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This made my morning and I’m going to watch it every day🥰

I love bitchy Stede!!!!!

Almost six minutes of bitchy Stede my beloved!

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My submission for MerMay🧜🏻‍♂️🥰

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Mr. Always This High Strung + Mr. Kind Of Intense Like All Of The Time

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Something I love: Stede and Ed are almost always balanced in the frame. They move in tandem with each other; not the same, but complementary. They're physically different and their costuming almost always emphasizes their difference, especially in Season 1: Ed bigger, wearing dark leather, consciously trying to be broader and scarier; Stede slighter and a little smaller, always in bright colors. And in so many shots, they are set in perfect balance within the frame, never giving too much weight to one or the other.

Before they ever call themselves co-captains (or boyfriends or lovers), they are equals.

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Love's First Kiss (Their Version) 🫶🏼

Snow White x OFMD

Special thank you to @citrussyndicate for the depression robe Procreate brushes!!! You are incredible! ♥️

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david said “Stede and Blackbeard as mermaids swimming off together forever” and I said “say less I’m drawing that immediately, medieval style”

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Since this scene has been brought up a bit, I wanna talk about Stede’s “GREAT!!”

Because of course Stede wants Ed to come back. But he also doesn’t know if Ed has forgiven him, if Ed WANTS to come back, if Ed wouldn’t really rather sleep in a tree than be on the same ship as Stede.

And Stede is so fucking excited that Ed does actually want to be with him that he cannot control his natural Stedely enthusiasm and shouts GREAT so loud he scares the fauna, then runs off down a barely there path, leading with his head.

And Ed is there, watching him fondly, because that’s his sweet, silly, uncoordinated, lovely little guy, and boy did he miss him.

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So much of Season 1 is about Stede unpacking his privilege. Because he realizes that piracy, for most pirates, is not about fun and games, but survival. He realizes that being white and wealthy confers him privilege - even of just being listened to - in spaces where non-white people are dismissed or derided. He realizes that he can reclaim a space in his family even after abandoning them without a word, but it's to the detriment of his wife and his children, who now have to exist under his patriarchy, and who are themselves autonomous people with needs beyond his own. He realizes that he can help others to be happy by making himself happy.

Stede is wonderful. He's kind and empathetic. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. He wants to care for people. He feels a deep responsibility for others. He tries to fit into heteronormative molds because he thinks that's how he takes responsibility. He's shockingly unselfish, sometimes to the point of causing harm. He learns and grows and becomes a better man by becoming more himself—by realizing who he is and what he wants and how to put good into the world.

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Edward "beautiful and broken-hearted" Teach

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I love that Stede has seen both the darkest and the most sorrowful bits of Ed. He knows Ed is good and he knows that Ed plotted to kill him, and he knows all of the bad shit Ed had done. And it’s not that it doesn’t make a difference to him; he doesn’t love Ed in spite of those things or because of them. He just loves Ed, in total.

And he’s not a pushover. He’s not just going to ignore the bad shit, and he doesn’t forget that it’s there. He’s going to tell Ed when Ed’s doing something he doesn’t like. He knows that Ed is not a “wild dog,” but a man in pain, and he also doesn’t deny that Ed has done the things he’s done. He knows who Ed is, in all his facets, and loves him.

It’s selfless, real love.

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This post made me think about how there are two people who deliberately show Ed Blackbeard caricatures: Stede and Izzy.

When Stede does it, they’ve just met and he thinks Ed will find the image amusing. We know Stede has been listening to stories about “the mad Pyrate Blackbeard” for a while, and he’s just met a man who very much does not resemble the man with smoke for a head. Stede thinks that Ed will get a kick out of how he’s represented. And Ed doesn’t. He points out how ridiculous it is, and Stede apologizes for it.

The caricatures of Ed are both implicitly and explicitly racist—Stede showing Ed this image that quite obviously is not Ed is intended to be amusing but Ed does not find it funny. He also notes that it’s what “they” believe he is. This is not just a caricature but a racist caricature of an indigenous man intended to otherize him and turn him into an inhuman, ridiculous monster (a vampire clown).

Later, Stede has internalized this and responds to the caricatures of Blackbeard on the wanted posters—“they might as well have given him horns” “they made him into a ghoul.” Stede not only recognizes that those images are not Ed, but also that those images are racist and monstrous.

Izzy, meanwhile, shoves a caricature of Ed into his face, reiterating that “this is Blackbeard.” Of course we know that Ed has never been that, but it is the image—the monstrous pirate, but also the racist propaganda—that Izzy wants to see. Ed’s failure to fulfill British imperial propaganda and the racist caricaturing of himself is a crime that he had committed and that Izzy will kill him for (being reminded also that Izzy has aligned himself with the British empire and attempted to purchase Ed already). Like the British, Izzy sees Ed as a thing, not a person, whose job it is to fulfill his fantasy and who will be punished for failing.

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There have been many posts about the intimacy of the Bar and Grill scene, but one thing I haven't seen talked about is the placement of Ed's weapons during it.

We know in 1x4, that Ed keeps at least one hand on a weapon whenever he is in front of any of the crew. He is on guard the entire time.

But with Stede, he never really touches his weapons. Yes, there can be something said about how Stede is sick and can't truly attack Ed, but I will argue that isn't really a factor. Ed's hands barely touch his weapons in Stede's presence and they exchange everything with the roles switch; Ed hands Stede all of his weapons, taking none in return, falling asleep next to Stede without his weapons!

But back to the purpose of this post, during the Bar and Grill scene the intimacy is palpable, especially on Ed's end.

Ed is striped of most of his items: his entire weapons belt, his jacket. And his shirt is purple — symbolizing Ed's love for Stede. (Sidenote: I love that blue is Stede's color and red is Ed's and they combine for a beautiful purple throughout the show.)

Ed's emotions are bare, at the forefront. He is not only realizing Stede's feelings for him, but also letting his feelings come out. (Also, has anyone analyzed the necklace around Ed's neck? I don't recall seeing it in any other scene.)

I've written another meta on how Ed's single layers and barefootedness represents his vulnerability.

Not only is he not holding the knife that he just used to stab the snake, but it's stuck in the ground and his entire weapons belt is off and laying next to him along with the jacket.

The weapon and belt and shirt are on the opposite sides of where Stede is. Of where Ed is leaning toward. He is literally drawn toward his lighthouse, the light colors of Stede, and away from his Blackbeard persona. His back is almost entirely turned away from the weapon, which symbolizes both the literal, no need for weapons and jacket around Stede (intimacy!) but also the figurative being just himself, being Ed.

Bonus: I've talked about this a lot in my consent posts, but Stede also respects and waits for Ed's consent during this moment.

Stede points out food in Ed's beard and when Ed can't find it, Stede asks permission to take it out. He doesn't fully reach for it until Ed gives permission (the amount of consent between these two, especially in the second season is so special to me) and leans forward (the classic Ed leans toward Stede movement that continues throughout the show.)

This is in contrast to only an episode earlier where Antoinette touches Ed's beard without his permission. That moment is to mock him and is a power move, and he responds negatively about it.

Unlike here, where Stede's voice is soft, his movements slow and measured, waiting for Ed to turn to him before touching his beard. It's respectful and intimate.

Ed never touching and literally turning away from his leathers and especially his weapons, is a huge part of the intimacy of the Bar and Grill scene.

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I love that we get to see how much 'you wear fine things well' meant to both Ed and Stede.

First we see Ed turning that moment over in his mind when he is at his most heartbroken, right before he lets go of the red silk. Perhaps he is regretting not stepping in for the kiss; maybe he is wondering how things might have turned out had he been braver. Or perhaps he has convinced himself that he misinterpreted Stede's words altogether, that they never had a deeper meaning to them at all.

And then we see Stede reminiscing about that moment as he lays on the deck of the Red Flag. Whether he understood the significance of his words at the time, Stede clearly does now. And perhaps he also understands Ed's reaction to them in a new light now, too.

And, of course, finally, we get that moment in the moonlight when Ed echoes Stede's words back to him. They both know the true meaning of those words now. And more importantly, they both know that the other knows just how meaningful that first moment was.

I will never ever be over 'you wear fine things well'

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Shocking. Controversial. Unjust. Disappointing.

These are just some of the words that the media has used to describe the cancellation of Our Flag Means Death, almost one year after the fact.

By our count, OFMD has been included on 30+ lists of the worst cancellations of 2024.

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I’m on a major Pusheen drawing kick rn.🪩❄️🎄⛸️🩵