History Characters / RiverdaleResidents

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:In “Judgement Night” he takes advantage of the riot to lead the Ghoulies to random chaos, is utterly gleeful when attacking Pop’s and seems to plan to kill everyone inside.]]
* BloodKnight: As “Judgement Night” shows, Malachai is psychotically gleeful at committing random acts of violence and vandalism. His response to having a Molotov cocktail explode right next to him is to start laughing.
* ChaosIsEvil: Malachai openly associates himself with Chaos, happily stating “Chaos is how we thrive”.

* TookALevelInBadass: Starts the series as the weaker gang, with far less territory than the Serpents. [[spoiler:Following vastly recruiting a vast number of new members and getting Hiram Lodge’s support and funding, they're transformed into a legion over a hundred strong who successfully defeat the Serpents, drive the majority of their members out of Riverdale and take all of their territory.]]

* DecapitatedArmy: When Penny gets incapacitated and Malachai [[ChuckCunnginghamSyndrome disappears]], they wind up directionless and [[spoiler: end up getting into G&G, leading the Ghoulies to convert to the Gargoyles.]]

A rival Southside gang, who have been trying to encroach on the Serpent’s territory for years. Whilst less well known, they are worse than the Serpents. [[spoiler: Shortly after the start of season 3, they become the Gargoyles instead.]]

* TheAggressiveDrugDealer: The Ghoulies mainly act as the street dealers, dealing the highly addictive drug Jingle Jangle, including in Southside High. Following Clifford’s death, they also take over dealing Heroin, right up until Betty exposes the Sugar Man and Archie causes Malachai and his lieutenant’s Verne’s arrest.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Unlike the majority of other Serpents, Penny has no loyalty, sympathetic or redeeming traits. She is at heart an immoral, greedy snake who sees everyone else as pawns to further her advancement.

* {{Greed}}: She blackmails FP into taking over the Heroin and Jingle Jangle trade from the recently defeated Ghoulies, planning to turn the gang into her own private cartel solely to make herself rich.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Penny comes across as a cheerful and friendly woman, who seems happy to help Jughead keep FP from facing a long stint in prison. However, FP himself, the leader of the Southside Serpents, is clearly terrified when he learns that his son has been talking to her and Strongly warns Jughead to stay away from Penny. Then she tricks Jughead into doing a drug delivery, uses it to blackmail FP, and almost takes over the Serpents.

* AggressiveCategorism: Sweet Pea quite openly hates the Northside, and this sentiment is shared in part by most of the other Serpents. Whilst he’s right that some of the residents of can be quite elitist (especially the Blossoms) and they often scapegoat the Serpents, he takes it to extreme levels, to the point where at times he needs to be restrained to stop him from attacking the closest Northsider regardless of provocation.

* AggressiveCategorism: Sweet Pea quite openly hates the Northside. Whilst he’s right that they often scapegoat the Serpents, some of them can be quite elitist and this sentiment is shared in part by most of the other Serpents. He takes it to extreme levels, to the point where at times he needs to be restrained to stop him from attacking the closest Northsider regardless of provocation.

* NeverMyFault: A variation. Whilst Sweet Pea is absolutely right that the Northside regularly scapegoats the Serpents, he has a habit of framing things in ways that lay the blame solely at their feet, for example telling Jughead it was Archie who gave him his black eye whilst conveniently leaving out that he who instigated and agreed to that particular fight. Lampshaded in Chapter 35 when he complains about Weatherbea blaming them for trashing the school only for Jughead to dryly remind him that he did do it.

* ThoseTwoGuys: With Fangs, the two are best friends and rarely seen apart.

* SmugSnake: Tall Boy hopelessly overestimates his power and intelligence. His attempts at taking over the Serpents whilst FP is in prison utterly fail; [[spoiler:Jughead quickly exposes him for sabotaging the Pickins statue and bringing all the troubles on the Serpents, causing the group to unanimously expel him.]]

* IGaveMyWord: When Jugheads finds that he and a younger, as-yet unnamed member were roughing up a fellow Serpent they suspected of being The Black Hood, Tall Boy states that they were keeping their promise to look out for Jughead.

* IronicName: His real name is Gerald Petite but there is absolutely nothing petite about him.

* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:Briefly returns to Riverdale in “Shadow Of A Doubt” as part of the Serpents’ plan to smuggle Fangs out of the town. He gets arrested in the process and makes a proper return at the juvenile detention center in season 3.]]

* HellBentForLeather: Leather jackets are effectively the Serpents’ uniform. Each member is presented with a black leather jacket carrying their insignia of a two headed green snake upon joining That they must wear constantly.

* HellBentForLeather: Leather jackets are effectively the Serpents’ uniform. Each member is presented with a black leather jacket carrying their insignia of a two headed green snake upon joining. One of the rules of membership even states that they have to wear them.

[[folder:As A Whole]]

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The Serpents are a gang of thieves, drug dealers, petty criminals and thugs. However, they still value loyalty towards each other and help each other out (though not without a price). They come across as decidedly better than show’s main antagonists (Jason’s killer and the Black Hood) as well as their rival gang the Ghoulies.

* GangInitiationFight: The final “trial” to become a Serpent (for males) is to withstand an outright brutal beating from several other members. Jughead goes through this in Chapter 18, climaxing with Sweet Pea hitting him in the face with a pair of brass knuckles.

* NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters: As revealed in “Silent Night, Deadly Night”, each Christmas the Serpents take it upon themselves to buy and deliver toys to the poor children of the Southside.
* UndyingLoyalty: All Serpents possess this towards to FP Jones, as he is their leader. They even help him guard and work on Fred’s construction site, when it gets hit by vandals. After his arrest, they turn to helping Jughead.

* ActionMom: [[spoiler: She's very proficient with saï, able to win over Penny. In addition, she's the Jughead's mother.]]

* [[spoiler: EvilMatriarch]]: [[spoiler: for Jughead. When Jughead burned down the family's old trailer she was using for a drug lab, she grabs his head and warns him not to cross her.]]

* LittleMissBadass: She shot on Penny with a sling to release Archie.

* MamaBear: Threaten her son and she cut you with à knife.
* MissingMom: She lived in Toledo along with Jughead's Sister Jellybean But she returned to Riverdale in Season 3.

Jughead's father, who runs the local biker gang the Southside Serpents, and is working with Hermione Lodge to further her husband's plans for Riverdale.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: When they were younger, he and Fred Andrews were very close. However, after events got out of control, Fred bought him out of their company, and then fired him. As the series progresses, they more or less manage to patch things up.

* JadedWashout: Formerly a very popular football player in high school, now FP is a man who’s lost control of his life and his addictions, causing him to mostly lose his family.

* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: He's much more boisterous and talkative than his serious, snarky son, and is ''definitely'' more irresponsible. FP claims that Jughead takes after his mother instead.

* PutOnABus: Leaves the town in season five, moving to Toledo with Jellybean.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: One of the main reasons FP is so popular with the Serpents is that he’s a fair and intelligent leader. It’s heavily implied that it’s his influence which stops the Serpents from becoming as bad as the Ghoulies, with him keeping them away from dealing drugs more serious than marijuana and tempering the impulses of the more aggressive and violent members.

* MindControl: Percival can control peoples minds and convince him to do what he wants, but his powers don’t work on people who have an emotional tether.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Utilizes bigots and other malcontents to enforce his power and spread his control.

* BigBad: He’s the Main Antagonist of the sixth season.
* {{Curse}}: He unleashes seven biblical curses on the town of Riverdale, culminating in his lethal Curse directed at the firstborn children, which claimed their lives until Cheryl awoke to her phoenix powers.

A mysterious and charismatic businessman who wants to reshape Riverdale in his Image.

* BigBad: He’s the Main Antagonist of the Sixth Season.

Michael Minetta is an old associate of Hiram’s, whom he hires to take over as the town’s new sheriff following Keller stepping down.

* TheBrute: Following [[spoiler:Andre's death]], he becomes Hiram's new main enforcer. [[spoiler:Hiram even has him murder his three false witnesses against Archie, when they become a potential liability.]]