Madi exists...
bana05 hat auf deinen Eintrag geantwortet “I guess my biggest fear for Black Sails is that when James finds his...”
Are we assuming Madi won't be with him?
That was no entierly what I meant. I do believe Madi is with him (even though there was a point in the story I assumed it wouldn’t be Madi who’s Silver’s “African wife” but Max, yet after Madi’s talk with Eleanor I guess it is Madi. We will see about that.)
However, for this explanation I will take it for granted that Madi is with Silver and still I guess it doesn’t make much difference. Because a person can feel alone and more so broken, even with another person around.
I always wondered what drove the Silver in TI back to that place to get the treassure. I mean, the Silver in TI is not in the slightest the pirate king he is at the current point of BS. In TI Silver has to lie and scheme again to make his fellow pirates follow him. Nothing like Dooley, who just did what Silver asked of him without question. Instead they turn against him, Silver has to save his life and is basically alone again. I think that says a lot, especially for Silver who in BS treasured to have people and NOT be alone.
By this point we can assume Silver was on his own most of his life. He always cared for just himself until he met the Walrus Crew and the crew started to care for him. He started to care for them. He gained trust and friendship over the passing months (and years? I have no idea how much time passed since 1x01) and in the last also love. I mean, I don’t think 1x01 Silver was even able to fall for Madi, and it just emphasizes how much he has changed.
But in TI he is back to being a thief and a liar, a person who is on his own and has to talk his way out of dangerous situations. It left a sour taste in my mouth when I read TI again. I don’t think this is a positive thing.
Silver never had a reason for himself to fight this war Flint and Madi are fighting. He does because of them, litterally. In the beginning he wanted the Urca Gold to make a good living. An imbition i could follow (not that I approve of it, but I understood where he came from), but now he fights are war he gains nothing from. In fact we’ve seen Silver being the one to criticize it the most. He knows it’s a very personal thing for Flint and he questions him, when he asked for Thomas. Because what person would make it Flint to just leave everyone behind to get back Thomas. And yes that would mean happiness for Thomas, but it would leave thousands of people’s life as sacrifices for what ... one? We all know that is not what Thomas would have wanted.
Then he asks Madi if she would leave with him, leave the war behind. And he is rejected. At this point I guess Silver had either the choice to be alone again (as both Flint and Madi wouldn’t come with him) or fight the war. And I believe he decided to fight a war instead of being alone. Because he fears being alone the much, now that he knows how it is to have people in his life.
In the preview we saw for 4x08 he questions the war again. Asks if it isn’t the war itself that is the horror.
Silver was pushed into the position to play pirate king, he hadn’t had a chance to prepare for the position. I don’t think he ever wanted it, because in the beginning he didn’t even want to be a pirate. But he has tasted the darkness of the position and the power and he has to deal with it. I don’t think it leaves a person unaffected to have such power.
Silver always has to choose between people and ways to go, and every decision costs him a bit of himself. He carries guilt. We saw it when he spoke with Billy after he betrayed him. There was a lot of guilt in the way he spoke and in what he said. He couldn’t kill Billy, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, because he cared for Billy.
I think Silver has a great conscience and no matter he is good in telling lies, he also always did it to people he doesn’t care for. Even back when he lied to Flint about the Urca gold Silver couldn’t keep it to himself, but told Flint in the row boat. He didn’t have to do it, but he did.
Then followed Billy... I wonder how it will affect him, when he betrays Flint. We know at some point they fall out. At least they’re not together in TI. Something must have happened. And while I think it will have nothing to do with Madi, I guess the reason will be the war itself. Silver will want to walk away from it and there must happen something when Flint follows his example. At this point I guess Thomas is the deal here.
But when Flint walks away from the war, Silver will lose him. In one way or the other. And by now we can definitely say that Flint is a part in Silver’s life Silver doesn’t want to miss. They are incredibly close and it must have affected Silver. Flint is probably the first real friend he ever had. The first person he could trust, he could count on to stand up for him, to care for him.
I found it interesting in TI that while everyone spoke of Flint in terms of him being a monster, Silver never did. He said a lot of times that it’s good that Flint is dead, but he never described him as a bad person. Instead there is that one line that stuck with me, where Silver said “I think he respected me even.” Don’t tell me this comes from people who don’t care for each other, or at least have once.
I can’t believe it will not affect Silver to not have Flint around anymore. And what I also believe is that Silver doesn’t know yet how much he cares for Flint. Because Flint was always around. We have several moments in which Silver wonders how Flint did it, survived the storm, got into the doldrums. I have the feeling Silver sees Flint as kind of immortal, a person who rules and is a force and always goes and goes forward. Because he came out of so many situatiosn in which he should have died but didn’t. I guess when in the end he sees that Flint is only human and indeed able to die, he will realize that he can also lose Flint. And I fear that comes at a point when it is too late and Silver can’t change losing Flint (in whatever way, I don’t necessarily speak of death here). And that will leave Silver broken and basically gets him back to a point where he just cares for himself as a kind of self-preservation.
Back to Madi (I’m almost done, I promise).
When we look at Flint and his ten years of rage before the story began, he also had Miranda. And no matter she was a comfort to him, we all can see that Flint was broken in a way. She couldn’t stop him from becoming Flint, from going the path of rage and darkness, no matter they loved each other.
I guess with Maid it could be the same. Silver can go a path he doesn’t want to even with Madi by his side. I mean she promised him to watch out for him and not allow Silver to be consumed by Flint’s darkness and still he is slowly. He killed Dufrense, he is basically angry most of the time and becomes Long John Silver more and more while Flint gets softer with every episode.
I do love SilverMadi a great deal. I love the dynamic of them, I adore Madi, but I think Silver needs Flint... and TI doesn’t leave great options for them to be together, which makes me in fact fear for Silver.
