Thursday, April 18, 2013

P is for Pirate

Pirates. Those crafty, rum-drinking, eye-patch wearing, dastardly fiends who sail the seven seas, striking terror in the hearts of all who cross their paths. I spent countless hours with a bandanna on my head and a wooden sword in my hand, a pillowcase Jolly Rogers tied to my bedpost, pretending I was the captain of my own pirate ship. 

Oh yeah, and they're cooler than ninjas. Just saying. 

P is for Pirate 

Dread Pirate Roberts (The Princess Bride) – I defy anyone who's ever seen or read The Princess Bride to not fall in love with Westley. The long-lost love of Buttercup, Westley's ship was captured by the famed Dread Pirate Roberts many years before, but rather than kill him, "Roberts"  who was really named Ryan  made him the new heir to the Dread Pirate title. Thus we learn that Dread Pirate Roberts is not really a person, but a persona, a dreaded scourge of the high seas whose very name inflicts terror upon anyone who hears it. 

Captain Jack Sparrow (The Pirates of the Caribbean series) – The hands down funniest pirate on this list, Jack Sparrow . . . excuse me, Captain Jack Sparrow, is smart, crafty, calculating, and all together insane. With a penchant for harebrained schemes that (for unknown reasons) always work out, Jack is without a doubt the worst  make that best  pirate of them all

Ragnar Danneskjold (Atlast Shrugged) – Once a philosopher and schoolmates with Francisco D'Anconia and the infamous John Gault, Ragnar is now a pirate of the high seas. He spends his days seizing ships from US Navy under the orders of the Bureau of Global Relief, returning the wealth that was stolen from those who rightfully earned it through their heard work and ingenuity. Not to be confused with Robin Hood, Ragnar merely sees this as restoring John Gault's followers, penalized for their brains and hard-earned fortune, to their rightful place. 

Captain Hook (Peter Pan) – Captain Hook is the one-handed nemesis of Peter Pan, the famed boy who never grows up. His greatest joys in life are plotting revenge and making Lost Boys walk the plank. With a black heart and unnatural hatred for Peter, Hook has exactly one weakness . . . his fear of ticking crocodiles. I love every depiction of him, from Dustin Hoffman in the 1991 film Hook to Dave Barry and Ridley Pearsons's Peter and the Starcatchers series. But I have one important question: What was Hook's name before Peter cut off his hand? 

Long John Silver (Treasure Island) – With a peg-leg and a parrot on his shoulder, Long John Silver is the antagonist in one of the most enduring pirate novels of all time, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. By all accounts he's a smooth-talking, charismatic man; however, beneath his amiable exterior lies a villainous nature so black that even the "bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed" the high seas was afraid of him. 

And there you have it, my Top 5 favorite Pirates. What are some of your favorites?

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This post is part of the Blogging A through Z Challenge 2013. My theme (in case you didn't already guess) is character types and tropes. Stay tuned for the rest of the alphabet, and if you’d like to check in on the other participants, simply click here.

27 comments:

  1. I still remember seeing Peter Pan as a child when it was released in 1953. My parents would take us to the neighborhood drive-in. I was six and that movie scared the dickens out of me. Thanks for the walk down 'memory lane'.

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  2. I'm so happy that you chose Pirate for 'P'. My favorite Pirate is Captain Jack Sparrow, He is the best. I love everything about him. Aye Captain, Me loves this post!

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  3. Yup. That covers the pirates I like. There are a few in Treasure Island that I like. I also liked Davy Jones' crew from TPoC. :)

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  4. The Dread Pirate Roberts! One of my favorites!

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  5. I'd be a pirate just for the rum! The Dread Pirate Roberts and Captain Jack Sparrow would be my favorites.

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  6. Dread Pirate Roberts and Kevin Kline as the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance.

    Katie atBankerchick Scratchings

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  7. I was trying to guess what your topic would be for today. I'm ashamed to say that "pirates" never crossed my mind.

    And yeah, the Dread Pirate Roberts and Jack Sparrow are my favorites.

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  8. I just watched the 1990s Treasure Island with Christian Bale (as a kid) and Charlton Heston for the first time since I was a kid. It's not quite as fun as I'd remembered, but probably the Pirates of the Caribbean movies ruined it for me with all those big action sequences. :)

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  9. You forgot Yellow Beard. Seriously, how could you forget -him-?

    I, um, accept your--what do you call that? a challenge?--to not love Cary Elwes. Because I don't. The only role I've ever liked him in was in Psych. He's just a bad actor. Okay, so he works in Princess Bride because of the type of movie it is, but he's the least of that movie.

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    1. I'm not challenging you to love Elwes at all. It's the character Westley I (and every girl I've ever talked to haha) I love.

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    2. Well, maybe it's my lack of female parts that cause me not to care for him. Either of him.

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  10. Captain Jack is the best! There should be more girl pirates though. :-)

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  11. I've seen a lot of Prince Bride references today. But, I would give it up to Captain Jack Sparrow. Brilliant character.

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  12. Such a fun post. I must admit that Westley was one of my first loves.

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  13. I love that P is bringing up so many pirate and Princess Bride references. I might have to pull out my DVD and watch tonight. Westley makes me swoon.

    Are you watching Once Upon a Time? They're doing an interesting take with Captain Hook. And the actor is extremely HOT, so I'm all in. :-)

    Hope you’re having fun with the A to Z challenge,
    Jocelyn

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  14. Black Stache. Those books are pretty great. The 2003 Peter Pan movie cleverly juxtaposes Hook with George Darling. They're both played by Jason Isaacs, which doesn't hurt, either.

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  15. Jack Sparrow's gotta be my favourite! Maybe the later Pirates of the Caribbean movies sucked, but the first one was fantastic.

    Allison (Geek Banter)

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  16. Oh, The Princess Bride. So classic!

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  17. The Dread Pirate Roberts will always be my Favorite!

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  18. The Captain Hook on Once Upon A Time is hot. I mean, a hunky looker, if you know what I mean.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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  19. I must agree with Banker Chick: We all love Kevin Kline as the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance. I'm not really a movie person (I prefer books) but my whole family love Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. Were there pirates in Muppet Treasure Island? Must have been! You can't have Treasure Island without pirates. My younger girls like that movie.

    Great theme to get people talking.

    Thank you for visiting my blog. Lovely to meet you!

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  20. Long John Silver! I had nightmares about him, also we had this cartoon in Germany all about him but I can't remember what it was called...probably treasure island...probably

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  21. Ahh, The Princess Bride. I love that film. I would put Captain Jack Sparrow as my favourite pirate though... perhaps because he looks like Johnny Depp!!

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  22. arr, arr...a grand post there...arr, arr...

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  23. I'm a ninja person myself, but I'll take Westley over any ninja any day :D

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