The Gold Hoarder, And Why He's Important

  • Captain Blackeye here, with my second big topic, but my first official, truly lore-oriented topic. And within this topic we will be discussing the Gold Hoarder. No, not the Gold HoarderS, I'm talking about the very first Gold Hoarder ever to grace the Sea of Thieves. I have decided to discuss this character in my first lore post because of his mentioning by Captain Morrow and Stitcher Jim. So brandish your best shovels as we dig into the mysteries behind this mysterious skeleton.

    To begin: Who IS the Gold Hoarder? For those of you who don't spend a surprising majority of your free time theorizing and sticking your nose into every little nook and cranny of the lore that Sea of Thieves has to offer, the Gold Hoarder is an ancient Skeleton Lord that supposedly started the Gold Hoarder faction when he was still human. In Captain Flameheart's journal, Flameheart writes:

    "One such character apparently unknown even to my father is the Gold Hoarder, a particularly terrifying Skeleton Lord whose name surely ties him to the Trading Company I met, oh, so many lifetimes ago. This man's skeleton was supposedly reclaimed by his spirit after death, driven by greed to the extent that he patches up his immortal frame with jewels and gold."

    In the pictures below, you can see exactly what parts of his skeleton he's replaced with gold, those being his right hand, jaw, and teeth, and his eyes have been replaced by large emeralds. This gives his skull surprising similarity to Stronghold Skulls, albeit those skulls do not have the circular insert in his forehead. On a side note (and this has no effect on the character's lore), the Totaku figurine of the Gold Hoarder maintains his original design, save for his right hand. The hand of the figurine is normal bone, rather than solid gold. His shovel also changes design for the figurine, having him sport a golden variant of the Onyx Shovel (obtained through Chips Ahoy! giveaways).

    The Gold Hoarder

    The Totaku Gold Hoarder

    Current Official Appearances(in order by date):
    Sea of Thieves: Official E3 2016 Cinematic Trailer
    Tales from the Sea of Thieves
    Art of Sea of Thieves
    Sea of Thieves Comic Series, Issue #5 (First-time Speaking)
    Sea of Thieves: Athena's Fortune (On cover. To be released.)
    In-Game Mentions By Cpt. Morrow & Stitcher Jim

    Okay, now that you all know who he is, let's get into the juicy details.
    First up: His mentality. The psyches of the skeletons inhabiting the Sea of Thieves is rather questionable at the moment. The game currently has no talking skeletons (Save, possibly, Captain Warsmith, although only her ability to legibly write was confirmed), but the books do have verbally-proficient skellies. Flameheart's journal records only The Cap'n, the Skeleton Lord he encounters, speaking, but the comics have several skeletons speaking perfect English... Except for the Gold Hoarder. In his very first speaking appearance, the Gold Hoarder speaks in Broken English, uttering only a few, raspy words in the few panels he stands in. From this we can take that his incredible greed not only brought him back to "life", but most likely also destroyed his mind in the process. However, he may not be completely insane, as Stitcher Jim is apparently in contact with him, and plotting something as well. As for their connection and what will come of that, it is far too early to say.
    Another connection I believe the Gold Hoarder has is with none other than Captain Flameheart himself. I say this because on June 13th, 2016, Rare launched another cinematic trailer for Sea of Thieves at that year's E3. In this trailer, the camera pans around through a paused world, at one point even panning out of the Gold Hoarder's right eye! In this shot, only the lifeless skull of the Gold Hoarder is present, unable to guard his riches from the encroaching pirates. But lo, who is to come to his rescue? You can probably guess: Captain Flameheart. The camera pans right and away from the Gold Hoarder's stash to reveal that the mighty skeletal pirate has snuck up on the unsuspecting pirates from behind, perhaps to help defend his comrade? I have absolutely no evidence to support this theory (yet), but I firmly believe that Flameheart and the Gold Hoarder work together. Maybe not as friends, but certainly as allies. This would then mean that the Gold Hoarder would have some ties to The Cap'n (Who I have absolutely no information on, save for the fact that Flameheart's father imprisoned him via curse).

    Next point: The Curse. "What curse?" I hear you asking. "The Curse of the Gold Hoarders!" I reply. If you've ever even glanced at one of those gold-loving map vendors, you'll have noticed that parts of their anatomy have been replaced by solid, glinting gold. Now, I can get behind the thought of a skeleton crafting a golden mold of his hand or jaw, or even reincarnating as a golden entity, but a human? Surely you jest! But no, they are actually part gold, some more than others. The only logical answer I can think of for a human to be able to replace sections of their own fleshy bodies with pure Atomic-Number 79 would be a curse. A curse brought about by those magical keys they always carry on their belts. Those magical keys that can open any chest. And who would be crazy enough to imbue a potentially dangerous curse into a ring of keys just to turn them into glorified * cough * skeleton keys? Our good skelly friend, the Gold Hoarder. And to ensure that he gets the most gold from the Sea of Thieves, he created the Gold Hoarders Faction. (For those of you who wonder "Wouldn't he want all of the gold from the chests?", of course he does! But no one would bring them in if they didn't get a cut. Would you?) He handed out the keys to his loyal, human followers, and they set out to collect countless millions of gold coins and trinkets from all of the pirates that bring their mysterious chests to be unlocked, at the expense of losing some of their humanity to the golden curse. This may be all just a theory of mine, but I think it makes sense.

    The one thing I can say with utmost certainty is that the Gold Hoarder will be making an in-game appearance in the near future. I'm sure we all look forward to that.

    In a few months time, (after I collect more information on the Gold Hoarder) I'll make another, updated post to add all the extra information I'll pick up. For now, though, if ANYONE has ANYTHING to add to any of this, I would absolutely love to hear it! Throw me your theories, findings, readings, and anything else concerning the Gold Hoarder! I await with open ears, and will check in on this topic regularly to discuss these things with anyone that wishes to. Stay salty, my fellow pirates, and best of luck!

    IMPORTANT EDIT: In the comments below, @NunoAzuldimeter pointed out a flaw in my theory, which led to my finding of several more facts I had overlooked. Please read our conversation below to follow along!

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  • @blackeyethe2nd awesome research work here.
    I caught myself thinking in the same matter... The gold Hoarders. But the whole faction.
    And why? Because there's a point you forget to mention in your theory.
    Something I read in the comics.

    The fact that all the gold we have in sea of thieves once belonged to the Gold Hoarders! Yes, the fella at Sanctuary revealed something, after (can't remember The Pirate Lord daughter name) asked him why would they want to bring them the treasures of they could just find it and keep it.
    He said all the gold was infact theirs! Before the Pirate Lord stole it from them!

    So that's the reason why only they have the keys to open the chests (?).

    There he continues to say that they will recover everything even if they need to kill everyone else. (Does here the Gold Hoarder figure, and all the concept for Gold Hoarders skeleton crew, can be inserted? ... I really think so)

  • @blackeyethe2nd Fine, fine work here. Really enjoyed reading this! Would love to see more of these characters telling their story in game!

  • @nunoazuldimeter ...They said that?...
    Flipped through issue #2, and sure enough, there it was! Can't believe I missed that. ^_^'

    Okay, scrap what I said previously. New theory: Pirate Lord steals all of the gold from the Gold Hoarder, somehow, and the Gold Hoarder chases him down to take it all back. In their final battle, in some last-ditch attempt to save his hoard because he was losing, the Gold Hoarder casts a terrible curse, locking all of the gold into chests that only he can open, and casts them out across the Sea of Theives! THEN comes the bit with the cursed keys!

    It's a loose theory, but I only just came up with it. What do you think? Plausible? He wouldn't just hide the chests for other people to find if he had gotten his treasure back from the Pirate Lord, and the Pirate Lord wouldn't have made it so only special keys can open the chests.

  • @blackeyethe2nd I think, maybe The pirate Lord stole all the gold from the Gold Hoarders before arriving the Sea of Thieves.

    Then he hide everything making this a legendary land of hidden gold.
    Let not forget he was the first one to arrive here.

    The Gold Hoarders may arrive this land after that, To retrieve what was theirs.

    During the time of The Pirate Lord, there was another Pirate as well... One that later turned his son into a skeleton. The first Flameheart, the father.

    Could the first Gold Hoarder be partner of the Flameheart Father?!... Could they caught the same curse turning them into skeletons?

  • Great post and writing style. Loved it.
    I am eagerly looking forward the next one

  • @NunoAzuldimeter
    I don't have Flameheart's journal on me at this very moment, so I'll check it later, but I'm fairly certain Flameheart's father isn't the Pirate Lord. I vaguely remember Flameheart writing about his father passing away outside of the Sea of Thieves, and thus out of the reincarnation magic, but I could be wrong. I'll get back to you on that in an hour or so.

  • @blackeyethe2nd noooo he's not the pirate Lord. But they lived in the same timeline. I think.
    I think I remember to read something on Flameheart (junior) journal about that.

  • @NunoAzuldimeter
    Reading back through Flameheart's journal, I've reminded myself of a few things:
    1: The Cap'n, the skeleton who cursed Flameheart Jr, was stranded in his cave by Flameheart Sr.

    2: The Cap'n IS NOT a Skeleton Lord. I quote, from Flameheart's journal:

    "The Cap'n, I beg of you to believe, is a walking, talking skeleton. Yes, he has heard talk of the Skeleton Lords, and would look forward to crushing their bones given such an opportunity."

    This means that the Cap'n was cursed to be a skeleton, but not in the way most skeletons appear to be. He appears sane, albeit vengeful. Vengeful against Flameheart for his father's act of possible mutiny, and vengeful against the Skeleton Lords. (Possibly for being cursed into a skeleton.)

    3: Flameheart Sr. died outside of the Sea of Thieves. Flameheart Jr. writes of how his father eventually settled down, and no mention of returning to the Sea of Thieves was made. Thus, I can say with certainty that the Cap'n will most likely prioritize seeking vengeance against the Skeleton Lords, as he can no longer take revenge against the deceased Flameheart Sr.

    4: Scrap my theory about Flameheart and the Gold Hoarder allying up. If the Cap'n has an intense hatred towards the Skeleton Lords (such as the Gold Hoarder), than there is no way that Flameheart (a subordinate to the Cap'n) would arrive in the cinematic trailer to aid the Gold Hoarder.

    Your thoughts?

  • @blackeyethe2nd don't forget the art book it shows multiple skeleton lords

  • @roughleech03117
    Unfortunately, no, it doesn't. Pages 72 and 73 cover the skeleton lords, and the only two shown are Flameheart and the Gold Hoarder. Before that depicts regular skeletons of different varieties, and after those pages it moves on to ships. Trust me, I've payed attention to the various styles of skellies in that art book, but the only time Skeleton Lords are mentioned are on Flameheart and the Gold Hoarder's pages.

  • @blackeyethe2nd they have multiple concepts of skeleton lords

  • @RoughLeech03117
    Where? What page? I'd like to see this. The skeleton section of the book starts on page 64 (after the merfolk concept art) and ends on page 73, with the Gold Hoarder's page. Some fancy skeletons show up on page 64 and 65, and skeletons specifically mentioned as parts of skeleton crews on pages 68-71, but no other mentions or art before or after that.

  • @blackeyethe2nd I honestly believe that those concepts are skeleton lords and not usual skeleton captains they look more unique

  • @RoughLeech03117
    They do look unique, but so do the countless ships, outfits, islands, and animals throughout the book. We unfortunately cannot call them skeleton lords until we get any kind of confirmation. But will these designs be used in the future? I wouldn't put it past Rare to do that. They already teased several figureheads and sail designs in the book, so it'd be perfectly logical for some of these skeletons to be waiting in the wings.

  • Heck, even volcanic islands make an appearance in the book.

  • @blackeyethe2nd would make sense to have more than 2 skeleton lords

  • @RoughLeech03117
    Indeed. I fully expect to see more Skeleton Lords emerge in the future.

  • @blackeyethe2nd Ahoy there! Found this old topic while searching some pictures of the Gold Hoarder. I've read all that is posted here and thought of reviving this topic because I'm almost done reading the Athena's Fortune novel and I got enough knowledge regarding THE Gold Hoarder, who is he and what exactly happened to the treasures he had. I'm interested if you guys have read the book and if so please do let me know of your thoughts about it!

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