Does Charles Vane Die in 'Black Sails'? Fiction vs. Real Life

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Black Sails.

Thanks to streaming services TV shows no longer die. Black Sails, the Starz show that ran from 2014 to 2017 and developed a cult following, is now on Netflix.

Thanks to new eyes on the pirate show that combines characters from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island with real pirates from executive producer Michael Bay, some fans are wondering if and how Charles Vane dies.

Charles Vane in Black Sails is based on the English pirate from the early 1700s. According to the World History Encyclopedia, “Vane was known as a cruel pirate captain, dishing out punishments such as keelhauling, which involved tying a person with rope, throwing them overboard, and then dragging them either under the ship from one side to the other or along the entire length of the ship. More seriously for his captaincy, Vane faced accusations of not sharing out his plunder fairly.”

In other words, Charles Vane wasn't a good dude. When he was captured, he was found guilty of piracy and hung to death in Jamaica in 1721. It's highly unlikely he ever said anything nearly as clever as his fictional portrayal.

Charles dies in Season 3, Episode 9 of Black Sails. Before being hung (do we even need to say spoilers when we’re talking about a pirate on a show that originally aired in 2016 and is based on a real-life pirate who lived 300 years ago?), he gave a soliloquy that could never have actually happened in real life (based on acoustics alone, no one would be able to hear a calm, gravely voiced guy that’s barely speaking louder than a whisper).

Some of the highlights of Charles's last words are, "They brought me here today because they fear you and because they know that my voice, the voice that refuses to be enslaved, once lived in you. And may yet still. They brought me here today to show you death and use it to frighten you into ignoring that voice. But know this. We are many. They are a few. To face death is a choice. And they can't hang us all.”

His actual last words on the show are some of the best last words of anyone about to be hung: “Get on with it, mother f--ker.” Charles definitely made his point.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in March 2016 about his character’s death, actor Zach McGowan said, “I read different accounts of how he died. In one, he had no last words. In another it said he was like, 'Let’s get on with it.' The only thing that was important to me was that he would not say he’s sorry, because he doesn’t think that he’s done anything wrong. When someone tries to kill you, you have the right to defend yourself and live.”