#Blackbeardie

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

Okay yall, I promise I'm not trying to start shit. But I just can't get over the name Gentlebeardies -- because I love bearded dragons SO MUCH you have no idea (which are nicknamed beardies)-- this is literally what I think of every time I see that phrase so I had to share it with you all for the sake of my hyperfixated brain. So now I can have Blackbeardie, and The Gentleman Beardie. PS: I don't do edits well so this is my humble offering.

[ourfag]

i havent rewatched s2 in a little bit so idr whether he keeps doing it but theres something funny to me about how s1 izzy spits everywhere on purpose and im pretty sure hes the only character to spit on the ground at all. he spits contemptuously on the ground in the island forest. he spits contemptuously on the deck of ed’s ship. he spits an entire mouthful of tea/booze all over the deck of the revenge just so the crew has to clean it up. he addresses the crew at announcement-level volume with a mouth full of food. i can only assume its been driving ed batshit crazy for years

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

wait fuck ok i’m back to being sad about it now

like the thing is that ed doesn’t really hang out with anyone but stede in season one, not really. and whenever he is talking to other ppl on the crew, stede is right there. the only exception to this is in episode 8 when jack brings the party energy and everyone is getting drunk and rowdy together specifically as part of jack’s efforts to exclude stede.

and as a fandom we always make jokes and theorize about what the relationship between ed and stede must look like from the outside, if they were all placing bets for when they’d finally hook up or if they had zero belief in stede’s ability to pull THEE blackbeard

but now i’m thinking about the crew’s perception of Ed Himself. of the crew’s perceptions of The Legendary Blackbeard and how that must’ve changed over the course of the first season. because when they first meet him they’re all impressed and starstruck bc yeah, duh, this is Pirate Beyoncé we’re talking about. they’re also in varying degrees “worried he’s gonna kill them.”

but they quickly see that the real pirate beyonce isn’t all leather and murder and head made of smoke. blackbeard swaps clothes with their cringefail (derogatory) boss for fun. he dresses up and goes to a fancy party just because he wants to—he’s not even trying to get anything out of it, doesn’t have an angle the way frenchie does, he genuinely just wants to go to a very un-Blackbeardy party and have fun. he tells them scary stories. he shows them some of his trade blackbeard secrets. he hypes them all up after their first fuckery (and i will never get over how cute that is exchange is, “scared the pants off me” and “i thought blackbeard didn’t feel fear” and “and i didn’t, until tonight” and the crew’s genuine excitement and pride). he goes on a treasure hunt with their cringefail (affectionate, now) boss and lets him dig in the ground to get it out of his system. they learn that ed isn’t just a scary pirate, he also can be silly and goof off and enjoy things that aren’t exactly compatible’s with the Blackbeard Brand

and beyond just not adhering 24/7 to the Brand, they learn that ed—that blackbeard—is human. is fallible. they see his first plan to escape the spanish fail, and they get to participate in the backup plan that he and stede come up with. frenchie sees ed get hurt at the fancy party in a way that he completely understands. lucius realizes that ed is just as into his cringefail boss as his cringefail boss is into ed, and over the course of giving ed a shovel talk he maybe learns that The Legendary Blackbeard might actually be nervous about a boy liking him back.

and none of this—NONE of this—makes the crew lose any respect for him. even pete never has a moment where his perception of his idol is shattered, where he’s disappointed that blackbeard isn’t all nine guns and zero mercy all the time. instead, pete expands his idea of what The Ideal Pirate (the ideal MAN) looks like.

i think by the time jack rolls around, ed is no longer on that Pirate Beyoncé pedestal to them. he’s still on a pedestal, a bit, but instead of seeing ed as this untouchable badass legend, they see him as like. the coolest guy on the ship. still a badass, still somebody they all respect and admire, but someone they can hang out with. someone they really want to hang out with. they want to impress ed because they want him to like them, they want to be his friend. and yeah, it’s played as a “your father and i are getting a divorce but we still love you very much” joke, but they really are so sad when ed leaves with jack.

and ed showing up with no beard and no stede, ed hiding in his cabin for. a day? multiple days? ed singing a song about his feelings. ed saying he no longer wants to go by blackbeard.

the crew is confused, but they’re on board. they don’t laugh at him for his (bad) singing, they don’t think less of him now that he’s sans iconic beard. ed, to them, is still The Coolest Guy On The Ship, and they want to be his friend. they’re excited to be his friend.

they want to put on a talent show.

and ed, right after getting stabbed in the back by jack and izzy, and then stede, and then izzy again—ed, who was so affected by the jeers of the rich fuckers at that fancy party, who grew up in a culture that doesn’t allow for friendship, a culture of everyone in various stages of fucking each other over—can’t see that. he’s got fresh heartbreak and fresh betrayal that are compounding on years of trauma and he hears them all chanting his name and he can’t trust this crew. he couldn’t trust his first mate, and he couldn’t trust his old shipmate, and he couldn’t trust stede. he cannot, cannot risk vulnerability with the crew. not again.

(and like, cmon, who is ed even kidding? he’s not made for things like softness and friendship and genuine camaraderie. trying to be anything other than blackbeard is like a wolf trying to fit in a sheep’s clothing, but the clothing is too small and everyone can see right through him and they’re all laughing and laughing and he’s the only one who can’t see what a joke he is. ed’s not an idiot, he knows there’s no way the crew is up their chanting his name and asking for another song because they like him. they just want the great clown pagliacci to come out and make them laugh.

so sure, ed’ll give them a show. they think ed’s funny? well he’s about to be fucking hilarious.)

EDIT: those of y’all seeing this in the ofmd tags are missing the additions where it gets even sadder

[izzysillyhandsy]

Ed-and-Izzy-related stuff that stood out for me in episodes 6 and 7:

Their quiet familiarity and mutual fondness

The main thing I wanted from S2 regarding Ed and Izzy was at least a hint of a mutual, loving relationship between the two of them in the past. The way Izzy acted around Ed in S1 made no sense to me if there wasn't a strong, very old, tried and tested bond there. Equally, Ed's behaviour around Izzy, the familiar way he called him Iz, the exasperated way he reacted to Izzy's izzyness, showed (for me) a closeness of decades living together.

Izzy's "You know me better than anyone has ever known me, and I daresay the same is true for me about you" is the truth, in my opinion. It's about the little things, all the experiences they've had together, sharing a space, food, drink (how natural did it feel when Ed took Izzy's bottle?). Everyone who's had a close friend for decades knows how that feels.

Yes, there are aspects of Ed that Stede gets and Izzy doesn't. But I always had the feeling that Ed feels like home for Izzy and vice versa. This feeling was just very well hidden in S1 because of Izzy's confusion, jealousy and resentment.

(Of course, Izzy is also in love with Ed and Ed, as of S1, isn't. But the (platonic) love, friendship and fondness underlying everything is tangible.)

2. Together, they've got this "us against the world" vibe

One of my favourite headcanons is young Ed and Iz mutinying together, or deciding to kill someone who made their lives hell (with Iz doing the actual killing, obviously). Both learning to fight and to survive in a cruel world together.

I'm not saying this was in any way confirmed or anything (flashback scene, I'm still waiting), but the scene above with Ed looking out at the sea, Izzy who can't take his eyes off him... they seem so attuned to each other. "Where you go, I'll follow."

I know this isn't the most coherent analysis, I'm struggling to describe the feeling I got when watching this scene.

It was like yes, they've fought their way up together. Even after everything that happened, put them next to each other on a ship and they just fit. If they wanted to, they could do anything.

(In a way, it's such a pity Ed doesn't want to be a pirate anymore, at least not a scary Blackbeardy one. Those two have a look going.)

3. Izzy and Ed both connect Izzy's love declaration to Ed shooting him

"You know what he did when I told him I loved him?" "He shot me." "He shot you, yeah." "I know."

This is not 100% clear cut, but to me Izzy's delivery very strongly infers that Izzy didn't know Stede knew (and didn't tell him).

Which means that ED TOLD STEDE.

If that's the case, then

Izzy, at some point, realized that Ed shooting him wasn't (all) about him reminding Ed of Stede

Izzy has a better grasp on Ed's inner struggles than previously assumed

Izzy and Ed both see this declaration as important enough that Ed would permanently injure and eventually kill Izzy for it and Izzy and Stede are both like "yeah, figures"

Ed himself knows and admits that him shooting Izzy was about Izzy (still) loving him in that moment

I mean, I'm still shocked about that.

There were a lot of great metas about Ed's motivations after Ep2 came out, and some of them suggested exactly this: that Ed wanted to be an unloveable monster, that this was the only way he could deal with what he'd done, and Izzy's love was standing in the way of his grand self-destruction.

I wasn't prepared for Izzy, Stede and probably Ed being concious of that and kinda offhandedly acknowledging it in the show?

And even if it wasn't Ed but Izzy who told Stede (which I don't believe, but it's possible) - it's still crazy.

Izzy matter-of-factly telling Stede "Yeah, Ed shot me because I told him I loved him" and Stede being like "Yeah, of course, that's our Ed <3" is mind-blowing to me.

4. Izzy's love song

The lyrics at this exact moment:

Il me l'a dit, l'a juré pour la vie. - He told me, he swore to me, for life.

He really means it. They're married. I rest my case.

5. The first kill's always a mindfuck

So, I have this persistent obsession about Izzy being Ed's personal henchman, and Ed "outsourcing the big job" Teach resenting him for it.

In that respect, Ed's reaction to Stede's first kill was very interesting.

It probably wasn't like that in the beginning, but Ed seems to be a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to violence. Izzy is irrevocably tainted, but I think he wants to keep Stede "pure" (he didn't mind when Stede torched the ship, but that's the hypocrisy in action).

This is of course totally my headcanon, but I think Izzy's first kill was significant. I think Iz did it for Ed. And I think it was very difficult for him (either because Izzy-the-artsy-outsider was actually quite sensitive and nowhere near a bloodthirsty killer and/or because he cared about the person he killed). But Ed was so impressed, and so thankful, so he just carried on doing Ed's dirty work and it changed him forever :(

6. Ed's apology

This whole scene.

Scowly face. Mopey twat. Oh, look, you're talking to me again.

The way they're saying it, Izzy's expressions, their body language - it feels so incredibly intimate. From this exchange alone I would bet they were lovers at some point.

Iz bringing the bottle as a cover and excuse and Ed understanding and playing along.

Ed's "Sorryboutyourleg" being the exact opposite of his public "apology".

I almost cried (like Iz) 😢

CONCLUSION: Why is there only one episode left I need more of this!!!

Also: IZZY LIVES <3

[cursed-rat-of-homosexuality]

OKAY YALL THIS SCENE, SEE THIS SCENE RIGHT HERE?

(Sorry for the extremely low res, did not know how to get around that one).

You know what I think this is? I think this is an Ed-and-Stede-have -A-Problem-with-something kind of scenario. Something that only Anne and Mary can help them with.

Problem is, Ed and Stede aren't on very good speaking terms yet, they are still very much working together though. So we have Ed sorting how they are going to ask it and he goes "Okay here's the plan I will go there, you'll stay here, shut the fuck up, don't let them see you and pretend you don't exist while I go talk to them, got that?" because Ed needs to look cool and all Blackbeardy for whatever he has in mind to work. Of course, the topic of conversation tips toward what happened to Ed, or how they heard he was hanging out with a rich dork or smth, and Stede - thinking he's the sole proprietor of some utterly Relevant information to the conversation - chimes in (He's not a dork and not even rich anymore!).

Ed, with reason, gets fucking pissed and replies to him on instintic. He regrets it immediately though, and tries to play it off and pretend and the doesn't know him.

(Look at Ed's face!!!! He looks fucking baflled. He's like "THe fucking NERVE of this guy" but also "No nope, totally don't know him, who even is he? No one important, I can tell you that bit")

That's when we get the "Edward..." and that's also how Mary and Anne guess that they know each other. Maybe from there the plan becomes to play their relationship up a bit, I don't know, they DO get invited to dinner though (double date!!!!!).

Anyhow... where trailer?

[crownspeaksblog]

The fucking season isn't done yet and I'm already thinking about all the stuff that could happen in season 3!!

Ed getting a new outfit! Because as much as i love his leather look, he needs a new less blackbeardy look, colorful too, that man needs color, preferably purple!

Seeing mary and anne again with their own ship (and perhaps a crew of just women!)

Ed and stede being very much married and so casually open about their relationship, including casual kisses and pet names!

Seeing what the hell happened with buttons! (because he was written off for the rest of the season) I'm still 99% sure he was kidnapped, maybe that'll be a plot point!

More of izzy being stedes first mate (if you told me I'd want this a year ago i wouldn't have believed you)

And finally the season and the show could end with ed and stedes wedding!!

[nucuk]

stede&ed thing is awesome but can anyone please give this pathetic man his own blackbeardy 🐙🦄

----------------

Blackbeard & Izzy | Our Flag Means Death

[wearfinethingsalltoowell]

Stede/Ed?

Do I ship it: They’re all I’ve thought about for a year now they make me crazy insane. Yeah you can say I ship it.

Why I ship it: They’re perfect for each other, they show each other the love they’ve wanted their whole lives. They play together they hold hands they kissed. Also I adore both of them so much

Opinions on canon: Perfect no notes. They’re getting married I can feel it

Opinions on fanon: If you think Stede would ever be horrified by Ed’s more Blackbeardy actions you’re wrong. Stede is obsessed with Edward and thinks he does no wrong

[cannebady]

Okay, hand-wavy details but just imagine that Crowley and Aziraphale find themselves on the deck of The Revenge because of fuck you whatever, but Ed is immediately all Blackbeardy like who the fuck are you but he never gets an answer because Crowley couldn't be fucked to pay him any mind. Crowley is actually quite distracted at the moment, because Stede's standing there in all his finery, book in hand, next to Aziraphale, and fuck him for a lark but there's two of them. Just what he bloody needs.

Ed's somewhat cowed, initially, by this lanky guy with weird dark glasses not being afraid of him at all, even though they're the ones that just walked right onto his ship (okay, it's Stede's ship technically but they're co-captains so that's gotta count for something, right?). Sure his reputation may not have been the most brutal as of late, but usually glowering in head-to-toe leather, tattoos on display, got him at least some kind of reaction.

Actually, the guy isn't paying any attention to him at all. There's a legitimate possibility that he hasn't even realized Ed's there.

Cowed descends rapidly into miffed, and he's about to strut a bit to get the attention he fucking deserves when he finally looks over to where lanky and weird is looking and holy fucking shit. Was this some friend or, for fucks sake a relative, of Stede's? It's a ridiculous thought and unlikely considering the lack of resemblance and different accents, but the other explanation is that there's some other gentlemanly fop cruising the sea with a different leather-clad companion and fuck what if there's two of them? It's at that moment that he realizes that the weird guy is looking right in Stede's direction and he does not like the look on his face at all.

Across the deck, Stede, being a gentleman through and through, and Aziraphale, being just british enough to count, decide that tea is in order while they get acquainted. Aziraphale, what a unique name, seems to enjoy literature and Stede has a library he might enjoy! How lovely that this unexpected guest is a kindred spirit!

They turn towards the Captains quarters, Stede laying a friendly hand on Aziraphale's shoulder to direct him while they continue to discuss his plans for a bookshop, but before he can yell to the others to join them, there's a joint exclamation from behind them.

"Watch where you're laying those fucking hands, mate" comes out in Ed's low growl and there's an enthusiastic, "Oi, and just what do you think you're doing with my angel?" from a pissed off Crowley.

Ed rounds on Crowley, full of possessive rage, grabbing him by his lapels and growling in his best 'do not even consider fucking with me I'm the fucking kraken' tone, "What the fuck do you mean your angel?"

It's almost entirely drowned out by twin scoldings from the gentleman on deck.

"Ed, put him down this instant they're our guests!" is yelled in Stede's posh, clipped tone (but something about the possessiveness in Ed's voice and the fierceness in his expression brings something to life in Stede he doesn't have time to think about right now), with a harmony of, "Oh Crowley, darling, must you menace our hosts for sport?" in Aziraphale's school marm tone, while he barely spares a glance at them. Like he isn't concerned at all that fucking Blackbeard has his companion.

Ed's brain takes a break from his minor self-esteem crisis and catches up to him, and he hears angel and darling. It's quite possible Crowley was ogling the gentleman he came here with and not Stede, rendering Ed's dramatics a bit unnecessary. It's also possible that Ed may have shown his hand, if Stede knows enough to read it.

Ed lets Crowley go.

Crowley acknowledges that Ed is there.

"Erm, Ed, I take it?", Crowley says, giving a quarter turn in Ed's direction and no more.

"Yeah, I'm Ed. You're Crawley?" Ed responds, ignoring the eye roll from Stede because he knows Ed heard them just fine and is choosing to be a shit.

"Crowley," is hissed back at him with more sibilance than you'd expect. With an accompanying fond eye roll from Aziraphale, they all head to the Captains quarters, Stede and Aziraphale already deep in conversation like they're lifelong friends and Ed and Crowley begrudgingly walking near one another.

Once a few hours have passed, the tension has lifted. Stede and Aziraphale have moved from the library to the auxiliary wardrobe, and Ed and Crowley are deep in conversation about the stars. Ed gets a feeling this guy knows more about the sky than any man has a right to. His voice when he speaks about them takes on a dreamy quality, more like a memory.

Aziraphale and Stede exit the wardrobe and Ed is not at all surprised to find Aziraphale ensconced in one of Stede's lovely robes (though Ed could swear it used to be yellow, it looks more like cream now - must be the lighting, or the wine) and it seems that Crowley isn't particularly surprised either.

"I see you've made yourself at home," Crowley jokes, his voice laced with warmth and adoration. Something in Stede's chest yearns at that. He doesn't think too hard about why he looks at Ed at that moment either.

"Crowley, you must feel this, it's divine," and Ed sees the underlying smirk a mile away. Must be an old joke between lovers, because Crowley looks a little shocked for a moment before he tosses his head back with a laugh that makes Aziraphale smile ear-to-ear.

Ed and Crowley go back to their conversation while Stede and Aziraphale get more alcohol. Stede has a lovely brandy that they'd adore.

While he's fishing it out, Aziraphale looks at Ed and Crowley, both clad in leather despite the heat, both forces or nature that pull you in until you're completely in their gravity. It's like coming home, he thinks, when he thinks of his dear demon.

"It seems we may have even more similar tastes," Aziraphale says to Stede, looking over at the other two men.

Stede, looking at the bottle he just procured and not at Aziraphale's eye line, responds, "Oh yes, absolutely if you know this vintage. Quite rare but worth it."

Aziraphale realizes he's talking about the booze but replies, "Why yes, I have to agree. Very rare indeed." Armageddon couldn't have pulled his eyes away from Crowley in that moment.

Much later, once angel and demon have absconded from The Revenge under cover of night, Crowley looks over at Aziraphale and squeezes his hand where they're linked.

"D'you think they'll ever figure it out?" he says and Aziraphale doesn't have to ask to whom he's referring.

"Oh, I think they just might." Aziraphale replies with the confidence of a being made of and for love.

As usual, he's right.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

i think the biggest difference between black pete’s approach and izzy’s approach to glorifying blackbeard and having weird hangups about masculinity is that when ed does non-blackbeardy things like wearing a floral robe and singing about his feelings, izzy’s like “WHAT??? how could BLACKBEARD not be an edgy badass man pirate all the time?? this destroys my image of him and makes me lose all respect for him as a person” whereas pete is like “oh if blackbeard can do that and still be a cool badass man pirate, that must mean these things are cool and badass and don’t make anyone less of a man pirate!”

[wizardpink]

Okay one more text post and then I swear I'm done:

So we know Stede is looking for Ed at the end of season 1 right? Whether he runs into his crew by accident or somehow got a tip doesn't matter, he is getting his little ducklings all together and they're gonna go win back the love of his life, right?

But what is Ed doing? Just pirate shit right? But he's Blackbeardier now so that means more theft, more violence, just even more ruthless bloody looting than ever before, and he was already the king of that shit.

So Stede and his little band of merry men, what are they gonna find on this romantic journey?

Oh you know, just a whole lot of burned out boats, mangled corpses, bullet-riddled villages and shit.

I SO desperately need to know what that is gonna do to Stede, who isn't exactly known for being perceptive to other people's feelings. Like I just know this mother fucker thought he was gonna find his freshfaced lovestruck boyfriend waiting for him to return and finish what they started, riding off into the sunset together. And what he's gonna get is Blackbeard like he's never seen him. Blackbeard from the stories, Blackbeard from the books. Blackbeard who doesn't have tea and crumpets with him every morning.

And he's gonna faulter.

He's gonna want to run, from what he did to Ed and what Ed and Izzy would surely do to him. He's gonna question if this is still the man who kissed him on the beach and asked to run away together, if he ever really knew that man at all.

And you know who is going to stop him?

Olu and Pete.

Because Stede isn't the only one trying to get back to the person he loves.

[mikimeiko]

You know, my hair looks randomly really good today, and I've been quite happy about it all day, but you know what I just realized?

It looks good because it looks A BIT BLACKBEARDY

[templeofshame]

actually though it’ll be interesting to see how pete’s attitude toward blackbeard evolves when blackbeard is more blackbeardy and also involved in the (attempted) murder of pete’s boyfriend

[geekygirlguide]

My first @etsy #plannercommunity purchase from @blackbeardprints. Maybe I'll get some blogging done finally. #blackbeardies (at Indianapolis, Indiana)