Heartwarming / Blackadder

The Black Adder

• In "The Archbishop", Richard shows Edmund respect after the latter convinces a dying nobleman to hand his lands over to the crown instead of the church.
  Richard IV: My son!
  Edmund: Father!
  (The two men embrace, before Richard kneels.)
  Richard IV: Father.
  Edmund: (places his hand on Richard's head) My son.
• Edmund reading a bedtime story for his child wife at the end of "The Queen of Spain's Beard" is surprisingly sweet.
• Edmund carries on being kind to Leia in the next episode, even when sorely disappointed that her gift to him is only a doll, and not anything to save him from being burned at the stake or so he thinks.
• In "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", Baldrick reads a letter. A minor thing, but then you have to remember that Baldrick is part of the lower classes, who were not considered eligible for education, and reading was one of them. Either Baldrick taught himself, which seems a bit unlikely as he wouldn't know where to start, or Blackadder and Percy took the time to teach him how to read. Given Blackadder's opinion of the peasants through the episode, that is a noticeable feat.
• Brief though it was, Richard finally remembering his son's name in "The Black Seal".
  • And despite being played for laughs, there's something cute about Edmund's brother actually believing he has a chance of going to heaven.
• Richard III playing with his nephews Richard and Edward is adorable. It is particularly poignant given that he likely had them murdered in Real Life.

Blackadder II

• The "some beans" scene in "Head". Blackadder attempts to teach Baldrick to count and is very patient about it, even in the face of Baldrick being incredibly slow to grasp how three and one makes four.
• The fact that in "Money" Percy was willing to give Edmund all of the money he'd set aside for his old age to save him from the Bishop of Bath and Wells. True, it turned out that Edmund had already stolen and spent the money, but it's the thought that counts.
  • At the end of that same episode, part of the money Edmund asks for when successfully blackmailing the Bishop is so he can take Baldrick along to Mrs. Miggin's pie shop to celebrate. Uncharacteristically nice for the second incarnation.
• At the end of "Chains" having escaped captivity and returned to the palace, Edmund turns on the charm to greet the Queen.
  Queenie: And me? Did you miss me, Edmund?
  Edmund: Ma'am, life without you was like...a broken pencil.
  Queenie: Explain.
  Edmund: Pointless.

Blackadder the Third

• In "Nob and Nobility", Edmund and Baldrick are offered suicide pills in case the Scarlet Pimpernel doesn't come to their rescue. Baldrick immediately proceeds to take his pill, but Edmund stops him from doing so. The relationship between the two may not be the best, but at least Edmund cares about Baldrick enough to stop him from getting killed by his own stupidity.
• Blackadder asks Baldrick if he really wants their valued friendship to end with Blackadder cutting Baldrick into strips and telling the Prince that he walked over a sharp cattle grid in an extremely heavy hat. It's part of a hilarious threat but Blackadder was sincere about their valued friendship.
• Edmund, disguised as his master, is quick to jump up and stand with George, disguised as the butler, when he is punched to the ground by Wellington. It is undermined for comedic effect moments later, but this reflex is telling when in another episode he did nothing to defend Baldrick when George began strangling him.

Blackadder Goes Forth

• Captain Blackadder, like his predecessors, always puts himself first. However, note how when he can involve George and Baldrick in his escape schemes, he does. Even though they're both idiots who would probably endanger his plans, and George doesn't even want to go. Blackadder would happily leave them if only one person can get away, but the fact that he will save them if he can is pretty sweet, by Blackadder standards.
  • As a particular example of this, during "Private Plane", Blackadder explicitly offers Baldrick the chance to shelter from an apparent bombing raid with him where other Blackadders might have tried to kick Baldrick out of the dugout, and even observes that he doesn't want to have to tell Baldrick's mother in the London Zoo that her only human offspring is dead.
    Blackadder: For God's sake, Baldrick! Take cover!
    Baldrick: Why's that, sir?
    Blackadder: Because there's an air raid going on! And I don't want to have to write to your mother at London Zoo and tell her that her only human child is dead!
• Edmund seems to have levelled up even before the show begins. While he still expresses a combination of contempt and disliking towards George and Baldrick, this seems to be his method of coping with the situation he finds himself in. As a Captain in the British Army he would have had unnumbered opportunities to have them at the very least sent away or locked up on a trumped-up charge, if not have them executed. Even when he finds out that they screwed up and very nearly let him be killed in Corporal Punishment, they're fine in the next episode. It appears that although he doesn't like either George or Baldrick, he secretly enjoys their company to distract from the monotony and terror of the war.
• When George reveals his talent for painting in "Captain Cook", Blackadder even gives him a genuine, non-cynical compliment. There's one in that scene and a later one, where he even calls George's painting a masterpiece.

  Blackadder: (impressed) George, these are brilliant! Why didn't you tell us about these before?

  • In "Major Star", George is late coming back from his date with General Melchett. Previous Blackadders would have been soundly asleep; this Blackadder stays up waiting for George, worrying aloud about his safety in the trenches.
• This moment from "Private Plane", where George and Darling are furiously arguing about whether or not to rescue Blackadder and Baldrick after the two are shot down past enemy lines. Darling, of course, says no, to which George fires back:
  Captain Darling: Don't take that tone with me, Lieutenant, or I'll have you on charge for insubordination!
  Lieutenant George: Well, I'd rather be on a charge for insubordination than on a charge for deserting a friend!
  • Same episode: Blackadder doesn't mock Baldrick for being scared when they've been captured, even admitting to being so himself.
    Baldrick: Oh dear, Captain B. My tummy's gone all squirty.
    Blackadder: That's because you're scared, Baldrick. And you're not the only one. I couldn't be more petrified if a wild rhinocerous had just come home from a hard day at the swamp and found me wearing his pajamas, smoke his cigars, and in bed with his wife!
  • Blackadder and Flasheart end this episode on relatively good terms. The latter even happily helps Blackadder get revenge on Darling by headbutting Darling in the face for saying that saving Blackadder and Baldrick would have been a waste of time and resources.
• From "Goodbyeee":
  • Captain Edmund Blackadder's last words being the first (and perhaps only) ones he's said with any empathy for a human being other than himself.
    Baldrick: I have a plan, sir.
    Edmund: Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?
    Baldrick: Yes, sir.
    Edmund: As cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
    Baldrick: Yes, sir.
    Voice: On the signal, company will advance!
    Blackadder: Well, I’m afraid it’ll have to wait. Whatever it was, I’m sure it was better than my plan to get out of this by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman round here? (Beat) Good luck, everyone. (Blows whistle to signal going over the top.)
  • A bit earlier, when Darling arrives with an order to go over the top with everyone else, Blackadder completely passes up on the opportunity to taunt his hated pencil-pushing nemesis; seeing only a terrified fellow man who will soon be killed alongside him.
    Edmund: Captain Darling.
    Darling: Captain Blackadder.
    Edmund: Here to join us for the last waltz?
    Darling: Um, yes. Tired of folding the general's pajamas.
    • He not only doesn't taunt him, he pretends to believe that Darling volunteered to join them. Despite it probably taking him all of two seconds to guess that Darling was pushed into it by his mad superior, he gives Darling the best opportunity to save face and pretend to himself that he's being brave and loyal.
  • He also refers to the other man as "Captain Darling," after an entire season of snidely referring to him as simply "Darling."
• Just before they go over the top, Baldrick informs Blackadder that he has a plan. Blackadder is, for once, not bored or irritated, but tells Baldrick in a kindly way that it'll have to wait, although he's sure he can't be worse than his own plan to pretend to be mad, because "who would have noticed another madman around here?" For perhaps the first time in the series, he treats Baldrick as an equal, by sharing a joke with him, albeit a bleak one.

The Specials

• Blackadder's Christmas Carol:
  • It's kind of sweet to see Blackadder actually acting like a decent person, especially to Baldrick, even as everyone else fleeces him for everything he's worth. It doesn't last, but still.
  • It's also nice to see Queen Victoria and Prince Albert acting like a Happily Married couple, especially in a series as cynical as this one.
• In Blackadder Back & Forth, when Blackadder becomes King of England, he makes Baldrick prime minister, despite the fact that Baldrick is an idiot who annoys the crap out of him. It's almost an Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moment.
  • Plus the indication that Blackadder chose to be a good leader, and not a tyrant, as one would half expect from him.
  • The fact this perhaps the one unambiguously Happy Ending in the entire franchise, with Blackadder finally coming into greatness, and surprisingly not at the expense of any other main character.

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