#cough cough hasben hotel and helluva boss

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Why Izzy fandom and Izzy 'eh' people write this fucker so differently. A slight rant written at 1am by a person in the middle of writing her 10th Izzy fic 😆

OFMD is about looking at a person, then diving in, and understanding and sympathizing with why they are like that. To some extent, most romantic comedies are. So let's look at who my brain has latches onto:

Stede Bonnet: introduced as a pompous outsider whose wealth blinds him from seeing how hard piracy is. Throughout season 1 we see him grow and gain confidence in his abilities. He finds self confidence, acceptance and even a found family because he is, to his center, himself. He is flawed but we see him trying to follow his own code for what makes a good captain.

Edward Teach: distant experienced pirate who has totally checked out from what it means to be a pirate. He doesn't care about casualities and keeps secrets about life-saving plans from the people xlose to him. But he's not a prick. He wants something in life he doesn't think he can achieve: a peaceful life. He thinks it's a rich persons game he can never afford to win. He's not the kind of person who hets a happy ending. He learns over the series to let himself want that for better and for worse. He can be cruel and seemingly selfish, but he learns to love life again after meeting stede.

Izzy Hands: a character built in Ed's shadow, representing the bits of Ed's life he hates in s1. Most of his screen time is spent either agreeing with or denying Ed's plans. I've noticed in the AU I write, I still tend to write him as a bitchy ex, because what do we know about him outside of how he interacts with Ed? A man who he sees as his 'boss'?

On screen, he is seen with or acting on the behalf of: ED. In s2, it's a bit better. Sure. But he's projecting his issues with Ed onto the crew ('he's still got legs'/'next time he'll do his fucking job' of s2ep4). So even the scenes hes not physicially in frame with the man, Ed is still haunting him. Or Izzy's alone and sad. A character sitting alone CAN progress their character. But what do we learn? That Izzy sees himself as Izzys shadow, too.

The two scenes I can say give direct characterization for him are the Ricky speech of s2-Ep 8, and the drag discussion between him and Wee John. Izzy cares about his crew and is a person wishes he let himself open up in life.

[but even then. We as the audience know this more from a con interview than the actual show. I had a friend say Izzy finally turned gay at that moment, so interpertations of that scene vary]

So. Yes. Izzy cares about rules and trying not to die. Yes. He loves Ed. But who is he? If we took Izzy Hands and dropped him in a new world with new characters and a new plot. Who would he be?

The bitchy 'micromanaging' ex. The mother friend. The nag.

I fucking love Izzy, but I can admit that like most characterization of a side character, I am projecting and stretching apart the crumbs we are given, to have a TON of fun while making him suffer.

I write Izzy the way I do because in my head my favorite character is a mix of 10 hours of tv and the past 2 years of reading stories about a man who is *trying* to live.

I know many fans outside of this sphere struggle to get our facination with the guy, but in the end, Izzy Hands really is ours. And that's kind of beautiful.