Line #59 Headscratchers/Blackadder


1	[[foldercontrol]]
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3	[[folder: ''The Black Adder'']]
4	* Why did the Infanta ask the Queen on "how is Edmund in bed?" What was she expecting? [[ParentalIncest That she knew]]?
5	** She possibly meant if he had a reputation for it.
6	** I thought the Infanta was just so sex obsessed that she didn't care who she asked about it.
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8	* What the hell happens in the first series with the Witchsmeller Pursuivant? For a start, there's that black, hooded, cloaked thing which no one seems to see. Secondly, as I recall, Blackadder, Percy, and Baldrick all crouch down, leap up, and then are on another floor of the castle. That's how they escape. WTF??
9	** [[AWizardDidIt Magic]]. Literally.
10	*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7e0777z7AY&feature=related
11	** In order: The black hooded thing is the Witchsmeller's disguise. [[RuleOfFunny The fact that no one notices how creepy he is is the joke.]] When Edmund, Percy, and Baldrick jump up and appear in another room Edmund says something to the effect of "In all my years I'll never know how you managed that, Baldrick!" [[RuleOfFunny The fact that you can't figure out how they did it is the joke.]]
12	** In the case of the Witchsmeller, MaybeMagicMaybeMundane. The implication is that ''he'' is a warlock or similar dabbler in dark magic, witchcraft and the supernatural who is responsible for all the trouble in the first place, and is hiding in plain sight as a witch-hunter in order to blight and curse the land. He's clearly very creepy, sinister and corrupt -- and note how the King, whose malaise and madness was blamed on dark magic, strides out of his bedchamber happy and healthy as a lamb the very second the Witchsmeller has burned to a crisp. In the case of the gang's escape, NoodleIncident. They clearly do something very awesome to escape from their inescapable predicament, but the joke is that the audience never sees what it is and, despite the fact that none of them are in any way magical, it might as well have ''been'' magic.
13	*** The Witchsmeller ''is'' listed as the second witchiest character in the episode, after all.
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15	* So how did the Blackadder line survive Henry VII's rewriting of history? Given that he went to the extremes of writing out ''an entire monarch'' who reigned for thirteen years, he seems a bit shoddy to allow his descendants to openly announce themselves.
16	** Despite Edmund's general ineptitude with women, it's quite possible that he fathered at least one illegitimate child, and that child (or their descendants) later rediscovered their heritage and retook the Blackadder name.
17	*** One of the [=WMGs=] has it that after the mass poisoning, Baldrick found out that Edmund had fathered an illegitimate son and raised the kid himself, at the expense of his own son's education (thus ensuring the stupidity of all future Baldricks).
18	*** But wasn't it explicitly stated that he was a virgin?
19	*** That was in "The Queen of Spain's Beard" which is set in 1492. Edmund dies in 1498 along with the rest of his family -- ample time to father a child, presumably an illegitimate one as his wife is too young.
20	*** Princess Leia would've been 14 when Edmund died, which given the time period meant that he could've fathered a child with her. Henry VII's mother, for example, was 13 when she gave birth to him.
21	** The later Blackadders are not exactly open about their royal ancestry; yes, the Regency one does become Prince Regent (and later King, presumably), but that's as a result of impersonating the Prince and seizing the opportunity to make this permanent when the latter is killed, not because he wants to restore the Blackadder dynasty as the royal family.
22	** Given that no-one but Edmund himself ever used the Black Adder nickname, it's entirely possible Henry VII wouldn't have made the connection at all. Alternatively, Edmund ''had'' saved his life in the first episode so an illegitimate child might have been spared in recognition, and given the name (which Baldrick knows) to cover up the real ancestry.
23	** No real attempt was ever really made for continuity between series, so basically it was hand waved away, but feel free to create your own explanation.
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25	* In ''The Black Adder'', Prince Edmund is the Duke of Edinburgh, implying that King Richard IV of England is also the King of Scotland. Wasn't Scotland an entirely separate Kingdom from England at that time?
26	** That's what Henry VII ''wants'' you to think.
27	*** Brilliant!
28	** There were a lot of border skirmishes and minor wars between England and Scotland in the Middle Ages, and a lot of territory around the border changed hands quite frequently. Given how violent and warlike Richard IV was, it's entirely possible that during his reign he either led an attack which was successful enough to capture Edinburgh or, given how friendly he was with [=MacAngus=], that he was successful enough to be declared King of Scotland as well. Then, when he died the Scots took the opportunity to take it back. Following which, the whole thing was airbrushed out of history by Henry Tudor, along with the rest of Richard's reign; not wanting to admit to having recognised an English king as their overlord, the Scots were only too happy to go along with this pretence.
29	** It could simply be a title in pretence -- Edmund's not recognised as Duke of Edinburgh in Scotland ([=MacAngus=] seems rather scathing of an English prince using that title), but the King of Scots can't stop him using the title in the English court. Doubtless, Richard IV would similarly have styled himself as King of France, as all Kings of England did until 1808. No truth in the claim, but the real King of France wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.
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31	* What happened to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_V_of_England Edward]], Richard IV's elder brother?
32	** Probably died of some horrible illness. It ''was'' still the Middle Ages.
33	** There is also a fan theory that Chiswick is actually Edward. Edward is only seen briefly in one scene as a child, and is otherwise never mentioned again. Chiswick is a title, not his actual name. Chiswick has shaggy hair and beard, as Richard does. Chiswick is also often seen with Richard, and seems very loyal to him. This doesn't explain why he isn't king instead of Richard, though.
34	*** Could be that Chiswick is actually an illegitimate son of Edward IV, which would make him Richard IV's half-brother (as well as explaining why he's not the king).
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36	* In "The Archbishop", Edmund got himself out of the job of being Archbishop by getting himself excommunicated after being caught roughhousing in the nunnery while dressed in women's clothing, rendering him ineligible for the priesthood. But then in the following episode, "The Queen of Spain's Beard", he is used for political marriages. An excommunicate is unable to participate in any sacrament of the church, not just holding church office, and one of the sacraments recognized by the Catholic Church is marriage. Given that, how could Edmund be married to a foreign princess? Was he reconciled with the church between episodes? Did Richard have to arrange for more "accidents" with Edmund's successors before this happened?
37	** RuleOfFunny?
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39	* Assuming that Henry VII managed to erase the 13-year reign of Richard IV and the 13-second reign of Edmund I from the history books of Britain, how did he manage to erase the existence of Richard IV's Crusade? History doesn't record the existence of a Crusade against Turkey (or anyone else, really) in 1486, and you'd think that the Turks would have remembered a war in which a bearded madman slaughtered 10,000 men with a fruit knife -- Henry didn't have the ability to subvert ''their'' historians.
40	** Rather like the Scots mentioned above, they were too embarrassed about their loss to one man to speak of it ever again, and were happy to go along with what Henry VII said -- after all, if a King of England wanted to deny the existence of his predecessor (who had utterly thrashed them on the battlefield), why not just go along with that?
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43	[[folder: ''Blackadder II'']]
44	* So, at the end of Blackadder II, how did Prince Ludwig survive? I mean, he was fatally stabbed twice.
45	** That's what he ''wanted'' you to think.
46	** On a related note, how the hell did he get back into the castle and murder everyone?
47	** He got better.
48	** Or, [[WildMassGuessing if you want to go a different route]], it was his DyingDream.
49	** He refers to himself as "Ludwig the Indestructible". The final gag is partly to show us that it wasn't just a boast.
50	** He's a master of disguise as he says and how it is shown. I think it reasonable that he was able to disguise himself as a corpse so elegantly and take action when everyone's guards were down.
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52	* In the second series' episode "Head", they believe that they executed a man named Farrow, but accidentally executed another man named Ponsonby. Once they recover the head, Percy recognizes him and notices the error. But ... wasn't Percy at the execution and so should have noticed ''then''? Blackadder is excused since he wasn't there and apparently doesn't know what either man looks like. Also, Percy also says that "Farrow's" last words were "my wife might have bloody well turned up!" in his deep booming voice, but Ponsonby is stated to have a horrible speech impediment. So, who said that quote?
53	** Yeah...they didn't really think that joke through.
54	*** Ponsonby's wife may not have shown up and he might have had a sore throat.
55	** Percy's an idiot.
56	*** Given the executioner was Baldrick, the gaoler was Ploppy, and the whole thing was overseen by Percy, it could have been anyone. I doubt they've got the identity of anyone they've executed even approximately right. It probably wasn't Ponsonby at all.
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58	* When Lady Whiteadder sits on Lord Whiteadder on his spike, wouldn't the extra weight force Lord Whiteadder's body downward onto the spike, causing him to be impaled?
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62	[[folder: ''Blackadder the Third'']]
63	* Baldrick asks Blackadder what to use to start a fire with. Granted, Baldrick isn't very smart, but he works day and night in the kitchen. How come he doesn't know? Also regarding Baldrick, his illiteracy is often mentioned, he is seen signing with an X, and he can't properly say "novel", but he can write a couple of lines.
64	** To be completely fair to Baldrick on this one, he might have been asking the question in the context of "what around here is ''available'' for me to use" rather than "I don't know what objects are flammable" (this being Baldrick, it may not be the first time he's chucked something on the fire that he wasn't supposed to). Blackadder just responded in the second way because, well, he has a pretty low opinion of Baldrick's overall intelligence.
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66	* Why did Edmund try to escape Dr. Johnson's wrath when all was lost? The supposed destruction of the dictionary was not exactly his fault to begin with, but we understand he tried to make things smooth anyway for the hope that Dr. Johnson will help publish his novel. And then when Monday came he tried to escape; why? Why not just point the blame to Baldrick, say?
67	** I always thought he was worried that everyone would assume he'd done it because he'd been criticising the dictionary so much, making himself the most likely suspect.
68	** It's an issue of responsibility. Baldrick is only Blackadder's dogsbody, remember, so Blackadder is automatically going to take the blame for anything he does wrong. Dr. Johnson had left the dictionary at the Prince Regent's palace and Blackadder, as the head butler, was responsible for what happened to it.
69	** Didn't Dr. Johnson and his friends threaten Edmund's life at some point?
70	** They did indeed tell Edmund of what they would do to whomever had burned the Dictionary. Coupled with the abovementioned Baldrick being Edmund's only dogsbody and its no wonder.
71	*** As the Dictionary is burned at the end of the episode, why don't Johnson and his friends carry out the threatened death sentence on Blackadder (or George or Baldrick)?
72	*** Probably because at the end of the episode Johnson realised in a fury that he'd left Sausage out of the dictionary...as well as aardvark, so had to go back and rewrite it anyway.
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74	* Why did George suddenly change his early attitude and declared his love for Amy Hardwood near the end of "Amy and Amiability"?
75	** Because Prince George is a) shallow and b) an idiot.
76	** Just watched the show again, he said "yuck" to her mannerisms, but was instantly pretty impressed once he saw her.
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78	* In "Ink and Incapability": '''Edmund''': "No copy? [...] But what if the book got lost!?" That... applies to him too. It just bugs me.
79	** First, the hypocrisy might well be part of the point. Secondly, it wasn't the only copy of the book, it was the only copy with the signature that could prove his authorship. Big difference.
80	*** Where does it say that? And besides, if he had another copy couldn't he have tried to prove the handwriting in the manuscript was the same as his?
81	*** None of those in either the actual show or the scripts available. Also, he did say it's seven years of work up in smoke. It's not that hard to prove his authorship anyway. It's called ''Edmund: A Butler's Tale''.
82	** He might simply be hoping that Dr. Johnson, a well-respected and notable professional man of words with a ton of publications under his belt even before his magnum opus, might be a wee bit more careful and might have more time to devote to making copies of his work than a butler who's writing on the side of a very busy and chaotic day-job.
83	*** Not to mention that Dr. Johnson would have had something crucial that Blackadder didn't -- a secretary.
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85	* How does Blackadder keep up the ruse of impersonating Prince George? King George III may be too crazy to notice, but does nobody in Britain know what Prince George looks like?
86	** See Baldrick's original suggestion regarding how Edmund could have posed as the prince to trick the Duke; add on the fact that Prince George was an idiotic layabout who only went out to a few gentlemen's clubs and theatres (where he wouldn't have been the centre of attention, at least in the latter), and it wouldn't be impossible to assume that Blackadder got away with it by attending different clubs from his deceased master and avoiding spending too much time with anyone who knew the Prince that well.
87	** Plus, it's not as if the general public would know what Prince George looks like from having seen him on TV.
88	** Also Blackadder, unlike George, is not a boorish sex-crazed oaf with the intelligence of a broken pencil point. I dare say a substantial amount of people probably were not fooled by the switch but since on the whole Blackadder was a trade-up in every possible way, they just decided SureLetsGoWithThat. One of the [=WMGs=] even goes so far as to suggest that Wellington ''realised that a switch had taken place'', but decided that having Blackadder as Prince Regent was a vast improvement on the ''actual'' Prince Regent, and so shot the latter!
89	[[/folder]]
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91	[[folder: ''Blackadder Goes Forth'']]
92	* How old was the Flanders Pigeon? General Melchett supposedly reared it from a chick and it was "his only childhood friend", implying it to be about 40 years old.
93	** Melchett is a senile idiot. He probably named a carrier pigeon "Speckled Jim" after his childhood pet, and then managed to confuse them so that he ended up thinking they were the same pigeon.
94	** Alternatively, somebody was pulling the old goldfish trick and replacing them when they died.
95	*** That somebody probably being Darling.
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97	* In "General Hospital" Blackadder believes the nurse is the spy and gets her sent to the Firing Squad. Not really an issue in universe given how generally inept and trigger happy the army is (towards their own people) but would that happen in real life? Would a spy with a non military job receive a court martial or execution on the spot? My instincts tell me it would fall under some form of treason based civilian law.
98	** Being a nurse in a military hospital operated near a battleground, she probably fell under military jurisdiction.
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103	[[folder: General/Other]]
104	* How come Ebenezer Blackadder be such an arsehole to Baldrick? I can understand him doing that to other people, since they always took advantages of his kindness. But Baldrick is the only one who truly cares about him, his only fault is being stupid.
105	** Because he's decided to embrace his Blackadder-ness to the fullest. That mean he'll be an asshole to anybody, even for something small like being an idiot. Plus, after seeing that dismal vision of the future, he may have been also felt like putting Baldrick in his place.
106	** As a rule, the Blackadders are not the types to suffer fools gladly. Baldrick is the fool to end all fools and the Blackadders throughout history cannot help pointing it out at every opportunity.
107	** Also, let's remember that Ebenezer is getting back at everyone who ever got on his nerves. Baldrick gets on his nerves regularly, even though he's not doing it out of malice.
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109	* In the very first episode, Edmund proclaims himself "the Black Adder", implying that he's first in the dynasty. If that's the case, why is Robin Hood (who was around long before the Wars of the Roses) familiar with a Lord Blackadder in ''Blackadder Goes Back and Forth''?
110	** There's also the Roman Blackaddicus. Let's say Edmund was naming himself, most likely unawares, after his slimy predecessors.
111	** I think it's ''Blackadder: Back & Forth'' instead, which has a lot of plotholes anyway. It's an unplanned plothole, plain and simple. Perhaps they retconned it. If we want to do WildMassGuessing, perhaps the original Baldrick knew of his master's Blackadder roots and leaped to the chance when the latter christened himself a Black Vegetable.
112	** Prince Edmund could've just been really bad at history.
113	** Don't know whether it's canon, but the script book ''Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty'' traces the family from the prehistoric era to World War I, which would imply that Prince Edmund is far from the first.
114	** There is a fan theory suggesting that [=MacAngus=]'s father is descended from the [=MacAdder=] clan, linking Prince Edmund to the Blackadder line via his illegitimate parentage. Maybe Edmund's true parentage was more widely known than he thought, leading to Baldrick's suggestion?
115	** Edmund doesn't initially proclaim himself The Black Adder: his first attempt is The Black Vegetable. It is Baldrick who then makes the alternative suggestion. Perhaps he was aware of Edmund's ancestry even if Edmund himself wasn't.
116	** If one really wishes to give a Watsonian explanation we could argue that messing with time-travelling resulted in alternate histories where the Blackadder family appeared before the main series continuity.
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118	* Why does nobody but me seem to actually think the first season was better, or even as good as the others?
119	** Because it was a flop in the eyes of the BBC: It was rather expensive. The latter ones were done in a studio, whereas the others were shot in castles, featured horseriding, large amounts of extras with plentiful design...
120	** And the first series Edmund and Baldrick were almost completely swapped around if you view the first series after the others. Edmund's a cowardly, slimy schmuck whilst Baldrick, whilst still filthy, is a damn sight smarter.
121	** Conventional wisdom has it that the addition of Creator/BenElton to the scriptwriting team improved the series immensely. I'd disagree with it, after all some of the lines in the first series are as good as anything as anything in the later series. ('So what you're telling me is that something you have never seen is slightly less blue than something else you have never seen', 'Curses are pretty much the same really. I brought this one for half an egg 'Dear Enemy, I curse you and hope that something quite unpleasant happens to you, like an onion falling on your head'"). But the big change is that Rowan Atkinson horribly overreacts and gurns in the first series ... and turning him into a DeadpanSnarker improves him immensely.
122	** It's quite different in feel, approach and tone in many ways than the three seasons that followed it, when a successful formula was hit on and worked with; it's probably just an example of the age-old phenomenon of something not really finding it's feet for most people until it's worked out the initial errors.
123	** The first series is basically Mr. Bean without the things that make people like Mr. Bean. Basically, it does a bunch of things decently, but it doesn't do anything well. The physical comedy is good, but not as good as almost anything else contemporary to it. The writing is good, but not as good as almost anything else contemporary to it (the few good lines are direct references to other works), and the biggest failing is that it has no idea what it wants to be. Some of the actors clearly think this is a physical comedy, some think it satirical, some think it is a genuine drama, and some think it will get canceled so they might as well not bother trying. (Keep in mind though that Black Adder was first televised in 1983, and Mr Bean in 1990. While the Mr Bean character roots go earlier as Rowan Atkinson developed the character, a lot of people watching Black Adder when it first appeared had no idea who Mr. Bean was. However there are definitely some character parallels.
124	** To some degree it's a matter of a minority personal opinion which you happen to be on the unfortunate side of (which is not to say that yours is wrong by any means, but it's still pretty clearly in the minority). But there's a remark by Ben Elton which might offer an answer, in addition to the above; at one point, he was talking about this very thing and said something along the lines that "Rowan Atkinson falling off a horse in the distance is about as funny as anyone else falling off a horse, but Rowan Atkinson up close is comedy gold." There's a reason that Rowan Atkinson tends to be described as "rubber-faced" in terms of comedy. He tends to be very expressive, and a lot of the humor comes from how his character responds and reacts to the situations he finds himself in. Notice how, in the second to fourth seasons -- the ones everyone pretty widely agrees are the best -- the sets are fairly small, and a lot of the shots are close-ups of the characters, thus enabling the audience to see not just the action but how the characters -- and Blackadder especially -- are reacting to what's happening. Notice also how whenever one of the other characters is saying or doing something stupid, there's usually plenty of cuts to Blackadder staring at them and/or reacting in exasperation. In the first season, however, there's a lot of wide shots and scenery, and less of these kind of close-ups -- not none entirely, but less. Elton is suggesting -- and I'd say it's reasonable -- that the first season is less well-regarded simply because it doesn't play to Atkinson's strengths as a comedian as much or as well as the others do. It clearly does some things well, otherwise why bother renewing it, but it could do other things better.
125	** Also, the first series is a lot more uneven tonally. There's bits where it's funny, but there's also bits where it seems to be playing things straight, bits where it's trying to be a Shakespearean homage, there's a few borderline horror bits when the Witchsmeller shows up, and so on. Overall, at times the makers don't seem to fully know what kind of show they're trying to make at all. The other seasons, conversely, are pretty much just straightforward comedies. They know what they're trying to do and just get on with it, and people respond to that.
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127	* How does the Blackadder line continue, since Edmund dies at the end of three out of four series without (apparently) having children? The only time he DOES survive, he's masquerading as Prince George, so any children wouldn't be Blackadders anyway, and in the other finales he ends up dead!
128	** The only likely answer to the first three is probably illegitimate children who became aware of their father's name and adopted it. This is far from made clear, however and a big problem is that Prince Edmund is described in "The Queen of Spain's Beard" as being a virgin, which Edmund doesn't quibble with. You'd think if he wasn't a virgin, he would have objected. Leia, his child bride, ''was''--according to Wikipedia--fourteen when he died, which would technically be old enough to have a child, but this is certainly unclear at best, and unlikely considering that even the final episode of ''The Black Adder'' he had no acknowledged heirs, even in utero, and the show ends with his entire dynasty supposedly dying. Lord Blackadder almost certainly fathered some illegitimate children, and there is every possibility that Mr. Blackadder (of the Third) already had at least one before switching identities with the prince. Captain Blackadder could have either got someone pregnant before going to war, or survived the end of the series (since they were never actually ''shown'' dying) and had children after. However, in none of these cases is it even hinted that he had any heirs at all.
129	*** Nieces and nephews? He could easily have brothers in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th series. Not all the Blackadders have to be descended from each other.
130	*** Nieces would not have explained the descendants looking just like Edmund instead of, say, Harry.
131	*** "The Queen of Spain's Beard" is set in 1492. The final episode ends in 1499. That's plenty of time for Edmund to have sex with a woman at some point.
132	** Perhaps [[{{Squick}} he slept with Leia]] prior to being stripped of his titles and was unaware that he'd impregnated her. Given that he was trapped for a year in the dungeon with only Mad Gerald for company, the child could have been sent away during that time with him unaware.
133	** Notice that the Elizabethan Edmund is a lord, who doesn't carry his great-grandfather's name (Plantagenet), but rather, a name based on his pseudonym (Blackadder). It's possible that Lord Blackadder's grandfather (Prince Edmund's son) was a bastard, discovered by Henry Tudor after the deaths of the Plantagenets. Henry Tudor would have seen this child as a possible rival to the throne and wisely bribed him with a lordship and land. Lord Blackadder himself might have fathered more bastards, who would go on to sire the rest of the Blackadder clan.
134	** The Elizabethan Edmund pretty clearly had sex with Bob/Kate (once she revealed her gender). She may well have been pregnant by him when she eloped with Lord Flashheart.
135	** If Mr. Blackadder lived as King George IV (who had a legitimate child), wouldn't his bastards be considered the king's bastards, and not be Blackadders?
136	*** Any bastards he fathered ''after'' becoming King George IV would, but any bastards fathered ''before'' that point would be known as Blackadders. The idea is that "Blackadder" (really Prince George) is the one killed by Wellington, not the Prince.
137	** And does it really matter? They presented different time periods wit similar characters. And made us laugh. There was never really any serious attempt at continuity.
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139	* Who the hell reproduced with the various Baldricks?
140	** A woman equally as pathetic and repulsive? My mind rebels at the attempt to contemplate the possibility that there are ''two'' people alive at the same time as pathetic and repulsive as Baldrick.
141	*** Alcohol and pity?
142	** Since he's getting uglier, filthier and more stupider in every century, maybe something he mated with somebody else who shouldn't contribute to the gene pool. Then again, Captain Blackadder did mention that Bladrick was the only "human child" of a resident of London Zoo...
143	*** So the Baldrick line has intermarried with...uhm...uh...oh geez. Talk about Squick!
144	** Molly in the second series seemed to think he was alright. And let's be honest, there's no shortage of disgusting and stupid people in the Blackadder 'verse.
145	** The above point hits the nail on the head, Baldrick is pretty pathetic and repulsive but only because he's seen against the background of high status characters. The servant to either a prince or a close confidant of princes and Queens would be enough to make him the most desirable dungball in the village.
146	** A few lines suggest that Baldrick might not be strictly human, and his family tree in "The Whole Damn Dynasty" has several generations that look like they reproduced asexually.
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148	* This page (and I assume a portion of the fandom in general) seem to think the third Blackadder is the most villainous which I find surprising since I found him to be the least villainous (barring the first who's just an idiot). Sure he's willing to kill political rivals and steal but that's a trait common to all the Black Adders. The second Black Adder regularly talked about beating people, executed people early to get half a week of work off and left the sea captain to be consumed by cannibals (he also gave out his piss as a present, not exactly evil but still a rotten thing to do). As for Captain Blackadder it's revealed he joined the army for the express purpose of killing people who can't fight back and happily did it for fifteen years. I can't think of anything noteworthy that the butler version of Black Adder did that would give him a reputation worse than the others.
149	** He was much more coldly calculating than the others, like when in his first episode he carried out a string of assassinations to fix an election for a minor objective. The second is crueler but still so self-absorbed and petty it comes off as being lighter; the third is a straight-up calculating VillainProtagonist. He's also the only one who got away with everything.
150	** Leaving aside the first Blackadder, and the ones from the one off specials, the Third is the most proactive of the main Blackadders. The second is an oaf, but he was perfectly happy to idle his way through life making fun of Percy and hanging around court and if you left him alone he left you alone. The Fourth joined the army, as many young men of his era did, because it was the sort of thing that young men of a certain class did in order to see the world he was just going along with things too. The Third actively seeks to change his station and is cold and calculating in the way he goes about it, seeing others as obstacles to kill if needed.
151	** Regency Blackadder is a potent mixture of ruthless, bitter, cunning, competent and [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious]]. Prince Edmund is ambitious, granted, but he's also incompetent; we take him less seriously and he's less of a threat to anyone, so conversely is less of a villain. He's also less evil than he maybe wants to be; notice how taken aback he is when his compatriots suggest murdering his family instead of exiling them in his final episode. Lord Edmund is ruthless and cunning, but while he kind of vaguely wants to marry Queenie and wouldn't mind being king, he's not that ambitious when you get down to it. As said above, he mainly just wants to live an easy life and, crucially, more or less can; when he's not dealing with the scrapes he gets into, he seems to have things pretty good, so there's no real need for him to plot against other people unless something provokes him to. And while Captain Blackadder has goals, they're a lot more sympathetic; he's not really scheming for power or wealth or to hurt someone else, he mainly just wants to not die in a pointless bloodbath in a war that pretty much everyone agrees wasn't really worth the misery it caused, which is something almost everyone can pretty much get behind. Furthermore, aside from the whole "First World War" issue Captain Blackadder otherwise seems fairly okay with his lot in life; he doesn't want to be king or anything (or at least is resigned enough to the fact that the prospect of his becoming so is vastly out of reach), and seems fairly okay with the life of a career soldier. Regency Blackadder, however, is in reduced circumstances, is bitter about it, wants to get back on the top in some way, and certainly doesn't mind stepping over others for his own benefit. It's a more villainous combination.

Context Headscratchers / Blackadder