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* DatingCatwoman: Cesare and Caterina Sfortza
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* AskAStupidQuestion: After Lucrezia and Giulia Farnese's flight, Giovanni Sforza whips Paolo asking him where they're heading. Well, ''genius'', one is the Pope's daughter and the other the Pope's mistress. May be, just may be, that they're going to Rome?
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* AskAStupidQuestion: After Lucrezia and Giulia Farnese's flight, Giovanni Sforza whips Paolo asking him where they're heading. Well, ''genius'', one is the Pope's daughter and the other the Pope's mistress. May be, Maybe, just may be, that maybe, they're going to Rome?
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* ChekhovsGunman: The naked young lady in Rodrigo's bath in "The Borgia Bull"? We find out three episodes later in "Stray Dogs" she is Duchessa Bianca de Gonzaga of Milan, and allied with the Sforza family.
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* EarlyBirdCameo: The naked young lady in Rodrigo's bath in "The Borgia Bull"? We find out three episodes later in "Stray Dogs" she is Duchessa Bianca de Gonzaga of Milan, and allied with the Sforza family.
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* PaperThinDisguise: Vittoria is not particularly convincing as a boy.
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* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Gioffre is nowhere to be seen and isn't even mentioned in Season 2.
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* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Sancia and Gioffre]], for season two.
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* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Sancia and Gioffre]], for season two.Juan is sent home to Spain in Season 2.
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* AnachronismStew: In "The Beautiful Deception" Rodrigo is worried because Lucrezia's refusal to nurse imperils her baby's health. In real life a woman of Lucrezia's station at the end of the 15th century would have had a wet nurse feed the baby.
** To be fair she didn't want one when Rodrigo suggested she should get one.
** To be fair she didn't want one when Rodrigo suggested she should get one.
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* AnachronismStew: In "The Beautiful Deception" Rodrigo is worried because Lucrezia's refusal to nurse imperils her baby's health. In real life life, a woman of Lucrezia's station at the end of the 15th century would have had a wet nurse feed the baby.
**baby. To be fair she didn't want one when Rodrigo suggested she should get one.one, but in reality, her brother and father probably would have put the child with a nurse no matter what she wanted.
**
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* AsYouKnow: In "The Beautiful Deception", Rodrigo tells Juan that Juan must go back to "our ancestral homeland, Spain.". Presumably Juan knows where his family comes from.
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* AsYouKnow: In "The Beautiful Deception", Rodrigo tells Juan that Juan must go back to "our ancestral homeland, Spain.". Spain". Presumably Juan knows where his family comes from.from.
** Especially considering how much verbal abuse the entire family has suffered for being Spaniards in Rome.
** Especially considering how much verbal abuse the entire family has suffered for being Spaniards in Rome.
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* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Borgias would count if there were more than five of them. The Sforzas definitely do.
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* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Borgias would count more if there were more than five six of them. The Sforzas definitely do.
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* TheConsigliere: Machiavelli to the Medici.
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* TheConsigliere: Machiavelli to the Medici. Vannozza to the rest of her family, as well as Giulia.
* EarlyBirdCameo: The naked young lady in Rodrigo's bath in "The Borgia Bull"? We find out three episodes later in "Stray Dogs" she is Duchessa Bianca de Gonzaga of Milan, and allied with the Sforza family.
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** BigBad / EvilGenius : Rodrigo
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** BigBad / EvilGenius : RodrigoEvilGenius: Rodrigo. Vannozza is starting to become another EvilGenius.
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* HistoricalInjoke: When news of [[spoiler: the death of Prince Alfonso of Naples]] spreads to Rome, Rodrigo laments that he would have been a good match for Lucrezia.
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* HistoricalInjoke: HistoricalInJoke: When news of [[spoiler: the death of Prince Alfonso of Naples]] spreads to Rome, Rodrigo laments that he would have been a good match for Lucrezia.
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* KissingCousins: Rodrigo catches Cardinal Sforza with his second cousin.
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* KissingCousins: Rodrigo catches Cardinal Sforza with his second cousin. Although, really, there are a ''lot'' of Sforza cousins.
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* SinisterMinister: All of them?
** Vice Chancellor Ascanio Sforza isn't so bad, by which we mean that he doesn't *actively* kill people or plot their deaths. He's just Rodrigo's [[TheDragon dragon]].
** Vice Chancellor Ascanio Sforza isn't so bad, by which we mean that he doesn't *actively* kill people or plot their deaths. He's just Rodrigo's [[TheDragon dragon]].
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* SinisterMinister: All of them?
** Vice Chancellor Ascanio Sforza isn't so bad, by which we mean that he doesn't *actively* kill people or plot their deaths. He's just Rodrigo's [[TheDragon dragon]].them.
** Vice Chancellor Ascanio Sforza isn't so bad, by which we mean that he doesn't *actively* kill people or plot their deaths. He's just Rodrigo's [[TheDragon dragon]].
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* TraumaticHaircut / ImportantHaircut: When [[spoiler:Ursula]] enters a convent after her husband's death, her hair is cut off. Notable, though, in that this is by choice, and the trauma in question is what lead to her making this decision rather than the haircut itself.
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* TraumaticHaircut / ImportantHaircut: When [[spoiler:Ursula]] enters a convent after her husband's death, her hair is cut off. Notable, though, in that this is by choice, TheThreeFacesOfEve: Lucrezia ("Child"), Giulia ("Seductress"), and the trauma in question is what lead to her making this decision rather than the haircut itself.Vannozza ("Mother").
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* TraumaticHaircut / ImportantHaircut: When [[spoiler:Ursula]] enters a convent after her husband's death, her hair is cut off. Notable, though, in that this is by choice, and the trauma in question is what lead to her making this decision rather than the haircut itself.
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** To be fair she didn't want one when Rodrigo suggested she should get one.
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* AnachronismStew: In "The Beautiful Deception" Rodrigo is worried because Lucrezia's refusal to nurse imperils her baby's health. In real life a woman of Lucrezia's station at the end of the 15th century would have had a wet nurse feed the baby.
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* AsYouKnow: In "The Beautiful Deception", Rodrigo tells Juan that Juan must go back to "our ancestral homeland, Spain.". Presumably Juan knows where his family comes from.
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** In the second season, he is shown to be genuinely horrified by the poverty in Rome, and is openly furious with the Cardinal responsible for charity for having three palaces while the citizens starve. Generally speaking, Rodrigo is nice to anyone he doesn't ''need'' to be nasty to, and is sincere when he says that he plans to make Rome great again and make sure its common people share the glory.
** Lucrezia nearly killing [[spoiler: Juan after he murdered Paolo]] definitely counts as this, especially considering it only failed due to dumb luck.
** Seems to be building in Season 2, where they talk more about "forbidden loves" while getting ''very'' close to each other, kiss each other full on the lips and Cesare asks if he should be jealous of Paolo.
** He does it again after she faints during the discovery of [[spoiler: Paolo's corpse]].
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** The French take out the first line of the Roman Army (who they already outnumber massively) with a single cannon salvo, and the only thing that stops them from completely wipping it out is Lucrezia's intervention.
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** The French take out the first line of the Roman Army (who they already outnumber massively) with a single cannon salvo, and the only thing that stops them from completely wipping wiping it out is Lucrezia's intervention.
*** True, but it's still pretty clear that Giulia is ''not'' meant to be only one year older than Lucrezia.
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* DuelToTheDeath: Cesare kills his [[spoiler:girlfriend Ursula's husband]] in "The Borgias In Love".
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** Giovanni Sforza might be this to [[TheChessmaster Caterina]], depending on how much she depends on him.
* DuelToTheDeath: Cesare kills his[[spoiler:girlfriend [[spoiler: girlfriend Ursula's husband]] in "The Borgias In Love".Love". He uses this trope to justify the killing, claiming there was no murder.
* DuelToTheDeath: Cesare kills his
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* EqualOpportunityEvil: Rodrigo, in a way. He has no problem with letting innocent Jews banished from Spain emigrate to Rome, something which appalls his fellow Catholics. However, the Jews aren't his {{mooks}}, like the trope usually implies. They're just desperate immigrants.
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* EqualOpportunityEvil: Rodrigo, in a way. He has no problem with letting innocent Jews banished from Spain emigrate to Rome, something which appalls his fellow Catholics. However, the Jews aren't his {{mooks}}, like the trope usually implies. They're just desperate immigrants. immigrants.
** In Season 2, he has no problem giving tasks of great importance to women, and again ignores the complaints about it.
** In Season 2, he has no problem giving tasks of great importance to women, and again ignores the complaints about it.
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* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: In "Paolo" Cardinal della Rovere gets a monkey to taste his food to make sure it isn't poisoned.
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* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: In "Paolo" Cardinal della Rovere gets a monkey to taste his food to make sure it isn't poisoned. The irony of doing exactly what Cesare did in the first episode is not lost on him.
** Possibly justified, in that while they are getting increasingly hostile, they are not really trying to kill each other.
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* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Giulia's strategy to maintain Rodrigo's affections.
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* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Giulia's strategy to maintain Rodrigo's affections. [[spoiler: It seems to be working.]]
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** Rodrigo, who threatens Ludovico Sforza to support his nephew claim over Milan if he cooperate with della Rovere. [[WhatAnIdiot While said nephew was prisoner of Ludovico]]. Cut to Ludovico killing the guy and helping della Rovere to prove the point to Rodrigo.
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** Rodrigo, who threatens Ludovico Sforza to support his nephew Ludovico Sforza's nephew's claim over Milan if he cooperate Ludovico cooperates with della Rovere. [[WhatAnIdiot While said nephew was prisoner of Ludovico]]. Cut to Ludovico killing the guy and helping della Rovere to prove the point to Rodrigo.
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* HumiliationConga: Happens (and [[CompleteMonster deservingly so]]) to Giovanni Sforza in "Nessuno". The process of annulling his marriage to Lucrezia involves either proving his "potency" in public in front of the entire College of Cardinals (and a ''deeply'' amused Rodrigo) or admitting he's impotent and lying about the consummation of his marriage. He chooses option B and leaves Rome to much mockery from the public, which includes a masked man holding a fruit as a GagPenis.
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* HumiliationConga: Happens (and [[CompleteMonster deservingly so]]) to [[spoiler: Giovanni Sforza Sforza]] in "Nessuno". The process of [[spoiler: annulling his marriage to Lucrezia Lucrezia]] involves either proving his "potency" in public in front of the entire College of Cardinals (and a ''deeply'' amused Rodrigo) or admitting he's impotent and lying about the consummation of his marriage. He chooses option B and leaves Rome to much mockery from the public, which includes a masked man holding a fruit as a GagPenis.
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* IncestSubtext: Lucrezia and Cesare.
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* IncestSubtext: Lucrezia and Cesare. [[TruthInTelevision Unsurprisingly.]] From early on in Season 2, it seems to be moving in the direction of full blown Incest Text.
** After [[spoiler: Paolo's murder]], Lucrezia mentions that he loved her despite her "Borgia blood", and her feelings of guilt suggest that she is starting to believe that her blood might be tainted.
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* {{Irony}}: Juan is one giant walking example. Just to recapitulate: He refuses to marry Sancia because he considers that an illegitimate wife is beneath him, despite he being illegitimate himself. He is, in fact, ''terrified'' of the possibility of not being actually Rodrigo's son but of his mother's actual husband and thus legitimate. Confused yet? Then you should know that he has an affair with the same illegitimate woman he refused to marry (who is basically his soul mate), both before and after she is [[BigScrewedUpFamily married to his brother]].
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* {{Irony}}: Juan is one giant walking example. Just to recapitulate: He refuses to marry Sancia because he considers that an illegitimate wife is beneath him, despite he being illegitimate himself. He is, in fact, ''terrified'' of the possibility of not being actually Rodrigo's son but of his mother's actual husband and thus legitimate. Confused yet? Then you should know that he has an affair with the same illegitimate woman he refused to marry (who is basically his soul mate), both before and after she is [[BigScrewedUpFamily married to his brother]].
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* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For how well they've been doing with the rest of the names ("lu-CRETT-zee-ah" instead of "lu-CREE-zee-ah"), it's a little jarring when everyone on the show manages to pronounce Cesare as "Chessary".
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* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For how well they've been doing with the rest of the names ("lu-CRETT-zee-ah" instead of "lu-CREE-zee-ah"), it's a little jarring when everyone on the show manages to pronounce Cesare as "Chessary"."Chessary" rather than Che-ZAR-ay
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* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Given the intense dynamic already established between the two, it's hard not to think Cesare's being entirely serious when he tells his sister he'll cut her husband's heart out with a dinner knife if he's "ungallant" towards her.
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** Juan has a habit of doing bad things for this reason; his murder [[spoiler: of Paolo for daring to have a relationship with Lucrezia]] is at least a case of this trope, if not a full-blown MoralEventHorizon.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Given the intense dynamic already established between the two, it's hard not to think Cesare's being entirely serious when he tells his sister he'll cut her husband's heart out with a dinner knife if he's "ungallant" towards her. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he doesn't do anything ''that'' extreme, but he's clearly ''very'' unhappy that she's been mistreated.]]
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Given the intense dynamic already established between the two, it's hard not to think Cesare's being entirely serious when he tells his sister he'll cut her husband's heart out with a dinner knife if he's "ungallant" towards her. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he doesn't do anything ''that'' extreme, but he's clearly ''very'' unhappy that she's been mistreated.]]
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* LaughablyEvil: Prince Alfonso. Young, spoiled, ruling in his father's stead in Naples, and very funny.
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* LaughablyEvil: Prince Alfonso. Young, spoiled, ruling in his father's stead in Naples, and very funny. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the French king does not seem to find him amusing enough to forgive him for letting the plague into "his" city.]]
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* MayDecemberRomance: Rodrigo and Giulia Farnese. [[TruthInTelevision In real life]] Rodrigo was somewhere around his sixties and Giulia [[{{Squick}} sixteen]] when they first hooked up.
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* MayDecemberRomance: Rodrigo and Giulia Farnese. [[TruthInTelevision In real life]] Rodrigo was somewhere around his sixties and Giulia [[{{Squick}} sixteen]] when they first hooked up. In the series, she is clearly much younger than him, but not that young, since she's old enough to have had a child and act as a mentor to the 14 year old Lucrezia.
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* NaughtyNuns: Genderflipped with pretty much every male cleric we see except Savonarola.
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* NaughtyNuns: Genderflipped with pretty much every male cleric we see except Savonarola. [[spoiler: Ursula, after joining the convent]], is trying ''really'' hard to not become one, despite Cesare making this very difficult for her.
** Rodrigo, with his many AffablyEvil PetTheDog moments, and his sincerely held belief that the common people should be able to benefit from his plans to restore Rome, is trying to be this.
** He does this again in "Paolo" to a prostitute who was acting as a spy, though he seemed to strangle her for a bit first.
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* NeverTrustATrailer: In one of the promos for the first season, a [[SexSells completely nude]] [[MsFanservice Giulia Farnese]] advices Lucrezia to use her female beauty for gain, reassuring that "it can be deadly"; the two are apparently modeling for Botticelli's ''The Birth of Venus''. This scene does not appear in the actual series, even though Giulia says the exact same words to Lucrezia at some point. Also, if all you knew about the series came from the promo material, you might think Cesare and Lucrezia's relationship is a lot more incestuous than it actually is.
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* NeverTrustATrailer: In one of the promos for the first season, a [[SexSells completely nude]] [[MsFanservice Giulia Farnese]] advices advises Lucrezia to use her female beauty for gain, reassuring that "it can be deadly"; the two are apparently modeling for Botticelli's ''The Birth of Venus''. This scene does not appear in the actual series, even though Giulia says the exact same words to Lucrezia at some point. Also, if all you knew about the series came from the promo material, you might think Cesare and Lucrezia's relationship is a lot more incestuous than it actually is.
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* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Machiavelli engages in this with Charles. Piero de Medici has just basically surrendered Florence to the French, against Machiavelli's wishes. When he meets Charles at the gates he politely asks him to not point his lance forward, as this is not how you enter the city of a friend. Charles complies and points it upwards, but than it would not fit beneath the gate, forcing him to point it backwards.
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* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Machiavelli engages in this with Charles. Piero de Medici has just basically surrendered Florence to the French, against Machiavelli's wishes. When he meets Charles at the gates he politely asks him to not point his lance forward, as this is not how you enter the city of a friend. Charles complies and points it upwards, but than then it would not fit beneath the gate, forcing him to point it backwards.
** Lucrezia's husband, who comes across as a CompleteMonster in general life, has one moment where he half-admits that he [[MaritalRapeLicense "perhaps was not kind]]" to Lucrezia, and "forgives [her] the accident of her birth" (ie. being lower-born than him and a Borgia.) While this is a combination of a massive understatement and truly staggering arrogance (in addition to insulting her beloved family), it is an attempt to be nice to her.
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* TooDumbToLive: In "Nessuno"--''Really,'' French soldiers? You're going to hold Michelotto and Cesare hostage and then ask them about their silently efficient killing methods and then ASK THEM TO SHOW YOU? And you don't think they're going to demonstrate on ''you?'' Good grief.
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* TooDumbToLive: In "Nessuno"--''Really,'' French soldiers? You're going to hold Michelotto Micheletto and Cesare hostage and then ask them about their silently efficient killing methods and then ASK THEM TO SHOW YOU? And you don't think they're going to demonstrate on ''you?'' Good grief.
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* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: In "Paolo" Cardinal della Rovere gets a monkey to taste his food to make sure it isn't poisoned.
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** Cardinal della Rovere names his pet monkey [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_II "Julius"]].
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* BloodKnight: King Charles, though subverted in that while he enjoys battles and war, he doesn't get involved in the actual fighting and killing
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* BloodKnight: King Charles, though subverted in that while he enjoys battles and war, he doesn't get involved in the actual fighting and killingkilling. He also does have some feelings of remorse, if not for making war, but for reveling in it.
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* Bond One-Liner: Della Rovere takes out two highwaymen who threaten him and the nun he is travelling with and says "Forgive me sister, sometimes goodness needs the help of a little badness"
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* Bond One-Liner: BondOneLiner: Della Rovere takes out two highwaymen who threaten him and the nun he is travelling with and says "Forgive me sister, sometimes goodness needs the help of a little badness"
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* Bond One-Liner: Della Rovere takes out two highwaymen who threaten him and the nun he is travelling with and says "Forgive me sister, sometimes goodness needs the help of a little badness"
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* NeverTrustATrailer: In one of the promos for the first season, a [[SexSells completely nude]] [[MsFanservice Giulia Farnese]] advices Lucrezia to use her female beauty for gain, reassuring that "it can be deadly"; the two are apparently modeling for Botticelli's ''The Birth of Venus''. This scene does not appear in the actual series, even though Giulia says the exact same words to Lucrezia at some point.
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* NeverTrustATrailer: In one of the promos for the first season, a [[SexSells completely nude]] [[MsFanservice Giulia Farnese]] advices Lucrezia to use her female beauty for gain, reassuring that "it can be deadly"; the two are apparently modeling for Botticelli's ''The Birth of Venus''. This scene does not appear in the actual series, even though Giulia says the exact same words to Lucrezia at some point. Also, if all you knew about the series came from the promo material, you might think Cesare and Lucrezia's relationship is a lot more incestuous than it actually is.
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* ShipTease: Even though WordOfGod has repeatedly said they're not gonna go "there" with Cesare/Lucrezia, [[NeverTrustATrailer the promo material]] and the occasional ambiguous scene or line throw a bone to the (quite sizable) part of the fandom that wouldn't mind.
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* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Giulia's strategy to maintain Rodrigo's affections.
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* SweetPollyOliver: [[spoiler: Vittoria the artisan's apprentice in S2]]
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* CostumePorn
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* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Lucrezia after Paolo's death]].
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* CuffsOffRubWrists: Prince Alfonso of Naples after King Louis has him unshackled in "The Borgia Bull". Things do not go well for him afterwards.
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* CuffsOffRubWrists: Prince Alfonso of Naples after King Louis Charles has him unshackled in "The Borgia Bull". Things do not go well for him afterwards.
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* EpicFail: Micheletto's assassination attempt on della Rovere in Naples. Della Rovere was in the middle of a crowded bath house. Micheletto walked in caked entirely in mud, which would make sense at night, but this was BROAD DAYLIGHT. He then got into the bath and swam towards della Rovere, presumably intending to kill him in a crowded area with a bunch of guards all around. Naturally, della Rovere was suspicious of the man caked in mud swimming towards him with a garrote in hand, and alerted the guards, who were literally just feet away. Micholetto only just managed to escape.
** He caked himself in mud because della Rovere knew his face and was only recognized because he turned his back, allowing della Rovere to see the scars that he had observed before. Additionally, we don't know how Micheletto was planning to kill della Rovere but it can probably be assumed that he had a plan. Finally, it could not have been that strange to cake oneself in mud, considering that a bath attendant did it for him.
** He caked himself in mud because della Rovere knew his face and was only recognized because he turned his back, allowing della Rovere to see the scars that he had observed before. Additionally, we don't know how Micheletto was planning to kill della Rovere but it can probably be assumed that he had a plan. Finally, it could not have been that strange to cake oneself in mud, considering that a bath attendant did it for him.
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* HairOfGold: Lucrezia, to the full embodiment of the trope so far. Time will tell if she evolves into [[BlondesAreEvil the embodiment of the real Lucrezia's probably entirely fictional reputation as]] TheVamp, or if she'll become the cunning but ultimately good-hearted and victimized woman [[HistoryMarchesOn historians now think she was]].
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* HairOfGold: Lucrezia, to the full embodiment of the trope so far. Time will tell if she evolves into [[BlondesAreEvil the embodiment of the real Lucrezia's probably entirely fictional reputation as]] reputation]] as TheVamp, or if she'll become the cunning but ultimately good-hearted and victimized woman [[HistoryMarchesOn historians now think she was]].
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* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Virtually all of the cast. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Borgia Rodrigo]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia Cesare]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia Lucrezia]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Borgia_(1474) Juan]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioffre_Borgia Gioffre]] Borgia, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannozza_dei_Cattani Vannozza dei Cattanei]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese Giulia Farnese]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascanio_Sforza Ascanio Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_II Giuliano della Rovere]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Sforza Ludovico "Il Moro" Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Sforza Giovanni Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancha_of_Aragon Sancia of Aragon]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_of_Aragon Prince Alfonso of Naples]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelotto_Corella Michelotto]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolò_Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VIII_of_France King Charles VII of France]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola Savonarola]] . . . you get the picture. The only characters that are completely fictional are Ursula Bonadeo (Cesare had ''many'' lovers and killed many people) and Theo (Vannozza had four husbands, none were named Theo or were farmers), as well as servants Maria, Francesca, and Paolo ( who is based on a historical servant called Perotto).
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* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Virtually all of the cast. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Borgia Rodrigo]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia Cesare]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia Lucrezia]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Borgia_(1474) Juan]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioffre_Borgia Gioffre]] Borgia, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannozza_dei_Cattani Vannozza dei Cattanei]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese Giulia Farnese]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascanio_Sforza Ascanio Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_II Giuliano della Rovere]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Sforza Ludovico "Il Moro" Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Sforza Giovanni Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancha_of_Aragon Sancia of Aragon]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_of_Aragon Prince Alfonso of Naples]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelotto_Corella Michelotto]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolò_Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[[http://en.[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VIII_of_France King Charles VII of France]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola Savonarola]] . . . you get the picture. The only characters that are completely fictional are Ursula Bonadeo (Cesare had ''many'' lovers and killed many people) and Theo (Vannozza had four husbands, none were named Theo or were farmers), as well as servants Maria, Francesca, and Paolo ( who is based on a historical servant called Perotto).
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** The presence of Machiavelli is an example too; the time frame isn't very clear after the 1492 title in the pilot episode, but most of the events depicted took place between 1492 and 1496 in real life. Machiavelli was elected head of the Second Chancery in 1498 and didn't hold any political position in Florence before that. Then again, the show seems to be under the impression that he worked for the Medici, so the year alone isn't the only bit of artistic license.
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* CuffsOffRubsWrists: Prince Alfonso of Naples after King Louis has him unshackled in "The Borgia Bull". Things do not go well for him afterwards.
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* CuffsOffRubsWrists: CuffsOffRubWrists: Prince Alfonso of Naples after King Louis has him unshackled in "The Borgia Bull". Things do not go well for him afterwards.
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* CuffsOffRubsWrists: Prince Alfonso of Naples after King Louis has him unshackled in "The Borgia Bull". Things do not go well for him afterwards.
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** Tonnes of topless prostitutes throughout.
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** Tonnes Tons of topless prostitutes throughout.
* {{Flynning}}: Between the elder Borgia brothers in "The Borgia Bull".
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* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Virtually all of the cast. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Borgia Rodrigo]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia Cesare]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia Lucrezia]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Borgia_(1474) Juan]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioffre_Borgia Gioffre]] Borgia, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannozza_dei_Cattani Vannozza dei Cattanei]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese Giulia Farnese]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascanio_Sforza Ascanio Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_II Giuliano della Rovere]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Sforza Ludovico "Il Moro" Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Sforza Giovanni Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancha_of_Aragon Sancia of Aragon]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_of_Aragon Prince Alfonso of Naples]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelotto_Corella Michelotto]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolò_Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola Savonarola]] . . . you get the picture. The only characters that are completely fictional are Ursula Bonadeo (Cesare had ''many'' lovers and killed many people) and Theo (Vannozza had four husbands, none were named Theo or were farmers), as well as servants Maria, Francesca, and Paolo ( who is based on a historical servant called Perotto).
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* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Virtually all of the cast. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Borgia Rodrigo]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia Cesare]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia Lucrezia]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Borgia_(1474) Juan]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioffre_Borgia Gioffre]] Borgia, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannozza_dei_Cattani Vannozza dei Cattanei]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese Giulia Farnese]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascanio_Sforza Ascanio Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_II Giuliano della Rovere]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Sforza Ludovico "Il Moro" Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Sforza Giovanni Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancha_of_Aragon Sancia of Aragon]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_of_Aragon Prince Alfonso of Naples]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelotto_Corella Michelotto]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolò_Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VIII_of_France King Charles VII of France]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola Savonarola]] . . . you get the picture. The only characters that are completely fictional are Ursula Bonadeo (Cesare had ''many'' lovers and killed many people) and Theo (Vannozza had four husbands, none were named Theo or were farmers), as well as servants Maria, Francesca, and Paolo ( who is based on a historical servant called Perotto).
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* MasqueradeBall: In Season 2 premiere "The Borgia Bull".
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* HeroicSociopath: He may not completely be there yet, but Cesare is willing to get his hands bloody for love and family--and if history's any indication, he's probably shaping up to be the less honorable sociopath as well.
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* SociopathicHero: He may not completely be there yet, but Cesare is willing to get his hands bloody for love and family--and if history's any indication, he's probably shaping up to be the less honorable sociopath as well.
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* HistoricalInjoke: When news of [[spoiler: the death of Prince Alfonso of Naples]] spreads to Rome, Rodrigo laments that he would have been a good match for Lucrezia.
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** Ironically enough, the first attempt on Juan's life comes from ''[[spoiler:Lucrezia]]'', who was turned into a Cain when Juan [[spoiler: murdered Paolo.]]
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* BreadAndCircuses: Part of the Pope's plan to bring Rome to glory.
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* WouldHurtAChild: The French soldiers.
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* WouldHurtAChild: WouldHurtAChild:
** The Frenchsoldiers. soldiers.
** Micheletto drowns an altar boy
** The French
** Micheletto drowns an altar boy
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For that time period, that would not have been considered rape. Plus, it\'s historically accurate.
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** As does Sancia of Aragon. Not as brutally depicted as Giovanni Sforza and Lucrezia, but heavily implied.
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* AskAStupidQuestion: After Lucrezia and Giulia Farnese's flight, Giovanni Sforza whips Paolo asking him where they're heading. Well, ''genius'', one is the Pope's daughter and the other the Pope's mistress. May be, just may be, that they're going to Rome?
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* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In the series Giovanni Sforza is an abusive husband and rapes Lucrezia. In real life Sforza didn't touch Lucrezia for months because she was twelve when they married.
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* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In the series Giovanni Sforza is an abusive husband and rapes Lucrezia. In real life Sforza didn't touch Lucrezia for months because she was twelve young and childlike when they married.
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** Rodrigo, who threatens Ludovico Sforza to support his nephew claim over Milan if he cooperate with della Rovere. [[WhatAnIdiot While said nephew was prisoner of Ludovico]]. Cut to Ludovico killing the guy and helping della Rovere to prove the point to Rodrigo.
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* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In the series Giovanni Sforza is an abusive husband and rapes Lucrezia. In real life Sforza didn't touch Lucrezia for months because she was twelve when they married.
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[[quoteright:283:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theborgias2_3664.png]]
[[caption-width-right:283:It's good to be Pope.]]
->"''Now we are in the power of a wolf, and if we do not flee, he will inevitably devour us.''"
-->-- '''Giovanni de' Medici''', courtesy of the trailer, and understating to the max.
Having had such a big success with ''TheTudors'', {{Showtime}} has continued the theme of sexy period drama by turning to another turbulent period of history, and another notorious family. Stage left; enter the Borgias.
The Borgias, or at least this particular branch of the family, have become a byword for corruption and decadence. It doesn't help that the head of the family, Rodrigo, is often believed to have bought his way into the papacy. Or that he had a string of mistresses well into his sixties, despite the fact that he was, you know, a cardinal and then Pope. Or that he installed at least one of them in the Vatican itself. Or that he also had at least four acknowledged children, again despite the cardinal and Pope schtick. Or that one of his sons, Cesare, was a MagnificentBastard in every sense of the word. Or that his daughter, Lucrezia, has something of a reputation as a poisoner and a ''femme fatale''. Or that one of her husbands accused her of committing incest with her father and brother. Or that Cesare is rumored to have killed his brother, Giovanni, and either murdered or ordered the murder of his sister's second husband. Or that...
Well, you get the picture. Let's not even start on 'The Banquet of the Chestnuts'. To be fair, the Borgias had many enemies and some of the stuff written about them was quite possibly exaggerated or expanded upon to demonize them. This does not, however, mean that they were nice people, even by the standards of the time; they weren't. Considering the world they lived in, they couldn't afford to be.
All this is portrayed in the series and then some. JeremyIrons has top billing as Pope Alexander VI, and the series debuted in April 2011. It has garnered some of the highest ratings on Showtime, and was renewed for a second series.
Not to be confused with a 1980 series, also called ''The Borgias'', which was produced by TheBBC. For reasons way too long to go into here, the BBC's version was a total flop and a temporary GenreKiller for the BBC Costume Drama.
Not to be confused either with ''Borgia'' the European 2011 version produced by Canal+ and created by Tom Fontana from {{Oz}}.
----
!!''TheBorgias'' provides examples of:
* AffablyEvil: How Jeremy Irons is playing Rodrigo Borgia, to a tee.
** This impression is only furthered by the fact that he's one of the least ''all-around'' evil people in the show! It's hard to not feel a ''little'' sympathetic toward a character who clearly loves his children this much and who allows the persecuted Spanish Jews safe haven when so much of the rest of the cast are {{complete monster}}s.
* AmicablyDivorced: Vannozza and Theo are the 15th century version of this; he's retired to a farm paid for by Rodrigo in exchange for allowing Vannozza to do as she pleases.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Juan is this to Cesare. As François Arnaud put it in a recent interview, "Cesare profoundly believes that his brother is an idiot."
* AntiHero: Rodrigo isn't overly malevolent; he rarely gives the order for an assassination, and seems to love his family, placing him somewhere around type IV. Cesare is soundly type IV, but quickly heading toward type V. If history is anything to go by, he'll be anti-villain or outright villain by the show's end.
* ArrangedMarriage: All of the Borgia children, save Cesare, but poor Lucrezia really gets the worst of it.
* ArsonMurderAndAdmiration: Cesare is deeply impressed by how well della Rovere has managed to evade the Borgia assassins, kill one of them himself, and nearly had his father deposed. He [[VillainTeamUp offers to team up]], because della Rovere is the one man who can stand up to Rodrigo and keep him in line. della Rovere, unfortunately, declines.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: All over the place. For once, the siege of Lucca never happened (RuleOfDrama, of course, but with the city whose walls ''still'' exist and are one of the greatest example of urban fortification?).
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: When Rodrigo becomes Pope.
** Charles gets one when Rodrigo crowns him King of France and Naples.
* TheBaroness: Caterina Sforza, who is implied to be [[TheChessmaster the brains]] behind the entire Sforza family.
* BatmanGambit: Rodrigo sends the French forces to take over their new kingdom of Naples... where TheBlackDeath is waiting.
* BeardOfEvil: Both Lodovico and Giovanni Sforza.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Ursula asks Cesare to "liberate" her from her husband... and when he [[MurderTheHypotenuse does]], she suffers a massive FreakOut and becomes a nun.
* BerserkButton: Threaten Lucrezia in front of [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Cesare]], I dare you. For that matter, don't [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas call his mom a whore]], either.
** Don't lie to Vannozza, or tell her that the Pope has to be chaste and then turn around and start sleeping with another woman.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Lucrezia, Paolo the stable boy, and Francesca the maid have all suffered at Giovanni Sforza's hands, so they team up to make sure he himself suffers (in this case, a fall that immobilizes him).
* BigBrotherAttraction: While it seems to be innocent thus far, Lucrezia's feelings for Cesare do seem to skew this way; she tells him in "The Moor" that "I shall never love a husband as I love you".
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Borgias would count if there were more than five of them. The Sforzas definitely do.
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: In "Nessuno", [[spoiler: scenes of the Black Plague-ravaged corpses of Naples are intercut with Lucrezia giving birth to her son and the entire extended Borgia family - Giulia and Ursula as well - gathered together]].
* BlackAndGrayMorality: And the Borgias themselves are the gray. [[CrapsackWorld Think about that.]]
* TheBlackDeath: Ravages Naples in "Nessuno".
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Lucrezia, Vannozza, and Giulia.
* BloodFromTheMouth: "The Moor"
* BloodKnight: King Charles, though subverted in that while he enjoys battles and war, he doesn't get involved in the actual fighting and killing
* BreakTheCutie: Poor, poor Lucrezia.
* BridalCarry: Cesare carrying the sleeping Lucrezia to bed on her wedding night.
* CainAndAbel: It remains to be seen how Jordan plans on interpreting the very ambiguous circumstances of Juan's eventual murder, but the antagonism between he and his brother is set up from day one.
* CareerKillers: Abound in this show, but Micheletto is the most prominent example.
* CatapultNightmare: Rodrigo in "The Borgias in Love".
* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Probably the most spectacularly grisly aversion in recent memory. The French characters in this show are ''defined'' by how pitiless and terrifying they are as opponents in warfare.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Gioffre is completely unaware of what goes around him. Lucrezia too, [[CorruptTheCutie at least at first]].
* ChristianityIsCatholic: TruthInTelevision in Italy both then and now.
* ChristmasCake: Vannozza.
* CityStateEra: The show takes place during this period of Italian history.
* TheClan: 15th-century Italy abounds with them; the city-states are all constantly dealing with FeudingFamilies, and it's this atmosphere into which the Borgias (who are too small a family to count themselves) enter as outsiders. The most prominent family is the Sforzas, of whom we have already met four members ([[TheBaroness Caterina]], [[TheDragon Ascanio]], [[CompleteMonster Lodovico and Giovanni]]).
* CompositeCharacter: Theo is an amalgam of two of Vanozza's four RealLife husbands (none of which were named Theo) while Alfonso seems to combine the historical King Alfonso II of Naples and his two surviving sons [[spoiler: one of whom eventually married Lucrezia]].
* {{Confessional}}: Apparently a place to meet up with your girlfriend, plot with your partners in crime, and occasionally murder someone.
* TheConsigliere: Machiavelli to the Medici.
* ConstantlyCurious: Gioffre's curiosity provides his doting father Rodrigo with an opportunity for an {{Infodump}} in which Rodrigo explains to him (and the viewers) what all the petty kingdoms on the Italian peninsula are, and how they're fitting into the power struggle.
* CorruptChurch: However bad Rodrigo may be, imagine how messed up the religious system that allowed him to come to power is.
** Considering the time period and the sort of environment that would lead to the Reformation, this is (for some, sadly) TruthInTelevision.
* CorruptTheCutie: Lucrezia is gradually becoming a case of this, after her marriage to CompleteMonster Giovanni Sforza. It's not her fault, but with a BigScrewedUpFamily like hers, corruption's kind of unavoidable.
* CountryMatters: "Source of disquiet".
* CoveredInMud: In episode 3, assassin Michelotto goes to a sauna and has himself covered in mud as a disguise.
* CurbStompBattle: Theo is on the losing end of one from Juan, who is pissed off that people are gossiping that he's Theo's son instead of Rodrigo's. Vannozza is not pleased and throws him out of her house, and Rodrigo gives him a blistering [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speech]] before slapping him and ordering him to beg forgiveness from his mother.
** The city state of Lucca receives one from the French armies, who tore down the city fortifications with their cannon and slaughtered the population of the city. After they surrendered.
** The French take out the first line of the Roman Army (who they already outnumber massively) with a single cannon salvo, and the only thing that stops them from completely wipping it out is Lucrezia's intervention.
* DaddysGirl: Lucrezia to Rodrigo.
* DancesAndBalls
* DarkMistress: Rodrigo's first mistress Vannozza (the mother of his children) doesn't fit this trope very well, but Giulia Farnese certainly does.
* DawsonCasting: 23-year-old Holliday Granger plays Lucrezia, who's 14 in the first episode. 18-year-old Cesare is played by 25-year-old Francois Arnaud, 33-year-old Emmanuelle Chriqui plays a teenage Sancia, and 15-year-old Giulia Farnese is played by 29-year-old Lotte Verbeek (though this last may count as AgeLift; Giulia's age is glossed over to the point where the only thing made clear is that she is ''much'' [[MayDecemberRomance younger than Rodrigo]]).
** Giulia's almost definitely an AgeLift. It's made pretty clear that she's been married to her husband for a good long time--long enough to [[spoiler: conceive a child]] and learn the ways of court and men, as well as politics, on some level. She's definitely not fifteen, and probably isn't supposed to be a teenager, either. It's likely that the characterization is a combo of the real Giulia and Adriana da Mila, Lucrezia's real-life governess/mentor-type figure and a cousin to the Borgia family.
** In a period piece, it's almost justifiable, considering how children were forced to grow up much faster in those days, so they would tend to prematurely age.
* [[DeadGuyOnDisplay Dead Guys On Display]]: Ask King Ferrante of Naples about his "Last Supper".
* DeadlyDecadentCourt
* DeadpanSnarker: Machiavelli. Rodrigo upon occasion as well, especially in the latter half of the first season.
* DeadStarWalking: We hope you didn't come into this show for [[spoiler: Derek Jacobi]].
* DomesticAbuser: Giovanni Sforza and Baron Bonadeo.
* DoubleAgent: In the first episodes Micheletto serves Cesare and della Rovere simultaneously.
* TheDragon: Micheletto to Cesare.
** Cesare and Ascanio Sforza to Rodrigo. Though Ascanio is a DragonWithAnAgenda.
** Machiavelli to the House of Medici.
* DuelToTheDeath: Cesare kills his [[spoiler:girlfriend Ursula's husband]] in "The Borgias In Love".
* DreamSequence: Rodrigo keeps dreaming of Lucrezia after her marriage.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Savonarola, relating the future French invasion.
* TheDutifulSon: Cesare turns reluctantly being this into an art.
* EpicFail: Micheletto's assassination attempt on della Rovere in Naples. Della Rovere was in the middle of a crowded bath house. Micheletto walked in caked entirely in mud, which would make sense at night, but this was BROAD DAYLIGHT. He then got into the bath and swam towards della Rovere, presumably intending to kill him in a crowded area with a bunch of guards all around. Naturally, della Rovere was suspicious of the man caked in mud swimming towards him with a garrote in hand, and alerted the guards, who were literally just feet away. Micholetto only just managed to escape.
** He caked himself in mud because della Rovere knew his face and was only recognized because he turned his back, allowing della Rovere to see the scars that he had observed before. Additionally, we don't know how Micheletto was planning to kill della Rovere but it can probably be assumed that he had a plan. Finally, it could not have been that strange to cake oneself in mud, considering that a bath attendant did it for him.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: Rodrigo, in a way. He has no problem with letting innocent Jews banished from Spain emigrate to Rome, something which appalls his fellow Catholics. However, the Jews aren't his {{mooks}}, like the trope usually implies. They're just desperate immigrants.
* TheEternalCity: With Hungary and lots of studio sets standing in for Rome.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Do ''not'' insult Cesare's mother Vannozza by, say, calling her a Spanish whore. It will simply get your throat cut.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Micheletto kills the incompetent assassin that Juan hired to murder Djem, after learning that the assassin in question screwed up with his choice of poison, condemning Djem to an agonizing, weeks-long death. As merciless and amoral as Micheletto is, he does prefer to give his victims a relatively quick death.
** Debatable. It might have been a case where death is the price of incompetence. Micheletto's a professional; his victims die quickly because it gives them less time to scream for help that way.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex
* EvillyAffable: Cesare, more and more each episode.
* EyeOpen: Savonarola in "The Borgias in Love".
* EyeScream: Micheletto treats us to some by jamming his thumbs into a guard's eyes, ''[[{{Badass}} underwater]]'', in Naples ("The Moor").
** One of Cesare's agents, posing as a monk, also gets stabbed in the eye by della Rovere.
* {{Fanservice}}:
** Topless Lotte Verbeek in most episodes.
** Cesare. See FetishFuelStationAttendant.
** Almost-naked David Oakes in "Death on a Pale Horse".
** Lucrezia trying to seduce her husband.
** Shirtless Luke Pasqualino. Twice.
** Tonnes of topless prostitutes throughout.
** The whipping scene. Oh Lordy, the whipping scene.
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: ''Cesare''. Count the tropes: SexyPriest, HellBentForLeather, KnightTemplarBigBrother, HoYay, IncestSubtext, {{Bishonen}}...
** Giulia and Sancia keep up the ladies' end.
* FiveBadBand
** BigBad / EvilGenius : Rodrigo
** TheDragon: Cesare and Ascanio Sforza.
** TheBrute: Juan and Micheletto (who is also Cesare's Dragon).
** DarkChick: Lucrezia and Giulia
** Mooks: The papal army.
* FollowInMyFootsteps: Cesare wants to be a soldier, but Rodrigo is adamant that his eldest son become a priest like he had.
* ForegoneConclusion: della Rovere becomes the next Pope.
** Juan dies at Cesare's hand.
* TheFundamentalist: Savonarola, who not only compares Rome with the Whore of Babylon and accuses Florence of usury, but also condemns wealth, art and comfort.
* GeneralFailure: Taking cannons out with archers in open terrain, Juan? Seriously?
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Just look the assassin in "Lucrezia's Wedding", ''goddamn''.
* GorgeousPeriodDress: It's set in Italy during the Renaissance; elaborate historical clothes are something of a given. Especially for the Pope and, of course, the women.
* GoryDiscretionShot: This show takes an unholy glee in subverting it. The absolute crowner though, must be the demonstration of the French chained cannonballs in "The Art of War", wherein we see soldiers ''bisected''.
* HairOfGold: Lucrezia, to the full embodiment of the trope so far. Time will tell if she evolves into [[BlondesAreEvil the embodiment of the real Lucrezia's probably entirely fictional reputation as]] TheVamp, or if she'll become the cunning but ultimately good-hearted and victimized woman [[HistoryMarchesOn historians now think she was]].
* HeroAntagonist: della Rovere.
* HeroicSociopath: He may not completely be there yet, but Cesare is willing to get his hands bloody for love and family--and if history's any indication, he's probably shaping up to be the less honorable sociopath as well.
* HilariousOuttakes: The season 1 blooper reel [[http://youtu.be/jYGH-FEWEp0 has already hit the internet]], and it's hysterical. Watching Jeremy Irons get his dress stepped on and try valiantly (but fail) to keep from dropping a ClusterFBomb in front of a child actor is worth the watch.
* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Apparent, but not to the same degree it was in ''TheTudors''. Except for a few differences in hair color, it's possible to picture that if Renaissance artists painted the actors in costume, they wouldn't look ''too'' dissimilar from their real counterparts, with the notable exception of Rodrigo. Even JeremyIrons thinks he doesn't look a thing like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pope_Alexander_Vi.jpg the actual Rodrigo]] and that they probably should have cast someone like James Gandolfini.
** He was rumored by his contemporaries to be one of the most handsome guys around, much like Cesare later on (minus the syphilis marks). Maybe by the time of the portrait he just didn't care anymore, being pope and all.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Virtually all of the cast. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Borgia Rodrigo]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia Cesare]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia Lucrezia]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Borgia_(1474) Juan]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioffre_Borgia Gioffre]] Borgia, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannozza_dei_Cattani Vannozza dei Cattanei]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese Giulia Farnese]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascanio_Sforza Ascanio Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_II Giuliano della Rovere]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Sforza Ludovico "Il Moro" Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Sforza Giovanni Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancha_of_Aragon Sancia of Aragon]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_of_Aragon Prince Alfonso of Naples]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelotto_Corella Michelotto]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolò_Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola Savonarola]] . . . you get the picture. The only characters that are completely fictional are Ursula Bonadeo (Cesare had ''many'' lovers and killed many people) and Theo (Vannozza had four husbands, none were named Theo or were farmers), as well as servants Maria, Francesca, and Paolo ( who is based on a historical servant called Perotto).
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Lucrezia arranges for her DomesticAbuser huntsman husband to have a fall from his horse. When they're setting his broken leg, she tells him to "be brave", thoroughly enjoying the pain he's experiencing for once.
** Charles of France, who wants glory and battle and kills without mercy, is crowned King of Naples by Pope Alexander and sent to his new dominion. [[TheBlackDeath Shame about that plague.]]
** Cardinal Orsini in the first episode.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Rodrigo suffers a severe case of this post-election.
* HotForPreacher: Ursula. [[spoiler:She ends up entering a nunnery in penance for being accidentally party to said hot preacher's murder of her husband, though.]]
* HumiliationConga: Happens (and [[CompleteMonster deservingly so]]) to Giovanni Sforza in "Nessuno". The process of annulling his marriage to Lucrezia involves either proving his "potency" in public in front of the entire College of Cardinals (and a ''deeply'' amused Rodrigo) or admitting he's impotent and lying about the consummation of his marriage. He chooses option B and leaves Rome to much mockery from the public, which includes a masked man holding a fruit as a GagPenis.
* TheHyena: Alfonso of Naples.
* IdiotBall: Placing [[RoyalBrat Juan]], a military commander with ''no'' battle experience, at the head of an army cobbled together to face the French (one of the most dominant and ruthless in the world)?! BAD PLAN, [[TooDumbToLive RODRIGO]]. The look on Cesare's face is pretty priceless, as well.
* InadequateInheritor: Basically everyone except [[DotingParent Rodrigo]] considers [[RoyalBrat Juan]] to be this. Although Rodrigo does mention it after Juan [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps poor Theo]], voicing the popular opinion that Cesare would be better suited to the position and subtly threatening to disinherit Juan if he doesn't apologise and promise to restrain himself in the future.
* IncestSubtext: Lucrezia and Cesare.
** For some, Rodrigo and Lucrezia's cuddling in "The French King" came off as this.
* InfantImmortality: Brutally subverted with the French invasion of Lucca in "Death on a Pale Horse", where a young girl is skewered by one of the French soldiers.
* InformedAbility: In "The Poisoned Chalice", both Giulia and Lucrezia have their portraits painted by "a new genius" called Pinturicchio. It's blink and you'll miss it, but in "The Moor" we see the portraits he's done on a wall, and they're about as good as the average third grader's.
* InTheBlood: Much is made of "Borgia blood", particularly by Giovanni Sforza "forgiving" Lucrezia the sin of her blood and informing her that when France invades Rome, her father, the source of the bad blood, will be deposed and killed.
* IronicEcho: Savonarola's prophecy in "The Borgias in Love" is echoed in "Death on a Pale Horse", when it finally hits della Rovere that Savonarola foresaw the French invasion della Rovere himself brought about.
* {{Irony}}: Juan is one giant walking example. Just to recapitulate: He refuses to marry Sancia because he considers that an illegitimate wife is beneath him, despite he being illegitimate himself. He is, in fact, ''terrified'' of the possibility of not being actually Rodrigo's son but of his mother's actual husband and thus legitimate. Confused yet? Then you should know that he has an affair with the same illegitimate woman he refused to marry (who is basically his soul mate), both before and after she is [[BigScrewedUpFamily married to his brother]].
* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Rodrigo's politics lesson to Giulia. Her calf is Naples, her knee is Rome, her - er, [[CountryMatters "source of disquiet"]] is France, and he's about to "invade France".
* ItalianWars
* ItsAlwaysSpring: While remaining deliberately vague about the passing of time and moving some events up and down the time table for story-telling purposes, the first season seems to cover the years 1492-1495, but no sign of changing seasons is ever seen.
** Although the climate in Italy is generally divided into two seasons, with mostly persistent weather throughout each of them.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For how well they've been doing with the rest of the names ("lu-CRETT-zee-ah" instead of "lu-CREE-zee-ah"), it's a little jarring when everyone on the show manages to pronounce Cesare as "Chessary".
* KickTheDog: Poor Theo gets his ass kicked by Juan basically for being a commoner and his mother's actual husband. He believes the local gossip that Theo is his real father, and not Rodrigo.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Given the intense dynamic already established between the two, it's hard not to think Cesare's being entirely serious when he tells his sister he'll cut her husband's heart out with a dinner knife if he's "ungallant" towards her.
* KinkMeme: [[http://borgiaskink.livejournal.com/778.html Over here.]]
** Comes [[http://borgiaskink.livejournal.com/778.html?thread=37898#t37898 complete with]] a HighSchoolAU.
* KissingCousins: Rodrigo catches Cardinal Sforza with his second cousin.
* KubrickStare: Rodrigo's got the market cornered, though Cesare has apparently inherited it.
* LargeHam: Jeremy Irons, not as much as one might expect, though he turns it UpToEleven in "Death on a Pale Horse".
** Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, even more than Rodrigo. He has absolutely NoIndoorVoice.
* LaughablyEvil: Prince Alfonso. Young, spoiled, ruling in his father's stead in Naples, and very funny.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle[=/=]TitleDrop: Savonarola quotes Revelation 6:8 in "Death on a Pale Horse".
-->''And I looked, and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him.''
* TheMafia: {{Showtime}}'s promo team seems fixated on pointing out the ''[[TheGodfather Godfather]]'' parallels. It's certainly not unwarranted - Mario Puzo was, after all, partly inspired by the Borgias when writing the story - but it's not quite as neat as they would have you believe.
* MaleFrontalNudity: Cardinal della Rovere in Naples.
* ManInTheIronMask: Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, keeps the rightful holder of his dukedom in a tiny, filthy cell set into the floor of his dining room, almost as a freak attraction but without any physical or mental deficiencies.
* MaritalRapeLicense: Giovanna Sforza believes in this.
** As does Sancia of Aragon. Not as brutally depicted as Giovanni Sforza and Lucrezia, but heavily implied.
* MasterPoisoner: Micheletto. Lucrezia Borgia may become this in the future, depending on how many of the rumors about her the show runs with.
** Averted with the anonymous kitchen hand who botches the poisoning of Djem the Moor.
* MayDecemberRomance: Rodrigo and Giulia Farnese. [[TruthInTelevision In real life]] Rodrigo was somewhere around his sixties and Giulia [[{{Squick}} sixteen]] when they first hooked up.
* MisplacedWildlife: The first episode features a pet [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Capuchin Monkey]] from South America in a prominent way. Notice that the scene takes place within days of Rodrigo's election in August 1492, when Columbus still had to complete his first voyage.
* ModestyBedsheet: Of the L-shaped variety for Cesare and Ursula in "The French King". Giulia wears one in [[http://www.daemonstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/the-borgias-showtime-poster-550x739.jpg this]] promotional poster.
* MoeGreeneSpecial: Cardinal della Rovere dispatches a spy with a dagger in "Lucrezia's Wedding".
* NaughtyNuns: Genderflipped with pretty much every male cleric we see except Savonarola.
* NaughtyUnderTheTable: Sancia feels up Juan.
* NecessarilyEvil: Cardinal della Rovere struggles with whether or not he can bring himself to be what he sees as this, even asking aloud during confession if one act of evil can be excused if it prevents many greater ones.
* NeckSnap: Micheletto the assassin does this in "The Moor", twice.
* {{Nepotism}}: Rodrigo's appointments and politicking in the name of all of his children is seen as this, but the elevation of Cesare to Cardinal is perceived as the most appalling.
* NeverTrustATrailer: In one of the promos for the first season, a [[SexSells completely nude]] [[MsFanservice Giulia Farnese]] advices Lucrezia to use her female beauty for gain, reassuring that "it can be deadly"; the two are apparently modeling for Botticelli's ''The Birth of Venus''. This scene does not appear in the actual series, even though Giulia says the exact same words to Lucrezia at some point.
* NewOldFlame: Vannozza's actual husband, Theo.
* NoIndoorVoice: Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Some subtitlers had to transcribe his dialogue in all caps.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. Giulia Farnese tells Rodrigo they can't have sex because it's her time of the month. He doesn't care. (And we even see a spot of menstrual blood on her nightie.)
* NunsNRosaries: Ursula feels guilty.
* ObliviousYoungerSibling: Gioffre is playing this role for now. Let's see if that changes.
* OldManMarryingAChild: 14-year-old Lucrezia is forced to marry the much older Giovanni Sforza. Unfortunately, he believes in MaritalRapeLicense.
* OminousLatinChanting: Abounds.
* OnlySaneMan: Cardinal della Rovere and Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and even they have to get their hands dirty to survive.
* ParentalFavoritism: While Rodrigo is ambitious for all of his children and is doing his best to boost all of them up in the world, he's blinded to Juan's more unsavoury character traits and refuses to allow the far-more capable Cesare to replace him in his career. [[DaddysGirl Lucrezia]], however, is clearly his favorite.
* ParentWithNewParamour: Rodrigo and Giulia, with Cesare left to run interference to keep Vannozza from making scenes.
* PassFail: Rodrigo's enemies believe him and his family to be ''marranos''- that is, Sephardic Jews who converted to Catholicism sometime ago. Della Rovere, who has no liking for the Borgia family, nevertheless finds this to be an unfair accusation and a grave insult, which still carries some pretty deep UnfortunateImplications.
* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Machiavelli engages in this with Charles. Piero de Medici has just basically surrendered Florence to the French, against Machiavelli's wishes. When he meets Charles at the gates he politely asks him to not point his lance forward, as this is not how you enter the city of a friend. Charles complies and points it upwards, but than it would not fit beneath the gate, forcing him to point it backwards.
* PetTheDog: Even JerkAss Alfonso, who mocks his aged and deaf father, is still [[spoiler: distraught when the old man dies]].
* PlayingAgainstType: Ronin Vibert, known for playing the pathetic and timid Lepidus on ''{{Rome}}'', plays Lucrezia's CompleteMonster [[MaritalRapeLicense rapist]] husband Giovanni Sforza.
* PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo: [[spoiler: Cardinal Orsini]] attempts to poison the Pope during a dinner, but Cesare bribes the assassin to switch their cups.
* ThePope: One of the most controversial in History.
* PowerBlonde: Lucrezia
* ThePrince: Niccolo Machiavelli's hugely important political text was written, in part, in reaction to his encounters with Cesare when he was serving as Florentine diplomat. He shows up in "Lucrezia's Wedding".
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Sancia and Gioffre]], for season two.
* RapeAsDrama: Teenage Lucrezia is raped repeately after she is married to the sadist Giovanni Sforza. The trauma of the experience apparently morphs her into the scheming and lustful character she has entered the History books as.
* RazorFloss: That Micheletto is a dangerous guy.
* ReallyGetsAround: About half the cast.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Rodrigo gives one to Juan in "The French King", after Juan [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] Theo.
* ReplacementGoldfish: YMMV, but many fans think that [[TheScrappy Ursula Bonadeo]] was this for Cesare after [[BrotherSisterIncest Lucrezia]] was married off. She's blonde, wears hairnets, and suffers from an abusive husband... Hmmm...
* RoyalBrat: Juan.
** Alfonso of Naples, too.
* RoyalWe: Rodrigo adopts this after being elevated to Pope. King Charles of France also uses it.
* ScreamingBirth: [[spoiler: Lucrezia]] in "Nessuno", though she's a bit better than most, with lots of standard grunting and heavy breathing too.
** Plus, let's be honest--she's a teen mom living in an era when half the women die during/shortly after childbirth. And there isn't any pain medication. She did pretty well, considering.
* SexyPriest: Though Cesare wants desperately to stop being the second part. Rodrigo as well, [[YourMileageMayVary if that's your thing]].
* SinisterMinister: All of them?
** Vice Chancellor Ascanio Sforza isn't so bad, by which we mean that he doesn't *actively* kill people or plot their deaths. He's just Rodrigo's [[TheDragon dragon]].
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''TheTudors'', though Neil Jordan had been attempting to get the project made as a film long before ''TheTudors'' existed on television. It's an odd case of a preexisting concept being turned into a kind of DolledUpInstallment when it comes to spiritual succession.
* StalkingIsLove: Cesare with Ursula, to some degree.
* StormingTheCastle: The French armies sack Lucca, throwing fear into the rest of Italy.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Lucrezia, and to a lesser extent Giulia and Ursula, are type 1. Lucrezia manages to get a divorce out of type 4.
* TakeThatKiss: Rodrigo gives two [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious]] ones to Orsini and della Rovere, two of the cardinals who oppose him.
** Classic example of ThrowItIn; Irons just thought it'd be funny to see the looks on their faces and went for it.
* TraumaticHaircut / ImportantHaircut: When [[spoiler:Ursula]] enters a convent after her husband's death, her hair is cut off. Notable, though, in that this is by choice, and the trauma in question is what lead to her making this decision rather than the haircut itself.
* ThisIsMyNameOnForeign: Very mild example--Rodrigo gives his papal name a Latin number when spoken aloud ("Alexander Sextus" instead of "Alexander the Sixth"). Justified by the fact that at this point in history (and indeed until the 1960s), Church business was conducted in Latin.
* TitleDrop: Various episode titles, including Cesare in "Nessuno" (which is [[BilingualBonus Italian]] for "nobody"). Also a ChekhovsGun.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Possibly Gioffre Borgia, who historically lacked the ambitions of his siblings and just wanted to settle down in the country with a family.
** If they portray her as [[HistoryMarchesOn most historians now believe her to actually have been]] instead of the FemmeFatale of popular history, Lucrezia could be this. Time will tell.
* TooDumbToLive: In "Nessuno"--''Really,'' French soldiers? You're going to hold Michelotto and Cesare hostage and then ask them about their silently efficient killing methods and then ASK THEM TO SHOW YOU? And you don't think they're going to demonstrate on ''you?'' Good grief.
* UnwantedSpouse: Ursula's husband and Giovanni Sforza. Gioffre and Sancia may become this for each other.
** Historically, Gioffre loved Sancia, but Sancia clearly slept around on Gioffre.
* VillainProtagonist: The Borgia family may be sympathetic, but straightforwardly heroic they are not.
** It does give us a [[PerspectiveFlip fascinating]] look at a SpannerInTheWorks NonActionGuy [[SternChase Sternly Chased]] hero from the eyes of the MagnificentBastard antagonists (though it's not as though said hero hasn't been [[GreyAndGrayMorality learning the ways of magnificent bastardry himself]]).
* VorpalPillow: "The Moor"
* WarIsHell: The French troops march into Lucca and kill any man, woman, or child in their way. Charles attempts to justify it to a shocked della Rovere by saying "'tis war, Cardinal, plain and simple".
** Which is more than mildly surprising, given della Rovere's historical actions after the time-frame of the series. Perhaps the series intends to show that for him, [[ItGetsEasier it will eventually get easier]].
*** Historically, he was at times something akin to a condottiere even BEFORE the time-frame of the series.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Cesare tries a variation of this with della Rovere. Although it's more of a "Dude, help me rein in my dad" kind of deal.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It was originally supposed to be a film, simply titled ''"Borgia"'', with ColinFarrell and ScarlettJohansson as Cesare and Lucrezia, but funding fell through. Director NeilJordan eventually found the money with the Showtime network, and thus a series was born.
* WideEyedIdealist: Prince Djem really didn't know where he was getting into... Neither, for that matter, did della Rovere when he sought help from the French army. [[ItGetsEasier However]]...
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Rodrigo actually delivers this line to the Cardinals when demanding Florence to resist against the French army and decides that Savonarola must burn
* WomanScorned: Vannozza, especially in "The Assassin", when she discovers Rodrigo is sleeping with Giulia Farnese.
* WouldHurtAChild: The French soldiers.
----
[[caption-width-right:283:It's good to be Pope.]]
->"''Now we are in the power of a wolf, and if we do not flee, he will inevitably devour us.''"
-->-- '''Giovanni de' Medici''', courtesy of the trailer, and understating to the max.
Having had such a big success with ''TheTudors'', {{Showtime}} has continued the theme of sexy period drama by turning to another turbulent period of history, and another notorious family. Stage left; enter the Borgias.
The Borgias, or at least this particular branch of the family, have become a byword for corruption and decadence. It doesn't help that the head of the family, Rodrigo, is often believed to have bought his way into the papacy. Or that he had a string of mistresses well into his sixties, despite the fact that he was, you know, a cardinal and then Pope. Or that he installed at least one of them in the Vatican itself. Or that he also had at least four acknowledged children, again despite the cardinal and Pope schtick. Or that one of his sons, Cesare, was a MagnificentBastard in every sense of the word. Or that his daughter, Lucrezia, has something of a reputation as a poisoner and a ''femme fatale''. Or that one of her husbands accused her of committing incest with her father and brother. Or that Cesare is rumored to have killed his brother, Giovanni, and either murdered or ordered the murder of his sister's second husband. Or that...
Well, you get the picture. Let's not even start on 'The Banquet of the Chestnuts'. To be fair, the Borgias had many enemies and some of the stuff written about them was quite possibly exaggerated or expanded upon to demonize them. This does not, however, mean that they were nice people, even by the standards of the time; they weren't. Considering the world they lived in, they couldn't afford to be.
All this is portrayed in the series and then some. JeremyIrons has top billing as Pope Alexander VI, and the series debuted in April 2011. It has garnered some of the highest ratings on Showtime, and was renewed for a second series.
Not to be confused with a 1980 series, also called ''The Borgias'', which was produced by TheBBC. For reasons way too long to go into here, the BBC's version was a total flop and a temporary GenreKiller for the BBC Costume Drama.
Not to be confused either with ''Borgia'' the European 2011 version produced by Canal+ and created by Tom Fontana from {{Oz}}.
----
!!''TheBorgias'' provides examples of:
* AffablyEvil: How Jeremy Irons is playing Rodrigo Borgia, to a tee.
** This impression is only furthered by the fact that he's one of the least ''all-around'' evil people in the show! It's hard to not feel a ''little'' sympathetic toward a character who clearly loves his children this much and who allows the persecuted Spanish Jews safe haven when so much of the rest of the cast are {{complete monster}}s.
* AmicablyDivorced: Vannozza and Theo are the 15th century version of this; he's retired to a farm paid for by Rodrigo in exchange for allowing Vannozza to do as she pleases.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Juan is this to Cesare. As François Arnaud put it in a recent interview, "Cesare profoundly believes that his brother is an idiot."
* AntiHero: Rodrigo isn't overly malevolent; he rarely gives the order for an assassination, and seems to love his family, placing him somewhere around type IV. Cesare is soundly type IV, but quickly heading toward type V. If history is anything to go by, he'll be anti-villain or outright villain by the show's end.
* ArrangedMarriage: All of the Borgia children, save Cesare, but poor Lucrezia really gets the worst of it.
* ArsonMurderAndAdmiration: Cesare is deeply impressed by how well della Rovere has managed to evade the Borgia assassins, kill one of them himself, and nearly had his father deposed. He [[VillainTeamUp offers to team up]], because della Rovere is the one man who can stand up to Rodrigo and keep him in line. della Rovere, unfortunately, declines.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: All over the place. For once, the siege of Lucca never happened (RuleOfDrama, of course, but with the city whose walls ''still'' exist and are one of the greatest example of urban fortification?).
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: When Rodrigo becomes Pope.
** Charles gets one when Rodrigo crowns him King of France and Naples.
* TheBaroness: Caterina Sforza, who is implied to be [[TheChessmaster the brains]] behind the entire Sforza family.
* BatmanGambit: Rodrigo sends the French forces to take over their new kingdom of Naples... where TheBlackDeath is waiting.
* BeardOfEvil: Both Lodovico and Giovanni Sforza.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Ursula asks Cesare to "liberate" her from her husband... and when he [[MurderTheHypotenuse does]], she suffers a massive FreakOut and becomes a nun.
* BerserkButton: Threaten Lucrezia in front of [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Cesare]], I dare you. For that matter, don't [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas call his mom a whore]], either.
** Don't lie to Vannozza, or tell her that the Pope has to be chaste and then turn around and start sleeping with another woman.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Lucrezia, Paolo the stable boy, and Francesca the maid have all suffered at Giovanni Sforza's hands, so they team up to make sure he himself suffers (in this case, a fall that immobilizes him).
* BigBrotherAttraction: While it seems to be innocent thus far, Lucrezia's feelings for Cesare do seem to skew this way; she tells him in "The Moor" that "I shall never love a husband as I love you".
* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Borgias would count if there were more than five of them. The Sforzas definitely do.
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: In "Nessuno", [[spoiler: scenes of the Black Plague-ravaged corpses of Naples are intercut with Lucrezia giving birth to her son and the entire extended Borgia family - Giulia and Ursula as well - gathered together]].
* BlackAndGrayMorality: And the Borgias themselves are the gray. [[CrapsackWorld Think about that.]]
* TheBlackDeath: Ravages Naples in "Nessuno".
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Lucrezia, Vannozza, and Giulia.
* BloodFromTheMouth: "The Moor"
* BloodKnight: King Charles, though subverted in that while he enjoys battles and war, he doesn't get involved in the actual fighting and killing
* BreakTheCutie: Poor, poor Lucrezia.
* BridalCarry: Cesare carrying the sleeping Lucrezia to bed on her wedding night.
* CainAndAbel: It remains to be seen how Jordan plans on interpreting the very ambiguous circumstances of Juan's eventual murder, but the antagonism between he and his brother is set up from day one.
* CareerKillers: Abound in this show, but Micheletto is the most prominent example.
* CatapultNightmare: Rodrigo in "The Borgias in Love".
* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Probably the most spectacularly grisly aversion in recent memory. The French characters in this show are ''defined'' by how pitiless and terrifying they are as opponents in warfare.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Gioffre is completely unaware of what goes around him. Lucrezia too, [[CorruptTheCutie at least at first]].
* ChristianityIsCatholic: TruthInTelevision in Italy both then and now.
* ChristmasCake: Vannozza.
* CityStateEra: The show takes place during this period of Italian history.
* TheClan: 15th-century Italy abounds with them; the city-states are all constantly dealing with FeudingFamilies, and it's this atmosphere into which the Borgias (who are too small a family to count themselves) enter as outsiders. The most prominent family is the Sforzas, of whom we have already met four members ([[TheBaroness Caterina]], [[TheDragon Ascanio]], [[CompleteMonster Lodovico and Giovanni]]).
* CompositeCharacter: Theo is an amalgam of two of Vanozza's four RealLife husbands (none of which were named Theo) while Alfonso seems to combine the historical King Alfonso II of Naples and his two surviving sons [[spoiler: one of whom eventually married Lucrezia]].
* {{Confessional}}: Apparently a place to meet up with your girlfriend, plot with your partners in crime, and occasionally murder someone.
* TheConsigliere: Machiavelli to the Medici.
* ConstantlyCurious: Gioffre's curiosity provides his doting father Rodrigo with an opportunity for an {{Infodump}} in which Rodrigo explains to him (and the viewers) what all the petty kingdoms on the Italian peninsula are, and how they're fitting into the power struggle.
* CorruptChurch: However bad Rodrigo may be, imagine how messed up the religious system that allowed him to come to power is.
** Considering the time period and the sort of environment that would lead to the Reformation, this is (for some, sadly) TruthInTelevision.
* CorruptTheCutie: Lucrezia is gradually becoming a case of this, after her marriage to CompleteMonster Giovanni Sforza. It's not her fault, but with a BigScrewedUpFamily like hers, corruption's kind of unavoidable.
* CountryMatters: "Source of disquiet".
* CoveredInMud: In episode 3, assassin Michelotto goes to a sauna and has himself covered in mud as a disguise.
* CurbStompBattle: Theo is on the losing end of one from Juan, who is pissed off that people are gossiping that he's Theo's son instead of Rodrigo's. Vannozza is not pleased and throws him out of her house, and Rodrigo gives him a blistering [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speech]] before slapping him and ordering him to beg forgiveness from his mother.
** The city state of Lucca receives one from the French armies, who tore down the city fortifications with their cannon and slaughtered the population of the city. After they surrendered.
** The French take out the first line of the Roman Army (who they already outnumber massively) with a single cannon salvo, and the only thing that stops them from completely wipping it out is Lucrezia's intervention.
* DaddysGirl: Lucrezia to Rodrigo.
* DancesAndBalls
* DarkMistress: Rodrigo's first mistress Vannozza (the mother of his children) doesn't fit this trope very well, but Giulia Farnese certainly does.
* DawsonCasting: 23-year-old Holliday Granger plays Lucrezia, who's 14 in the first episode. 18-year-old Cesare is played by 25-year-old Francois Arnaud, 33-year-old Emmanuelle Chriqui plays a teenage Sancia, and 15-year-old Giulia Farnese is played by 29-year-old Lotte Verbeek (though this last may count as AgeLift; Giulia's age is glossed over to the point where the only thing made clear is that she is ''much'' [[MayDecemberRomance younger than Rodrigo]]).
** Giulia's almost definitely an AgeLift. It's made pretty clear that she's been married to her husband for a good long time--long enough to [[spoiler: conceive a child]] and learn the ways of court and men, as well as politics, on some level. She's definitely not fifteen, and probably isn't supposed to be a teenager, either. It's likely that the characterization is a combo of the real Giulia and Adriana da Mila, Lucrezia's real-life governess/mentor-type figure and a cousin to the Borgia family.
** In a period piece, it's almost justifiable, considering how children were forced to grow up much faster in those days, so they would tend to prematurely age.
* [[DeadGuyOnDisplay Dead Guys On Display]]: Ask King Ferrante of Naples about his "Last Supper".
* DeadlyDecadentCourt
* DeadpanSnarker: Machiavelli. Rodrigo upon occasion as well, especially in the latter half of the first season.
* DeadStarWalking: We hope you didn't come into this show for [[spoiler: Derek Jacobi]].
* DomesticAbuser: Giovanni Sforza and Baron Bonadeo.
* DoubleAgent: In the first episodes Micheletto serves Cesare and della Rovere simultaneously.
* TheDragon: Micheletto to Cesare.
** Cesare and Ascanio Sforza to Rodrigo. Though Ascanio is a DragonWithAnAgenda.
** Machiavelli to the House of Medici.
* DuelToTheDeath: Cesare kills his [[spoiler:girlfriend Ursula's husband]] in "The Borgias In Love".
* DreamSequence: Rodrigo keeps dreaming of Lucrezia after her marriage.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Savonarola, relating the future French invasion.
* TheDutifulSon: Cesare turns reluctantly being this into an art.
* EpicFail: Micheletto's assassination attempt on della Rovere in Naples. Della Rovere was in the middle of a crowded bath house. Micheletto walked in caked entirely in mud, which would make sense at night, but this was BROAD DAYLIGHT. He then got into the bath and swam towards della Rovere, presumably intending to kill him in a crowded area with a bunch of guards all around. Naturally, della Rovere was suspicious of the man caked in mud swimming towards him with a garrote in hand, and alerted the guards, who were literally just feet away. Micholetto only just managed to escape.
** He caked himself in mud because della Rovere knew his face and was only recognized because he turned his back, allowing della Rovere to see the scars that he had observed before. Additionally, we don't know how Micheletto was planning to kill della Rovere but it can probably be assumed that he had a plan. Finally, it could not have been that strange to cake oneself in mud, considering that a bath attendant did it for him.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: Rodrigo, in a way. He has no problem with letting innocent Jews banished from Spain emigrate to Rome, something which appalls his fellow Catholics. However, the Jews aren't his {{mooks}}, like the trope usually implies. They're just desperate immigrants.
* TheEternalCity: With Hungary and lots of studio sets standing in for Rome.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Do ''not'' insult Cesare's mother Vannozza by, say, calling her a Spanish whore. It will simply get your throat cut.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Micheletto kills the incompetent assassin that Juan hired to murder Djem, after learning that the assassin in question screwed up with his choice of poison, condemning Djem to an agonizing, weeks-long death. As merciless and amoral as Micheletto is, he does prefer to give his victims a relatively quick death.
** Debatable. It might have been a case where death is the price of incompetence. Micheletto's a professional; his victims die quickly because it gives them less time to scream for help that way.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex
* EvillyAffable: Cesare, more and more each episode.
* EyeOpen: Savonarola in "The Borgias in Love".
* EyeScream: Micheletto treats us to some by jamming his thumbs into a guard's eyes, ''[[{{Badass}} underwater]]'', in Naples ("The Moor").
** One of Cesare's agents, posing as a monk, also gets stabbed in the eye by della Rovere.
* {{Fanservice}}:
** Topless Lotte Verbeek in most episodes.
** Cesare. See FetishFuelStationAttendant.
** Almost-naked David Oakes in "Death on a Pale Horse".
** Lucrezia trying to seduce her husband.
** Shirtless Luke Pasqualino. Twice.
** Tonnes of topless prostitutes throughout.
** The whipping scene. Oh Lordy, the whipping scene.
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: ''Cesare''. Count the tropes: SexyPriest, HellBentForLeather, KnightTemplarBigBrother, HoYay, IncestSubtext, {{Bishonen}}...
** Giulia and Sancia keep up the ladies' end.
* FiveBadBand
** BigBad / EvilGenius : Rodrigo
** TheDragon: Cesare and Ascanio Sforza.
** TheBrute: Juan and Micheletto (who is also Cesare's Dragon).
** DarkChick: Lucrezia and Giulia
** Mooks: The papal army.
* FollowInMyFootsteps: Cesare wants to be a soldier, but Rodrigo is adamant that his eldest son become a priest like he had.
* ForegoneConclusion: della Rovere becomes the next Pope.
** Juan dies at Cesare's hand.
* TheFundamentalist: Savonarola, who not only compares Rome with the Whore of Babylon and accuses Florence of usury, but also condemns wealth, art and comfort.
* GeneralFailure: Taking cannons out with archers in open terrain, Juan? Seriously?
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Just look the assassin in "Lucrezia's Wedding", ''goddamn''.
* GorgeousPeriodDress: It's set in Italy during the Renaissance; elaborate historical clothes are something of a given. Especially for the Pope and, of course, the women.
* GoryDiscretionShot: This show takes an unholy glee in subverting it. The absolute crowner though, must be the demonstration of the French chained cannonballs in "The Art of War", wherein we see soldiers ''bisected''.
* HairOfGold: Lucrezia, to the full embodiment of the trope so far. Time will tell if she evolves into [[BlondesAreEvil the embodiment of the real Lucrezia's probably entirely fictional reputation as]] TheVamp, or if she'll become the cunning but ultimately good-hearted and victimized woman [[HistoryMarchesOn historians now think she was]].
* HeroAntagonist: della Rovere.
* HeroicSociopath: He may not completely be there yet, but Cesare is willing to get his hands bloody for love and family--and if history's any indication, he's probably shaping up to be the less honorable sociopath as well.
* HilariousOuttakes: The season 1 blooper reel [[http://youtu.be/jYGH-FEWEp0 has already hit the internet]], and it's hysterical. Watching Jeremy Irons get his dress stepped on and try valiantly (but fail) to keep from dropping a ClusterFBomb in front of a child actor is worth the watch.
* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Apparent, but not to the same degree it was in ''TheTudors''. Except for a few differences in hair color, it's possible to picture that if Renaissance artists painted the actors in costume, they wouldn't look ''too'' dissimilar from their real counterparts, with the notable exception of Rodrigo. Even JeremyIrons thinks he doesn't look a thing like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pope_Alexander_Vi.jpg the actual Rodrigo]] and that they probably should have cast someone like James Gandolfini.
** He was rumored by his contemporaries to be one of the most handsome guys around, much like Cesare later on (minus the syphilis marks). Maybe by the time of the portrait he just didn't care anymore, being pope and all.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Virtually all of the cast. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Borgia Rodrigo]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia Cesare]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia Lucrezia]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Borgia_(1474) Juan]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioffre_Borgia Gioffre]] Borgia, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannozza_dei_Cattani Vannozza dei Cattanei]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese Giulia Farnese]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascanio_Sforza Ascanio Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_II Giuliano della Rovere]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Sforza Ludovico "Il Moro" Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Sforza Giovanni Sforza]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancha_of_Aragon Sancia of Aragon]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_of_Aragon Prince Alfonso of Naples]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelotto_Corella Michelotto]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolò_Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola Savonarola]] . . . you get the picture. The only characters that are completely fictional are Ursula Bonadeo (Cesare had ''many'' lovers and killed many people) and Theo (Vannozza had four husbands, none were named Theo or were farmers), as well as servants Maria, Francesca, and Paolo ( who is based on a historical servant called Perotto).
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Lucrezia arranges for her DomesticAbuser huntsman husband to have a fall from his horse. When they're setting his broken leg, she tells him to "be brave", thoroughly enjoying the pain he's experiencing for once.
** Charles of France, who wants glory and battle and kills without mercy, is crowned King of Naples by Pope Alexander and sent to his new dominion. [[TheBlackDeath Shame about that plague.]]
** Cardinal Orsini in the first episode.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Rodrigo suffers a severe case of this post-election.
* HotForPreacher: Ursula. [[spoiler:She ends up entering a nunnery in penance for being accidentally party to said hot preacher's murder of her husband, though.]]
* HumiliationConga: Happens (and [[CompleteMonster deservingly so]]) to Giovanni Sforza in "Nessuno". The process of annulling his marriage to Lucrezia involves either proving his "potency" in public in front of the entire College of Cardinals (and a ''deeply'' amused Rodrigo) or admitting he's impotent and lying about the consummation of his marriage. He chooses option B and leaves Rome to much mockery from the public, which includes a masked man holding a fruit as a GagPenis.
* TheHyena: Alfonso of Naples.
* IdiotBall: Placing [[RoyalBrat Juan]], a military commander with ''no'' battle experience, at the head of an army cobbled together to face the French (one of the most dominant and ruthless in the world)?! BAD PLAN, [[TooDumbToLive RODRIGO]]. The look on Cesare's face is pretty priceless, as well.
* InadequateInheritor: Basically everyone except [[DotingParent Rodrigo]] considers [[RoyalBrat Juan]] to be this. Although Rodrigo does mention it after Juan [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps poor Theo]], voicing the popular opinion that Cesare would be better suited to the position and subtly threatening to disinherit Juan if he doesn't apologise and promise to restrain himself in the future.
* IncestSubtext: Lucrezia and Cesare.
** For some, Rodrigo and Lucrezia's cuddling in "The French King" came off as this.
* InfantImmortality: Brutally subverted with the French invasion of Lucca in "Death on a Pale Horse", where a young girl is skewered by one of the French soldiers.
* InformedAbility: In "The Poisoned Chalice", both Giulia and Lucrezia have their portraits painted by "a new genius" called Pinturicchio. It's blink and you'll miss it, but in "The Moor" we see the portraits he's done on a wall, and they're about as good as the average third grader's.
* InTheBlood: Much is made of "Borgia blood", particularly by Giovanni Sforza "forgiving" Lucrezia the sin of her blood and informing her that when France invades Rome, her father, the source of the bad blood, will be deposed and killed.
* IronicEcho: Savonarola's prophecy in "The Borgias in Love" is echoed in "Death on a Pale Horse", when it finally hits della Rovere that Savonarola foresaw the French invasion della Rovere himself brought about.
* {{Irony}}: Juan is one giant walking example. Just to recapitulate: He refuses to marry Sancia because he considers that an illegitimate wife is beneath him, despite he being illegitimate himself. He is, in fact, ''terrified'' of the possibility of not being actually Rodrigo's son but of his mother's actual husband and thus legitimate. Confused yet? Then you should know that he has an affair with the same illegitimate woman he refused to marry (who is basically his soul mate), both before and after she is [[BigScrewedUpFamily married to his brother]].
* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Rodrigo's politics lesson to Giulia. Her calf is Naples, her knee is Rome, her - er, [[CountryMatters "source of disquiet"]] is France, and he's about to "invade France".
* ItalianWars
* ItsAlwaysSpring: While remaining deliberately vague about the passing of time and moving some events up and down the time table for story-telling purposes, the first season seems to cover the years 1492-1495, but no sign of changing seasons is ever seen.
** Although the climate in Italy is generally divided into two seasons, with mostly persistent weather throughout each of them.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: For how well they've been doing with the rest of the names ("lu-CRETT-zee-ah" instead of "lu-CREE-zee-ah"), it's a little jarring when everyone on the show manages to pronounce Cesare as "Chessary".
* KickTheDog: Poor Theo gets his ass kicked by Juan basically for being a commoner and his mother's actual husband. He believes the local gossip that Theo is his real father, and not Rodrigo.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Given the intense dynamic already established between the two, it's hard not to think Cesare's being entirely serious when he tells his sister he'll cut her husband's heart out with a dinner knife if he's "ungallant" towards her.
* KinkMeme: [[http://borgiaskink.livejournal.com/778.html Over here.]]
** Comes [[http://borgiaskink.livejournal.com/778.html?thread=37898#t37898 complete with]] a HighSchoolAU.
* KissingCousins: Rodrigo catches Cardinal Sforza with his second cousin.
* KubrickStare: Rodrigo's got the market cornered, though Cesare has apparently inherited it.
* LargeHam: Jeremy Irons, not as much as one might expect, though he turns it UpToEleven in "Death on a Pale Horse".
** Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, even more than Rodrigo. He has absolutely NoIndoorVoice.
* LaughablyEvil: Prince Alfonso. Young, spoiled, ruling in his father's stead in Naples, and very funny.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle[=/=]TitleDrop: Savonarola quotes Revelation 6:8 in "Death on a Pale Horse".
-->''And I looked, and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him.''
* TheMafia: {{Showtime}}'s promo team seems fixated on pointing out the ''[[TheGodfather Godfather]]'' parallels. It's certainly not unwarranted - Mario Puzo was, after all, partly inspired by the Borgias when writing the story - but it's not quite as neat as they would have you believe.
* MaleFrontalNudity: Cardinal della Rovere in Naples.
* ManInTheIronMask: Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, keeps the rightful holder of his dukedom in a tiny, filthy cell set into the floor of his dining room, almost as a freak attraction but without any physical or mental deficiencies.
* MaritalRapeLicense: Giovanna Sforza believes in this.
** As does Sancia of Aragon. Not as brutally depicted as Giovanni Sforza and Lucrezia, but heavily implied.
* MasterPoisoner: Micheletto. Lucrezia Borgia may become this in the future, depending on how many of the rumors about her the show runs with.
** Averted with the anonymous kitchen hand who botches the poisoning of Djem the Moor.
* MayDecemberRomance: Rodrigo and Giulia Farnese. [[TruthInTelevision In real life]] Rodrigo was somewhere around his sixties and Giulia [[{{Squick}} sixteen]] when they first hooked up.
* MisplacedWildlife: The first episode features a pet [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Capuchin Monkey]] from South America in a prominent way. Notice that the scene takes place within days of Rodrigo's election in August 1492, when Columbus still had to complete his first voyage.
* ModestyBedsheet: Of the L-shaped variety for Cesare and Ursula in "The French King". Giulia wears one in [[http://www.daemonstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/the-borgias-showtime-poster-550x739.jpg this]] promotional poster.
* MoeGreeneSpecial: Cardinal della Rovere dispatches a spy with a dagger in "Lucrezia's Wedding".
* NaughtyNuns: Genderflipped with pretty much every male cleric we see except Savonarola.
* NaughtyUnderTheTable: Sancia feels up Juan.
* NecessarilyEvil: Cardinal della Rovere struggles with whether or not he can bring himself to be what he sees as this, even asking aloud during confession if one act of evil can be excused if it prevents many greater ones.
* NeckSnap: Micheletto the assassin does this in "The Moor", twice.
* {{Nepotism}}: Rodrigo's appointments and politicking in the name of all of his children is seen as this, but the elevation of Cesare to Cardinal is perceived as the most appalling.
* NeverTrustATrailer: In one of the promos for the first season, a [[SexSells completely nude]] [[MsFanservice Giulia Farnese]] advices Lucrezia to use her female beauty for gain, reassuring that "it can be deadly"; the two are apparently modeling for Botticelli's ''The Birth of Venus''. This scene does not appear in the actual series, even though Giulia says the exact same words to Lucrezia at some point.
* NewOldFlame: Vannozza's actual husband, Theo.
* NoIndoorVoice: Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Some subtitlers had to transcribe his dialogue in all caps.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. Giulia Farnese tells Rodrigo they can't have sex because it's her time of the month. He doesn't care. (And we even see a spot of menstrual blood on her nightie.)
* NunsNRosaries: Ursula feels guilty.
* ObliviousYoungerSibling: Gioffre is playing this role for now. Let's see if that changes.
* OldManMarryingAChild: 14-year-old Lucrezia is forced to marry the much older Giovanni Sforza. Unfortunately, he believes in MaritalRapeLicense.
* OminousLatinChanting: Abounds.
* OnlySaneMan: Cardinal della Rovere and Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and even they have to get their hands dirty to survive.
* ParentalFavoritism: While Rodrigo is ambitious for all of his children and is doing his best to boost all of them up in the world, he's blinded to Juan's more unsavoury character traits and refuses to allow the far-more capable Cesare to replace him in his career. [[DaddysGirl Lucrezia]], however, is clearly his favorite.
* ParentWithNewParamour: Rodrigo and Giulia, with Cesare left to run interference to keep Vannozza from making scenes.
* PassFail: Rodrigo's enemies believe him and his family to be ''marranos''- that is, Sephardic Jews who converted to Catholicism sometime ago. Della Rovere, who has no liking for the Borgia family, nevertheless finds this to be an unfair accusation and a grave insult, which still carries some pretty deep UnfortunateImplications.
* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Machiavelli engages in this with Charles. Piero de Medici has just basically surrendered Florence to the French, against Machiavelli's wishes. When he meets Charles at the gates he politely asks him to not point his lance forward, as this is not how you enter the city of a friend. Charles complies and points it upwards, but than it would not fit beneath the gate, forcing him to point it backwards.
* PetTheDog: Even JerkAss Alfonso, who mocks his aged and deaf father, is still [[spoiler: distraught when the old man dies]].
* PlayingAgainstType: Ronin Vibert, known for playing the pathetic and timid Lepidus on ''{{Rome}}'', plays Lucrezia's CompleteMonster [[MaritalRapeLicense rapist]] husband Giovanni Sforza.
* PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo: [[spoiler: Cardinal Orsini]] attempts to poison the Pope during a dinner, but Cesare bribes the assassin to switch their cups.
* ThePope: One of the most controversial in History.
* PowerBlonde: Lucrezia
* ThePrince: Niccolo Machiavelli's hugely important political text was written, in part, in reaction to his encounters with Cesare when he was serving as Florentine diplomat. He shows up in "Lucrezia's Wedding".
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Sancia and Gioffre]], for season two.
* RapeAsDrama: Teenage Lucrezia is raped repeately after she is married to the sadist Giovanni Sforza. The trauma of the experience apparently morphs her into the scheming and lustful character she has entered the History books as.
* RazorFloss: That Micheletto is a dangerous guy.
* ReallyGetsAround: About half the cast.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Rodrigo gives one to Juan in "The French King", after Juan [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] Theo.
* ReplacementGoldfish: YMMV, but many fans think that [[TheScrappy Ursula Bonadeo]] was this for Cesare after [[BrotherSisterIncest Lucrezia]] was married off. She's blonde, wears hairnets, and suffers from an abusive husband... Hmmm...
* RoyalBrat: Juan.
** Alfonso of Naples, too.
* RoyalWe: Rodrigo adopts this after being elevated to Pope. King Charles of France also uses it.
* ScreamingBirth: [[spoiler: Lucrezia]] in "Nessuno", though she's a bit better than most, with lots of standard grunting and heavy breathing too.
** Plus, let's be honest--she's a teen mom living in an era when half the women die during/shortly after childbirth. And there isn't any pain medication. She did pretty well, considering.
* SexyPriest: Though Cesare wants desperately to stop being the second part. Rodrigo as well, [[YourMileageMayVary if that's your thing]].
* SinisterMinister: All of them?
** Vice Chancellor Ascanio Sforza isn't so bad, by which we mean that he doesn't *actively* kill people or plot their deaths. He's just Rodrigo's [[TheDragon dragon]].
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''TheTudors'', though Neil Jordan had been attempting to get the project made as a film long before ''TheTudors'' existed on television. It's an odd case of a preexisting concept being turned into a kind of DolledUpInstallment when it comes to spiritual succession.
* StalkingIsLove: Cesare with Ursula, to some degree.
* StormingTheCastle: The French armies sack Lucca, throwing fear into the rest of Italy.
* SympatheticAdulterer: Lucrezia, and to a lesser extent Giulia and Ursula, are type 1. Lucrezia manages to get a divorce out of type 4.
* TakeThatKiss: Rodrigo gives two [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious]] ones to Orsini and della Rovere, two of the cardinals who oppose him.
** Classic example of ThrowItIn; Irons just thought it'd be funny to see the looks on their faces and went for it.
* TraumaticHaircut / ImportantHaircut: When [[spoiler:Ursula]] enters a convent after her husband's death, her hair is cut off. Notable, though, in that this is by choice, and the trauma in question is what lead to her making this decision rather than the haircut itself.
* ThisIsMyNameOnForeign: Very mild example--Rodrigo gives his papal name a Latin number when spoken aloud ("Alexander Sextus" instead of "Alexander the Sixth"). Justified by the fact that at this point in history (and indeed until the 1960s), Church business was conducted in Latin.
* TitleDrop: Various episode titles, including Cesare in "Nessuno" (which is [[BilingualBonus Italian]] for "nobody"). Also a ChekhovsGun.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Possibly Gioffre Borgia, who historically lacked the ambitions of his siblings and just wanted to settle down in the country with a family.
** If they portray her as [[HistoryMarchesOn most historians now believe her to actually have been]] instead of the FemmeFatale of popular history, Lucrezia could be this. Time will tell.
* TooDumbToLive: In "Nessuno"--''Really,'' French soldiers? You're going to hold Michelotto and Cesare hostage and then ask them about their silently efficient killing methods and then ASK THEM TO SHOW YOU? And you don't think they're going to demonstrate on ''you?'' Good grief.
* UnwantedSpouse: Ursula's husband and Giovanni Sforza. Gioffre and Sancia may become this for each other.
** Historically, Gioffre loved Sancia, but Sancia clearly slept around on Gioffre.
* VillainProtagonist: The Borgia family may be sympathetic, but straightforwardly heroic they are not.
** It does give us a [[PerspectiveFlip fascinating]] look at a SpannerInTheWorks NonActionGuy [[SternChase Sternly Chased]] hero from the eyes of the MagnificentBastard antagonists (though it's not as though said hero hasn't been [[GreyAndGrayMorality learning the ways of magnificent bastardry himself]]).
* VorpalPillow: "The Moor"
* WarIsHell: The French troops march into Lucca and kill any man, woman, or child in their way. Charles attempts to justify it to a shocked della Rovere by saying "'tis war, Cardinal, plain and simple".
** Which is more than mildly surprising, given della Rovere's historical actions after the time-frame of the series. Perhaps the series intends to show that for him, [[ItGetsEasier it will eventually get easier]].
*** Historically, he was at times something akin to a condottiere even BEFORE the time-frame of the series.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Cesare tries a variation of this with della Rovere. Although it's more of a "Dude, help me rein in my dad" kind of deal.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It was originally supposed to be a film, simply titled ''"Borgia"'', with ColinFarrell and ScarlettJohansson as Cesare and Lucrezia, but funding fell through. Director NeilJordan eventually found the money with the Showtime network, and thus a series was born.
* WideEyedIdealist: Prince Djem really didn't know where he was getting into... Neither, for that matter, did della Rovere when he sought help from the French army. [[ItGetsEasier However]]...
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Rodrigo actually delivers this line to the Cardinals when demanding Florence to resist against the French army and decides that Savonarola must burn
* WomanScorned: Vannozza, especially in "The Assassin", when she discovers Rodrigo is sleeping with Giulia Farnese.
* WouldHurtAChild: The French soldiers.
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