Our Flag Means Death Finale Explains Blackbeard's Flag Change
Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Our Flag Means Death's season 1 finale.
The final episode of Our Flag Means Death season 1 offered a reason for why the series made a notable change to the famous flag of Blackbeard. This was a point of some concern to pirate history scholars, who noted the change earlier in the season. However, the change was ultimately revealed to have nothing to do with historical fact or pirate legend and everything to do with foreshadowing the heartbreaking outcome of the season's final two episodes.
Despite a number of changes from the real story of the historical figures involved, Our Flag Means Death has been largely accurate in its portrayal of the history of real-world pirates like Blackbeard and the Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet. In real life, the two captains sailed together for a time in 1717 and Blackbeard built a pirate fleet using Bonnet's ship, Revenge, as a flagship. However, historians are largely at a loss as to why the infamously ruthless Blackbeard would allow Stede Bonnet to live rather than simply kill him and take control of his ship. Our Flag Means Death explained this over the course of season 1 by having Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet become good friends and, in the penultimate episode of the season, developing their friendship into true romance, as Blackbeard sacrificed his freedom to secure royal pardons for himself and Stede. This broadly mirrors the real world history, where Bonnet and Blackbeard both received royal pardons, but later returned to piracy before the end of 1718.
Related: Our Flag Means Death: Where Else You’ve Can See The Cast
In Our Flag Means Death, Bonnet and Blackbeard conspired to escape conscription into the British Navy and start new lives
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