- "Come on men! It'll take all of us to crew the Black Pearl!"
"Actually, you wouldn't need everyone! About six would do...Oh dear." - ―Will Turner and Leech
Leech was a pirate from India who served as a crew member aboard the Black Pearl around the time of Jack Sparrow's search for the Dead Man's Chest.
Biography[]
- "Captain, I think the crew—meaning me as well—were expecting something more... shiny. What with the Isla de Muerta going all pear-shaped, to be reclaimed by the sea and the treasure with it."
"And the Royal Navy chasing us all around the Atlantic." - ―Joshamee Gibbs and Leech
Leech was the leader of a collective resentment against Sparrow following the latter's escape from a deadly Turkish prison, over lack of gold and other swag, citing the British Royal Navy chasing them all through the Atlantic Ocean, but Jack produced a piece of cloth from his pocket that he had filched from the prison and was about to show what was sketched on it when Jack, the late Captain Hector Barbossa's undead pet monkey, jumped out and stole the cloth. To stop the monkey, Sparrow withdrew Leech's pistol from his belt and fired at the undead animal.
The Black Pearl landed at Pelegosto Island and were captured, Leech among those captured by the Pelegostos, the native cannibalistic tribe; the crew members consumed were made into two giant bone cages in which the surviving crew was kept, Leech and several crew members among them. While trapped in the cages, Leech called out to Gibbs that the crew in his cage formulated a plan, but soon dismissed it with a "never mind!"
The crew within the two bone cages swung back and forth from the bridge where the cages were hung, finally grabbing hold of the roots and vines on the cliff side, beginning the climb up. Will Turner, who had been trapped in the other cage, called out that they'd need all the crew to man the Pearl, but Leech called out that they would only technically need six men, taking a moment to catch on to his mistake before putting double efforts into climbing the walls with the crew in his cage.
During the climb, one lone Pelegosto warrior walked out on the bridge and was eyed by Will, who told the others in his cage to stop climbing, attempting to warn the others in the opposite cage, but Leech and the others continued to climb until Leech grabbed at what he thought to be a vine, but was actually a snake. Frightened, Leech dropped the snake and cried out, causing such a panic in the bone cage that its captives let go of the vines they were holding onto. The bone cage dropped with such a force that it caused the support rope to snap at the top, sending the captives plunging into the ravine to their deaths, screaming all the way and unwittingly alerting the Pelegosto warrior of the crew's escape.
Personality and traits[]
A deceitful opportunist, Leech was displeased with Sparrow's lack of leadership in directing his crew to go pirating and considered a mutiny, voicing his displeasure to the captain himself. Though Leech was duplicitous, he was also loose-lipped and mistakenly let slip that the Pearl only needed six crewmen, signing his own death warrant in so doing.
Equipment and skills[]
An Indian man, Leech wore clothing typical of a mariner, tan frock coat, trousers and vest but for a dark red turban, which he wore with his black hair flowing partially out of. Leech also wore a dark pair of boots, a baldric and a belt in which his pistol and sabre were hung.
Behind the scenes[]
- Leech was played by San Shella in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.[1]
- As revealed by writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio on the Dead Man's Chest DVD commentary, Leech was given many of the lines that would normally have been spoken by Joshamee Gibbs. This made actor Kevin McNally wonder if Gibbs was to be killed off while reading the script, though later realized Leech was set up in this way to make his death more meaningful to the audience.[citation needed]
- In a revision screenplay draft of Dead Man's Chest, Leech's name was Leach and the demise of him and would-be mutineers was a little different. They were meant to still climbing the cliff after Will Turner's cage had already reached the cliff's top, only to Leech grabbing from the vine turned to be a snake and later fell to their deaths like in the finished version of the film.[3] Moreover, he was the only member of the crew from this doomed cage, whose name was revealed in the franchise.
Appearances[]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization) (First appearance)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- ↑ The timeline established in On Stranger Tides (which takes place in 1750) and Dead Men Tell No Tales (which takes place in 1751) sets the events of Dead Man's Chest around 1729. However, the exact placement still has to be officially confirmed by The Walt Disney Company.
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Rough Script