bean-about-townn: comtessedebussy:bean-about-townn:comtessedebussy:bean-about-townn:comtesse
bean-about-townn: comtessedebussy: bean-about-townn: comtessedebussy: bean-about-townn: comtessedebussy: lynati: comtessedebussy: candlewinds: Before they took him away, he made me promise him that no matter what happened next, that you and I would take care of each other. The danger here is real. Thomas is gone. And now you and I must leave this place. I still want to know what Miranda had to have said to James to stop him from trying to rescue Thomas. Because Thomas’ “take care of each other” would not have been enough. He was ready to storm that place. I want to know what made him…not. Maybe Miranda changed tactics and just convinced him he had to have an *actual* plan rather than just walking up to Bedlam and pounding on the walls with his fists. “Fine then I’ll just…become a pirate…get a crew…make myself captain…and convince them the most valuable treasure in all of England is hidden inside Bethlem Royal Hospital.” *decisive nod* You know, now that I think about this, he really would have had no chance of getting Thomas out of there. We see him as Captain Flint, dastardly and cunning and able to make everything go his way, but this was before he had ever assumed the mantle of Flint. Sure, he already had Flint in him, and he became Captain Flint pretty fast, but it still didn’t happen overnight. It required him to let that part of himself out, to become practiced at spilling blood and commanding men. But also, when we see him on the show, as Flint, he already has something to work with. Granted, not a lot, given that his crew is about to mutiny, but he has his reputation, he has men he’s in command of that he’s able to manipulate, he has gates. Here in London, he has nothing. Thomas - the only person he knows with any real power - is in Bedlam. Hennessy has turned on him. He has no friends (I don’t think the other navy officers like him much, given that fight scene). Miranda has no power to speak of. However capable, he can’t conjure power or influence or an army from scratch. So yes, becoming a pirate seemed like a good idea for getting Thomas out, and that’s also why he became Captain Flint so fast: every day he lost is a day Thomas spent in Bedlam. That’s why he became a pirate captain in literally four months. He had a fire lit under him, so to speak. Except that, no matter how fast they worked, they got the news of Thomas’ death within a year. Before Flint had had time to assemble a large crew and convince them to sail to England and come up with a concrete plan. …although….what if the reason they got the news about Thomas’ death is because Hamilton and Ashe heard about Flint? And the timing is pretty suspicious….4 months after Thomas being taken away (and the crossing takes 2 at most), there’s this pirate that’s become the terror of Nassau? Who resembles a certain former Navy lieutenant? Yeah, they needed to defuse that, uh, fuse. Fast. Hence the letter with the “sorry, Thomas is dead” and the plantation. Which really honestly means that in a way Flint’s plan to get Thomas out of Bedlam resulted in him being sent to that plantation and then everything else happening? oooooh, what if after alfred died peter took the chance to get thomas out of bethlem to send him to the plantation, bc he felt guilty but couldnt do anything while alfred was alive. but also OH GOD the thought of flint just not sleeping for like a year bc THOMAS IS STILL IN BEDLAM AND I HAVE TO DO THIS TO SAVE HIM. doing these things he hates - taking on the handle of Flint - all to save thomas, and then thomas dies anyway. and james doesn’t have the strength to discard Flint on his own. well, as @lynati has pointed out, this theory doesn’t really work because Peter Ashe was so shocked that James was Flint but otherwise….yes, I am ALL for all of the angst of James only becoming Flint to save Thomas and still failing and blaming himself for it for the rest of his life. Even after they’re reunited. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you earlier,” I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out of Bedlam, “they tortured you and I did nothing,” and just all this guilt and shame that it takes Thomas years to talk him out of. And also remember that scene in which James says “the only thing I”m ashamed of is not having saved him while I had the chance”? I always wonder what it is James regrets not doing, because he really didn’t have a lot of options for what he could do. “Doesn’t have the strength to discard Flint on his own” I’ve never seen anything more accurate because that really is what it is, isn’t it? He took on the mantle of Flint to save Thomas, and then that turned into avenging Thomas, because without Thomas, nothing makes sense. Nothing has meaning, and Flint is the only thing that gives his life meaning. Fighting is the only thing that gives his life meaning, and he can’t put it aside, no matter how hard he tries. this :) is :) fine :) well i mean we could just say that James hadn’t had time to fully put his plan into action - Peter not knowing McGraw is Flint in s2 doesn’t necessarily mean that the theory couldn’t work I always wonder what it is James regrets not doing, because he really didn’t have a lot of options for what he could do. oh god, you know that scene in 2x03 where he confronts Eleanor about not opposing Charles Vane - ‘What would you have done’ ‘SOMETHING. ANYTHING!’ and like. that’s what he’s been telling himself for 10 years. I don’t think that even he believes he could have succeeded if he stayed in London - but for him I think that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have tried. probably died in the process - but then that’s what he’s planning now, isn’t it. to die making thomas’s dream a reality (Also, this might not be related but. I’ve rewatched the Odysseus speech like ten times this morning and the little snort/laugh of wry amusement that James makes after saying ‘to walk away from the sea and find some peace’ just kills me. Because we know by the end of S2 that he had thought ‘this journey would end in battle, so what he’s essentially saying is ‘this is all I want. I am never going to get it.’ and I think a large part of that is that he knows he can’t ‘return flint to the sea’ without thomas. and thomas is gone) lOh my god, I totally forgot about that scene with Eleanor, but now that you mention it that makes SO MUCH SENSE and just makes everything so much sadder. OMG. And James really is the kind of guy who would be willing to die trying. He’s not the type to try to live happily because his beloved told him to - a part of him must have been so angry at Thomas for suggesting that he and Miranda live and survive and take are of each other because how dare he? James Flit finds it a lot easier to sacrifice himself for a cause than he does to be happy. That’s where he ends up in season 4, essentially - so much more comfortable with dying a martyr to the cause than with seeing an ea light at the end of the tunnel. And can you imagine what that really means? This war he’s fighting? He doesn’t think he’s going to see the end of it. He started this war in Thomas’ name, to make the world Thomas wanted, and he has made his peace with not even being alive to see it. Because Thomas is not alive by his side, so what does it matter if he lives or dies? All that matters is Thomas dream, and his own life is a small enough price to pay to make his beloved’s dream a reality. Like I just don’t have words for the level of devotion but also angst that that entails. And that’s what John Silver sees and what makes him despair and betray Flint - because nothing’s changed, really. He’s still the same James McGraw who would rather die fighting than try to carve out happiness for himself, and Silver is the complete opposite of that. “ he knows he can’t ‘return flint to the sea’ without thomas. and thomas is gone” just let me die in peace oh my god. Because every word of that is true. I mean, Flint was always part of james, yada yada, but James never really became Flint so completely until Thomas was gone, and and Thomas was the only one who could illuminate the dark and chase flint back to the depths. Not that Flint is gone, but he’s in the shadows, and James is in the light again. Thomas is literally the only person who can make James believe that life is worth living, rather than sacrificing for a cause. Before Thomas and Miranda, he had nothing - he “became himself” with them, as Toby said - and after them, he also literally had nothing. I just don’t have words for the depths of that nothingness, that he takes up such a gargantuan task - war on England - not for his own sake, not because he wants to win freedom for himself, but in the name of someone he still loves. Also don’t even get me started on walking away from the sea and finding some peace because…did James ever really believe that would happen? maybe in season 1, when Miranda was still around, but honestly, I’m not sure? I’m pretty sure he was always going to go down fighting, and the whole “find some peace” thing as just a story. it ended up happening because Black Sails is magic, but I’m not sure it’s a story James believed when he told it. I’m not sure he wants peace - he wants to fight because fighting is the only meaning he can find in life without Thomas. He fights for the sake of fighting, as Miranda says - he wouldn’t know what to do with peace. I mean, essentially, Boston and the pardons was peace and he refused that wholeheartedly because he doesn’t actually want peace without Thomas. Oh god, these two. god, what struck me recently is that James desperately wants to be odysseus (to be able to come home, to rest), but he doesn’t believe he is. he thinks he’s Achilles (doomed to die avenging his lost love) ………god, im so glad thomas is alive -- source link
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