#i very much doubt ed allows izzy to see that shit because i doubt he allows anyone to see that shit

[knowlesian]

thinking about ed, and walls that become cages.

because we know ed is young when he kills his father; we can assume he’s just as young when he leaves home. young when he has to start fending for himself and keep the world not just at a distance but learn to bite back without crossing the fine line between being somebody’s eventual and immediate c.o.d.

that takes control. it takes a certain amount of planning. it takes understanding that people see what they want to see unless they’re looking carefully or you give them a reason to do otherwise.

because there’s no reason to disbelieve ed, when he confesses that to stede; we can have our own take on if he's defining murder right, but when it comes to ed the character with his own internal moral structure, he defines it so that the last person he killed personally was his father.

so the years with hornigold, pirate frat bro’ing it up with jack: nobody figures it out. he leaves home barely more than a kid, grows into a man in a culture where his line there would be anything but the accepted norm, and as far as we know nobody ever figures it out. he becomes the legend, he makes izzy his first mate; nobody knows.

he presents himself as blackbeard: legendary pirate. the kraken is his private shame, the thing he tells himself in his worst moments, and ed is who he is when he’s alone. blackbeard bridges the gap, in some ways, at the same time it protects him.

who would think blackbeard doesn’t kill? it’s ludicrous. he’s born of the devil. a million knives and guns and a head made of smoke. he has made himself so motherfucking scary all it takes is the evocation of his imagined wrath to make people surrender.

like ed said: he doesn’t even need to be on the ship.

the parts of piracy ed enjoyed— thinking fast in new ways and not the same old shit, equally new daring adventures, buckling some swashes and having gay sex via swordfights literal and colloquial that aren’t weird and depressing— are now basically all off the table.

he doesn't have to do much but run from one easy win to the next, maybe plot a daring escape in between, but it’s all the fucking same. he built blackbeard to protect himself; his secrets, his tender underbelly. and then he built blackbeard as a channel for his very real anger, because among the many rational responses to a lifetime of unfair bullshit is being pissed off about it.

violence isn’t ed’s instinct, but push people far enough and they push back. physical violence absolutely provided him a shield (nobody suspects the guy who chops off toes and make people eat them of not liking murder, because... that’s fucking terrifying holy shit that is MURDER BASEMENT territory, if you don't know all the secrets ed told stede, or we as an audience saw in flashback)  but it also provided an outlet for that anger.

he's older now; still angry, because the world is still fucked up, but no longer satisfied channeling everything into the same old expected patterns and only letting his other impulses bleed in around the edges until the world (or izzy) reminds him to pull it back in and be who he is supposed to be.

this is the problem of becoming blackbeard so nobody will be able to see ed, and the things he doesn’t want them to see; self-fucking-fulfilling prophecy. he needed blackbeard, once upon a time, but he’s outgrown blackbeard. it always hurt him, but it used to give him things he needed. 

the utility’s gone. all being blackbeard does is hurt him now and he wants to figure himself out beyond the boundaries of his legend but he built the foundations of said legend so well knocking them over also involves toppling pillars of identities that aren't even his.

it is an absolute goddamned pickle of a bitch of a Situation. i enjoy these writers a lot but also: ow?

#edward teach: consistently breaking my heart #the level of thought he would have had to put into crafting that image #especially when he was on hornigold's crew #his control is INTENSE #that's why i see the bathtub scene as singular in nature #i very much doubt ed allows izzy to see that shit because i doubt he allows anyone to see that shit #he keeps his image SO tightly regulated #honestly there's p some sad commentary on influencer culture in there #but i am too tired to piece it together #ohhhh ed. his level of control is like: take a break baby #just let somebody hug you please

[officialjimmybuffett]

Can you elaborate on the izzy hands thing you posted? I’m really interested

YES i am kissing you on the lips rn thank you for asking. i'm in a better mood than i was when i made the original post, so i prommy the bitchiness will be kept to a minimum

adding a read more because this is SO long i am humiliated. i do not want the well-adjusted mutuals to see how much i wrote good god

first of all from a technical standpoint, i don't think this is the route that the writers are taking the show. as far as we've seen in s1, homophobia doesn't exist in the omfd universe. it could change, sure, but judging from the atmosphere of the show, along with what jenkins and waititi have said about the future of ofmd*, i truly doubt they would introduce it this late in the game. not to mention that the setup for s2 means they have much bigger fish to fry as it is without introducing a whole other conflict.

and i know the internalized homophobia izzy sentiment is coming from more of a place of character analysis/theory/joking than of genuine prediction but we have canon evidence that izzy?? is not homophobic??? like if you want to write a character study at least do it correctly goddamn.

the only time we see izzy interact with a gay couple outside of ed and stede is when he catches lucius and pete in the shiphold. he's pissed off at them because a) he's izzy and b) they're not doing their work, but there's literally zero context clues that implies he's coming from a place of disgust for their queerness. he just has that trademark izzy hands stick up his ass.

not to mention jack saying "anything goes at sea", paying respect to the fact that pirates were REALLY FUCKING GAY. izzy is a 'real pirate' according to. well. izzy. real pirates fuck men

but what i REALLY wanted to talk about is izzy's relationship with ed. i think this tweet sums up the majority of my thoughts pretty well, but just to reiterate, izzy is VERY obsessive over the blackbeard persona. he constantly reminds ed to remember the image and responsibilities he has to uphold as blackbeard, and explicitly says that it is his job as first mate to make sure ed is satisfied.

he keeps the crew in line, squashes mutinies in the making, and is overtly loyal to blackbeard. whenever ed expresses interest in changing his career approach, in letting go of blackbeard, izzy is immediately there to talk him out of it, to wax poetic about why blackbeard is so great. izzy likes the idea of ed as blackbeard, and he likes that blackbeard is this static, unchanging thing in his life that he can always rely on (his lighthouse, perhaps?). to izzy, blackbeard represents success, masculinity, and fear (both of the pious and violent natures), all of which he values greatly.

this leads me to my next point, which is that izzy does value ed as a person beyond the blackbeard persona. however, he is very possessive of ed. we constantly see izzy call him both "ed" and "edward", but is offput when stede does the same. izzy wants ed to be seen/respected as blackbeard to everyone else, but only he is allowed to be intimate enough with blackbeard to know him as edward. which like. bitch me too i am very jealous when it comes to my homoerotic friendships

oh my god i've already written so much but im just gonna keep running. you know That Scene in ep10 where izzy taunts ed for getting soft with stede, gets his shit rocked, then gently caresses ed's face?? because of izzy's obsession with the idea of blackbeard, the only way he knows how to get an emotional response from ed is to provoke him. he sees how stede gets to be intimate with ed through gentleness and doesn't understand it. why is ed vulnerable with someone who isn't izzy? how is someone able to get ed's attention without aggression? GOD i need to chew on some tire rubber.

when ed is inspired/encouraged by stede to change as a person, izzy is unable to accept that ed is a dynamic being. he is also unable to accept that ed can be "edward" with someone else who isn't him.

ANYWAYS im tired of fans constantly pushing the internalized homophobia narrative onto antagonistic characters/characters they are very vocal about not liking. i'm not gonna pull the problematic card because that's a whole other can of worms, but i'm tired of seeing this used as the ONLY reason a character dislikes another queer character/couple. please im begging you queer people are far more complex than that. there are more conflicts you can have than just Being Gay.

maybe it's because im the only person to correctly interpret media in the world ever but people will just just slap a buzzword onto anything. did we even watch the same show 🤨

post-ofmd, i was very surprised to come into online spaces and find that so many ppl hate izzy i fucking LOVE him. i remember watching the show and being like this guy. this guy right here is funky. he's a pal. izzy being the only person with a braincell is fucking hilarious. he's a drama character written into a cast of comedy characters, the voice of reason who constantly gets plowed over for the gag. its GREAT. he's great. i could fix him but whatever's wrong with him is so much better.

*namely that there are too many tragic queer stories out there and they don't want to add another one to the mix, along with the fact that they don't care much for historical accuracy. jenkins literally said he and waititi "don't care about pirates" like 😭 he just wanted to write a queer comedy and there happen to be pirates in it

TL;DR: izzy's primary reason for disliking stede and ed's relationship is because he is in love with (and possessive of) the idea of ed, but can't accept that ed as a person is dynamic and changing. stop saying characters you dislike have internalized homophobia u dickwads.

here's my twitter btw i have an ongoing thread where i put all my ofmd thoughts that have me waking up in a cold sweat at 3am. if you are interested <3 ok thank u again bye

#986 words later i am literally so normal #i think this would be my patrick bateman monologue i recite before murdering ppl #ofmd #em speaks #answered #anon #also as a side note i think ex bfs ed and izzy is VERY funny to me