Edmund Blackadder a few seconds before he died. Edmund, Lord Blackadder is the next-seen member of the dynasty, appearing in Elizabethan England. He is the central character of "Blackadder II", and is a nobleman in the court of Elizabeth I of England. Although his 'great-grandfather' was Prince Edmund, he is much more intelligent, charismatic, acerbic, handsome and respected than his ancestor. Despite that fact, Edmund's aristocratic title has lowered; he is now simply a lord, rather than a Prince. His main concerns are pleasing his Queen, depicted here as a childish, spoiled tyrant, and in outwitting his various contemporary rivals, usually in
Edmund Blackadder the form of Lord Melchett, for her favour. At the end of his series, this Edmund was murdered by Prince Ludwig the Indestructible of Germany. Blackadder thought he had murdered Ludwig but at the end of the credits, Ludwig came back and murdered Edmund, Queenie and the rest of the court. He then posed as Queenie after the assassination. The character shift from Prince Edmund in the first series to Lord Blackadder in the second is credited to the involvement of Ben Elton, who joined as the show's co-writer alongside Richard Curtis. The latter Edmund became the "de facto" archetype;