#pirate diction

[moominofthevalley]

dear writers of tumblr how must one find historically accurate pirate lingo and diction

[copperbadge]

Just finished the Pirates short story and loved it, like all the Shivadhverse (though maybe warn for slight spoilers for R&R?) but have a slight nitpick - I've been involved with the rich yachting crowd in Australia and Olly does not at all strike me as a native Aussie. British expat brought up in the country maybe, but most of the uber-wealthy in Australia are linked to manufacturing or mining and still nouveau riche enough they'd disdain a hoity-toity place like Institut Alpin for young kids.

Anon, this is hilarious to me because you absolutely nailed it. Oliver McAllister was originally written as British :D

I changed it over basically because it felt more natural for him to be from the region, but I didn't really change much of his diction or behavior. I thought about it, but it's so easy to slide into stereotypes with Kiwi or Australian characters that I didn't want to risk it.

I may just shift it back. No reason he couldn't live there now but have grown up in England, and it makes a lot more sense in terms of attending Institut Alpin.

Still I will be laughing about this all day. Well done :D

[myrddin-wylt]

I'm sorry for bothering you but do you have any headcanons on how Alfred us very much his fathers son, personally I like them to be different, yes, but with enough glaring similarities in behaviour and the like to give a lot of the old world severe Deja vu for when Alfred does things, like when he genuinely takes control or that look of pure ambition he gets when he's thinking? They're different but not enough, Alfred seems to be stumbling awkwardly in his fathers footsteps and no one present likes that

(.... you sent this a week ago. 🙃)

I'm pretty sure Francis was less than thrilled when he first saw that Alfred was just as much a sailor and pirate as his father (a lot of American pirates/privateers were famous in their own right!), and frankly I can imagine the first time Alfred rolls up to Paris - presumably for the 1783 Treaty of Paris - Francis likely has a moment of realization that now he has to deal with two Arthurs but now they're both sovereign and Alfred is no longer constrained to the Americas and can leave if he wants. just imagine Francis's regret a century later when Alfred shows up at the head of the Great White Fleet, now the most powerful navy in the world second only to the British Empire.

actually, Alfred has a LOT of very similar behaviors to Arthur, and those actually increase once he gets independence because he uses Arthur as his guide and model for doing diplomacy and war and just being sovereign in general. so he uses a lot of similar negotiating tactics (though tweaks them a bit for his personality and situation), he speaks to other nations using Arthur's usual cadence and diction (at least until Arthur's accent changes), and he really, really copies Arthur's general bearing and even a little of his demeanor, or he at least tries to. he also - especially at first - really clings to certain habits Arthur had, whether it was tea-time or whatever. he eventually grows out of constantly imitating Arthur as he becomes more confident, experienced, and starts to really come into his own and use what works for him. at that point, he becomes similar to Arthur for entirely different reasons, which imo REALLY unnerves the other nations. because it's one thing to see Arthur's inexperienced kid trying to imitate his elders; it's another thing entirely to see him behave like that naturally.

Alfred is actually extremely like Arthur in most ways imo: very ambitious, thrifty, obsessed with legal procedure, highly independent and stubborn, very concerned with efficiency and productivity, and both are actually very cynical and suspicious of other people and as a result end up surprisingly aloof, but they do have a shared optimism and confidence, too (it's not like Arthur fueled his imperialist ambitions by being a defeatist). they're significantly different enough in demeanor and temperament that their similarities can be hard to notice a lot of the time, but a lot (not all) of their differences are superficial.

[theresattrpgforthat]

hi!!!! do you know of any poetry based/centric ttrpgs? solo or for more players!

THEME: Poetry Games

Hello friend, so I’m going to drop a few games that help you write poetry or use poetry creation tools, but I also recommend checking out lyric games! Lyric games are written such that reading them alone is a form of play. This means that reading these games is often an experience in itself, meant to evoke emotion in a similar way to the experience of reading poetry. It’s a movement within the ttrpg sphere that I’ve only heard of, but the conversations I’ve been witness to concerning lyric games is very intriguing.

Now, on to the recommendations.

No One Dies Alone in Revolution, by Robin Rudd.

No One Dies Alone In Revolution is a single-player poetry-writing ttrpg in which you play as an empyromancer, interpreting flame and smoke to identify each new revolutionary soldier's patron saint, all past martyrs of the cause, and composing the prayers they will call out in battle.

This game uses a deck of cards, a dice, and an associated oracle to tell the story of the saints who died, and the prayers you will write in their honour. This is a creative game deeply steeped in ritual, and I think it makes the poetry-creation process feel quite natural. The lines of the prayers have rules depending on the cards you draw and the dice you roll, determining metrical feet, details that must be included, and the emotions the prayer is meant to evoke. If you want a game whose emotions bleed out onto the page, you want to try this game.

Gentleman Bandit, by allison arth.

They call you the Gentleman Bandit, because no one knows your name. They call you a monster, a villain, a dealer of death.  But they don’t know you.

Not your Heart, your Poet’s Heart filled with rage or filth or the expansiveness of True Love; not your Grieving Heart loosed over a chasm, making a sound like the sorrow of wolves as it plummets toward wet river stones, cracked bones left to bleach.

In this writing-focused RPG, you personify the eponymous Gentleman Bandit to write a 13-line poem you'll leave for the dead — and the ones who discover them. Card draws guide the content of each line; optional dice rolls add poetic devices to further shape the experience and ratchet the difficulty.  Using a deck of cards, you consult an oracle to determine the theme and topic of each line of your poem. There are optional requirements you can include in your poetry creation, such as writing in meter, applying a rhyme scheme, using double meanings, or using words from a diction list. Your final poem will also help you determine your next poem, as you can compare your hand to different poker hands.

This game also has a multiplayer option, if you are playing with multiple people, and two successors: Moonblind and The Swallowtail. There's also the Gentleman Pirate supplement, for fans of Our Flag Means Death.

Reverie Cycle, by Caro Acersion.

Reverie Cycle is about a group of isolated individuals, each shunning their own troubles and trials. They record their waking thoughts in their journals, reflecting on the world around them. But at night, their dreams — poetic, sensory, abstract — blur and blend with each other, creating a shifting, liminal state of overlapping worlds. The poetry of these dreams cascades and reappears, and eventually tumbles into their waking world as well…

Reverie Cycle is a play-by-poem roleplaying game — it uses poetry as a form of play, and play as a form of poetry. You don't need to consider yourself a poet to play, but by the end of the game, you will be.

This is a game about dreamers, asking for help in overcoming obstacles they are afraid to acknowledge when they are awake. It’s also an online game, with instructions for setting up the game over a private chatroom, such as Discord. The game also comes with safety emojis that you can use as you play, allowing you to react using a shorthand that signals to the players that something about the current play needs to be changed without breaking the through line of messages. Character creation involves answering a number of playbooks for your character, and assigning their unique touchstones that show up in their dreams. If you want a collaborative poetry experience, I recommend Reverie Cycle.

Care for Hecuba, by Hy Libre!

These games are born from caring about helpless tragic characters. Hecuba, Medea, Semele, Medusa-- these are monstrous, vulnerable women whose function in the story is to gravitate toward an inevitable death. By playing these games you are caring for them, because Euripides and his contemporaries are dead and somebody needs to.

These games borrow tools and expectations from poetry, but they're all "playable". You might interact with them by just reading, or by asking a friend to play them with you, or changing them to be "playable" in a way you like, or by saying "Hmm!" and moving on.

These games have the rules written as poetry, and their modes of play may occasionally also bleed into your daily life - eripedes’ favourite game tells you to ‘clean your fucking room’, for example. This is possibly also an example of a lyric game, because it feels like you are playing it as you read it. The games feel very intimate, so if you want an intensely personal experience, consider Care for Hecuba.

[zootedanimist]

One of my favorite things is learning new words/phrases and the depth of old ones instilled in my brain. I’m going to try and make a comprehensive list of all the different ones I encounter because I know the limits of my mind and would bemoan losing any of them

like I saw this on social media “ur an impressionable teenage boy and i just added a thin veneer of mysticism to my right wing beliefs to make it seem like women's subjugation is actually their liberation” and like I CANT EXPRESS HOW MUCH I LOVE DICTION

you're not in your fleabag or sally rooney era. modern media has just excessively romanticized deranged mentally ill women and thus creating a whole generation of young women who would rather wallow in self imposed agony than get help and find healing because they think stability will make them mundane and uninteresting

I like trips to the apothecary store to stock up on reagents, potions and spirits

Someone in my Norwegian class didn't know the word for cowboys so called them

'American horse pirates' and l've been laughing about it for about an hour.

"Blood is thicker than water" is a bastardisation of the full quote:

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb".

Those who stand by you, those who support you - they are your family.

Bonds of loyalty and choice are stronger than mere genetics.

~white wolf

Yutori- Here in Japan, we have a concept called Yutori. And it is spaciousness…. it’s leaving early enough to get somewhere, so when you get there you have time to look around.

the japanese concept of yutori - the conscious act of slowing down to allow us to savour the world around us. the refusal to rush. no talking. just absorbing the world around us with no goal except to see. spaciousness.

this concept reminds me of the many opportunities and moments we take for granted to savour each day. a state of inner spaciousness.

[mademoiselleenrouge]

🌹 Welcome, dear visitor, to the enchanting realm of Mademoiselle en Rouge! 🌹

Step into my world, where words waltz and prose pirouettes amidst the splendor of imagination. Whether you seek solace in the serenade of sonnets or delight in the dalliance of diction, you'll find respite within these crimson-clad walls.

Here, amidst the flickering candlelight of creativity, every story is a journey waiting to be embarked upon, every character a companion eager to share their tale. From the cherished realms of fanfiction to the uncharted territories of original creation, there's a treasure trove of wonders awaiting your discovery.

So, dear reader, immerse yourself in the opulence of prose, let your imagination take flight on the wings of words, and join me as we traverse the boundless expanse of storytelling. Welcome to Mademoiselle en Rouge, where every page is an invitation to adventure and every word a whisper of magic.

At Mademoiselle en Rouge, our tapestries of tales span across vast and varied realms, catering to the diverse tastes of my cherished readers. Writing OCs, x reader and even character x character! I am thrilled to unveil a glimpse into the realms of fandoms I proudly explore and celebrate:

🌟 Persona 3 and Persona 5: Delve into the depths of the psyche, where shadows lurk and personas awaken, in mystirring tributes to the beloved Persona series.

🏴‍☠️ One Piece: Set sail on the Grand Line and join the Straw Hat Pirates on their epic quest for treasure, friendship, and adventure on the high seas.

⚔️ League of Legends: Enter the Rift and witness the clash of champions in our tales inspired by the legendary battles of Summoner's Rift.

🔥 Fire Emblem Heroes, Three Houses, and Three Hopes: From the battlefield to the academy halls, my stories weave intricate webs of strategy, romance, and heroism in the rich tapestry of the Fire Emblem universe.

And this is but a mere glimpse into the kaleidoscope of fandoms that grace this crimson-clad halls!

[moncherellie]

honeyyyy !! i just read your pirate ellie piece and i loved every second 🥺 srsly your diction is amazing. how’d you get into using the pirate-centric terminology? i noticed a lot of times you use words that were really flowery or even archaic? if thats the right word lol, but they worked so well to immerse me into the story 💕💕

hi!! thank you so much, i loved writing it :>>

as for the terminology, i looked up a lot of pirate vocab websites and ctrl + f some of the key words for any terms i wanted. i used a few different ones from people who just really love pirates, like this and this

part of the diction might be experience- i used to roleplay lol and i enjoyed putting myself in the shoes of someone much fancier. i guess i based a lot of the fanciness off characters like jack sparrow and from bg3. they're a little bit more formal but still have a sense of playfulness to them, which is what i was going for to set the pirate tone but still keep in fun for fanfic. a lot of it is just kinda my style too, which i've adapted after years of writing.

just have fun with it!! if you immerse yourself into the world you're making (for me, gay pirates) then i find the words flow easier :DD

[mingtinys]

. RECS

ateez .

pirate ! ateez au by @blossom-hwa

one of my first and favorite ateez fics i found . such amazing writing , i found myself reading all night for the members who weren't even my biases . heart breaking and beautiful . (yeosang's is my personal favorite) .

headcannons , all members , completed , angst , pirate!au , fluff

“sword and shield” by @blossom-hwa

such a compelling , interconnected , and flowing story line . the world building and characterizations of the ‘teezers is astounding . every single part is a must read no matter who you bias ! 

8 part series , all members , completed , angst , fluff , hurt/comfort , rebel!au

“lights out.” by @ateezmakemeweep

a sweet and wholesome fic for a sweet and wholesome boy . organic and refreshing dialog and interactions between reader , yunho , and the boys . i stayed up all night just to finish this , highly reccomend .

one shot , yunho x reader , angst , fluff , mutual pining , neighbors!au

mafia ! mingi au by @wordstro

absolutely painful and heart breaking , had me actually on the verge of tears . but also reader is written so well and realistically . this will seriously shatter your heart , so i 100% recommend .

two parter , mingi x reader , completed , heavy angst , minor fluff , mafia!au

"in this place, full of lies" by @wordstro

my current obsession . world building is out of this realm and reader , again , is written wonderfully and is total badass ! i've become a complete sucker for san since part 1 . also little shit wooyoung is my absolute favorite . the emotions ive gone through in this series is insane . definitely one go reread !!

20 part series , san x reader , finished , angst , apocalypse!au , exes!au

"some kind of disaster" by @daybreakx

my favorite seonghwa fic i've found so far ! the story telling is amazing and the interactions between seonghwa and the reader are just the right amount of angst . the analogy between the book and the overall story is woven is extremely well . plus jealous seonghwa !!

series , seonghwa x reader , completed , angst , hurt / comfort , exes!au , road trip!au

"cradle" by @lemonietrinket

ohhhh my god this story is so wholesome and fluffy !! the very first mingi fic i found and one i continuously go back to reread . this fic can make my day better in an instant , and the writing / vocabulary is addicting !

one-shot , mingi x reader , fluff , fluff , and more fluff

"figure it out" by @lokai-fi

i've been searching for a boxer!mingi au so long and this one scratches such an itch in my brain . amazing diction and lovely imagery all around . has a great mix of fun moments and angst . i keep going back to reread this one !

one-shot , mingi x reader , angst , hurt / comfort , boxer!au , friends to lovers

"jenga" by @bobateastay

this is one of these most wholesome and adorable fics ever , i can already tell i'll be reading this one over and over . drunk mingi is just too sweet . it's beautifully written and wonderful to read !!

one-shot , drunk!mingi x reader , fluff , friends to lovers

[strigwrites]

Prompt #15: Row (Gwendolyn)

In spite of her upbringing, Mother had absolutely no idea how to run a farm with any degree of success, but what she lacked in savvy, she made up for in grit. To get ourselves up and running, we spent most of our time bartering with skilled neighbors for absolutely everything, no charity allowed. This meant I was on my hands and knees cleaning Mr. Haverleigh’s floors with a toothbrush in exchange for his time building raised beds on our property and giving her advice on how to rotate her crops. And with our first real abundant season, the plague of zucchini we grew and couldn’t eat fast enough turned into two cans of paint from the Brownings so we could fix up the haggard exterior of our ramshackle cottage. After schoolwork, I milked goats and washed dishes and cleaned stables until we could stand on our own two feet. Before long, you might even call our situation respectable.

Indeed, as the years grew long, our surroundings changed, and so too did we. The garden beds stayed, but soon we added chicken coops bursting with speckled fowl, and after that was a shed to hold our growing supply of tools that we didn’t just borrow, but actually owned. With proper nutrition, I’d grown like a weed from a malnourished and sea-battered starveling into a limber and capable young lady. By the time I came of age, we were tilling rows and setting stakes in the ground for grapes, and the Gardener stead flourished into a proper vineyard. I had traded a pirate-child’s cant for the elevated diction of a precocious nobleman’s harpischord-playing prodigal daughter, nearly parodical in my commitment to the bit, but one can hardly blame me for trying to manifest my innermost wishes to have had another life all together in the ways I could control.

Despite the years that rolled by, however, two facts remained constant: the foremost was my mother’s staunch insistence that when I was a woman grown, I’d go make something out of myself and avoid the life she’d dragged me through. You can be anything, she said. But no child of mine is going to be a failure. She watched me learn to read and do sums, and if I shirked my academic duties for so much as a minute, she’d remind me that I could go back to cleaning latrines on a ship if I wanted to wallow in shit so badly. The second fact was that in spite of my insistence, no matter what sort of man Brother Leon was, she absolutely would not set foot inside a sanctum, so stop asking.

I had indeed found a friend in Brother Leon, and a valued mentor; he gave me the stability and a father figure I otherwise lacked, one whom my mother begrudgingly came to trust to look after me when I inevitably disappeared for hours to learn sword form and scripture at the sanctum’s community house. He showed me how to throw a proper punch, recite poetry, and weave a fishing net from cord. It was him who told me to be gentle with her; that even if her guilt was too heavy, the Twelve were not so weak as to be wholly contained by a holy house. He reassured me that they were looking out for her most because of that weight. And it was by his gentle guidance that I enlisted the day of my 18th birthday.

[sauntervaguelydown]

yall know I complain about tf fanfic using a weird almost-pirate accent for Jazz, anyway, I went back and played a few episodes of the show to hear his accent in G1 original

tbh it's not what I thought it was either. I think I still have a lot of TFA Jazz getting mixed around in my inner audio files

In G1 it definitely drops the "r" sound sometimes, like for "enuhgon", but it almost has like... a southwest quality?? like there's a little bit cowboy adjacent to it??? sometimes the long vowels get split like "tie-yem" for "time". Anyway I was right about it being "yuh" for "you" at least, in a way that's common enough it would be weird to write out every time only for him.

picked out a line to do phonetically from ep2:23 - "Face it stascream this ti-um you jus ain gonna wi-un"

really no pronunciation here worth transcribing phonetically in fiction unless you're trying to be like... actively racist, but we can confirm that "ain't" is natural to the diction and so is the short "ya" when "You" isn't being emphasized

tho I guess if it's continuity soup you can use whatever accent you want...

what the fuck Crothers is the guy who played Dick Hallorann????

[theseourbodiesrp]

Claire had joined the rest of Blackbeard's entourage when the man himself had boarded the Revenge. And had immediately felt drawn to The Gentleman Pirate; there was something in him--perhaps his kindness, perhaps his fairness, perhaps his general air of... acceptance? Of everyone around him-- that reminded her of things she'd rather forget. Had tried to forget for years.

Still. She watched him while going about her duties, and everything about him made her heart feel... alive. Though her loyalty was to Israel Hands (the man who had saved her), and by extension, Blackbeard, she couldn't help but be fascinated by the other Captain. He read stories to the crew?! She hadn't been read to since--

So when Lucius came up to her asking if she knew how to write, to take diction, she had said yes. Thank God, he'd breathed. I'm gonna be occupied for a while, and uh. The Captain might need a scribe.

Thank me, Lucuis, she'd answered with a grin. God isn't exactly lurking on the ship. And he had taken her hand, given an exaggerated gallant bow over it, and then covered it in kisses. She'd laughed, embarrassed by his show of gratitude. But then he'd squeezed her hand, and slung an arm around her shoulders for a moment, holding her to him. Thank you, Claire, goddess divine. Angel. Hallowed being. She'd swatted him away. And seen making for the hold with Pete and Fang. Well, good for him. Someone on this ship be having a good time enjoying each other, since the Captains so clearly weren't.

Yet.

"Captain Bonnet?" She asks, striding up to the man with a confidence she doesn't quite feel. But she'd never let that stop her. "Lucius, uh. Asked me to attend to you. He's feeling a little unwell and didn't want to leave you without a scribe." She suppresses the grin that would give both of them away, by managing to frown. "Is there-- are you in need of... a scribe?" Her voice doesn't shake, but all the same the words are hesitant.

@gentlepyrate

[metataxy]

Headcanons for how Star Wars characters swear

Maul, despite being an assassin and mercenary, was raised to be Very Respectful or Suffer the Consequences by Sidious, so I don’t see him swearing. Plus, I feel like he subconsciously idealizes his old master and copies his mannerisms despite hating his guts--we saw a bit of that in the Clone Wars with the voice actor’s decision to use a very elevated diction.  It’s the voice we might expect of a guest lecturer or a statesman, not a madman who’s been stuck on a trashplanet for ten years.

Ventress, on the other hand?  Literally spent her infancy raised by a pirate, then spent the next 21 years on a rough Outer Rim planet.  Has zero forks left.  I assume Dooku expected some measure of decorum in his presence or in public from her, but the rest of the time, I imagine Ventress uses a very diverse vocab of cursewords.

[lannasroleplaymemes]

BO BURNHAM: INSIDE Sentence Starters

From Bo Burnham’s newly released Netflix special. Trigger warning for mentions of suicide and generally pessimistic/cynical statements, plus swear. Tweak as needed.

"It's a beautiful day to stay inside." "Daddy made you your favorite, open wide." "The world is so fucked up." "There's only one thing I can do about it...while being paid." "Should I be joking at a time like this?" "Don't panic, call me." "Should I stop trying to be funny?" "Should I give away my money? NO." "I'm a special kind of guy." "I self reflected and I want to be an agent of change." "So I am going to use my privilige for the good." "So maybe I should just shut the fuck up." "I don't wanna do that." "I'm ___ and I'm here to save the day." "And yes they'll pay me, but I'd do it for free." "I'm healing the world with comedy." "If you start to smell burning toast, you're having a stroke or you're overcooking your toast." "Somebody help me out, 'cause I don't know." "And I want to help to leave this world better than I found it." "Welcome to whatever this is." "Trying to distract myself from putting a bullet into my head with a gun." "Pour me a drink and clear my schedule." "These 40 minutes are essential." "Say hi to dad." "And that's the deepest talk we've ever had." "Today we're gonna learn about the world." "I've been in a frightening liminal space between states of being. Not quite dead, not quite alive." "It's similar to a constant state of sleep paralysis." "The simple narrative taught in every history class is demonstrably false and pedagogically classist." "Don't you know the world is built with blood and genocide and exploitation?" "Private property's inherently theft." "Every politician, every cop on the street protects the interests of the pedophilic corporate elite." "Just don't burden me with the responsibility of educating you, it's exhausting." "I'm sorry, I was just trying to become a better person." "Why do rich people insist on seeing every socio-political conflict through the myopic lens of your own self-actualization?" "This isn't about you. So either get with it, or get out of the fucking way." "Have you not been fucking listening?" "I can't go...I can't go back. I'm sorry." "Are you going to behave yourself?" "Yes. Yes Sir..." "I learned my lesson and it hurt." "I come in and I put their fears to rest." "Tell them you're against racism -- in theory." "Will you support us in the fight against lyme disease?" "There's no sugarcoating it, the world is fucked up." "An avocado, a poem written in the sand..." "Is this heaven or is it just a white woman's instagram?" "It's been a decade since you've been gone." "Your little girl didn't do too bad." "Is that...is that necessary?" "Can anyone, any single one of you, just shut the fuck up? Just about any single thing? For an hour? Is that possible?" "Who needs a coffee 'cause I'm doing a run?" "I'm an unpaid intern." "And since you can't afford a mortgage, you just torrent a porn." "If you had told me this a year ago, I would've said 'Interesting, now leave me alone.'" "Look, I'm confused. I'm very, very confused." "Oh, if I'm self-aware that I'm a douchebag, it'll make me less of a douchebag." "Am I balding?" "This is really, really disturbing." "Amateurs can fucking suck it." "Fuck their wives, drink their blood!" "A handful of bug-eyed salamanders in silicon valley..." "Maybe that as a way of life, forever, maybe that's um...not good." "I'm...horny." "It isn't sex it's the next best thing." "Tonight I'm thinking of taking it slow." "We'll use emojis only." "We don't need phonetical diction." "We'll talk dirty like we're ancient Egyptians." "What if now you think that I'm implying your vagina is as big as a Ferris wheel?" "Crisis averted, thank god." "They made the internet for nights like this." "I love you, baby. Send a picture of your tits, please." "Jesus fucking Christ I guess I never learn." "My phone's flash is my only light and the flash makes my dick look frightened." "I chicken out and send a picture of my face instead." "My dick looks like the baby from eraserhead." "So I send it to you and then my phone dies." "One hand on my dick and one hand on my phone." "Another night on my phone, yeah." "I'm not feeling good." "All my clothes are dirty." "What's up you useless fuck?" "I haven't had a shower in the last nine days." "I'm not really feeling like I wanna get lit." "My current mental health is rapidly approaching an all time low." "Yeah, so um, yeah, not doing so great." "Do I really have to finish?" "Do returns always diminish?" "Did I say that right?" "I wrote offensive shit and I said it." "Times are changing and I'm getting old." "My bed is empty and I'm getting cold." "I'm problematic." "He's a problem." "Are you gonna hold me accountable?" "I'm gonna go home and burn it." "I've been totally awful." "And I'm really fucking sorry." "Bitch I'm trying to listen." "Well that's fine, you radiate such youth." "Yay." "Nooooooo!" "God...goddammit." "Oh yeah? Well your fucking phones are poisoning your minds, okay?" "So when you develop a dissociative mental disorder in your twenties, don't come crawling back to me." "My stupid friends are having stupid children." "I'll be 40 and kill myself then." "I just want to say for the record, um, that I do not want to kill myself, okay?" "Can you not, please?" "There are people that love y--I mean, that's not true, necessarily, but there could be." "Are you tired of it? Never mind, I don't want to know." "Welcome to the internet." "There's no need to panic." "Don't act surprised, you know you like it, you whore." "Apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime." "And that has made me completely freak out." "So, yeah, who fucking cares?" “Is it just me or do pirates need to take better care of their fucking maps?”

[not-wholly-unheroic]

On the Origins of Hook: The Complicated and Often Contradictory Backstory of a Villain

The story of Peter Pan has been told and retold in writing, on the stage, and on the big screen countless times, yet in the original storyline, we are thrust into a world with a pre-established (and presumably long-standing) relationship between its hero and villain with little information regarding their pasts. So far as the audience is concerned, Peter and Hook have always been a part of the Neverland...yet as evidenced by the many retellings that attempt to answer the question of these characters’ origins, clearly, people want to know more. Barrie, however, leaves a great deal to the imagination and while he tackles a bit of Peter’s past in The Little White Bird, there is significantly less information about Hook in his writings, and much of it is up for debate, as Barrie arguably contradicts himself. 

In terms of canon (which for the purposes of this article I am limiting to Barrie’s final published version of the novel), much of what we know about Hook can only be inferred from a few brief passages. In the initial introduction of the pirates, Barrie gives us the following description of Hook:

In the midst of them, the blackest and largest in that dark setting, reclined James Hook, or as he wrote himself, Jas. Hook, of whom it is said he was the only man that the Sea-Cook feared. He lay at his ease in a rough chariot drawn and propelled by his men, and instead of a right hand he had the iron hook with which ever and anon he encouraged them to increase their pace. As dogs this terrible man treated and addressed them, and as dogs they obeyed him. In person he was cadaverous and blackavized, and his hair was dressed in long curls, which at a little distance looked like black candles, and gave a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance. His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging his hook into you, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly. In manner, something of the grand seigneur still clung to him, so that he even ripped you up with an air, and I have been told that he was a raconteur [storyteller] of repute. He was never more sinister than when he was most polite, which is probably the truest test of breeding; and the elegance of his diction, even when he was swearing, no less than the distinction of his demeanour, showed him one of a different cast from his crew. A man of indomitable courage, it was said that the only thing he shied at was the sight of his own blood, which was thick and of an unusual colour. In dress he somewhat aped the attire associated with the name of Charles II, having heard it said in some earlier period of his career that he bore a strange resemblance to the ill-fated Stuarts; and in his mouth he had a holder of his own contrivance which enabled him to smoke two cigars at once. But undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw.

From this, we may be able to draw a few conclusions about who Hook was before he came to the island. (1) He was likely a sailor, if not a pirate, BEFORE he met Peter, given that he had previous interactions with “The Sea Cook”--that is, Long John Silver. (2) He was alive and most likely an adult by the mid 1700s, as in Treasure Island, Billy Bones--a former crewmate of Silver’s--has the date 1745 in his log and the dates 1750 and 1754 on his treasure maps. (3) Hook’s hairstyle and fashion is similar to that of Charles II, whose reign ended with his death in 1685. 

We are also informed by John that Hook was supposed to have been Blackbeard’s bosun. Blackbeard was born somewhere around 1680 and may have been a privateer earlier in his career at sea, but he didn’t actually take up piracy until 1716 and had only a very brief reign of terror before he was killed off the coast of North Carolina in 1718. Assuming Hook was meant to be Blackbeard’s bosun after he went pirate, this gives us a pretty narrow window of time during which Hook might have interacted with him. And, if we take the comment about the Sea Cook seriously, then Hook must have been pretty young at the time he worked for Blackbeard, given that there is a twenty-seven year gap between Blackbeard’s death and the earliest date Billy Bones offers in connection with Silver. 

Hook also uses words and phrases such as, “Pan, who and what art thou?” which would seem to indicate that he is from a time period centuries before the Darlings come to visit. (“Thee” and “thou” had pretty much completely fallen out of common use in English by the late 1700s/early 1800s.)

So far, so good. The dates might make it a bit of a stretch, but we can pretty comfortably say that prior to Neverland, Hook was a sailor--and probably a pirate--during the 1700s, was likely born in the late 1600s, and was possibly a related to Charles II, who had many illegitimate children. This possibility fits nicely with Barrie’s statement that, “Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze.”

We don’t know much about his parentage, however, except that Hook’s voice cracks when he is speaking to Smee about mothers regarding the neverbird’s refusal to leave her eggs even after the nest falls into the water. Whether this is because he was close to his own mother and is lamenting her loss or he had a rather indifferent (or even cruel) mother and he is lamenting his own lack of a loving childhood is up for debate, though the official sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet--written in 2006 by Geraldine McCaughrean--favors the second interpretation. (Again, however, for the purposes of this article, I am only considering Barrie’s published novel as canon.)

We also learn that Hook attended Eton, a rather prestigious school for boys between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. Assuming Hook completed his schooling there and was, therefore, at least eighteen by the time he joined up with Blackbeard, it would place his being born somewhere close to 1700. Assuming his interaction with Long John Silver was, at the earliest, probably around 1745, and that this interaction happened prior to his visiting the Neverland, it puts Hook (physically) at approximately age 45 by the time we meet him in the book, give or take a bit.

There are two potential problems with that timeline, however. (1) In Barrie’s original novel, only Peter stays young forever. The boys can technically grow up, and Peter “thins them out” when they do. (Decide for yourself whether that means banishment or something worse.) If this is the case, Hook shouldn’t still be alive or, even if the aging process is slowed down, at the very least, he should be an old man, given that the Darlings visit in the early 1900s...making him at least two hundred years old. (2) Near the end of the book, when Hook is trying to convince the boys to join his pirate crew and John asks innocently whether they would still be loyal subjects of the king, Hook responds with, “You would have to swear, ‘Down with King George!’” John (and likely the audience) assumes here that Hook is talking about King George V, who would have been the present king of England at the time the novel was published. If this is the case, how does Hook know who the king is? Has he been able to leave the island and find out this information? Or is Hook, perhaps, from a more modern era than we suspect? Cleverly, Barrie leaves this question open-ended, as Hook could just as easily have been referring to King George the First, who ruled England from 1714 until 1727. 

As for personal hobbies, we know only that he loves flowers and plays the harpsichord--an instrument that was once quite popular but which had fallen out of favor by the 1800s, replaced by the piano. 

The rest of the information we get from Barrie about Hook’s origins comes primarily from his “Hook at Eton” speech, delivered in 1927--many years after his original play (1904) and novel (1911). And here’s where things get interesting (read: contradictory). Because he wrote the speech so many years later,  as a sort of afterthought, and because of the inconsistences with the novel, I personally reject this information as canon. Nevertheless, it is Barrie’s take on his own character and, therefore, is worth at least considering.

In this work, we are told that Hook not only attended Eton but also--at least briefly--went to Oxford. This in and of itself poses no major problems for the timeline suggested by the novel.  What DOES pose a problem, however, is the fact that Barrie claims to have been in contact with Hook’s “Aunt Emily”--apparently his closest surviving relative--and has been in search of possible photographs of Hook during his time there. This would indicate that Hook MUST be from a much later, more modern era than the book suggests, as photography didn’t really come into fashion until the mid-1800s, and even if “Aunt Emily” is quite old (and she is likely a good fifteen to twenty years OLDER than Hook if we assume she is near in age to one of his parents) at the time of Barrie’s supposed meeting with her, she couldn’t have reasonably been expected to have been born before the early 1800s, placing Hook’s own birth nearer to the 1850s. While some of the information in the novel might be explained away to fit with this date (his choice of dress and hairstyle, for instance), he could not possibly have interacted with Blackbeard or Long John Silver. In fact, he could not have been a pirate--at least, not in the traditional sense--at all, as the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s--1730s) had long passed and the Age of Sail ended in the 1860s. Because of this inconsistency, some have argued that Barrie may have intended Hook to be a more modern man who essentially became trapped in a child’s fantasy land. He became a “pirate” only AFTER his interactions with Pan--that is, he took on the role of a villain because that is how Peter and the children imagined him--and that John’s assertions about his interactions with Blackbeard and Silver are merely rumors that the boy has heard.

Setting aside this apparent contradiction in the timeline, we DO learn some other interesting facts about Hook. For instance, Hook’s blood (which was said in the novel to be thick and strangely colored), is specified as having been yellow. This, along with his appearance having been described in the novel  as “cadaverous” has lead some to conclude that Hook was likely rather sickly as a child. We also learn that Hook enjoyed the Lake poets and strawberry mess (a dessert),  collected keys, performed well in sports while at Eton (though he did not like water sports as he rather surprisingly hated the feeling of water on his skin), and played the flute. We also learn that he was politically conservative and was probably never in a romantic relationship. 

There are a few other bits of information about Barrie’s idea of Hook that can be found in the early manuscripts for the play, which feature “deleted scenes.” One such manuscript--the earliest, I believe--can be found here. (Though good luck with reading it without going cross-eyed because Barrie’s handwriting is BAD.) However, I think this post has gone on long enough, yet we are still left with many unanswered questions. But perhaps this is what Barrie intended all along. Perhaps, fittingly, we are ultimately left to fill in the blanks about this villain of the Neverland with our own imagination. 

_____

Thanks to @katherinenotgreat for asking me to do a post on Hook’s origins. Thanks also to @concordia-cum-sinistro for your input. Feel free to add your own information regarding the original manuscript drafts, as I know you are more familiar with them than I am.

[margridarnauds]

Scattered Thoughts on Treason: The Musical

[warning for some critical discussion]

The Cold Hard Ground: 

First song I listened to. 

God, we’re getting DARK. This is seriously a mix between a villain song and a hero song, and I’m HERE for it. 

This is the one I’m possibly most interested in, because it’s really making me wonder how they’re going to portray the plotters: Are we going to be seeing them as fanatics, or as heroes, or somewhere in-between? In this song, it looks like Catesby is a man broken by grief who turned to fanatical religion as a way of coping with his own suicidal tendencies. 

“So TAKEEEEE MEEEEEEEEEEE. You won’t BREEEEEAAAAAK meeee, it’s too late to SAAAAAAAAVVVVEEEE MEEEEEE.” 

GOD those final notes are going HARD. 

At first, I thought that it was rather scattered, musically wise, but the more I listen to it, the more I think it’s brilliant because the music comes together by the end, as Catesby seems to calcify in his convictions. 

I’ll be really curious to see how anyone but Hadley serves this, but a solid 80% of this song, at the moment, is built on his impressive performance. I’ll be really curious in knowing how the livestreams went. 

Take Things To Our Own Hands: 

Honestly, my favorite song on the album, probably one of them that I can best visualize on stage. 

WE NEED TO THINK OF A WAAAAAY TO BRING THE WHOLE SHIP DOWN.

Favorite vocal moment: When all the conspirators’ voices join one another, and then the moment at the end where it sounds almost like a church’s choir. 

I absolutely LOVE the slick folkish feel to this, paired with the driven pace, it’s like if “The Story Told” from Monte Cristo decided to go folk, I love it. It really has a feel that I don’t see many musicals going for (Hadestown being the closest, though it goes in a jazzier style than this) , and that’s something really in its favor. If the rest of the songs follow this level of quality and tone, this musical is going to be a really, really fun ride.  

Also, it’s very interesting in terms of how, even though this is the conspirators’ “Pump Me Up” song, there’s this very DARK overtone to it, which makes sense given what they’re proposing. Their voices go increasingly hard, almost into a staccato, and I wonder how much of that is diction VS them showing how hardened and increasingly radicalized the conspirators are becoming. 

That being said: “I once had influenza but now that’s all gone when things turned sour”?????????????????? I’m trying desperately to wrap my head around this lyric, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

The lyrics in this particular song are, admittedly, its weakest point: They tend to be very, very repetitive, but, in all honesty, it doesn’t really bother me - It works with that mood of the conspirators becoming radicalized. 

I know that Hadley tends to get most of the kudos for this song, but the other conspirators (Waylon Jacobs, Oliver Savile and Emmanuel Kojo) deserve MASSIVE kudos for their performances, I’m seriously going to be looking into all of them after this. 

The Day Elizabeth Died 

I started off not really caring for this song, but I’ve really warmed to it. 

I’m really curious about who the main singer in this song is supposed to be, because I feel like that will really change how I feel about the lyrics specifying that she had “An inch of makeup on her face”. If we’re supposed to view this from the perspective of a devoutly religious 17th century Catholic woman, I can understand it more than a Protestant woman, given that it really, really works with some misogynistic stereotypes about Elizabeth. 

So, the singer’s apparently Anne Vaux, which makes sense. Okay, I’ll give them this one. A little period-accurate internalized misogyny can be good for the soul. 

I LOVE Rebecca La Chance’s voice. It’s so wonderfully clear and strong, delicate, but with steel beneath it. 

There’s something almost....wistful, melancholy, and isolated about this song? It strikes a very odd balance between being sympathetic to Elizabeth (some say she died of a broken heart) while condemning her reign. 

ALSO. BEST VOCAL MOMENT ON THE ENTIRE ALBUM. “We mourned for her, she was our queen, and for 45 years, she had reigned supreme.” And then the conspirators coming on with “WE DID NOT MOOOOOURRRRN FOR HER. SHEWASOURCAPTOR.” I could, legitimately, listen to that bit alone on repeat, I’m actually obsessed with it. That odd, conflicted feeling between Elizabeth having been Queen for longer than most of England had been alive, providing a sense of stability, while also the very real persecution that English Catholics were under. This is the kind of nuance I really want to see the musical carry forward. 

Blind Faith

I don’t really know what to say except that Martha Percy’s love for Thomas Percy is juxtaposed with Thomas Percy’s feelings for Catesby. 

Literally. 

That’s the song. 

If this musical ever develops a fandom, there are going to be a hundred Catesby/Thomas fics, with James/Thomas being the darkhorse fic. 

It’s hard to judge this one, simply because it’s much more conventional love song - It sounds similar to, for example, “That Would Be Enough”, if Alexander Hamiltpn decided to blow up George III instead of join the American Revolution. It’s a TWIST on the conventional love song, but it still follows similar beats. 

But I DO love how their voices go together, the song really starts to shine when that happens. 

That last “This path was MINE to choose, he has nothing to prove”, probably is the best vocal moment. 

Overall, I don’t have MANY thoughts on this song in comparison to the others, but I can also see myself warming up to it over time. 

The Promise

“His face is quite nice” It’s VERY obvious they’re going for a queer comic relief interpretation of James, which I honestly have mixed feelings about given that he is, clearly, going to be the one that our protagonists are trying to get rid of. There’s.....something about that, a bunch of presumably straight protagonists ganging up to kill a stereotypically portrayed gay man. I know that historically, James WAS, but.....I still don’t like how stereotypical they played this one. Someone could point to Herod from JCS but, in all fairness, Herod was written in the 1970s (and, tbh, given that the central relationship in the musical is Jesus and Judas, you could argue that the entire musical is very, very homoerotic, which makes it less glaring.) This is...well, I’ll have to see how the musical deals with it. I’m willing to give it a fair shake, but they might have set themselves up for danger here. 

But Daniel Boys is, admittedly, serving this song on a silver platter. 

Really, really going into the Spoiled Child Route here. 

If it sounds like I’m disappointed with this song compared to the others, it’s because......yeah, I kind of am. Musically, it’s fine and a little catchy, lyrically, it’s fine, but that nuance I’d been seeing in the other songs goes out the window. James isn’t my favorite historical figure of all time (Bro basically set up the English Civil War), but there still HAD to be a better way to do him justice than this. 

It doesn’t hurt that, unlike the other songs, which were demonstrably TREASON, this one is very much.....a JCS/Hamilton rip-off. Like, it’s very, very blatant. 

Love the rising strings when Percy tells him that Elizabeth is dying, that sense of tension - It does remind me a little of something I heard in The Pirate Queen, but you know what? I’ll give it to them. 

Lowkey obsessed with Oliver Saville’s eyebrow raise when he says “You could save England.” 

The problem is that they’re leaning so hard into the comic route that, when James says that he’ll be a fair king, it really, really makes the Catholic nobility sound dumb as Hell to listen to him. Like “Yes, man who routinely, gleefully sings about cutting off people’s heads, I’ll listen to you!” I know they’re desperate but....come on. 

But also. THAT HIGH NOTE. Daniel Boys really put 110% in there. 

Overall, my takeaway is that this musical could either do very, very well or very, very badly, depending on how they play it. It’s hard to judge because the public only has access to 5 tracks (except for the lucky ducks who bought tickets to the stream, where they got access to 10) - It’s hard to judge a musical based off of 5 tracks, and a musical about the Gunpowder Plot with, say, a love song called “Blind Faith” almost sounds like something out of a parody, something destined to be one of those flops that go down in history. BUT, that being said, the musical has some very strong vocal performances and some really good music, when it keeps to its own mood and style instead of trying to go off of what other, more successful musicals have done. There’s some real, real promise in this musical, and I’ll be both anxious and excited to see how it all turns out (and if they ever offer a full purchase for the live recording......I’d honestly probably buy it.) It was a shame I found out about it so late in the game, because I’d have totally bought tickets to the stream if I had known earlier. 

[the-witch-and-her-husbands]

First Impressions

‘Some men have died, and some are alive. And others sail on the sea, with the keys to the cage and the Devil to pay! We lay to Fiddler's Green!’

The figure sang lustily in a soft, high pitched voice as it confidently wove its way through the streets and back passages of Tortuga, making for the docks. As it passed under a sputtering torch, it was suddenly obvious that the shapely form belonged to a female, clad as she was in breeches, boots, and a long jacket which made her indistinguishable from the other denizens of that famous port.

Unbeknownst to her, a pair of roguish eyes was watching her from the shadows. They belonged to the notorious James Hook, former bo’sun of the pirate who all pirates feared. Hook was not his true name. His true name was lost to the annals of history. No, Hook was a moniker, to represent the deadly steel implement that replaced his right hand upon the loss of it. Fortunately for him, he was just as deft and deadly with his left as his right had ever been.

He emerged from his hiding place, deciding to follow the one who had caught his attention. His hair hung in long dark curls, resembling nothing more and nothing less than black candles. When he passed into the light, it was obvious that his countenance was handsome, remarkably so, and almost regal.

‘That’s a dangerous song to be singing,’ he remarked casually as he caught pace with the mysterious figure. There was an elegance to his diction, a passing nod to his private education at the likes of Eton and Cambridge. ‘Especially for a woman. Especially for a woman…alone.’ He caught hold of her wrist then, forcing her to come to a stop. Only for her protection, of course.

At that moment, three men who had been trailing the woman for some time at a discreet distance decided to step forward and make themselves known. ‘What makes you think she’s alone?’ The oldest man with mutton-chop sideburns spoke first.

While Hook’s attention had been temporarily diverted by the sudden appearance of the others, the young woman took the opportunity to swiftly pull a small dagger from the top of her boot. She whirled round like a dervish, pinning the much larger Hook to the wall solely through the element of surprise. ‘What makes you think I need protecting?!’ she hissed, pointing the tip of her dagger into a tender spot under his jaw.

Now that their faces were mere millimetres apart, it was clear to Hook the identity of the female who had managed to catch him off guard. ‘Jilomena!’ He smiled widely, becoming his most charming without much effort. ‘Your Royal Highness,’ Hook continued, simpering. ‘Please forgive an old man. ‘Tis dark, and I did not see you properly. For you must remember me, I am an old friend of your father! ‘Tis I, James Hook!’

The young woman released her hold and stepped back then, squinting as she verified what the man had said. It was true, every word. She was the only daughter, the only child, of the old Pirate King. He had retired to land to live with Jilomena’s mother as soon as the girl was old enough to captain his ship, unwilling to be parted from his love for a moment longer. And now the girl, Jilomena, was Captain in her own right of the Aquae Regina. The Aquae Regina was the most feared ship upon the sea, manned by a fiercely loyal crew who would sooner slit a throat than hear one word of disrespect uttered about their Captain.

After a tense moment, she recognised the identity of the man who had accosted her. ‘Aye, Jas.’ A grin began to stretch across her face. Truly, she was the only person who could get away with addressing Hook in such a manner. ‘’Tis been a long time, for certain.’

‘Please. Allow me to offer a lady, nay, a Princess, a drink to amend for my boorish behaviour, onboard my ship.’ Hook swept his hat from his head, bowing low before her.

Who could resist such charming manners? With such a handsome man making her this offer, there was no way the girl could resist, Princess or no.  She nodded her acquiescence, taking the arm he was so gallantly offering.

‘Captain?’ The mutton-chopped man, Gibbs, looked to her questioningly for her orders.

‘Return to the ship and keep watch til I return. I’ll be just fine.’ She rewarded Hook with a dazzling smile, not even bothering to look at her men as she sauntered away with the older Captain.

Loyally, they watched her until she was out of sight. The last glimpse they had was of a sheath of tight blonde braids being tossed over a shoulder nonchalantly.

The only fears they had regarding safety were for the older man accompanying their Captain. There wouldn’t be enough of him left for the seagulls to pick over, were he to displease her.