This page is for tropes that have appeared in I, Claudius (the series, not the novels).
For the rest:
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Claudius and Messalina. It ends badly.
- Undignified Death: After getting caught out in her plan to overthrow Claudius and make herself and her lover the new masters of Rome, Messalina is given one last chance to Face Death with Dignity and take her own life, preserving her dignity. Instead, she breaks down into hysterics and, to put it bluntly, has to be put down by the guards.
- Unexpected Successor: Claudius after Caligula's death.
- The Unfavorite:
- Claudius is the most prominent example; though his mother Antonia is not especially fond of Livilla either, she has special contempt for Claudius, seeing him as an idiot and a disappointment and frequently saying that he should have died instead of Germanicus.
- Claudius' father Drusus was Livia's unfavorite, though calling Tiberius her favorite would be something of an exaggeration. This is implied to have been reversed after Tiberius becomes Emperor, in part due to Tiberius coming to hate Livia, and in part due to him sinking into further and further depravity that disgusts even his mother.
- Claudius treats his son Britannicus this way. It's a trick intended to protect him from Nero.
- The Vamp: Messalina.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Livia really doesn't take it well when she realizes Caligula isn't going to make her a goddess.
- Sejanus has one when the letter from Tiberius turns into a denunciation and arrest order. We can practically see the colour draining from his face as the letter unfolds.
- Messalina suffers a double breakdown after she's arrested - first, when Narcissus tells her that Claudius doesn't wish to see her and orders her taken away, and second, when Geta produces her execution warrant with Claudius' signature.
- Villainous Incest:
- Caligula, naturally. He takes a sexual interest in all three of his sisters (especially Drusilla) from a very young age, and eventually gets Drusilla pregnant.
- In the last episode, Agrippinilla seduces her son Nero to keep him happy when his wife refuses to sleep with him.
- Deconstructed with Claudius himself. While he's not evil, he marries his niece Agrippinilla in order to make himself hateful to gods and men and thus force a return to the Republic.
- Villainous Mother-Son Duo: Livia is a Machiavellian Roman matriarch who marries the Emperor Augustus, whom she intends to kill in order to put her son, Tiberius on the throne. Decades later, Agrippina tries the same gambit with her husband the Emperor Claudius and her son Nero. Sadly, Truth in Television in the latter case.
- Vorpal Pillow: Macro murders Tiberius with a pillow to save Caligula embarrassment after announcing that he'd already died.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: When Livia's not conspiring to get Tiberius onto the throne, she's this, taking care of Augustus's follies in order to preserve the peace of Rome.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- The last we see of Agrippina is Tiberius exiling her to an island. It's only later that it's mentioned that she died in exile. The same goes for Julia, whose final appearance has her pleading in vain with her father not to be exiled, and lashing out at Livia. note
- Germanicus congratulates Claudius on the birth of his son by his first wife Urgulanilla, and the boy is never mentioned again. Historically the boy - Claudius Drusus - died aged four when he choked on a pear.
- In "Reign of Terror", Livilla poisons her young daughter Helen (who is married to her lover Sejanus) so that she can have Sejanus all to herself. She becomes extremely ill but it is never specifically stated whether or not she died. Helen is based on Julia Livia, who was executed during Claudius' reign on false charges of incest and immorality made by Messalina.
- Who's Your Daddy?: In "Old King Log", Claudius tells Britannicus that he suspects that Caligula, not Claudius himself, is his real father, but that he still loves Britannicus as much as he would if he really were his son. The fact that he (unknowingly) had Britannicus' mother Messalina executed and generally treats him coldly (to keep Nero from seeing him as a threat) means Britannicus finds Claudius' declaration of love unconvincing at best.
- Would Hurt a Child: Several examples.
- As part of the purge of Sejanus' friends and family after his downfall, Macro oversees the execution of Sejanus' children (Aelianus,12 and Junilla,11). Sidestepping possible backlash and/or bad luck (and the reluctance of his men to kill such a young and innocent girl) by dressing his son in his "manly gown" (toga virilis) to make him a legal adult and violating his daughter so that she does not die a virgin.
- Macro later executes Caligula's cousin and nominal co-heir to the Imperial throne, Tiberius' young grandson Gemellus, on Caligula's orders.
- After Caligula's assassination, Cassius Chaerea and his co-conspirators kill not only Caligula's widow Caesonia but also his infant daughter Drusilla.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Livilla invites Postumus into her bedroom, tears her own clothing, and cries rape. Postumus is exiled.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Claudius's attitude towards the end of his life.
- You Should Have Died Instead: Claudius' mother Antonia lobs this at him after the death of her more accomplished son, Germanicus.
