History Characters / Blackadder

[[folder:Baldrick, The First]]
!!Baldrick, Son Of Robin The Dung-Gatherer
[[quoteright:205:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheBaldrick_2746.png]]
[[caption-width-right:205:''"Wouldn't something like "The Black Adder" sound better."'']]
->'''Played by:''' Tony Robinson

->''"I have a cunning plan that cannot fail..."''

The Black Adder's batman. He is amazingly smart considering that he is a dung gatherer, and helps Edmund to make it through the day... as well as helping him on his royal ambitions.

* ButtMonkey: The Infanta does ''not'' go gentle on him when Edmund sends Baldrick to seduce her. By the end of the session, he has two black eyes.
* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Without his help, Edmund and Percy would be already dead.
* CoDragons: With Percy. Though he is the smartest of the three and easily muuuuuch better at it than him.
* DitzyGenius: As smart as this Baldrick is, he has a tendency to get carried away.
* HypercompetentSidekick: He sorts out most of the plans (Percy did the rest), but it is Edmund who takes the sole credit. And he sets up quite the impressive racket in relic trading when he temporarily joins the church.
* LegacyOfService: His descendants end up serving the Blackadders for centuries.
* OnlySaneMan: Both in terms of this series and the Baldrick family as a whole, as the most level-headed and reasonable character.
* ProfessionalButtKisser: He quickly got wise to the fact that this is the way to become Edmund's favourite and improve his social standing.
* TheReliableOne: He stands out in the Baldrick family as not only the only one with a mind but also as quite practical-minded. He is more than what Edmund could ask for.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Much smarter than a dung shoveler would be expected to be, he has all the common sense of the common folk. His descendants are as dumb as they look, though.
* YesMan: He started it at the banquet of the first episode and it paid off.
* ZanyScheme: Hilariously, the first cunning plan a Baldrick comes up with is the only one that actually works. And it is stupidly simple: Get [=McAngus=] to stick his head inside a cannon and blow him up with it.

[[folder:Lord Percy Percy of Northumberland]]
!!Lord Percy Percy, Duke Of Northumberland
->'''Played by:''' Creator/TimMcInnerny

->''"But if you kill him in front of everybody, won't they suspect something?"''

The kind-hearted (by comparison) simpleton of the trio. His grip on reality is rather inconsistent.

* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:He poisons the entire wine vat instead of just the Black Seal's goblets, which means he kills the entire royal court and Edmund instead of just the seven most evil men in the kingdom.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}:
-->'''Percy:''' Only this morning in the courtyard I saw a horse with two heads and two bodies!\\
'''Edmund:''' Two horses standing next to each other?\\
'''Percy:''' ... Yes, I suppose it could have been.
* TheDitz: Percy is incredibly dim-witted, something that carries over to his descendant. For example, there was that time he was sold a finger bone, supposedly from the hand of Christ. Baldric sells them by boxes of ten.
* KindheartedCatLover: If his reaction to Mistress Scott's dead cat is anything to go by.
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:accidentally poisons the entire royal court apart from himself and Baldrick.]]
* RepetitiveName: Percy is both his first and last name. It reflects the creativity of its owner and was probably started by a true member of the Percy family.
* StrawLoser: Intellect wise at least. While his era's Edmund is much more of a buffoon, he almost reaches his successors' level of snarky wit when putting up with Percy's greater idiocy.
* SycophanticServant: He admired Edmund and stayed loyal to the bitter end.
* TeenyWeenie: Blackadder mentions the rumour:
-->'''Blackadder:''' And the part of you that can't be mentioned, I am reliably informed by women around the court, wouldn't be worth mentioning even it could be!
* TrueCompanions: Even though he spent most of the series antagonising Baldrick for the role of the best sycophant, it seems that during the final episode he realised off-screen that he was the closest that he had to a friend, since they were working together after their dismissal, defeated the Black Seal together, mourned their Lord's demise together and [[spoiler:awkwardly kept quiet and played dumb(er) about the accidental poisoning of the Royal Family together.]]
* UpperClassTwit: He is the Duke Of Northumberland and [[TheDitz quite stupid]].
* YesMan: He tries, though the best he can do is repeat and mimic Baldrick.

[[folder:King Richard IV]]
!!King Richard IV
[[quoteright:203:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brianblessed_1811.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:203:''"CHISWICK! FRESH HORSES!"'']]
->'''Played by:''' Creator/{{BRIAN BLESSED}}

->''"As the Good Lord said, love thy neighbour as thyself! [[DoubleStandard Unless he's Turkish,]] in which case, '''KILL THE BASTARD!!!'''"''

The historical Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York (1473- disappeared in 1483) all grown up. Official history says that Richard IV was murdered by his paternal uncle Richard III, but he actually became King of England for thirteen glorious years, most of them spent on chasing Turks.

* AccidentalMisnaming: He almost never gets his son's name right, [[spoiler:except when Edmund is dying]].
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Is a king and once fought his way out of [[UsefulNotes/{{Istanbul}} Constantinople]], through a ten-thousand man garrison armed with scimitars. With a fruit knife.
* BigBad: Depends on the episode. Mostly in the Archbishop and the Queen's Spanish Beard. From a cleric's and Edmund's perspective at least.
* BigEater: Exemplified in 'The Archbishop', where his meal is contrasted with that of Queen Gertrude's. He really did intend to eat fresh horses.
* BlingOfWar: Usually seen wearing golden armour.
* BloodKnight: ''SSSLLAAAAAAAYYY!!!!''
* BoisterousBruiser: Comes with the territory of being played by Creator/{{BRIAN BLESSED}}.
* TheCaligula: His motto? "Kill any Turk you see". Also has a tendency to kill Archbishops he finds troublesome.
* CompensatingForSomething: Thanks to the Queen's incessant reveals, there is some light shed to one of the reasons behind his over-the-top demeanour.
* EveryoneHasStandards: He might be a froth-mouthed, bloodthirsty, violent lunatic, but even he's visibly disgusted when a dying nobleman confesses that his many sins include repeated adultery with his own mother.
** He's also implied to not be homophobic, as he greets Edmund politely when he mistakes him for [[CampGay Doncaster]].
* GagPenis: Supposedly not very big, if the Queen is to be trusted.
* GeneralRipper: Against the Turks, and for some inexplicable reason the Swiss, whom he plans to massacre [[CavalryBetrayal even when they are fighting on his side.]]
* GenerationXerox: His historical father, Edward IV, was also a HotBlooded BloodKnight.
* HiddenDepths: Normally he is a bellowing, drunken BloodKnight, but in 'The Queen of Spain's Beard' we see him either creating or describing numerous, complicated diplomatic and military plans.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: He is one of the "Princes in the Tower" grown up (in this imagining, not only is Theatre/RichardIII being evil a slander by Henry VII, but Henry also erased the existence of a dynasty). Part of the joke is the contrast between the [[UsedToBeASweetKid sweet kid]] Richard IV used to be, and what he has become as an adult.
* HotBlooded: See that quote? That is not just battle lust, he is like that all the time.
* Hypocrite: Despite hating the Turks he evidently has no problem sleeping with Turkish women.
* ImplacableMan: Having the Plague simply sends him into a berserker rage, believing everyone to be Turks. [[spoiler:Doesn't save him from the poison in the finale.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[AffablyEvil Perfectly polite and affable]] if you are not [[TheUnfavourite Edmund]] (or Turkish). He is even implied to treat [[CampGay Doncaster]] with respect.
* LargeHam: Creator/{{BRIAN BLESSED}} AT HIS BOMBASTIC BEST!
* NoIndoorVoice: You will hear him even if you turn the volume real low...
* ParentalFavoritism: He alternates between not having a clue that Edmund is his son and just straight-up giving him a ReasonYouSuckSpeech after appointing him as Archbishop of Canterbury.
-->'''Richard''': Don't be mistaken about this appointment, Egbert! I've always despised you.\\
'''Edmund''': Well, you are my father, of course! I mean, [[LampshadeHanging you're biased]].\\
'''Richard''': You, compared to your brother Harry... (laughs and pats Harry's shoulder) are as excrement as compared to cream!\\
'''Harry''': My Lord, you flatter me!\\
'''Edmund''': [[InsultBackfire And me, also]].\\
'''Richard''': So now that I've finally found a use for you, ''don't'' try to wriggle out of it!
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: In his case, "something" tends to mean "slaughtering Turks".
* TranquilFury: For all his bellowing and bluster, his most genuinely terrifying and chilling moment is when, after manipulating Edmund into becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, he very calmly informs Edmund that if he crosses him at any point ever, he will "do unto you what God did unto the Sodomites."
* WithThisHerring: He manages to defeat ten thousand Turks, while armed with only a small knife, typically used for peeling fruit.

[[folder:Harry, Prince of Wales]]
!!Harry, Prince Of Wales
->'''Played by:''' Robert East

->''"The verdict of this court is that the accused are found guilty of witchcraft. The maximum penalty that the law allows is that you be burned to death. However, in view of your previous good background, I am disposed to be lenient. Therefore, I sentence you to be burned '''alive'''."''

The King's favourite son, and his brother Edmund's main [[UnknownRival rival]]. While supposedly more intelligent, he still manages to fall for some of The Black Adder's schemes.

* ButNotTooBi: In "The Queen Of Spain's Beard", he is politically engaged to seven European noblewomen (one of whom, Princess Leia of Hungary, eventually gets engaged to Edmund), and one European noble''man'', Jeremy of Estonia. He does seem a bit taken aback by the latter, however, and it's implied that all these engagements were arranged by his father.
* CainAndAbel: The excessively clueless Abel to Edmund's no less clueless, but underhanded Cain.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Has a habit of doing this. The most notable being in '"Witchsmeller Pursuivant", when the Witchsmeller is burning alive, he doesn't even notice and thinks the man is talking about the weather being too warm to wear a cloak.
* TheDitz: One of his biggest questions in life is if his hand sins and he cuts it how he can cut his other sinful hand.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: At no point does he cotton on to Edmund's various throne-usurping schemes.
** Also completely oblivious to the fact that the [[CutHimselfShaving ridiculously improbable deaths]] of successive Archbishops were actually ''obvious'' assassinations ordered by his own father.
* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: While commanding men on the battlefield:
-->'''Harry:''' Now, I'm afraid there's going to have to be a certain amount of... violence, but at least we know it's all for a good cause, hey?
* NiceToTheWaiter: Inverted. Harry is polite and cheerful when speaking to just about everyone... except, for no explained reason, one of the palace messengers, who he will berate and shout at with no provocation whatsoever.
* SkewedPriorities: When he thinks the castle is under attack, his first reaction is to worry about the drains. Also being a pious nut job, when asked about Edmund's chances (after his mutilation) he is considering whether his brother is going to heaven, instead of whether he is going to survive.
* UnknownRival: He doesn't see Edmund's feelings of rivalry, even when he is practically jumping in front of him, all but screaming.
* UpperClassTwit: Slightly smarter than Edmund, at least in everyday matters, but ''that'' is no great feat. (In street smarts, Edmund seems to have gotten the lion's share, always relatively speaking). Having said that, Harry is probably still the sanest member of his family. His main quirk is a seeming obsession with the castle drains.
** More pronounced in the original pilot episode, where Harry is depicted as having much the same childish personality as Percy. He is a total idiot in the main series, but a definitely more organised and articulate one than the pilot's.
* WarriorPoet: Becomes a parody of one, as his battle speech is not likely to satisfy either the poetically-inclined or the plain bloodthirsty ones (unlike his father and uncle), as his tone of voice and his choice of words is more or less like a teacher's to the kindergarteners under his custody with the rather simplistic and half-assed argument about a certain amount of violence that is for a good purpose.
* WarriorPrince: Seen riding into battle at the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485).

[[folder:Queen Gertrude]]
!!Queen Gertrude of Flanders
->'''Played by:''' Elspet Gray

->''"Now, would I, Edmund... Do I tell people that your brother Harry is scared of spoons? Or that your father has [[TeenyWeenie very small private parts?]]"''

Edmund's mother and Queen of England. While portrayed as prudish, she had an affair with Douglas [=McAngus=], who may have been the natural father of The Black Adder.

* AllWomenArePrudes: Seems to regard sex as a bit of an inconvenience, but it's implied it's less about the act itself, since she had an affair with another nobleman, and more to do with Richard IV just not being very good at it.
* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: [[SubvertedTrope "In a moment...!"]]
* BehindEveryGreatMan: The King is a warmonger with one foot in reality at best; Gertrude is not only a reasonable authority figure, but is implied to have magic powers.
%%zce* CloudCuckoolander
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: All the time.
* HotWitch: [[spoiler:Revealed to be one at the end of "Witchsmeller Pursuivant"]].
* MyGirlIsASlut: The Queen wasn't alone on those cold winter nights...
* ObfuscatingStupidity: In "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", she pretends to be ComicallyMissingThePoint again when Edmund calls after her when she leaves his jail cell, [[spoiler:having already given him the means to escape]].
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Has an odd, non-specifically European accent.
%%zce* WomenAreWiser: Compared to her husband at least.

[[folder:King Richard III]]
!!King Richard III
->'''Played by:''' Creator/PeterCook

->''"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. Consign their parts most private to a Rutland tree!"''

Unlike history has told us, Richard the Third was actually a kind man who was well-loved. And while he did die at Bosworth Field, he was not killed by Henry Tudor, but by an idiotic Yorkist.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Once he realizes no one else can see him and he can't expose Edmund as his killer, his ghost departs to the afterlife, with a few annoyed parting words.
* BlingOfWar: Wears a very elaborate suit of armor at Bosworth Field, as befits his status.
* DeadpanSnarker: He sums up his experience at the Battle of Bosworth Field thusly:
--> "Somebody cut my head off at one point, but otherwise everything went swimmingly."
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Sort of. Henry VII rewrites history to portray him as being a tyrant who murdered Edward V and the young boy who would become Richard IV, when in fact he loved his relations (except Edmund). Having said that, the series doesn't reveal what ''did'' happen to Edward V. Richard might know more than he says...
* ImStandingRightHere: Edmund is the only person who can see his ghost. As a result, when Richard III sits between Richard IV and Harry at the post-battle banquet, the two talk across him as if he weren't there (which, as far as they are concerned, he isn't).
* JerkassToOne: Contrary to historical writings, Richard is stated a kind and beloved king to everyone. Except his slimy great-nephew Edmund, who he instantly decides he loathes and decides to use as arrow fodder. It seems Edmund just brings this sort of attitude out of everyone. Fittingly this isolated showing of contempt costs him his life.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Leads his men in the Battle of Bosworth Field, and actually ''wins''. Then Edmund gets involved...
* WeHaveReserves: Very accepting of the term and the use of ''arrow fodder'' during the battle of Bosworth Field. Keep in mind that he says that about his great-nephew, whom he has just met and that is his EstablishingCharacterMoment!

[[folder:Dougal [=McAngus=]]]
!!Dougal [=McAngus=], Duke of Argyll
->'''Played by:''' Alex Norton

->''"Actually, I'm quite interested in the wigs."''

A war hero and friend of the King who gets all of Edmund's Scottish lands. His father may also be the Black Adder's father, through an affair with Queen Gertrude. Dougal and Edmund are suspected to be half-brothers, but they antagonize each other.

* {{BFS}}: Uses one against Edmund, breaking his normal-sized sword with a single swing.
* FieryRedhead: When he is not leading the King's armies against the Turks, he is out hunting or duelling.
* HandsomeLech: To the point that he's even happy to make dirty comments about Queen Gertrude.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:It's implied that he and Edmund are half-brothers via Queen Gertrude's affair with Dougal's father]].
* TooDumbToLive: Baldrick's first "cunning plan" actually works on him. [[spoiler:Edmund persuades him to put his head in a cannon before it's fired.]]
* VerbalBackspace: Has a moment after deriding Edmund.
-->'''[=McAngus=]''': Same old story; the Duke of Edinburgh and about as Scottish as the Queen of England's tits! ''[he remembers Gertrude is sat beside him]'' Och, nae offence your Majesty.
* ViolentGlaswegian: When bringing tributes to the queen, he empties a bag of severed heads onto the table. He apologises, stating that it was his overnight bag.

[[folder:Infanta Maria of Spain]]
!!Infanta Maria of Spain
->'''Played by:''' Miriam Margoyles

A Spanish princess who Edmund becomes engaged to for political reasons, to her delight, and his horror.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: To Edmund.
* ExtremeLibido: Very sexually aggressive, to the extent of probing Edmund's mother to find out what he's like in bed.
* {{Gonk}}: At least Edmund thinks so. She's fairly rotund and usually wears a goofy goggle-eyed look.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Is all over Edmund from the second she sees him. The feeling is not mutual.

[[folder:Don Speekenglish]]
!!Don Speekenglish
->''Played by:'' Creator/JimBroadbent

The Infanta's translator.

* AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker: Translates for the Infanta everywhere, [[spoiler:even while she's having sex with Baldrick.]]
* MistakenForGay: Thanks to translating the Infanta's declarations of love, before Edmund sees the Infanta. Edmund punches him on the nose, while Percy jokes he must be Jeremy of Estonia.
* PunnyName: A professional Spanish-English translator whose name's literally "Speak English."
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Speaks in a hilariously baffling approximation of a Spanish accent.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Princess Leia]]
!!Princess [[Franchise/StarWars Leia]] of Hungary
->'''Played by:''' Natasha King

->''"Hello Edmund. You look funny."''

A princess that Edmund is betrothed to after an engagement with the Spanish Infanta backfired to the Prince's joy. Edmund was expecting an adult princess, but Leia is actually an underage girl.
----
* CheerfulChild: Almost ''too'' cheerful. She doesn't seem worried about her husband being burnt alive in "Witchsmeller Pursuivant".
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Leia appears as Edmund's wife in two episodes, but is not part of the season finale and does not die with the rest of the royal family. She is simply never mentioned again. How exactly Prince Edmund had descendants is unclear since his wife was still pre-pubescent when he died, but it's assumed that Lord Blackadder et al. are descended from [[BastardBastard illegitimate offspring]]. The different series never subscribed to a strict continuity between series, so it was never really a concern how that worked.
* MayDecemberRomance: Only about 11 when hastily married to Edmund. He does show some actual affection for her, although it's clear that nothing sexual ever took place.
* MoralityPet: Edmund is noticeably nicer towards her than he is towards anyone else. Shortly after their wedding, Edmund decides that she is too young for him to bed. So he spends their wedding night by narrating bedtime stories to Leia, about bears, and elves, and fairies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Witchsmeller Pursuivant]]
!!The Witchsmeller Pursuivant
->'''Played by:''' Frank Finlay

->''"BLOODY MILK! It was a mixture of milk and blood!"''

An overdramatic witch hunter who puts the Black Adder on trial.
----

[[folder:Bondsman Baldrick, The Second]]
!!Bondsman Baldrick
->'''Played By''': Tony Robinson
[[quoteright:205:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheBaldrickII_5032.png]]

->"Not to worry my, lord, the arrow didn't in fact enter my body... But by a thousand to one chance my willy got in the way.''

While the medieval Balders was the brains of the trio, his great-grandson somehow turns to be much stupider than one can possibly imagine.

* AmbiguouslyGay: He gives a very long and passionate kiss to Percy when he doesn't recognize him in a dress and flirts with him, and is quick to agree to marry Blackadder in place of his runaway bride.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Blackadder does sometimes get him to beat people up. And he worked for a while as an executioner.
-->'''Baldrick:''' ...It's a hobby.
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: "[[LiteralMinded ... You said 'get the door']]."
* BookDumb: This Baldrick, whilst not being intelligent per se, is surprisingly streetsmart at times.
* BumblingSidekick: A well-loved example.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Blackadder says either he (Edmund) makes a thousand pounds in a day or gets murdered, Baldrick says he'll have to get murdered.
* GagPenis: Shaped like a turnip apparently.
* GeniusDitz: Considerably stupider than his great-grandfather, but retained some level of streetsmarts and cunning that his descendants never saw, and Blackadder did seem to have more faith in him to carry out schemes than he had in Percy.
-->'''Baldrick:''' What, have you got a plan, My Lord?\\
'''Blackadder:''' Yes I have, and it's so cunning you could brush your teeth with it! All I need is some feathers, a dress, some oil, an easel, some sleeping draught, lots of paper, a prostitute, and the best portrait painter in England.\\
'''Baldrick:''' I'll get them right away, My Lord! ''(rushes out)''\\
''(sure enough, in the next scene he returns with everything on Blackadder's hastily recited list. Well, except for the prostitute. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Percy is able to fill that role.]])''
* IdenticalGrandson: In looks if not brains.
* OldRetainer:
-->'''Baldrick:''' I've been in your service since I was two and a half, my lord.\\
'''Blackadder:''' Well, that must be why I'm so utterly sick of the sight of you.
* TookALevelInDumbass: His ancestor was actually quite intelligent. This Baldrick started the grand tradition of [[TheDitz idiocy]] in the family. Although he's still considerably smarter than the latter Baldricks.
* ZanyScheme: They're really not that cunning. Sometimes his plans do have a twisted logic to them, such as his plan to dress a bull as a cockerel and bet on it in the cock fights, as it would look so strange nobody else would back it.

[[folder:Lord Percy Percy, Heir of Northumberland]]
!!Lord Percy Percy, Heir to the Duchy of Northumberland
->'''Played By''': Tim [=McInnerny=]
[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1731410964514936109_jpeg___1_500_1_500_cb94de6a__5409.png]]

->"Oh, Edmund, could it be true? That I hold here, in my mortal hand, a lump of purest ''green''?"'

Percy has turned much dumber too, to the point he thinks he's a real Casanova and that Edmund respects him.

* ButtMonkey: Often gets the worst end of Blackadder's schemes. [[spoiler:The worst is undoubtedly when he has to sleep with the Bishop of Bath and Wells.]]
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Theatre/TwelfthNight Sir Andrew Aguecheek]].
* FlatCharacter: Much to [=McInnerny's=] frustration. By the end of this series he felt the character's potential had been completely exhausted and declined to reprise the role in the third series (he only did a one-shot role), though he returned as a regular in the fourth thanks to getting a completely different one.
* IdenticalGrandson: To the original Percy.
* UpperClassTwit: Although he's not ill-natured.
* VitriolicBestBuds: But only in one direction. Percy thinks that he and Edmund are best friends and would give his last coin to him, and cheerfully laughs off Edmund's constant, withering (and totally earnest) insults as nothing more than a sign of Edmund's "wit".

[[folder:Queen Elizabeth I]]
!!Queen Elizabeth "Queenie" I
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Elizabeth_I_1072.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Sometimes I think about having you executed, just to see the expression on your face."'']]
->'''Played By''': Creator/MirandaRichardson

->''"I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach... of a concrete elephant!"''

The Virgin Queen was the most wanted woman in England, she however also likes to threaten everybody with the choppy-choppy.
----
* AdultChild: She acts much like a spoiled little girl, even talking like one.
* AmbiguouslyRelated: Due to being played by Richardson, she's somehow related to Amy Hardwood, Mary Fletcher-Brown, Lady Elizabeth and Queen Asphyxia XIX. The two most likely explanations are that Queenie is somehow their ancestress, implying she had a child out of wedlock that she didn't raise, or all these women share an unseen ancestress.
* AxCrazy: She enjoys beheading everyone and anyone for the slimmest of reasons. She just has other people do the beheading for her.
* BigBad: While Blackadder serves her, she tends to provide the primary threat for most characters in the season. The episode "Head" showcases it more than any other, with characters being pushed to their limits through is entire duration trying to save what the title says.
* TheCaligula: One of her favorite pastimes is to threaten her courtiers with summary execution.
* CantHoldHerLiquor: "I'm going to have one drink, and then I'm going to execute the whole bally lot of you." Cut to next morning, and Queenie is as plastered as everyone else.
* TheDitz: This doesn't make her much less of a threat though, only easier to lie to.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: You better think her jokes and pranks are funny or else...One of which is the hilarious idea of pretending to sentence someone to beheading.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Very fond of choppy-choppy.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Possibly. Since Richardson would reappear in other roles in the series, it appears that Queenie at some point had a child out of wedlock. However there's also the chance that unlike the other characters who seem to come from the same family line, she and the other women simply share a common ancestor who had the same appearance as them.
* GreenEyedMonster: She's perfectly willing to mutilate any woman who might be prettier than her. ''Especially'' if they're interested in Blackadder.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Played for laughs. The portrayal uses and exaggerates all of Elizabeth's negative qualities and none of the positive ones.
* MoodSwinger: Goes from childish to flirty to homicidal in an instant.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Sometimes it seems she's not ''quite'' as dim as she acts.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The end of "Beer" shows what happens when Queenie gets ''really'' angry. No tantrum-throwing, no shouting, just cold, sinister fury.
* PimpedOutDress: Always in the costume seen in her portraits.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Never seen doing any actual governing. [[AXCrazy This may be for the best.]]
* PsychopathicManchild: A naughty schoolgirl at heart... a naughty schoolgirl with the power of life and death over Britain.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: "Who's queen?" It should be pointed out, the 'rule' in this case is whether elephants are grey... or ''orange''.
* UpperClassTwit: A very dangerous version.
* {{Yandere}}: She has a massive crush on Blackadder. Doesn't make her any less willing to consider killing him because she'd find it funny.

[[folder:Nursie]]
!!Nursie/Bernard
->'''Played By''': Patsy Byrne
[[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackadder_s2_nursie_8753.jpg]]

->"Out you popped, out of your Mummy's tummy and everybody shouting : "It's a boy, it's a boy!". And somebody said "But it hasn't got a winkle!". And then I said [[ComicallyMissingThePoint "A boy without a winkle? God be praised, it is a miracle. A boy without a winkle!"]] And then Sir Thomas More pointed out that a boy without a winkle is a girl. And everyone was really disappointed."

Queenie's former nurse, and constant companion. She's long since descended into senility.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Even more so than Queenie. She spends most of her time expounding on the bodily details of Queenie's infancy, rather than anything relevant to the rest of the characters.
* DirtyOldWoman: Blackadder describes her as a "sad, insane old woman with an udder fixation."
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Bernard. Her siblings are named Donald, Eric and Basil. She doesn't seem that bothered by it.
%%zce* EveryoneCallsHerBarkeep: No wonder.
* {{Expy}}: Of the traditional portrayal of the Nurse from ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' [[note]]who internal evidence shows was actually in her mid-thirties, but is generally depicted as a dotty old woman[[/note]].
* GenderBlenderName: Bernard, yeah. She also had three sisters: Donald, Eric and Basil.
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: She's a far less sane version of Elizabeth's real nanny, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_Parry Blanche Parry]].
* OldRetainer: She's been with Elizabeth since birth; perhaps that's why she's the only person the Queen never threatens to execute.

[[folder:Lord Melchett]]
!!Lord Melchett
->'''Played By''': Creator/StephenFry
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Blackadder_2_melchett_1356.jpg]]

->"As private parts to the gods are we! They play with us for their sport!"

The Queen's much saner Lord Chancellor, and her right-hand man. He has a constant rivalry with Blackadder for influence over her, but the two share a certain respect due to being the only two people around who aren't utter dimwits.

* BestialityIsDepraved: His "relationship" with Flossie the sheep...
* FriendlyEnemy: He and Blackadder might be rivals, but still maintain a certain tolerance for each other, seeing as they only have each other to turn to for intelligent company.
* TheGoodChancellor: Often seen trying to keep the queen's more psychotic impulses in check.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Note that in "Money" he's a lot less amused to be on the receiving end of one of Queenie's "pranks" despite having gleefully participated in the ones she's targeted Blackadder for all day. Of course, since the prank in question involved her threatening to behead him a certain amount of disgruntlement can be forgiven, but nevertheless.
* OnlySaneMan: Along with Blackadder, he also tends to steer towards this, obviously humouring Queenie throughout the series. He's still considerably more loopy, however, especially once we learn about a [[NoodleIncident past affair]] involving a [[BestialityIsDepraved sheep]]... that [[TheReveal wasn't quite]] [[{{Squick}} as it seemed]].
* SitcomArchNemesis: Was TheRival to Blackadder.

[[folder:Lord Flashheart]]
!!Lord Flashheart
->'''Played By''': Creator/RikMayall

-> ''I've got a plan! And it's as HOT as my PANTS!''

[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mayalllordflashheartblackadder1986160_4492.jpg]]

* TheAce: "The [[ImplausibleFencingPowers best sword]]... the [[ImprobableAimingSkills best shot]]... the best sailor... and the best kisser in the kingdom."
* AnythingThatMoves: He hits on ''Baldrick''.
* BlasphemousBoast: "Still worshipping God? Last I heard, He started worshipping ''me''!"
* TheCasanova: Known as the best kisser in the kingdom.
* TheCastShowoff: Rik Mayall's recollection of the role was that he asked to get more laughs in the last 3 minutes than anyone got all episode.
* DynamicEntry: Swings down from the ceiling, smashes Percy through a door, and steals Blackadder's fiancée, all in about five minutes.
* GentlemanAdventurer: He puts the man in the gentle.
* HandsomeLech: He puts the hand in the some lech.
* LargeHam: He [[IncomingHam bursts in]] and steals the entire episode [[OneSceneWonder in a single scene]].
* MemeticBadass: In universe example. Referred to as the best swordsman, the best shot and the best kisser in the kingdom.
* OddFriendship: He and Blackadder are friends. How and why is never explained, and he steals Edmund's bride at the altar.
* ReallyGetsAround: Does he ever have breaks?
* TheUpperCrass: He's an aristocrat in Elizabethan England in season 2, then a World War I squadron leader (and still an aristocrat) in season 4. In both cases, he's a boozing, farting, womanizing bro.
* VerbalTic: WOOF!
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Changes into Kate's wedding dress when he runs away with her.
--> '''Lord Flashheart''': Weird. I always feel more comfy in a dress.

[[folder:Kate/Bob]]
!!Kate/Bob
->'''Played By''': Gabrielle Glaister
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/301110_bob_6615.gif]]

-> "Father, I must speak. I can be silent no longer. All day long you muttered to yourself, gibber, dribble, moan and bat your head against the wall, yelling "I want to die". Now you may say I'm leaping to conclusions but you're not ''completely'' happy, are you?"

* {{Bifauxnen}}: "Bob" is attractive enough that she manages to catch the eye of the staunchly heterosexual Blackadder even before the big reveal.
* PaperThinDisguise: The only things she did that even remotely resemble disguising as a man is cut her hair slightly shorter and call herself "Bob". Still fooled Edmund though.
* ShoutOut: To Shakespeare's frequent use of crossdressing women as well as is frequent use of Kate as a name for [[PluckyGirl feisty young women]].
* SweetPollyOliver: Disguises herself as a man to get a job to support her father, who preferred her to become a prostitute.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Feels more comfortable dressed as a man and Changes into Lord Flashheart's clothes when he runs away with her.
--> '''Kate:''' You see, I found I actually preferred wearing boys clothes.

[[folder:Captain Rum]]
!!Captain Redbeard Rum
->'''Played By''': Creator/TomBaker

-> "Truth to be told, I don't know the way to the Cape of Good Hope anyway!

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Somehow managed to navigate to ''Australia'' despite not knowing how to get from England to France.
* AnArmAndALeg: Lost both his legs to sharks long before meeting Blackadder.
* TheAlcoholic: Not that finding alcoholic seamen was difficult in those days.
* CaptainCrash: Does not have the slightest sense of navigational ability, his reputation as a captain revolves mostly around sailing around the Isle Of Wight until everyone gets dizzy, then head back to England.
* HeroicSacrifice: Rum gives his life so that his fellow sailors would live... and the natives they'd found would have something to go with their potatoes.
* LargeHam: Tom Baker, playing a mad, drunken captain.
* MadLibsCatchphrase: "You have a woman's [x], m'lord!"
* MilesGloriosus: He's got a dozen stories of ridiculously far-fetched survival in improbable situations. Whether they've actually happened is... pretty unlikely.
* NoSenseOfDirection: He has no idea how to find France. Y'know, that country right next to Britain? With him at the helm, the ship winds up in the middle of nowhere, and it takes several months to get back.

[[folder:The Bishop of Bath and Wells]]
!!The Baby-Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells
->'''Played By''': Ronald Lacey

-> "I will have my money or... YOUR BOTTOM WILL WISH IT HAD NEVER BEEN BORN!"

* ArsonMurderAndAdmiration:
-->'''Bishop:''' You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church?
-->'''Edmund:''' No, I could never get used to the underwear.
* AssShove: The ultimate fate of anyone who doesn't pay their loans. "It's '''''POKER TIME!'''''"
* BigBad: In the episode "Money" where he appeared he gave the Queenie a run for her money as an individual threat with authority, or more accurately he gave Edmund a run for ''his'' money that almost ended with Edmund despairing and even giving a dejected goodbye to the Queenie and Melchett.
* ChildEater: No children, Blackadder? In that case, he'll skip breakfast and get down to business.
* DirtyOldMonk: A [[CardCarryingVillain self-proclaimed colossal pervert]] who regularly plays "Nuns and Novices" with prostitutes.
* TheDreaded: Has enough of a reputation that name-dropping him is apparently a good way to get rid of unwanted visitors. Unless he ''is'' the unwanted visitor.
* EatsBabies: After drowning them during christenings.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: He is only ever referred to as the Baby-Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells.
* ExtremeOmnisexual: Summed up here:
--> "You see, I am a colossal pervert. No form of sexual depravity is too low for me. Animal, vegetable or mineral, I'll do anything ''to'' anything."
* FatBastard: Unsurprisingly given his [[EatsBabies dietary habits]]. But [[BerserkButton don't call him "Fatso" if you know what's good for you.]] [[TooDumbToLive If you do, more than likely]] "It's '''''POKER TIME!'''''"
* IncomingHam: "I ''AM'' THE BABY EATING BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS!"
* LargeHam: Possibly the hammiest character in all of Series 2, matched only by Prince Ludwig and Lady Whiteadder.
* LoanShark: Assistant manager of the Bank of the Black Monks of St. Herod ("Banking with a smile and a stab"). Their motto: "Repayment or revenge." He admits to Blackadder that he [[PsychoForHire hates it when people pay up, as he rather enjoys what he gets to do to those who don't.]]
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: It seems he and the Church have long since lost patience with those who try to get out of repayment by claiming they've lost their wallets. Blackadder is taken to see the gravestone of the last bugger who did this, and how it details his horrible bottom-agony related fate.
* SinisterMinister: He visits prostitutes, eats children, and kills people who don't pay their debts by shoving red-hot pokers up their backsides. And this is all PlayedForLaughs.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In spite of the aforementioned baby-eating, he's apparently of good standing with the Queen and his parishioners. "As far as my flock is concerned, my one vice is a tipple before evensong." Blackadder gets the upper hand by endangering his reputation.

[[folder:Prince Ludwig]]
!!Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
->'''Played By''': Creator/HughLaurie

-> "We have met many times, although you knew me by another name. Do you recall a mysterious black marketeer and smuggler called Otto with whom you used to dine and plot and play the biscuit game at the Old Pizzle in Dover? Yes! I was the waitress."

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Succeeds in killing the entire court of Elizabeth I and, apparently, successfully impersonating her for the rest of "her" reign.]]
* BerserkButton: Don't make fun of his complexion.
* CardCarryingVillain: He identifies himself in letters as "The ''Evil'' Prince Ludwig".
* DisneyDeath: Seemingly killed by Blackadder[[spoiler:, but obviously not successfully -- [[MeaningfulName there's a reason he's called the "Indestructible"]]]].
* EmbarrassingNickname: Shorty-Greasy-Spot-Spot.
* EvilGloating: Prone to it, much to Blackadder's annoyance.
--> "Typical master criminal, loves the sound of his own voice."
--> "Gloating is a sign of insecurity, Ludwig. Stop it."
* TheEvilPrince: Bond villains should get their due.
* FreudianExcuse: He wants to take over the world because... he was bullied at school.
-->"When I am King of England, no one will ever dare call me 'Shorty-Greasy-Spot-Spot' again!"
* FunetikAksent: He writes his ransom note in one.
* GoodHairEvilHair: Spots a classic villain hairdo, slicked-back hair.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: He has long diagonal scars all over his face.
* {{Kaiserreich}}: He's the stereotypical German megalomaniac.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Gets away with at least two counts of rape by deception, kidnapping Edmund and Melchett for ransom, killing the entire main cast and overthrowing the throne of England.]]
* LargeHam: Which will cause some deja vu (because of the actor) in the following season.
* MasterOfDisguise: Edmund actually uses this against him. [[spoiler:Not that it makes a difference.]]
* MadeOfIron: He's not called Prince Ludwig the Indestructible for nothing.
* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: Parodied, since characters past "interactions" with him involved him disguised in a different [[GenderBender gender]] and [[BestialityIsDepraved species]].
* SmugSnake: To his chained captives of course. [[spoiler:He ends up justifying it however]].
* SpottingTheThread: Blackadder recognizes him because his costume is too good. (He's impersonating Nursie as a cow and makes the fatal mistake of wearing a costume that looks like a cow, rather than some sort of ungulate with three udders.)
* VocalDissonance: [[spoiler:In the tag to the "Chains" episode.]]
-->[[spoiler:"Now this is a disguise I'm really going to enjoy...if I can just get the voice right."]]

!Blackadder The Third

[[folder:S. Baldrick, The Third]]
!!Underscrogsman-Lord "Sod-off" Baldrick
->'''Played By''': Tony Robinson

->''"I ''am'' as stupid as I look, sir, but if I can help, I will."''

[[quoteright:205:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheBaldrickIII_2223.png]]

* BumblingSidekick: Natch. He screws up Blackadder's plan to keep the Prince on the civil list when he is coerced into voting against him and spends £400,000 that Blackadder intended to keep for himself on a turnip.
* ButtMonkey: He has to endure Blackadder's constant abuse and being dragged along in interactions with more dangerous people.
* CloudCuckooLander: He has an obsession with turnips.
* TheDitz: So much so that he considers becoming a professional Village Idiot. Unfortunately, he attended the final interview, thus losing the job to the bloke who ''didn't'' come.
* TheDragon: A particularly incompetent one to Blackadder.
* {{Flanderization}}: In Blackadder II, Baldrick merely found turnips amusing phallic symbols. In this series the acquisition of turnips is his entire raison d'etre.
* HiddenDepths: He knows quite a few things about current events.
** Also, judging by the fact that Blackadder isn't the one preparing the food (and there's no one else down in the kitchen), and the Prince Regent hasn't died from food poisoning, this Baldrick seems to be quite a good cook.
* IdenticalGrandson: Although he did lose the beard.
* {{Manchild}}: He's very childish, believes in fairies, and thinks that dead souls are freckles on the nose of the Giant Pixie.
* ThePigpen: He's so filthy that Blackadder describes his clothing as the "Dung Collection" with matching hairball accessories, before comparing his trousers to PandorasBox.
* TookALevelInDumbass once again.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Turnips, to the point of spending £400,000 (supposed to be spent on bribing the Lords) on a giant one, which Edmund promptly smashes on Balders' head.
* ZanyScheme: When awaiting execution by the French, his scheme is to ''wait until their heads have been cut off'' before they spring into action.

[[folder:Prince Regent George]]
!!George Augustus Frederick, The Prince Regent
->'''Played By''': Creator/HughLaurie

[[quoteright:188:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/three_ink_7285.jpg]]

->''"Only the other day, Prime Minister Pitt called me an 'idle scrounger,' and it wasn't until ages later that I thought how clever it would've been to have said, 'Oh, bugger off, you old fart!' I need to improve my mind, Blackadder. I want people to say, 'That George, why, he's as clever as a stick in a bucket of pig swill.'"''

* AngstWhatAngst: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. After [[spoiler:Amy Hardwood is hanged]], he wails in dismay for about thirty seconds before he asks about breakfast.
* CasanovaWannabe: Played with; for someone who repeatedly complains about never getting any action with women, he does very little to actually try and secure it, and only even considers marriage when it becomes obvious that he needs to marry into money. When he ''is'' trying to woo Amy Hardwood, however, his attempts prove incredibly vulgar and off-putting, forcing Blackadder to step in and do the wooing on his behalf.
* CloudCuckooLander: He believes that plays are real. There was a time that he yelled out "Look behind you, Mr. Caesar!". Then he ordered the police to arrest one actor for murdering another character.
* ComebackTomorrow: Subverted, given what he thinks ''is'' a clever comeback. (See the quote.)
* TheDitz: The guy is outsmarted by Baldrick and can barely make it through a day without Blackadder's help.
* HatedByAll: Thanks to his stupidity and general lack of charm, no-one likes him. Even Baldrick talks smack about him behind his back. He's cheerfully oblivious to this, even when parliament openly gives him stipends so he can drink himself to death.
* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Actually, paintings of young George [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GeorgeIV1780.jpg aren't so bad]] (keeping in mind that it's painted to a romantic ideal rather than a true representation of the idiosyncratic facial qualities of the person in question) but he certainly didn't look like Hugh Laurie.
* HistoricalDowngrade: The real George IV had many flaws, but stupidity was not one of them.
* InformedFlaw: Much is made of his supposed fatness, and while the historical Prince George was indeed quite the pig, the same can't be said for Creator/HughLaurie.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He thinks it's terrible that Blackadder is about to be murdered by the original lexicographer and his posse because he'll have to find a new butler. And when he does try to help, he spends most of the night thinking up a joke about belching rather than anything useful.
* KindHeartedSimpleton: For all his faults, Prince George is very jovial and good natured. He isn't mean spirited, just oblivious and self-centred.
* LargeHam: HURRAH! To be expected of a pig-head after all. And the actor of Prince Ludwig.
* ManChild: One who is unable to even dress himself (at one point, it took him a week to put on his pants by himself and he STILL couldn't figure it out). He also has an incredibly juvenile sense of humor and uses the first dictionary to look up rude words.
* NoHeroToHisValet: To no one, actually. Literally everyone, except his loony father, can tell what a complete moron the prince is.
* NotAMorningPerson: When woken up and told it is three in the afternoon, he says, "Thank God, I thought I'd overslept."
* PrettyBoy: It's a young Hugh Laurie with make-up, GorgeousPeriodDress, big eyes and sharp cheekbones. Of course this only counts when the loudmouthed idiot isn't ''saying'' or ''doing'' anything.
* PrinceCharming[=/=]PrinceCharmless: Debatable. While he ''is'' a crass, dense, loudmouthed buffoon with "all the intellect of a jugged walrus and all the social graces of a potty", he has been known to have seduced a pair of bombshells once, [[spoiler:something that cost him his life]].
* RoyalBrat: Even though he's a grown man, he often throws hissyfits and is totally self-absorbed.
* ShelteredAristocrat: Literally incapable of [[TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket putting on his own trousers]] without Blackadder's help.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Downplayed. He's obviously childish, stupid and clueless, but for someone who can't even change his own trousers (he spent ''an entire week'' trying to get them on), he's actually got quite an extensive vocabulary and can be very eloquant in his speech (when he's not talking about [[OddEuphemism "sausage time"]] with girls or indulging in his own childish antics. He also picked up on French pretty quickly.
* TooDumbToLive: He nearly dies when he assumes that a bomb thrown at him by an anarchist is AllPartOfTheShow, and has to be talked out of swanking around Revolutionary France in full princely regalia. [[spoiler:And then he provokes the Duke of Wellington into killing him for saying that he's the real prince after Blackadder survives the duel. Wellington doesn't believe him, but he's so outraged at the "insult" to the "prince" that he shoots George on the spot.]]
* UpperClassTwit: And has [[CaptainErsatz more than a few similarities]] to Bertie Wooster (who was also played by Creator/HughLaurie), though George vastly exaggerates the "twit" part. He even provides the page image.

[[folder:Mrs. Miggins]]
!!Mrs. Miggins
->'''Played By''': Helen Atkinson-Wood

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: At one point she confesses hoping that Blackadder would settle down with her and they would await the slither of tiny Adders. Blackadder responds that he'd rather start a family with Baldrick than with her.
* AscendedExtra: Mrs. Miggins' Pie Shop was mentioned once in ''Blackadder II'', presumably owned by her ancestor. Here the pie shop is not only a recurring location, but she is a supporting character.
* DifferentInEveryEpisode: Her costuming and coffeeshop usually reflect whatever subject the plot is centered on -- in "Duel and Duality" she wears tartan, in "Nob and Nobility" the shop is infested with exiled Frenchman and she's changed the menu to reflect it, and "Sense and Senility" has her in heavy stage makeup.
* TheDitz: Freely cops to the fact she has "a brain the size of a sultana".
* LethalChef: Blackadder calls her coffee "hot brown water with grit in it" and her "French" menu uses horse's willies as sausages, and her "Scarlet Pimpernel Sauce" is made of frogs.
* ThrowTheDogABone: After a whole season being abused by Blackadder, she throws in with his cousin [=MacAdder=] and goes off to Scotland with him ([=MacAdder=] does seem pretty convinced she'll die up there, though).

[[folder:Pitt the Younger]]
!!Prime Minister William Pitt, the Younger
->'''Played By''': Simon Osborne

-> "Sirs, as I said to Chancellor Metternich at the Congress of Strasbourg: Pooh to you with knobs on!"

* AgeLift: The real Pitt the Younger was an adult when he took office, but it's way funnier to portray him as so much "younger" that he's an actual teenager.
* ArchEnemy: Immediately sets himself up as this to Prince George, by attempting to remove him from the civil list and impoverish him. Though his attempt fails thanks to the House of Lords, and Pitt's never seen on-screen again after the first episode, he and George apparently remain sworn enemies.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: At least some of Pitt's hatred for George is his exorbitant spending, which is being fed by Blackadder stealing his socks.
* FreudianExcuse: He seeks to destroy the Prince mainly because the Prince's entitled stupidity is the sort of thing he had to deal with in school, where the rich kids used poor kids as living toast racks.
* InsufferableGenius: For a certain value of "genius" of course, considering he's evidently an extremely skilled politician, but still has a pretty limited education seeing how he became Prime Minister in his mid-late teens. Either way, he more than nails down the "insufferable" part of the trope, constantly bombarding Blackadder and the Prince with juvenile insults whenever they speak, and only comes off as the lesser of two evils due to George being even more obnoxious and completely clueless.
* NotSoAboveItAll: While he rightfully points out the shocking amount that Prince George spends on frivolous items, Pitt encourages his younger brother to bribe and intimidate people in the Dunny-on-the-Wold by-election.
* {{Wangst}}: InUniverse. Because he's a teenager. So after boasting about how he's going to ruin the Prince and Blackadder, he then quietly asks if the downy hair emerging on his chest is normal, and how to deal with getting so lonely, before finally beginning to recite a poem he wrote about it that begins "Why do nice girls hate me?" At this point, Blackadder calls him a "nauseating adolescent" and tells him to get out.

[[folder:Dr. Johnson]]
!!Dr. Samuel Johnson
->'''Played By''': Creator/RobbieColtrane

-> "I simply observed, sir, that I am felicitous, since during the course of the penultimate solar sojurn, I terminated my uninterrupted categorization of the vocabulary of our post-Norman tongue."

* AxCrazy: Spending ten years writing his dictionary -- during which both his parents died, his wife cheated on him on an industrial scale, none of which he paid the slighted attention to -- has made him more than a little unhinged, and he's quite prepared to kill anyone who lets anything happen to it.
* BerserkButton: As you'd expect, having anything happen to the dictionary he spent ten years writing sets him off to the point of being ready to commit murder. Finding out that he's missed a word as common as "sausage" out of the dictionary also causes him to storm out in anger.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He has some... interesting metaphors. Bearing in mind, he is quite mad.
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Initially seems generally calm when discussing the hypothetical situation of his dictionary becoming lost. Until...
-->'''Dr. Johnson:''' If any man did so, I would cut out his entrails, and ''feed it to the cat!''
* EveryoneHasStandards: Utterly psychotic he may be, but he's willing to hold off murdering in order to maintain a general good humour.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Deems making a copy of his dictionary to be "time-consuming and completely unnecessary" considering he doesn't intend to lose it, damage it, or have some moronic servant throw it on the fire. Which proves more than a little problematic when the latter ends up happening anyway.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The quote above is how he tells George that he's pleased about having finished his dictionary the previous night.
* TemptingFate: Proudly proclaims that he's not left a single word out of his dictionary. Even ignoring the {{Perfectly Cromulent Word}}s that Edmund throws his way, it turns out that he missed "aardvark" and "sausage".

[[folder:Topper and Smedley]]
!!Lord Topper and Lord Smedley
->'''Played By''': Tim [=McInnerny=] (Topper); Nigel Planer (Smedley)

* CrazyPrepared: The two were apparently leaving nothing to chance in their gambit to catch Blackadder out as a fraud, with Topper adopting a very convincing disguise as the Count de Frou-Frou, and evidently getting Smedley to act as back-up in case anything went wrong at the French embassy. The only thing they failed to plan for was Blackadder weaponizing the suicide pills that Topper brought along.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Despite initially appearing to be a pair of {{Upper Class Twit}}s, Topper is in fact the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Smedley is his sidekick. And... then they turn out to be moronic enough to fail to anticipate any poison from the hand of established enemies.
* DecompositeCharacter: Literature/TheScarletPimpernel, who is usually depicted as a singular character, is revealed to be the alias under which the two pull off their rescues of French aristocrats.
* DramaticUnmask: They each get one, with Smedley throwing off his disguise as Madame Guillotine in order to rescue Blackadder and Baldrick, and then Topper removing his disguise as the Count de Frou-Frou to blow the whistle on Blackadder's scheme.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Topper's bringing along suicide pills ends up getting both him and Smedley killed, albeit Blackadder didn't realize who the latter was when he poisoned him.
* TooDumbToLive: Lampshaded by Blackadder after he accidentally fatally poisons Smedley by giving him wine laced with suicide pills, and then Smedley proves unable to realize that he's experiencing the effects of the pills right as he's describing them. Fortunately, Topper also turns out to share this tiny character flaw when Blackadder needs to dispose of him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:French Ambassador]]
!!French Ambassador
->'''Played By''': Creator/ChrisBarrie

->"Gentlemen, welcome to the last day of your lives!"

* AssInAmbassador: After capturing Blackadder, Baldrick, and Frou-Frou, he sentences them all to death; the latter for being an aristocrat, and the former two [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain because]] he just doesn't like the English. On top of that, he comes across as a generally unpleasant person during his screentime, even if his insults aren't terribly effective.
* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Inverted; he bears a grudge against the English for the stereotype of all Frenchmen being great lovers when he is, in his own words, "hung like a baby carrot and a couple of petit pois".
* TheDogBitesBack: After Blackadder, still not knowing exactly who he is, asks to be taken to the ambassador using YouNoTakeCandle speech and pantomimed gestures, he takes great delight in explaining the actual situation using similarly pantomimed gestures before sentencing the three to death.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Whatever torture Madame Guillotine (really Smedley) whispered in his ear as ''her'' final sentence of Edmund and Balders, it must have been beyond gruesome to make him, a hardened extremist who turned someone into pate, ready to gag.
* EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: We never find out what his actual name is, with the dialogue and credits only referring to him as "ambassador" -- and even that's a self-proclaimed title after he killed the previous ambassador.
* ImAHumanitarian: He claims to have made his predecessor into pate and strongly implies that he ate it.
* KlingonPromotion: He kills the previous, pro-aristocracy ambassador and takes over the position himself.
* LameComeback: His and Frou-Frou's attempts at insulting each other mostly just consist of comparing each other to animals.
* NearVillainVictory: One that even he himself isn't aware of; he comes very close to eliminating the revolutionaries' greatest enemy, the Scarlet Pimpernel without ever realising he had him in custody.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: He sentences Frou-Frou to death for being an aristocrat, not realising that he's actually dealing with an ''English'' aristocrat rather than a French one.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He's last seen [[EvenEvilHasStandards running out]] of the prison cell gagging after Madame Guillotine (really Smedley) gives him a particularly disgusting impression of what she intends to do to Blackadder and Baldrick. It's not clear whether Frou-Frou (really Topper) took the chance to dispose of him, or if he was simply distracted while the trio made their escape.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Keanrick and Mossop]]
!!David Keanrick and Enoch Mossop
->'''Played By''': Hugh Paddick (Keanrick); Kenneth Connor (Mossop)

-> "AAAH! Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends!"

* AmbiguouslyGay: In addition to them both having stereotypically CampGay mannerisms, when Blackadder approaches them and says he has "a proposition" (which they mistakenly take as him coming onto them), their only objection is the fact that they just met Blackadder, rather than his gender.
* {{Hypocrite}}: They both mock the speech that Blackadder prepared for the Prince Regent -- the RealLife counterpart of which is widely regarded as one of the real Prince George's (later George IV's) greatest speeches -- and then do a reading of their hideously awful self-penned play ''The Bloody Murder of the Foul Prince Romero and his Enormously Bosomed Wife''.
* {{Jerkass}}: While Blackadder's repeatedly mentioning "''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''" in their presence naturally drives this up, they already behave in a pretty jerkish fashion towards him even when they first meet in Mrs. Miggins' pie shop.
* LargeHam: To be fair, this is pretty much traditional in British stage acting, but even so these two turn it up a notch, both in their plays and when in the private company of Prince George.
* MoneyDearBoy: In-universe; they talk at length about how important their audience is to them, but immediately blow said audience off for the prestige (and presumably pay) of working with the Prince Regent.
* MuggingTheMonster: They constantly belittle and patronise Blackadder, disdaining him as a "mere butler"... something which backfires spectacularly on them when he convinces the incredibly gullible Prince George that they're anarchists and assassins.
* TooDumbToLive: Rehearsing a scene comprised entirely of describing how you want to brutally kill a prince while staying in the home of a prince who's both a complete idiot and currently extremely paranoid that he's going to be assassinated by anarchists wasn't the brightest idea.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Amy Hardwood]]
!!Amy Hardwood, aka the Shadow
->'''Played By''': Creator/MirandaRichardson, Warren Clarke ("Shadow" voice)
->"Sir, a kiss!"

A young women Blackadder hopes the Prince Regent could marry, until it turns out she's the deadly highwayman known as the Shadow.
----
* AmbiguouslyRelated: Due to being played by Richardson, she's somehow related to Queenie, Mary Fletcher-Brown, Lady Elizabeth and Queen Asphyxia XIX. The two answers are that either Queenie is somehow her ancestors, which implies that she had a child out of wedlock, while the latter three are Amy's descendants, or all these characters simply share an unseen ancestress.
* BerserkButton: She has an extreme hatred of squirrels, to the point of shooting a whole bunch of them dead.
* BondVillainStupidity: Rather than just killing Blackadder and hiding all of the loot that he stole, she ties him up and leaves him while she conducts more robberies, which ends up giving Baldrick time to unwittingly rescue him, and in turn results in Blackadder getting revenge via a lynch mob and some gallows.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: She talks Blackadder into stealing all of George possessions so that they can run away together, only to immediately tie him up with the intention of killing him.
* DramaticUnmask: After the "Shadow" suddenly insists on kissing Blackadder, she drops her hood mid-kiss to reveal her true identity.
* NotSoHarmless: In her first few scenes, she appears to be a SpoiledSweet industrialist's daughter. That impression is soon quashed when she reveals herself to be the notorious highway(wo)man, the Shadow, and nearly kills Blackadder himself.
* SelfMadeOrphan: It's not exactly clear when or how her mother died, but she kills her father after Blackadder calls off her planned wedding to George.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Aside from Mrs. Miggins, she's the only female character with a speaking role in this season.
* SweetPollyOliver: She puts on a very convincing male guise (and even voice) in order to play the role of the Shadow.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: She does this to Blackadder as soon as he's finished stealing George's possessions, but gets it pulled right back on her after Blackadder escapes and discovers there's a £10,000 reward for her capture.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Duke of Wellington]]
!!Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
->'''Played By''': Creator/StephenFry

-> "Britain has the finest trade, the finest armies, the finest navies in the world. And what do we have for royalty? A mad Kraut sausage-sucker, and a son who can't keep his sausage to himself."

* BadBoss:
** Conditions in his armies are terrible. (Well, those ''are'' his conditions and you'll just have to accept them!)
** He's also incredibly abusive to the faux-Blackadder. Of course, it ''is'' the inept George who gives himself plenty of reason for punishment.
* BeigeProse: His full account of the Peninsular War is simply "We won. Signed Wellington.".
* BerserkButton: Aside from a general HairTriggerTemper, don't call him a "lord" (he's a duke). He'll kick you in the arse for that. And don't make fun of his name. People who do end up dead, as do people who sleep with his nieces.
* {{BFG}}: He fights duels with ''cannons''.
* BloodKnight: As Blackadder lies dying (he thinks) and wistfullty yearns for a peaceful world, the Duke asks if he doesn't think that the Duke also wishes for an end to the dirty job of soldiering. Blackadder's response is a firm "no".
* BoyfriendBlockingDad: Uncle, actually. Even though it was his nieces who approached George and took him home to Apsley House, Wellington's vowed to kill anyone who meddles with his family. (Of course, unmarried sex ''was'' a much bigger deal back then.)
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Despite his incompetence, bloodlust and general psychopathy, he's still a highly accomplished military man.
* GeneralFailure: His first idea for crushing Napoleon is to send Nelson to Alaska in case Napoleon tries to come around the North Pole. It's Blackadder who suggests harrying him amidships at Trafalgar. That said, considering what we later see in ''Back & Forth'', it seems that he actually is a capable leader once he's had a push in the right direction.
* GeneralRipper: His regimental crest is two crossed dead Frenchman emblazoned on a mound of dead Frenchmen.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: While the real Wellington was not exactly friendly to servants or the lower classes, he was not known for savagely beating them for the slightest indiscretion, and in fact Napoleon Bonaparte ''was'' known for being violent with servants and Wellington held it against him!
* HonourBeforeReason: Even when finding that the "Prince" is smarter than rumour has it, Wellington still finds it necessary to kill him. On the other hand, he only cares about the ''honour'', not about the actual death -- he's perfectly fine with the Prince after the duel, once honour is satisfied, even though the Prince didn't die thanks to his PocketProtector.
* HotBlooded: So hot that it is safer to keep a distance from him actually.
* LargeHam: His general strategy: Shout, shout, and shout again!
* NoIndoorVoice: Because THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO WIN A CAMPAIGN -- SHOUT, SHOUT, AND SHOUT AGAIN!
* NoSenseOfHumor: When it comes to his name and the connection with the famous boot, that is, as his letter to the Prince calling him out makes clear:
-->''"Sir, prince or pauper, when a man soils a Wellington he puts his foot in it. (This is not a joke, I do not find my name remotely funny and anyone who does ends up dead.)"''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:King George III]]
!!King George The Third
->'''Played By''': Gertan Klauber
-> "Someone said my son was here. I wish him to marry this rosebush, and I want to make the wedding arrangements."

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Pretty much every time he's mentioned, everyone talks about how bad a ruler he is, only slightly edged out by his son who doesn't have the defence of insanity to explain his ridiculous behavior.
* AdaptationalNationality: PlayedWith. The real King George III was born in Britain and was actually the first of the House of Hanover to speak English as his native language. Here, his German heritage is played up [[PlayedForLaughs for comedy's sake.]]
* CloudCuckooLander: Inbreeding, encroaching senility and plain old aristocratic lunacy hasn't done him any favors.
* TheGhost: Is mentioned several times over the series, but doesn't appear in person until the last few minutes.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The actual King of Britain of the era.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Played with; he first appears minutes after [[spoiler:his son has been shot by Wellington]] and tells the disguised Blackadder "this is the first time I've truly felt fatherly towards you". Apparently he's a good enough judge of character to tell what a blundering idiot George is, but not enough to work out how untrustworthy Blackadder is.
[[/folder]]

!Blackadder Goes Forth

[[folder:Private S. Baldrick, The Fourth]]
!!Pvt. S. Baldrick
[[quoteright:205:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheBaldrickIIII_8750.png]]
->'''Played By''': Tony Robinson

->''"Why can't we just stop, sir? Why couldn't we just say "No more killing, let's all go 'ome?" Why would it be stupid just to pack it in, sir? Why?!"''

* AntiHero: Type I: At least his rank is more proportionate to his skill (less mind) than Melchett's and George's.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Despite his unprecedented idiocy, Baldrick also points out the utter insanity of World War One: at any point, the general soldiery on all sides could have simply banded together and refused to fight any more, and had shown such potential earlier in the war (and the Russian soldiers eventually did). He doesn't know why they don't do it, and nobody can tell him why, either.
* BumblingSidekick: The stupidest and foulest Baldrick of all, which is ''no'' small feat.
* DeadpanSnarker: Only when he's hungover.
* TheDitz: Hey it doesn't matter since the bullet that wrote his name was in his hands.
* DumbassHasAPoint: See ArmorPiercingQuestion above.
* IdenticalGrandson: Identical in not having an idea what he's doing.
* LethalChef: "How did you manage to extract so much 'custard' from such a small cat?"
** To be fair, Baldrick's poor cooking skills only reach lethal levels because of the lack of provisions on the front.
* ManChild: Who occasionally asks for his mummy leaving her taxonomic classification open.
* MythologyGag:
** His first initial is S, which is a CallBack to the Regency Era Baldrick, whose first name was Sod Off.
** He worked at a factory on Turnip St. The Elizabethan and Regency Baldricks had some anecdotes with turnips.
* NoIndoorVoice: He tends to yell out a lot of his lines. Which makes his quiet lamenting in the final episode more poignant.
* NobodysThatDumb: While still an utter buffoon Private Baldrick also understands that the war is futile, unlike George who is gung ho. There are also a few occasions where he understands the situation better and quicker than George such as when Blackadder points out that the map indicates that they are in the middle of a mine field, with him immediately understanding the implications, while [[LiteralMinded George misunderstands it as the owner of the map owning the field]].
* PaperTiger: He has a moment of seeming HiddenDepths where he reveals an understanding and sympathy for Communism, hoping that the British will follow the example of the Russians of overthrowing the bourgeoisie, embodied by Capt. Blackadder and Lt. George. An unimpressed Blackadder immediately commmands him to clean the latrines, which Baldrick dociley complies.
* ThePigPen: The Baldrick line has never been particularly fond of cleanliness but Private Baldrick is easily the filthiest of the bunch. Flashheart looks nauseated standing next to him and after patting him on the shoulder freaks out and wipes his hand on Blackadder's uniform.
* SoleSurvivor: All of the Turnip Street Workhouse Pals Battalion are dead, save for him.
* TeamChef: A fairly [[LethalChef lethal]] one. Whenever his food tastes like something disgusting (for instance, dog turds in glue), that's because it's exactly that.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Now to the point of "terminal stupidity".
* WarriorPoet: Well, he tries. His efforts at poetry are [[StylisticSuck disastrous]], especially ''The German Guns'' (which consists of him repeating the phrase "Boom boom boom!").
* ZanyScheme: Subverted, as we never get to hear what his "cunning plan" to avoid going over the top is. Blackadder admits it couldn't have been any worse than his plan of ObfuscatingInsanity.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lt. George]]
!!Lt. The Hon. George Colthurst St. Barleigh, MC
->'''Played By''': Creator/HughLaurie

-> ''"Permission for lip to wobble, sir?"''

* BoisterousWeakling: His (apparent) fearlessness is as complete as his survival skills are non-existent.
* DespairEventHorizon: It's very possible he crossed this prior to the series, as the final episode shows he ''knows'' he's the last one alive from his social circle-slash-battalion. The way he says that he's scared to actually go over the top while still sporting the same cheery smile might also show StepfordSmiler tendency, a common symptom of going over the DEH.
* EnsignNewbie: As an UpperClassTwit, he was given a commission automatically upon enlisting. As such, he has little experience in spite of being fighting alongside Blackadder and Baldrick for the last three years.
* {{Expy}}: He's [[Series/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]] at war.
* GeniusDitz: He near-enough describes himself as one in "Captain Cook", saying that painting was the only thing he was ever really good at, and he's not lying. When you can get Blackadder of all people to compliment your talent, you're doing something right (even if Blackadder tries using George's skills to his own ends).
* HiddenDepths: He's not as much of a PatrioticFervor-filled twit as he initially seems -- he's a gifted artist and ultimately admits to fear of dying in battle. Also despite said fear of dying in battle (and his near certainty that he will die in the oncoming charge) he imminently refuses to leave the trenches when Melchett offers to take him back to General Headquarters to "watch the results come in", showing just how seriously he takes the whole "King and Country" thing.
* IdiotBall: Sees nothing wrong with detailing information on secret operations in letters to his uncle in Munich, never once considering the possibility the Germans could intercept the messages.
* KindheartedSimpleton: Compared to his more spoiled, arrogant form in the third series, this George spends the majority of the series idealistic, selfless and undyingly loyal to Edmund, albeit just as brainless.
* SoleSurvivor: In the last episode, he mentions that he joined the Army along with his friends from Cambridge, the "Trinity Tiddlers", and by then, he's the only one left alive of the group. (Which was TruthInTelevision. The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pals_battalion pals battalions]] were a real thing, and the Great War was the last time friends joining en masse was allowed, as it led to all the youth of whole villages, towns and communities being decimated.)
* StepfordSmiler: It is very possible that his bubbly, cheery demeanor is a way of coping in the hellish war environment. The final episode reveals that he's aware he's the last one left alive from his original circle of friends, and when push comes to shove, he says he's scared, with the same cheery, bubbly smile he usually sports.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Which makes him different, despite the similarities to his royal ancestor.
* TookALevelInKindness: Prince George in the previous season is a piggish, over-sexed, arrogant and obnoxious buffoon, whereas Lt. George is more of a naive, nice, friendly young man.
* TheUnintelligible: Right up there with General Melchett in speaking in hard to grasp (And possibly made-up) nonsense.
-->'''George''': Tally-ho, pip pip and Bernard's your uncle.
-->'''Blackadder''': In English we say 'Good morning'.
* UpperClassTwit: Not as upper-class as the Prince, but has the personality down, pat.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Seems blissfully unaware of Captain Blackadder's contempt for him.
* WhamLine: In perhaps a first in television history, it actually occurs mid-line when George's bravado gives way to near panic. Any laughs from the audience for the remainder of the episode are nervous ones at best.
--> "I'm... scared, sir."
* WholesomeCrossdresser: For a drag act in a talent show. But General Melchett doesn't realize that's what it is and falls head-over-heels.
* WideEyedIdealist: He volunteered for the army as soon as the war began, and he wholeheartedly believes in the propaganda rag "King and Country."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gen. Melchett]]
!!Gen. Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC, KCB, DSO
->'''Played By''': Creator/StephenFry

->''"You know, over these last few years, I've come to think of you as a sort of son. Not a ''favourite'' son of course, Lord no, more a sort of illegitimate back-stair sort of sprog, y'know, the sort of spotty squid that nobody really likes."''

* AffablyEvil: Melchett is a jolly chap. Sadly, [[ObliviouslyEvil he's too hooked up in his fantasy world to realize]] that he's pointlessly sending countless soldiers to their deaths. Like Blackadder, he's a veteran of Britain's colonial wars, which tended to be against poorly armed natives, and has zero understanding of modern warfare.
* ArmchairMilitary: His fanatical belief in the glory of war is very much different from the gritty reality faced by soldiers like Blackadder. He is quite happy to base his inept strategies on these twisted beliefs.
* BadBoss: When Darling said that he needed a convincing injury so that he could spy on a field hospital, Melchett shot his foot on spot. This is easily the least of his crimes.
* BaitTheDog: As noted, he initially seems a lot more amusing and likable than he actually is.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Deconstructed. While his love of war seems humorous, he reveals himself to be a delusional moron with zero concern for his troops.
* ComedicSociopathy: Melchett's played as though he's having the time of his life, and thinks everyone else is, too, with Darling and Blackadder as straight men to his antics. [[spoiler:Subverted in the final episode when he sends Darling to his death with barely a thought.]]
* {{Expy}}: Of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Kitchener,_1st_Earl_Kitchener Lord Kitchener's]] mustache.
** ExpyCoexistence: ...However, Haig himself is referred to several times as Melchett's immediate superior, and makes an appearance in the final episode.
* GeneralFailure: A parody of UsefulNotes/WW1 Generals, meaning that his particular brand of strategic incompetence wasn't very removed from real life...
* HotBlooded: A far cry from his soft-spoken ancestor.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Melchett makes a big deal out of Blackadder shooting his pigeon 'Speckled Jim' and then eating it. However, when George was a child, Melchett insensitively killed George's pet rabbit 'Floppsy' all for the sake of rabbit pie.
** Considering the comical nature of General Melchett's character, this may count as {{Hypocritical Humor}}.
* IdenticalGrandson: Obviously of the Melchett of the second season (only in looks), but also an {{Expy}} of the Duke of Wellington in the third season, who was also played by Creator/StephenFry. Wellington was likewise presented as a HotBlooded and crazy military man, but unlike General Melchett he was actually a competent (albeit psychotic) commander and a FrontlineGeneral.
* {{Jerkass}}: Melchett isn't just incompetent, he's totally insensitive to the well-being of others and might even be a sociopath.
* KarmaHoudini: Despite senselessly, obliviously ordering countless men to their deaths on the Western Front, [[spoiler:including his own very-much-reluctant right hand man, Melchett is the only major character to survive the entire fourth series.]]
* LargeHam: '''BAAAAA!!'''
* LoveAtFirstSight: With "Georgina". He proposes after a few days of knowing her.
* TheNeidermeyer: He is distraught by the death of his pigeon "Speckled Jim", yet blissfully uncaring about the fifty thousand men a week dying in the trenches. His bizarre tactics that help expedite the latter include "doing precisely what we've done eighteen times before" (because it's [[InsaneTrollLogic "the last thing they'll expect us to do this time"]]) and "climbing out of [the] trenches and walking very slowly towards the enemy". Sadly, both are to some extent TruthInTelevision.
* ObliviousToTheirOwnDescription: Tells Blackadder his commanding officer would have to be mad to deny Edmund leave after a harrowing ordeal. Blackadder, sensing where this is going, points out Melchett ''is'' his commanding officer. And Melchett does deny him leave.
* ObliviouslyEvil: Gets army after army slaughtered by sticking to the same failed tactics, firmly believing that sooner or later they'll win that way, and that any soldiers who aren't sent over the top would be disappointed to miss out on the "fun."
* PetTheDog:
** His love for his pet pigeon. However, any sympathy he'd get for that is subverted by his callousness toward [[KickTheDog running over George's rabbit]] when George was a child, and of course his apathy toward his troops' lives.
** In the last episode, he casually offers George a ticket out of the trenches (and the imminent suicide attack he is about to order).
* StupidBoss: Like the Queenie a long time ago, it is debatable if this makes him more or less dangerous.
* TheUnintelligible: Melchett often speaks in made-up euphemisms
-->'''Melchett:''' Well, bugger me with a fishfork! Old Darling, a Jerry morsetapper?
* TokenEvilTeammate: The only one from the English side that we see being a threat for people on the same side of the line.
* TookALevelInJerkass: One of his hobbies.
* TheUpperCrass: Seems to be of a high-class background (like most officers of the time). He's also a boisterous, slaphappy, oblivious dolt.
* VerbalTic: His "baahing", often interpreted as a CallBack to his ancestor's [[BestialityIsDepraved "affection" for sheep]], but according to Creator/StephenFry who played him, he had in mind that Melchett had haemorrhoids.
* WarIsGlorious: Believes in this trope fanatically, which seems to be why he gets on rather well (Pigeon incident aside) with Blackadder due to him being a frontline soldier, and why he never even imagines he could want out of the insane nightmare. Unfortunately, this is also why he is so utterly callous and blind to the carnage and suffering of the trenches, and why he "rewards" Darling's loyal service by sending him to die on the front lines.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kevin Darling]]
!!Capt. Kevin Darling, MC
->'''Played By''': Tim [=McInnerny=]

-> ''"Just doing my job, Blackadder. ''Obeying orders''...and, of course, having enormous ''fun'' into the bargain."''

* AintTooProudToBeg: At the end where [[spoiler:Melchett sends him to combat, Darling pleads as much as he can to be spared. Alas, it doesn't work.]]
* AntiHero: Type V. He is inclined to enjoy having the one person who is in awareness of the darling nature of the name killed.
* BeleagueredAssistant: When Melchett isn't berating him, he's shooting him in the foot.
* DefrostingIceKing: In the last episode to the point of melting into a puddle.
* DeskJockey: Enjoys being Melchett's personal staff officer, mainly because it minimises his risk of being killed in action. He claims he has a wonderful evening when two lorry loads of paperclips arrive. He's also trying to get transferred to an even easier assignment with the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps.
* DirtyCoward: Subverted. Darling is definitely more of a coward than Captain Blackadder, but a lot less sympathetic. Like Blackadder, Darling will do anything to avoid combat, but he hates Blackadder so much that he would take pleasure at the thought of Blackadder being killed in combat. However, at the very end, he ends up [[FaceDeathWithDignity facing death with dignity]].
* EveryoneHasStandards: Nasty, smug and slimy though he is, the final episode shows Darling at command sitting waiting for the casualty reports for the Big Push to come in, clearly not enjoying it one bit.
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:When Melchett sends him to combat.]]
* HiddenDepths: The final episode reveals his true motives for his actions and general behaviour. While characters like him are generally associated with being motivated by gaining wealth or power, we come to realise that Darling is not especially motivated by any of these things. The driving force behind his behaviour throughout the whole series was a relatively simple desire to see out the war and return to his old job in Croydon, marry his girlfriend and play a bit of cricket. He becomes a great deal more sympathetic after this reveal and you can't help but feel sad that he had to resort to being an obnoxious creep in order to keep his relatively humble dream alive.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: A tragic and humanising example, [[spoiler:he wanted to ride out the war by working behind a desk and sucking up Melchett. Unlike his boss, Darling knew the reality of war and knew that it isn't as glamorous as Melchett thinks it is. Instead, in the final episode, Darling is sent to the front lines because his boss was convinced that he didn't want to miss out on the Big Push. A sentiment Darling desperately tries to escape from because he knows it's certain death.]]
* HypercompetentSidekick: Compared to Melchett.
* {{Jerkass}}: But not an unprofessional one.
* MyGirlBackHome: Has a girlfriend called Doris waiting for him back in England. When he arrives in the trench during the final episode he lists the things he'd planned to do when he got back to England, the last of which is "Marry Doris".
* PrecisionFStrike: When he finds out he's being sent to the frontline.
-->'''Darling:''' Made a note in my diary on the way here. Simply says, 'bugger'.
* TheRival: To Blackadder.
* SitcomArchNemesis: He and Blackadder have a lot in common, but they never miss an opportunity to insult each other and get each other killed. [[spoiler:Until it's too late to bother.]]
* SmugSnake: When he bears bad news to Blackadder, he doesn't hate breaking them to him.
* TwitchyEye: It took [=McInnerny=] a while to shake it after the show was completed.
* UnfortunateNames: WordOfGod is that the character only began to take shape after they changed his surname from Cartwright. He went from being a formless character to a person steeped in a lifetime's worth of bitterness from being called "Darling" all the time.
--> "What is the ''matter'' with you today, Darling?!"
--> "Darling, you're hysterical."
* WouldRatherSuffer: [[spoiler:When he arrives for the Big Push, he tells everyone that he's there by choice because he didn't want to serve Melchett anymore. Considering his bravery in the face of certain doom and the fact that he really doesn't want to be there, he's telling a white lie and half-truth. He's accepted that he's going to die and the only peace he can glean from this is that he no longer has to lick Melchett's boots.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Com. "Lord" Flashheart]]
!!Squadron Com. The Lord Flashheart
->'''Played By''': Creator/RikMayall

-> ''"Cancel the state funeral, tell the King to stop blubbing, Flash is NOT DEAD! I simply ran out of JUICE -- and before all the girls start going "Oh, what's the point of living anymore?" I'm talkin' about PETROL! WOOF WOOF!"''

* TheAce: A celebrated war hero.
* AcePilot: In this incarnation, he's a parody of that UsefulNotes/WorldWarI trope.
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: "Yes, I suppose I am."
* BadassLongcoat: Wears a leather longcoat as was the style for pilots at the time.
* BloodKnight: He's one of the few people to be actually enjoying the war.
* TheCasanova: He's very popular among ladies. Men too!
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Isn't impressed by Darling's willingness to leave Blackadder for dead.
* {{Expy}}: Of Captain {{Literature/Flashman}}, the protagonist of a series of mock-historical novels.
* ForTheLulz: He risks his life to save Blackadder and Baldrick, who he doesn't even like. Why? Just for the hell of it (though when he realises who he's rescuing, he admits he might not have come).
* TheFightingNarcissist: If he could, he would stop fighting for a photo.
%%* GagPenis
%%* GentlemanAdventurer
* HandsomeLech: He's very handsome, but is still a narcissistic jerk. Not that anyone (except Blackadder) minds.
* HellBentForLeather: Young Rik Mayall was a very handsome man, and the brown leather longcoat did absolutely nothing to detract from that.
* HiddenDepths: At one point, it seems like all his behaviour is a facade and he really hates the war... and, then, nope, still a bloodthirsty maniac.
* IdenticalGrandson: He has the same looks and mannerism as his ancestor in Season 2. About the only difference is that he and Blackadder hate each other this time around.
* IncomingHam: "HEY GIRLS, LOOK AT MY MACHINERY!"
* LargeHam: He makes sure to be in the spot light everytime he opens his mouth.
* MemeticBadass: In universe example. It wouldn't be him otherwise.
* PetTheDog: As much of a vainglorious jackass as he generally is, he does happily help Blackadder get revenge on Captain Darling.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: He yells a homophobic slur at The Red Baron's corpse after shooting him.
--> '''Flashheart''': What a poof! Come on!
* ReallyGetsAround: He apparently got a lot of lovers.
-->'''Flashheart''': Mind if I use your phone? If word gets out I'm missing, five hundred girls will kill themselves. And I wouldn't want them on my conscience, not when they ought to be on my ''face''!
* TalkToTheFist: "Eat knuckle, Fritz!"
* TookALevelInKindness: Downplayed, but this Flashheart is ''slightly'' nicer than his Elizabethan counterpart -- he helps George rescue Blackadder and Baldrick and gleefully helps Blackadder get revenge on Captain Darling, giving him a bloody nose, before parting with him on friendly terms.
* VerbalTic: WOOF!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kate/Bob]]
!!Kate, AKA Bob Parkhurst
->'''Played By''': Gabrielle Glaister

->"Permission to slip into something more uncomfortable, sir."

* TheDriver: For Melchett. When Flashheart gets stranded in the trenches he demands she be sent to pick him up, almost certainly so he can hit on her on the way back to HQ.
* IdenticalGrandson: Well, presumably...
* PaperThinDisguise: It doesn't fool Blackadder this time around. When [[RecursiveCrossdressing she actually dresses as a girl for a stage show]], Melchett and Darling think it is a poor attempt at a drag act.
* SweetPollyOliver: She dressed up as a man so she could join the army and fight in the war like her brothers. By "Private Plane" she seems to have abandoned the disguise and is seen wearing a women's uniform around HQ.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Red Baron]]
!!Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen
->'''Played By''': Creator/AdrianEdmondson

-> "How lucky you English are to find the toilet so amusing. For us, it is a mundane and functional item. For you, the basis of an entire culture."

* AcePilot: More than one ace is cheating though so...
* CastingGag: He often worked with Creator/RikMayall, and generally was a tormentor to Mayall's characters. In this show, Mayall (playing Flashheart) [[KilledMidSentence kills him mid sentence]] and calls him a poof.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: His planned FateWorseThanDeath for Blackadder is to have him teaching at a German girl's school for the rest of his life, completely unaware that that would actually be paradise for Blackadder.
* EuropeansAreKinky: Baldrick's concerns about Germans doing AnythingThatMoves are proven correct when Richthofen tells him he'll be out 'round the back of the supply bunker if Baldrick's interested...
* {{Expy}}: He's obviously supposed to be the equivalent of Ludwig from the second season, but IdenticalGrandson isn't in play because Laurie is playing a different, also German descended role in this series.
* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: {{Inverted|Trope}}; the real Manfred von Richthofen was a WW 1 cavalry officer who trained as a pilot once it became clear that cavalry was obsolete, and who then insisted on being a fighter pilot because he didn't want to fly transports, and who then became the highest-scoring ace of the war, with 80 confirmed victories. He once flew his plane ''through a thunderstorm'' just to see what it was like, and commented afterwards that he was lucky to get away with it and wouldn't do it again unless ordered to. When he was killed, he wasn't even properly shot down: he was fatally wounded in the chest and went on to ''land his plane'' with only light damage, before dying in his seat, before being given a funeral with fully military honours by his enemies. Who ''wept'' at the funeral. The fictional Richthofen, while still an AcePilot, is an idiot Bond villain type who gets shot. Much funnier, though.
* {{Kaiserreich}}: He is very German.
* RedBaron: The Original.
* SmugSnake: One wonders if he is related to Prince Ludwig.
* StraightGay: Certainly seems to have a thing for Lord Flashheart. He also stands as being the only person (aside from Flasheart) in all ''Blackadder'' to proposition Baldrick.
* UnknownRival: Obsessed with defeating Lord Flashheart, who really doesn't give a shit.
* WickedCultured: But an unenlightened one on what constitutes torture.
* WorthyOpponent: How he sees Lord Flashheart. Flash, alas, just sees a poof who needs shooting.
* WrongGenreSavvy: He believes he and Flashheart are locked in a great game of one-upmanship and are worthy opponents and expects them to have a long and friendly chat before a duel to the death. Flashheart just shoots him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nurse Mary]]
!!Mary Fletcher-Brown
->'''Played By''': Miranda Richardson

A nurse that Blackadder has a fling with.
----
* AmbiguouslyRelated: She might be related to King Edmund depending on whether she survived her UncertainDoom. Due to being played by Richardson, she's also somehow related to Queenie, Amy Hardwood, Lady Elizabeth and Queen Asphyxia XIX. The two answers are that either Queenie and Hardwood are somehow her ancestors, which implies that both had children out of wedlock, while Elizabeth and Asphyxia are Mary's descendants, or all these characters simply share an unseen ancestress.
* AssholeVictim: Given her disdain for most of her patients and her attempts to frame Darling as a spy ForTheLulz, being convicted herself almost seems karmic [[spoiler:if still incorrect]].
* HiddenDisdainReveal: Blackadder discovers her true self when she snides about George's idiocy in closed quarters.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Plays simple cloying nurse in public, alone she's almost as witty as Blackadder.
* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Blackadder, through elaborate deduction, had her convicted as a spy. It was in fact an unwitting George sending information to his German relatives.]]
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:Whether Blackadder and Darling vindicate her before she meets her end by firing squad is never revealed.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Field Marshal Haig]]
!!Field Marshal Haig
->'''Played By''': Geoffrey Palmer

* ArmchairMilitary: It's clearly been a while since he was last out in the field. His sole appearance in the series sees him standing over a battlefield map and carelessly tossing the soldier figures over his shoulder after they "die".
* GeneralRipper: Unlike Melchett, who is just too stupid to see how idiotic and ineffectual his tactics are, the model army he plays with indicates that Haig knows full well the massive price in blood that his strategies demand for minor territorial gains, [[TheSociopath and simply doesn't give a damn.]]
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The show goes for the "lion led by donkeys" portrayal of Haig, depicitng him as a man utterly indifferent to the deaths of his soldiers. The real Haig ''did'' preside over very costly offensives, but he pushed them in an attempt to relieve his French allies. Most people who worked with Haig described him as an empathetic man who failed to grasp the realities of modern warfare, which was common among generals of his age. And after the war, he did devote the rest of his life to helping veterans of the war.
* IOweYouMyLife: Blackadder once saved him from a pygmy who was wielding a deadly mango fruit, and cashes in the favour he's owed years later. Unfortunately for him, Haig just tells him to try the ObfuscatingInsanity tactic that he'd already tried and failed with earlier in the episode and then hangs up.
* KarmaHoudini: Like Melchett, he not only lives through the war (assuming Blackadder history unfolds like ours), but is highly decorated for his actions during it.
[[/folder]]

* AlternateHistory: [[spoiler:Murdered by Evil Prince Ludwig, who spent the rest of his life pretending to be her.]]

* DramaticUnmask: After the "Shadow" suddenly insists on kissing Blackadder, she drops her hood mid-kiss to reveal her true identiy.

!!Nurse Mary

* RightForTheWrongReasons: He sentences Frou-Frou to death for being an aristocreat, not realising that he's actually dealing with an ''English'' aristocrat rather than a French one.

* OnlySaneMan: Friar Bellows is the only one of them capable of shutting up long enough to listen to Edmund's plan, * PsychoKnifeNut: Sean goes for sneak-attacks in shadowy narrows therefore he prefers something [[DeviousDaggers discreet and swift]]. Even though drinking makes him everything but.

%%** DeviousDaggers: Sean goes for sneak-attacks in shadowy narrows therefore he prefers something discreet and swift. Even though drinking makes him everything but.

* OnlySaneMan: Friar Bellows is the only one of them capable of shutting up long enough to listen to Edmund's plan, and points out a messanger with the Black Plague would kill them.

* SinisterMinister: Friar Bellows has a lust for virgins and for murder (and he still has nothing on the [[EatsBabies Baby Eating Bishop Of Bath And Wells]] from ''II''.)

%%** TheArcher: Three-Fingered Pete is not restricted by the number of his fingers or by good sportsmanship.

* CloudCuckoolander

* PlayingGertrude: Averted. Elspet Gray (1929-2013) was 54 years old, when playing the mother of 28-year-old Rowan Atkinson.

* WomenAreWiser: Compared to her husband at least.

* [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Everyone Calls Her Nursie]]: No wonder.

* BoyfriendBlockingDad: Uncle, actually. Even though it was his nieces who approached George and took him home to Apsley House, Wellington's vowed to kill anyone who meddles with his family. (Of course, unmarried sex ''was'' a much bigger deal back then.)

* OverprotectiveDad: Uncle, actually. Even though it was his nieces who approached George and took him home to Apsley House, Wellington's vowed to kill anyone who meddles with his family. (Of course, unmarried sex ''was'' a much bigger deal back then.)

* WeaponOfChoice:
** CoolSword: Sir Wilfred Death
** TheArcher: Three-Fingered Pete is not restricted by the number of his fingers or by good sportsmanship.
** BowAndSwordInAccord: Guy de Glastonbury carries a small crossbow.
** ChainPain: Friar Bellows seems to use his rosary as a garroting weapon, given that he brandishes it when the others have drawn their weapons.
** DeviousDaggers: Sean goes for sneak-attacks in shadowy narrows therefore he prefers something discreet and swift. Even though drinking makes him everything but.
** ExtremityExtremist: Jack, who favours his fists and his feet. And his head.

* PaperThinDisguise: It doesn't fool Blackadder this time around. When [[RecursiveCrossdressing she actually dresses as a girl for a stage show]], Melchett and Darling think it is a poor attempt at a drag act. It also doesn't fool Flashheart.

* BerserkButton: Aside from a general HairTriggerTemper, don't call him a "lord" (he's a duke). He'll kick you in the arse for that. And don't make fun of his name. People who do end up dead.

* AssInAmbassador: After capturing Blackadder, Baldrick, and Frou-Frou, he sentences them all to death; the latter for being an aristocrat, and the former two because he just doesn't like the English. On top of that, he comes across as a generally unpleasant person during his screentime, even if his insults aren't terribly effective.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: He's last seen running out of the prison cell gagging after Madame Guillotine (really Smedley) gives him a particularly disgusting impression of what she intends to do to Blackadder and Baldrick. It's not clear whether Frou-Frou (really Topper) took the chance to dispose of him, or if he was simply distracted while the trio made their escape.

* ForegoneConclusion: History has already recorded his reign and the first episode explains how his rule came about, so his survival is never in question.

* TheUpperCrass: Seems to be of a high-class background (like most officers of the time). He's also a boisterous, slaphappy, oblivious dolt.

* NobodysThatDumb: While still an utter buffoon Private Baldrick also understands that the war is futile, unlike George who is gung ho. There are also a few occasions where he understands the situation better and quicker than George such as when Blackadder points out that the map indicates that they are in the middle of a mine field, with him immediatly understanding the implications while [[LiteralMinded George misunderderstands it as the owner of the map owning the field]].
* PaperTiger: He has a moment of seeming HiddenDepths where he reveals an understanding and sympathy for Communism, hoping that the British will follow the example of the Russians of overthrowing the Bugeroise embodied by Capt. Blackadder and Lt. George. An unimpressed Blackadder immediately commmands him to clean the latrines, which Baldrick dociley complies.

* ButNotTooBi: In "The Queen Of Spain's Beard", he is politically engaged to 7 European noblewomen (one of whom, Princess Leia of Hungary, eventually gets engaged to Edmund), and one European noble''man'', Jeremy of Estonia. He does seem a bit taken aback by the latter, however.

-->'''Harry:''' Now, I'm afraid there's going to have to be a certain amount of violence, but at least we know it's all for a good cause, hey?

* UpperClassTwit: Slightly smarter than Edmund, at least in everyday matters, but ''that is'' no great feat. (In street smarts, Edmund seems to have gotten the lion's share, always relatively speaking). Having said that, Harry is probably still the sanest member of his family. His main quirk is a seeming obsession with the castle drains.

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: has on odd, non-specifically European accent.

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:It's implied that he and Edmund are half-brothers via Queen Gertrude's affair with Dogual's father]].
* TooDumbToLive: Baldrick's first "Cunning Plan" actually works on him. [[spoiler:Edmund persuades him to put his head in a cannon before it s fired.]]

* AbhorrentAdmirer: to Edmund.
* ExtremeLibido: very sexually aggressive, to the extent of probing Edmund's mother to find out what he's like in bed.
* {{Gonk}}: at least Edmund thinks so.
* LoveAtFirstSight: is all over Edmund from the second she sees him. The feeling is not mutual.

* AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker: translates for the Infanta everywhere, [[spoiler:even while she's having sex with Baldrick.]]
* MistakenForGay: thanks to translating the Infanta's declarations of love, before Edmund sees the Infanta. Edmund punches him on the nose, while Percy jokes he must be Jeremy of Estonia.
%%* PunnyName
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: speaks in a hilariously baffling approximation of a Spanish accent.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Leia appears as Edmund's wife in two episodes, but is not part of the season finale and does not die with the rest of the royal family. She is simply never mentioned again. How exactly Prince Edmund had descendants is unclear since his wife was still pre-pubescent when he died, but it's assumed that Lord Blackadder et al are descended from [[BastardBastard illegitimate offspring]]. The different series never subscribed to a strict continuity between series, so it was never really a concern how that worked.

* {{Jerkass}}: While Blackadder's repeatedly mentioning "''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''" in their presence naturally drives this UpToEleven, they already behave in a pretty jerkish fashion towards him even when they first meet in Mrs. Miggins' pie shop.
* LargeHam: To be fair, this is pretty much traditional in British stage acting, but even so these two turn it UpToEleven, both in their plays and when in the private company of Prince George.

[[folder:Prince Edmund "The Black Adder" Plantagenet, The First]]
* See [[Characters/BlackadderEdmundBlackadder here]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lord Edmund Blackadder, The Second]]
* See [[Characters/BlackadderEdmundBlackadder here]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Edmund Blackadder, Esq., The Third]]
* See [[Characters/BlackadderEdmundBlackadder here]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Capt. Edmund Blackadder, The Fourth]]
* See [[Characters/BlackadderEdmundBlackadder here]].
[[/folder]]

** KnifeNut: Sean goes for sneak-attacks in shadowy narrows therefore he prefers something discreet and swift. Even though drinking makes him everything but.