#and yet the fact that madi respects and trusts flint

[thelaurenshippen]

the way that silver said "I will stand here with you an hour, a day, a year" to flint and "I will wait a day, a month, a year, forever" to madi....I'm sick to my stomach. who is doing unhinged devotion like this man

[be-not-afeared]

Jaime Lannister and John Silver: of arcs and endings

Or, herein follows a possibly niche comparison between the character arcs of Jaime Lannister (Game of Thrones, HBO, 2011-2019) and John Silver (Black Sails, Starz, 2014-2017), in which I will argue that Jaime’s character arc fails not because of Jaime’s actions, but because of the way his story is framed to the viewer throughout the series, using Silver as a springboard to explore the requisites for a tragic yet satisfying ending.

(Yes, this is 5K words long. No, I am not sorry. Spoilers for Jaime’s and Silver’s storylines in their respective shows, and while I’ve tried to stay vague about the Bigger Picture, read at your own risk.)

Okay, so. I was, and still am, to an extent, a huge Game of Thrones fan. I’ve pored over the books, been to conventions, and spent a good couple of years while I was at uni discussing fan theories on message boards into the early hours of the morning. Jaime Lannister has been one of my favourite fictional characters for over a decade. Yet I certainly wasn’t alone in watching in horror as years of hopeful build up was thrown away in the span of one and a half episodes during the final season of the show. There are *many* things that hurt about season 8 of Game of Thrones. But the swift 180 we see in Jaime, from aiding the Starks in the Battle of Winterfell and finally choosing Brienne, to abandoning her to return to Cersei 20 minutes later, was, for me, one of the deepest cuts.

When I started watching Black Sails this August, I was immediately compelled by Silver – unsurprisingly, as someone who has exactly one favourite character type: Traumatised and Morally Grey Anti-Villain. Watching Silver’s character develop over the four seasons of Black Sails was an absolute joy, and his ending in the finale, though *incredibly difficult*, was nuanced and in character and satisfying. (Am going to try and keep as vague as possible on details here, because Black Sails is an incredible show that more people should watch and I don’t want to completely spoil the ending).  Silver and Jaime are two characters with a lot of similarities and their characters arcs appear to run in direct parallel with each other: both selfish and arrogant men who become more empathetic and invested in others as the series progresses, in large part prompted by the loss of a limb. However, the gulf in reception of their overall arcs can be pinpointed to one huge disparity between the way both storylines were framed to the audience, and that is difference between redemption and tragedy.

“I was that hand”

But first! Let’s start with the more obvious stuff.

When we meet Jaime Lannister and John Silver in the pilots of their respective shows, they are both introduced as arrogant and self-serving – yet charming – men, who place the needs of themselves (and Cersei, in Jaime’s case) above all else. Silver kills and impersonates the cook on the merchant ship Flint’s crew captures, and has no qualms about lying his way onto the crew whilst simultaneously planning to sell the Urca schedule to the highest bidder. For Silver, his own survival comes before any sense of moral code. We are told stories about Jaime before we properly meet him  – that he killed the previous king, Aerys Targaryen, that he has no honour – but nothing that we see first-hand contradicts this; at the end of the pilot he attempts to kill a child to cover up his and Cersei’s incestuous relationship. Silver is certainly supposed to be more likeable than Jaime, but both men, despite their lack of morals, are presented as charming, clever, and good with a one-liner. As we move through the early seasons of both shows, they are consistent in these traits, although Jaime is presented as an outright antagonist whereas Silver from the outset is a morally grey unknown entity, keeping viewers on our toes wondering if he’ll turn against Flint, against Billy, against Eleanor. Things change, for both men, however, with the direct lead up and fallout of the loss of a limb: Jaime’s hand and Silver’s leg.

The introduction of Brienne of Tarth as Jaime’s foil kickstarts his path towards becoming the honourable man he once dreamed of being. During their roadtrip across Westeros, she challenges him and is able to get under his skin in a way we haven’t yet seen before. This comes to a head when the duo are captured, and Jaime intervenes during her attempted rape, lying about her ransom worth and saving her from an awful fate. The result? The immediate amputation of Jaime’s sword hand, representative of Jaime’s identity (“I was that hand”). Jaime is punished for the first selfless act we see him commit on the show with the loss of the source of his power and self-worth.

Silver, in a similar fashion, finds himself in a position to save the crew he has spent two seasons disparaging. When he is offered the opportunity to betray his crew for an escape route, he refuses (the reasons for this refusal never outright stated, although I imagine Flint’s “where else will you wake up in the morning and matter” and Billy’s “that’s our brother you’ve got there” both factor heavily). Again, the result of this refusal is the brutal torture and eventual amputation of Silver’s leg – a man who in his own words is “not a joiner”, prone to taking what he needs and leaving, to reinventing himself, to always having an escape route. As actor Luke Arnold says: “He's a guy who's always had one leg out the door, and then they cut it off.”

What is interesting here is not only that we have two characters who are *punished* for moving beyond their selfishness, but that that punishment is specifically catered towards their defining characteristics. Jaime is left unable to fight, unable to defend himself, unable to uphold his reputation. Silver is left unable to run, unable to leave his past behind him, unable to remain without attachments. Both are left vulnerable.  The loss of Jaime’s hand forces him to reinvent himself in a world ruled by swords; as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, father to Tommen, and an honourable man working to uphold his oath, through Brienne, to Catelyn Stark. The loss of Silver’s leg, however, leaves him *unable* to reinvent himself; forcing him to rely on his crew and paving the way for the growth of his relationship with Flint and Madi. In losing their limbs both Jaime and Silver are set on paths towards gaining empathy, and are able to become invested in those around them.

 “Defined by their histories, distorted to fit their narratives”

Game of Thrones and Black Sails both engage heavily with ideas of myth-making and storytelling. Stories are woven into the mythology of Westeros; a world with thousands of years of history revealed to us slowly over the seasons to suit the narrative and the teller. We are told the story of Rhaegar Targaryen’s kidnap and rape of Lyanna Stark in the pilot, and at first this serves to provide a tragic landscape for Robert’s unhealthy relationship with his wife and his crown. It is only as the show develops and we hear more about Rhaegar and Lyanna that we realise there is more to this story; in season 5 Littlefinger recounts the events of the Tourney of Harrenhal to foreshadow the reveal of Jon’s parentage later that season, that Rhaegar and Lyanna had a happy and consensual relationship and that it is Robert who could be viewed as the villain of this sequence. We are taught through watching the show to never assume that any given story is true. Black Sails similarly plays with the idea of the power of the storyteller, combining historical pirates with fictional pirates and an origin story for Treasure Island, and going to great lengths to show that history is in the hands of the victor. Most of the primary sources of pirate history are from the perspective of civilised England, and in the process of watching the show we come to realise the bias inherent in these histories; much like in Game of Thrones, they are stories, and should not be assumed to be either true or accurate. As Jack says in the finale: “a story is true, a story is untrue […] The stories we want to believe, those are the ones that survive”.

Jaime Lannister and John Silver are both characters defined by stories that are forced upon them without choice: the Kingslayer and Long John Silver. We meet Jaime as the Kingslayer; our opinion of him is immediately formed by the story of him stabbing in the back the King he had sworn to protect, and cemented by the fact that our protagonist, Ned Stark, a man we like and trust, is the one telling this story. The Kingslayer’s presence is so strong in the first two seasons of the show that Jaime becomes nameless, reduced to this one defining act. It is only after the loss of his hand, and through his developing bond with Brienne, that he is finally able to tell his own story and we realise our entire perception of Jaime’s character has been based on an incorrect interpretation of events: that in killing Aerys Targaryen Jaime was saving the population of Kings Landing from destruction via wildfire. It is only after the truth of this story has been revealed to us that Jaime is able to begin moving past the Kingslayer and forging a new identity.

We see this in reverse in Black Sails, for the story of Long John Silver is not introduced until the season 3 finale, but like Jaime, this story is not told by Silver. Billy creates the myth of Long John, commits the acts attributed to him, and uses him as a figurehead for the pirate rebellion all without Silver’s knowledge or consent. Season 4 sees Silver wrestle with this identity of King of the Pirates, surrounded by people who want to use ‘Long John Silver’ for their own benefit: Billy, Israel Hands, even Flint. As the power and influence of Long John Silver the story grows, John Silver the man is disregarded, and his value reduced to how he can further everyone else’s individual causes. Though he does embrace this title (for a time, at least) to further “Flint and Madi’s war”, a cause he doesn’t truly believe in beyond his investment in Flint and Madi as people, we come to realise that the ‘character’ of Long John Silver that we know from Treasure Island is only that: a character, a story, a collective created for a larger cause that Silver himself eventually betrays.

I have seen some criticism of this scene, but for me one of the few redeeming moments of the Game of Thrones finale was Brienne writing Jaime’s story in the Book of White. Despite Jaime’s less than satisfactory conclusion, with this act he is finally able to move past the Kingslayer; Brienne has rewritten his narrative, and he will be remembered as a Knight who “died protecting his Queen”. Silver is offered no such release. By contrast, the story of Long John Silver is all that will be remembered; the worst fear for a man who cannot bear for his own story to be known. Indeed, we learn that “those who stood to benefit most from [Long John Silver] were the most eager to leave it all behind”. While Jaime is able to escape the story of the Kingslayer, the story of Long John Silver is what will endure, “all that is left of [him] is the monster in the story they tell their children”. Hello Treasure Island.

 “Reviled by so many for my finest act"

We can see here that Jaime and Silver’s narratives deal with similar themes, but often in contrasting ways. Just as with storytelling, Jaime and Silver’s backstories are key parts of their storylines in their respective shows, but operate with very different functions. (It is only as I am writing this that I’m realising how similar the themes of Game of Thrones and Black Sails actually are? If only Game of Thrones had the follow through of Black Sails... We were all rooting for you, etc etc).

Jaime’s backstory, and the truth of the act that earned him the title ‘Kingslayer’, is revealed to us mid-way through season 3. This comes at a very key moment for his character: Jaime has just lost his hand and is at his most vulnerable, and Brienne’s stubborn and persistent honour is clearly starting to affect him. “I trust you,” he says to her in the bathroom scene in 3x05, and we can assume that this is the first time he has said this to someone who isn’t a Lannister in quite some time, possibly ever. Essentially, the reveal of Jaime’s backstory comes at a moment where we are already beginning to soften towards him and are therefore open to hearing an alternative interpretation of events. While Jaime needs to be able to tell his story to begin to move past the identity of the Kingslayer, if this reveal had come too soon it wouldn’t have had the same dramatic effect, as viewers wouldn’t have been open to seeing him in a different light. All we saw of Jaime in the first two seasons was the “man without honour” that everyone believes him to be; by mid-season three we are already beginning to realise that there is perhaps more to him that meets the eye, so the reveal of his backstory has the most impact.

(This is exactly what Black Sails does with Flint’s backstory, and I firmly believe that if we had been told his story in season one as was originally the plan it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as effective. We needed to know more about Flint, and to see his uneasy partnership with Silver begin to develop as we delved into the backstory piece by piece, so that by 2x05 our hearts were ready to be broken. Buuut that’s a different essay.)

Black Sails loves a backstory. As we move through the show we slowly learn why and how our favourite characters came to be in Nassau , and universally these reveals add to our understanding of that character and their motivations: for Flint, for Billy, for Max, for Jack. We enter season four with Silver as the only character we don’t know anything about prior to the pilot. Surely then, we were about to get a ‘Jaime Lannister bathroom scene’ equivalent, a moment that will add depth and understanding to Silver’s character? Were any of the stories he has told about his past true? Who is Solomon Little? … Instead, what we get is one of my favourite sequences of the entire show, in which, after Flint realises that he knows nothing of Silver’s past, Silver reveals that Flint, and by proxy the viewer, knows “of [him] all [he] can bear to be known”. Silver is the ultimate storyteller, master of manipulating and deceiving others through the power of a narrative, yet he cannot bear to be the story himself. We never learn Silver’s backstory, and all he reveals of his past is that it speaks to “events of the kind no one can divine any meaning from, other than the world is a place of unending horrors”; he has chosen to repress his past, has rendered it unspeakable, and both Flint and the viewer are only left to wonder at what these “horrors” could be.

Although this lack of backstory adds nothing to our view of who Silver *was*, it is key to understanding who Silver *is*, and *why* Silver makes some of his more controversial choices further down the line. Silver’s need to repress his past is as key to his character as Flint’s need to define himself by his own backstory. We understand from this that Silver has experienced a level of trauma which is unspeakable, quite a feat for a show with plenty of other horrific backstories and especially pertinent given that Silver is one of our most gifted orators. Silver’s inability to process his past explains a lot of his actions in the early seasons; his coping mechanism has been to move through life without forming attachments, convincing himself that he doesn’t need (and shouldn’t need) other people. It is safe to assume that Madi and Flint are the first people he has let himself be truly vulnerable with, which paints his actions throughout season four in a different light; loving people is new for Silver, and he doesn’t know how to do it in a healthy or selfless way. The placement of this scene is as important to Black Sails as Jamie’s bathroom scene is to Game of Thrones; we needed to have already seen Long John Silver’s significance to the war spiral beyond Silver’s control, to have seen him become compromised by his love for Madi and the beginnings of the collapse of his partnership with Flint, for this scene to pack the punch that it aims for and to beautifully set up the culmination of his arc in the finale. How devastating, for a man who cannot bear for himself to be known, to be the one figure whose story will outlive them all.

Both of these scenes have stayed with me long past my first watch, and feel vital to understanding Jaime and Silver as characters. For Jaime, his backstory informs all his actions moving forward, his desire to transcend the Kingslayer, to become an “Oathkeeper”, or even “Golden-hand the Just”. For Silver, his lack of backstory informs all his actions up to this point in the narrative and prepares us for the choices to come. Just as Jaime is defined by his past, Silver is defined by his *lack* of past.

 “This is not what I wanted”

So, we’ve tracked Jaime and Silver’s characters throughout the show, but how do they both end? The answer, of course, is… tragically. Jaime is offered a glimpse at what could be a peaceful life, in Winterfell with Brienne, before turning it down to return to Cersei’s side only to meet his end while the duo try to escape the collapsing walls of Kings Landing. Silver betrays Flint and Madi in a horrific fashion, ensuring that they both survive though knowing that in doing so he was destroying his relationship with Flint and that there was a chance Madi would never forgive him his actions. (Or, this is my chosen interpretation of the ending, in any case, although the point still works if you prefer one of the other readings). Just thinking about Silver’s ending in Black Sails makes me want to cry. Thinking about Jaime’s ending in Game of Thrones makes to want to cry too, although for a very different reason. Neither are the ending we would hope for these characters in an optimistic and ideal world. But Silver’s decision to betray Flint and Madi feels narratively satisfying in a way that Jaime’s decision to betray Brienne and return to Cersei never could. Why is that?

Jaime Lannister’s character progression from season 3 onwards was set up as a redemption arc. We thought we were watching a jaded and selfish man become an honourable man. The show, admittedly, takes its sweet time with this journey in comparison to the book equivalent, and inserts some *interesting* deviations which I won’t dwell on here (looking at you 4x03 and the entirety of season 5). But, ultimately, the journey that Jaime finds himself on from the moment he loses his hand seems to be heading for a triumphant ending. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting him to survive the series. But I was expecting him to go out in a blaze of glory – fighting side by side with Brienne, perhaps, or protecting Bran, or one of the other characters he had wronged in the past. There was also always the chance that he would end up fulfilling the much subscribed to book theory of the valonqar, although this admittedly looked less likely as that particular line of the prophecy was cut from the show. When Jaime finally leaves Cersei at the end of season 7 it is such a triumphant moment – after years of struggling with these warring parts of himself, his toxic love for Cersei and his growing moral conscience, a decision had been made and a tie cut. We enter season 8 assuming that there is no going back. We don’t get a hint of any conflicting feelings from Jaime about this decision in the first half of season 8; we are focused on preparation for the Battle of Winterfell, and revelling in the joy of having Jaime and Brienne in the same place for longer than a single episode for the first time since season 4. We get the knighting scene (which, let’s be honest, is where the season peaks). We get the battle. We get the sex scene between Jaime and Brienne (which I… don’t love, for many reasons up to and including the weird virgin shaming jokes from Tyrion in the previous scene and their level of intoxication, but still gives no hint that Jaime is battling an inner war). And then later in that same episode, despite Brienne pleading with him to stay, we get Jaime’s snap decision to return to Kings Landing to attempt to save Cersei: “You think I’m a good man? […] She’s hateful, and so am I”.

The issue here isn’t the decision itself, or Jaime’s choice of words. We know that Jaime isn’t a good man. We know that he’s done awful things for Cersei’s love. And, if we think about it, it makes sense that he wouldn’t be able to leave behind a lifelong co-dependent and unhealthy relationship without looking back, and that he would be driven to return to Cersei’s side when the reality of her impending death hit. The issue is that none of this decision making is presented in the show itself; there was no build up, no foreshadowing. Instead of showing us why this decision was made, the show presents this scene as a shock twist, leaving the viewer with whiplash wondering how Jaime’s story could have taken such an unexpected turn so quickly. The redemption arc that we all thought we were watching was not a redemption arc at all, and don’t think I was alone in finding this revelation deeply unsatisfying.

Let’s leave Jaime for a moment and turn to John Silver. Even for viewers who entered Black Sails without knowing they were watching a prequel to Treasure Island (such as myself!), we can assume that most people have heard of the fictional pirate Long John Silver: the ‘villain’ of Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure who embodies what it means to be a “gentleman of fortune”.  When we meet clean-shaved, smarmy, two-legged Silver in the pilot most viewers will at least have an idea of the trajectory his arc will take – and that it won’t end with him and Flint skipping off into the sunset hand in hand. We know, because of history, that the pirate rebellion is doomed to fail, that slavery does not end in the West Indies, that Nassau does indeed fall back under English rule, and that piracy is eventually stamped out of New Providence. And we know, because of Treasure Island, that John Silver will end up hunting for Captain Flint’s treasure, while Billy Bones dies from a stroke at the very idea of a visit from Long John and Flint drinks himself to death in Savannah. In essence, we know that we are watching a tragedy.

The genre of tragedy dates back to Ancient Greece, and describes a narrative that presents an examination of human suffering while evoking a sense of catharsis. Aristotle defines tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude … through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [release] of these emotions.” In other words, in order for a tragedy to achieve this state of emotional release, we as the viewer need to both anticipate (or, fear) the resolution and feel sympathy (or, pity) towards the tragic hero. Black Sails does this masterfully. The pathway towards the destruction of Silver and Flint’s partnership has its grounds as early as season 2, before it has even really started to develop, where Silver talks of his fears of being “used and discarded” by Flint. In the finale of season 3 it is made explicit during their conversation before the battle, with Silver interrogating what he sees as the pattern of Flint’s loved ones dying “not just during [their] relationship, but because of it”. Silver finds himself “unnerved by the thought that when this pattern applies itself to [Flint] and [Silver], that [he] will be the end of [Flint]”. As they lock eyes across the water later on in this episode, the setup of their opposition, complicated by the genuine care between them, is complete, and we enter season 4 dreading the crumbling of their relationship. Season 4 dangles this dramatic irony over us; every time Flint mentions the indestructible force of their partnership, the things they can achieve when there is “no daylight” between them; every time Silver mentions that Flint has his “genuine trust and friendship”; every time they both speak of their partnership in the same terms as the love that Silver holds for Madi, “I’m committed to Flint, I’m committed to Madi” / “he is my friend, too”, we dread the moment where this will all change. We may not know how it will play out, but we know it is coming. The “fear” is very much present. As, indeed, is the “pity”. We understand why Silver makes the decision he does, even if we don’t agree with it. The show has taken lengths to track the development of Silver’s ability to care and make himself vulnerable to others; we believe in his love for Madi, and understand why he believes that he is doing the right thing. Silver’s tragic flaw is that in gaining empathy his selfishness moves to encompass those he cares about; he will do dark things to protect them without consideration of their own choices or agency.  The finale of Black Sails is difficult, beautiful, and yes, tragic, but we end Silver’s story understanding and perhaps even empathising with the decisions he made, believing him when he says that “this is not what [he] wanted”.

 Tragedy vs redemption

John Silver’s story is a tragedy. And I believe that Jaime Lannister’s story is also a tragedy; a deeply flawed man who tries to escape the inevitability of an abusive and unhealthy relationship, only to eventually fall back into this cycle and become consumed by it. The problem is that this wasn’t the story we thought we were watching. The ending of Jamie’s character arc has none of the fear, none of the pity, none of the catharsis of Silver’s, because there was no signposting towards this end. If Jaime’s arc had been treated as a tragedy from the outset then perhaps it would have felt emotionally satisfying rather than rushed and unexpected.

Admittedly, as Jaime is not as central to Game of Thrones as Silver is to Black Sails, the show could not spend as much time detailing his inner world as Black Sails does to the latter. However, if the show had framed Jaime’s story with a sense of tragedy rather than triumph, then his decision to return to Cersei in season 8 would have had the same inevitability as Silver’s betrayal. In season 1 of Game of Thrones, as in the first instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire, Cersei tells Ned Stark that she and Jaime “are more than brother and sister. We shared a womb, came into this world together. We belong together”. However, the show doesn’t include Jaime and Cersei’s later, darker ruminations, that “we will die together as we were born together” (Jaime, ASOS), and “we will leave this world together, as we once came into it” (Cersei, AFFC). Jaime and Cersei’s doomed fate in the books is entangled in a way it never is in the show, and doubly so when you factor in the possibility of Jaime actively causing Cersei’s end due to the valonqar prophecy. In addition to this, if we had seen Jaime leave Cersei earlier in the narrative and then grapple with this decision, showing him struggling to be the man Brienne believes him to be and overcome his past actions, then his failure wouldn’t have seemed so out of the blue. With very little effort or changes on the part of the show, Jaime’s *entire* arc could have been framed in a way that would have made his death a tragically fitting end to his and Cersei’s story.

Jaime and Silver both end their respective narratives in very similar places to when they were introduced, or at least they do on the surface: Jaime unable to leave Cersei even in death, Silver alone and eventually chasing treasure (yes, Madi is still in the picture, but I don’t think we are meant to infer that their future relationship will be a trusting one). However, for Silver, this similarity is only surface deep, for we followed his growth and development and understand the tragedy of his choices. Although Jaime goes through a very similar pattern of growth, the framing of his arc as redemptive means that the unexpected nosedive into tragedy in season 8 doesn’t have the weight or impact that it intends, and we are left without understanding *why* he makes his choices. Jaime’s arc is a failed tragedy that doesn’t fulfil the cathartic requirements of the genre, but with a bit of reframing it could have been as emotionally resonant as Silver’s.

Long story short: watch Black Sails.

[vowel-in-thug]

i am going to be greedy and ask you for 45 share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet and 46 share a scene of a story that you haven’t published yet and 48 three spoilers for whichever yet unpublished fic you are working on that you want to talk about and also for #50 i am SUPER curious if you have any headcanons about silver's awful past that had/has him so fucked up, poor guy. you don't have to answer all of these i know i asked a lot :)

my own headcanons for silver are morbid ...i've never shared them with fandom cause they are prob triggering as shit and obviously silver did not(at least in the show)have a happy ending to his story which is bullshit when i think about what happened to him in my head before he ever met flint /madi .Also there is a fic on a03( Apology by Wind_Ryder is the coda)where the author put silver working in the coal mines and he suffered as an orphan in that kind of place would. that story rang true too.

wow! Okay let’s look at all this.

45 share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet 

summaries are usually the last thing i think of but this one spoke to me before i’ve even finished reading it.

“a s3 au where miranda lives because life is short and fuck y’all i do what i want.”

6 share a scene of a story that you haven’t published yet

now i’m not gonna post a WHOLE scene because, hey long, but here’s the opening:

When he opens his eyes, he sees the sunlight rocking steadily on the wooden ceiling. He tries to lift himself up onto his elbows, but he can barely manage an inch, gasping at the pain.

“Shhh.” A hand on his shoulder makes him jump -- or makes his heart jump. His body can’t do much more than twitch at the contact. “Lie back now.”

He obeys, and now he sees the sunlight on the ceiling and Mrs. Barlow. Equally pale, equally blinding, swaying with the ceaseless sway of the ship.

Her dress is torn, far dirtier than when he’d last seen it. She’s wrapped in a blanket, which doesn’t quite hide the bloodstains or the sling on her left arm. There’s a long scrape on her chin, but her face is washed and cleaned of any make-up. Her long hair is down. 

She looks just like every portrait of Mary that Silver has ever seen.

48 three spoilers for whichever yet unpublished fic you are working on that you want to talk about 

well since the last two ones answered the miranda fic and i don’t want to give EVERYTHING away, and i just answered this about the next smallpox fic, i’m gonna do you dirty and talk about the next NOIR fic, which i haven’t forgotten about!

1. An arrest is made.

2. The boys wear tuxedos

3. Turns out Silver can still dance with a wooden leg, if they’re dancing real slow. 

50. open question to the writer - silver headcanons

i’ve never read that fic, but it sounds appropriately tragic :(

so i’ve answered this before, sort of, here. (also specifically orange!silver here) and i kind of say it there, but i think all of these are true and none of them are true. some of them could apply to fics i’ve written, some could apply to canon, some apply to stories i’ve never written and want to but never will. they probably all contradict the stories i’ve written, but i feel like that is also true. silver’s own headcanons for himself contradict themselves.

i think he likely suffered abuse as a young child, and was made to feel unloved and unwanted by an adult meant to care for him. and i think he likely escaped that situation and is very proud of that fact. proud to know he can rely on himself. but i don’t think he escaped and immediately had a nice life. i think he probably was met with all the hardships, injury, hunger, abuse, misdeeds, horror that comes with living the life of a poor and lonely boy. but it’s important to remember how he is when we first met him. 

we know he’s survived abuse, but when we first see him, he is a healthy (dare i say STRAPPING) young lad with a decent enough job on a relatively respectable merchant ship. he’s alive and, most important, he isn’t broken by whatever may have happened to him. we know he was abused, and we know he’s a survivor. but i think how he survived is very important to his psychology. every trial he likely faced just kept on proving more and more that the only person he can trust is himself. no one else. he has no need for other people because they’ve only ever harmed him. he has no need to help his fellow man when pirates come a-calling, because when has his fellow man ever helped him? never, that’s when. 

so when he finally, FINALLY, meets people he can rely on, everything inside his head just goes fucking haywire. though i don’t believe there isn’t a happy ending for silver. he’s never broken. he’s a survivor. and if you want to believe THAT TRASH aka treasure island as canon or whatever, you can picture silver escaping with only a bag of the treasure he promised to try and find for flint and madi and furiously trying to come up with a story that doesn’t involve a snotty little brat named jim whatever outsmarting him for the money

[halflingkima]

ok i know i haven’t finished black sails yet but eleanor guthrie deserved better writing than to be married off as an ass-backwards ‘redemption arc’ and then fridged for the punishment of her new husband

oh god this got so long

i saw something about how the creators were talking abt how rogers was essentially her redemption arc for how she treated charles and how she betrayed basically everyone but like. Pirates. like. i know we’re positioning them as the “good guys” here but. Pirates.

[i don’t know how to find the source, but it was a quote from an interview where someone asked one of the creators basically ‘what’s the deal’ w the eleanor & rogers relationship (bc lbr it came tf outta Nowhere™) and the dude answered essentially ‘she wants to prove that she can be loyal and that she’s not an Entirely Shit Person and atone for her past betrayals’]

Flint fucking strangles his best friend to death; beats a crew member to death and proceeds to maim his body; lies to everyone because he refuses to trust them; is accused of throwing beloved Billy overboard; etc etc etc – and doesn’t need a redemption arc. A couple crew members try to lead a mutiny against Flint and are simply scared back into line. Billy leads his faction against Flint’s orders – putting huge numbers of black humans at life or death risk – and is just portrayed as a differing point of view in the main conflict with no redemption arc (up to 4.06). Silver’s entire personality is cunning, self-serving manipulation (until it turns into survival) and he needs no redemption arc. Max’s entire arc is revenge-fueled power-grabbing, relying wholly on manipulation and playing both sides and she needs no redemption. I could go off on every character and the endless betrayals bc get this – THEY’RE PIRATES.

Some may make the argument that Eleanor was not a pirate – which is incorrect. She may have maintained that she was not one, but she was the merchant power on the island who was originally in-line with Flint’s vision for the island. Everything she did in the early seasons was a calculated decision to gain her power and attain her vision. At the basest level, she facilitated acts of piracy for the entire island.

The only conclusion I’m able to come to about her arc after her capture at the end of season two is that the creators/writers didn’t know how she would fit into a narrative of the power shift between the free state and the Empire. 

Initially, I expected her to be manipulating Rogers to avoid sentencing/death, as she had shown prowess in manipulating Vane. But the quote from the interview showed that they were writing Eleanor’s alliance with Rogers as genuine and that was essentially baffling to me. How could Eleanor Guthrie – a woman whom Charles Vane saw at the very least as a worthy adversary if not as a genuine equal human, a woman who began a relationship with another woman (albeit monetarily compensated) and clearly demonstrated their certain shared experiences simply as women functioning in this society (though they were most certainly not socially equal in any other way) – be with a military man employed by the legal state of the British empire? No matter how socially conscious he was or how much he respected her, Rogers would never see Eleanor Guthrie as an equal – socially, politically, or any other way. Which is why I would never buy that she actually had feelings for him. (Potentially if there was a little more development in a conscious decision to abandon Nassau and retreat to a Domestic Life, as Flint did in his cottage scene, but that’s another post.)

Where was the creativity and character development (rather than character devolvement) in her narrative? Can there be only one queer woman manipulating both sides of the core conflict? Can there be only one man sexually and romantically manipulated by a woman?

And marrying her off to the enemy of her vision wasn’t enough; killing her off didn’t garner enough sympathy; killing her off while pregnant wasn’t effective enough – she had to be killed at the political orders of her husband, whom she [allegedly] genuinely loved.

First of all – pregnancy? Really? Was that necessary? If anything it’s a giant red flag that she was going to die; who would birth a child in that climate? who genuinely believe that the conflict would be over before the child was born? who truly believed that she would be able to raise her child peacefully in England at her husbands manor? Not Eleanor Guthrie. I don’t have any further thoughts on this bit besides it seemed to me like a p transparent grasp for sympathy that didn’t do its job. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There was a point that I would have actually been happy if the end of the trail for just about everyone was death. I’m perfectly fine with the fact that Eleanor died. I am not fine with the reason she died nor with the physicality of her death.

Admittedly, it could have been worse; it’s a low bar but I’m very thankful the writers didn’t resort to r*pe (again; which – again, it’s own post) and at the very least I’m satisfied that she died fighting. However – Flint’s entire ship is stranded in the doldrums and survives. Billy Bones falls overboard in the middle of a storm, is taken/tortured by the navy for an entire season, is beaten within an inch of his life by vengeful, newly freed people, and survives. Vane was declared dead, dumped in a pit, and buried in sand, and survives. Anne Bonny turns herself into a DIY Wolverine cosplay with some random glass lying around in stores of a ship and gets beaten/slashed half to death and survives. (I haven’t seen it yet but) Madi is trapped in a house as it burns down and survives?? Yet Eleanor gets one sword slash to the abdomen, is still conscious by the time Flint returns, and dies?? It’s either ridiculously lazy writing or a direct comment on the physical stamina of men vs women. (and let’s not forget a slash to the abdomen immediately reminds viewers that she’s pregnant).

Full disclosure: I have yet to watch far beyond Eleanor’s death for my own unrelated reasons. Still it is already apparent that Eleanor’s death was at least initially intended as further motivation/development for Rogers, whose own orders and narrowed vision of victory resulted in the death of his wife and unborn child (that he had yet to learn about). As far as I can see, that’s literally all that her death amounts to. Which is the definition of fridging – killing off a woman for the development of a male character. Which is even more tragic considering how strong, developed, humanized, and well-rounded of a character she was at the beginning.

Ultimately: Eleanor Guthrie deserved better. A better character arc. A better death. A better role. A better end.

[sweetsunrayssr]

Billy, pirate to the very Bones

Warning: 4x08 spoilers

Let’s for a moment forget the player you root for, or which goal you wish to succeed: Flint’s war, Woodes’ war, Maroons freedom, revenge. Let’s put that all aside and we might understand Billy’s choices and plans far better.

By the end of 4x08 we have two major plot parallels set up in Billy’s story to what happened previously in Black Sails. First there is a parallel to the earlier cache deal with Eleanor in season 4 and how that resulted in Silver making a choice between Flint and Billy. And secondly there is a parallel to Silver trying to tow Mr. Dobbs back in line by punishing him and how Silver uses Dobbs to pretend to be a traitor to Flint to lure Hornigold into a trap on the Maroon Island. 

The cache deal parallel

In 4x04 Eleanor proposes to surrender Fort Nassau for free passage of herself and her people and the cache. While Silver says absolutely not, Flint accepts the deal and says, “Trust me,” putting Silver in a position to defend Flint’s choice and action even though he himself is against it. Billy attempts to persuade him several times to not accept this deal and sacrifice Flint in the process, and eventually offers to kill Flint for him.

As a result, Silver pretends to go along with Billy’s plan and lied about who was responsible for their defeat in Nassau bay in 4x01. He orders Jacob Garett to kill Billy. And when Jacob refuses, Israel Hands steps in to execute Billy, with Silver staying Israel’s hands (pun intended) at the last moment.

Silver has Billy severely punished and explains that he turned on Billy, because Billy forced Silver to choose between Flint and Billy, implying that Flint did not force him to choose. But of course, that is exactly the position that Flint forced him into by going along with Eleanor’s deal in the first place, without even needing to argue or utter any word about Billy to Silver.

Later, Woodes demands a ransom for Madi’s life. Now it’s Flint’s turn to argue that this is meant to divide the both of them, but as the stakes are higher in Silver’s eyes he quickly ends up seeing it as Flint making him choose between Madi or Flint’s war, warns him not to make him choose. And when Flint runs of with the cache (like Billy would have ordered the men to take the cache if it ever arrived in Nassau), Silver meets with Woodes to tell him of Flint’s betrayal, that he sent men after Flint to retrieve the cache and admits he gave the order to kill Flint.

And more to the point, Billy anticipated it all, including Silver giving the order to kill Flint, and that without ever needing to speak or even see Silver himself. What we see here is a behavior pattern. Two men (Flint and Billy) use or create a situation where they can sit back, and watch from a distance how their rival tries to argue and force Silver into siding with them but will lose the argument. If Billy manipulated Silver into breaking up with Flint over the 2nd deal, then Flint manipulated Silver into breaking up with Billy over the 1st deal. And Billy could do so, because he recognized Silver’s pattern to such situations.

The Dobbs-Billy parallel

In season 3 Mr. Dobbs attacked one of Madi’s men on the Walrus for being the one who picked out the crewmembers that were tortured on the Maroon Island, at a moment when the alliance between the maroons and pirates was in its cradle and unstable.

The first obvious parallel to Billy is not just between Dobbs and Billy, but Madi’s guy that got beat up. We have similar injuries. And with both men Silver is reluctant to release them, before he is sure what they will say to the crew.

And then of course there is the repeated manner in which Silver tries to punish both Dobbs and Billy in the hope that neither would repeat the offense. 

Flint points out to Silver, after he learns of Silver dealing with Dobbs’ actions, that nobody knows whether Silver punished Dobbs not enough, too much, or just enough to accomplish his goal, aside from giving in to the darker and more selfish motivation behind punishment.

And that should be the question we should be asking ourselves in Billy’s case too, rather than wondering whether this is just another scheme between Silver and Flint. The screen evidence for 4x08 does not support a plot between Silver and Flint to fool Woodes and Billy. Silver’s last conversation with Flint about trusting him and supporting him in which Flint anwered “yes”, was very similar to Vane’s and Eleanor’s last conversation and Eleanor said “yes”, exactly before she rescued Abigail out of the fort. Silver would not allow his men to be killed for it. And he would not look devestated just for the audience alone. Let us not forget how Flint talks into Dooley, the way Silver and Flint plotted over food to take over the Man O War from under Dufresne’s nose.

Instead I question Billy’s plan and his alliance with Woodes. On Silver’s orders, Dobbs surrendered to Hornigold, pretending to be a traitor, saying how they all betrayed him for a maroon and now they would all pay for it. He shot one of his own brothers to prove to Hornigold that he was in earnest. Then he led Hornigold, his militia and the English soliders to the maroon camp, supposedly to the cache, but it was actually a trap.

Then in season 4, Billy surrenders to Woodes, helps him catch Kofi and pirates that intended to rescue Madi for Woodes to execute as well as leads Woodes and the Walrus crew to spooky Skeleton Island to acquire the cache. Even Flint points out to Dooley that Billy chose Skeleton Island for other reasons than just an unchartered island to make the exchange. Furthermore, we ought to recognize the fact that if Billy had not pointed out to Woodes that he had Madi in his possession, that she would have been sold into slavery without Silver or the maroons knowing that Madi is alive. 

At the very least the parallels are so striking that it is very unlikely that Billy has actually turned completely like Mr. Dufresne or Hornigold. If he is Woodes’ ally, it is only temporary and for his own ends.

Aside from the parallels, there are also differences between the two situations. Firstly, Silver certainly did not order Billy to do this, but Billy did it all on his own. And at the time with Dobbs, Billy was on Providence Island, first attacking the governor’s caravan, and then volunteering to rescue Charles Vane. We can however safely assume that Billy would have learned of Dobb’s fake treason.

The last difference between Dobbs and Billy is that Dobbs was just a crewmember with little power, while Billy built and led a large number of men who swore oaths to him all on his own and led those men into battle, like a captain. Even if the majority of men betrayed Billy, Jacob Garett refused to murder Billy and stood up for him. And Ben Gunn freed Billy from his chains at the Underhill estate. Billy has become a man who has come to believe he could captain a crew rather than be the quartermaster’s sidekick.

Billy’s plan

As I pointed out already, there is no evidence at all to support the idea that any of this is Silver’s and Flint’s plan. In fact there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. All of it is Billy’s plan. But what exactly is his plan?

Does he solely seek to push Flint out and become Silver’s second man again? Does he actually resent Silver more now, because he punished Billy while having the highest form of authority as pirate king, and therefore seek to become a partner to Flint? Does he wish both Flint and Silver to kill each other? Does he wish Woodes, Flint and Silver to kill each other?

I think it is far more likely that he wishes all three of these men to destroy each other. And here is my argument for it: Billy is a proper pirate through and through. In season 1, Charles Vane orchestrated Singleton’s attempt to challenge Flint for his captaincy to get Billy on his crew. The sole reason that Billy turned it down when captured by Charles at the end of season 2 was because at the time he knew they needed Flint to marshall a defense against England once they would arrive. In season 3 Billy expresses doubts and weariness over Flint’s war, calls Charles the “best of them” and begins to plot to depose Flint from his power seat. Instead he props Silver as a pirate king, and yet in 1x01 Billy expressed the belief that pirates have no kings. Does that strike you as a man who is fully willing to be a repentant pirate and permanently work for the English, because Silver and Flint screwed him over, like Dufresne and Hornigold? Dufresne was never a proper pirate. And Hornigold always felt uncomfortable with hunting English merchants, which was why he preferred to sit in his poxy chair in the Fort.

Billy is still a pirate at heart, and I believe he will always will be. But his entire arc through the four seasons has become one where he gained the experience to captain a pirate crew, to lead men into battle, as a captain should, and to hunt, rather than support another captain or pirate king. Meanwhile, he has no interest in Flint’s war, has no personal attachment to a love interest, does not actually care much for Nassau either, certainly not the maroons or slaves or any such alliances. Billy followed Flint and Silver and aided them in their goals, but they never were his personal motivations. His purest motivation has always been to be free and be out on the sea. He loves the pirate life for the pirate life. In that respect it is interesting that Captain Flint visually hands the reins to Billy in 3x08.

Regardless whether Billy succeeds, I conclude that Billy’s intentions are to end Flint’s war, Silver’s kingship and throw Woodes as the one committed to end piracy into the mix, just so he could amass a crew together and be a pirate captain.

[arzani-fuchsia]

Madi exists...

bana05 hat auf deinen Eintrag geantwortet “I guess my biggest fear for Black Sails is that when James finds his...”

Are we assuming Madi won't be with him?

That was no entierly what I meant. I do believe Madi is with him (even though there was a point in the story I assumed it wouldn’t be Madi who’s Silver’s “African wife” but Max, yet after Madi’s talk with Eleanor I guess it is Madi. We will see about that.)

However, for this explanation I will take it for granted that Madi is with Silver and still I guess it doesn’t make much difference. Because a person can feel alone and more so broken, even with another person around.

I always wondered what drove the Silver in TI back to that place to get the treassure. I mean, the Silver in TI is not in the slightest the pirate king he is at the current point of BS. In TI Silver has to lie and scheme again to make his fellow pirates follow him. Nothing like Dooley, who just did what Silver asked of him without question. Instead they turn against him, Silver has to save his life and is basically alone again. I think that says a lot, especially for Silver who in BS treasured to have people and NOT be alone.

By this point we can assume Silver was on his own most of his life. He always cared for just himself until he met the Walrus Crew and the crew started to care for him. He started to care for them. He gained trust and friendship over the passing months (and years? I have no idea how much time passed since 1x01) and in the last also love. I mean, I don’t think 1x01 Silver was even able to fall for Madi, and it just emphasizes how much he has changed.

But in TI he is back to being a thief and a liar, a person who is on his own and has to talk his way out of dangerous situations. It left a sour taste in my mouth when I read TI again. I don’t think this is a positive thing.

Silver never had a reason for himself to fight this war Flint and Madi are fighting. He does because of them, litterally. In the beginning he wanted the Urca Gold to make a good living. An imbition i could follow (not that I approve of it, but I understood where he came from), but now he fights are war he gains nothing from. In fact we’ve seen Silver being the one to criticize it the most. He knows it’s a very personal thing for Flint and he questions him, when he asked for Thomas. Because what person would make it Flint to just leave everyone behind to get back Thomas. And yes that would mean happiness for Thomas, but it would leave thousands of people’s life as sacrifices for what ... one? We all know that is not what Thomas would have wanted.

Then he asks Madi if she would leave with him, leave the war behind. And he is rejected. At this point I guess Silver had either the choice to be alone again (as both Flint and Madi wouldn’t come with him) or fight the war. And I believe he decided to fight a war instead of being alone. Because he fears being alone the much, now that he knows how it is to have people in his life.

In the preview we saw for 4x08 he questions the war again. Asks if it isn’t the war itself that is the horror.

Silver was pushed into the position to play pirate king, he hadn’t had a chance to prepare for the position. I don’t think he ever wanted it, because in the beginning he didn’t even want to be a pirate. But he has tasted the darkness of the position and the power and he has to deal with it. I don’t think it leaves a person unaffected to have such power.

Silver always has to choose between people and ways to go, and every decision costs him a bit of himself. He carries guilt. We saw it when he spoke with Billy after he betrayed him. There was a lot of guilt in the way he spoke and in what he said. He couldn’t kill Billy, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, because he cared for Billy.

I think Silver has a great conscience and no matter he is good in telling lies, he also always did it to people he doesn’t care for. Even back when he lied to Flint about the Urca gold Silver couldn’t keep it to himself, but told Flint in the row boat. He didn’t have to do it, but he did.

Then followed Billy... I wonder how it will affect him, when he betrays Flint. We know at some point they fall out. At least they’re not together in TI. Something must have happened. And while I think it will have nothing to do with Madi, I guess the reason will be the war itself. Silver will want to walk away from it and there must happen something when Flint follows his example. At this point I guess Thomas is the deal here.

But when Flint walks away from the war, Silver will lose him. In one way or the other. And by now we can definitely say that Flint is a part in Silver’s life Silver doesn’t want to miss. They are incredibly close and it must have affected Silver. Flint is probably the first real friend he ever had. The first person he could trust, he could count on to stand up for him, to care for him.

I found it interesting in TI that while everyone spoke of Flint in terms of him being a monster, Silver never did. He said a lot of times that it’s good that Flint is dead, but he never described him as a bad person. Instead there is that one line that stuck with me, where Silver said “I think he respected me even.” Don’t tell me this comes from people who don’t care for each other, or at least have once.

I can’t believe it will not affect Silver to not have Flint around anymore. And what I also believe is that Silver doesn’t know yet how much he cares for Flint. Because Flint was always around. We have several moments in which Silver wonders how Flint did it, survived the storm, got into the doldrums. I have the feeling Silver sees Flint as kind of immortal, a person who rules and is a force and always goes and goes forward. Because he came out of so many situatiosn in which he should have died but didn’t. I guess when in the end he sees that Flint is only human and indeed able to die, he will realize that he can also lose Flint. And I fear that comes at a point when it is too late and Silver can’t change losing Flint (in whatever way, I don’t necessarily speak of death here). And that will leave Silver broken and basically gets him back to a point where he just cares for himself as a kind of self-preservation.

Back to Madi (I’m almost done, I promise).

When we look at Flint and his ten years of rage before the story began, he also had Miranda. And no matter she was a comfort to him, we all can see that Flint was broken in a way. She couldn’t stop him from becoming Flint, from going the path of rage and darkness, no matter they loved each  other.

I guess with Maid it could be the same. Silver can go a path he doesn’t want to even with Madi by his side. I mean she promised him to watch out for him and not allow Silver to be consumed by Flint’s darkness and still he is slowly. He killed Dufrense, he is basically angry most of the time and becomes Long John Silver more and more while Flint gets softer with every episode.

I do love SilverMadi a great deal. I love the dynamic of them, I adore Madi, but I think Silver needs Flint... and TI doesn’t leave great options for them to be together, which makes me in fact fear for Silver.

[constructedstories]

      “This has nothing to do with reason and you know it. You only want them following me to the extent that I, in turn, will follow you. I’m convenience. Designed to aid you in ruling over Nassau with the same uncompromising grip you’d vilify from Flint.”

      “A war that is sooner or later guaranteed to end in defeat. You know I’m right.”

      “I’m committed to Flint. I’m committed to Madi. Yet the road they intend to travel is one I’m losing the ability to understand.”

      as Billy points out, John Silver is a rational man. he’s not a Madi or a Flint, he’s not an idealist or living out his own psychodrama, but he's rational and realistic. In regards to these scenes in 4x05 it’s INCREDIBLY important to point out how Silver got involved in this war in the first place: he lost his leg, he put his lot in with the men of the Walrus because he saw their loyalty as more valuable to him than a share of the Urca gold ( as he says, without them he’s nothing but an invalid ). He has had to play a role, that of the quartermaster -- he did not originally want to be a pirate. Arguably, he still doesn’t put much stock in being a pirate -- he’s no free spirit who partakes in piracy because he loves the freedom of it all. He doesn’t care about that. His desire at the beginning of the show was to walk away with wealth and prosperity and, even now in s4, that desire hasn’t completely waned. 

      Hence why he asks Madi whether, at the end of it all, if everything was to go to shit, he, as a man, as a potential husband or partner, would be enough for her. And because of her commitment to her people, she hesitated to answer, and he realised that she wouldn’t because of her men. Also important to point out is that Silver has no motive to be in this war. He’s not like Jack, who wanted vengeance, nor is he like Madi who wants to liberate slaves across the free world, and he’s not like Flint who has an egregious grudge against England for what happened with Thomas. He has no reason to plausibly hate England, and so his getting involved in this war was only because of the potential benefits for himself: loyalty, a place to belong, and power.

      I’ve seen people asking why Silver would have even considered siding with Billy in the first place and I would point out that Silver and Billy were close before he made grounds with Flint in 3x03. They were unified under the assumption that they would bolster Flint’s position while they didn’t particularly care about him as an individual, and then Silver grew to respect and trust Flint over the rest of season 3. Also, Billy spoke a lot of sense in that passage above. The war against civilisation that Flint is suggesting would have disastrous consequences -- and it already has. We know from history that England is inevitable: Nassau is eventually occupied by British forces and all of the pirates are hanged. Silver is a realist. He can foresee this, to some degree, throughout s3 but he pursues Flint’s agenda -- partly because he’s taken in by Flint, partly because he’s taken in by Madi, but also because it benefits his own position to advocate for this war.

      Now, in 4x05, he’s beginning to realise that at the end of this all, at the end of Flint’s war, is utter ruin. Flint and Madi cannot conceive of it, yet ( if they ever will -- particularly in Flint’s case ), but Silver is not stupid. Even without knowing that Woodes had gone in search of Spanish aid to raze Nassau to the ground, he knows that what they are fighting for is just not realistic. But he’s evidently also torn because he respects Flint and Madi so much, because he wants to protect them both from this path they are on and because he would be perfectly happy to maintain Nassau’s defences and control and govern it for as long as he was able to, as Billy said. 

      Basically, in this last ep, the light finally started to dawn on Silver that this may all be the road to ruin for everyone -- but he makes the choice to side with Flint because of his love for Madi ( and clearly, to an extent, his respect for Flint as well ). I have my ideas as to how he’ll develop over the next few eps ( particularly with Israel Hands’ influence ), but from here on out I feel like Silver is going to be faced with choices that only lead to bad outcomes. He’s essentially in Eleanor Guthrie’s position at this point, as the ‘boss’ or king of the island and he has to make choices in order to maintain his throne, choices that will put certain loved ones of his at risk -- so far, he’s avoided a choice like the ones Eleanor has made, but hers and Anne’s comments about Nassau forcing people to hurt those they love will eventually apply itself to Silver, too.

[theoddesttea]

XXXVII

so i finally FINALLY got to watch this ep and.......i dont even know...............

lets just start with the positives. which is MADI!!!!!!!!!! my god she didn’t have a lot to do this episode but that speech......brought fucking tears to my eyes (the only time i cried this ep, astonishingly). like everything, EVERYTHING i was thinking of when that asshat rogers was speaking she just fucking served to him, like she ripped him a new asshole and i was Here for it. she better play a pivotal fucking part in the last ep though!!! because that was not nearly enough screentime!!!!!!

(speaking of which my loves max and anne weren’t there at all and i am getting increasingly worried about how this is all going to be resolved. especially because jack hasnt even made it to the island yet????? fuuuuuuck pls writers.....ive always believed in you..............pls resolve all of the storylines with the respect they deserve.........pls give my ladies a final say.......)

but as much as i missed the ladies, this was about silver and flint and lemme say. holy shit. well first of all i was completely fucking wrong about them planning it....but i was (kinda) right in how flint was still doing what was best for silver and everyone (in his mind) and i mean...he’s totally right. like madi literally said in the ep that she would never trade the war away just to avoid a fight/silver’s death (which makes me feel kinda bad for silver but like cmon man.....think of the big picture.....don’t pull a rogers and ignore your wife’s wishes because that will lead to her death and i swear to god if madi dies because of you)

the fucking sword training cut ins though. i know for a fact that there is a list of s4 wishes out there with flint teaching silver how to fight and i never thought it would happen. that i would see it with my own two eyes. i have had wishes for a scene like this even back in fucking merlin days where i hoped arthur would teach merlin how to fight because why the fuck else would you keep bringing your defenseless servant into battle. not that silver’s defenseless. but i have WANTED THIS. but of course, because its black sails, it is drenched in many many complicated feelings, most of which are sad (even though they smiled. they smiled!!!!!!!! but it was just even more fucking sad because of the context in which these memories were appearing!!!!!!!!!!! fuck me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

like how dare u make them talk about how much they respect and trust each other in the middle of this. how dare u. at the very beginning though i thought it might jjust be a vision/silver’s imagination/a dream or some shit, where silver’s subconscious was gonna have a chat with flint to see what was up. but this was good too.

god just....the moment where they finally come to blows...and flint speaking as he duels in the memory like. fuck me up. and then dooley (i think thats his name?? im ashamed i dont know for sure. but fuck him, no one replaces silver) comes up from behind and i literally gasped out loud, thinking he might nonfatally wound silver or some shit, but then flint fucking shoots him and just....and then silver attacks anyway!!!!! like bitch!!!!! he cares aabout you!!!!! fuck!!!!!

im real fucking mad at hands. how dare you sow the seeds of destruction for this relationship. this couldve been good.......

and holy shit RIP Joji and DeGroot. literally my two favorite crewmen, dead in one ep......at least Joji went out with a super awesome fighting scene. ngl, totally thought he was gonna join with flint and im upset he didnt.....i also expected him to say a thing. im not sure if im relieved or sad that he didn’t. either way, i love you joji. u did ur best. i hope u have a good time in pirate heaven. at least you’ll be reunited with miranda, your secret lover through whom you birthed me. your child. love u dad