starlithumanity

[starlithumanity]

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2 Filmed on location in New Zealand

↳ @lgbtqcreators battleships bingo: media from oceania

#our flag means death

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#half of life is just figuring out where the comfort zone even is

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Hopefully how we find them a few years down the line 💖

#our flag means death #gentlebeard #edward teach #stede bonnet

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#oh very very much for me especially if it's gentle touch #about me #to be fair I'm very reactive to most skin to skin gentle touch

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Writing is so much fun! You can be like "I should process this" and just go nuh-huh, see, I'm going to make up a guy and have them process it for me. Not me! It's the guy I made!

#precisely #bookish life #about me

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when I see something dated 2019 I think “oh that’s not too long ago” and then I remember that 2019 was not only five years ago but those five years have somehow contained several lifetimes

#it's true

[starlithumanity]

Why was finding Stede's letter so important for Ed?

Real talk, I adore the season 2 finale and to me the rush is worth it to have a safe ending place. But this episode is so overpacked, and Ed goes through such an incredible character arc and I love it, so here goes my rant on why he burst into tears and screamed at the forest when he read Stede's letter.

Ed is all goddamn over the place in the first part of this episode, tossed about by his insecurity and baffled by what is safe and what is unsafe. He has a voiceover about how amazing being a fisherman is, then ends up regressing into childhood trauma when another father figure freaks out over dinner. Ed doesn't even choose to leave the fisherman fantasy: the fantasy gets shattered and he gets fired in a high-speed parallel of Stede trying to go home (return to a safe, simple life) and finding he doesn't belong there in S1E10. At least Ed does manage to not drown in self-hatred on the way out.

And then Ed returns to the pirate safe space, only to find that it's been invaded and taken over. And that his selfishness, the low self-esteem that distorted his view of reality and his relationship, may have had real consequences for someone he loves (another parallel with Stede, this time early season 2). Ed may have been off pretending to be a "dirty old fisherman" while Stede died.

What was safe is now unsafe. All Ed has left is himself--so he really looks at himself.

At the fact that the kraken is always there, no matter what clothes he wears or how deeply he tries to bury it. He can fight that and run from it, and end up losing everything. Or he can embrace it, and figure out what comes next. Be what he was made by his past, however dark that past was.

But Ed's past wasn't all darkness. Ed walks onto the beach and gets a letter from the past, and suddenly there is something safe again in his world. Something worth killing for.

Ed first started falling for Stede through the stories Stede built around himself, stories formed by boastful encounters with Izzy, muttered hallucinations, and trinkets decking his ship. Back then, Ed didn't believe he himself was a good person, didn't believe he could have friends. But Stede told him stories about friendship and treasure maps, and Ed took these to heart and told stories to match, and Ed found truth through the fiction.

Then Stede left, and those stories fell away for Ed. Ed embraced the story of the kraken, of Blackbeard. Instead of a story about love or survival, he wrote a story about an impossible bird, a raiding record, and a treacherous crew--and mourned a story about lost love.

But Stede kept writing stories. He poured himself into his letters, poured his heart into sustaining his connection to Ed in spite of all the obstacles.

Ed didn't believe in this story after Stede came back, even though he wanted to. He kept emotional distance from Stede, avoided risks, and bailed after two days. Because Ed didn't trust that their bond was solid, that their story was something that could survive Ed's darkness, insecurities, and damage. Didn't trust that what Stede said this time, he had truly thought about, and meant with all his heart.

Stede didn't get how insecure Ed was in all this, because Stede was just so sure of Ed, and of their love. Stede believed in his story with his whole soul, and Stede's stories have a way of creating reality--after all, the whole crew of the Revenge became "real boys." But he couldn't figure out how to communicate this to Ed, to let Ed believe it too.

And then, at a moment where his identity is fractured and re-forming, Ed finds this letter. And just like that, there's a solid ground of story beneath his feet.

Because there was, in fact, solid ground beneath his feet all along.

Ed's and Stede's relationship, like all relationships, is hard. But they formed a real bond of love in season 1, and like Mary Bonnet said, being in love is easy. Ed can trust it--like he did before, but for real this time.

Ed's figuring this out ruddy late. He and Stede didn't communicate these things to each other when they had the chance, and now the chance may have slipped away. So now, Ed yells his feelings at the world and runs off to try to find his person.

When Ed finds Stede again, he doesn't hold back anything. He doesn't hesitate to kill, and he doesn't hesitate to drop his sword when he reaches Stede. They're finally face to face, in every way. Finally balanced, and seeing each other clearly, and able to communicate.

And, for the first time since he and Stede reached each other this season--for the first time since his vision in the Gravy Basket really--Ed is utterly vulnerable.

And entirely safe.

#our flag means death #edward teach #stede bonnet #gentlebeard

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Sometimes I think about how right before Ed kisses Stede he gazes at him with the full force of his I love you eyes and Stede has to look away for a moment because it must be like staring into the sun.

#oh that's a love vibe #our flag means death #gentlebeard #edward teach #stede bonnet

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This is literally my favorite tweet of all time. It’s so powerful.

She Freaken Forgor Me

#awwwww #i love cat

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This Ed is inspired by Wave Hello to the Void @mxmollusca @eefaevie @zacharybosch

#our flag means death #edward teach

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I constantly think about the quote (literally no idea what it’s from) I read once about how teenage girls want to fuck their band guy idols because it’s the closest they can get to wanting to BE their band guy idols. Like damn… way to recontextualize my entire adolescence with 1 sentence

#...yeah #social justice

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everytime i rewatch the starwars movies im always blow away by how stunning padme and her outfits are

#star wars #padme amidala

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reblog if you’re a lesbian who supports bi girls, a bi girl who supports lesbians, or if you want all wlw to have a nice day

#as a sapphic nonbinary person #I'm here to say #lets go girls #queer community

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about to say something mean but i feel like every "male-specific" issue is something that also happens to women its just that a lot of you dont seem to see women as people

#social justice

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ough…

(inspired by this post by @piratecaptainscaptainpirates)

[ID: A digital drawing made to look like a selfie of Ed and Stede at pride. Stede’s smiling in a smoldery way, wearing rainbow aviator sunglasses and an unbuttoned teal shirt with rainbow stripes. Ed is smiling widely, eyes crinkled, wearing a purple tshirt and a trans flag tied around his shoulders like a cape. Ed has on rainbow eyeliner, small pink, blue, and purple heart stickers on his right cheek, and a trans flag in facepaint on his left cheek. Stede has a matching trans flag on his right cheek. Behind them is a blurred background of buildings, blue sky, and various rainbow flag decorations. There’s an overlay on the image to give it a rainbow light leak effect at the left and right edges.]

#our flag means death #edward teach #stede bonnet #gentlebeard

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co-captain cuddles

#yes good #our flag means death #gentlebeard #stede bonnet #edward teach

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(◡‿◡✿)

(ʘ‿ʘ✿) “what you say ‘bout me”

(ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿ “hold my flower”

#world heritage post #Tumblr