I Enjoy Izzy Hands And Con O’neill Just As Much As Everyone Else But There Is One Thing That’s Bothering

i enjoy izzy hands and con o’neill just as much as everyone else but there is one thing that’s bothering me that people seem to be forgetting.

izzy may call him ed or edward, but he doesn’t know edward. he only knows the blackbeard persona. he doesn’t love edward, the scared boy who grew up in an abusive home and fancies a fine fabric. he doesn’t love ed as he wants to be, gentle and wearing silk and building blanket forts. he loves edward as he wants him to be; the dread pirate blackbeard.

y’all need to get it thru ur heads that izzy is bad for edward. does this mean he’s doing it with malicious intent? of course not. i do think he genuinely loves the version of edward in his head, but the fact is that that is not the person edward wants to be.

i saw someone on twitter saying that it was “media illiteracy” for people to say that izzy doesn’t truly love edward, and that is so fucking stupid lmao. it’s media illiteracy to say “uwu izzy is my sweet boy who’s never done anything wrong! he loves ed and we should feel bad for him that stede changed ed!”

no, we shouldn’t. because y’all seem to be forgetting who edward wants to be. and edward does not want to be blackbeard. the blackbeard persona is killing edward. if izzy truly loved him he would want what’s best for him. he’d want him to be happy.

let’s consider stede’s love for edward vs izzy’s love for edward. do they both love him? absolutely. but do they both have his best interests in mind? no.

stede has edward’s best interests in mind. after being convinced that he ruined edward, stede made the (admittedly unwise) decision to leave edward because it’s what he thought was best. he was convinced that he ruined blackbeard, that edward was unhappy, that it was his fault that edward’s life had fallen apart. as misguided as it was, he was putting edward before himself. he would rather edward be happy without him than unhappy with him.

and now izzy. izzy spent the entire time on the revenge berating edward for not being tough enough. for not being blackbeard. he never considered that edward didn’t want to be blackbeard. he didn’t care that edward was happy. he was the constant voice of self doubt that edward had about himself.

he wanted blackbeard. he convinced himself that that was who edward truly was. and then he broke edward down, ridiculing him until edward finally snapped and became the kraken. and what happened after edward broke? after he completely shut himself off to all happiness and became a numb shell of a man? izzy was happy.

because izzy’s love is selfish. he might call him edward, but that does not mean he knows or even cares about ed. he has a deep and unhealthy obsession with blackbeard and doesn’t care about the man underneath.

please don’t kid yourself into thinking that izzy and edward’s relationship is even comparable to stede and edward’s relationship. one of these relationships is about two traumatized men learning to let go of the personas they’ve hidden behind their entire lives and finally allowing themselves to be themselves and be happy. the other is an unhealthy relationship in which one man is deeply codependent on the other, and encourages him to keep up the facade that is killing him.

i’m all for media comprehension and diving into the complex relationship of izzy and edward. i think it’s fascinating. but don’t pretend like it isn’t toxic because you’re fooling yourself. and i feel for izzy, i do. i think he’s a great character. but he is not good for edward. yes izzy loves him and yes izzy is also bad for him both of these things can be true.