On Thomas possibly still being alive… I’m seeing some people calling it bad writing and I don’t see it that way at all. The only way it could
possibly be bad writing, as far as I can see, is if the writers were just
handing Flint his “happily ever after” on a silver platter without it being
connected in any way to any of the struggle he’s been through for the past
three and a half seasons. And that’s completely the opposite of what they’re
doing, imo. It’s intrinsically connected to that struggle. So much so that, as totally gobsmacked as I am that this is even happening omggg, at the very same
time it feels like it had to happen because how could anything else have
happened??? It had to come down to this because so much of the whole show, and
all of Flint’s journey, have been getting us ready for it.
The conflict is baked into the premise. Silver already said
it, didn’t he? “Wouldn’t you trade it all to have Thomas Hamilton back again?” It
seems obvious that he would—Thomas’ loss is what set him on this path in the
first place—but… would he? Could he?
Eleanor couldn’t, as she talks says later in the episode.
Max was literally down on her knees, begging Eleanor to run away with her, and
Eleanor wanted to say yes—was picturing herself saying yes—and instead she
chose Nassau. She chose her lifelong struggle to make Nassau a better place. (I
rewatched that episode a couple of months ago, watched Flint watching Max and
Eleanor, and I had the vague sense that Flint himself might have to make a
similar choice one day. As if he’s standing there, unknowingly watching his own
future. Little did I know… )
Max couldn’t do it either, when it came down to a choice
between Nassau and a life with Anne. After everything she sacrificed for her
own place in Nassau, Max couldn’t bring herself to jeopardize it for anything,
even that.
And the entire existence of his “Captain Flint” persona is
built around Nassau and his fight for it. The war is the reason “Captain
Flint” currently exists and “James McGraw” doesn’t. Just like Eleanor and Max,
he’s put every part of himself into this struggle. Into this island. “That
fucking island,” says Anne. “Makes you do shit you don’t wanna do. How is it we
haven’t figured that out by now? What the hell are we doing back here, Jack?”
Who is “Captain Flint” without this war? For the last ten years—or is it closer
to eleven, now?—it’s been his whole world. Could he separate himself from it
even if he desperately wanted to?
With Thomas quote unquote “safely” dead, Flint didn’t have
to think about it. Much. Except, for instance, when Miranda brought it up in
1×07: “What does it matter what happened then if we have no life now? There is
no life here. There is no joy here. There is no love here… If he were here,
he’d agree with me!” (If he were here… ahahahaha omg. This was always the plan.
I can’t.) And the very idea that Thomas could disapprove of his actions sent
Flint off to pretty much drink himself into a miserable, self-doubting stupor.
And yet he didn’t stop. He didn’t give up. He didn’t change course. Of course
he didn’t, because no matter what Miranda said, Thomas wasn’t really there in
that moment, and Flint didn’t have to truly address it.
So of course the next logical step is to (it looks like???) bring Thomas back
into play as a living human being with his own motivations and desires and agency. Talk about upping the stakes.
It’s like Jack and Blackbeard discussing what Vane would
have thought of their conflict with Eleanor. It’s one thing to make the claim
that you’re carrying out an action in the name of a dead man. It’s another
thing altogether to grapple with that person’s own perspective on the matter. “There
are moments… I wonder if I will ever be able to truly rest again until I know
that Eleanor Guthrie has paid for what she took from me. And then there are
other moments when I wonder if it would actually please him to see her dead… I
wonder if he were here now, watching us battle with the choice to kill her in
his name or defeat the governor and perhaps therein win the war we all together
started, if he might call us fools.”
Flint is thinking about similar things with regards to
Thomas: “I think if he knew how close we were to the victory he gave his life
to achieve, he wouldn’t want me to [abandon the war].”
“That wasn’t really what I asked, was it?” responds Silver. Because if Thomas
is alive, that’s not going to be the issue anymore. The issue is going to be so
much more complicated than that.
Trading “one irreplaceable thing for another,” Silver says…
Thomas was irreplaceable for James McGraw. But the war, the fight for Nassau, is
irreplaceable for Captain Flint. So who is he going to be, in the end? Flint or McGraw?
In 2×05, Miranda says, “There is no other way [than peace] to
achieve what you want to achieve… once you’re willing to tell the truth about
your intentions here. You say you fight for the sake of Nassau, for the sake of
your men, for the sake of Thomas and his memory. But the truth of the matter
is, it isn’t for any of those things… I think you’re fighting for the sake of
fighting. Because it’s the only state in which you can function, the only way
to keep that voice in your head from driving you mad. The one telling you to be
ashamed of yourself for having loved him.”
She needs him to acknowledge what she views as his true
motivations: and of course it all comes down to shame. That’s one of
the biggest themes of the show and it always has been. And again, with Thomas “safely”
dead, Flint doesn’t have to deal with it—can’t
deal with it—is prevented from
dealing with it—in any other way than just continuing the fight. Continuing on
in the same holding pattern he’s been stuck in for the last decade.
When it comes down to it, as far as I can see, the writers could have let things stand or they could have forced him to deal with the issue. The only ways to force him to deal with the issue were (a) by having him
fall in love with another man or (b) by bringing Thomas back into the story. I
had been assuming that (a) might happen because I thought (b) was too unlikely.
Shows what I know. But the trouble is that there aren’t really any other
options that can address Flint’s issues as well as Thomas himself would. In the “Are you going to choose to
live happily ever after with this guy or are you going to continue dashing
yourself on the rocks of your unwinnable war with the entire British Empire
over this island?” stakes, Thomas himself is the ultimate test case, really… it needs to be somebody we know Flint has a real chance of living a peaceful life with in the
long term, should he allow himself that.
“You were told that it was shameful,” says Miranda, “and
part of you believed it. Thomas was my husband. I loved him and he loved me. But
what he shared with you? It was entirely something else. It’s time you allowed
yourself to accept that.”
Accepting that means that he’d have no need for the constant
violence that he’s been using to drown out the voices of his own inner demons. Can
he do that? Can he put aside his own inner shame over the idea of loving
Thomas and being with him? Can he put aside his war, and go live a peaceful
life somewhere? Can he let “Captain Flint,” and Captain Flint’s war, go?
I don’t know. As I say, similar choices have been difficult
for other characters.
For his sake I just really, really, really hope he can.
I am currently in the process of porting a lot of my older fanfic onto AO3, because I want it all in one place/don’t want it to be lost/want to revise it to be a little more in-line with my current standards of both quality and language use. It’s so quick and easy! I can’t remember why I didn’t do this before!
…oh, right, she says, as the hit counter goes higher without the comments, or even the kudos, to match. Because I feel like I’m screaming into the void.
I come from very comment-heavy fic environments, and like most fanfic authors I have known, I am a little twitchy about “what if this is awful what if I am awful what if nobody likes my shit at all.” So when I have 50 hits and one kudo, I actually feel pretty rotten, which makes me less eager to do the job of cleaning and posting.
This is hence a plea on behalf of all fanfic authors: remember that the people who write the stories you enjoy are not getting paid for their time in anything other than “you did good, have a cookie” comments from people. Please consider commenting if you liked a story. Please consider leaving a kudo if you read all the way to the end. There are stories that are qualitatively bad that I’ve left kudos on, because hey, I read them, they gave me an hour of enjoyment, they deserve a cookie.
We have infinite cookies to give. We should share them freely, because wow, does it suck when fanfic makes fanfic writers sad.
That’s all.
This feels particularly relevant to a lot of chatter I’m seeing cross my dash.
Writing is hard. Writing is scary. Writing takes time and effort and care and love love love. Which is true of any fanwork of course, but fanfiction also requires a significant investment from its audience before it can even begin to be seen. With art or gifsets or any other visual medium, the work can be consumed, appreciated, and commented/reblogged/whatever within seconds. It takes longer than that just to read the description on a work of fanfiction.
But in the same vein, your fanfic writers give you hours of entertainment in return. Whether it’s a smile or a sob delivered in ten minute ficlets or 100k monsters you’re still reading at 3 am, fanfiction will give you a level of immersion unique to the fandom experience. With fanfiction, the characters live forever and the story never ends.
Still, that commitment from the audience means we’re already looking at a sliver of the same attention, without hope of the same scale of interaction and response. That makes what we DO get so very critical.
If you read something, take a moment to click those kudos or likes or whatever. If you liked it, leave a comment, If you loved it, love your fanfic author back and tell them. TELL THEM EVERYTHING I PROMISE YOU WE WANT TO HEAR
Remember that the only thing that nourishes fandom creators are your responses. Your fanfic writers are timid, starving creatures. Feed them. Love them. I said the characters live forever and the story never ends, but that’s only true if the storytellers keep telling stories. To do that, they need an audience. Make sure they know they have one.
Think of your fan creators as skittish, timid forest creatures. If you speak in a kind voice and leave scraps of food around, chances are, they’ll keep visiting the yard of your fandom. Yell at them, ignore them, or make your fandom yard an unpleasant place to be, and they disappear, leaving you wondering why your yard is so empty and boring.
anon…I can’t believe you just sent me a message that boils down to “talk about james flint ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
I FEEL SO MOCKED AND ATTACKED. I FEEL INVADED. HOW DID YOU GET THE KEY TO MY HEART AND WHY ARE YOU BETRAYING YOUR POWER IN THIS WAY. I’M MAD AT YOU BUT I TOTALLY RESPECT YOU FOR IT. WELL PLAYED 😡
but I fear you have asked too much of me in this moment. WHERE DOES ONE EVEN BEGIN?!? I could spend a week doing nothing but writing about james flint and still feel like I was only skimming the surface.
SO I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING I HAVE NEVER SUCCEEDED IN DOING BEFORE. I am going to attempt…[sighs dramatically]…to be brief.
so here are JUST A FEW of my favorite things about james flint:
he is a gay/bi man whose narrative focuses much on refusing to apologize to the homophobic powers that destroyed his happiness. (a non-straight character who is allowed to be ANGRY, who is literally fighting a WAR in the name of love, fighting a war because he refuses to ever let those people think they were right, fighting a war because they stole so much from him already but they will not get their bloody hands on his identity. PRAISE BE.)
he does not embrace villainy. he does not enjoy being feared. he does not revel in the power of his name or his own mythological status. he hates it. he sees it as necessary. he fuels it. it tears him apart.
he is a MASTERMIND. do I even need to elaborate?!? for someone who is so prone to bursts of passion and impulsive behavior, he is a beyond brilliant tactician. and unlike silver, he doesn’t give himself a pat on the back every time he’s done something exceptional fjsdklfjsldfsf. he just does his genious planning and proceeds to get shit done: boom. when peter ashe disbelievingly asks, “you became the captain of a pirate crew…in four months?” and flint very nonchalantly responds, “I became captain of a pirate crew faster than that” like oh my god @ ASHE CAN I GET YOU A RAG TO MOP UP THAT SWEAT
he totally fucks with the perception of him that’s like, the Fiercely Individualistic and Strong-On-My-Own Captain Who Don’t Need Nobody. james flint is SO not that kind of leader, even though he may sometimes seem like it. HE DESPERATELY NEEDS PEOPLE. HE NEEDS PARTNERS. do you know what a james flint who feels alone in the world looks like?! he looks like the man who was telling miranda he was ready to join her in the afterlife. he literally never pretends to be like, “I am fine and strong on my own and don’t care what anyone thinks of me >:(” he isolates himself when he’s in a bad place but it kills him to do so. HE NEEDS HIS PEOPLE. HE NEEDS TO BE LOVED AND FEEL LOVED.
he pretended to like silver’s disgusting pig just so that muldoon wouldn’t rip silver’s pretty curly hair out. he wrote an apology in a book and left it on miranda’s doorstep. he was so excited to tell silver he was voted quartermaster that he couldn’t wait for the rest of the crew; he had to tell him himself right then immediately. he has faced death more times than I can count with all fingers but I’m not sure we’ve ever seen him as nervous as he was the night he introduced himself as “james mcgraw” to teenager abigail ashe
he has always had Captain Flint™ in him somewhere. he has always feared the power Captain Flint would have over him. he has always been petrified of what he might be forced to become. he knows that his are the hands that have pulled triggers and wielded swords, no matter how much he thinks he can separate himself from his flint self…
and yet, after over a decade, he still believes in a future where he can once again simply be, forevermore, james mcgraw
James McGraw’s story utterly ruins me every time I rewatch Black Sails.
Here was a man who started out with nothing, child of a carpenter, and became a “rising star” in the Navy. Here’s a man who educated himself to better himself, despite knowing he will be seen as a jolly-jump-up, reading for pleasure and illumination. He fought his way up the ranks, rising as far as Lieutenant despite his humble origins, and was seen as a man of great potential by the admiralty. He elevated himself by his intellect, his skills, his bravery.
He was considered suitable as a partner for Thomas Hamilton, as a pragmatic, sensible and direct counter to Hamilton’s optimism and overly liberal perspective. It should – would – have been a perfect arrangement, because they shared ideas, discussed and changed and amended plans. If only…. if only they hadn’t fallen in love. James’s affection for both Miranda and Thomas was his downfall: he physically lashed out in front of Hennessy when Miranda was insulted, and then again with Alfred when Thomas’s intent was called into question.
Because he cared too much for both of these people, he made himself a powerful enemy. Because he loved both the Hamiltons – but especially Thomas – he became the lynchpin that could be used in their downfall. Alfred needed an excuse both to shut Thomas up and sweep that liberal branch of his family under the rug. James was… useful. It’s one degree of shame to say your son was driven mad by his faithless wife abandoning him, but to have his family name connected with sodomy? “It is too profane”.
So James, by falling in love and being true to himself, lost everything. The rank and respect he had earned in the Navy. His position in society. Even the support of his own country. He was driven out. He lost everything but Miranda and I can’t help thinking that there would be helpless resentment on both sides for a long, long time after their forced departure: him because he let her convince him not to rescue Thomas and her, because if he hadn’t been so bold and so overt and loved Thomas as much as she did, maybe, maybe, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
And now, just when he reaches the point where he’s finally ready to move on, to set aside the monster he has been forced to play to see Thomas’s vision is fulfilled, to be with Miranda, to finally have peace, she dies. Right in front of him. Again. Betrayed by the same person who betrayed Thomas. And once more, he is helpless to save her, helpless to protect the one person he still loved.
And all that’s left without the people he loves is the monster he was forced to become and the grief and loss. And all because he fell in love.
writing fanfic like “am i getting the dynamics of this friendship right?” “would this character actually say this?” “what is the proper ratio of kindness to sass?” “am i falling prey to overused fanfic personality shortcuts or is this a canon trait?” “am i overthinking this so much that i will grind to a standstill out of sheer terror?”
Meg's Mumbles 