When we first meet Silver, he is rather promptly stripped ( literally, episode one, pretty boy gets sexed up and I immediately classified him as a ‘fandom favorite’ due to obvious twink status and I still do not regret that assessment ) what is notable about this though is, in all the times we see characters strip down ( which is, I will be frank, too often for my tastes ) we always see their scars. Often with panning into them, because the show was unashamed to show us how dark and grisly these times were.

Except – Silver. He was unmarred – unmarked by the harshness of life, the stark realities of seamanship. Despite being immediately characterized as an opportunistic thief and general shit disturber, he bears no marks of punishment for the reckless lifestyle he appears to embody. Which might have been a kindness on the part of the writers seeing as he eventually loses his freaking leg because of this nonsense, but it does pose some serious questions.

We already know his “backstory” as an orphan boy is bullshit – Flint straight up calls him out on it, on having heard the story before, on knowing it wasn’t Silver’s and deciding he would actually give a shit about finding the truth when he decided Silver was worth knowing. Silver also confirms that it was bullshit, in his own way, and the lack of scarring further confirms it because there’s no way a little punk like Silver didn’t get beat down on the regular, let’s be honest with ourselves here. 

What we know is that Silver, prior to being aboard the ship Flint’s crew takes over, was unscarred, literate and educated enough to understand the significance of the page he had and deduce its origins, and everything prior to that is “unimportant” to who he is now, to what he has become. We also know his biggest motivation was one big payout that would solve all of his problems. 

While Silver is no more open with me than he is anyone in the series just yet, these are all things spinning in my mind as I craft up his backstory, the story before the John Silver that gets mixed up with Captain Flint and the hunt for the Urca de Lima. They will all hold some significance in the choices I make regarding that story, but for now they stand alone in a short form headcanon as thus:

• Prior to losing his leg, Silver had no scars on his body.
• Silver was most definitely not raised in an orphanage.
• Silver possesses at least a modest education.
• Silver speaks fluent Spanish.
• Silver was most definitely not a sailor prior to pirate shenanigans.
• Despite this, Silver can swim, which is a rare skill for the times.
• Silver needed money to disappear  
• Silver’s past holds genuine trauma for him
• Silver’s past is something he wants to be unknown
• Silver’s past is something he wants to be seen as unimportant

These are all facts of my Silver, though what backstory comes of it will be entirely clear of canon influence seeing as he worked very hard to keep his truth separate from the narrative.

( Side note to myself mostly but why could everyone swim, Starz? That is not historically accurate for shit honeybuns now I gotta come up for reasons why skillsets exist. )