#not even sure if he realized it was stede at first

[soapbubbles511]

I know you've got a little life in you yet

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

It's good, is the thing.

Now, it's not perfect. Ed doesn't think they could ever be perfect. They have stupid little bickering arguments that really boil down to being scared the good life is maybe too good to last. Stede fell through the roof twice as they were getting it patched. They have to buy fish down at the port market, still, and Ed's getting a bit closer to admitting that maybe he's just a bit fucking shit at fishing.

But it's good, and it had scared Ed, at first, that Stede still hasn't said it yet.

Stede doesn't need to use his mouth to say I love you. It's in the tea he makes Ed with breakfast, perfectly sweetened each time. It's in the socks he's learning to knit and the rack for Ed's fishing rod he made to keep next to the door. It's in the fancy orange-flavored lube that he still won't say how much he paid for. It's in are you cold and did you have enough to eat and do you want more and need a cuddle? and a thousand other little things.

Ed's pretty sure he knows the reason that he tells Stede he loves him all the damn time but Stede never says it back. All boils down to don't and you don't get to say that to me, doesn't it?

Stede doesn't think he's allowed to say it back. Ed's dropped hints, long silences after he says it where Stede just smiles and loves him and doesn't say it. And maybe a part of Ed, sure, is still a bit worried. That Stede won't say it back at all, that he'll change his mind, that Ed's just opening himself to get hurt all over again.

Ed wasn't ready to hear Stede say it, not back when they found each other again. But maybe he's ready now.

He works up the courage at the end of a rough day. They've been painting the room that will become their library (it's got three books in it, now!), and they'd gotten pissed at each other when they realized someone had forgotten to seal up the patched section of roof in that room, and most of their work got ruined when it rained the night before. Stede had been moping, and Ed had been sulking, and Stede had still made sure that Ed got enough to eat at dinner.

Ed walks out onto the porch and plops right down next to Stede where he's sitting on the front porch steps, resting his chin on his knees. "Hey."

"Hey," Stede says, his tone still a bit curt.

"Sorry about the roof."

"Yeah, me, too."

"We don't know that it was you who fucked up sealing it," Ed reminded him.

"We don't know that it was you, either."

Ed sighs, leans over, rests his forehead against Stede's shoulder. "I love you."

"I know you do, Ed," Stede says, dropping a kiss to Ed's forehead.

And Ed decides to be brave. Even on the harder days, where they get on each other's nerves. Because Stede isn't going to leave him. "I think I'm ready," he says, softly.

Stede tilts his head, blinks, frowns. "Ready...?"

"For..." Ed takes a deep breath, lets it out. "You can say it back. If you want. I know you mean it. You get to say that to me, Stede, that's what I'm saying."

Stede blinks at him, and then his entire fucking face just lights up as he takes Ed's face in his hands, Ed immediately bringing his own hands up to hold him there.

"Ed Teach," Stede declares, "I love you."

Maybe, Ed had expected something flowery. I love you as deeply as anyone's ever loved anything, and I know we're bound to each other as surely as the moon tugs on the sea. But the simplicity of it makes it impossible to ignore the underlying truth of it. They are in love. He loves Stede, and Stede loves him. And that's the point of it all. They are in love, and they will remain in love.

"Yeah," Ed says, "I know. I know you do."

[avelera]

Man, I just put back on OFMD 1.05 (the fancy party episode), and I think one really worthwhile itemization of Stede and Ed interactions would be around how many times Stede appears horrified by Ed's actions, but actually, he might really be horrified for Ed.

And I only bring this up because one common, I think, misinterpretation of Stede was that he's horrified or put off by violence. Understandable, given the face he pulls when, for example, Ed tells Fang to skin the French captain with a snail fork.

But now that we've Season 2, albeit eps. 1-3, including that gorgeous moment where Stede immediately clocked that Ed's trying to burn down the world or die trying, thus signaling that he knows Ed better than anyone, especially Izzy, ever expected... I think we can firmly put the, "Stede doesn't really get Ed," interpretation firmly to rest. It's totally fair that it existed! His facial expressions of horror were often ambiguous and could be read either way.

But I think we can very firmly say: All those times Stede seems horrified at Ed? He's horrified for Ed.

Even in the moment where he sort of gulps when Ed wants the French captain skinned was sort of re-written in my mind as I watched it, in light of Stede getting Ed so well in S2. Suddenly it's not Stede taken aback by extreme violence, no.

Stede is realizing just how deeply hurtful the French captain's words were to Ed. He's not taken aback by the violence of Ed's orders, he's horrified to realize that the French captain's words hurt Ed so badly that this is a proportional response.

Stede doesn't give a fuck about the French captain, by the way. He doesn't lift a finger to prevent it, not because he's afraid, I'd argue, but because he legitimately does not care. The dude is more than a little bit of a sociopath himself, alright, he's adjusting to pirate life but he has also fully embraced pirate life.

And by the way, you don't have to take my word for it that Stede's reaction of horror is for Ed not at Ed, y'know why?

'Cuz of what Stede says in the very next scene, "Edward, are you alright? I could tell that captain got a bit under your skin."

(Haha, get it? Because you skinned that man alive. But I digress.)

No but seriously, Stede does not care about skinning that man alive, whether or not we believe Fang really did it. His priority #1 here, as it will be in Season 2, writ large, is to first make sure Ed is ok and then to help arm him against pain like that in the future.

And all I'm saying is, I bet if we went through each and every other instance of Stede "reacting badly" to Ed's "violence" in light of S2 and Stede getting Ed and only really caring about Ed unless reminded to do otherwise, that all of those reactions are actually Stede reacting with horror to learning what kind of pain Ed has been laboring under, or what kind of pain he's in that he would react with violence to verbal attacks like that.

Because that is something Stede can understand very well.

[lavenderprose]

"Would you love me if I was a crab?"

The responses are immediate and exactly what Ed should have expected: Stede's eyes go big, he offers a wide smile and his voice goes high and indulging as he says, "Of course! I would make a special little tank for you--"

Izzy, on his other side, rolls his eyes and says nothing at all.

There are a few crabs scuttling along this stretch of beach, washed ashore by a storm last night. They're still trying to get their bearings and make their way back to sea, presumably. Ed has counted four of them as they walk. He doesn't know if they're the kind of crabs you eat. He doesn't know if there's such a thing as crabs you can't eat.

Stede is still talking.

"Of course, we would have to make sure that the water is of the right salinity, and it might be hard to communicate, but perhaps we could invent some form of semaphore involving pincers--" Here he forms his hands into two approximations of claws and snaps his thumbs against his fingers repeatedly. "Snap snap. Something like that."

"No way to live," Izzy says then, and when Ed looks at him it seems like even he's surprised he spoke. He looks uneasy with it, like the thought had escaped rather than being released. He's been walking somewhat separate, his pace matching that of Ed and Stede but several feet further up the beach where the sand isn't so damp. Stede has had his arm looped through Ed's and they've been walking in lockstep, murmuring to each other about the lovely bright morning sun and the crisp smell of the ocean, and about Stede's newly-bought swim-cover he's wearing and about lunch. Come to think, this is the first time Ed has heard Izzy speak all morning.

"What's that, dear?" Stede asks, still distracted by his own hands. He mutters something to himself that sounds like And this could mean I'm hungry as he pokes his pinched hands towards his stomach.

"In a tank," says Izzy. His arms are folded against his body, he's turned towards Ed and Stede and the calm surf washing up the beach. The sun hits his eyes and makes them look brighter, green like seaglass. "If you were a...crab."

"Say I wanted to live in a tank?" Ed mutters, feeling weirdly defensive. "If Stede wanted to put me in a tank and keep me safe--"

"No way to live," Izzy says, shrugging. "Might be nice for a little while, but you'd get bored in a tank. You'd start trying to escape, try to wedge your pincers through the lid of--" He moves his hands for a moment, almost as though to pantomime like Stede, then scowls at himself at stops. Shrugs again. "We couldn't keep you."

"Would we know it was you?" Stede asks then, like this is crucial information. Ed doesn't know why the conversation has taken this turn, even though he was the one to ask, but he feels like his heart might break a little if they can't come to a consensus about what to do with Crab-Ed.

"Yeah," says Ed, "You'd know it was me because it would be like...a sea-witch curse or something."

"Oh! Well then we would just find a way to break the curse." Stede nods, smiling sagely and confident in his wisdom.

"You can't," Ed says, hurriedly and suddenly nervous. "It's permanent. Can't break it, I'm gonna be a crab forever."

"Would you still think like you?" Stede asks. Izzy, utterly quiet, stares towards the horizon like if he glares hard enough, the sun will descend from the sky and end the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah. Ed Teach brain, tiny crab body."

"Well that complicates it--"

"Why are we talking about this again?" Izzy mutters, still squinting towards the sun like it's personally insulted him. "If Edward were a crab, he'd have to do crab things. We'd do human things. End of."

Stede frowns. "Well the question wasn't about what we would do with our Ed-crab. It was would we love him."

Izzy snorts, and Ed feels a strange spike of dread right up until Izzy mutters, "Of course," in a way that says he thinks the answer is very obvious, and the question very redundant. When he realizes that Ed and Stede are both staring at him, he shifts his stance and cards a hand through his hair. Slowly, with obvious difficulty, he says, "I couldn't keep him in a tank. Wouldn't be fair. Of all people, I should know that." His eyes flick to Ed for a snap moment. Ed doesn't know what his face does, but whatever it is it's enough to relax the line between Izzy's eyebrows. "He'd have to go. But I'd remember him. I'd hope he was...happy. Doing crab things. I'd love him."

From somewhere next to Ed, the inelegant sound of Stede's sniffles breaks the moment they might have been about to have.

"That's such a sweet sentiment, Izzy," Stede says, wiping under an eye. "I was going to say that we could ask the sea-witch to turn us into crabs as well. That way we could all do crab things together."

"There's an idea," Ed says enthusiastically. "We could make a crab house and eat crab food and have crab se--"

"I'm not turning into a crab," Izzy says, and turns back to face the direction they'd come. "Are we done with this? I'm fucking starving."

He marches off, leaving Stede and Ed to walk in his now-determined wake. Obviously trying to escape the sentimentality of his own words. Ed exchanges a knowing, saccharine expression with Stede as they follow.

"Izzy?" Stede calls up to him, paces ahead and legs pumping. Izzy barks out a vague response. "Would you love me if I was a crab?"

Izzy stops and turns completely around. There is a smirk on his face and hidden laughter in his eyes.

"If you were a crab," Izzy says, "I would have a crab fucking boil, Stede Bonnet."

[chuplayswithfire]

I have more thoughts on how and why the sex was a mistake. I will be thinking about this all week. All year.

Let's start with: the sex was consensual, they both wanted it, and that does not change that it was the wrong decision for their relationship in that moment. They should not have had sex! Ed is 100% correct and he is not running away when he says that! He is not just avoiding his feelings or getting cold feet, he is genuinely correct, and here's why:

They continue to be on different pages. They have not had a chance to talk it through. It's been like 2-3 max since Ed woke up from the Gravy Basket, and emotions are still running high. Even ignoring that they were just tortured in front of each other and that Stede killed a man right after Ed asked him not to, they were not in the same space emotionally regarding their relationship.

Fir one thing: Stede did *not* get his heartbroken (prior to this). He got his romantic affirmation. Season 1 was an entire arc leading to Stede realizing he is gay, that he is in love, that he is loved in return. For him, for HIM, sex is a natural next step, and we already knew he wanted it from how he deepened their kiss in episode 5. Their relationship itself is not a source of trauma for Stede; he loves Ed and he walked away from his old life to be with him, and now he found him again, and they've agreed to do it together, figure things out, his romantic hopes are realized.

And in that moment, adding to that background informations, is that Stede also wanted to avoid all his messy feelings by being physical. He was tortured and he watched Ed and his crew be tortured, he was insulted and had to listen to Ed be insulted, and he wanted to regain control and power by killing Ned Low, and removing the threat. That's where Stede's head is.

Ed, on the other hand, did get his heart broken and while the majority of what he's working through is about his self-hatred, his dissatisfaction with his career, and his desire to find a life that feels worth living, he is also dealing with a significant amount of trust issues with his relationship with Stede, because Stede left him. He has heard from Stede that he loves him, but Ed's deepest fear is that he's unlovable, and he hasn't gotten over that, or his hurt from how things went, in the like two days it's been.

But he loves Stede, and he's attracted to him, and he wants him, so when Stede initiates and manhandles him a bit and things get hot and heavy, he consents. He's all in, carried away by the moment.

And he regrets it.

He especially wasn't ready because Ed is a planner. I know we were all joking about how they definitely weren't going to take it slow and they were going to rush through, but I do genuinely think he meant it. Ed's natural state is as a planner and tactician, everything has an angle for him and even when he wants to just be simple, he always has a bajillion factors in mind that he's juggling, so we can be sure that Ed probably did very much have thoughts about how he wanted their first time to go, and what he wanted them to do and grow into as a relationship before they had sex, and instead they got tortured, Stede killed a man, and then they fucked in the aftermath.

Not bloody optimal indeed.

Now back to Stede: he is utterly unprepared for the idea that the sex could be a mistake because to and for him it was the natural next step in their relationship. This is his romantic fantasy is the thing; he was a cool brave pirate captain who made an enemy walk the plank in defense of his crew and his boyfriend, and then Ed came to him and Stede got to sweep him off his feet and shove him against the wall, kiss him, bring him to the bed, and pointedly shut the curtains on an audience that doesn't exist, followed by a lazy morning after with breakfast in bed.

So it probably hurts extra that Ed is like that was a mistake. This is literally him living his fantasy from episode 1, Ned Low even has facial hair and is mean to him like Izzy used to be. He could ignore all the realities of that situation, because he was living his fantasy, and Ed dragged them both out of fantasyland, back to the real world, where their relationship isn't fixed 100% and sex didn't change that.

They weren't on the same page. They still aren't, because they need to talk.

[brigdh]

I want to talk about Izzy's rant to Ed in episode 10, the one that brings out the Kraken. I've seen a lot of different descriptions of what is going on in this scene – death threat, homophobic slurs, etc – and I don't think either of those are what's actually what's happening.

Let's look at it closely, line by line, and the way Ed reacts, from the very beginning of the scene.

Ed: Well, feels nice to tidy up a little. Can't believe I was living like this. Can you, Iz? Izzy? Izzy: I'm going to speak plainly. Ed: Wonderful. You know we share our thoughts on this ship.

Izzy, cont: This, whatever it is that you've become... is a fate worse than death.

Okay. So there we've got what some have interpreted as a death threat. But does Ed seem threatened? He's startled, certainly, put on his back foot – literally – but he doesn't look afraid or alarmed to me. He draws in a slow breath, assessing the situation, but overall seems more confused than frightened.

In fact he laughs it off with his next line:

Izzy then escalates the level of aggression in the conversation:

But Ed, again, looks more confused than anything. Check out that furrowed brow, that head tilt! This is a man going "what is your deal?", not a man thinking "uh-oh, you might kill me!".

Extremely noticeably, even when Izzy storms right up into his face, Ed holds steady. He doesn't run, doesn't lean back, doesn't hunch his shoulders or drop eye contact – there is no vulnerability or defensiveness in Ed's body language at all. Ed is in supreme control of this confrontation – look at the slow way he deigns to turn back to the paper Izzy's holding! As though he's making the point that he chooses when to turn, not Izzy:

Then we have the "homophobic slur". But watch closely:

Ed does not react to "namby-pamby", "silk gown", or "pining" at all. He doesn't even blink. He barely seems like he's hearing Izzy. His entire attention is on the picture.

Ed's body language and behavior changes at one word and one word only, and that is "boyfriend". As soon as Izzy says it, Ed's furious:

(It's even easier to notice when you actually watch the scene instead of using gifs, because Izzy really draws out 'piiiiiiining', putting a lot of time between the first half of the sentence and 'boyfriend'.)

Why is the use of the word 'boyfriend' so important?

Well, what has Ed been doing all episode? He's been crying in a blanket fort and singing sad songs, yes, but he's been keeping a careful level of mystique about why he's doing it. Ed often uses distanced circumlocutions instead of directly acknowledging his emotions, but he's doing it in this episode even more so than usual:

Here are the lyrics to his song:

(Version one, with Lucius) Hanging on By a thread Hanging on Shouldn't let go If I let go, all will fall Fingers bleeding down to the bone now Can't let go Nothing makes sense Hold on Hold on Hold... on

(Version two, performed for the whole crew) Just let go Make yourself let go Make it go away Away, away today Life's a hard sad death And then you're Deaaad

Notice something? There is no mention of Stede, or love, or break-ups, or abandonments, or relationships in general. All Ed discusses is a vague life-sucks attitude, which could apply to basically anyone under any circumstances. He seems pretty okay with people knowing that Blackbeard is having some sort of weird emotional breakdown as long as he convinces himself that no one knows it's specifically from having his heart broken

This is true of everything Ed says and does for this entire episode. He never once even mentions Stede's name, unless "Farewell, Bonnet's playthings" at the very end counts. The only thing Ed openly admits to feeling bad about is a fictional character who's having a hard time "holding on" (holding on to what? he never says). There are no allusions to heartbreak or romance anywhere in his dialogue.

Now, Ed's not stupid. I'm sure he knows Izzy and Lucius and the rest of the crew can connect the dots and realize that something bad happened with Stede, even if Ed doesn't fill them in on the details. But Ed is also traumatized, and has a whole host of coping mechanisms set up to help him avoiding thinking about things that he doesn't want to think about. If he's not a murderer because "technically the fire killed those guys", then no one knows he's heartbroken because technically he hasn't acknowledged it.

Until Izzy says the word 'boyfriend'. Suddenly the secret is out, and Ed can't handle it. Izzy knows his weakness. That's why this word effects Ed more than anything else Izzy says in the whole scene.

At the end of the confrontation, he hears the crew calling for another song. Look at Ed here. He looks as haunted, as disturbed, in this moment as he does at any point in Izzy's rant.

This is an important part of the scene, not just a closing note. Because if Izzy (the Caribbean's most emotionally constipated man) can see through him, obviously the whole crew can too.

Obviously Lucius – who advised Ed on his and Stede's relationship, who played along with Ed's 'fictional character' claim, who wrote down Ed's lyrics – can do so most of all.

There's a direct emotional logic to Ed killing Lucius because he had a fight with Izzy, and it doesn't involve Ed having been threatened or hate crime'd at all. Ed doesn't deal well with his own feelings (from Stede), so he chooses to become Blackbeard/the Kraken and gets rid of all the witnesses who saw otherwise.

[ladykatibeth]

I think some of the surprise there is for Izzy’s season 2 behavior is that a lot of the the fandom (even some Izzy fans) decided to base Izzy’s characterization entirely off of episode 9 and 10 (where he was honestly also probably having a bit a of a breakdown) when he’s at his most lowest and ignoring anything before that.

So while everyone’s here, (welcome new friends!) I’ll address something’s people have been surprised by, or have said is a new development.

1. “Talking it through”….Izzy is a very open character—Wait, here me out.

He is unintentionally very expressive. If you look at his expression it flits through emotions. He’s a pretty bad liar. His feelings are very on display, and he has a lot of them.

In terms of talking, he literally chases Ed around the ship trying to start a conversation about the plan. He explains exactly why he’s upset in episode 4. He’s also mean about it because he’s angry and he’s mean when he’s angry.

(Well I’d argue he’s anxious and he’s angry when he’s anxious and he’s mean when he’s angry)

This is one phrase we never see him disagree with in the first season, but I would argue he doesn’t fully endorse it.

Specifically “as a crew.” He doesn’t like showing vulnerability….in front of people. Intimate conversations are usually private. He’s the least posturing when he’s doing 1 on 1 conversations, for an infrequently used example, look at him ranting to Spanish Jackie like a friend on the phone before the navy people come in—and then he shifts. He will talk to people about feelings—in private.

2.Speaking of episode 4—Izzy’s care for the crew.

Izzy didn’t see the Revenge Crew as his crew up until his being named captain (neither did Ed, the co-captain conversation doesn’t occur until after Izzy’s been banished). He does express care for the QA crew having been lost in his resignation rant.

They are “the crew of the Revenge.” He’s not perfect though, he does risk Ivan and Fang in the navy deal, but given the fact he’s never done this before I assume most of this previous crew behavior is more in line with the first example than the second. He’s not nice, but he at least cares about about them staying alive.

3. Izzy apologizing/taking accountability.

I think the main thing here is people taking Izzy at his most pissed 100% at his word.

In episode 4 we see Izzy do his resignation rant—and he regrets it by the end. He takes back what he said and apologizes for it. Just because Izzy says something when pissed doesn’t mean those are his day to day feelings.

In episode 6 Izzy says Ed will rue this day—and then makes sure specifically to get him out of the way so he isn’t harmed. He expresses concern over Stede doing something to Ed’s brain, not anger at him.

Izzy isn’t incapable of reflection, his pattern is he gets angry says something, reflects when calmer and then either regrets or changes his mind.

So he’s like weeks of (relatively) calmer time to reflect and realize he played a part, Izzy is incredibly impulsive when mad but our impulses aren’t always our regular logical feelings.

(Also why I don’t like when people completely take his Ep 10 rant as his whole entire world view, he’s pissed and scared and saying hurtful things on purpose, that’s not the summation of him.)

[goayda]

What if… one day Izzy wakes up sore and with a splitting headache and when he finally opens his eyes he realizes that he is in the captain’s bed and that Ed and Bonnet are wrapped around him fast asleep.

Izzy freaks out, because he can’t remember what happened exactly the night before, but even if there had been a lot of rum involved (and that would explain the horrible headache) this wouldn’t make sense because he and Bonnet barely tolerate each other and he hasn’t spoken more than a few words to Ed since his death-recovery.

So he panics and sits up brusquely and the sudden movement wakes up both captains immediately. They seem upset about him trying to leave their bed, but it’s not as if Izzy can run away very fast without his unicorn leg and while he tries to find it and put it on, Ed and Bonnet start talking nonsense.

They worriedly ask him what is wrong, if he is feeling better, mention some hit to the head in a raid Izzy can’t remember at all and they keep calling him ‘baby’ and ‘love’ and Izzy can’t make sense of any of this.

Until he realizes… this is a fuckery, of course! They were surely bored and decided to play a prank on Izzy! Ed must have convinced Bonnet, or maybe it was the other way around, and they are pretending to… care about him? To… be in love with him?

Then a hand starts rubbing his back softly and Izzy jolts off the bed, falling to the floor on his ass. Bonnet yelps and Ed gets off the bed and kneels by his side, but Izzy just crawls away from him, confused and hurt, because Ed caring about him would mean the world to him, but this is not real.

Then Bonnet walks to the door and opens it to yell for Roach and soon there are many footsteps getting closer. The crew is coming and Izzy wonders bitterly if they are also part of the fuckery.

Izzy thought he and the crew were doing better now, but their friendship is new and he is worried they will just play along with whatever game Ed and Stede have come up with so he braces himself for it and waits.

But when the crew starts coming into the cabin, they just look worried about him and Roach starts berating the captains for not being careful while Frenchie and Fang help him get off the floor and Izzy is more and more confused because when did Lucius get a goatee? And how did Jim’s hair suddenly grow so much?

(Roach tells the captains that it’s probably a temporary thing and he will regain his memory soon, but Ed is heartbroken anyway. Meanwhile, Stede is already thinking about how to woo Izzy again if that doesn’t happen. He knows much more about Izzy now and he is confident it wouldn’t be as hard as the first time.)

[boatcats]

Stipulations

My heart hurt when Ed got shackled to the rail in S2. I needed them to talk it through as a crew so fic happened.

Ed was not a master in the art of negotiation.

Or, well, that wasn't entirely true. He was great at aggressive negotiation. He was great at negotiation where there was a show of strength (or the illusion of strength) and an opponent forced to decide how much they wanted to risk. He was excellent at the old 'shot across the bow.' He wasn't great at the sort of negotiation where all you had was your earnest heart and a desire to go home.

He hadn't had much practice.

But he had his earnest heart and he wanted to go home so he was going to give it a try.

The crew had let him stay one more night. They'd even seemed chill about it. He really hadn't expected that. Now dawn light was creeping into the galley and in a few hours the crew was going to "figure this all out" as Oluwande had called it and Ed wanted to stay. He wanted to make it up to them. "Captain goes down with the ship" had always really meant "captain takes responsibility" and Ed wasn't captain anymore (was he? he felt a brief jolt of anxiety like a task left undone...no, probably not...). But he still wanted to take responsibility for what he could.

It was just....he had some stipulations.

"Stede," Ed whispered. "Stede wake up."

"Hmmph?" Stede rolled over and Ed was briefly stunned by his sleep tousled hair. God. "What is it, Ed? Are you hurting?" He looked so concerned. G o d.

"No," Ed said, "not really." Though he was hurting some - a mutiny would do that to you. "Not much... medium amount," he amended, trying to be truthful. "I just... the crew's gonna decide about me staying and I want to stay. But I don't want them to shackle me to the rail again." Ed fought down a surge of panic at the thought. "I don't like feeling trapped. It's fine if they want... I don't know, to get a few punches in. That's fair. But no surprise punches. They can do it to my face. I mean like ... they can face me about it... though I guess they can also punch my face. You know what I mean."

Ed was not going to feel trapped and he was not going to feel on edge. Everything else was fair game. But sometime during the night he'd realized he couldn't stay somewhere he didn't feel safe.

What he'd do he didn't know... but he couldn't stay. It was an awful negotiating position that boiled down to "please agree to these requirements or else I'll go back to the woods you banished me to in the first place."

Ed sighed. Then he glanced up and realized Stede looked heartbroken. Fuck.

"It's not you," Ed sighed. "I'd love to stay for you... it's just..." I might not be able to.

"It's not that," Stede said. "I just wish I hadn't. I wish they hadn't. I wish I'd protected you."

"You couldn't," Ed said. "Not exactly captain either, were you? A mutiny will do that. The whole thing about a mutiny is that it blurs who's in charge, blurs who makes decisions. And I knew what I was getting into. Not like I haven't had worse. I just..."

"You don't want it to happen again."

"Yeah."

"It wont. No one's going to punch you either. To your face or otherwise."

Ed smiled. It felt a little wobbly. But he could smile at Stede now. Stede looked so certain. Ed was not at all certain. He was pretty sure he was at least going to get punched. But Stede's optimism had always been appealing (as well as wildly sexy) so what the hell.

--

When Ed heard the crew's stipulations he laughed. A cat bell! He supposed that was fair. He'd maybe played up the sneaking around over the past few months.

But it felt - it felt like like chance to start over. Captain goes down with the ship. Captain incites a mutiny and wears a sackcloth for a while as a promise that he won't hurt his crew again. Yeah, that was fair.

And Stede's face - Stede's face - when he said "they've agreed not to hurt you - no one's going to hurt you on this ship again. You're safe."

I'm here. You're safe.

Yeah, that was.... That was.... yeah, that was... That was a lot. But it was good. Ed was pretty sure it was good.

--

So it came as an awful surprise when Jim found Ed in the shady spot he'd claimed on deck and said "Hey, about shackling you to the rail..."

Because fuck. Fuck. Of course they'd reconsider. It made sense but Ed had trusted them. And the Revenge was kind of a ways from land and maybe they'd give him back the complimentary dinghy. Hopefully they'd give him back the complimentary dinghy. But so much for cohabiting with Stede... that is... if they even let him leave at all. What if...

Apparently all this showed on his face. Because the next thing Jim said was "I think maybe you need to breathe?"

Ed took a shaky breath. "What about it?" he asked. He was pleased that his voice came out reasonably level.

"I'm really sorry we did that."

Wait. What?

"Wait. What?" Ed said.

Jim flushed. "You weren't... you were hurt and... you weren't going to hurt anyone. The rest of the stuff - not gonna apologize for that because it was fully self defense. But that... yeah."

"It's fine," Ed said. "Better to overreact than underestimate someone probably."

"It wasn't fine," Jim insisted. "It's not gonna happen again. We were... we were really jumpy. Roach made us a piñata and a cake and we nearly stabbed him. But still."

"A piñata?"

"Yeah, they wanted to like, blindfold us. To... reassure us we were safe and valued, I think?"

Ed blinked. This fucking crew.

"But yeah," Jim sighed. "You're safe and valued and shit, I guess. I don't have a piñata."

"That's okay," Ed said. "Don't need one."

[ladyluscinia]

Izzy Hands Is Manipulative, But Not That Way

...or I finally finish that long ass meta post about why I love the fucking Navy Plot lol

The Izzy manipulation debate has been really interesting to me pretty much since it started, because I'd see a post arguing he's manipulating Edward and go "No, and he couldn't if he tried" and then the next post would say he sucks at manipulation because he's a blunt fucking instrument and I'd go "Yea- wait. Hmm. No, he can be targeted and tricky as fuck." Which does, on its surface, seem like a contradictory stance, but I swear it works.

Because the thing with Izzy - and this is such a fun thing imo - is there are two core types of manipulation that characters engage in, and Izzy fucking sucks at the one you expect his style of antagonist to focus on. But he's scarily good at the other.

Long meta under the cut, so get comfy.

...

From his role under Edward to the protagonist vs antagonist dynamic setup to his introduction scenes, Izzy is very much invoking the conniving second in command. We know this character from other media. He doesn't have the full power he wants so he's constantly scheming to get it. He can't or won't challenge his boss for some reason, so he settles for being the devil on their shoulder or working behind their back. He's the voice constantly ready to inflame insecurities and turn relationship cracks into chasms, and usually he's lying constantly to do so. His fingerprints are all over his boss's problems up to the moment they show some weakness, and then their loyal second goes right for the backstab. He is THE ambitious manipulator. The shady advisor. The snake.

And then you actually look at Izzy and he is not that guy. In fact, it's a testament to the strength of Edward's character arc how much his evil little henchman is not causing his problems.

So - Izzy and manipulation:

Izzy Can't Convince People To Do Things

Like. He really can't.

This interpersonal struggle is fairly fundamental to his character. And moreover, it's a skill that Izzy is intensely aware that he lacks, so usually he doesn't even try.

In his first episode he walks right up to Buttons and just straight up asks him for the information on his party. He doesn't even resolve to steal the hostages until he realizes that Stede has lost them in the bush already, and Izzy obtains them by buying them. When Stede confronts him they end up splitting the pair in a very above-board negotiation and he pretty much just goes with what Stede suggests.

Then in 1x03, people make a big deal of Izzy "manipulating" Edward by not clarifying that Stede didn't know who he was when he turned down the invite, but kind of importantly he repeats the damning line of the conversation faithfully. If he was going to lie, then why not lie? Why even go see Stede at all? And, if he didn't want Stede dead until after the conversation (understandable, tbh, since "Iggy" was stab-worthy), surely he could invent a better insult to rile Edward up. It makes his omission hit more like being bitchy about Stede not recognizing the obvious - namely that Izzy Hands works for Blackbeard and literally everyone knows this - than a slander campaign to get him killed. And once we properly meet Izzy and Edward in 1x04, Izzy's inability to manipulate becomes his main struggle.

Izzy's a blunt and direct person. He leans on authority bestowed by Blackbeard to take control of situations, playing the role he's supposed to play, and without it he lacks a Plan B. In 1x04 he doesn't have any authority over Edward, so his efforts to get him to take the danger of the Spanish seriously amount to "Well as bored as you might be, if you don't make a decision soon we're gonna fucking die." And this is true! There might be a very subconscious attempt at manipulation in his resignation speech before the "That's Blackbeard. I'm Stede, remember?" line - of the piss him off to get him to get his shit together variety - but Edward literally makes a joke out of it so not exactly effective.

And once Edward stops giving Izzy authority in general, his plan to make Lucius do stuff is still just... brute force. Which works at first when Lucius doesn't realize that Izzy's on his own now, and stops working as soon as Fang breaks ranks. His last ditch blackmail attempt isn't manipulative either - he just plans to tell the truth to Pete and assumes he'll be pissed about it. My guy loses a fight over the pirate equivalent of making an uppity employee clean the coffee maker while the boss is out. Not only does he fail to manipulate the crew in a conniving antagonist way... he doesn't even try.

I mean, the only time he (somewhat) succeeds in talking someone into things is 1x06. Getting Edward to agree to killing Stede isn't really manipulation - Izzy gets Fang and Ivan to back him in a very straightforward way because they all actually do have a stake in this - but he's passably able to push Stede to go through with the fuckery via fake compliments. It's not exactly high level work, though. Stede being vulnerable to ego-stroking / dares is pretty obvious.

So what is Izzy good at?

Well, if you can't make people do anything other than what they were going to do in the first place, you might as well lean into that.

...

Izzy Manipulates Situations, Not People

Situational manipulation is one of those fictional tropes that rarely can happen in real life, but there's not much resemblance because real life rarely gives you all the building blocks for a proper gambit and lets you loose. Too many factors. In narratives, though? It becomes one of my favorite ways of having a character be clever.

And before I get into this too much, a really fun sidenote - I think Izzy does situational manipulation more like the way protagonists do it. See, antagonists are usually emotionally and situationally manipulative (ex: provoking the hero to lash out and using it to frame them for a bigger crime), but it's not a good look when your hero drives the target to do something bad and then punishes them for it. So heroes lean on stuff like Batman Gambits - where the lynchpin of the scheme is the target fucking themselves over by behaving completely in character. They've written Izzy so ineffective at emotional manipulation that he pretty much has to rely on other characters' flaws or histories to cause problems, which has a very similar result. And it's wild.

...

Going back to the 1x03 confrontation in Jackie's bar, Izzy doesn't really do anything abnormal in how he conducts himself, but people are picking up on an agenda for a reason. Namely, the whole damn conversation quickly turns into a trap, and Izzy fully sits back and watches Stede spring it from sheer idiocy.

There's no indication that when Izzy walked up he wasn't going to carry out his task with all the bitchy professionalism expected of him, while probably hoping that Stede would eventually stick his foot in his mouth without Izzy's help (assuming he's the kind of idiot Izzy thinks he is). His first section of this conversation is nearly polite:

Izzy (about the Nose Jar): "I have a few colleagues in there." Stede: "Ugh. You again." Geraldo: "Mr. Hands, welcome. It's been a while." Izzy: "(To Geraldo) Yeah, because I hate this fucking place. (To Stede) But for some inexplicable reason, my boss would like a word with you. Bonnet."

It's not until Stede starts talking that I think Izzy clues in that Stede doesn't actually know who his boss is. He didn't introduce himself until the literal last second of their 1x02 interaction, so it wasn't obvious Stede wasn't literally bolting into the forest in horrified realization.

And Stede? He goes hard on being a bitch right out the gate. Brushes Izzy off, tells him to "get in line", calls him the wrong name, says he doesn't care who Izzy is...

Izzy so far has met Stede in a public place, in front of people who clearly treat Izzy with respect and fear. He doesn't bring up their previous interaction, Stede does. He doesn't even goad Stede beyond existing. He corrects him on his name, and watches it not register in the slightest. The next line is the clincher:

Izzy (slightly incredulous): "So I'll tell my Captain that you're declining then, yeah?"

As Izzy is speaking the conversation becomes a trap - he chooses a reasonable way to refer to Edward that isn't "Blackbeard" and waits to see if Stede will make this worse. The jump from "no I'm busy" to "tell him he has terrible taste in flunkies and he can go suck eggs in Hell" is all Stede, completely ignoring context clues as Geraldo stares on in horror. Hell, Jackie only refrains from later de-nosing Stede on the spot because Geraldo knows what's up, and Stede still doesn't pick up on the fact he should maybe be asking some questions (though I'll give him the knife was distracting).

Izzy returns to the ship, quotes Stede directly for his damning line, and waits to see what Edward will do with it. It's not good behavior on his part (and if he could have seen the future he might have tried worse), but switching mid-conversation to offering Stede an opportunity to fuck himself over is a very different mindset than simply lying to / provoking Stede or Edward to get what he wants. He's mostly being petty.

Stede did insult Edward of his own volition, after all, and just because Izzy fudges the truth to hide he didn't know he was insulting Blackbeard instead of just Izzy and a random stranger doesn't change that. All Izzy did to "escalate" that conversation was give Stede a second opening to do so himself.

But there is a far better example of Izzy masterfully manipulating a situation than this in-the-moment bit of pettiness, so let's move onto my favorite bit... explaining in extensive and slightly awestruck detail why the Navy plot. Fucking. Rules. Because it does. Ready?

...

How to Mastermind the Decisive Removal of One Stupid Fucking Stede Bonnet Over Drinks

Ahem. The Navy plot. Masterclass in intimate betrayal. Izzy's biggest escalation in the total collapse of Edward and Izzy's relationship, but also a completely fucking fascinating glimpse into whatever tangled web of codependency they've got going on, because Edward isn't even mad after 1x09. This wordcount is going to be insane enough without me getting into the Blackhands relationship connotations, so I will... attempt... to stick to breaking down the actual scheme.

And what a scheme it was.

Let's start at the beginning. Jack showing up to lure them into the trap at the start of 1x08? Nope, earlier. Izzy getting kicked off the ship and going to Jackie at the end of 1x06? Further back. Edward proposing the "kill Stede" plan at the end of 1x04, which is the domino that starts all this, right? Closer, but still no.

Izzy's first appearance on screen is in episode 1x02, and that episode is where the seeds of the Navy plot are first planted. See, during Stede's confrontation with Izzy, both of the hostages chime in:

Hostage 1 (Wellington): "Believe him, he's quite insane." Hostage 2 (Hornberry): "He does have the eyes of a madman. Sorry, you do."

Wellington says his line in a tone of voice that clearly indicates a story to tell, and it should also be noted that he is the same one who earlier jumped at the chance to tell the tribe chief about Stede murdering their captain - Nigel. And he's the one that Izzy leaves with, in a sour mood and wanting information about this "Stede Bonnet" character.

When Izzy later reaches out to the Navy, it's no coincidence that he finds Chauncey. He's known since right after their first meeting that Stede was directly responsible for the murder of an Admiral's brother and that the English Navy would know soon enough, since he was literally about to ransom a hostage back to them who would tell the story. And he filed that information away until it was useful or relevant like a clever pirate should.

Moving on to Jackie's bar in 1x03, Izzy gets more potentially useful observations / inspiration. Jackie is actually the first person in the series to make a deal with a naval power. Izzy and crew track the Revenge to the Spanish warship, which means they must see Geraldo sold out Stede to them. Izzy isn't stupid. He knows Geraldo and Spanish Jackie, knows that she's the brains and brawn behind this deal, and has seen enough of Stede that he'd absolutely believe that he did something to get Jackie pissed enough to plot his murder. File away Jackie wants Stede dead and details of how she nearly succeeded in offing him for later.

Izzy spends 1x05 up to the fuckery demonstration observing Stede's crew while waiting for Edward to pull the trigger. I definitely want to note the scene where they interrogate the Frenchman at the beginning of 1x05, because Izzy is staring directly at Stede as he leans away from Edward threatening violence (we know this will later be in his love montage so not actually a turn off, lol, but like... it looked like one). His opinion of the crew is that they like to fuck around without structure (1x05 during the party), probably that they enjoy more standard pirate levels of violence (not shown directly since they are kept out of the 1x05 raid, but fairly obvious), and that they are really easily awestruck by the chance to hear "real pirates" tell charismatic stories (1x06 ghost story).

Any of that sounding like someone we know?

And now to go back to Izzy in 1x06, when he gets sick of Edward being cagey about the plan to kill Stede and decides to "make" him stop stalling, he's straightforward again. Getting Ivan and Fang to back him isn't emotionally manipulative, but it does give him weight in the conversation. They are the ones who bring up the whole "love of a pet makes a man weak" thing, and they do it in the context of calling out hypocrisy. Izzy knows the standards Edward holds his crew to. He lets them convince Edward it's time.

Taking the chance to suggest Stede try a fuckery is a strong blend of situational and emotional manipulation, and later challenging him to a formal duel knowing he'd be overconfident enough to accept is more situational again. Even the terms of the duel are designed to take advantage of the situation. And then Izzy loses in the most comedy way possible, Edward lets him get banished, and Izzy decides that if he was ok with just sending Stede Bonnet on his way to fuck-off before... he's fucking gonna kill him now.

My guy is not a creative thinker, but he's definitely a logistical one. And as he rows away from that ship, all the pieces fall into place.

First, Spanish Jackie. Who listens to him bemoan his relationship woes because she likes him (Izzy gets Jackie in the divorce). Who wants Stede dead and has the clout to summon and deal with a distasteful ally - Chauncey. Together, they concoct an arrangement where a trap will be set and Chauncey gets Stede and only Stede. This isn't a tip-off or a free-for-all. Stede comes from Chauncey's world and they are sending him back. Permanently.

Then it's time for the trap itself, which needs to do two things: get the Revenge somewhere that Chauncey can corner it, and get Edward out of there. And Izzy? Izzy knows Edward. Knows there's one particular person in his past that will have no trouble integrating with the crew, getting Edward to act more like a pirate than a gentleman, and who happens to have a great ambush location on hand.

I've said this before but I'm gonna say it again - I don't think outside characters realize how hard and fast Edward is falling for Stede. The BlackBonnet bonding moments happen almost exclusively when they are alone. The place Izzy dramatically fails to manipulate the situation is not having the evidence he would need to predict Edward going back for Stede. He (and Jack) both think that a precise wedge between BlackBonnet - one that Jack delivers near flawlessly by playing into real issues - will be enough to remind Edward that Stede isn't his people. This isn't a plan to murder the love of Edward's life while his back is turned. It's a plan to get rid of Stede, and remind Edward why he was on board with doing that in the first place. "That's fair," Izzy says about a punch to the face.

Instead, Izzy's plot accidentally backs Edward into a corner and forces him to publicly pull a grand-gesture relationship level-up that he was not emotionally ready for, and the fallout from that explosion is way worse than any of our conspirators were counting on.

Still... you gotta admit. It was a really good plan.

[cononeillbreastingboobily]

Stede and Ed really suck this season. Looking back, lots of their scenes were extremely cinematic and/or quotable: the dream sequence at the start, the mermaid scene, the thing about breathing the same air, the kiss under the moonlight, them banging with fireworks going off outside, Ed reading Stede's letter, the kiss and love confession during the fight with the English, and finally them standing together in the dilapidated house that is supposedly going to become their inn.

It felt heavily like style over substance. Meanwhile they spent the entire season flip flopping between being together, breaking up, taking things slow, taking things fast. It led to a severe case of arrested development for both of them, because at the end of the season neither of them really changed, they never talked through their issues which could help progress their relationship in a meaningful way.

I mean hell, Stede is worse this season than he was before. In the past he was self-centred and a bit of a dick, sure, but at the end of the day he did seem to care about his crew. And there he is, being the one to suggest that Ed go back to the ship and the crew, one half of which he marooned, and the other he spent weeks or months traumatizing. And on the same day that the very crew unanimously decided to kick Ed off the ship. Like??

Ed, similarly, seemed so... Confused is probably the best word to describe him this season. And I don't even mean the character himself, but the way he was written. We have established looong ago that he doesn't want to be a pirate anymore, yet after he abandons his leathers, he immediately retrieves them within like one day. And sure, he did it to protect Stede. But then he kinda... Did a complete 180° and suddenly wants to actually go back to piracy? Then he's supposed to rejoin the crew of the Revenge only to then stay on land with Stede with the intention to run an inn?

He seems all over the place, and not in a way that feels interesting or entertaining anymore. I mean hell, the first three episodes of the season were amazing, and he was definitely one of the highlights of them. He was incredibly intense in everything he did, hurting, heartbreaking, wanting to go down and willing to take the entire world with him. Those three episodes were probably my favourite bit of television that I've ever seen.

But then... Stede showed up.

And in the end Ed got reduced to this hollow character that doesn't seem to know what he wants at all, and it feels like it's going to bite him in the ass very soon, and hard. He didn't do any of the heavy lifting of development he could've or should've gone through. Izzy did. And then he bled out in Ed's arms.

What worries me is that DJenkins said in interviews before that ideally the show is supposed to end after three seasons, and (if we get season 3 at all, that is) if that is the case, if Ed and Stede are supposed to get a happy ending together that is meant to feel earned and gratifying, they won't have nearly enough time for it. I mean, they hardly talk about the things that matter, that are important to talk about if you want to have a serious relationship with another person. And sure, they might both feel this intense pull towards one another, but that isn't nearly enough to make it work between them. For one, love sometimes simply isn't enough. And I hope that they realize it in time.

[pearwaldorf]

I have been trying to write this on and off for a while. I figure the second anniversary of the show is as fine an occasion as any to shove it out into the world. It is not everything I want to say about it, but I think the important bits are there.

It is a human impulse to be seen. To be told, through art, you are not alone. It is universal, but of special importance to people who are not well-represented in media (i.e. everybody who isn’t cis, white, able-bodied, skinny, and conventionally attractive).   

This show speaks to me as a queer person who figured things out later than most of my peers. (Not quite as late as Ed and Stede but not terribly far off either.) It’s not super common to see queer media address this, and I didn’t realize how much I needed that reassurance until I got it. That it’s okay to find these things any time in your life. To be told “A queer is never late, they’re always fashionably on-time.” 

They’re not my first canon queer ship. But they are the first ones where I knew it was true from the get-go. Multiple people assured me this was the case. And yet, I still didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own two eyes. This experience is not unusual for fans around my age.  

After I finished up season one, I laid in bed and cried. It’s not something I thought would affect me so much, but it feels like a weight I’d carried so long I didn’t realize it wasn’t supposed to be part of me is gone.

One of the reasons people unfamiliar with the fandom seem to think it’s absolutely crazy (which some of it is, to be fair, but every fandom has that) is the way fans of the show get extremely super intense about it. It took me a few weeks to realize this is a trauma response. I’m not even sure “trauma” is the right word. It doesn’t interfere with my day to day function, but it lasted for years. Decades. So it was definitely something that fucked me up. And in the way you can only start to see something as you’re moving past it, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get my head around this. (I don’t know if I have anything to say about it yet. Maybe I need more time to sit with it.)

I know this sounds contrary, but I’m really glad David Jenkins does not come from fandom. Sometimes it’s good to know where a line is, and others it’s better to not know there’s a line at all. And this is, sad to say, remarkable to somebody who has had to deal with this for so long. With so many writers and showrunners aware of the line, and getting right up next to it, but never crossing it.

Imagine doing a show with a queer romance and not understanding why this was received with such emotion and fervor, because it’s just two people in love right? What blissful ignorance that this needed to be explained to him! And then he listened to people’s experiences with queerbaiting, and went “Oh my god you thought I was going to do WHAT?” And then you go “Huh. That is really fucked up.” 

The problem with being told something enough, even though you know it’s wrong, is you start to believe it regardless. All the excuses and hedging. It’s so very difficult to do they tell us, when we hear from queer creators how they had fight tooth and nail to make it as gay as it already was. 

And then comes Jenks, just yeeting it out there: majority queer and (not and/or. and) POC cast, an openly non-binary person playing an openly non-binary character. The ability to not have to make one queer (and/or) POC character speak for everybody, so you can inject a tiny bit of nuance into the conversation. The way you can tell more kinds of stories, like the one where the smol angry internalized homophobe comes into his own with the support of a queer community, even though he was a giant fucking asshole to them before.

So many people were like “You can just DO that? It’s really that easy?” And wasn’t that a fucking Situation, to have that curtain pulled aside. What next? Majority POC casts with stories about POC written by POC? Absolute madness. (Please please watch The Brothers Sun on Netflix. It’s so fucking good.) 

And people will scoff and say “Of course a cishet(?) white man would be able to get this pushed through.” But do they usually? The thing I don’t think people understand about allies is they use their privilege to wedge the door open. You still have to do the work to get through, but at least you have a place to start. And it really fucking matters.

The press keeps trying to tell me The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is the OFMD substitute we need while we float in the gravy basket. I’m sure it’s a perfectly fine show, but I don’t know who has watched OFMD and decided the itch we needed scratched was anachronistic historical comedy.

I want stories written by people that reflect their lived experiences, with actors and crew committed to bringing that to life. And I would like streamers and studios to commit to giving them a chance, and marketing them properly so people know they exist. 

You can keep people satisficed with scraps for only so long. At some point, somebody is going to give them a whole seven course dinner and people will wonder why they’ve been putting up with starving this entire time.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Another thing I just adore about Ed and Stede's dynamic is Ed certainly does not NEED anyone to protect him. He's a very competent person who is extremely successful and has a reputation built on being brilliant and a tactical genius. It would be so, so easy for Stede's desire to help and protect Ed to come across as condescending at best and racist at worst.

But it doesn't, because Stede isn't perfomative about it. He doesn't walk around acting like Ed is helpless or stupid. He just responds, earnestly and genuinely, when he sees Ed is in distress.

Take the party in s1e5 for example. Ed is visibly very upset, and even though Stede stops him from going back in there, we know that Ed could probably easily find a way to terrify the people who were so cruel to him. He's only got one single-shot gun, sure, but we know Ed's smart enough he could figure this out. But Stede tells Ed that he'll deal with it, and he embarasses them, gets them to light their ship on fire, and Ed looks at him like he just hung the fucking stars in the sky.

Has anyone ever stood up for Ed like this before? Ever? Is it any wonder we first see Ed thinking about kissing Stede right after this?

And then Ned Low is the other obvious example. Other people have rightly pointed out that the moment Ned died was when he was playing with Ed's hair, mocking him, and we see Stede's furious face. Ned just signed his own death certificate, he just didn't know it yet, because Stede was never going to let him leave his ship alive after that. They go out of their way this episode to show us how Ned is insulting, mocking, and racist towards Ed to make sure we know exactly why Stede was never going to let him live.

And, yes, Ed did tell Stede that he shouldn't kill Ned, trying to protect Stede. But Ed isn't surprised when Stede does it - at worst, he feels bad that Stede thought the "poison" of killing someone was worth it because of Ed. I think Ed knew, at least on some level, especially after what happened to those rich racist dickheads - he can count on Stede making people who are awful to him pay for it.

I love that Stede will take people insulting him without blinking an eye all day, but the second they're mean to Ed it's fucking on sight. No one insults his princess and gets away with it. And I'm sure Ed feels bad that Stede does these things for him, but I hope he's starting to realize that he deserves to be cared for the way Stede looks out for him. These two want to protect each other so bad.

In conclusion, I guess: if you're staying at their inn and you say a single mean thing to Ed, you better start fuckin' running

[youmagnificentbeast]

i really don't want to be the party pooper but so many people just celebrating the kiss and what comes after, implying they "made love". let me break this down real quick.

spoiler break for long-ish post and... uh spoilers for episode 6

so, stede has just killed a man. against ed's advice, because he knew what it'd do to him. izzy tells ed to not go after him, that the first one's always a mindfuck. but ed follows him anyway (probably because he was alone with his thoughts when he killed his father and had to process things, maybe he wished someone was with him back then and that's why)

so ed knocks on stede's door and waits. stede opens the door, ed starts talking but stede is overwhelmed, not able to talk, maybe still in the adrenaline rush? he grabs ed. now their faces...

[gif by ratchet]

stede is out of his mind here. he's still in survival mode, and the only way he can think of "processing" the turmoil he's in is by grabbing his anchor, his love. this entire interaction is passionate, sure, but look at his fucking face. he's so conflicted, shellshocked, in pain. ed is also completely surprised by this, of course, since he knows how stede is usually pretty level-headed and wants to talk things though (which is what he very much expected to do here)

[gif by ratchet]

ed is realizing here what's happening. gives stede a little nod, implying consent. he's carefully assessed the situation, has realized talking won't help stede right now. i feel like he's been in this situation before (using sex as unhealthy coping mechanism) and he decides it's the only way he can bring any kind of comfort to stede right now.

i don't think there's much more to say about the kiss itself honestly.

[gif by blakbonnet]

look at ed. his clothes are still on for fuck's sake!! just that should tell you he's not very enthusiastic about this, but his face seals the deal. he's fucking concerned, maybe even afraid. in turmoil himself, remembering how he said "let's take this slow" and thinking "well, this is it i guess". just because he loves stede so much and wants to comfort him he lets them cross the boundary he set, pushing his emotions aside.

so yeah, sure they fucked, but they didn't make love. this was for survival. for coping.

[izzyhandswhore]

ALRIGHT SO,SINCE REQUESTES ARE OPEN, I hope you'll write this. Izzy slowly falling in love with Stede's sister reader,and Stede's reaction to it

((Thank you so much for my first request!! Absolutely love this idea. I'm gonna split it into two parts since it got a bit long. So Izzy reacting to it, then Stede)) Izzy falling in love with a Bonnet. - Slowly is right. Izzy meets you at a very turbulent time in his life and he thinks the last thing he needs is more dead weight.. Though of course you prove yourself to be anything but that. - He'll never forget the first time he laid eyes on you. Just when he thought he'd seen every absurd thing The Revenge could throw at him.. There you were. The final and most complex puzzle. - Everything about you confounds him and winds him up because really, in theory, he should hate you the way he hates Bonnet, but somehow.. He just can't. When Stede wears finery it looks garish and stupid, but on you it's perfect. When Stede wears something more pirate-like he looks like a boy playing dress up, but you look different and daring. - Claims he won't go easy on you just 'cause you're a lady (and my GOD does he love teasing and making fun of you for being 'a lady') but the whole crew notices right away that he does. You're not sure if it's subconscious or not, but Izzy never really raises his voice at you, never demands to know what you're doing and putting you to work in your downtime, never threatens to take away rations and always makes sure you have time to eat.. The list goes on. - Basically at first he's a lot of bark and no bite. He refuses to call you by your name only ever sarcastically or venomously refers to you as "my lady" or "your highness" or, if you've really got on his nerves, "madam" or "princess". - The score stays even though. He is VERY easy to get flustered, especially since it's been a while since he's had female company. The smallest of things (the way your hair or skirt blows in in the breeze, your voice, your touch or even the way you look at him sometimes) often catch him off guard. - But then things start to shift. Izzy can be pretty observant and it doesn't escape his notice that you're not as useless as he first thought. The total opposite, in fact.. Slowly a mutual respect starts to form. He even starts calling you by your name and seeking out your company instead of only talking to you when necessary. - Instead of mocking you or discouraging you from taking part in things like sword fighting and the running of a ship, you find he actually becomes your greatest guide. The two of you take to sword training in the quieter moments and star gazing navigating under the stars at night, just the two of you. - In return you actually get him to open up and talk about his feelings (though he would deny instantly that that's what it was). He tells you about life on the Queen Anne and listens when you tell him about your own life before The Revenge. You slowly dismantle the idea that you and Stede had a picture-perfect childhood and the respect grows to admiration as he realizes how strong you actually are. - Stede and the crew have no idea what you did but they notice a change in Izzy after that. He's still, as Stede would say, a complete arsehole, but his edges seems slightly softer somehow. At the very least he doesn't seem as stressed out all the time. - It's hard, but eventually you can get him to start accepting some of your fancy gifts. He wouldn't be caught dead with any of them, but he has a ring on a chain around his neck, beneath his shirt close to his heart. - Secretly wishes to be married so you don't have to have the name "Bonnet" anymore. He's not convinced you are a Bonnet anyway. There's no way you could be related to that foppish twat.

[everyscreentoobeseen]

Hold on, why do yall think Stede's choice to kill Ned was a WHIM?????

First of all, this isnt the first time Stede got someone killed. Chuancy was an accident, but he did use the stun move. All of ep 2 s1 was about Stede learning how to deal with it. He still feels bad but as he told the natives. He dosen't feel bad that Chauncey is dead. His crew was under threat. So he stopped Badminton from hurting them. His bad feelings came from somewhere else.

Nighel Badminton got himself killed but it did make Stede run back home and face his problems. When he does go back home he tells the other rich guys.

"I've seen death. Been the cause of it. It changes you."

He already knows what it's like be a killer!

But everytime it wasn't his choice. The Badmintons were accidents. He never got to actually choose to be a killer.

That's why when Ned Low invaded his "safe space ship", captured his crew (family) and tortured not only them but also The Love of his Life, Making it into a fucked up PERFORMANCE! All his life bullies found fun in torturing him. Why would this guy be any different.

Hell yeah he was ready to kill him.

Of course, this time he gets to choose. This is not him using a stun move. He is now the conducter of Ned's death and he'll be damned if it's not done His Way.

He's not gonna stab him. It's not gonna be messy. It's not gonna be fast like a gunshot or a stab through the head.

He is going to make Ned SUFFER. Force him to walk the plank. Throw his precious violin in his face and let him drown. It's clean. It's poetic. It's outsourcing the big job to nature. Just like killing spiders.

But Ned continues to demean him. "You know once you kill me your a real pirate. Your not an amateur anymore." Even after everything Stede has been through. Not matter how much he's grown, the world still thinks he's playing at pirating.

The Badmintons dont count.

EVEN ED THINKS SO!

"Once you've killed in cold blood. You cant come back."

Well Chuancy's death was cold blooded wasn't it? Stede snuck him from behind. The boat fire that he caused isn't enough either. When Ed burns a boat, it's murder. But when Stede does it it's "quirky". Stede ALREADY considered himself a killer but NO ONE ELSE DOES. (not even the fandom apparently.)

Yes, he wanted to prove himself. But I don't think that was the thought process until Ned brought it up.

Stede did not hesitate on Ned's death until the others made him question himself. He was completely set on making sure Ned wasn't a threat to his ship. He was so sure of making him walk the plank. It was PLANNED from the moment he put the plank down and the other boat left. What's one more death? But then everyone was treating him like a innocent child?? Like he's doing something unlike him?

He HAD TO PROVE to everyone in that moment that he could kill Ned because no one RECOGNIZED that he was ALREADY a killer.

Him killing Ned became a point to make once he realized there was even a point to be made.

The only reason that he felt even a little bad about it was because Ed asked him not to. He felt like he let Ed down. That maybe Edward like Stede Bonnet, Landed Gentry Pretending to Be A Pirate more than Stede Bonnet, Real Pirate. Because he realized how much he's changed. No more Gentleman, now he's just a Pirate.

That's why he Sped Things Up with Ed. He wanted Ed to prove that he could handle not so innocent Stede FUCKING Bonnet. That he wouldn't leave Stede after seeing this new side of him. He gets consent and then goes on to have the man of his dreams after saving him. How romantic male lead of him.

Of course the NEXT FUCKING DAY HE GETS TOLD IT WAS A MISTAKE!!!! THAT HE'S NOT READY FOR "WHATEVER THIS IS".

How on earth was Stede not supposed to take this as "I dont like the you that isn't soft, isn't insecure, isnt in need of protection." That Ed is leaving to become a fisherman because he cant stand Stede being the messy one for once in his life.

Maybe it was trauma. Maybe it was a show of toxic masculinity. But dont pretend like Stede did it on a WHIM.