#Ed has to learn to live well without Stede
Note
I thought up a few of ideas for you to pick from for your birthday writing thing. Happy early birthday, btw!
1. Stede wants Ed to top him, so they go shopping for a strap-on and have so much fun choosing a dildo to go in it. It has to satisfy both of them because Stede will be penetrated by it, and it's going to be like an extension of Ed's body, so he has to like the shape and it has to be as close to his skin tone as possible.
2. Stede going down on Ed and after he comes, Stede comes up with his mouth and chin covered in Ed's slick and he kisses him to let him taste himself.
3. Ed and Stede trying anal for the first time. This idea has been living rent free in my head since I read the double penetration chapter of Eight Nights. Ed has been reluctant to try it because he's had bad experiences with it in the past, but now that he knows he's completely safe with Stede, he's willing to revisit it.
4. Taking turns licking sweet treats off each other.
Lovely! I chose the first prompt!
It was a damn fine idea.
Ed could admit, honestly, that when Stede had first brought up the idea of Ed topping, he’d been skeptical. It was okay to experiment, and of course he wanted to have fun and make Stede feel good, but Ed knew what he liked, y’know?
But then they’d started really talking about it, and the idea that you could top and still be the submissive one in bed started to sound very fucking alluring. They talked about getting him a chest harness and handcuffs to match the strap-on harness so he could be tugged around easily and manhandled, talked about Stede making him beg for permission to make him feel good. Even the idea of Ed not being able to get direction stimulation from the strap was damn enticing when they talked about how they’d be able to have scenes where Stede could pretend to just be using Ed’s body for his pleasure, and he could suck the strap and talk about how well Ed was fucking him while completely ignoring Ed’s cock and holes.
Yeah. Sounded like a hell of a lot of fun.
They got Ed’s harness first - soft purple leather with the cutest black lacey trim, with the matching chest harness and handcuffs, just like they talked about, and Ed was excited…
Until they visited the couple of tiny sex toy stores in their city and discovered their dildo options were extremely limited.
They bought most of their toys online, but this was going to be Stede’s first time seriously playing around with being penetrated, and he really wanted to look at the selection in person. Ed was admittedly a bit of a size queen, and Stede had balked at most of the dildos in Ed’s collection. Even playing around with Ed’s toys, they’d found they just had very different tastes.
Plus…if Ed was going to be wearing it, if he was going to be fucking Stede, he wanted the cock he was fucking him with to feel like his, and all of their local shops just had generic white dick options.
So they did some research, and they found a huge sex toy store a couple hours away. They decided to make a whole day out of it, going shopping and having a nice dinner before heading back home and hopefully putting their new toy to good use.
They were both bouncy with excitement when they finally got there and made a beeline straight for the selection of strap-on compatible dildos.
Ed was, immediately, a bit overwhelmed with his options. And Stede was not helping.
“Ed, holy shit,” he breathed, pointing around the racks of tastefully boxed dildos. “That one’s purple! That one vibrates! That one has glitter!”
It would be kinda cool to have a glittery dick, Ed had to admit.
“Okay, breathe, babe,” Ed said, putting a hand on Stede’s arm to stop him from immediately grabbing a dozen boxes off the shelves. “Let’s narrow this down, yeah?”
They immediately learned that they had different preferences for dildo textures. Ed was a bit sensitive, admittedly, and he liked for his dildos to be made with a softer silicone, so they would stretch him out without ever being uncomfortable. Stede, though, really liked that ache of initial penetration, and wanted his to be firmer.
When it came to length, Stede decided he wanted something average. He didn’t like his toys as big as Ed did, and he wanted something that would be easy to ride without feeling overwhelming.
So, with that in mind…
“I think I want something close to my skin color,” Ed decided, moving towards the selection of natural-colored toys. The idea of being able to look down and see a dick that looked like his wasn’t just affirming, it was hot as hell, and he loved the idea of it.
They giggled through finding the right shade range, Ed feeling a bit like he was testing makeup colors as they held the boxes next to his arms to gauge how close the tones were. Ed’s skin color was a bit tricky, they quickly learned, because there were a lot of dildos that were way too light and a lot that were way too dark.
“Aha!” Stede declared, loudly enough that someone browsing further down the aisle gave them a dirty look. He pointed to a range of dildos. “I think this is our Goldilocks zone, right here.”
“Just right,” Ed said dreamily, nudging Stede lightly with his elbow.
Now…which one?
Ed inspected a few boxes. “Do you want one that vibrates?”
“No,” Stede decided after a moment of contemplation. “I’d like it to just feel like…you. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah,” Ed said, trying to hide how he was suddenly a bit choked up. “I’m sorry that I can’t -”
“Oh, love, hey, no,” Stede gasped, pulling Ed into his arms. “You’ve done nothing wrong, sweet man, nothing at all. Your body is perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
“Sorry,” Ed snuffled, burying his nose under Stede’s jaw. “Wish I could do this for you for real.”
“No need for apologies,” Stede told him firmly, kissing his forehead. “You will be doing it for real. There’s no way we could ever have sex that wouldn’t be real. I love everything about you, Ed. Your dick very much included.”
Well. Stede did demonstrably love Ed’s dick, frequently and with great enthusiasm.
Alright. Ed rubbed at his eyes, pulling back to look at the selection. A firmer one, he remembered, not too long…
He wrinkled his nose at the first box he picked. The dildo was fine, close enough to his skin color, but he didn’t like the bulbous head or how prominent the veins were. On anyone else, it would be a perfectly handsome dick, but it didn’t feel like his.
He thought they saw it at the same time.
“That one,” Stede breathed, the instant Ed picked it up.
This was it. This one was Ed’s. The dildo matched his skin tone very well, a bit skinnier but on the longer end of what Stede was comfortable with. It was cut, with a nice curve and a blush to the head that was somehow cute.
“Perfect,” Ed decided, adding to the box to their basket (Stede hadn’t been able to resist the orange-flavored lube near the front of the store, and who could blame him?).
“Perfect,” Stede echoed, looking at Ed with an unbearably fond expression, and then he patted Ed’s ass and led him off. “Now, I was thinking - you know, your new harness has a space to insert a bullet vibe into the strap that goes over your cock? I was thinking we could pick out a new one with a remote, so I can give you some vibrations to reward you for being so good when you fuck me!”
“Yes, sir,” Ed laughed, taking Stede’s hand to rush off after him.
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Okay, so. My recent preoccupation with the 🌟 Gay Pirate Show🌟 accidentally led to one of my therapist's annoyingly insightful media observations and all new emotional work I have to do. And if that felt like getting a tooth knocked out, well then reading this fic felt kinda like the first time you poke the hole in your gums with your tongue and don't immediately taste blood?
You should read it anyway because the writing is impeccable, like you might think you're ready for how well-executed this is but I promise you're not, but if you also saw any of those previous posts and a) felt them resonate and b) find reading useful for doing emotional work then I highly recommend. It wasn't easy to read, because of *gestures at the last few days of my tumblr activity* but the language was so effortlessly poetic and the imagery so sharp and visceral that I couldn't look away.
This was literally the first time I was able to finish anything about what comes next for Ed and Stede without the inexplicable outsized emotional devastation that even shit labeled Domestic Fluff was giving me, and that feels important to make note of.
#my therapist would be proud#go ahead and grieve yourself#healing through literature#imo Ed is definitely working through some of his own#disenfranchised loss#with a combination of healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms#the thing about this story is#much like how Stede needed to go back to his family to put things to rest#Ed needs time away from Stede to recover from everything that happened between them#and things that happened before they even met#and so the idea of Blackbeard fucking off to an island full of nuns#for an actual human year#feels entirely fitting to me#as others have already said#Ed has to learn to live well without Stede#before they can truly live well together#something this author gets#ofmd#our flag means death#ofmd meta#gentlebeard#blackbonnet#edward teach#ofmd fic#fic recs#grief
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*Wakes up in a cold sweat*
Ed and Stede give eachother exactly what they need. It’s the way Ed looks at Stede and the way Stede says Ed’s name. They share these rituals together in a way neither dreamed possible.
There is a running visual motif of Stede being looked at. In these moments we’re placed (literally, talking about the camera here) in his point of view, where we can feel how… confronting it all is for him. His father glaring down at him with dissatisfaction that’s long since boiled into anger. His wife staring at him in an awkward silence like the frustration of being lost in emotional translation isn’t even worth a comment anymore. Nigel’s mocking gaze, Izzy’s calculated focus, It’s all to make you feel how unflinchingly exposed he is… but not vulnerable. He doesn’t get that because in order to be so you need to be understood. Stede lives with all eyes on him, but is not seen.
Then there’s Edward, who essentially has the same crushing issue but with a different presentation. His motif is his name, and what the other characters choose to call him is indicative of if they know him, or just know of him. Blackbeard is what he answers to most, but it’s not something he identifies with in the present, at best he has a very complicated relationship with the person that name represents. The greatest sailor who ever lived, the devil pYrate, a persona he perfected that has flown to the tallest mountains dragging Ed behind him. The only characters that call him Ed/ Edward unprompted or unironically are Stede, and interestingly… Izzy. We’ll come back to that later.
Now here comes Ed, sauntering out of the hell fire and into Stede’s life like the patron Saint of leather daddies. And here we see that same familiar pov shot, and boy does Ed fucking LOOK at him. The last sight Stede sees before he conks the fuck out is this beautiful man who’s heard so much about him at his… well, Stede-iest, and is gazing at him like the loveliest thing in the world right now would be to know him even more. Ed’s heart eyes are no joke, they’re famous for a reason. Each time he looks at Stede, it is giving, it is wanting, it is a deliberate act of love.
Of course in the same sense Stede fills the hole in Ed’s life as well (not that one shut up), the desire not to be revered, but beloved, known. To just be… Edward.
Stede used to have no noteworthy opinion on the matter of Blackbeard, enthralled by the legends as anyone else… until he met him, saw this kind and excitable man who loved all the things everyone else found silly. And suddenly now it’s none of his business. Stede doesn’t push, gets offended when information is revealed to him without Ed’s consent. He treasures all the ways he can get to know Ed, and holds space for whenever he can’t. He still admires Blackbeard sure, but only because he’s one of many facets that create someone far more interesting: Edward. From Stede, Ed’s real name is spoken with love, playfulness, simple familiarity, returning the warmth of the way Ed looks at him like another fine thing he deserves. Even when he’s not actually around to hear it, the natural thought process in Stede remains.
I think it adds nuance and depth to each relationship that this is presented in foil with Izzy, because Izzy uses Ed’s real name as a commodity. It has value only as a threshold of hierarchy for Blackbeard’s inner circle, which as the previously sole member, Izzy is preoccupied with keeping exclusive. He’s possessive of a concept, and the more he learns just how different “Ed” is from it, the more the simple notion of Ed becomes ridiculous. Though both call him “Edward”, it’s only Stede that does so as an unconscious demonstration that he accepts Ed’s autonomy of personhood and is adoring of whomever that is.
The last time we hear Izzy say “Edward”, it’s mocking. To him the name now only represents the pitiful death of a greater ideal “Ed” decidedly is not. The last time Stede says it, it’s when he’s confessing to Mary that he loves him. One instance treats Ed’s name as a mask of his true self, and an inferior one at that, and the other is quite literally revealing.
The image he holds when he tells Mary he’s in love is Edward looking up at him smiling, breaking bread, completely un-pedestaled and joyful to be so. And Stede knows understanding now, being wanted, vulnerability, comfort. He calls those all Ed.
#our flag means death#ofmd#stede bonnet#edward teach#blackbonnet#gentlebeard#meta#analysis#episode 10#biceratops
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I think Stede is actually wrong about them both being “whim-prone,” and I think that set him up for Ed leaving. “Whim” is Mary’s (angry, uncomprehending) word for why he did what he did. But he’d never told Mary much of anything. He didn’t run away to sea the first time on a whim. He ran after forty-some years of deadly loneliness, on a last desperate bid to stay alive, to feel something, be something, when being everything he was asked to be had failed. And he did it after meticulously planning every inch of his ship, including space for her and the children. When she wouldn’t come, he wrote them a letter and planned his escape. That wasn’t a whim.
And he didn’t return back home on a whim; he went back after learning he’d gotten the actual pirate Blackbeard to fall in love with him, quite by accident — after having two men die in front of him, because of him — which drove home that he is in fact not a ghost or a stain but a real person, really affecting people’s lives; and that him leaving might have hurt his family badly. (And he was terrified to stay and see what more effect he would have on Ed. He couldn’t imagine it being anything good.)
And he didn’t go back to find Ed on a whim. He went because home wasn’t home any more. Home was where Ed was. He went because he found he wasn’t the same old Stede after all. He went after he’d made peace with his wife and children, and was sure they would be loved well, and had gotten their blessing to chase joy.
So for him to return and tell Ed, in the same minute that he tries to tell him he loves him — to tell him then that he left because he’s whim-prone? And that Ed fell for him instead of killing him on a similar whim? That just wasn’t true. It was Stede making light of himself and his pain and his longing, still, and the things he knows; and still not really understanding that Ed had fallen devastatingly in love with him too. Not on a whim, not without knowing who he was falling for, but because of who Stede is. Even when Ed tries to tell him, twice, I was all in, Stede doesn’t really get it. He can see Ed’s glad to have him back. He knows that’s shared. He thinks that’s enough.
So I think Ed goes on thinking this love is not so devastating for Stede as it is for him. He thinks, He loves me, but not like I love him. He thinks, I don’t even know who I am now, so how can I trust how I love him? He thinks, I was meant to teach him to be a pirate, and now he’s a pirate. What else do I even have to give him?
So Ed decides to leave and find out what else; and he thinks Stede will let him go and be fine while he’s gone, because he thinks all of this has been a whim of Stede’s. He thinks Stede has gotten what he wants most of all, the thing he asked Ed for — he’s become a proper pirate. Ed doesn’t think his softer self is essential to Stede. He has no idea what Stede went through to get back to him — Stede hasn’t told him. The first thing he consciously saw Stede do was kick him off the ship. He never even saw him cry.
All I want for Ed in the finale is for him to understand that Stede calling all this a whim was horseshit. (Perhaps by finding a love letter in a bottle? Or a few dozen?) That Stede was understating his heart terribly, as he does; and that Stede is all in, too. That Ed’s presence is essential to him. That Ed’s love is all he wants; that this is for life and till death parts them.
#please#ofmd s2#ofmd#gentlebeard#ofmd spoilers#my truest hope is that Ed reading Stede’s letter(s) will drive it home#Stede doesn’t like him he LOVES him
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by popular demand (aka the 63 people who voted "yes" in my poll (six months ago oops) for whether or not i should do this)
here's why ofmd is a romcom, beat by beat
so for the purposes of this analysis, the ten stages outlined in this article are what i'm using for reference.
(and for the sake of everyone's dashes, i've added a cut because This Got Long. like, genuinely, 1.6k and 24 images. you've been warned.)
1. Unfulfilled Desire: something important is missing from the love interests' lives.
before the love interests meet, both of their lives are lacking in some way, often in a way they hardly realize. and this unfulfilled desire doesn't have to be romantic love in and of itself, and quite often it's not. and the things missing from ed and stede's lives are not romantic love. not at first.
what stede's missing is skill and structure. to put it bluntly, he has no idea what the fuck he's doing as a pirate, and without the guidance of someone more experienced, he'd likely get himself and his whole crew killed soon.
meanwhile, what ed's missing is interest. he's just about as bored with his life as anyone can be. every day is the same, and he needs something new—a new environment, a new challenge—to bring the spark back into his life.
2. Meet-Cute: the love interests meet, and at first, their personalities clash.
now, granted... in most meet-cutes, one of the protagonists isn't like three-quarters dead and nearly unconscious. but, as we know, ofmd is not like most shows.
but when we fast forward a bit to their real proper first meeting, we can quickly start to see how their personalities differ. in many meet-cutes, the love interests start off on bad terms, but in ofmd it's more of a contrast than a real clash, as stede and ed take a liking to each other right away.
in their very first conversation, stede is self-conscious and fretting, while ed is relaxed as can be. and as they talk, ed is in awe of stede's eccentricities, and stede is in awe of ed's powerful reputation.
and nothing exemplifies their contrast better than what they spend the rest of the episode doing—literally switching clothes and switching roles, getting a taste of what it would be like to be each other.
3. Happy Together: the love interests spend time together and grow to enjoy each other's company.
the classic honeymoon phase—not necessarily denoting romance yet, just a bond that continues to grow stronger the more time they spend together.
one of their first, biggest bonding events, just a few days after they met, is of course the fancy french party. while the night ends in disaster, the two end up much closer after the experiences they shared.
however, i think by far the best example of this stage is the montage at the beginning of episode 6, narrated by none other than my favorite (derogatory) terrible little rat man, izzy hands, who will become relevant soon. in romcoms, this stage is often shown through montages, so it only makes sense that that would be a great demonstration of it here as well.
4. Obstacles Arise: the love interests' original lives and obligations catch back up with them.
it's no longer possible to avoid the hard truths their happiness let them ignore. while both ed and stede go through this, i think stede goes through it differently and at different, non-linear times, so i'll talk about him first.
the pre-edward life that stede has been forcing to the back of his mind is, quite obviously, his wife and children back on land. and he's done a very effective job of ignoring it while he's been around ed.
he was fretting about it before—like in episode 2 with nigel's guilt ghost—but it doesn't seem to fully hit him again until he learns in episode 9 that he'd been declared dead. (in my opinion, the dreams/flashbacks in episode 4 feel less about stede's guilt, specifically, than these other instances do. but even if they are, that's still before he properly met ed.) so he does go through this stage, but it happens in slightly different ways and at different times.
ed, on the other hand, has a very specific and concrete obligation that catches up with him: a promise he made two weeks ago.
this is where izzy comes in. just as mary is the personified symbol of stede's old life, izzy is the equivalent for ed. whether ed initially intended to follow through on the plan or only said it to placate izzy is up for debate (and my personal take is that it's somewhere in between, but that's a story for another time), but izzy is going to hold him to it regardless.
and when ed can't bring himself to do it, because of both his growing feelings for stede and his trauma around killing people himself, izzy is determined to carry out the act for him.
5. The Journey: the love interests face and overcome the obstacles together.
what better way to overcome adversity than by getting thumbtacked to a mast by the same Very Angy Little Guy who's the source of the adversity in the first place? with izzy banished, the biggest obstacle to ed and stede's love is out of the way (for now).
stede still hasn't overcome his big obstacle, of course, but as i said, that happens very non-linearly with regard to the romcom structure.
the two also overcome other minor obstacles, like their bickering during the treasure hunt adventure. the key is that they face what's in their path and settle into a new normal with each other.
6. New Obstacles: despite solutions seeming effective, more hardships arise.
the next big issue thrown into ed and stede's relationship has a name, and its name is calico jack rackham, my favorite (affectionate) dumpster fire of a man. which makes sense—after all, his sole purpose in meeting up with them was to separate them before the english navy arrived. and he does a damn effective job of it.
and even once he's gone, they're still faced with chauncey badminton, stede's near-execution, and his and ed's eventual surrender to the english. they may have escaped chauncey's wrath (for now), but they bought it at the cost of their freedom.
and on top of all of that, now they finally confess their feelings for each other and make plans to run away together, and the choice—really, stede's choice—of whether or not to go through with running off to china looms in the distance. speaking of which…
7. The Choice: the love interests have to decide if the relationship can work.
a turning point is reached, and a decision has to be made. can they go through with it? are they really the best thing for each other?
the choice stede makes here is helped along in no small part by chauncey badminton, whose encounter just solidifies the beliefs stede already held—that he abandoned his family, and that ed is better off without him.
so stede makes the choice to run.
he goes home to his family, and ed is left to return to the ship alone.
8. Crisis: the love interests—now apart—ruminate and face the consequences of their choice.
the winter of their discontent. stede has made his choice, they've separated, and they're both worse off for it.
ed is depressed, retreating to his blanket fort and writing sad songs while eating marmalade.
and meanwhile, stede is back with mary and the kids, but learns that they'd all moved on and were much happier without him around. so he's left trying to force himself back into a space where he no longer fits, and all the while he misses ed more than anything.
and of course, ed takes it one step further by going full emo kraken mode. he's so distraught about stede leaving that he too forces himself back into the shell of what people expect of him—of what he was supposed to be before he even met stede—despite not fitting there anymore.
it's obvious that without each other, they're both in pretty rough shape.
9. Epiphany: one or both of the love interests conclude that they belong together and rush to reunite.
think of this stage as the person running through the airport to reach their love interest before the flight leaves.
in ofmd, it's clear who has the epiphany, because we watch it happen in real time. stede sits down with mary and asks her how it feels to be in love, and while she describes it, all he can think of is his time with ed. he finally realizes that what he's been feeling all along is love.
once he knows this, he knows he has to leave his family again, so he can reunite with ed. he and mary stage their fuckery, and stede rows off in a dinghy bound for wherever ed is, because he knows that as long as he's with ed, he'll be happy and everything will be okay.
10. Resolution: the love interests are reunited. desires are fulfilled, and all is well.
sooo… stay tuned for october 5th, i suppose?
#the show is the relationship y'all#our flag means death#ofmd#ofmd meta#ofmd analysis#stede bonnet#edward teach#blackbeard#blackbonnet#gentlebeard
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Izzy death & The end of the golden age of piracy
I like the explanation someone gave here and I will add a bit to it (yeah Izzy death was rushed and the way they filmed it wasn’t…very good (Ed’s hand why do you suddenly appear, stede why are you smiling then sad, everyone why do you look like a pack of children in front of a tv playing boring ad—) :
basically, this show happens when the the end of the golden age of piracy is near (the real Blackbeard dying marked that end in real life). Izzy in s2 began to represent actual piracy; he grew to be a "proper" pirate.
He actually tell us that in the last ep :
"it isn't about glory, it isn’t about gettin’ what you want. It’s about belonging to something when the world has told you you’re nothin’. It’s about finding the family to kill for when yours are long dead. It’s about letting go of ego for something larger. The Crew. »
"You are not a pirate, lad. You are a spoiled, entitled bunch of twats dressed in puffy, blue nighties."
"Kill us. Kill us all. Our spirit will last throughout your entire fuckin’ empire because… we’re good. And you are a rancid syphilitic cunt."
"it isn't about glory, […] It’s about letting go of ego for something larger. The Crew. " izzy s1 was very much focused on his pride, on the way pirate should be. He cared about the crew but he is way too focused on Blackbeard, too focused on them living but not actually being happy (‘You see him as some sort of a…pet’, ‘you are not proper pirate’, the whole mutiny that happens because the crew was fed up with his attitude, ‘piniiiiiiing about his boyfriend […] Ed better watch his steps.’). Izzy in s2 learned that he has to let go of his ego for something larger, the crew, to be a community (the whole ‘you are born alone, you die alone’ & him getting his unicorn leg, La vie en rose ‘It’s him for me, me for him in life. He said it to me, He swore it to me till death do us apart.* And as soon as I see him, then, I feel him bringing me back to life.** Me being Izzy, Him being the crew. The crew give a purpose to Izzy.)
*the literal translation is more ‘It’s him for me, me for him in life. He said it to me, He swore it to me for life’ but it’s implicitly a marriage vow. (Native french speaker here)
**‘And as soon as I see him, then, I feel my heart inside me beating.’ But here in the context of ofmd I think the romantic meaning is remplaced by ‘this is my purpose in life and it makes me feel alive’
"It’s about belonging to something when the world has told you you’re nothing" Izzy s1 insisted that Edward was nothing, in s1 he also thought that he was nothing without Blackbeard, he thought the Crew of the revenge wasn’t his crew but just a bunch of moron. In s2 we see him learn that he is someone outside of his job toward Blackbeard & his dying speech show us that he learned that Ed wasn’t nothing either (something something about the cursed jacket being Blackbeard’s heart and Izzy agreeing that it isn’t cursed but for the crew [and Edward now] they have to let it go). + I don’t need to explain that we see him in s2 actually seeing the crew as, well, an actual crew where he belong too
‘It’s about finding the family to kill for when yours are long dead’ (I won’t spend a long moment on that because it’s more about Edward but something something Ed actually killing for the first time in ep 8 something something something Him accepting his darkest part fully (piracy) when he think Stede could be dead. Well actually it really fit—)
So, Izzy dying isn’t about the old way dying as some people seem to think it represents(the old way are already dead at that point as many pointed out). It’s about… well, piracy dying. The golden age of piracy is ending (merthur when will I get free of you—).
And yet, why did David said this ?
Well, people, again : Izzy speech !
"Kill us. Kill us all. Our spirit will last throughout your entire fuckin’ empire because… we’re good. And you are a rancid syphilitic cunt."
(Edit : also it’s interesting that the only other time syphilis is said in the show is in the cursed jacket episode)
So, him dying is about piracy dying. HOWEVER, community ( as we can see with the revenge) still seems to thrive because even if ‘piracy’ dies, the core of it will not. Community & their stories (the unicorn is an animal of legend) will still outlive everything else, expecially the assh*les [the British empire]. The seagull (Button) represent change. Piracy died because everything end at some point but what is death if not change? (The Sandman is this you ?) What if life began again ? Good will not just triumph against Evil, it will outlive it and if it dies it will rise again changed.
OFMD isn’t about the immortality of thing, it isn’t about staying miserable where you are, it’s about the death of thing. No matter how hard it’s you have to try, let go of the rope that bind you and change.
So yeah, I agree, that final episode was rushed but I disagree, Izzy dying wasn’t pointless.
#izzy hands#OFMD meta#ofmd s2 spoilers#ofmd season 2#ofmd s2#Edward teach#the crew of the revenge#Stede bonnet#our flag means death meta#our flag means death#our flag means death spoilers#technically a bit of The Sandman#I guess
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The season of "I'm sorry" and growth
I believe many of us have encountered one of the many "fix-it" fanfictions or imagined that initial conversation between Ed and Stede. The "I'm sorrys" from Stede, who was the one to leave Ed without proper notice and how Ed would eventually forgive him. I'm sorrys have already appeared in the first few episodes, said by Stede to the crew, in his dreams, or when talking to Ed. However, this doesn't make everything right, and he is yet to engage in a proper, conversation with a concious Ed. Nevertheless, Stede seems to have found some peace with his past wrongdoings.
I do think, though, that Ed too has committed several unforgivable acts that he will need to take responsibility for to move forward. The suffering he caused the crew cannot be solely justified by his heartache and is rooted in his deep-seated belief that he is unlovable. In this aspect, he is surprisingly similar to Stede.
While Stede doesn't descend into madness like Ed, he also lacks self-confidence and faith in his own actions. I believe we will witness growth from both of them this season, probably initially separately, before they can reconcile. Stede has yet to become a man who is confident in his abilities, his rights as a pirate captain and his right to love who he wants, and not who society tells him to love. He too needs to love himself first before he can fully love Ed.
And Ed needs to learn to trust people again, to let them in even when it's painful. Yes being left is always scary and there is never a guarantee for anything but that's a human fear and to be able to connect to others he needs to overcome this. As well as say sorry to the Crew, who were exposed to all his anger and negative self-loathing alongside him.
Neither of them can genuinely say "I'm sorry" from the depths of their hearts and atone for their actions just yet. To make their relationship work, they will need to begin living in a way that aligns with the love they both want to be worthy of receiving. And that means loving themselves as well, as cliché as it may sound.
#omfd season 2#ofmd#ofmd spoiler#blackbonnet#stede bonnet#ed teach#edward teach#our flag means death#ofmd analysis#ofmd season two
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back at it again with yet ANOTHER Thing That OFMD Does So Fucking Well, this time im thinking about how for all that this show has the "love at first sight" trope and even textually says that "love feels easy," it still takes what i like to call the "anti-soulmate" stance, or a rejection of an easy "happily ever after" romance.
you know what im talking about when i say "happily ever after" romance, right? romantic stories that act like there's a Perfect Person in the world for you and that once you guys are together it's smooth sailing for the rest of your lives, the end. stories where the drama is all in getting together, and once we get the dramatic kiss at the finale the curtains close and the credits roll and that's all, folks! they're together, now! everything is fine!
and like anyone who's ever been in a long-term relationship (which is uhhhh Not Me, but i've heard it said) will tell you that this is NOT how relationships work at all. long-term relationships, no matter how well-suited the match, take a LOT of work.
and this is SO CLEAR with stede and ed. all of season one showed us the many, many ways that they fit together so easily. they have the same crazy "thinking outside of the box" plotting approach, they both have a penchant for drama and showmanship, they have similar senses of humor, they both enjoy fine fabric and good food and other fancy things. ed is the first person in stede's life to enjoy stede's presence so openly and honestly, and stede is the first person in ed's life to not balk at the less "blackbeard" side of him. the more they learn about each other the more they appreciate each other.
but. but. IT'S NOT ENOUGH!!!!
stede and ed got to the dramatic kiss. they got to the confession of mutual romantic interest and the "now they're together!!" part. in many love stories, that's where the credits start to roll!!
but then, very quickly, it all falls to shit.
yes, there are a LOT of external forces that drive ed and stede apart in episode 9 and 10, but the real thing that causes stede to run back to his wife and kids in a panic and causes ed to retreat back into blackbeard is the fact that these two fucking idiots never just TALK TO EACH OTHER
"communication is the key to any successful relationship" is something people say All The Time, but the thing with that phrase is that it doesn't really convey how fucking HARD it is to communicate. because communicating isn't just about talking to your partner, it's about expressing your desires, your weaknesses, your insecurities. it's being incredibly vulnerable and it takes a lot of practice and a lot of constant effort.
it is SO much easier to try and slowly distance yourself from someone because you don't want to come off as clingy (ed at the beginning of e7). it is SO much easier to come up with bullshit reasons to hang out instead of just saying "i want to spend time with you" because that's admitting how much you care about this person (stede with the treasure hunt). it is SO much easier to bite your tongue when something makes you upset because you don't want to make a fuss (stede when ed blew up his chest of drawers). it is SO much easier to choose your shitty ex over your new crush without actually explaining to your crush that it's not about him, it's about how you feel responsible for the shitty things your shitty ex just did (ed leaving the Revenge with jack). and it is SO SO SO much easier to never actually admit to your new friend, your co-captain, and the love of your life that you were never going to be good at "teaching him the ways of an aristocrat" because you've never actually fit in back in your old life, that you've never had a real friend before him, that you've been ridiculed your whole life for being yourself, because what if your new friend/co-captain/love of your life realizes just how pathetic you are?
for ed and stede to get their happily ever after, they of course have to deal with the narrative obstacles the show is throwing at them (izzy, the british, whatever else is coming for us in season 2) but more importantly they have to learn how to communicate directly, so they both understand what the other is saying. ed needs to know about stede's insecurities and stede needs to trust ed to choose what ed wants and understand that he's not "corrupting" or "defiling" anything when ed says he wants to stop being blackbeard. ofmd shows us that ed and stede would be an incredible couple, but even if the feelings of love are easy, the work that goes into having a successful relationship isn't.
#ofmd#our flag means death#ofmd meta#blackbonnet#gentlebeard#edward teach born on a beach#edward teach#s1e09#stede fucking bonnet#blackbeard#stede bonnet#s1e10#og#meta#txt#mine#tags on my last ''ofmd does this so well'' post was abt how awkward i was when asking out my ex#these tags are abt how that relationship wouldve ended way sooner (and it SHOULVE ended sooner) if we fucking COMMUNICATED#he did not put effort into the relationship and i felt unappreciated. he was afraid to... break up with me??? for some reason????#so i got strung along for weeks until i was like ''hey can we break up'' fhgjkfhgjkf. a mutual split! and we are still friends#(this guy is also the subpar fwb i project onto ed's relationship w jack lmao)#but yeah i was miserable in a relationship i wasnt even that emotionally invested bc i was too scared to talk abt my feelings#cant even IMAGINE how fucked ed and stede are rn bc they wont just talk about their shit.
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listen, I went into this season fully anticipating Izzy dying at the end of it. This didn't blindside me. As the episodes went on, I saw the hints. I knew the narrative made sense, and I accepted it. I thought that, if it was done well, it would be cathartic maybe.
tw for mentions of suicidal ideation, codependency issues, alcoholism, and a liberal use of all of these words because they're the only ones I can think of that fit.
What caught me off guard was how fucking rushed and avoidable it was. How his death was turned into something for Ed, as opposed to him retaining his independence. From season one, we knew Izzy was codependent. And from the first episode of season two, we are shown and told rather explicitly that Izzy is now aware of this.
Before Ed wakes up, Izzy takes responsibility for the damage done to the Revenge. Everyone saw it as Izzy trying to protect Stede's memories of Ed, but that never really sat right with me and still doesn't. I think that Izzy took responsibility because he saw the abstract of his part in guiding Ed's grief of his perceived rejection into a what became the destructive force of the Kraken. Izzy told Stede they were both responsible for what was happening to Ed, but he'd been taking actively responsibility for the blame even between seasons one and two.
It's implied that Izzy redirected all of Ed's anger and fury towards himself in losing three toes. We see him actively try to keep the crew out of any confrontation he tries to have with Ed, trying to keep them safe. It's likely that the entire reason Izzy didn't shoot himself was not because he wanted to live, but because he knew Ed was going to take the entire crew with him and he wanted to stop it.
One question could be, if he saw it coming why not just shoot Ed when offered the chance? Because he was giving Ed another chance to redirect on his own without Izzy, but was too afraid that he might be wrong. Because Ed wasn't armed or defending himself, and shooting him would have gone against some moral code. Because, if Ed was going to die, he didn't want it to be just another tool in Ed's assisted suicide.
But then Ed looks at that incoming cannonball and says "Finally." Izzy wanted Ed to fight back. He wanted Ed to want to live. And so Izzy knows that Ed took the chance he was given and just turned it back into another wholly more catastrophic assisted suicide. Because of this, Izzy probably has a hard time forgiving either Ed or himself. His plan failed. How can he say goodbye to his closest friend when his plan to save him failed? He can't. So he keeps Ed on the ship.
He saved the crew, very nearly replaced his codependency on Ed with the crew itself. Izzy has always considered the safety of the crew a main priority, but his unhealthy relationship with Ed made it a constant loop of "How can the crew survive without Ed?" Yes, the core of that was focusing on how Ed and Izzy could keep each other a version of safe that Izzy found acceptable, but we can't discount the fact that Izzy always cared for the wellbeing of the crew.
Then, once Ed was removed from the equation, Izzy's focus briefly became "How can they survive without me?" Fortunately, Stede returned, and maybe Izzy figured if Stede and his crew can survive being torn apart and thrown together again time and time again, they won't need him. They got this far without him, they've already proven that they don't need him in order to survive.
After that, Izzy drinks. He drinks heavily. His self-destructive behaviour is no longer passive. He is consumed with the idea that he has no purpose. He lacks the will to live, but he's afraid to kill himself. Maybe because of every lingering what-if his alcohol-ridden brain can imagine, but maybe that's me projecting. Regardless, he's alive, but just barely.
Then the crew makes him the leg. He learns that they don't need him, but they want him around. He learns that usefulness isn't the only reason to live. He can live because of a love of life. Stede offers him something, but Izzy learns that having purpose isn't the meaning of life, but rather something that can bring people together.
All of this has been going through my head throughout the entirety of the season, so when I tell you I was ready for Izzy to die, I fucking mean it.
But what I wasn't ready for- what really took Izzy's entire character arc and threw it out the fucking window was several things.
One, Izzy has been self-sacrificing since the Kraken took over and even afterwards, so making this the consequence of more self-sacrifice due to drawing Ricky's attention was following the pattern. Behaviour like this is still aligned with suicidal ideation, even if the person wants to die "for a greater cause." Sacrifice can be an incredibly strong moment if done right, but usually not with characters who have a past of self-destructive behaviour. There's a difference between a protector protecting, and a suicidal character acting like a meat shield. One thinks they deserve to live but got caught in a bad situation, and one thinks they deserve to die and will put themselves into bad situations. A self-fulfilling prophecy where the endgoal is punishment or dying should not be rewarded with thinking they made the right decision.
Two, distancing Izzy from the crew - physically and emotionally - does weaken the connection that had been built between them all. Sure, the crew looked sad, and crying on screen is very difficult for any actor, but as opposed to even just brief close-ups, we get wide shots of them all looking vaguely uncomfortable. There could have been maybe Frenchie breaking down because he can't bottle or box up his grief anymore; Jim clinging to Archie and Olu because even they said "He's our asshole." Lucius hysterical laughing because Izzy was his biggest rival, but then became a source of reason and forgiveness, and his body doesn't know how to react to what he is feeling; Roach actually panicking because he's the doctor and he's supposed to be able to fix things like this. So many small moments could have happened, but they didn't because they didn't want to detract from Ed's pain.
Three, the Ed of it all. I'm happy that Ed was so impacted by what was happening. Ed is the only one that asks where Izzy is. Ed is the only one that waits for and carries Izzy until he calls for help from Frenchie. Ed is the only one that cries. Ed is the only one that holds him. And Izzy coddles him for it. Fucking thanks him for it. Guess Ed finally learned to shut up and listen? I'm happy he could have that character beat.
He has been selfish this season, and that alone pisses me off. (Bring back the Ed who cared enough to pretend to like treasure hunting because he wanted Stede to be happy.) But Izzy fed that selfishness when dealing with the Kraken, he incidentally fed that selfishness by never actually confronting Ed after he woke up, and Izzy making his own fucking death about Ed is still just feeding that selfishness. Izzy said he would die for Blackbeard way back in season one, and so this just reverted it all back to that moment.
Sure, it's foreshadowing, but literally taking a character arc and circling back to a place they were before any of the growth happened is just that. That's what the fucking tin says - all of that growth and progress you made and you still just ended up back at the beginning.
You found family and you care for each other? You're just going to die for someone who repeatedly rejects you. You broke the cycle of codependent and mutual abuse with that person? You're still going to die for them! You learned to enjoy life? Too fucking bad! Your death and everything that came before it amounts to nothing because you are a metaphor for another person being able to move on. There is no character agency, there is only metaphorical narrative. Whoopsie!
And "I want to go." Fucking hell. You tell me that it's him saying he is content in life and so he is content in dying- motherfucker he was never NOT okay with dying! He even mocked Ed for being unable to clean up his own mess and leaving it for Izzy to deal with. And so Izzy being unable to shoot himself is literally just echoing that same sentiment. There's a mess. It needs cleaning up. Izzy can't leave it to the crew to clean a mess he helped make.
So yes. I knew he would likely die. But I didn't expect it to essentially be assisted suicide from self-sacrifice, and for his final breaths to be making his own life and death about the very person he was codependent on from the beginning, thus invalidating any growth he made as a character. Yes, I saw the metaphor. Your metaphor sucks.
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Spoilers for Our Flag Means Death finale.
I just needed to talk things through as a crew.
So, I already posted something about how I felt about Izzy's death immediately after watching the finale. Now that I've given myself more time to mull it over though, I'm not quite as satisfied with the ending as I thought. But I think I know why I'm not exactly angry about it either.
I think I just see it as an open ending for next season? Like, I can see how Izzy's death brings parts of the story around full circle. (Mainly in Ed growing out of being Blackbeard who wasn't really Blackbeard without Izzy Hands.) However, after thinking about it some and reading some other people's thoughts about it, it doesn't really work for bringing Izzy's story around full circle, does it? No, really, does it? I'm still not entirely sure.
On the one hand, I've seen people talk about how Izzy represents piracy and piracy is coming to an end, so it makes sense for him to die with piracy. With his talk with Ricky about how they may die, but they'll live on in other ways, it makes sense.
On another hand, I also see people talking about the fact that Izzy survived a suicide attempt (potentially for the reason of protecting the crew) only to end the season saying he wants to die...
This choice just makes me a bit queasy because it invalidates some of the hope I've had building up with every episode I watched, especially in season 2, where Izzy goes through the bulk of what I feel is (at least mostly) such an amazing character arc.
On a third hand, I saw someone saying that Izzy should captain the Revenge while Stede and Ed go off to run their inn. I had thought this was going to happen too until I started seeing the foreshadowing for Izzy's death and started doubting that theory.
Part of the reason this makes so much sense is because, firstly, Izzy runs the ship already. Plus, he's changed his priorities to be about the crew.
Remember in season 1 episode 9, when the crew is planning to mutiny against Izzy and are trying to decide who should be captain next. And Oluwande says,
"It's gotta be someone we can all trust. Someone who's got the whole crew in mind. Not just themselves."
Izzy didn't make a good captain in that episode because he still didn't trust them, they didn't trust him, and he was doing everything for himself.
In season 2, none of that is true anymore.
The crew DOES trust him. He DOES think about the crew first and foremost. And, we even get to see him learn to trust the crew as well. Learn that they see him as not just a part of the crew they have to deal with like in most of season 1, but a crucial part of the crew and a person they all care about.
In short, it really would have made so much sense to make him Captain.
"Okay, but why do you think his death is an open ending? Death is typically a decidedly very closed off ending."
Ah, I see the point I keep losing is back.
How many times has someone been "dead" only to come back later. How many times has IZZY "died" to come back later. Granted, Izzy going through this multiple times is part of what foreshadows the idea that he's going to not come back this time, so it's possibly just false hope to think he'll come back (assuming we get a third season).
But think about it. Izzy has died. Stede gave up his pirating dream, which seems how likely to stick? And Ed thinks he's going to be able to work a customer service job? And both Stede and Ed think they'll be good at running a business they don't know jackshit about? Ed has proved to be lousy at working a "simple" life. Ed's subconscious said so. Pop-pop said so. Even Jackie sees this as a "wish I was a regular dude phase." Also, Stede has proved that he can be a decent pirate. Zheng said so. Spanish Jackie said so. The entire Republic of Pirates said so. The Pirate Queen said so.
I guess I just have a hard time believing the creators of ofmd couldn't bring Izzy back somehow and turn out a new plot for another season if they wanted to.
At the end of season one, Ed and Stede resign themselves to a future that is not ideal for them and Lucius "dies."
At the end of season 2, Ed and Stede decide to try for a future that is arguably also not ideal for them (it's just less angsty than season 1) and Izzy "dies."
I dunno. I guess what I'm saying is, it makes enough sense for an ending, but not this story's ending. And this show actually managed to make me feel things in my mucky rustbucket of a heart and gave me hope like not many things do. I'm just not ready to give up on it yet.
. . . . .
Maybe they didn't want to make Izzy captain because then if/when Stede and/or Ed come back wanting to be Captain, they'd have to decide how to make that work? But that wouldn't be too hard to figure out, right? I mean, they already decided a ship can have two captains. Why not 3?
Here's some of those posts I was talking about:
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How Our Flag Means Death impacted my life
It’s been said so many times but the impact this to show has had on me is beyond comprehension. I am still living in the aftermath. Every day, I cannot grasp my luck of finding it and loving it. Hyperfixation or not, it’s been a while so I conclude it is safe to be put as a special interest by now; to care so much about something that makes you feel good and understood, is utterly important to have, I have realised.
My experiences in other, different, fandoms on Twitter as a teenager, have been very different and I guess it has something to do with growing up and learning more about yourself as much as it has to do without approach and handling of it all – we are all here for this show and we are damn grateful for its existence. We do not take it for granted and so we lovingly create more art and thereby put more love into the world. Isn’t this what life is all about? Adding care and love.
Coming back to my point, ever since starting to watch Our Flag Means Death, I have had this inner sense of calm inside of me, which I never had before.
It is hard to explain but I did notice that my sensory issues, especially misophonia, have been less of a problem. And that is huge. There is one noise source in particular, which is the fridge, if you want to know, but it can be triggered by anything, and I have been struggling with this for many years… There only has to be some trigger, such as the wind howling too strongly or any other sound, really, and I feel like the world is going to collapse because every thing gets too loud and too much.
Now, for a few months, it hasn’t been like that. It was almost scary at first due to the unfamiliarity of the absence of, well, mental pain…
Regarding the show’s successful portrayal of queerness – yes, that has been life–changing for me as well.
I have identified as nonbinary as long as I can think. I vividly remember this specific moment from my childhood when I was sitting there, on my own, thinking, I do not feel like a girl, I do not feel like any gender, I just feel like myself. It’s a strange memory to have but it was so vivid that I treasure how it stuck with me.
When I was a teenager, I never had any romantic, God forbid sexual, interest, except for the occasional crush on a boy or girl, which naturally made me conclude that I was bi or pan. As of today, I am still not feeling any of these attractions. However, as I explain in this post, some kind of attractions have been felt. One thing is clear, if I do feel anything beyond, it would be for any gender.
The show basically says, whatever, we’re all queer, and that is so beautiful and validating to me because my family and other surroundings are so heteronormative that I often question my validity and worth.
There have barely ever been other queer people in my immediate surroundings, which means that acceptance or even understanding is not something that I would expect.
In hindsight, this is a big part of why I always struggled with confidence and self-love.
There is a lot I could write about my family history but I will just shorten it to, I did grow up without a father from the age of 7 and my relationship with him is rather torn.
I am so moved by how they decided to give Ed and Stede these backstories regarding their relationship with their fathers and families and portray these issues in such a delicate and serious manner and how they can impact your whole life.
I am thankful for how serious they have taken all of these things.
These are characters that have experienced similar difficult upbringings and are struggling with the consequences into their adulthood.
I have never gotten an official diagnosis but from my childhood experiences and later struggles in life it is safe to say that I am neurodivergent. The relationship with my mother is very difficult as well, which definitely played a part in how I never understood that some of my behaviour and so on was a result of being different in that way instead of deliberate. During my childhood and teenage years, there have been instances of different kinds of abuse, however I will not elaborate further.
These struggles are always individual and personal but I will just say that I do suffer from the fear of being abandoned and yes, it makes maintaining relationships, such as friendships, challenging.
Because you constantly feel like you do not deserve anyone caring about you or enjoying your company. Genuinely, I have never believed this.
Even if I have learned to like myself more and be confident in my abilities. I still feel like a burden whenever I am with someone else. It doesn’t go away. Part of it is due to struggling with social cues as well as the general preference of being alone.
And I do enjoy my own company. But it would be nice to one day find someone I can fully trust and freely share my thoughts with.
Basically, what Ed and Stede have found in each other… and I guess what makes them so different to other ships is not only that they are actually a canon couple but the way they are so natural and gentle with each other?!
They accept each other wholeheartedly.
They see each other in such a genuine way… unconditionally. Not without hardships but always with such a willingness to make it better, to keep fighting, continue to live for the sake of love and love only.
Another serious struggle has been my eating disorder (anorexia) which (along with overexercising) lead me to have secondary amenorrhea for many years, which in turn, was a very blissful thing for me due to gender reasons. A big thing that has happened shortly after discovering the show has been my period coming back. My reaction was denial, then anger, then determination that I would not let this bring me down…
The show did ground me in that emotionally, I have handled it, somehow, and carried on.
I am so thankful for it all and much, much more.
There is so much to say and never enough words to express my gratitude. This show means something different to everyone. Everyone finds bits and pieces in it which make them feel the same kind of appreciation and love and this is just my share.
If you’ve made it to the end, thank you, dear reader. Sending you a warm hug, if that’s alright with you.
#our flag means death#ofmd#gentlebeard#blackbonnet#edward teach#stede bonnet#ofmd s3#ofmd season 3#ofmd cancellation#wrote this in january and felt like hitting the post button#this is very personal and i am overthinking how to put the emotions#sorry for sharing so much about my daddy issues#just had to let it out#mental health#personal#aroace#asexual#aromantic#ace#aro#nonbinary#recovery#tw ed#tw abuse#tw mental illness#lgbtq#lgbtqia#lgbtqia+
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Kind of sad that a lot of the discourse seems to be ed vs. Izzy and who is who’s abuser. To me? They seem to be coded something like decades-old drinking buddies more than anything else. It’s a comparison I draw from being someone in recovery, anyway, but it rhymes with situations Ive heard over & over again in recovery spaces. That kind of sustained toxic, codependent relationship that blurs lines through healthy/abusive in a more mutually destructive lifestyle that just goes way too far. It can entail a wide spectrum of feelings: romantic love, familial love, resentment, disgust, respect, ect. Hurting each other in some fucked up cycle that repeats and gets worse over time until someone might end up dead. All of that.
Not to mention Ed has seemed to have a history of sinking deeper into his worst self & refuse to confront that he is not only capable of softness, but deserving of it. ‘I cant make it better but I can make it worse’ logic. And stede coming along to show him that it’s all possible before leaving and Ed coming back to this conclusion and embracing the nihilism of it all in tenfold. Of course he has free will and had a chance to embrace healing with Stedes leftover crew. But it crumbles with Izzy’s push to not be some soft ‘namby pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend’ being a ‘fate worse than death’. Izzy buys into the toxic version of piracy as a badge of honor but possibly also sees it as a protective cloak. And that’s Ed’s family, for better or worse. Ed has also had to use the skill set of being a bloodthirsty pirate to protect his family & himself all his life. He has not had the privilege to see the power of tenderness actually work for him in his personal life or his work. Also therapy just does not exist in this universe. This is part of why the story being about some of the most bananas midlife crises imaginable.
Like this is a universe set in the crime world of piracy. Jim and Lucius becomes good friends even after they lock him in a chest bc he helps Jim get the knife. Zheng was probably going to have Olus family (Jim) killed before escaping and at the end they are all? Together maybe?? They all have a tumultuous relationship with Spanish Jackie. She tries to kill them and then accepts them over & over again. She poison trains them without their knowledge. They all try to kill and hurt each other several times. I’m willing to bet Ed & Izzy have done so a million times before until they just realize they’re both talented pirates and are better in this world as the Blackbeard persona. But they all come together in this world with hilarious muppet charms and accept each other as a community. A found family. of pirates! These are all ppl living outside like… all of the laws except their own pirate code. Idk! I guess I want to see more interesting discussions of the nuances of all of that. Like I personally would hope in season 3 we’d see more of a healthy amends process and confronting trauma more effectively when you’re able to be more yourself. This “old love” life DJ hinted at. & maybe everyone learning a healthier way to be in community with each other in the long term as well. I think that’d be fucking amazing actually?
Just. Idk all these interesting morally grey characters learning to be with each other and have found family to love and trust is just an infinitely more interesting than pointing out “x-person is x-persons” abuser bc I think it’s all wayyyy more complicated than that in this story and the world they all live in.
#nuance & compassion for survivors of childhood domestic violence I think is way more considerate than labeling who is the abuser#/ abuse ///#ask to tag#alcoholism ///
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okay so if you haven’t yet see @not-nervous-jester’s fucking stunning art i have been thinking about it all day
and i read @queerspacepunk’s no abundance of tomorrows and have been thinking about it all day
and about ignoring, denying, refusing what you want for what keeps you alive and how it’s a kind of horror on its own. how you say shit you don’t want to say because you know you need to.
—
from here to here is freezing
It echoes.
Knocks against the bleak wood paneling shaded red from curtains he can convince himself are simple stained canvas and not the fine, fine silk or whatever that once shrouded an improbable library—
A library with a fireplace on a fucking wooden ship, just who—
Or did they hang over the bunk? Where Stede met him for the first time and remembered, where Ed held his hand and soothed his fear and let Stede know Ed before Blackbeard…Just because he could. It’d be fun, to see his reaction, anyway, and. It was fun to not be Blackbeard—Where Ed raised a knife to Stede’s golden head.
Better days ahead, he was sure, leaning his sweaty forehead on Stede’s hand, forgiven and undeserving of it.
Better days, and then. Then sitting on a bunk feeling wind on his jaw for the first time in probably fuckin’ decades, and he was kind of excited?
The scream, the shock, echoes.
Can’t be Blackbeard without the beard.
He’d hoped, at least.
But, well.
He’d pull the fuckin’ hair out like wool through a spinning wheel if he could, draw each back to the length it was before—
Fresh start, he’d thought, be somebody new.
Blackbeard never was.
Except.
Except the trouble with a legend is that it outgrows you. The trouble with a legend is that one day it doesn’t matter anymore if you really are him or not.
Doesn’t matter what you want, what you say, what you hope for—What you cry alone and ache for.
He’d liked it, being bare faced and chilly from nose to chest, the same as he’d liked folding shit—Novelty? Mundanity? Normalcy? Some glimpse at a simple life.
For those blissful moments he could just be a man, in charge of no one but himself, and know finally the wheel was out from under his hands, he was done—
But no.
No, it burns, now, the coldness, the chill.
It’s freezing.
Ed’s not been many cold places, but he didn’t start out here.
He remembers how it feels to press your cheek to a sheet of ice until it sears like a hot iron.
He remembers the sear of a hot iron burning cold like ice—
“Boss,” Izzy rasps, and Edward jerks his head up, eyes flicking over. The doorway glows gold with a shadow in it. “Ship tailing us. Bonnet’s colors.”
Ed’s heart climbs into his throat, wants to cry and cheer at once, wants to sob and stab the table in front of him until his knife breaks or the table breaks or he breaks—
Stede’s back again, back again—Maybe this time, he can—
“Ready the canons,” Ed says, standing, in a voice that’s his but isn’t. “We’ll forgo the warning shot.”
Izzy grins, and he knows he’s said the right words in the right order with the right affect, knows he’s moved the right piece to stay in play. To stay alive. Blackbeard’s words, not Edward’s.
Never thought he’d be a hostage on his own ship.
He’s been a hostage in this fucking body since he was young; even when it was the only thing to his name, it was nothing but a fucking liability, just another thing to be used against you, same as your voice, as your image. Your body, your life, out here. So, he’d learned quick how to keep safe.
And he’d thought he could be vulnerable, show his throat—roll right over and show his whole fucking belly if Stede asked it of him.
Fuck, he wouldn’t even need to ask, not even now.
But Stede will get him killed, and Edward has lived too long through too much bullshit to go out for—
Love.
He stabs the desk in front of him and bids the flood wait until after the carnage.
Better alive than dead.
He hopes, at least.
#ofmd ficlet#edward teach#ofmd fic#my writing#our flag means death fanfic#our flag means death ficlet#our flag means death fic#ofmd fanfic
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“Sam is here for you, Boss,” Fang called from the manager office’s door.
OFMD Rare Pair Week 2023 @ofmdrarepairweek
Day 01: Coffee Shops / Roommates / Confessions [art & 1.5k oneshot]
You can read a quick oneshot for this fill on [AO3] or you can read it under the cut
“Sam is here for you, Boss,” Fang called from the manager office’s door.
Izzy looks up from Queen Anne’s Coffee daily cash book on his laptop and takes a deep sigh. For four weeks on every Wednesday around 4-5 PM, a man dressed in nice suits always visits their coffee shop and makes the same order. A medium size cup of hot black coffee. He’s polite, charming, and always leaves a big tip.
Sam only wants Izzy to brew his coffee.
Four weeks ago Izzy was forced to cover the afternoon shift because Ivan needed to go A&E due to food poisoning. Around 5 PM, a man dressed in an immaculate suit entered the slightly crowded coffee house. Although he was accompanied by a tall bald man who seemed to be his assistant or bodyguard, his presence stole everyone’s attention. He walked with the confidence of a man who was used to living in the spotlight. He smiled at Izzy when it was his turn to order.
“Hello, one black coffee please,” the man said with a low rumbling voice that managed to shake his core.
Izzy didn’t believe in love at first sight, but maybe it was possible for someone to fall deep for someone’s voice.
Izzy learned the man’s name is Sam and he also learned that Sam was very peculiar with his coffee.
“God damn, this is the best coffee I’ve had since I arrived in London,” Sam told him with a big smile. He sounded American. “You, sir, are a genius. Can you tell me how you brew this?”
Since there was no line, Izzy humored the man and answered his question. By the end of his explanation, Sam was so happy with him, he left a tip in the tip jar.
“What the fuck? That’s enough to buy another cup!” Izzy pointed out.
“For your excellent coffee and your excellent impromptu tutoring,” Sam told him. “Until we meet again,” he said with a wink.
That wink almost gave him a heart attack.
Sam’s next visit was during Fang’s shift. Because Sam asked Fang so nicely for Izzy, Fang did his best to drag Izzy out from his little office. The next one was during Ivan’s shift and Ivan immediately came to find him without being asked by Sam.
And now is Sam’s fourth visit.
“Boss, your crush is waiting,” Fang teases him.
“I don’t have a fucking crush!” Izzy denies as he walks out from his office. He does have a crush on Sam, but no one needs to know.
“You should ask for his number,” Fang suggests while following Izzy.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Izzy dismisses him. “I’m not a fucking teenager.”
“Why not? He seems to be around our age,” Fang argues.
“He’s a customer.”
“Then why were you two flirting with each other all the time?”
Izzy’s steps come to a halt. He turns around to face Fang. “What?”
“You chatted with him even after you gave him his coffee,” Fang explains. “You hate small talk.”
“It’s not small talk. He asked me about coffee!” Izzy insists.
“Sure.” Fang nods his head even though he has a mischievous smile on his face. “Just ask for his number, Boss. It’s been five months since your divorce with Ed.”
Izzy grumbles. He doesn’t like to think about his ex-husband Ed. Thankfully, their divorce wasn’t that messy because he could prove Edward was cheating on him with Stede fucking Bonnet. Edward was also happy to give the ownership of Queen Anne’s Coffee to Izzy since he claimed he was bored of managing it. Edward lived and worked with Bonnet in Gentleman Dining now, off with his fancy rich boyfriend. Good fucking riddance.
“Just ask, Boss,” Fang says, “the worst he can do is saying no. I’m pretty sure Sam likes you as well.”
The thought of someone like Sam liking him makes his heart soar. “You think so?”
“Me and Ivan think so,” Fang says.
The coffee shop is a bit crowded at this hour, yet Izzy finds his eyes falling on sam. It’s hard to ignore the man since his double breasted suit looks too expensive for the neighborhood. His easy going smile greets him, making his ridiculously good looking face shine even more. Izzy tells his heart to stop beating too fast.
“Welcome to Queen Anne’s Coffee,” Izzy greets him as he puts on his apron.
“Hi, Izzy,” Sam answers, “one black coffee as usual, please.”
Izzy immediately moves to the coffee machine and starts to make Sam’s coffee. He’s acutely aware of Sam’s eyes on him. He doesn’t understand why Sam’s gaze makes his hands tremble.
“You don’t need to be nervous,” Sam says to him.
“Fuck, yeah. Sorry,” Izzy mumbles.
“Is something wrong?” Sam asks, voice fills with concert that compels him to tell this man his woe.
Fuck, fuck. How should he approach this? It’s been too long since he asked someone out. Can he just ask for someone’s number out of the blue?
“Izzy?” Sam asks again when Izzy seemingly has stopped working. Izzy looks up and stares directly at Sam’s eyes. “Can I ask for your number?”
Sam is still smiling at him, but his eyes look a bit confused. “My number?”
Shit. Did Ivan and Fang misread the whole situation? Fuck! “Yes. Your number,” Izzy confirms. Fuck, he hopes this won’t be too embarrassing.
Sam leans to the counter. The confusion is gone, replaced by amusement. Izzy doesn’t know if this was better or worse. “You want my number?”
“For fuck’s sake, if you don’t want to give it just say it!” Izzy cut the chase, face starting to get warmer. “No need to be a dick, you twat.”
Surprisingly, Sam breaks into laughter. “Oh my god, this is the best day of my life. No one has ever called me a twat right to my face.”
Izzy frowns. What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun of you,” Sam explains. “You caught me off guard with your question. People don't just go to me and ask for my phone number. They usually go to my assistant first."
Izzy stares at him dumbfounded. Is this a rich people thing?
"Do you have a napkin so I can write down my number?" Sam asks.
After he gives the napkin, Izzy continues to prepare Sam's coffee while the other man jots down his number. At the end, they swap the coffee with Sam's phone number written in a neat big number.
"That's my number while I'm in London," Sam tells him. "Do me a favor and don't give that to anyone. There are only four other people who know that number."
Ah, so this must be his personal number. Izzy feels honored to get this number. "How long are you going to stay in London?"
"For another month at least," Sam replies. "But I just closed a big deal so I'm sure I'm going to go back and forth between New York and London pretty often for a year."
That sounds promising. Another reason why Izzy was reluctant to make a move was because he wasn't sure how long Sam would be here.
"If I don't immediately reply to your message, it doesn't mean I'm not interested," Sam tells him. "I'm probably busy. Having clients all over the world also means I have virtual meetings at odd hours so I have a weird work schedule. But rest assured, I'll reply as soon as I have the chance. I promise. I really like to get to know you better, Izzy."
Izzy wants to say more but a new customer has entered the coffee shop.
"That's my cue to leave," Sam says. "I'll be waiting for your text."
With Sam's gone, Izzy goes back to his office to continue his work. It's close to seven when he's finally done with administrative work so takes a break by browsing through the newsite. It's good to keep updated with the recent news. Who knows what fucked up shit the British government is brewing right now.
His eyes catch a newly published article about how a big American holding company would start their business here in the UK. The article includes the photo of smiling people whom Izzy mostly doesn’t recognize except for one person.
Sam was there in the photo.
Izzy already feels his brain is short circuiting when he sees Sam. His mind makes a mental somersault when the article said that Sam is none other than Samuel Bellamy, the founder and chairman of Bellamy Group, a multinational corporate group from America.
His mind is completely blown when he googles Samuel Bellamy, he’s not aware of Fang knocking on his door.
“Boss, I’ve been calling your name but you don’t say anything,” Fang says. “Are you ok?”
Izzy turns to Fang. With a look of horror, he says, “I just asked the phone number of the sixth richest man in the world.”
Izzy doesn’t know whether he should be thrilled or horrified by this revelation.
#ofmdrarepair23#bellhands#sam bellamy#izzy hands#I wrote this instead of Last Voyage sorry#I'm going to write what my brain wants me to write#i love this pairing your honor
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Izzy Hands is not a cut-and-paste villain and deserves to grow and change
No okay so I hate it when people try to make Izzy out to be some sort of master manipulator and possessive monster over Ed because he tried to leave!!!!! He was packing his stuff!!! He was preparing the dinghy!! He APOLOGISED for saying all those things!!!! And even after they survived, after Ed and Stede’s plan worked, he still accepted and owned up to the disrespect he’d shown his captain and tried to leave/resign as he said he would.
That’s what the significance of “I need you” is, instead it’s actually Ed (possibly unknowingly) manipulating Izzy into staying with him because he knows he can’t go on without Izzy. He tells Izzy his ‘plan’, he “promises” (he doesn’t use the word promise but he highly highly hints at it and that’s how Izzy takes it:“he promised me”) Izzy a ship of his own if he stays. Izzy would have been perfectly fine leaving before this (he was practically docile!), before he was lured back in by Ed’s promises, Ed’s manipulation.
What Ed wants to keep Izzy around for (killing Stede himself because he can’t do it or keeping the ship running) isn’t fully clear but what is is that Ed knows what to say and what to do to make Izzy stay. Which is what makes me so frustrated when people demonise Izzy as some jealous hag (of course if we’re following DJ’s idea of him as a jilted spouse that’s certainly an aspect) because there’s multiple layers to just how spurned Izzy can and should feel here.
We know that Ed’s slowly become more and more distant, not telling Izzy and the crew what his plans are, and whichever plans he does decide on are dangerous and risky (ie. attack a Spanish naval ship!). We also know that Izzy has been the one handling it all the past few years. So of course he’s jealous that Stede and the Revenge crew are suddenly getting all this attention and affection when he’s been fighting tooth and nail for scraps of it for years. Of course he feels neglected when Ed continues to not tell him any plans (oh but he’ll tell Stede!) and the one plan he was told of progressively gets less and less likely to happen. It’s betrayal. A betrayal of his (and Fang and Ivan’s) trust, a betrayal of the years of work and energy he’s put into his role both physically and emotionally, and a betrayal of the lives of the crew members who died on his orders.
Of course, I’m not saying all his actions and reactions are justified, his ratting out of Stede to the British navy is definitely done out of spite and with malicious intent as well as with his genuine belief that he is protecting Ed (ie. sending Jack out to separate him & Stede, bargaining to keep Ed free), but I am saying that there’s no underlying dark evil master manipulator plan in all this. For as much as Izzy acts like a hard-ass, he’s very much controlled by his emotions and his pride. He wants to keep Blackbeard alive and get things back to how they were when they first started, so he works to do so. I truly don’t believe that he has a desire to keep Blackbeard under his control (look at how happy he is post-toe scene, his captain just mutilated him and he’s smiling, he doesn’t care what Ed does to him so long as his old captain comes back) but genuinely wants things to go back the way they were.
It isn’t healthy of course, for either of them, and part of his arc should be learning to accept the kindness and softness that Stede taught to Ed, which I do think is possible in season 2, purely because I do believe he’s not this unredeemable monster villain, but rather a very flawed and very human character who for all his faults has some valid reasons for the things he does.
#izzy hands#ofmd izzy#ofmd analysis#long post#i needed to rant sorry#hope y’all enjoy this!#I just have lots of thoughts#about my poor little my meow meow
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I think that Izzy (& Ed too) being middle aged also adds to the sympathy people give to Izzy's outlook on pirate life and how willing they are to take his word for it that it was a viable way of surviving. If they're in their fifties this means the way they've been doing things so far for 20-30 years has worked and it has worked WELL because they're still alive and can capture ships with no risk to themselves (even if it turns out it wasn't directly due to the culture of abuse but because of how they built Blackbeard's rep this still holds imo but I dont think either of them would be able to separate the abuse from the rep anyway). If they were in their 20's it wouldn't have the same credibility.
Also the only thing Izzy starts the season aware that he's lacking to be fully content with his life is that Ed is not happy, for reasons Izzy can't understand. Because the same things that give stability to him (low risk for high rewards, a predictable life) are directly killing Ed's will to live. So since. He doesn't get why Ed would do all this. And Izzy sees absolutely no benefit to switching to Stede's Way that's worth sacrificing that stability that's kept them alive 20-30 years. And he's 50 and there's a high risk of death if they change and it turns out to be the wrong choice. It's pretty understandable that he's resistant to change? And sees Stede as a threath to Ed? He still does pick extremelly shitty life choices and they get worse as he loses more and more of his previous stability! But they make sense to him! They're consistent internally with his life until now and he was ok with his life until now! So obviously he's got fans that want to either watch him fuck up more or find a way to learn to live a better life or both (and/or to get absolutely railed)
Sorry to dump all this on your askbox unprompted lol
Very good points! Age does pay a major role in interpreting these guys. It suggests a long, successful career of piracy, in addition to a longstanding, successful partnership between Izzy and Ed.
Another thing I hadn’t thought about what you mention here is that Izzy values Ed’s happiness...but doesn’t understand how to give him that. Things seemed fine before Ed became depressed and lost interest in piracy, so it’s natural Izzy would be trying to get him to this previous state without understanding Ed needs something different.
And even if Stede has found a way of managing a healthy, happy crew, that doesn’t mean he’s good at anything else related to piracy. So it’s not like Izzy is walking on to the Revenge and seeing a crew full of successful, skilled pirates who also are handling their interpersonal relationships with communication and gentleness. He’s seeing a crew of terrible pirates who are handling their interpersonal relationships with communication and gentleness. Of course he would assume that there was a correlation!
Give Izzy a therapist for character development and a daddy to rail him.
Dump away in my askbox! I encourage it!
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