Blackbeard

**Captain Edward Teach**, (better known as **Blackbeard**) is the deuteragonist and main love interest in *Our Flag Means Death.* He is the most notorious and feared pirate of the Caribbean seas, but has gotten bored of his power and infamy.

> You ever feel trapped? Like you're just treading water, waiting to drown? [...] 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. 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 fuckin' life!
>
> Edward Teach, Discomfort in a Married State

## Physical appearance

Edward has brown eyes, tan skin, and long salt-and-pepper hair, which is often tied back from his face in a half-ponytail. He also has multiple tattoos on his body, with the most visible ones located on both of his arms. For the majority of his life, Edward sported a long, curly beard, though after recently being forced to shave it, it is now much shorter.

Edward prefers to dress in dark colors, with perhaps his most iconic and commonly worn outfit being his black leather jacket with the right sleeve removed, black leather pants, and black boots. He also typically wears a knee brace on his left knee, and has a holster for his gun and knife. Despite this love for darker and edgier fashion, Edward also has a soft spot for fine fabrics and fancier styles of clothing.

## Personality

Edward is an adventurous, charismatic, and altogether charming individual. He is quick-witted, and possesses a playful, irreverent sense of humor. He has a flair and a propensity for theatrics, as shown by his love of a good "fuckery." He is incredibly intelligent and a skilled strategist, and is just as easily capable of improvising on the fly, though at times he can prove to be a bit scattered and easily distracted. In spite of his tough, devil-may-care exterior, Edward is, in fact, a deeply sensitive and emotional person, and feels his emotions, such as anger and sadness, at extremes, though he makes an conscious effort to hide this facet of his personality from others to varying degrees of success. He can be easily hurt, and does not take rejection well, likely due to his troubled past. He has a soft spot for the finer things in life, such as fine fabrics and fancy clothes, and values originality and ingenuity in others due to his many years at sea.

## History

### Early life

Edward Teach was born to a poor family in 1680. He had a mother and an abusive father, whom he later killed by strangling him with rope. When recounting his father's death, he would instead claim that "the Kraken" killed his father, most likely from trauma.

At one point in his childhood, his mother showed him a piece of red silk, and he asked her why they couldn’t have things like it. She responded by telling him that they just "weren't those kind of people" and that they never would be. Edward kept the piece of silk and remembered her words often, even into adulthood.

### Life as Blackbeard

Edward began his life as an outlaw under Captain Hornigold, where he met Calico Jack for the first time. They would later both say that Captain Hornigold treated them “worse than dogs”. Jack and Edward soon became friends, and sometimes had "dalliances" with one another.

Edward eventually became a captain himself, and used the moniker Blackbeard, which became the name most knew him as. Eventually, Israel "Izzy" Hands joined his crew, and Edward made him his First Mate, telling him that “above all else is loyalty to your captain”. His crew later included also Fang and Ivan, the former of which was forced to put his dog down by Blackbeard because of his "no pets aboard the vessel" policy.

### Meeting Stede Bonnet

In 1717, Edward began to grow bored of his repetitive life as a fearsome pirate, as it was becoming too easy to win battles. When he caught word of the Gentleman Pirate, Stede Bonnet, he was intrigued to hear about someone who was "doing something original" when it came to piracy, so he ordered his right hand man Izzy Hands to follow him and the crew of the Revenge, eventually arriving at the Republic of Pirates. Edward and his crew stormed the Spanish ship that Stede, Jim Jimenez, Lucius Spriggs, and Roach had gotten captured on, and it was during this rescue that Edward at last met the Gentleman Pirate, who was close to death from his injuries.

Edward took up temporary residence on the Revenge while an unconscious Stede recovered from his wounds, often sitting next to Stede's bedside while he slept. When Stede finally woke up, he gave an intrigued Edward a tour of his cabin. Both men quickly bonded, and upon succeeding in implementing a shared idea of how to trick the Spanish into abandoning their search for the Revenge, they decided to make a deal: if Edward showed Stede how to be a better pirate, Stede would show Edward how to be more of a gentleman. However, soon after this conversation, Edward confided to Izzy that he actually had plans to kill Stede and pass off his corpse as Edward's own so that he could steal the Gentleman Pirate's identity, which restored Izzy's previously broken faith in him.

### Attending a high-society party

After the Revenge was saved from the Spanish, Edward continued to stay on the ship with a handful of his crew for several more weeks, teaching Stede how to pillage ships while Stede taught him about the finer things in life. On one certain raid, an insult from the captured ship’s captain reminded Edward of the conversation he had with his mother as a child in which she gave him a piece of red silk and told him that they were not the kind of people that got to have fine things.

When Frenchie showed Stede an invitation to a high-society party that he had found on the captured ship, Edward immediately expressed a desire to go. Edward, Stede, Oluwande, and Frenchie then traveled to the party ship, where Edward adopted the persona of "Jeff the Accountant". While Edward was able to entertain and impress the aristocrats at first, they eventually began to use passive aggression on him when he failed to remember the correct utensils to use at dinner. This enraged Edward, but Stede told him that he would handle the situation for him. Through the use of his own passive aggression skills, Stede was able to incite a brawl amongst the aristocrats, eventually leading to the boat catching on fire. This act greatly impressed Edward.

When they returned to the Revenge that same evening, a pensive Edward removed the red piece of silk from his shirt and once again recalled the memory of his mother. Stede soon approached him, placing the red piece of silk into Edward's breast pocket and telling him that he wore fine things well. After a moment of charged silence, the two parted ways for the night, but not before glancing back at one another one last time.

### Attempt to kill Stede Bonnet

Edward and Stede continued to grow closer in the weeks following the aristocrat party, spending every day together and enjoying each other's company. Edward also grew closer with the rest of Stede’s crew during this time. One evening, Edward told the crew the story of how he witnessed "the Kraken" strangle his father when he was a boy, and that it was the only time in his life that he had ever felt fear. The following day, Edward scared Stede's crew by putting on a dramatic performance using illusions, which he called "the art of fuckery", telling Stede that it was a useful method for instilling fear in enemies.

Izzy, Ivan, and Fang soon confronted Edward, telling him that he needed to kill Stede before he formed too much of an attachment. They believed Stede had become a sort of "pet" to Edward, something Edward himself did not allow on his crew. Edward, while conflicted, reluctantly agreed to kill Stede during the latter's planned fuckery.

However, before Edward was able to go through with the act, the fuckery's special effects meant to simulate a Kraken attack resulted in Edward panicking and taking refuge in Stede’s bathroom. A concerned Stede followed him, and Edward revealed that he was "the Kraken" who had killed his abusive father, and that he had not killed anyone else personally since. He also revealed that he was supposed to kill Stede that night, but that he couldn’t go through with it. Edward then broke down into tears, saying that he wasn’t a good person and that this was why he didn’t have any friends. Stede reassured him that he was his friend, and that he was willing to forget about Edward planning to kill him, which greatly comforted Edward.

Later, when Izzy found out that Edward had no intentions of killing Stede, he took matters into his own hands by challenging Stede to a sword duel. To Edward's surprise, however, Stede managed to win the duel by using a technique the former had taught him, forcing an enraged and humiliated Izzy to leave the ship on a dinghy.

### Treasure hunt in St. Augustine

Eventually, Edward told Stede that he had stayed on the Revenge longer than he had originally intended to, and would likely soon begin to prep for "the next adventure". Later, Stede convinced Edward and Lucius to join him on a treasure hunt in St. Augustine while the rest of the crew looked for oranges to treat the Swede's scurvy. Edward behaved irritably the majority of the time, not wanting the locals to see the fearsome pirate Blackbeard treasure hunting. However, Lucius eventually pulled Edward aside and admonished him for his behavior, pointing out that Stede had put together the whole outing for Edward because he liked him very much. This convinced Edward to change his tune, and he participated in the rest of the treasure hunt with a more encouraging and upbeat attitude. After they returned to the ship, Edward shared a drink with Stede, and the two of them agreed to be co-captains of the Revenge.

### Reuniting with Calico Jack

Some time later, Edward's former crewmate Calico Jack arrived at the Revenge on a dinghy. Edward was excited to see his old friend, and the two reminisced about their time under Captain Hornigold and engaged in their favorite old activities together, including destroying Stede's furniture and playing dangerous and violent games with the rest of the crew. Stede initially expressed reluctance to get to know Jack due to their clashing personalities, but agreed to give him a chance when Edward told him that he owed Jack his life, and that Jack and Stede had some things in common. However, Stede eventually told Edward that he didn't like the games they were playing with Jack, nor the person Edward was around him, which disappointed Edward.

When Calico Jack accidentally killed Karl, Buttons' seagull friend, by being reckless with his whip, Stede demanded that he get off of his ship. However, when Jack prepared to leave, he asked Edward to go with him, reminding him that he had saved his life once. Edward agreed, telling a tearful Stede that he was "always going to realize what he was", and left the ship with Jack. The two spent the night on the nearby shore of Blind Man's Cove, where Lucius later brought Edward a box of his things from the ship, emphasizing that Stede had "really liked him" before heading back to the Revenge.

Later, while the two were leaving the cove on a dinghy, Jack let it slip that he had already known that Edward was on the Revenge before his arrival. When a suspicious Edward asked where he had heard this, Jack revealed that he had led them to Blind Man's Cove intentionally, and that Izzy had been the one to send him to get Edward away from the area before the English arrived to capture Stede. An enraged Edward cursed at Jack, yelling that Stede was his friend, and abandoned the dinghy to return to the Revenge, where he, Stede, and the rest of the crew were apprehended by Chauncey Badminton.

### Act of Grace

After the Revenge was taken over by the English, Edward attempted to take responsibility for the murder of Nigel Badminton. However, Stede eventually confessed to the murder, and he and Edward were both put on trial. During the trial, Chauncey declared that while Edward would be released to Izzy Hands, Stede would be sentenced to death by firing squad. Desperate not to lose Stede, Edward declared the Act of Grace to save the Gentleman Pirate's life. The English agreed to allow Stede to live under the condition that both he and Edward sign a document promising to renounce their life of piracy and serve the king.

Following this event, Edward and Stede were sent to the Royal Privateering Academy. When Stede asked Edward how he was handling the situation so well, Edward admitted that he wanted to do "what makes Ed happy", and eventually confessed that it was Stede who made him happy before kissing him. After the kiss, Stede replied that Edward made him happy as well, and the two made a plan to run away together. That evening, however, Edward waited until sunrise for Stede to join him on the docks, but Stede never came. Eventually, Edward left on his own and returned to the Revenge.

### Becoming the Kraken

Deeply heartbroken by Stede abandoning him, Edward entered a state of depression for several days. After some encouragement from Lucius, however, he was inspired to spend more time expressing himself with the crew, and completely abandoned his Blackbeard persona. Disgusted with Edward's behavior, Izzy confronted his boss in Stede's cabin and berated him for pining for Stede and having grown soft. This harsh conversation led Edward to reflect on his life and relationship with Stede, and he soon adopted the ruthless and violent persona of "the Kraken".

Having fully embraced his new persona, Edward discarded his mother's red piece of silk, pushed Lucius overboard, punished Izzy violently for his insubordination, and ordered the crew of the Revenge to throw all of Stede's belongings into the ocean. He then marooned Oluwande, Black Pete, the Swede, Buttons, Roach, and Wee John on a small island, while keeping Jim and Frenchie on his crew. However, when he was later alone in Stede's cabin, Edward broke down and sobbed while looking at the one remaining possession of Stede's that he had kept, Mary Bonnet's lighthouse painting, indicating that he was still heartbroken over Stede.

### Reckless behavior and declining mental state

Following his abandonment of the rest of Stede’s crew, Edward began to conduct more frequent and increasingly violent raids, and began to regularly use substances to cope with his worsening feelings of depression. Edward also continued to punish any perceived insubordination from his crew with threatened or actual violence, particularly towards Izzy.

Eventually, Izzy told Edward that he and the crew believed that the atmosphere on the ship had become “poisoned”. The first mate also revealed that he had love for Edward and cared about his well-being, suggesting that they "talk things through" instead of continuing the constant cycle of violence. Having been reminded of Stede, an enraged Edward stormed up to the deck and pointed a gun at several of the crew members, asking them to confirm Izzy’s reports, which they all denied. When Edward held the gun to his own chin and began “questioning” himself about the energy on the ship in a manic and unsettling manner, Izzy angrily interrupted him, stating that the energy on the ship was “fucked” due to Edward’s feelings for Stede. Upon hearing Stede’s name mentioned, Edward immediately shot Izzy in the left leg and ordered Frenchie to be his new first mate, leaving Izzy to bleed out on deck.

### Provoking crew to mutiny

Some time later, Edward discovered that Frenchie had not killed Izzy like he had ordered him to, and found that he and the rest of the crew had been hiding Izzy in a secret room, where Jim and Archie had cut off his leg to prevent the infected bullet wound from killing him. Edward ordered the rest of the crew to leave the room, then pulled out a gun, telling Izzy that he’d had a dream in which the latter had shot him. He handed the weapon to Izzy and turned around, and Izzy laughed, telling Edward that he would not fulfill his wish and taunting him for being too scared to do so himself. Edward then said his goodbyes and left the room, hearing the sound of a gunshot behind him, and murmured to himself that he had loved the man as best as he could.

Following this interaction, Edward steered the Revenge directly into an incoming storm and purposefully broke the wheel. When the crew confronted him about this, a maniacal Edward demanded that Archie and Jim, who he had witnessed kissing earlier, fight one another to the death or he would fire a cannonball into the ship's mast, killing them all. Although they were able to gain the upper hand in the fight, Jim refused to kill Archie, knowing that Edward was likely to fire the cannonball regardless, which Edward confirmed. Before he could do so, however, Izzy once again intervened, shooting Edward. Banding together, the crew took Edward down, and Jim hit him in the head with a cannonball, giving a smiling Edward the “death” he had been desiring.

### The "gravy basket"

After the incident with the storm, a delirious Edward woke up on a beach, where a strange man pulled his body into the forest. Edward later discovered that the man was Captain Hornigold, Edward’s former captain and a man that he vehemently hated due to the trauma he had inflicted upon Edward in his youth. When he unsuccessfully tried to kill the man several times, he realized that “Hornigold” was not real. Hornigold explained to Edward that he was currently in the "gravy basket" - purgatory - and that he would need to make a choice between life and death. Edward identified his reasons for living, but expressed his fears that nobody was waiting for him if he did choose life.

Eventually, Hornigold took Edward to the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, where he revealed that he was an aspect of Edward created by Edward’s own subconscious—the aspect of himself that he hated. Hornigold then tossed a rock with a rope attached to Edward’s waist over the cliff, causing him to crash into the ocean below.

While Edward struggled at first, he soon accepted his fate and allowed the rock to pull him further into the depths. However, when he heard the distant voice of Stede calling out to him, Edward began to struggle again, managing to untie the rope from his waist. When he gazed up at the surface, he saw a bright light and the figure of a merperson—Stede—swimming towards him, and abruptly returned to consciousness, where he saw the real-life Stede looking down at him in relieved shock.

### Recovery and reuniting with Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Despite having regained consciousness, Edward continued to experience some level of delirium and expressed a significant amount of anger towards Stede. When he was banished by the crew of the Revenge for his past behavior, Edward wandered into the forest of a nearby island, where he ran into one of his old friends, Mary Read. Mary brought Edward to her and her partner Anne Bonny’s antiques shop, where Edward and Anne embraced as old friends. When Edward realized that Stede was at the shop as well, he initially attempted to ignore the man until Anne and Mary invited them both to dinner.

While waiting for dinner to cook, Anne and Mary chatted with Stede and Edward about their relationships. During this conversation, Edward continued to distance himself from Stede and spoke negatively about their past relationship. When Stede left the room to help Anne with dinner preparation, Mary and Edward spoke about Stede, and Mary commented that he and Stede were "caught in the same whirlpool" as she and Anne were. Later, at dinner, Anne mentioned that Stede had left his wife twice, revealing to Edward the reason why Stede had abandoned him. Angry and hurt, Edward smashed a chair into the wall and stormed out of the room.

When Stede came to check on Edward in the sitting room and attempted to explain himself, Edward accused Stede of seeing him as nothing more than a whim. However, Stede reminded him that he had been just as much of a whim to Edward, bringing up the fact that Edward had originally intended to kill him when they’d first met. Stede then revealed that he had panicked after Edward had declared Act of Grace due to how fast things were moving. The two began to reconcile somewhat after Stede listed all of the things he loved about Edward, but were interrupted by Anne and Mary, who made fun of them. Stede and Edward realized at this point that Anne and Mary had been involving the two of them in one of their “games” and denounced the immaturity of the two women's relationship. This sparked an argument between Anne and Mary, which eventually led to Anne deciding to burn everything down, including all of her antiques, so that she and Mary could return to life as pirates, as she knew this was what Mary wanted.

After they left the burning house, Stede asked if Edward would like to stay on the Revenge, to which Edward agreed. While Stede returned to the Revenge to speak with the crew about this, Edward had a conversation with Buttons about change, during which Edward told him that “people don’t change”. However, Edward was shocked when he turned around to see that Buttons, who had been performing an animal transmogrification ritual, seemed to have actually turned into a seagull. Having realized that people did have the capacity to change, Edward watched the seagull fly into the night in amazement, and when Stede returned to bring him back to the ship, he excitedly told the Gentleman Pirate about what he had just witnessed.

### Probation

As a condition of being allowed to remain on board the Revenge, Edward entered a period of probation in which he was required to repair the parts of the ship that he had broken during his reign as the Kraken. Eventually, Edward ran into Lucius, who treated him with extreme hostility and distrust due to still having trauma about Edward pushing him off the ship. Edward suggested that he could make it up to Lucius by allowing him to push him off the ship, which Lucius agreed to readily.

After Edward had been pushed off the ship, he was picked up in a dinghy by Fang, and the two went fishing. During the fishing trip, Edward asked if the two of them were “good”, and Fang replied that he believed they were after he had taken everything out on Edward’s unconscious body during the storm. Fang also asked Edward if the reason he talked so much was because he “didn’t want to know how to sit with himself”, and encouraged the man to try being quiet, which Edward struggled with.

That evening, Edward met Stede on the main deck and proudly showed him the fish he had caught while they both talked about their days. He then complimented Stede’s red shirt, telling him that he wore fine things well, and kissed him. When Stede tried to intensify the kiss, however, Edward pulled back and requested that they take things slowly, to which Stede agreed, and the two held hands.

### Encounter with Ned Low

Some time later, Stede encouraged a sullen Edward to "turn poison into positivity" and use some of his stolen treasure to buy supplies for a party the crew wanted to throw. However, the party ended up being interrupted by Ned Low, who stormed the Revenge and began to torture everyone on the crew out of revenge due to Edward having broken Ned’s record of consecutive raids. Eventually, Stede was able to defeat Ned by convincing the latter’s crew to turn against him. When the defeated Ned insulted Edward for his lack of ferocity and willingness to kill, Stede demanded that he walk the plank, to Edward's disappointment. Edward attempted to convince Stede not to go through with it, as killing someone in cold blood was not something he’d be able to easily come back from, but Stede did so anyway.

Having seen the traumatizing effect this act had on Stede, Edward visited him in his quarters to check on him. When Edward began to offer words of comfort, however, Stede pulled him into the room, where the two kissed passionately and became intimate with one another for the first time.

### Disillusionment with pirate life

The following morning, Edward wrapped up all of his weapons and leathers and sunk them into the ocean and brought Stede breakfast in bed, where he spoke with him about his vision of Stede as a merperson when he was close to death. While visiting a food shack at the Republic of Pirates, Edward was touched to learn that Stede had been writing him letters during the period of time they had been separated. As the day went on, Stede began to receive a significant amount of attention, both positive and negative, from the denizens of the Republic of Pirates due word having spread that he had defeated Ned Low.

While Edward was supportive of Stede’s newfound infamy at first, he began to feel uneasy about the future of their relationship when Spanish Jackie asked him if Stede knew that Edward wanted to leave piracy. Later, Izzy told Edward that he had seen him throw his leathers overboard,

Eventually, Stede confronted Edward about not seeming happy for him, and Edward told him that even though he had asked to take things slow, they were doing the exact opposite, leading him to believe that what had happened between them the night prior had been a mistake. An argument then ensued between the two men, which culminated in Edward revealing that he had decided to leave piracy to become a fisherman, and they parted ways.

### Escaping the Republic of Pirates and leaving piracy

While Edward attempted to immerse himself in his new role as a fisherman, he was ultimately unsuccessful, and returned to the Republic of Pirates the next day to find it in a state of complete disarray. Edward immediately thought of Stede, likely assuming he had perished or was in trouble due to the level of destruction that had been caused, and dove into the ocean to retrieve the leathers he had sunk, once again embracing his Blackbeard persona.

Upon returning to land, Edward came across two British soldiers who had found a letter and were making fun of its contents. Edward killed the two men and took the letter, which he found was one of the many that Stede had written to him while they had been separated. Edward was deeply touched by the content of Stede's heartfelt letter, and began to fight several other British soldiers until he spotted Stede fighting another group of British soldiers on the other side of the beach. The two called out for one another and ran into each other’s arms, where they shared a tender kiss. Edward apologized for "being a dick" and told Stede that he loved him, to which Stede lovingly replied that he knew this already.

The two then assisted Zheng Yi Sao in defeating the remaining British soldiers and returned with the Pirate Queen to Spanish Jackie’s, where they watched all of the British soldiers who had taken over the tavern, aside from Ricky Banes, foam at the mouth and collapse. Jackie revealed she had served all of the soldiers poisoned alcohol, and the group of pirates concocted a plan to disguise themselves as British soldiers and force Ricky, who had organized the British attack, to call off the soldiers.

While the crew was leading Ricky to the British, the prince escaped, shooting Izzy in the abdomen in the process. When they finally returned to the Revenge, a dying Izzy apologized to Edward for his past behavior and for trying to keep his Blackbeard persona alive instead of allowing him to "just be Ed". A tearful and distraught Edward replied that he should be the one apologizing, and that Izzy was family. Izzy replied that the crew was his family, and eventually succumbed to his wounds. Following Izzy’s burial ceremony, Zheng approached Edward and Stede and asked them to join forces with her so they could get revenge on Ricky for killing Izzy and destroying her fleet. However, after attending Black Pete and Lucius’ wedding, the two men decided to stay behind on land to open an inn together, leaving the Revenge to Zheng and the rest of Stede’s crew.

## Relationships

### Mother Teach

Edward seemed to have been quite close with his mother, as he kept the red piece of silk she had given him when he was a child into adulthood. It was Edward's mother who taught him that people like she and him were not the kind of people who got to have fine things like aristocrats did. He appeared to have cared for his mother very much, as it was after his father beat her one night that Edward finally decided to retaliate and kill the man.

### Father Teach

Edward loathed his father, as he was verbally and physically abusive to both Edward and his mother while Edward was growing up. According to Edward, his father was the first and only man that he has ever personally killed, and the day he killed his father was the only time he has ever felt fear.

### Captain Hornigold

At some point in his youth, Edward joined the crew of the pirate Captain Hornigold. Edward greatly disliked Hornigold, as he and many other crew members were often beaten by the captain and treated as "less than dogs". According to Edward, Hornigold's ship is where he first became an outlaw.

### Calico Jack

Edward and Calico Jack met while serving on Captain Hornigold's crew. The two shared a fondness for violence and risky activities, and Jack often brought out the reckless traits in Edward when the two were together. In the past, Edward and Jack engaged in sexual encounters with one another. When Jack happened upon Stede Bonnet's ship one day while Edward was staying there, initially, Edward was thrilled, but when he found out that Jack had worked together with Izzy Hands to set Stede Bonnet up to be captured by the English, he became furious, and abandoned his former crew mate to rescue Stede, never seeing him again.

### Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Edward first met his old friends Anne Bonny and Mary Read at some point in his past when the two women were still pirates. While little is known about their history, Edward seems to know Anne and Mary fairly well, though based on their most recent interactions, it can be assumed that Edward has a closer friendship with Mary than with Anne.

### Ned Low

While little is known about their past interactions or overall relationship, Edward and Ned Low seem to have had a negative opinion of one another. Edward cited his lack of respect for Ned as the reason he did not have an interest in killing the man after Stede had defeated him.

### Israel "Izzy" Hands

Edward has known Izzy Hands for many years, and while he is aware that his first mate is very competent and loyal, he is often frustrated by his serious personality and lack of imagination. Despite this, Edward appears to value Izzy's opinion quite a bit, as he is often swayed to make decisions based on Izzy's suggestions or even his insults. For a time, their working relationship seemed to have grown quite casual, as Edward often tolerated Izzy insulting him and expressing his anger to his face without retaliation. He seems to have a sort of soft spot for Izzy overall, as while he was furious at him for sending Jack to trick him and for making a deal with the English to get rid of Stede, he allowed him to live when he returned to the Revenge from the Royal Privateering Academy. However, when Izzy eventually berated Edward for having grown soft in his heartbreak, this led to Edward adopting the cruel persona of the Kraken, and he punished Izzy's insubordination with violence. As a result, their relationship now seems to have grown more distant.

### Fang

Fang is one of the members of Edward's crew that he typically sends with Izzy to complete special tasks for him, indicating that Edward trusts Fang. At some point in the past, Edward ordered Fang to put his dog down, as he did not allow pets on his ship, something that still upsets Fang to this day when he is reminded of it.

### Ivan

While it seemed that Edward once valued Ivan as a member of his crew, according to Fang, Edward did not seem to show any remorse or grief when Ivan was killed on a raid following Edward's transformation into the ruthless Kraken.

### Spanish Jackie

While little is known about their relationship, Edward and Spanish Jackie appear to be familiar with one another and on good terms; Edward even trusted Jackie enough to tell her that he wanted to give up piracy.

### Stede Bonnet

Edward was immediately fascinated with Stede Bonnet from the moment he first heard about "the Gentleman Pirate" in 1717. When the two finally met, they quickly bonded, and Edward ended up taking up residence on the Revenge for several months. During this time, Stede taught him how to be more of a gentleman, while he taught Stede how to be more of a bloodthirsty pirate. Although Edward had initially intended to kill Stede and steal his identity, he quickly abandoned this plan, growing fond of Stede and eventually becoming close friends with him.

Eventually, Edward fell in love with Stede, and it was out of love that he agreed to renounce piracy and serve the king to save Stede's life. After the two had been sent to the Royal Privateer Academy, Edward confessed his feelings, and they shared a tender kiss. When Stede echoed these feelings, an elated Edward suggested the two run away together, to which Stede initially agreed. However, when Stede failed to show up to the docks to meet him before sunrise, Edward was heartbroken.

Stede's abandonment affected Edward significantly, as in his eyes, this mean that he was truly unlovable. While he initially handled his heartbreak in a healthy manner, he later reverted to his inner violent and cruel behavioral patterns as a coping mechanism for his depression, becoming "the Kraken" and purposefully ridding the ship of nearly all of Stede's belongings, as well as much of his crew. However, Edward often spent his alone time sobbing to himself and thinking of Stede, indicating the true depth of his love and heartbreak.

### Lucius Spriggs

Initially, Edward was dismissive of Lucius Spriggs, Stede Bonnet's scribe, and Lucius feared Edward just as much as the rest of Stede's crew did. However, while on Stede's St. Augustine treasure hunt, Lucius gathered his courage and admonished Edward for being "a dick" the entire time, pointing out how much Stede liked Edward and vice versa. At first, Edward was taken aback by being spoken to like this, but took Lucius' words to heart and lightened up. Later, Lucius was the person to deliver Edward's belongings to him when the latter left the Revenge with Calico Jack, once again scolding him and reminding him that Stede really liked him. When Edward returned to the Revenge following Stede's abandonment of him, Lucius sat with him in his blanket fort and encouraged him to remember that "life begins again", comforting Edward and leading him to open up to the rest of the crew and embrace the softer side of himself.

These interactions with Lucius seemed to have played a significant role in helping Edward recognize and take a chance with his romantic feelings for Stede. Unfortunately, when Edward became the Kraken, one of his first cruel acts was to push the scribe overboard, likely not only out of revenge for Lucius encouraging him with Stede only for him to get his heart broken, but also because Lucius was one of the few people other than Stede that he had allowed himself to be vulnerable around.

### Crew of the Revenge

When he first boarded the Revenge, Edward introduced himself in a genuinely friendly and casual manner to Stede's crew, who regarded him with fear and awe due to his status as Blackbeard. The longer Edward stayed on the ship, the more comfortable the crew became around him, eventually considering Edward to be just as much of their captain as Stede was. However, after Stede abandoned Edward, the latter returned to the Revenge and eventually became the Kraken, pushing Lucius Spriggs overboard and abandoning Oluwande Boodhari, Black Pete, Nathanial Buttons, The Swede, Wee John Feeney, and Roach to die on a small island. The only original crew members Edward kept on the Revenge during this period were Frenchie and Jim Jimenez.

### Archie

Edward and Archie appear to have a distant relationship, as she joined his crew after he had already become the Kraken. Edward appeared irritated when he discovered her and Jim sharing a kiss, and later ordered the two to fight to the death in an attempt to push his crew to mutiny.

## Trivia

* David Jenkins admitted that while he never imagined Taika Waititi would be interested in playing Blackbeard, he wrote the part in Waititi's voice while drawing heavy inspiration from *Lost in Translation*.
* David Jenkins admitted that while writing the show, he imagined Blackbeard could be played by Pedro Pascal.
* Blackbeard's costume was inspired by the costume worn by the eponymous character in the *Mad Max* trilogy.
* David Jenkins revealed that the fans were right in their theories that Blackbeard starts to wear purple as a symbol of him opening up and becoming more vulnerable; Jenkins also admitted that this was supposed to be an in-joke for the actors and the crew and that he was surprised that the fans noticed it.
* Alex Sherman admitted that the Kraken being a manifestation of Edward's dark side comes from him being a fan of *The* *Goonies,* which famously had a deleted scene involving the gang fighting a giant octopus.

## References

1. ↑ Kristian Nairn instagram live with David Jenkins at 32:00
2. ↑ Kristian Nairn instagram live with David Jenkins at 39:14
3. ↑ Kristian Nairn instagram live with David Jenkins at 13:50
4. ↑ Kristian Nairn instagram live with Alex Sherman and Alyssa Lane