Prince Edmund Blackadder: Encyclopedia II - Prince Edmund Blackadder - The Black Adder

Prince Edmund Blackadder - The Black Adder

Edmund resolved to become more assertive, giving himself the title The Black Vegetable. Baldrick instead suggested The Black Adder, which Edmund wisely adopted, although few people were aware of his nom de guerre and only Dougal McAngus ever called him by it (and that sarcastically).

A less fortunate consequence of his experience in battle was that Edmund found himself haunted by the ghost of his great-uncle (in a manner clearly similar to Macbeth's haunting by Banquo's.) At one point the ghost chased him into a foggy meadow. There Edmund was confronted by three witches (Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia), who predicted that this "Ruler of men, Ravisher of women, Slayer of kings" shall live to become King. An increasingly ambitious Edmund thus proclaimed "History, here I come!". But, as soon as he left the meadow, the Witches remarked among themselves that they had expected Henry Tudor to look less Jewish, thus revealing that the prediction was meant for another. (This event also was reminiscent of Macbeth. Additionally, the Witches' names are those of the daughters of King Lear.)

As the second son of the King, Edmund's official titles included: Duke of Edinburgh; Lord Warden of the Royal Privies; and the Laird of Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles. These however came with little actual authority.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Black Adder", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki