#‘’the Kraken is Ed’s anger’’ this

[elliart7]

Makes me literately insane that “The Kraken” was created when a child had to take up arms and protect himself and his mother. It’s hypervigilant, it hurts, but it came from love. The rage and violence are a means to an end, it’s simply what’s been proven to keep him safe.

Instagram/ YouTube/ ao3

#‘’the Kraken is Ed’s anger’’ this #’’the Kraken is gonna stab Stede’s’ that #y’all the Kraken is TIRED #he’s just been trucking along for 30 years hoping one of these days the nightmare will end #art #ofmd #our flag means death #fanart #edward teach #blackbeard #kraken ed #young Edward teach #trauma #tarot art #nine of swords #my art #elliart post

[starofhisheart]

Made an edizzy version

/I Don't Smoke, Mitski/

#edizzy #blackhands #izzy hands #edward teach #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #the way izzy tries to direct all ed's anger on him #during his kraken era #away from the crew #and even when ed is “dead” #he is still protecting ed and the crew #by directing stede's anger on him #ughhhh #this lil gay dude contains multitudes man

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

awh fuck not the worst timed queued post of my life coming out right now fjkdgjhfskd

#mine #AAAAAAAAAHHH #for WEEKS i've had a post abt “kraken is ed's fear not his anger” queued for the 1yr anniversary of e10 airing #now is. NOT the time for that to come out. of my queue ghfjdhgjkfdsjklg #DELETE #not gay pirates

[smokedanced]

thinking about how con said izzy has a splash of a romantic somewhere deep in his dark, dark soul, in this essay i,

#but IMAGINE #imagine post kraken!ed era izzy where he's TRYING TO BE BETTER #in a relationship with someone #and he just out of nowhere does something really sappily romantic #arranges a private moonlit dinner on shore with blankets and candles and all #and whoever his partner just #baffled #bamboozled #what the fuck izzy #never would've imagined he has that kind of a side to him #izzy being embarrassed and therefore grumpy about it like #wELL if you don't want it just fucking forget it then! #the partner just drawing him into a soft kiss like i love it #red faced izzy half embarrassed half irritated because embarrassment projected to anger #; rp ideas #; izzy hands ❪ rp ideas. ❫

[celluloidbroomcloset]

This moment, when Stede first sees Ed's body, doesn't get talked about as much, but it's so important to what happens after.

No one has been able to predict how Stede will react when he finds out his crew killed Ed. The Kraken crew avoid explaining anything to him at all; Izzy thinks he's going to cry and then be enraged; Zheng and Aunty seem to think he's going to want revenge.

Only the viewer sees Stede's first reaction. His shock. His pulling away. And the tears already forming in his eyes.

But none of it is anger. It's grief and shock. He turns his eyes away almost immediately - and I'd argue that this is because he knows what this means. He knows that his friends are in danger, and as far as he's concerned, he put them there.

Stede is still underestimated by so many people, both in his kindness and in his strength. It takes a very strong person to do what he does, and also a very kind one - he would be entirely justified in breaking down, in sobbing, in flying into a rage. Instead he controls everything until his people are safe and he can grieve, safely and alone with Ed.

#ofmd s2 #ofmd #stede bonnet #rhys darby #gif #our flag means death #ofmd meta

[areyoudoingthis]

This shot makes me completely insane. Ed's wanted to bury the Kraken and Blackbeard for so long, but now he's literally and symbolically digging himself up from the depths, he's swimming all the way to the bottom on purpose to drag himself back out.

And he does it in part because he's just been told "If you were ever good at anything, go and do that", and then rowed himself back into a nightmare, ships burning everywhere, Stede missing, and British soldiers harassing him while he's barely coping with what he's seeing. Maybe at first this is about bringing the Kraken back out of anger and dissociation, but that's why what happens next is so important. Because whatever his motivations are in this moment, he's doing something. The last time he was underwater he was drowning and Stede's presence saved him, this time he's taking action and doing whatever he can to fight back. And anger is only part of that, has always only been part of what moves Ed to violence.

Blackbeard and the Kraken have always been fueled by love, and fear, and yes, rage against unjust situations that made Ed feel helpless and trapped, and then left him feeling even worse for fighting back. And that last bit is what changes this time around and allows Ed to reintegrate, because for the first time, he's not alone anymore to deal with the aftermath, he's not a kid without a family, he's not a man crying alone in secret in an empty room without anyone to console him.

After he digs himself up, he emerges fully dressed on the shore, Edward Teach literally reborn on a beach at last, leathers back on and determined to do whatever it takes to find Stede. And it's such a powerful shot: he's all in black against the white surf, dripping wet hair completely obscuring his features and trailing tentacle shaped rivulets of water in front of his face.

The next shot we see is his shadow self, his dark, blurry reflection on the sand. The only bit of Ed's actual body we get are his feet stepping determinedly on the wet sand, making his way back to land and to Stede and towards his full self (although he hasn't realized this last bit yet).

But it's not until he finds the soldiers reading Stede's letter -and this is such a lovely representation of how the core of the show is the relationship between these two men- that all the parts of him are finally able to integrate into a single person when Ed embraces the Kraken and Blackbeard and Ed as being of equal value. It's reading the adoring, unhesitating declaration of Stede's love that allows Ed to redefine himself, to see his darker parts in a different light, the light Stede has cast on his life.

He reads the letter, realizes the depth of Stede's love for him, understands he's really committed to Ed for good (in permanent ink), that he didn't push him away by showing him his trauma as he feared, that sharing the story he's never told anyone else about his first and worst act of violence didn't make Stede reject him, that Stede loves him and wants him in his life for good. He has a short cry about it while he reads and processes.

And then he roars "you wrote me a lovely letter" and charges. A lot has been said about how angry in love the line sounds, and yes, he is angry, angry that he almost lost Stede again, angry that the British soldiers would mock the letter, angry that they'd hurt Stede and that they'd think they can do whatever they want just because they have the power, think they can separate them again after everything they've been through.

Ed has been afraid of his anger for so long, made up a tale and a whole different persona to hide it behind, but his anger has always been born of love, of the need to keep his loved ones safe, of rage against abuse and injustice, and this is what he needed to be able to see in order to start healing.

He's in love, Stede's in danger, he needs his protection, and Ed offers it unflinchingly and doesn't hate himself for it this time, sees the part of him that is capable of killing not as monster but as loving protector at last. Because the British are abusing their entirely illegitimate authority, and the man he loves is in trouble and may even be dead, and this isn't even a question for Ed, he'll fight for him.

And once he's safe he'll drop his weapons at their feet to kiss him and tell him what he's finally become able to say: he loves him. He's maybe beginning not to hate himself, and he loves Stede. And Stede reaffirms what he wrote in the letter, tells him that he knows, that it isn't Ed-Blackbeard-Kraken that's a dick, but life.

Is this arc done? No, of course not. Healing happens in stops and starts, it takes a long time, and that's why DJ has said from the beginning that OFMD was always meant to be three seasons long; the last season is going to be all about Ed and Stede dealing with their issues so they can grow and heal. But they were always meant to do it together, because that's when they're strongest, that's when they're able to shed a light on the other's darkest bits and help him see them in a kinder, loving way.

This was an emotionally charged step in Ed's journey of growth and self acceptance, but the issue will probably come back up in the future, especially now that he and Stede are slowing down and taking time to process their mountains of trauma and everything they've been through in a very condensed amount of time.

But this is still an incredibly significant moment for Ed. He's gone from panicking and hiding under a blanket in a bathtub to throwing parts of himself overboard to digging them up from the bottom of the sea towards the shore and the light, and wielding them intentionally to fight for what he loves.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meta #edward teach #alex watches ofmd #i can't believe i finally finished this it took me like three years

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

One of the things I most mourn about not getting a s3 is a conclusion to Lucius and Ed's relationship. There is such an interesting and profound disconnect with Lucius' anger towards Ed and I wish so badly to see where they would've taken it.

Pushing Lucius overboard was, by far, the worst thing Ed ever did during his Kraken era. No contest. Lucius was the crew member who had gotten to know him best, and reached out to him with nothing other than support and sympathy. Ed pushing him was the cruellest thing he ever did, and while we can assume that Ed did that because Lucius was the only person who might see through his Blackbeard act, that's a pretty shitty excuse for hurting someone so badly.

And Lucius doesn't know what the fuck he did to make Ed do that to him, of course. All he can assume is that "Stede broke him" (which isn't even close to true). I'm so struck by his drawings of Ed in s2e5, because saying there's a disconnect between the anger and Ed is honestly an understatement. He draws Ed as he knew him best, with the beard, and the drawings are beautiful and soft and flattering. Even though the Ed that pushed him overboard was beardless, I think remembering that Ed is still too hard to hold true anger towards because Lucius remembers him vulnerable and hurting and crying and human. Lucius called him "Ed" before he was pushed overboard; in s2 he only calls him "Blackbeard," in a tone that makes it very clear he means it as an insult. He is clearly struggling to reconcile the man who hurt him so badly and needlessly with the friend he had.

Both Ed and Lucius are left unsatisfied with their attempts to get closure. Pushing Ed overboard gives Lucius momentary satisfaction but not much else, and later he tries to get Izzy on his side to chop Ed's leg off - he doesn't just want Ed to make amends, a part of him wants him to suffer, and that's so incredibly striking coming from this character. His closure comes from turning to love instead and focusing towards the future he can have with Pete. Ed is happy to let Lucius push him, but he's clearly unsure what else he can do. It feels like they're left on an unfinished note because it is unfinished.

Ed and Stede being so joyful at Lucius and Pete's wedding was a healing moment, but I wanted to see them talk it through.

#ofmd #our flag means death

[cuculine-nelipot]

One way in which OFMD exceeded expectations this season is the emphasis they placed on the need for personal growth, especially in the pursuit of relationships - all relationships, not just romantic . Buttons laid it all out for Ed, and then turned into a bird just to prove that it is possible if you believe enough. They repeatedly drew attention to Ed's and Stede's flaws, and why they need to work on them in order to become better people not only for each other, but for everyone around them

Lucius told Stede that he was selfish and self-centred, that despite his self-proclaimed love, respect, and kindness, his actions made him anything but. He and the other crew members told him that he was wilfully ignoring reality so that he could believe in the fantasy of Ed/Blackbeard that he had constructed for himself. These are all things that prevent him from being both the captain and the romantic partner he wants to be. The main thing he needs to do to change is listen actively. This has been true since season 1, when we saw him refusing to engage in an honest dialogue with Mary, and several times when he ignored his crew. However, throughout season 2 he is given ample opportunities to listen, to grow as a person, to become a better leader and partner, but he doesn't. At all. He tells Lucius that he can talk to him about his bad experiences, only to quickly tell him that it's too much, talk to Pete instead. He lets the crew vote as to whether Ed should be allowed to stay, only to invite him back shortly after they decide against. After much arguing, he begrudgingly accepts that the crew believes his red suit is cursed, but he does not get rid of the shirt. He agrees when Ed tells him that he needs their relationship to progress slowly, only to initiate sex with him soon after. When Ed expresses his anger about that, he does not understand, and he does not take responsibility. He murders Ned Low even though he knows how desperate Ed is to leave violence behind. In the final episode when everyone tells him that his plan is terrible, he does not listen and insists that they do it anyway, and Izzy dies because of it. He does not take responsibility for that either. In fact, throughout the season he happily comments on the fact that despite his staggering incompetence, things always seem to work out for him specifically, not acknowledging that the same is not true for anyone else. He has remained just as self-centred and self-serving as he was in the very beginning.

Ed too experiences a similar state of arrested development. His core motivation is still to be a different person, and like in the first season he swings from one persona to the next, never reconciling the disparate parts of himself. The closet he gets to reckoning with himself is when he admits that he does not think he is worthy or capable of being loved, but that he wishes he was. However after being "reborn" every attempt he makes to that end is at best superficial and half-hearted. When he addresses the crew he does not say he's sorry, and the only thing he does that could be framed as an attempt at reparations is when he gives them money to throw themselves a party. At that same party he (at Stede's encouragement) congratulates himself for dispelling the poison, disregarding the fact that it was the crew's idea, and the crew who put all the effort into it.

Like in season 1, each of his personas comes with a costume change. There's the kohl smeared face of the Kraken, the cleaner crisper Blackbeard, and the neutrals of Ed - a blank canvas. He does not know who Ed is yet, and he is prevented from finding out by his unwillingness to accept that he is the Kraken and Blackbeard, to sit alone with himself. Fang points this out to him, but instead of anything meaningful coming from it, we get two separate scenes of Ed thinking about being quiet, about being present. Just for a laugh. Because, like with Stede, it's funnier (apparently) for him to stay exactly the way he is.

So he does not grow, because despite the writers putting him in positions to do so, their idea of comedy is for him not to. His brief stint as a fisherman is shockingly reminiscent of the end of season 1, where he's so focused on being zen and chill and being a totally new person that he neglects the basic functions of his job. Unlike then, he does not have the excuse of being burnt out. There is no commentary on toxic masculinity here. It was just 'funnier' to show him being incompetent, and apparently the only way the writers could think to get him back to the main narrative. By which, of course, I mean Stede. Because despite it's ensemble cast and the seamlessly integrated character-driven storylines on season 1, this is the Stede Bonnet show, right?

In spite of his very real, and understandable frustration with Stede a) initiating sex despite his explicitly saying he wasn't ready and b) killing Ned Low right when he was trying to leave violence behind, he makes a beeline for him. He rows back to the Republic of Pirates, sees it on fire, and immediately thinks of Stede. Not the crew (because despite Izzy's quite frankly insane last words he has not done anything to build a relationship with them) and not either of the two men he's sailed with for years. Only Stede. For Stede all of his development (as little as it was) is undone. He kills some naval officers despite his previously established desire to avoid violence. he dives to retrieve his Blackbeard outfit, simultaneously completely undermining the significance of him tossing them in the first place, and of his swimming upward towards a new life.

In season 1 he left Blackbeard for Stede and in season 2 he reclaims him for the same reason. But that's not growth. That's not character development. In both instances he is simply being reinvented in the context someone else. He pursues Stede simply because Stede enables him to imagine that he is a different person, he becomes the version of himself that exists in Stede's mind. If this were real life, it would be an extremely unhealthy way to live. In terms of fictional media, it's just lazy writing. Putting him next to Stede is the easiest, least meaningful way for Ed to change. Despite insights into his interiority, he is not being written as a character with agency.

This becomes especially obvious when we look at Izzy's dying words, and at David Jenkins own thoughts about their relationship. Jenkins says that Izzy fed Edward poison and ended up eating it too. Izzy says that he fed Edward darkness because he needed Blackbeard. There is exactly one instance where this is true. That one instance does not in anyway serve as evidence that Izzy was responsible for every violent thing Ed had ever done. Izzy was not responsible for Ed killing his dad, Izzy was not responsible for the joy Ed admitted he took in maiming people, and it certainly does not in anyway justify the violence Ed enacted on him. That one instance also does not change the fact that Ed very clearly had all the power in his and Izzy's relationship. He ignores Izzy continuously. His reaction to Izzy's anger is violence - he chokes him, he maims him. Izzy has no power. Ed chose violence - for a myriad of complex reasons, yes, but it was his choice. But the writers are framing it so that Ed is simply a puppet - he can either be filled with "Izzy's" poison, or Stede's "goodness." He has no agency, because it's too hard. It's too complicated. It would be too much for Ed to be a complex, morally flawed character who grows and changes for the better, and it would be so hard to write him having his happy rom-com story. So it's better to just simplify all that complexity, right? Forget the trauma Ed endured, forget the trauma he inflicted, forget his depression and his mania. Izzy fed him poison. Izzy made him Blackbeard. Let's just leave it at that. Except that's not the story they wrote, is it. If Izzy made him Blackbeard, fed Blackbeard, wanted Blackbeard, needed Blackbeard, then why does he almost never call him Blackbeard? Consistently, since episode 2, it's a constant stream of "Edward", "Ed" and "Eddie" and we're supposed to believe it was Blackbeard he was after? Speaking of Izzy, his arc is the cruelest of all. And no, I'm not salty that he died. I am beyond disappointed that he died in the arms of his abuser, that his last act was to not only absolve his abuser of all responsibility, but to take it on as his own, and that David Jenkins seems to think that this is a good end to his story.

At this juncture it's important to say that Izzy Hands is very clearly a victim of abuse - physical and emotional. It has however become abundantly clear David Jenkins and many fans of the show do not see it that way. Why? Is it because he's a man? Because he does not act like some preconceived notion of an abuse victim acts? Because it's possible that he "brought him on himself"? Is it really possible for anyone to bring that level of violence on themselves? He experiences the most growth of this season, yes, but as we've established the bar is very low, and he was not given the chance to flourish like it first seems. He does not remove himself from the abusive situation. He is confronted about it, he lashes out in panic, and he is consoled, but he still cannot admit to it. That one moment of care allows him to distance himself from Edward - just a little bit. It allows him to stop enabling Ed, and to stand up for the crew. Not himself, the crew. He is just as selfless and as blind to his own needs as ever.

When Edward shoots him in the leg he screams for death. When Edward confronts him again, he surrenders to the fact that he is not loved, or wanted, and he tries to kill himself. He does not survive for himself, or of his own volition. He survives because the crew makes him survive - they try to hide him, they cut off his festering leg, they make him a wooden one, they allow him to lean on them (physically and implicitly emotionally) for support. He begins to heal, but he does not fully get there. He still loves Edward. We see it in his desperation to know what Ed told Stede about him. We see it in the way he approaches Ed, hoping for a moment of his time. He never reckons with the fact of his own abuse. He tells himself a shark took his leg. His dying act is to apologise to his abuser, to blame himself. He lets Edward go not for his own sake, but Edwards'. He lets go of Edward, and he says he wants to die, just like he did when Edward shot him, just like he did when Edward talked to him after that. He hasn't healed. While Ed's and Stede's fatal flaw is their selfishness, Izzy's has always been his selflessness, and that is still true. He still loves the man who hurt him beyond comprehension, he still gives his life - takes away his guilt and gives him the family he earned for himself - so that man can be happy without him. He literally dies for Edward's sins. He is denied the opportunity to ever live for himself. He was given the beginnings of healing, a home and, a family; one party and a swan song.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #Izzy Hands #Edward Teach #Stede Bonnet #tw sui ideation #this post is much longer than I thought it would be whoops

[pepperandsaltbeard]

just thought i should mention how good taika is, acting with his eyes

like during ed's kraken era, even when ed's smiling, there's this tension in his eyes. you know that smile isn't real. his eyes seem glossy, like tears threatening to come out but won't

after stede comes back to him, even when ed's furrowing his eyebrows, you can see that his gaze has visibly softened. not as hard, there's warmth. it's like he's seeing things again and not just blinded by pain and anger and frustration. he sees color again.

#ofmd #our flag means death #taika waititi #i just love love love how taika is able to do sm with his EYES ONLY #LIKE WTF #ed teach

[follows-the-bees]

Let's talk about "doggy heaven" and "he was either gonna watch the world burn or die trying."

This is the moment that Izzy realizes that he doesn't know Ed the best. That Ed and Stede talked about everything, that Ed trusted Stede beyond Izzy's imagination. He always felt like he knew Ed the best. He fell in love with Blackbeard, with the persona of Blackbeard, with being first mate to Blackbeard. He was above the crew and always by Ed's side no matter what. Even when he calls Ed crazy and when he turns toxic. He fed Blackbeard.

But Izzy realized that Ed as the Kraken was too much. That his love for Ed was not returned the way he wanted, that the man he loved was no longer there. And the crew come to him, comfort him. And Izzy switches sides, he is now on the side of the crew. (And possibly first mate to Stede in the future.)

This moment when Izzy and Stede talk for the first time one-on-one is when the illusion drops again. And Con conveys it so well. The realization, the heartbreak, the bafflement.

Izzy tried to explain to Stede how far gone Ed was, but Stede replies with wisdom. "He was either gonna watch the world burn or die trying." And Izzy stops trying to explain, switches tones and tactics. He realizes that Stede (to a certain extent) does understand.

Then when Izzy finally tells him the partial truth of what happened, he doesn't get yelled at; instead Stede responds with "you sent him to doggy heaven."

To Stede, this is an innocent statement. It's him using what he thinks is a pirate term, but to Izzy. To Izzy, it's the fucking world crashing. And Con's performance is beautiful.

Because this can mean two things. One, Izzy realizing and semi dealing with what happened. That they supposedly put Ed down. But he knows he can't do that, says it aloud. Two, that Stede understands what and why it happened.

But it also is the moment Izzy realizes that Stede actually knows Ed. That Ed talked to Stede, trusted him, even more than he trusted Izzy. Stede knows the term, so he knows the plan to kill him.

There is the underlying story of the truth of the kraken, that Izzy doesn't know, but the audience does and makes that connection.

Izzy has to reassess everything that he's thought, that happened not only over the past months but years, decades.

And then in the jail cell, he still provokes Stede. Probably from his own guilt and this realization of how well Stede knew Ed & how he (Izzy) ultimately didn't know as much. Wasn't allowed to those recesses of Ed's mind and feelings.

But instead of anger, or Stede talking a lot, he gets silence, and a look of heartbreak. Izzy can't hold back tears.

Then Stede comes back, with a plan to save the crew. Unlike Ed, Stede is holding it together, he is putting the crew first. A thing that Izzy just learned to do in many ways. And Stede's plan works, the crew escapes, and that includes Izzy.

He sees the real Stede now, not the threat to his way of life, to the person he loves, but the Stede that Ed and the crew have defended, saved, trust. Stede changed all of them into better people. People that talked to Izzy, hugged him, comforted him, didn't kill him but kept him hidden and alive.

And Izzy tries to thank Stede (at the worst time of course) but season one Izzy would have never done that.

Izzy is part of the crew now with Stede as the captain.

He had to learn so much in such a short conversation.

Izzy couldn't save Ed, not alone, Izzy's love was based on a facade, and that fed toxicity.

But Stede will save Ed. Can save Ed. Because Stede was privy to the real Ed coming out from the Blackbeard facade. To sides of him Izzy could never see.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #our flag means death s2 spoilers #stede bonnet #ofmd stede #ofmd edward teach #izzy hands #gentlebeard #ofmd season two meta analysis #ofmd meta #izzy hands meta

[carrymelikeimcute]

The izcourse continues...

When did people stop saying 'in my opinion'? because lord above would that simple phrase have stopped me getting so mad this morning.

I have no interest in reblogging the posts and starting drama, but some izzy takes I've seen this morning have made me want to chew through rawhide, and here's my opinion on why these 'factual statements' are wrong.

Izzy fans shouldn't be upset by his death because he's not a main character, he is a plot device to further the story of the main characters.

I'm a professional writer btw and to me a 'plot device' character is the barista who's in one scene. To me, if a named character with backstory and complicated interpersonal history with one or more main characters is just 'a plot device' - that's a waste of a character and shitty writing. I don't think ofmd is shittily written so this annoys me on two levels - disrespecting the show, and the character. Because in my view if Izzy is 'just a plot device' that's someone insulting the show.

2. Izzy was an antagonist and antagonists can only ever be redeemed and then die, or become a villain.

Not even true of ofmd and certainly not of media in general, yet stated as fact with nothing to back it up. This is NOT an opinion btw - you only have to look at Zheng and Jackie to know it's not true within the context of the show.

Jackie dobs Stede in to the British just as much as Izzy does, and she threatens them with vengeance again over the indigo - does she die? Does she become a villain? No, she's a guest at the lupete wedding for fuck sake.

Zheng insults Ed and attempts to kill Stede, two things Izzy was vilified for, gosh it was so sad when she died in the finale wasn't it? Oh no wait, she became their ally and sailed away on The Revenge!

'Have to die or become villains' is just...incomprehensible to me. The only way I can see it working in someone's head is if they think character like Jackie and Zheng did nothing wrong, when Izzy was evil, for doing the same things - albeit for more personally passionate reasons.

3. Izzy telling Ed that the ship's atmosphere was poison because of 'his feelings for Stede' was Izzy 'blaming Ed's actions on love again, just like he did in s1.e10 because Izzy is just one-note evil and only ever has that one thing to say.

To me, s1 Izzy is absolutely thrilled to have managed to bait Ed to anger, to have brought this out of him. He thinks he knows what he's just unleashed, but as we soon discover, he has no idea - because Ed had never cut off one of his extremities before. He poked the bear, but the bear was actually a fucking kraken.

s2 Izzy, in my opinion, looking at his expression above, is sad, resigned, he is saying Stede's name (which it's already established even obliquely mentioning him is a BAD IDEA with the whole 'talk it through' thing, after which Izzy sounds panicked) but he is specifically trying to make Ed see that he is not himself - that what he is doing to the crew is toxic.

Just because he's essentially saying 'This isn't you' in both scenes, doesn't mean the tone or the meaning of those scenes is the same. One scene ends with Izzy gleeful, victorious. One ends with him screaming on the deck, bleeding out.

I am happy for people to have these opinions, and for me to vehemently disagree with them, but they ARE opinions. And Izzy 'fans' or you know, people who see the show differently to you, are not stupid, racist, immature or whatever else you want to call us.

We just have a different opinion. If you're going to share your opinion, great! But it's still just your opinion.

#ofmd critical #the izcourse #izcourse #izzy hands #izzy hands apologist

[chuplayswithfire]

Edward Teach and his relationship to violence and power and the cycle of abuse is so fascinating, because Ed grew up in a household where he was intensely, constantly vulnerable, where he and his mother were at the whim of his incredibly abusive father, and so he escapes by committing the most understandable and well justified murder in the entire show, and it traumatizes him -

Not just because it was murder

Not just because it was his dad

But because he was able to plan it out and make it happen at all. Killing his dad is this moment of terrifying strength and courage at the heart of him and it's the birthplace of the Edward that does what needs to be done to survive, no matter the emotional consequences. Ed thinks he is a bad person specifically because as a child he killed own father so he and his mother could survive, and then had to keep committing acts of violence to survive long into adulthood.

I don't think Ed worries about becoming his father. I think he sees himself as someone much worse - because he was able to kill that man, to plan out and complete his murder, even though that was his dad.

The show never once treats Ed's anger in the show as unreasonable or problematic - his flashes of temper throughout the show are always in very understandable moments and they're played for drama (french captain), furthering the romance (wanting to shoot the rich people party vs stede offering to handle it), or comedy (snake snack/punching izzy in ep 9).

Even Kraken is deliberately not particularly shown to be an expression of Ed's anger, which is hot, but that deliberate ruthless problem solving spirit that comes after the anger passes and the knowledge of exactly what to do washes over him; following his father to the dock and strangling him; skin him, and fang? use the snail fork; toe scene and sitting exactly at Izzy's bed side for it and telling him what will happen if he threatens him again. Even marooning the crew is not an act committed with anger, but a muted sorrow.

Piracy is a culture of abuse, mistrust, and backstabbery, this is established in episode one, further emphasized in episode 8 with both Spanish Jackie and Calico Jack and the tales of Hornigold, and demonstrated yet further with Captain Hands in episode 9.

Ed escaped the abuse at home, but found his place in the world in the abusive professional and interpersonal relationships of piracy, which is one reason he's so drawn to Stede - because he's doing it differently, he's trying to build a form of piracy that doesn't rely on the traditional forms of abuse that manage piracy - and because his people positive management style works, as demonstrated throughout the length of the show. Not everything Stede does works out or is ideal, but his people positive management style is.

When Stede leaves and breaks Ed's heart, and Ed starts to recover from that heartbreak only for Izzy to kick him back down with another threat to his life and for him to hear the crew calling for another song and wonder if it's mockery instead of friendship -

Yeah, Ed turns back to the familiar culture of abuse, mistrust, and backstabbery that piracy has. Shoving Lucius, the one most likely to see through him, overboard. Using Izzy's preferred language, violence, to get him to back the fuck off and fall in line. Violence against Jim and threats against violence against Frenchie, to get them to comply. Abandoning over half the crew.

Ed tried something new and at the end he feels like it fucked him over, made him weak, and vulnerable again, and he reacted exactly as his childhood self did - by creating and executing a plan to remove the threat and position himself out of harm.

That's what Ed's journey is likely to be about, in season 2, by my estimation - understanding what he actually wants in and from life, and having to recognize that he 1) deserves that life 2) can't get it by retreating of self-destruction and abuse that he's grown familiar with. Not a fear of being like his father (he's really not imo, and I could go on about how throwing a knife past your subordinate who has betrayed you and threatened to kill you is vastly different from throwing plates at your cowering wife because you're mad about dinner are not the same, but I'd hope it's unnecessary), or anger issues in general, but recognizing that his retreat from his authentic self into the mask of Blackbeard we see at the end was wrong and doomed to fail.

#ofmd #edward teach #stede bonnet #izzy hands #they're all in there so they can get tagged #ofmd meta

[izzymarksthespot]

There's been an idea rattling around in my head, vaguely inspired by this post (can't find the original for the life of me): angsty Steddyhands/Stizzy/Gentlebeard soulmate au, where you cannot physically hurt your soulmate - as in your body simply won't let you.

Prepare yourself, this is a long one.

Izzy, increasingly irked and unsettled by Bonnet's influence on his captain, challanges him to a duel like in s1e8. Stede accepts, the duel commences - but as it goes on Izzy cannot shake the feeling of wrong wrong wrong which follows, making his movements sluggish, blows weaker and heartbeat fast and anxious.

Finally, he has Bonnet pinned - only when he tries to run the other man through with his sword, he can't do it. He freezes mid-thrust, muscles of his sword hand seizing, the blade of the rapier an inch away from the blonde's stomach. They stare at each other in shock, and soon commotion starts as the crew tries to see what exactly is going on, and did Izzy actually stab the captain? Ed hovers over them both in panic and confusion.

Izzy drops his sword at his captains prompting, and backs away with a "What the fuck did you do to me, you bastard?!" aimed at an equally flabbergasted Stede. While they bitch at each other, the crew wonder aloud what has happened and how odd it was that Izzy just froze (Izzy's never done that before!), and Lucius goes with a mocking "aww, Iggy actually likes the captain and doesn't want him hurt, how sweet!"

Buttons comes around then, takes in the scene, eyes Izzy with an unreadable expression, and goes "Nay, Mister Spriggs, more like cannae bring hisself to. I reckon 's only one reason fer it."

Everyone's like 🤨🤨 and Izzy's about to retort something scathing and awful, but suddenly he gets an inkling in the back of his head, a flash of a memory and words actually fail to come out of his mouth.

And Buttons just easily goes with "you cannae hurt yer soulmate, can ya?" and all hell breaks loose. Obviously everyone is laughing the idea off, cause come on, Stede and Izzy? There is no way, what an idiotic idea! Buttons, no more moonbathing for you, you're talking more nonsense than ever!

Both interested parties are strangely quiet though.

Frenchie - who's well informed on the soulmate matter, ofc - suggests they can simply test it out: all Stede and Izzy have to do is touch (skin to skin) to see if the soul marks appear.

Before either Stede or Izzy can reject that idea, it's Ed who does, there will be no fucking checking or touching; there's an aura of danger coming off of him in droves and his dark eyes are trained solely on Izzy.

Long story short, he throws Izzy off the ship (figuratively, just orders him to leave), Izzy's hurt and sells out Stede to the British (the only soulmate he has is Blackbeard and he wants him back), the whole shenanigans with act of grace still happen - Stede still leaves Ed and goes back to Bridgetown; and Ed spirals even harder in his absence because now he additionally thinks Stede left cause they're not soulmates (Stede actually could and did run him through with his sword, and if they were he wouldn't be able to, would he?)

He goes into the Kraken mode, taking most of his anger and hurt onto the person who is obviously responsible for this - Izzy.

#gentlebeard are soulmates ofc #the whole soulmate business just works a bit different than they think #and stede & izzy r soulmates too cause i said so 😈 #poor izzy will take the brunt of ed's despair though #i might have started to write this down actually #but inspiration is ficle and i wanted to share #forgive me fr buttons i have no idea how to do scottish #steddyhands #stizzy #izzy hands #stede bonnet #ed teach #ofmd #our flag means death

[spenglernot]

STORIES TELLING: HOW RECURRING MUSIC IN OFMD CAUSES MENTAL DEVASTATION IN THE VERY BEST WAY

How the Blackbeard theme, Gnossienne No. 5, and Voi Che Sapepte reveal, reinforce and recontextualize the narrative. An in-depth analysis of key scenes throughout seasons 1 and 2.

Much gratitude to pocket friends who were so encouraging and provided valuable feedback while I worked on this.

Meta by these authors (links, below the cut) influenced this video:

@asneakyfox, @asongaboutpirates, @bakasara, @doyoueverstopandthink, @chaotic-neutral-knitter, @forpiratereasons @fresne999 @gaypiratepropaganda, @jaskierx, @medievill, @mxmollusca, @piratecaptainscaptainpirates @veeagainsttheday, @57flagsofdeath

Gnossienne No. 5 doyoueverstopandthink - i will literally never get over about how fantastic the transition from robert schumann's "träumerei" to erik satie's "gnossiennes: no. 5" is

Voi Che Sapete asongaboutpirates - Another little detail about OFMD that makes me go feral

Transformation in OFMD fresne999 - Half way through the journey of our analyses mxmollusca - The transformation from object to subject, from something that has things done to it versus someone with agency.

Ed's & Izzy's Relationship asneakyfox - you have to understand i have always felt the key thing that makes blackhands interesting...

chaotic-neutral-knitter - Izzy telling Stede "I know you think you understand him," and Stede immediately describing Ed's emotional state perfectly accurately... gaypiratepropaganda - On Izzy saying "because of your feelings for Stede fucking Bonnet"

Ed's Arc veeagainsttheday - Ed, Killing, and the Kraken in Our Flag Means Death S1 and S2

piratecaptainscaptainpirates - I've been thinking about how Ed starts directly killing people in s2e8 57flagsofdeath - Still thinking about this scene. Ed lights the fire place, puts a blanket on the floor to lay on, and puts the two cake toppers next to each other before rolling over and bursting into tears. asneakyfox - i've talked a fair bit about how i don't think "anger issues" is a very useful way to describe how the show frames ed's relationship with violence

Izzy's Arc bakasara - Trying to parse my thoughts on Izzy's death and why I had a different reaction to it than I thought I would. forpiratereasons - all right. i'm ready to talk about izzy.

Love & Relationships in OFMD jaskierx - posting some thoughts from the discord about how many 'irl relationship' things they're dealing with in ep7 and how much i am eating my mattress about it medievill - ofmd does not give a fuck about reality or history or anachronism but it draws the line at magic dick.

#The effectiveness and attention to detail of the OFMD sound crew's use of recurring music to emphasize the narrative is incredible #If you love the music in OFMD you'll probably enjoy this #OFMD is an absolute treasure #gnossienne no. 5 #blackbeard theme #voi che sapete #kraken theme #ofmd music #Mark Mothersbaugh #maggie phillips #OFMD sound crew #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s1 #ofmd s2 #ofmd s1 s2 music comparison

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

So I want to talk about Ed's anger. A lot of people seem to catagorize the Kraken as angry. And a lot of meta has been written about how actually it's a defense mechanism not anger. But I am having a lot of feelings about how fucking scared he is.

Like I've made visual references. We see Ed angry four times that I can identify and one of these times he's also feeling other things.

Like he's a screamer. I've said it ever since the beginning, he's an intense guy and he feels his emotions pretty intensely. He's a screamer, is what I'm saying. He doesn't hold back his emotional response.

But all of the Kraken scenes whatever emotions he's having in that top video are certainly not the same emotions he's having in the Kraken scenes.

(I hate the fact that it won't let me upload more than one video I had videos)

But the scene I want to zero in specifically on is this one.

I'll just describe the scene for you. Izzy says his little "this is Blackbeard, not some namby pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend," line and then Ed slams him against the wall and says in a very low, quiet tone "Choose your next word's wisely dog" and his face looks like this

And then Izzy brushes his hand against Ed's face and makes it incredibly weird.

To me that doesn't seem like anger. That's not how Ed expresses his anger under normal circumstances. Under normal circumstances he gets loud, maybe he breaks something. I think this particular choking thing is a performance. Because to me this voice sounds closest to the voice Ed is using at Story Time when he's specifically trying to be menacing to the crew. (specifically while he's telling the story of how his dad dies and then again when he says "She just might answer") It doesn't sound exactly like that because he's directing it at someone in an aggressive manner, but that's what it sounds the most like to me.

Basically he's preforming Blackbeard for Izzy right now, not having an angry outburst. I would like to posit that this is because the emotion he's experiencing right now is fear, not anger. This is akin to a fawn threat response (i.e. immediately trying to please or pacify the threat in order to avoid conflict.) It just looks different because pleasing and pacifying Izzy looks different than pleasing and pacifying other people.

And Izzy gives him some....

Positive(?) feedback. Feedback that means it's working.

Then then next time he does anything violent it's after he's had time to think. He throws Lucius overboard. He's not angry in this scene either

He fucking smiles at Lucius, does a full on Kubric stare, and acts pretty numb about it after he does it. He's laying it on thick with the "I'm Evil" bit in that scene. And then during the toe scene, that fucking voice shows up again whatever he says right after he says "open up" is in that Blackbeard TM voice.

Ed hasn't once in the show before this bothered to hide or temper his emotions, he's an incredibly expressive man (or a highly emotional person as David Jenkins has described him), but in every scene in between when he lets go of the fabric and when he's alone in his room crying motherfucker is going for the Oscar, he's got a full mask over his emotions. Izzy showed him in the scene where he touched his face that this would work in terms of satisfying him that blackbeard's back so he performs and performs and performs. Why? Because he's afraid, not angry. Blackbeard is and always has been a suit of armor for him.

And this is supported by him saying "I am the Kraken." The emotion we're coaxed to associate the Kraken with is fear. Ed introduces us to the concept of the Kraken by telling a story about the scariest thing he's ever seen. Then the first time we see Ed truly afraid and he has a PTSD flashback to killing his father, it's followed up by him crawling into a bathtub and confessing that he's the Kraken. When the Kraken originated we see Ed's face morph from a face of terror to a face of determination, he kills his dad, and then Ed's own capacity for violence becomes his worst fear, and the reason he doesn't kill people directly.

Anyway. He's not mad (in either sense of the word), he's terrified.

#blackbeard ofmd #blackbeard #edward teach ofmd #edward teach #ofmd #ofmd meta #Listen you guys I know this meta has been made before but I've been seeing a few too many “Kraken Angory” takes recently #Youtube

[celluloidbroomcloset]

I'm gonna push back a bit on the idea that Stede and Izzy share the blame for Ed's spiral.

Stede and Ed are both victims of violent masculine culture and specifically of abusers who do not have their best interests at heart and never did. Stede made a massive mistake. It was based not in him trying to hurt Ed or even in a lack of love for Ed, but in his own fears and insecurities, his guilt, his lack of self-knowledge, and in the actions of an abuser who tried to kill him and who did actually prevent him from going to join Ed. All of which drive him to run from the good thing that is new and unknown into the bad things that he knows.

Ed is entirely justified in his hurt, but his hurt is very much not anger at Stede for leaving. Even at his angriest, his major complaint was that Stede ditched him "without a note or anything." So a big part of what Ed identifies as his hurt is based in the lack of explanation. There's a reason Ed forgives Stede as quickly as he does, and it's not just that Stede's a sweet, earnest guy. Ed believes fairly quickly that Stede never intended to hurt him, that he's truly sorry that he did, and most importantly, that Stede, in fact, did not turn Ed into the Kraken.

We keep repeating that Ed's spiral is not a result of Stede but of Izzy, yet still caveat Izzy's statement "you and me, we did this to him" as having some merit. And the fact is...Izzy is wrong. Stede did not do this to Ed. Stede's departure was maybe the thing that left Ed without much needed protection from Izzy and that hurt Ed enough for him to lower his defenses, but Izzy is the one who pushed Ed back into Blackbeard and subsequently into Kraken.

The fact that Izzy transfers any blame to Stede—who, once more, does not know that Izzy did actually attack Ed in his cabin—indicates, at best, that he's not dealt with his culpability. His words are also an echo of his earlier accusation that Stede "did something to my boss's brain" and are part of the fabric of Stede's own guilt, repeated by Chauncey, that Stede himself "defiles beautiful things." Izzy is using the language of abusers.

Stede didn't do anything to Ed.

#ofmd #our flag means death #stede bonnet #izzy hands #edward teach #ofmd meta