Characters / Riverdale - Riverdale Residents

RIVERDALE CHARACTER INDEX
Main characters (Archie Andrews • Cheryl Blossom) | Riverdale High | Riverdale Townspeople | Outside Riverdale

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Northside Residents

Andrews Family

Fred Andrews

Frederick Arthur "Fred" Andrews

I need you to tell me the truth about something. I know my son has passion for music, but does he have talent? See, I want to be supportive but as a parent, it's really hard to watch your kid chase a dream they may never catch when real opportunities are passing them by.

Played by: Luke Perry, KJ Apa (younger)

Archie's father, who hopes his son will take over his construction business someday.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Comics Fred is balding and overweight. Show Fred (played by Luke Perry) is neither, making it believable that Hermione would have dated him at some point.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: His reaction to finding his son and Valerie hanging out together in Archie’s bedroom is to awkwardly ramble and try to be friendly, and then leave them with the door slightly open so he can look back in.
• Amicable Exes: He admits to it when questioned by Hermione about his divorce from Mary, even using the word "amicable" when describing his relationship with her. Their bond remains so close, that when he dies, Mary is treated more like his widow than his ex-wife, making it clear she still loved him dearly.
• The Character Died with Him: Luke Perry's sudden, tragic passing in early 2019 happened after he had filmed several episodes and the last few of the third season had Fred out of town. The fourth season premiere has Fred suddenly dying as well. In the Season 4 premiere, we learn that Fred was killed in a hit-and-run by a speeding car.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Just like Archie, Fred has trouble standing by in the face of injustice, even when it would benefit him more to stay quiet. His decision to run for Mayor is in part to stop the Lodge’s plan of building a for-profit prison in Riverdale. Despite it being pointed out to him several times that associating with the Serpents could cost him the election, he carries on supporting them, arguing against Hermione’s Anti-Southside platform, and even takes all the remaining Serpents in after they are forced out of the Southside.
  • This ends up causing his demise when he first stops to help a random stranger whose car broke down, then pushes her out of the way of a speeding car and takes the hit himself.
• The Conscience: Fred fulfils this role, not just towards his son, but towards the entire town of Riverdale. In Chapter 17, it is he who loudly argues against Alice's blatant hatemongering that the town needs to stand together in the face of the Black Hood's attacks, and not succumb to fear by scapegoating the south side. He succeeds in managing to deflate her entire argument, and gets everyone back on track.
• Death by Adaptation: Double subverted. Gets shot in the first season finale, but recovers in the season two premiere, only to actually die two seasons later.
• Family Man: Fred's number one priority is protecting his family, especially his son Archie.
• Fatal Flaw: Fred is a decent kind-hearted man and an overall good father, but at heart he is just too easy going for his own good. Whilst normally having no trouble disciplining Archie, following him spiralling out of control thanks to his PTSD, Fred is left unable to do anything to help his son even after he sides with Hiram Lodge.
• Generation Xerox: In his high school days, he was split between dating Mary and Hermione, his own version of the Betty and Veronica problem.
• Good Parents: In a series where abuse, manipulation and hidden agendas are common among the parents, Fred sticks out as a dad trying to make the best life he can for his son.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Throws himself in front of Archie to take a bullet fired from the Black Hood. The kevlar vest he's wearing saves his life.
  • When a speeder is bearing down on a woman whom he's helping with car trouble, he pushes her out of the way, at the cost of his own life.
• Like a Son to Me: How he sees Jughead. He clearly plays the role of Parental Substitute to him but considering how much of a dysfunctional family he comes from and how messed up his own father is, Fred probably feels somewhat of a responsibility for him.
• Like Father, Like Son: Archie most definitely took after Fred in many ways. Both Fred and Archie were involved in a Betty and Veronica type of love triangle with Fred being caught in the middle between Mary and Hermione and Archie being caught in the middle or showing interest in Betty and Veronica. The two of them also have a love of music since Fred formed a musical band with FP when they were younger and Archie has a passion for music and wants to possibly pursue it as a career. Both Fred and Archie are the typical Nice Guy who are kind hearted, caring and friendly with everyone and give everyone a second chance. Archie is basically Fred 2.0.
• Nice Guy: Even aside from his good parent traits, Fred is a decent friendly person. He’s the only one to give Hermione a chance following her fall from grace with Hiram’s corruption arrest.
• Papa Wolf:
  • An understated example: he's willing to take some morally ambiguous actions to keep Archie safe and provided for. This includes letting Ms. Grundy go free to maintain Archie's reputation. He also justifies firing Jughead's dad as what he had to do to keep his family financially sound, even at the cost of Jughead's expense. He eventually extends this to Jughead by forging documents to provide an alibi for Jason's murder.
  • Unhesitatingly shields Archie from being shot by the second Black Hood in Chapter 34. Thankfully he is wearing a bullet proof jacket this time.
• Parental Substitute: Since FP is pretty much an absentee father for Jughead, Fred definitely treats Jughead like he's his own son. Considering that Archie and Jughead call each other their brother, it's definitely believable that Jughead sees Fred as a secondary father. Jughead even lampshades this during a discussion with the Serpents referring to Fred being like a father to him.
• Push Over Parents: Played for Drama. Due to a combination of being shot by the Black Hood and being out of his depth, Fred struggles throughout the second season to stand up to Archie and be there for him as the trauma pulls Archie down a darker path and turns him into a worse person. Following Archie siding with Hiram, Fred can mostly only watch as his son supports a plan to build a prison in Riverdale and is disparaging towards him for being against it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: When Archie finally comes clean about his desire to pursue music, Fred doesn't forbid him from doing what Archie thinks is best. Even when he grounds Archie, he still tries to be as accommodating as possible to his son.
• Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Back in the day, he was the poor suitor to Hiram's rich. Hermione went with the rich guy.
• Self-Made Man: Everything Fred has he made for himself. His father fell ill whilst Fred was still in his teens, forcing him to abandon his dreams of going to college and take a job breaking rocks. He eventually founded his own construction company with FP, and carried on even after he was forced to buy FP out.
• Standard '50s Father: Despite the show’s Darker and Edgier status and modern setting, Fred plays this completely straight. In a town full of parents struggling to be good role models to their children and their own demons, he is a solid, decent, upstanding and caring man, who is likewise kind hearted, wise, and rational. Fred is always willing to give his son (and his friends) support, advice and love. He’s even the owner of his small construction company, married his high school sweetheart (although they are presently separated, the two are still close) and had Archie.
• Team Dad: Out of all the parents, Fred is the most paternal and fatherly. He's also protective of all of the kids (Betty, Jughead, Veronica, Kevin) as well as Archie.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • His relationship with Forsythe. Back when they were younger, he and FP were as close as Archie and Jughead are now: they worked on a van together, formed a band, and even founded Andrews Construction Company together. However, after FP went off the wagon, Fred finally got sick of bailing him out, so instead bought him out of the company and fired him. He and FP manage to more or less patch things up as the series goes on, but there are still tensions between them.
  • It’s implied he and Hiram had a similar relationship in high school to Archie and Reggie, with them happily reminiscing as adults about the night they snuck into Blossom’s Pool. When Fred discovers Hiram’s plans to build a for-profit prison in Riverdale and he is running on a platform that demonises the Southside, Fred cuts all ties with Hiram.

Mary Andrews

Mary Andrews née Maiden

Played by: Molly Ringwald

Archie's Missing Mom who returns to Riverdale in light of recent events.

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• Actor Allusion: A number of the teen movies Molly Ringwald starred in in The '80s were set in Chicago. Guess where Archie's mom is from?
• Alliterative Name: She was born Mary Maiden.
• Amicable Exes: According to Fred, they hold no ill will towards each other. When she finally appears, she proves it by brushing off Alice's attempts to sow discord between her and Hermione, having truly moved on; given that she hooks up with a woman in season 4, it's possible that their break-up was a case of Incompatible Orientation instead of ill will. Their bond remains so strong that she's treated more like Fred's widow than his ex-wife.
• Berserk Button: Whilst they are divorced, Mary will not allow anyone to disparage Fred in her presence. She furiously reads her own son the riot act when he implies he’s actually afraid of Hiram’s vision for the town.
• Good Parents: She is very supportive of Archie's music (even expressing an interest in seeing him perform), and as covered under Amicable Exes she has a decent relationship with Fred despite their separation. She also takes Archie's decision to stay with Fred in stride, hugging him and telling him she loves him.
• Hello, Attorney!: Mary is a lawyer for a living and she's also an attractive redhead who dresses very well.
• Hot-Blooded: It’s not obvious considering how friendly and easy going she is, but underneath it all Mary possesses a very strong passion and fury. It was she who gave Archie all his fire.
• Irony: She wants to take Archie with her to Chicago because she feels Riverdale is extremely dangerous. Chicago itself has a reputation for being the "murder capital" of the United States ironically enough. But given that Fred was shot at the end of Season One, and it's revealed the Blossoms' maple syrup industry is a front for a major drug trafficking operation, she may have more of a point than one might think.
• Like Father, Like Son: It’s less obvious than how he takes after Fred, but it’s clear that Archie has inherited a number of his mother’s traits. They’re both passionate, strong willed, ambitious and possess a surprising powerful fury hidden beneath their kind natures.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Gets a female lover in the fourth season.
• Mama Bear: She's shown to be very protective of Archie and his safety. She even wanted him to move to Chicago with her because she didn't believe Riverdale was a safe environment for Archie.
• Missing Mom: She left her husband and son some time before the series begins. She returns at the end of 1.10 to Riverdale.
• Nice Girl: Mary is very kind-hearted, loving and caring, especially towards her son Archie.
• Parental Abandonment: After she and Fred separate, Mary goes to live in Chicago and she works as an attorney there. She does come back to Riverdale later in Season 1 to visit Fred and Archie. And even though Mary has moved away, she and Archie are still a very loving family.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Mary wants Archie to move to Chicago with her because she believes that living in Riverdale wasn't a safe place for him. However when Archie tells her that he wants to stay in Riverdale instead because his friends need him, Mary is very supportive and accepts his decision.

Frank Andrews

Frank Andrews

Played by: Ryan Robbins

An ex-soldier in the US Army and Fred's brother, he once led a troubled life before and after he entered the military.

• Private Military Contractors: After he was discharged, Frank was approached with an offer to be a contractor. He refused to take it up.
• Retired Badass: He's an ex-soldier of the US army after all.

Cooper Family

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper née Smith.

Played by: Mädchen Amick, Lili Reinhart (younger)

Slut-shaming. It's what they call it when sluts get shamed.

Betty's mother and editor of the Riverdale Register, the local newspaper.

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• Abusive Parents: Betty blames her sister's breakdown on her parenting, saying that while Jason Blossom didn't help, Alice did most of the damage. Her relationship with Betty also reeks of emotional abuse. That's not even getting into how she had Polly put into a home for 'troubled youths' against her will, because she was going to run away with Jason Blossom. She (mostly) reforms though, see Character Development.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the Comics, Alice is very warm-hearted, kind and loving towards Betty. However, in the show Alice is much more demanding, manipulative and controlling towards her. It also dramatically changes the dynamics of their mother-daughter relationship since Betty is extremely close with her mother in the comics but has a rather strained, tension filled relationship with her on the show. However, despite her controlling attitude at the start, Alice Took a Level in Kindness later on making her more like her comics version.
• Aesop Amnesia: Every season, Alice learns to trust Betty and respect her boundaries and to not judge people. Every season, she forgets it and goes back to square one, if not worse.
• Almighty Mom: Alice is always successful in calling out anyone, whether it's Hal, Betty, or Archie. She's an expert at putting people in their place and she doesn't blink when she does it because she's so ruthless.
• Alpha Bitch: Mary states that Alice used to be one in high school, even in the present she can still be incredibly petty, catty and smug towards others. Even after developing into a better person, she still can display these traits.
• Betty and Veronica: She was the Betty to FP (Archie) over his ex Gladys (Veronica) in both high school and present day. He chose the latter.
• Break the Haughty: The humiliation she receives after the Black Hood forces Betty to publish her mugshot in the "Blue and Gold," from her Serpent Days, is this. Even Betty, despite being forced by the Black Hood, and the slight guilt she feels, mention's that it's fitting retribution for Alice's "Holier than thou," attitude against F.P., Jughead, and the Southside.
• Character Development: Originally a nasty helicopter mom who emotionally abuses her daughters, she realizes how badly she's screwed up her family due to Hal's controlling nature, and softens up in the middle of the first season, even helping Jughead and Betty with their investigation of Jason's killer.
• Control Freak: Alice is extremely controlling in regards to Betty, so much that she basically tries to dominate every aspect of her daughter's life. Betty even calls her out on this because she has such a strong fear that she's going to become Polly and repeat her older sister's mistakes.
• Drama Queen: She has strange over-the-top beliefs about the Blossoms, and a deep hatred for Veronica and Archie for some reason, even holding a mini-cleansing ritual with sage and candles in Betty's rooms after Cheryl visits, and highlights Jason's death as a national conspiracy.
• Easily Forgiven: Deconstructed. Despite everything she does, Betty and others forgive and forget, even acting like as if Alice is now a better person, even when she clearly isn't. But by season 6, it’s obvious that Alice is becoming dependent on this as opposed to learning from her mistakes and actually changing. Betty in turn is becoming increasingly fed up with her mother's behavior and starts taking steps to distance herself from her.
• Education Mama: Alice puts a lot of emphasis on Betty's education and her performance in school, which is why Betty always makes sure that she has stellar grades, as her mom demands it of her.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even she is enraged and disgusted by Hal trying to force Polly into getting an abortion.
• Fatal Flaw: Her perfectionist tendencies, refusal to apologize or even take responsibility for her actions and her inability (or unwillingness) to learn from her mistakes.
• Female Misogynist: She shows signs of this in the first season. A great deal of her undeserved vitriol about Veronica is tied into her being a "bad girl" and a "slut". Alice also seems to resent Polly for her sexuality and, as much as she hates Jason, places some blame on her daughter for letting him have sex with her. By the second season she grows out of it. Somewhat.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • She didn't like the Blossoms before their son was dating her daughter and she holds him responsible for Polly's breakdown, which explains the sheer level of spite she has in regards to his death. Becomes considerably less justified when it's revealed most of Polly's "breakdown" is a cover-up for her pregnancy.
  • She also seems to think that Archie, much like Jason, will lead Betty astray like Jason allegedly did to Polly, and spends most of her onscreen time trying to make Betty give him up as a friend.
  • A lot of Alice's controlling nature could stem from her own youthful pregnancy and subsequent giving up for adoption (despite Hal's idea) of her baby -she has a severely insistent on controlling everything in her life due to what she sees as her own mistake, and this directly ties into how rude she is to other women, stemming largely from a sort of misplaced guilt/regret.
• Foil: To Hermione Lodge. Both of them went on to marry men who offered them a higher social and financial situation, the consequences of which hounded them into their adult life and families. While Alice starts off quite mean and Hermione appears kind and motherly, as Alice becomes a better person Hermione starts to display her nastier side.
• Former Teen Rebel: She was a "bad girl" and a Serpent as a teenager.
• The Fundamentalist: Initially teased, but downplayed as the series goes on and as her more respectively cynical and sensitive aspects are revealed. She is still moralistic and self-righteous to absurd extremes, but doesn't quite check all the boxes for the stereotype at its worst.
• Heel Realization: Finding out that her husband almost forced Polly to go through with an abortion seems to sober her up. She finally opens herself to her daughters and throws Hal out.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: She eventually realizes how horrible she's been to Polly and even kicks Hal out of the house upon learning he tried to make Polly get an abortion, but it's too late to repair that shattered trust, and even after an impassioned plea from Betty, Polly decides to live with the Blossoms rather than going back home. Subverted later on when it turns out the real reason Polly went to live with the Blossoms was to spy on them.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: What side Alice is on depends on the season and sometimes even the episode.
• Holier Than Thou: Whilst not religious, Alice fits this trope to a tee. She sees herself as the town's patron of moral virtue and constantly lords it over everyone else, especially the Southside. This is despite her blatant arrogance, hypocrisy and occasional hatemongering. Betty outright lampshades and names this trope in "When a Stranger Calls" whilst calling her mother out.
• Ignored Epiphany: Downplayed. Whilst she’s nowhere near as bad as she used to be, Alice starts to regress from her character development in season two, becoming more judgmental, distrusting, catty and smug, including towards her daughters. Polly lampshades this in Chapter 16 after Alice’s latest mistake, claiming that she’ll be remorseful right up until she’s forgiven, then she’ll make the same mistakes again at some point in the future.
• Immigrant Patriotism: Alice is the town’s loudest critic of the South Side, and especially the Serpents. This is despite the fact she grew up on the South Side and used to be a Serpent.
• The Infiltration: Goes undercover in The Farm for the FBI.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Spiteful, manipulative, and continues trash-talking Jason even after it's just come out that the kid's been murdered. She also views the whole thing as more of a business opportunity than a tragedy. Towards the end of Season 1 and into Season 2, however, she gradually sheds off a lot of her nastiness. She finally opens up to Polly and genuinely welcomes her and her baby back at their home even though Polly later chooses to stay at the Thornhill, and she even kicks her husband out of the house when she finds out he's been secretly planning for Polly to get an abortion.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • She is not the least bit objective about Jason's death due to holding him responsible for her older daughter's mental breakdown along with some implied prior issues with the Blossom family. But it's shown in 1.03 that Jason did engage in unseemly behavior towards Polly, making her open hatred towards him somewhat understandable.
  • Averted when it comes to confronting Miss Grundy and Archie about her affair. While she claims that it's the right thing to do to haul a 'child predator' into the authorities, it's made pretty clear that she sees the affair as a sure way to sever Betty's ties to Archie and even wants to pin the blame on him rather than the adult involved, leading to Betty and Archie's dad negotiating instead to let Grundy go free.
• Method Acting: She has been doing this for decades by pretending to be a perfect northsider, and for a year when she joined the Farm Undercover for the FBI.
• Mama Bear:
  • She goes completely berserk upon finding out that Hal wanted Polly's unborn child aborted, to the point that she throws him out of the house herself.
  • She is likewise angered at Hal's increasingly poor treatment of Chic, and coldly threatens to kick Hal out a second time.
• Manipulative Bitch: Can be a very manipulative and cunning person and at times, she will resort to dominate her daughter Betty by trying to influence every aspect of her life. Betty, of course, calls her out on her treatment of her. Despite being a Foil for Hermione Lodge, she definitely shares these traits in common with her.
• My Beloved Smother: She's very controlling. Considering how she tries to take over every aspect of Betty's life, she most definitely fits. But Alice's domineering behavior and treatment towards Betty mostly stems from love and a sincere desire to prevent what happened to Polly to happen to her younger daughter.
• Never My Fault: She almost never owns up to her mistakes and choices. And on the very rare ocassions she does, she nevertheless reverts back to her ways in a few episodes. It doesn’t help that she’s Easily Forgiven.
• Old Flame: She and FP were a couple in High School, and later get back together in season 3.
• Outliving One's Offspring: She loses Polly in season 5.
• Parental Favoritism: During a therapy session, Betty keeps asking her why was she always so controlling only with her and never with Polly. Alice acknowledges it is because she always loved Betty the most.
• Pet the Dog: In "A Kiss Before Dying". Despite showing nothing but contempt for Archie up to that point, she sincerely comforts him at the hospital after Fred's been shot, telling him not to worry, and that his father is strong and will make it.
• Rags to Riches: 'Riches' is overstating it, but as a former Southside girl who used to be a Serpent, she did move up the socioeconomic pole by marrying Hal Cooper.
• Snap Back: When all the characters are time-traveled back to The '50s, she goes right back to her original controlling, cruel, petty personality.
• Straw Character: Alice has plenty of nuance and depth beyond this, but she does also possess a number of stereotypically extreme conservative traits. She’s disparaging of female sexuality to the point of open misogyny, denounces Rose Blossom’s harmless Romani tradition as occultism, and is openly suspicious and disparaging towards FP and Joaquin (to the point of trying to force the former to leave his own son’s birthday party), just for being from the Southside. (This last one may just be overcompensating though, considering she herself is also from the Southside).
• Took a Level in Kindness: After 1.08, she becomes much gentler. She's still tough as nails, but she's more protective of Betty and the kids than being outright nasty.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: During Season 3. She follows Polly's advice and joins The Farm and has followed their teachings without question. Also, she later sends Betty to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy (when it's common knowledge the place isn't humane), and Alice knows firsthand how things are handled there. Subverted in the Season 3 Finale is it’s revealed that she's been The Mole all along, helping the FBI build a case against Edgar Evernever, and everything she does is part of her role.
• Walking Spoiler:The amount of secrets she has and the changes she goes through are why half of her character sheet is marked out.
• Wrong Side of the Tracks: 1.10 reveals that she was once a Southside Serpent, and grew up in that part of town herself.
• The Unapologetic: Alice has never apologized for anything she’s done, from harassing Archie to everything she put Betty through in Season 3.

Hal Cooper

Harold "Hal" Cooper

Played by: Lochlyn Munro, Zachary Hayden (younger)

Betty and Polly's father and Alice's husband, co-editor of the Riverdale Register.

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• Abusive Parents: He puts Betty through incredible amounts of psychological abuse and mind games while the Black Hood, stemming from a twisted belief that they are the same. This includes forcing her to break off all her relationships with her friends, and even name the next person for him to murder under the threat of him killing her family.
• Action Dad: Broke into Sheriff Keller’s home to steal his case files on Jason's murder, as part of a twisted attempt to protect his daughter and family name.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the Comics Hal is usually portrayed as balding and quite overweight. Lochlyn is tall, muscular and has a full head of hair.
• Adaptational Jerkass: His comic book counterpart is a loving father and a kind hearted man. Riverdale's Hal is a snobbish, belligerent man who is secretly the true Black Hood.
• An Arm and a Leg: Type one. In season three, he cuts off one of his hands to make it look like he died in a Bus Crash.
• Asshole Victim: After all the shit he pulled over several seasons, Penelope Blossom shooting him hardly comes off as an unpardonable sin.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Early on, Hal comes off as far more reasonable and easygoing than his wife, and shows tenderness toward Betty. However, he quickly grows hostile with Betty when she presses him for more information about Polly and Jason, warning her in a mildly threatening tone to stay out of it. It becomes clear soon after that, underneath it all, there's a nasty streak when it comes to certain issues that even surpasses Alice's. And that's before it's revealed at the end of Season 2, that Hal is really the Black Hood, a murderous, psychopathic serial killer that's been terrorizing the town all year.
• Boom, Headshot!: How Penelope Blossom kills him in season three.
• The Corrupter: Hal tries to be this to Betty, insisting that she has the killer instinct and the 'darkness' inside her like he does, coaxing her to follow in his footsteps when it comes to trying to 'purify' Riverdale. As both the Black Hood and his regular identity, he has a rather creepy obsession with his teenage daughter, trying to manipulate her over to the dark side. He ultimately fails to convert her though, when Betty refuses to kill him as a final test, and he is instead shot and murdered by Penelope.
• Dark Secret: He and Clifford are actually cousins, as the Blossoms and Coopers actually descend from the same family that split due to a murder in the family. He's also the Black Hood, a serial killer that terrorizes Riverdale, and Betty Cooper personally, for much of Season 2.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • His attempts to break up Polly and Jason. If he had just told his daughter the truth about her lineage, she might have agreed (especially considering how horrified she is when it finally comes out), but his own shame meant he instead tried to force them apart, which just pushed them closer together and severely damaged his relationship with his daughters, and eventually his wife.
  • On a lesser scale, after Alice makes it clear she doesn't care about appearances anymore, he tries to quietly remove her from their business. She immediately throws a rock through the window.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Hal is secretly the true Black Hood, responsible for the entire killing spree spanning seasons 2 through 3.
• The Dragon: After being a villainous threat in his own right throughout Season 2, Hal becomes subordinate to Penelope in Season 3, working alongside Chic as her right-hand men, united in their desire to cleanse Riverdale. Also counts as Demoted to Dragon, since he was the Big Bad of the previous season.
• Easily Forgiven: A variation at the end of Season 1, in that while he's not guaranteed to be free from Alice's henpecking behavior in the future, she still lets him back in the house eventually and carries on with their family life as if nothing's happened.
• Faking the Dead: In season 3, he seemingly dies in a bus crash, but doesn't.
• Faux Affably Evil: Downplayed. In the second season, Hal is revealed to be the Black Hood, having been terrorizing the town of Riverdale during most of the season. However, in the previous season, he came off as an overall decent man who genuinely cared about his family. And as the Black Hood, he genuinely believes himself to be doing the right thing, after he became disgusted at the town's corruption.
• Freudian Excuse: It’s revealed in “Judgement Night” that Hal was raised by a pair of sociopaths. His father was the Riverdale Reaper and his mother taught him that sinners must die. The two of them forced him to manipulate Joseph Conway into naming the wrong person to the lynch mob when he was six years old.
• Henpecked Husband: Alice clearly rules over him just as much their daughters.
• Hook Hand: He now sports one of these as of late season three, having cut off his own hand to temporarily fake his death during a jailbreak.
• Hypocrite: His villainous motivation for being the Black Hood ties into his abusive, overly religious background. He thinks Riverdale is a city filled with poisonous, wretched degenerates, and he wants to rid the town of 'sinners'. This resentment conveniently ignores his own adulterous affair with Penelope, and his long string of wanton murder.
• It Runs in the Family: It’s heavily implied that insanity runs in his family. No less than three generations of Coopers have been cold blooded murders and both his cousins are sociopaths. His daughter Betty likewise regularly struggles with what is heavily implied to be an undiagnosed mental illness and Chapter 35 implies Polly has it too. Plus, they're all Blossoms, so this trope extends to the extended Blossom Family
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In the third season, he seems to be making a turn for the better as a father, giving Betty some candid advice and wanting to mend their relationship. Next to Alice and her supposed descent into madness, he even seems like the more reasonable parent in Betty's life. It's all an act, though. He goes right back to his old ways after escaping confinement and tries to kill his daughter and her friends, or corrupt Betty into killing him.
• Karmic Death: The Black Hood's reign of terror is ultimately brought to an end when he's shot and killed by his partner-in-crime, Penelope, for failing her, emotionally destroying Betty.
• Killed Off for Real: After faking his death to escape prison a few episodes previously, Hal is killed off for real when Penelope shoots him in the head, point-blank.
• Knight Templar: A man who takes on the identity of a serial killer to eliminate all the "sinners" for the "good" of the general populace pretty much checks off all the boxes, no?
• Mask of Sanity: Hal spends the majority of the series seeming to be an ordinary, if a bit snobbish and temperamental, middle aged man who loves his family. Secretly, he’s an unstable mad man who believes that sinners must die.
• Not So Above It All: Despite trying to be sympathetic, he hates the Blossoms even more than his wife. He eventually reveals that this is because he himself is a Blossom. His branch of the family changed their name after his great uncle murdered his own brother (Hal’s grandfather) for the maple syrup fortune.
• Pater Familicide: Following Betty figuring out he’s the real Black Hood, Hal decides to reveal his origins to his family, then kill Betty and Alice and commit suicide. The two manage to disable him before he can go through with it.
• Parents as People: Hal tries to be a good father for his daughters, but throughout the first season he lets his hatred towards the Blossoms blind him. This ends up almost destroying his relationship with both daughters and his wife.
• Sins of Our Fathers: His hatred and family rivalry with the Blossoms stem from a decades old blood feud.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season 1, at worst Hal was a bit of a snob, who put pressure on his daughter to have an abortion and had a hidden nasty streak. In Season 2, Hal is revealed to be the true Black Hood, a deranged serial killer responsible for four people's deaths.
• Would Hurt a Child: As the Black Hood, who is responsible for the death of Midge Klump, and attacked Cheryl Blossom.

Polly Cooper

Polly Cooper

Played by: Tiera Skovbye

Betty's older sister, who seemingly suffered a breakdown and currently lives in a group home.

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• Brainwashed and Crazy
• Break the Cutie
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Hal and Alice Cooper hate the Blossoms, and had before Polly and Jason were dating. To say that Hal disapproved would be an understatement.
• Good Bad Girl: Cheryl describes her as a party girl, and she was certainly "bad" enough that she got pregnant and planned to run away with a guy her parents hated. Polly herself even says her parents "couldn't control her." Despite this, when we meet her, she comes off as sweet and loving to her sister Betty, and it's shown she genuinely loved Jason.
• Elopement: After becoming pregnant by Jason Blossom, the two became engaged and were planning to run away together before Alice sent her away to the Sisters and Jason was killed.
• Locked Away in a Monastery: Polly was sent away by Alice to "The Sisters of Quiet Mercy", a church-run facility for "troubled youths" after being impregnated by Jason Blossom.
• Manipulative Bitch: Whether it's the result of her being Brainwashed or her being The Mentally Disturbed, she shows herself more deceitful and manipulative in episode 21 when she (believing Betty is been hypnotized) appears to Betty dressed up as her more darker persona telling Betty she is a killer "like their dad" and she should embrace that. In Season 4, after being committed to a mental health facility, she gas-lights Betty even more by prank-calling her pretending to be their deceased father.
• The Mentally Disturbed: Hints of this were shown during Season 1, but come Season 3 there's no doubt of this now becoming completely enamoured with (and brainwashed by) the cult known as the Farm and their code and philosophies. She goes so far as to perform induced drowning and resucitation on a newly indoctrinated Alice, her own mother so she can be "reborn", with no shred of common sense.
• The Ophelia: According to her mother, but when Betty finally finds her, she has trouble deciding if the assessment is correct or if being kept away from society for months in a institution-like "group home" has taken a strain on her. Still shows shades of this in season 3.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Cheryl believes she is this to Jason and tries to manipulate Betty into giving up information to prove that Polly killed Jason. Cheryl realizes she was wrong when she discovers Jason basically used Polly just to win points for the football team's book of sexual conquests.
• Pregnant Badass: Not so much badass as "super brave." When talking with Archie at a party thrown by the Blossoms, Polly reveals that she suspects they had a role in Jason's death, and is going undercover, which is also the reason she refuses to answer Betty's attempts at communication.
• Properly Paranoid: As revealed in 1.12, her suspicion that the Blossoms had something to do with their son's death is confirmed to be true. Clifford was the one who killed Jason.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: In Chapter 16, decides to leave Riverdale (where the Black Hood is hunting sinners), to protect herself and her unborn children.
• Shotgun Wedding: Jason and Polly's engagement seems like a self-imposed example of this, considering her pregnancy.
• Shrinking Violet: Jason noted, in the book that the football team kept, that she was "shy and reserved".
• Star-Crossed Lovers: She and Jason. Their families despise each other, to the point of the Blossoms forcing Jason to dump her, and Polly's parents throwing her into a monastery. Despite that, the two seemed to really love each other.
• Streetwalker: She's this in Season 5, as well dealing drugs with the Ghoulies, Betty learns that Polly's been hanging around truck stops hooking up with truckers.
• Struggling Single Mother
• Surprise Incest: Polly and Jason were genuinely in love and she became pregnant with his children. It's revealed that the Cooper family used to be a part of the Blossom family, as Jason and Polly's great-grandfathers were brothers making them third cousins. The Blossoms don't think it's really a big deal; the Coopers, and Polly especially still find it very squicky.
• Teen Pregnancy: She's the mother of Jason's twin children.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Clearly her time with the cult called the Farm has made her this way. It gets worse in Season 5, where she falls in with The Ghoulies that live next door and works for them, despite the risk it puts her mother and children in.
  • Took a Level in Dumbass: Believes The Farm is the solution to every problem in life which disturbs Betty on some level. This comes back to bite her hard when the truth about the cult is revealed.

Lodge Family

Hermione Lodge

Hermione Lodge née Gomez

Played by: Marisol Nichols, Camila Mendes (younger)

Veronica's mother and the wife of Hiram Lodge.

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• Action Mom: Downplayed. Hermione doesn't really take action upfront, but she does have a tendency to make things happen behind the scenes and in a more manipulative and scheming way. In this fashion, she is a prime mover in much that goes on in Riverdale but she's very subtle in how she goes about it.
• Affably Evil: By season two Hermione is openly supporting Hiram in his illegal plans and reveals she has always been aware that he is a criminal and a crime boss. However, she herself remains a polite, compassionate and professional individual, who tries to make sure everything passes with as little problems as possible. She even comes to visit Fred, to sincerely congratulate him on running a close campaign after he loses the Mayoral race to her.
• All Women Love Shoes: Like her daughter, Hermione loves her high heels and she's never not seen wearing them. Considering that she 's wealthy due to her husband, she makes it a habit of dressing up and wearing nice shoes as much as possible.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Hermione is very much an Ice Queen who doesn't show much emotion and she comes off as emotionally distant at times, even towards her daughter.
• Alpha Bitch: Hermione claims that she used to be a mean girl in high school, even calling her fall from grace karmic retribution.
• Amicable Exes: She and Fred seem to be on decent terms—they behave cordially towards one another, at least. As the series progresses they develop further, to the point of more or less hooking up again. That is, until Hermione comes clean about Hiram’s illegal deals and her part in them, at which point Fred calls it off. Despite this they at least try to remain friends.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is usually charming and friendly to the people around her, but she is helping her husband in his scheme to devalue all of Riverdale's real-estate.
• Broken Ace: Hermione is rich, beautiful, intelligent, powerful and married to a billionaire—she seems to have it all. But Beneath the Mask hides a very sad, lonely, troubled person. She's in an abusive, miserable marriage and she knows that she has no way out without abandoning her daughter.
• Broken Pedestal: Hermione is well aware that Hiram is a dangerous man, and always ensures that she does not anger him. However, she genuinely believes that he cares about her and Veronica, and will always protect them. Following her being attacked in her own home and forced to shoot the assailant to protect Veronica, her faith in him dramatically drops and whilst still loyal, she no longer tries to cover up for him in the areas where his actions harm their family.
• Cultured Badass: Hermione is wealthy, cultured, privileged and sophisticated and she lets it be known.
• Corrupt Politician: Following Fred cutting all ties with the Lodges, Hermione herself runs to be the town’s new mayor, so that she can ensure that Hiram’s plans pass without a hitch. The season ends with her winning.
• The Corruptible: To Hiram. Hermione started the series being one of the kinder and nicer parents on the show, especially in comparison to Alice, who was very controlling and ruthless, and FP, who was a deadbeat dad with a shady past and who battles addiction. But as time went on, Hermione became more and more manipulative and ruthless and this is mostly due to Hiram's indirect influence on her personality. Fred appeared to keep Hermione's good qualities afloat, but Hiram brings out the worst in her.
• The Dragon: For Hiram. Throughout Season 1, Hermione has been working for Hiram to help him continue running his businesses and ventures behind bars.
• Everyone Has Standards: She's willing to go along with Hiram's illegal deals and his hiring men to sabotage Fred's equipment, but admits in "To Riverdale and Back Again" that if turns out he did hire someone to kill Jason that she'll permanently cut all ties with him.
• Evil Matriarch: Due to being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and The Corruptible for Hiram, Hermione is slowly starting to shape up to be more on the villainous side. The fact that she's willing to threaten and manipulate her daughter to do what she wants and to fall in line with embracing her criminal father and all his misdeeds also makes her appear to be more villainous.
• Fanservice with a Smile: She looks very fetching in her uniform when she gets a job at Pop's.
• The Fashionista: Similar to her daughter, Hermione has a love of fashion and wearing fashionable and expensive clothes. There's never a time when Hermione isn't wearing expensive high heels or wearing an expensive dress. It comes with having money to spend and having the luxury of buying the finest clothes possible.
• Femme Fatale: Incredibly beautiful and just as charming as her husband, but also just as devious and dangerous. In Season 3 "The Red Dahlia", its revealed how dangerous Hermione truly can be - she's revealed as the one who attempted to have Hiram assassinated, even strong-armed FP Jones into shooting Hiram after his schemes endangered Veronica's life a number of times. She then seduced Michael Minetta, whom she was shacking up with into finishing Hiram off, then after Minetta fails, Hermione herself executes him to "tie up loose ends".
• Foil: Toward Alice Cooper. Both were former high school mean girls who chose partners that would improve their social and financial situation, and had to live with the consequences and how this shaped them into adulthood. As Alice slowly becomes a better person, Hermione starts to display her worse traits.
• Gold Digger: 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.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Hermione sometimes peppers her speech with Spanish words and phrases, most notably she normally calls Veronica "mija." Of the Lodges she is the most likely to speak Spanish.
• Iron Lady: Hermione has turned out to be cold, ruthless, and manipulative and in some ways, she's just as bad as her husband Hiram. Maybe even worse than him because of how much of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and Lady Macbeth she is.
• Lady Macbeth: Veronica accuses her of being one to Fred and by the end of the season, she isn't exactly wrong.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Compared to some of the other moms like Alice Cooper (at least until 1.08) and Penelope Blossom, she's this. She does have her flaws and she's involved in some very shady dealings but compared to Alice and Penelope, she's significantly nicer of a character and isn't half as overbearing or as obnoxious as they are.
• Mama Bear: Hermione is very protective of Veronica. Despite being clearly terrified out of her wits, she forces Veronica behind her when attacked by Small Fry and ends up shooting him to protect her.
• Manipulative Bitch: Hermione is definitely shaping up to be this along with being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Her manipulative traits are clearly as result of her being indirectly influenced by Hiram.
• Ms. Fanservice: Hermione is a beautiful, alluring woman who nearly always wears expensive, elegant or revealing clothes.
• Nice to the Waiter: She treats Smithers more like a valued friend than an employee.
• Old Flame: She and Fred used to date.
• Proper Lady: She's sophisticated, wealthy, privileged, and has excellent manners and etiquette.
• Put on a Bus: With her actress leaving the show in season 5, Hermione leaves Hiram to work on reality tv, with only a few guest appearances afterward.
• Race Lift: Just like her daughter, she's white in the comics, but Latina here.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She does all she can to help her daughter and when they disagree, they literally set up a "negotiation" in order to solve their differences. She also agrees to hide the pregnant and recently escaped Polly Cooper from both the Coopers (minus Betty) and the Blossoms (possibly minus Cheryl).
• Rich Bitch: Double Subverted. Hermione is married to Hiram, who's very wealthy and is a billionaire. But despite the amount of money that she has, she was still a very nice person. However, it's later revealed that she is more of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and she's really not so nice after all.
• Riches to Rags: Well, "rags" is overstating it, but following Hiram's arrest and incarceration, she has significantly less money to play with, and is forced to pick up a job so she can have an income of her own.
• Silk Hiding Steel: On the surface, Hermione acts like she just Hiram's loving and supportive wife. But she’s very ruthless, manipulative, domineering and slightly controlling underneath. She is likewise just as intelligent and capable as Hiram himself, a fact he well knows.
• Spicy Latina: Averted. Like her daughter, she is very even-tempered.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Hermione can easily switch from being nice, cheerful, and friendly to someone very cold, aloof and distant. It turns out her true personality is that of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and that her nice persona was all a facade and that underneath, she's just as cold and ruthless as Hiram. She does show more vulnerability towards her daughter but at the same time, she can be very manipulative towards her when she wants something from her.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Hermione starts the series as one of the kinder and clearly better parents. However, toward the end of the season, prompted on by Hiram’s influence, her more ruthless and manipulative side starts to become more prominent, damaging her relationship with Veronica.

• Tough Leader Façade: Hermione is elected Mayor of Riverdale in the Season Two finale. She steps up as a leader of the town in Season Three and tries to inspire hope that things will get better. Especially in light of the Gryphons and Gargoyle’s crisis, banning the game and setting up a 24 hour helpline.

• The Vamp: Isn't above using her sexuality to manipulate men (e.g. Fred, and later Minetta to shoot Hiram in the hospital) to get what she wants, and encouraging her daughter to do the same.
  Veronica: Yeah, sure, Mom. No problem. I'll just sexually manipulate Archie into doing my bidding.
  Hermione: As long as you're in control.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Hermione is well involved with Lodge families links to organized crime and has personally implemented several of her husband’s plans. But to the general public she is an upstanding citizen and even managed to win the Riverdale Mayoral Election.

Hiram Lodge

Hiram Lodge née Jaime Luna

"So disrespectful. Not like you at all, Mija."

Played by: Mark Consuelos, Michael Consuelos (younger)

Hermione's husband and Veronica's father.

In Season 5, it's revealed that his birth name is Jaime Luna.

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• Abusive Parents: Hiram is a straight-up criminal with a domineering and controlling side. While his genuine love for Veronica is one of his few redeeming qualities, his shady ways nonetheless prove to be a bad influence on her, and have consequences in her day-to-day life. His behaviour finally crosses into full-on abuse in "Labor Day", when he tells Veronica that framing Archie for murder was intended as a punishment for how she "betrayed" him.
• Action Dad: Hiram was captain of the wrestling team back when he was in high school. Whilst he generally prefers not to get his hands dirty in the present, as he demonstrates in Chapter 24 he’s not let his skills slip.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: Hair is jet black unlike his white-haired comic counterpart. He's also clean shaven, where the Hiram of the comics has a substantial mustache.
• Adaptational Villainy: Unlike his comic book counterpart, this version of Hiram is a crook who is in jail awaiting trial for fraud and embezzlement. As season two proves, this is just the tip of the iceberg, with Hiram secretly being a Mob boss.
• Ambition Is Evil: Hiram's greed and ambition regarding his illegal and criminal business dealings is what caused him to spend time in jail for fraud and embezzlement. Hiram's sense of ambition and his willingness to do whatever it takes to get what he wants is why he's a criminal in the first place.
• Archnemesis Dad: To Veronica, as of the end of season 2.
• Bad Boss: Treats his lesser underlings like expendable pawns and is largely unconcerned with their fates after they've fulfilled (or failed to fulfil) their purpose. He's willing to leave his "teenage capo" Archie, who had sworn a blood oath to serve Hiram's family, to Nick Sinclair's mercy because he isn't a blood relative. He does love his wife and daughter, but treats both more like key pieces on the chess board rather than equals, and is willing to put them in harm's way to get what he wants. Played with here in that Hermione understands the necessity of this behaviour, but Veronica finds it unforgivable.
• Badass Decay: 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 rival dons 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 shiner, 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 embarrassed by others, mostly because 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 for one, now a famous singer, 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 ignores him while she holds her auction, even with him desperately waving his hand.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Hiram, a mob boss, is a Sharp-Dressed Man who's always dressed up in an expensive suit.
• Bait the Dog: From before his first appearance it’s clear that Hiram is a criminal and can be quite dangerous. However, he is a charming man who is always polite and does love his daughter. He likewise convinces Archie that his plans will help Riverdale overall, and that he just wants to secure his finances before leaving organised crime. Only it's all a lie, he truthfully wants to take over Riverdale and he’s also happy to endanger his own family to secure his position.
• Big Bad: He is the main antagonist of the show, due the being a ruthless mobster, the benefactor of the criminal gangs, all-around master criminal and the one who is determined to ruin the teens' lives.
• Big Bad Ensemble:
  • He shares the role of main villain with the Black Hood in season two. Whilst the Black Hood is the more obvious threat, Hiram is secretly illegally buying up land all over town as part of his master plan.
  • As of the second season finale, he's this with Malachai, Penny Peabody, Sheriff Manetta and Penelope & Claudius Blossom.
  • In the third season, he also shares this trope again with Gargoyle King.
• Con Man: Hiram went to jail for fraud and embezzlement. Conning people is one of his specialties.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: While the details remain unknown to the audience, his White Collar Crimes were of such magnitude that they landed him in jail and ruined the Lodges' reputation. His covert real estate dealings in Riverdale are even more transparently criminal.
• The Corrupter: To Hermione. It's clear that Hermione has pretty much done a Face–Heel Turn because she is strongly being influenced by Hiram and his slimy ways. Hermione's personality has gotten even worse since Hiram has been released from jail and has come home to Hermione and Veronica. Hiram has basically exposed that Hermione is really not that different from him because they are both cunning, scheming and manipulative.
  • Manipulates an emotionally damaged and vulnerable Archie into being his henchman in season 2.
  • Several years after the main cast has graduated, we find that Reggie Mantle, already hovering near the dark side, has become Hiram's right hand man, doing much of his dirty work.
• Dark Is Evil: He wears a black suit, and is not a good person at all.
• Disappeared Dad: He was missing from Veronica's life for a long time period because he was serving time in jail for his corrupt business deals.
• The Don: In Season 2 it is revealed that his White Collar Crimes are only the tip of the iceberg and Hiram is is a full-blown crime boss.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's a slimy dude, but he truly loves his mija (Veronica) and will do anything to protect her. It's why he tries to see Nick St. Clair killed, and why he starts grooming Archie as his protege in order to shape him up into someone that he feels is worthy of her.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In the flashback episode, Hiram was shown to be genuinely horrified when Principal Featherhead was found dead.
• Evil Mentor: To Archie in season 2. He takes advantage of Archie's fragile mental state after his father's shooting and starts him down a darker path in service to the Lodges.
  • Season 5 shows an adult Reggie has become Hiram's dragon, carrying out his evil schemes.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: He has a distinctively syrupy voice that suits his sleazy nature.
• Family-Values Villain: Hiram is a ruthless mob boss, but he is a firm believer in good manners, polite company and tries to maintain a good relationship with his daughter Veronica. This becomes deconstructed in later seasons as his relationship with Veronica falls apart and it’s pretty clear that he’s a sociopath.
• Faux Affably Evil: Hiram is a suave and calm man, who is nearly always polite and dislikes ill manners. However, as the series goes on, it becomes clear that his charm is an inch deep, and that he honestly possesses no morals or scruples.
• Frame-Up: Clifford tries to frame Hiram as the mastermind behind the Riverdale drug ring using a monogramed bag.
• The Ghost: Hiram is mentioned constantly throughout the first season and he plays an active role in the show's plot without ever showing up, due to his being in jail awaiting trial.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Like Hermione, Hiram will call Veronica "Mija", which is an affectionate Spanish term for daughter.
• I Own This Town: Hiram's true plan is to turn Riverdale into his own private fiefdom. By the end of season two he's more or less succeeded, controlling the mayor's office, police department, the Ghoulies and the drug trade, as well as personally owning the entire Southside and the Riverdale Register.
  • After two seasons, he fully takes over in Season 5.
• Ice King: Hiram comes across as very cold, aloof and ruthless. It's hard to see how Veronica could be so much of a Daddy's Girl when Hiram comes off as anything but affectionate and loving towards her.
• Jerkass: Hiram is NOT a nice person at all. It doesn't help that he's also a criminal and had went to jail for doing underhanded business deals.
• Manipulative Bastard: Hiram is a master manipulator. A large amount of his success stems from him accurately determining everyone’s weak spots and how to play them to his advantage. He plays on Archie’s fragile mental state and his desire to see Riverdale be safe again and almost succeeds in recruiting him into the mob, then later plays upon Reggie’s hatred of the Serpents to murder Fangs and spark a riot, thus giving Hermione better polling numbers.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Despite being incarcerated, he is still able to continue running his business ventures, much to Veronica's surprise.
• Morality Pet: His daughter Veronica is one for him. Hiram genuinally loves Veronica, and will even tame some of the worst areas of his personality for her benefit. But she isn't always successful in trying to stop her father from being a manipulative scheming jerk.
• Never My Fault: Hiram will rarely take responsibility for anything. Especially if it’s something that he personally did, such as framing Archie for a triple homicide or running Riverdale into ruin.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After several episodes' work, Hiram has successfully gotten Archie to swear loyalty to him and convince him to fully support his plans, greatly damaging Archie and Fred’s relationship. Rather than leave matters alone, Hiram decides to rub all this in Fred’s face right in front of Archie, hoping this will finally sever their relationship. Instead, he causes Archie to realize that he’s been treating his father badly and makes it clear to Hiram that his father will always come first. This first strike in their relationship starts the chain of events that leads Archie to realize Hiram has been using him and causes him to turn on Hiram. Through his own arrogance, Hiram effectively undoes all his work to corrupt Archie.
• One Last Job: A variation. Hiram reveals to Archie that he plans to go straight just as soon as he has set up the SoDale project, namely building a for-profit prison within Riverdale, thus ensuring his family’s wealth for years to come. Ultimately subverted, as Hiram never intended to go straight but knew it was the only way to ensure Archie’s loyalty.
• Papa Wolf: Do anything to harm Veronica and Hiram will end you. A plot point in Chapter 19. Veronica is afraid to tell her parents that Nick tried to force her to sleep with him, fearing that Hiram will kill him. She eventually admits it when it becomes clear Nick’s getting away with trying to date rape Cheryl. Hiram responds by ensuring Nick ends up in a horrible car accident.
• The Patriarch: Of the Lodge family. Not only is he Veronica's father and the primary breadwinner of the family, but he absolutely oozes authority and dominance in everything that he does. As he himself tells Archie, "I always win."
• Pet the Dog:
  • While part of it is obviously for the sake of helping his own daughter, he usually joins forces with the other parents of Riverdale when serious trouble threatens them... or just when they were having prom taken away from them.
  • He's genuinely defensive of Pop Tate when Papa Poutine insults his cooking.
  • Despite their prior animosities, Hiram manipulates his fortune in order to pay for all of Fred's funeral expenses out of pocket. Veronica and Archie only find out about it after the fact, meaning he didn't say a word to anyone about it.
  • Season 5 sees him release Reggie from his service (making up for his father Marty's debt) and encourage Reggie to make up with his dad.
• Pride: Hiram’s arrogance is easily felt and overall his greatest flaw. He’s utterly convinced of his supremacy. Whilst he can normally back up the majority of his claims and is quite brilliant, he isn’t quite the invincible Magnificent Bastard he thinks he is.
• Race Lift: In contrast to his Caucasian comic counterpart, he is Hispanic like his wife and daughter.
• Red Baron: Was known as “The Ram” back when he was in high school, due to his reputation and skills as a wrestler.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Now that Hiram is out of jail and wants to rebuild his reputation in Riverdale, he decides that the best way to do that is to shell out a large donation of money to keep Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe open. On top of it, Hiram actually owns the shop now and other people don't even realize it.
  • Season 5 has this trope in full force.
• The Sociopath: Hiram will do anything to get what he wants and has very limited care for the people around him, save for his family. Especially in Season 5, where he tries to get Reggie to injure teenage football players and encourages violent criminals to descend on Riverdale High’s parent teacher conference.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Hiram's planting of an explosive under Archie's bed at the end of Season 5 leads to the Rivervale alternate dimension in Season 6, which leads to Percival Pickens coming to town and redirecting Bailey's Comet to crash into Riverdale, which leads to the entire original timeline being overwritten with one where the characters are teens in the 1950s in Season 7. So, while trying to get revenge on one young man with one bomb that should, at most, have destroyed a house, Hiram basically ended up causing the destruction of his whole universe and led the cast to die of old age several decades earlier than they would have.
• Wicked Cultured: Hiram’s a wealthy man who has a thing for custom made suits and high taste activities. He also enjoys opera music.

Smithers

Smithers

Played by: Tom McBeath

The doorman at the Lodge's apartment building.

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• Cool Old Guy: Smithers is a genuinely nice and helpful person. Even after escaping the Lodges' reach and clearly fearing for his life when he's in the bus terminal, he makes a point to ask Jug how Veronica's coping.
• Damned by Faint Praise: While he openly calls Hermione "unequivocally good," he refuses to comment on Hiram's character when asked by Veronica.
• The Jeeves: As we've seen so far, he is very competent and helpful to the Lodge women.
• Put on a Bus: Disappears in Chapter 15. Whilst Hiram claims he’s had to temporarily leave to look after his ill mother, it’s implied he fired him in response to his trying to warn Veronica about her father.
  • The Bus Came Back: Quite literally; when he appears in town briefly to give Jughead information on Hiram's criminal past, it's revealed he secretly fled the Lodges and has gotten employment as a bus driver. He later shows up to work under Veronica during the period Hiram is recovering from getting shot and occasionally appears throughout seasons 4 and 5 to act as a surrogate guardian to Veronica.
• Old Retainer: He has apparently worked in that building since Hermione was a kid.

Andre

Andre

Played By Stephan Miers

The Pembroke's new doorman, whom Hiram brings in to replace Smithers. He is secretly a mob enforcer working for Hiram.

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• Affably Evil: Andre is an enforcer and a cold blooded murderer, but he’s also impeccably polite, even with people who know his true allegiance and activities.
• Battle Butler: As well as serving as Hiram’s doorman and the Lodge’s chauffeur, Andre is also Hiram’s bodyguard and assassin.
• Beard of Evil: Has a short, neatly cut black beard. He’s also a cold blooded murderer and hitman.
• The Brute: As Hiram’s last remaining Capo and a hitman, he is Hiram’s main muscle (along with Adams). It is he who Hiram gets to murder Papa Poutine, upon learning that Poutine plans to bump Hiram off.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Despite being a recurring character throughout the entire season, Small Fry unceremoniously murders him in “Judgement Night”.
• Informed Ability: Is claimed by Hiram to be highly trained in “the martial arts”. We never see him display these skills onscreen, and in his one onscreen fight he is beaten senseless by Adams.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Hiram. Andre is the only member of Hiram’s crew (except for Adams) who remains loyal to him following Hiram’s imprisonment. He likewise remains loyal to Hiram even after Adams is bought out by the other bosses and viciously assaults Andre to send a message.
• Professional Killer: Andre is a mob enforcer and hitman. Hiram has him murder Papa Poutine, and he later casually murders a helpless teenage delinquent who stole Veronica’s necklace.

Hermosa Lodge

Played by: Mishel Prada

Hermosa, a Miami-born and -raised private investigator who arrives in town in classic femme fatale fashion. Hermosa is confident, ambitious and calculating — and knows that everything comes with a price.

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• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She is cold, and manipulative.
• Big Sister Bully: A subtle example, but most of her interactions with her little sister Veronica have her being dismissive and at least slightly insulting. There is also the fact that Hermosa is well aware that Hiram is a Jerkass and accepts it.
• Long-Lost Relative: She is Hiram’s illegitimate daughter and Veronica’s half sister.
• Private Detective: Hermosa is a private detective, whose skills get her father out of prison. She also very easily figures out that Jughead isn’t actually dead, and discovers some very interesting things about Donna Sweett at the behest of her sister Veronica.

Blossom Family

Penelope Blossom

Penelope Blossom

Played by: Nathalie Boltt, Madelaine Petsch (younger)

The wealthy mother of Cheryl and Jason with a seething hatred of the Lodge and Cooper families.

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• Abusive Parents: 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 around, and refuses to let her speak at her twin brother Jason's funeral. When Cheryl does so regardless, Penelope threatens to ship her overseas. In the season 1 finale, she even inadvertently pushes Cheryl to attempt suicide.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Penelope is a wealthy woman who comes from an old money blood line. She’s also a selfish, elitist, cold hearted abuser and all around detestable woman.
• Big Bad: Becomes one of the main villains in Season 3.
• Big Bad Ensemble: As of the season 2 finale, she's a member of this alongside Claudius Blossom, Penny Peabody, Malachai and Sheriff Manetta, all of whom are working under Hiram Lodge.
• Bitch Alert: Is introduced by ripping up Cheryl's planned speech for her brother, claiming that it would embarrass the family.
• Break the Haughty: In "A Kiss Before Dying", she ends up seriously injured thanks to her own greed, and at the mercy of Cheryl, who calls her out for all her years of abuse, and lets her know things will be very different from now on.
• Broken Bird: Often hinted at. Penelope can move from relentlessly icy and near emotionless to a screaming, out of control wreck and back again at the slightest provocation, and just about every word and deed in between is underscored by a deep sense of sadness and despairing apathy. Judging by what other characters have to say about her, she was this way before Jason's death as well.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Emotionally abusive to Cheryl and very sharp-tongued to everyone else. However, she did genuinely love her son. When face-to-face with Alice Cooper, who published Jason's autopsy without permission and came to Penelope just to boast about it, Penelope snaps and breaks down into tears.
  Penelope: [crying] They tortured him and threw him in the river like trash!
  • While she's said and done unconscionable things to Cheryl, she does take steps to keep her daughter safe when she can, and seems genuinely hurt that Cheryl considers her an unfit mother.
• Everyone Has Standards: As truly awful a mother as she is, she doesn't seem to want to see Cheryl seriously hurt or killed.
• Evil Redhead: She has the trademark Blossom red hair and she's one of the most unlikable characters in the show.
• Freudian Excuse: She was 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. Years later, when Jason is murdered and (apparently) no one comforts her, it was the last straw and causes her to become the horrible person she is now.
• Greater-Scope Villain: She is the mastermind behind the Black Hood & the Gargoyle King, spurred by the people of Riverdale turning a blind eye to her being sold as a child bride long ago, and because the lack of sympathy extended to her after Jason’s death.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: When she made a guest appearance in Season 6, after Walking the Earth, Penelope had joined a holy order, apologized to Cheryl for her misdeeds, and attempted to make up for them by giving Cheryl the letters her old love Heather had sent, bringing Cheryl and Heather back together. In Season 7, the timeline is changed to one where Penelope is a Russian Communist spy, undoing her redemption arc, and the last we see of them, she and Clifford end up being exposed by their own children and arrested by the feds.
• High-Class Call Girl: Penelope is an elegant, sophisticated woman. Following losing all her money in season two and being faced with the prospect of having to get a job, she decides to become a call girl.
• Ice Queen: She's extremely cold towards everyone, especially Cheryl.
• Idle Rich: She had never worked before Clifford's death due to a lifetime of wealth.
• Iron Lady: Penelope is cold, icy, and stern. She's especially cold and ruthless in her treatment towards Cheryl, even more so than her father Cliff.
• Jerkass: She and Clifford have the audacity to make fun of Veronica's father's arrest... to her face. Overall, Penelope is not a nice person at all. She's cold, mean, ruthless, and manipulative. The manner in which she treats Cheryl, her only surviving child, and one that has gone through significant trauma, is abhorrent.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Penelope is an awful person and a worse mother, but Alice Cooper absolutely deserved that slap to the face.
• Kick the Dog: In just about every scene she shares with Cheryl, she will say or do something exceptionally cruel to her to remind us of what a terrible person she is.
• Narcissist: Penelope is very vain and appearance conscious, as well as being arrogant and uncaring towards the feelings of others. It’s heavily implied that part of the reason she enjoys becoming a High-Class Call Girl is the idea of so many men finding her attractive.
• Not Blood Siblings: After being implied several times, it’s confirmed in season three that Penelope is a Blossom by adoption as well as by marriage due to being groomed and brainwashed to be Clifford's wife.
• The Oldest Profession: Following Clifford’s suicide and her losing the majority of her money due to his finances being frozen pending investigation, Penelope (having never worked before), turns to prostitution. However, it turns out she actually enjoys it (at least partially because of how much it upsets Cheryl) and carries on, even after earning enough money to live comfortably. 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 to run. 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.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Together with and courtesy of Clifford.
• The Paranoiac: Very much: she invites every member of the town that she even thinks may have been involved in Jason's death to his funeral.
• Parental Favouritism: She blatantly and openly favors Jason over Cheryl, considering him the family golden boy whilst regularly neglecting and abusing Cheryl.
• Pet the Dog: While one of the most detestable people in the entire show, once every blue moon Penelope will occasionally give us a reminder that she is still human at heart:
  • As horrible as she is to Cheryl, it’s made very clear that Penelope did truly love Jason. His death leaves her utterly broken.
  • 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 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.
  • Despite all the abuse she has inflicted on Cheryl over the years, in her heart of hearts Penelope honestly doesn’t want Cheryl to be killed or seriously hurt. Thus, when she learns Cheryl is going over to the White Wyrm on the same night that Hiram plans to raid the building to flush out the last of the Serpents, she initially tries to stop her and spills Hiram’s plan when she refuses.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Penelope is an utterly unpleasant, selfish woman, not to mention being elitist and homophobic. She calls her own daughter a “deviant” when she caught her in bed with her friend Heather, and upon Cheryl starting to date Toni, she forcibly sends her off to conversion therapy.
• Riches to Rags: Following Clifford’s suicide his finances are frozen pending investigation into his drug activities, leaving Penelope nearly broke. Even after the investigation ends she still ends up with substantially less money than she’s used to, as the majority of the family fortune ends up going to Cheryl, whilst Penelope inherits ownership of Thornfield, which by this point is a burnt wreck.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: During season one, Penelope is a detestable woman and an abusive mother. During season two, she graduates to attempting to murder an old woman in the hopes of becoming rich again and joining a criminal conspiracy to take over the town.
• Walking the Earth: In season 6, after being banished from Thornhill by her daughter, Penelope travelled around the world, as far as Himalaya for a spiritual awakening.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: A variant in "To Riverdale and Back Again". After Polly discovers that the engagement ring Jason had at the time of his disappearance is in his parents' possession, Penelope believes that she would tell her parents and Betty about this at the homecoming dance. Penelope drugs Polly, rendering her unable to do so, and it's implied the only reason she didn't use a potentially lethal one on her was because Polly was pregnant with Blossom children.

Clifford Blossom

Clifford Blossom

Played by: Barclay Hope, Trevor Stines (younger)

The equally wealthy and nasty father of Cheryl and Jason, with a long and bitter family feud against the Coopers.

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• Abusive Parents: He's not that much nicer to Cheryl than Penelope. As for Jason....
• Arch-Enemy: 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 getting sent to jail.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Clifford is the very wealthy head of an Old Money family dating back over a hundred years. He’s also an elitist jerk and a murderous drug kingpin.
• Big Bad: For Season 1. He is the murderer of Jason, his own son, and thereby the launcher of the main plot.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Clifford is the owner and manager of the Blossom’s Maple Syrup corporation, 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.
• Dodgy Toupee: When Polly goes snooping around Thornhill, she accidentally peeks into Clifford's boudoir and learns he's gone gray with age, and is just wearing a series of identical hairpieces to look the part of a virile, younger redheaded Blossom. He slams the door on her in irritation and embarrassment when he spots her.
• Driven to Suicide: Following his exposure as his son Jason's murderer and realizing the police are on the way, Clifford hangs himself in his barn. However, comments made by Cheryl imply there may be more to his death than initially apparent. In Season 3, "The Red Dahlia", Betty discovers (via autopsy) that he'd been poisoned with puffer fish venom before his hanging. It's all but implied Penelope killed him herself after it's revealed that he shot Jason.
• Everyone Has Standards: 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. Subverted in "Anatomy of a Murder" where it's revealed he killed his son Jason.
• Evil Twin: Subverted. Clifford does indeed have a twin brother (Claudius Blossom), but whilst Clifford is a murderous sociopath, so is Claudius.
• Faux Affably Evil: Clifford certainly tries to turn on the charm whenever he wants something from someone. However, his transparent smugness and cold nature normally ruin the effect.
• Hate Sink: Clifford is a cruel, smug, snobby and unpleasant sociopath with no redeeming traits. He may be even worse than his wife 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 has no issue whatsoever with murdering his own son in cold blood. Also unlike Penelope, he also has no Freudian Excuse nor any Pet the Dog moments.
• Incriminating Indifference: In the opening to the second episode, the Blossoms examine Jason's corpse in the morgue. Cheryl collapses into her tearful mother's arms, while Clifford doesn't react at all to his son being dead.
• Jerkass: Much like Penelope, he has no qualms about mocking Veronica about Hiram's imprisonment.
• Kissing Cousins: He doesn't really give a crap about 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.
• Not Blood Siblings: After several implications, it's revealed that he and his wife Penelope are siblings; his parents adopted her when she was a child so that they could be raised together and groomed to become husband and wife.
• Offing the Offspring: He personally murders his son Jason.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: Clifford’s hair apparently turns 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.
• Rich Bastard: He has shades of this. He's not as outwardly mean as Penelope, but he still carries a snobby, stuck-up air to him.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Has a bitter hatred of Hal Cooper, dating back to his (Clifford's) grandfather murdering Hal's grandfather over the town's maple syrup cache (and thus inheriting the fortune).
• The Sociopath: Is basically a requirement to be able to kill your own son without even blinking.
• Strong Family Resemblance: His brother Claudius looks almost exactly like him (they're played by the same actor), to the point it causes Cheryl to pass out when they meet.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: 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 heir of the family business and fortune.
• Villain Respect: He is honestly impressed when Archie turns down his offers of helping Archie’s career and instead asks if he could help his father with his business’s financial struggles, admitting there aren’t many men as selfless as Archie.
• Would Hurt a Child: He murders his son Jason in cold blood, and coerces FP into falsely confessing to the crime by threatening to do the same thing to Jughead.

Rose Blossom

Nana Rose Blossom

Played by: Barbara Wallace

Cheryl and Jason's grandmother, who's much kinder and more reasonable than their parents.

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• Cool Old Lady: She's probably the only nurturing force in Cheryl's life and is completely accepting of her relationship with Toni.
• Creepy Good: Between her dramatic mannerisms, gristly euphemisms, unnerving appearance and overall habit of acting like she’s in a horror film, Nana Rose is indisputably creepy. She is nevertheless a loving grandmother and probably the only kind influence in Cheryl’s life.
• Grandparent Favoritism: As opposed to Cheryl’s uncaring and abusive parents, Rose is compassionate, supportive and loving towards her granddaughter, and it’s made clear the two have a very good relationship. Following Cheryl annulling her relationship with Penelope, Rose becomes her new legal guardian. It’s implied she was just as close to Jason, admitting his wedding was the last thing she had left to stay alive for.
• Karma Houdini: Nana Rose is capable of some wild things, of which Cheryl is very forgiving, like tricking her own granddaughter to release Abigail Blossom's soul and then using Cheryl as a way to revive Abigail. After being saved, Cheryl doesn't even mention any of the things Nana Rose did to her. There's also a significant possibility that she was involved in "adopting" Penelope as a child bride, which is never addressed.
• Nice Girl: She seems to be very kind, and even gives her blessing to Polly and Jason.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Whilst a kind person, with her somewhat unnerving appearance and dramatic mannerism, not to mention her habit of describing events in the most creepy way possible, Nana Rose often comes across as if she’s trying to scare someone.
• Open-Minded Parent: Well, grandparent in this case, but in contrast to Cheryl’s elitist parents (and homophobic mother), Rose doesn’t care in the slightest about her granddaughter’s sexuality or the social and racial differences between her and Toni.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Towards the kids; unlike their parents, she has no ill will towards any of them. She likewise considers the Blossom-Cooper feud utterly pointless and happily supports Jason and Polly’s relationship.
• Scatter Brained Senior: 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.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • For Jason and Polly.She even gave him her wedding ring to propose to Polly with.
  • It’s implied she is also this towards Cheryl and Toni.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She lampshades it: whether it's through senility or not, she mistakes Betty for Polly.
• Token Good Teammate: To the Blossoms. Cheryl's the Alpha Bitch, Jason had at least some Jerk Jock moments, Penelope is an Abusive Parent, and Clifford comes off as a male Rich Bitch. Nana Rose, on the other hand, seems kind and supportive, if a bit senile.

Claudius Blossom

Claudius Blossom

Played By: Barclay Hope

Claudius Blossom is Clifford’s long estranged identical twin brother and Cheryl’s uncle, who joined the Navy to escape Clifford and returns home following Clifford’s death.

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• Antagonistic Offspring: Shortly after returning home for the first time in decades, Claudius conspires with Penelope to poison his own mother, so that he could take control of Blossom’s Maple Syrup.
• Backup Twin: Was never mentioned before his first appearance, to the point that Cheryl didn’t even know she had a paternal uncle. The only real difference in appearance between them is that Claudius doesn’t bother hiding his grey hair. He likewise effectively takes over Clifford’s role in the narrative (and the remains of his drug empire). Lampshaded by Cheryl, who points out he’s taken to wearing Clifford’s old clothes.
• Big Bad Ensemble: As of the season 2 finale, he's a member of this, alongside Penelope Blossom, Penny Peabody, Malachai and Sheriff Minetta, all of whom are working under Hiram Lodge in his plans to control Riverdale.
• Cool Uncle: Subverted. Claudius initially comes across as a far more friendly and down to earth man than his brother was, and appears much nicer towards his niece. In truth, he’s just as bad as Clifford and helps Penelope ensure Cheryl is sent off to conversion therapy in the hope of stealing her money.
• Evil Twin: Averted. Both Clifford and Claudius are just as heartless and greedy as each other.
• Evil Uncle: Whilst initially seeming friendly, Claudius cares nothing for his niece, scheming with Penelope to have Cheryl sent to illegal conversion therapy.
• Faux Affably Evil: Whilst he is noticeably better at putting on the charm than his brother, his facade is no less hallow.
• Long-Lost Relative: Ran away from home when he was fourteen, joined the Navy and sailed the world. He does not return home until well into his mid-forties, to the point that Cheryl didn’t even know he existed before turning up.
• Modest Royalty: A rare villainous example; unlike Clifford, he doesn't bother with the vanity of a toupee and tends to wear a less opulent, more casual wardrobe of dark sweaters and peacoats, reflecting his past as a sailor. He's not above wearing his brother's silk pyjamas to bed, however.

McCoy Family

Sierra McCoy

Mayor Sierra McCoy née Samuels

Played by: Robin Givens, Ashleigh Murray (younger)

Josie's mother, and the mayor of Riverdale.

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• Action Mom: Double Subverted. Even though she's the Mayor of Riverdale, she doesn't seem to get too involved in the drama that goes on in the town right up until Chapter 19. Upon finding Josie has been affected by the sudden surge of jingle-jangle throughout the town, she outright declares war on the Southside and personally leads Sheriff Keller and deputies on a surprise raid of Southside High.
• All for Nothing: Sierra agrees to accept the Lodge’s bribes so that she can finance 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.
• Alliterative Name: Her maiden name is Sierra Samuels.
• Black Boss Lady: Sierra is the Mayor of Riverdale after all.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Besides appearing at Fred's funeral, she disappears from the show in Season 4, which is made glaringly obvious when Mary unceremoniously takes up her role as the local lawyer.
• Crusading Lawyer: Following going back to being the town’s attorney, Sierra agrees to act as Fangs' lawyer for free, realising he’s being scapegoated, but knowing he could never afford any actual legal consultation or defence.
• Corrupt Politician: 1.04 reveals she's working with Hiram Lodge and, by extension, the Southside Serpents, in exchange for money for her re-election campaign.
• Hello, Attorney!: Sierra was the town’s lawyer before becoming mayor. Following stepping down, she goes back to being one. She is also a strikingly attractive woman, who always wears formal but flattering clothing.
• Good Parents: Sierra is not a perfect woman. However, she is deeply loving and supportive towards Josie, prioritising her above everything. However, at times this can cause her to encourage Josie to be selfish, with Sierra putting her above her friends.
• Ice Queen: Sierra appears to be a very emotionless and aloof person who may be somewhat emotionally distant from her daughter. However, it's shown that she does love Josie and that she has plenty of Pet the Dog moments where it proves she does care.
• Iron Lady: Sierra is an Ice Queen who is tough as nails and is a little on the corrupt side. She's also got a manipulative and ruthless side to her as well. Plus, she's the Mayor of Riverdale.
• It's All About Me: Downplayed. She tends to be a little more focused on what the Pussycats can do for her image than for Josie, but she knows to support her daughter when she needs it.
• Mama Bear: When she discovers her own daughter has been affected by the sudden rise of jingle-Jangle affecting the town, McCoy outright declares war on the South Side Serpents
• New Old Flame: With Tom Keller; they were high school sweethearts and end up getting married in the present.
• Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Following going back to being an attorney Sierra is seen acting in several legal areas: criminal (acting as Fangs defence attorney when he is arrested), property (giving Veronica advice on how get a casino built) and civil law (acting as Alice’s divorce attorney). Justified, as Riverdale is a small town and it’s implied she is their only lawyer.
• Pet the Dog: Stays through her daughter's entire performance at the Variety Show and provides a crying shoulder when Mr. McCoy fails to do the same.
• Selective Obliviousness: 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.
• Soapbox Sadie: In High School. Young Sierra Samuels is described by Alice as "The Political Animal" and seen writing anti-apartheid graffiti in the school bathroom.
• Stage Mom: She's always pushing Josie to perform her hardest, but she's also insistent that Josie be in the spotlight over anyone else in the band.
• Sympathetic Adulterer: Is revealed to secretly be having an affair with Sheriff Keller. Considering her husband is a rude, egotistical jerkass who values jazz above his wife and daughter, overall no one really blames her. Even Josie comes to terms with it over time also when she was a teen she used to date Tom before they were forced to breakup.

Myles McCoy

Myles McCoy

Played by: Reese Alexander

Josie's father, a jazz musician who is often on tour.

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• Disappeared Dad: It's evident that he's not really there emotionally for Josie. The fact that he doesn't show any support for Josie or her singing career proves that he's an emotionally absentee father. And considering that Miles thinks that jazz music is more important than his relationship with his daughter, it definitely drives home the point that Miles is not that good of a parent.
• Doing It for the Art: He is a firm believer that the real struggle in the music business is between art and commerce.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first time we meet him is over a course of a dinner at the Lodge’s place, during which he insults his hosts, condescends to and later insults the Andrews, belittles his daughter’s music and leaves his stupid hat on while they’re eating at the table. Later, he walks out in the middle of his own daughter’s performance because he disapproves of her music.
• Jerkass: Miles is a complete asshole to everyone he interacts with in Riverdale.
• Meaningful Name: Probably named for Miles Davis, one of the most influential Jazz musicians of all time.
• Recovered Addict: Apparently struggled with a drug addiction at some point at the past. It is due to this that his ex wife reacts so badly when she discovers Josie took jingle-jangle at a party.
• Serious Business: For him, jazz seems to much more of a priority than his own daughter.
• Starving Artist: His passive-aggressive exchanges with his wife imply he doesn’t make much money from his music, and that he looks down on those who do.

Keller Family

Tom Keller

Sheriff Thomas "Tom" Keller

Played by: Martin Cummins, Casey Cott (younger)

Kevin's father and the head of the local law enforcement.

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• Action Dad: Being the town’s sheriff, it goes without saying that he is normally at the forefront of events. He likewise is a loving father towards his son.
• Aggressive Categorism: Downplayed, and Justified. Keller is an all around fair and reasonable man, but his one blind spot is that he often suspects the Serpents of being behind any crime that they’re even remotely connected to, such as his believing they were involved in Clifford’s heroin smuggling ring even though there was no evidence. Overall, he was right about a Southside gang being involved in the drug smuggling, he just picked the wrong one (It was the Ghoulies. Up until Archie tricks them, it’s unclear if Keller was even aware they existed). His disdain for them is understandable, considering that whilst the matter is somewhat more complicated, the Serpents are involved in drug smuggling and petty crime and as town Sheriff, the only time he ever interacts with them is to arrest them.
• By-the-Book Cop: Sheriff Keller always follows the proper procedures of investigation.
• Clark Kent Outfit: Keller regularly wears loose fitting padded clothes which obscure his physique, but as season two reveals, when Veronica catches him working out he’s actually incredibly toned and muscular, admitting he keeps himself at the pinnacle of physical condition.
• Clueless Detective: Downplayed. He's not incompetent, but Jughead and Betty have discovered much more than he has within the same time frame. Justified Trope since he has protocol to adhere to, while the teens are free to investigate any leads they find.
• Dirty Cop: Downplayed. It's not that he's particularly corrupt, just that he seems to be in the pocket of the Blossoms. Ultimately subverted, as the second it becomes clear Cliff is the murderer, he turns up with every officer in Riverdale to arrest him.
  Jughead: [exasperated] No offence, Kev, but your dad answers to a higher authority than God... the Blossoms.
• Friend on the Force: Keller somewhat fulfils this role, being quite friendly with Jughead, Betty and Archie. He is likewise the one who always makes the actual arrests on the cases they uncover.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: He boxes at the local gym. In mid-season 3 he takes Archie under his wing.
• Good Parents: Sheriff Keller is supportive of his son, Kevin, wanting him to find a nice boy to date.
• Inspector Lestrade: Sheriff Keller is a competent police officer and a dedicated investigator. However, he is unimaginative, usually trying to find simple solutions to what are clearly extraordinary crimes, and being a small town Sheriff is often out of his depth when trying to deal with the sudden rush of violent crimes that hit the town. As such, he normally fulfills this role to Jughead and Betty, and is always willing to listen to what they have uncovered.
• It's All My Fault: Personally blames himself for Midge’s death, admitting to Kevin that he may have cut corners when finishing off the Black Hood investigation out of a desire for the nightmare to be over. He ends up resigning as sheriff following pressure from the town.
• Only One Name: For the entire first season, his first name was unrevealed, everyone simply called him by his title or his title and last name. Its revealed in season two, to be Tom.
• Open-Minded Parent: He's very supportive of his son's homosexuality. Even promising to talk to him about it more in "Watcher In The Woods" just as long as Kevin stays safe.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Keller is overall a decent and fair man who regularly listens to Jughead and Betty when they come to him with evidence and leads they’ve found. Even when Betty accuses him of being the Black Hood, he calmly and politely explains what she saw and provides her with evidence proving his innocence. His only fault is being overly suspicious towards the Serpents.
• The Sheriff: Of Riverdale. He spends the first season trying to find and apprehend Jason’s killer and the second chasing the Black Hood.

Mantle Family

Marty Mantle

Marty Mantle

Played by: Matthew Yang King, Charles Melton (younger)

Reggie's father and owner of a successful car dealership.

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• Abusive Parent: He gave Reggie a black eye for questioning his involvement with Gryphons and Gargoyles.
• Adaptational Job Change: He's a car salesman here, but in the comics, he was the owner of a newspaper publishing company.
• Adaptational Name Change: He was named Ricky Mantle in the comics.
• The Gambling Addict: Has a weakness for card games. By the time Reggie has graduated from school and is an adult, he has gotten in so deep with debt from gambling reversals he actually loses the car dealership. His son works as Mr. Lodge's right hand man to get it back, and his father out of dutch.
• Heel–Face Turn: His near-death experience and Reggie's success in getting the dealership back inclines him to be much nicer to his son from that point on.

Tate Family

Pop Tate

Terrence "Pop" Tate

Played by: Alvin Sanders

The previous owner and face of the Chock'lit Shoppe, a much loved diner.

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• Cool Old Guy: Everybody in Riverdale loves the man, and he prides himself in the role he plays in the community.
• Does Not Like Guns: Admits to Archie that he doesn't, due to having had enough with them "during the war."
• Family Business: As Pop admits, the Chock'lit Shoppe was owned and operated by the Tates for over eighty years, meaning that it not only was able to thrive in the midst of segregation, but is older than the town of Riverdale itself. This made selling it to Hiram against his mother's wishes especially heartbreaking for him, and he asks Jughead to not reveal it until she dies, for her sake.
• Nice Guy: Pop never loses his temper and is gentle and kind to everybody.
• Race Lift: He's white in the comics and a black man in this series.
• The Vietnam Vet: The second season suggests that he served his time with the US Army in Vietnam.

Others

Sheriff Minetta

Sheriff Michael Minetta

Played By: Henderson Wade

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

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• Alliterative Name: Michael Minetta, both his names start with an “M”.
• Big Bad Ensemble: As of the season 2 finale, he's revealed to be a member of this along with Penelope Blossom, Claudius Blossom, Penny Peabody and Malachai, all of whom are working under Hiram Lodge in his plans to control Riverdale.
• The Brute: Following Andre's death, he becomes Hiram's new main enforcer. Hiram even has him murder his three false witnesses against Archie, when they become potential liabilities.
• Consummate Professional: Subverted. He gives off the appearance of a serious, dedicated big city cop and exactly what the town needs. In truth, he’s utterly crooked and on Hiram’s payroll.
• Dirty Cop: Unlike his predecessor, Minetta is not only highly corrupt but completely in Hiram’s pocket. He casually forces Fangs out into an actual lynch mob in “A Shadow of A Doubt” and carries out an illegal raid on the White Wyrm, hoping to put an end to the remaining Serpents in “Brave New World”.
• The Sheriff: Takes over the position following Keller being forced to step down. Secretly he’s working for Hiram Lodge as part of his plans to take over Riverdale.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Minetta presents himself as the competent capable sheriff the town needs to deal with its crisis, and manages to convince the public it was his actions that stopped the riot, thus bumping Hermione’s poll numbers.

Elio Grande

Elio Grande

Played by: Julian Haig

A member of organized crime that belongs to the Grande family, who is introduced in season 3.—-

• Affably Evil: Usually friendly if you're on his good side.
  • Faux Affably Evil: However, he does take advantage of kindness if shown to him. Case in point, he convinces Veronica to hold a casino night to bring business in while planning to cheat the place out of all its money.

Percival Pickens

Percival Pickens

Played By: Chris O Shea

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

• Alliterative Name: Percival Pickens. Two of his aliases in the past, Perry Pierce and Paul Prince, also have this distinction, while the third, Sheriff Perkins, whose supposed first name is not revealed, presumably does as well.
• Big Bad: He’s the main antagonist of the sixth season.
• Curse: He unleashes seven biblical spells upon the town of Riverdale, culminating in his lethal one directed at its firstborn children, claiming their lives until Cheryl's phoenix powers awaken.
• Captain Ersatz: British Randall Flagg more or less - he's an immortal wizard with an aim of submerging a particular town in chaos, casually travels reality, associated with hate, bigotry and violence across the years, and explicitly shows up purely to convince people to embrace their worst instincts.
  • His alias in the past, Paul Prince, being a shopkeeper who gives people seemingly rare things in exchange for them committing petty vandalism, brings Leland Gaunt of Needful Things to mind.
• Depraved Bisexual: Either that or Depraved Homosexual, as he kisses Kevin Keller to manipulate him, and earlier mentions that his singing voice is popular with both women and men.
• Mind Control: Percival can control people's minds and convince him to do what he wants, but his powers don’t work on those with an emotional tether. He most notably uses this to brainwash Frank Andrews, Alice Cooper and Tom Keller, and to become an Ultimate Authority Mayor.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Has no problem with utilizing bigots and other malcontents to enforce his power and spread his control.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When he can't get a chaotic battle out of the Serpents and Ghoulies, he spitefully makes the Ghoulies kill themselves. In general, he discards his mooks violently as soon as he doesn't need them.

Southside Residents

Jones Family

FP Jones

Forsythe Pendleton "F.P." Jones II

Played by: Skeet Ulrich, Cole Sprouse (younger)

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

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the Comics Forsythe is usually portrayed as an older version of Jughead, balding and with a mustache. Here, he's played by Skeet Ulrich.
• Adaptational Villainy: Unlike his comics counterpart, this version of Jughead's father is the head of a notorious street gang known for drug dealing and theft.
• The Alcoholic: Jughead states he "fell off the wagon" after being fired, and we see Jughead trying to prevent him from drinking. He sobers up toward the end of the first season.
• Alcoholic Parent: To Jughead. His home is literally littered with bottles, he is seen drunk twice in the span of two days and Jughead outright states he "fell off the wagon."
• Anti-Hero: FP is a well-meaning man who loves his children and is loyal to his friends. He likewise tries his hardest to avoid any unnecessary conflict and keep things running peacefully. He is still the leader of a notorious gang, involved in drug running and petty theft, and has personally disposed of two bodies.
• Big Man on Campus: Fred Andrews calls him a "BMOC". According him, FP was very popular in his high school glory days.
• Boisterous Bruiser: FP is a big and powerfully built man; he’s also an extroverted and outgoing figure who is very popular with his fellow Serpents.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: At the start of the series, FP is a formidable biker and gang leader, but he's gradually revealed to have a major soft spot for his son, Jughead.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's every bit the snarky and sarcastic individual that his son Jughead is. In fact, Jughead probably inherited his sense of sarcasm from FP.
• Family Man: He goes straight and starts working with Fred again, because he wants his son to start respecting him. He also takes the fall for Jason's murder in order to protect Jughead. In season 3, he retires from being a gang leader, passing the title onto Jughead, so he can focus on his family.
• False Confession: Gives an extraordinarily detailed one claiming he killed Jason after being arrested.
• Frame-Up: The gun used to kill Jason Blossom is planted in his trailer, leading to his arrest for his murder.
• Good Parents: He was one to Jughead and Jellybean at some point. He still tries to be in the present, and while his problems sometimes get in the way, he sincerely tries his best, and overall he and Jughead have one of the better parent/child relationships in the show.
• Hot-Blooded: As opposed to his introverted son, FP is a boisterous, extroverted loud man who possesses a hidden temper.
• Jaded Washout: Formerly a very popular football player in high school, he's now a man who’s lost control of his life and his addictions, causing him to mostly lose his family.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is aggressive and short-tempered at times, but legitimately loves his son and isn't actually that bad of a guy.
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Downplayed. FP was a popular student athlete while his introverted son is more concerned with writing—though FP remarks that he's proud of Jughead's intelligence and creativity.
• The Leader: FP took over the Southside Serpents sometime after Fred was forced to buy him out of Andrews Construction. His leadership style is outgoing, with a dash of the mastermind. He leads the Serpents mostly through force of personality, but at the same time he is intelligent and pragmatic enough to steer them away from the more serious criminal areas which will just bring more trouble in the long run. He retires from his position in favour of Jughead in “Brave New World”.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: He's much more boisterous and talkative than his serious, snarky son, and is definitely more irresponsible. He claims that Jughead takes after his mother instead.
• Off the Wagon: He promises to clean up his act for the sake of his family, but it's ambiguous whether he actually will commit.
• Old Flame: With Alice. They were a couple in high school, and get back together in the present.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In 1.11, he shaves for the first time in ages, cleans his house up, doesn't binge in day-drinking and generally starts acting more upbeat and focused, claiming to want to get his act together, have Jughead live with him again and get the family back together. Jughead's pleasantly shocked by the positive change until FP is arrested and confesses to Jason's murder, when he assumes the change is because FP was intending to flee to Toledo.
• Papa Wolf: He was furious to learn that Jughead was taken in and questioned by Sheriff Keller and wanted to angrily confront Keller before being talked down by Jughead. He also won't stand for anyone physically hurting his kid, as Chuck can attest to. He also took the fall for Jason's murder from Clifford for his threats against Jughead. FP might not be the best parent in the world, but do not go near his kids.
• Parental Abandonment: Inverted. While he knows about Jughead's homelessness, it's eventually revealed that Jughead left on his own, due to being unable to deal with the turbulent state of his home life, and because of FP's alcoholism. FP himself is visibly frustrated when Jughead once more goes off on his own and later cleans up his act with the intention of getting Jughead to live with him again. Getting arrested throws a wrench into that plan, but it gets back on track in seasons 2 and 3.
• Parents as People: FP genuinely wants to restore his family, go straight, clean up his life and be a good father to his son, but his issues and vices always get in the way. Their relationship doesn't start to signicantly improve until seasons 2 and 3.
• Perma-Stubble: FP always has short black stubble, which he never lets grow into a full beard. He temporarily shaves it off after going back to work with Fred, but regrows it afterwards.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves town in season five, moving to Toledo with Jellybean.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: One of the main reasons he's 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.
• The Sheriff: In Season 3, Hermione instates him as the new Sheriff of Riverdale.
• Shoo the Dog: He tries to do this to Jughead when he visits him in jail. It's what tips Jughead off to the fact that FP was lying about killing Jason Blossom.
• Trapped in Villainy: His struggle in season two. Following getting out of prison, he takes a job at Pops and plans to retire from the Southside Serpents. However, events keep dragging him back in. First Penny blackmails him, then the rising tensions between the Northside and the Southside. He finally does retire in Chapter 35.
• Unkempt Beauty: He's scruffy and and doesn't appear to care too much about personal hygeine. He's still a key member of, as Cheryl puts it, "the Hot Dads of Riverdale."
• We Used to Be Friends: 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.
• Wrong Side of the Tracks: He runs the Southside Serpents, the local biker gang from the poorer side of Riverdale.

Gladys Jones

Gladys Jones

Played by: Gina Gershon

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• Action Mom: She's very proficient with saï, able to win over Penny. In addition, she's Jughead and Jellybean's mother.
• Betty and Veronica: She's the Veronica to Alice's Betty over her ex FP in both high school and the present. She wins.
• Evil Matriarch: for Jughead. When Jughead burns down the family's old trailer she was using for a drug lab, she grabs his head and warns him not to cross her.
• Mama Bear: Threaten her son and she will cut you with à knife.
• Missing Mom: She lived in Toledo along with Jughead's Sister Jellybean, but they return to Riverdale in Season 3.

Jellybean Jones

Forsythia "Jellybean" Jones

Played by: Trinity Likins

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• Deadpan Snarker: Her reaction to FP asking if he can get a hug. "Can I get a dad?"
• Little Miss Badass: She hits Penny with a slingshot bolt to get her to release Archie.

Southside Serpents

As A Whole

"A Serpent never stands alone. In unity there is strength."

A notorious biker gang that dominates the Southside of town known for drug dealing and theft. FP Jones is their leader.

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• All Bikers are Hells Angels: The Serpents are a biker gang who regularly dress in leather and are associated with theft and drug dealing.
• Badass Biker: The Serpents are first and foremost a motorcycle gang, with all members either owning or using bikes.
• Badass Creed: They treat the last rule of the Serpent Code as this: “A Serpent never stands alone, in unity there is strength.”
• Badass Crew: The Serpents are a motorcycle gang whose members are often involved in petty crime. They likewise induct (male) members by having them take a knife out of a tank with a snake, and withstand a vicious assault from numerous other members.
• Even Evil Has Standards: According to FP Jones, whilst the serpents are involved with drug dealing, they never touch anything more serious than marijuana, and having nothing to do with heroin smuggling.
• Gang Initiation Fight: 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.
• Gang of Hats: Most Serpents were the insigna of a circled Serpent on the back of their Jackets, while Jughead and FP havd the double headed design.
• Greaser Delinquents: Season two reveals that teenagers are part of the serpent’s gang. All of them carry this image with slick black hair, leather jackets and other such accessories.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: 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.
• Honour Among Thieves: The Serpents fully believe in loyalty to each other and the gang, with members regularly helping each other out, and they have the reputation of never snitching on each other, even when facing serious jail time. They also give Jughead several favours in season two, simply because he’s FP’s son.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Following losing the battle against the Ghoulies, the Serpents go from a gang whose territory stretches over the entire Southside and having well over a hundred members, to being completely driven out of the Southside and their membership reduced to around twenty homeless teenagers.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: 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.
• Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: 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.
• The Scapegoat: A plot point throughout the second season is that the north side regularly blames the Serpents for anything that goes wrong in the town, to the point that Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoy outright refuse to consider that the other gangs could be responsible for distributing the heroin and jingle-jangle (to be fair, the Serpents dominate the Southside to the point its unclear if they even know that other gangs exist), focusing all their attention on the Serpents. This does nothing but fuel the Serpent’s hatred towards the north side.
• Scoundrel Code: Despite being a gang of thieves and thugs, the Serpents all follow a very strict set of rules, such as never snitching upon each other even when facing serious jail time and supporting the families of arrested gang members until they get out of prison.
• Sinister Switchblade: Downplayed. Switchblades are the weapon for the Serpents, with the majority of their members owning and often carrying one. However, the majority of Serpents range between A Lighter Shade of Black and antiheroes, as opposed to outright villainous.
• Tattooed Crook: As part of entry into the gang, Serpents have their gang’s insignia, a black-green double headed snake, tattooed somewhere on their body. Many of the older members also sport other tattoos.
• True Companions: What the Serpents are meant to be to each other, with their rules empathising loyalty and unity to their fellow members. However, whilst several members take this code to heart, not all of them do.
• Undying Loyalty: 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.
• The Worf Effect: The Serpents start the second season controlling almost the entire Southside. By the end of the season, the majority of their members have: fled, switched sides, been killed or imprisoned. They’ve lost all their territory to the Ghoulies or Hiram Lodge, and only have around two dozen younger members left.
• You Can Leave Your Hat On: Whilst the male initiates to the gang have to go through a complex ritual, female initiates have to perform “the snake dance”, stripping to their underwear and performing a pole dance in front of the whole gang. Toni denounces this as a “misogynistic tradition” and has tried to have it banned to no success.

Joaquin DeSantos

Joaquin DeSantos

Played by: Rob Raco

A member of the Southside Serpents. He starts a secret romance with Kevin Keller in 1.04.

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• The Bus Came Back: 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.
• Canon Foreigner: He has no counterpart from the Archie comics.
• Dating Catwoman: Since Joaquin is a Southside Serpent and Kevin is the Sheriff's son.
• Face–Heel Turn: He stabs Archie under the orders of the Warden and the influence of the Gargoyle King.
• Honey Trap: Is actually this for the Serpents, because FP wants a connection with the sheriff during the investigation into Jason's murder.
• In Love with the Mark: Despite being set up as a Honey Trap for Kevin so the Serpents can gage how much information Keller has, he ends up falling for him becoming unwilling to carry on the plan and sharing a soulful goodbye when he has to leave.
• Killed Off for Real: After being interrogated for his involvement with the Gargoyle King, he shows up dead with the mark for "sacrifice" in his head.
• Nice Guy: Whilst Joaquin is a snarky gang member, he’s nevertheless an easy-going and friendly person. He even agrees to help sneak Archie and Moose into the White Wyrm when they suspect that a Serpent attacked Moose.
• Put on a Bus: Literally. Hops on a bus out of Riverdale after the cops start closing in on the Serpents.
• Straight Gay: If he hadn't started making out with Kevin, you'd never guess.

Mustang

Mustang

Played By: Christopher Rosamond

Mustang is a minor member of the Southside Serpents and an all-around dangerous thug.

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• Beard of Evil: Has a short greying dark blond beard. He’s also a vicious gang member and Clifford Blossom’s hired muscle.
• The Brute: To Clifford Blossom. Clifford hired Mustang to abduct and torture Jason, then had him force FP to clean up the mess.
• Character Death: Overdoses on heroin in Chapter Twelve. It’s later revealed Clifford murdered him.
• He Knows Too Much: Clifford kills him to remove the only other person who knows that he killed Jason.
• Jerkass: Mustang is an aggressive, thuggish and unpleasant man who tries to beat a teenager senseless.
• Lower-Class Lout: Thuggish, unpleasant, crude, dirty and violent, Mustang ticks all the boxes.
• Never Suicide: His death initially appears to be a suicide by a heroin overdose in response to FP being arrested, but it is later revealed that Clifford murdered him and staged it that way.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Even after his death, his real name was never revealed.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Initially seems to be just another non important Serpent who has a brief appearance and a minor skirmish with Archie. However, it is he who Clifford hires to kidnap Jason, which kicks off most of the events of the entire first season.
• Token Evil Teammate: Unlike the other Serpents, Mustang never shows any redeeming traits or hidden depths, and is at heart a vicious, uncaring thug who is happy to kidnap and torture a teenager.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Following framing FP, Clifford murders Mustgang to cover his tracks deciding he no longer needs him and to remove the only other witness.
• Would Hurt a Child: Would have beaten Archie senseless if FP hadn’t intervened. It was also him who Clifford hired to kidnap Jason. Whilst holding him Mustang also tortured the teenager.

Tall Boy

Gerald "Tall Boy" Petite

Played by: Scott McNeil

A senior member of the Southside Serpents and FP Jones's right-hand man.

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• Authority in Name Only: Officially Tall Boy is FP’s second in command, and is supposed to be running the Serpents whilst he is incarcerated. In practice, it’s clear that a lot of the Serpents don’t respect him, with them usually turning Jughead over him simply on the virtue of being FP’s son.
• Bait the Dog: Tall Boy initially seems quite friendly and not really a bad guy, being FP’s second-in-command, and is even willing to provide several favours to Jughead. As the series goes on, it becomes more and more apparent that at heart he’s nothing more than a violent thug.
• Beard of Evil: Has a thick short brown beard with a dash of grey. He’s likewise a violent thug who betrays the Serpents and hires himself out to Lodge as a hitman.
• Dumb Muscle: Tall Boy is a huge man and is also very strong. But he truthfully isn’t as bright as he thinks he is. His plan to accept a payment from Hiram and steal the statue of General Pickins’s head, hoping the problems it would bring on the Serpents would lead to Jughead being kicked out, was riddled with holes and Jughead and Betty easily discovered it was him. Jughead outright calls him an “idiot”.
• Dragon Ascendant: Following FP being arrested, Tall Boy has taken to running the gang’s matters. However, he’s well aware that FP’s word still carries more weight and thus tries to get Jughead to agree to his plan to unite the Serpents and Ghoulies in Chapter 19.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: The season 2 finale has it revealed that he was acting as a copycat Black Hood, and that he died in a gun battle with the police. Subverted as Season 3 episode 10 reveals that was a set up and he eventually went on to do small jobs with Hiram Lodge, posing as a another copycat villain, the Gargoyle King to help perpetuate Hiram's drug trade.
• Faux Affably Evil: Tall Boy often comes across as jovial with his fellow Serpents, and tries to present himself as reasonable. But underneath it all he’s truthfully a smug, vicious thug.
• I Gave My Word: When Jughead 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.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Downplayed. He opens fire upon a crowded assembly with a sniper rifle, unloads an entire clip full of ammo and utterly fails to hit anyone. However, he clearly would have hit Fred if Archie hadn’t managed to push him out of the way in time, and after that first shot everyone ducks for cover.
• Ironic Name: His real name is Gerald Petite but there is absolutely nothing small about him.
• Jack the Ripoff: To avoid his attack at City Hall during the Mayoral Debate being linked back to him, Hiram has Tall Boy impersonate the Black Hood, hoping everyone will chalk up his death to the Serial Killer going after one of his surviving victims.
  • Tall Boy does this again for Hiram in Season 3, impersonating the Gargoyle King, so to help Hiram's drug enterprise, the Fizzle Rocks.
• Kick the Dog: When Jughead pleads for him to investigate to see if he can find the identity of the man who shot Fred, Tall Boy agrees. He then kidnaps the next man he hears mention it, and with another Serpent beats him senseless on the off chance he knows anything, even laughing when it turns out he doesn’t.
  • After being captured by the Serpents, he rubs it in Jughead, and the other junior Serpents Sweet Pea and Fangs' faces by telling them he's the one who broke into Alice and Betty's house and killed Joaquin.
• Lower-Class Lout: Whilst he tries to portray himself as something more, at heart Tall Boy is a simple thug.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Becomes the second Black Hood and attempts to murder Fred on Hiram’s orders.
• Made of Iron: Being hit round the back with a baseball bat only momentarily stuns him.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Upon being exposed as a traitor, Tall Boy tries to present his actions as being for the best for the Serpents, arguing that FP’s leadership has left them weak. However, between him bringing more problems down upon the Serpents, trying to get them in a partnership with the psychotic Ghoulies, and later working as Lodge’s hitman it’s clear that at heart Tall Boy is just a short-sighted thug who doesn’t like being held back by FP’s reason and pragmatism.
• Number Two: FP's main enforcer and de facto leader of the gang in his absence.
• Obvious Judas: Between the facts that he’s one of the genuinely unpleasant Serpents, his attempt to make an alliance with the psychotic Ghoulies and his constant belligerence and conflicts with Jughead, it comes as no surprise when he betrays the gang by expecting a payment from Hiram to sabotage the General Pickins statue, thus bringing considerably more pressure from the mayor and sheriff down upon the Serpents.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Everyone calls him Tall Boy. His actual name, Gerald Petite, is not revealed until after his death.
• Psycho for Hire: Is secretly hired by Hiram Lodge to assassinate Fred. He poses as the Black Hood so that the killing can’t be traced back to Hiram.
• The Resenter: While posing as loyal, Tall Boy secretly resents FP, believing his influence in keeping the Serpents away from more serious crimes and avoiding violence whenever he can has left them weak. He attempts to take over the gang whilst FP is in prison and later works for Hiram, bringing more pressure upon the Serpents, hoping it will get rid of FP and Jughead.
• The Scapegoat: After he's accidentally killed by Fangs, Jughead and FP Jones use his corpse and pose him as Hiram Lodge's attempted murderer, who was actually FP himself, to get out of Hermione's clutches.
• Smug Snake: Tall Boy hopelessly overestimates his power and intelligence. His attempts at taking over the Serpents whilst FP is in prison utterly fail; Jughead quickly exposes him for sabotaging the Pickins statue and bringing all the troubles on the Serpents, causing the group to unanimously expel him.
• The Starscream: In Chapter 19, he tries to organise a unification of the Serpents with the Ghoulies, despite the Ghoulies not only being their rivals, but willing to commit crimes the Serpents steer clear of. Jughead believes he’s using the situation to take over the gang whist FP is in prison, and speculates he’s being planning to for a while now.
• Strong, but Unskilled: Tall Boy is undisputedly a very strong tough and man, but past that he’s not a very good fighter. This causes him problems when he attacks Archie in “Judgement Night”, only to be forced to draw his gun to stop Archie from beating him senseless.
• Token Evil Teammate: Whilst the Serpents are a rough bunch, Tall Boy stands out for being exactly the sort of disloyal, murderous thug which the Northside believes them all to be.
• Would Hurt a Child: Whilst trying to kill Fred, he attacks Archie from behind and attempts to shoot him.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: It’s implied that Hiram has Sheriff Manetta provoke a gunfight between Tall Boy and the police so the fact that Hiram hired him to kill Fred will not come out.
• Villains Out Shopping: When Pop's Diner is saved during the Retro Night party he and another Serpent turn up, but do nothing outside unnerving Mrs. Cooper.

Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea

Played by: Jordan Connor

A student of Southside High and a leader among the high school aged members of the Southside Serpents.

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• Aggressive Categorism: 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 the Northside 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.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Sweet Pea is the Serpents’ main lieutenant in Southside High and the leader of the teen Serpents. He is likewise the biggest, strongest and best in a fight, being able to rival Archie and Reggie for the position of toughest teenager in Riverdale.
• Ax-Crazy: At his very worst. Whenever he lets his temper overcome him, Sweet Pea will resort to shocking levels of violence. He’s threatened people with his switch blade, committed random vandalism and even led a lynch mob. He even admits that whilst he knows Reggie probably didn’t shoot Fangs, one Northsider did, and for that reason he wants Reggie dead.
• The Big Guy: Towers over almost every character on the show (his actor is 6'3" or 1.91 m).
• Boisterous Bruiser: Sweet Pea is very outgoing, extroverted and forward. He is led more by his emotions than by reason.
• Canon Foreigner: He has no counterpart in the comics.
• Didn't Think This Through: Sick of reading Alice Cooper’s articles dragging the Serpents, he comes up with the plan of blowing up the registry. He is seemingly unaware that this is not just an overreaction and would only bring more problems down upon the Serpents, but would also validate her accusations of them being unstable, violent criminals.
• Dumb Muscle: Sweet Pea is easily the toughest of the younger Serpents, being not just a great fighter but impressively strong. However, he honestly isn’t that bright, with the majority of his decisions being made by his emotions.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It does not take a lot to get Sweet Pea angry. Anger seems to be his default response to anything going wrong, and he’s regularly aggressive even with people who are on his side.
• Hot-Blooded: Sweet Pea is passionate and boisterous; he likewise possesses an incredibly bad temper. He regularly jumps to violence with virtually no provocation and often needs restraining to prevent him from going too far.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: A platonic version with Toni. The two are good friends, Sweet Pea is easily the tallest member of the cast, whilst Toni is the shortest (there is over a foot between the two actors).
• Ironic Nickname: Gruff, temperamental, violent and at times outright nasty, there is little sweet about Sweet Pea.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sweet Pea is temperamental, aggressive, violent and somewhat antisocial. However, he’s at heart not a bad guy. When in a good mood he can be quite cheerful and he possesses a deep loyalty to the Serpents and to his friends.
• The Leader: He is the gang's main lieutenant in Southside High.
• Never My Fault: 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 Principal Weatherbee blaming them for trashing the school only for Jughead to dryly remind him that he did do it.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: So far his real name has never been mentioned.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red, being hot tempered, aggressive, gruff and impulsive to Fangs’ more laid back blue.
• Shadow Archetype: He is basically Reggie if he happened to be a Southside Serpent. Their similarities are highlighted in their many clashes throughout the second season.
• Sinister Switchblade : Whilst many Serpents carry switchblades, Sweet Pea seems to possess an almost affection for his own, regularly drawing it without provocation.
• Those Two Guys: With Fangs; the two are best friends and rarely seen apart.

Penny Peabody

Penny Peabody

Played by: Brit Morgan

A shady lawyer who often works for the Serpents and is a member of the gang.

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• Alliterative Name: Penny Peabody.
• Amoral Attorney: She is the in-house lawyer of a criminal biker gang, and even one of the leaders of said gang is terrified of owing her a favor.
• Big Bad Ensemble: As of the season 2 finale, she's in this with Hiram Lodge, Penelope & Claudius Blossom, Malachai and Sheriff Manetta.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: 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.
• Create Your Own Villain: She eventually joins the Ghoulies after being expelled from the Serpents by Jughead and threatens to lead the former to destroy the latter late in season 2.
• The Dreaded: Even a hardened criminal like FP is absolutely terrified of owning her a favor.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Implied to have taken this relationship upon joining the Ghoulies. Whilst Malachai is still their leader, Penny has already ascended to helping run the gang after only being a member for a short while, and is easily a lot smarter than Malachai. Hiram outright states that she’ll supervise and troubleshoot in their partnership.
• Evil Is Petty: In "Judgment Night", after Jughead gives himself up in an attempt to avert a bloodbath between the Serpents and the Ghouls, she mutilates Jughead's arm in retribution for his earlier payback for her blackmail, and for added insult, she refuses to honor the deal and still plans on attacking the Serpents anyway.
• The Exile: After Jughead forcibly expels her from the Serpents he forces her to move to Greendale.
• 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.
• Hello, Attorney!: For a back-room lawyer, she is extremely attractive.
• Hypocrite: Has the audacity to try and claim the other members can’t hurt her as it will violate Serpents laws, when she herself has been blackmailing and exploiting them for her own benefit.
• In Name Only: Her counterpart from the Little Archie comics is Fangs Fogarty's girlfriend. Otherwise has no connection whatsoever.
• Insignia Ripoff Ritual: After the Serpents transport her to Greendale for blackmailing Jughead into drug trafficking, she reminds them that they cannot harm her as long as she has her Serpent tattoo. Jughead lets her know that she hasn't been honoring the Serpent code, and with that, he skins the tattoo off with a knife.
• Loan Shark: Whilst she rarely deals in money directly, this Penny’s MO in a nutshell. She’ll offer her legal assistance on the condition of a seeming one-off favour as payment, only after it’s completed she’ll keep asking for more and more. If you try and back out of the deal, she quickly turns to blackmail and threats.
• Manipulative Bitch: Penny plays upon Jughead’s concern for his father’s safety to get him to agree to do a drug deal for her, then later plays upon the fearful Serpents’ worries about being evicted to try and get them to take her back in exchange for kicking Jughead out and letting her mutilate his tattoo off.
• Never My Fault: Upon her return she frames herself as an innocent victim, who Jughead mutilated. Whilst in part this is to manipulate the Serpents and hopefully turn them against Jughead, it is clear that she wants revenge for him cutting off her tattoo, ignoring the fact that she forced him into a corner and was happy to blackmail their leader.
• Red Baron: She is better known as The Snake Charmer.
• Revenge Myopia: The first time she returned in Chapter 25, it was to do what Jughead did to her: have him expelled and his Serpent tattoo skinned. Except, of course, that she brought it on herself by blackmailing Jughead into being a drug courier.
• The Sociopath: Superficially charming, manipulative, uncaring towards anyone other than herself and perfectly happy to watch as she has a teenager beaten to death. Penny ticks all the boxes.
• The Starscream: Blackmailing FP and several of the other Serpents, Penny nearly succeeds in taking over the Serpents and transforming them into her own private cartel.
• Token Evil Teammate: 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.
• You Owe Me: Penny’s MO is dealing in favors. She’ll help with legal matters but in return you have to do a favor for her at some point down the line. Jughead ends up unwittingly agreeing to these terms when he goes to her for help with FP’s case, and FP himself implies it’s a very bad idea to do so.

The Ghoulies

As A Whole

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

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• The Aggressive Drug Dealer: 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.
• Cool Car: Compared to the Serpents, who are a motorcycle gang, the Ghoulies have a thing for classic cars. FP outright states that apart from their illegal deals, they’re mostly held together out of a love of street racing.
• Decapitated Army: When Penny gets incapacitated and Malachai disappears, they wind up directionless and end up getting into G&G, leading the Ghoulies to convert to the Gargoyles.
• Eviler than Thou: Compared to the Serpents. The Serpents are a gang of drug dealers, thugs, thieves and petty criminals; however, they abide by a strict code and stay clear of more serious crimes like dealing heroin. The Ghoulies don’t seem to possess any code of behaviour and are the distributers of jingle-jangle throughout the town.
• Gang of Hats: Hot-rodders, to the point where Jughead is able to negotiate a deal for turf on the outcome of a race. When attacking Pop's in the riots, they dress up like a Warriors street gang, complete with wild makeup, punk leather ensembles, and spiked weapons.
• Greaser Delinquents: Much like the Serpents, the Ghoulies give off this aesthetic, with gelled hair, leather jackets and 50’s greaser style.
• Non-Indicative Name: Subverted. Despite being vicious scuzzballs who tune up and drag-race hot rods (and are wildly rumored to be cannibals, according to Toni), the Ghoulies don't appear very "ghoulish" or have much in common with their monster namesakes — until the riots, when they put their war paint on◊ and show their true brutal selves.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Initially, whilst still having the potential to be dangerous, the Ghoulies seem a minor threat. They possess a lot less territory than the Serpents, the Riverdale police department is seemingly unaware they even exist (until Archie tricks their leaders into exposing themselves) and their sudden rise in importance stems only from them taking advantage of Clifford Blossom’s suicide to take over the drug trade in Riverdale. By the end of “When A Stranger Calls”, they are quickly defeated and forgotten about. Come “Judgement Night”, they return now having hundreds of members, taking everyone by surprise and successfully destroying the Serpents, driving them out of the Southside.
• Took a Level in Badass: Starts the series as the weaker gang, with far less territory than the Serpents. Following 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.

Malachai

Malachai

Played by: Tommy Martinez

The leader of the Ghoulies gang.

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• Ax-Crazy: In “Judgement Night” he takes advantage of the riot to lead the Ghoulies to commit random chaos, is utterly gleeful when attacking Pop’s and seems intent to kill everyone inside.
• Blood Knight: As “Judgement Night” shows, Malachai he's psychotically gleeful while committing random acts of violence and vandalism. His response to having a Molotov cocktail explode right next to him is to start laughing.
• Chaos Is Evil: Malachai openly associates himself with chaos, happily stating “Chaos is how we thrive”.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite being set up as a major villain at the end of season 2, he only appears in one episode of season 3 and disappears afterward with no one addressing what happened to him - it's made even more glaring in that the Ghoulies wind up being leaderless and convert to the Gargoyles.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Malachai initially comes across as an arrogant minor antagonist, who drastically overestimates his power and influence and is easily outsmarted by Archie. However, his return makes it clear he’s a sadistic murderous thug, who commands a legion of others like him. His position of controlling the Ghoulies means Hiram involves him in his conspiracy to take over Riverdale.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: A gang leader who is responsible for the distribution of drugs throughout Riverdale. Malachi also openly calls Veronica and Betty “bitches” and “skanks” to their faces upon first meeting them.
• Smug Snake: Throughout his appearances he just oozes arrogance, clearly believing he’s a big player in local events. In reality his gang is smaller and has a lot less territory than the Serpents, and his chance of advancement stems entirely from him benefiting from events he played no hand in.

Others

Robert Philips

Played by: Robert Baker

An English teacher at Southside High school and the editor of the school's newspaper the Red and Black, secretly he is also the Sugar Man.

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• Asshole Victim: Considering he was responsible for distributing serious drugs like heroin and jingle-jangle throughout Riverdale, which in turn caused multiple serious problems for the south side, it's a bit hard to feel sorry for him when the Black Hood murders him.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lampshaded by Jughead in Chapter 19. On the surface he comes across as a kind and caring high school teacher. In reality, he is a ruthless drug baron.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Appears to be an ordinary school English teacher, in reality he is the source of the town’s drug crisis.
• The Dragon: Was Clifford Blossom's front man in his heroin empire, and responsible for actually getting it out on the street.
• Dragon Ascendant: Following Clifford's suicide, he takes over running his drug empire.
• Evil Teacher: Is responsible for supplying virtually all the drugs throughout the town of Riverdale. He is also Southside High’s English teacher.
• Legacy Character: Penelope confirms to Cheryl that Clifford had many front men during the running of his drug empire, each of whom took the moniker “the Sugar Man.” Robert is simply the most recent (and possibly last) one.
• Red Baron: Goes by “the Sugar Man”, which Sheriff Keller claims is just one of his many aliases. Others include “the Maple Man”
• Token Good Teammate: Subverted. He initially comes across as the one voice of reason at Southside High School, with his strict anti-drug and anti-gang rules. In reality, he is responsible for distributing jingle-jangle to the Ghoulies and flooding the town with drugs.

Others

Black Hood

Played by: Unknown

I am the wolf. You are the flock. This is the bloodletting. You will hear from me again.

A mysterious man introduced in the season one finale, and the focus of a now hellbent Archie' quest for revenge.

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• Adaptational Villainy: This version of the character is much more sinister than any of his counterparts in Archie comics, and that's including the Darker and Edgier 2015 reboot of the character.
• Ax-Crazy: He's shot four characters, one of whom died from the shooting, and another one who initially survived but was tracked down later and killed with a whole array of cutlery. He's had two other victims; one strangled with a cello bow, and another whose throat was slashed open. Sane this guy is obviously not.
• Big Bad: One of the main villains for Season 2 and one of the causes of all the chaos ensuing in Riverdale.
• Canon Character All Along: He isn't referred to as the Black Hood when he first shows up in the season one finale, but is later called such in season two.
• Evil Wears Black: A murderous serial killer who is terrorising the entire town of Riverdale and executing anyone he deems a sinner. He also dresses all in black, complete with a large black mask, hence his name.
• Exact Words: As Chapter 19 reveals, when he claimed to be cleaning up Riverdale he specifically meant he was only targeting the citizens of Riverdale, letting Nick St. Clair go because he was not a native to the town.
• Expy: The production crew said that he's influenced by the Zodiac Killer. Lampshaded in Chapter 17, when Jughead outright compares him to the Zodiac Killer and starts researching him, hoping to finding a clue to stopping the Black Hood.
• The Faceless: His major trait thus far is his face-covering mask.
• Hero Killer: Narrowly averted. He shoots Fred in the season one finale, but Fred recovers. Then played straight in season two, where he kills Midge.
• Hypocrite: Claims to purge only the town of Riverdale and refuses to go after Nick St. Clair despite him being a date rapist, because he’s not a native to the town. However, he still murdered Miss Grundy, despite her not being a native and not even still living in Riverdale at the time. He also claims to have targeted Fred Andrews, "the adulterer" (which itself is only sorta true, as (divorced) Fred had a brief affair with (married) Hermione), but he himself is having an affair with Penelope. This is Lampshaded by Alice.
• Improvised Weapon: Kills Miss Grundy with a cello bow.
• In Name Only: He doesn't bear much resemblance to any Black Hoods who've appeared in comics. He's been a classic superhero as well as a modern anti-hero vigilante, but never an outright serial killer.
• In-Series Nickname: Is dubbed "The Angel of Death" due to how little is known about him outside his actions.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Honestly, after all she's done and gotten away with, killing Miss Grundy doesn't seem that bad. On the other hand, he does shoot Fred, so we're clearly not supposed to root for him.
• Knight of Cerebus: While the show was already pretty dark, his introduction is when things really got edgy.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Hides his identity with a mask, leaving everyone with nothing close to a clue about his identity.
• Movie Superheroes Wear Black: Instead of the traditional black-and-yellow costume, this Black Hood wears a crude black balaclava and dark civilian clothes.
• Serial Killer: Whilst his MO is somewhat flexible (generally he shoots his victims), he fits the mission based variety, being a Knight Templar who believes he's cleaning up Riverdale by killing those he considers "sinners".
• Stalker without a Crush: He takes to stalking Betty, having been inspired by her speech at the Jubilee as to how the town needs to confront the evil lurking under the surface. He takes her as a kindred spirit and proceeds to start playing mind games with her, forcing her to break her relations with her closest friends, constantly stalking her and threatening to kill her entire family if she steps out of line.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
  • Kills Miss Grundy by simultaneously strangling her and slitting her throat.
  • In a Shout-Out to Carrie, he impales Midge to theater scenery with a whole array of kitchen cutlery.
• Would Hurt a Child: He holds his gun to Archie's temple. Immediately after shooting the boy's father, no less. He also tries to murder Moose and Midge, the latter of whom he later does kill.

Riverdale Reaper

Riverdale Reaper

Played by: Unknown

A mass murderer who terrorised Riverdale back in the seventies and was never caught.

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• Ax-Crazy: Murdered the entire Conway family, going room to room killing them with a shotgun.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Jim Conway figures out the truth: that it had been Louis’s father who murdered his brother, not the other way around. He tries to blackmail him over it; in retaliation, Louis murders him and his entire family.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Is long dead by the time of the series. However, it is his enduring influence over his son that leads to Hal becoming the Black Hood and terrorising the town once again.
• Karma Houdini: The Reaper completely got away with crimes, steering the lynch mob to kill an innocent man (even assisting them as a member of the mob) and died decades later of old age. His crimes were not discovered until years after he died.
• Knight Templar: It was he (along with his wife) who installed into Hal the idea that sinners had to die.
• Predecessor Villain: To the Black Hood. He also terrorised Riverdale forty years previously. Farmer McGinty is convinced the two are linked, and sure enough it turns out he’s father to the true Black Hood.
• Shrouded in Myth: Due to the seeming randomness of his brutal crime and fact he was never caught, the Reaper has grown into a figure of local folklore during decades. Some say the lynch mob caught him and hanged him from a tree in Pickens Park, others that he skipped town to California and started worshiping the Devil. Others still believe he's still in Riverdale and will one day return.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in a brief flashback in one episode, but is the driving force for much of what happens during the second season.
• The Sociopath: Unhesitatingly shot four innocent people dead, including two small children, then installed the sentiment into his own son, forcing him to ensure an innocent man is buried alive.
• Would Hurt a Child: Shot two of the Conway children dead during his massacre, and would have killed the third if he hadn’t escaped out of the window.

The Farm

As A Whole

• Color Motif: The members wear white clothes.
• Cult: They are a cult that brainwashes people using their deepest desires and emotional vulnerabilities.
• I Am a Humanitarian: They consume the bodies of their Elders to absorb their wisdom.

Edgar Evernever

Edgar Evernever

Played by: Chad Michael Murray

A recent arrival in Riverdale with his daughter Evelyn, Edgar is a new-age health “guru” who has helped Alice get her life together after the events of Season Two. He's attractive, in a neighborly way, and charismatic — a wise, comforting presence.

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• Arch-Enemy: Possibly to Betty in Season 3.
• The Leader: Of the Farm.
• Polyamory: He is getting married to Alice despite being already married to Evelyn. Alice and the whole Farm knows this and they are fine with it.

Historical Figures

General Pickens

General Augustus Pickens

The man who led the settlement of the Sweetwater River valley, he is considered Riverdale's founding father.

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• Broken Pedestal: The townspeople’s opinion of him takes a nosedive when his role in massacring the Uktena tribe was brought to light.
• The Dragon: He was actually being bankrolled by Colonel Blossom, who pulled his strings.
• Founder of the Kingdom: The was responsible for the settlement of the Sweetwater River valley.
• Our Founder: There is a statue honoring him prominently displayed on a Park also named after him.

Colonel Blossom

Colonel Barnabas B. Blossom

Jason and Cheryl's great-great-great-grandfather. He was also responsible for bankrolling General Pickens's settlement of the Sweetwater River valley.

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• Alliterative Name: The most salient example in a series full of them... Barnabas B. Blossom.
• Broken Pedestal: Cheryl spent years trying to get Pickens Day renamed after Barnabas, until she found out about the Uktena Massacre.
• Famous Ancestor: The earliest known ancestor of the Blossom and Cooper family.
• The Man Behind the Man: He financed General Pickens' actions in the Sweetwater River valley, becoming the largest landowner in the region.

The Gargoyle King

The Gargoyle King

A figure of great mystery and unsettling occult energies around town, the Gargoyle King seems to live and breathe through his tabletop game, Griffons and Gargoyles. At first utilized by Hiram Lodge to extend his influence, the Cult has since proven Evil Is Not a Toy and seems to no longer be under his power. The Gargoyle King himself makes use of a Collective Identity of sorts. Many, many people have been the Gargoyle King.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Whether he's real or not is at first a matter of interpretation. He is later proven to be VERY real, initially an extension of Hiram's influence, but then grown far beyond his control.
• Collective Identity: Marcus Mason, Tall Boy and possibly many others have used the identity of the King, being a part of his cult.
• Cult: A very far reaching death cult serves the Gargoyle King - the Warden of the local prison is even willing to quaff cyanide because he failed the King's instructions to kill the "Red Paladin" (Archie).
• Kneel Before Zod: Initially, Jughead bows before him, signalling his own Sanity Slippage.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Many people have played the role of the King, and all have used terrifying masks. Even his underlings, the Cult, use masks.
• Mark of the Beast: To be a member of the Cult of the Gargoyle / The Gargoyle Gang, you must be marked with the King's mark in an occultic ceremony before a pit of fire.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Depending on if the King is real. He is involved in many occult events, including doing something to Ben Button and other nerds that seems to have greatly diminished their sanity.
• Sanity Slippage: Encountering him seems to have a nigh on Bloodborne-esque influence, cudgeling down your sanity as you see things that should not be.
• Turned Against Their Masters: Hiram controlled the Gargoyle King cult initially, so as to further his plans for Riverdale. At some point, the Cult outgrew him.

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