Will Turner

As a boy, Will is pulled out of the sea by the ship carrying Governor Swann and his daughter, Elizabeth. She sees a gold medallion around his neck and hides it, thinking it might mark him as a pirate. Eight years later, Will is a blacksmith in Port Royal who forges the swords other men sign and practices three hours a day. When Jack Sparrow hides in the smithy, the two fight as equals.

That same night the Black Pearl raids the town and takes Elizabeth. The Navy is in no rush, so Will breaks Jack out of jail and sets off with him on the HMS Interceptor. On the way, Jack tells him that his father, Bootstrap Bill Turner, was a pirate, not the merchant sailor Will believed.

On Isla de Muerta, Will rescues Elizabeth and learns why the pirates wanted her: the ritual that lifts their curse needs the blood of Bootstrap, who was thrown overboard tied to a cannon. The blood that works is Will's, as his son. When the Pearl catches the Interceptor, Will threatens to kill himself unless Barbossa lets Elizabeth and the crew go.

In the final fight, Will cuts his hand, returns the last coins to the chest and breaks the curse just as Jack shoots Barbossa. In Port Royal he stands up to the Navy to save Jack from the gallows and finally tells Elizabeth he loves her. The governor gives them his blessing.

On his wedding day, Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company arrests Will and Elizabeth for helping Jack. The deal is a pardon in exchange for Jack's compass. Will finds the Pearl on an island of cannibals, helps the crew escape, and Jack sends him to the Flying Dutchman as part payment of a debt to Davy Jones.

On board, Will finds his father, now part of the cursed ship. He challenges Jones to a game of dice and wagers an eternity of service for the key to the chest. Bootstrap joins the game and loses on purpose to save his son. Will escapes with the key, fights Jack and Norrington for Jones's heart on Isla Cruces and, during the Kraken attack, sees Elizabeth kiss Jack.

In Singapore, Will secretly bargains with the pirate Sao Feng: he'd hand over Jack in exchange for the Pearl, so he can free his father from the Flying Dutchman. His deals shift between Beckett, Jack and the pirates, and for a while nobody trusts him. At a parley before the final battle, he's traded for Jack.

During the battle inside the maelstrom, Barbossa marries Will and Elizabeth mid-fight. Davy Jones mortally wounds Will, and Jack puts the blade in his hand to stab the captain's heart. Whoever kills Jones must take his place, and Bootstrap cuts out his son's heart to save him. Will becomes captain of the Flying Dutchman: he'll ferry the souls of the dead at sea and can only set foot on land one day every ten years. He spends that day with Elizabeth and leaves her the chest holding his heart. After the credits, ten years pass and she waits for him with a boy, their son.

Henry Turner, age 12, ties himself to a weight and sinks to visit his father aboard the Flying Dutchman. Will, his face already crusted with barnacles, says the curse can't be broken and asks his son to let it go. Henry won't: he believes the Trident of Poseidon can set him free.

Years later, when the trident is destroyed, the curses of the sea end. Will walks up a hill in Port Royal, barnacles gone, and embraces Henry and Elizabeth. In a post-credits scene, a shadow that looks like Davy Jones enters the couple's bedroom. Will wakes up, sees no one and goes back to sleep, but there are barnacles on the floor.

Orlando Bloom read the script at the suggestion of Geoffrey Rush, who plays Barbossa and was shooting Ned Kelly with him. Will was written as the classic swashbuckler in the Errol Flynn mold, to contrast with Johnny Depp's Jack. Bloom and Keira Knightley said they were done after At World's End and sat out On Stranger Tides. Bloom came back for a short appearance in Dead Men Tell No Tales.