Armando Salazar

"Every time I tap my sword, one of your men will die so I suggest you speak quickly."

- Salazar to Barbossa

Capitán Armando Salazar is the main antagonist of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. He is a ruthless and murderous undead pirate hunter and captain of an undead Spanish Royal Navy ship who is bent on exterminating all pirates in the entire world via the powerful Trident of Poseidon, and killing Jack Sparrow for cursing him and his crew, which caused them to become undead ghosts.

He was portrayed by Academy Award winning actor, Javier Bardem, who also portrayed Anton Chigurh in the No Country For Old Men film, Felix Reyes Torrena in Collateral, Raoul Silva in Skyfall and Felix in The Gunman and Him/God in Mother!.

Beginnings
Armando Salazar was once a captain of the Spanish Royal Navy, who dedicated his life to rid the seas of pirates after his father and grandfather were murdered by pirates at some point in his life. In his quest to exterminate the threat of piracy, Salazar became worse than those he hated, as he slaughtered pirates without mercy and saw them as little better than animals or infections instead of seeing them as people. Such was the case when he and the crew of his ship, the Silent Mary, were ambushed by a fleet of ten pirate ships. Though outnumbered, Salazar and his crew slaughtered the fleet of pirates, before killing the survivors, even after they had raised a flag of surrender and begged for mercy.

In the chaos that followed, Salazar's noticed a young Jack Sparrow and his ship, the Wicked Wench, trying to escape the carnage, while taunting him. No wanting to miss a single and insolent pirate, Salazar gived chase. Jack led him into to the Devil's Triangle, where their ship was mangled by rocks within the Devil's Triangle. This causes the powder stored within the ship to ignite and consume the ship with an unrelenting fire, seemingly killing Salazar and his crew.

However, it turns out that as Salazar and his crew's bodies begun to sink to the bottom of the sea, they were suddenly struck by streaks of eerie red light, resurrecting them as undead ghosts by the mysterious supernatural powers of the Triangle, where they were currently trapped. For years, Salazar and his now ghostly crew were forced to remain in the Devil's Triangle, trapped there by its supernatural powers, learning during his imprisonment the name of the man who defeated and cursed him.

Encountering Henry Turner and Message to Jack Sparrow
Several years after their imprisonment in the Devil's Triangle Salazar and his men spotted a pirate ship entering the Triangle, followed by a British Royal Navy ship called the Monarch. After killing the pirates and sinking their ship, Salazar and his men attacked the British crew, easily slaughtering all but one man; Henry Turner (the son of Will and Elizabeth Turner). When Salazar noticed the many wanted posters of Jack Sparrow, he spared Henry to tell Sparrow that Salazar was coming for him, waiting to seek his revenge.

Return for Revenge
Sometime later, the Devil's Triangle began sinking into the sea, thanks to Jack Sparrow giving away his compass for a drink, and, along with his crew, Salazar was freed from his purgatory. Even though his ship was nothing but a wreck, the Silent Mary was magically kept afloat as a ghost ship. Salazar's crew celebrated their liberation, which ended when Armando decided to continue his mission and kill all the pirates in the world; starting first and foremost with Jack Sparrow.

Freed from the Devil's Triangle, Salazar and his men then continued their anti-piracy campaign, encountering a pirate fleet commanded by Hector Barbossa. Without hesitation, they quickly attacked and destroyed three of its ships, the Jonty Lark, the Golden Pheasant, and the Rising Phoenix, always leaving at least one man alive to tell of him. Though the rest of the fleet managed to escape, the message the undead Spaniards sent was clear - the dead have taken command of the sea. Upon confronting Barbossa aboard his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, Salazar initially intended to kill him and his crew and sink his ship, but instead took him captive, alongside his crew, when Barbossa agreed to help Salazar find Jack in exchange of him sparing his life.

Final Battle and Defeat
Later on, Salazar finally spots Jack on another ship called the Dying Gull, so he and his crew attempt to attack. However, Jack, along with Henry and a girl named Carina Smyth (who is later revealed to be be Barbossa's long-lost daughter), escape on a lifeboat to a small island. Salazar and his crew chase the three to the island, but they soon realize that they can't enter on dry land, as evidenced when one of the crew members instantly turned into dust and dies for good after setting foot on dry sand. Barbossa was then set free by Salazar to catch Sparrow, but subsequently betrayed Salazar to help him as well as Carina and Henry, as he wants to use the Trident to destroy Salazar and his men for good.

Using his magical sword (that he took from Blackbeard after mudering him during the Quest for the Fountain of Youth five years ago in On Stranger in Tides), Barbossa released the Black Pearl from the bottle in which it was imprisonned and sailed away with the others.

They were soon pursued by Salazar and his crew, resulting a lengthy, harsh and violent battle between Jack's crew and Salazar's crew. During the battle, Salazar chased and fought Sparrow and nearly killed him, but was forced to flee back on the Mary along with his men when Black rock Island, the island where the Trident of Poseidon was, appeared. Before returning on his ship, however, Salazar managed to capture Henry Turner.

After Sparrow, Smyth and Barbossa arrived at Black rock Island, where Poseidon's Trident was hidden, the trio found the Trident of Poseidon in Poseidon's Tomb underwater. Salazar then decided to possess the body of Henry, knowing that later he could return to normal with the trident, since this artifact had the power to break all the curses of the sea. Salazar then took control of Turner's body and went down after Sparrow and Smyth. He engaged Jack in another fight while the crew of the Silent Mary saw them from within the parted sea, the result of the Trident's powers being unleashed. After grabbing ahold of the Trident, its energy released Salazar from Henry's body, and he sadistically began to throw Sparrow through the water, where Salazar's crew attempted to grab Jack and try to drown him. After toying with Sparrow for a while, Salazar pierced Jack through the chest with the trident in an attempt to kill him. In the melee, Jack, realizing the trident had stabbed a book in his jacket instead of him, ordered the now freed Henry to break the Trident. Henry then grabbed his sword and sent it crashing down on the Trident, breaking it in half, and breaking all the curses of the sea, including Salazar's and that of Henry Turner's father, Will Turner.

Salazar was rendered human again, as were his crew, but their joy was short lived, as the walls of water raised by the trident's magic closed in on them, drowning most of Salazar's now mortal crew. As Barbossa reels in Jack, Henry and Carina to safety by using the Black Pearls anchor, Salazar and his surviving men also cling on it, still bent on killing Jack. Salazar then attempted to reach Carina and murder her first. However, it was not to be, as Barbossa, in a valiant and gallant attempt to protect his daughter, let go of the anchor and grabbed hold of a blade Jack throwed at him. Carina and Barbossa locked eyes as she watched her her slowly fall down to the depths of the ocean. As Salazar looked up, he noticed Barbossa coming down upon him. With all of his strength he had left, Barbossa plunged the sword through Salazar's back, causing him to both let go of the anchor and knock down of his surviving crew members who held onto it. Salazar let out a scream of terror, before being silenced from hitting the anchor head first. His body was then consumed by the colliding waters below, and Armando Salazar's threat was ended, and this time for good.

Personality
"I have heard stories of a mighty Spanish captain; El Matador Del Mar. A man who scourged the sea and hunted and killed thousands of men."

- Hector Barbossa describes Salazar as a murderous and legendary person

Before his death and resurrection, Armando Salazar sailed the high seas for many years and, during that time, earned himself a fierce reputation. He became a legend in his own right, albeit a terrifying one. Ruthless but noble, he had devoted his military career in the Spanish Navy to eliminating all pirates from the Caribbean. His hatred for pirates was so great that he didn't even consider them men and instead described them as an "infection". Salazar was also not a man to show mercy to his enemies even if they did surrender to him, since on one occasion, while casually eating an apple, he ordered the shooting of some surviving pirates with muskets.

Salazar's obsession with killing pirates eventually led him to fall for Jack Sparrow's trickery and lead him to his untimely demise. Following his first death, Salazar was consumed with an uncontrollable rage, due to having been resurrected by the supernatural powers of the Devil's Triangle, as well as a burning desire to get revenge on the man he held responsible for his fate: Jack Sparrow.

Quotes
"Sailor: What are you?! Salazar: Death."

- Salazar's first words in the movie to the last remaining British sailor at the Monarch ship

"Salazar: Jack Sparrow. Do you know this pirate? Henry: Only by name. Salazar: Are you looking for him? Is that a yes? Henry: Yes. Salazar: It has been too many years the Trident has cursed us. Contended us to its hell. The key to our escape is Jack Sparrow and the compass which he holds. No, no, no. No need to be afraid of me, boy. I always leave one man alive to tell the tale. Find Sparrow for me, and relay a message from Capitán Salazar. Salazar! Tell him I will behold the daylight again, and on that day...Death...Death will come straight through him. Will you say that to him? Please? Henry: Yes. Salazar: I wish I could do it but dead men tell no tales."

- Salazar asking Henry Turner to find Jack Sparrow and deliver the message.

"Lesaro: Capitan, what's happening? Salazar: Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow had given away the compass."

- Salazar and his right-hand Lesaro as they are finally being freed from the Triangle

"Barbossa: Capitan Salazar! I hear ye be lookin for Jack Sparrow! Salazar: What do you know of Jack Sparrow? Barbossa: I know ye be lookin for him, any man Jack Sparrow has deceived would be. Salazar: What do you know of any man? Barbossa: Aye, I can help ye find Jack but you must spare me soul and crew. You'll have Sparrow by the next dawn upon me naked word. Do we have an accord? Salazar: Find Sparrow for me and I will let you keep your soul, by dawn. Or you and your entire crew, will die. Barbossa: I ask to be friendly to you. Salazar: You heard that guys?!, that pirate wants to be friendly. So, let me show you my friendship, ah hombre?. Every time that i stamp my sword, one man of your crew will die. See?, so i suggest you to speak quickly. Barbossa: I know what it is to be decieved by Jack Sparrow. Salazar: Ah, you maybe want to speak quickly Capitan!"

- Salazar and Barbossa, having an agreement of alliance between them.

"Pirates had infected the seas for generations, taking the life of my father and his father before him. So I vowed to end this plague once and for all. And that is what I did. I destroyed dozens of ships. The last ones joined together to try and defeat me, but they soon realized that it was hopeless. Nothing could stop the Silent Mary. The sea was finally... pure. Their wretched flags would no longer stain the sea. The last of their ships were burning before my eyes. But in that moment of... victory, its when i heard it. One ship was trying to escape through the smoke. And there, in the crow's nest, there was this... young pirate boy! He stood there looking like...like a little bird! And from that day he earned himself a name that would haunt me for the rest of my days. Jack the Sparrow! He took everything from me, and filled with rage... and pain"

- Salazar explains his motives and his plans to Barbossa

"Salazar: Hey, Jack Sparrow! Jack Sparrow. Jack: You're Spanish? Salazar: You will soon pay for what you did to me. Jack: I don't think so. I don't have time to chat. I need to find them. Salazar: So, I will be waiting for you!"

- Salazar and Jack

"Lesaro: Capitan, there must be another way. You know the dangers. When you enter his body, there is no coming back; you will be trapped in his body forever. Salazar's crewman: He have to do it. There's no other way. Salazar: The Trident will set me free. (*Salazar starts to possess Henry*) Henry: NO! Salazar: It's time to kill The Sparrow."

- Salazar discussing with his men about possessing Henry

"You cut me, you cut the boy Jack."

- Salazar possessing Henry Turner speaking to Jack

"There's no where to hide."

- Salazar to Jack, during the final battle

"Hola, Sparrow."

- Salazar to Jack

Trivia

 * Armando Salazar is easily one of the most dangerous villains in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which is due to his powers and abilities.
 * He is the second Pirates of the Caribbean villain that is not an actual pirate, the first being Lord Cutler Beckett.

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Armando Salazar