#caster blackbeard

So here is the thing, Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard, is bad, but parts of him are good. Let me first say everything about Blackbeard being a perverted lolicon is fucking awful and needs to stop. What this is about is that aspects of Blackbeard and his portrayal are good, and he could have been a good character.

So firstly his physical design. See the reason I like his physical design is because years, and I mean years before Fate/Grand Order was even a concept I watched a history special on Blackbeard, and the thing is that FGO Blackbeard’s design actually matches up with certain Wanted Poster illustrations of the real world Blackbeard. This is both interesting and very rare for FGO. Another thing is that he ends up with fuses woven into his beard, which is a thing the real world Blackbeard actually did. He’d weave canon fuses into his beard, and then light them so his beard would smoke and give the appearance of being on fire. Blackbeard very much understood the power of dramatics, the power of an infamous name, and the power of his own image in the eyes of others. The power of people thinking you’re more than a mere man. 

To that degree I also just like that Blackbeard has a Guts skill, seeing as that when he died, reportedly he had been shot and stabbed multiple times, had been blinded, and kept swinging and fighting. The man has earned a Guts Skill. 

Now let’s go on to his portrayal. Again. The lolicon shit is awful. The perverted weeb shit is awful. I groan and die a little every time it happens. There is however physical narrative evidence than written without that stuff, Blackbeard can be good. The most often sited example is Blackbeard’s portrayal in Summer 3, where he wasn’t a lolicon, he was just a scumbag. Scumbag is good. Again, not everyone, especially among Servants, has to be a good guy. (I hate Columbus, but I also agree that is how Columbus should be portrayed, because the real Columbus was an awful fucking person.). Here’s the thing though, the BEST example, at least to me, of what Blackbeard could have been comes in the form of an Interlude. Not one of his Interludes either, but one of Drake’s. See in this Interlude, Blackbeard is tagging along while we hunt down someone for Drake. There’s a point where Blackbeard is going full pirate as he interrogates someone, describing all the horrible things he’s going to do to this guy in a dead serious fashion. The thing is Blackbeard was told explicitly he’s not allowed to harm or kill this guy, Blackbeard knows this, and it’s shown that he will honour it; however he’s also keenly aware the guy he’s interrogating? He doesn’t know this. He doesn’t know Blackbeard can’t and won’t do any of the things he’s describing. He buckles like a house of cards. Blackbeard used the power of his image, the power of his enemies imagination against them, and it was brilliant. It was peak Blackbeard. It was everything Blackbeard should be. A cunning manipulative man who uses dramatics and fear to get what he wants without having to fight, while being ready for a fight if it still comes to it. Someone who will manipulate morale on both sides to his advantage!