#my point is: though Billy has always been Dead to a certain extent (kinda comes with the territory of being who he is)

[starbuck]

knowledge is being aware that Billy doesn’t actually die in 1x06, but wisdom is recognizing that he’s never truly alive again from that point on.

#black sails #like. they do a funeral for him and everything. you can’t just undo that #and of course the real problem is Gates #bc you have Gates presuming Billy to be dead vs. Billy returning and initially presuming Gates to be alive (because why wouldn’t he be?) #but of course he Isn’t #so you have Gates as a ‘dead’ person who should be alive and Billy as a ‘living’ person who should be dead #and he has to go through Silver in order to re-enter the living world #which he only manages because of the Walrus crew’s love for him overpowering Silver’s threats #his 'life' at that point is symbolically 100% hinged on their love #which begs the question: what happens when they don’t love him anymore? #i define 4x06-on as the point at which Billy has become self-aware that he is dead #because that’s the difference between 2x05 and 4x06 #in 2x05 he Wanted to live #in 4x06… it’s not a smart thing to set a person who’s accepted their death loose in the living world again… #(full meta on this coming up soon… one of my favorite topics bc I’m just so obsessed with how the show does this) #but YEAH. #my point is: though Billy has always been Dead to a certain extent (kinda comes with the territory of being who he is) #he’s Really Dead from his s2 return-on - it just takes him until s4 to figure this out #at which point he says ‘fuck it’ and goes full-on Vengeful Ghost #channeling Gates through the use of Avery’s journals because of course this all connects back to the Original Issue #‘it’s no accident that Billy chose [Skeleton Island]’ is such a good line bc yeah it’s for all the reasons Flint says (that it’s spooky #and will put everyone on edge) #but Also he chose it because Gates told him about it and utilizing the stories Gates told him… ‘bringing them to life’ you could say… #is his way of keeping Gates’ memory alive #and of course the Black Spots fall under the same category #so you have the irony of Billy’s desperate attempts to keep Gates alive being what ultimately kills him #finally bringing the symbolic truth to literal fruition in the most tragic and narratively-satisfying way imaginable #(not even to mention 'Mr. Gates' heart has given out.' because like. You Know...)