Timeline / Pirates of the Caribbean

The Age of Calypso and the First Brethren Courts

• Nine pirates come together in the First Brethren Court to form the Pirate's Code.
• Davy Jones falls in love with Caylpso (a sea goddess), and to see her more times than a natural life can allow, agrees to be given command of the Flying Dutchman, charged with ferrying lost souls at sea to the afterlife, in exchange for getting one day ashore every ten years.
  • However, after the first 10 years, Jones finds Calypso absent from their scheduled reunion. Heartbroken, Jones abandons his quest and tells the second Brethren Court how to seal Calypso in human form. As punishment for abandoning his job, Jones is transformed into a monstrous form as are any who serve in his crew. Jones cuts out his heart and stores it in the Dead Man's Chest, and is effectively immortal as long as his heart is not destroyed.
  • Seeing the curse placed upon his crewmen, Jones sadistically offers any survivors of carnage at sea a place in his crew to escape death, but the curse will eventually transform all of them into parts of his ship.
  • Unaware that Jones showed the Second Court how to free her, Calypso becomes a sage on the island of the Pelegostos, offering counsel to sailors under the alias Tia Dalma.
• A cache of Aztec gold on Isla de Muerta, pillaged by Hernan Cortes, is cursed by the Aztecs to turn any who take it into the undead.
• The Third Brethren Court convenes under unknown circumstances.

Modern age

• Jack Sparrow is branded as a pirate by Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company for not transporting slaves. He becomes the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, but the Black Pearl, his ship, is sunk by Beckett.
  • Davy Jones raises the Pearl from the sea in an agreement with Jack that in exchange he would get his soul in 13 years.
• Hector Barbossa becomes Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. Due to it being landlocked and poor, Barbossa schemes to take over someone else's territory and becomes the first mate of the Pearl under Jack.
• 3 years later, Jack Sparrow is mutinied against by Barbossa and left on a small island with one bullet with which to take his own life. Through blind luck, Jack escapes the island thanks to rumrunners, determined to retake the Pearl and get his revenge on Barbossa.
• Barbossa and his crew find the Aztec treasure on Isla de Muerta and use it for their own pleasures. They soon discover the curse and resolve to lift the curse by recollecting all the gold they used.
  • Bill Turner Sr., after expressing sympathy for their defeated former captain, is sent to the bottom of the sea, unable to die due to the curse, but pinned there due to the cannon strapped to his bootstraps. He is "saved" by Davy Jones, in exchange for 100 years of servitude.
• Elizabeth Swan, sailing to the Carribean alongside her father Weatherby Swan, Lieutenant James Norrington, and Mr. Joshamee Gibbs, comes upon the wreck of a pirate raid. There, they bring a young Will Turner onto the ship, but seeing the cursed medallion, Elizabeth worries that Will was a pirate. As such, she hides the medallion on her person, and brings Will along. Elizabeth and Will fall in love but never act on their feelings due to their difference in station once Will becomes a blacksmith.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

• Nine years later, an accident with a corset and the medallion brings Barbossa's crew to raid Port Royal. They kidnap Elizabeth, prompting Will Turner and Jack Sparrow to join forces to oppose Barbossa.
  • Jack recruits Gibbs, who has become a pirate, to be his first mate among a new crew.
  • In the ensuing conflicts, the gold is recollected and the curse is lifted from the Black Pearl. Barbossa is killed by Jack with the one bullet he himself lent him.
  • Despite his heroism, Jack is still sentenced to death for his crimes as a pirate. However, when Will saves him and Elizabeth demands he be spared, Norrington agrees to give Jack a day's head start out of gratitude for his help, and reluctantly accepts when Will and Elizabeth declare their love for each other.
• Barbossa's pet monkey Jack steals a cursed medallion from Isla de Muerta, granting him immortality again. He later joins Jack and his new crew aboard the Pearl.
• Isla de Muerta sinks below the sea under unknown circumstances. Before this occurs, Tia Dalma recovers Barbossa's corpse and sets to work bringing him back from the dead, knowing he failed to find a successor as Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea before his death and sensing the Brethren Court will be needed again soon.
• Cutler Beckett learns of the events surrounding Jack's escape and Norrington is shamed for letting Jack go willingly. Norrington desperately chases after the Pearl, but after suffering a devastating failure after trying to go through a hurricane, retreats to Tortuga and becomes a drunk.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

• Cutler Beckett storms Port Royal to punish the Swans and Will for their part in Jack's escape, having the King's blessing to wage a zero-tolerance war on piracy. Weatherby is captured and forced into servitude for Beckett, while Will is tasked with offering Jack a contract as a privateer lest Elizabeth be executed. Unbeknownst to Will, Elizabeth escapes and goes looking for Jack herself.
• Jack grows panicked knowing that his debt to Jones is coming due and receives the Black Mark from Bootstrap, who comes to warn him that Jones has sicced the Kraken on him. The crew goes ashore the island of the Pelegostos, a tribe of cannibals who kill and eat most of the crew. The survivors, joined by Pintel and Ragetti and Will, go to Tia Dalma who instructs them to find the key to the Dead Man's Chest; the only course for survival is to gain leverage over Jones by taking his heart hostage.
• Jack confronts Jones and strikes a counter-offer in which he will sacrifice 100 souls in exchange for his debt being wiped clean. Will is forced to remain aboard the Dutchman where he reunites with his father and steals the key to the chest.
• While attempting to gather enough people to meet Jones's demands, the crew of the Pearl are joined by Elizabeth and Norrington in Tortuga. Norrington seeks to deliver the heart of Jones to Beckett to reclaim his old glory.
• Jack, Norrington, Elizabeth, and Will arrive at the hiding place of the chest and clash over who will take it, each having their own agenda. Norrington pretends to sacrifice himself to the crew of the Dutchman when they attack, but secretly escapes and smuggles the heart with him to Beckett.
• The others are attacked by the Dutchman, as Jones believes they have the heart with them. When the Dutchman loses them in a chase, the Kraken attacks. Most of the crew is wiped out again, with the survivors agreeing they must abandon the Pearl and head for land. However, Elizabeth traps Jack aboard the Dutchman, knowing the Kraken only wants him.
  • As the crew escapes, the Kraken devours Jack and sends him to Davy Jones' locker, sending the Pearl with him.
• Jones discovers his heart has been stolen, and Beckett soon enslaves him, ordering him to wipe out all pirates across the seas. Beckett also forces Jones to kill the Kraken, unwilling to leave such a dangerous monster alive. Norrington is restored to a proper job as thanks for his delivery of the heart to Beckett.
• The crew resolve to rescue Jack from the Locker when Tia Dalma assures them it is possible. To lead them, the resurrected Barbossa steps forward.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

• Beckett suspends countless civil rights to hasten the mass execution of any and all pirates. Coupled with Jones' ferocious onslaught at Beckett's orders, the pirates of the world face extinction and sing "Hoist the Colors", calling for the Brethren Court to be gathered to combat this grave threat.
• When Weatherby learns of the mechanics of the Dead Man's Chest, Beckett suspects he may turn traitorous to save his daughter and has him executed.
• Barbossa leads the crew of the Black Pearl - Elizabeth, Will, Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti, Marty, Cotton, and Tia Dalma - to Singapore to request a ship and larger crew from Sao Feng, Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, as well as charts to navigate to the Locker. Feng relents and gives the crew what they need after accepting a deal from Will to help him get revenge on Jack for past grievances.
• The crew successfully makes their way to the Locker and retrieve Jack, who figures out the way out of the Locker. The crew is captured by Feng and Beckett in a crossfire of various deals; ultimately Jack agrees to lead Beckett to where the pirates are gathering for their Last Stand in exchange for freedom.
  • Will and Jack work out a deal in which after they kill Jones, Jack will step in to replace him as captain of the Flying Dutchman, granting him immortality and the ability to free Bootstrap from his imprisonment.
  • As part of the deals made, Feng takes Elizabeth, believing her to be Calypso in human form. He is killed when the Dutchman attacks, but makes her his successor as Pirate Lord before he expires. Elizabeth and her new crew escape thanks to the sacrifice of Norrington who stalls Jones.
• The Fourth Brethren Court convenes at Shipwreck Cove and debates what to do about the EITC and Jones. After lengthy debate, Jack helps vote in Elizabeth as the Pirate King of the Brethren Court, and she commands the pirates to face the EITC in battle.
  • During the proceedings, Jones confronts Dalma over her abandonment of him ages ago, and they reconcile when Dalma swears she will recommit to him once she is freed by the pirates.
• When the EITC arrive, parley is held on a sand bar, where Elizabeth discovers Jack and Will's deal and arranges a trade to get Jack aboard the Dutchman. Negotiations are terminated.
• Barbossa reveals his last gambit; freeing Calypso and hoping that she will aid the pirates in battle against their foes. However, upon her release, Calypso has no interest in helping man outright, but upon learning that her lover helped engineer her capture, Calypso becomes neutral in the conflict. Elizabeth rallies the pirates of the world to battle.
  • A massive maelstrom conjured by Calypso prevents the fleets of the Brethren Court and the EITC from getting involved in the ensuing clash between the Dutchman and the Pearl. During the battle, Barbossa marries Elizabeth and Will at last.
  • Jack steals the Dead Man's Chest and duels Jones. When Will and Elizabeth arrive to help, Jones mortally wounds Will. While Bootstrap holds off Jones, Jack sacrifices his chance at immortality by helping Will destroy Jones' heart, killing him at last and placing him as his successor.
  • As the storm fades, Beckett prepares to lead the extermination of the pirates, but is caught off guard when the Dutchman turns on him, with a resurrected Will at her helm. Beckett is killed, and the EITC retreats. The pirates declare victory.
• Will and Elizabeth learn of the price to be paid for Will's survival and consummate their marriage on an island where Elizabeth resolves to wait the ten years until he can return.
• Barbossa betrays Jack again, stealing the Pearl out from under him, though this time he leaves him on Tortuga with Gibbs as a courtesy. Jack is undeterred, setting off on his own using Feng's pilfered charts.

Second Age of Calypso/New Age of Piracy

• Elizabeth gives birth to a son, Henry, who quickly begins to long for his absent father.
• Barbossa falls in love with a woman named Margaret Smyth, and has a daughter named Carina with her. After Margaret's death, Barbossa figures he would never make for a suitable father and abandons her, but leaves her with a valuable diary she can sell to live a comfortable life.
• Two years after Will's first visit to Elizabeth and his new son, Henry forces his way onto the Dutchman. Will, suffering from the curse all the same despite being captain, asks Henry to stop trying to save him before allowing him to escape.
• Blackbeard attacks the Pearl, killing most of its' crew. Barbossa only escapes by amputating his leg when it's caught by the rigging of Blackbeard's ship. Swearing vengeance, Barbossa becomes a privateer in the service of England, seeking to get back at Blackbeard one day.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

(Events of the Fifth Movie)