jamesflintmcgrawhamilton:

tikkunolamorgtfo:

I’ve had so many completely amorphous, disorganised thoughts about Billy recently. He had two pivotal moments in his life that defined him going forward, both involving the choice to engage in acts of violent revenge. The first leads him to believe he’s unredeemable in his father’s eyes, yet he never seems to contemplate how his outrage at the lack of loyalty and respect he receives when plying his father’s trade might make him more of a disappointment as a son than murder. It makes me wonder if Billy was every moral—if he ever truly cared about fighting imperialism—or if he was more driven by anger over being denied personal respect. On one hand, he does make lots of comments about his brothers and communal safety, but then he abandons those ideals as soon as they community fails to respect his choices. This certainly jives well with the Billy we see in Treasure Island, as a bitter drunkard revelling in his past glory, though the novel also implies that Billy has been rolling with Silver and co. for years—until stealing map after Savannah, which is hard to picture given what happens between Billy, Silver, and Madi. 

I don’t know, none of these observations have a point, it’s just been sticking with me a lot lately. 

#i don’t *like* Billy but he’s a really interesting character#and maybe it’s because I was spoiled about a lot of things#but even in the beginning i never read Billy as the pure cinnamon roll a lot of people apparently did#and it’s interesting that he was ok with flint’s plan when it involved sacking cities#but balked when it became about a broader and more inclusive freedom#he was always mistrustful of the maroons#and i feel like#maybe because he was so young when he was taken from his parents#he was never genuinely able to understand what sort of ideals they would have actually stood for#and he has such a rigid and black and white sense of morality#that it makes sense that he eventually turned on everyone because nobody is going to be able to remain in the ‘good’ category forever#so they all become enemies to him#i’m just rambling at this point#but he really is actually a very interesting character (via @pirateshelly)