#also the way that he looks at madi when she is looking at flint after they're all safe

[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

[blatterpussbunnyfromhell]

Did Silver kill Flint?

I keep seeing cold ass takes in the Black Sails side of tumblr that make my blood boil.

Look, I got into Black Sails in 2017, three weeks after the finale aired. Back then, there seemed to be an understanding that the "Silver killed Flint" interpretation was just a fringe theory from straight people made uncomfortable by the queer lead getting a happy ending. Personally, it was my first encounter with the phrase "unbury your gays" (having learnt "bury your gays" a year earlier with The 100). It seemed to be generally accepted that Flint lived, and that this was the whole point.

Now, it would appear that a shift has happened in the fandom, where the idea of Silver killing Flint is no longer treated as a theory by straight weirdos but as a canon, onscreen event, and these posts come from queer fans. It seems to come from younger fans who were about 12 or 13 in 2017. It's so mindboggling to me.

The arguments for this Silver-Killed-Flint thing is usually the same two: birds flying away and Silver's men turning around in the forest, as in reaction to a noise, which is interpreted as a gunshot.

Like, I'm just elaborating on a rant I sent to my friends earlier today here but, if Silver killed Flint, then :

Why would we be shown an entire sequence with one of Silver's henchmen looking for Thomas where he is?

If Thomas and Flint are dead, why aren't we shown their deaths? It's an actual rule in cinema that a character whose death isn't shown on screen isn't dead, a rule that the show does follow (we see Billy's funeral but not his corpse). Besides, Black Sails doesn't shy away from showing death on screen, even for main characters. Then, why not show how Thomas died instead of telling us? Why not show us Silver shooting Flint? The writers trust their viewers to understand the pattern, and understand that the reason we do not see their deaths is because they aren't dead.

Why would Silver bring up Thomas to Flint if he'd planned on killing him? Or if, as I've also seen it said, it was just a lie he made on the spot for Madi ?

And talking about Madi, I've seen A LOT of people saying she would never forgive Silver. And to that I genuinely have to ask, have you seen their last appearence in the show? I dont mean their argument in the cabin, I mean the scene where Silver sits on top of a hill and turns around to find Madi waiting for him on the path. I mean the scene where he walks towards her and she waits for him. So, my question here, if she wasn't gonna forgive Silver, why is she waiting for him on that hill? Nevermind the fact that Treasure Island's Long John Silver is in a relationship with a Black woman (I've seen posts saying that could be Max, and really wtf??), what is the point of showing us this scene if she's not gonna forgive him? Why not stop their arc at the cabin where she sends him away?

At the time when Black Sails' finale aired, Supernatural was still queerbaiting its audience, and Sherlock ended in a fucking shitshow. People were throwing fits over Bill Potts, Doctor Who's first ever onscreen lesbian companion because she was a lesbian with a masculine name. A year before that, The 100, a very popular tv show at the time, had just killed it's only lesbian character and faced so much uproar and backlash for it. (That was my entry into the LGBT+ community, by the way : the first character to make me think I might actually like women getting killed on screen two scenes after having had sex with the female lead). Sense8's two-hour long finale and Love, Simon wouldn't air for another year.

So yeah, if you weren't into queer media back in 2017 (and omg I sound like such an old twat), I don't think you can understand just how important that ending, with Flint being reunited with the love of his life after so much pain and loss, was.

If your interpretation of Black Sails is that the events of Treasure Island happened the way the book tells you, then I'm sorry to tell you this but you completely missed the point of the show.

[jaynovz]

Silverflint Bathing Fic Rec List

So I realized I had most of this rec list already compiled because I really like reading about the Pirate Lads getting squeaky clean. So here ya go!

--

All Our Yesterdays by trill_gutterbug:

Summary: “It might do you good to stop wallowing in your own filth,” Flint replies. “Although just as likely you’d dissolve completely.”

Silver shakes his head. “If you haven’t, I certainly won’t.”

Flint opens his hand invitingly. “Come find out.”

Silver regards him thoughtfully for a long moment. “We won’t fit.”

Flint adjusts himself, sitting up straighter. He lifts one dripping leg onto the edge of the rim, opening a vee of space in the water. “There’s room.”

Bathed by twofronteethstillcrooked:

Summary: An itch had caused him to reach back to scratch. His fingers came away red as the pain shot like cannon fire across his shoulder.

Silver went pale as he rushed nearer. “You told me you weren’t injured.”

Flint shrugged. “I didn’t think I was.”

Silver seemed to be clenching his teeth hard enough to crack rock. His nostrils flared. “We should see to it before you head much further inland.” He sounded like someone Flint did not want to test on the matter.

what the water gave me by youatemytailor:

Summary: "Captain," Silver says, firmly, like this is the most important discussion they have ever had, "Come here now and let me smell your goddamned hair."

Aftermath by Thiebes:

Summary: It had only been days without Silver in front of him, but Flint couldn't take his eyes away.

Flint gives Silver a bath after being captured by Israel Hands.

I wish for once we could stay gold by jaynovz:

Summary: Madi has discovered that pirates truly are a grimy bunch, but her two have managed to keep fairly clean the last few months when they had access to fresh water.

The governor’s mansion is filled with bustle, men scurrying about, seeking answers from both Captain Flint and their new King, but there is time enough to steal them away. Time enough this evening for some respite, to cleanse the grief and violence from the last few days alongside the dirt.

the only way out is the way back in by samedifference61:

Summary: And Silver obviously means to further agitate Flint’s state when he says, “Do you know what she said to me this morning? She said, ‘I cannot understand why the two of you have not been intimate yet.’”

a shared bath, a conversation about death, and a promise

A State of Undress by mycapeisplaid:

Summary: It's not everyday you get to undress your Captain.

Note: Specifically chapter four for the bathing, but the whole series is great :))

from whence we came and to where we shall go by princesskay:

Summary: Only a starving man could be this hungry -- this recklessly wanton.

Our Longed-For Bed by mapped:

Summary: Flint wishes for something he may call home again. Perhaps Silver is that something.

Surety by Magnetism_bind:

Summary: After Silver's finally returned from the sea Flint has to deal with his feelings.

Here there is liberation by frau_kali:

Summary: The water was cool against his skin, making him shiver, probably visibly. He touched the sponge against the area around his stump, doing his best not to wince. The water always helped, always lessened the pain.

“I'd be careful not to waste a single drop of that, if I were you,” Flint spoke up from his desk, making notes in his log. He hadn't looked at Silver since his quartermaster had removed his clothing. Probably too distracting, Silver thought, with a twist of newfound pride. - In which Silver teases Flint, is teased in return, and begins to discover a thing he didn't know he wanted. Oh, and also hair washing and pulling :)

Princes of the New World by x_etoile_x:

Summary: “This is your plan?” Flint sneers, looking at Silver like he’d expected no better. “Hiding below decks like a rat?”

“Now Captain, that’s unkind,” Silver pouts, trying to hide his hurt behind teasing reproach. All day he has tried to match Flint, to fight alongside him though he is ill-suited to it, and it has earned him nothing but disdain. Now it’s time to do things his way for a while. “Like a stowaway, at least.” --- After they have taken the warship and been cast out of the crew, Flint and Silver are forced to contend with each other and the nature of their relationship.

Note: Bathing specifically in chapter 4, but the whole series this belongs to, our feast is but beginning, is top tier, highly recommend.

--

As always, hit me up if there is a fic you think I’ve missed! <3 <3

[servenas-inner-fangirl]

Watching Black Sails 3x8

Oh, is that the "Is it gay living in a house" moment that I heard so much about??

Hahaha, it really is Vane at the piano, annoying the hell out of Flint in the process.

"I can't understand how you cannot understand." Ugh, I love the way these two are so similar from the outside, but so different in regards to how they see the world and what they value - except that right now, their goals are aligned anyway.

"You want your partner back, he wants victory" - oh, I think Vane wants Jack back as well, if maybe not quite as badly. He could've taken the cache back last episode, but he didn't, at least partly because he feared what the English might do to Jack in return imo.

I love these little nods between Flint and Vane, the way they work together like they've never done anything else, ugh.

So Jack is not on his way yet. - Hahaha, him talking up the rat like it's destined for greatness!

Also Jack being incarcerated in his own fort is some bitter irony.

Oh, so Rogers is going himself.

"She left the transaction unscathed." That should tell Jack something was up. Anne would've fought to the death for him otherwise.

"You have my word." Your word is not worth shit right now, Rogers.

So the walrus is waiting for a signal out there?

Sure, Madi, that's the only reason you're concerned.

Goddamnit, Flint isn't there for five minutes and already things are starting to fall apart.

The porn is truly back, and I do not mind one bit, for it is better porn than most. - But also, bold of that whore to try to play Max' own tricks on her. Did the madam set this up? - Yeah, and it didn't work.

Eleanor in the whorehouse visiting Max, what a blast from the past. - Oh, that's a nice dress! Max is truly dressing very different from when Eleanor was in this position.

Max truly is upset about Jack, to her credit. Oh, and she realizes immediately that letting the cache go was very unusual of Anne. She's gonna figure out there's something going on... but is she going to say anything? Aaargh, yes.

"Eight? You could have sent a thousand men." My thoughts exactly.

But is it to late or can they still send a rider or backup after them? I know something's gonna go wrong...

So Jack doesn't speak Spanish, but Vane does. Huh.

"I'm sorry. 'If'?" Rogers is catching on fast. And Jack has so much faith in Anne. ;_;

Noooo, so do they have the right route or not?? How good is Featherstone's intel??

Haha, the governor won't be warned just because an idiot in a uniform doesn't listen to two women. Misogyny is gonna make their plan fail and that is divine justice.

"I know the route." Max, I love you.

Ugh, Eleanor and Hornigold, isn't that a match made in hell.

Now Silver knows exactly how Flint feels all the time as captain of this crew.

So what's the solution? Kill all of them? Oooh, Silver is going to bring in Madi, isn't he? Yes!!

Oh fuck, is she going to kill her own man?? Ah no, she's just cutting the rope.

She truly is a future queen.

"When I speak, my men listen." Ooof, the shade.

"Plenty of people know about it, just not you." Hahaha.

Oh, and she doesn't even know Vane is back on the island, right?? For all she knows, he's miles away right now.

Dammit, Hornigold isn't as stupid as he looks.

Rackham sure does know how to tell a story. And now I get why his name is so important to him.

"But Jesus, did I make up a lot of ground to catch you." Daaamn.

But also, are Rogers and James McGraw actually very similar people, except James had a rougher start? "If people knew what you were capable of when pushed"...

Yes, Jack using his opportunity!!

And now to the question I always wanted to ask - can Charles Vane ride a horse?

Is that Flint up front on the white one? Oh, and there's Anne!! Oh, shooting the carriage, smart, but risky.

Hah, whoops, that's Charles! Mistook his hair as red. But that answers my question. And also explains the risk-taking.

Yeees, the two of them are reunited! ;_;

Love the close view we get of Anne's earrings.

"We'll be right behind you" is the really the sentence I do not want to be hearing in a situation like this!!

"Got worried you two'd be lost without me." ;__;

Oh, so that's Jack's chain he's working on, not another chest. That makes so much more sense, and is also much more tragic.

Noooo, Charles!! - But that explains how Rogers could ever defeat him, shooting him from behind like that.

Ugh, the way Anne hesitates and looks back at Jack, before riding off! ;_; I can't take this, make it stop!

The fact that Charles even gets a hit in in his condition... truly impressive. Oh fuck, he really almost had him! It's the backup that saves Roger's life. That fucker.

Does Rogers even know who he just fought? But I guess Eleanor gave him a description...

Love that shot of Madi and Silver side by side from behind.

Madi truly is so mature for her age.

Ah, so Silver didn't let Dobbs off the hook after all.

Oh no, there comes Hornigold.

Love to see how much damage Charles did to Rogers. I am a petty bitch like that.

Awww, Flint is actually going back for Charles!! <3

"Charles Vane swinging over Nassau is a statement we cannot afford to be made" - isn't that exactly what Vane said back at Charlestown?

I really do not know if I trust Billy with this mission. But he doesn't have a bone to pick with Vane, right? I mean, apart from the Man o'War thing...

I don't think Eleanor is listening to the rest Rogers is saying right now. She's still hung up on Charles - as she should be.

How come a character I do not like at all gets the whumpiest of scenes? It is not fair.

I wonder if Eleanor would have a harder time resisting that temptation if she didn't have all cause to believe the man she once loved wants her dead - and that this is completely justified.

Ah yeah, and then there was her father's murder, I guess.

Aaaaaah, why does it have to be this way, WHY.

But she still goes to see him.

And THIS is where you end the episode?? GODDAMMIT.

So now they have the cache, but exchanged one prisoner for another. I wonder if this was Jack's cell. I wonder if the rat said Hi...

[lichfucker]

The idea for me Max to be the “wife” in treasure island only works if they remain miserable and constantly wanting different people but also…the familiar company keeps them going. They will outlive everyone but they’ll stop wanting too. They both made the choices that lead them here and now they can only stare at each other knowing it didn’t have to end this way.

Like I don’t know if it’s mean, but sometimes I think it cheapens the tragedy if like…Max ends her life happy. Like if anything, she needs her Jim Hawkins to be a clear sign of change but she can’t do it. And in the end, her and silver are still stuck clawing at surviving.

I know this fandom isn’t a musical one. But Max and Silver reminded me a lot of the songs in “Lempicka” especially “Here it Comes” and “In the Blasted California Sun.”

oh for sure. that situation on nassau we leave max in is NOT a stable one, not by any means, and it's only a few years after the end of the series that jack gets executed and anne disappears. I imagine that that's probably when max finally pulls the plug and flees to bristol.

I don't know if I'd say the tragedy is cheapened by max having that smug power shot overlooking the tavern. I think the tragedy is complicated by it. a pyrrhic victory, of sorts. yes, she got the thing she claimed to have wanted-- the image of a little girl in the muck peering through the window at the safety and warmth afforded to people Not Like Her-- but look at all that had to be destroyed to achieve it. how long can it possibly last? even with the reinforced backing of colonial rule, not nearly so ephemeral as some independent pirate haven, this place is still just sand. it still cannot love her back. other people have articulated this point better than I can right now.

also when I said I like writing madi in bristol because I like tragedy and misery, that's not to say I think everyone would be fine and happy if max were there instead lmao. I just mean that the dynamic of two people who thought they loved each other once trying and failing to make a life in circumstances neither of them could ever have wanted is particularly compelling to me. like. for a few months in her mid-20s madi had Everything. she had a vision of the future that would see the world changed and her people freed; she had authority over a community who not just respected her but revered her; she had the good love of a good man. and ALL of that got eviscerated in an instant by that very same man, and now for the rest of her life if she wants to have a life at all she must be anchored to that man as she knows him less and less; is forced to leave her home and travel across an ocean where she scrapes a living servicing englishmen; will die long before the end of the transatlantic slave trade. how can she ever move on from silver's betrayal? how can she ever get over it? silver isn't over it. silver stays fixated on it for the rest of his life, too. silver names his parrot captain flint. silver goes back to skeleton island to find that fucking cache and when he finally gets his share he disappears just like he always dreamed of doing-- one big prize, and with it freedom-- and where does that leave madi? alone, in fucking bristol, running the spyglass, playing barmaid to white english sailors until she dies. and this, according to silver, is better than her having died in the war? what if her death had meant their victory? he still wants her to believe that THIS is preferable to that? that HE finds this preferable? still? does he even bother pretending he still loves her? does she believe he ever did anymore? did he ever tell her a single thing that's true? she cleans spilled beer off the floor. her father died a king. this is not what she wanted.

[kitchensunflowers]

black sails + crip negativity by j. logan smilges

(alt text available, image ID below the cut)

[Image ID: 15 stills from Black sails, each overlaid with a text box. Image + text box descriptions, in order, are as follows:

A still from XXXIII. Silver’s silhouette is visible as he stands at the end of a dark tunnel, pausing and leaning against his crutch. He lingers in the shadows for a moment, considering the outdoor daylight. Overlaid text reads: “It’s here in the dark that we can breathe deepest,”

A still from XXVII, the flashback scene where Vane sits in the prison cell, waiting, just before the priest arrives. He sits in relative darkness, in this still, the outline of his face is only barely visible. Overlaid text reads, “not because the air is particularly clean,”

A still from XXXIII, Flint is being held at the Nassau Prison fort. Flint reads while being almost completely shrouded by shadow; although there is light in the room, where he sits in the shadow, only the faintest outline of his silhouette is visible. Overlaid text reads, “but because there’s no reason to be embarrassed”

A still from XXXIV. Anne lies on her side in a hammock, in a dark cabin, needing to heal after sustaining major injuries in the English bruiser fight. She and the hammock are almost completely in shadow. Overlaid text reads, “if we cough,”

A still from XXXV. Jack sits at the wounded Anne’s hammock-bedside, gingerly holding one of her hands, and looks towards the doorway, where Max stands, also looking in. In the dimly lit room, all three figures are partially obscured by shadow. Overlaid text reads, “choke, or slobber on ourselves.”

A still from XXVIII, where Silver and Flint sit after burying treasure and Flint tells Silver about Hamilton. In the darkness of the forest, Flint and Silver are only just visible under a single lanternlight, the shovel between them. Overlaid text reads, “It’s here in the dark that we find one another,”

A still from XXV, after Silver has returned from the tavern, just before Flint talks about losing Miranda and Silver talks about how good the journey into darkness feels. In the still, Silver sits on the table where he was having his residual limb wrapped, but sits there alone, leg still outstretched, as the medics have left the room. In the dimly lit room, Flint, approaches where Silver sits shrouded in darkness. Overlaid text reads, “each groping our way through our bad feelings.”

A still from XXXVI, from the scene where Max apologises to Anne. In the dark of night, under snowfall, Max and Anne sit on a bench, each wrapped in cloaks, their back to a gate. They hold hands. Overlaid text reads, “And upon our fingers’ first contact,”

A still from XIV, the scene where Max tells Anne that she thinks she understands her, that she will protect her. In the still, only one of Anne’s eyes and her nose are visible, the rest is shrouded by Max’s silhouette and the shadow of Anne’s hat. She has blood spatter on her hat and face. Overlaid text reads: “we break down completely.”

A still from XXIII, the scene of Flint’s ‘what does a colonial power do when we say no more’ speech. In the darkness of night, only Flint’s silhouette is visible as he kneels before the illuminated Maroon Queen and her court. Overlaid text reads, “Because now we can, / at last.”

A still from XXIX, the flashback scene where Madi and Silver are in bed together. Madi and Silver kiss, but as they kiss, their shadows cast them almost completely in darkness, with only small slivers of their skin and hair still visible here. Overlaid text reads, “Because it feels so good to feel this bad”

A still from XIII, Hamilton and Flint’s first onscreen kiss. As Flint leans into Hamilton’s kiss, Hamilton’s hand traces up Flint’s neck, his thumb caresses Flint’s chin. As they kiss, both of their faces are shrouded by shadow. Overlaid text reads: “with one arm under your neck,”

A still from XX, as Silver and Muldoon attempt to patch up leaks below deck together during the storm, talking about Silver’s difficulty adjusting since becoming disabled, with Muldoon offering support commiserating about also not feeling strong enough. In this still, Silver’s face is half shrouded by darkness as he listens to and talks to Muldoon, who stands right beside him. Overlaid text reads, “another around your waist,”

A still from XXV, as Silver and his pirate crew approach the tavern in Nassau together. In the darkness of night, only the pirates’ legs and are silhouetted from the distant tavern lanterns; Silver’s legs, identifiable by prosthetic, are at the centre, leading the group. Overlaid text reads, “and my knees cupped behind your legs:”

A still from XXVII, as Madi, Jack and Anne, Flint, Silver, and Blackbeard gather at a round table. Only a candle and two torches light the scene, otherwise under the cover of night. In the still, the Maroon Queen as well as other Maroons and pirate crew are visible as observers of this meeting. Madi is at the centre of the frame, her hands are clasped on the table; Jack sits beside her, with Anne standing right behind him, arms crossed. Then sits Flint, then Silver. Blackbeard is not visible in this still, obscured by Silver’s silhouette; Silver sits with his prosthetic leg outstretched. Overlaid text reads, “awkward and crippled and together.” /end ID.]

Book citation: Smilges, Logan J. (2023). Crip Negativity, University of Minnesota Press, page 81.

[crepuscularqueens]

whadduppp!!!! would you mind terribly if i asked for four wips as well?? i HAVE TO ask about 'the future's in our hands and we will never be the same again' & '(how to acheive immortality (the terrible price))' !!!! and, god.. they're all soo.. your title game is sicko mode... 'when i walk into a room i do not light it up' & 'untitled bb au', too?

omg heyyy!!! i absolutely do not mind at all hehe thank you so much (and thank you SO much for the tag, these are always so fun :))

the future's in our hands and we will never be the same again was actually the second in a series neither of which have seen the light of day, but the premise of the first part is the usual post tws stuff. steve and sam are looking for bucky, natasha is also helping a lot of the time bc she's integral to the dynamic. they find bucky, bring him to a safe house, try to figure out what his whole deal is at the moment. this one starts out right before they leave for the safe house, and once they get there the four of them learn in their own ways what it is they need to be a person again, and the answer to that is CLEARLY have a shrek marathon.

Natasha got up and went to a closet, which upon opening revealed a shelf full of tapes. “Any thoughts or is it dealer’s choice?” she asked. “I don’t feel like thinking,” Sam answered. Steve shrugged as she looked at him, “No preference.” “Okay,” Nat yanked a tape out and held it aloft, “Then you can’t complain.” The cover had four characters sitting in front of a giant green ‘S’. Steve really couldn’t complain because he had no idea what it was. Sam could, though.

“Ugh,” he groaned, wrinkling his nose in mock-disgust, “Shrek? Yeah, this is definitely why you weren’t invited to sleepovers.” “Correct,” she said, clearly trying to keep her laughter at bay as she slid the tape into the machine to start the movie, “That is literally the only reason.”

&

"Well I'm not mad at that view," she said appreciatively. "Shit," Sam repeated, angling the phone away from Bucky as he stood, who was laughing and doing absolutely nothing to cover himself, "Video call, Romanoff?" "I have no regrets," she replied warmly, "Hey, Rogers, you owe me twenty dollars." "Jesus, really?" they heard Steve's muffled voice call as Sam sat back on the bed next to Bucky, who pulled a rumpled sheet over their laps to give a modicum of decency as he finally propped himself up into a seated position.

lol and also lmao this part of the series was 36k and i just. abandoned it. maybe someday i will fix it

harrow the ninth/treasure island (how to acheive immortality (the terrible price)) is actually the full title of it SO lol. this one is evil and it actively eats my brain every time i open the document. but i love it.

Silver (Harrow) removes Flint (Gideon) from his memory, awakens to find Max at his bedside, expression unreadable (disappointed? Annoyed? Smug?)

Billy (Ianthe) is soon to find him (either at the tavern already or arrives soon after. Maybe he was the one to suggest this step) wants to find the cache. Silver does not want to but after Billy takes off with the clear intent to go through with his plan (obviously not remembering their falling out because he does not remember Flint. In not remembering Flint, he also does not remember large portions of his relationship with Madi. Madi has long since parted ways with Silver, unable to stomach the lies that have festered their relationship)

Silver remembers Vane (Ortus) as the captain who he started the revolution, Charles’ death acting as what killed it in its cradle

Miranda’s (Abigail) “ghost” coming to Silver in his remembrance of the Black Sails timeline, constantly questioning the way he tells things, challenging him without explicitly stating it

In this version of events, Gates and Miranda are allowed to grow close and confer with one another, consulting on the progress of things

it's a very loose adaptation of htn, so it's more of a springboard then a real au

“How could I?” asked Billy, sour note infecting his voice, “You taught me that lesson quite thoroughly. But I want you to remember who it was that created you, Long John, who it was that made your shadow one to be so feared. I want you to remember how quickly it really is that a man can gain and lose favor, especially when there’s money involved.” “And yet, that never seemed to apply to me, did it?” you hissed, “No, Billy. I have never lost their favor before and you are not nearly as clever as you seem to think to frighten me into believing that I am close to it now. I don’t intend to be so stupid as to think myself teetering on that edge at the current moment.” Billy laughed wryly, gripping your shoulder in one hand and looking down into your eyes, expression unnervingly even, “God, this whole ordeal has made you mad, hasn’t it? I know what it is you’ve lost, Silver, I know what it is you removed from yourself to ease the pain. I know how to bring it back. Ask me to and we can be done with this whole ridiculous mess. You did what you needed to do, you never needed to feel guilty for it. “Besides, what man in our line of work doesn’t have a few bodies he’s buried? How is he any different from the rest?” “Fuck you, Billy,” you said, voice full of heat and venom as you jerked out of his grip, “I will not hear this again. I do not want what you’re offering.”

when i walk into a room i do not light it up is a magicians penntin fic because i am a clown and i'll never be over them. sorry. my usual disclaimer of don't watch the magicians it sucks. anyway this is an attempt to hook up at a party that goes TERRIBLY wrong at first but works out for them in the end

Without being completely conscious of the movement, his hand came up for a third time to rake nervously through his hair, never making it before Penny's hand closed around his wrist. His grip was solid and warm, but not too tight, like he was giving Q every opportunity to break away if he wanted to. All the sudden, the guy was in Quentin's space, apparently very interested in the hand he now had a hold of.  "I'd accuse you of trying to claw your hair out of your scalp, but I think you bite your nails too short for that." Quentin's thoughts dissolved with a bit of a fizzle, or something like TV snow, or radio static, or pop rocks. One of those for sure. He only seemed capable of stammering incomprehensibly. “I can practically hear the little gears in your head shifting into a dangerous speed,” Penny remarked with a smirk, “Jesus, Coldwater, you have no chill.” Penny’s other hand came up to gently caress the side of Quentin’s face, leaning in until they were only a hair’s breadth apart. Quentin’s brain finally caught up with what was happening and he jerked away suddenly, snapping his head back so quickly he cracked it against the sharp corner of the cabinet in a moment of confused panic. “Shit,” Penny hissed, stepping back but still half reaching out towards Quentin, "Shit, I’m sorry, I didn't read that right, are you okay?"

untitled bb au is a modern day ofmd blackbonnet fic hehehe. i never fleshed it out enough in writing, but i think the premise was stede and ed broke up and stede was being WEIRD about it (and they'd eventually get back together once stede calmed down lmfao).

"Jim said you're being weird," a familiar voice said from behind him. Stede looked over his shoulder to see Oluwande behind the bar, giving him A Look. Stede didn't want to know what exactly the meaning of it was, but it was certainly meant to convey something. "I haven't seen Jim in ages," Stede tried for plausible deniability while not quite lying. It was true, it had to have been a couple of months since he had seen Jim. "Yeah, I know. Kinda makes it weirder that you call up their work every week on the busiest night then hang up before they can help you." Right, of course Olu would know, being that Jim was his partner and they were probably getting sick of all this. Stede felt his cheeks heat up a little, but stubbornly kept up his pretense. "Could be another man who sounds like me?" "You're aware that this is the twenty first century and pretty much everywhere's got caller ID, right?" Olu almost looked torn between amused and unimpressed now, "Maybe it could be someone that sounds just like you, but unlikely his name is also Stede Bonnet. Not a common one, mate."

[medusinestories]

 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.

[butchniqabi]

When Madi looked up I SOBBED. Also I Know Thomas is still alive but I Need to hear them say it. Also the Acting in this show god… God. Screaming and crying. Flint realizing he’s been doomed to be nothing but the identity he wanted so badly to escape. Can someone PLEASE tell him about Thomas please I’m begging. God the way this all collapsed. Fuck. God Madi deserved so much better than this. The way John lost everything he cared about in saving it… god this is so painful but seeing the reunion between Flint and Thomas. Fuck. FUUUUUUUCK. “I’m not the villain you think I am. I’m not him.” Begging her to believe that. Begging yourself to believe that. Oh god he Was planning that forever. God poor Madi having put her trust in him. I haven’t seen anything treasure island in years and I was too young to read it at the time but I’m sure this ending would be blowing my tits clean off if I had. Still blowing one tit hygienically off. The chambermaid irritated me glad she got to go home though. Glad Max is okay. The “it’s fine” at the end LMAO. Well. I’m gonna need some time to recover from that. Ouch. That was incredible. And good fucking god. ⚓️

YES ITS SO MUCH...the first time i watched i was like "well it cant hurt me much more after That scene" and 😐 what a lie that was lol. i constantly have so many thoughts and literally me and my 2 black sails mutuals just. constant back and forth. constant trauma. endless emotional terrorism.

also re: treasure island...the way this show changes almost everything about your initial perceptions....its evil!

[itmeansofthesea]

Moving Day

Well this one got me all in my feelings. This was supposed to be lighter and funnier and somehow it got away from me. Instead it's this beautiful thing?? Maybe I'll try to write a funnier version later, but thanks to @dobega for reminding me of the domesticity conversation that led to the end. Any longer and I would have to make this a series, but if that's something you're interested in I think I could swing it. Enjoy, y'all.

Warnings: like one curse word? I think that's it... It's also overwhelmingly sweet imo so just be ready for that.

Had Charles Vane known that becoming ally/friends with James Flint would involve helping him, his boyfriend, and his boyfriend’s wife (his girlfriend?) move into their new house, he might have just gone ahead, taken the warship and let Peter Ashe hang Flint and be done with. Not really, but… maybe?

He honestly isn’t even really sure how he got roped into this. It was a couple of weeks ago when he, Jack, Anne, Max, Flint, Thomas, and Miranda were all sitting at a table upstairs in the brothel having dinner. Billy was out showing Abigail around Nassau and Mr.s Gates and De Groot were just trying to get a moment’s peace at some smaller tavern at the other end of town. Silver and Madi were out having some sort of alone dinner thing (Jack had called it a “date” and then called Charles a “heathen with no sense of romance”), and this all left the motley crew to sit around with whatever the brothel’s cook had dreamed up and a metric ton of ale to wash it down.

Charles didn’t fully understand the situation Flint had with the Hamiltons, but whatever it was clearly made Flint happier than Charles had ever seen him. He was all smiles and laughter and joy. It warmed Charles’s heart (just a bit) to see his friend so happy, because they certainly had become friends. He mentally joked about leaving Flint to hang, but to be honest it would be difficult to imagine his life without the people sitting around the table with him now. At least, it would be difficult to imagine something resembling a happy life.

They’d stopped to refuel in Savannah after Charlestown and somehow or another word got to Flint about a plantation full of the disgraced sons of London’s elite that were now more or less enslaved in the prison colony. If there was one thing Charles was always down to do (and there were many things he was always down to do), it was hunt down a slave master and free people from bondage. They’d split when they got to the plantation- Charles after the master of the house and James off to find Thomas. Finding Mr. Smith hadn’t been difficult and dispatching him was even easier. Once that was finished, Charles made his way outside to find Flint in the arms of another, taller man and both of them appeared to be weeping. He felt like an intruder watching them, so he busied himself with checking the plantation for anyone else who may need to be released. When they made it back to the ship, Miranda leapt on the man who Charles realized must be Thomas, and after a minute of holding on to him she grabbed Flint into their embrace.

In time all of the introductions were made, and suddenly the Charles/Anne/Jack crew expanded to the Charles/Anne/Max/Jack crew and the Charles/James friendship expanded to include Charles/James/Thomas/Miranda. They also intercepted Abigail Ashe on the way, and James and the Hamiltons promptly adopted her on the spot. She and Charles had some reacquainting to do outside of Eleanor Guthrie’s influence, but he at least thought they were making progress. She didn’t seem nearly as terrified as she’d been of him when she followed Eleanor through the gate, so that was something.

Fast forward a few weeks and here they all were finishing their chicken and ale when Jack began asking about where the Flint/Hamilton/Ashe family intended to live. Miranda’s house was too small now that they had Abigail, and Billy had attached himself to Abigail as an older brother figure so usually where one of them was, the both of them were. Of course with Billy came Mr. Gates as his surrogate father, and while they’d made it work for the last couple of months, everyone was feeling a bit cramped.

Jack and Max volunteered to host them at the brothel, but they politely declined. Charles half considered offering to let them stay at the fort, but figured that may not be the best idea considering they also had Abigail to consider. Not that he couldn’t keep his men under control, but he also knew that she had memories of that fort that she may not want to be surrounded by all the time. He certainly knew that was the case for him, and yet he stayed… for some reason. Maybe he should take Jack up on the offer to move into the brothel…

Thomas mentioned that they’d been asking around and found a house a bit more inland from Miranda’s that had been abandoned for the last several years. It would take a bit of fixing up, but they planned to go ahead and move in and then work on it as they lived there. Before Charles fully knew what was happening, Jack had volunteered Charles, Anne, himself, and Max to all help them move with the added bonus that he and Max would help with the decorating if Miranda so desired their assistance. Max enthusiastically agreed and elbowed Anne in the side prompting her to shrug a shoulder in agreement. Jack looked at Charles with those wide puppy-dog eyes and before Charles even knew what he was saying he’d agreed to help. The look on the Flint/Hamilton’s faces almost made it worth it.

At the time.

That was then.

Now it’s moving day. What on earth had they gotten themselves into?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Charles and company arrived at Miranda’s house early the next day, one cart was packed and Thomas, Billy, and James were in the process of loading another one. It was decided that they would stay behind and the Ranger crew plus Max would go with Miranda and Abigail and get things unloaded. Mr. Gates was out helping Mr. De Groot careen the ship again since the last time was a bit of a disaster.

The moving crew pulled up to a slightly rundown looking two story house with columns on the porch and an overgrown garden to the side. Miranda smiled and squeezed Abigail around the shoulders before jumping off the cart to start unloading. Abigail took the key to the front door and unlocked it, but had a little trouble pushing it open since the summer heat made the wood swell in the jamb. Jack went to help her push it open while Charles and the others started getting things off the cart.

“Just put everything in the front for now, we’ll get it sorted later,” Miranda instructed as she pulled a crate of books from the back. She passed it to Charles who noticed the copy of Reflections by Marcus Aurelius on the top. He recognized it from a conversation he’d had with Flint on the way to the plantation. That was his and Thomas’s book, the one object that kept them tethered together to all this time. Flint’s book with Miranda was Don Quixote, which he also noticed on top of the stack. It’s not that Charles couldn’t read (Teach made sure he could), it had just never been particularly useful to him. You don’t have to know how to read to split logs, haul rope, navigate the stars, or fight the English Navy. Besides, he’d never really had the time to sit down and rest long enough to read. Maybe he should change that. He set the books down to the left of the open door and went back out for more stuff.

Max and Anne pulled down a trunk of clothes and carried it into the house together. Charles volunteered to switch with them, but he was told in no uncertain terms that they could handle it themselves thank you very much, so he left them to it. He passed Miranda and Abigail carrying small crates of what appeared to be dishes. Porcelain. Hadn’t he and Flint had that conversation just a few days ago? About how fragile porcelain and books were, and how fragile a civilized life was, and how it all came down to capitulation and letting society numb you into obedience? Now he was willingly helping Flint settle into that obedience. Is that something a real friend should do? Charles wasn’t sure, so he jumped into the back of the cart, pushed a trunk to the edge, and hauled it out of the back of the cart to take inside.

Miranda stood in the foyer with her hands on her hips trying to put together what each room should be when the furniture arrived. Charles motioned to the trunks on the floor and at Jack who was just standing there in slack jawed awe.

“Would you like us to move these upstairs?”

Miranda turned and smiled up at him. “Sure, thank you, Charles.”

“Jack, let’s go.” Charles barked and jerked his head toward the trunks.

“You can’t honestly expect me to be able to help you carry that upstairs.” Jack raised an eyebrow and looked at Charles like he’d lost his mind. Charles scowled and opened his mouth to reply when suddenly-

“Good thing we got here in time then,” Flint’s voice sounded amused coming from behind him, and he turned just in time to see Billy and Thomas carrying in a table. Miranda’s smile widened as she directed them to the right and Flint walked over to Charles to help with the trunk.

“My hero,” Jack cooed jokingly at Flint before catching Charles’s eye and backing away. “Yes, yes, I know. Fuck you, Jack. I’ll let you save your breath.” Jack raised his hands and walked away to follow Miranda and see if he could start setting the table or something.

Charles just rolled his eyes and grabbed his end of the trunk.

“On 3?” James asked. Charles nodded. “1, 2, 3,” James counted off and they both lifted at the same time. It was heavy, even for the two of them.

“The fuck’s in this thing?” Charles grunted as he started backwards up the stairs.

“I think these are Abigail’s… From what I understand, women’s clothes are far more complex than ours,” James laughed.

“Not here, they aren’t…” Charles thought back to Eleanor’s outfits, but also realized that Abigail and Miranda were nothing like Eleanor, therefore they would likely be dressed more like Max, in which case it made sense. Thank God they weren’t like Eleanor. Nassau couldn’t handle another one.

“So, if you can’t understand why a man would want domesticity, why are you helping four of them move into a house?” James looked amused, and Charles honestly wasn’t even sure he had an answer.

“I still don’t understand it. To the left,” Charles moved to get his back to the doorway and James moved with him. “However,” they set the trunk down inside the room and straightened. “I think I am starting to understand wanting peace.” He sighed. “And I don’t know, maybe I do understand it. I tried to tell Eleanor that we could take part of the gold and settle down, have a life, a couple of kids… but she would never have that. I told myself that wasn’t me wanting domesticity, that was wanting someone else to depend on me, but…” he took a deep breath and walked out onto the landing where he could see Jack and Anne below him. James wordlessly followed. “Maybe I’ve had other people depending on me for a long time. Actually, I know I have. It’s why Jack wouldn’t come with me when I left with Teach- he didn’t want to have to depend on me when he’d built something of his own here. I didn’t expect that to hurt as much as it did.”

“But it did,” James whispered beside him.

“It did. I guess because I was hoping that our friendship would be enough for him to come with me, but in the end his need for independence won out. I can’t blame him, especially after all the shit I put him through with Eleanor-”

“Excuse you, you both put us all through that,” James smirked and bumped Charles’s shoulder. He earned a grunt in response. James just chuckled and noted the small grin gracing Charles’s face out of the corner of his eye. James knew at one point that comment would likely have resulted at him having a knife in his face. He was thankful they’d progressed past that.

“Anyway,” Charles emphasized the word, “seeing you with Miranda and Thomas, and even adopting Abigail. It seems peaceful. Maybe that’s part of domesticity, maybe it isn’t, but either way, it looks nice. It’s not something I can have in that fort probably, but…” he trailed off.

James waited a beat before asking, “what?”

“I am happy that it’s working out this way for you,” Charles whispered. “If anyone deserves all of this, you do. You all do,” he ignored the water welling up in his eyes as he put a hand over Flint’s over the railing.

Flint didn’t even bother ignoring his tears. He just let them go as he watched his family make their home together for the first time in a way that included all of them from the very beginning. He whispered, “thank you. So do you, you know?”

Charles chuckled humorlessly and swiped a hand across his face.

“I’m serious,” James looked at Charles who turned his head in response. “They are my family, but you are now, too. You don’t show up to save my life from the man who ruined my life, help me blow a port city to hell, kill its governor, and then stop me from murdering Jack Rackham for taking the Urca gold I’d been after for years without earning the title of brother. Even if you did steal my ship first.” James smirked and bumped Charles’s shoulder again.

“Yeah… I’m not sorry about that.” Charles shook his head and laughed.

“Wouldn’t expect you to be,” James chuckled, “brother.”

Charles looked at his family and back at James. “Brother.”

[battendownthewhatsit]

An Extremely Informal And Longwinded List of Black Sails Characters ordered by my Most Favorite to Least, After Watching the Series Twice, For No Reason Except It’s My Blog and I Want To 

- coming in at a Close Second to Madi, it’s every other named woman in the show ??  Max? Incredible.  Brilliant. Powerful and limited, complex and driven and deeper every time I think about her arc?? wow. Eleanor? absolute Shakespeare -level tragedy and the best blouses, amazing.  Anne? Holy Hell. Miranda? Lost too soon but still more powerful and insightful as a ghost/psychopomp than most characters on most shows when they’re alive. Full of righteous murder and I love that for her. Abigail Ash?? what a gem , deserved better family, I hope she lives to become a pirate queen. Idelle? comin’ up from left field to be an absolute force of hope and healing and defiance all in one, best stealth character arc.  The Maroon Queen? how does she rule the whole show with like ten minutes of screen time. Need a whole show about her.  Frigging. Charlotte?  an Artist. an Artist dealing with a Terrible Client and so in five minutes flat she was My character omg. Grandma Guthrie? unexpected kingmaker and I love how much of a Story she’s implied to have.  Mapleton? ...ok maybe I don’t care about Mapleton. but otherwise I can’t? pick  a favorite? my favorite is whichever of them is onscreen at the moment and extra when it’s more than one of them , which happens a lot but could never happen enough , not in forty seasons. 

- Godammit, Silver. Someone should shove him off the edge of a boat. Everyone  should shove him over the edge of a boat. But I can’t deny he’s a Perpetual Shenanigans Machine and I am always a fan of Shenanigans. Damn my weakness. 

 Vane?? I care about Charles Vane ??? How did this happen. When. What. I sobbed when he died and I’m still mad about it. 

 Billy Bones,  who amazingly did Nothing Wrong Ever until he suddenly did EVERYTHING Wrong Forever, and it made sense  and I’m upset about this too but it’s so solid and  aaaaah

 Jack Rackham, unexpectedly poignant Comedy Gold 

Teach, what a solid Dragon, what an amazing setup and payoff on a character who was only barely there

MR SCOTT , I wish he had SO much more focus, what an absolute revelation of character, absolute exemplar of planting a Character Revelation in a show , all his scenes are a thousand times richer on rewatch , the show  had to kill him bc if he’d lived he’d have solved everything 

RANDALL, CHAOS MENTOR, and rightly Judgey Food Service Worker 

Mr. Gates, F in the chat again , we only got glimpses of just how much was going on under the surface but it was eNOUGH omg I still tear up watching his speech about Billy

Captain Naft, for some reason a Genuinely Nice Guy who decided he was gonna PIrate and then was Terrible at it?? hilarious.  I’m so glad he got out . Hope he sailed away to star in a Pratchett novel. 

Tie between Featherstone and Mr de Groot (F in the chat, buddy, I hope you’re sailing on in a magical world where people respect your technical expertise and practical recommendations), champions of Just Being Good at the Job

 Julius, I’m sure he’d be top five if he’d have even thirty combined minutes of screentime but realistically I can only love him for his Potential 

likewise every person on Maroon island who never gets any focus, they All Deserved Better but didn’t get it so I can only love them Conceptually 

OH HELL, FLINT, I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT FLINT , I want to move him further up the list now but the fact that I didn’t even  remember to include him  until now tells me this is probably a Fair and Accurate ranking of where he stands in my Heart? which is. Completely wild??? he’s  one of the most main of main characters?? But (a) I really truly despise the way he treats his men like disposable straws for most of the series? I mean look how much I love so much of the Walrus crew and then this guy’s going around frigging blowing their brains out and tossing them off ships and obviously We Have a Problem  and (b) I think for me he wound up suffering from overexposure-- not in the show, but in terms of seeing him around Tumblr for years before I watched the show.  I saw all his big speeches and character reveal moments screecapped and gif’d for years, in a way I almost never saw anyone else’s, and when those moments rolled around for me in the series there was always a feeling like “oh, this is where that happens. OK then” , instead of experiencing it as a new emotional revelation. Given that the scenes where he did something I hadn’t  seen gif’d to death were still really powerful for me, I think all those years of out-of-context quotes and caps are really the main thing in play here, and that’s Unfortunate and also very much a  Me Problem, but also it’s just such a visceral emotional thing that I can’t really change the reaction.  Sorry, Captain , you’re great and well-written, I was just Spoilered out of a strong emotional reaction to you. :/ 

Thomas? Thomas.....

Israel Hands

uuuuh Hornigold and Dufresne I guess? Dufresne in particular is striking to me bc I hate his Choices but the  way he winds up making them is v. sympathetic 

uuuh Eleanor’s bodyguards in S1/early S2 I guess? 

the pastor who kind of hilariously has no plot relevance to anything ever 

....

that’s it

there are no more characters in this show :) 

no there aren’t :):) 

[pineapple-split]

Thinking about the major characters deaths in Black Sails and how (upsetting as some are) they happen as natural culminations of the plot and themes for each character. Thinking about how they irreversibly change the course and nature of the story. They change the tone of the show, every time. 

Nothing is the same after Gates is killed - and his death is the culmination of his season long arc of losing faith in Flint, of Flint’s loss of control as he feels his life and allies he took for granted slipping away from him. 

Nothing is the same after Miranda is killed - and her death is the culmination of her journey, one that ends in the rage she has suppressed all her life and finally unleashes. Her rage also lays down the law for what civilization can expect from those it has destroyed (”her word will be the last for this place”). 

Nothing is the same after Vane is killed either, and its not just that he uses his death to kickstart a resistance. It, again, is the culmination of his arc and the themes that are central to his character - freedom, refusal to live under the yolk of any tyrant - and it is evidence of how he has evolved from the man we were first introduced to. I find him a difficult character to like (and I like him a whole lot!), but I do believe his last episode is when he is the best version of himself. 

Eleanor’s death, as well, is the fulfillment of the absolute Greek Tragedy that is her life (and was 100% intentional and planned in some way from the beginning, nothing can convince me otherwise). It is what catapults the whole tail end of the show for Woodes Rogers, Max, and to some degree even Jack. 

(You can make an argument that some side characters like Mr. Scott and Teach fit this bill as well). 

I’m fascinated by how much each character’s ghost lingers over the remainder of the show. And its not just a matter of being referenced by name out of the blue (which tbh I’ve found in other shows I don’t like to be a rather lazy attempt to connect a totally disconnected plot/arc from where it supposedly started). Its that the actual atmosphere is different after they’re gone, but you still see the influences everywhere. You see how different of a man Flint is after Gates, after Miranda. You see this in Jack and Eleanor after Vane (as well as Nassau as a whole), and Woodes and Max after Eleanor (and arguably Madi as well). 

Its a great use of show-don’t-tell, the ways its actually meant to be applied - Flint carries himself differently, speaks differently, looks at people differently (you can almost physically see the weight of them, and Thomas, on his shoulders). Jack is furious and reckless (and finally, in my opinion, beaten down but that’s another discussion), Teach is noticeably heartbroken and Eleanor (as Hannah New excellently put it) has clearly killed something within herself. Woodes Rogers completely snaps, and so does Max in a different way (more like she snaps back into place, whereas Rogers just breaks). 

I know some may disagree, but in my mind there isn’t a single one of these deaths that doesn’t service the story and the surviving characters. They add to the richness of the world, and I will always frantically gesture toward Black Sails whenever character death discourse pops up and scream “this! this is how you do it!”

[im-the-punk-who]

Miranda “Barlow” and James “Flint”

So recently I saw this gifset and was like oh fuck yeah do I have feelings on that!! and then I realized that I could save a ton of wordage on the dream meta post if I did a separate meta on Miranda’s role in creating the Captain Flint persona. So this is that post. 

We talk constantly about how James changes his name to become “Captain Flint”, but I feel like sometimes we overlook the fact that Miranda also changes her name. Now it could be argued it would be necessary to avoid detection as Thomas Hamilton’s wife, but wouldn’t James’ name be just as connectable to anyone who might be looking? Certainly to Alfred or Peter. If we argue that James changed his name solely - or mostly even - to separate himself from who he was in London, isn’t it possible to argue the same for Miranda? That “how unrecognizable the woman I am now would be to the woman I was then” ?

(Also it feels significant they both reveal their ‘real’ names to Abigail in the same episode.)

A lot of times Miranda gets characterized as this passive person, who sits back and sort of lets things happen, but in reality I think she is much more an active participant in her life. She marries Thomas - and whether or not she knew he was gay at the time, she builds herself a life that suits her - having the freedom to sleep with who she chooses, build alliances, etc. And she does actively try to protect and discourage Thomas and James from their plan when she sees it’s become to dangerous - even before James returns. And she is the one that decides to leave Thomas behind in favor of saving herself and James. For all that she is a woman raised in English society where she has very little actual power, Miranda grabs it and fights for it, her own self-preservation and self-fulfillment, wherever possible.

(And in Flint’s dreams when she mouths -I’m asking you to come with me so that I can save your life- isn’t that exactly what Miranda asked of him in London? And the second time, when they are below in the hold with death she adds - I have come upon some information which changes things for you - while standing next to a personification of death with a book on the table. Perhaps a throwback to when they found out Thomas was dead, in some way.)

Further, in Flint’s dreams, when Miranda has the whole “When I first met you you were so unformed. But then I spoke and bade you cast aside your shame, and Captain Flint was born into the world.” speech that is a direct reference to her role in creating “Flint” from James’ subconscious. (and i’m not SUPER gonna touch on this because this is much more important in regards to the dream meanings, but in that speech Miranda is pretty much a direct stand in for the persona of Flint himself. And it is only after James “leaves her behind” he goes through a radical shift towards finally being able to move on from revenge and really focus on what would actually make a difference to the people whose lives he would be affecting. On not burning England to the ground, or asking for a pardon - but simply seeking “her departure from my island.” (which, god, amazing delivery on that line. Fucking shivers.)

Miranda has a deep connection to everything James does as Flint. Although the crew is wrong in saying she is a which that controls him, the truth of it - like that Flint controls the weather - is closer than one might think on first watch. (And Black Sails loves to play with this, how close to the supernatural can we bring our characters while still staying within the bounds of reality. VERY 16th century of them.) She wanted revenge, and she was willing to use James - “Flint” - to get it. Burning the coast, too, wasn’t truly “his” idea - he was acting on Miranda’s last words. And perhaps other things, too, were done because of Miranda’s urging.

While Miranda doesn’t control James Flint directly she has a heavy influence on what he does because the anger that drives “Flint” is as much hers as it is James’. She is not only his co-conspirator, but his confidante, his tether. Even as James does the actual deeds, Miranda is there supporting him and driving his actions, justifying them because they line up(at least initially) with what she wants. And I think it’s interesting that (in a similar manner to Silver, and ... that’s a whole other post, Miranda’s similarities to Silver) when Miranda disagrees with him it causes an identity crisis that starts to unravel “Captain Flint” at the seems throughout the rest of the show.

When Miranda is talking to Eleanor she says “I know their(Captain Flint’s demons) names. I was there when they were born and I know what they whisper to him at night.” While Miranda doesn’t really seem to understand exactly why James feels the need to fight, she does understand why “Flint” needs to. 

And I also think that James and Miranda probably kept each other in that cycle - one feeding off the other’s grief in ways they couldn’t control - partially because in the end they needed such different things to resolve them.

In dealing with that trauma and grief and loss of losing Miranda, of losing the other half of who Flint has been all this time, he is able to move on from the pardons, from antagonizing the coast, from getting ‘revenge’ on England for the deaths of Thomas and Miranda and starts focusing on true liberation - working towards a goal where he truly could walk away from “Flint” and all the carnage he has caused and find his own personal peace. But he can’t do that without reconciling Miranda’s control in Flint that he became responsible for when she died.

And to that end I also think about what Madi says to Silver. That to go to those depths, one needs a partner to pull them back out. James has always had Miranda - even if she was just on Nassau - to help him carry the burden of Flint. When Miranda dies Flint loses that and so of course he goes off the deep end - the tags on that post I think say it best: and that’s part of why he sort of drowns in the persona#the ‘monster’ borne of their rage and grief is too much for one person alone to hold up.

(And I could go into a whole OTHER thing about how he finds that again in Silver and later in S4 in Madi - and how when Madi ‘is dead’ Silver starts to descend into those very same depths - how Flint sees it, how he tries to be the tether for Silver like Silver was for him - “I told you I’d see you through this” - and how Silver, instead of clinging to it like he had done to Miranda, instead of at least letting it keep him afloat, cuts the tether loose when he sends Flint to Savannah AND alienates Madi for fear of it fraying later on and that is when he truly becomes the Long John Silver from Treasure Island just as James “becomes” Captain Flint earlier. I could....but maybe another time because this is already long enough lmao.)

[servenas-inner-fangirl]

Watching Black Sails 3x7

My watching is picking up pace again, maybe because I'm procrastinating other things with it... like doing my taxes.

Oh damn, did Max know exactly where to find her?? - Pls don't fight, pls don't fight...

Oh, okay, this is a planned meet-up. Also Anne on a horse is doing things to me. She looks so cool!

"Fuck what he needs." My thoughts exactly.

Well that went well. But also I'm confused - what was the night at the cave Anne was referring to? Because the last time we've seen them together, Jack had definitely not been arrested yet.

Also Max arguing for Jack's life (and, granted, probably her own ambitions for Nassau...) is maybe a bit ironic?

"it will tear her to pieces." I just want my lesbians to be happy, is that too much to ask?? Appearantly...

"Now you come back with nothing but him -" Well, I for once am happy he did!! But the ships would've been nice as well.

Vane seems as into Flint's military speeches as the rest of us.

"I don't know yet." Not what you want to hear from your most important ally in that kind of situation! But the queen seems to know quite a bit about military strategy herself.

Man, I wish Jack were long gone by now! Alas...

Yes, pirate queen Madi soon!!

That man does not look healthy at all. A plague in Nassau is the last thing we need right now... or is it?

Yay, Jack is not being tortured!! - Wait, Rogers is married??

Nooo, don't give Jack to the Spanish!! Bad, bad governor! (And Max is genuinely upset. .__.)

Haha, I bet I know what Featherstone is thinking right now!

I don't think the Spanish need to provoke Anne at all, when they meet up with her without Jack, she will tear into them like a rabid dog.

Yes, wlw solidarity! Or something.

"I don't know what is worse, Anne dying for Jack or surviving without him." T_T

Oh, a peace offering!

Hm, maybe I don't know what Featherstone was thinking.

Vane is still really pissed about the whole thing, huh? That really got under his skin.

Oh wow, is Billy actually being helpful?? - Yes, Silver is back!!

I love every single sentence of that conversation between Max and Eleanor. God, this show does relationships between women so well even though there aren't that many.

Eleanor playing with fire, nothing new here...

Okay, maybe I feel for Rogers a bit. Who could resist a woman like her? - And it's been a while since the show has been that explicit, right? I kinda missed it. It somehow feels different than in a lot of other shows, more interesting.

Okay, that's an interesting post-sex topic. But it kind of feels like Nassau itself is fighting back against the foreign invaders.

"You're one of them." Man, you have no idea how much. Or do you?

And I don't really believe Eleanor when she says she no longer wishes to be that way. But Rogers appearantly does.

Love Vane being all sneaky. And Featherstone's "Hand over Jack or Nassau burns. This is a dilemma to us how?" is really funny.

Roger's dream of a new Nassau is already falling apart, one Featherstone at a time.

"He's fine. - He's dying." From falsehood to truth in under 5 seconds flat. But love for the slave girl from season 1 (who's appearantly named Eme, which I had forgotten) to get some plot! I always felt like she would be a bigger part of the narrative, and then she wasn't.

That's not a very full tavern for Silver's show. But it's probably safer that way.

Oof, and he's immediately back to insulting his audience. But I love that he's basically telling the ghost story Flint wrote for himself so long ago.

Oh, of course Madi knows Eleanor, they grew up together! But Madi should be careful about what she says, Eleanor did free Eme from slavery after all, there might still be some loyalty there...

Guess we're gonna find out who is already sick of civilized life and would rather go back on the account (or is simply more terrified of Flint than England).

It is such a delight to see Silver work. The man definitely has a way with words.

UGH, Dufresne. Somebody finally kill that guy.

I think he's making a mistake underestimating Silver here. A lot has happened since they last saw each other.

YES! (They're really controlling the room well with just a handful of men.)

Ewwwww. But yeah, that'll send a message. They couldn't have planned this better. (Also the Silver of S1 would have never. - Although - he did stab a man in the first episode.)

Aww, Flint checking up on Silver! - Ugh, these two are so co-dependent. No wonder everybody is insane over them.

Everybody like: Oh shit, Flint is alive! Rogers is about to find out Eleanor named the wrong pirate as the most dangerous one.

Rogers playing 5d chess in regards of how to (not) react to this newest development, and probably still coming up short in the end. There is no way Flint isn't already two steps ahead.

Idk if Max wants to help with this. Isn't this a way to get Anne (and Jack) out of harms way? She's gotta see this.

Either way, Idelle is not wholy on board, I think. But I love how much influence the whores have in this show because everybody always underestimates them.

Ugh, she is back. Is that wise? She wasn't very nice to the girls who do remember her. Why not Idelle?

But Max doesn't want some random whore, she wants Anne. ;_;

Huh, Flint is impressed. Maybe I did underestimate Rogers. Either way, this will certainly be a meeting to remember.

Oh god, Rogers immediately twists the knife that is Thomas Hamilton. Let's hope Flint won't jump over the table and try to strangle him. (And how much does Eleanor know about that whole story? Certainly not everything.)

"Nobody's being hanged." Well, except for Jack maybe?? Since you're giving him to the Spanish??

"So what is it you're fighting for that we're not already offering?" Revenge.

Also they're just gonna pardon the burning of Charlestown? Or did they blame all of that on Vane?

"I no longer seek anything from England except her departure from my island." Flint really has the best lines.

Featherstone trying to bring some brain cells to Vane's single-minded pursuit of Anne Bonny and the cache... but maybe in vain (haha).

If this gives me just one actual interaction between Charles and Anne, instead of them merely existing in the same space, I will be happy.

Those are maybe too many men to kill even for Bonny. But maybe not for the both of them?

Oh Anne! She's gonna think Max betrayed her! This is breaking my heart.

So this was the plan? Let the money get away and leave Anne ready for anything? Not a bad plan, but still.

Oh, they had already met up before! So Anne was playing a role. That explains how she gave up rather easily.

Vane has actually though this through!! Or maybe somebody else thought it through for him. And this also means that they're forcing Flint's hand, who might otherwise not be so interested in Jack's rescue.

I approve. Surely nothing will go wrong...

[queer-crusader]

How do you think Silver & Flint's relationship would have evolved if things hadn't ended the way they did in S4? How do you think things would have progressed through time? I tend to think about the what ifs a lot. I'm just curious what your thoughts are on it.

OOFT. I mean i have many thoughts! It’s... very hard to say really. Because i think one thing Black Sails does incredibly well is the way it builds a story and a character. Many choices made in this show are so dependent on what the characters want and who they intrinsically are and how they influence each other (willingly/knowingly or not), and i feel like there are many very complex interwoven roads that led them to the conclusion they got to. Which is one of the many reasons the finale felt like such a tragedy; you know things are going to end badly because you kind of see it coming. And dear god it does hurt, even with Flint being reunited with Thomas.

So. I think there are two ways to answer this question, and you can sort of divide them into canon-ish versus fanon wish. These may not exactly be clearly indicated bc like i said i have Many Thoughts, and i apologise in advance 😅 Another thing i’ll be looking at here is something we had to lay out for our characters when i studied acting - the goals/objectives/motivations of the character, and their emotional/mental state. None of this is meant to be critical against any character. I simply adore analyising them and the paths of the story, and I love each and every character i talk about here deeply.

So, looking at that finale. There’s several things that i could take from what you say about things not ending the way they did - for now, i’m looking at the confrontation between Flint and Silver in the woods, where Silver forces Flint to quit his war and reunites him with Thomas.

Firstly, let’s analyse what we get from the canon, and what i believe motivates these characters to bring them to the point they end up at. There’s that famous line i think of Silver where he says he doesn’t know anymore where he ends and Flint begins - their thinking patterns have become so intertwined, they basically share a braincell. The tricky thing about this is, just because he and Flint think similarly, share tactics, and a knowledge of how to use people in their means, just because they understand each other well, doesn’t mean they share opinions and morals. Flint especially seems to forget this. He believes Silver is with him in his cause to end Imperial rule. But from Silver’s final actions, it’s clear Silver values his personal wants and needs above that of this abstract crowd of people. He’s not oppressed - or hasn’t felt the effects of Imperial/religious oppression (as far as we canonically know) like Flint and Madi have. And that means he doesn’t have the same drive. He’s driven by his personal connections to these people, i believe, purely from his own point of view. Like, i suspect he struggles to place himself in the shoes of Madi or Flint to feel their pain and motivation. He can see it, he just... doesn’t fully grasp it. (There’s also a question of whether he wishes to, but i feel nowhere NEAR qualified on answering that, nor do i think the canon gives us enough material to give a perfectly cut & dry answer.)

So you have this big miscommunication. Flint believes that, because he and Silver have basically become one shared braincell, they have the same goals, while Silver is still driven from a point of selfishness. (Side-note: there was a moment in the show he became selfless! He wouldn’t give up his crew when faced with torture from Vane’s quartermaster! But then he lost a leg over it and it seemed to dampen that selflessness. I think from there on, moments where he seems to be motivated by the good of the crew come instead from an internal need to belong and be loved more so than a genuine sense of brotherhood. That brotherhood may still have been there, but i think he might have suppressed that instinct a little and instead let the more selfish needs take more of a front seat. Understandable and not bad/evil, like that’s super valid of him. But my point is, he’s not exactly ready to fight for another man’s cause he doesn’t have as much of a personal emotional profit in, especially when he knows it’ll end in certain death for everyone he cares about and he knows cares about him.)

So that’s sort of where the characters are mentally in that climax. I may be skirting details and summarising a bit hastily, but it’s also been a GOOD while since i’ve watched season 4, so i apologise. Flint (and Madi as well - she plays an equally important role i think!) is fuelled by a mix of rage born from oppression/discrimination, and a protectiveness for others who may suffer the same fate. Silver meanwhile is fuelled by a need much closer to home - to be loved and to keep those he cares for and deems important to him alive and around. I’ve framed it as their emotional drive, but really it is also their goal, their objective in that finale. Flint and Madi are looking to burn down an oppressive system while Silver... isn’t. For him, their goals stand directly in the way of his. And by the end of the show, he’s gained enough power to prevail in his objective, cancelling out those of Flint and Madi.

So, could it have gone differently? I think, if we wanna play with canon and keep it as close to canon as possible... It seems almost impossible. These people’s goals just do not align. (There’s that sweet sweet tragedy again.) So what you need for it to go differently in short is for one of, if not several, of these people to change their goal. But we’re talking their MAIN objective, their main driving force at this point in the show - so like, the chances of that are slim. ESPECIALLY if we’re talking about the canon characters. After all, for that, the characters would need to look inside themselves and fucking face up to some of their issues and work on them. (This is something which these characters are not very prone to do, bc jesus it’s a mess in there and if that were me i’d preferably not turn introspective either and be forced to look at all that.)

So if we wanted Flint to change his goal, he’d need to come to terms with the Empire being untouchable - which is bullshit bc like my man has a POINT, just because they seem to be able to be brought down doesn’t mean they ain’t - and to accept the homophobia and oppression they treated him and Thomas with, which, yeah fuck that, absolutely not, his rage and his goals are valid as FUCK. If we wanted to change Madi’s - lmao like listen i understand wanting her and Silver happy together bc we ship EVERYTHING in this house, but she’s poc and proper royalty and wants to end slavery. We ain’t touching her goals. So that just leaves Silver. Silver would need to face a part of himself that keeps him from placing Flint’s goals, or Madi’s goals, over his own. (I suspect we circle back to that insecurity and need to be loved, which defo stems from whatever trauma he swears doesn’t affect who he is today.) So for that he’d uhh... need therapy. And a shit tonne of it. But then you still have the issue that Flint and Madi will likely fight their war (bc they DESERVE IT), which may lead to what Silver considers inevitable - that they will die early and horribly, and he ends up all alone.

So, looking at playing with the canon-ish to change things? It’s gonna end in tragedy. There’s doesn’t seem any other way about it, i fear; not with the way these characters were written, with who they are and what drives them and what they want. If it doesn’t end in tragedy in one way, then almost certainly in another.

So what are our other options? What if we look at the fanon wish - whether it’s silverflint, or silvermadi, or madisilverflint, or just to have these kids be fucking happy? Well, you know what? Maybe it DOESNT have to end up in tragedy. Maybe, if Silver does align himself with the goals of the people he loves - after learning to communicate and place himself in other people’s shoes and prioritise the needs of his loved ones and compromising and all that jazz (god this boy needs therapy that only the fanon can likely give him, rip) - he could join them in their war. And maybe, his genius and creativity and quick wit will in fact propel their cause forward and help so much, none of them dies an early gruesome death. It’s not impossible! It just requires that sweet sweet character growth he doesn’t get the opportunity for in canon.

Another option, and this one is perhaps a little more plausible if the show had no episode limit or a desire to end in tragedy and “align” itself with “history” (they’ve played fast and loose with real history i’ve learned, and like,, it’s a story about fictional characters so why did it have to align itself with history?? Okay fine, as a prequel to Treasure Island, it still needed to end in tragedy for Silver bc we know where he ends up. Were there no Treasure Island and no rules and we could do what we wanted with the show and write a new ending, then what?). This one is more popular, you see it in loads of fics and i like it a lot. Silver sends Flint to the plantation. Flint and Thomas break out and get their war anyway. They’re pissed at Silver for a bit for being a selfish dick shitting on Flint’s dreams, but like,, it’s not as if it stopped Flint. (We can even look at it like Silver knew they’d probably fight their war and have better odds with Thomas in the mix, giving them a better opportunity - but like, that’s just a fun headcanon to play with that i don’t think aligns with what he explicitly states to want in canon.) And then, after some years, everyone learns to communicate and talk things out and maybe, maybe, Silver grows a bit and things become healthier between him and Flint.

Listen, the moral of the story is this. I love all the ships in this show. I think they’re all neat, and i love the different iterations in which people bring them to life and try to align them with canon. Do i think that with the canon we’ve been given, silverflint could happen? Maybe. Would it be healthy?? I mean... Probably not 😅 but like, that doesn’t prevent me from shipping it. (That’s not the point of shipping - sometimes you just wanna see that sweet sweet chemistry pay off, even tho u know it ain’t healthy. The characters are fictional. It’s okay. No-one will get hurt - apart from maybe you if you end up romanticising it and taking that into real life but ooft that’s a whole other kettle of fish.) But god, that’s the fucking JOY of fanfics ya know?? It may also be why i enjoy writing my modern au so much xD therapy is an option, and canon means even less than usual. All im saying is, when it comes to the relation between silver and flint, the fan community are a fucking godsend. You want them to be friends?? We got fics for that! Want them to bone? SO many fics for that! Want a sort of father-son role?? Uhh nowhere near enough fics for that, but the fandom’s still active so you never know! Partners in crime?? Hell YEAH that has potential, even in canon i think if u just stretch out fan-written episodes far enough!! (God can you imagine the POTENTIAL?? Ignore the war, the grittiness, the drama. Get me some pirate hijinks where the stakes are low but they’re still sharing a braincell.)

(Hmm. Now i need to add another idea to my WIP list lmao xD)

Anywayyy, hope this satisfies ur curiosity anon!!

[melmoths]

james and thomas can build a happy life together post-canon.

i'll go out on a limb and say that it's the only plausible scenario for them - and not simply because i feel like they deserve it, but because i feel like their narrative arcs lead to that conclusion no matter what. 

of course the road to recovery would be long and hard, considering how deeply traumatised they both are, but once you accept that james mcgraw and james flint are not two separate people, that both james and thomas knew this, and that thomas is not a static character, no other future makes sense for them - whether they choose to retire and live a cosy domestic life or to dedicate themselves to another cause bigger than them both.

first things first: when silver claims that the man who reached savannah was not james flint, but james mcgraw he's lying. it's a lie! and not in the sense that it's something that he knows "deep down" even if he wishes things were different: it's a plain, old-fashioned lie, and he doesn't believe in it, not even for a second! he stands in front of madi, after having destroyed everything she's ever worked for and condemned her people (and many others) to centuries of oppression, and he lies.

'cause if he truly thought james was out of control and blinded by his rage over losing thomas, if he truly thought that getting thomas back would "kill" flint and his desire for revenge, if he truly thought thomas' death was the only reason he was fighting england, why bring james to savannah in the first place? why sell him into slavery? silver could have simply freed thomas (a man that he knew was innocent, by the way!) and let the two of them start a new life together wherever they wished - but he didn't, because he knew that james was truly fighting for the cause at that point, that he would have finished what he'd started because it was the right thing to do (and that thomas would have probably joined his efforts). killing him would have turned him into a martyr for the cause, so he had to remove him from the action entirely and spread the rumour he'd retired, and the fact that he chose for james the prison thomas was already in doesn't make it any better (eat my whole entire arsehole if you think otherwise).

i also want to stress the fact that not even james thinks james mcgraw and james flint are two different people. sure, james talks a lot about creating a persona that he later wants to get rid of, but he never truly believes he can separate himself from his own actions; that's why carrying their burden becomes harder and harder as time goes on. and on top of that, an element of performance is always present in the way he thinks about himself: he's a closeted gay man in XVIII century england! he's forced to live in a state where he has to lie constantly if he doesn't want to experience systemic violence. 

but he's always fully aware of who and what he is (despite being ashamed of it, at least before meeting thomas). he knows he's got a tender, gentle side and a much more violent, flawed one: he knows he possesses the potential for great violence - maybe he's not aware of how far he can go, but he knows he's capable of causing great harm, although it doesn't necessarily bring him joy (in fact he tends to opt for violent solutions only when he feels trapped, but changes his mind when shown another way that might lead to his desired outcome). james flint is his persona in the sense that he's a version of james mcgraw in which his "good" side isn't allowed to exist - a hyperviolent façade that doesn't fully match his true self, and a façade he has to keep up almost everyday until he's done what he needs to do (i know people like to call him "unhinged" a lot, but if you exclude his mental breakdown after miranda's death he's always in control of his actions).

and again, i think thomas and miranda were aware of james' violent side. miranda might have seen it first-hand, but i do think thomas knew about it as well. their connection is so deep ("my truest love," hello?) and they seem to know each other so fully that i don't think a relationship between them could have worked otherwise. maybe thomas heard of the fight that broke out between james and the officer that insulted him and miranda, and that got him thinking; maybe he worked it out otherwise (although i do believe they eventually talked about the fight, and about hennessey's weirdly protective attitude); but the fact that he's the one to come up with the pardons, unbeknownst to james, is pretty telling. it shows that despite his privilege thomas is instinctually more capable of understanding why disenfranchised people might turn to violence (i.e. piracy). and if he's ready to forgive all the pirates, all the violent men, why would he not extend the same courtesy to the one he loves? 

when he wrote "know no shame" he wasn't simply telling james not to be ashamed of being gay; he was telling him not to be ashamed of any part of himself, including the one that's more prone to violence, because at that point i don't think james truly believed himself worthy of being loved in his entirety, and thomas felt he had to fix that. and he succeeded - not immediately, of course, but by the time he'd come back from nassau james had fully internalised his message, based on the way he talks about his relationship with thomas to miranda and his wish to get away from london with the both of them (and ten years later, when james and miranda fight, he tells her that he does not feel ashamed of having loved thomas, but only of his inaction once thomas had been locked up in bedlam).

for this reason i don't believe that thomas would be "disgusted" by james' actions when they eventually reunite in savannah. i'm not saying he would enthusiastically condone all of them - he wouldn't go "hey, darling, good job on snapping your quartermaster's neck!", for example - but he would understand the motive behind them. he would understand why james - james who believed him dead, james who'd been stripped off the career he'd worked so hard for, james who had truly lost everything - felt like he had no other choice and put himself through so much pain. when james arrives in savannah i don't think thomas believes in reconciliation with england anymore.

i've noticed a weird tendency in this fandom to idealise thomas, to deny his growth in order to present him as flawless, as exclusively kind and "good" and stuck in time (often in opposition to post-london james). i hate it! 

first of all, i feel like this angelic persona does not fit his characterisation at all. he is a good man, but when his father says he's impertinent and self-righteous, or when miranda talks about how he'd basically make people wish they were dead during his salons, i don't get the impression that thomas is a tall giant who simply smiles at everyone and can do no harm. he's an extremely opinionated man that wants to do the right thing even if that makes him unbearable to the people in his proximity because, as james says, he truly believes in what he's saying and, just like james, he's shown to change his mind when presented with new facts; he's open to new ideas, and that's why he comes up with the pardons. 

second of all, we're talking about a man who's been betrayed by those closest to him, who's been imprisoned, tortured and dehumanised to the point that no one questioned his apparent suicide, who's been enslaved for ten years and subjected to yet more and more horrors. why would he not be a changed man, in the same way james is? why would his own ten years of hell not have stripped him of any trace of naivety he had left (the naivety inherent to his privilege and that had led him to believe that gradual change was the best solution), in the same way james was stripped of his after learning of peter's betrayal and seeing miranda killed in front of his eyes? just because this change happens offscreen for thomas it doesn't mean it doesn't happen at all. 

if anything, i would say that the conceptual passage from gradualism to revolution might have happened sooner for thomas than for james. let's also remember that when silver asks james if he'd trade the war to have thomas back again, james says thomas wouldn't want him to. he believes him dead, but he knew him well enough to be certain that if he were alive he'd agree with him that no compromise can be made with a colonial empire.

i'm also convinced that thomas always knew (or at least very strongly suspected) james was captain flint. he was imprisoned and isolated from the rest of the world, sure, but plantations didn't exist in a bubble where no news about the outside world could reach them (and the show makes it clear so many times). thomas is an extremely intelligent man. i doubt he would have had a hard time connecting the murder of his father, the rise of captain flint, the events of charlestown, the existence of an army of people still willing to follow a pirate captain in battle despite the pardons and tom morgan coming to look for him in savannah (although i suppose he thought james had found out he was alive and was going to get him out). when james shows up looking very much like a pirate, thomas is clearly happy beyond belief - but he doesn't strike me as someone who had no idea james might come to him someday.

that's why i think that any scenario in which james and thomas drift apart is not only completely unjustified, but extremely cruel and partly motivated by a desire to justify silver despite all evidence of him being a massive piece of shit. and justifying silver is justifying the english empire and all the atrocities it has inflicted - and i can't stand for that. in truth, i can't stand for any scenario in which two people who loved each other so dearly and were so harshly punished for it and for wanting to better society, even if just a little bit, don't get some measure of peace and happiness in which to heal together.

on a side-note, all the people who claim thomas was exactly like woodes rogers and that james' war was not really revolutionary because he was only waging it for selfish reasons fail to understand that:

1) thomas was trying to challenge the status quo and to defend a group of disenfranchised people in an age where criminals were seen as less than human and death sentences were extremely common, while woodes rogers was trying to preserve the status quo and to get rich in the process without giving much of a shit about pirates at all; 

2) every revolution or civil rights movement is at least partly motivated by selfish reasons: people don't want their loved ones and future generations to go through what they've gone through, and often seek some form of retribution in the process. and frankly, i don't care how "selfish" someone's motivations are as long as their actions lead to a more equal world and to better conditions for the people who inhabit it - and i'd rather fight alongside those who try to challenge hegemonic powers, whatever reasons they might have to do so, than be a passive observer of all the horrors that happen around me as long as they don't affect me directly.

anyway, love is real, james and thomas burn that plantation to the ground and silver sucks me good and hard through my jorts