Elizabeth Swann

Elizabeth Swann (Turner) is a fictional character in the 2003 Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. She also appears in the two sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007). She is portrayed by Keira Knightley.

In the time between The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest Elizabeth learned to handle a sword from her fiancé, Will Turner. She has also gained seamanship skills and has an ability for battle strategy, devising many defensive and offensive maneuvers.

Fictional biography

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Twelve-year-old Elizabeth Swann and her father, Governor Weatherby Swann, were en route from England to Port Royal in the Caribbean when their ship came upon a wrecked vessel — the victim of a pirate attack. The only survivor was a young boy, Will Turner. Elizabeth found a medallion around the unconscious Will's neck and kept it, fearing he would be arrested as a pirate. Elizabeth then glimpses a ghostly ship with tattered black sails disappearing into the mist.

Eight years pass. Elizabeth, now a beautiful young woman, is bored by her privileged, but restrictive, life, fantasizes about pirates and life at sea. Throughout the years, she has maintained a cordial friendship with Will Turner, unaware he secretly loves her. As a lowly blacksmith, Will harbors little hope of winning her. Commodore James Norrington, a good and honorable Royal Navy officer, also seeks Elizabeth's hand. He proposes marriage at his promotion ceremony, but she faints and falls off a rampart and into the bay before responding. Meanwhile, pirate Captain Jack Sparrow has arrived in Port Royal to commandeer a ship. While attempting to con the two marines guarding HMS Interceptor, he sees Elizabeth fall. He saves her, but he is arrested and jailed for piracy. That night, the Black Pearl, a pirate ship commanded by Captain Hector Barbossa, raids Port Royal. Elizabeth is abducted because she possesses a gold medallion; the same medallion she took from Will. Invoking parley, Elizabeth negotiates with Barbossa to leave Port Royal in exchange for the coin. Barbossa agrees but keeps her captive when she fails to bargain her own release. Because she gave her last name as "Turner" to protect her identity, he believes it is her blood and the medallion that will break an ancient Aztec curse the pirates are under. Their true forms — immortal skeletons — can only be seen in moonlight.

Will frees Jack Sparrow in exchange for helping rescue Elizabeth. He is unaware that Jack is the Black Pearl's former captain; ten years ago, Jack's crew mutinied and marooned him after he shared the bearings to an ancient Aztec treasure. Sparrow and Will hijack HMS Interceptor and head for Tortuga to recruit a crew. Along the way, Jack tells an incredulous Will that his father is "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, the only Pearl crew member who opposed the mutiny. After Bootstrap sent a piece of the treasure to Will, he was tied to a cannon and thrown overboard. Only later did the crew learn they needed his blood to break the curse.

In Tortuga, Will overhears Jack telling Joshamee Gibbs he plans to use Will as "leverage." They head for Isla de Muerta, knowing that is where Barbossa will go to break the curse. In hot pursuit is Commodore Norrington aboard HMS Dauntless.

On the island, Barbossa conducts a ritual using Elizabeth's blood and the medallion, but he becomes enraged when the curse remains in effect—Elizabeth is not Bootstrap's child. Meanwhile, Turner and Sparrow sneak into the cave. Will rescues Elizabeth, who grabs the coin, but distrusting the eccentric pirate, knocks out Sparrow. Believing Jack fell behind, Gibbs sets sail. Barbossa pursues them, and after a fierce battle, the Interceptor is sunk and the crew captured. Will reveals his identity. Unless the crew is released, he threatens to shoot himself while falling overboard, rendering him useless for breaking the curse. Barbossa complies, but because Will failed to specify when or where the release would happen, the crafty pirate maroons Sparrow and Elizabeth on a deserted island while throwing Will and the crew in the brig.

Discovering Jack is not the clever escape artist he is reputed to be, Elizabeth takes action and burns a cache of smuggler's rum to create a huge smoke signal that is spotted by Commodore Norrington. To save Will, Elizabeth convinces Norrington to attack Isla de Muerta by impulsively accepting his previous marriage proposal, telling him it would be her wedding present. She says nothing about the curse, however.

At Isla de Muerta, Elizabeth slips away from the Dauntless and sneaks aboard the Black Pearl to free Gibbs and the crew from the brig. But they refuse to save Will or Jack. Instead, they commandeer the Pearl and set sail as a disgusted Elizabeth rows to the island alone. Inside the cave, Barbossa is about to sacrifice Will, but Jack interrupts the ritual, informing him that the Royal Navy is waiting outside. He persuades Barbossa to form an alliance. Will reviles Sparrow for his treachery, but Jack's true allegiance is unclear. When the pirates leave to battle the navy, Jack, who has secretly cursed himself by swiping a coin, attacks Barbossa, while Will and Elizabeth fight the remaining pirates. Jack and Will offer their blood and return the last two coins to the chest, breaking the curse just after Jack fatally shoots Barbossa. He reverts to mortal form and falls dead. The remaining now-mortal pirates surrender. Will, Elizabeth, and Jack are rescued, although Jack is later sentenced to be hanged for piracy.

In Port Royal, Will saves Jack from the gallows, but they are quickly captured. However, when both Norrington and Governor Swann are reluctant to arrest Will or resume Jack's hanging, Elizabeth steps in to lend her support and declare her love for Will. Norrington releases Will and graciously concedes Elizabeth's hand. Jack, meanwhile, falls off the rampart and into the bay just as the Black Pearl sails into view. He is hauled aboard, captain once again. Good man that he is, Norrington allows the Black Pearl one day's head start before giving chase.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

It is Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner's wedding day, but Will is missing, and Elizabeth fears she has been jilted. Her fear turns to terror as Lord Cutler Beckett and the British Navy arrive with Will shackled in irons. Beckett, a ruthless East India Trading Company agent, charges Elizabeth and Will for aiding Sparrow’s escape; the punishment is death. Former Commodore James Norrington is also implicated, although he has resigned from the Navy and disappeared. Beckett offers clemency for all if Will can find Jack Sparrow and his compass.

Will finds Jack and the Black Pearl crew on Pelegosto hiding from the Kraken, a voracious leviathan controlled by Davy Jones, the mythical captain of the Flying Dutchman and ruler of the seas. Jones is hunting Sparrow to collect a blood debt, while Jack has been searching for the Dead Man's Chest containing Jones' beating heart. Whoever possesses the heart, controls Davy Jones and rules the oceans. Unfortunately, Jack’s magic compass has failed.

Elizabeth's father frees her from jail. Having learned that Beckett is only pardoning Sparrow, she boldly confronts him at gunpoint and demands he validate a Letter of Marque— a document intended to recruit Jack Sparrow as a privateer but which she wants for Will. Beckett signs it but says he still wants Sparrow's compass. Disguised as a cabin boy, Elizabeth tricks a merchant crew into taking port in Tortuga. Searching for Will, she instead encounters Sparrow and Gibbs in a pub recruiting sailors to pay off Jack's debt to Davy Jones, who demands one hundred souls in exchange for Jack's. Another man applies—James Norrington, who is now a miserable, drunken wretch. Blaming Sparrow for his ruin, Norrington attempts to shoot him and ignites a brawl, but Elizabeth saves him by knocking him out. At the pier, Jack claims Will was pressed ganged into Davy Jones' crew, insisting he was blameless; Norrington is skeptical, however. Jack convinces Elizabeth she can save Will by finding the Dead Man's Chest. Trusting him, she uses his magical compass and gets a bearing.

As the Black Pearl heads for Isla Cruces, Jack becomes amorous towards Elizabeth, and even suggests marriage. Norrington observes her seemingly pleased reaction to Sparrow's attention, but she denies having romantic feelings. She becomes distressed, however, when the compass, which points to what the holder wants most in the world, points to Jack. She tells Jack he is a good man and will one day do a courageous thing, but he brushes off her comments. Encouraged by her coyness, he attempts to kiss her, but the Black Spot, a mark that Jack's blood debt to Davy Jones is due, suddenly reappears on his hand, and he rushes off in a panic. Elizabeth mistakenly believes he is respecting her virtue, unaware the Kraken is hunting him again.

On Isla Cruces, Jack, Elizabeth, and Norrington find the Dead Man's Chest. Will, who has escaped the Flying Dutchman also arrives with the key to the chest. A furious Elizabeth learns that Jack betrayed her. A conflict erupts: Will wants to stab the heart and kill Jones to free his father from Jones' servitude; Jack fears the Kraken will continue hunting him if Jones is dead; Norrington plots to bargain back his career. As a three-way duel erupts, Jones' crewmen arrive. Jack gets the key and opens the chest, but it is Norrington who escapes with the heart and the Letter of Marque.

Pursued by the Flying Dutchman, the Pearl outruns her. Undeterred, Jones summons the Kraken, but the crew temporarily fight it off. Jack deserts the ship in the last longboat, but as Elizabeth predicted, he returns to save his crew. During the Kraken's momentary retreat, he orders all hands to abandon ship. Realizing the Kraken only wants Jack, Elizabeth distracts him with a passionate kiss while handcuffing him to the mast. Claiming she is not sorry, she is deeply affected by her deception. Climbing into the longboat, she tells the others Jack chose to remain behind, unaware Will witnessed what happened. The Kraken returns for its final assault; the Pearl and Jack are dragged to a watery grave. It is during this final battle that Jack and Elizabeth's contrasting characters emerge: Jack shows heroism and loyalty by returning to the ship and saving his crew; by abandoning her duty and honor, Elizabeth becomes more pirate-like, using deception to sacrifice Jack to save herself and the crew.

Norrington arrives in Port Royal and presents the heart and the Letter of Marque to Cutler Beckett. Meanwhile, Will, Elizabeth and the grieving crew make their way to Tia Dalma, the voodoo priestess who helped Jack find the Dead Man's Chest. As the crew drinks a somber toast to their fallen captain, Elizabeth silently agonizes over her betrayal. Believing Elizabeth loves Jack, Will comforts her. "If there was anything could be done to bring him back. . ." Tia Dalma interrupts, "Would you do it?...Hmm?...Would you brave the weird and haunted shores at World's End? To fetch back witty Jack and him precious Pearl?" All say, "Aye!", and Dalma says they will need a captain who knows those waters. Incredibly, a very alive Captain Barbossa descends the stairs.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Cutler Beckett is ruthlessly purging piracy from the Caribbean. Elizabeth joins Will, Barbossa, Tia Dalma, and the Black Pearl crew on a journey to Singapore. They seek a navigational chart belonging to Chinese pirate, Sao Feng that leads to World's End and Davy Jones's Locker. Jack Sparrow has been imprisioned aboard the Black Pearl since Elizabeth sacrificed him to the Kraken. Ovecome by guilt, she hopes to rescue him from his fate. She and Barbossa arrive at Feng's bathhouse, but unknown to them, East India Trading Company agents are also there. Before entering, Elizabeth and Barbossa surrender their pistols and swords. Suspecting Elizabeth may have other concealed weapons, the guards insist she remove her coat. To everyone's amazement, many additional pistols are strapped to her body. She merely shrugs and hands them over.

Barbossa asks Sao Feng for a ship and the map to rescue Jack Sparrow. Jack, Barbossa, Feng, and the other six pirate lords have been summoned to a Brethren Court on Shipwreck Island in response to Beckett's assault. Jack, lacking a successor, must attend. Feng discloses that a thief recently attempted to steal the chart and exposes the captive culprit—Will Turner. Elizabeth and Barbossa deny knowing him, although Elizabeth relents when Feng threatens to kill him. Just then, British soldiers attack the bathhouse. During the fight, Will negotiates his own deal with Sao Feng: Jack Sparrow in exchange for the Black Pearl. Feng agrees.

As the crew sails for World's End, Will and Elizabeth remain estranged. He still believes she loves Sparrow, while she harbors her guilty secret over causing Jack's demise. Guided by Tia Dalma and Feng's map, they make their way to Davy Jones' Locker. Finding Jack, he refuses to crew with them, exclaiming, "Why should I sail with any of you? Four of you have tried to kill me in the past! One of you succeeded." Of Will, Elizabeth, Tia Dalma, and Barbossa, it was Elizabeth, ironically, who was the least likely to kill him but the one who ultimately did in Dead Man's Chest. Asking if he will ever forgive her, he retorts, "No!" Only then does Will realize what she did. After Jack and Barbossa squabble over who is the Black Pearl's captain, the crew navigate their way back to the living world. Before leaving the Locker, Elizabeth sees her father's soul being ferried to the next world, murdered by Cutler Beckett. She makes many attemps to bring him aboard including throwing herself overboard. She is restrained by Will Turner who comforts her. Distraught, she vows to avenge his father's death.

Sao Feng intercepts the Black Pearl in his warship, the Empress. Jack barters Elizabeth to Sao Feng in exchange for the Black Pearl, to which she agrees to protect the crew. Feng wants Elizabeth as his concubine and also believes she is Calypso, the sea goddess, and Davy Jones' lost love. When he is fatally wounded in an attack by the Dutchman, he bequeaths the Empress to her, making her captain and the Pirate Lord of Singapore. Elizabeth is taken prisoner aboard the Flying Dutchman. Admiral James Norrington is also aboard. She admonishes him for aligning himself with Beckett and wrongly believes he was also responsible for her father's death. Norrington helps her and her crew escape back to the Empress, although he is killed.

The Black Pearl and also the Empress head to Shipwreck Island for the Brethren Court. When the Pirate Lords clash over going to war, they attempt to elect a Pirate King, but each Lord votes for himself. Knowing Elizabeth will go to war, Jack breaks the stalemate by voting for her, although he has an ulterior motive. Elizabeth orders them to attack.

Will is reunited with Elizabeth on the Pearl as the climatic battle is about to commence. Tia Dalma is revealed as the real Calypso, betrayed by Davy Jones who divulged to the earlier pirate lords how to imprison her in human form so they could rule the seas; only the current pirate lords can release her. Barbossa uses trickery to obtain each pirate lord’s insignia that he needs to free her. As Barbossa releases Calypso in a ritual, she learns her betrayer was Davy Jones. Her fury unleashes a raging whirlpool. During the maelstrom battle, Will proposes to Elizabeth again. Realizing she loves him, she tells Captain Barbossa to marry them immediately.

During the battle, Davy Jones mortally wounds Will. As Will lies dying, Jack relinquishes his bid for immortality by helping him stab Jones' heart. Jones is killed, but Jack fears that they were too late, and he pulls her aside and they glide safely over to the Pearl using a sail as a parachute. With the Dutchman now on their side, the pirates defeat Cutler Beckett, and the armada retreats. Although Will's life has been saved, he must now serve aboard the Dutchman, stepping on land for one day, but bound to his duties for the next ten years. Will and Elizabeth spend this one day on an island to consummate their marriage. Will returns to the Dutchman at sundown, but gives Elizabeth the chest containing his heart for safe keeping.

A short scene following the film's end credits shows Elizabeth ten years later. She and her nine-year-old son, William III, are on a cliff overlooking the sea. A green flash appears on the horizon (indicating that a soul has returned to Earth), and the Flying Dutchman rises from below with Will at the helm; Elizabeth has remained faithful, and he is returning home to them. It is unclear if Elizabeth has maintained her pirate career during Will's absence. The story's writer's have confirmed that Elizabeth's fidelity to Will for 10 years frees him from his curse of being the captain of the Flying Dutchman.

Other

The Kiss of Death

Elizabeth may possess a curse or a “Kiss of Death.” In his Word Player forums, in response to a question on the justification behind James Norrington's death, even writer Terry Rossio goes on to say- perhaps jokingly, "He died because he kissed Elizabeth. Everyone who kisses Elizabeth dies." Throughout Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Elizabeth unintentionally led a “path of destruction” in a sense that every man she has kissed tragically dies, (rather brutally) soon after:

• Captain Jack Sparrow - In Dead Man's Chest Elizabeth kissed Jack as a distraction to chain him to the mainmast of The Black Pearl, and he was eaten by the Kraken along with the ship. The next scene Elizabeth appears to look guilty for what she'd done to Jack. They go to World's End in the third installment of the film to rescue Jack from his tragic fate in Davy Jones' Locker.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Jack seems to have picked up on Elizabeth's fault, shown in a scene when she goes to kiss/hug Jack goodbye, he stops her, explaining his actions by reasoning "Once was quite enough."

• Captain Sao Feng - Mistaking Elizabeth for Calypso, Sao forces a kiss upon Elizabeth, but soon he is impaled by ship debris shortly after when a cannonball from Flying Dutchman crashed into his cabin. In his last moments, Sao passed on his Pieces of Eight to Elizabeth.

• Admiral James Norrington - Once betrothed to Elizabeth, Norrington gives her a farewell kiss after he saves her and her crew from imprisonment on the Flying Dutchman, but is then skewered by a delusional Bootstrap Bill Turner.

• Captain Will Turner - Proposes to and weds Elizabeth aboard The Black Pearl in an unorthodox ceremony conducted by Captain Barbossa (who inadvertently, along with Jack Sparrow, brought them closer together in Curse of the Black Pearl), while simultaneously battling Davy Jones' evil crew in the middle of a maelstrom. Shortly after being married, Will was ran through with a sword by Davy Jones, and subsequently had his heart cut out but not before Jack made Will immortal and the new captain of the Flying Dutchman by helping him stab Jones' heart.

Will's death is an ironic callback to Curse of the Black Pearl. In regards to the response Will gave Jack when he inquired about the extent of his love for Elizabeth, he answers resolutely "I'd die for her."

Other appearances

Elizabeth Swann appears in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, Port Royal, of the Disney/Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts II, voiced by Eliza Schneider in the English version (like the other original actors, Keira Knightley was unavailable due to filming Dead Man's Chest) and by Saori Yumiba in the Japanese version. Schneider performs the voice of Elizabeth Swann again in the video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.

External links

• Elizabeth Swann at the Pirates of the Caribbean wiki