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Captain Dread was the most feared and most vicious pirate in Albion around one hundred or two hundred years prior to Fable II. He operated from his feared flagvessel, the Marianne.

Fable: Reaver

Attention: Novel Content This article or section contains information original to the novel Fable: Reaver, which is a licensed Fable work, but does not necessarily conform to Lionhead's Fable canon.

Captain Dread serves as the antagonist in the e-book Fable: Reaver.

The man who famously was known as Captain Dread is revealed to have once been a man of terrible anger and violence who set it all aside at the behest of the woman that he married, putting aside his past and becoming a healer to all. Unfortunately, while he was out treating an affliction from a nearby village, the crew of a pirate named Captain Dread raided his home, ravaging the man's wife before brutally murdering her. With his anger released once more, the man caught up to the pirates, slew Captain Dread, then took the title for himself.

Years later, the merciless pirate, long since having claimed the title of "Pirate King," comes to a deal with all major port cities in Albion: they pay him for protection, and he doesn't raid them for plunder. Through this method, Captain Dread becomes even more rich and powerful until challenged by the young upstart pirate Reaver, who refused to cede his port town of Bloodstone.

In an act of disobedience, Reaver begins to kill Dread's envoys, sending their heads back to Dread in a duffel bag. Angered, the Pirate King sets out to crush the young upstart, only to be surprised when Reaver's fellow pirates seemingly surrender their captain. During this voluntary imprisonment, Reaver escapes, utilizing his skills to gradually destroy much of the ship and kill many of the pirates. Captain Dread is finally killed by Reaver, who uses his smuggled Dragonstomper .48 to shoot an oil lantern next to him, which spills onto his head and gives him a slow and painful death. This explains why he appears with a skull as a head due to his flesh being burnt off.

Fable II

Centuries later, the ghost of Captain Dread is rumoured to curse The Sinkhole during the events of Fable II in the quest Treasure Island of Doom! An old pirate named Salty Jack begs the Hero of Bower Lake to find the ghost of Captain Dread to prove that he is not delusional. After agreeing to the quest, the Hero can set off to the cave formation.

Within the caves is Captain Dread's old ship, the Marianne. Upon entering the ship, the ghost of Captain Dread and his pirates challenges the Hero, appearing as a tall, thin ghost with a skull for a head after his demise at Reaver's hands. While the pirate was a fearsome opponent to others of his kind, he proves little match for the Hero.

Once Captain Dread is killed, his legendary treasure can be recovered on the hidden island called Lion's Head Isle. There, the Hero can claim the treasure, a hefty sum of 15,000 gold.

Trivia

• If Captain Dread is killed via a head shot his transparent body will not disappear (in the same way a normal Ghost Pirate's will not if killed with a head-shot), and the skull which was formerly his head can be seen on the ship's deck detached from the body.
• Captain Dread's appearance slightly matches that of the Ghost Rider from the comics and film by the same name
• Captain Dread is possibly Lionhead's homage to the Dread Pirate Robert's from William Goldman's novel The Princess Bride.
• Captain Dread might also be named after the character with the same name in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.
• Captain Dread is said to have once wielded the The Wreckager as his weapon, yet it was at the bottom of a crypt when he was fought by the Hero of Bower Lake
• The lantern he stands under before you fight him also appears to be a 'ghost' as it disappears when you arrive at Lion's Head Isle. This is probably because Reaver shot it in order to kill Captain Dread.