#baby girl ed teach

[nerd-elf]

Izzy Hands is an amazing character.

At first, he’s the usual villain. Bossy, short, scary, jealous, manipulative…he reminds me of Chef Skinner from Ratatouille, really.

And he needs so much for Blackbeard “to be himself again” that he’s overjoyed to suffer for that.

Until he really gets what he wants.

And it’s interesting that he doesn’t blame anyone, not once. He accepts the fact he caused this himself.

He even helps his nemesis, Stede fucking Bonnet, become a better captain.

But he’s still a pirate, and if piracy is coming to an end, so is he. Even if his best friend is not going with him.

If that’s not incredible writing, I don’t know what it is.

Bonus: for me, this is his best scene ever

[eimehh]

there’s a grief that can’t be spoken

[leonsgotit]

OFMD S2 SPOILERS ‼️

in season 1, stede was constantly putting his feelings ahead of other people’s—he put his own feelings ahead of mary’s and his kids’ when he ran away in the middle of the night to become a pirate and when he left ed at the dock to return to his family (and yeah, stede thought he was protecting ed from him when he did it and he was in distress after having been kidnapped and then witnessing his childhood bully accidentally shoot himself in the head and i’m not discounting that at all!! but he also ran because he was afraid of how fast things were moving with ed), and he does it in other little ways all throughout the season but i think these two examples are the most important ones.

he puts his own feelings in front of other people’s up until mary tries to kill him and he realizes how he’s sort of messed everything up for her by returning, as well as realizing his feelings for ed. then, stede fakes his own death and gives up everything he has to return to ed.

now, in season 2, we see stede constantly putting the feelings of others before his own. he sets aside his own feelings about izzy to rescue him and the rest of his crew so they can take back the revenge. he doesn’t like izzy, but stede can tell that he’s important to frenchie and jim and archie and fang, and he knows izzy was important to ed, so he sets aside how he feels and saves izzy, too.

stede does everything in his power to protect ed when he wakes up (comes back from death), but when the crew speaks their mind, stede again sets aside his own feelings for them. they aren’t comfortable with ed being on the ship anymore, and even though stede has spent months and months searching for him, and even though stede cried and begged for ed to come back, he doesn’t try to fight the crew when they’ve made their decision. even though watching ed leave the revenge must break his heart.

stede tries to give ed the space he wants from him, he doesn’t push to make ed understand why he left the dock that night, and when ed gets angry upon learning that stede “left him for mary,” stede doesn’t try to explain what happened in full. he lets ed be angry, he respects ed’s need for space.

when he tries to tell ed he loves him, and ed pushes stede away, stede respects that boundary that ed has set. he tells him instead that he loves everything about him, being near him, and breathing the same air—and stede tells ed he doesn’t have to say it back.

when stede finds that “cursed” red suit that he loves so much, he puts himself first for a little while—but when it becomes apparent that the crew won’t be comfortable until the suit is gone, stede puts them first. he gets rid of the suit and validates their feelings about it. even though he really loved that suit.

and we love character development—we love to see stede growing as a person and learning to put other people’s needs and feelings before his own—but it’s like from zero to one hundred right now. stede is putting other’s (particularly ed’s) feelings before his own, because he feels guilty about what happened in season 1. and because, i believe, he’s still thinking about what chauncy badminton said to him—that he ruins beautiful things and that he ruined ed. so he’s over-correcting in order to fix what he thinks he is responsible for breaking.

it almost seems like stede doesn’t think his feelings are important anymore, that he has to completely ignore how he feels in order to make amends with everyone, especially ed.

he needs to find a healthy balance of acknowledging and validating his own feelings while also being able to put other people’s feelings in front of his own when appropriate!!

which is why i think he and ed need to actually TALK about what happened that night at the dock. they need to sit down and lay it all out, cards on the table, no stone left unturned.

stede needs to tell ed that chauncy kidnapped him from his bunk at gunpoint, he needs to tell ed exactly what chauncy said to him about how he ruins beautiful things, and how he brought blackbeard to ruin. likewise, ed needs to tell stede why he immediately thought stede had just ditched him—he needs to tell stede why he didn’t think to go looking for him that night and jumped to the conclusion that stede had changed his mind.

THEY NEED TO BE HONEST WITH EACH OTHER!!!

[existential-queeer]

Ed: Nah fuck Stede Bonnet bro i hate him so much i absolutely despise him

Also Ed: *paints a wedding topper to look like him next to Stede*

[letsdeerintheheadlightsuniverse]

Maybe to YOU, he has committed appallingly acts of manipulation, but to ME...yeah, no. I agree. He did do that, but he is also babygirl.

Adding this note because I'm scared of being shouted at: it is okay to like morally complex characters while not condoning their actions.

[shesinbloom]

i need someone to braid ed’s hair in season 2. it just needs to happen. my babygirl deserves to be taken care of 🥹🫶

[thepersianslipper]

Ed at the end of 2.5.

"Behold!"

(Edited the bell in after suggestions in the tags)🫶

[artiswhatartdoes]

I’m normal about ofmd hs gender swap aus………

So normal in fact I’m losing sleep thinking about it

[incorrect-our-flag-means-death]

*sometime after Stede and Ed reunite*

Stede: I learned how to shoot a gun today so now you got a man to protect you.

Ed: Nothing’s sexier than a man that can put me out of my misery

[zo1nkss]

LOOK

LOOKATHIM

I would do unforgiveable things for this man. I would become the worst most insufferable version of myself on his behalf. I would rip the stars from the sky and tear the moon in two. I would douse the sun and dry the sea. I would slay creature and man alike. I would die for him.

[virtualdespairr]

“izzy was like a father figure to ed” okay con is literally 9 years older than taika david WHAT are u hiding from us

[bandcampgremlin]

sometimes the gender fuckery overcomes you and you have to draw blackbeard as one of the models on your 1950s dress pattern

[grabyourpillow]

Props to Taika Waititi playing Ed with those big fucking eyes that, even when he ruthlessly maims and kills make you go "oh bbg you need better coping skills. Let us work on that, yeah?". Meanwhile, people are dying

[sherlockig]

And this fictional character... he's having a hard time?

[interviewiththevicious]

“Is this what they think I look like?…nine guns all over me.”

[dddeaky]

The Babygirlification of Blackbeard…..