#and he is telling this to madi who did not want this about flint who also did not want this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tiofrean · 1 year

Text

OMG I'm rewatching Black Sails and am once again assaulted by how in love with Silver Flint was and how Clueless TM Silver actually was. Like his conversation with Madi? About what he did with Flint? Silver: There is a place near Savannah... where men unjustly imprisoned in England are sent in secret. An internment far more humane, but no less secure. Men who enter these gates never leave them. To the rest of the world, they simply cease to be.

Madi: I don't believe you. I don't believe this. Flint would have fought to the death before allowing it.

Silver: He resisted... at first. But then I told him what else I had heard about this place. I was told prominent families amongst London society made use of it. I was told the governor in Carolina made use of it. So I sent a man to find out if they'd used it to hide away one particular prisoner. He returned with news. Thomas Hamilton was there. He disbelieved me. He continued to resist. And corralling him took great effort. But the closer we got to Savannah, his resistance began to diminish. I couldn't say why. I wasn't expecting it. Perhaps he'd finally reached the limits of his physical ability to fight. Or perhaps as the promise of seeing Thomas got closer... he grew more comfortable letting go of this man he created in response to his loss. The man whose mind I had come to know so well... whose mind I'd in some ways incorporated into my own.

And Madi is just grinding her teeth and shaking her head so subtly, because she KNOWS Flint and she KNOWS that's not why he stopped resisting. He stopped because Silver, dumbass extraordinaire, whom he loved so fucking much it hurt, decided to lock him up on a plantation, had the men and the brawn to do it, and Flint just gave up. He gave up because the only man that mattered to him now wanted him away permanently, and if that was what Silver felt then why would Flint fight a lost battle? If he believed for one second that Silver was telling the truth, he would have fucking teleported there to check whether Thomas is actually alive. But he didn't trust Silver and what he was saying anymore. So Silver's genius plan was equal to being cast aside by him to Flint.

So he gave up and stopped resisting, John, not because he believed you, you fucking dumbass. Now go and apologize.

#my ramblings #black sails meta #black sails #silverflint #long john silver #captain flint #i made myself sad

196 notes · View notes

frodo-of-the-nine-fingers · 7 months

Text

thinking about how silver knew or suspected that thomas might be alive almost from the beginning of season 4 and still didn't tell flint like

Flint: Do I need to be concerned that you took almost two hours to tell me about it?

Silver: We are at our least rational... when we're at our most vulnerable. If nothing else, this is a good reminder that without a doubt she is the point at which I'm my most vulnerable. The thought of losing her...

I see.

Silver: If we assume... that we are on the verge of some impossible victory here, a truly significant thing... if we assume that is real and here for the taking... wouldn't you trade it all to have Thomas Hamilton back again?

Flint: I think if he knew how close we were to the victory he gave his life to achieve... he wouldn't want me to.

Silver: I see. Though, that wasn't really what I asked, was it? Assume his father was just as dark as you say, but... was unable to murder his own son, assume he found a way... to secret Thomas away from London...

Flint: He didn't.

Silver: Would you trade this war to make it so? It is some kind of hell to be forced to choose one irreplaceable thing over another.

LIKE PERHAPS THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED HE IS NOT TELLING YOU

Flint: I know what it's like... to have lost her. And then seeing a way to have her back. I understand what that must've felt like. You asked me once what I would do, what I would sacrifice if it meant having Thomas back again. I honestly don't know... what I would've done. I honestly couldn't say I wouldn't have done what you did. I told you I'd see you through this. Put things back together again so that we can move forward. I meant it.

And then again he still doesn't tell him because he can't, not until he's certain he won't have to use it-not until he's certain he'll have to End Flint because he doesn't want to but he knows (has known this whole time) that he will be the end of him so he hid this Massive Thing from him even after he knew what it was like to lose Madi he Still hid it (this is of course assuming that thomas is still alive and that wasn't just a lie to madi or a justification to himself and flint to make sending him (flint) away to live the rest of his life in chains doing labor seem like it wasn't so bad really (and also ignoring the fact that miranda who was arguably more a catalyst for flint's war than thomas was is still dead and not even silver can bring her back from the dead))

it's just really funny idk what to tell you

#sorry i am FEELING things #like how could he even do this assuming thom is still alive like i fully believe him capable of it but holy shit #i think for a really long.time i had a hard time reconciling this like the way that he Hid it from flint again assuming thom is alive #and even then if he was telling the truth that doesn't necessarily exclude the possibility that silver killed him anyway so.#tldr oh naur the implications #black sails #james flint #john silver #theres also like the thomas only being alive because silver needs him to be alive which isnt a non factor in this #and also in the viewers ability to stomach flint being sent away to a plantation prison for the rest of his life like its really not so bad!#madi(viewer)!!!! it's fine!!! he's with the love of his life (according to Me The Storyteller so it must be True) and he's happy there #i prommy #he's fine #it's fine #like GIRL #the most insane thing of all of this is that he thinks somehow that THIS is the more comforting option to tell #like maybe for you it is so you dont have to live with it but idk it would have been kinder to just have killed him

63 notes · View notes

constant-and-immovable · 10 months

Note

What are your thoughts about the PoTC cast in Back Sails?

AHAHAHAHHA! I kept meaning to do this!

this ended up INCREDIBLY long...

Elizabeth is either killed early on, or makes it to the end, there's no in between. I imagine she would be good friends with eleanor but eventually they'd see they're in this game on different sides and there's a dramatic moment where Elizabeth betrays her. Its framed as a "see she's not purely good either" moment, meant to reflect that everyone here is technically a criminal, but the fandom hated Eleanor enough by then that Lizzie becomes part of a bunch of annoying Girl Boss memes .

I'm gay, so I want a scene where Anne teaches Elizabeth how to use a knife. Also a scene of her and Will sparring, since we're told he taught her how to sword fight, but NEVER SAW IT...

Will does okay! He survives most of the way through, and really would have gone longer, but gets killed off for Elizabeth's character development. Most of his involvement was with finding the treasure and assisting in the defense of Nassau. OR he ends up opening a blacksmith shop on the island. There's an emotional moment where Flint applauds his fine work, but tells him it's all fucking worthless. They need strength and quantity, not high art. Will doesn't get to show off his artistry again for a while. Billy and Will remain the Token Straight Men of the series, and even though they never speak and only share one frame, there are hundreds of fics about them.

Jack...depends on which one. The guy who played comic relief and court jester throughout the other films? He's shot in a brawl he didn't even start his first time in Nassau. The guy who carried around a pistol with one shot on a mission of cold revenge? The guy who didn't even flinch at the idea of trading souls for his own? The guy that laughed at his own hanging? Yeah, he would make it at least as far as Charles Vane did. He gets killed, naturally, because he ends up a fan favorite. He gets on Silver's nerves immensely, despite the fact that they have a weird chemistry. Flint only exchanges a few words with him, one of them being essentially "Get the fuck off my ship and if I see you on it again I will shoot you."

Either that, or they end up with a Picard/Q dynaimic.

Tia Dalma kicks ass and takes names. She's given a weapon. If she has supernatural powers in this, that becomes a major plot point to convince her onto their side. She outright (violently, graphically) gets people killed by some kind of magic trap trying to get to her island, or else we just see their bodies mangled on display leading up to her cabin. Madi becomes the person to suggest going in from behind the main entrance to the island where the traps are, and gets in alone, and convinces her to assist--but only if they can deliver to her the heart of Davy Jones, which becomes the main collateral of the series instead of the Urca gold. Idk, Jones buried instructions for her release in it or something.

Barbossa does extremely well, and while he's at the forefront of most of the battles, he somehow survives to the end, he, like Anne & Rackham, sails under the black still despite the supposed end of piracy on Nassau OR his epilogue piece is him sitting in an office above the tavern on Tortuga, establishing a second pirate base there. He doesn't get the Pearl in this version, but manages to sail off with The Fucking Warship. He, Flint, and Blackbeard hate each other, deeply, but also have the most experience and end up collaborating throughout the show for a few of the major battles.

Anna-Maria almost gets involved with Anne, but doesn't. She doesn't like how much they have in common, a rough past, a shaky relationship with a Jack (I assume we unfortunately have to see pretty much everyone fucking someone at some point, since it's Starz, and there's no way the writers wouldn't have gone the easy route of her and Jack), but she does save Anne's life at one point. Max thanks for her it, upset that she wasn't there, and post break up with Anne, Max finds her again, offers her a position on the new Nassau which she says she'll consider. In typical fashion of the show, we're never given a definite as to whether or not the two women ever get together. She survives but only because I said so, otherwise she's a minor character and therefore easy cannon-fodder (possibly literally) for an early series death.

Norrington ends up playing a major role in the early season, betrays the English at one point for Elizabeth's protection (he tells them that he's doing it to doublecross her, he tells her he's double crossing them, he doesn't know what he's doing). Will and Elizabeth were fighting Because Drama and This is Starz, so at some point she marries him, but it cements him onto their side (opposite of Eleanor and Woodes in the later seasons). He's good with strategy until it's personal (remember in his own canon he's the one who chased Jack around the world, got his crew killed), but a personal stake in things is what makes Elizabeth hone in on her best ideas, and they level each other out.

Season two finale he's killed by a random English spy on the island who was sent to be sure Norrington was doing what he said he would. With Eleanor's approval, Elizabeth tortures the spy for information, but after he gives up with little useless nonsense he knows, she still kills him, dumps the body, lies and says their information source escaped. When he washes in with the tide, Will claims it was his actions. He and Norrington were not close, but they were from the same town, and (he lies) he respected him. He knows Elizabeth did it, but also knows that he'll get much less flack for it, if any; and Elizabeth nods a thank you. It's the start of them communicating again.

Gibbs, as a storyteller, is given protection by the narrative, as it knows that it needs him alive to exist, and therefore he lives.

#potc #black sails

63 notes · View notes

blerdeblerdeblerr · 10 months

Text

Genuinly interested in everyone's thoughts on this:

I personally adore the ambiguous ending of Black Sails, particularly when it comes to Silver's actions in "unmaking Flint." Some days I like to think Silver is telling the truth, that Thomas Hamilton was at the plantation and they were reunited. Other days I feel like it's such an impossibility, that of course he had to kill Flint.

I love that there are so many seeds planted to 'defend' both interpretations. Even way back in S2 it's mentioned that Peter Ashe has connections in Savannah (where he intends to send Abigail). Ashe says he visited Thomas after he was committed, and Ashe is the one who told Flint and Miranda about his death via letter. It's not TOO much of stretch to think he might have secreted Thomas away to the plantation to ease his guilt. Thomas's death always felt a little ambiguous, happening off screen and only confirmed to us by Ashe, who we don't trust (similar perhaps to Silver telling Madi that Flint lives).

Most days, though, I think Thomas isn't there, and that Flint was killed, but those points above are things I think about when I want the Nicer Things interpretation.

HOWEVER, here is where I want your thoughts:

IF we believe that Thomas is indeed alive and at the plantation, IF Silver did find about it and knew about it for the length of time that he did - why do you think Silver waited until the last possible moment in the forest with Flint to play that card?

Wouldn't he have been more successful in derailing the war effort if he told Flint about Thomas sooner? If anything could stop Flint in his tracks I would think it'd be finding out that Thomas is alive. Does he think Flint simply wouldn't belive him and brush it off? Surely Flint would at least want to confirm it. It seemed Silver wanted to exhaust all possible options before admitting he knew about Thomas, to the point where he literally has a gun drawn on Flint! Only then does he play the Thomas card. If it had been his potential plan to send Flint to the plantation anyway, why keep the secret of Thomas for so long? I think if anything it would have aided his cause to stop the war, by distracting Flint.

The only thing I can think of is his thinking that Madi was killed and then trying to rescue her completely reset his plans and priorities? But even then, after her rescue, that Silver would get the point of drawing a gun on Flint to convince him to renounce his cause before telling him about Thomas seems... Something.

Why do you think Silver did not tell Flint about Thomas until the last possible moment in the forest?

#black sails #captain flint #james flint #john silver

33 notes · View notes

maremote · 1 year

Text

Black Sails Monologuolympics BR4.2: SILVER MONOLOGUES: SEMIFINALS🥈

1/2: 410 vs 409

Silver, to Madi, in 410: “I did not kill Captain Flint. I unmade him. The man you know could never let go of his war. For if he were to exclude it from himself, he would not be able to understand himself. So I had to return him to an earlier state of being. One in which he could function without the war. Without the violence. Without us. Captain Flint was born out of great tragedy. You know this. I told you this. I found a way to reach into the past… and undo it. There is a place near Savannah… where men unjustly imprisoned in England are sent in secret. An internment far more humane, but no less secure. Men who enter these gates never leave them. To the rest of the world, they simply cease to be. […] He resisted… at first. But then I told him what else I had heard about this place. I was told prominent families amongst London society made use of it. I was told the governor in Carolina made use of it. So I sent a man to find out if they'd used it to hide away one particular prisoner. He returned with news. Thomas Hamilton was there. He disbelieved me. He continued to resist. And corralling him took great effort. But the closer we got to Savannah, his resistance began to diminish. I couldn't say why. I wasn't expecting it. Perhaps he'd finally reached the limits of his physical ability to fight. Or perhaps as the promise of seeing Thomas got closer… he grew more comfortable letting go of this man he created in response to his loss. The man whose mind I had come to know so well… whose mind I'd in some ways incorporated into my own. It was a strange experience to see something from it… so unexpected. I choose to believe it… because it wasn't the man I had come to know at all… but one who existed beforehand… waking from a long… and terrible nightmare. Reorienting to the daylight… and the world as it existed before he first closed his eyes… letting the memory of the nightmare fade away. You may think what you want of me. I will draw comfort in the knowledge that you're alive to think it. But I'm not the villain you fear I am. I'm not him. […] The pirates will be leaving here. The chiefs. But I will stay. And I will wait. A day… a month… a year… forever… in the hopes that you will understand why I did what I did."

Silver, to Flint, in 409: "I have no story to tell. [...] Not unremarkable, just… without relevance. A long time ago, I absolved myself from the obligation of finding any. No need to account for all my life's events in the context of a story that somehow… defines me. Events, some of which, no one could divine any meaning from… other than that the world is a place of unending horrors. I've come to peace with the knowledge… that there is no storyteller imposing any coherence, nor sense, nor grace upon those events. Therefore, there's no duty on my part to search for it. You know of me all I can bear to be known. All that is relevant to be known. That is to say, you know my genuine friendship… and loyalty. Can that be enough and there still be trust between us?”

polls for this bracket tagged #bsm44

#bsm4 #bsm44 #bsm #og #black sails

57 notes · View notes

storkmuffin · 3 months

Note

Oh dear, I've finally caught up on your posts! I'm sure you're ready to jump off the John Silver dialog train, I promise I am not here to defend him. I'm sorry the end turned out to be such a difficult time for you, I worried how you'd take it knowing your strong feelings. I personally love an ambiguous ending that leaves room for interpretation, and I love messy characters, but it's not for everyone.

But there is something I'd really like to add that I think is important when considering character preferences - I think when most people say they like a character, this very rarely means they approve of or condone or support or even like that character as a person. Or that they think the character is GOOD. For me, it means I like the CHARACTER. I'm interested in / invested in / fascinated by them.

Ie, when I say "Snape is my favorite character in Harry Potter" I completely recognize what a horrible toxic person he is. I don't like him as a person. I don't excuse or condone any of his awful abusive behavior, I don't think he's a "hero" or that it was all for true love (a young love that turned into bitter obsession, maybe). He's as dark gray as they come. He isn't my favorite because I think he is redeemed (despite his sacrifice playing a pivotal role in defeating evil, I don't think he is redeemed), he is my favorite character because he makes me THINK and FEEL the most. About mistakes, about redemption, about abuse, about paths not taken, about atonement, about it being too late to change.

John Silver is not my favorite character (Flint stan for life) but I hope you can understand how, I think for a lot of us who like Silver as a character, it doesn't mean we agree with him, think he's a good person, or condone his behavior.

What he ultimately did was unforgivable to me, but his character has stuck with me very strongly since my first watch. Because like with Snape (and Eleanor too, actually) I THINK and FEEL the most about him, and that's the messy crunchiness I love in fictional characters - his self preservation, his relationship with Flint, with Madi, what it meant to both of them, him understanding the power of likability, why he did the things he did, his betrayal, what his past might have been to inform such decisions, Flint's curse upon him that follows him the rest of his life, the final story he tells to Madi, everything. The horror of his choices in not only ruining it all for Flint and Madi but ultimately for himself as well. The tragic inevitability of it all.

At the end of the day, a preference is a preference and stories speak to us all differently and that's one of my favorite things about Black Sails. Thank you for taking the time to share all your thoughts so honestly!

Ok first of all - Thank you for this ask. Does it come off at all how honored I feel that people are writing me these heartfelt explanations and essays about their feelings for the show? Me? The most ranty ravy anti-silver person here? I hope it does.

Second - and I go on and off worrying about this - I think you and the other long essay I got makes me think that I'm crossing a line I don't want to cross, in terms of making people who don't hate John Silver in an unalloyed way like I do feel attacked by me, for not sharing my feelings. That's not what I want but I often have that effect, because there's a bite to how I put things and I speak in conclusions. If the abrasive prickliness swiped you as you were going about your tumblr business, I do apologize. Genuinely.

It might surprise you but Snape is also my favorite Harry Potter character, for the exact reasons you say. I don't think he was redeemed either, and he fascinates me anyway, and I go between shaking my head at the abuse he meted out on the younger generation and feeling sad for him for his loneliness and eveyrthing in between. I like thinking about Snape. I understand people who like thinking about Silver in the same way. I just can't, is all. Very personally specific to me - who I am, my life experiences, right down to how I got introduced to the show.

Also - because this show is excellent, and presents all the people in the show in a fully realized fashion, none of them could actually pass muster if I apply the level of hate infused scrutiny I'm giving Silver. Any one of them could be pilloried at any time. Eleanor is HIGHLY problematic. So is Vane, actually. Miranda too, and Thomas, even! (No cow too sacred!) And Billy! And Flint! (I can go OFF about Flint's flaws and errors and may well do so soon!) But I mourn their mistakes and their flaws, and they help me look at myself and those around me with consideration, a useful fictional distance, to come to a better understanding of myself and others.

Silver was designed to specifically set ME off in particular, and I respect everyone else who doesn't feel so absolute about him. As I've been saying - but it's not coming through - I'm sad and annoyed that I'm so intensely allergic, because the people who can turn Silver over in their minds and play with him as a character in the fandom are bringing a lot of creativity and beauty and energy into it, all things I love about fandom, and I am missing out.

I'm still off loading all my thoughts on Silver, so I welcome any and all input people want to give me about him. Just today I was thinking... OK but WHY this much hatred? And it has to do with what happened with my former friend who got me into this show, which I think brings that added bite that people are feeling in my anti-silver posts. I will probably spend today working through that and making a post about it, because that's how I deal with deep hurts - by writing it out.

#it got really long sorry #tldr: there are very very personal specific reasons i react so badly to john silver which i am very aware of but it's not coming thru #black sails asks

6 notes · View notes

dididdou · 2 years

Text

Black sails is telling us that sometimes, love isn't enough. It's a story about loneliness too

Let’s start with the most obvious example : Silver. Silver loves Flint, and he loves Madi. ANd both of them love him. Yet he knows he is not enough for any of them. Neither Flint nor Madi would stop the war for him and they would not be satisfied with just him. He knows that. That’s why he forces their hands by ending the war, because even though he knows he’s not enough for them to be fully happy, he cannot stand the idea of them being destroyed by that war. And on Skeleton Island, when he tells Flint that he’ll wait a day, a month, a year until Flint accepts the outcome and they can leave together, it’s Flint’s last chance of telling him he is enough. But Flint can’t, because he cannot give up on the war. So Silver has to go with the other option, the one he did not want (and that is NOT killing Flint, because he could never even consider it, it’s sending Flint to Savannah and to Thomas, it’s losing him because he would rather lose him but know he’s safe than having the war take him and Madi from him).

And here, as Flint refuses to go with Silver, he tells him that one day Madi will not be enough for Silver either, that one day he will regret it.

And that is part of Silver’s tragedy. He was not enough for the people he loved, but in the end the people he loved weren’t enough for him either. There just was no winning.

Now, when Flint found Thomas again, of course he was happy and it was great. Yet I wonder if Thomas was ever enough for him in the end. Flint has gone through so much, the war and rage and anger is now part of him, it’s tough to know where flint ends and when james starts. And Thomas, for all his love and all that, never knew Flint. He only knew James. Even if he tells him, shares what happened, it will always be different. But Silver knew him whole. Loved him whole. And so, sometimes in the dead of the night, Flint misses him, misses the piracy years and what could have been. And on those days, his love for Thomas and Thomas’ love are not enough to keep him happy.

MOVING ON to how self love also isn’t enough. Cue Eleanor. Eleanor is a selfish character, she puts herself first and will do anything to protect herself. Her self love and will to survive is stronger than her love for anyone else. She rejects leaving with Max because she thought she would be more powerful and safer by staying in Nassau. Max’s love was not enough to overpower that. She betrays anyone she needs to. And when sent to England, she even betrays herself and becomes whoever she needs to be to survive. She follows Rogers. And turning on her beliefs and on who she used to be (besides being incredibly privileged) is wrong. It’s wrong and the show tells us that with the parallel made between the scene where she’s in the cell and agrees to work with Rogers, and the scene where Charles is in the cell and refuses to sign the plea. Eleanor was completely in the dark when she did a 180 on herself, while when Vane decides to die for what he believes in, there is a ray of light coming through the window and onto him.

But Eleanor doing what she thought she had to do to protect herself eventually gets her killed anyway. And not only that, it gets her killed the exact same way her mother died. Eleanor loved herself, prioritized her survival over anything else, and it still wasn’t enough. She lost herself, changed her clothes, married a man who never knew her (her ghost was knitting, like really??) and in the end it did not even save her.

MOVING ON AGAIN. To Miranda. Miranda loved Thomas, and she loved James, and James loved her. But in Nassau, she and James were not enough. She was unhappy there, she craved more, she needed more, she needed to fit, but James couldn’t see it. And James wasn’t happy either, obviously. Miranda’s story is tragic too, because she cared so much, she loved so much and no one gave her back. No one was there to listen to her ranting, to her feelings, to how not being able to fit was killing her. And the one time she finally spoke out, when she finally let her feelings out, she was brutally killed before she could even finish her fucking line. Miranda tried to shut her feelings down to prioritize others, to help Thomas, to help Flint, because she loved them, but it wasn’t enough to make her not feel empty; and how could it?

BILLY also loved his war, his beliefs and his story too much. He believed in the legend he was creating, he believed in the cause, it all started because he loved piracy and wanted to fight for it. But in the end he lost himself, lost parts of his sanity, lost everything.

Even blackbeard was defeated by his love. He loved Charles like a son, came back for him. Yet it wasn't enough for Charles to choose to stay with him. And after his death, Teach once again chose love and chose to fight in Charles' name but it wasn't enough to win.

So yeah, Black Sails is a show about love, but it’s also about how sometimes, love isn’t enough. Just because people love each other, or themselves, it doesn’t mean they’ll make it and get a happy ending. Love wasn’t enough to save Silver, or Flint, or Eleanor, or Miranda. They all ended up half empty, before they died.

#black sails #i love this narrative #How sometimes no matter how much you love #It just isn't enough #And you are lonely #But it doesn't mean that you are unloved #Or unimportant

14 notes · View notes

crepuscularqueens · 2 years

Text

all of the discourse surrounding flint’s end that’s resurfacing bc of the current gay pirate media popularity can be put to rest very simply with jack backing up silver’s story in a completely different place surrounded by different people.

it would have made his life easier to tell grandma guthrie they killed him but told everyone he retired to stamp out the war effort instead of creating a martyr if that’s what happened. but he told a different point of view of the same story silver did, and not to his own benefit, because that’s not what she wanted to hear.

jack is right, flint’s death could have and would have fueled the war, especially for madi who was already angry that silver betrayed her. yes he could have lied to madi, but there was an entire ship/crew that would have to agree to lie, and enough of those men had to believe enough in flint’s plan in the first place that coming back to the ship without flint would not have satisfied them. to be passage to flint’s forced retirement/imprisonment breaks the spirit of what they were fighting for much more effectively.

it is interesting in it’s own way to think the end is ambiguous about whether flint is still alive, but i genuinely don’t think the show is open to that interpretation at the end of the day.

#i have a whole essay in my drafts too about how silver couldn't bear to kill flint on a personal level but it's a lot rougher #and leans more to my own personal interpretation #though i do think it is important to realize just how entangled their minds became!#just the same as flint could not bear to let dooley kill silver or to kill him himself #silver could not have lived with killing flint. isn't that what it comes down to?#silver was wrong about guilt! sometimes it is too heavy and you can't live with it!#he is told this by max who is the queen of reading everyone and he hates being exposed like that even indirectly #(since she was talking about herself but they are the same in so many ways)#anyway sorry i could literally talk about this show all day and still have more to say tomorrow

2 notes · View notes

bring-it-all-down · 3 years

Text

I’d like to talk about something that I think is central to Black Sails but often gets glossed over in discussions of Silver: his relationship with the systemic violence of empire.

One thing the show does particularly well is demonstrating the ways in which the violence of empire manifests itself both within England and in England’s colonies. We see this with just about all of the main characters, and this encounter with violence informs their subsequent relationships with imperial England. While Silver’s disability would surely result in his marginalization, his encounter with marginalization differs to that of every other character.

James encounters this violence in England in the form of Alfred imprisoning Thomas and the combination of Alfred and Admiral Hennessy banishing him from the country, in light of which he chooses to become a pirate. Jack falls victim to capitalism when his family’s tailoring business is forced to close, plunging his father into alcoholism and death, and holding Jack, a child, responsible for his father’s debts. Jack then becomes a pirate as a means of escaping indentured servitude. Billy, too, becomes a pirate as a means of escaping indentured servitude (and the violence he commits as a result––killing his enslaver––that would have seen him punished had he returned to England). Likewise, Vane turns to piracy after escaping from his enslavers (though it’s unclear how Vane became enslaved to begin with). Finally, we learn that Anne becomes a pirate after Jack murdered her abusive husband to whom she was married at the age of 13. For all of these people, piracy offered freedom from violence and oppression meted out by England.

We rather deliberately never learn about SIlver’s backstory, and for purposes of this post, I’m going to avoid theorizing about it and stick to what the show tells us about him. We first meet him when he’s aboard a merchant ship that Flint’s crew attacks. Out of self-preservation to avoid being killed by the crew, he fashions a lie, killing the cook and assuming his place, in order to join the Walrus. Thus, the first act of violence he encounters and commits is a result of pirates, not England. He becomes disabled as a result of Vane’s crew, not England. His only encounter with somebody mocking his disability is when Dufresne calls him “half a man” and an “invalid” (3.07). Finally, he tells Madi that he must look strong, not for England, but because he cannot allow his fellow pirates to see him as weak. All of Silver’s encounters with violence and marginalization occur with his fellow pirates, not with any stand-in for English colonialism/empire.

At this point, I’d like to compare Silver to Miranda, as they were the two people depicted to know James the best (as Thomas never knew Captain Flint) and were the two to try and convince him to give up his fight against England. When we first meet Miranda, she is desperate to return to civilization, telling James, “there is no life here” in Nassau, but they could have “a life in Boston...There is joy there and music and peace” (1.07). Her conception of civilization differs from James’ because she was never its direct target. Though she was a woman and was aware of the danger James and Thomas were in, her class privilege insulated her from experiencing England’s violence.

This all changes for her when she and James finally make it to Charlestown and she learns of Peter Ashe’s betrayal. This realization finally spurs her to understand the systemic nature of England’s colonial violence and the reality that she and James could never re-assimilate. Her final conversation with Peter here is crucial to understanding her newfound conception of colonialism:

Miranda: All these years it never sat right with me how Alfred was able to turn the navy against James. He was far too admired by his superiors for his career to be dashed solely on hearsay. Alfred would have known that. He wouldn't have gone to them armed only with unfounded suspicions. He would have needed a witness, someone who knew Thomas and James well enough to give the accusation credibility. Alfred came to you, didn't he? Asked you to betray Thomas in exchange for which he'd see you made a king in the New World.

Peter: Perhaps this is an opportunity for us all to find a little forgiveness.

Miranda: Forgiveness? What forgiveness are you entitled to while you stand back in the shadows pushing James out in front of the world to be laid bear for the sake of the truth? Tell me, sir, when does the truth about your sins come to light?

Peter: You know nothing of my sins. Were you there when Alfred Hamilton threatened my family's standing, my daughter's future if I failed to cooperate? Were you there when I visited Thomas at the hospital to confess my sins and heard him offer his full and true forgiveness? He knew I had no choice in the matter.

Miranda: No choice?

Peter: A hard choice. Made under great duress, but with the intent to achieve the least awful outcome. You wish to return to civilization. That is what civilization is. I am so very sorry for what you have suffered and for any part I may have played in it. Please believe that. But at this point, the most important thing is what comes next, what we make of this.

Miranda: You destroyed our lives!

Peter: Miranda.

Miranda: You caused our exile!

Peter: I am sorry for what I did.

Miranda: Thomas died in a cold, dark place...

Peter: I am trying to help you. What more do you want from me?

Miranda: What do I want? I want to see this whole goddamn city, this city that you purchased with our misery, burn. I want to see you hanged on the very gallows you've used to hang men for crimes far slighter than this. I want to see that noose around your neck and I want to pull the fucking lever with my own two hands! (2.09)

Through this conversation, Miranda receives confirmation of Peter’s betrayal, and more importantly, that this betrayal is central to the existence of civilization. It’s how people like Alfred Hamilton retain power in England and how people like Peter Ashe obtain power over England’s colonies. In other words, the entire colonial project is one of betrayal, of exchanging lives for power, of the oppressor doing anything and everything to retain that power. When Miranda finally realizes how deeply personal and all-encompassing colonial violence is and reacts with righteous anger, she is murdered. Even voicing the desire to execute some aspect of justice is enough for the empire to silence her forever.

Silver, on the other hand, has no such encounter. All he knows of England’s systemic cruelty is what James and Madi describe to him second-hand. Thus, the war for liberation from empire is never his war, only Flint’s war and Madi’s war that Flint draws her into. In his final conversation with James, he tells him, “this isn’t about England,” calling the war “a fucking nightmare”, “your nightmare” (4.10). The “darkness” which he continuously ascribes to James is one born of a desire to do violence for the sake of violence. Because he has no personal experience with systemic violence, he doesn’t conceive of the war as a means to an end, but rather an end in itself; for Silver, the violence––specifically the violence of Flint, of pirates, of himself––is the point.

The show’s thesis that the fight for liberation is a deeply personal fight is one that Silver dodges. Unlike James, Vane, Jack, Billy, Anne, Max, and Madi, violence enters Silver’s life as a result of piracy, specifically as a result of meeting Flint, and thus he believes that separating himself from Flint will end that violence. At the end of it all, every other character understands that the “freedom” they won is temporary and can be potentially revoked at any time, but Silver understands it to be more permanent. He tells Madi that in ending the war, he returned James “to the world as it existed before he first closed his eyes”, ensuring her that he is “not the villain you fear I am. I’m not him” and that he will wait “forever” for her to come to this realization (4.10). His experiences with violence prevent him from understanding something that every other main character understands: that Flint was a reaction to violence and not the sole cause of it.

#black sails #john silver #james flint #I will never not be mad at Silver for thinking Madi would forgive him for robbing her of her agency #Anyway #Read some theory. Understand revolution as both a personal and a systemic movement.

112 notes · View notes

medusinestories · 3 years

Text

And the rewatch continues...

Black Sails, II (S1ep02)

- Back to Breaking Billy. Damn, he looks so shell-shocked by what he did. He... LIED to the crew. I think a lot of viewers don’t see how this is a big deal in a world of thieving lying bastards which make up about 95% of the cast, but it’s a huge deal to Billy. Later in the ep, Gates tries to brush it off, telling Billy that it’s for the good of the crew (and, well, he may be right - the crew is already trying to spend gold they don’t have yet). I also love that Gates opens with “I’ve always been straight with you”... Why yes you have, except when you didn’t tell him about Flint’s plans. And Billy knows this, deep down he must know that he comes second to Flint in Gates’ list of priorities.

- Randall and his “we don’t like thieves, this is what happens to thieves” (at this point crew members are pissing on Singleton’s corpse)... the way he looks at Silver, nearly like he knows. Also a foreshadowing of the “he’s a thief!” dialogue. Also, why on earth didn’t Gates search Silver? He’s the only man on Parrish’s crew that didn’t get searched. Either Silver was extremely lucky, or something happened between them to distract Gates (is this a request for silvergates fanfic? yes).

- Silver taking one look at Flint's face and belly-flopping into the sea... CLASSIC. Billy running after him, he seems to be able to handle. Flint looking right at him... PANIC!

- Anyhow there’s a lot of things in this episode that reveal bits of Silver’s identity. He thinks incredibly fast, hard to tell if he’s thinking on his feet or applying techniques he’s already used (I suspect the latter), but he manages to vanish on the beach, from the brothel (after nearly losing an eye) and in the wrecks. But then he goes and does something halfway decent when he sees Max being throttled by Vane and asks Idelle for a weapon. I wasn’t sure if it was for self-protection or what, but since Max is gesturing at him not to do anything, he actually seems fully prepared to go in and save her as had been previously discussed.

- We see a lot of Vane in this episode, and a lot of different facets. He’s surprisingly cautious when Rackham puts the “we get info on the Urca” plan to him, and his attempts to argue calmly with Eleanor show quite a lot of (awkward) restraint. And then there’s the brutality against Max, which also seems to come from a place of paranoia (and probably jealousy?). But above all, it’s interesting that while Vane’s name strikes fear in the heart of people, like Flint, also like Flint, he doesn’t truly have control over his men and their brutish behaviour. Also, very much like Flint, he wants things done his way, as demonstrated by him killing off the messenger Silver sends to fetch the pearls. I also found it nice (for Vane) that when Rackham falls into the sea, Vane actually stops to check that Rackham is okay before going after Silver again.

- Max. I have to admit, she’s one of the characters that still leaves me the most mystified on a rewatch. She gestures to Silver not to intervene when Vane is throttling her, even though she has no leverage and no idea whether he’ll actually leave her alive or not... why? Max Accepting To Endure Pain will come up again in the next few eps (ugh :-/ ) and I still have trouble understanding what motivates her. Is it pride? A fierce will to be free/independent? I get that she doesn’t trust Eleanor and refuses to be protected by the same person who basically stabbed her in the back. But she goes several steps further into pure recklessness and I don’t really get it. Your insights/comments on this are welcome!

- That said, her begging Eleanor to run away with her and give up Nassau, “we can be free together”, well that’s pretty much what John “all I want is to be free” Silver would like from Madi by the end of S4, isn’t it?

- I kind of wonder whether Silver wasn’t hoping to be captured by Flint. I mean, he was probably hoping to manage to escape, but getting caught by Flint was apparently what he considered his second best option, since he calls Vane “the madman”. It’s pretty interesting how he’s already decided that Flint and his crew are better than Vane. I can only imagine that the difference is that while he’s seen Flint commit a really disgusting murder on another pirate, Silver thinks it’s not as bad as Vane who killed a beggar and threatened to kill Max. (that or he’s already fascinated by Flint, of course)

- I just love the little bits of vulnerability you see in Flint in this episode. His talk with Eleanor, where he’s slouching and exhausting, and instead of explaining why he wants Nassau specifically, tells the story about Odysseus and the oar. And then at the end we see him watching his men having fun in the camp before he leaves to see Miranda. The moment he’s back in this familiar environment and she tells him to get his boots off and she’ll boil some water and he just... crumples. A+ acting and just brilliant.

- So we hear that Richard has been bribing the Lord Proprietor for years. We know that Lord Alfred was the proprietor. Now I kind of wonder whether the killing of Alfred Hamilton is recent, and whether this is why the navy's coming in now that he’s gone.

#black sails #flint #vane #eleanor #max #randall #maxanor #silver #silverflint #gates #billy #billy & gates #black sails rewatch

33 notes · View notes

kcrabb88 · 3 years

Text

A not on Tumblr friend gave me a prompt from the list, so I’m going to post it here! Flint & Madi + shackles (Black Sails)

“Part of me wishes I could have killed him.”

Madi’s voice draws Flint out of his reverie in this rare moment alone he’s managed to snatch among the chaos, the sun giving its last, dying breath just outside the window of the ship’s cabin. They depart tomorrow for the Maroon island, leaving the eerie, haunted Skeleton Island behind.

His coat swings as he turns, unable to keep from smirking. “Rogers?”

“Mmm.” Madi grins, rubbing at her wrist where the shackles must have been. “Not exactly my area of expertise, but still.”

“Jack’s plan will be worse for Woodes Rogers than death could ever be,” Flint replies, giving credit to Rackham where credit is due, though he cannot chase away the idea that the Ranger’s captain is up to something—he just can’t name it. But then, Jack Rackham is always up to something. “For a man like him, shame is the ultimate punishment. And far more eternal.”

Madi’s grin turns into a softer smile, and Flint steps close, pulled to her in a way that’s something like a daughter, though he’s certain he could never say so out loud. He’s not sure she’d accept such a thing openly, strong-willed and independent as she is, but it hangs unspoken between them.

“May I?” he asks, gesturing toward her wrist.

She holds it out and Flint takes it in hand—there’s a cut where the metal bit into her skin.

“Stay there,” he says, putting aside the absolute rage burning like wildfire in his chest at the sight of the wound. Madi is no child, and this is her war as much as his, but he hates that Rogers harmed her. That he was allowed to. It occurs to him that he doesn’t know where Silver is, and given their recent encounters he should probably be concerned over it, but no. No. Madi is safe now, therefore removing their main point of contention.

Though, given they are about to embark upon something more dangerous than ever before, he’s not sure that the point of contention won’t arise again, in some new form.

No. He will trust Silver. He does trust Silver.

He digs around in a drawer, finding a spare roll of bandages inside.

“Hold up your wrist. You’re bleeding a little.”

Madi does as asked, crimson staining the bandage as Flint wraps it around before tying it off.

“I thought about what you said,” Madi half whispers, as if this is a secret between them, perhaps even a secret from Silver, whose presence rests thick in the room despite his absence. “When Rogers was interrogating me.”

Flint quirks an eyebrow. “I’ve said a lot of things.”

“The Empire survives in part because we believe its survival to be inevitable. It isn’t. And they know that. That’s why they’re so terrified of you and I.” Madi lowers her voice further, treating the words like the holy things they are. Pure truth. Dangerous truth that might topple the world as they know it. “I kept thinking of it, while I was stuck there. While Rogers kept trying to get me to choose John’s life over the war, even if he did not yet have the leverage in his hands to make the threat.”

Something rumbles deep in the pit of Flint’s stomach, something as dangerous as the truth Madi just spoke, but to them, rather than an empire. They have just won a victory, but this is a fragile thing they’re holding in their hands. No rebellion, no revolution is ever otherwise, each one a spark, a flame that might flicker out in a rainstorm.

“What did you tell him?”

She looks him in the eye, and there’s a gleam there, a strength, an assurance that she is like him and better than him, all at once.

“I told him that I have generations of people kept in chains that I must answer to, before I answer to any one man. Before I save John’s life, or yours, or even my own. I told him that must, and will always, come first. That those are the voices I must listen to, before I listen to anyone else.”

Flint doesn’t answer, but takes her other wrist instead, the one where the shackles merely left behind a bruise. The feeling of Madi’s pulse, the war that beats against her veins, comforts him. There is no one but her who wants this as badly, as deeply, as he does, and she may even want it more.

Perhaps together, they can do the impossible.

#This was a really fun one to write!!!!!#I love them both so much #Black Sails #My fic #Pirates tag

18 notes · View notes

maremote · 1 year

Text

Black Sails Monologuolympics BR4.2: SILVER'S MONOLOGUES: QUARTERFINALS 🥈

1/4: 410 vs 310

Silver, to Flint, in 310: "When we were becalmed, I told Billy believed your darkest thoughts somehow had the ability to manifest themselves upon our reality. That your anger Over the murder of Mrs. Barlow became the storm into which we all battled. That your despair over her death became the doldrums into which we all sank. In my defense, hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a while. But the truth of it, I'm not sure it was that far off. Your demons are a part of our reality. Such is the nature of the influence you wield. Some of those demands I've come to know... but the one in whose name this war is to be fought... it is still a stranger to me. Before this war actually begins, I'mn asking where it actually began. Will you tell me?"

polls tagged #bsm43

#bsm #bsm4 #bsm43 #og #black sails

9 notes · View notes

be-not-afeared · 3 years

Text

Black Sails fic recs

Working titles: 12 fics for christmas? 12 days of ficmas? 12 fics none of which actually have anything to do with christmas?

OKAY, so I love nothing more than a fic rec post, and I’ve seen a few Black Sails rec posts floating around but they mostly seem to be a couple of years old and they all recommend a similar bunch of fics (and deservedly so! they are all amazing!). But I thought I would make one to highlight some newer or less shouted-about fics, because I may have only been here for a couple of months but jfc there is so much talent in this fandom and more of it deserves to be hyped.

So, here are 12 of my favourite fics for the 12 days of christmas! (i.e. an excuse to put an arbitrary number cap on the list or we’d be here all day)

The majority of these are Silver/Flint and the ones that aren’t still all feature Silver prominently because that boy owns my soul, sorry for who I am as a person.

we should rip it straight out by minormendings

45K (Silver/Madi, Silver/Flint, Flint/Thomas)

Madi has always wondered if Silver understands what is between him and Flint as well as she. To her, it has always been obvious, from the way the two of them had fit together, had worried about each other, had acted as one. She had tried to bring it up with Silver back when they were together. But Silver had shaken her off, too enmired in the idea that he or Flint would prove each other’s downfall. Or perhaps just unwilling to open his eyes to the fact that he had loved Flint.

It was, unfortunately for the both of them, even more obvious after the thing between them had broken. Just as Silver had thrown away the war out of love for her, Flint had let Silver take away the war rather than kill him.

God. What a group the three of them were, showing love by betrayal.

Post-canon. Madi and Flint find their way back to Silver.

This fic diverges from canon right at the end of the 4x10; Silver has Flint held in a cell in Port Royal and Thomas delivered to him rather than taking him straight to the plantation. It is a BEAUTIFUL character study of how Flint and Madi could both come to forgive Silver, and has a great FlintMadi dynamic too. It also centres Madi’s struggle between wanting to provide for her people and wanting to experience the freedom of piracy, and fleshes out Julius’ character in a way the show never did.

we can lose and call it living by I_wouldnt_be_one_of_them

31K (Silver/Flint/Thomas, Silver/Flint, Flint/Thomas)

It's been twelve years since everything fell apart, and John Silver is settled in New England. He has a nice house and a job he likes, and he's gotten used to the loneliness. It's a good life, he thinks, but of course that's cast into doubt when James Flint and Thomas Hamilton show up to find closure and, apparently, to see whether he's happy.

This is an inverse of the ‘silver arrives on flint and thomas’ doorstep’ trope and has Flint and Thomas instead being the ones to interrupt Silver, who is living a sad and lonely existence post-series. I love the ThomasSilver dynamic here. And this Silver feels so true to canon he makes me want to WEEP.

Tell me we're dead and I'll love you even more by Craftnarok

21K (Silver/Flint)

In the year 1725, or thereabouts, John Silver finds himself driven by a storm into an inconsequential little port town, barely a speck on any civilised map. Returned to the life of a drifter, tired and rough around the edges, he is resigned to waiting for the weather to pass before he can sail on again to the next town, and the next, and the next. That is until he overhears a conversation in the inn about a local fisherman, one Captain Barlow, and his tall tales of tempests and becalmings, devils and sharks, and Silver finds a new future opening up to him, haunted by the spectres of his past.

All of Craftnarok’s fics are amazing but I am particularly drawn to this one; it’s set 10 years post-series and is a delightfully angsty exploration of how Flint and Silver could find their way back to each other in a scenario in which Thomas wasn’t at the plantation. It doesn’t let Silver off easy and I love that.

armed with the past and the will by whimsicalimages

3K (Silver/Madi, Madi & Julius)

The language of winning and losing, this language that men favor – Madi can speak this language, though she disagrees with its precepts. Success takes different forms, and failing once does not mean failing forever. It does not even mean failing the next time.

Post-series, Julius teaches Madi how to fight. This fic is BEAUTIFUL - give me anything that centres Madi post-canon - and it explores Madi’s relationship with both Julius and Silver so well in so few words.

Always In Season by mycapeisplaid

60K (Silver/Flint, past Flint/Thomas, past Silver/Madi)

Towering sand dunes, crystal-clear water, miles of forest, vineyards, orchards, and very spotty cellular service -- John Silver finds himself in a part of the state he's never been before and decides to take on seasonal work. Meanwhile, back from his yearly wintering in Florida, James Flint thinks that perhaps he'll take on a new business venture, even though it means he might have to interact with people other than his two close friends. Their summer employment fosters a friendship that could become something more. Like construction season in Michigan, the two must navigate through their own obstacles in order to seek an alternative route toward happiness.

This is an AU and so much fun!! Silver finds himself in Michigan and takes on some seasonal work at Guthrie Dunes. The whole cast features and the setting just WORKS SO WELL. And this Flint feels brilliantly in character despite the difference in setting.

to make a life by gone_girl

53K (Max/Anne, Max & Silver)

“What am I going to do with your name?” Max asks, a little incredulous.

“Whatever you want,” the salesman says. “Didn’t you want something real?”

Max heard a story once about the importance of answering questions like that carefully. If something emerges from the forest and asks for your name, don’t give it up, the story went. Offer only what you know you can live without. She’s never heard a story that tells her what to do when something emerges from the forest and offers its name to you.

I literally only finished this this morning but holy shit this fic is amazing, it’s a Max-centric AU set in Missouri the early 00s and it’s all about found family and building community and platonic love and it has a brilliant SilverMadi dynamic. And there just aren’t enough fics out there that focus on Max & Silver!!

the straight walk home by vowelinthug

73K (Silver/Flint)

Let me tell you a story, about a vaquero named Vasquez…

Obviously vowelinthug’s fics are recc’d all the time and rightly so as they are AMAZING, but one that I don’t see featured as often as the more prominent ones is this incredible Western!AU. It’s 73K guys!! It adapts the canon narrative into the Western setting SO well!! It has background Vane/Billy which I was not at all sure about going in but just WORKS!! Go read it.

The Truth about Eros by Aisalynn

21K (Silver/Flint, Silver/Madi, Flint/Thomas)

Silver understood one thing very well.

Being Fated did not mean you were safe.

It did not mean you were loved.

This one is hot off the press! I am not normally a fan of soulmate AUs but this is such an interesting take on the trope, and the world building fits around the polyamory theme of the show really effectively! And it is SO well written.

With Nothing on My Tongue by RosieTwiggs

13K (Silver/Flint, Silver/Madi)

"Silver thinks: Maybe God likes it when I fight with him.

He wonders now, whether he’s been playing into God’s plan all along. Because no matter how angry he gets, how defensive, how many “fuck you”s he flings to the heaven, isn’t it all just proof that he still believes God is there, despite it all?

Silver doesn’t know how to counter that.

Maybe he doesn’t want to anymore."

An incredibly well written (and angsty! read the tags!) Jewish!Silver character study. This one has really stayed with me.

Maybe in Another Life by samedifference61

31K (Silver/Flint/Madi, Flint/Madi, Silver/Flint, Silver/Madi)

At the rail of a ship James doesn’t command, they stand shoulder to shoulder.

“John still thinks you’re dead,” James states, because it’s something that needs to be said aloud before they continue.

With eyes unblinking toward the rolling sea, Madi says, “And he still thinks you should be dead.”

James’ lip curls in anger. The wounds of betrayal are too fresh for either to say anymore.

Canon-divergent from 4x09, this is a brilliant MadiFlint centric fic exploring their relationship post Silver’s betrayal, and how he could find his way back to them both whilst acknowledging the weight of his actions.

in a vault of starlight by whimsicalimages

7K (Silver/Madi/Flint/Thomas)

The distance between Nassau and Savannah can be measured as: six hundred and thirteen nautical miles, five thousand pounds’ worth of pearls, or four extraordinary lifetimes.

Alternatively: in the aftermath, Madi writes her own story.

There aren’t enough Madi centric fics out there! This one is a lovely extension of canon with a great MadiSilver dynamic in particular.

the aftershocks remain by pdameron

31K (Silver & Miranda, Silver/Flint)

For as long as he can remember, John Silver has been able to see ghosts. He has no trouble keeping this secret from Flint - until Charlestown. Until Miranda.

Again all of pdameron’s fics are brilliant but I loooove this SilverMiranda centric one, plus who doesn’t love a ghost!au.

#Black Sails #black sails fanfic #black sails fic recs #silverflint #silvermadi #john silver #james flint #12 days of ficmas #obviously this only scratches the surface of the many amazing fics in this fandom #i might do another one of these after christmas i just love making lists #enjoy!

90 notes · View notes

im-the-punk-who · 4 years

Note

I was thinking about when Miranda said how great men are made great by the relentless pursuit of a better world and the ending of black sails, how James actually stops the war to be with Thomas (it depends on how you see the after canon but still) and I wanted to know your thoughts about this (if u have any). Sorry for the bad english

Oof okay...so. Uh. This is actually something I feel really strongly about! Please don’t take any of this as like, a negative/takedown thing, but I disagree with the basic premise you’re working from. Nothing personal! Just, that’s not how I see the finale.

So the basic premise of “Flint chose-” in regards to the finale is not true to me.

Flint didn’t ‘choose’ anything. His ‘choices’ were death, or giving in. At the point which Silver leads him into the forest, the war is already over. Without Silver, and especially with his active opposition, the war has no chance. We see that Silver is able to convince the maroons and the pirates(presumably over Madi’s objections) that the war is not worth fighting. We also know that Silver holds a lot more sway with the men at this point than Flint. And, Silver has a gun pointed at him and very clearly says “If you don’t accept this outcome I’m going to shoot you. I will stand here for however long it takes you, but your options are giving in to this, or a bullet between the eyes.” Because Silver knows that what Miranda said is absolutely true. Flint is not ever going to give up the fight. He has internalized this relentless pursuit of a better world as a way to memorialize Thomas, yes, but he also truly believes in it. It’s why I assume Silver didn’t just have Thomas brought to Nassau. If he truly thought that all it would take to calm Flint’s ire was to have his love back, why not just set Thomas up somewhere with a house and a cow and give Flint a map and say ‘go find your husband’ ?

It’s because he knew that wouldn’t work. He knew that Flint, for all that he would dither about it, would not choose Thomas over the war; just as he expected Silver to choose the war over Madi. This becomes doubly true if it wasn’t an active choice of ‘the war or Thomas’ death.’

People give a lot of credence to when Flint says ‘I don’t know that I wouldn’t have done what you did’ as a support for him actively giving up the war, but that’s not comparable to his choice in the finale, because Thomas is not in active danger from him continuing the war. Madi’s survival depended on the surrender of the chest in Silver’s mind - and Flint still expected him to choose the war.

And remember he already knows Thomas is alive.

If at that point, again, Silver truly thought that Thomas would be enough to stop Flint, why not tell Flint Thomas was alive, watch him leave, and then surrender the chest to secure Madi’s freedom?

Because he knows that’s not a choice Flint would make:

I think if he knew how close we were to winning this war he gave his life for, he wouldn’t want me to.

(And oh, what a nice parallel we have there for Madi and Thomas!)

What Flint might do, though, is choose Thomas over death.

Silver doesn’t want to kill Flint. We can argue from dusk until dawn over the reasons, but that much is undeniably true. Some would say it’s because he loves him, I argue it’s because he doesn’t, as Max says when she tells him about the plantation “want to live with it.”

Silver has always insisted that guilt goes away, that one’s past has no prescience, but he knows that is not true, and he also knows that if he kills Flint, Madi will absolutely never speak to him again. (I hope she never does anyway but it’s a surety if he kills her partner.)

So anyway, Flint knows this when Silver points the gun at him.

“So, what decisions have you made, about what our tomorrows will be?”

He knows he’s been outmatched. He knows that Silver has outgunned him. He knows that the war he and Madi have given so much for is dead because of Silver’s lack of faith and ability to see something through to the end. There is no fight, after this.

And it is into this context that Silver has given him the choice - one in which Silver expects him to choose death unless he presents James with an alternative.

Silver knows about Thomas. He knows about Miranda, about how suicidal Flint has been the entire time Silver has known him. He knows that death does not scare Flint. You point a gun at the man and he just shrug emojis like ‘well if there’s nothing I can do you might as well, both the people I love are dead.’

And that’s why he tells Flint about Thomas. Thomas is his ace in being able to convince Flint he maybe doesn’t want to die. To convince him there is a second option.

But again, the war is already over. Flint was not given the choice of

Continue the war

Get Thomas back

The choice was

Go to the plantation and be imprisoned there with Thomas

Die

(This is also why I have a huge problem with Silver’s story to Madi, because he is seeing this as a choice - just as he sees his staying on the island as a choice for Madi. He ignores the fact that a) ‘reorienting’ to the daylight is literally him forcing Flint to reassimilate into British society and b) there IS no returning to who Flint was before ‘the nightmare started’. For him, he might think that’s possible. Hell! HE might even wish it. I think he truly does. But for Flint? Who defines himself by his history? This is not a victory, or a happy ending, or a gentle waking. And for Silver(and fandom) to assume it is, erases everything we know about James Flint and again takes any sort of responsibility to atone off of Silver. Which, I suppose, is the point, as in order to paint him as the kind of villain we know in treasure island, you have to.)

#black sails #OOF TALK ABOUT FEELINGS IN THIS CHILIS lmao #anon absolutely no offense but like the reading of james actively giving up the war is just...something #i feel super strongly about bc it ignores silver's part in the destruction of every part of the war #the end of the war was silver's choice #and silver alone #and he manuevered the other parties to a point they didnt have any other options #because that was the only way he knew they would give up #anywho #james mcgraw #captain flint #john silver #js critical #just to be safe #Anonymous #long post #lmao sorry i legit thought this was shorter than it was #black sails spoilers

134 notes · View notes