Also in tying with the supernatural – growing up, prior to being brought to England – Jandro was raised among the Protestants ( who would later support independence from France, though those particular politics are not at play here ) and followed Protestant practices and beliefs. 

There were other influences in his upbringing that were more superstitious by nature, coming to him through his mother’s servants. He held a healthy respect for spirit and supernatural phenomenon, and believed in heeding omens – these aspects of him were never wholly beaten away, as they were privately held notions that held little impact on his overall responses and behaviours. 

The Hope household was also Protestant, though in the breaking of his person, Jandro also lost his faith in prayer and hope in salvation and in fact, began to believe that he was already in Hell and that any salvation left to be found would only be granted at the mercy of those who held him. Eventually he felt he had obtained that mercy and perhaps if he worked hard enough he could begin to claw his way from his Hell into a new life.

By the time he was to be granted the name John Silver, belief in God and the afterlife had been torn away entirely. He could not believe this to be Hell – but nor could he believe in a God that would allow his mother and the good people around her to be slaughtered, and himself to be dragged into so cruel a crucible by men and women who claimed to hold the same faiths, the same beliefs, and maintain the idea that they were somehow more worthy of salvation than those they tormented and destroyed.

The one thing that did not falter though, was his belief in ghosts, demons, and other supernatural entities that could affect the living. Nor was he wholly shaken of superstitious teachings he had grown up with. So though he lacks faith, he is not without a sense that there is more to the world than what is wholly tangible. 

Despite losing his faith though, he does at times utilize his knowledge of religion to manipulate others and to stir attention and frenzy, for he knows there is nothing more powerful and zealous than a man who believes himself to be right – and no man more convinced he is right than a righteous one.