Armando Salazar

"I always leave one man alive to tell the story."

- Salazar's catchphrase.

Capitán Armando Salazar is the main antagonist of the 2017 live-action Disney film 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 the Academy Award winning actor Javier Bardem, who also played Anton Chigurh in the No Country For Old Men film, Felix Reyes Torrena in Collateral, Raoul Silva in Skyfall and Felix Marti in The Gunman, and Him/God in Mother!, also released in 2017.

Backstory
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 pirate boy named Jack Sparrow abroad a ship called the Wicked Wench, trying to escape the carnage, while taunting him. Not wanting to miss a single and insolent pirate, Salazar chased Jack into the Devil's Triangle, where the Silent Mary 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: Jack Sparrow! Salazar vowed he would one day escape the Devil's Triangle and get revenge on Jack for defeating and humiliating him.

Encountering Henry Turner and Message to Jack Sparrow
Several years after this battle, Jack has grown up and become a legendary pirate and spent a long time running from the law while Salazar and his men have been waiting to get their revenge on him. They've spend years killing anyone who dares to enter the triangle, with Salazar always letting at least one man live to tell the tale. All Salazar wanted to do was be freed from the triangle so he could find a legendary magical object called the Trident of Poseidon and use it to make himself flesh again and then get his revenge against Jack for making him undead. One day, he spotted a British Royal Navy ship called the Monarch sail into the triangle. Afterwards Salazar and his men attacked the crew, easily slaughtering them all. Suddenly Salazar heard a noise below deck. He walked down to the brig. There he discovered a young boy named Henry Turner locked in a cell. Henry is the son of Jack's old friends Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann and Henry had spent most of his life trying to find Jack so he could help him break Will's curse with the Trident. When Salazar noticed Henry had many wanted posters of Jack, Salazar spared Henry and told him to find Jack and tell him that Salazar was coming for him, to seek his revenge.

Return for Revenge
Sometime after this, Henry has escaped on a piece of driftwood and the Devil's Triangle began sinking into the sea, because Jack giving away his compass for a drink. At last Salazar and his crew were freed from their purgatory. Even though his ship was nothing but a wreck, the Silent Mary was magically kept afloat as a ghost ship. After the crew celebrated their liberation, Armando told them it was time for them to continue their mission and kill all the other pirates in the world; including Jack.

Freed from the Devil's Triangle, Salazar and his men then continued their attacks on pirates, encountering a pirate fleet commanded by Jack's semi-arch enemy Hector Barbossa. Without hesitation, they quickly attacked and destroyed three of Barbossa's ships, 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. Salazar and his men soon encountered Barbossa aboard his command ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge (which originally belong to the pirate Blackbeard), Salazar was ready to destroy with Barbossa on it, however at that moment, Barbossa mentioned that Salazar was looking for Jack. Salazar and his crew then boarded the Queen Anne's Revenge, where Barbossa agreed to help Salazar find Jack in exchange of him sparing his own life. Salazar took Barbossa and his crew abroad the Silent Mary and they hunted for Jack.

Closing In
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 walk 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. Salazar then orders Barbossa to go ashore and catch Jack, but Barbossa subsequently decided to help Jack, Henry and Carina find the Trident so he can use it to destroy Salazar and his men for good. Using his sword, Barbossa released Jack's ship Black Pearl from the bottle it was imprisoned in and sailed away on it with the others.

The Black Pearl V.S The Silent Mary
Salazar and his crew soon caught on with the Black Pearl, resulting a lengthy, harsh and violent battle between Jack's crew and Salazar's crew. During the battle, Salazar chased and fought Sparrow and tried to kill him, but was forced to flee back on the Mary along with his men when Black rock Island, the island where the Trident, appeared. Before returning on his ship, however, Salazar captured Henry. He then possessed Henry so he could walk on land. 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.

Final Death
After Barbossa, Jack and Carina arrived at Black rock Island, Jack and Carina found the trident in an tomb underwater. Salazar then arrived possessing Henry and attacked them. 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 a hold of the Trident, its energy released Salazar from Henry's body, and he sadistically began to throw Jack through the water, where Salazar's crew attempted to grab Jack and try to drown him. After toying with Jack for a while, Salazar was about to kill Jack with the trident.

At the moment, the now free Henry then quickly sliced the trident in half with his sword and broke all the curses of the sea, including Salazar's and Will's. Salazar was rendered human again, as he was turned back to his hard flesh form. And so were his crew, but their joy was short lived, as the walls of the tombs were starting to close in on everybody crew.

As Barbossa flies in to save Jack, Henry and Carina by using the anchor of the Black Pearl, Jack, Henry and Carina quickly hop on with Salazar and most of his men also hopping on it, driven by revenge, Salazar leaves all of his crew to die including Lesaro, his most loyal man. As Barbossa, Jack, Henry and Carina climbed up the anchor chain, Salazar followed them and attempted to reach Carina and murder her first.

However, Barbossa, in a valiant and gallant attempt to save his daughter, let go of the anchor and grabbed hold of a blade Jack gave him as he fell down the anchor, he plunged his sword into Salazar's back, causing him to let go of the anchor's chain in pain. Salazar fell down and knocked his crew members off the anchor, as Salazar screamed in utter horror before he hits his head on the anchor, which kills him this time for good. The walls of water closed in, as Salazar's life-less body and Barbossa were washed away by the closing seas.

Personality
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
"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.

"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: You are 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 to 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 has 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 deceived 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 Sparrow, during the final battle.

"This is where the tale ends!"

- Armando Salazar to Jack Sparrow.

"Hola, Sparrow."

- Salazar to Jack Sparrow.

"Jack!"

- Armando Salazar's last words.

Trivia

 * Salazar is easily the most dangerous villain in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, due to his powers, abilities and personality.
 * He is the second main Pirates of the Caribbean villain who is not a pirate, the first being Lord Cutler Beckett. who was the main antagonist of the third film At World's End, released ten years before.
 * Christoph Waltz was originally cast in the role of Captain Brand, but dropped out due to other work commitments. Javier Bardem was then given the role, but the name was changed from Brand to Salazar to sound more Mediterranean to accompany Bardem's Spanish descent. Bardem and Waltz both previously portrayed villains in Daniel Craig James Bond films. Bardem as Raoul Silva in Skyfall (2012), and Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre (2015).
 * Javier Bardem's wife Penélope Cruz played Angelica Teach in the previous film On Stranger Tides.
 * Salazar and Blackbeard, the main antagonist of the previous film On Stranger Tides are the only two main Pirates of the Caribbean villains who have only been in one movie.
 * This is the second time in the Pirates Franchise that a small artifact signals the main villain. The first time was back in the first movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, when the Aztec Medallion touches the seawater.
 * Salazar's face was full makeup that took Javier 3 hours to put on but the hair was all CG, to achieve this effect Javier's hair had to be pulled to the back and makeup artist added marking dots on his face and had to track the motion of his head in post production.
 * The character Captain Salazar is named after former Portuguese Republican President and dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970).
 * Along the movie, when Captain Salazar is killing or prompted to kill his enemies, he poses with his sword as if grabbing a 'estoque' (rapier) in the Matador manner.

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Armando Salazar