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Will Turner

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File:Willturnerpotcdmc.jpg
Orlando Bloom as Will Turner.

Will Turner, full name William Turner Jr., is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and is played by Orlando Bloom.

Will is a blacksmith's apprentice working in Port Royal. He is in love with Elizabeth Swann the governor's daughter, a woman he believes he can never hope to attain due to his inferior rank. Although mild-mannered, Will is fiercely loyal to those he cares about and is willing to risk everything when they, especially Elizabeth, are in danger. At his best, Will is clever, heroic and courageous. He can also be preoccupied and brooding.


Early life

Template:Spoiler Will is the only child of the pirate, William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner. He strongly resembles his father, both in appearance and physical ability. However, his father was absent during his childhood in England, and Will grew up believing him to be a merchant seaman. After his mother's death, Will, age 12, journeyed to the Caribbean to search for his father. However, his ship was sunk by the Black Pearl, the same pirate ship his father once served on. It was sunken by the dreaded pirate Barbossa, and soon after he teams up with his nemesis Jack Sparrow and is told that his father was a pirate, but a good man.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

In Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Will, the only survivor of the sunken ship, was rescued by Lieutenant James Norrington, an officer in the British Royal Navy. It was the young Elizabeth, 12, the daughter of Port Royal's new governor, Weatherby Swann who spotted him among the floating debris. Once aboard, Will is placed under her care. Elizabeth discovers a rather pirate-esque gold medallion around his neck and hides it to prevent anyone from mistaking him as a pirate. Over the next eight years, Will and Elizabeth develop a tentative friendship. This attachment gradually blossoms into romantic aspirations, but because of their class distinctions, Will conceals his feelings for Elizabeth.

In Port Royal, Will becomes a blacksmith's apprentice and a craftsman of fine swords, although it is his oft-drunken master who usually receives credit for Will's exquisite workmanship. Will is also an exceptional swordsman but lacks practical fighting experience. Although technically superior, he is bested in a sword fight by Captain Jack Sparrow because Will insists on following "the rules of engagement," allowing Sparrow to outwit him. When Will later admonishes Jack for cheating and says that he would have killed him in a fair fight, Jack retorts, "Then that's not much incentive for me to fight fair then, is it?" He impresses upon the naïve young man that the only rules that matter are, "What a man can do, and what a man can't do." It is a lesson Will is unlikely to forget.

In a fateful twist of irony, Will, a peaceful and law-abiding man, learns his father was the pirate "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, who served aboard the Black Pearl when it was commanded by Captain Jack Sparrow. When First Mate Barbossa and the crew mutinied and marooned Sparrow on a deserted island, only Bootstrap defended him. After finding the Chest of Cortez containing Aztec gold, the pirates fell under an ancient curse that left them as "walking dead." To break the curse, every coin must be returned to the chest. Believing the crew deserved to remain cursed for betraying Jack, Bootstrap sent a gold medallion to his son, Will. In retaliation, Captain Barbossa had Bootstrap tied to a cannon (humorously enough, by his bootstraps) and thrown overboard. Barbossa and the crew later discovered that every man, including Bootstrap, also needed to offer their blood to break the curse. With Bootstrap sitting on the ocean floor, only Will can provide Turner blood.

Even though Will despises pirates, he resorts to piracy and forms an alliance with Jack Sparrow when Barbossa kidnaps Elizabeth, and Commodore Norrington fails to take effective action. Will helps Jack commandeer a royal navy ship, and they sail to Isla de Muerta to rescue her. Unknown to Will, Jack intends to use Will's blood to bargain with the cursed pirates to get back the Black Pearl. When Will learns Jack's true motive and his own role in lifting the curse, he barters himself to Barbossa to free Elizabeth and the crew. In the end, Jack and Will lift the curse; Barbossa is killed and his crew is defeated. To repay Jack for helping him and believing he's being unjustly executed, Will risks his own life to save him from the gallows. Will declares his love for Elizabeth, and she for him. Jack escapes by falling off the rampart wall into the bay and is hauled aboard the Black Pearl, which has arrived just in time.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Will returns with the other main characters from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. His appearance is more pirate-like, reminiscent of Errol Flynn's swashbuckler movie characters, and reflects Will's evolution from naïve boy to world-wise man. For aiding Jack Sparrow's escape, Will and Elizabeth are arrested just prior to their wedding ceremony by Lord Cutler Beckett, a man made wealthy and powerful by profits from the East India Trading Company. Beckett offers them clemency if Will finds Sparrow's compass. He also has a Letter of Marque with which to recruit Jack as a privateer.

While Elizabeth is in jail, Will frantically searches for the Black Pearl. He finds the crew captive on Pelegosto, a cannibal-inhabited island. They escape, and Jack agrees to give Will the compass if he helps him find a key, although he has no idea what it unlocks. Will, Jack, and the crew row upriver to see Tia Dalma, a voodoo priestess. She takes a particular interest in Will, whose name she already knows and says he has a touch of destiny about him. Tia tells Jack the key is to the Dead Man's Chest containing the heart of Davy Jones. Whoever possesses the heart controls Davy Jones and the seas. The crew searches for Davy Jones, but Will soon finds himself stranded on a wrecked vessel that Jack deviously claimed was Jones' ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman. He told Will he would find the key there. When the real Flying Dutchman suddenly arrives, Jack attempts to barter Will to Davy Jones to repay his debt, but Jones refuses, saying one soul is not equal to another. Instead, he keeps Will and demands an additional ninety-nine souls, otherwise Jack must surrender or face the Kraken. Sparrow made a bargain with Davy Jones to raise the Black Pearl from the ocean bottom and make Jack captain. After thirteen years, Sparrow would serve aboard the Dutchman for a century.

Aboard the Dutchman, Will meets his father, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, who is now an indentured sailor on the Dutchman. Will challenges Jones to a game of Liar's Dice, betting his soul against Davy Jones' key. Bootstrap also joins the game and purposely loses to free Will, although he is now eternally enslaved to Davy Jones. Will steals the key and escapes in a longboat, vowing to one day free his father. A passing ship rescues him, but Jones commands the Kraken to destroy it. Will survives and stows back aboard the Dutchman, which is now headed for Isla Cruces, the island where Jones' heart is buried.

Will arrives arrives at Isla Cruces where he finds Jack Sparrow and is reunited with Elizabeth, who escaped from jail. Also there is ex-Commodore James Norrington, now a member of Jack's crew. They find the chest, and key in hand, Will intends to stab the heart to kill Davy Jones and free his father. But he finds himself at the point of Jack's sword and caught in a three-way battle between himself, Sparrow and Norrington, all claiming the heart. Jack manages to get the heart, but Norrington steals it and the Letter of Marque and flees just as Davy Jones' men attack.

The Black Pearl sets sail and outruns the Flying Dutchman, but Davy Jones summons the Kraken. Drawing on his previous experience fighting the Kraken, Will leads the crew in temporarily fighting off the monster and severely wounding it. Jack gives the order to abandon ship. Realizing the Kraken is only after Sparrow, Elizabeth distracts him with a passionate kiss while handcuffing him to the mast, unaware Will is watching. Believing she must now love Sparrow, Will coldly asks where Jack is. Elizabeth says he elected to stay behind. From the longboat, they watch as the Kraken drags the Pearl and Sparrow beneath the sea.

Will, Elizabeth and the crew seek refuge from Tia Dalma. As they mourn their captain, Will is particularly despondent, although not only over Elizabeth and Jack. Tia understands his despair—with the Black Pearl Will could defeat Davy Jones and free his father. Gibbs proposes a toast to Jack, to which Will glumly raises his mug. Seeing Elizabeth's tearful face and believing she loves Sparrow, he tries comforting her. "If there was a way to bring Jack back . . ." Tia Dalma interrupts, asking would he be willing, would they all be willing, to travel to the World's End to return Jack and the Black Pearl. All agree, including Will. Tia Dalma says they will need a captain who knows those waters. To their astonishment, a resurrected Captain Barbossa descends the stairs.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

In Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End Will and Elizabeth team up with Barbossa to find Jack Sparrow at World's End. The love triangle will also be resolved. According to leaked script, Turner will be walked off a plank.


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Trivia

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