Silver: Smash or Pass one (1) bearded carrot whose personal demons may or may not influence reality. Tell me your thoughts you fucking serpent.

“Pass,” There is no hesitation, no question in his mind about where he fell on this particular regard. “The only thing that could be gained from smashing him is more tragedy – and frankly, I have no interest in affording him any belief that he possesses something worth taking away. Our relationship spawned out of a mutual understanding that he was in my best interest – so long as that is true, I remain in the vicinity of his shadow – but I am not so foolish as to step willingly into his darkness. The moment he believes he holds leverage, he makes use of it until the pressure becomes so insurmountable, even the strongest people have shattered under his relentless idealism and recklessness. One way or another, those who get close to that man die – and I think I have made it abundantly clear I have no intention of doing that for any cause.”

The majority of Silver’s learning when it came to cooking naturally came from Randall and exposure to the man’s often crude, but effective teaching methods. He’d never been slapped with a fish before, but he certainly endeavoured never to face that particular brand of wrath again, and his performance in the kitchen notably improved aterward.

Of the crew, Randall was the only one to know Silver preferred insults in Spanish, as he claimed they were more creative. He even taught Randall a few, just for something to do between them – and frankly for a near mute the man seemed mighty interested in learning how to insult others in a language he wasn’t fluent in. Silver chalked it up to the fact every man tended to want to know the filthiest parts of a language first, and left it at that.

Due to this though, Randall could pick up on when Silver was having a momentary culinary struggle, if only because he would start insulting the food on account of being difficult. Which would lead to interventions when he was in a good mood – and a very sick crew when he wasn’t.

This is a super small headcanon but, he looks just like his mother were it not for his father’s eyes – he has her facial structure and her same thick wavy hair. Without facial hair, he resembles her strikingly.

His father was a redhead with striking blue eyes and incredible girth that he is literally not built to carry — that said, his half brother also turned out much smaller than their father, though he is blonde and carries bright green eyes like his mother.

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.

The reason Silver so frequently resorts to supernatural elements when thinking about Flint and his capacities stems from the fact that he has never had a reason to doubt his own materialistic intentions and desires, but it was Flint who made him value the insubstantial.

Flint was the one to manipulate Sliver to more emotion focused desires, and by his understanding of reality – nobody and nothing human ought to be able to shift another man’s entire life designs so fucking effortlessly. It took years and an entire team of abusers and educators for him to be broken down and remade in the image of Christopher John Hope – so how in the fuck could a single man make so drastic a change so subtly that the victim themself doesn’t even know how much they have changed until it is too late to turn back?

It is easier to think that something supernatural did it. Easier, to blame a legend for the change than to accept a man had that much power to influence him at all, especially when becoming John Silver in the first place was one of his first acts of agency since Jandro was shattered in the crucible of English assimilation and molded into Christopher.

It is also why he doesn’t want Flint to know him – why he is terrified to grant that man a window into Christopher and paralyzed by the idea of opening the doors to Jandro. He was able to mold so much, with nothing in his hands that Silver is fucking terrified of what Flint could transform him into with anything more substantial.

Flint has the power to change Silver, while Silver’s only power has been in distracting Flint. Where Silver manipulates the man with motivations he already has, Flint instills motivations that have never before mattered – and that is indeed a terrifying power – so it is no wonder, really, that Silver looks to the ethereal to excuse it. It is straight up less scary that way

Mun Note: I did some research on this and I intend to do more over time but frankly the overarching politics are not important so I removed them and most of the mentions thereof in order to get this out. Again, snippets have been shared with @intolerablexsacrifice & @tidefated so its time to get all the information into one spot.

Due to the fact Silver never once reveals a true backstory for himself and what little he has given was proven by admission and omission to be nothing more than a pack of adopted lies, I’ve built my own story for who he was before he became John Silver – which, in and of itself has the ring of an alias, and for a man who shrouds himself in lies shaped like truth, and defends himself with truth that tastes of lies – kind of makes sense.

In any case, these aspects of who he was prior to becoming John Silver will have no bearing on threads beyond his monologues and reflections, unless otherwise discussed.

Born Jandro Miguelangel Afonso de Villarreal ( while his mother’s surname remains redacted, he bears instead a surname denoting only the region in which he was born ), the man who would one day be known as John Silver benefitted from experiencing his formative years in Spanish courts. His mother’s marriage united some minor political interests between her family and that of a British military commander, whose long term strategies ultimately resulted in considerable tragedy.

When circumstances made it clear that the resolutions between them were no longer producing results, the marriage was dissolved on account of the untimely death of Jandro’s mother. At the age of twelve, he was more than discerning enough to understand that the circumstances surrounding the murder of his mother and her servants were suspect and his sudden departure to live with his father ( whom, up until that point, had absolutely no hand in his upbringing and in fact, had not even met Jandro ) was questionable at best – though at the time, he had no reason to suspect that his father had in fact orchestrated the attack.

Upon his arrival to England, Jandro was at a vicious disadvantage in the fact he spoke very limited English, could not read or write in English and frankly, had no knowledge of English propriety and customs. He was immediately isolated and indoctrinated, undergoing rigorous “reeducating” and finding himself brutally punished for reverting to his mother language. He was not only made to abandon his country and all that was familiar to him ( including his language and accent ) but he was also stripped of his sense of self in the fact that he was no longer permitted to answer to his birth name.

For nine years, Christopher John Hope was a stranger in his own skin who became more and more familiar with the person he was supposed to become. The only heir to his father, he was slowly adapting to the role he would be expected to play – and even coming to have periods where being an Englishman came naturally rather than with diligent focus. It was at this point that his father remarried to a much younger woman ( one closer to Christopher’s age than his own ) and ended up having another son.

Seven years that dragged on like eternity as the Hope family waited to see if the infant would survive all the worst that could take a child early, Christopher continued to maintain his position as heir of the household with a growing sense of foreboding. When it was determined that his half-brother was certain to make it, his worst fears were promptly realized.

Through a quiet exchange on the part of his father, Christopher was placed under a captain who dubbed him “John Silver” to keep the men from knowing his value as cargo. He was given busy work and made to appear as one of the crew, all the while knowing the intent was to have him delivered to Spain once more, where he was to be held accountable for his role in the death of his mother and be sequestered to a monastery for exile. Thus when the ship was attacked, the now twenty-eight year old rather liked his chances – but only if the captain was dead.

Aware he needed to hide himself from not one, but two militant powers, Jandro once again began to unmake himself in order to fit another mold. John Silver was the first self that he created to suit his own needs – and his firm stance of selfishness reflects this quite clearly, especially in the beginning when his desperation is at it’s highest.

By the time he has been quartermaster on the Walrus long enough to lose Mort, he is established enough as ‘John Silver’ to be considerably less alarmed about discovery and a great more deal concerned with who he is becoming, and who he wants to be.

So TL’DR the timeline of Silver is:

00-14: Name is Jandro Miguelangel Afonso de Villarreal. Life of a Spanish noble child.
14-20: Name is Christopher John Hope. All agency and identity is stolen. Life of an English heir after rigorous retraining.
20-27: Jandro/Christopher now has a brother set to supplant him.
27-28: Supplanted, Jandro/Christopher is set to return to Spain to live in exile. Aboard the ship he is dubbed ‘John Silver’ to conceal his value. The ship ferrying him across is attacked by pirates.
28-29: Seasons 1 – 2, Jandro is struggling to identify as and essentially create Silver, all the while desperate for enough money to hide from two of the biggest armadas on the seven seas for the rest of his life.
30+ everything afterward, Jandro is now officially identifying as John Silver, and is no longer as afraid of discovery.

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.

This is a permanent starter call for Long John Silver, of Starz’ Black Sails explicitly.

These calls give me a heads up on who is open to interacting with whom ( which is handy for those who have exclusives among my crew! ) and gives me an excuse to kick you starters whenever something crosses the mind, or blow up your inbox knowing who would be most wanted.

These calls also serve as a final tag dump – when this call is posted it indicates a character has been fully moved into the blog and is ready for action!

For other starter calls, check the tag HERE.

Normally I do not particularly care about emphasis on a character’s sexuality because frankly, I consider that to be the least defining characteristic of a person. However given the context of Black Sails and the fact that homophobia and shame play such active and driving roles in the storyline it feels remiss of me to make a decision without explaining it.

In a show that explores so openly the sexualities of its characters and displays so brazenly the love shared between women, the love shared between men, I feel it a disservice to the original content to analyse for subtext when the true story is offered to us so freely.

When I state that John Silver is bisexual, I do so knowing there is no canonical evidence to speak of and I will not be particularly tolerant of drawn out explanations of why he is “so clearly attracted” to any male character in the show when we have seen full well the effects of attraction in nearly all of these characters. Their romances play dynamic, driving roles and I will not supplant John into any of them.

He has a canonical romance and contrary to the widespread tumblr belief that male / female relationships are ‘gross’ or whatever narrative is presently being pushed to excuse ignoring canon to push out more overtly gay narratives, there is a beauty and a power in the relationship he has canonically that I will not ignore. There are consequences and manipulations in that relationship I will not ignore.

But pairing off with John Silver means accepting manipulation will be part of it. Consequences, will be part of it. He is self motivated and even in romance, he is orchestrating things into his favor at all times. While I may go more deeply into his relationship with Madi at another time, what I want made abundantly clear is I am not here to ship John with Billy, or Flint, or Vane, or whoever the fandom is pairing him off with.

I am here to explore a character whose ability to convince people to love him while telling them straight to their faces he doesn’t care about anything beyond his own advancements, and that character just happens to be bisexual. In the story, as we see it, he makes no moves or advancements on anyone not expressly female. If, in the context of a narrative, it makes sense to me that John may attempt a flirtation, or to test the waters with another man in the interest of – you guessed it – furthering his own ambitions and goals – then that is fine.

As it stands right now however, I do not see him as particularly attracted to any man we see him interact with on the show, let alone attracted enough to bear the shame of revealing his own deviance in the hopes of manipulating someone else’s. Silver will not act without evidence that it will suit and benefit him to do so, so if you wish to ship with him you’ll have to communicate that with me ooc and commit to discussing it, as I do not enjoy writing toxic relationships and Silver, by the very definition of who he is and how he operates, is a dangerous man to be in a relationship with.

What is more, please know that I am familiar with the fact Silver is very commonly shipped with Flint – and that is fine, each to their own. I, however, will not abide it without considerable discussion into how to make it healthy – and frankly, that won’t be easy to accomplish as I refuse to ignore the way Silver has manipulated that man, the way he has inserted himself into the narrative of that man’s trauma in order to control him, or the way Flint consistently sees the truth of Silver and dismisses it.