#10. Thatch

Lore

The Madman of Barbados

"An old sea shanty tells the tale of a buccaneer who went mad drinking gunpowder and grog. Every time he sailed into battle, he'd set his own ship aflame so there could be no retreat. I forget how it goes, but the chorus includes the phrase high turnover rate.'"

– Oldish Pete, proprietor of The Anchor and Pistol


"Ye call this grog? I can still feel me face."

– Thatch, to a stuffed deer head over the bar

As the story goes...

Thatch won his ship from the devil with the devil's own double-headed coin, and aboard it he wreaked more havoc than any pirate before or since. His love of black powder and obsession with setting the world aflame combined to sink hundreds of ships, sack dozens of ports, and prematurely erupt at least two volcanoes.

Thatch's ship had so many ghosts, they haunted in shifts. He plays his favorite drinking game, "Drink every time Thatch has a beard." He claims to be married to the sea, and has a marriage license to prove it. He has a face only a mother could love if he hadn't made her walk the plank.

For Thatch, the Tournament is a paradise of chaos and fire, but even that doesn't slake his thirst for mayhem. He aids in Vraxx's schemes to conquer Valhalla out of sheer bloody-mindedness, and when bored will lay deadly traps he calls 'pranks' for his fellow Legends. He sneaks out at night to dig holes, knowing the gods must have buried treasure somewhere.

Connections

• Caspian stole Thatch's beard and replaced it with bees
• Learned to tap his deepest inner lunatic to summon his Spirit Shark (sword nsig) from Lin Fei; it was the closest he ever came to gratitude
• Mako's lore suggests that Poseidon was struck by Zeus's lightning bolt in an effort to control Atlantis. Poseidon then "fell to earth, his memory gone, doomed to wander the seas as a madman." This reference to a "madman," plus Mako suggesting her parents were "a lunatic and the sea" all but confirms that Thatch was/is Poseidon & Mako's father.
• While in Valhalla, Mordex finds himself in accord with the likes of Thatch and Azoth, much to the fury of his nemesis
• Ragnir wrested so much gold from the Madman of Barbados [Thatch] that he is the pirate's Moby Dick

Context

Thatch is clearly the stereotypical pirate. Or, more specifically, the Brawlhalla version of Blackbeard. Thatch's name is interesting, because Blackbeard's real name was Edward Thatch (or Edward Teach)! Could Thatch in fact be the Blackbeard of the Brawlhalla universe? If so, his first name is probably Edward. Regarding pirates in general, the period known as the Golden Age of Piracy is considered to be from about 1650 to about 1720, with three separate "outbursts" of piracy within that time.

The real Blackbeard lived from about 1680 to 1718 (so we could assume similar dates for Thatch's mortal life), and was a British pirate who worked throughout the West Indies ("the Caribbean") and the east coast of the American colonies (present day U.S. east coast). His flagship was Queen Anne's Revenge, and spent a lot of time operating in present-day North Carolina.

Interestingly, in spite of the large following he amassed (or amast...get it? a-"mast"...never mind), Blackbeard was supposedly not a man of force, but a man of image. He would light fuses under his hat to add to his thick black beard and generally fearsome appearance, all to gain the fearful response he desired from the people he robbed. He was also not as cruel to his crew or captives as many modern legends would have us believe. Eventually, Blackbeard and several of his crew were defeated and killed by Lieutenant Robert Maynard and his small team of sailors.

Thatch's lore is full of tropes about piracy and "sailing the seven seas." Haunted ships, "marriage to the sea," walking the plank (popular in modern pirate stories, but few historical instances are documented), and buried treasure (also a rare practice for historical pirates, except for Captain William Kidd, who buried his treasure on Long Island, New York).

Barbados is an island in the southeastern edge of the Caribbean islands. It seems there was no real-world "Madman of Barbados." However, the island is know for two pirates: Sam Lord and Stede Bonnet. These two were unusual pirates in their own ways. Sam Lord found an unorthodox way to get rich as a pirate in the Caribbean by hanging lanterns on the beach to lure ships in (mistaking the lights for the capital city). Sam would then plunder them once they wreck on the reefs. Stede Bonnet actually bought his own pirate ship (instead of...commandeering it), and later befriended Blackbeard himself!

The weapons of a pirate? Sword and blasters. Specifically, cutlass and pistols. Pirates used several varieties of swords, guns, and other weapons, but the cutlass and pistol seem to be almost as symbolic of pirates as the skull and crossbones. The cutlass has a single-edged blade (which was popular at the time) and was quite thick and durable, making it ideal for cutting ropes, vines, and other tough materials on ships and islands. Though muskets and blunderbusses saw wide use during this time, the pistol was popular for its small size and light weight, making it the perfect personal range weapon. Some pirates carried two or even four pistols, and tied them to their belts with silk cords.