#fathoms deep

john silver refuses to tell us his story. he lies, and lies, and lies about it. when confronted, he refuses to tell the truth. it’s one of my favourite things about the character, but the thing is— he tries to control the narrative, and he really does at first. but, in the end, he gets swallowed up by the stories others have made up— by the lies others have told about him.

jon steinberg said in fathoms deep that silver’s been removed from his own story, that his curse is that he’s stuck in someone else’s, and he can’t get out. he does everything he can to get out in the beginning, and then he physically can’t, and then he gets so entangled in the story he couldn’t possibly leave— it would fall apart without him (in the end, he makes it fall apart).

billy makes a decision that shapes silver’s whole identity. and even though silver does make the story fall apart in a way, he still can’t get out. and this is what survives him, what has reached us— the lie another man made up.

silver doesn’t just get entangled in it. he becomes it. he becomes a legend, a ghost, a story. it isn’t even one he chose to tell.