#anti ed teach

[slightlystrangepsyche]

Help. I'm not sure I ship gentlebeard anymore.

It was such a cute romance, when it wasn't the focus of the story, but season 2 made it all about their relationship. I miss the crew, the team, the found family. I was so excited to learn more about them.

To build up a character and then kill him off so Ed would be "free" does not endear me to Ed.

Stede is my favourite character, but he's just a baby gay and he prioritized Ed over the mental wellbeing of his crew. Normal, for a first love, but I don't like it.

The show can't seem to make up its mind whether murder is hilarious or heinous, and I think Ed/Blackbeard is the character who embodies that the most.

If season 2 was such a tonal shift because it was mostly Ed's perspective, I found it too dark. So dark, and occasionally being blinded by light. Not always the smoothest transition.

I really hoped the title of the last episode would be indicative of a balance: sea and land, light and dark, love and hate, war and peace, but it's just all just there, all jumbled up, jarring.

I know we're told the Ed and Stede relationship has good bones, but I'd rather stay on The Revenge.

Stede and Izzy though... I'm just shipping them harder the more I think about it. They would work so well together, and still put the ship and crew first.

Ed spent so much time either terrorizing the crew, running away to be by himself, or awkwardly trying to make amends for maybe an episode.

I want to like Ed more. Stede loves him, but I wished Stede loved Izzy instead. I wish Stede and Izzy were the captains of a reunited revenge, and the crew just existed in harmony and had lowstakes adventures so we could just vibe with them and learn more about the crew.

[admjralbenbow]

unpopular opinion post season finale: ed and stede living in a little house in the middle of nowhere instead of being co-captains of the revenge (now with jackie and zheng!!!) is the equivalent of crowley and aziraphale becoming humans. by that I mean, it's the most mediocre and stupid ending on the planet. It's crap. people love to complain about the good omens season 2 finale but at least it was IN CHARACTER. it was sad ofc but well done. this is just pathetic. after ed's character was disgusting the entire season and had 0 development, 0 growth... now stede gives up his dream for him??? how did they write this season?? with the knee?

also izzy dying??? what for???

[luciuscodedswedeboy]

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

Chauncy’s character assassination of Stede Bonnet in 109 is brutal. I want to explore the imagery and connotations of monster. Typically, we think of monsters as grotesque, ugly and something to be feared. Monsters are deemed anti-normative by the majority who set the standard for what is considered desirable, normative.

Stede has been ‘monstered’ by everyone his whole life. His father others and bullies Stede for being a gender nonconforming boy; Mary cannot understand Stede’s desperate need to ‘break the monotony’ in their marriage; the Revenge crew can’t initially comprehend this new, life-affirming approach to piracy and consider mutiny. To the likes of Nigel Badminton, Stede has been a ‘monster’ since childhood with his gentle, crying, flower-picking ways. Ed is the first person to see beauty and worth in the monster. When Ed attempts finally to shed the costume of toxic masculinity worn as protective armour for so long, he is accused of being a monster too: ‘This…you’ve become’. This. Unnamable. A whatever. All because Ed isn’t performing masculinity to Izzy’s expected standard. Effeminate behaviour will not be tolerated. Emotion outside of anger is weakness.

But this show loves to confound and it confounds well.

In 203, Ed’s mind subverts the trope of the monster into something transcendental. And by doing so rescues his own self from the Kraken-monster imagery that has imprisoned him, the stone falling from his waist, albatross-like.

Because what is more monster than a human-hybrid. A scaly, underwater-breathing, half-man, half-goldfish. Merstede is a monster. An effeminate one. And a beautiful one! Ed reclaims the word from Chauncy, rehabilitates it, and allows the wonder of Stede Bonnet to blaze across his dying consciousness. This enigmatic man, frequently reviled for being unashamedly himself, turned Ed’s world upside down and inside out. Who challenges Ed’s own perceptions of self again, and again, and again. Whose anti-normative qualities are not grotesque, but rather exquisite. This undefinable, miraculous creature who left Blackbeard completely and utterly undone.

Stede mirrors Ed. I am you and you are me. Let’s be anti-normative together. Let’s redefine the trope.

Here be monsters, both.

[spirker]

“We’re on a break!”

This line really gets me.

Stede says to Zheng in S2x01 that him and Ed are ‘on a break’ as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. And to him, it is. He realised with the help of Mary that his feelings for Ed are love, and he feels certain that Ed loves him back.

Stede never doubts that him and Ed are meant to be together, that they love each other deeply and can’t be separated by inconvenient things like space and time. He writes this in his bottle messages - ‘a love like ours can’t disappear in an instant’, ‘we wrote our names in permanent ink’, etc.

But poor Ed definitely does not think they’re just ‘on a break’.

As far as he’s concerned, he finally showed someone the ‘real’ Ed, underneath the layers of Blackbeard, finally bared his soul and offered up his heart - and had it rejected. More evidence of how unloveable he truly is.

He doesn’t have Stede’s confidence that everything will be fine in the end. As far as he’s concerned, it’s over, and his life might as well be over too.

Breaks my heart every time.

[darkfire359]

You know who I love? Edward Teach.

He's capable of such great selflessness and bravery: saving Stede's crew from the Spanish, taking the blame from Stede for Nigel's death, stepping in front of the firing squad, and taking the Act of Grace.

Yet he's also capable of such terrible cruelty: ordering a man flayed alive for a single insult, making a crewman kill his own dog, drowning someone who'd just tried to help him, burning a ship full of people alive, and of course the toe thing.

He's innocent and naive: curling into a ball and crying repeatedly from having done something bad, not understanding passive aggression and getting easily hurt by the French partygoers, and getting easily manipulated by Jack.

He's a charismatic manipulator: wowing and making friends with Stede's crew while keeping his hands on his weapons the whole time, flipping on the “insane eye-gouger” persona like a lightswitch to effortlessly intimidate the French captain, and even inventing the very concept of fuckeries (using fear to rule people).

He wears his emotions on his sleeve and is terrified of abandonment, getting easily heartbroken by Stede (and arguably reacting in e10 in large part due to fear of Izzy leaving him as well). He's stoic enough that he barely reacts at the mention of good crewmen dying for him.

He's a masochist who flirts by pointing a gun at his crush and asking them to stab him, and who asks his ex to whip him in the balls. He's a sadist who loves maiming people and who fed people their own body parts for a laugh. He's a goth who got his entire crew to wear black leather. He's a lover of pretty, bright colors who rocks a pink gown and made his first mate put purple bows in his beard.

He concocts brilliant plans but forgets the day's date. He's a master of the sea who thinks nature is annoying and stupid. He's a proud cannibal who loves sugar and sweet desserts. Sometimes he de-stresses by building a blanket fort, and sometimes he gets a pistol and tries to shoot up an entire party. He's a cute princess who can just as easily be a terrifying villain.

Ed is the most EVERYTHING of anyone on the show. It's no wonder so many people are in love with him.

[appleteeth]

Look, I get that Ed needs time to forgive Stede, but Stede is out here doing his best and getting so little in return. They are working on things, but god I need Ed to give his human puppy boyfriend a hug and reassurance.

I for one cannot bear another instance of Stede trying to reach out and subsequently looking like his entire heart is shattering.

[laceratedlamiaceae]

it's going to be such a cute bonding moment between Izzy and Jim when they're working together to tie Ed to an anchor and throw him overboard <3

[themusesof75]

Nevermore's Lenore& Annabel Lee: They're in a bad place right now but I have hope for them.

Our Flag Means Death's Stede Gentlemen-Pirate Bonnet& Ed Blackbeard Teach : Very easy to rewatch these sweet, silly pirates fall in love over and over again.

Krapopolis' Deliria& Schlub: Gotta love a husband with unshakeable loyalty to his wife (they have an open marriage but Schlub will defend Deliria's violent antics)

Andy Bass' Hannah& Heather: vicious bully is only nice to the kind but ditzy Selkie. Inspirational!

[the-jedi-ninja]

It must be exhausting, always rooting for the anti-hero

[gaypirateslife4me]

Violence is bad or whatever.

But.

You've gotta admit that it is bone-deep satisfying to watch a brown indigenous man single-handly choke the life out of a lily-white British colonizer.

[khruschevshoe]

Having been in a couple of fandoms where this phenomenon happened, it always fascinates me when a character who has made semi-questionable decisions in the past (But nothing QUITE completely irredeemable) and is the center of the main/biggest ship in a fandom is suddenly given a hard pivot into abusive tendencies/hard-line no-go actions (i.e. Dean locking up/telling Jack he has no soul, Blaine SAing/cheating on Kurt, Ed being abusive to the crew in s2), the fandom/fanfic largely splits into two main reactions: either 1) taking the new events as new character traits, souring on the character, and writing fic dedicated to getting their partner/family/friends out of the situation written into the show, or 2) writing fix-it fic where the character they know never would have done such a thing and allowing the couple to continue on as they were pre-questionable-writing decision.

I've always wondered what causes people to fall into each camp (I tend to fall into the former, but when I was younger, I fell into the latter when it came to glee, especially). Is it love of the character and what they mean to you? Is it spite for the writers? (I'd argue that both options involve some level of spite for the writers, and I can at least understand both options rather than people who treat the abusive behavior in question as okay or even justified.) Anyone who writes fanfic/has noticed this pattern I would love to hear from- I've been curious about this for years!

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

Yes, it’s brutal, but within the pirate world of the show it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

We’re told in this scene that if a white man insults another white man, the insulted white man might well direct his retort at the brown man present.

Stede - ‘I’d love to show you some saucier spoons, but there seems to be a distinct lack of those on this, supposedly, first class vessel.’

French Captain - ‘My apologies. I hadn’t imagined we’d be hosting your kind’. This cannot be directed at Stede as ‘your kind’ is the same as the French Captain’s, unless he’s referencing something else entirely. It’s directed at Ed. The Captain didn’t realise he would be ‘hosting’ someone who needed tutoring in fine dining. Not all necessary silverware is present. At the very least this is a class put-down.

Ed seeks clarification, very calmly: ‘My kind. What’s that supposed to mean?’

French Captain - ‘It means a rich donkey is still a donkey’.

This is when it very clearly becomes about race. We have the dehumanisation of a man of colour, compared unfavourably to an animal. Ed is not recognised as human. Not innately so, and he cannot even earn the status of being human. Money, new skills, achievements, learned social graces…nothing will ever allow him an equal status in the white man’s world. It’s similar to insults said about Othello by Iago… black ram, Barbary horse. Othello, a celebrated war general, poetic story-teller, peacemaker… Not White™

There’s possibly an argument that Ed has invaded the French ship and deserves the ire and insults of the French Captain. But what this scene does is try to explain why someone of Ed’s background feels the need to invade the French ship in the first place. Criminal subcultures are often (not always) born of inequality. Ed could almost never have garnered the reputation, riches and relative safety he has by honest means. He’d be his indigenous mother, defeated by the inequality in the world. Or his working-class father, drunk, and violent, and bitter at not being able to provide. What else is there for those who are never given a legitimate path to be anything other? Accept your lot, or fight back.

Ed fights back. He’s been fighting back his whole life.

Yes, the French Captain’s on the ropes. As an individual his days are done. But sociologically, the French Captain is punching down here, and he knows it. Even with his life at stake, he continues that punch down because he feels entitled from birth to do so. He’s going to die with it on his lips, that’s how entrenched it is. Whilst Ed’s punching up. Always punching up in a white man’s world. On a wider scale, this is not an equal fight.

Ed has been made painfully aware of his race and class. He subverts this to make sure the French Captain is painfully aware of his race (skin) and class (snail fork). It’s an anti-colonialist fightback.

‘Skin him first. And use the snail fork’.

It’s cruel, but it really is a genius line.

[electric-friend]

i feel like kinda alone in the matter of having felt like the season was just a bit off from the start. feeling like the characters were off. one example is i didn’t like that they went that hard with the violence from ed to izzy because i knew they weren’t going to deal with it in a way that did either ed or izzy any justice, and i feel maybe like if they weren’t able to resolve that, they shouldn’t have started it in the first place. i know that these things began in season one but they didn’t need to take it THAT far. i felt like that from the beginning and seeing it realised just feels kinda shit. but also, i kinda knew. you know? the moment it all started.

[softestepilogue]

Wow that Izzy stan anon is a stupid piece of shit. Izzy fans are racist. They prioritize the thoughts and feelings of a white (cop loving) man who has shown abusive and racist tendencies. But all of that is FINE to Izzy stans who want to woobify him because his voice is funny or whatever. Izzy fans completely miss the plot because they're too busy thinking they're being persecuted. Izzy isn't the main character. He deserves everything single horrible thing that happens to him. And the Izzy stans with their deliberate misinterpretation of other characters are going to come out of s2 looking dumb and even more racist than usual.

the thing is i don’t mind Izzy ! i think he’s hilarious. he’s not my fave character and i don’t find him remotely interesting beyond comedic relief and i wouldn’t care if he was gone from the show.

but other people do love him best and that’s fine. it really is. but it’s when they start villainizing the main character who’s a poc that i have a problem with. calling ed an abuser as if izzy isn’t also a flawed character. it’s weird because it happens in multiple fandoms and it’s time to call a spade a spade. you know what i mean?

and then telling people they’re ableist and classist for not liking izzy. it’s weird the way they will jump through hoops to victimize a flawed white male character and villianize a flawed poc character and act like we’re the problem for calling them out on it. act like we’re the problem because we notice how white male characters are treated better by fandoms than poc characters. and they try to pull the “oh wow now i’m racist because i like a fictional character.” they intentionally misinterpret what we’re saying to act like we’re ridiculous for calling them racist for liking a fictional character when that is not the problem.

like the ficticional character you like but do not dismiss the real world problems fandoms have where poc characters are treated differently than white male characters. it’s exhausting. it really is.

[edward-ships-steddy-hands]

New Server

PRO-SHIPPERS DNI!

Idk if anyone will join this server but it's worth a shot.

Hello, all! This server is for my hyper-specific niche of the OFMD Fandom, because I've met so few people who share my opinions and I'd like to make a safe place for people who share my opinions!

The main options in question are:

Shipping Ed/Izzy/Stede/Jack, Steddy Hands, and other cute polycule ships involving Ed, Stede, Izzy, and Jack

Loving Izzy Hands and Calico Jack, and hating how the rest of the fandom seems to horrifically bash and ab*se them

Hating Mary Bonnet and Evelyn Higgins, and hating how the rest of the fandom seems to praise and excuse them

Not wanting to see any NSFW stuff, regardless of what ship(s) the NSFW is of

You can still join the server if you don't share these opinions/orientations, you just can't bash Izzy and Jack, or praise Mary and Evelyn, or post NSFW stuff on the server!

For anyone who joins, we have channels for talking about OFMD, channels for specific characters and ships, off-topic channels for general chatting and venting and meme-sharing and whatnot, roleplay channels that you can use for OFMD and non-OFMD roleplay, and poketwo and mewbot just for fun!

If this sounds good to you matey, then come on in and have fun!

PRO-SHIPPERS DNI!