Prince Ludwig the Indestructible

Blackadder character


name = Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
nationality = German
occupation = Prince, con artist, regicidal despot, master of disguise, evil genius.
first appearance = "Chains"
last appearance = "Chains"
episode count = 1
portrayer = Hugh Laurie

Evil Prince Ludwig the Indestructible is a fictional character played by Hugh Laurie in the BBC sitcom "Blackadder II". He appears in "Chains", the final episode of "Blackadder II", as a German master of disguise who kidnaps Lord Blackadder and his rival, Melchett (played by Stephen Fry), in 1566 and imprisons them in his dungeon under the watch of German guards and a Spanish inquisitorial co-conspirator.

While Prince Ludwig does not appear nor get a mention in previous episodes, he claims to have encounters both Blackadder and Melchett many times in the past, because of his mastery at concealing himself, he claims to do: "...a vewy good Mawy, Qween of Scotth". On meeting Blackadder, he claims to have been disguised as "Big Sally", a barmaid Blackadder knew at a pub in Dover called "The Old Pizzle" he once frequented. It is revealed that Blackadder went to bed with Big Sally but was too drunk to perform. After some teasing by Ludwig, Blackadder responds that his best disguise is in fact the one he is doing now, "the fat-headed German chamberpot standing before me".

He further claims to have met Melchett when diguised as a Cornish sheep called Flossie, and it is suggested that Melchett had what he thought was a sexual relationship with that sheep.

He also claims to have worked as a stable boy in the English court during the Queen's childhood, and held the horse that she used to "...kithth and fondle in the thtable yard".

Later, in exchange for commuting their death sentences to a life in prison, Blackadder and Melchett tell the Prince how to get close to the Queen so he can kill her: by dressing up to look like Nursie at a fancy-dress party. He does this, but Blackadder and Melchett escape and the former stabs him twice; although they told Ludwig that Nursie always went as a cow, Blackadder knew that Ludwig was a master of disguise while Nursie was merely a 'mad old woman with an udder fixation', so all that he would need to do was kill the one that "looked" like a cow.

However, Ludwig survives this attack, and, by the episode's final scene, he has returned, disguised as the Queen, has seemingly murdered the entire Royal Court, and thereafter rules as Queen of England for 37 years. (This would explain Elizabeth's refusal ever to marry.)

Blackadder speculates that Ludwig's megalomaniacal tendencies may have been the result of childhood bullying. It seems Ludwig was short, greasy and had acne, the mention of which he reacts to badly, escpecially the nickname 'Shorty-GreasySpot-Spot'.

Quotations

*Ludwig: Please accept my apple-ogies.

*Ludwig: If he had inconwenienced you, I was going to offer you his tongue.
Blackadder: Believe me, sir, if he had "inconwenienced" me, you would no longer have a tongue with which to make such an offer.
Ludwig: Let me assure you, Blackadder, if I no longer had a tongue with which to make such an offer, you would no longer have a tongue with which to tell me that if I had inconwenienced you, I would no longer have a tongue with which to offer you his tongue.

*Ludwig: Soon I shall be Master of ze Vorld.

*Blackadder: Did you ever get bullied at school?
Ludwig:Why?...
Blackadder: Always ranting about power...
Ludwig: Nonsense. Ven I vas a boy, greasy hair and acne vere considered signs of maturity...
Blackadder: Ah-ha! And I bet your mother made you wear short pants all the way up to your final year.
Ludwig: "Shut up!" When I am King of England, no one will ever call me Shorty-Greasy-Spot-Spot again!

*Ludwig: I shall hreturn and hreak my rewengie!