Edmund Blackadder


Edmund Blackadder is the single name given to a collection of fictional characters who appear in the BBC mock-historical comedy series Blackadder, each played by Rowan Atkinson. Although each series is set within a different period of British history, all the Edmund Blackadders in the franchise are part of the same familial line. Each character also shares notable personality traits and characteristics throughout each incarnation. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4, Edmund Blackadder was ranked third on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.

Common characteristics

Each Blackadder is positioned in a different place in British society over each series, with the character mostly falling in social rank through history. He moves from a prince to a lord, a knight/baronet, a royal attendant, a shopkeeper, to an army captain. Throughout each series, Blackadder is a self-serving, cynical opportunist concerned solely with increasing his own influence, status and wealth. His character is symbolised by the adder, the only venomous snake native to Great Britain, which sometimes appears in the series as a visual motif.
With the exception of the first Blackadder incarnation, Prince Edmund, each is generally cynical, charismatic and intelligent. While he is haunted by bad luck, he is usually very capable of manipulating his way out of a crisis and in securing for himself some degree of prestige and fortune. Blackadder is also usually one of the few intelligent people present at any given time and is usually surrounded by incompetent, slow-witted servants, equals and superiors. As a result, he possesses an acerbic wit and is usually prepared with numerous quick put-downs, which are often wasted on those at whom they are directed.
He is frequently present at some of the defining moments of British history, but usually views his contemporaries with unbridled contempt, regardless of their historical importance or interest. He is also generally dismissive of the contemporary arts and culture in the various eras in which he lives, such as medieval folk pageants, Shakespeare, Romanticist poetry, and Charlie Chaplin films.
Each Blackadder is also surrounded by various other figures who reappear over the series. These include his manservant Baldrick and the various imbecilic aristocrats with whose company he is lumbered, such as Lord Percy Percy and George.

Main Blackadders

In this section, brief descriptions of the various Edmund Blackadders who have appeared in their own series or in another notable Blackadder production are provided.

Prince Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh/The Black Adder (Late Medieval England)

Prince Edmund is the first man in the dynasty to refer to himself as "The Black Adder", a suggestion of the first Baldrick. He appears in the first series, set shortly after The Wars of the Roses. He is the second son of the fictional King Richard IV of England, who, it is claimed at the beginning, was cast from all historical references by his successor, Henry Tudor. Prince Edmund is a very different character from his descendants: he is slow-witted, cowardly, and the butt of the other characters' jokes. While he is as devious and amoral as his descendants, his Machiavellian schemes are usually spurred on by other characters. For all this he is determined and driven to power: his primary concern is to seize the English throne and become the king himself. After the death of Richard IV and Edmund's older brother Harry, he is briefly King of England; a lyric from one of the closing credits for Black Adder II describes him as "a king / Although for only thirty seconds". Prince Edmund is one of the many Blackadders to be killed on screen: he dies after accidentally drinking poisoned wine, although he had already been severely mutilated by his childhood nemesis, the Duke of Burgundy.

Edmund, Lord Blackadder (Elizabethan England)

Edmund, Lord Blackadder, is the next-seen member of the dynasty, appearing in Elizabethan England. He is the central character of Black Adder II and is a nobleman in the court of Elizabeth I of England. Although his "great-grandfather" was Prince Edmund, he is much more intelligent, charismatic, acerbic, handsome and respected than his ancestor. Despite that fact, Edmund's aristocratic title has lowered; he is now simply a lord, rather than a prince. His main concerns are pleasing his Queen, a childish, spoiled tyrant who usually threatens to execute anyone who displeases her, usually by decapitation, and in outwitting his various contemporary rivals, usually in the form of Lord Melchett, for her favour. At the end of "Blackadder II", specifically the final episode, "Chains", Blackadder and Melchett are captured by two guards on the orders of the psychopathic Prince Ludwig the Indestructible of Germany who Blackadder had met in the past while Ludwig was disguised as a waitress named "Big Sally". The two men are confined to a dungeon with Ludwig giving Queenie a week to decide who she will rescue. When Queenie ignores the two of them in favour of holding a big costume party, Blackadder and Melchett work together to outwit the two guards after Ludwig has departed to infiltrate the palace, arriving in time to expose Ludwig, who then attempts to flee, prompting Blackadder to throw a dagger at Ludwig that presumably either kills him or leaves him badly wounded. However, after the end credits have aired, it is shown that Ludwig has returned and murdered Blackadder, the real Queenie, Melchett, Nursie, Percy and Baldrick. Ludwig then poses as Queenie after the assassination.
The character shift from Prince Edmund in the first series to Lord Blackadder in the second is credited to the involvement of Ben Elton, who joined as the show's co-writer alongside Richard Curtis. The latter Edmund became the de facto archetype; nearly all subsequent Blackadders in the series were modelled after Edmund, Lord Blackadder - the exception being Ebenezer Blackadder, who initially began as the nicest man in England to the point of naivete but who gradually fell back into the standard persona after being abused by almost everyone around him.

Sir Edmund Blackadder (English Civil War)

Sir Edmund Blackadder appears in the Comic Relief special Blackadder: The Cavalier Years; with the honorific of "Sir", this Blackadder is either a Baronet or a Knight. Set during the English Civil War, Sir Edmund is a loyal royalist and friend of Charles I, played by Stephen Fry. This Blackadder also appeared in an introductory sequence for Charles, Prince of Wales' fiftieth birthday Gala Performance, in which he was supposedly organising a birthday show for Charles II.

Mr. Edmund Blackadder Esq. (Regency Britain)

Mr. Edmund Blackadder, Esq., is the Blackadder appearing in the Regency period of British history. His family having fallen on hard times, he is reduced to a life of servitude, a fall made even more insufferable by his position as butler to the oafish and uncouth George, the Prince Regent. Despite this, he remains very intelligent, and is usually found stealing from his employer. This Blackadder is the one who is most in control of his own affairs, so he is able to be more arrogantly confident than other Blackadders. This Blackadder is the only one of the main four incarnations not to be killed onscreen. While history records this version of Blackadder as having been shot dead by the Duke of Wellington, in actuality Prince George was masquerading as Blackadder and vice versa, which results in Blackadder assuming the Prince Regent's identity and later becoming King George IV.

Mr. Ebenezer Blackadder (Victorian London)

Mr. Ebenezer Blackadder, the Victorian Blackadder, appears in Blackadder's Christmas Carol. Unlike his cold-hearted, cynical ancestors and the Dickens character Ebenezer Scrooge he is a parody of, he is by repute the nicest man in Victorian England. Unfortunately, this only serves to make him a target for the cynical crooks and cheats he is surrounded by, and a Christmas Carol-like encounter with the "Ghost of Christmas" sees him greatly inspired by his snide-yet-triumphant ancestors; he learns that if he reverts to their ways his descendants will rule the universe, otherwise they will end up as Baldrick's slaves in the same time period. Upon the departure of the Ghost, Blackadder renounces his compassion and reverts to type on the spot.

Captain Edmund Blackadder (World War I)

Edmund Blackadder appears in Blackadder Goes Forth, set in 1917, as an officer of the Suffolk Regiment during World War I. A long-time soldier, early in his career Blackadder was "The Hero of Umboto Gorge", a fictional battle that took place in French Sudan in 1892, during which he saved the life of Douglas Haig. He also served in the 1898 Mahdist War and makes reference to having spent most of his career away from Britain. His medals suggest him fighting in the Second Boer War, though no mention of this is made in the show. Historically, the Suffolk Regiment only garrisoned in the Northern Cape, so it is plausible he saw no actual fighting against the Boers.
Prior to the outbreak of World War I, Blackadder found life in the British Army agreeable, as he had enjoyed a relatively danger-free existence. His main responsibility was to maintain the British Empire, or as he personally put it: fighting natives who were usually "two feet tall and armed with dried grass." However, in World War I, Blackadder is astute to the gravity and slaughter of trench warfare, and unlike his superior officers, realises that the earlier colonial battles produced wildly unrealistic expectations about future conflict. Characteristically reluctant to meet his end in the mud of the trenches of the Western Front, Blackadder's sole goal is to escape his inevitable fate. His attempts to escape are thwarted by the idiotic General Melchett, and Melchett's assistant Captain Kevin Darling, Blackadder's nemesis.
Blackadder shares his trench with Private S. Baldrick, and Lt. The Hon. George Colthurst St Barleigh. Also shown from afar is Douglas Haig, whom Blackadder had previously saved from death.
In the series finale, "Goodbyeee", Captain Blackadder and his company are sent "over the top" in an offensive. After trying and failing to get out of the battle, Blackadder's company charges into machine gun fire, before the scene fades to a field of poppies with only birdsong to be heard, leaving the fate of the company ambiguous.
In the alternative ending of the finale, it is shown that Blackadder survives by pretending to be dead, after the entire company perishes, and diving back to the trench for safety, surviving the war.