Edmund Blackadder

Prince Edmund (1461–1498) 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son of the fictional King Richard IV of England (Brian Blessed), who, we are told at the beginning, was cast from all historical references by his successor, Henry Tudor (Peter Benson). 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 (Robert East), 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 (Patrick Allen).

Edmund, Lord Blackadder (Series 2)

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 (Miranda Richardson), depicted here as 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 (Stephen Fry), 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 (Hugh Laurie) 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'll rescue. When Queenie ignores the two of them in favor 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's 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 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 (apparently) a loyal royalist and friend of Charles I of England, 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 (also Fry).

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 (Laurie), the Prince Regent. Despite this, he remains very intelligent (by far sharper than most of the people he associates with), 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 (the first one accidentally poisoned himself, the second was murdered, whilst the fourth dies in battle). While history records this version of Blackadder as having been shot dead by the Duke of Wellington (Fry), 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, 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, if not 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 appears in Blackadder Goes Forth, set 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 Upper Volta 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.

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 uphold colonialism in 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 (Fry), and Melchett's assistant Captain Kevin Darling (McInnerny), Blackadder's nemesis.

Blackadder shares his trench with Private S. Baldrick (Robinson), and Lt. The Hon. George Colthurst St Barleigh (Laurie). Also shown from afar is Douglas Haig (Geoffrey Palmer), 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 in which he dives back to the trench for safety, surviving the war.

In the series, Captain Blackadder is seen wearing the following ribbons:

In Blackadder: Back & Forth, Lord Edmund Blackadder is the modern representative of the Blackadder family. He intends to play a turn-of-the-millennium-prank on his friends by claiming that he has a time machine – only to be unpleasantly surprised that the device that Baldrick has actually built (following Leonardo da Vinci's instructions to the letter, except for marking values on the instrument display) actually is a working time machine. He manages to alter time by:

1. Beating up William Shakespeare (Colin Firth) and telling him that his plays are just people "wearing stupid tights" who are "talking total crap". When Blackadder also leaves his ballpoint pen behind, he causes Shakespeare to be viewed by history not as the great playwright, but as the pen's "inventor".
2. Convincing Robin Hood's (Rik Mayall) men that robbing from the rich is fine, but giving to the poor makes them look like complete lunatics, causing them to shoot Robin full of arrows.
3. Causing the time machine to land on top of the Duke of Wellington (Fry) during the Battle of Waterloo, allowing Napoleon Bonaparte to win the battle and conquer the United Kingdom.

He restores history but then has the idea of changing history in his favour. In the present day, a news report shows the popular King Edmund III and his queen, Marion of Sherwood (Kate Moss), being greeted by the prime minister, Baldrick. With Baldrick working as his prime minister and Parliament dissolved, the Blackadder and Baldrick families have finally triumphed and become rulers of the UK.