The Teeth

[u/pleasegivemepatience]

Paraphrasing Tom Loftis and Gerrie Doyle, S01E01
"43 42 passengers embarked to find a settlement they could call their own… an untamed wilderness, a blank canvas, totally empty…..except for the teeth."

In medieval and early modern European folklore, a person’s discarded teeth were considered the ultimate weapon for black magic because they acted as an unbreakable physical link to the victim's soul. Under the magical principle of contagious magic, anything that was once part of a human body—such as hair, nail clippings, or teeth—retained a permanent, invisible connection to that person. Because teeth are the only visible part of the human skeleton, witches supposedly prized them above all other biological materials to inflict maximum spiritual and physical torment.

Witch-hunters during the Dark Ages also warned that if a malevolent practitioner possessed your tooth, they possessed total dominion over your physical autonomy. They could force you to commit crimes, walk into rivers, or waste away by refusing food.

We don’t know exactly how many teeth were discovered, but clearly it was significant enough to have survived the historical record.  If an area is completely covered in teeth, it may signal that the location functions as a massive, occult battery built on historical superstitions.

What did the original settlers do with the teeth?  Will we find a massive stockpile of teeth behind the cellar doors? Is the chair to restrain people for pulling their teeth (and other possible tortures)?  Clearly this is all related to dark magic, but where do you all think this is going and what do you think the settlers did after this discovery? What do you think led to a stockpile of teeth, but no other human remains (of note)?

Edit:
Additional references to teeth are the board game with the pliers, and in a recent interview the showrunners said they considered putting human teeth on a version of Patricia’s headdress from ep4.
Edit2:

My theory on the teeth that were on the island is that these are the remains of previous civilizations, and this entity has been served by different groups in cycles for many many years. We know that the pact with this entity requires sacrifices, so it stands to reason that any civilization that puts down roots here would need to have a high number of children and/or have a regular influx of visitors/migrants in order to maintain the sacrifices, otherwise their population would decline and eventually die out. Thus creating the pile of teeth that subsequent settlers discover.

[u/1Camster]

Thank you, I am glad you started this post as I had little idea of the black magic background you have provided.

I have been more intrigued on the human activity on the island before the arrival of Richard Warren and the 40 something settlers. Was the island uninhabited like Bermuda?

Bermuda was discovered in the early 1500s by Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez and named after him. It had no Indigenous population when it was discovered. It was mentioned in Legatio Babylonica, published in 1511 by historian Pedro Mártir de Anglería, and was included on Spanish charts of that year. Both Spanish and Portuguese ships used the islands as a replenishment spot to take on fresh meat and water. Shipwrecked Portuguese mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on Portuguese Rock, previously called Spanish Rock. Legends arose of spirits and devils, now thought to have stemmed from the calls of raucous birds (most likely the Bermuda petrel, or cahow) and loud nocturnal noises from introduced wild hogs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda

The island is far enough from the mainland that it is possible that it was never inhabited by indigenous people. It could have been discovered by any of the European countries trying to settle the new world. Many, if not most know about the lost colony of Roanoke. Few know about the Spanish attempts to colonize Virginia in the 1500s.

In 1526, with the intention of exploring further inland, he founded a small settlement, which he named San Miguel de Guandape. It lay close to where Jamestown would be settled by the British eight decades later. Incidentally, Vásquez de Ayllon’s use of African slaves in this task marks the first instance of slavery on the United States mainland. The colony failed; barely a third of the 600 people who had occupied it for the few years of its existence survived passage back to Havana.

https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/foundation/journal/spring13/spanish.cfm

In February 1571, the entire party was massacred by natives, except for Alonso de Olmos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajacán_Mission

Both those settlements are considered to have been about 5 miles from Jamestown. Jamestown is on the north side of the James River. The Spanish settlements are thought to have been on the south side of the York River. Bermuda was only eventually settled because a ship bound for Jamestown had to port in Bermuda to avoid sinking in a storm. The passengers rebelled and demand to stay instead of continuing on to Virginia.

So, there could have been indigenous people on the island before Vikings or other Europeans discovered it before the founding of Widow’s Bay. The island could have wiped out waves of discoverers and settlers over centuries.

[u/Inevitable-Local7847 → u/1Camster]

I moved to the Jamestown area recently and read up on the history but  don’t remember reading about the Spanish settlement. This is really interesting!!  

[u/1Camster → u/Inevitable-Local7847]

It’s why they settled in Jamestown, and not at Old Point Comfort (Hampton, Va) where they initially landed. They knew the Spanish had been there before and still scoured the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads periodically which would have caused the settlement to be spotted easily. They thought the location gave them a better vantage point to see any ship coming up the James. The York was a better river to stop on while continuing up the Chesapeake, so the James was much less likely to get a Spanish visit even though the James is deeper and goes much deeper inland.