The more I think about it, the more I do wonder if some of the source of the more problematic ships/fan headcanons surrounding Izzy is based in the concept of love/sex as a reward for service or suffering. (Note: I am not at all saying that what follows is 100% correct - mostly just proposing a hypothesis. I'm riffing on @naranjapetrificada's post here, but I didn't want to go off on a treatise on someone else's post that wasn't even directly about this.)
Izzy’s world is upended with Stede’s appearance. He goes from being the trusted second in command to Blackbeard to being thrown off the ship (by his own making, already). All of his suffering (in his own mind) can be traced back to Stede and consequently Stede and Ed’s relationship. The narrative forms him as an antagonist not just to Stede but to the narrative's central concern, the entire reason for telling the story: the Stede/Ed relationship. He is the opposition of the healthy, happy, queer couple, and at each turn, he suffers for it.
In Season 2, his suffering is compounded to the point that he loses his leg in a really traumatic way, at the hands of a man he claims (in the same episode) to love. This leads into his being offered grace by the crew and the start of some shedding of his toxic masculinity (which has been the real enemy all along). And this is where I hypothesize that some fans start shaping him into someone who is now deserving of a reward. Izzy has changed! He’s grown! He’s doing better! Doesn't he *deserve* a reward for that?!
One of the forms that this reward must take is love/sex - and since the focal point of the entire show, as well as the causes of Izzy’s suffering, are Ed and Stede (the happy queer relationship) then his reward must be one or the other, or both. Having suffered and having come to better terms with his gender and sexual identity, he deserves the reward of romantic love and/or sex.
This is all, of course, not right, and the show never even hints that love or sex should be treated as a reward. Neither Ed nor Stede show any desire to provide Izzy with this reward (and honestly, I don’t think that Izzy the character expects that either, even if his fans might). But I do think that some of the anger and some of the “fix-it” mentality of the fandom subsection comes from the fact that Izzy’s character growth is not rewarded by romantic love or sex. (This ignores as well that he does find love in other ways, via his friendship with the crew, but this is also not typed as something he DESERVES or is rewarded for his good behavior.)
Stede in particular, I think, becomes a focus of the combined fan ire and desire because (in their minds) he was the original catalyst for Izzy’s suffering, he has obtained the reward of Ed’s love (thereby depriving Izzy of it), and he can be fitted for the enemies to lovers arc (plus he’s white and there’s undoubtedly racism at play here, as many have discussed). This might even be extended to Ed's love for Stede: that Ed was in some way rewarded for becoming better, that Stede's love healed him and therefore Izzy—who is so much more deserving, right?!—should also be offered that love.
Again, this is all based in toxic, erroneous assumptions both about the characters, about the show, and about love and sex, but all those assumptions have been made by stories in the past and are baked into a lot of mainstream culture.
The "fix-it" nature of ships like Stizzy and Steddyhands come down to some fans believing Izzy is not being granted his just rewards for his suffering and character growth in the form of love and sex specifically from the lead couple who have caused his suffering.
At least, that's what I think is going on.
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Introducing…𖦹 ׂ 𓈒 ⋆ ۪
mentioned: Lilia Vanrouge, Anan Atthakornmetha, Charin Kamolnath
꧁𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐤𝗼𝐫𝐧𝗺𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐚꧂
มธุรา อัฐกรเมธา 𖦹 ׂ 𓈒 ⋆ ۪
“Exiled to the deep, where the nagas reside; never to return again.”
Height : 197 cm.
Birthday : 9th of May
Age : 700+
Homeland : East of Scalding Sands (Attidaya)
Best Subject : None.
Club : None.
Talents : Ancient Magic, Fighting
Hobby : Taking care of his pet naga (Nham)
Dislikes : royalty
Favorite Food : Miang kham (เมี่ยงคำ)
Least Favorite Food : Unseasoned, plain food.
꧁𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜꧂
- 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝗺𝐲: The ability to manipulate a large amount of individuals (specifically an army) at once to turn viciously attack their own. This ability can only be activated when Mathura uses a special flute. The drawback to this ability is unknown, possibly minor fatigue.
- 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧: Warriors are adorned with talisman (tattoos) , giving wearers resistance to black magic and blot. And also some resistance to normal physical damage (ex. a normal blade, a bullet)
- 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠: A skill obtained from battles near and/or in the sea, Mathura is able to breathe underwater.
꧁𝐅𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝗼𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐚꧂
- Mathura is based on the Ramakien character Maiyarap (ไมยราพ)! Maiyarap is a violent yaksha with light purple skin, and is a dangerous warrior who later on died by the hands of Hanuman.
- It took me painful hours to come up with his Unique Magic name, and I even had help from my sister😭 So the name is not the best, I know </3
- Maiyarap had two abilities, one is to make an entire army to fall asleep by his flute, and second is to turn invisible👁️👁️. I wanted something along those lines for Mathura, but I realized that the original ability is similar to Malleus’s.
- I really, really like the name “Maiyarap” and initially wanted to use that name but I decided not to because Mathura is based on him, not a carbon copy of him.
- The rose carving on his earring symbolizes the flowers on a dancer’s crown (ชฎา), which also means that Mathura does dancing in his free time!
- Mathura’s purple hair is purely based on the fact that Maiyarap had purple skin✨
- Unfortunately, Mathura is usually in the deep sea so he is technically considered an NPC. But I can promise that there will be appearances of him in my big project (regarding the mysterious oc of mine 👀)
- Not so fun fact, I redrew him 3-4 times. Those were not happy times at all. I suddenly forgot how to draw old men and I struggled SO bad.
- Mathura is dressed like the uncle next door (for those SEA fans out there, yes he’s only clad in a towel wrapped around his hips) but tbh his age would make him more like a great great great great great great great grandpa next door-
꧁𝐀𝐛𝗼𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐚꧂
- Mathura Atthakornmetha was the general of Attidaya (East of Scalding Sands) for centuries until he was exiled to the deep sea due to treason.
- The deep sea in Attidaya is home to sea dragons known as naga, and Mathura has made one his own pet named Nham!
- As his surname suggests, he is Anan’s uncle! However, they have only met on several occasions, and Anan was still a child in those times.
- Charin knows Mathura very well, since Mathura was his mentor back in the deep sea. They cut ties as soon as word got around that Charin was getting fighting lessons from a criminal though, yikes😟
- Mathura was a very strict and ruthless mentor at that time, and he’s guilty of it ever since Charin left. He couldn’t help but think that maybe he should’ve been more gentle with the merman, since he was such a young boy :(
- The huge gash on his chest was caused by none other than Anan’s father right before the verdict that leads to Mathura’s exile.
- Mathura is a very…unhinged and vulgar type of guy. He’s incredibly blunt too, will tell you straight on about what he thinks and feels. He’s not the type to sugarcoat his words, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t feel bad about it afterwards…..on rare occasions.
- Mathura sucks, and I mean SUCKS at naming things. Never let this man name your pet cuz bro named his own pet naga Nham, which literally means WATER.
- “Well, she’s in the water and she’s a sea dragon, so?” <— his words
- Speaking about his pet naga, he babies her so much. He would clean her scales as a hobby. He just loves taking of a sea dragon that can swallow him hole🥰 would use a baby voice to talk to her too-
- You might be thinking that Mathura probably respect women like Anan and Charin. You’re not wrong, but he also won’t hold back with women unlike those two. A woman’s gonna fight him? Bring it on honey cuz he ain’t holding back too💪👹
- Bro’s the type to have a resting bitch face and is ACTUALLY a bitch, too.
- Yes, he knows Lilia.
- But there’s still a possibility for you to befriend him…though it might take a long time to break down this ex-generals walls, he’s quite lonely. He’ll give you a chance- if you’re worthy enough, of course.
I know I usually post my OCs on followers milestone events, BUT as the majority of you guys voted to see the next OC, I shall deliver✨ He’s not the typical twst oc but this is all I got😞 I’ll make comic on him soon but for now, thank you all so much for sticking around my blog despite my hiatus and supporting me along the way💖🫶 I love you all so much /pla<333
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