HERE THERE BE MONSTERS.

CARINA’S FIXATED GAZE on the horizon hardly wavered, blurring the line between sea and sky as a sigh she hadn’t expected to release revealed her inattention. It was true, she hadn’t exactly been listening for the past couple of minutes as the pirate spoke. His words had begun to blur in her ears just as the horizon line had in her sight, occasional words peeked through as occasional waves were protruding through like pesky children. In the past–she could not say ages ago, for ten years was hardly ages to anyone besides her–maybe she would have listened to him eagerly with wide, inquisitive eyes, soaking up every story, every anecdote, every wisecrack, every well or ill-meaning piece of advice. But things change when the mystery father you conjured as a little girl isn’t the esteemed astronomer you expect…and when you’re twenty years old, not ten.

“To be succinct, yes.” Tapping the tips of her fingers together, she leaned over the side, toes rising, peering into the sea. She could very easily get knocked right into the watery depths, Carina certainly knew, and being anyone’s spawn wouldn’t prevent it from happening, “Though, I have been given the same message. The tongue of the devil is what they believed I possessed as a child,” A mischievous grin spread across her face. Something open and true and not as snarky and sharp as she had intended: a butter knife, to be metaphorical. She had spent too much time feeling ostracized, othered, isolated as an academic woman, astronomer, horologist. Wasn’t it worth it to attempt to throw out a line of connection? To not let herself exist as an empty island?

A smirk lingered on his lips before Carina could offer him her reply, for he already predicted her answer. Had anyone else agreed with him so readily, his reaction would have been quite the opposite; a vicious scowl might have stood in place of his current amused expression, or worse, but it was no real secret that Barbossa was fond of his daughter and her cutting words, despite his notoriously ruthless nature and best efforts to hide any weakness. 

Ever since she had first come aboard the Revenge, he had overheard the displeased grumblings of a few of his men from time to time; the most common complaint, naturally, was that there was a woman aboard and in a position of power, as hard-headed, sharp-tongued, and self-assured as the captain himself. Such objections were never spoken to him directly, of course, nor did they surprise him when he learned of their existence. The buccaneers who sailed beneath his colours did so with the intent of becoming wealthy beyond measure, and so he knew that their disdain for a capable female navigator was forever outweighed by their greed. 

Carina’s academic talents and celestial prowess were best suited to life at sea, rather than going to waste in a civilization that would only restrict her. He recalled that the dauntless Pirate King, a former member of polite society's narrow-minded upper crust, had faced her fair share of criticism after she rose to her position, too. Some never warmed to her, but it made her no less prosperous.

He silently regarded his daughter at her position along the starboard gunwale as she spoke, with her attention turned towards the sea.  “ It be in your blood, I fear, ”  he proclaimed in response, with an equal amount of mischief behind his words to match the sly grin that she wore,   “ A family curse. ”  Weathered fingers drummed against the ship's wheel for emphasis before he finally cast his gaze ahead to focus on the darkening horizon.

Perhaps what others had told her as a child was not entirely untrue, Barbossa mused. He was not usually a man who chose to look backward, but how many tales had been told of the Black Pearl when he and his crew had ravaged the Caribbean in their quest to alleviate themselves of their supernatural misery? One of the more famous of them was a description of himself, spread by survivors lucky enough to withstand his violent fury. A man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out. Did that not make him a devil, or something even more vile? 

It would be a lie to say that he disliked how people feared him then ⏤ and how they feared him still. He lifted his chin, as if to convince himself of his pride.

“ I find that it usually be those who speak a great deal but say nothin’ of much import who tend to take issue with wicked-tongued folk like you n’ I. Most men fear what they fail to understand, as I'm sure you’re well aware. Better a devil than a cur. ”

𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴  𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃

                                                𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨  𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒

THIS.  Not only is Barbossa far more of a Proper (Cinematic) Pirate than Jack (with the outgrown Errol Flynn hair to prove it!), but he absolutely plays the role of Hades in Curse of the Black Pearl.

While Elizabeth first boards the Black Pearl (here functioning as both Hades’ chariot and Charon’s ferry) more or less voluntarily, Barbossa/Hades does indeed kidnap her and take her to the “land of the dead”—the Isla de Muerta.  The Black Pearl also serves as a kind of limbo, holding men halfway between death and life.  Much like Pluto of old, CotBP!Barbossa is strongly associated with both wealth and death, even more so than the other pirates.  When they get to the “Underworld”, we see that the cursed crew members require a blood sacrifice to regain (permanent) corporeality, paralleling the shades Odysseus encounters who require blood to regain the ability to speak (Odyssey 11.24-50).

By the time At World’s End rolls around, Elizabeth has begun to catch up to Barbossa in terms of piracy and command.  She visits another, more literal Underworld at Barbossa’s side; he knows the way, and she has more than learned from her previous experiences.  It was Elizabeth thinking more piratically—thinking like Barbossa—that made the trip to the Locker necessary, after all.

In the end, she eclipses Barbossa in power and is crowned King, with her own beloved ferrying souls between worlds as she sails the seven seas.  Like Persephone, Elizabeth straddles worlds and holds power in both, and it was Barbossa/Hades who first helped her get there.