#ofmd prompt generators
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Quaintly Fig's Prompt Generators
See original post for the most recent list of generators.
I have entirely too much fun building ofmd prompt generators, so I thought I'd share them here in case anyone wants to give them a spin 🩷🧡💙
SFW Generators:
☠️ A Good Pirate's Tale (canon-era) 🦄 A Real Boy (fairy tale) 🪐 Beep Beep Boop (sci-fi & fantasy) 💗 Happiness Happens (fluff) 🌈 I Love My Baby (fluff) 🎲 Really Quite Random (gentlebeard & really quite random) 🎃 Somethin' Witchy Afoot (spooky season) 💐 Take a Whiff (scent generator) 🐆 The Art of Fuckery (fuckeries & schemes, canon-typical violence) 👹 The Monster Mash (creature creator)
NSFW & Spice-Possible Generators:
(Figured I'd hide these lists below the "keep reading" button!)
~🩷🧡💙~
Spice-Possible Generators:
These aren't nsfw-centered, but some of their outcomes are nsfw
🎶 Hanging On By A Thread (song lyrics, very lite spice possible) 🦋 In Every Life (an au generator) 🤖 Not Bloody Optimal (obstacles, very few nsfw possibilities) 🌧️ Wreck Me, Daddy (angst)
NSFW Generators:
❤️🔥 Baby, Baby, Baby (sexy times) 💌 Dear Ed, I long for you (gentlebeard, very sexy version of the Dear Ed letter) 🌶️ Getting Steamy (sexy times) 🩲 Let's Get Kinky (exactly what it says on the box) 🐷 Pretty Deeply Impure (v. filthy, lil kinky, lil silly) 🐺 Want Your Pretzel (omegaverse) 🍌 2024 OFMD Kinktober Brainstorming - full month or sort by the day
#ofmd fic#ofmd fanfic#ofmd writing#ofmd prompt generators#ofmd storytelling#quaintly fig's generators#ofmd prompts#ofmd prompt generator#ofmd#our flag means death
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ASH! There is no one like you. Your art is so BOLD and creative and genuinely awe-inspiring. I admire all the slutty, slutty things you make Ed and Stede get up to, while also making them look so pretty and colorful. So glad we have you in this fandom. 💕
I seriously don't have words 😭😭😭😭 have some memes instead 😭😭😭💖🧡💚💙💜💖
Thank you so much marianne!!! 😭💖💜💙💚💛🧡❤️💖😭
#honestly this ask might have broken me a little#i have an unhealthy amount of imposer syndrome#and a general anxiety of shyness around my mutuals and any kind of audience#I'm desperate to make things and share them and i love more than anything hearing people love the things i make as much as i do#I've been in fandom spaces for a really long time#(bitch is old)#and ive never been uplifted like i have by the ofmd fandom 💜💜💜#I've had my work stolen or traced in previous fandoms#bullied or harassed or made to feel pathetic#and more often than that I've been kinda on my own in a little corner making stuff and easy to ignore/forget#i have a lot of fear about being unwanted or discarded or upsetting people#i just love to draw and get my little rainbow brainworms out into my art#and i love sharing them#and for so long that really was enough#it truly was#but after OFMD? after this crew? after this space of warmth and excitement and growth and queer joy??#finding connections and making friends and clowning with you and drawing prompts and making memes and being in big bangs and zines?!#getting to illustrate fics and have my art inspire fics?? making friends with my mutuals who write and draw and make beautiful gifs?!#this has been the most fun ive ever had on the internet#and im so grateful#and overwhelmed#and thankful#and just everything altogether all at once#thank you so much
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Okay, before the OFMD trailer drops, I'm doing this:
My personal trailer bingo card
And a randomly generated trailer bingo card
LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS
Lol choose and print your own or Auto-generate and print a random card OR Generate random fic prompts from the bingo data set
#ofmd s2 spoilers#our flag means death#omfg ofmd#ofmd meta bingo#ofmd bingo#ofmd#ofmd season 2#meta shenanigans#fic generator#fic prompts
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What, me generating bingo cards based on actual information? It's more likely than you think!
Once again, all of these already existed in the generator (which is PRETTY EXCITING considering I last updated it in, uh... February), though going through the article made me realize that I have some new additions I want to make (and maybe some :clenches fist: better functionality).
ANYWAY. For those who want to follow along with the fun:
The Original Terrible Idea Explainer Post: The Our Flag Means Season Two Meta Bingo Generator
For update wonks: Progress Reports
And to skip directly to the shenanigans: Lol choose and print your own or Auto-generate and print a random card OR Generate random fic prompts from the bingo data set
Happy sneak peeking sluts 👀
#am I SUPER FUCKING PLEASED about the fiber arts tile AND the message in a bottle tile?#GUESS#augh fuck I forgot to add the STORM tile#I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME GADGET#ofmd s2 spoilers#our flag means death#omfg ofmd#ofmd meta bingo#ofmd bingo#ofmd#ofmd season 2#meta shenanigans#fic generator#fic prompts#id in alt text
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since i discovered them i’ve loved looking at prompt generators to imagine half baked scenarios between my favorite characters but never ended up writing them. i was just looking at one and thinking “wow i’d love to read some of these i really like them they’re right up my alley” and then remembered that i can write it myself because i finally started posting fanfiction
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While clowning is fun we’d like to provide some additional context about Netflix and their history of reviving canceled shows on their platform.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/10/entertainment/lucifer-and-netflix/index.html
After a robust, fan-led renewal campaign on social media, Lucifer was rescued by Netflix after cancellation by Fox due to budgetary concerns and a slight decrease in ratings. Lucifer went on to have 3 more successful seasons.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-lucifer-netflix-tom-ellis-20190513-story.html
Lucifer was inherently expensive to produce because it is a DC property which requires licensing through WB, and because it was produced by an outside studio, however, Lucifer was a major ratings boon for Netflix and well worth the price tag.
https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/netflix-lucifer-season-5-nielsen-streaming-ratings-1234646785/#:~:text=The%20premiere%20of%20the%20first,by%20Netflix%20in%20June%202020
Cobra Kai was initially produced by YouTube Red, but when the platform moved away from more expensive scripted programming after the second season, Netflix swooped in to save it, and it is now in its 6th and final season.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/cobra-kai-moves-netflix-1299581/
Longmire was highly rated on A&E, beating out other cable shows like Mad Men. A slight drop in ratings by the S3 finale and less interest from advertisers due to an older audience led to cancellation. It went on to do well on Netflix with 3 more seasons.
https://www.looper.com/371526/the-real-reason-longmire-season-7-was-cancelled/
Designated Survivor was canceled on ABC after reduced ratings, budgetary concerns, and issues behind the scenes. Netflix ordered 1 season, but it was canceled again after ongoing issues behind the scenes.
https://www.slashfilm.com/1314648/why-designated-survivor-cancelled/
Manifest was canceled by NBC in 06/2021, then added to Netflix. Its surge in popularity once added to the platform prompted Netflix to order a fourth and final season, and while the writers had a 6 season arc planned, they were able to finish their story.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a41984394/why-manifest-canceled-season-5/
You was initially produced by Lifetime, but it didn’t find its audience and they didn't order a 2nd season. When it streamed on Netflix a few months later, a boom in popularity and chatter on social media prompted Netflix to order subsequent seasons.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/you-was-ignored-on-lifetime-then-it-blew-up-on-netflix-what-does-it-mean-for-tvs-future/2019/01/17/900fab9c-1a86-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html
While licensing on Netflix can lead to a revival of a series, this is not always the case. There is a threshold of streaming hours weighed against the budget, and recently it was announced that Warrior failed to meet this.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/09/23/some-disappointing-news-about-warrior-season-4-on-netflix/
Heels has recently been added to the Netflix roster, with hopes from creators that high viewership numbers could lead to a third season, although sources caution that logistical challenges may make this difficult.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/heels-licensed-netflix-season-3-hopes-1235869552/
While the dream is that Netflix buys OFMD with the intention of producing an additional season, even just acquiring the licensing rights for streaming leaves room for hope. Until we know more, we can keep our beautiful show alive by doing what we do best, talking about it.
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AUTHOR OF THE WEEK: @darcylindbergh (@forpiratereasons)
Ever since the cancellation (and the second cancellation, thx max 🙃) I've found comfort in going back to fics that started it all for me - the OG fics that remind me of a happier time when the fandom was buzzing with activity, when it was all about meta and discussions and the love of the characters - and the first author I go back to to relive that is Darcy, without fail. I don't think you can read their work and be unaffected by it. Every single person I know has a favourite fic by them. Beyond lovely, lyrical prose, and brilliant plot - Darcy just gets them ✨ Read on to know a bit more about their writing process:
What's your writing process like? Do you start with the beginning or the end? Do you write in order or as the scenes come to you?
Depends a little bit on how I came to the idea - was it an idea born from having a scene leap into my mind and now I’m just building the rest of the fic around it, or do I have a prompt, or do I have a goal I need to meet? So I start with whatever’s driving me to write the thing and I write the elevator pitch which is usually about 50 words of “what is this about.” Then I write a 500 word outline. Then I write a 1000 word outline. Then I start from the beginning and fill in to the end. I don’t usually write out of order, but I will if something really takes hold.
Favourite trope or headcanon you like to explore while writing?
Hurt/Comfort as a general trope. I like to write about finding the people who see you for who you are, the insecurity of disbelieving people could really love you, and the realization that it’s true, it’s really true: they do love you, not just as much as they say but so so so much more than they could put into words.
Whose voice is easier to write - Ed or Stede? Why?
I think Ed is easier to write because his mind is very like mine (it’s definitely the untreated ADHD), but Stede is very fun to write because I think his sense of humor is quite like mine (it’s definitely the pretentious bitch /affectionate). They’re both so fantastically complex, I love being in both their heads.
Your personal favourite thing you've written that you'd like more people to read
Oh man this is a hard question. I will say I’m especially proud of “Bedtime Stories” which was a bit of an experiment and I’m so happy with how it turned out (@lindie-kninjaknitter did a great podfic too!) - and “Tenderly the Light” which I literally cried trying to write because I wanted it to work so bad and I trusted it so little, but with some distance I think it turned out really nice.
What is the one word that you think you use a lot?
Not a word necessarily, but I like to write emotions as being felt in the inside of the elbows. I come back to that description a lot.
Do you have a beta reader? Have they made you a better writer?
I have a betaing cheerleader in @mintly who keeps me sane on the day to day. She reads about 75% of what I post in advance - the other 25% I’m just winging it really. Yeah, she’s absolutely made me a better writer, not just by helping me hone the story but by helping me trust myself too.
Why OFMD 🥹
Gosh okay, the big question. For me OFMD is about - we spend a lot of our lives being put into little boxes ‘cause it’s tidy. It’s easy. And for a lot of our lives, we stick to our boxes because it’s easy for us too. We let it happen because there are expectations and we have responsibilities and obligations and these boxes keep us pinned in place, and it’s so easy to just stay where we’re put.
But OFMD is about opening the lid to the box. It’s about seeing the light. It’s about how it’s never too late to open that lid. It’s about how if you just trust yourself enough and you trust the people around you, you can reach for a hand to lift you up and you can find one in the dark to help pull you out. You can find people, and you can find joy, and you can get out of that box and there’s so much room out there. And I know it’s hard. It’s so fucking hard. It’s okay if it’s hard. OFMD is about how it’s hard and scary and you will definitely fuck up and you will definitely have some scary moments wondering if you’re going to lose your balance and fall back in, but just hang on a little longer. Let that trust in yourself grow a little stronger. It’s better to stand unsteadily than to let yourself be made small again.
And yeah, there will always be someone who wants to put you back in the box because it was easier for them, but you find your people and your joy and you hang on fucking tight and that’s stronger than easy. Our joy and our song and our communities and our hope will always be stronger than their commitment to easy.
Rhys Darby’s legs don’t hurt either.
Please head over to @ofmdlovelyletters (who also made the header) and send your love to all your favourite authors (and authors of the week 😈 watch that blog for some special letters coming your way)
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Announcing the OFMD Rare Ship Week daily events!! A prompt generator is coming soon for folks who want specific (and silly) ideas. Let us know what you're dreaming up in the replies!
Please reach out if you have questions, full FAQ & Plain Text prompts found here and linked in our bio!
And if you missed our earlier post about what ships can be included in this event, here you go! Our FAQ has more information on what ships can be included as well!
We can't wait to see what you create!!
[Image description, copied from alt text:
Three graphics done in black with silver, gold, and pink text, with art of ship masts and fireworks in one corner.
They read:
One:
Our Flag Means Death Rare Ship Week February 3-9, 2025
Monday - Fluff Day Boatmances are in the air! Celebrate with some unexpectedly cute pairings and ships today.
Tuesday - New Ship Day Post a ship that's never been done OR share a ship with only ONE fan work!
Wednesday - Smut Day Want some booty? Feeling knotty? It's a non-stop knocking shop with these ships!
Two:
Our Flag Means Death Rare Ship Week
Thursday - Hurt/Comfort Day It's time to weather the storm with these lovers.
Friday - Becalming Day Sea's the day - take a break and enjoy some rare ship creations!
Saturday - AU day Let's rock the boat - it's time to pair some ships with a new universe!
Sunday - Rec Day Share some rare ship creations from the week! What's your favourite? #OFMDRareShips Three:
A graphic that reads: Our Flag Means Death Rare Ship Week
What ships can be included?
We welcome any rare ships - the rarer the better!
For ships involving Ed, Stede, or Izzy, we ask that you only include 1 of these "big 3" characters! E.g., no Ed/Stede/Pete, but yes Ed/Pete!
This event is about never or rarely done ships; ships with thousands of works are not the focus
Full FAQ, generator, and more coming in December!
End ID.]
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thought I'd do an intro post or something
~nb just turned 20, I love rats, gay ships, fragrances and (very) vintage style
currently got obsessed with bcs Nacho and Lalo again, other likes: The Witcher(all media) Versailles, OFMD, Good Omens..
i love writing small thingies for prompts I love prompts!! it's like a custom order that I'm fulfilling which is fun, and less thinking because I'm given an idea and I get to write and see how it turns out <3
mostly I'd do hurt/comfort, fluff, romance, dark and dramatic stuff too for Lacho ship.
I'm not exactly a fan of nswf or kinky stuff, but I can try it if someone gives me a nice idea though, still fun.
and unless the prompt seems still totally captivating, generally I don't write much of sadism, gore, extra kinky kinks and likewise
so I'm new to tumblr and not exactly sure what am I supposed to do but I made an account to finally post fics and thoughts and maybe get into a community that likes what I like at last qwq I'm really discussion-starved
source: reddit
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Got tagged by @chaotic-neutral-knitter to share my favorite fics I've written and I feel a little bad not putting any of my 3 OFMD fics on the list. But in my defense it was very hard to choose between my 116 slutty slutty children, and while I like my OFMD fics a lot (especially Learning and Remembering) I decided to limit myself to five fics across all the fandoms I have written for over the past nine (!!) years, and there are some that stand above the rest.
Maybe I'll Show You the Way (Dune, Paul/Chani). Maybe my recency bias is showing but I really think this is one of the best things I've written. Paul and Chani's whole "falling in love while fighting side by side in an anti-colonial armed resistance movement" romance in Dune Part Two felt like it was designed in a lab to appeal to me specifically, and I just wanted more of it! What started with a simple "5 times they fucked in between fighting the Harkonnens" premise has become a novella-length character study about war, politics, solidarity and resistance to oppression in all its forms, interlaced with a very sweet, youthful first-love romance that always has a bittersweet edge because we the audience know these characters are living in a tragedy. This fic is one chapter from completion and I've been stalling because I really wanna stick the landing on this one, but it will get finished!
a narrow door, swiftly closing (Dune, Paul/Duncan) Different ship, different era (post-Dune Part One) and a very different vibe. The fun of this ship is the multiple power imbalances running in different directions (younger/older, student/teacher, lord/vassal, end product of a 90-generation eugenics program with a mind that can bridge time and space/Just Some Guy). It's also got that chewy age gap thing where the older character has watched the younger character grow from a child to an adult and has to wrestle with the realization that they find them sexually attractive now. Peak forbidden romance and mutual pining in this one and not just one but two of my favorite finally-crossing-the-line kisses I have ever written.
Three Times Is a Habit (Trust, Primo/The Other Paul) Ah yes, my "which doomed curly-haired teenage twink heir to a powerful dynasty named Paul are we talking about?" era. For a hot second (most of 2021) I was really into this hidden gem FX limited series Trust, based (with many creative liberties taken) on the real kidnapping of John Paul Getty III in Italy in the 1970s. The fun of this fandom is that every ship is an absolute garbage fire of bad decisions, and writing the trainwreck emotional logic that leads to a traumatized teenager repeatedly hooking up with his kidnapper was an adventure. There's also a fun meta layer at play in the relationship between our reality, the fictionalized "true" version of the kidnapping that happens in the show, the lies the characters tell about the fictionalized version of the kidnapping in the show, and the version of the characters I'm writing, some of whom are based on real people and some of whom are made up. (Is this RPF? You decide.) This fic will make zero sense if you haven't watched the show. But you should! It's a wild ride with a great cast (Donald Sutherland presente!)
Salvage & Scrap (Mad Max: Fury Road, Gen) Two minor characters who have a combined total of maybe five minutes of screen time produced what was until recently my longest fic on AO3. This fic was based on a fantastic prompt: what if Ace (the older war boy who seems to be Furiosa's second in command on the War Rig) and Valkyrie (Furiosa's Green Place gal pal) both survived their violent vehicular encounters and met each other? The idea was immediately appealing to me because they both care about Furiosa but have known such different versions of her, and the way their worldviews would clash seemed like great story fodder. I still love the imagery of them meeting at the place where their worlds have literally collided--the wreck of the War Rig in the Rock Riders' canyon. Also I recently reread this and I forgot how devastating the tiny glimpse we get of Furiosa is in this fic.
Fightplay (Mad Max: Fury Road, Max/Furiosa) You know this list wouldn't be complete without a smutty Maxiosa fic. It was really hard to pick one piece of the 127k smut novel I wrote about them in non-chronological order over the course of about 3 years (2015-2018). But Fightplay was definitely the start of writing uhhh a certain kind of dynamic for them. The prose is very spare and exacting in a way that I still find hot 9 years later.
Tagging @thebyrchentwigges, @thetardigrape, @nandamai, @bethagain, @demolitionwoman-blog and anyone else who wants to do this!
#fanfic#writing#dune#trust fx#mad max#mad max fury road#thanks for the tag nat!!!#i always take forever to do these things but i appreciate being included :-D
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THEY EDIT FINE THINGS WELL: KRAKEN CONSTRUCTION (S1 E10) AND DECONSTRUCTION (S2 E7) COMPARISON
I continue to be gobsmacked by the OFMD editors' attention to detail when editing new content so that it calls back to older content, dramatically increasing the emotional impact of both.
The scenes of Ed constructing the Kraken (season 1, episode 10 - Wherever You Go, There You Are) and deconstructing the Kraken (season 2, episode 7 - Man on Fire) synchronize beautifully.
Note that I did not adjust the speed of either video clip. They are playing exactly as originally edited. I did remove the audio track from the S2 E7 clip (Schubert 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: No 4 in A-Flat Major: Allegretto) to eliminate sonic chaos. Doing so made me realize how well the S1 E10 sound effects match the S2 E7 clip.
Much respect to the editors for tapping into what feels almost like muscle memory for the season 1 scenes. That recurring feeling is what prompts me to compare S2 scenes with S1 scenes: A body-centered sense of familiarity that is just on the edge of conscious awareness, and makes my brain explode when I actually see the similarities.
This meta was written before OFMD season 2 has fully aired. No idea what’s going to happen in the finale (and I’ve generally fled social media to avoid spoilers). I’ll be back, looking at everyone’s fascinating posts after episode 8 airs.
#JFC the OFMD editors have game#OFMD cinematography is meaningful and gorgeous#Ed’s S2 journey is fucking beautiful#The kraken#OFMD meta#OFMD video meta#OFMD parallels#Edward Teach#Blackbeard#Thank you David Jenkins#Thank you Alyssa Lane#Thank you Alex Sherman#Thank you director of photography Mike Berlucchi#Thank you editor Gina Sansom#Thank you assistant editor Dan Pavis#Thank you sound mixer Tony Johnson#Thank you pocket friends for being awesome and keeping me curious and inspired#Our flag means death#OFMD S1#OFMD S2#OFMD S2 spoilers#OFMD S2 E7 spoilers#Wherever You Go There You Are#Man on Fire#OFMD S1 E10#OFMD S2 E7
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Pretty Deeply Impure
A NSFW Prompt Generator
It's definitely filthy. It's a little bit kinky. It's a lot bit silly.
It defaults to Ed & Stede, but you can customize it with any 2 or more characters!
NSFW link below the line 🐷💦🍑
"Pretty Deeply Impure" link: https://perchance.org/pretty-deeply-impure
#pretty deeply impure#ofmd pretty deeply impure#quaintly fig's generators#ofmd prompts#ofmd prompt generators
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It’s pretty much Halloween, so… Enjoy some fluffy Gentlebeard pumpkin carving and reflections on getting through a darker season.
inspired by a prompt from Quaintly Fig’s prompt generator https://quaintlyfig-events.carrd.co/#somethin-witchy-afoot
Halloween Sunset, 3k, Rated M
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OKAY so with just a little over an hour to go, here are my bingo cards for the first three episodes (which I do intend to actually, like, fuckin use this time)
My personal bingo card:
And a randomly generated card:
LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS (AGAIN)
Lol choose and print your own or Auto-generate and print a random card OR Generate random fic prompts from the bingo data set
#real talk I'm absolutely going to wait until morning before watching#but I make my own fun#the random card feels half prophetic half REALLY NOT HAPPENING#but will I get a bingo anyway? WHO KNOWS#ofmd s2 spoilers#our flag means death#omfg ofmd#ofmd meta bingo#ofmd bingo#ofmd#ofmd season 2#meta shenanigans#fic generator#fic prompts
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Dead Seagull: Do Not Eat – Albatrosses, Seagulls, and Guilt in Our Flag Means Death
(for future reference: written 10/6/2023, ~36-48 hours after the first 3 episodes of S2 were released)
Hi, all! I, like many of you scrolling the #ofmd meta tag, have a head filled with nothing but the Gay Pirates. This has been the case since 12am PST on 10/5/2023 and will remain the case for several months to come. On my 3rd watch-through of the first 3 episodes of season 2 of OFMD, I started paying closer attention to potential symbolism so that I could maybe predict how the rest of the series is going to play out and get a better idea of what’s going on in these little guys’ brains. This post is the introduction to a short series of long posts wherein I rant about symbolism that may or may not be in the show. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I haven’t written anything even close to a literary analysis since high school, and I generally don’t know wtf I’m talking about. I’m just having a lot of very normal thoughts about The Pirate Show and I need to put them somewhere; if anyone has more ideas relating to this please add to it!! And to the best of my knowledge, the thoughts I express here are my own – please let me know if there are other analyses that say similar things that I should link to.
TWs: animal death, blood, eating animals, starvation, emotional abuse, physical abuse, gunshot injuries, suicidal ideation, canon-typical mental health problems
MAJOR OFMD SPOILERS THROUGH S2E03!!!
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What originally prompted this whole rabbit-hole exploration was the conversation that Ed has with Frenchie at the end of s2e01.
…
You know there's a bird that never touches ground?
It's born in the air. Never once lands. Spends its entire existence in the sky. …
As Frenchie astutely notes, this seems…kind of impossible. How could a bird be born in the air? I could see potentially never landing, but surely every bird has to come down at some point to lay eggs (or to hatch from them), right? So I did a quick Google search for birds that spend their whole lives in the air, and the first result that came up was the common swift, which apparently spends up to 10 months out of the year in the air, never once landing (or only landing very occasionally) during that time. They catch food in the air, sleep while drifting on air currents, mate in the sky, and only land to nest and lay their eggs.
So that seemed…promising? I guess? But not exactly what Ed was talking about. After all, these birds aren’t “born in the air,” and they certainly don’t spend their entire life without landing. And this still could be what Ed was talking about; it matches fairly closely, and it’s possible that whatever Ed heard was either mis-told, misheard, or intentionally exaggerated. But I think there’s a more elegant answer to what bird Ed is referencing here, and it has much more potential for analysis than the common swift: the albatross.
This is the second thing that I found while searching, and this piqued my interest much more than the last result, since - as many of you probably know, spending time reading tumblr metas – the albatross is an extremely pervasive metaphor in literature. It usually represents a psychological burden that one has taken on, most often as a result of having made a mistake that resulted in others getting hurt. I’ll go into more detail about the source of this symbol in a little bit, but the basic gist is that a dead albatross gets hung around one’s neck until whatever guilt they have is resolved – albatrosses are huge birds, so this represents an enormous weight.
Before I go on, I’ll add that, at first glance, the albatross actually seems to fit Ed’s description less well than the common swift does – albatrosses are known for being able to glide for a long, long time, but they do land…on the water. One of the first things that comes up when you search for “birds that never land” is that albatrosses spend years and years never landing on shore. There’s a similar problem here to the common swift in that no bird actually hatches from an egg while in the air like Ed is implying here. But I would argue that the albatross is indeed what Ed is talking about. Whether he misheard, someone misspoke, or a tale got distorted from it being verbally passed down, Ed is referencing the image of an albatross that spends its entire life above (or on) the sea, never once going to land.
And this fits. In the context of the conversation that Ed is having with Frenchie, Ed is lamenting the fact that he can only exist in one place, fulfilling one role – on the sea, performing the role of Blackbeard. He imagines the life of this fictional albatross as quite lonely, I think, never once leaving the place it has spent its entire life (again, this isn’t exactly how the birds behave, but I believe Ed views them this way based on how he’s interpreted whatever he heard about albatrosses). He’s resigning himself to never leaving his habitat, and quite literally never going back to shore.
“…We’re gonna sail…rob…raise hell forever…and ever…without end.”
Right. So, if I am to be believed, we’ve established that Ed is actually diegetically referencing albatrosses. So what?
Well, as another disclaimer, I’m not 100% sold on these ideas myself. Especially only having the first 3 episodes of S2 to go off of, there’s plenty of time for these ideas to be proven wrong in as few as – checks watch – 6 days. There are lots of different, potentially overlapping, potentially conflicting ways to interpret this information. I’m probably going to split this up into parts, for ease of access and reading. Because all this so far has just been the introduction :))
In one part, I’m going to talk about what is probably the most intentional reference: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the original poem that the albatross metaphor is pulled from. Beyond just the link to the “Impossible Birds” conversation, there are some other elements in OFMD that seem like pretty clear references to this poem. Based on references to this poem in popular culture, I suspect that parallels here would be non-diegetic – meant to be apparent to the audience, not to the in-universe characters. Link Here!
Next, I’m going to talk about another poem, simply titled “The Albatross” (French: L’albatros). This particular poem is maybe less likely to have inspired references in OFMD, but if there is an intentional link, this poem reflects a lot of how Ed sees himself and his life thus far. I’ll admit that I’m a bit biased toward this poem since I had to memorize it in French class in high school and it’s stuck with me – but it was also one of the first things on Wikipedia that was linked on the page of the metaphor of the Albatross. Parallels in this poem are what I would suspect to be diegetic – despite it being an anachronism, I think Ed has at some point read this poem, and he relates to the albatross/poet. [Link Here!]
Lastly, there are some loose ends that I’d like to pick up that may not tie into anything, but I feel like they’re worth mentioning, especially as they relate to the albatross metaphors and parallels. This section is going to talk more generally about birds and bird imagery in OFMD, and how these instances can support or refute my albatross theories. [Link will go here: haven't written yet :)]
#our flag means death#ofmd#ofmd s2#ofmd meta#ofmd spoilers#ofmd s2 spoilers#ofmd s2 meta#ofmd season 2 spoilers#ofmd season 2#ofmd season 2 meta#ofmd blackbeard#stede bonnet#albatross#the rime of the ancient mariner#literary analysis#media analysis#frenchie ofmd#izzy hands#lucius spriggs
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OFMD Sequel Week Day 6: Slice of Life
[image description: contains same text as the post, with a dark red border.]
Share a drabble, twitfic*, or something more! Try a prompt generator like perchance.org/so9uy8nylo
*or whatever social platform you prefer
Time is made up and the days don't matter, but if you're counting, it is Day 6 of #OFMDSequelWeek, which is slice of life drabble day! Give us a lil' glimpse into one of your worlds or a fave! If you need a prompt, try this one I found: perchance.org/so9uy8nylo
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