#and stede wants to give that to him and protect him

[steven-cartoons]

one thing I feel like some of y'all tend to forget is that effeminate behavior =/= feminine presentation

a character may have effeminate mannerisms and personality traits while still being masculine in their clothing and overall appearance

....

...aka....stede is the butch and ed is the femme !!

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

This exchange after they leave Anne and Mary’s. They are both overly-polite. They aren’t quite comfortable around each other yet, and neither wants to say the wrong thing, still sussing out the other.

They’re also both protecting their own egos a bit by being nonchalant over the question of where Ed is going to sleep tonight, when it’s obviously the only question that needs answering currently.

Ed says first he’ll ‘crash in the trees’, then starts to say something else.

‘Well, I mean…’ indicates Ed’s about to suggest something, but is also a lead in for Stede to suggest something too, which is likely what Ed wants. It causes Stede to say ‘Well, I was thinking…’ as a mirroring of Ed’s language, and then ‘if you wanted to…’ because Stede doesn’t wish to appear too keen because he’s not sure he’s forgiven yet.

Ed’s interruption ‘Well, no you shouldn’t have to…’ is quite emotive depending on how it’s interpreted. He’s saying this isn’t Stede’s problem to solve. He’s saying Stede shouldn’t feel he has to stick his neck out for him with the crew. Ed’s also saying Stede doesn’t owe him anything. Ed’s possibly playing it cool, and whilst recognising that Stede doesn’t have to, he bloody well hopes he’s gonna. It shows how they’re both treading so lightly though here.

You then get this ridiculously polite to-ing and fro-ing, ‘sorry you go etc.’ until…

Ed wins.

He wins because he doubles down on his ‘No yous’ making Stede have to give way, and forcing him to say what he wanted to all along. Stede’s seemingly backed into a corner to save face. Once Stede suggests Ed stays one more night on the ship, it’s like the coolness and politeness facade drops for both of them.

But I just love this little scene. The sussing each other out, ego protection, and then they’re both just pure dorks who love each other so much and can’t hide it. Ed’s eyes are huge and his answer dopey. And Stede scares the wildlife with his glee. Stede then runs into the trees like Kermit, and Ed gazes after him like a love-sick kitten.

[breeyn]

I read this post by @cosmicgendershifter and thinking it over...

I think the big difference between the way Izzy "takes care" of Ed (and hence a lot of the racist discussions) and the way Stede does is that Izzy treats/believes Ed cannot do things for himself/do them properly/etc. Izzy quite vocally believes he ✨needs✨ to manage Ed, has to navigate crucial parts of his life for him. Which is why so many people have BIG problems with Ig's behaviour.

Stede, on the other hand, never once doubts or questions Ed's ability to take care of himself. Stede spends a big chunk of the show believing Ed is better off without him. The things he does for Ed - bringing him tea, standing up to the French bullies, taking him on a treasure hunt, organizing a ridiculous fuckery - these are all things Stede does to make Ed happier. He absolutely knows Ed could handle all these things himself. The reason he prevents Ed from handling the French on his own isn't because he thinks Ed can't, it's because Ed is already upset and Stede wants to spare him more mockery. Just that morning he saw how hurt Ed was by racist smarm, and he knows more will be hurled at Ed if he storms back into that party with a gun. He's protecting Ed from taking more hurt, he clearly couldn't give a shit about the harm taken by the French. If he didn't think it would make Ed feel worse to go shoot them all, Stede wouldn't have stopped him.

Doing a dom/sub thing with Ed and Stede doesn’t have to automatically equal infantalizing Ed. Personally, the whole "babygirl" Ed thing is not my cup of tea anyway, the man is a genius pirate king, but I ✨love✨ the idea of him being taken care of - trusting Stede enough to do it, of feeling safe enough to allow it. That is a very healing idea to me, and I love to write/read about it. My impression from reading the discourse over the past couple months is that Stede taking on a bit of a dom role for Ed isn't an inherently a racist landmine, but it requires understanding the characters and ✨why✨ their relationship is so special in the show, why Ed feels safe with Stede. And it's because at their core, they are always, always equals. The only reason Ed would ever feel comfortable letting Stede take the lead on things is because he knows how well Stede regards him, and that he is safe in that esteem. That Stede feels honoured by the privilege of doing so. Izzy constantly steals Ed's agency, Stede ✨never✨ does (okay except that whole leaving him on the dock thing but shh)

I personally hate being treated like I can't do stuff by myself. If I even get the smallest whiff of that vibe, fuck you, get away from me, I will handle EVERYTHING myself, and I will do it extra awesome just out of spite. But if the vibe is, "here, let me make this easier, you work so hard, just rest and I will handle it" yeah, I'm receptive to that

[sixstepsaway]

so here's the thing

i've seen a bunch of people say on twitter and stuff how... ed's behavior is very abusive and his anger is dangerous and he isn't romantic lead material because of it

and i get where they're coming from

but to me the main issue isn't putting ed in the position of a romantic lead, but not crafting the narrative around his characterization so that it allows for a spicy romantic pirates-in-love narrative instead of...whatever this is.

i'm going to try and explain this. idk if i'll do well but i'll try

the way she show presents stede is as an innocent baby who isn't really equipped for pirate life. he goes into a fugue/disassociative state whenever there's any real violence, apparently, and needs protecting by other characters when things get too rough - for example when ed is telling ned lowe not to take the poker to stede.

that's fine! it's honestly adorable to see a masc character being so soft around the edges and being protected by other characters this way.

(i'm not going to touch on stede's... eh... not great characterization this season rn)

then there's izzy, who is shown as a bit violent, a bit rough around the edges. he's more likely to draw a sword or throw a punch or hit someone with a chair or take a punch like a champ. violence is just part of life for him and that's okay, it just Is, from small things like smacking stede on the ass to bigger things like being wall slammed, it's not all that big or bad for violence to happen around and with him, he tends to give as good as he gets (there's some nuance here but i'm talking the macro themes not the micro of what izzy does vs is done to him)

and finally there's ed

ed is presented as violent (stabbing knives at guys, telling fang to use the snail fork etc) and used to a life of violence, and then in season 2 he's presented as really violent, his anger coming out in dangerous and terrifying ways

and frankly, i'd be super into it if he and izzy were the main ship and that twisted dynamic from the first two episodes of s2 was explored and fleshed out into something deeper

friends to enemies to lovers who fight and fuck. angry pirates who lay hands on each other, who break the whole ship with each other in the heat of passion.

except instead, s2 gives us... abuse. it gives us izzy cringing and lowering his head and trying to protect the kids crew from ed's angry outbursts.

so when stede comes back and he's still soft around the edges and ed headbutts him and it's deliberate, it's... not a great look, and the vibes are a bit skewed

if stede fought back, if when ed struck out at him he struck back, if they fought rather than it being one-sided, if it was friends to enemies to lovers and not presented as healthy, but maybe they can work their way there, who knows, maybe even more like anne bonnie and mary read because hey, they were doing something very similar?

except they were both into it. they were both enjoying the fighting and the fucking and the burning down the house.

stede's not enjoying it.

i cannot describe how much i hate this sequence just because of the way stede flinches

anne and mary don't!! mary jumps at the unexpected bang but she doesnt flinch, she doesn't cover her face like she thinks the vase will be coming for her not the wall and anne? looks so into it

and the thing is that in real life, no, you don't want to date someone who throws shit around, or headbutts you

but in fiction when it's two fucked up people doing this shit together like anne and mary?

that can be fun.

but instead what we've been given is stede flinching and apologizing to ed and then all of ed's...what, semi-redemption???? is done away from the other collection of people he abused, and then he spends some time on a fishing boat wearing a dog collar and everything is fine because he's good now and won't be doing anything bad ever again

and it's just... poor writing. the vibes are rancid.

i spent a really big chunk of time between s1 and s2 defending ed. i kept saying how what he did to izzy by making him eat his toe wasn't abuse, it was a one-off and abuse isn't a one-off thing it's a pattern, and then s2 made it a pattern.

explicitly. explicitly a pattern.

not just one toe but three.

jim saying "you're in an unhealthy relationship with blackbeard"

and all ed offered izzy was a "sorry about your leg" which might've been fine if izzy survived and they could work on this more, but instead that's all the apology and closure izzy will ever get

ed threw a chair and a vase and made stede flinch in fear and stede was right to do that. what part of any of this implies this will never happen again? that stede won't press the wrong button at some point and be on the receiving end? none of it

and if we'd been presented with a s2 stede bonnet who could handle himself and stand up for himself and fight back, then maybe i could imagine that turning into a weird sexy fucked up anne/mary like thing and maybe that could be why they put that episode in, but instead it feels like that episode was going, "look, see, ed's violence is fine because these two are fine with it with each other"

but stede isn't

ed and izzy or ed and stede in an unhealthy battle of a relationship could be such a fun, interesting and downright sexy thing to watch unfold on tv, and could honestly end somewhere far more down the chill end of the spectrum, but that's not what we've been given here

i cannot argue that ed isn't an abuser anymore, and not just of izzy but of the whole crew. he terrified frenchie.

it's not good writing to try and lean into the idea that ed and the pirates are violent and live a life of violence, so it's okay that ed's been violent, while simultaneously presenting his violence as traumatic and abusive, and then less than three episodes later saying oh it's fine now, he's just a little meow meow who can do no wrong, see?

especially considering they had him murdering people at the end of the season. and sure, you can say the english are just cannon fodder and they dont 'count', but they did before. ed explicitly did not kill before, and that included the english, or the spanish, or anyone else. so either they count or they don't, but flipping him on a dime makes no sense.

ALSO

having ed be the son of an abusive man who threw plates at his mother and made her cringe and then having ed kill his father to protect his mother and then a season later having ed become the kind of man who throws chairs and vases and makes his love interest cringe is, again, not bloody optimal

i want to say again i dont CARE about tv always presenting healthy relationships or tv always giving us aspirational goals. i want messy fucked up dynamics and terrible people making terrible choices, and still, to this day, i fucking love ed teach. i would honestly love to have seen them continue with ed's darkness and bring stede into it and see where they went with that, to have stede kill ned lowe and not just bury his feelings in ed but get off on it, enjoy the violence, and see where that led, but no

and so instead all we end up with is a protagonist who is being set up for a lifetime of abuse from an intimate partner, and a romantic lead who abuses his love interests (and yes. izzy is a love interest, he is set up like one and positioned like one and treated like one), frightens his love interests with his violence, is erratic and most of all inconsistently written. he was so sorry about scaring fang as though he hadn't been deliberately terrifying the whole crew for fuck knows how long? what?!

the whole fandom has spent so long saying, "no no, i know stede bonnet irl was a slave owner, but ofmd is using the names and not any real piracy, it's more disney piracy, you know? so that kind of stuff doesnt exist!" and then they flipped around and went "blackbeard is blackbeard and so he is evil and does all these horrible things" and i dont know how to rationalize the two sides of that because it feels so out of place

i'm getting rambly, this isnt a particularly well constructed thought process, i just feel like we were robbed both of a toxic, violent relationship that could be fun to see explored on tv and a soft and sweet love story between two middle aged men exploring their first loves in one fell swoop and there's no way for s3 to bring either of those things back because they got utterly torpedoed by making ed a horrible person

ugh

[avelera]

I saw a really cute post the other day imagining scenes where Ed protects Stede. It was sweet and funny and heartfelt and for some reason landed all wrong with me.

Then I figured out why: I don’t think Ed has ever protected Stede. It’s actually kind of a big plot point in the show. Even when he should have. But when Stede protects Ed is when Ed fell in love.

It’s a bit of a nuance and I’m too tired to quite remember all the ways I’m probably wrong but… Ed often rescues Stede. But he doesn’t protect him. He doesn’t prevent him or try to prevent him from doing things that would harm him.

I think that was another reason the post nagged at me. Because the funny examples were around Stede’s failures at piracy. But Ed, unlike everyone on the show, including the viewers!, doesn’t see Stede as a failure. It’s almost weird how much he doesn’t. It’s endearing too. It’s why the romance works.

Ed thinks Stede is unorthodox. New to the game. A bit rough around the edges. But all those skills come with time and practice. Ed is bored of skilled, practiced pirates. He wants flare. He wants daring. He wants a person who does it their own way. The rest will come. But you can’t teach creativity. Ed doesn’t give a shit about a perfectly skilled pirate, that’s boring as fuck. He wants to see a creative one.

To go back to protectiveness… Ed doesn’t protect Stede because he doesn’t see Stede as incompetent. He doesn’t prevent Stede from doing things before the fact. But sometimes after the fact like on the Spanish ship or against the English, he’ll come in after Stede fucked up and chooses to join him in facing the danger and consequences.

In comedy terms, Ed is very “yes, and…!” with Stede. Whereas protectiveness implies a certain amount of ending the bit before Ed can see the crazy places it’s going.

By contrast, Stede is protective of Ed and when he’s protective, Ed melts. Stede tries to prevent Ed from being hurt by the nobles and corrects his errors and very publicly destroys them on Ed’s behalf. Ed fell or fell harder in love right there. But Ed never tried to prevent Stede’s run in with the Spanish.

Ed’s a bit selfish, a bit blind to how to take care of others. Part of it’s the life he led. It’s part of why he’s so fascinated by Stede and his brand of piracy. He doesn’t want to stop the craziness before it begins. He really only steps in if death itself, something that might end Strede’s craziness, gets close but even then. He doesn’t protect Stede against Izzy. He lets those consequences play out. He can’t bear to look but he doesn’t stop it.

I think there’s more nuance and a lot of scenes I’m sure I’m forgetting where Ed is more protective but my overall sense is that this is actually an interesting nuance between them. Stede acted out of protectiveness when he left Ed on that beach. Ed didn’t go looking for Stede. He didn’t and doesn’t try to protect him. Unlike everyone else, Ed always assumes Stede’s choices are deliberate and competently made.

[tizzyizzy]

Seen some talk around the interwebs about how Izzy is a totally different, or his arc happened too fast, whatever. He is my argument to the contrary.

There are three major factors driving the change in Izzy's behavior.

Default Pirate Culture → Gentleman Pirate Culture

Izzy spent his entire pirate career before Stede acting like, well, a pirate. There wasn't room for softness. Being tough was expected. Blackbeard's crew's culture in particular discouraged weakness to such an extent crew were expected to kill their pets before joining.

In S1, Izzy's relationship to the crews and captains was ambiguous. Was he training the Revenge crew to be proper pirates? Was he in charge when the captains weren't on board? Was Ed planning on killing Stede and everyone aboard, or not? So it's unsurprising Izzy held himself away from Stede's crew instead of becoming part of it, and tried without success to make the Revenge crew follow his lead.

In S2, Izzy ends up in Stede's crew, and Izzy isn't in a place emotionally or socially to try to push to change the culture of the ship. He's outnumbered. Izzy has to adapt. At the very least, all of the expectations he has been living up to his entire pirating career are gone.

Taking Care of Ed → No More Ed

Izzy said he'd been cleaning up Ed's messes his whole life. Scenes from S1 and S2 suggest that is the case. In S1, Izzy is dealing with Ed making strange choices on his search for meaning, which requires him to manage restless crew members and deal with the risky spots Ed puts them all in. Once Stede arrives on the scene, Ed is contradictory and non-communitive, leaving Izzy to wonder if the plan to kill Stede and the promised captaincy were bullshit (they were).

And because Izzy has no emotional intelligence, he thinks that Stede is seducing Ed into losing everything, and he desperately tries to pry the pair ppart.

I mean, we all know what happened in the early S2 episodes. Emotional, off-the-rails Ed trying to himself and everyone else while Izzy desperately tried to protect Ed and the crew, until he was forced to give up on Ed.

After breaking up with Ed via bullet, though, Ed is officially Not Izzy's Problem. Ed isn't a threat to the crew. Stede is incompetent, but was clever and brave enough to escape Zheng's ship and rescue them. Izzy is free to have a drunken breakdown. After, well, he gets to do whatever he wants.

What does Izzy want? Well, he's finding out.

No Trust → Trust

The major reason pirates put on such a tough facade is to protect themselves. Being tough keeps enemies from messing with you. It keeps your crew too afraid to mutiny. It's easy to recognize that Ed puts on a persona of Blackbeard, but Izzy put on a persona too. A weak link can be targeted and broken.

Just look at the scene where Izzy finally breaks down and is comforted by the crew. Izzy doesn't make the choice to be emotionally vulnerable. He is behaving the same way he always with crew who question his orders. He yells, he curses, he commands. It is only the level of his emotional distress and the crew's acknowledgement of it that make him incapable of hiding his pain.

I think it's safe to say that has been hiding grief, frustration, confusion, sadness, etc. behind the "Get back to work!" facade for years. It only crumbled under extreme pressure.

But when Izzy breaks, and is at his most pathetic and vulnerable, the crew have his back. Under Blackbeard, they comfort him, hide him away, and treat his injuries at the risk of the captain's wrath. Under Stede, when he's at his most pathetic, the crew make him a new leg and accept him into the crew without judgement.

There's almost nothing Izzy could do in front of the crew now that would make him look more weak than he was when he was crawling across the floor drunk and repeating "You're born alone, you die alone" over and over. He hit rock bottom and there was a pillow there to catch him.

So, Izzy is in the "talk it through" culture of Stede's Revenge. He is free from obsessing about Ed as a man and as a captain. He is surrounded by people who saw him at his worst and showed him compassion.

Izzy's worst behaviors in S1 were motivated by fear. Fear of the new, fear Ed was losing it, fear of what would happen if he showed weakness. In a "safe space", where he has nothing to worry about? Of course Izzy calms way down. This is the Izzy that swaggered up to Stede on the island and at Spanish Jackie's in S1. Dry, sarcastic, sassy. Some flair for the dramatic with the swordplay.

It is because Izzy feels so safe that he can put on that makeup and perform. Wee John is doing it, and Wee John wouldn't let him do anything embarrassing. He's clearly got confidence in his ability to sing.

He's still Izzy. He says fuck constantly. He's kind of a dick. He offers good advice. He's a dramatic, whether he's cutting his name into someone's shirt or singing in French from a balcony. He's just an Izzy that can be whatever he wants without fear.

[adzeisval]

Izzy directing danger to himself

Okay, not done doing comparisons between the first and last episodes of season two.

Izzy seems to have a habit of directing danger to himself to protect others.

In episode one: Having just accidentally sent Ed into a rage after alluding to Stede, Izzy watches as Ed points his pistol at the crew and at himself. Izzy believes that Ed is going to shoot, and Izzy doesn't want the crew, or Ed, to get hurt so he directs the rage to himself and gets shot.

In episode eight: Izzy snarks back at Ricky in the jail cell so Ricky's attention is on him. Then when they start out on Stede's crazy plan Izzy is the one to take Ricky at knife point, to make sure that if the situation with Ricky becomes dangerous Izzy is the closest target. And Izzy gets shot.

Oh and come to think of it when Stede finds out that Ed is "dead" and the crew are imprisoned Izzy's "Go on Bonnet, give me your worst" is so Stede directs his anger at Izzy, not at the rest of the crew even though they all participated in "killing" Ed.

I just find it to be a very interesting character trait.

[wild-aspen]

The season ended claiming Ed had gone through a "found family" story arc, except he didn't.

Izzy did. The Revenge was Izzy's family, even more than Stede's. Izzy became defined by his love for the crew, and by their love for him.

Ed? Ed hurt them, got half-murdered by them, was voted off the boat by them, and then offered a shitty non-apology. And I guess that's supposed to be good enough??

Meanwhile, Izzy was shown on screen advocating for the crew even when he knew that meant he'd lose another toe. He stood up for them and got shot for it. And the crew sees that, and respects it, and they bring Izzy into their family. And then, finally, Izzy says enough. He ends it with Ed. He drags himself back up on deck and shoots his former captain to protect the crew, his new family, and he lets the crew do what they do. He even watches, unlike when Ed turned away during the Stede-Izzy duel.

He continues to protect the crew. They gift him the leg, showing him that they will literally support him, both as a person and as their figurehead. He opens up, relaxes, and settles into his new home. He's able to express himself now that he feels safe for the first time in years! He has an entirely new identity, and the crew loves him.

And sure - he's still struggling a little, he's still drinking, but recovery isn't a one-and-done thing. He had so much life ahead of him, so many new experiences to have.

But sure. Ed is the one the crew "loves". Sure, Izzy "wanted to go".

Give me a fucking break.

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

Ten reasons Ed Teach is lovable 💕

kindness The sweetness and care he shows Stede when he awakes. The way he greets the crew. The patience with Jack, and Izzy, neither of whom deserve it. How quickly he wins over Zheng with his goofy giggles…

feels deeply The hurt at being mocked is palpable. The indescribable pain at Stede’s leaving. The shock and fallout from Izzy’s threats. The lack continued lack of self esteem. But Ed also feels deeply in positive ways, showing awe and wonder at Stede’s curios, fabrics, books, marmalade. Such joy at catching a fish! And he feels romantic love at a very deep level. No one has loved like Ed Teach in the history of loving.

so fucking clever Date error aside, the fog / tidal plan is fantastic. And the save with the lighthouse fuckery, sublime - because Ed came up with the practicalities of how they were going to be a lighthouse on the bounce. And whilst disturbing, it takes a genius of a mind to come up with that gravy basket imagery, including the Merstede vision. Even Ed’s survival mechanism, heartbreaking as it is, is objectively wonderful. The artistic compartmentalisation of personas. Ed both protects and breaks himself on his cleverness. But the clever working class boy who deserves the world, and finally gets it, is a trope which will never grow old for me.

believes in a best self Ed’s not quite sure what that looks like on any given day, but he wants to be utmost in who he is. ‘Jeff… never turns his back on a challenge.’ ‘Blackbeard always wins’ (problem actually). ‘‘Behold… / I’m a fisherman now… you said it was a good fish’.

And Ed’s supportive of others too. ‘You’ve got it all figured out’, ‘The sheer talent on this ship…’ Even in dark moments, Jim is ‘quite the specimen’.

Ed needs to realise that his best self is not necessarily one with no mistakes, and others aren’t without fault either (Stede, he learns the hard way). But the fact Ed won’t settle for a mediocre version of life anymore, believes in better… I love him for it.

violence as a last resort. Ed’s MO is non-violence first, prior to the Kraken spiral. Even during the raids, he is more of an observer. Ed’s attitude to violence is never casual. Pete, Roach, even Wee John… they have casual attitudes to violence in a way never demonstrated by Ed. The twice he appears to commit violence directly is to protect his mother after years of abuse, and protect Stede against colonial violence. It’s violence in the name of love.

forgives easily Too easily at times. The grace he shows over and over to Izzy. How quickly he forgives Stede (that’s okay). The only character he doesn’t forgive easily is himself. Ed’ll get there.

gets Stede Immediately. The excitement at Stede’s knickknacks. Understanding Stede is a lunatic, and that this is a likeable, desirable trait. The viewer understanding Stede through Ed’s focalisation is key to getting the show.

so goofy Ed’s cosplaying Stede within thirty minutes. He’s a theatre kid, jumping down three easy steps on a swing-rope; fuckeries, canon-balling off the ship, the gorgeous chaos of the post-coital breakfast…

has hope (it’s cute) That he ran towards the light of The Gentleman Pirate That he believed they could run away to China and be happy. That his dying brain was able to create Merstede. That he wants to give innkeeping a try even when he’s half-dead…

Ed could’ve been so hard and brittle by middle age, but he isn’t. He has boyish hope and it’s part of what saves him.

he’s beautiful His eyes, his hair, the peach of an ass, and he really does wear fine things well. But it’s not just all that. His eye-crinkles, his smile, his voice, his laughter, his tears, his double pats, his energy, his wit, his little teeth, the surly teen-girl face when he’s upset, his thoughtfulness. His unconditional love for Stede Bonnet.

This is a non-definitive list. Please add your own ‘why Ed Teach is lovable’ thoughts 💕

[asneakyfox]

The part I don't understand about the makeover plot isn't about attractiveness at all - I don't get why Stede would go along with a plan to push the sexual tension over the edge like that when he and Ed had just agreed to go slow until Ed was emotionally ready? Like it feels like that proposed plot belongs in the *very* different version of s2 that we've heard some bits of, where Ed and Stede had the longer what are we? and slow getting back together storyline not something that was cut right at the last minute before filming 2x06.

so unlike "would the plot imply ed wasn't already attracted to stede," this is something we legitimately do not know because samba didn't explain that part of it. there are multiple possibilities here. off the top of my head i can think of at least two that actually fit into the storyline (and are therefore much more likely than "the writers decided stede should decide to violate a boundary ed set immediately in defiance of literally everything we have ever known about him and only noticed this is out of character a couple days before it was supposed to be filmed.")

first it is not at all obvious to me, or i think to stede, that "take it slow" would mean "don't dress sexy enough to tempt me." i think stede might well think it means, ed is going to take the lead in deciding when or if their physical relationship is going to move forward, and while they wait for ed to make that decision, stede's role is supposed to be to court him like, you know, a gentleman - bringing him flowers and taking him on dates and asking him to dance and generally doing all he can to make ed feel cherished and courted and wooed. dressing to look as good as he can would be part of this! that's one of the classic ways you show you are Putting In The Effort for a new relationship! i don't think stede would think of putting on sexy clothes as "pressuring ed to agree to sex before he's ready" but i can easily imagine him thinking of it as "showing ed that i am putting in the effort to be the best possible boyfriend when and if he decides to grant me boyfriend status, because he deserves to be wooed by a suitor who puts in every possible effort."

interestingly i do think there's some stuff left in the season that kind of subtly points at this possible angle. for instance, this plot arc would fit really well with the stuff that's already in 2x06 where ned low accuses stede of being "like a pet" to ed and stede seems to decide to kill ned in part to disprove that; that's also him courting ed, saying "ed deserves a lover who'd kill to protect him or avenge his honor, and i'm going to show him that i can be that lover." there's also the dialogue in the "taking it slow" scene already - "you can't catch a fish unless the fish wants to be caught" / "and you're the fish?" which immediately struck me on first viewing as stede trying to cast the relationship in a traditional heteronormative courtship mode, where there's distinct roles, one person does the pursuing and the other decides when they're ready to be caught. (and of course ed immediately rejects that model - "we're the fish," i.e. the relationship is something we build together as a team - so of course the foreshadowed resolution of this would be stede realizing he did not need to think of it the way he was because ed never needed stede to court him at all, stede had already seduced ed as thoroughly as anyone has ever been seduced back in s1 just by being himself.)

second though the other possibility is we don't know if stede would have known about the intent of the makeover at all. i'm not going back to check exact wording rn but i sure don't remember samba saying anything that even hinted at that. it's entirely possible that the idea was that wee john and roach would go to stede and say "hey, you should let us pierce your ear and put eyeliner on you and give you some leather pants for no particular reason, we just think it would look dope for the party" and stede would obviously agree to this because he loves makeup and new clothes and he'd just have no idea that this was a part of a scheme that was meant to end with getting him laid.

in any case though you're absolutely right that any version of this would work much better in a longer season where there was more breathing room between "can we take it slow" and other characters deciding they cannot bear those guys taking it slow for any longer, and in fact that is one of the big reasons i was always sure there was a cut episode 5.5 even before alex sherman confirmed at the panel two weeks ago that i was right about that; the ed-stede plot in that episode surely would have been about how desperately attracted to each other they both are and how bad they were doing at taking it slow and that would make it much more understandable why everyone else on the ship would end up feeling like they couldn't take this any longer. and it's entirely possible that losing the buildup they could have done in episode 5.5 was a major factor in deciding they needed to cut the makeover entirely.

[cosmicgendershifter]

I don't even know what you can say to the people who somehow missed that all of Ed's violence is a) anti-imperial, b) protective against direct repeated threats to himself and his loved ones, or c) self-destructive in the hopes someone will respond by killing him during his suicidal spiral. (That last example is fairly indirect and performative and comes from a place of severe nihilistic suffering.)

I don't know what you can say to the people who somehow missed that the violence is triggering and traumatic and exhausting for Ed, and that he is desperate for a chance to live differently but has also never known any other life. Stede gave him the one true glimpse he's had of something gentler! Ed didn't fully know how fucked up his life was before because that was normal to him. That's what growing up traumatized does to you.

I don't know what you can say to the people who somehow missed that the suicidal spiral is a result of Ed's circumstances: of Ed being threatened by Izzy after Izzy repeatedly found ways to force Ed back towards the violent life Ed wants so much to escape, of Ed losing his one glimpse at safety and happiness through Stede and now having to face the darkness knowing he nearly found something different, of Ed feeling like the only way he can survive in this world is by being an "unlovable" monster he hates--and then he's confronted by Izzy telling him he's still not getting it right. Of course Ed gives up then.

I don't know what you can say to the people who somehow missed the show's themes about how much harm is caused by toxic masculinity and by masking your true self and by cultures founded on trauma and self-hate and burnout. (You do see the burnout in Ed, yeah?)

I do get why some people might not understand the complexities of Ed's relationship with Izzy--how codependent and enmeshed their identities are--or the layers of symbolism that position Izzy in the story as a metaphor for traditional pirate culture and its harmful impact. (Which is particularly triggering for Ed on a daddy issues level because that's his original trauma.) If you understand those things, the unique nature of the physical harm Ed does to Izzy in this story makes even more sense.

Ed also frequently communicates through metaphor himself. Him cutting off Izzy's toes is not only a show trying to convince Izzy he's playing Blackbeard right and not only a response to Izzy repeatedly threatening Stede/continuing to threaten Ed, but also is meant to physically represent the harm that Izzy has done emotionally to Ed. Ed is communicating to Izzy the only way he knows how anymore: "See how it feels to be forced to lose parts of yourself? Stede was a part of me. My hopes of softness and joy were a part of me. You cut those off too."

There is so much evidence against the thought that Ed is some irredemable, monstrous lover of violence who will hurt Stede someday. Stede would have to repeatedly and directly threaten someone else Ed loves first (which Stede won't do), and even then, Ed would really have to fight with himself.

It's not his nature, y'all, and I'm so frustrated that some people keep insisting it is. I'm frustrated about what that says about people's ability to empathize and consider reasons for or contexts behind behaviors--particularly when the character in question is an openly queer and likely neurodivergent indigenous man. Is it so hard to have compassion and forgiveness for him? Please don't get stuck in that punitive, dehumanizing mindset.

Redemption is so important, which is why I appreciate that Izzy gets a growth arc once he stops centering his entire identity on the Blackbeard persona and clinging to toxic masculinity. (Seeing Stede's impact, how different things could be, vs. the harm caused by the traditional ways, changes Izzy too!) Izzy's time, as a side character and mentor figure and piracy metaphor, does end, but first he gets to live with more meaning and unlearn many of the negative behaviors. That's the goal, right? To move forward.

[stargirl-and-potts]

It’s actually so important to me that Ed cries over Izzy in front of the whole crew. We’ve seen him bite back his tears in front of Frenchie and Lucius, and at Mary and Anne’s, when he was too low to help himself. But we’ve only seen him willingly, fully cry in front of Stede, once. And even then that was after a debilitating flashback that left him in a very young state of mind.

But Stede returning to the Revenge restarted the experiment Ed had begun when he sung to the crew — the experiment of being “just Ed.” Finding out what makes Ed happy. Letting his guard down. Playing and learning and apologizing, showing up soft, since Stede was there to protect him from the consequences. This was Stede’s ship again; no one would hurt Ed if he let himself put his weapons down.

And then Ed gives up even the protection of Stede’s captaincy and the safety of his ship and leaves, and tries being soft all on his own. He learns he doesn’t much want to do it without Stede; but he does want it. So when he comes back (having read that love letter, knowing he is cared for as deeply and permanently as he cares, knowing his presence matters to Stede as vitally as Stede’s does to him) — when he comes back, even with his leathers on and his gun and knife strapped to his thigh, he’s still just Ed. He can’t armor it back up again.

Izzy bleeds, and tells him he is loved, and he doesn’t reject it, and he doesn’t run from the pain. He sets down his panic and the emotional distance of trying to fix it, and he sits with him. And he sobs. And the crew cries with him.

Ed isn’t alone with his griefs anymore.

[cuddlytogas]

an incomplete list of terrible but extremely popular Our Flag Means Death takes that I would like to never see again please

(and I do mean popular, as in, lots of people seem to think they're canon, to the point where I feel slightly insane and like I was watching a different show to everyone else)

1. Ed's mum was loving and nice and supportive, if hampered by her bad situation

this comes up more in fic than analysis, to be fair, but good god, what show were some of you watching? this isn't to vilify her, because yeah, she's clearly a product of colonialism, white christian supremacy, and domestic abuse, but like. that doesn't make how she raised Ed good. clearly she was trying to keep him safe, but "we don't deserve nice things", and especially "it's not up to us, it's up to god", speaks to me of someone who squashes down any ambition on her son's part, has fully bought into the lies of christian colonialism, and tries to pass them down to her son.

as does happen in colonised communities, particularly among older generations. I know us white people like to think that every indigenous person is a perfect left-wing anti-imperial activist, but that's simply not the case, and Ed's mum is so clearly an example of an older conservative christian indigenous parent who had to believe the lies told by their coloniser in order to survive, but is now passing on that trauma to their children. and I just...

if I read one more fic where Ed's mum is a perfect loving supportive angel who always believed in her kid and always supported and protected him, I'm gonna scream. yes, it's sweet, and it's fun to sometimes veer from canon and give your blorbo nice things, but it's still veering from canon. and yet, I see very few people acknowledge that, or actually talk about the nuances of Ed's mother, and how she definitely tried to protect him, but was far from sweet, doting, and unconditionally supportive.

2. Ed's loving look when Stede is picking food from his beard in 1x07

like most of these things, I enjoyed it as a joke or exaggeration at first, until I realised that people were actually being serious. but every time I watch that scene, I see Ed looking absently-mindedly over Stede's shoulder, because a) that's what you do when someone leans in to pick something off you, and b) surely the point of the scene is that they're so comfortable and easy together that they don't notice the intimacy of what they're doing, but Lucius, an outside observer, thinks it's obvious. right?? I can't be the only one seeing it???

[sigh]

anyway. finally, the really really big one:

3. Ed is a soft uwu babygirl princess femme bottom sub who loves her cat collar and is teaching Stede how to dom him in the "say you're the captain" scene

I mean, there's not much to say except to link to duke's absolutely phenomenal twitter thread about "how the 'babygirlfication' and infantilization of ofmd ed teach is an extension of racist perceptions of indigenous men being inherently violent and thus needing to be emasculated to be considered sympathetic"

but especially That One Fucking Scene, good lord. talk about taking shit out of context. everyone looked at a slowed-down gif of one shot in the trailer and cried "babygirl!! he's such a simp, he just wants to be dommed!!", when actually that scene is about how a) Stede is cringefail and terrible at being a typical harsh, commanding pirate, and b) Ed is lovingly embarrassed by this. he encourages Stede to assert himself (and give Ed something to do during his probation/help him make amends with the crew), but like. normally. he's acting perfectly normal in that scene, and mostly annoyed by the outfit and embarrassed by how badly Stede fails. but just because he's sitting down while Stede is standing, and he happens to take a breath in that one shot (because, you know, people breathe sometimes), everyone's doubled down on their "submissive babygirl" bullshit, and I can't get the fuck away from it.

which - listen, it's fun for me, too! it's fun to explore exaggerated aspects of a character, it's fun to read/write/draw that angle in smut, I get it! but I keep seeing people keep claim it's literally canon, and I cannot stress enough that that is Straight Up False. for the love of god, please just watch the show without your (potentially kinda racist) bias glasses on, and remember to treat the characters with respect instead of projecting onto their every interaction a shallow dom/sub binary just because you find it hot.

Our Flag is a show very specifically about masculinity, and what it means to be a man; how assumptions about that can harm and restrict men; and how men can grow beyond them. it's a nuanced and sympathetic examination of this. the whole point is that Ed is allowed to like nice fabrics and be tired of violent piracy and still be a man. the point is that two men fall in love - equal, honest, sincere love - and are still men, still exactly who they are.

(on that note, insisting that Ed is canonically trans or femme because of these things often ends up just leaning into gendered stereotypes: men are harsh and active and dominant, and women are soft and passive and submissive, and if Ed's not the former, he must be the latter, right? it also tends to hetero-ify the central relationship, casting Stede as "the boy" and Ed as "the girl", needing one to be masc and one femme. not always, and again, I understand and have enjoyed transformative works that take those elements and run with them, and explore what the story could be like if Ed were trans/nb/etc - but it's still a transformative interpretation. it's not canon.)

relatedly: those fucking wedding toppers! it seemed blatantly obvious to me that half the point of those scenes was that Ed is distraught and blaming himself for Stede leaving because he wasn't the ideal partner. it's his entire arc for the first half of season 2! Ed hates himself and believes there's something wrong about him that makes him unlovable. so he keeps and then discards the wedding toppers, painting himself onto one of them, because he's projecting himself onto an image of ideal/successful romantic love that he thinks Stede wants, and in which he doesn't fit. he's trying to mould himself into someone else to make himself lovable, not realising that Stede already loves him for himself.

so it's important to the whole narrative that Ed's yearning for/projection onto the wedding toppers is false, and born from his insecurity. he gets drunk, and play-acts a stereotypical image of romantic happiness into which he doesn't fit, but real love looks nothing like that, because real love isn't found in stifling hegemonic cultural structures, but honest, emotional connections between people allowed to be their whole, vulnerable selves. Stede is not like the groom, and Ed is not like the bride, because they shouldn't have to be. Ed should not (and does not) have to warp himself into a demure bride in order to be worthy of love: he's already lovable and loved exactly as he is! that's the point!! of the scene!!!!!!

like, it's important that the groom figure isn't actually like Stede, either. yes, it's blond and has a nice, peach-coloured suit, but a) Stede was very specifically unhappy in the posh, heterosexual, married state the figures represent, and b) Stede by this point looks nothing like that figurine. it's directly contrasted with the image of him in the rowboat, scruffy and plain and earnestly in love, rather than fancy, cold ceramic.

[EDIT 29/12/24: I ended up writing a whole Twitter essay about the wedding cake toppers that I then gussied up for Tumblr; so if you want a clearer, more substantial, and better supported argument about those, check that out!]

but no, I have to wade through swathes of art and fic and meta about how badly Ed wants to be a sweet little demure kitty princess, how he wants a wedding night and a ring to prove he's Stede's property, and acting as if this is somehow canon, because people on the internet have zero reading comprehension and are scared of brown men.

the whole point of Our Flag is that you don't need to compress yourself into prescribed social roles, and in fact, doing so will only make you miserable; and that racist, patriarchal, colonial institutions should be resisted and dismantled at every opportunity.

so tell me again why the ultimate message is that Ed and Stede should get married under an arch in front of an altar and their lined-up friends, with flowers and rice falling around them, all dressed in white, one in a suit and one in a dress, with rings and a kiss and a honeymoon after, before they move into a detached house with a yard and a fence and re-adopt the kids that Stede abandoned? and this isn't about promises, fidelity, or even monogamy - I'm specifically talking about everyone in this fandom who seems to think that the ultimate goal is the most stereotypical 20th century cisheteropatriarchal christian wedding, but with the name "matelotage" slapped on top, as if that takes away all of the underlying baggage.

just - I know we're all meant to hate men and masculinity and yadda yadda yadda, but actually, to be earnest for a second, men deserve respect too, because all people and all genders do. and two men are allowed to be in a relationship and still both be men - complex men, with their own, layered relationships to their gender - without having to fall into neatly-arranged dom/sub masc/femme roles, or seal the deal with a hegemonically-approved ceremony.

so please, stop reducing an indigenous lead character to a caricature of a femme uwu princess bottom just because he has long hair, wore a robe once, and you're too scared of brown men to imagine him with proper agency. and then please, for the love of god, stop claiming that that interpretation is canon.

[wistfulcynic]

just finished a full rewatch of OFMD season one, which i'd not done for a while, and am now deep in the shrimp emotions. Why is this show so good.

specifically i'm thinking about the beginning of 1x07 when Ed says he's thinking about leaving. On to the next adventure, etc. He says it so casually, like it's no thing at all, and it makes me wonder how that scenario might have played out.

There was a meta i read shortly after the season aired (sorry, can't remember who wrote it) which said basically the plan to leave is Ed's way of protecting himself. By that point Ed knows he's falling for Stede, they've had their almost-kiss in the moonlight, their tender bathtub moment. Ed knows, even if it's only subconsciously, that if he stays he'll just fall deeper and harder and that will leave him vulnerable in a way he's not quite ready for.

so i wonder what would've happened if he had left then. Not with Calico Jack in all the heat of fraught emotions but on his own terms before his feelings for Stede grew beyond his ability to control them. i wonder how he'd have coped with losing Stede then.

because at that point, he's got no real reason to think his feelings are reciprocated. Stede clearly likes him, says flat out that he's Ed's friend, but nothing he's said or done would lead Ed to believe it's anything more than that. And Ed, as we know, is convinced he's unlovable so of course in his mind Stede could never love him.

which means that if he'd left then he wouldn't actually have lost anything. Stede and the Revenge could be kept as a lovely memory of a brief good time in his life. He might pine a bit, maybe give himself the luxury now and then to think about what if, but i don't believe it would ever reach the point of painting cake toppers or even crying in a dressing gown. i think, honestly, that had he left then Ed would've been okay, or at least not significantly worse than he was before. Still bored, still wanting to get out of piracy, still feeling sad and lonely and unloved but at least he'd have the memory of his friend.

what eventually renders that scenario impossible--what makes him leaving on his own plausible while he could never truly have left with Calico Jack ("never left")--is that by the end of episode 7 Ed has started to have hope. He's started to think that maybe his feelings aren't one-sided. Maybe he can actually have Stede. Maybe he can actually be happy.

i've often thought (as ofc have others) that it wasn't the loss of Stede as such that brought on the kraken era. If OFMD had ended with a successful talent show and Ed and the crew deciding to be a sailing theatre troupe instead of pirates, even without Stede, Ed would've been okay. Broken hearts mend. What tipped Ed over the edge was the loss of his hope, and the better life he thought he'd found a way to have.

not quite sure where i'm going with this if i'm going anywhere, just... it's an interesting contrast and imo a quiet turning point that neatly underlines just how important this is happening really was.

[teeny-tiny-revenge]

No, but they'll be complimenting each other so well going on. One of Ed's big problems is that he just gives up so easily. Plan with the fog failed? We're going to die; I'm gonna get drunk while waiting for death. The fishing isn't going so well? Obviously he's not meant to fish. It's like Ed's spent his entire adult life being really really good at stuff (sailing, piracy, etc) that he's completely unused to failure and doesn't know how to go on from it. But that's an important thing to learn, and in a way it's a joyful thing to learn, too. You can try something and it can go wrong and you suck at it and then you can try again and learn from your mistakes and get better (either at the thing or at failure).

Meanwhile Stede is absolutely amazing at this. He says it himself, he's been a failure all his life, he got used to it. Stede doesn't give up. That's probably his biggest strength IMO. Stede is tenacious as fuck. Something went wrong? The cards are stacked against him? Whatever! He wants to do the thing, he's committed and determined, he's going to do the fucking thing if it fucking kills him. Stede is not going to let Ed give up whenever he gets discouraged. He'll be there to pull him back to his feet and they will try again.

And one of Stede's big problems is that he doesn't think anyone admires him and likes him. Meanwhile Ed has thought Stede is the coolest guy on Earth since meeting him! He's probably the only person to ever think that. Other characters grow to like Stede for some of his qualities, he has a huge impact on everyone around him, but he doesn't see that, and nobody genuinely admires all the quirky Stedeisms about him. Nobody except Ed. Ed thinks the library is awesome. Ed thinks the secret closet full of fancy clothes is the coolest shit he's ever seen. Ed loves Stede prioritising marmalade over gunpowder. Ed loves Stede being extra and bitchy and a complete lunatic.

And they're both seeing it now. They are already complimenting each other like this by the end of season two. Ed gives up on fishing, but it was never actually about fishing anyway. He doesn't give up about Stede and their relationship. He digs out his leathers and goes back into the very fray he's been dying to leave, because he's not giving up about Stede, he's going to fight for him. That's kinda the first time we actually see Ed choose to fight for something? All his ofher fights and violence are reacting to threats to his own person. One way or another, pretty much everything we see Ed do as Blackbeard is him either trying to protect himself, or to actively make someone else kill him. He chooses to live in the gravy basket mermaid scene, but he keeps running from problems after. He keeps running from Stede. And then he turns around and doesn't give up and goes to save his boyfriend and his relationship. It looks hopeless! The odds look terrible! But Ed's going to fight for it anyway, and look, he succeeds! And Stede is waiting for him, Stede knows Ed loves him, Stede doesn't doubt Ed.

And Stede is so desperate for people to think he's cool it makes him stupid and makes him make an ass of himself, but his crazy plan works, and this time when he's recounting his cool adventure Ed is sitting right next to him, all starry eyed and admiring and saying "yeah, it was cool, babe, I saw that". Saying "I see you". Ed's beginning to understand Stede needs to be told how cool Ed thinks he is, and Stede's starting to hear it.

They're going to be okay, guys. They're going to be happy. :)

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

Ed-Coded Mountain Goats Songs Part 1

The other day I was thinking about how many songs by the Mountain Goats remind me of Our Flag Means Death's very own Edward Teach, and I decided to challenge myself to assign a Mountain Goats song to each episode Ed appears in. It's going to be a series of posts because for some of them I have, uhhhh, a lot to say.

Next Post

S1E3 - A Gentleman Pirate

The song that I've chosen for this episode is Animal Mask, from the album Beat the Champ aka "the one about wrestling." The album deals with themes of identity, masks, showmanship, and knowing when to quit. So it's a pretty good Ed album already.

I chose this song for a few reasons, the first being that I just really love it. I referenced it in my wedding vows—I think it's one of the most romantic Mountain Goats songs (serious goats fans out there, yes, I know that the song is about JD's kid being born, shhhh, that's not important, it's romantic TO ME).

The song is about a professional wrestler fighting through a battle royale to protect someone they don't really know. This is how they meet.

Eighteen man steel cage free for all Through the noise I hear you call for help You can't protect yourself Frog mask and yellow cape So desperate to escape I came to you, hands wrapped in adhesive tape That was when we were young and green In the dawning hours of our team

Sound familiar?

The second verse reveals that the narrator has been paying attention to the person in the frog mask and yellow cape. From a distance they saw someone interesting, someone new.

Seen you backstage once or twice Animal gimmick pops real nice Elbow sweep and tiger dance Little extra fighter's chance

Ed is interested in Stede before he even meets him. Finally, here is someone doing something different. Ed is bored, stifled, lonely.

"Hold on", I cried, "I'll be right there" Pull your mask down through your hair They won't see you Not until you want them to

John Darnielle has said a lot about this song but one thing that really stuck with me is this: "This is a song about how, from the moment of your birth, you don't owe anybody a look at your true face." (source) I think about this in relation to masking—for good or for bad it's something people learn in order to protect themselves. And if it's true that you don't owe anybody a look at your true face, it makes it all the more beautiful when you decide that you want someone to see your true face, that you feel safe enough with them to try.

Ed and Stede are both people who struggle with identity. Who they are vs who they present to others vs who they want to be. They're both guarded in very different ways. Stede's ostentatious coats and bravado hides a deep well of insecurity—he is simply convinced that he is not enough. Ed has spent so much time being Blackbeard that he isn't sure who he is outside of that. But when they're together, all of that turmoil melts away. Ed and Stede get to be Ed and Stede. They just... see each other. They open up. And that doesn't magically resolve their identity issues, or make them brilliant at communicating. They struggle to turn their implicit understanding of each other into the kind of healthy communication their relationship needs, because neither of them have any practice with that. But that safe space between the two of them gives them both a place to figure things out.

"What's it like to be in love?"

"It feels... easy. It's just like breathing. He understands my idiosyncrasies, finds them charming even. We expose each other to new things, new ideas. And we laugh a lot. We just pass the time so well. I'd call those things love."

That's what is romantic to me about this song, I think, the sense of safety. You are safe to be vulnerable with me, because I will not reveal you unless you want to be revealed. We may be surrounded by a battlefield but you and me? We're a team.

And for Ed and Stede, this is the early days. The dawning hours of their team. While Stede's "Well I was gut-stabbed..." story intro in later episodes is a funny bit, it's clear that Stede looks back on this moment as a warm and happy one. I think Ed does as well.

Which brings us to the chorus of the song:

Some things you will remember Some things stay sweet forever