The Treasure of Cortés is a fictional item from the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).
Description[]
Treasure of Cortés is a stone chest of 882 identical gold medallions, marked with skulls resembling a Jolly Roger. The chest was cursed by mesoamerican gods so that anyone who took from the chest would be cursed to be incapable of feeling, tasting, smelling or dying while turned into a zombie in the moonlight, until all of the medallions were restored with blood sacrifices from each who stole repaid.
History[]
Background[]
Origins[]
The treasure was rounded up by natives of the Americas as gold paid to ward off genocidal colonist Hernán Cortés' slaughter of their people. However, the gods placed a curse on the gold so that whomever took from the chest would be rendered unfeeling and undead until the gold was returned and blood repaid. The treasure was hidden amongst other treasures on the dreaded Isla de Muerta, an island that could only be found by those whom already knew where it was hidden.
Curse of the Black Pearl[]
Sunken Treasure[]
After Barbossa's death, Isla de Muerta sunk into the ocean and took the treasure with it. Following this the chest became part of Davy Jones' horde of Sunken Treasure, stashed at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Treasure Cove. Captain Jack Sparrow attempted to steal this treasure, only for Jones to curse the gold he took to turn into kelp and debris.
Later history[]
In the late 19th-20th century, the treasure was subject of an archaeological expedition from Captain Mary Oceaneer who found the sunken island of Isla de Muerta and stored its contents within crates aboard her ship the RV Oceaneer Lab, using prongs to handle the medallions for extra safety.
Development history[]
The treasure was loosely based on the horde of gold in the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride and its curse.
Appearances[]
Oceaneer Lab[]
Captain Mary Oceaneer has a crate from Isla de Muerta, containing the cursed medallions which Oceaneer handles with prongs.
Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island[]
An imprisoned undead pirate is shown to have the same curse as that of the Aztec gold. A letter from Gibbs explains that he broke the Pirate's Code and this is his punishment.
Pirates of the Caribbean[]
The chest and its medallions appear within the treasure room of the pirate's lair on Isla Tesoro. In the Disneyland Paris version of the attraction, Barbossa appears in Dead Man's Grotto, suffering the same curse as he did in the films.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure[]
The chest appears amongst Davy Jones' sunken treasure.
Plaza del Sol Caribe Bazaar[]
One of the medallions is hanging from pottery on a shelf.[1]