Black Sails: 10 Facts Everyone Should Know About Billy Bones

Summary Billy Bones in Black Sails is a fusion of history, literature, and imagination, adding depth to iconic characters.

Tom Hopper's portrayal of Billy Bones showcases his range as an actor, from Game of Thrones to The Umbrella Academy.

Billy Bones' tragic demise in Treasure Island is highlighted through his struggles with alcoholism and encounters with dangerous pirates.

Black Sails built its universe from several sources: real-world pirate history, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, and the imagination of the show's writers, who brought Billy Bones to life on the small screen. For history buffs, it's great to see the golden age of piracy in full swing, and for movie fans, it's a lot of fun to see a work of iconic fiction treated as a historical source. The show's characters come from the same three sources, including real-world pirates like Anne Bonny and original characters like Mr. Scott.

It also includes Treasure Island characters such as John Silver, Captain Flint, and Billy Bones. His role in the original novel was small but significant, and he remains one of the most iconic characters. Played in Black Sails by Tom Hopper, Billy Bones has shown up in numerous adaptations and helped build the traditional Hollywood Pirate. However, there are many things that even Black Sails fans might not know about Billy Bones and the character from the hit TV show.

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10 Billy Bones Is An Enigma

Bones Is The First Pirate To Show Up In Treasure Island

In Treasure Island, the story opens with Billy Bones — the Billy Bones Tom Hopper's version is destined to become — as he turns up in a coastal town with a mysterious sea chest, looking for a place to stay that looks out over the water. He finds such a place in the Admiral Benbow Inn, where he asks to be referred to simply "Captain" and pays a generous deposit for his room, before spending his days alone on the cliffs, staring out to the sea.

When his deposit runs out, he fails to pay anymore and intimidates his landlord, young Jim Hawkins' father, into leaving him alone. He does offer young Jim money to keep his eyes out for someone who might show up, but when it comes to Jim's dad, and most of the people in the village, he keeps to himself and doesn't let anyone into his personal life, remaining a mystery to those who see him around the area.

9 Billy Bones's Personality Changes

He Loses Control More When He Is Drinking

Pirate stories always bring a variety of colorful characters, and many of these characters are prone to a drink or two. Billy Bones is the poster boy for drunk pirates: he is a stern, unapproachable ex-navy tough guy when sober; but an embarrassing short-tempered fool when he's drunk. The patrons of the Benbow Inn get to know the latter, drawn to him by his notoriety and tails of the high sea, with some calling him "a real old salt."

He ensures that the Benbow Inn is always full of customers because people show up to see what Billy will say or do in any given situation. His notoriety brings the customers in, but he often ends up pushing them away with his obnoxious singing and shouting, which quickly becomes bullying when challenged. This is also where he gained his biggest claim to fame for the townspeople when he drove away a villainous-looking man known as Black Dog, although this also revealed Billy's identity to the town doctor.

8 Tom Hopper Is No Stranger To The Small Screen

Tom Hopper Has Appeared In Several TV Shows

Before Black Sails, English actor Tom Hopper was already no stranger to period fiction or iconic TV shows. He played Sir Percival in Merlin from 2010-2012 and joined the cast of one of the most popular fantasy television shows ever made in Game of Thrones in 2017 as Dickon Tarly, the heir to Lord Randyll Tarly, and a man who died by dragon fire thanks to Daenerys. He also appeared in the fifth series of Dr. Who, Casualty, Kingdom, Doctors, Good Cop, and Barbarians Rising.

Tom Hopper had his most notable rule when he joined The Umbrella Academy in 2019 as Luther Hargreeves. He appeared as the superhumanly strong Luther in all three seasons of the series and will return for season 4 when the show ends his story. Hopper also has a new role in an upcoming TV series called The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, a prequel to the Chris Pratt Prime Video series.

7 He Helps Make The One-Legged Man Famous

The Days Before Anyone Knew Of Long John Silver

While he continues to stiff his landlord at the Benbow, Billy pays his landlord's son, Jim Hawkins, fourpence a month to look out for "a seafaring man with one leg," shedding some light on his looking out to see and lending some gravitas to the introduction of Long John Silver. Billy Bones eventually gives up and stops paying for this service with no payoff. However, the Black Sails prequel makes this opening even better.

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If a person walks into a fictional pirate bar and asks if anyone knows anyone with one leg, everyone would admit to knowing who Long John Silver is, if only by reputation. However, though Billy Bones was part of the Robert Louis Stevenson story that made Long John Silver so infamous, most people still don't know his identity in this fictional world. Of course, this was just to show fans how dangerous Long John Silver is because Billy Bones died in Treasure Island without encountering the evil pirate in the story.

6 Tom Hopper Also Has A Notable Film Career

Tom Hopper Is Also No Stranger To Movies

Outside of Black Sails, Tom Hopper hasn't just had a huge career on the small screen with roles like Game of Thrones, Merlin, and The Umbrella Academy. He also has some big roles that he has taken in movies since his career started in 2007. He got his break into film in several features including Saxon, Tormented, Cold, and Knights of Badassdom before his memorable turn as Asbjorn in 2014's Northmen - A Viking Saga.

He's since appeared as the lead in the action movie Kill Ratio and in supporting roles in I Feel Pretty and SAS: Red Notice. His biggest movies that he has appeared in include the franchise installment, 2019's Terminator: Dark Fate, and the Ryan Reynolds film, Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. His other credits include Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and the 2023 Western movie, Place of Bones.

5 Billy Bones Was An Alcoholic

The Pirate Would Often Lose Control When Drinking

Billy Bones was a hardened adventurer, spending over 20 years as a pirate, and though involved in some shady doings, it was alcohol that ultimately destroyed Billy. When a pirate is on a ship or ransacking something with his crew mates, drinking and loud singing make sense. When Billy Bones shows up on Treasure Island, he is degrading, cutting himself off from any real social interaction and drinking himself into oblivion as he awaits the light at the end of the tunnel.

Billy Bones' excess drinking also explains the stroke he suffers after his battle with the Black Dog. After this fight and the stroke, the local doctor told him to stop drinking, or it could cause further incidents. Billy ignored the doctor's orders and kept drinking, which weakened him day by day. This led to his demise with Blind Pew showing up at the inn and giving him a Black Spot, leading to a second stroke and Billy's death.

4 Where Else To Find Billy Bones Appearances

Billy Bones Has Appeared In Movies & Songs

As well as being a popular historical setting, Treasure Island shows up in all sorts of pop culture, and Billy Bones is often featured. There are several Treasure Island adaptations with Billy Bones, including a silent movie made in 1918, the first soundie adaption in 1934, and other movies in 1972, 1982, 1986, 1988, and 1990. On top of those straight adaptations, the character appears in Muppet Treasure Island and shows up as a tortoise lizard alien in Disney's Treasure Planet.

He also appears as an animated "one-legged" cat in Dōbutsu Takarajima (Animal Treasure Island). Other than in movies, songs that reference the character include "The Tomahawk Kid" by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, "Time For Heroes" by The Libertines, and Elton John's "Billy Bones and the White Bird." Billy Bones remains a memorable character, even with a smaller role in the Robert Louis Stevenson novel.

3 The Black Dog Nearly Killed Billy Bones

The Man Who Caused Billy Bones's Stroke

Less than a year after his arrival at the Admiral Benbow Inn, Billy Bones is ironically visited by someone named Black Dog, a rough-looking individual with two fingers missing. Black Dog confronts Bones, they argue, and they end up battling in a swordfight. Bones manages to drive away the wounded Black Dog, but then he suffers a stroke that almost kills him. The doctor attending him discovers his real name and story after finding his name tattooed on his person.

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The doctor warns Bones that the alcohol will kill him, but Billy Bones fails to heed this warning and keeps drinking until the next pirate shows up to visit him and ends up causing a second stroke which kills him. It turns out that Black Dog was formerly a member of the infamous Captain Flint's crew, where Billy was the first mate. Later in the story, Jim sees him, and it turns out that Black Dog is associated with Long John Silver, and they are looking for the treasure map that Billy had with him.

2 Other Actors Who've Played Bones

Everyone Who Has Played Billy Bones

Several actors have taken on the Treasure Island character, including the first man to play Billy Bones in the 1918 silent movie version of the story. The first big name to play the pirate is Lionel Barrymore, the brother of Drew Barrymore's grandfather, John Barrymore. Barrymore was an Oscar winner for A Free Soul and remains best known as Mr. Potter in It's A Wonderful Life. Martin Landau played Billy Bones in the 1986 version. Landau would later win an Oscar for his role as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood.

Other stars to play Billy Bones include Lionel Stander, Leonid Markov, Oliver Reed, Patrick Bergin, Ernest Borgnine, Michael Elphick, Herschell Mayal, Finlay Currie, Dante Maggio, Jack Watson, Ryo Kurosawa, Takeshi Aono, and Justin Jones. Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner) voiced Billy Bones in the 2002 animated movie Treasure Planet. Billy Connelly also did a memorable turn as Bones in Muppet Treasure Island, which also included Tim Curry's iconic Long John Silver.

1 The Black Spot Before His Passing

The Omen That Leads To Billy Bones's Death

After the stroke, Billy becomes mentally and physically weaker and is caught singing the innocent songs of his youth. He also comes clean to the doctor about his life as a pirate. Soon after the incident, a blind pirate who goes by "Pew" shows up at the inn. His mere presence seems to terrify Bones, and when Pew hands Billy the dreaded black spot (a circular piece of card colored black), he suffers another stroke and dies thanks in part to a stroke due to his alcoholism.

A Black Spot is given to pirates as a verdict of guilt or judgment. The marker is black on one side and has a message on the other. It was also what was used to let a person know they would be deposed, by force if needed. Later, someone gave one to Long John Silver, but he was smart enough to know it was from a Bible and cursed the men who presented it to him. The omen the black spot represents becomes clear when a ruthless gang of pirates ransacks the town, looking for the mysterious Treasure Island map.