#This is how Steddyhands can still win

[garbomode]

okay but the little x drawn on his face. like i'm sure it's not gonna be a thing in the show. but i had a vision of ed (or stede/ whoever) being like "you're missing something :)" and drawing it on for him & i literally can't stop thinking about it

[fuckwhoeverpickedallthefunnyurls]

Any fanfictions out there where Ed and Stede DO actually open the inn but Izzy survived so he's just kind of their mascot

[bug-buzzz]

Izzy does not die in the finale and steddyhands has a beautiful 3 way kiss don't worry guys

[my-thyla-my-captain]

the fact that edward keeps stede and izzy in these two diametrically opposed fields. stede in this romantically rose-colored visage where sure he can be emotionally vulnerable with him but not necessarily truthful, meanwhile with izzy he tells and knows izzy sees everything he does, what things truly are at the depths of it, but bars himself emotionally from him. and the thing is both izzy and stede are keenly aware of it, which I think has done leagues in quelling the animosity between them. they both love a very complicated man who doesn't allow himself to be completely himself around either one of them - he's lost them both, after all, when he tries to breech the middle.

[microcosmtoxin]

what about when izzy finally gets to experience the loving and kind ed that stede has. what about when izzy finally heals his relationship with ed’s love not by hatred but by love uh guys what then.

[transmascskywalker]

izzy vs stede this, i hate izzy well i hate stede that. bro they’re literally slamming each other down big style right now can you be quiet

[laniidae-passerine]

Stede is land which Ed desperately tries to avoid by being a bird set free, making Ed’s symbol air, and when he thinks he’s driven Izzy, the last person who still loved him, into committing suicide Ed decides to surrender the ship to a wild storm and hope the water swallows him whole in retribution. Land, Air, Sea. An inseparable triad.

[laceratedlamiaceae]

I don't ship blackhands because Ed is a pillow princess and Izzy deserves to get lovingly fucked within an inch of his life

[purplespacecats]

so if izzy was wife-coded in s1...

and ed is wife-coded in s2,

✨️💖✨️💜♠️✨️💖✨️

💖Edizzy = Yuri✨️

✨️💖✨️💜♠️✨️💖✨️

[immabitqueer]

My delusional ass after seeing the first 3 episodes:

...okay so this is how Steddyhands can still win-

[v0idwraith]

(delusional) here’s how steddyhands can still win

[funky-little-archivist]

Okay besties listen to me right now. Here’s how steddyhands can still win (real and true)

Stede and Ed clearly love each other very much, but they just can’t seem to stop fighting. They can’t seem to get on quite the same page, and this is a problem they’ve had from the start. They both want different things at the end of the day, and they just haven’t been able to reconcile that issue. Ed wants to explore non pirate life, which he’s never really had a chance to do, while Stede wants to explore pirate life for the exact same reason. I can’t really point at either of them and say that either of these things are wrong or they’re being intentionally malicious with each other. I also can’t point at the writers and complain about them stringing us along when all we want is for gentlebeard to be happy because this feels like very natural progression for both of them. As I said, they’ve been heading in this direction from the very start of the show.

So you know what I think they need? A stabilizing force. An anchor. A mediator. These are two whim-proned people who need someone to keep them grounded. And who’s sitting right there waiting for the chance to do exactly that? Izzy.

All season, apart from the parts where he was mourning blackbeard and the loss of his leg, izzy has been doing pretty much exactly that for both of them. Yes last season izzy was pretty much nothing but toxic for Ed, encouraging the worst parts of him. But he’s since come to regret that and was actively the one that stopped his downwards spiral. And he’s been coaching Stede, getting to know him better and teaching him how to pirate properly. This season izzy has really been encouraging both of them towards the goals they had at the start of season 1, in a way, making them the versions of themselves they want to be. But it does seem like he doesn’t intend for Stede to go off the deep end like Ed did either, as izzy discouraged him getting into the bar fight and kept trying to make him back down. I don’t think season 1 izzy would have ever done that for Ed. He’d have wanted blackbeard to defend his reputation. I think izzy wants them to be better, and as he said he actively approves of and encourages Stede and Ed’s relationship. He knows that they’re good for each other, and he doesn’t necessarily want to see them break up. But he also wants them to be the best versions of themselves.

And I’m honestly starting to think that’s what they need. As I said, they need a calming force, because both of them are very active passionate energies in their own way. But here’s the thing, I could be crazy but I’m actually starting to suspect maybe there’s a chance the show is going in this direction as well? I mean I could be reading too much into it, and listen I’ll be the last to put faith into this kind of theorizing again. But listen

How could it possibly not have been intentional to have izzy serenade Ed and stede’s first time together? It could have been literally anyone. It could have been frenchie, we’ve seen him sing before. But no, it was izzy, he got glammed up, showing his immense emotional growth and maturity compared to the first season, and had him practically sing his blessings for their relationship. And yes, maybe that’s all it was meant to symbolize, that izzy approves now and has moved on. Except he so clearly hasn’t moved on (we all saw that heart eyes stare he gave Ed in man on fire) and for me it’s the fact that he actually played an active part in their scene together, at least for the audience. He set the mood guys. In a sort of metatextual way, izzy was part of Ed and stede’s love scene.

And then there’s the fact that the show has been exploring non traditional non monogamist relationships for the entire season. I mean, already in season 1 we had Lucius telling izzy that they don’t get jealous when izzy tried to use that against him, but now we have olu and Jim actively celebrating each other’s relationships with other people despite still sort of being in some kind on non platonic relationship (shown by olu calling Jim babe during the safe space stand still scene). Olu, Jim and Archie sort of formed a straight up throuple? And then olu and zheng almost invited Jim and Archie to? Share a room with them?? Maybe? Whatever the case, it’s all fluid. And that’s okay! This type of relationship fluidity has been so normalized on the show, I don’t really see a reason for them to get precious about Stede and Ed being the only exclusive couple. At it makes sense, sexual fluidity has always been an integral part of the queer community and it’s so refreshing to see it represented here realistically. (Not to say that monogamy isn’t also accepted and valid in queer spaces but many shows have and will continue to represent that. It’s nice to see a representation of the less traditional, less “sanitized” side of queerness.) (edit: AND LET’S NOT FORGET SPANISH JACKIE! hell she was doing it before anyone else)

And hey as a bisexual myself I understand not everyone will like this allusion but I did see someone say that izzy is quite literally Ed and stede’s unicorn lmao. So. there’s that.

And not that this would be a perfect solution to all their problems either. I don’t want izzy to just continue to play custodian to Ed’s problems and add stede’s to that as well, not to mention that izzy and Ed have SO much work to do to fix their mess of a relationship. But I just think maybe all three of them can help balance each other out, mediate each side of the triangle. The dynamic would just be so satisfyingly perfect, and hey, a stool can’t hold up anything with just two legs, but with three it is stable.

Anyway, basically I’m starting to see it guys and maybe I’m crazy but maybe there’s actually a chance here. Again, I’m by no means saying this is 100% going to happen, and most likely I’m seeing things they didn’t intend. But from interviews from David jenkins and the cast, to subtext in the show, I think maybe there’s a non zero chance. Either way, I cannot wait to see what this show has in store for us in the last three episodes.

[bug-buzzz]

The new flag has 3 red dots by the heart. What does this mean? Polycule. Steddyhands.

[thegroundhogdidit]

me, putting on even thicker clown makeup than ever before: here's how steddyhands can still win

[paleode-ology]

so this IS how steddyhands can still win

[notebooks-and-laptops]

Me, rocking backwards and forwards talking to my cat in a deranged way: ed has made Izzy an extension of himself this season and while Izzy has battled against that in the face of Stede he goes back to taking responsibility for Ed's actions. They go back to being one in the same. Because they see themselves thus in each other, perhaps they see themselves as the worst parts of each other, Stede choosing to love and accept both of them would be so meaningful. This is how steddyhands can still win.