(sorry for the length.) Slightly isolated from other components, we’ve been thinking about izzy and class lately. he’s obviously a very working class man, that’s kind of his whole thing, but there’s certainly an element of it that’s driving him and Edward apart too, not just in his hatred of stede. (1/?)
stede bonnet, sure he hates the man- for what he’s done to edward, whichever face you take it on, but Also for stede’s disdain and lack of respect for Izzy’s world on the whole, the way he sees it. stede breaks not just the toxic masculinity rules that get pointed out a lot, but the very real spoken and unspoken rules he simply doesn’t like, the ones that matter very much to Izzy’s world. (2/)
Don’t fight with other pirates, dont screw over anyone you can’t kill, don’t display your weakness, don’t blur the line between chain of command and friends, Respect that chain of command and respect ownership of places and the way that system works, - both with Jackie’s Bar and the taking of The Revenge- take care of your crew by hiring people who can take care of themselves, and penultimately, respect Death. (3)
it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that izzy sees stede coming in, and not only badly affecting Edward but also spitting in the face of every rule that both keeps izzy alive and runs his world, disdainful of the class barrier he’s playing sandbox in. edward and stede are both playing, to some extent, desperately trying to ‘amuse’ themselves while izzy is trying to stay and keep alive and Earn that living. (4)
stede’s going to get his whole crew killed, the first time him and ed meet, and edward gets several of their own crew killed instead, so they can both keep playing, while izzy has Got to be registering the pattern that piracy was historically supposed to escape- we’re not dying for the ‘betters’ who don’t give a shit about us, fuck them we can rule ourselves- (5)
and then getting aboard the revenge where both captains are getting crew killed for their own whims once more, rather than the peoples chain of command and quite frankly, izzy didnt sign up for this shit, and certainly not to play gentry with stede bonnet. the show has talked about it a bit- oluwande and jim and stede, frenchies past, Edward and his mother. (6)
but the role specifically of, ‘ we carved Blackbeard from our own skins to make this into armor and Survive, and now not only does this guy turn his nose up at everything we do, but you both act like it was never necessary in the first place’- it’d have to be fucking infuriating. (7/7 thank you)
Nonnie, this looks long because you had to split it up for Tumblr, but I promise it is not as long as some of the asks I've received, and I am always happy to receive things like this!
Anyway, nonnie, my gods. You have absolutely nailed this. I always come back to that conversation Oluwande has with Stede too, the one where he explains that Stede might be having a grand time cosplaying pirate because he wants to, but he and Jim are doing it because neither of them have any other options, and it's easy to interpret from there (and from how they all are) that this goes for everyone else on the crew too, unless otherwise stated.
It makes sense that Izzy would be pissed off by Stede swanning in and making it all about him and making Ed feel like he has other options (does he? does he actually?)
I would also like to argue that Stede came in and changed Edward. I've already talked about how Ed very clearly masks, but more than that he hyperfixated on Stede to such an extent he no longer cared about keeping his own crew alive. He was so focused on meeting and impressing Stede that he sacrificed multiple crewmembers of his own ship with nothing more than a shrug and a, "Well, they're pirates, they signed up for this."
Like, no? They did not sign up to die to save Stede Bonnet, far from it, and frankly Izzy would see that side of it rather strongly too: none of them wanted to live or die for rich ponces who pushed them around, so they signed up to work with Blackbeard who uh had them die for a rich ponce--
The class dynamics between Izzy and Stede are so important to their conflict, ugh!!
Nonnie, this ask was excellent. Never apologize for its length.
blakekathryn
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