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. )

I don’t know what to say. I appreciate that, and I am genuinely sorry. But you can see how this might be of particular and immediate concern to me. Before today I knew of two people who managed to truly know you. To gain your trust, to be your partner, and they both ended up dead while playing the role. Now you’re telling me there’s a third member of this class. Making it even less credible to characterize Mr. Gates and Miss Barlow’s deaths as bad luck. It would seem that those closest to you meet their end not just during the relationship – but because of it. And as I sit here, I am acutely aware that there may be noone closer to you in the world, than I. 

There is a lot more to this scene, a lot more ways in which Silver inserts himself into the narrative of Flint’s trauma in ways that seem to go unnoticed to Flint himself, who focuses instead on the idea presented here that somehow he is to blame for the losses of Thomas and Miranda – Gates, of course he cannot argue, but Thomas – that’s a direct and palpable hit that he needs to assuage. 

Silver maneuvers Flint expertly in this moment – directing his attention to the idea that he has the power to destroy the man and thus, drawing forth Flint’s hubris. Blinding him with his own pride to the fact he has now been manipulated into valuing Silver more than he actually should because now there is an internal association between this man, and those who were once the dearest to him. 

The thing I must stress, above all other things, is the fact that Silver made these insinuations deliberately. Under no circumstances will I abide by the idea that Silver was not holding Flint responsible for his deepest traumas and convincing the man to blame himself while he was at it. 

But before I unpack why he would fly for Flint’s throat in such a savage and unrelentingly cruel fashion – and why I will never ignore this conversation and I will never accept the idea that Silver did not mean to cripple Flint with the information he now had – we need to jump ahead a little bit to the next portion, the revelation of Silver’s dark ambition, because it is paramount to understanding this moment in its entirety. 

I once thought that to lead men in this world, to be liked was just as good as feared. And that may very well be true. But, to be both liked and feared all at once, is an entirely different state of being. In which I believe at this moment I exist alone. The men need to know they’re in good favor with me. They need it. And there is nothing they won’t do to make sure they have it. Mr. Dobbs will do what I ask of him.

This is where we come full circle with Silver’s development. The thing we must remember is that Silver – from day one – has been in this game for his own self interest and he has never hidden that fact. He has reminded Flint again and again that he is in it for the Urca gold – for a one time fortune that will make all his problems disappear. 

Even when he approaches the men, he tells them straight to their faces, he wanted the gold so that he could leave behind every single one of them. He held no loyalty to any save himself – he had the location of the Urca gold, the awareness of how to get it, the tactics in play to obtain it without Flint, and actively prepared to betray every single crew member to get it – while telling them to their faces that he did not give a damn about any of them. 

There is no magical shift in his allegiance when he works to free the crew from Vane’s men. The fastest and safest way back to Nassau where the gold he wanted awaited him, was aboard a ship that was not, in fact, conquered by a crew as likely to kill him as let him live. 

Silver knew that this crew – that Billy ( who wisely hated him from at start of all this ) was now moved to him. Was convinced by him. Counted him as a brother. He wasn’t going to argue that allegiance while it benefitted him – and he knew they had the means to pull him out of the situation he was in provided he served as a distraction for a long enough period of time. 

He was still focused on the fastest, safest, and most convenient road to the gold he was after. Having his leg smashed up hurt, but the promise of his looming escape and the knowledge of the freedoms awaiting him were enough to bear it through. It was never more than the strength of his loyalty to himself – and a complete misunderstanding of how fucked his leg was actually getting. 

And this is where things get interesting. Somewhere in the time jump between season two and season Beard & Baldy three, it feels like Silver has had some kind of change of heart. We already know he somehow sold Flint on the fact someone else betrayed the gold situation ( why did Flint buy this horseshit from a guy whose first hello was a robbery of information? Nobody knows ) but now he is – really concerned about the men. Actually seems genuinely interested in their welfare as – of all the fucking things, their new quartermaster. He’s almost boggling in his focus and strange dedication to Flint – and the 180 is made clear right here:

“Fucking hell – what part of ‘let us take care of you’ did you not understand? If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be planted at the bottom of the Charlestown bay. We got a debt for that – it ain’t right not to let us pay it.”
“All the shit we’ve been through the last few months – you want to know what the most terrifying part of all of it’s been? We’ll take care of you.”
“I get it.”
“Do you?”
“Course I do. Look at me. I know what it’s like to be afraid of being the one not strong enough to stick. But it don’t work that way here – and even if it did, it won’t work that way for you.” 

Silver is fucking scared. He has always stood on his own and now, he needs to rely on others because he is literally incapable of standing alone. He needs their help, their protection – and he cannot let them see that he needs it. As a man who has always been out for himself, he recognizes reliance on others is the first step to becoming disposable. Which is why he needs them to care about him now because as long as the men think like Muldoon did, he has security and authority when an invalid like himself would normally not be able to appropriate either for himself. 

Silver’s desperation to save Muldoon, his genuine devastation at his loss, stems from this. Stems from how deeply that man cared about him. He lost something that was very valuable. He lost someone that was fulfilling a need. And that’s where things start to blur for him when it comes to differentiating what is pure self benefit, and what is caring about other people.
It is a road he’s never had need or cause to travel down before and that is why his motivations are so fucking murky
its because he, HIMSELF, is confused.

For the first time in Silver’s life, he is rendered vulnerable. Physically and emotionally. He is desperately trying to figure out how to preserve and obtain power while also filling in holes he’s never had before ,so yes – it makes sense that people ( the audience or the crew, take a pick )  think he’s a good guy now. I think even Silver himself wonders if something in him has gone softer.

But this moment with Flint ( yes, here we go, full circle, like I promised! ) This moment when he sees where all his work and effort and now, sacrifice and confusion and terror, stems from something so — admittedly incomprehensible —  this is when Silver remembers who he is
and that
is why he goes directly for Flints fucking throat.

It is why, yet again, he bears his sole motivations, reveals the UGLY, SELF CENTERED TRUTHS of himself that he’s never hidden before but lately has been muddled and confused on and therefore has not shown so damn starkly in awhile
to remind Flint they are not friends
and now, he knows the man’s weakness
and he’ll be damned before he doesnt use it. 

But he also
is not lying to Flint
when he says he thinks he found friendship, and respect for the man
because he does

why else was he so confused if he didn’t have those feelings to combat against general self interest? 

And he’s hurt. He feels deceived, because he has always been honest with Flint. Always it has been about mutual self interest, always he has been here out of personal motivation
but Flint. Flint has never once told him the truth, and the fact that he was sold in by all the ideologies – he’s pissed
at himself, mostly, but at Flint, too, for managing it. 

So he needs to reassert the power dynamic between them – he needs some semblance of complete and utter control, because without it, none of this makes sense or feels worthwhile any longer. Especially because he feels as though he has changed because of Flint ( though that is another headcanon entirely stemming from ‘where else would your voice matter’ aka Flint’s manipulation of Silver that was more of an earworm than anything else that served, essentially, to lead to these murky waters — okay nevermind that’s the gist of the entire thing. ) 

TL:DR – 

• Silver wanted to punish Flint.
  
• Silver wanted to assert himself as the alpha dog.
• Silver wanted to feel complete control and bare it.
• Silver wanted to insert himself into Flint’s trauma to ensure Flint would not be able to hurt him when the time came for a break up between them. 
• Silver wanted to hurt Flint and he fucking well did so.
• Silver did not take these secrets in confidence. He used Flint’s secrets not only against Flint, but to manipulate Madi and to ensure when it was time to get rid of Flint he had back up in having done so. 
• Silver insinuated it was all Flint’s fault on purpose and anyone who says differently is deluding themselves into thinking Silver is soft for Flint.
• Spoiler: He isn’t.