WB, BB, Thatch & Edward Teach

D: Question! “Whitebeard Edward Newgate”, “Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach”, “4th Squad Commander Thatch”. These three all appear to be based off the real-life 18th century Caribbean pirate, Edward Teach (or sometimes Edward Thatch), aka “Blackbeard”. Can you tell us more about this figure? P.N. G-on King

O: All three, yes. As a matter of fact, Whitebeard and Thatch just take his name, but Blackbeard himself is completely modeled after the man. The real-life pirate called Blackbeard had many names, and one of them was “Thatch”. He also went by “Drummond” and “Thache”. He would braid his very long black beard and light smoking wicks hanging from his hat, and with the six pistols and three swords he bore, must have been the very figure of the Devil in battle. Countless stories exist of him shooting his own crew to teach them a lesson, and so on. There are legends that he hid a great treasure, but it has never been found. Now’s your chance!