#I wanna write a meta so badly about Ed and Stede’s absolutely horrifying loneliness but it’s just such a big topic

[biceratops7]

The hopeful ordeal of being known

I never really payed this scene much mind at first but on latest rewatch I want to put it in my mouth and shake it around like a scrap of meat till it’s bones are lying all over the floor for easy reading.

The layers of this initial reaction are so interesting to me. It’s a blunt response for blunt information, but you can tell by Ed’s tone it was highly unexpected. Ed knows full and painfully well that when he says “jump” anyone who’s even sniffed the ocean says “how high”. There’s a wonderfully strange mix of offense and baffled fascination at the notion that anyone, a newcomer no less, would tell him no.

So now after the initial shock Ed’s coming to his senses. Oh yah. He’s new. Duh. A little uncommon, but it’s not entirely inconceivable that there’s still people out there who don’t know who Blackbeard is. The possibility becomes even less ridiculous when the person in question has gained a reputation for having absolutely no friggin’ clue what he’s doing or what’s going on in a matter of hours. And this scenario here is certainly desirable to Ed. Someone who doesn’t know his reputation is a fascinating oddity at least and a potential although temporary refuge at most. It’s honestly almost impossible to tell whether or not Ed is consciously looking for genuine human connection at this stage, or simply a mechanical plan to escape the boredom of his life via the ye old trick-n-maim, but either way the start is the same. He needs to get close to someone, and the fear Blackbeard elicits has made that increasingly difficult.

But then Izzy manages to haphazardly sweeten the pot even more.

No actually, he does know who Blackbeard is, and he still doesn’t want to meet him. In fact he is so utterly un phased by the fact that Blackbeard summoned him in the first place, he turns down the invitation in a gratuitously insulting way. On top of that, Ed’s being lied to. The context that half this stuff isn’t even true and Izzy is just balls to the wall making shit up to drive the situation is so friggin’ hilarious cause he’s driving it on the one way highway to “sign me the fuck up”.

Ed turns toward the light. We’re able to see his face clearer than ever, and it’s hopeful, a smile playing on his lips. Well and truly stunned out of the persona of inhuman legend, there’s a reserved giddiness daring to shine through just a little bit. It’s a mere shadow of the utter delight to come, seeing Stede be his weird little self, sharing his wonderfully ridiculous idiosyncrasies with him completely unafraid.

The untaken care of hair that blocked these expressions from our view like a head made of smoke? It’ll soon be tied back. “Fascinating” quickly becomes “isn’t he amazing Izzy!” As Stede happily brings new life to the leathers that’ve come to dehumanize him over the years. And Ed doesn’t know any of this yet, probably can’t even fathom a guess, but he’s just learned that this bizarre fancy man already knows who “Blackbeard” is, and is unimpressed.

Although “Blackbeard” didn’t come out of nowhere and is a genuinely authentic side of Edward Teach, his monicker signals to everyone that he is less than human, and has done so long enough for anyone to snap. The turning point here isn’t that he’s allured by Stede’s boldness, nor is it that he’s captured by how absolutely unhinged you’d have to be to deny him. It’s the promise that someone who doesn’t fear the consequences of Blackbeard, doesn’t even care who he is, might maybe, just maybe, be able to see who Ed is.