#ofmd pls come back to me

[babylawyerruns]

Wearing my Our flag means death shirt to manifest some sort of announcement soon. I miss them!! Come back to me!!

[enjoy-guilt]

Stede and Ed are both a Nietzsche-ian fish (ofmd season 2 spoilers)

I’m having a massive brain rot so stay with me pls

The people who watched Hannibal are probably aware of the term “Nietzsche-ian fish”. I did my research back then to understand what Hannibal meant exactly, so what if I tell you that Stede and Ed are also a “Nietzsche-ian fish”? 

In Season 2 Episode 5, Ed and Stede are having this conversation:

Ed: Sometimes it’s nice to be patient. And wait. You can’t catch your fish unless the fish wants to be caught.

Stede: And you are the fish?

Ed: We are the fish, I guess. I think?

Stede: Okay.

And in Season 2 Episode 7:

Ed: You said it was a good fish.

Stede: It was a fine fish. It was… whatever.

Ed: Whatever? You don’t want to take my fishing seriously, fine. 

Stede: Come on, it’s not about that.

Ed: It’s everything about that. It’s everything about fishing! 

Ed: Fishermen and pirates are nothing alike.

Stede: You are a coward!

---

In “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, Zarathustra at some point describes himself fishing. He believes that only the worthy fish will be caught. He doesn’t have time for net-fishing, because with this fishing technique there is a high risk of catching bad fish. But with his own way, that he calls “angle-fishing”, he won’t. He uses this technique: an angled rod and bait. With the best bait he will allure “the strangest human fish”. Only in high mountains, Zarathustra says, can one fish effectively for the “strangest” and “finest” “human fish,” for  altitude requires an effort that only the finest can deliver. He says that other Gods might want to “cast their nets into the human sea,” but he himself chooses to fish with bait and hooks—not nets— and only in mountain lakes. 

Net-fishing is not selective (just like farmed fish is not selective), unlike angling. Not all fish are worthy, and in order to catch only the “finest” fish, one must not catch the helpless and passive fish as in a net. On the contrary, we want a process where the fish chooses the fisherman in an active way. 

Now, let me explain a bit what I mean by farmed fish. A farmed fish is defined by its captivity, the only environment known to it is the one it was put in, it was meant to be there and be caught. Therefore, a farmed fish has no free will. But a sea fish is free and is able to make decisions. It’s more flavorful and firm because it's experiencing the world only as relevant to its own existence. A farmed fish has limited abilities, its world is not the truth, but rather something that someone else decided for it. But a wild fish is able to explore, to live, to make decisions. To experience the world without anyone intruding into its existence.

This is interesting when we think of Stede and Ed. Stede only managed to meet Ed because he escaped his environment, he escaped the “farm” he was put in and decided to explore the world, to make decisions, to live. Or better, Ed met Stede because Stede became part of the wild sea. Stede was ready to be caught on a fisherman’s bait the moment he left the environment he was in and became a wild fish. 

It’s also interesting to note how Ed joined Stede’s world. How they shared their worlds to each other and got to experience something entirely, got to experience both of their realities until they created their own. Ed’s life is not the way it was before and Stede’s life is not the way it was before. But both of their realities exist in a world they created. 

The fisherman and the fish belong to each other. One finds those that belong to one by fishing and being fished. So one must follow one’s taste in both senses of the word: our taste will lead us to those we have a taste for, just as well as our taste will attract those that have a taste for us. That leads to a healing relationship of shared presence. They were both willing to fish and to be fished, if they weren’t they wouldn't end up meeting each other. Both need a healing relationship after everything they’ve been through, and it’s important to keep in mind they were the ones causing each other pain. In “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” Nietzsche writes: “And whatever in all the seas belongs to me, my actual me in all things – fish that out for me, bring that up to me – that’s what I’m waiting for, I the most spiteful of all fishermen.”

A fisherman spends a long time until he catches a good fish, and an active fish takes its time until a bait seems worthy enough. A process that is long and even painful. 

Nietzsche insists that there is only one appropriate way for someone to fish. The few who can be fished must be selected according to two criteria.

they must be active in their own capture. Net-caught fish does not get caught as a result of their behaviour, only as a result of their presence (that’s why I said that farmed fish has no free will. Farmed fish is passive and unworthy). Nietzsche-ian fishing is intended to heal solitude.

They will be chosen according to their tastes. Only a select few will be attracted to the bait Nietzsche and Zarathustra uses.

Angle-fishing in mountain waters (this is where Zarathustra fishes) translates into the selection of superior men, and therefore allows the solitary philosopher to gain “company”. Nietzsche is clear: bad company is not a company at all. The company he seeks is a company of equals. It is because the fish eats the bait that the angler eats the fish. For Nietzsche, angler and bait ate one and the same. The angler places pieces of himself on the hook, pieces of the self that he is. The new self that he is.

The angler is not fully passive either. In the same way as the fish’s activity relies on the angler’s passivity and vice-versa, we may see that the relations between fish and angler are constantly reversed. So are the relations between Stede and Ed. They charge from being the fisherman to being the fish and vice versa, therefore they are the same. 

This mutual reduction, of course, is but an echo of the mutual encounter of the fisherman with the fish, and indeed, their mutual catching. Only the superior shall be attracted to this bait. The idea of ownership, which Zarathustra reiterates, doesn’t suggest that one subdues the fish they catch but rather, that the kindred spirits naturally belong to each other without being reduced to each other. For in the same way as one may be affected with “habits” that “do not belong to” one, one may be distinct from what belongs to them.

Ed says that they are both the fish, and Stede agrees. They both agreed that they were caught by each other. They were both patient and waited for each other no matter how painful it was. They remained and when they were ready they were caught on each other’s bait.

When Stede agreed with Ed that the fish was “a fine fish” (he also called it beautiful in the first conversation), after taking all of this in consideration, I believe that he basically agreed that it was all worth it. All the waiting, all the fighting, all the wounds. It all happened for a reason and that reason was for them to be ready to be caught. Their relationship wouldn’t work if one of them were to pull his rod out of the wild waters. Their relationship wouldn’t work if Stede were to remain captured in his old life and stop looking for a worthy bait to eat (I dare to say that his old life was given to him because of the environment he grew up in, he was meant to get married, he was meant to live his life, therefore his wife was a net-caught fish), or if Ed were to remain in his dark place as Blackbeard without acknowledging his feelings and his needs.

But then Stede says that it was “whatever”. It was at that point in their relationship that Stede started changing. He wasn’t feeling like he was enough so he tried to become what Blackbeard was because Ed was all he ever wanted/wanted to be. This is exactly what Stede was to Ed too. So when they started changing they weren’t attracted to each other. Stede was looking for Ed and Ed was looking for Stede. They were with themselves for long enough, and when their roles reversed (I’m not talking about their roles as the fish and the fisherman, these are always changing) they felt like they weren’t good together. They weren’t looking for someone like them, they were looking for someone “strange”, for someone to have their taste, for someone to want them for what they were. We could see from the beginning that Ed was getting excited by Stede’s reality, he was showing his interest in the books, the clothes, when everyone else didn’t feel the same way. And Stede never saw Ed the way others saw him, always appreciating his reality and wanting to be part of it. And by the end of season two they managed to balance everything out, they returned to themselves but in a reality they created just for them, where they could exist together. 

Then Ed says “you don’t want to take my fishing seriously” and that I believe that right there Ed thought that he was wrong. That Stede couldn’t take seriously everything they went through, that he wasn’t taking seriously the harm that he caused him, that he wasn’t taking seriously all the time he waited for him. When Stede left to go back to his wife (when him and Ed were supposed to leave together) it was proof to Ed that Stede wasn’t taking their relationship seriously. Like Ed says, “it’s everything about fishing”, it’s everything about the time they put into this, it’s everything about not reducing themselves in front of the other, it’s everything about what they did and how they were drawn to each other. It’s everything about not changing themselves and remaining the way they were. 

Ed then says that “pirates and fishermen are nothing alike”, and even though I’m still not sure what it means exactly, I believe he’s referring to their nature. A fisherman needs to be calm, to not talk much, to be patient, to cast his rod and simply wait for something worthy to come to him. A pirate is loud, he will attack, he will steal. A pirate will forcibly take what doesn’t belong to him, he won’t wait for something special. A pirate will cast a net and take whatever is caught in there, but a fisherman will wait for what belongs to him to eat the one bait he made for it. I believe that’s the main difference. 

Nietzsche used fish to describe loneliness. A loneliness that will be healed, gone with the help of a worthy companion. There is a Nietzsche saying that I really like: “My solitariness which, as on very high mountains, has often made me gasp for breath and lose blood, is now at least a solitude for two.” In the last episode we are shown just that, a solitude for two, while carrying the wounds and memories with them (I’d like to use Izzy’s grave for that, a constant reminder of the life they are leaving behind).

Their roles are constantly changing, and they have been playing with that since season one. In 1x04 they changed their clothes, Ed became Stede and Stede became Blackbeard. In that episode Stede was the one to give Ed marmalade and in 2x07 it was Ed that served marmalade to Stede. The scene in the moonlight is, I believe, the perfect example. In 1x05 Stede said to Ed “you wear fine things well” and then Ed said the same thing to Stede in 2x05. In 1x08 we see Stede on a boat and on his way to find Ed, and in 2x08 we see Ed on a boat and on his way to find Stede.

So, in conclusion, they are both the fish and that means that they are both the fisherman, both of them searching for each other until they found themselves in a solitude for two.

[rotato-potato]

can someone make an ofmd edit to cardigan particularly the part where it says I knew you’d come back to me pls thank you

[nobie]

I watched ofmd s2 e2 but it’s just me screaming…

oh. “You wear fine things well.” Ed is wife. Oh baby is going through it. OH ZHENG I LOVE YOU QUEEN. THE GASP I JUST GUSPED OMF LUCIUS DJSKSJJSDJJDDJ OMFJS MU BABYYY HE BACK OH IM CRYING SO GAY ILY. AWWWW BLACK PETE MY HEART IM SOBBING PLS. Ed with her hair up pls I’m on my knees. Just give me one chance. Buttons being a sea witch…on brand. Ed is so mother in these scenes. OMF JIM JUST HOLDING HIS ROTTING LEF WTF. “But he’s our dick.” JIMS JAWLINE. OLU AND JIM GOING ON DIFFERENT JOURNEYS WOW. They’re getting proper food!! Lucius is going through it my baby. I’ll apologize on behalf of stede im sorry. “Have you come to take the other one.” Oh my fuck he’s traumatized. Why can gay people just be normal and stop pointing guns at each other. “I loved you.” HUH WHAT. So bbg. Stede is the definition of “I can fix him.” Izzy in the rain is something that can be personal. Wow.

[demonblush]

okay hi here are my thoughts on todays new OFMD episodes :)

fun and games:

-girl ohhhhh my god the scene when ed was chained up and his arm. HIS ARM!!!2!:&(&($28304!; IM GONNA EAT HIM ALIVE HES SO FINE

-who’s trying to be two lesbian pirates who ran off to the jungle to sell fuckin nothing to fuckin no one with me. just curious

-i miss u buttons. i’m sure it’s amazing being a seagull and all but come back king ur literally one of the best characters

-IZZY AND HIS NEW PEG. OH MY GODDDDD BITCH THATS HIS HOOF!!!!!!!!

the curse of the seafaring life:

-AHHHHH WE GOT ANOTHER KISS OH MY GODDDDDD THEYRE SO SWEET….. oh they make me so fucking soft

-frenchie. my beloved frenchie i’m drawing hearts all around him he was so fucking cute this episode. even tho he didn’t have as many lines. also him finding out about his peanut allergy was so like. Dude what did u even do back then. did people just. die of peanuts. someone pls tell me

-the hand holding. and stede’s soft “you won.” OH MY GOD THEY MAKE ME SICK

-izzy i fucking love u so much. he was so impressed by stede’s in the moment captaining. so good

-OH MY GOD?!?!?!? FUCKING LUCIUS AND BLACK PETE ARE GETTING FUCKING MARRIED OHHHHHHH MY GODDDDDD IM SO SO FUCKING HAPPY

tldr; these new episodes put a grin on my face. my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. such good episodes i cant wait for next week

[robinisademon]

I posted 3,553 times in 2022

That's 2,022 more posts than 2021!

11 posts created (0%)

3,542 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@aroacevaljean

@mcrbois

@veshille

@snowy-sniper

@wizardsisananimal

I tagged 2,060 of my posts in 2022

Only 42% of my posts had no tags

#mcr - 858 posts

#g - 705 posts

#art - 469 posts

#ofmd - 256 posts

#sandman - 87 posts

#q - 63 posts

#esc22 - 37 posts

#green dress tm art ref time - 35 posts

#jellycat - 34 posts

#les mis - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#but however i have been seeing the trend in university lately that when youre ill the teachers sometimes still exoect you to follow class-

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Blackbeard in art nouveau style, sad edition.

Background inspired by Mucha's "Fox-Land Jamaica Rum" (1897)

Flowers are wild rose, sweet pea, and butterfly weed. All badly drawn at 3 AM.

plus heres a horrendously coloured one! it's muddy and includes really shit bucket fill! enjoy!

See the full post

73 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

#4

quick lil draw,, im hfhsfjsfhjakfajkd so not sorry

(based on "Fruit" by Mucha, 1897)

85 notes - Posted April 16, 2022

#3

okay okay this is still a Sketch so dont scream at me i know the face is like a smiley and the arms are different lengths but shhhhhh. the vision is coming together

EDIT this now has a finished version

138 notes - Posted April 7, 2022

#2

Just gonna drop this here...

it's a silly little powerpoint with some outfit images on the slides, sorted by date. not complete, dont come for my throat. working on it though!

Edit 23/09: Completed all shows up to today. Would love feedback on any potential mistakes.

Edit 24/09: it's temporarily down bc onedrive is a bitch. hopefully will be fixed soon! more info on this in the comments of this post.

Edit 25/09: Microsoft. is a fucking. twat. Theyve blocked my account, probably because my powerpoint is seen as spam. Apparently on of their spam policies is "Don’t send content to people you don’t know or to many people at the same time" which is dumb because why do we have a fucking share function then? YeAh pLs sHaRe iT bUT LikE dOnt sHare it ToO mUCh. Bastards. cant have anything fun.

Anyway. I cant get my account back (well, i could but i dont want to give them my phone number), which means its time for the next plan:

Ill replace the link to the powerpoint with a link to a google drive, and I'll upload new versions of the powerpoint on there. Sadly all previous reblogs will keep the wrong link so i really hope they will see this message. Ill also put it in the comment section to make that a little more likely. I might also make a brand new post, additionally to this one.

Sorry for all the inconveniences and i hope we can share a little joy in a new way. fingers crossed.

317 notes - Posted September 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Alright. I'm just gonna quit painting and post this before I go insane. You can scream at me now.

References:

Background design and colours heavily based on "La Dame aux camélias", Mucha (1896).

Flowers in the background are lily (yellow), honeysuckle (really badly drawn), and thyme (didnt even bother to draw the shape right).

Pose based on "Médéé", Mucha (1898), especially the arms hands and knife situation.

Character is from Our Flag Means Death (2022). Obviously.

1,172 notes - Posted April 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sociallyawkward--fics]

its been so long since i sent u an ask. too long. i dont actually know how long but my guess would be coming up on a solid year. uhhh i hit an awful writers block thats more like. absolutely awful executive function n attention span. i had like a 4 month danganronpa hypfx which im not even gonna pretend to embarrassed abt despite all its faults its actually pretty good. i also picked up drawing at the beginning of this year! i was barely scraping by at the beginning LMAO but im actually kinda good now its scary. id show u some of my drawings but i dontthink u can send images on anon. how have u been -H

H!!!!! Hello!!!!! My friend!!!!

I'm sorry you are having writer's block,executive dysfunction :(( I feel that, I am also seeming to be getting into a writer's block stint with every project i've been trying to start more than 200 words lol.

Danganronpa hyperfixation is so valid, I had one of those for a bit back in the day, but not nearly as big as my best friend's, i only knew the original (which they showed me), but she knows all of them so well lol

That's so cool about the drawing!!! I've always wanted to try getting more into it but I'm not very good at handling the "you suck when you first start out" thing dkjfhdkjf. I'm glad you're making progress you're happy with, I'm sure it's amazing!!!

I have been alright!! Idk if I've remembered to talk about it here lol, but I have a job now! Only 20 hours a week and not in a place I adore or want to stay at super long, but I'm happy with it for now and it's money! I was (still am) extremely into Dragon Age for a bit and was working on fics for it, but atm every single hyperfixation has been booted out of the way so that my entire soul can be consumed by Our Flag Means Death lol. I would sell my soul for more gay pirate show right now lol. I might write fanfic for it at some point idk, rn I'm just. So consumed with experiencing what this show gave us dhfukdsfhk. Like, 4 on screen queer kisses, 3 canon queer couples, a nonbinary character who is consistently respected played by a nonbinary actor.................. pls HBO renew OFMD and let David Jenkins continue to feed us.............