Edward Low
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|---|---|
 ' | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Title | Captain |
| Gender | Male |
| Status | Deceased (killed by Charles Vane) |
| Ships | Fancy |
| Relationships | Meeks (quartermaster; deceased) Holmes (crew mate; deceased) Eleanor Guthrie (enemy; deceased) |
| Appearances | First: IX. Last: XI. (Alive) Last: XVI. (Flashbacks) |
| Portrayed by | Tadhg Murphy |
| Gallery | Edward Low Gallery |
- "The truth is, I'm not a particularly skilled captain. Navigation is foreign to me. I have no gift for politics. So what am I good at? This is going to sound absurd, but I make the men feel better about themselves."
- ―Ned Low to Eleanor Guthrie[src]
Edward "Ned" Low was an English pirate in the Caribbean, and captain of the Fancy. He was a new captain to Nassau, and quickly ran afoul of Eleanor Guthrie.
Biography[]
Background[]
Before arriving in Nassau, Low and his crew made camp in various places, such as Tortuga and Kingston.[1]
Season Two[]
Low waylays a ship called the Good Fortune that peacefully surrenders. Meeks, his quartermaster, begins going through the manifest. Meanwhile, the merchant captain, Jefferson, attempts to make small talk with Low about Nassau, telling him about how he has heard that a teenage girl runs commerce there. Low tersely replies that he is a new to Nassau. Upon finding a valuable hostage on the ship, Abigail Ashe, Low has the crew massacred and personally shoots the captain dead as the man pleads he has a family. The crew then brings the girl over to their ship and set the merchant vessel on fire before sailing away.
Low sets up shop at Nassau, and immediately tries to intimidate the head of business Eleanor Guthrie with a speech of how his crew know he is a monster, in order to get her to pay full price for the Good Fortune's cargo. Eleanor had refused after an earlier argument with Meeks, to whom she explained that due to the bloodstained nature of the barrels, she needs to repackage them. Eleanor refuses however.[2]
He later fantasizes about raping Eleanor to within an inch of her life. Meeks admonishes Low about antagonizing Eleanor, saying that it is important for the crew that they do not jeopardize their relationship with her. Low replies that when they return from Carolina, every man on the crew will have his hat filled with gold. He then says with regards to what happens after that it's an uncertain world.
When his quartermaster, Meeks, tries to ally with Eleanor, Low finds him and corners him with other members of the crew. Low says he was told by Holmes that Meeks was seen nervously entering Eleanor's office. Low says he is forced to wonder if Meeks was meeting with her to seek an ally in deposing Low. Meeks insists that he has a duty to the men to protect them from Low and from themselves. Low says that he does, but there is also the possibility that Meeks is just a spineless traitor. Low then tortures and beheads him in full view of Eleanor's entire bar, and then kills O'Malley when the man tries to make him leave on Eleanor's orders. Before he does leave, he tells Eleanor that he is enjoying himself too much to leave Nassau.[3]
Low approaches Charles Vane, and tells him that in all the places he has made camp, one thing is always true: there is always someone you don't cross. In Nassau, that would appear to be Vane. Vane asks him why he has come to him, and Low says that he has faced continued aggression from Eleanor. Vane asks that Eleanor is being aggressive to Low, and Low explains that she engaged in a conspiracy with his quartermaster to depose him and her bodyguard tried to attack him.
Low goes on to elaborate that the feud between them will likely only escalate and will not end prettily. He says that he has heard that Vane and Eleanor have a connection, and wants Vane's assurance that when things get ugly, he won't intervene on behalf of Eleanor. Vane and Jenks agree that they have no reason to get involved, and Low asks for assurance again, and explains his violent tendencies. Vane promises he will not get involved, but reminds Low that commerce in Nassau relies on Eleanor, and any move against her might gain Low new enemies on the street. Low says that confidence in Eleanor's Consortium is at best, tepid, and implies it is unlikely she will be missed. Before he leaves, he gives Vane ten percent of his crew's haul as tribute. He adds that it would have been larger had Eleanor not shortchanged him about the condition of the cargo's containers.
Later that night, Vane rows to the Fancy while it lies at anchor in the bay. Vane then meets with Low while he is eating dinner in his cabin. Vane tries to offer a partnership between his crew and Low's. Low immediately rejects the idea but gives Vane permission to elaborate on the deal.He explains that his place is at sea, and he has no desire to rot away in Fort Nassau. Vane says he was deprived of his ship, and is therefore in need of one. He says that if she were to come with a strong crew, that would be all the more better. Low stops Vane and says it is painfully obvious that Vane has feelings for Eleanor. He says if Vane were able to bring his men to bear to protect her, he would reconsider his feud with her. However, Low believes that Vane's men find his feelings pathetic. The fact that Vane has come alone simply confirms all of Low's suspicions.
Vane asks to say the terms of the deal and Low allows him to continue. Vane says that he gets Low's ship, his cargo and his weapons. As he says this, Vane's men sneak aboard the Fancy and slaughter Low's men. Low asks what he gets in return and Vane replies "a head start." Low calls for Mr. Holmes but Vane replies that "Mr. Holmes doesn't work here anymore." Vane and Low begin to fight, and despite getting stabbed in the arm, Vane is able to kill Low. He then cuts off his head and stakes it in the beach, below which he posts a sign that reads "I angered Charles Vane."
Vane transfers Abigail Ashe to Fort Nassau. He later shows her to Eleanor, telling her that she is the special cargo Meeks spoke of. He said Low wrote in his log that he intended to ransom her to Lord Peter Ashe, Governor of the Province of Carolina, for 250,000 pounds.[1]
Vane later visits her in her cell and introduces himself, promising that no harm will come to her so long as she follows his orders. Abigail says that Low ordered her not to talk, and Vane says she doesn't need to worry about him anymore. Abigail asks how he can be sure and Vane answers that he cut Low's head off. Abigail says this is good.[4]
Vane finds Eleanor escaping the fort with Abigail to deliver her to Flint. Vane tells her that he killed Low and his crew for her and pleads with her not to do this but Eleanor ignores him.[5]
En route to Charles Town, Abigail has a nightmare that she is back on the Good Fortune, hiding belowdecks with her maid while the crew is slaughtered above. As they wait, struggling to remain silent, her maid is grabbed away and Abigail sees Low's face before she wakes up[6].
Season Four[]
Lydia mentions to Jack Rackham that she heard Charles Vane cut off a man's head and left it in the sand as a marker to anyone who wished to cross him, referring to the incident with Low. Jack tries to explain that there was more to the situation than that but Lydia continues to talk about Vane's reported brutality.[7]
Personality[]
Edward Low was a violent, brutal, ruthless, sadist, who relished in violence and torture. While he was very ill-tempered and often surrenders to his instinct for violence and cruelty, Low was shown to be somewhat cunning and intelligent. He was observational enough to know Vane was not a man to be crossed, and that Eleanor lacked the men to defeat his forces in a confrontation. Though he was not particularly charismatic, he governed his men with a combination of respect and fear.
Quotes[]
By Low[]
"When they see me slaughter the crew of the Good Fortune. When they see me cut out a man's tongue for lying. When they see me burn a boy alive in front of his father. There's no lie there. There's no remorse. I simply don't have it in me."- Ned Low to Eleanor Guthrie in IX.
About Low[]
"You can't blame the men. They'd suffered under an awful stretch of captains. Weaklings, frauds, liars. Ned Low, whatever he is, he's none of those things. The men saw him as an answer." Meeks to Eleanor in X.
Trivia[]
- Captain Edward "Ned" Low was a notorious English pirate during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. 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 killing them.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once described Low as a "savage and desparate" man of "amazing and grotesque brutality."
- During his short but successful career as a pirate captain, the historical Low and his crew took at least a hundred ships, most of which they subsequently burned.
- The real life Edward Low didn't become a pirate until 1721, six years after the events of the series.
- Low's flag is depicted slightly different from real life. In real life, his flag was a red skeleton on a black background. The show added the bleeding heart in its hand to make it look a bit more similar to the Walrus flag.
Appearances[]
| IX. | X. | XI. | XII. | XIII. |
| XIV. | XV. | XVI.* | XVII. | XVIII. |
*Flashback/dream sequence
