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what parts of his skeleton he's replaced with gold, those being his right hand, jaw, and teeth, and his eyes have been replaced by large emeralds.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).
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!
