pradelle - Tumblr blog

pradelle · 1 month

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something something let’s kill my mom by using your baby… something something don’t leave me…

#OH HELLO I’M IN LOVE #🥹🥹🥹#wintersberg #re8

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pradelle · 3 months

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#as he should #actually mocking him wasn’t enough he should have shot him in the other leg #ofmd

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pradelle · 4 months

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In act 1 the emperor is communicating with everyone equally, so the first 2 interactions you get, everyone wakes up and is like "yeah that happened. yeah he said that to me also." I would be great if tav just like. Assumed that was still true well in to act 3 and woke up one day to ask everyone "hey did that squid try to FUCK you guys last night??" And be met with 10 seconds of horrified silence.

#bg3

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pradelle · 4 months

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I would love to see Ed get to hear that he hasn't deserved to be treated the way he has been.

He was 100% justified in killing his dad, we know this. And it's natural it traumatized him, but beyond that, it made Ed think he's a monster. That idea was only reinforced throughout his life, when he found safety in leaning into a hyper-violent persona. Life looked him in the eye and said "you're gonna be a punching bag, Eddie," and Ed realized that wouldn't happen if people were too scared of him to try.

When Izzy is apologizing to him, and Ed says it should be him who's apologizing, it always gets me, because Ed really doesn't know. Like, yeah, Izzy's dying so Ed might just be trying to make him feel better, but it sounds way too genuine. He doesn't expect Izzy to apologize to him because he hardly realizes Izzy did anything wrong. I think part of him genuinely thinks that an angry White man threatening him and screaming at him was what he deserved for daring to think he could be soft in front of people.

So badly, I want Stede to realize that Ed doesn't even know. I want him to slowly put together that Ed thinks he just deserved all this shit that happened to him, that made him hate his life and think he's unlovable. And I want Stede to hold his sweet face in his hands and say "I'm so sorry no one has told you before, but someone's got to so it might as well be me, and Ed, you deserved so much better than you got."

#ofmd #yes

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pradelle · 4 months

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wow what a happy ending… leaving your dream that you finally achieved behind you and living in a decrepit shack with none of your stuff and none of your friends/found family. definitely is a happy ending for the man who left a comfortable life to see the world and have adventures to be stuck back in one quiet place (only without his creature comforts this time), and the man whose adhd was so bad he ended up bored despite living adventures on the daily (and now has no option for adventures beyond going fishing).

#thank you tumblr users jaskierx #and piratecaptainscaptainpirates #for having basic media literacy #(and for the beautiful meta)#ofmd

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pradelle · 6 months

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#alepsa play 'our prayer' by the beach boys

#and when the first gif is paired with a gif of their matelotage from season 3 then what #blackbonnet #ofmd

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pradelle · 6 months

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If Aziraphale and Crowley are ineffable husbands, Stede and Ed are insufferable husbands. Truly the most unsubtle, most disgustingly in love couple on earth.

#reminds me of that tweet that said they would propose at someone else’s wedding ahdjdjddj #literally the most annoying couple and that’s why we love them #blackbonnet #ofmd

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pradelle · 6 months

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ed & stede + firsts

#them!!!!!#ofmd #gentlebeard #blackbonnet

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pradelle · 6 months

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I'm having a fascinating time rewatching Our Flag Means Death with the knowledge that Ed sees Izzy as a "safe" mentor/family figure ("safe" because Izzy is Ed's subordinate aboard the ship, which creates a more balanced power dynamic) upon whom Ed projects his many unresolved daddy issues. That stated interpretation from David Jenkins does work, even in season one!

Most of the fandom conceptualized season one Izzy as a power-hungry subordinate to Ed and a "co-parent" to the crew (paralleled with the Stede/Mary marriage) who has an understated masochist lust for the Blackbeard legend. All of that is true too, because Ed and Izzy's relationship is incredibly complex and fucked-up. I know from personal experience that this kind of layered toxic relationship is completely possible, though it might seem contradictory on the surface.

In season one, Ed considering Izzy as a mentor/family explains more why Ed let his first mate be so insulting to and controlling of him and still kept wanting Izzy to stay beside him. It adds more meaning to how Ed veers super hard into the violent Blackbeard role after feeling cornered and threatened by Izzy at the end of the season. (This also has further weight for those of us with family members who have disapproved quite loudly of our queer relationships.)

There is a strong parallel that I noticed previously between young Ed's reaction to his father abusing his mother and season one Ed's reaction to Izzy dueling Stede. Stede is linked to Ed's mother through the red silk and through the fact that Stede and Ed's mother--and Lucius--are the only people we see treating Ed with compassion/softness in season one. It thus makes sense for Izzy to be mirroring Ed's father.

Then there's another parallel in how Ed responded to Izzy mentioning Stede in a mocking way ("pining for his boyfriend") by choking Izzy, like how Ed had once responded to his father threatening his mother by strangling his father. In this moment, Izzy touched Ed's face with an intimate kind of familiarity and said, "There he is." Ed clearly found this unnerving, which some people read as sexually harassment, but it makes just as much sense for it to be his daddy issues getting triggered.

(GIF Sources: captain-flint and divineandmajesticinone)

I think part of why this dynamic was unclear in season one is because the writers wanted us to see that, even though Izzy is a mentor figure who taught Ed certain skills, Ed is a grown man who is fully competent on his own. He had likely started building the Blackbeard legend by the time Izzy met him, he has a clever mind that's constantly coming up with new plans, and when Izzy himself was left as captain, Izzy proved to not have the necessary charisma and compassion to lead the crew. Ed is the star power; Izzy is the manager, so to speak.

However, Izzy overestimates his importance and often talks about himself like he's a martyr to the Blackbeard legend, working so hard to keep both Ed and the crew in line. He claims that he's been "clean[ing] up [Ed's] messes... my whole life," which feels like a very parental complaint to me.

Ed fuels this martyr complex some in season two by physically harming Izzy, but notably, Ed doesn't threaten this kind of harm to the rest of the crew (though he isn't very careful with them either) until he's in the suicidal spiral of driving the ship into a storm. Before that, Ed threatens Izzy specifically, both because Izzy threatened him and Stede in season one and because Ed's trying, in his own fucked-up way, to prove to Izzy that he's following Izzy's guidance and "being Blackbeard." The toe-cutting also has some metaphorical weight: Izzy demanded that Ed "cut off" the gentler pieces of himself to be Blackbeard, so Ed starts cutting off literal pieces of Izzy in return. When it becomes clear that this isn't satisfying Izzy either, that's when Ed really goes off the deep end. ("I loved you the best I could," but I never could be enough to fit your expectations.)

(GIF Source: livelovecaliforniadreams)

Meanwhile, we see Izzy starting to question things specifically in response to Ed saying that Izzy could be replaced as first mate. Izzy thought his place, as a mentor/family and self-professed "martyr", was more secure than that, and it challenges his whole identity.

Throughout season two, the mentor/family dynamic is further emphasized via the parallel between Izzy/Ed/Stede and Auntie/Zheng Yi Sao/Oluwande. Others have discussed this more, but there's so much meaning in the similar ways these characters carry themselves, in the tension of Auntie disapproving of Zheng Yi Sao's feelings for "soft" Oluwande, and in the way Oluwande finally teaches Auntie to soften herself some for Zheng Yi Sao.

(GIF Source: bizarrelittlemew)

Additionally, in episode five of season two, we see Stede turning to Izzy for mentorship, proclaiming that Ed himself had recommended Izzy as someone who "made him into the captain he is today." People have questioned that as being a false manipulation from Stede, but I think there's a good chance that it was true! (Ed probably said this to Stede sometime during season one, when the two of them got to know each other so well.) "Taught him everything he knows" is definitely a flattering exaggeration, but hey.

(GIF Source: ofmdaily)

Throughout this and other episodes, we see Izzy continuing to take on a mentor-like role with Stede and the crew (and eventually Ed) as he tries to recenter himself after the darkness of the first three episodes. It's clear that Izzy is most comfortable playing the gruff and politically incorrect old fighter who offers guidance, but now he's letting himself branch out more and connect to the crew in new gentler ways. He even metaphorically "gives his blessing" to Ed and Stede's first time having sex by providing the musical accompaniment, which is the perfect amount of weird for this show, haha.

(GIF Source: izzyfag)

Izzy's transformative arc in season two also involves a steady pattern of reversals, corrected new versions of his treatment of Ed in season one, as Izzy start coming to terms with the harm he did to Ed. Other people have discussed this in more detail, but I think the pace of this change is realistic to what you would see in such a situation. Ed's responses to this, too, are consistent with him seeing Izzy as a mentor/family.

(GIF Source: edwards-teach)

I should further note that Izzy and Benjamin Hornigold (another abusive father figure from Ed's past) are two characters mirrored by the fact that they call Ed "Eddie" in season two. I can imagine that being the nickname Ed used when he was younger, before growing out of it. Izzy seems to start feeling the echo of that memory of younger Ed when Ed comes to him scared, asking for Izzy to "fix [his] mess" by shooting Ed like Ed "dreamed" about.

(GIF Source: blairpfaff)

Right before Izzy's death, there's a scene where Ed is triggered super hard in his daddy issues by the fisherman "Pop-Pop." I think the writers wanted to remind us of the parental trauma Ed has been through before giving us some catharsis through Izzy's deathbed confession and apology. In that moment, Izzy takes full accountability for what he did, while Ed cries and says, "You're my only family." Izzy redirects him in a final bit of mentorly guidance, telling Ed that the crew is there to be his family if Ed will let himself be loved, truly, in the way Ed has often rejected and distanced himself from being loved.

(GIF Source: izzyfag)

Now, I do think Izzy's death was the right choice for this show. I like that DJenkins went with the classic mentor death trope, and he did a similar thing with Buttons, the other old-timer first mate! I agree likewise with those who have discussed Izzy's loss as being a necessary step for the narrative to move forward both from Ed's darker self/parental trauma and from the older age of piracy that Izzy represents. Izzy was always meant to be a dark reflection of and a narrative support/conflict for Ed, and this is the natural culmination of that. His complicated legacy will continue to be something Ed has to reckon with, however, although Ed is trying to compartmentalize that right now.

I very much hope to see, in season three (🤞🏻), how Ed continues to process his past, especially now that he's trying for a domestic life that will likely lead into marriage. Marriage, from what I've seen, often acts as a staging ground for whatever parental trauma you had growing up, because you look to your parental figures as an example of how to do "adult" things. This is going to be a huge conflict for both Ed and Stede, who has his own personal negative marriage experience. I suspect Izzy will continue to represent this problem in some form or another.

(GIF Sources: kiwistede and yenvengerberg)

#how does it feel to be a meta god #because this is literally one of the best metas i’ve ever read #*chief’s kiss*#ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd

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pradelle · 6 months

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Okay yes Ed and Stede are going to be objectively very terrible at running an inn. Just the worst anyone has ever been at it probably. But can you imagine what it would be like to stay at this place.

There's literally a grave right there in the front yard.

Ed and Stede both have a very intense "compliment my boyfriend or I'll blow this whole place up" energy. Ed glares at you until you compliment the interior decor. Stede makes very unsubtle hints for you to rave about how good Ed's cooking is.

Towel service is fucking immaculate. And Ed probably keeps rooms stocked with all the good soap.

You can't sleep because those two are going at it all night long. You probably assume they're having some weird orgy because they're really into cringefail roleplay sex and you hear several different names as they try to find a good plot. You hear a cat bell ringing but they definitely don't have a cat.

Ed offers to take you fishing with him but spends the entire morning waxing poetic about his boyfriend while you do all the actual fishing.

It takes half an hour to get to your room because they just keep doing bits and talking about all the knickknacks they've got.

They're just absolutely embarrassing. No customer service is being done because Ed is too busy sitting in Stede's lap.

Continental breakfast is like. Just a whole fish and marmalade set out on a table. You have to eat it anyway because Stede's face makes it very clear you're not leaving that inn until you do.

#funniest thing i’ve read all day #ofmd #gentlebeard #blackbonnet

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pradelle · 6 months

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