Fools Together Now

And then you have Max who is powerfully invested in being as unremembered as possible. Ms. "power is most effective when it is least perceived". Ms. "this is all built upon sand". She is neof the few main characters who is neither a Treasure Island character nor a historical figure, and the only main character who doesn't have a last name. She uses that namelessness as a defence against being cast aside by the narrative, because she sees it! She sees the walls of the narrative, and knows that any story written about her will not be kind to her. "They will call me The Whore Who Lost Everything". Because of her gender, her race, her profession, her sexuality. She hides between the cracks of the narrative because she knows on some instinctive level that if she plays by the narrative's rules then she will always end up outside of the story, looking in on it. So she is able to shape the future of Nassau more than anyone else. She doesn't try to tell her story, but we still see it. "In another time, another place, they would have called me a Queen". She is talking to us. We are in that other time and place. She is pointing out the glass walls of the story and through them pointing directly at us as we watch her win.

Long John Silver + 🕳

Holes are ontologically parasitic: they are always in something else and cannot exist in isolation.

My name is [...] no-one, from nowhere, belonging to nothing [...] an invention, about one story that bled into others [...]

John Silver + the Wikipedia page for "John Doe"

[ID: A photoset of screenshots overlaid with snippets from a Wikipedia article about "John Doe".

"John Doe" – Silver with his back to the viewer, face barely visible in profile; "is a multiple-use placeholder name that is used" – Silver with his hands raised in surrender when first found by Gates; "when the true name of a person is unknown / or is being intentionally concealed" – Silver retreating from sparring practice with Flint; "Use of "John Doe" in the sense of an unidentified man (anonymous), includes:" – a close-up of Silver holding the schedule, his face blurred in the background; "Use of John Doe" in the sense of a placeholder, includes:" – Silver as the cook mixing a bowl of glaze; "Use of "John Doe in the sense of an everyman, includes:" – SIlver rallying the crew with a one-two stomp; "Though the rationale behind the choices" – SIlver holding Flint at gunpoint; "is unknown" – a stark profile of Silver telling Madi about the unmaking of Flint; "there are many suggested folk etymologies." – Eleanor's hands holding the Black Spot missive; "such names are often used to refer / to a corpse whose identity is unknown / or cannot be confirmed" – a profile of Silver waiting at the cliffside at the end of the series; "a decapitated and unidentifiable character," – a close-up of a book titled "A General History of the Pyrates".