*Auntie-related spoilers.*
It’s fitting that the last time I did a Favorite Characters post on Our Flag Means Death, I talked about Izzy. While Auntie is very much her own character, her story with Zheng Yi Sao follows similar beats to Izzy’s story with Ed in season 1. She’s a great addition to the second season and brings a lot to the show!
Auntie is Zheng’s first mate, and she takes her job very seriously. She’s a lot less sure about Stede and his crew than Zheng is, but she backs her queen’s play and takes them on board. Once they’ve been absorbed into the Revenge, she’s a stern taskmaster, keeping them on task and ensuring that they show Zheng the proper respect.
She’s most unsure about Oluwande, largely because of Zheng’s feelings for him. She berates his (admittedly unimpressive) work and derisively refers to him as “the soft one.” It’d be easy to assume she thinks Zheng is too good for Oluwande specifically, but later in the season, we learn that Auntie fears for Zheng with any man. “Men have cost her so much,” she admits to Oluwande.
Furthermore, she’s wary of anything “soft,” which makes sense. Zheng leads a fleet of mostly women, and in order to command the respect and fear of other pirates, they’ve all had to show how tough they are. It’s understandable that Auntie would equate softness with weakness and not want Zheng to have any associations that make her appear weak.
But as a result, she’s withholding from Zheng, who’s very much in charge but does view Auntie as something of a mother figure and wants her affection and approval. It takes Oluwande to show her that she can allow herself to be soft, that she doesn’t need to be gruff and hard all the time. This is where Auntie diverges from season 1 Izzy, who had to wreck things for Ed a lot more before he realized the error of his ways—she recognizes what her captain needs much sooner. She acknowledges that the man she thought was holding Zheng back is actually good for her and doesn’t stand in the way. And while she doesn’t openly admit to Zheng that she was wrong, she changes her approach, offering Zheng affirmation and love along with her more practical support.
Beyond that, Auntie is knowledgeable, calculating, and strategic. She maintains a detailed map charting the fleet’s progress from China to the Caribbean, and she has a filing system that’s “ahead of its time.” When they come across the damaged Revenge and discover that Ed is missing, she doggedly investigates, bringing a keen sense of observation and shrewdly applying pressure on Ed’s crew to make them talk. She’s definitely an ally you’d want on your side!
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