#but yeah. tl;dr edward is not a soft cinnamon roll at heart and his attempt to just *be* one overnight was doomed

[ladyluscinia]

Edward Teach Meta - Remember Edward Hasn't Always Been a Muppet...

...and honestly he's still just mostly faking it.

I see a lot of posts about the whole dichotomy of Ed vs Blackbeard, and - because I live in the Izzy Hands tag for this show - a lot of it takes a very... simplistic (?) approach. Mostly along the lines of Ed is a traumatized real guy who just wants love and softness while Blackbeard is the violent persona he puts up because he thinks he has to (and Izzy makes the situation worse with a fixation on a fake person).

This... does not really make sense to me. For one, if we're going to acknowledge "Blackbeard" is a persona then we should probably acknowledge "Ed" is equally fake. The dichotomy is two wildly different masks, and the same real Edward is behind them both. And I want to talk about that guy.

Warning - this got insanely long

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So let's start with Edward's whole situation:

Since Stede is the focus of OFMD S1, Edward's character and arc is explored heavily through parallels and mirrored situations. Both of them were feeling trapped by masculinity-related expectations and are still struggling to fully free themselves. Both have internalized issues that make them feel fundamentally flawed and unlovable. Both are starting to fall in love and discover their truest selves in a very "self recognition through the other" kind of way. It's very sweet. Very romantic.

But there's a really big elephant in the room.

See... Stede's issue is seeing himself as unacceptably weak, and thinking that weakness is ruining everyone around him. It's - to be blunt - 90% self-loathing bullshit. Like, the resolution of his main guilt arc is having it knocked into him that, no, chasing his own happiness is not inevitably going to hurt Mary. He doesn't have to feel guilty for failing the husband role. And once he gets over it, he can realize he's not ruining Ed by being "weak" either.

Obviously Stede's character arc is more complex than that - the man is deranged after all - but this isn't about him. It's about Edward, who in true mirror fashion contrasts Stede's internal trauma around failing be violent and masculine with his own internal trauma around being excessively violent and masculine.

If Stede thinks he can't be happy / loved because he's an enfeebling poison to society and men, Edward thinks he can't be happy / loved because he's a violent psychopath hauling around a legacy of bloodshed that sends soldiers screaming. And he's... significantly less wrong than Stede.

"Blackbeard"

We can agree Blackbeard is a persona. The "myth" and "legend" to Edward's "man". The real question is where is the line, and I think Edward has a lot more of Blackbeard in him than people are giving him credit for.

First - and this is absolutely essential - Edward enjoyed being Blackbeard. I've said this before when Izzyposting, but literally the basis of his whole arc is that he enjoyed being Blackbeard. That's why he's bored and unhappy now. From 1x04:

Edward: "Blackbeard always wins - that's the thing. He can't fail! It's not even a challenge anymore. People just see the flag and they freak out - 'Blackbeard!' - and they basically just give up. They surrender. And what's the point? I don't even need to be on the boat. I'm a ghost. There's no chaos, there's no drama, there's no fucking LIFE!"

Edward must at minimum be cool with a lot of the stuff he did as Blackbeard and more likely have honestly enjoyed it. The excessive violence, for example. We know killing is personally traumatic to him (and Izzy seems to have been both aware of this and relied upon to handle it), but we learn that in the exact same scene as the "Love a good maim" line. This guy may fancy a fine fabric but his moral compass is basically nonexistent.

In 1x04 he seems bored by the thought of ordering Stede's whole crew massacred as Izzy suggests, but not reluctant to do so. The French captain in 1x05 targets him with a racist insult and he has Fang skin and drown him. He has an admitted history of feeding people their own toes for kicks in 1x09. End of the day, Blackbeard is an outlet for Edward's violence, not the home of it.

Another Blackbeard trait that seems more like an Edward trait is his enjoyment of "fuckery". In fact, Blackbeard is a fuckery. Specifically one Edward and Izzy have been collaborating on for years. This meta is great and the bit about his confidence really hits. After all, the legend of Blackbeard doesn't include the behind the scenes cut. The fuckery planning is all Edward... and probably Izzy seeing as he's trusted / skilled enough to say in 1x06:

Izzy: "Much as I hate to admit it, Captain Bonnet's theatrical instincts are finely honed. He's more than up to the challenge."

And when Edward calls him out for lying it's because he knows that Izzy knows better, i.e. that Izzy has an excellent sense of what planning a fuckery entails.

(Izzy was totally Edward's creative team and sounding board wasn't he? The crew can carry out the instructions, but they fundamentally needed to buy into the myth of Blackbeard too. Brainstorming sessions where Edward might have a dumb idea had to stay behind closed doors until the plan was perfect. Ahem.)

So what is purely Blackbeard? Mass murder, for one. The conversation with Calico Jack in 1x08 is one of the few instances where Edward seems uncomfortable with violence, implying he might have done stuff like burn that ship of trapped sailors just because someone like Jack or Hornigold was there goading him. Also appearances in general. Blackbeard maintains a certain air of menace that Edward seems disinclined to - notice Edward stops ominously smoking as one of his first changes after 1x04 (he does pull it out again for ghost stories). If I had to guess, I'd say Edward likes inspiring awe and begrudgingly accepts that Blackbeard ought to inspire fear.

In fact, inspiring too much fear eventually becomes a problem, leading to...

Edward Teach

Our best look at Edward as himself - no masks - is the guy in 1x04 (plus glimpses in the previous episodes). This is also, judging from how Izzy reacts, both Edward at his lowest point in a long time and part of a fairly normal cycle of low points that Izzy seems responsible for pulling him back out of.

Edward is flighty. Easily distracted. His mood swings wildly and he spirals into listless depression on a hair trigger. He's more than happy to do a long introduction with the crew of the Revenge and roll his eyes at Izzy being the hardass taskmaster making everyone get back to work, despite the fact that a) Izzy just established he's trying to repair the ship quickly because it's all he's got to keep them alive right now, and b) Edward doesn't actually use his authority to overrule Izzy OR reiterate his "don't brutalize our guests" policy when Pete gets hit again. That whole exchange is literally just scoring some likability points with zero effort. (Do you think he does this often?)

The scene with the model ship is his first moment upset with the Blackbeard role, but crucially he's angry about being sick of it (and his vaguely suicidal ideation might be more of a threat to Izzy, especially since we learn Edward already had a plan here). Meanwhile he's enjoying the trappings of Blackbeard - his sly grin when he tells Stede who he is, leaning on his authority for the clothes swap prank, and saving his dramatic plan reveal for the last possible second even as Izzy is completely losing it.

Edward is also extremely caught up in his own head. The example that strikes me the most is Izzy starting his "get your shit together" rant by pointing out several of Edward's men died to save Stede Bonnet and getting in response:

Edward: "Kinda their job - they're pirates."

That's fucking cold, and it's hardly the only example. Edward in general is very bad at recognizing / caring about when stuff is going on with people around him (which I suspect gets worse the more he's personally dealing with), from dismissing the threat of Izzy's increasingly obvious frustration to entirely missing what's going on with Stede in 1x07 (humorously) and 1x09 (tragically). In this same conversation he's mocking Izzy's description of all the handling he's been doing recently - "Sounds stressful, Izzy" - and he still looks earnestly surprised when it turns into a very pissed off "I quit" moment?

And slight sidebar about that resignation - when he sees Izzy actually leaving, he looks down and we get:

Edward: "I should deal with this."

And he does - by making up a plan to kill Stede, selling Izzy on it by telling him he needs him, and then making an expression the instant he turns around that pretty much screams that he just lied to Izzy's face. Because he didn't want Izzy to leave.

My guess is he's assuming that Izzy will just chill out and get with the program like usual, but perhaps more importantly I think this is symptomatic of one of Edward's biggest issues in S1 - he doesn't think his actions should have any unwanted consequences. He's fucking Blackbeard! Blackbeard gets what he wants, always. At this point he's got the idea of "Ed" in his mind and he must at least suspect that it's incompatible with what Izzy wants, but Edward still stops Izzy from going at possibly the only moment in Izzy's life he would have been willing to do so. Because he didn't want Izzy to leave, and therefore Izzy shouldn't go.

And then he throws himself into becoming...

"Ed"

You can say a lot about Ed with two statements:

This persona is arguably faker than Blackbeard but with the caveat that Ed is aspirational - Edward wants to be more like Ed

Edward kinda sucks at being Ed

The second point is really the problem, and while it starts as a simple lack of experience it ends up going a lot deeper. His first foray into Ed isn't even "Ed" - it's "Jeff the Accountant" and it goes poorly (mainly because the aristocrats are awful people). And when the Jeff mask fails we get - in rapid succession - Edward, getting extremely upset and storming off in a rage when he realizes they're insulting him, and then Blackbeard, pulling out a gun and resolving to make them stop laughing.

A proper attempt at Ed is born from Jeff's ashes, when Stede gives him that touching bit of reassurance under the moonlight. This starts showing up in 1x06, with stuff like the erotic stabbing and the murder attempt confession that both filter his desire for closeness through a more (acceptable) violent context, but once that is through (and Izzy has temporarily taken the looming shadow of Blackbeard off the boat with him) he gets more "Ed" every episode.

(Interesting how Izzy leaving is ok but upsetting now that he's several weeks into being Ed, though he still blames Izzy with "You shouldn't have dueled him, Iz" and, more importantly, doesn't consider for a second that Izzy might cause problems. No consequences, remember?)

Edward in 1x07 and 1x08 is feeling antsy - some of those internalized issues rearing up and making him excessively focus on how he's being perceived / not getting too comfortable (notice he repeatedly tries to avert what he thinks are inevitable unwanted consequences by making them his decision first) - and dealing with the Calico Jack backslide, but he's trying to embrace the more Ed parts of himself. Flirting with Stede, bonding with the crew, drinking tea with way too much sugar in the morning and fine brandy in the evening. Being around Jack also emphasizes the parts of his old (and pre-Blackbeard old) life he really is done with, like the 24 hour frat boy party energy or living without fancy soaps or having no friends.

And then the English raid happens.

Edward's reaction in 1x09 starts as desperation, but it's also rooted in a collapse of pretty much his whole life. Izzy of all people has betrayed him (consequences strike one), and in the process brought the spectre of Blackbeard's past up to remind him he carries it like an anchor around his neck. Then just as quickly, he's deposited at the Privateering Academy where they take his clothes, shave his beard, and erase Blackbeard entirely. He wants to be Ed and suddenly Ed is all he is. And it's a relief... for now.

Going calmly into service and "accepting his fate" is the most passive decision he's ever made. The running away plan is peak fantasy of everything being nice and nothing having consequences. His history of being Blackbeard is fucking shit up (along with Stede's past) so why not just leave Blackbeard behind entirely and sail to China with no plan? Surely this will work great and nothing will ever go wrong and Stede will be completely on board.

This is the most completely "Ed" we see (and also the most fake). He waits on that dock, wistful, and Stede doesn't show up. That's unwanted consequences strike two.

On the Revenge, Edward doesn't give up on being Ed immediately, but he was always going to. Izzy is not being manipulative in the 1x10 scene, he just pisses Edward off. Like somebody, somewhere, eventually would have done. And Edward grabs him by the throat and shoves him against the wall, because a few weeks of leaning into the side of his personality that likes fine fabric didn't erase decades of the side of his personality that likes violence. Ed is a mask, and the mask slips.

Not quite consequences strike three, but a reminder that it's definitely coming. Edward can't keep the trappings and benefits and good parts of Blackbeard - command over Izzy, general awe and respect - while shedding Blackbeard so entirely that he genuinely asks:

Edward: "Guys, the sheer level of talent we have on this ship - why are we even being pirates?"

And moreover, Edward doesn't really want to. He wants to be more like Ed, but he doesn't want to truly be Ed any more than he wanted to truly be the mass murdering terror of the seas that made up the Blackbeard mask. He has parts of himself in both masks, but the masks themselves do not overlap. If he becomes one fully, he loses bits of himself with the other.

And at the moment "Ed" is sad and hurting and lost Stede, so if Edward's going to panic about being trapped in a corner and force himself to pick, then he picks Blackbeard / the Kraken.

(It's obvious but important to note that picking Blackbeard doesn't work - he's still Edward and still has the parts of himself that are distraught over Stede. There's a reason the last shot of Edward is him crying, and I suspect the Kraken will be less "concentrated horror" and more "the most erratic mood swings of Edward's life". And from Izzy's face I think he does too.)

What does this mean?

Well for one, Izzy isn't in love with an illusion / persona / mask / etc. Izzy helped create Blackbeard and he knows the man behind the mask probably better than anyone else. Edward and Izzy's relationship is a mirror opposite of Stede and Mary's. They did choose each other, they do know each other, and they are a mutually toxic clusterfuck anyway because they are both historically and currently fairly toxic people from a fairly toxic environment (which Izzy has zero inclination to change, though it is possible).

Stede, meanwhile, has seen and shared most of the tiny but significant category of "Edward things that don't get shared with Izzy" but would be way underprepared for dealing with the worst of Edward's toxic depths (though not frightened off or disgusted, because he's still, you know, deranged and kinda into it). He's not the healthy option because of some fanciful notion that he's the only one to ever know the real Edward, but because he knows that Edward wants to heal and become better and he's willing to support that process to whatever result.

And Edward... he needs to figure out his shit. Reckon with his past, including the people he dragged into his toxicity with him (symbolically Izzy but literally his whole mysteriously vanished crew). Make an effort to firmly establish who Edward truly is - good and bad - and then learn to live with that.

Because he's not Blackbeard, but he's also not Ed.

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EDIT: I didn't really get into racism / colonialism but here's an interesting post on that

#our flag means death #this is so long and i had so many thoughts but i think i laid them out fairly well #obviously there's a bunch more lenses you can look at this through. i know there's probably some great colonialism takes i didn't touch on #(and my izzy hands derangement is definitely present) #but yeah. tl;dr edward is not a soft cinnamon roll at heart and his attempt to just *be* one overnight was doomed #my meta #blackbeard ofmd #izzy hands ofmd #character arcs #ofmd #blackbeard #edward teach #ed teach #blackbonnet #and related > #izzy muppet meta #ladyluscinia #ofmd meta