[ SECRET POST #4162 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4162 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #596.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Training, no, but the movies actually show that she does have exposure to many of the right skills, plus the personality and talent for them. I mean, from what we see of the other Pirate Lords, what is it that Elizabeth doesn't have? She has knowledge of the code, experience with supernatural threats, the wit and personality to capitalize on her opportunities, the stubbornness to put herself forward, the selfishness to match any of them, the charisma to help inspire the pirates forward as a unit, and thanks to Jack and Sao Feng the ships to back herself up. She's even a decent fighter, or at least enough of one to survive several skirmishes. About the only piratical skill she completely lacks is the ability to sail a ship, and while that seems huge it isn't actually the end of the world. Ships have space for other skill sets than sailors (navigator, quartermaster, negotiator), and pirate captains can be elected for any number of reasons. So long as her crew backs her, she's got everything she needs.

I mean, yes, she only became Pirate King because Jack needed a patsy to break the deadlock and get all the pirates mobilised and pointed in the same direction, but that doesn't change the fact that she did just fine in that role. She looks pretty much exactly as impressive as any other Pirate Lord, and we've no real evidence that she's any less skilled than any of them. She can lie, cheat, steal, bluff, lead, fight and die with the best of them, and a highborn lady isn't any more unlikely for a leadership role than a slave or a sailor or a prostitute turned pirate.

[(Anonymous)]

I think you're vastly underestimating experience and fighting your way from the bottom as a qualification for leading pirates. The "qualifications" of being smart and feisty you describe only work in movies and make believe...which is kind of OP's point.

[(Anonymous)]

Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, directly referenced in PotC and one of the most famous and successful pirates in history, didn't "fight his way from the bottom" to become captain. He happened to be a decent navigator and a charming sort of person and was elected to be captain even when he said he didn't want to be. This wasn't unusual for a pirate crew, either. Personality played a HUGE part. IDK what you're on about.

[(Anonymous)]

Are you suggesting Elizabeth was nominated as a leader for her personality? That's funny. :)

[(Anonymous)]

But, I mean, she kind of did fight her way from the bottom? She started out a pirate captive in CotBP and wound up a Pirate King, largely by dint of bluffing, bribing, tricking and occasionally physically fighting her way there. It was in a short time frame, yes, but even if you look at historical pirates some of them had careers that measured only a few years. Lack of sailing and command experience was also no barrier to historical pirates either. One of the most famous female pirates, Ching Shih, was a prostitute who basically took over her husband's fleet when he died, and did spectacularly. Charisma, personality and ability to think on your feet are all perfectly valid abilities to bring to bear on a leadership position, and Elizabeth has been showing those since she first tried to negotiate with her captor back in the first movie.

And, as well, when you talk about qualifications to lead a group of people, you have to consider the group of people themselves. The Pirate Lords were stubborn, selfish squabbling people from what looked to be a wide variety of backgrounds, and the main reason they didn't already have a King was because none of them could step back enough to let one of the others have it. Elizabeth was elected to the position at that moment in time because what they (and Jack) needed more than anything was a relative newcomer who could bust open the deadlocked system and get the pirates pointed in the right direction. Which Jack and Elizabeth did. Her qualifications for the job were that she was exactly as selfish, stubborn and opportunistic as the rest of them, she had as much appreciation for their way of life as any of them, and at the time she became king she had MORE knowledge and appreciation for the threat they were facing than many of them. She grabbed the opportunity to put her name forward, and that allowed Jack to seal the deal for her and her allies. It was a situational election, yes, and it was manipulated by Jack, but that doesn't change the fact that she genuinely was what they needed at that point in time.

She wasn't looking to become the Commodore of a Navy. She was looking to swindle and browbeat a bunch of squabbling warlords into getting their forces pointed in the right direction, and she had allies around her who were looking for the exact same thing. Allies she had earned by, variously, tricking them, saving them, condemning them to death, swindling them into it, and a variety of other piratical activities. The Pirate King is not there to captain a ship or a fleet, the Pirate King is explicitly there to break the deadlock of the Brethren Court and unite the pirates under a common flag of battle. Elizabeth, by virtue of circumstances and her own actions, had every qualification necessary for that.

[(Anonymous)]

Bless you.

[(Anonymous)]

NA

Also, isn't there a timeskip of several years between 2 and 3, where she's hanging out with Barbossa? There's your on the job training right there.