History Characters / RiverdaleResidents

* DisappearedDad: It's evident that he's not really there emotionally for Josie. The fact that he doesn't seem to show any support for Josie and her singing adds to the fact that he's an emotionally absentee father. And considering that Miles thinks that jazz music is more important to him than his daughter, it definitely proves the point that Miles is not that good of a father.

* SeriousBusiness: For him jazz seems to be more important than ''his own daughter''.

* SelectiveObliviousness: When faced with the truth of Jason's death, she begins a campaign to root out all the corruption in Riverdale. As Betty notes she never once mentions the Blossoms, focusing more on the (largely) innocent Serpents. Its implied its more politically motivated than a mental block.

* NewOldFlame: With Tom Keller, they were high school sweethearts and end up getting married in the present.

* AlliterativeName: Her maiden name is '''S'''ierra '''S'''amuels.

* AllForNothing: Sierra agreed to accept the Lodge’s bribes so that she would have enough finances to ensure her re-election campaign. In the end she is forced to step down as mayor, rather than let Hiram destroy her by revealing her affair to the public.
* BlackBossLady: Sierra is the Mayor of Riverdale after all.

* CoolOldLady: She's probably the only nurturing force in Cheryl's life and is completely accepting of her relationship with Toni.

* NiceGirl: She seems to be very kind, and even [[spoiler:gave her blessing to Polly and Jason]].

* ScatterBrainedSenior: Rose generally has her wits about her, but it’s clear that she’s suffering some form of senility. She ends up mistaking Betty for Polly when the two first meet, has a habit of talking about events long past as if they were in the present and occasionally gives quite confusing responses to questions she’s asked.

* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:He personally murdered Jason.]]
* PrematurelyGreyHaired: Clifford’s hair apparently turned grey in his twenties. Cheryl claims the legend is it happened over night. However, as Blossoms are famous for their red hair, he covers it up with a series of toupees.

* TheSociopath: [[spoiler:Is basically a requirement to be able to kill your own son without even blinking.]]
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour: It’s revealed in season two that when Clifford was fourteen he threatened his own brother Claudius with a hunting rifle, making it clear he would kill him if he didn’t disappear, all so Clifford was certain to become the controller of the family business and fortune.

* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:He murdered his son Jason in cold blood, and coerced FP into falsely confessing to the crime by threatening to do the same thing to Jughead.]]

* HateSink: Clifford was a cruel, smug, snobby and unpleasant sociopath with no redeeming traits. He may have been even worse than Penelope. While Penelope's one saving grace is that she genuinely loved Jason and demonstrates that she doesn't want serious harm to come to Cheryl, Clifford had no issue whatsoever with [[spoiler: murdering Jason in cold blood]]. Unlike Penelope, he also has no FreudianExcuse nor any PetTheDog moments.

* KissingCousins: He has no qualms about [[spoiler: Jason and Polly being together and having babies, despite their being third cousins. He actually supports it, much to the Cooper family's Squick reactions.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: He's marginally nicer than Penelope, and lets Cheryl give her speech during Jason's funeral without much fuss. He also doesn't appear to be abusive, unlike Penelope. [[spoiler:Subverted in "[[Recap/RiverdaleS1E12Chapter12AnatomyOfAMurder Anatomy of a Murder]]" where its revealed he killed his son Jason.]]
* EvilTwin: Subverted. Clifford does indeed have a twin brother, but whilst Clifford is a murderous sociopath, so is his brother.

* DrivenToSuicide: Following it being exposed he [[spoiler:killed Jason]] and knowing the police are coming, Clifford hangs himself in his barn. However, comments made by Cheryl imply there may be more to his death than first appears. [[spoiler: In Season 3, "The Red Dahlia", Betty discovers his autopsy revealed he'd been poisoned with puffer fish venom. It's all but implied Penelope killed him herself after it came out he was Jason's murderer.]]

* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: Despite being in jail he is still able to continue running his business ventures, much to Veronica's surprise.

* BigBad: [[spoiler:For Season 1. He is the murderer of Jason, his own son, and thereby the reason for the plot.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Clifford is the owner and manager of the Blossom’s Maple Syrup, one of the largest maple syrup distributors in North America. He’s also secretly a ruthless drug kingpin, who used his business contacts to smuggle and sell heroin.

* ArchEnemy: To Hal, on two fronts. One due to the long-standing enmity between their families, and another due to the romance between Jason and Polly. And Archie inadvertently overhears a conversation between him and Penelope that implies they were responsible for Veronica's father Hiram being in jail.

** In “Death Proof”, she initially accepts the St. Claire’s hush money to cover up that Nick almost raped Cheryl. After Cheryl appeals to her to care for her just once, Penelope has a slight epiphany that her ignoring this is no different to her ignoring Clifford’s illegal activities all those years and her doing so inadvertently led to [[spoiler:him killing Jason]]. As such, she agrees to give Cheryl the identity of the Sugar man and burns the cheque the St. Claire’s gave her.

* FreudianExcuse: She got sold as a child bride to the Blossoms when she was 8, which was ignored by the townspeople and when she told the midnight club about it they only mocked her for it. And years later when Jason was murdered and nobody comforted her, it was the last straw and caused her to become the person she is now.
* GreaterScopeVillain: She is the mastermind behind the Black Hood & the Gargoyle King, because the town turned on a blind eye when she was sold as a child bride, and because nobody comforted her after Jason’s death.

* TheOldestProfession: Following Clifford’s suicide and her losing the majority of her money due to his finances being frozen pending investigation, having never worked before, Penelope turns to prostitution. However, it later turns out she actually enjoys it (at least partially because of how much it upsets Cheryl) and carries on, even after getting more money. She ends season two deciding to step up and take over the town’s prostitution, joining up with Hiram because he promises her a brothel. For what it's worth, the show does show a lot of the positives of a lifestyle like this. Penelope herself, has become a lot more lively, even smiling on occasion.

* ParentalFavouritism: She blatantly and openly favoures Jason over Cheryl, considering him the family golden boy whilst regularly neglecting and abusing Cheryl.

* AbusiveParents: She's at least partially to blame for Cheryl's poor behaviour, as she verbally and occasionally physically abuses her daughter, going so far as to tell her that nobody wants her daughter around, and refuses to let her daughter speak at Jason's funeral. When Cheryl does anyways, Penelope threatens to ship her overseas. In the [[Recap/RiverdaleS1E13Chapter13TheSweetHereafter season 1 finale]], she even inadvertently pushes Cheryl to attempt suicide.

* EvilRedhead: She has the trademark Blossom red hair and she's the most unlikable character in the show.

* RaceLift: In contrast to his comic counterpart, he is Hispanic like his wife and daughter.

* BigSisterBully: A subtile example, but most of her interactions with her little sister Veronica. Have her being dismissive and slightly insulting, there is also the fact that Hermosa is well aware that Hiram is a {{Jerkass}} and accepts it.
* PrivateDetective: Hermosa is a private detective, who’s skills got her father out of prison. She also very easily figured out that Jughead wasn’t actually dead, and discovered some very interesting things about Donna Sweett at the behest of her sister Veronica.

* UndyingLoyalty: Towards Hiram. Andre is the only member of Hiram’s crew ([[spoiler:except for Adams]]) who remains loyal to him following Hiram’s imprisonment. He likewise remains loyal to Hiram even after [[spoiler:Adam’s is bought out by the other bosses and viciously assaults Andre to send a message]].

* IceKing: Hiram comes across as very cold, aloof and ruthless. It's hard to see how Veronica could be so much of a DaddysGirl when Hiram comes off as anything but affectionate and loving towards her.

* ConMan: Hiram went to jail for fraud and embezzlement. Conning people is one of his specialities.

* BigBad: He is the main antagonist of the show, due the being a full-blown mob boss, the benefactor of the criminal gangs, all-around master criminal and the one who is determined to ruin the teens' lives.

* BigBad: He is the main antagonist of the show, due the being the benefactor of the criminal gangs and the one who is determined to ruin the teens' lives.

* BigBad: He is the main antagonist of the show, due the benefactor of the criminal gangs and the one who manages to ruin the teens' lives.

* BadassDecay: Formerly an incredibly rich and successful businessman and powerful New York mob boss, his arrest for embezzlement led to Hiram losing the majority of his money and his crew being stolen by the other bosses. His fellow bosses think he’s lost it, with one trying to have him killed and two others attempting to take over his new operation. It is because of this he is so obsessed that the [=SoDale=] project be a success, so he may regain his former wealth and power.
** Also, in Season 5 you see him acting like a normal citizen more. The episode about him shows us his normal person morning routine, his backstory, him tipping a shoe shinner, and him eating ice cream watching his family on TV and being happy for non-malicous reasons.
** We also see him be treated more as a normal citizen and embarrassmed by others. Mainly since the main characters are adults, plus some are successful, giving them more power. We see him easily kidnapped by the criminals he set free. Josie is a famous singer now and isn't afraid to call him the b word. Leaving him to ask her politely to tone it down while she slams the door on him. Also, Veronica ignored him while she held her auction and he desperately waved his hand and is disappointed.

* GoldDigger: It’s clear that a large part of Hermione initial attraction towards Hiram stemmed from the wealth and status he offered. Hermione herself comes from a poor family.

* ActionMom: Downplayed. Hermione doesn't really take action upfront, but she does have a tendency to take action behind the scenes and in a more manipulative and scheming way. So in a way, she is involved in a lot of the action but it's hard to tell because she's so subtle in how she goes about it.

Veronica's mother.