Tisquantum was operating among people who often lacked any independent way to verify what he said.

The English depended on him to understand Native speech.

Native communities could depend on him to understand English intentions.

That placed him in the middle of negotiations over food, trade, travel, alliances, and danger.

For a man whose original community had been destroyed, this position may have offered a path toward influence and security.

It also created temptation.

Colonial accounts later accused Tisquantum of manipulating both sides.

William Bradford wrote that he “sought his owne ends, and plaid his owne game.”

Edward Winslow similarly portrayed him as trying to make himself important in the eyes of other Native people by using his closeness to the English.

Those accounts must be read critically because they came from English observers with their own interests.