Prince Bladd is a supporting antagonist in Triss, the fifteenth book in the Redwall novel series. He is the oafish and immature brother of Princess Kurda, son of King Agarnu, and grandson of King Sarengo who often quarrels with his sister, provoking her and almost getting himself killed by her at several points though they would always be stopped by their father. He would be sent with Kurda on a journey with the Freebooters led by their pirate captain Plugg Firetail, joining them reluctantly, on a quest to recapture the two slaves that escaped the island Riftgard, Triss and Shogg, with Bladd himself not being that interested in the journey unlike Kurda. While he initially displayed a disliking for the Freebooters, he eventually came to enjoy them and their activities, even attempting to become one later on.
Biography[]
As the prince of Riftgard and son of Agarnu and brother of Kurda, while it's not made clear how involved he was in the slavery of the hundreds of creatures shackled on the island overall, he was conveyed to torment them even if to a lesser extent than his family, kicking them out of his way or having some guard beat them for not bowing to him. He was made clear to regularly quarrel with his sister to the point of provoking her to nearly kill him at several points, which would often be stopped by their father Agarnu by having his guards restrain Kurda. He is conveyed to hate her as much as she hates him and even seems to be disturbed by her sadism. While generally oafish, he is implied to not be as stupid as he looks as conveyed through a comment by the Ratguard captain Riftun who claims that he would put a knife between his sister's ribs as soon as he looks at her. One time, while Kurda was abusing a slave Drufo while forcing him and Triss to toss turnips for her for her sword practice, Bladd came in and mocked her hobby of chopping turnips for stew before telling her Agarnu wants to see her and is mad about the herrings while poking his tongue out, infuriating her as she assumed this to be him fibbing to their father about her and chased after him swinging her sword into Agarnu's room while Triss and Drufo work up a plan to escape using a boat build, though this winds up being found out by the Ratguard Captain Riftun who had Triss be taken into the cages to be starved.
After Agarnu halts this by having his Ratguards restrain her once again, while Bladd hides behind his throne, he watches as Agarnu chides her for wasting herrings before having Bladd come out from behind the throne to discuss a plan he had with them. Just then, Riftun comes in and reports of him having caught Triss, Shogg, and Welfo having attempted to escape on a boat they built and imprisoned them, asking what he should do with them to which Agarnu tells him to do what he wants with them like drowning them. Kurda, however, sadistically suggests that she uses them for sword practice, much to Agarnu's distaste though he permits this regardless. He then discusses the plan, which is to have them sail on a voyage to Mossflower to find the crown of Sarengo, their grandfather, for him along with whatever other treasure they find and return back to Riftgard so he could become a real king while being supervised by Riftun to make sure they don't kill each other.
As Kurda prepares her sabre for chopping, Bladd complains and declares that he won't go on the boat if she takes her swords with her, though Agarun asserts his decision and declares that he shall go under the protection of Riftun and permits him to take some swords himself if he wants with Bladd declaring that he shall take the mace and chain like Sarengo had. Kurda merely mocks him, stating that he can't even lift and they quarrel a bit before Agarnu roars at them to stop, though Kurda gets the last word by telling him to watch the way she dealt with the slaves to give him nightmares. When they emerge from the fortress, however, they notice Shogg, Triss, and Welfo escaping on a ship. While Kurda leads the reinforcement guards and charges into the massed slaves hacking left and right and pursues the ship by wading into the water, Bladd orders the archers to shoot them with arrows, unwittingly ruining Kurda's attempt at getting aboard the ship, and winds up being unsuccessful as the three slaves manage to escape away from the island.
Secretly glad that he did not have to go sailing on a long voyage after all, Bladd shrugs this off and comments on how there's no ship now. Agarnu, however, after being scolded by his daughter for not having ships ina kingdom by the sea, gets the idea to have his Ratguards light the beacon to lure in the Freebooters to have them do the job of sailing them on a voyage for them. Once they arrive, Agarnu makes a deal with them to give them twice the value of whatever is brought back from Mossflower and they get set on their journey. Unbeknownst to them, Plugg was plotting to slay them all and overthrow them to get the slaves to build him a large fleet of ships along with seeking to get both the rewards along with whatever they've brought back. Moments later, Bladd storms into the cabin amidst a quarrel between Kurda and Plugg, the two having developed an enmity of sorts against each other and complains about how his bed in his cabin is too hard and demands a soft one. Grinning, Pluss has Slitfang get a nice soft mattress for Bladd, jokingly calling him his shipmate and chiding him for letting a royal ferret like him sleep on a hard bed. As Slitfang takes Bladd out of the cabin to get him a decent bunk, Bladd chats away with the pirate as if they're lifelong companions with Bladd happily calling him his shipmate.
Bladd showed himself to develop a fondness of sorts towards the Freebooters, letting them teach him an old Freebooter ditty, much to Kurda's anger as she orders Riftun to tell the Ratguards away from the Freebooters and make them see to their uniforms and keep their spears sharp and polished. Later, Kurda, with the help of Vorto, finds the slaves' ship on an island that Plugg had set his ship on with Bladd joining him and the others in a jollyboat and although the captain jumped overboard into the shallows, Bladd kept his seat in the jollyboat's centre, claiming that he will wet his paws if he jumps in there. As such, Plugg has Slitfang and Ripper give him a lift ashore and avoid getting his paws wet. It turns out, however, that Plugg Firetail had misjudged his landfall by anchoring too far north of Mossflower and as suc, he had the Seascab under way while rousing the rest of his crew from their night's sleep and sailed south down the coast. Grubbage, having spotted the smoke and flame from another ship before dawn, rouses Bladd, who was sleeping out, snuggled in rope coils onthe afterdeck, telling him to move himself. Bladd, having gotten used to being bullied by Freebooters, staggered upright, scratching his midriff and said that he will go but then will take another sleep in his bed.
Exiting the ship, they come across three creatures Plugg's crew had captured, a hare named Scarum, a badger named Sagax, and an otter named Kroova. When Grubbage asks about Kurda and the Ratguards, who had went off earlier to track Shogg and Triss after spotting their footprints, Plugg sighs as he had forgotten about them and Bladd giggles, stating that he hopes they are lost forever and does not want to see his sister again. After Scarum jokingly chides him for this, Plugg orders for them to be gutted and thrown into the sea for fish food before Scarum manages to charm him with his talk of ditties and education and keep them alive. However, after Plugg fell asleep on the ship with them being taken onboard where Bladd was sleeping too, Shogg and Triss would rescue them and capture Plugg before sailing away on the ship after having gotten far away from Kurda, who would return to the camp and alert the Freebooters of the escape and set sail on a ship in pursuit.
During this, Bladd would crawl out from under the stern seat and come across them, getting himself knocked flat by Triss who interrogated him on who he is. Whimpering when glancing at the unconscious form of Plugg, Bladd reveals himself to have gotten there for peace and quiet under the seat and himself as the Royal Prince with Triss tapping his nose with her blade and reminding him of who they are and all the times he's kicked them out of the way or had some guard beat them for not bowing to him. Recognizing her, Bladd pleaded for mercy, stating that it was his sister who put them in the cage before Scarum alerts them of Kurda and the Freebooters pursuing them. After making the craft to a nimble half-circle turn and run a semicircle around the Seascab, Bladd and Plugg are thrown overboard into the water and get hauled aboard the ship. As he pulls his blanket tight around him while drinking steaming grog, when Plugg had explained his plan of how them making a run up the stream will do him just fine, he questions him on this with Plugg explaining that they'll either miss the channel and run her aground or they'll smash the bottom out when they whack into the burnt old boat, unaware that some of the Freebooters have hauled quite a bit of it to feed their fire the previous night.
After getting informed of it soon by the Freebooters, Plugg has his crew, along with Kurda and Bladd, enter the jollyboat where he sat facing the two as it splashed gently into the water while having the Freebooters row. Watching Plugg curse at them, Bladd giggles and curses at them himself only for Kurda to pinch him with her sharp claws and quarrel with him a bit. Plugg sarcastically suggests they kiss and make up, though Bladd recoils in disgust, stating that he will not let her do that before Plugg continues ordering the Freebooters to keep rowing. Unbeknownst to them, a trap had been set up by Shogg and Troova for the Freebooters, leading to their jollyboat being sent speeding straight onto a sharpened wooden stake they had lodged tight between two roots on the streambed that protruded upward at an angle, facing downstream, the point lurking fractionally below the surface. As the boat hit the stake, it smashed through the side of the prow like a huge spearpoint with water gushing in and the boat being sunk while Plugg's back had gotten striked by the stake. Everyone, including Bladd, had fallen into the water, though they manage to make it to land as Bladd gets carried ashore by two of the Ratguards, wailing to not be dropped as he cannot swim.
Eventually, after Plugg had been recovered, Triss, Shogg, Scarum, Sagax, and Kroova, along with a group of Guosim shrews, would be tracked by Riggan, Kurda's slavecatcher, leading to a pursuit ensued by Plugg, Kurda, and their crews with Bladd supporting both sides as they try to kill them and recapture the slaves. The shrews, however, under command of Scarum, would begin slinging stones at them, though Plugg and Kurda would press them forward before Triss and her friends get taken into Redwall Abbey's ramparts and rescued with Plugg leaning heavily on a cringing Bladd. Later, at camp, while Kurda and her Ratguards try to force a way into Redwall Abbey through the little east wallgate, Plugg comes up with his own plan to plunder the abbey and take its loot. Excited, Bladd asks him what the plan is. Plugg explains that they'll trick the Redwallers into watching the fire so that Slitfang, Grubbage, and some others range out in two big half-circles and sneak up through the grass to the gates where, using dry bush, some vegetable oil, ship's tar, and a smouldering cob of tow rope, they will build the brush up against the gates and douse it with tar and oil and blow on the smouldering tow until it flames.
Bladd himself even volunteers to join, wanting to become a good Freebooter and declaring that he likes playing with fire. Plugg permits this, seeming to have developed some genuine fondness over him. After Grubbage tells him about his tail, which had been ripped off earlier and glued back on, Plugg has Bladd land him a good kick before having the plan be set in motion. Bladd grins wickedly as he blows on the smouldering rope end, but before he could set fire to the abbey's gates, the Redwallers, who had seen their plan from a mile away, throw a hot cauldron of honeyed oatmeal off the ground, causing the Freebooters to be severely wounded and injured while Bladd himself gets killed.