she gave a veiled warning to a young Captain Jack Sparrow, shortly after Jack's adventure involving the spirit of Cortés. It would also be a matter of discussion several times in Jack's young adult life.

Quest for the Aztec Gold

"See, three days into the venture, the First Mate comes up to him and says everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure too. So, Jack gives up the bearings. That night, there was a mutiny."

―Joshamee Gibbs to Will Turner concerning Jack Sparrow

Two years after becoming captain of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow showed up in the pirate port of Tortuga with his compass and intended to find the treasure of Isla de Muerta with a crew, including his first mate, Hector Barbossa. Jack Sparrow had heard rumors that the treasure was cursed, but his crew mutinied and marooned him before he could take his share of the gold. Upon first hearing the "ghost story" about the cursed treasure of Cortés from Jack, the crew ended up not believing in the curse themselves, with Barbossa himself having said, "Ridiculous superstition!"

Becoming Cursed

"I hardly believe in ghost stories anymore, Captain Barbossa."
"Aye. That's exactly what I thought when we were first told the tale. Buried on an island of dead what cannot be found, except for those who know where it is. Find it, we did. There be the chest. Inside be the gold. And we took them all."

―Elizabeth Swann and Hector Barbossa

Captain Barbossa touching the cursed treasure.

Using the bearings acquired from Jack Sparrow, Captain Hector Barbossa and his mutinous crew were able to find Isla de Muerta as well as the Aztec stone chest within its caves. Having found the treasure, all the pirates summarily took all 882 pieces of the treasure, including Barbossa's pet monkey, unnamed at that point but later named "Jack" after their former captain. Even though each member of Barbossa's crew knew about the curse, they didn't believe it, but the removal of the gold pieces was an act which the crew would later regret. As they went carousing, spending and trading all the gold on drink, food, and "pleasurable company", the pirates became aware of the curse they were under. The delights they'd obtained no longer gave them pleasure, nor satisfaction, and they appeared as undead skeletons when they stepped into the moonlight. Finally aware that the Aztec curse was real, Barbossa's crew returned to Isla de Muerta to find a way to end their punishment. There, they found out that the effects of the curse could be reversed only when every last piece of the Aztec gold was returned to the stone chest from which it came.

It wasn't until William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner was sent to the depths that the crew learned of an additional requirement: that all who stole from the chest had to pay the heathen gods in blood, which now seemed impossible with Bootstrap lost to them. But a chance of hope lay with Turner's child, who had both his gold medallion and Turner blood in his veins. Thus, Barbossa's crew set about, attempting to reclaim all 882 pieces of the treasure.

Barbossa and Elizabeth Swann with the treasure.

Lifting the Curse

"Here it is! The cursed treasure of Cortés himself. Every last piece that went astray, we have returned. Sept' for this."

―Hector Barbossa to his crew

Ten years had already passed since the cursed crew started their quest, having collected all but one of the gold pieces and had already given their blood to the gold. However, the crew still needed the last coin as well as blood of Bootstrap Bill Turner from his only child. Days after Barbossa's crew led an attack on Port Royal, the Black Pearl arrived to Isla de Muerta. At this point, Barbossa's men had obtained the final Aztec gold medallion from Elizabeth Swann, whom they believed to be a descendant of Bootstrap Bill. Standing with the treasure in the caves of Isla de Muerta, Barbossa used Elizabeth to perform the blood ritual to lift the curse. However, after the ritual was performed, the entire crew didn't feel any different and realized that Elizabeth was not the child of Bootstrap Bill. The crew then began to argue amongst themselves on their unsuccessful attempt to lift the curse until Barbossa realized that Elizabeth had taken the medallion and escaped to the Interceptor. With the help of their old, left for dead captain Jack Sparrow, the crew was able to catch up with the Interceptor and retrieved the medallion.

All the scattered gold pieces restored.

By the time the Black Pearl returned to Isla de Muerta, Barbossa's crew had Will Turner, the true descendant of Bootstrap Bill Turner, as their prisoner. Entering the caves of Isla de Muerta, Barbossa once again aimed to lift their curse, this time with the intention of killing Will Turner and using his blood in the ritual. But before they could perform the ritual, Jack Sparrow interrupted, warning Barbossa's crew that the HMS Dauntless was offshore waiting for them. To make his point of attacking, Jack picked up a handful of coins from the chest, then dropping the coins one-by-one back into the chest, the clink of gold hitting gold emphasizing Jack's words. Barbossa then sent all of his crewmen for attack, save for three men. But only Will saw Jack slyly slip one coin up through his fingers. Having anticipated the battle to come, Jack figured as insurance he might as well make himself immortal just in case.

Barbossa, Will, and Jack waited in the caves for the slaughter to end, until Jack tossed Will a sword to fight Barbossa's men, while Jack dueled with Barbossa. During their fierce battle around the treasure cave, Jack revealed to Barbossa that he was cursed; having secretly palmed a piece of the Aztec gold. Though they were both immortal, Jack and Barbossa continued their fight through the caves. After Will defeats the pirates, with the help of Elizabeth Swann, Jack cuts his hand, putting his blood on his piece of the gold, and threw his coin to Will. Jack then shoots Barbossa in the heart just as Will dropped the last two gold pieces, with his blood on his coin, onto the chest, thereby lifting the Aztec curse. Becoming mortal once more, Barbossa dies.

Jack the Monkey before stealing the treasure.

After the Curse was Lifted

Following Barbossa's death, the other skeletal pirates reverted to normal aboard the Dauntless, but as they found themselves surrounded by the Dauntless crew, the now-mortal pirates dropped their weapons and surrendered. At some point, Barbossa's pet "Jack" the monkey returned to the cave, where he would take a piece of the Aztec gold and became cursed once again. Although the surviving members of Barbossa's crew were captured by the British Royal Navy, some would later escape and returned to Isla de Muerta, where they became cursed once more, vowing revenge against Jack Sparrow.

Disappearance

"What with the Isla de Muerta going all pear-shaped, to be reclaimed by the sea and the treasure with it."

―Joshamee Gibbs to Jack Sparrow

Some time later, the entire island of the dead was swallowed into the sea, taking all the treasure along with it, effectively vanishing from the face of the earth. At some point after becoming captain of the Black Pearl once again, Jack Sparrow's crew visited the island to see if they could get the treasure. But as the island was taken by the sea, there was no such luck. Only Barbossa's monkey Jack survived this ordeal and found itself aboard the Pearl.

Design and power

The treasure of Hernán Cortés was said to be found within Isla de Muerta, an island of death that could only be found by those who knew where it was. Originally given to Cortés as blood money by the Aztecs, it consisted as a large stone chest with Aztec writing filled with 882 identical pieces of Aztec Gold.

The Aztec Curse

Legends tell that the curse bestowed by the Heathen Gods punished any who stole a single piece of Aztec gold from the stone chest. Those whose greed led them to take from the chest would be cursed, leaving the beholders unable to feel anything, whether it be drink, food, or any of the pleasures of life. In addition, the cursed individuals would be condemned with immortality, but with an existence that was more of a living death than eternal life; they become undead skeletons, which reflected their true nature, when they step into the moonlight. The curse only affected the individuals who specifically removed the coins from the chest itself. If a piece of the gold were given to someone after being taken from the chest, they would not bear the curse. This is particularly noted after Hector Barbossa tried to use Elizabeth "Turner" to lift the curse when, after returning the coin, he grabbed it straight from the chest and gave it back to Elizabeth.

Behind the scenes

"When I first heard the pitch from Ted and Terry, what I liked about it was that it was a terrific perversion of the classic tale, I came in asking, 'What is the standard plot structure? Is it a kidnapping? Is it buried treasure?' When actually, it has all of these qualities, yet the principle one is reversed. It is a film about finding the last piece of treasure and putting it back. Barbossa and his pirates need to return the last piece of cursed treasure so they can feel the pleasures of the flesh-and-blood world. The curse has allowed Barbossa and his pirates to keep the currency and to continue their villainy, but they're not able to enjoy it."

―Gore Verbinski

• The cursed treasure of Cortés first appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl through the 2003 junior novelization, the video game, and the film itself. It was first identified as the "treasure of Isla de la Muerta" in the junior novelization. In the film, the "cursed treasure of Cortés" was originally named onscreen by Hector Barbossa, with the "treasure of [the] Isla de Muerta" named onscreen by Joshamee Gibbs as well as in the screenwriters audio commentary in the initial DVD release. Another stylization of the name was "The Treasure Of Cortez" which was used on the film's DVD scene selection, as well as at least one version of the screenplay available at the website Wordplay. The name "treasure on Isla de Muerta" was used in the 2006-2007 reference books Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and The Complete Visual Guide. "The Aztec Gold Treasure of Cortes" as well as "cursed Aztec treasure" would be used in a version of the official Pirates website in the early 2010s. "Treasure of Cortés" would further appear in A. C. Crispin's 2011 novel The Price of Freedom.
• Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio presented director Gore Verbinski their outline for the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and the director liked what he heard in that it was the element of the curse in the story that, in Verbinski's words, "was really an opportunity to turn the movie on its head and open it up as a genre." Verbinski also stated, "It is a film about finding the last piece of treasure and putting it back. Barbossa and his pirates need to return the last piece of cursed treasure so they can feel the pleasures of the flesh-and-blood world. The curse has allowed Barbossa and his pirates to keep the currency and to continue their villainy, but they're not able to enjoy it.” As covered in the "Spirit Of The Ride" bonus feature of the film's initial DVD release, the cursed treasure of Cortés is an homage to Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, derived from the narrative provided by the ride, specifically the idea of the cursed treasure and cursed pirates in the first part of the ride with the skeletons and the ghostly voices that say, "No fear have ye of evil curses, says you? Arrrgh...Properly warned ye be, says I. Who knows when that evil curse will strike the greedy beholders of this bewitched treasure?" as well as "Aye, blood money and cursed it be. Cursed by the black-hearted rogues what left it." That became the idea of the curse that the cursed crew are under in the film.
• In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft The Curse of the Black Pearl, the skull on Barbossa's pirate flag was described to be exactly like the skull imprinted on the Aztec gold. Also, Isla de Muerta's history is expanded: a ship carrying Cortés' treasure ran aground on the island, all but one of its crew dead. The survivor hid the treasure ashore before dying. Over time, the dark magic of the treasure cursed the island itself.

"We put a lot of work in on arriving at that number, and it all had to do with Geoffrey Rush's enunciation. We knew we wanted the number to be less than a thousand, or that's just too many gold pieces to track down. To start with 'nine' was a long syllable and not as good as the curt, 'cut off' syllable of eight (for rhythm, like writing song lyrics). Seven and six began with the 's' sound and that was just too soft and/or to overtly diabolical. We knew we wanted a double number at the front (8 and 8) because it felt more like a real number and the audience could get into the rhythm of it, rather than have to process three different numbers. Finally we ended with 2 because of how Rush could draw out that long syllable with relish, and the rhythm of 'eighty two' (double syllable leading to single) sounded cool, and gave the total number bundle a finality, a sense of arrival and finish. What we ended up with, then, was a number that had interest and a lyrical rhythm: 'EIGHT hundred and EIGHT-ty TWOOOOOO ... '"

―Terry Rossio

• In 2014, Terry Rossio was asked why the number of Aztec gold pieces is 882. Rossio responded by saying a lot of work was put in on arriving at that number, and it all had to do with Geoffrey Rush's (Barbossa) enunciation. And 882 was a number that had interest and a lyrical rhythm.

The stone chest in the 2006 revamp of Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland.

• After the financial and critical success of The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003, Walt Disney Imagineering revamped the ride across Disney Parks to feature the movie characters to coincide with the release of Dead Man's Chest in 2006. The stone chest originally featured in the first film would be added in the Disneyland attraction, appearing in the treasure-filled caves of Dead Man's Cove.
• While Dead Man's Chest confirmed the fate of Isla de Muerta being swallowed into the sea, taking the treasure with it, it was first officially mentioned in the 2006 video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.
• In Dead Man's Chest, the treasure is mentioned by Lord Cutler Beckett after Elizabeth Swann attempted to warn him of the cursed Aztec gold, stating that his "desires are not so provincial" and that "There's more than one chest of value in these waters." This may imply that Beckett either had knowledge of various legends of treasures in the Caribbean, or knew of the ongoings in the past year between Jack and Barbossa. However, what Beckett actually desired was finding the Dead Man's Chest.
• The nature of the cursed coins were actually further explained in the non-canon Kingdom Hearts II. Luxord explains that darkness of men's hearts is drawn to the medallions, which he is able to use to create a "Grim Reaper" Heartless from. The Heartless created from the curse had the ability to curse those who had no contact with the medallions.
• The treasure is mentioned in the Spanish and Russian editions of The Compass of Destiny! short comic. In the original edition, when Tia Dalma trades a magical compass to Jack Sparrow for a bag of gold, Jack says "When have I ever not used something wisely, madam?" In the Spanish and Russian editions Jack says "Just not for me! Thanks for the gift! Now the treasure of Cortés is in my hands!"
• There are other references throughout the Pirates franchise that appear to be based on the treasure of Cortés. In Pirates of the Caribbean Online, a chest similar to the stone Aztec chest can be seen on Devil's Anvil. A medallion very similar to cursed Aztec coins appears in the trailer of the cancelled video game Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned.
• In the 2011 video game LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, when Barbossa was explaining the cursed treasure, there was an animation explaining it and presenting a flashback of the Aztec Empire, Jack's search for the cursed gold, Barbossa's mutiny and Jack's marooning as well as Cortés and his conquest of the Aztecs.
• The design of the cursed coins may be partially based on the Aztec sun stone.
• Despite all 882 pieces being supposedly identical, two filming versions of the coin prop were created: one depicting a skull surrounded by an Aztec calendar design on the front while the back shows two pictographs, and a two-headed version.

Appearances

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (post-2006) (Non-canonical appearance)
• Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm (Indirect mention only)
• Jack Sparrow: The Sword of Cortés (Indirect mention only)
• The Price of Freedom (Mentioned only)
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (video game)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First identified as treasure of the Isla de Muerta and treasure of Cortés)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) (First appearance) (First identified as treasure of Isla de la Muerta)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
• The Compass of Destiny! (Mentioned only) (Spanish and Russian edition)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Mentioned only)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization) (Mentioned only)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (comic) (Mentioned only)
• The Haunting of Jack Sparrow! (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War (Mentioned in flashback(s))
• Kingdom Hearts II (Non-canonical appearance)
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)
• Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide (First identified as treasure on Isla de Muerta)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide