Logan Roy

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"Life's not knights on horseback. It's a number on a piece of paper. It's a fight for a knife in the mud."

Portrayed By: Brian Cox

"He's morally bankrupt. He's a nothing man who may well be more personally responsible for the death of this planet than any other single human being. [...] In terms of the lives that will be lost by his whoring for the climate change deniers, there's a very persuasive argument to be made that he's worse than Hitler."

— Ewan Roy

The fearsome — but aging — patriarch of the family. He emigrated to the US from Scotland (by way of Canada) and founded the media conglomerate Waystar-Royco, which he is intensely protective of even in the face of his declining health.

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A-L

Abusive Parents: Logan is a terrifying father figure who looms over all his children:
- His brutal Hobbesian way of seeing the world has led to him pitting his children against one another, and as a result, every one of them has severe issues with self-confidence and their relationship with him can most charitably be described as "complex". His love for them is not unconditional, depending entirely on their loyalty and usefulness. They're aware of this, but still have such an emotional bond to him as their parent and provider that they struggle to gain his approval.
- While his abuse is mostly of the emotional variety, he does strike his grandson in the first season and Roman at one point, and the immediate reaction from Kendall implies it might not be the first time, even though he later offers a sort-of apology to Roman, which could also be interpreted as gaslighting, and there have been some off-handed jokes throughout the seasons by Logan's children of Logan hitting them in the past (mostly Roman). Kendall affirms in "Rehearsal" that he did hit Roman, but the former tries to dismiss it by saying that "everyone did".
- It's also heavily implied (just short of outright stated) that he himself struggled under an abusive parent figure in the form of "evil Uncle Noah". Logan has numerous permanent scars on his back, and he comments about not being able to talk back to his uncle.
- The siblings make constant and very personal jokes about incest, suggesting a childhood marked by shockingly poor boundaries. For some viewers, this may even imply the literal crossing of sexual lines (which could explain odd moments such as Hugo looking right at Roman when asking if Logan touched anyone inappropriately).
Accent Slip-Up: His accent becomes noticeably more Scottish when he's angry and being his most brutal (calling Kendall “a fuckin’ nobody” where the “nobody” is pronounced like “nobiddy”). It also happens when he talks about the nature of the past while being driven through Dundee.
Actor Allusion: Brian Cox himself is a native of Dundee, Scotland just like Logan.
Alas, Poor Villain: He has an Undignified Death, and while his kids can't forgive him, are still such sobbing wrecks when they hear that you'll probably feel some sort of sadness for him as he passes.
Ambition Is Evil: Wants to monopolize all news media in order to push his own agenda, making him have unparalleled amounts of influence in the country, and does not really care that the law says he shouldn't.
Archnemesis Dad: To some of his kids.
- To Kendall, whom he grooms as his successor and then callously betrays. Kendall's character arc revolves around him standing up to his father by trying to take him down.
- To Shiv, when she starts working for a Bernie Sanders-style left wing politician who's deadset on bringing Roy down.
Backhanded Apology: Loves telling his children that he protected them and spoiled them, and that he’s sorry they don’t see that.
Bad Boss: Corporate malfeasance, massive layoffs, covering up the deeds of a serial molester - just another day at the office in Waystar-Royco. And that's saying nothing of the way he treats his employees on a personal level.
Bait the Dog: What starts the feud between him and Kendall that is the central conflict of the show. He promises to step down and give the company to Kendall, but after his stroke and seeing Kendall's general poor handling of the company, he decides to maintain his role as CEO.
Beard of Evil: He sports a goatee, which Greg states makes him look like "Santa Claus if he were a hitman" and is definitely not a good person.
Being Evil Sucks: He'll never admit it, but Logan's success and the brutal mentality he's adopted to achieve it haven't made him happy at all and he is deeply regretful of how he has damaged or pushed away those closest to him, especially his kids. This is most apparent in "The Munsters" where he is celebrating his birthday for the second time in the series and is alone except for employees and sycophants like Tom and Greg, who he knows don't care about him beyond his patronage, and is so desperate for some real interactions that he starts pushing others to snark at him like his kids used to. In the end, he dies alone and with his only legacy being the damage he's done to the world around him.
Berserk Button: Having his authority challenged or questioned is a great way to find yourself shouted at, fired, punished, humiliated or even assaulted.
- He also hates being called abusive or seen as such by his kids, likely because he knows such claims are not wrong, as much as he doesn't want to admit it.
- He really hates surprises, something mentioned by Roman in the pilot, as the last time he “surprised” his dad, Logan “took a swing at him”.
Betrayal by Offspring: His entitled, power-hungry children are constantly scheming to dethrone him, with Kendall in particular being a repeat offender.
Big Bad: He's the primary antagonist for his ambitious children, but he's also the show's symbol of everything wrong with the 1%.
Blatant Lies:
- Him during the family therapy session. It is very obvious to everyone he did not arrange it with any other motive than to cover his own ass.
- His claim that his team won't allow him to take the fall for cruises rings pretty hollow since we constantly see him bully them into doing whatever he wants.
- He also insists to Shiv that he had no idea what was going on in the cruises and that what happened was simply a few rogue employees. Shiv doesn't believe him.
- His assertion that he doesn't hit his kids rings hollow after Shiv mentions that he once beat Roman with a slipper for ordering lobster.
Break the Haughty: He tends to believe that nothing is out of his control or smothering influence, and sadly is usually right, but when the cruises scandal breaks and Nan Pierce backs out of selling PGM to him, he's absolutely livid...and for once can't do anything about it beyond running after her car desperately.
Break Them by Talking: He's an absolute expert, particularly when it comes to his own children.
Broken Ace: He's an outstanding businessman who created his fortune from almost nothing. He's also a borderline sociopath whose cruel treatment of his children both hardens them against him and stokes his fear of dying alone.
Brutal Honesty: Logan makes no effort to sugarcoat anything, least of all just how little respect he has for his children and how disappointing he finds them.
The Bully: Probably the best way to describe Logan. Kendall says as much in the season two finale.
Character Catchphrase:
- He likes to say, "We're all pals here!" in an effort to lower everyone's guard so he can choose which close friend, family member or colleague is weak enough to roast on a spit.
- "Fuck off!"
- “Uh-huh”. His children will borrow it a lot too, in the same tone and saying it the most when they’re closer to him.
Character Death: Dies abruptly in the early half of Season 4.
The Charmer: He's capable of being quite warm and charismatic when it suits his purposes, as his three wives (and Rhea and Kerry) can likely attest.
Control Freak: Part of the reason why he doesn't step down. (But also because Kendall is not....great as CEO.) Kendall uses this against him in the finale of season two, noting that Logan's tyrannical and controlling approach means it's ludicrous to believe he had no idea about the sexual abuse on the cruise line.
Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: He's very fond of elaborate, profanity-laden threats to anyone who gets on his bad side.
The Cynic: Perfectly captured by his line to Kendall, "Life's not knights on horseback. It's a number on a piece of paper. It's a fight for a knife in the mud." He flat out tells Kendall that any degree of idealism amounts to Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids! And the "knife in the mud" reference conveys that he fully believes it himself. If he hadn't screwed over countless people and rivals in the building of his fortune, they would have done the same to him in a heartbeat. His life has always been grabbing that knife in the mud and ruining anyone who stood in his way.
Deadpan Snarker: A particularly caustic example.
Dead Star Walking: Subverted. Brian Cox was by far the biggest name of the cast and was originally only intended to last one season before dying. This is why the early episodes focus heavily on his declining health until the direction of the story changed, subsequently leading to Cox remaining as a main character. And then Double-Subverted when Logan suffers a Surprisingly Sudden Death early on in Season 4.
Declaration of Protection: Deconstructed with Shiv and Logan when they meet in “Prague”, as he turns it into a threat by saying he shouldn’t have protected her.
Despotism Justifies the Means: As Ewan notes, Logan's desire to do "all the news" and his network's support of right-wing causes (including the denial of climate change) may lead to him being indirectly responsible for more deaths and havoc than Hitler.
Disappeared Dad: Connor didn’t see him for three years, and was left out in the cold when the “golden trio” were born. Given the damage Logan ended up doing, he was unknowingly doing Connor a favor.
Disc-One Final Boss: Is hyped up as the ultimate nemesis for the siblings in the marketing for the ten-episode final season, only to die suddenly in the third episode.
Dirty Old Man: He starts an affair with a woman who's around five decades younger than him.
The Dreaded: As a ruthless businessman, he commands a great deal of respect and fear. His children in particular are terrified of him: even the suggestion that he might be around (as when someone sends a box of donuts to the Roy siblings as they plot against him) is enough to send them all into a tailspin.
Dying Alone: Skips Connor’s wedding to attend a business deal in Sweden and dies in the airplane bathroom during the flight.
Et Tu, Brute?: After Kendall organizes a vote of no confidence to remove him as CEO of Waystar, he loses all trust in Kendall and most in Roman.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: As much as his children hate and fear him, they all do seem to have some genuine love for him as a father that even Logan's worst actions can never fully undermine. Marcia also sincerely cares about him. Ewan, for all he despises Logan, still can't bring himself to turn on him in Season 1, and seems to regret how things have ended up between them, even taking a moment to tell Logan that what happened to Rose (their sister, who died of polio when they were young) wasn't his fault.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Logan may be a tyrannical monster, but he is more than capable of showing sincere affection.
- He sincerely loves and cares for his children. In this case, the trope is deconstructed: he may love his kids, but he expresses that love through brutal, manipulative emotional abuse in order to instill his Social Darwinist views.
- He cares about Ewan as a brother, even though they're irreconcilably estranged, and regrets the current state of their relationship.
Even Evil Has Standards: When his kids were young, Logan wouldn't let them in the pool if Lester was around, showing that no matter the amount of psychological damage he was willing to inflict on them, he wouldn't leave them in a position where it was possible for them to be molested.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Logan has spent so long in the hyper-capitalist environment of his business that regular human behavior, such as "not ripping off someone you're making a deal with," has become unfathomable to him.
"He's giving me what I want at a fair price? What's next, fellatio?"
Evil Genius: Regardless of the impact of his actions, Logan is undeniably a savvy businessman.
Evil Is Petty: Logan's impetus for his extremely risky and potentially catastrophic (if not outright illegal) obsession with acquiring PGM? They spent a few inches of print mocking him, decades ago. The fact that it’s his brother Ewan’s favorite news source is an added bonus for his spite.
Evil Old Folks: He's well into his later years and really should have retired, but his malice seems to do a good job of keeping him alive and in the game.
Evil Sounds Deep: He's a terrifying tyrant and bully with Brian Cox's famously sonorous voice.
Evil Virtues: Horrible as he is, Logan does have qualities that are hard not to respect: he's ambitious, determined, and possesses an admirable work ethic.
Fallen Hero: Brian Cox has stated he believes Logan started off as a genuine Intrepid Reporter, only to become the corrupt and ruthless man he is today somewhere along the line. It's hinted at during Ewan's eulogy of him, where he notes that somewhere along the line Logan stopped trying to be a good person.
Fat and Skinny: Although Logan is more stocky than fat, he's significantly shorter and stouter than his brother Ewan, who is very tall and skinny.
Fatal Flaw: Logan has many flaws, but one that always fucks him over is hubris. As powerful as he is, he's not infallible, and his strongman tactics don't always work. This, combined with his pride, end up being a literal example as he refuses to retire even with his serious health problems, resulting in his eventual death.
Fat Bastard: Logan's got a noticeable gut and is definitely not on the side of the angels.
Faux Affably Evil: He can turn on the false charm when needed, but it rarely lasts long before he reverts to his usual bullying demeanor when faced with any kind of opposition.
Flaw Exploitation: One of his biggest talents is to find pressure points in anyone and keep pressing until they either pull through or break.
Freudian Excuse: It's teased at. He was physically abused by his uncle and seems to have had a complicated relationship with his mother. Then there's the matter of Rose, a long-dead sister who he never mentions to the point of her almost becoming an Un-person within the family. Ewan implies that whatever happened to her, Logan needlessly blames himself for it. He clarifies in Logan's eulogy that Rose was killed by polio, and Logan was blamed due to "bringing it back with him" from his boarding school as a child. It's overall not hard to see how Logan developed into the cold-hearted man he is now.
From Nobody to Nightmare: An abused working-class Scottish boy grew up to become one of the most powerful businessmen in the entire world, with a truly frightening level of influence on society at large.
Green-Eyed Monster: Logan is an overprotective dad with his children, and only seems to give them over to people who’ll stay in his orbit and revere him. When it comes to people who might not bend the knee, such as Stewy or Naomi, he does everything he can to make sure Kendall comes crawling back.
Gruesome Grandparent: He's not any nicer to Kendall's children than he is to Kendall himself, dismissing Sophie due to being a girl and being brusque and volatile with Iverson, even outright striking him at least once. Iverson is just as frightened of him as Kendall is, and understandably so.
Grumpy Old Man: He's in his later years and there's rarely a scene where he isn't angry or in a bad mood about something.
Hair-Trigger Temper: He's almost always in a foul mood and it takes very little to get him angry and unloading verbal abuse on anyone in his vicinity. Roman and Kendall are grown men, and they recoil like little boys when he's angry.
Has a Type: He likes strong women who will challenge him, but ultimately do what he wants.
Hates Being Alone: Logan may lament how soft and dependent his children are, but the truth is that that's just how he wants them. After all, if they're cowed into submission, that at least means they're still in his life.
Heir Club for Men: His focus on finding a successor has mostly been focused on Kendall and he's rarely given any serious thought to Shiv for the role, despite knowing of her intelligence and capability and manipulating her into abandoning her independent career in politics.
He-Man Woman Hater: Mocks and strings Shiv along, cruelly imitating her when she finally gets upset, gets angry that Roman is playing the daughter role of praising him, his homophobia to Kendall takes the form of treating him like a girl (no stuttering, no crying, cracks about bending over or spreading on a first date), insults Gerri regularly saying she’s too old, and has no sympathy for the women on the cruises, it being left ambiguous whether he took part or not.
Hiding the Handicap:
- Denies or downplays his physical frailty because, in his eyes, it would be an admission of weakness. When Josh Aaronson needles his pride to secretly test how physically fit he is, Logan persists on a long hike that leaves him exhausted, and later tries to refuse medical treatment while he's suffering a heart attack from it, because he still doesn't want Josh to know.
- His own children have been led to believe their father doesn't swim because they've never seen him do it. He does, but only in front of Marcia, so he doesn't expose the whipping scars on his back to them.
Hypocrite:
- He demands respect, deference, and absolute loyalty from everyone in his orbit (especially his kids) while treating them like dirt and throwing them under the bus the moment it becomes convenient to him.
- He moves to separate himself from Kendall and tells him to cash out of the company. When Kendall actually decides to do just that, Logan declares he was joking around and that he wants to continue to have his son in reach. He then goes back on such words again when he sells the company to Matsson, scolding all of his kids and telling them to make their own pile despite spending his whole life trying to rope them into his work and preventing them from doing just that. This is especially noticeable with Shiv, who actually was making her own pile before Logan finally roped her into Waystar-Royco.
- When he discovers Roman has been fixated on and sexually harassing Gerri, he declares it to be disgusting, in part because "she's a million years old". This comes from a man who's many years older than Gerri and has just recently started an affair with someone younger than all of his children. It’s also implied that he and Gerri have had… something in the past, Mylod describing part of the anger over finding out Roman/Gerri is him being possessive over her.
- As Shiv points out, Logan made Roman, a “toddler with a hard-on”, COO on a whim but demanded that Shiv go through three years of training before being allowed to take over.
- He accuses Gil Eavis of being a horrible husband who drove his wife to suicide, but his own son is a Death Seeker, with Logan having a big hand in causing him to develop his suicidal tendencies.
- He hates his children for their massive and undeserved sense of entitlement, but he fails to recognize how he displays these same traits nor how he's responsible for them taking this viewpoint.
Icy Blue Eyes: He has Brian Cox's striking blue eyes which nicely emphasize his cold-hearted nature.
I Have No Son!: He declares this after Kendall's failed vote of no confidence. It doesn't last.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Beneath his abusive personality, Logan is desperate for love from his family, especially after his own brutal childhood. Unfortunately, his definition of such is people submitting to him and if he can't have genuine affection, he will settle for resigned deference, seeing the two as achieving the same result of preventing his kids from leaving him.
I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Subverted. Logan initially takes an interest in people who aren't afraid of him and speak to him honestly, but eventually he gets bored and tries to crush them under his heel.
Improperly Paranoid: He is right that his kids tend to want to oust him, but refuses to admit any responsibility in making bad choices for business, or his abuse of them. In the aftermath of his stroke, he incorrectly assumes that Kendall intends to muscle him out of the company when Kendall was genuinely concerned for his health and wanted to give him a graceful exit. This causes him to lash out when Connor (also incorrectly) tells him that Kendall was plotting to blindside him at the gala speech. When Kendall consequently does become more aggressive and initiates a vote of no confidence, Logan thinks Shiv is in on it (because when the trio were teenagers, they did try and stand up to him as a group), when in reality she wasn’t told.
I Resemble That Remark!: He has a Berserk Button of being told he’s an abusive and shitty father, implying on some level he knows full well that he is, but admitting it would be admitting he’s become like his uncle.
Irony:
- Spent most of his life trying to raise his children to be as brutal as he is to one day inherit the company. This is ironic on three fronts: it breaks his three sons, none of whom end up competent enough to run the company successfully; his only daughter, who might be competent enough to run the company, has been driven away from it; and his son uses those same brute tactics to stage a hostile takeover.
- Logan has ignored Connor for much of his life, and has put his business interests ahead of family at every turn. His skipping Con’s wedding is what leads inadvertently to his death, as he is stuck aboard a plane with no medical staff——attending the wedding would’ve likely led to a quick hospital visit. He also dies surrounded by his cronies rather than by his children.
It's All About Me: Logan is an immensely prideful, egotistical man, who truly seems to think the world stops and starts on his whims.
It's All My Fault: Despite refusing to take responsibility for how messed up his kids are, he actually does blame himself for one thing: The death of his sister Rose who Ewan reveals at Logan's funeral died of Polio that Logan was blamed for bringing into the house by their aunt and uncle, blame Logan eventually internalized.
I Want Grandkids: In “Hunting”, he tells Tom to shut up until he can tell him he’s got a grandson coming (because he deems Iverson broken), which factors into his trying to get Shiv pregnant next season.
Jerkass Has a Point: His critiques of his children are bitingly harsh, but aside from the mean-spiritedness of his comments, and the fact that he refuses all responsibility for how they've turned out, they're generally true.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Logan is capable of kindness, but there are always strings attached. There are hints of a genuine softer side beneath his ruthless, abrasive front, but it's almost always a manipulation tactic and Logan's priorities always lie with his own ego.
"Just Joking" Justification: He's frequently horrible to his family and employees, and expects them to shrug it off when he says he’s joking.
Karma Houdini:
- Downplayed. Logan never faces consequences for his crimes, but he winds up permanently burning his bridges with his children and dies alone in an airplane bathroom, putting an end to his plans to revamp ATN and with his companies' future uncertain.
- The one decision that Logan does end up directly paying for is not going to his son's wedding, as if he had, he could have been quickly rushed to a hospital where a full medical staff may have been able to save his life - but because he chose to go on a business trip instead, he was on an airplane isolated away from full medical facilities.
Karmic Death: Spends the entire show abusing and driving rifts between him and his children - and ultimately dies alone with no loved ones around him.
Kick the Dog: All the damn time. Kendall is his most frequent target, but he'll take anyone who's convenient.
Kick Them While They Are Down: He not only fires Kendall for the vote of no confidence (which is fair enough), but calls security while Kendall is begging him not to just for extra humiliation, and kickstarts his son’s addiction issues again by putting out hit pieces on him. Roman gets browbeaten and shamed for even trying to put his hand up, Shiv takes the blame when she wasn’t even involved, and both get forced to do a PR therapy.
Killed Offscreen: In a sense. While we do see medical professionals try to rescue him, and even see his lifeless body at one point, the moment of Logan's actual death isn't shown to viewers, with the Roy children only hearing offhandedly that he collapsed while in an airplane toilet. His body is similarly out of view or obscured, making it feel like Logan really just vanished in his final moments.
Know When to Fold 'Em: By season 4 his suspicions have crystallized that none of his children are up to running Waystar once his time comes. He gave Kendall and Roman chances to audition themselves, although it's debatable whether Shiv ever had any chance of convincing him no matter what she did. He finds each of them wanting, and decides the best way to look after their future when he's gone is to sell Waystar to Mattson.
Lack of Empathy: He really doesn't care about the feelings of others, not even his own children.
Large Ham: When he gets going, Logan can be very theatrical and really commits to making his threats and insults as over the top as possible.
Legacy Seeker: Played with. Logan frequently says that he wants his legacy to outlive him, as Dundee's "Logan Roy School of Journalism" suggests; however, as Ewan points out, whatever legacy he leaves almost certainly won't be flattering for him. Most of his hopes for his legacy manifest in his children succeeding him; of course, due to his own narcissism and his children's incompetence, things get more complicated.
Living Emotional Crutch: Kendall seems to be this to him, and is so damaged from it that he admits to Shiv that he doesn't know what he would be for if dad didn't need him.
Logical Weakness: Logan is incredibly powerful, bordering on Invincible Villain territory, but even he has his limitations.
- He's in charge of Waystar-Royco, but the board is able to hold a vote of no confidence to depose him, and they are not blindly loyal. If Kendall and Roman were more confident and competent, they may well have succeeded in kicking Logan out.
- His power and influence insulates him from consequences, but only up to a point: as it turns out, you can't "fuck off" your way out of an FBI investigation.
- Finally, he's clearly advanced in years, and his physical and mental capabilities are both in decline. He goes to extreme lengths to hide just how debilitating his stroke in the first season was, to the point where he's warned that he risks dealing long-term damage to his health in doing so and likely contributes to his sudden death in Season 4.
Love Hungry: Logan genuinely wants his children to love him, but he's also an abusive narcissist whose idea of "love" is essentially being worshipped. He also values them being just as cutthroat as him equally as much, meaning he'll lash out if they put either him or their ambitions first.

M-W

Machiavelli Was Wrong: ZigZagged. Logan is a cutthroat businessman, whose brutal, manipulative qualities have brought him mind-boggling amounts of money and power. This approach extends to the way he treats his children, who he can easily manipulate despite their best efforts. That said, this ruthless, bullying approach has the side effect of alienating just about everybody who doesn't depend on him for a paycheck, and it's clear that the general public largely loathes him - and both of those facts bother Logan more than he lets on.
Mean Boss: He's an extremely difficult person to work for; he's brusque on a good day, and monstrous at his worst. Even talented, clearly valuable employees like Gerri who have worked for him for decades are rightfully wary of getting thrown under a bus the second it's convenient for him.
Misplaced Retribution: In “Argestes”, Logan takes out the anger he feels towards Shiv on Roman by smacking him so hard he knocks out a tooth.
Mortality Phobia: The man is eighty years old, has numerous health scares, but still moves like he’s going to smack Kendall for the relevant point that he’ll die one day.
The Napoleon: While not literally short (Brian Cox is roughly 5'9"), Logan is noticeably shorter than most other central male characters, and he's a short-tempered, bullying tyrant.
Narcissist: Wants to buy all local TV networks to use as a way of spreading his own worldview. In addition, he regularly shows no consideration for anyone else, is very self-conscious about his image, gets enraged at any perceived disrespect or challenges to his authority, is always seeking greater power, and expects absolute respect from his kids despite never giving it.
Never My Fault: He constantly berates his children for their shortcomings, not seeming to know or care that he helped shape them in the first place. The most he'll do is say that he was too soft on them.
Nice to the Waiter: Unsurprisingly, he's incredibly rude to the wait staff during Shiv's wedding.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: The comparisons to Rupert Murdoch are obvious, though he shares some similarities to other media tycoons, notably Conrad Black (in terms of appearance and Canadian background), William Randolph Hearst and (given his tyrannical behaviour towards his children and those who work for him) Robert Maxwell.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: He has no patience for weak-willed individuals and half-assed plans.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Logan displays a surprising concern for Kendall's mental health in season 2, asking if he's okay during a possible shooting and putting up plexiglass barriers on the roof when he hears that Kendall has been climbing up there often.
Parental Betrayal: Comes back to bite him in the ass during the season three finale, telling Roman he can trust him… in front of the two kids he’s screwed over, and they obviously tell their brother that he’s lying.
Parental Blamelessness: Watches Kendall being Prone to Tears, Roman acting like a Sad Clown, Shiv playing Ice Queen and Connor so deluded he pays Willa to act as his girlfriend, and thinks it's all entirely their own fault. The most he will concede is that his raising them in the lap of luxury impeded their growth and generally framed his parenting as though his only crime is that he was too nice to them growing up.
Parental Favoritism: Like all Roy family workings, it's complicated. In season 1, Kendall calls Shiv Logan's favorite and Logan certainly is the most outwardly affectionate towards her as he seems to genuinely appreciate and acknowledge Shiv's intellect and seems sincerely upset at the idea that Shiv thinks he knew what was going on on the cruises and was covering it up (which it's all but stated he was). But unlike Kendall, who has messed up and betrayed Logan more times than one can count, Shiv messing up one deal and asking Logan to spare Tom in the cruise scandal is enough for Logan to completely rule her out and even her coming up with a deal to prevent control of the company from going to a vote isn't enough for Logan to change his mind about her. The show also implies that Logan’s sexist thinking prevents him from ever fully taking her seriously as his successor. Ironically then, one can argue that Kendall is the favorite and that Logan's cruelty towards him in particular is his own, twisted version of tough love. Funnily enough, his relationship with Connor, who he views as a harmless idiot, is probably the healthiest as he is content to simply leave him enjoy his wealth.
Parental Hypocrisy: The way his Jerkass Has a Point moments works. His children have massive flaws, and should be told them often, but he’s the one who made them that way, and he has no leg to stand on when he’s telling them they’re losers or sluts or too fragile for the world since he's actively stopped them from ever actually trying to achieve anything on their own.
Parents as People: Extremely damaged and damaging people. Logan was abused by his uncle Noah, and lost his sister, Rose, at a young age, in an event he apparently blames himself for. This left him with considerable scars, both mental and physical, and causes him to instill his brutal, hyper-capitalist worldview in his children as he manipulates them into never trying to leave.
The Patriarch: Of the Roy family, and of the Waystar-Royco media empire.
Perpetual Frowner: Logan's default expression is an angry scowl that rarely leaves his face.
Pet the Dog: He's done it a few times, though usually when he gives a nice moment to anyone in his orbit, you can bet it’s mixed in with some ulterior motives. That said, he has enough genuine moments to show that as bad as he is, he's still human.
- He is the only Roy to notice the hurt of the working-class kid that Roman humiliated in the pilot, and gives him the Patek Philippe that Tom gave him. However, while Logan shows his disdain for his kids' spoiled attitudes that they all ignore the kid, he is, as usual, completely oblivious to the fact that he has encouraged them to be this way.
- When Greg tells Logan he needs to quit working for him due to Ewan’s threats of cutting off his inheritance, Logan reacts seemingly genuinely, tells Greg he likes him, and tells him it’s ultimately his choice to side with him or Ewan. In general, despite their polar opposite personalities, Logan seems to sincerely like Greg, possibly due to sensing, not incorrectly, that Greg is much more cunning and ruthless than he appears at first glance. Although what he had in mind for Greg when he wrote his name and an accompanying question mark on the piece of paper that is discovered after his death is anyone’s guess.
- A rather twisted example, but after he breaks Kendall down into a subservient lapdog, he mostly acts gentler towards him. This is likely due to a combination of Kendall no longer posing a threat to him, and no longer being seen as a worthy successor deserving of Logan's sink or swim methods.
- He apologizes to Roman after striking him. It's a pathetic apology where he downplays his own actions, but it's still a sincere attempt and noticeably the only apology we see Logan give.
- When he tells Kendall that he's to take the fall for cruises, he at least has the decency to do so in a very delicate manner where he makes it clear that he hates doing so but can't see any other valid options. He praises Kendall, gives him an honest answer on what he thinks of his leadership potential, and tries to assuage his son's guilt over his vehicular manslaughter. The last point is an especially dark instance though given he refers to the death Kendall's been broken up over as an incident where no real person was harmed.
- When he reunites with Marcia, we see Logan's second attempt at apologizing. Though still pretty lacking, his wife seems to realize that's the best she can ask for from him and they have a warm moment.
- He asks Greg to make sure that Kendall doesn’t come back in a coffin or ending up dead in a French guy’s pool. Subverted later, as Logan pulls Kendall out of rehab after only two days for a press conference, and Kendall nearly drowns in a pool while very intoxicated after Logan refuses to let him leave.
- After Tom stands up for himself and starts acting more competent, Logan treats him with far more respect, and is even shown valuing his insight at times. His warm greeting to him after Tom just helped him beat his kids is especially noticeable, given he just verbally eviscerated his biological children.
- While their relationship isn't exactly warm or close, Logan does seem a lot nicer to Connor than the other siblings, mostly due to seeing that Connor is a total non-entity who can't be trained to be a cutthroat business leader but who will also never betray him and is content to just enjoy his privileged lifestyle and Logan is similarly content to leave him be, provided he doesn't make the family name look bad.
- Despite usually being fearsome and intimidating to them, including outright striking Iverson, he actually has a surprisingly sweet moment with his grandkids in the Season 3 finale, trying to comfort them after Kendall's near drowning, and reading to Iverson (although he also implies Iverson has babyish taste, and asks Kerry to get them a book with more action).
- Greg tells Logan he slept with a random girl in his guest bedroom; while we don’t see the conversation itself, Logan doesn’t seem to yell at Greg, and while he calls him disgusting, Greg says he gave a wry smile afterwards.
- Logan is genuinely fond of Colin, his bodyguard, and even shares a rare moment of vulnerability and tells Colin that he regards him as his closest friend. He later leaves a watch worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to Colin in his will.
Please, Don't Leave Me: This is probably the best way to sum up his dynamic with his kids. He wants them broken and dependent on his approval because he is terrified of them ever leaving him and dying alone. It's implied that Logan knows full well what a rotten excuse for a father he is and that his kids would be much better off far away from him but isn't willing to let them go and make their own legacy, the same thing he gives them such abuse for not doing, because he knows they would likely never come back if he did. He will never admit it but Logan needs them as much as they need him and has come to see bullying and abuse as the only way to keep them around. When they finally do cut ties with him, he's deeply hurt and desperate to get them back.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Logan is a racist and misogynist, who hides his white supremacist views to most people who aren't in his inner circle.
- ATN is a direct reflection of his own ideologies and they're so right-wing they employed a fascist as one of their biggest names.
- He's no stranger to misogyny, referring to victims of his own corrupt cruise line as "poor bitches". It's also hinted that it might be part of why he's kept Shiv in the cold for so long.
- There have been plenty of hints that far from merely covering up the cruises scandal, he may have been a direct participant in the sexual abuses that took place.
- Connor even claims there was an unspoken policy at the company of "no blacks, no Jews and no women above the fourth floor". Sure enough, an early episode showed Greg watching a Waystar training video boasting about the importance of diversity while a huge crowd of old white male executives walk by.
- As Logan becomes less inhibited, he becomes more openly racist, using a racial slur directed at Latino people and later making vaguely antisemitic remarks toward Josh Aaronson.
- He's more than happy to use homophobia to degrade his sons, especially when he thinks Kendall is being weak.^note
Pride: He will not let go of his company. He also refuses visitors in his weakened state after his stroke. At one point, he almost gives himself a heart attack on a difficult walk with Kendall, refusing to take a breather or accept an offered cart ride because Josh Aaronson is nearby.
Profane Last Words: The final words he speaks onscreen are one of his usual profanity-laced instructions to his underlings. He dies shortly after of a massive pulmonary embolism.
Psychological Projection: Brian Cox talked about how Logan believes Stewy (not a great friend to Kendall, but does sincerely care and tells him multiple times to cash out and run) is corrupting and abusing his son, and isolating Kendall from him means he can “reprogrammed”, essentially assuming that everyone around Kendall is holding his leash like Logan would.
Psychopathic Manchild: Despite his immense success and savvy, Logan is still ultimately an overgrown bully who thinks of power mainly as a way to let him do whatever he wants with no thought as to the consequences. It's even implied that much of his abuse of his children is jealousy and resentment that they grew up in luxury while he had a rough childhood with an abusive uncle.
Raised Catholic: Logan makes a number of passing references to suggest it. He's disappointed that Shiv's wedding wasn't a Catholic service (but relents that the scandals "spoiled the brand") and asks Kerry why a cardinal wasn't invited to his birthday as it would "add a bit of class". He is also a fan of Hibernian which is traditionally seen as Edinburgh's Catholic football team ^note. However, when speaking to Colin he implies that he does not believe in the afterlife, but then says he isn't sure and that he has "suspicions". That said, the document found after his death states his wish for a Catholic funeral, which is ultimately what occurs in "Church and State".
Rags to Riches: His backstory is that he came from poverty to become one of the richest and most powerful men in the country. This may or may not been exaggerated for publicity purposes by his company.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Hands these out regularly and has pretty much perfected them to a fine art, with Kendall being his favorite target.
The Resenter: As has been pointed out, he's angry at his children for being raised in the luxury he didn't get to have, and making them spoiled is the only admission of wrongdoing he can muster.
Right for the Wrong Reasons:
- He makes a lot of cutting but accurate remarks about his kids' glaring flaws but ignores his own culpability in how they ended up that way and how he has actively sabotaged any attempts at growth they might attempt, particularly in regard to Kendall, in order to keep them subservient to him.
Scatterbrained Senior: Zig-zagged. He is eighty years old at the beginning of the series and still dangerously clever, but the very first scene of the show has him urinate on the carpet because he mistakes it for the toilet. This becomes even more pronounced after his collapse in Season Three after which he is completely out of it for whole periods at a time, struggling to remember names and even having full blown hallucinations where he references his sister Rose as though she were still alive, showing signs of dementia. It's overall clear that age is taking a much greater toll on Logan than he is willing to admit.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Logan believes that laws, ethics and even good behavior are entirely optional for him, and he has so much money that they essentially are. He has numerous politicians in his pocket and a direct line to the president; that's why Senator Eavis wants to take him down.
Selective Obliviousness: He worries enough about Kendall’s suicidal ideation that he asks Greg to babysit and installs walls on the roof to keep anyone from jumping, but never bothers to think that he’s had any hand in making his son a Death Seeker.
Self-Made Lie: Logan is a downplayed example. He is very attracted to the myth of himself as a self-made man who dragged himself up from abject poverty to become a multi-billionaire. The Roy kids are surprised when they visit his hometown and discover that his childhood home is modest but far from the shack he'd described. However, in comparison to the patrician Pierces, Logan is still very much self-made.
Self-Made Man: He built one of the largest corporate empires on the planet from the ground up, and he did so coming from rather humble surroundings.
Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: Logan always associates sex with either humiliating someone or being humiliated, and degrades everyone he can with sexual references. This had bad effects for his kids, golden trio especially all having implications of Rape as Backstory, and Roman only wanting to have sex if it's mutually agreed as wrong, Connor deluded that paying Willa to be his girlfriend is actually love, Kendall borderline promiscuous, and Shiv about to burst into tears when she admits she can't have a monogamous marriage.
Sink or Swim Mentor: A possible interpretation of his abusive behavior toward his children is that he is toughening them up to become "killers" worthy to succeed him.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: One of his catchphrases is "fuck off!".
The Social Darwinist: Logan's general approach to business and life in general. In his mind, there are only winners and losers, and weakness is the worst flaw a person can have. Anyone who gets hurt in his dealings is never given any thought and anyone who can't hack it in his world is treated as worthless, even if they are his own children.
Softspoken Sadist: While he's anything but soft-spoken, Logan is skillful at modulating his tone in order to manipulate his children.
Suddenly Shouting: Has a Hair-Trigger Temper, and even after 30/40/50 years of it, all four of his children jump or cower when this happens.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: Suffers a fatal pulmonary embolism on the toilet three episodes into the final season.
Surrounded by Idiots: Logan is frequently frustrated by the fact that none of his children fit his idea of what a successor should be. He does have quite a few highly intelligent and competent people in his inner circle, but he doesn't see it that way.
Logan: I am surrounded by snakes and fucking morons. You're a bunch of silk-stocking fucks!
Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Pre-Nuptial" has him make Karolina say that they've pushed him as a good father because he is one, as none of his (dysfunctional at best, suicidal at worst) kids have "offed themselves or gone round the bend".
Take Over the World: A more mundane and realistic example than most. Rather than doing so by holding countries for ransom or terrorizing cities like a supervillain, Logan seeks to control the world by owning as many news and media outlets as possible, allowing him to push his own agenda and influence the masses from the shadows.
There Are No Rules: Doing something that Logan likes one day might get you ripped to pieces the next. He drops this trope by name during the game of "Boar on the Floor," when he rewards Gerri for her honesty while punishing Greg for his.
Tough Love: He seems to view his parenting style as a way of making his kids prepared for the cutthroat world of business. The results have been...mixed, to say the least.
Tragic Villain: As awful as he is, it's hard not to feel some sympathy for Logan. He knows deep down what a terrible father he has been and hates himself for it due to having suffered under an abuser himself. He also knows that he has destroyed any possibility of having a healthy relationship with any of his children, and is frightened that they will leave him to die alone, so he keeps them around through mistreatment and disapproval, to keep them from ever striking out on their own, even as he knows it would be best for them. It's also implied that he knows his company has just made the world worse and that will be his real legacy, as a right-wing figure and a tyrannical bully.
Troubled Abuser: He had an abusive father figure who severely beat him up, and then became an abusive parent himself and is clearly tormented by that fact, even if he refuses to admit it.
The Unapologetic: Fitting with his refusal to take responsibility for his behavior, Logan defiantly refuses to ever apologize for any of his misdeeds or terrible treatment of those around him. He only ever sincerely apologizes once in the whole series for anything he does (striking Roman in a fit of anger) and even then, it's noticeably half-hearted and downplays his actions.
Undignified Death: The dictatorial media tycoon ultimately dies of a pulmonary embolism while trying to fish his cellphone out of a clogged airplane toilet.
Ungrateful Bastard: If Logan has any appreciation for what anyone does for him, including his kids, he never expresses it. When Shiv is able to come up with a deal that avoids them risking the company and has to enact it due to his being barely conscious, Logan's only response is frustration and an insistence that he would have come up with another solution, even if he doesn't know what it would have been, and to then yell at her to leave him be. Similarly, even those who've been with him for decades like Gerri and Frank and have shown their worth many times over are wary of getting tossed aside the second they become a liability or go against his will.
Villain Respect: One possible explanation for the ending of Season 2. After Kendall betrays his father on live television, Logan reacts with a faint smile, as his son has finally proven himself a "killer".
Villainous Breakdown: When things turn against him and he can't aggressively force them back in his favor, Logan tends to react very poorly as his reaction to Rhea Jarrell abandoning him when the cruise scandal emerges shows.
Violent Glaswegian: He was born in Dundee, Scotland and is very caustic and short tempered.
Visionary Villain: He definitely has a vision. Whether that's a good or bad thing is for debate.
Walking Spoiler: It’s pretty hard to talk about his role in Season 4 without spoiling the fact that he dies suddenly in Episode 3.
Wanted a Gender-Conforming Child: Degrades Kendall because he’s too submissive and not a killer, feels humiliated by Connor paying for a girlfriend, would never give Roman the CEO job because he thinks Roman is broken sexually, and wants Shiv to be a weapon but also his little princess.
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency:
- Complains bitterly that they send his estranged brother a Christmas card every year but gets no thanks.
- He also seems to think the fact that none of his children have taken their own lives or had complete mental breakdowns, despite Kendall's extremely poor mental health and suicidal tendencies that even Logan has expressed concern over, is proof that he's a good parent.
- He expects Shiv (and by extension her brothers) to be grateful for the should-be-a-given protection from being sexually abused by his wolfpack friends, which they didn’t even feel safe from anyway.
Wanting Is Better Than Having: Tom warns Shiv that Logan will get bored of her once he’s got her, and once she sabotages her chances with Gil, that’s immediately what happens, Logan ghosting her and calling her a headache.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: His children all seek his approval in some ways, with Kendall and Roman being the most obvious about it. However, they rarely live up to his standards and when they do (Shiv), if it is outside of the family business, he doesn't really care.
White Hair, Black Heart: His hair has gone completely white, as expected given his age, and he's a tyrannical, borderline monstrous figure.
We Used to Be Friends: He and Ewan, in their sparse interactions together, sometimes do refer to fonder memories and even appear on the cusp of bonding in “Dundee.” Their interactions sometimes have a subtle hint of regret.
Why Couldn't You Be Different?: He has been grooming Kendall to be his successor, but overall finds him an Inadequate Inheritor — a thin-skinned, weak-willed drug addict neither ruthless nor smart enough for the cutthroat world of business, as well as someone who has had things handed to him his entire life instead of working for them. (Logan's assessment, while vicious, is not wrong).
Would Hurt a Child: He slaps Kendall's son Iverson and refuses to apologize. This seems to be what finally gets Kendall to try to oust him.
You Are What You Hate: One of his defining traits is that he doesn’t want to be like his physically abusive uncle Noah, but he’s hit Roman more than once and when a meth-addled Kendall presses down on that Berserk Button, Logan looks like he’s going to beat the shit out of him.

"Fuck off."

Characters / Succession: Logan Roy

Logan Roy

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Characters / Succession: Logan Roy

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Logan Roy

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