History YMMV / BlackSails

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Silver's CharacterDevelopment is subtly demonstrated in the Season 2 finale. In third episode of Season 1, Silver claims that [[TortureIsIneffective torture would not be effective at getting the ''Urca'' schedule information out of him exactly ''because'' he's such a craven and weakling that'd he'd say ''anything'' to make the pain stop.]] In the Season 2 climax, Jenks and his men try to get him to name ten ''Walrus'' men that would be willing to assist them in escaping Charlestown. Silver refuses to talk because that would almost certainly consign the rest of the crew to death, so Jenks proceeds to brutally torture him by bludgeoning his leg with the blunt end of an axe, mangling it to the point that it had to be cut off. [[UndyingLoyalty Even then, Silver ''still'' refused to talk.]]

* CompleteMonster: "IX" through "XI": [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Edward "Ned" Low]], captain of the ''Fancy'', outdoes any other pirate in series for [[AxCrazy evil and cruelty]].Low waylays a ship called the ''Good Fortune'' that peacefully surrenders, but upon finding a valuable hostage on the ship, Low has the crew massacred and personally shoots the captain dead as the man pleads he has a family. Low sets up shop at Nassau and tries to intimidate the head of business Eleanor Guthrie with a speech of how his crew knows Low is a monster. He later fantasizes about raping Eleanor to within an inch of her life. When his quartermaster, Meeks, tries to ally with Eleanor, Low [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]] and [[OffWithHisHead beheads him]] in full view of Eleanor's entire bar, then kills her bodyguard when the man tries to make him leave. Low makes clear he will eventually come for Eleanor and confesses he is a man driven solely by cruelty and instinct that he often surrenders to.

* CompleteMonster: [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Edward "Ned" Low]], captain of the ''Fancy'', outdoes any other pirate in series for [[AxCrazy evil and cruelty]]. In the opening scenes of Season 2, Low waylays a ship called the ''Good Fortune'' that peacefully surrenders, but upon finding a valuable hostage on the ship, Low has the crew massacred and personally shoots the captain dead as the man pleads he has a family. Low sets up shop at Nassau and tries to intimidate the head of business Eleanor Guthrie with a speech of how his crew knows Low is a monster. He later fantasizes about raping Eleanor to within an inch of her life. When his quartermaster, Meeks, tries to ally with Eleanor, Low [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]] and [[OffWithHisHead beheads him]] in full view of Eleanor's entire bar, then kills her bodyguard when the man tries to make him leave. Low makes clear he will eventually come for Eleanor and confesses he is a man driven solely by cruelty and instinct that he often surrenders to.

** John Silver starts off as a selfish OpportunisticBastard, but would soon become [[TookALevelInBadass more brave and daring]], while still keeping his sly charm. Originally, just a cook in Captain James Flint's crew, he soon rise up to the ranks to become Flint's right hand man by burning the schedule Flint dearly wants, forcing Flint to trust Silver in finding the Urca gold. Upon finding the treasure, they would soon be captured by a Spanish Man-O-War, where Silver proceeds to elicit conflict within the crew, allowing Flint to commandeer the ship. Arriving at Nassau, Silver has Jack Rackham's crew salvage the gold for him while Flint goes to war with Charles Vane, and teams up with the latter to rescue Flint in Charlestown. Becoming stranded on an island with the Maroons, Silver brokers an alliance with the Maroons and the Pirates against the British Empire, and has one his own men "defect" to the British forces led by Benjamin Hornigold to lure them into a trap leading to their decimation. Taking the moniker "Long" John Silver, he would grow a reputation that exceeds even that of Flint's, eventually removing Flint from piracy by reuniting him with his lover, Thomas, while Silver ends the war that Flint once started.

** Vane's former right hand man, Jack Rackham, comes from the bottom to organize a new crew and pirate venture, stealing a fortune of gold out from under the noses of every other player. After the death of Vane, Rackham helps to organize some of the most devastating defeats of the British, and when he finally helps to defeat his nemesis, Woodes Rogers, Rackham on a plan to destroy him by having Rogers' debts purchased and defaulted upon, writing all his failures into a public ledger as Rogers is forced to hear his once-promising future destroyed. Rackham ends the series still secretly a pirate, setting sail for adventure anew with his beloved Anne Bonney at his side.

* [[SpiritualAdaptation]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. In turn, ''Black Sails'' is a live-action version of ''Black Flag'' and it also helps that they're both prequels to other works. Heck, there's even a character named Flint in both works.

* [[SpiritualAdaptation Spiritual Licensee]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. In turn, ''Black Sails'' is a live-action version of ''Black Flag'' and it also helps that they're both prequels to other works. Heck, there's even a character named Flint in both works.

** Does Flint's desire for war with England come from a desire to free the new world from the tyranny and oppression of the old one and build a society based on Thomas's ideals, or simply his rage at Thomas's [[spoiler: believed]] death--and later Miranda's [[spoiler: ''genuine'' death]]--pushing him to burn and destroy everything he blames for it? Silver flatly tells Flint himself in the final episode that he believes it to be the latter.

** Eleanor. Some like her for being a driven, tough young woman who does not allow a patriarchal world to stand in the way of her ambition, and who remains strongly independent. Others despise her for her ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, her extreme self-righteousness, and her loyalty only to herself. She has become even more hated in the third season when she repeatedly punches Vane in the face and agrees to him being executed, and genuinely falling for Woodes Rogers - becoming his DarkMistress.

* CompleteMonster: [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Edward "Ned" Low]], captain of the ''Fancy'', outdoes any other pirate in series for [[AxCrazy evil and cruelty]]. In the opening scenes of season 2, Low waylays a ship called the ''Good Fortune'' that peacefully surrenders, but upon finding a valuable hostage on the ship, Low has the crew massacred and personally shoots the captain dead as the man pleads he has a family. Low sets up shop at Nassau and tries to intimidate the head of business Eleanor Guthrie with a speech of how his crew knows Low is a monster. He later fantasizes about raping Eleanor to within an inch of her life. When his quartermaster, Meeks, tries to ally with Eleanor, Low [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]] and [[OffWithHisHead beheads him]] in full view of Eleanor's entire bar, then kills her bodyguard when the man tries to make him leave. Low makes clear he will eventually come for Eleanor and confesses he is a man driven solely by cruelty and instinct that he often surrenders to.

* GrowingTheBeard: Though the writing, acting, and production values were always high, the first season was a bit sloppy, especially with regards to Charles Vane's subplot, where he doesn't really do anything until episode 7. Season 2 takes all the good things from Season One and enhances them, all while making all of the characters significantly more complex and breaking them away from their archetypes. The third season only goes further.

*** And near the finale of the show this orphanage background is retconned to have been another fabrication of Silver's. Reality was much worse - so bad, in fact, that Silver just straight up refuses to talk about it, even though he really needed to in order to keep Flint's trust at that point. All he would say was that the truth would make Flint lose faith in humanity. Considering that almost all the major characters (except Flint and Eleanor) have a background in some form of childhood enslavement and/or sexual abuse, this is really saying something.

* HoYay: Toby Schmitz has implied numerous times on Twitter that Jack was [[https://twitter.com/fallofasparrow/status/1187201162232991744 gay]] [[https://twitter.com/fallofasparrow/status/917180174659026944 and in love]] [[https://twitter.com/fallofasparrow/status/1033912617289441281 with Charles Vane]], while Zach [=McGowan=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ89fLqNs4k&feature=youtu.be&t=1291 claimed in an interview]] (with Mark Ryan backing him up) that he unsuccessfully lobbied to have them kiss several times. How serious either of them were is up for debate, but the chemistry between the two characters, along with Jack's blatant idolization of Vane and foppish nature, doesn't make it hard to believe.

* [[SpiritualAdaptation Spiritual Licensee]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, tone and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. In turn, ''Black Sails'' is a live-action version of ''Black Flag'' and it also helps that they're both prequels to other works complete with a similar sounding name and are only separated by one year. Heck, there's even a character named Flint in both works.

* [[SpiritualAdaptation Spiritual Licensee]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, tone and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. In turn, ''Black Sails'' is a live-action version of ''Black Flag'' and it also helps that they're both prequels to other works complete with a similar sounding name and are only separated by one year. Even some of the show's cast such as Toby Stephens and Hannah New commented on the game's impact in interviews.

* [[SpiritualAdaptation Spiritual Licensee]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, tone and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. In turn, ''Black Sails'' is a live-action version of ''Black Flag'' and it also helps that they're both prequels to other works complete with a similar sounding name and are only separated by one year. Even some of the show's cast such as Toby Stephens and Hannah New commented on the game's impact on the show in interviews.

** Is any part of Flint's fate in the epilogue true or accurate? Is Rackham's story at the end what really happened, and [[spoiler: Silver really did spare Flint's life and sent him to that plantation in Savannah to reunite with Thomas?]] Or is it all a story Rackham and Silver concocted to give the remaining pirates hope, and what really happened was [[spoiler: Silver shot Flint dead in that clearing on Skeleton Island?]] Or are only ''some'' parts of it true? [[spoiler: Like maybe Flint did survive at the end and go to that plantation, but Thomas really did commit suicide before the events of the series began, and was there never there to reunite with Flint? Or was Thomas really alive and an inmate at the plantation, but Flint was shot by Silver and thus never made it there to join his old lover?]]

* [[SpiritualAdaptation Spiritual Licensee]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, tone and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. In turn, ''Black Sails'' is a live-action version of ''Black Sails'' and it also helps that they're both prequels to other works complete with a similar sounding name and separated by only one year. Even some of the show's cast such as Toby Stephens and Hannah New commented on the game's impact on the show in interviews.

* [[SpiritualAdaptation Spiritual Licensee]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, tone and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. It also helps that they're both prequels to other works complete with a similar sounding name and separated by only one year. Even some of the show's cast such as Toby Stephens and Hannah New commented on the game's impact on the show in interviews.

* [[SpiritualAdaptation SpiritualLicensee]]: If you ever wanted to play as Captain Flint and the crew of the ''Walrus'' in a video game adaptation of ''Black Sails'' then ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is your best bet. Not only do they share the same setting, tone and similar cast of characters but the main protagonist Edward Kenway even commands his own ship and interacts with real-life historical figures from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy over the course of the story much like James Flint. It also helps that they're both prequels to other works complete with a similar sounding name and separated by only one year. Even some of the show's cast such as Toby Stephens and Hannah New commented on the game's impact on the show in interviews.