Ed Teach - Blog Posts

This post from @crimson-and-clover-1717 made me think about how Ed just respects Stede. I know we giggle at Ed telling everyone to “line up and greet your captain” but it’s also really interesting because the crew until that point have struggled mightily in showing Stede any kind of respect or care (like, just as a human being). Jim calls him the worst pirate captain in history (even though, ahem, it was actually Jim’s actions that prompted Jackie to target them, not Stede’s). They were all planning to mutiny him in the first episode, and they lecture and talk down to him later.

Then Ed says: “Greet your captain. He just escaped the jaws of death.” It’s not even “you have to show him respect because he's a captain,” but “this guy just survived when he shouldn’t have, so come and shake his hand.” It’s ED showing respect and care for Stede that continues the process of the crew coming to respect and care for him.

And Ed also knows something the crew doesn’t: that Stede’s first question on waking was if the crew was OK. Ed knows already that Stede is a good captain, because Stede is more concerned about the people on his ship than he is about himself.

Can’t stop thinking about that scene in OFMD when Blackbeard rises from the water in his leathers after having discarded them to the bottom of the ocean. But it’s about more than just the unbelievable levels of hot and awesome. Ed put Blackbeard away, ready to try and become someone else. But the moment he realizes that the people he cares about and the man he loves are in danger, he dons Blackbeard again. He comes back to the world he knows, to the legend he is done with but recognizes the power it still holds. He’s doing it to protect the ones he loves, and he’s doing it because he knows that he’s good at this.

I like to believe that this time, he knows that this isn’t the only thing he is good at. He knows that Ed is loved, so Blackbeard can exist. I don’t know but it all makes me so emosh knowing that maybe finally he can integrate these two parts of himself in a way that doesn’t feel like he’s having to choose one or the other.

Maybe all this can be summarized as: I love Ed and I love Blackbeard the end.