re: Official BLACK SAILS Re-watch/1st Watch Thread - Current watch: S2, EP10 to S3, EP2

Forgot to post some of my takeaways from S2, EP1-3.

If it's your first watch by this point you've probably had a few "is this guy real or not" moments. Well we're introduced to Ned Low in the S2 premiere. And he's pretty brutal. There's not a ton of information out there about him, but just reading his wiki page is pretty crazy. Edward Low

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Low and his pirate crews captured at least a hundred ships during his short career, burning most of them.[1] Although he was active for only three years, Low remains notorious as one of the most vicious pirates of the age, with a reputation for violently torturing his victims before murdering them.[2]

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Low taught Spriggs a torture technique that involved tying a victim's hands with rope between their fingers and setting it alight, burning their flesh down to the bones.[11]

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One of Low's most noted episodes of cruelty followed: in his rage, he slashed off the Portuguese captain's lips with a cutlass, broiled them, and forced the victim to eat them while still hot.[6][19] He then murdered the remaining crew.[1] Low's own men described him as "a maniac and a brute."[16]

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One story describes Low burning a French cook alive, saying he was a "greasy fellow who would fry well"; another tells how he once killed 53 Spanish captives with his cutlass.[6] Some historians, including David Cordingly, believe this was deliberately done to cultivate a ferocious image.[23] Historian Edward Leslie described Low as a psychopath with a history filled with "mutilations, disembowelings, decapitations, and slaughter".[14]

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This is probably why he's depicted with the scar across his eye in the show...

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One failed torture session led to one of Low's crew members accidentally cutting him in the mouth. Botched surgery left Low scarred.[5]

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Also...

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"Ned Low" is one of the pirates featured on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at the Disneyland theme park in California.

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Although Vane killing Low was pretty awesome and sneaking on the ship and the fight between the two of them was legit, I think that is one of the few things the show might have got wrong. They should have kept Low around a little longer. Three episodes wasn't enough for that good of a villain.