flyingfish1 reblogged
stringer bell’s last words (3.11) // charles vane’s last words (3.09)
flyingfish1 reblogged
bro. I’m like. thinking about how Vane betrayed Teach for Eleanor and then later expected her to betray Richard for him in kind and they were gonna be Free Of Fathers together but then she Didn’t and he saw it coming but he had still been Hoping she would, you know? It’s like that post from @nemesick about how Anne was so angry at Max for not being unfailingly loyal to her after she rescued her in the same way that she was loyal to Jack after her rescue, not out of a sense of entitlement but because, from Anne’s perspective, that’s just What You Do. Same idea with Vane and father-betrayals… That’s just What You Do for love but then Eleanor Doesn’t. Does this make any sense? I’ve been despondent over this for days now.
Oh man. Yeah.
First off, those two father-child relationships are incredible to compare. On the one hand you have Teach, who seemingly always wanted reconciliation/partnership with Charles, even though Charles was the one who broke things originally and pushed him away, and then on the other hand you have Richard Guthrie, who basically waited until Eleanor had proven herself to him a hundred times over to ever give her the time of day. Like Teach’s whole line about how he doesn’t seek out this partnership because he thinks Charles is powerful, or because he wants more protection or strength — he literally just loves Charles like a son. And Richard Guthrie waits until he can finally see everything Eleanor’s accomplished. This idea of them both being “Free of Fathers” really only worked originally because it was Charles’ choice to cast off Teach, but Eleanor had no control over her father’s love at all. So when she finally gets a /shred/ of that love from her father and Charles takes it away, she’s furious.
(It’s possibly I’m being overly harsh with Richard Guthrie right now but honestly who cares fuck that dude.)
You’ve said something before about how one of the reasons Vane wants his relationship with Eleanor to work out so badly is because it would justify what happened with Teach and it’s like! That’s what it’s about! I always thought the “Loyalty, Jack, it’s supposed to mean something” line was just slightly hypocritical, but it’s honestly a great insight into Vane’s character. Loyalty equals love, in his mind. Betraying Teach for Eleanor was huge for him, something he’s still guilty about, but he did it because he loved her. It’s less about him wanting Eleanor to cast off her father, and more about her choosing /him/ above anyone else. And she doesn’t, because she doesn’t see it that way at all.
Yeah, no, RIGHT!!!!!
Like. Casting off Teach was Vane’s choice. A choice Eleanor manipulated him into making for her own personal gain, yeah, but he still could have said no. But instead, he chose to go through with it, to justify it as this act of loyalty and love for Eleanor.
With Richard I think, if anything, you were too nice to him. He abandons Eleanor, doesn’t care about her at all, and then returns only to manipulate her via her desperate desire for a relationship with him so that she’ll do what he wants. From Vane’s perspective, the choice ought to be even more clear to her than it was for him with Teach. Obviously, Eleanor should tell her asshole father to go to hell and prove her love and loyalty once and for all just as he did by- Oh… or not…
Because, like you say, from Eleanor’s perspective, she had completely fallen for her father’s manipulation. She actually believed that, by betraying Vane, she was “starting to build something with him,” and the desire for that was much more deeply ingrained into her than her desire to be loyal to any romantic relationship.
And it’s such a tragedy because, in killing Richard, I legitimately do think that part of Vane felt like he was he helping Eleanor… Like. consider the wording of “And as I am free, I hereby claim the same for Nassau. She is free today,” (2x08) vs. “I think you're just tired of fathers telling you what to do. And so I'm offering you a life free from them,” (1x08). But, of course, Eleanor doesn’t see it that way at ALL and, although I do understand why Vane did what he did on a political level (re: Richard being the driving force behind returning Nassau to English rule), emotionally, it was not his place to make that decision “for” her, as I definitely think was part of his motivation.
Which, of course, is what makes their final argument in 3x09 so tragic and powerful… “A man you love who speaks the truth shunted aside in favor of the next who will tell you whatever you want to hear. […] He was a cowardly, selfish, treacherous shit who cared only for himself and for you not at all. You know this. All your life you knew this.” vs. “You stole my father from me in the dead of night like a rank fucking cutpurse, and you did it […] knowing that I had finally begun to build something with him, that I was finally able to see the good in him. […] You cannot comprehend what you took from me or why it was good,” like. Kill Me.
flyingfish1 reblogged
“It’s the wrong river, and the wrong woman, but perhaps to get even this close to a fantasy is something.”
Black Sails XXX // Black Sails XXXVI
flyingfish1 reblogged
I can’t leave here. I’ve spent my life trying to build something here. It’s all I have. I can’t just walk away. It is not all you have! This place is just sand. It cannot love you back.
flyingfish1 reblogged
lots of resurrection stories on this show
I didn’t realize how significant a theme it was until just now.
We have…
Vane
(x)
Billy
(x)
Eleanor
(x)
(“I suppose I should have seen this, that somehow your grip on this place would be too strong to be denied by a king, his laws, or even your death”)
Flint
(x)
(“I will come back from the dead and lay claim to what I am owed”)
Silver
(x)
… and now, possibly, Thomas as well?
Am I missing anybody? Let me know if I’m missing anybody.
This includes–I think–three times in which the other characters think the character is dead but the audience knows all along that they’re alive (Eleanor, Flint, and Silver); and three times in which the other characters and the audience are all led to believe that the character is dead (Vane, Billy, and Thomas; with Billy, the audience finds out that he’s alive before the other characters do but we still spend a few episodes thinking that he has drowned).
I’m not sure where I’m going with this, really, but it’s an interesting pattern. Also, the first season took place in the time leading up to Easter Sunday–the resurrection themes continue…
Aaaaand to round out the post, some Wild Speculation about Flint’s Treasure Island fate, which I’m sticking under a cut:
And now after 4x05 we also have--
The Walrus!
(x)
(“Everything we’ve put that ship through and she just refuses to die”)
lots of resurrection stories on this show
I didn’t realize how significant a theme it was until just now.
We have...
Vane
(x)
Billy
(x)
Eleanor
(x)
(“I suppose I should have seen this, that somehow your grip on this place would be too strong to be denied by a king, his laws, or even your death”)
Flint
(x)
(“I will come back from the dead and lay claim to what I am owed”)
Silver
(x)
... and now, possibly, Thomas as well?
Am I missing anybody? Let me know if I’m missing anybody.
This includes--I think--three times in which the other characters think the character is dead but the audience knows all along that they’re alive (Eleanor, Flint, and Silver); and three times in which the other characters and the audience are all led to believe that the character is dead (Vane, Billy, and Thomas; with Billy, the audience finds out that he’s alive before the other characters do but we still spend a few episodes thinking that he has drowned).
I’m not sure where I’m going with this, really, but it’s an interesting pattern. Also, the first season took place in the time leading up to Easter Sunday--the resurrection themes continue...
Aaaaand to round out the post, some Wild Speculation about Flint’s Treasure Island fate, which I’m sticking under a cut:
flyingfish1 reblogged
ughhh i LOVE how much stuff i catch when rewatching bs! today i was rewatching 3x09 and this is what eleanor says to vane after punching him in that jail cell:
You’re deformed. Unformed. Flesh, bone, and bile, and missing all that which takes shape through a mother’s love.
and it immediately made me think of what dream!miranda says to flint in 3x03:
When I first met you, you were so… unformed. And then I spoke and bade you cast aside your shame, and Captain Flint was born into the world… the part of you that always existed yet never were you willing to allow into the light of day.
I was mistress to you when you needed love. I was wife to you when you needed understanding. But first and before all… I was mother.
I FUCKING LOVE THIS??? what eleanor says to vane illuminates what dream!miranda says to flint in such an interesting way. dream!miranda says that she’s the reason captain flint was born. the pirate, the ‘monster’. the darker, wilder part of him. the part of him that rages against england because england took the love between him and another man and tore it to pieces. it’s the part of him that civilisation rejects, that civilisation deems shameful. that is how she formed him with her “mother’s love”. she made him something that civilisation had no place for.
when eleanor talks about vane being unformed, she means he is uncivilised. he is not fit for civilisation. when she speaks of him missing a mother’s love, she is thinking of something that would make him civilised, that would make him feel shame for his actions. she is using the same words to signify the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what dream!miranda conveyed to flint.
man, i love this show
(i think there’s probably a lot more here that i’m not quite getting yet, so if anyone has stuff to add i would love to hear it!!)
flyingfish1 reblogged
Those things, those sacred things, that I trust in no man’s hands.
Another sacrifice for the cause, and our chest only gets heavier.
flyingfish1 reblogged
These men who brought me here today, they do not fear me. They brought me here today because they fear you. Because they know that my voice, the voice that refuses to be enslaved, once lived in you. And may yet still.
#I have to hand it to the writers#for making me feel for Vane to such an extent#I disliked him when we first met him and he's never been one of my favourites and YET#when I watched last week's episode I was giving little horrified gasps every time Rogers landed a blow on him#and now this#It was all really affecting#Charles Vane#Black Sails#Black Sails spoilers#bs 3x09
flyingfish1 reblogged
The ghost fire ship - requested by my dear friend @zengoalie (send me gif requests for Black Sails! This fandom needs more gifs)
Bonus… The great escape:
