Latest Posts by dragonsinthedarkness - Page 3

BLACK SAILS + Who We Are by Hozier (insp.)

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!

Im not the first person to post about this, but I just rewatched VIII with a friend who is watching the show for the first time, so it’s fresh in my mind again, but like jfc on a rewatch the scene where gates tells flint that his crimes are too great that he is going to have to be spirited away with miranda in the dead of night to avoid the noose, the look on flints face, the way he says please. Please don’t do this is just. Fucking devastating. when you, the audience, are burdened with the knowledge of exactly what happened to him and miranda and thomas back in london. Flint killing gates is so horrific, so completely incomprehensible and unforgivable on the first watch, my friend was basically shouting at the screen, “why would he do this? It doesn’t solve any of his problems! That’s his only friend! What the fuck! Fuck this guy!” And like. Yeah. This doesn’t fix any of Flint’s problems. It doesn’t make any sense for Captain Flint to do this. I could hate Captain Flint for doing this. The ghost of James McGraw however…? I understand exactly why he does that.

It's not my blood.

Max my beloved <33

Happy Thomas Hamilton Resurrection Day!

[ ✕ ]

I'm trying to get back into the groove of things. I am currently diving headfirst into one of my oldest hyper fixations. I finished this a few days ago after taking too long to work on it, but well....

“his relationship with thomas hamilton– the initial friendship– and them then becoming lovers is sorta’ like– it was the realization of himself. i think he became himself with thomas hamilton. he finally could be who he– his potential was kind of unleashed with hamilton.” - Toby Stephens (x)

Miranda was always what Flint needed, and to her last moments, she remained exactly that. Flint needed a sacrifice to his cause, a martyr to fight in the name of, and that’s what Miranda became.  Because ten years and Flint was still fighting the trappings of civilization for all Miranda said that he had abandoned it. Because Miranda was civilization. She and Flint and Thomas were all parts of some unique machine, and Thomas might have have been been the engine in the machine, and Flint the weapon, but Miranda was the outer shell, the body, the thing that upheld both those things. She was music and bitter hope and china cups and antiseptic on Flint’s wounds. She was someone to bring home books to and someone to write I’m sorry to and someone to say, “you’re getting blood on my floor.” She was the last person who had any idea whatsoever of James McGraw, the only person who knew him as James McGraw, who once called him lieutenant, who once knew what he looked like in a navy uniform, who once knew what he looked in like in the candlelight of a London drawing room. And in turn, he knew her. Knew her as the woman she once was, knew how she looked in fine silks and jewels and pearls in her hair, knew what she looked like with Thomas on her arm, who knew her as a wife and socialite and lady and a scandal, as all the things she never was on Nassau.    And if Flint was ever to try to take true and exiting revenge, she needed to die. Because as long as she was alive, she was the promise of civilization, of peace, of memory, for Flint to return to. And that’s what she realizes when she puts her head down in Peter Ashe’s drawing room and asks him about the clock. The façade of civilization, the dinner, the pleasantries, Flint and Ashe shaking hands, the talk of a trial, a pardon, it needed to be broken, because in that moment to allow it to exist was intolerable. And she broke it, destroyed it with six words. But she was civilization, and she destroyed herself. 

Absolutely true. He absolutely loved them both, even if I'm not sure he already loved Miranda as much as he later did, back then, or as much as he loved Thomas. But the point is that he however respected her (the both of them) deeply, and the fact that this already happenes in a early stage of their romance has even more meaning to me. Thomas was capable of defending himself, because he was a man and because the Earl was his father. He had the chance to speak his mind and be listened (even if he was not). In a way it would have been unpolite and arrogant of James to assume he couldn't and speak in his place. But Miranda could not, 'cause she was a woman and not even with the best reputation, she had not a chance to speak and to be listened and that's way James steps in. But then he starts to speak and you actually see he is doing it for the both of them. And well, I guess that was the moment when both the Hamiltons realized they were actually doomed.

The way James doesn't say anything until Lord Hamilton starts in on Miranda. Yes, he would have inevitably stood up in defense of Thomas, but you can see throughout the dinner scene how he is holding back, staying quiet, allowing Thomas to argue with his father. But it's when Lord Hamilton starts taking potshots, nastily calls Miranda a whore, is when James stands up. His tipping point is when Miranda is disrespected, (it isn't the first time, either) and it's so...so...insane, because he stood up for both of them. Miranda and Thomas. He shot back against Lord Hamilton for Miranda as much as he did for Thomas, because he loved them both.

It's the way they and the people who know them refere to those years in New Providence as a dream.

Some say it was a nightmare, and yes, it probably was, especially for James.

But you can't find in a nightmare someone who is so similar to you that you end up so often being unable to face for the fear of facing your same insecurities. You can't find someone who choses to walk by your side for the whole, dark and unsteady road toward a blurred, almost impossible future, just to make it possible for the two of you. You can't find someone who choses to love you without restrain, and to trust you, in the name of that love, giving their own life away in the hope that you will save yours.

This, you may find only in a dream. This is what they both did, in their own way, for one another. Miranda understood it. James almost did.

It's the way you go from bright colors but cold lights in 1705 to dark colors but warmer, secret, intimate lights in 1715.

Really, that's all.

It’s like she’s some sort of clock that’s finally struck its chime and woken me from this dream we’ve been living, reminded me how many years separate me from a world I still think of as home. How unrecognizable the woman I am now would be to the woman I was then.

Black Sails x Oceans Brawl by Cœur de Pirate

Part 3/3

Black Sails x Oceans Brawl by Cœur de Pirate

Part 1 (follows part 2)

Black Sails x Oceans Brawl by Cœur de Pirate

Part 2/3 (follows part 3)

Black Sails x Oceans Brawl by Cœur de Pirate

Part 1 (follows part 2)

Black Sails x Oceans Brawl by Cœur de Pirate

Part 1/3 (follows part 2 and 3)

there's something to be said of flint's anger in the scene he beats singleton to death.

but.

i think we should recognize that part of it stems from strategy as well.

the conversation with billy at guthrie's house-

"but now it seems they feel i'm..." "too weak." "i was gonna say unlucky. so that's the thinking. we've been attacking ships with lighter loads because i'm too weak to do otherwise."

up until this moment flint didn't know that's how he was perceived. but now he does, and that he needs to prove to the crew that that's not true. and what better way to prove your strength than beating a man to death with your bare fists?

of course the anger played a huge role in it, i'm not going to deny it. but it didn't have to.

the puzzle pieces fit neatly together to set the scene. flint came into that fight with the full intent of unleashing that rage, not merely because he needed an outlet, but also because he knew it would help his image.

this, plus going after a ship like the urca...

afterwards, the crew could think what they wanted about flit's mental faculties. they could think what they wanted about his arrogance, his pride, his lies and schemes.

but not one of them would think him weak again.

People like that are so hard to find, really. So many are good at speaking but very few are actually good at listening.

I think it's important to interact too, ask questions and show interest while someone talks about things they love, even if it's not your favourite kind of things, because you may find new interests you never thought about first of all, and then because it's a form of respect. If I'm interested in you as a person, I should be also interested in what you say, whatever that may be.

Just my thought about it.

It makes me happy when they listen

He’s a liar. He’s a thief. He’s reluctantly a pirate. He’s no one from nowhere belonging to nothing. And now? He’s a doll<3

Besides how incredibly real this seem, Flint's gaze in the third one absolutely kills me. This scene was so beautiful and so in line with this conflicted character after what had happened with Miranda...I love it. And also the closeness he and Eleanor show to have here... Great scene. And these drawings just catch so well its deepness and its emotional power.

Really awesome, congrats to the incredible artist🖤🖤

They eyes, I mean...😍😍

Ghosts of the Past 

Commission art for @pinkandgreenroom 

So beautiful❤

Lately I went rewatching ep.I. It was the third time, but the first one being as obsessed with this show (and having the full picture of it) as I am now. And, wow, it really could be called an “introduction”. I mean, besides all the main characters' introduction, in those 60 minutes there are hints to all of the main themes treated in the show.

They give a sketch of the pirate figure they are going to deepen throughout the seasons (free men who keep what they want) and also of the way they are seen and conceived by the civilized world (as fearsome monsters).

They also start to give some hints about the nature of that “civilized world”.

They even introduce the concept of shame! I didn't remember that.

Captain Hume says: ”gossip is what holds civilization together. It reinforces shame. And without shame the world is a very dangerous place.”

Which, wow, is pretty ominous considering what we are going to discover in season two.

They also start to make it pretty clear how things work in Nassau, how important it is to have allies and at the same time how easily those alliances may change, with poor Gates trying to gain votes for Flint (and I'm going to say it once again: he didn't deserve to die. Like, I love Flint, but this I can't forgive him.)

And speaking about Flint, they already give very important informations about him.

Sure, we see him being the bossiest and the strongest of the bunch, all determined with his actions and plans and all, but what I'm really talking about are the hints to his personality.

Of course we don't know him yet at episode one (and I'm sure the first impressions of him must have been the most disparate. I can't even remember my very first impression of him, but considering my actual tastes in characters I think that if I had first known him now I would have loved him at once) but they drop things which are very important considering what we are going to discover about his character.

Like, we know at first that he doesn't trust his men at all (“I don't trust them with the truth”+ the various lies lol), and we see that he definitely is not “one of them”, because they find him too different from them to be considered such and probably this is where all those mistrust in him come from (“I know they've always found me aloof, too educated” which really, really, tells a lot about him).

And I just thought: how strong must he have been to gain and hold the power over those men in a world where there are no rules, no indisputable ranks, where trust and submission is granted (and only barely promised) to the stronger ones or to the ones who are considered the most fitted to receive it only basing on one's subjective judgment and advantage, without even being liked by those men?

And also, Dufresne says that “he loves his books” which is another one of the things that in my opinion are so beautiful about his character for the deep links those books have with his story and his development (I could write a whole essay about Flint's books lol).

Anyway, I just finished rewatching season 4 some weeks ago and since I can't stay for long without BS anymore I thought: why not starting it again? And so. Btw, I really needed to rewatch the first season since I feel like I still haven't appreciated it enough.

If you ask me, the three of them deserve a whole show just for themselves. Like...only fragments in only five episodes? Absolutely not enough.

RUPERT PENRY-JONES as Thomas Hamilton, LOUISE BARNES as Miranda Barlow, and TOBY STEPHENS as James McGraw in Black Sails, Chapter XI.

Truest things in this show always happen in the dark. I didn't miss to notice the black covering most of the picture of both Max and Anne and James and Thomas' first kisses.

Love these gift. The slight look Flint gives Anne (which honestly I had never considered much before someone made me notice the reason behind it)...this show is art.

Black Sails (2014-2017)

These are so beautiful! Also all the other ones, but these last five are my favourite!

I'm the kind of person who looks for tarots about any fandom she steps into, so thank you so much for this gift!

And like...one of the problems with thematic tarots is that so often their creators choose aesthetic over meaning, which is not my favourite interpretation of it. Instead you united both aesthetic and meaning (and I love the meaning) and...wow!

Thank you for sharing!

(The world🥺🥺🥺)

Black Sails tarot part 5 (1, 2, 3, 4)

the star, moon, and sun as max, anne, and jack came to me in a holy vision and i'm still so pleased that i found images of them all sitting and oriented the same way. trio of all time

and that's it! i only did the major arcana bcs any more would've killed me lol. i think i finished the final versions in november, so it's been almost a full year and, despite the flaws i still see, i still really love this project!

Like, this artist created dolls for all of my favourite characters and I'm discovering them only now. Help!

My Adora and Catra dolls all done<3

Oh my goddess🤩

🗡🗡knives done :3

She's so good! Wow!😍

The first of my black sails dolls is done!! Say hello to miss Eleanor Guthrie!

she's a lesbian. she has an emotional support malewife. she has a kill count in the hundreds. she wears a funny hat. she's ginger. she doesn't know how to talk about her feelings. she dresses in men's clothing. she threatened the love of her life with a knife right before they kissed. she's the strong and silent type. she had an emotional breakdown when her partner left for two days. she can't smile without it looking like a snarl. she murdered a bunch of rapists. she is the bravest and truest person. there is nothing important that does not include her. I am chewing glass why is everyone in the entire world not completely obsessed with her.