Izzy Hands

**Israel 'Izzy' Hands** is one of the major characters in *Our Flag Means Death.* He serves as Blackbeard's first mate and is portrayed by Con O'Neill.

> Bonnet comes along and he's like 'oh, oh, Blackbeard I really love- I love the way you dress. I love the way your hair, your beard', and all that.
>
> Israel 'Izzy' Hands, This is Happening

## Physical Appearance

Izzy isn't overly tall, standing at roughly five foot and seven and a half inches. His beard and slicked back hair are a graying black, his eyes are green-brown and he is somewhere in his mid fifties.

His outfit fits the black and leather dress code of Blackbeard’s crew. He’s seen dressed in a pair of leather trousers and leather waistcoat, knee high boots and a greenish-black shirt, which is a bit too big for him so its sleeves have to be tied above the elbows, making it look as if they were puffy. He accessorizes with a single black glove on his right hand and a black cravat with a golden ring with an emerald placed above the knot.

Izzy has three visible tattoos, the largest of which is a swallow on the right side of his neck, partially concealed by his shirt. There is also a small spade symbol between his thumb and index finger on his left hand and, probably most notable, a small ‘X’ under his right eye. When his glove is taken off following him getting shot by Blackbeard, it is revealed that he also has a red heart tattooed below his right thumb.

Following getting shot, Izzy has his left leg amputated above the knee. For a while, he uses a prosthetic made out of a table leg, but when it breaks the crew fashion him a new one from a sawed-off leg of the Revenge's unicorn figurehead, which they paint gold. When Izzy is retraining topless after getting his new leg, lashing scars can be seen on his back.

## History

Izzy Hands has been in service to Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach for a great many years and acts as his fiercely loyal first mate. Somewhere prior to his debut episode, A Damned Man, Izzy hears about Stede Bonnet’s success at killing and capturing of British officers and seeks them out. Izzy meets the crew of the Revenge after they run their ship aground and manages to acquire both of Bonnet’s hostages once he loses them to the island’s natives, meaning to sell them off for ‘a pretty penny’. In the jungle, he loses one back to Stede once he gets ambushed by him. After Blackbeard hears about Stede, Izzy is sent to follow and find the Gentleman Pirate and request a meeting.

Izzy finds Stede in Spanish Jackie’s bar. Stede refuses the meeting proposal, telling Izzy that Blackbeard could 'suck eggs in hell'. Later, Izzy and the rest of Blackbeard’s crew attack the Spanish naval vessel, ultimately helping to save Bonnet's life.

After Blackbeard takes command of the *Revenge,* Izzy sets to work keeping the ship functioning with what he believes to be a useless, lazy crew. When Blackbeard and an injured Stede decide to trade clothes and lives for the day, Izzy, who had been urging Edward to come up with a plan against the Spanish and kept getting ignored, pulls Blackbeard aside, threatens to resign and calls him a 'twat'. After Bonnet and Blackbeard manage to save the crew with their lighthouse stunt, Izzy attempts to leave the ship in a dinghy, apologizing for what he had said; but is stopped by Ed who tells him he needs him on the Revenge, promising him Bonnet’s murder and subsequent captaincy of his very own ship. While he tries to run the Revenge afterwards, Izzy quickly realizes that his usual insults and threats don't work on Stede's crew - especially not on Lucius who does everything he can to get out of doing any real work - and that they'll defend one another.

In the episode The Art of Fuckery, Izzy urges Blackbeard to go through with his initial assassination plan. Realizing Ed won’t go through with it after Bonnet is still alive, Izzy challenges Stede to a duel: winner stays, loser dies or has to leave the ship. Though Izzy easily disarms and runs Bonnet through, he ends up losing due to breaking his sword on the cherrywood mast, meaning he is banished from the ship.

In his banishment, Izzy goes to Spanish Jackie’s; where, after venting his frustrations about Bonnet, he’s approached by Nigel Badminton with whom he makes a deal. Izzy will betray Stede’s whereabouts in exchange for Blackbeard’s safety. Izzy sends Calico Jack to move Ed away from the incoming British vessels in an attempt to save him from them, but when that doesn’t work and Blackbeard leaves Jack and returns to the Revenge, the British give Izzy ‘custody’ of Edward. When Izzy tries to explain to Ed why he did it, he’s punched in the face in front of the entire crew and Navy and is ignored as Blackbeard demands an act of grace.

Once Edward and Stede are taken away, Izzy is left in charge of the Revenge. He is a horrible and cruel captain with little to no respect from the crew and is quickly the subject of a mutiny. Izzy is about to be thrown overboard with an anchor tied to him, but Edward returns to the ship after being abandoned by Stede and demands that Izzy be released.

Izzy quickly returns to his first mate post for Blackbeard, looking after heartbroken Ed while he stays in the captain’s quarters. When Edward starts to feel more cheerful, planning a talent show with the crew, Izzy, disgusted by how soft Edward has become, confronts him about it, angrily telling him he serves Blackbeard, not Ed. This confrontation breaks something in Edward, releasing the Kraken, and Izzy finds himself mutilated in his bed that night when Blackbeard cuts off his pinky toe with scissors and feeds it to him as punishment for his insubordination. Izzy, who seems proud that his boss is back, then instructs the crew to throw out Stede’s possessions on Blackbeard’s orders and maroons them on a small island.

During season 2, Izzy is shown enduring more abuse at Blackbeard's hands, under his Kraken persona. The crew comforts him and reveals he's lost two more toes. Izzy seems to try to protect the crew and eventually stands up to Blackbeard, only to be shot in the leg for his troubles. While Blackbeard demands he be killed, the crew hides Izzy in a secret room and eventually are forced to amputate his leg to save him when the bullet wound festers. Blackbeard discovers him and tries to provoke Izzy to shoot him in the back. Izzy refuses, saying he will no longer clean up Edward's messes and attempts suicide with the gun Blackbeard had given him. When Blackbeard threatens the crew by sailing into a storm and threatening to fire the cannon through the mast, Izzy reveals himself to still be alive, the bullet having grazed off his forehead, and shoots Blackbeard to save the crew. In return, the crew later fashion him a prosthetic out of the leg of the broken unicorn figurehead, dubbing him "the new unicorn" in a note, acknowledging him as their protector.

When Bonnet returns, Izzy shows himself to have been changed by his ordeal, pleading with Bonnet to not allow the crew to suffer further for their mistakes. He even strikes up a tentative, if snarky, friendly relationship with Bonnet, attempting to teach him to be a better pirate and shows approval at Bonnet's progress. Izzy is even shown spending time with Bonnet on his own, hanging out in his cabin while Bonnet preens over a newly acquired coat, although Izzy tells him to get rid of it, as the crew believes it is cursed. He counsels Lucius through his trauma, telling him that a shark took his leg and, while covering the trauma with a different story may not be the healthiest way to do so, "not moving on is worse", handing Lucius a small wooden shark he has whittled.

When the crew throw a party to celebrate the made-up holiday of Calypso's Birthday, Izzy appears in drag make-up done by Wee John and sings La Vie En Rose at the party.

Seemingly more comfortable with the relationship between Ed and Stede, he is able to tease them about their first night together, although Ed still says Izzy's jealous, and comforts Stede when Ed leaves him in a panic.

After the crew, and many others in The Republic of Pirates, are captured by Ricky Banes, Izzy delivers an impassioned speech about the comradery of the crew and the family they represent to him. As the crew make their escape, Ricky shoots Izzy in the abdomen. Izzy is able to make it back to the ship, but dies in Ed's arms, reassuring Ed that he is loved by those around him and will be alright without him. The crew bury him beside the home Stede and Ed intend to make into an inn, with his prosthetic leg and cravat and ring as his headstone.

## Quotes

*Geraldo: "Mr. Hands, welcome. It's been a while."*

*Izzy: "Yeah, because I hate this fucking place. But for some inexplicable reason my boss would like a word with you, Bonnet."*

- A Gentleman Pirate

*Izzy: "So what's the plan, sir? Do we open fire? Or would you rather we just attack them, kill them, throw them out to the sharks, sir?"*

*Blackbeard: "Wait 'till they make landfall then invite 'em aboard. And Izzy, I want you to handle this personally."*

*Izzy: "Oh, Edward, can't I just send the boys?"*

- A Gentleman Pirate

*Lucius: "Have you ever been sketched?"*

*Izzy: "Fuck off."*

-Discomfort in a Married State

*Izzy: "I will gladly give offer you this, my fucking resignation, you absolute twat!"*

- The Best Revenge Is Dressing Well

*“Stede fucking Bonnet. I fucking challenge you to a fucking duel.”*

- The Art of Fuckery

*Izzy: "All right, all right. Listen up, listen up! Work hard, keep a spring in your step and you'll all have a long tenure aboard ... Izzy's Revenge." (Wee John laughs) "What's funny, Mister Feeney?"*

*Wee John: " It's just that 'Izzy's Revenge' sounds a bit like an intestinal condition." (Everyone laughs)*

*Izzy: "I wonder what the condition of your intestine might be after, say ... no rations for a week? Any other funny bits? I didn't think so."*

- Act Of Grace

*Izzy: "I should've let the English kill you. This, whatever it is you've become ... it's a fate worse than death."*

*Blackbeard: "Well, I'm still Blackbeard so-"*

*Izzy: "No! This, this ... is Blackbeard. Not some namby-pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend."*

*Blackbeard: "Choose your next words wisely, dog."*

*Izzy: (Choking) "There he is. Blackbeard is my captain. I serve Blackbeard. Not Edward. Edward better watch his fucking step."*

- Wherever You Go, There You Are

## Trivia

* The real Israel Hands' name inspired a minor character in *Robert Louis Stevenson's* *Treasure Island*.
* In reality, Israel Hands was also known by the moniker 'Basilica Hands', though why is unknown. A basilica (a Latin word which literally means 'royal palace') was an Ancient Roman public assembly building often used as a law court. Later the name was used to refer to certain churches which had been granted privileges by the Pope, and later still became an architectural term. Of course it will likely always be unknown why Israel Hands went by this name, but it could be theorized that it was for one of the following reasons: he was a religious man, as Blackbeard's right-hand he'd been provided special privileges well beyond those of other crew, or that he was an imposing and instantly recognizable man. In one document quoting the *Minutes of the North Carolina Governor's Council* he is also referred to as Hesikia Hands, although there appears no be no other corroborations of Hesikia being a used name that do not trace back to this one source. It could be a mistake of Basilica.
* Historically speaking, Izzy's birth date is 1701 meaning he should be sixteen; clearly this is not true of the character as Con O'Neill was born in 1966 and fifty-five during season one.
* Izzy's swallow tattoo is most probably meant to indicate his experience as a sailor: sailors would get a swallow tattoo after having sailed 5,000 nautical miles (5753mi/9260km), and another after completing 10,000 nautical miles (11507mi/18520km).
* Con O'Neill revealed that he initially auditioned for a different role on the show before being offered the part of Izzy, which wasn't at the time particularly well developed. David Jenkins confirmed that casting O'Neill was crucial for the development of the character and that he would rewatch O'Neill's audition tape to find "Izzy's center" while writing later episodes.
* David Jenkins' interpretation of Izzy's relationship with Blackbeard seems to have changed in time. In April 2022 he claimed Izzy was in love with Blackbeard and described him as a "jilted spouse" who's "losing his man to fucking Stede Bonnet" (this was also confirmed by Con O'Neill who described Izzy as being in love with someone who doesn't love him back) while in October 2023 (after season two has aired) he called Izzy Edward's father figure.
* Costume designer Gypsy Taylor stated that the ring Izzy wears on his cravat belonged to his mother. Con O'Neill revealed that the ring has an additional meaning to him personally: he asked the costume makers to make it an emerald ring as an homage to his mother who passed away around the time he was about to start shooting the show and whose favorite stone was emerald.
* Izzy's literacy is debatable. Con O'Neill stated that he doesn't believe Izzy can write. The character is shown with a book in *Wherever You Go, There You Are*, but it may be argued that he's looking at the picture of Blackbeard and not reading. He is later shown to be able to at least read enough to read (and have a deep emotional reaction to) a note from the crew in *Fun and Games*.

Con O'Neill stated on multiple occasions that he believes Izzy is really good in bed (Its Canon, because it was confirmed by Frenchie)

).
## References

1. ↑ Tattoos with Meaning
2. ↑ Florida Supercon 2023 *Our Flag Means Death* panel
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *How Our Flag Means Death’s creator made a period romance disguised as a pirate comedy*
4. ↑ Outfronts Festival 2023 *Our Flag Means Death* panel
5. ↑ *‘Our Flag Means Death’ Creator on That Finale Death — and Why He Thinks a Third Season Should Be Its Last*
6. ↑ Video on Polygon's Twitter
7. ↑ C2E2 2022 *Our Flag Means Death* panel
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Emerald City Comic Con 2022 *Our Flag Means Death* panel
9. ↑ C2E2 2022 *Our Flag Means Death* Panel