Roman Roy the Shakespearean Jester

Roman Roy, whilst a tragic figure in his own right as all of the Roy siblings are, is also very much the 'jester' of HBO's Succession. (Incredibly huge spoilers ahead).

Succession HBO / Touchstone (As You Like It) - Wikipedia

'Jesters do oft prove prophets.'

- King Lear. Act 5, Scene 3, Line 83.

Shakespeare implemented a jester into his original tragedies for contrast and to provide some levity for audiences. Comedy serves the same function, albeit a lot more often, in Succession. All the characters have witty quips but humour is an especially significant part of Roman's character. For Roman, it is used not only as a deflection when feeling out of his depth but as an emotional armour, in the same way Kendall might use drugs to do this or how Shiv closes-up and puts on a cold front.

A very satisfying and interesting addition to Roman's jester role however, is that the jester in classic Shakespeare often foreshadows the outcomes of the play in his jokes - 'Jester's do oft prove prophets' (King Lear. 5, 3, 83.). This has happened a few times in Succession with Roman. He is often completely correct but is ignored as the 'court fool' and it is up to the viewer to learn to hear him when his family - including Roman himself - do not.

Decider

In Season 3 Episode 1, Roman teases, 'Kendall will self-destruct because it's his favourite'; 'Maybe he'll cut himself up and toss himself in the Hudson [river]'. This is how the writers ask us to listen to Roman. What most of the characters do not know at this point, including Roman himself, is that Kendall did in fact drive off a bridge into a body of water, drowning the boy that was with him. This happened at Shiv's wedding at the end of Season 1. The line is therefore designed to alert the knowing audience to the dramatic irony of Roman's words.

Fascinatingly, we come to find it is not only a telling of the past but a telling of the future too. In the last episode of Season 3 Kendall does have a breakdown and 'self-destruct'. Kendall cries on the floor at another wedding (how apt) and reveals he killed a boy by driving him into a lake. He tells his siblings 'I'm blown into a million pieces', imagery which hauntingly echoes Roman's words from episode 1: 'Kendall will self-destruct' and 'cut himself up'.

Succession HBO

Two other hugely significant foreshadowing lines from Roman include:

'Did someone die?' moments before Kendall crashes and kills the caterer.

'Should we be worried about Tom?' to Shiv in Season 3 before Tom betrays them all in the same episode. Not to mention the fact that the entire series masterfully ends with Tom winning and all of the siblings losing. There are definitely more, that when rewatching, are very fun things to spot indeed!