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This article focuses on the main reality version.
For the Wish Realm version, see Wish Black Beard.


He's the most cutthroat pirate to ever hoist a sail. After you, of course.

William Smee to Hook src


Captain Black Beard[1] is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the seventeenth episode of the third season. He is portrayed by guest star Charles Mesure, and is the main reality version of Wish Black Beard.

Black Beard is based on Blackbeard, a real historical pirate and character from popular culture.

History

Before First Curse

Through some means, Black Beard comes to possess an item called a wishing star, which can grant a wish, but only if the user has a pure heart. Approached by the Queen and King of Arendelle, they hand over an unknown price in exchange for the wishing star. ("Fall")

Black Beard meets a thief named Snow White, who is running away from the Queen, and she has hopes he can take her as far as possible from the kingdom. She offers some money in exchange for hiding as a stowaway on his ship, but the pirate asks her to pay up more in order to earn his discretion. Since she doesn't have enough money, Black Beard leaves without securing a deal with her. ("Snow Drifts")



Before Second Curse
In the Enchanted Forest, Black Beard takes leadership of Hook's former ship, the Jolly Roger, and imprisons Prince Eric on Hangman's Island. When Hook arrives to reclaim the vessel, they have a sword duel. The fight is interrupted by Ariel, who Hook is helping to find Eric, but her beloved is not on the ship. Black Beard offers to relinquish Eric only if Hook gives up on trying to take back the Jolly Roger, but the former pirate captain stiffly refuses. Instead, Hook binds Black Beard's arms and legs and throws him to the sharks. This angers Ariel as Black Beard was her only hope of finding Eric. Unknown to Hook, she rescues Black Beard from death. ("The Jolly Roger," "Fall")

During Second Curse
Later, Black Beard also regains the Jolly Roger from Hook, who trades it to him for a magic bean so he can open a portal to the Land Without Magic. ("Fall," "Poor Unfortunate Soul")

After Second Curse

In a scheme to capture Anna and Kristoff, Prince Hans pays gold to Black Beard so he will help him. When approached by the twosome, Black Beard agrees, in a fib, to sell them the wishing star for an equal amount of gold in his own weight. Once the deal is struck, Prince Hans and his brothers arrive to trap Anna and Kristoff. Black Beard admits to the charade and then tells Anna how much she resembles her mother; recounting how her naive parents came to him asking for the wishing star, but they failed to realize that the item can only be harnessed by a pure-hearted person. After Prince Hans sentences the pair to death, Black Beard orders a large coffer to be pulled onto the deck. He recalls how a past rival once made him walk the plank, and though death seemed certain, his life was saved by a mermaid. Jokingly, he jibs that the casket will ensure they die without "fin-terference." As Anna is forced into the coffer, she mouths off to Hans, insisting that Elsa will escape from the urn and regain the throne from him, but to her shock, he reveals Ingrid's magic froze Arendelle and everyone in it for thirty years. After the casket is closed, Black Beard calls for his crew to toss it into the sea, which they promptly do. ("Fall")

At an unknown period after this, Elsa and her family return and reclaim the kingdom. As punishment for conspiring against Anna and Kristoff, she shrinks the Jolly Roger into a bottle, leaving Black Beard's fate unclear. ("Poor Unfortunate Soul")

During Alternate Reality
After Isaac changes everyone's stories in the Heroes and Villains book, Black Beard becomes the captain of the Jolly Roger while Hook is his deck hand. When Henry comes to Hook, asking to go to the Bottomless Sea and rescue his mother, the captain overhears. He challenges Hook to a duel for the command of the ship, but a meek Hook refuses. Henry then takes charge by picking up the sword and cutting a rope that sends a mast toward Black Beard's head. Once the captain is knocked out, they seize the ship and sail for the Bottomless Sea. ("Operation Mongoose Part 2")

After Third Curse
Sometime later, Black Beard comes to possess another magic bean, which he stores in his pirate's hat. He returns to the Enchanted Forest again, and while he is in the midst of a card game with other pirates, Hook saunters up to offer a bag of jewels as payment for a bean. Black Beard scoffs at the jewels that he presumes Hook stole from someone, and even when the latter confirms they're Agrabahn gems, he laughs at Hook for going as far as sailing the seas in a desert of all places. Hook brings up the fact Black Beard has been without a ship since losing the Jolly Roger in Arendelle, a sore reminder that angers Black Beard, who tries to challenge Hook to a duel. Rather than that, Hook offers up the Jolly Roger to him if he bests him in a card game. Black Beard is intrigued by Hook's willingness to risk losing the ship himself, which the latter claims is only a risk if he loses. Accepting the deal, Black Beard nods to one of pirate mates, who promptly grabs the pirate seated next to him and hurls him to the floor, in order to make room for Hook to sit at the table. After Hook has lost in the game, he leads Black Beard outside, confessing that the ship is actually in Storybrooke and if he wants his prize, he'll have to forfeit the bean to him now. Black Beard gives him the bean, but instead of waiting for Hook to return with the ship, he opts to go with him into the portal. Because of Gideon's magic preventing Hook from going home, the two pirates end up in Neverland, where a band of vicious Lost Boys chase after them, prompting Black Beard and Hook to run for their lives. They find a rowboat by the shoreline, however, Black Beard knocks out Hook before hurrying to the boat and rowing into the sea. Upon waking up, Hook furiously shouts over at Black Beard for betraying him, while the latter makes no apologies for his actions after all the times Hook has backstabbed him. As Black Beard continues rowing further away, he yells that, if Hook survives, he still owes him a ship. ("Mother's Little Helper")

Trivia

Production Notes

Disney

Fairytales and Folklore

Prop Notes

Appearances

Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.

References

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