#ed did nothing wrong

[edsblanketfort]

Thinking about the parallels between Ed’s and Mary’s violence. Stede hardly even questions Mary’s attempt to kill him, he’s mostly outraged at the method. The story punishes violence stemming from racism or enforcement of harmful social norms, but Mary’s violence to ensure she can continue to live a life where she can be herself is completely unpunished. Instead it’s an open action of self protection and expression that leads to understanding and love and a better outcome for everyone. She’s rewarded! She gets to end the marriage while also reconciling with Stede and knowing that they will both be free and happy. Also she gets Doug and the money (free real estate!) What more do we need to reinforce the message that it’s not violence that’s the problem, it’s why you use it

Ed’s violence against Izzy was for freedom too, but even more justified because it wasn’t just freedom from an unsuitable and stifling marriage, it was freedom from targeted abuse and control

Mary’s skewer more than validates Ed’s leg shot and I will die on this hill

[bookshelfdreams]

the thing is though, as much as we all scream Ed did nothing wrong! at each other (and we're right, he didn't), the show itself, I think, does something much more interesting.

It asks us to forgive him.

Yes, he did terrible things. But we are asked to forgive him anyway. Not because he's very sad (although he is), not because he's pretty (he's so pretty), not because he had good reasons for everything he did (he had), not because the lasting damage is honestly neglectable (it is).

Not even because we are getting a very good look into his inner life, his issue, his trauma, his self-image (we do, and if that couldn't make you have empathy for him, why are you even here).

He deserves forgiveness, and healing and love. Just because. Because someone wants to give it to him, because he's worth it. Because sometimes we do fucked up, horrible things, and we are still people, we are allowed to come back from it, we are allowed to have a life after.

In-story, not everyone has to forgive him. Lucius is pissed at him, and that's okay. He's allowed to feel that way. But amid the worst of the pain and violence, Ed is never unsympathetic, because we are meant to forgive him, immediately, unconditionally. In-story, he's worthy of love, and I am so looking forward to him realizing that.

[bookshelfdreams]

This (the commenter, not OP) is the shit i mean though, like - babe, that's just not gonna happen. There is most definitely gonna be a scene where they talk to each other in one way or another, but mostly because it would be cathartic for Ed. Yeah, Ed will probably apologize, but again, because it will be good for him, for his character development.

The story they seem to be telling so far is "That time Ed Teach was in such horrific emotional pain, he went on a destructive death spiral, had to see if he could rebuild his life from the ruins, and in the process figured out that he was loved unconditionally all along."

Him begging for forgiveness, begging to be worthy of love and companionship, is not the damn point. The point is, that he has been worth it the whole time, in spite of what the whole world and his own brain are telling him.

What's the purpose of seeing him grovel? Other than wanting to see him humiliated? The show won't do that. And the show will never take Izzy's foot as seriously as it takes Ed believing that no one waits for him, and that he's unlovable. Never. It's not about what "should happen" in an ideal world or in the version of ofmd this person would prefer; its about what story we are actually told and in that story, Ed Teach is lovable, and he is already forgiven.

And if you don't like it, that's too bad.

Alright guys reblog if you aren’t a fair weather Ed stan and will support our babygirl no matter what S2 brings

[zorackaa]

he's having a crisis again😘😘😘

[knownoshamc]

I'm sorry but the concept that overstressed Izzy that looked like he was at the verge of his fifth anxiety breakdown in a week, is somehow a lying manipulative mastermind, is simply hilarious to me.

[izacore]

Dear Ed, things are terrible. I think I'm afraid to see you. I'm not afraid you're gonna kill me...

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ok so like objectively yes ed did things wrong but not only do i personally feel no negative emotions about any of that, i swear it would make more sense tonally with the rest of the show to NOT make a huge chunk of s2 be about ed facing the consequences for and redeeming himself from the marooning/pushing lucius overboard/izzy toe thing. like if im wrong i’m wrong and it’s whatever but i really really think the focus will be more on ed’s internal emotional state and how his choices were informed by trauma and how he’s going to learn to heal more than it’s gonna be like, Ed Learns It’s Wrong To Maroon People And Force Feed People Their Own Toes. like if anything i think it’ll be Ed Learns That He Deserves To Be Happy And He Also Realizes That Marooning People And Force Feeding People Their Own Toes Is An Unhealthy Coping Skill That Negatively Affects His Mental Health And He Learns New, Healthier Coping Strategies. like i think the focus of coming out of the kraken era is going to be almost entirely on ed’s feelings, and any mention of how his actions harmed the rest of the cast will be brief and/or it’ll primarily be played for comedy

which yes irl this would kinda suck to have some guy respond to getting his heart broken (and other stuff) by killing and maiming people and then have his whole journey of self-discovery be solely abt him and not any of the people he’s hurt. HOWEVER a biiiiiig part of the humor of the show is that the characters are experiencing some very real and very relatable self-esteem issues and insecurities and vulnerabilities, and all of that is placed on a backdrop of comedically gratuitous pirate violence. like this is a romcom and ed is basically going through the classic emotional beats of the romcom heroine getting her heart broken and eating a whole tub of ice cream and crying in her room for days before becoming cold and distant and “love is dead” edgy, only the joke is that bc he’s a pirate his “love is dead” romcom era includes some people actually literally dying. izzy and the crew all just happen to be in the blast radius for this joke, and while we as fans might love and care abt those characters too, the plain fact is that ed and stede are the main characters and the other characters’s feelings or storylines or internal motivations simply do not matter nearly as much to the show as theirs (with the exception of maybe jim, and also maybe olu depending on how s2 goes). and that’s literally just how romcoms work. this sort of “protagonist bias” is like, a core part of this kind of story.

and there’s nothing wrong with not vibing with the story because of that. if season two comes and goes and you aren’t happy with how the show handled the consequences of ed’s actions in e10 that’s fine, nobody has to feel any specific way about this show. but if i’m right and this is how s2 plays out and some of y’all don’t like this, the problem is not that ofmd is bad. the problem is just that this is not the story you wanted or expected to be told.

i DO think, tho, that there’s something very powerful abt a character like this being a queer indigenous man. he’s a gay romcom protagonist and narratively speaking his feelings trump all. this is a queer romcom that uses gratuitous slapstick violence as a punchline and where the queer main characters are allowed to get violent and unhinged about their feelings, and at the end of the day they ultimately get a pass bc it’s a gay romcom and the show is about them. like literally that description itself is more than i could’ve ever dreamed of from any tv show ever, and THEN you’re telling me that one of the main characters is indigenous???? it’s been a year and a half and s2 is right around the corner and i swear to god i still can’t believe this show actually exists. we don’t GET shows like this, we don’t GET characters like this. ed teach is such a fucking blessing of a character and i love him with all my heart.

[milkymooshi]

I don’t trust people who hate Isabella. Like I don’t like you at all. I don’t think there’s really a reason to hate her. Like did she feel very rushed and shoehorned into the narrative? Yea, kinda, but at the end of the day she was just some woman that Ed felt like he was in love with bc she reminded him of Kristen. She’s an innocent woman who did NOTHING WRONG. As Ed and Oswald’s top paid lawyer, THAT WOMAN DID NOTHING WRONG. YOU GUYS JUST FUCKING SUCK AND HATE WOMEN FOR NO REASON.

[luderailing]

“Can you stop? I don’t sound like that”

“Really? Because that’s what you sound like right now”

Fanart for @kyuhu's lovely au that I have been thinking about for the past week

[short-king-enthusiast]

Obsessed with how the vibe of Ed/Blackbeard edits changed overnight

Where there was once angsty hot girl revenge music, there's now nothing but candy pop and cottage core and it's what she deserves

[bougiebutchbitch]

love how many of my ofmd izzy-and-ed-appreciating friends have pivoted neatly into iwtv... like, yes, we have the much-maligned skill of Enjoying Impure Characters Who Have Done Bad Things For Interesting Reasons, and we are going to make the most of it.

[laceratedlamiaceae]

I don't think I understood the phrase "loyal to a fault" until I watched Our Flag Means Death, because Izzy is the human embodiment of that phrase

[bookshelfdreams]

even if ed does do violent things (the reviews are hinting towards this) i’ll love him anyway. he’s a pirate! and he’s sexy no matter what he does ❤️

Agreed. Of course Ed will be violent! He's a damn pirate! Part of the humor of ofmd hinges on slapstick violence, that's how the show works. In season 1, every villain was killed in a way that was both extremely violent and hilarious, several characters suffered grievous injuries (that were then just walked off and never taken very seriously) there's no reason to believe it's gonna be different this time & it's ridiculous to think that Ed will descend into madness and villainy GoT-style. Look at him.

Nobody with eyes like these should ever be sad. He can do whatever he wants to make himself feel better <3<3

[zorackaa]

эдвард нігма мой татка

[nikonuee]

@ people who make Ed a "naur my soft widdle baby Eddie-pie just had trauma amd that's why he traumatised the crew and did all that fucked up shit 🥺🥺🥺"

Why do you refuse to have nuanced characters? Why deny him the sauce?

[beelzeballing]

something that bugs me about SPECIFICALLY pre-kraken analyses of ed and izzy's relationship is people's constant need to push blame back and forth. it seems like 90% of people who write about their dynamic do so to prove that, actually, THEIR blorbo was always in the right and that OTHER RAT BASTARD was the REAL problem.