"Genesis", Oil On Canvas By Matthew Cornell

In ep.IV they show us this embrace, this beautiful, beautiful and painful scene. Those few seconds hold such a deep meaning…and yet in that moment we do not know ANYTHING about it. So what? Is one supposed to see it and then go on with the show and forget about it, putting it in a corner of their mind with all those “you will understand later” things? Because that’s what happened, the first time I watched this season I completely forgot about it. And that’s such a WASTE! Pretty much all of the Flint/Miranda’s scenes in the first season are a waste, in a way. Please do not misunderstand me, I think those scenes are really amazing and I also think that the timing of the “great revelation” was perfect, I wouldn’t have liked it so much had it come before, and exactly for these reasons I’m saying that those wonderful scenes are “wasted”. Because a lot of those get lost in the first watch, since one can’t understand the importance of them still and so doesn’t even give them the right amount of attention they would deserve. Of course the mystery was intriguing, and something sounded pretty strange since the beginning, but still…STILL. Almost all of the scenes about the two of them or about Miranda kill me on rewatch, knowing their whole story. But that’s the thing, you have to rewatch it to get the complete beauty of them. And I think that’s a shame, because people who like the show but are not obsessed with it as I am would probably never rewatch it, but maybe, if they had remembered or rewatched at least those scenes, there would be one more chance for them to be as obsessed as I am with it.

Really, how beautiful this hug was? An “It’s over” kind of hug, but with a double meaning. It’s over like we put an end to part of our misery, venting our anger on the responsible for it, but also, it’s over like our old existences are over, and we will never be the same persons we used to be ever again. Which is pretty much what happens with every revenge (I’m not judging though). I just love it so much, I wish I had been able to see all of that since the first time I saw it.

Swan Queen and the Parent Meeting at School 

REGINA:  You’re late, dear.

EMMA:  Yea, sorry about that.  My WIFE decided to pack my lunch today and all I found was a plastic container of blended apple, kale, carrot juice and a bran muffin.

REGINA:  It’s wholesome and nutritious.

EMMA:  It looked like sea monster vomit in a cup.

SNOW:  Guys, please. We’re in a meeting.

EMMA:  What.  You’re my mother.

SNOW:  Right now I’m your daughters’ principal!

EMMA:  You mean your GRANDDAUGHTERS?

REGINA:  (ignores current conversation, turns to Emma)  Lunch was delicious.

EMMA:  I wouldn’t know.  I didn’t eat it.

SNOW:  Maybe we should proceed…

REGINA:  What do you mean you didn’t eat it?

EMMA:  I didn’t eat it!

SNOW:  (waves to get their attention)  Hello?

REGINA:  (crosses arms)  Well, what DID you eat then?

SNOW:  Principal trying to talk here.

EMMA:  (defiantly pins Regina with a stare)  I went to Granny’s and had a DOUBLE bacon, grilled onion cheeseburger and French fries with a chocolate milkshake chaser.

SNOW:  (shakes head in hands)  Oh geez.

REGINA:  You did WHAT?

EMMA:  You heard me.

REGINA: EMMA!

EMMA: (imitates)  REGINA!

SNOW:  (points to self)  Principal!

EMMA:  (to her mom)  SHHH!

REGINA:  (to Snow at the same time) Oh shut up!

They both stare at each other hard again while Snow tilts her eyes heavenward and closes them while shaking her head.

REGINA:  Do you know what those things are doing to your body as we speak?

EMMA:  I don’t know about you but my body’s feeling pretty thankful.

REGINA:  You think so?  Let’s see how it feels when your ASS is sleeping on the couch tonight.

EMMA:  (scoffs)  Are you serious?  For eating a cheeseburger.  Who are you? My mother?

SNOW:  No… that would be me.

EMMA:  (jokingly)  You just said you were the principal.

There’s a knock at the door. The school janitor, Leroy, pokes his head in.

LEROY:  Snow, you called to have some extra stuff thrown out?

SNOW:  Yes, Leroy.  Those bags by the wall.

Leroy nods to Regina and Emma but they only crack a small smile alerting him to the tension in the room.  He awkwardly shuffles towards the trash knowing well what could happen between the Sheriff and the Mayor, even though they’ve been married for years and were perfect for one another.

REGINA:  (to Emma)  Do you even care about your heart and arteries?  Because I do.

EMMA:  Oh my God, Babe!  Look at this body.  I am in prime condition.  (flexes arms) I don’t mean to BRAG but look at these! (holds her arm up to a passing Leroy)

LEROY:  (puts garbage bag down and feels Emma’s arm)  Wow, those are some serious guns you got there, sister! (Looks up to find Regina glaring at him and Snow subtly waving for him to leave while he can)  Um…

SNOW:  Thanks, Leroy.  That’s it. (waits a beat, looks at two cross-armed irritated women)  Okay… Why don’t we just forget about this whole thing and move on. What’s done is…

REGINA:  (scowls at Snow)  Don’t you have chalkboard erasers to BANG somewhere?

SNOW:  (tilts head back and sighs at the ceiling)  

EMMA:  Babe, it’s not like I eat like this all the time. And I think I’ve done pretty good with all the other stuff you give me. I actually like flaxseed and goji berries now. (sees Regina soften and puts a hand on her forearm)  Heck!  I’ve even gotten used to grilled cheese on WHEAT bread!  (looks into Regina’s eyes meaningfully, smiles)  But I draw the line at “cat puke in a can”.

SNOW:  (mumbles unheard)  I don’t even think a cat would eat the stuff Regina gives you.

REGINA:  (pause, raises eye brow, smirks)  There was no “milkshake chaser” was there.

EMMA:  (smiles wider and nods yes)  No.

REGINA:  (strokes Emma’s hand)  And the grilled onions?

EMMA:  It was a plain hamburger, no cheese and with a side salad instead of fries. (happy with Regina’s megawatt smile) And NO onions.  I WAS planning on kissing you later.  (wiggles eyebrows)

Both women have eyes only for each other and ignore Snow’s twisted mouth as the moment seems inappropriately intimate all of a sudden.

REGINA:  Only later?

EMMA:  Well… Maybe a lot sooner than then.  

REGINA:  How about right now?

EMMA:  How about we take this someplace more private?

REGINA:  Follow me then, Sheriff Swan.

EMMA:  To the ends of the Earth, babe.  (opens door for Regina)  So am I still sleeping on the couch?

REGINA:  (as door closes behind them)  Lucky for you I happen to like “your guns” wrapped around me in bed where they belong.

Snow is left with an empty blinking expression at their vacated chairs.

SNOW:  Well, Audrey and Sophie are adjusting really well to school life. They love kindergarten and play well with others. (pause, dismissive wave at the chairs)  I’ll just tell them everything at Sunday dinner.

———-

Credit for the gif goes to @lana-lana-b0-bana.  (Thank you for letting me use it!  I love it!)

When I saw this lovely gif, I immediately thought it looked like a parent/teacher conference type thing and this scene took place in my head.  This is set in The Twins of Storybrooke universe and I made Snow the principal.  Who knows, by then she might be!

“HAPPY HOLIGAYS, here’s every swan queen scene in one video “

Awesome Swen , awesome parrillajolie made a video with EVERY SWANQUEEN SCENE

Please go to their Tweet and/or Video and see this masterpiece and comment

I'm the breath on your hair, the endless nightmare, devil's lair. Only so many times I can say I long for you The lily among the thorns The prey among the wolves

Madi ✨👸🏿

— it’s not just men who are made great by the relentless pursuit of a better world. By being unwilling to give up that pursuit, because they don’t know how. And if we don’t, we, too, can be invincible.

I've been wondering about Urca de Lima's true story for a bit, and after reading some pirate history I thought it was the Hampton Court.

I'm greatful for this explanation, it's very interesting to me to know all these details about those magnificent ships they used to have (also, I'm not very skilled in history, so...if someone else offers their researches it's way better lol).

thank you!

The Man O'War

One of the mysteries of Black Sails is where the Spanish man o’war captured in season 1 vanishes to after Captain Flint and his crew return to Walrus…but another mystery is exactly WHAT is this ship. I’ve seen her referred to as a frigate, but now that I’ve captured a good screenshot (season 2, episode 4), that this is definitely no frigate.

The man o’war has three full gun decks. Counting gun ports, it looks like each has approximately fifteen guns, plus a short gun deck back aft near the main deck. This averages to 45-49 guns per broadside, which makes this grand bitch not just a ship of the line, but a first rate ship of the line. That's the age of sail equivalent of a battleship! Take a look at the gif below of the man o’war savaging Walrus and Ranger.

(Frankly, if she was a frigate, I don't think Flint would've worried much; Walrus has the throw weight of a sixth rate frigate and would've stood a good chance; with Ranger along, they would've been just fine and no one should've panicked.)

So, what ship is this? The Urca de Lima was a real ship, though Urca was only a nickname for Santissima Trinidad, and she was part of a combination of two flotillas that made up the 1715 Treasure Fleet. This fleet consisted of eleven ships, of which at least two were ships of the line.

The first was ex-Hampton Court, a British built third rate ship of the line of 70 guns that was captured by the French then sold to the Spanish. Sources say that she was renamed Nuestra Señora del Carmen, but contemporary sources such as the governor of Jamacia, Archibald Hamilton indicate that this was a separate ship and the flagship of the second part of the fleet. (More on that in a moment.)

The second confirmed ship of the line was the French Griffon, which was the one and only survivor. (Cool fact: the captain of this ship was also likely the informant who gave Hamilton his information).

The third ship is the mystery ship that brought up the rear of the formation. This ship is harder to place, and was either a different "massive war galleon" or Nuestra Señora del Rosario, a third ship of the line. This may have been a third rate or fourth rate ship of the line, but sources make it very hard to tell. Given that the wrecks that have been found have never been positively identified, it's even harder to determine which ship was which.

Back to Black Sails. Historical evidence says that there wasn't a first rate ship of the line in the 1715 Treasure Fleet, but the show does also indicate that the Urca was traveling alone, so a bit of dramatic license says that we've got a first rater along for the ride. It's far from outside the realm of possibility, given the contemporary evidence that the Spanish definitely did use ships of the line as escorts for treasure ships.

I think it's safe to say that the ship isn't Hampton Court, however. An ex-British officer like James Flint would 100% recognize Hampton Court, who would've been captured (1707) after he left England but was a distinctly British design. Additionally, the characters continuously refer to her as a Spanish man o'war, which indicates she's Spanish-built.

Spanish-built ships of the line with three decks have 94 guns or greater. Until 1700ish, they frequently were referred to as galleons, a term that faded out of use and was replaced by navíos. If I'm going to be a real history nerd, Spain didn't really have a three deck ship of the line in this era; they'd scrapped the only one they had in 1705, Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y las Animas. But prior to scrapping, this ship was sent to the colonies to harass settlers around Panama, so she was on the right side of the world in the early 18th century.

Historically speaking, Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y las Animas (Our Lady of the Conception and of Souls) is the best candidate for the Man O'War in Black Sails.

In-universe speaking, that big bitch is a three deck, first rate ship of the line of somewhere between 94-100 guns, just based on the number of gun ports and the mincemeat she makes of two ships at the same time. Why did she vanish? Probably because it'd be hard as hell for anyone to beat Flint if you let him keep that ship, and Woodes Rodgers would've had a much harder time taking Nassau when she was protected by a ship of the line.

Have you seen this post before? Probably a close cousin of it. Dimwit me deleted my tumblr and had to remake it.

Additional sources:

1715 Treasure Fleet Information

Ship resting places, armament, and educated guesswork

Archibald Hamilton's information

so take a breath and dance with death, my love cannot be turned.

Day 2: Discover

“They paint the world full of shadows... and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons, their judgments. Because in the darkness, there be dragons. But it isn't true…in the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it.”

Edit: very helpful image ID from @etoilesombre added as alt text!

Absolutely true. Because Flint and Madi were just two birds of a feather. They learned it slowly, through hard experiences I'd say, but they definitely understood it (and each other) by the end of it. How great the two of them would have been in leading that war together! And what greater evidence of this is the knowing look they share after Madi's rescue in ep.XXXVIII?

And the sadness Madi shows at the end, learning of Flint's departure, how true that was! Either she thought he was dead or not, the point is that she felt on her own skin the same desperation and defiance he must have felt seeing their war and all their effort going to waste, because she felt the same -if not worst. She felt that losing that, for him, would have been just like dying, as it was for her.

So yeah, that's why I'll never forget Silver for what he did. He loved her by cutting away her wings, he locked her in a cage just to protect her, and how can you do that to someone whose life is lived in the name of freedom? I can't accept that.

For how I see it, he never deserved her nor her trust.

Y'know, something that's very elucidative to me regarding John Silver's character, and in a way Flint's character, is that despite him not being the one in a romantic relationship with Madi (in fact I believe his dynamic with her is more of a brothers-in-arms, united for the same cause, that later transforms into something bordering on a mentor/pupil dynamic or even almost a father/daughter dynamic but not quite), Flint ended up understanding Madi as person FAR better than Silver ever did, or could.

So much so that Flint knows Madi would never allow anything to jeopardize the start of the war or its success: not her own life, not Silver's life, nor any promises of safety for her people and her people alone in her maroon encampment - nothing. And he's right! Madi herself confirms it to Woodes Rogers toward the end of S04. Silver might have fallen in love with Madi, but he never actually saw her. And if there ever was an instance when he did, I don't think it was voluntary and it only fed into his own selfish desire to protect her at all costs, not just to himself but to her, too.

Silver also knew she would stop at nothing for the revolution, he knew that even if she were to die, they would make a martyr of her and she would have been fine with that because even dead, she would have accomplished what was necessary, which was to make the war explode and the revolution set in motion. Where Silver failed but Flint did not, was that he was more scared of losing her than he was of losing the war. Which is very human for someone who is definitely not as idealistic as either Flint or Madi, but still selfish and in a way, cruel.

Flint and Madi understood each other completely and made this silent pact to do anything to make their plans go forward, always with the intent to keep each other safe whenever possible, but willing to let the other die if all other options had run out, and they would hold no grudges toward each other should it come to that and they happened to survive. And Silver... Silver didn't. He loved Madi with all his heart, but he never understood her. Not enough to respect her wishes, anyway.

Gosh. So powerful.

This is exactly the spirit, the very soul of his fight and of his being.