Black Sails consigns a mate to sea.
ThisBlack Sailspiece contains spoilers for Season 3 Episode 9.
But Charles Vane is dead.
He was hanged by the British, after a midnight trial, observed by no one.
He died of his own free will.
The rescue of a pirate at the last possible moment is a trope in and of itself.
But he met the eyes of his rescuers and asked them to hold off.
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Why did he have to go?
Vane has given us more action than any other character.
Vane was part of our initial hook.
All he had to say was, Im Charles Vane.
Of theRanger, and people backed down.
All except for one.
Eleanor was free to punch him in the face.
Oh, she was punched back, of course.
No one got away with hitting Vane, at least not in public.
What does that mean for the show?
I believe that it means that his job is done.
Flint, Silver and company schemed, and planned, and yes, occasionally fought.
But Vane was the in-the-trenches revolutionary.
He had been treated as a slave, and he refused to descend into that life again.
This was the belief of many real-life pirates.
But real-life doesnt move story forward.
He could die now.
In fact, the death of a character often marks an intensifying of dram in a work of fiction.
In a way he is a captain in his own right.
Killing him is a substitute for killing the captain, who is usually the hero of the story.
Rackham has been speaking of his own death as he contemplates his legacy.
Even Silver flirts with death, as he refuses to submit to the infection in his stump.
But instead it was the final blow to the complex stew that has been their relationship.
If there had still been a chance, he might have let himself be rescued.
Im sure his death will be raised as a standard to all the erstwhile pirates of Nassau.
But dont be fooled about Vanes sacrifice.
It was Beauty that killed the Beast.
