Succession: Roy family members ranked from least loathsome to most

Shiv Roy

Logan Roy’s only daughter, Siobhan “Shiv” Roy is as nakedly self-interested and grasping as her siblings; in recent episodes, she’s been going behind the backs of her brothers Roman and Kendall and working with Lukas Matsson to secure a good position for herself after Lukas buys Waystar Royco, leaving her own family to twist in the wind. Meanwhile, she emotionally strings along her husband Tom Wambsgans for years; in turn, Tom vents his frustration by emotionally abusing Greg, his personal assistant.

Shiv comes off looking slightly better than her full-blooded siblings because she seems to have a smidgeon more of a conscience, even if it’s selectively applied. For instance, she has real trepidation about Waystar Royco supporting fascist politician Jeryd Mencken for president. Usually, Shiv and everyone else in her family are willing to do and say pretty much anything for power, and mortality always comes second to money. But Shiv actually seems to have misgivings about Mencken’s harmful policies and doesn’t want to work with him, even though he’d be good for the company’s bottom line. That’s unusual.

Of course, she doesn’t make that big a fuss, at least not yet; her father Logan wants to support Mencken, and protesting too much could mean sacrificing her position. Also, there are other times she behaves abominably in the name of the company and getting her father’s approval, like when she convinces a woman who has been the victim of sexual assault by Waystar executives not to testify.

With Shiv, we have a character who is amoral (mostly), privileged and competent enough to be very dangerous. And it only gets worse from here.

Roman Roy

It’s hard to say which of Logan’s children he most warped growing up, but Roman is definitely in the running. At one point Logan hits Roman, and it’s implied this happened more than once during childhood. Of Logan’s four kids, Roman is one most willing to crawl back to his father after whatever indignity the man has just put him and his siblings through. Roman fires Gerri, one of the few people he has an emotional connection with (twisted as it is), because his father asks it. Roman is the one who courts fascist politician Jeryd Mencken and convinces his dad to support him; it doesn’t matter to Roman that Mencken is a dangerous extremist, only that befriending him gets him back in his father’s good graces.

Logan Roy’s parenting made it hard for any of his kids to distinguish right from wrong, but it hit Roman especially hard. As with all of the characters, it’s possible to understand Roman, but it doesn’t excuse his behavior. In the very first episode of the show, he offers to give one million dollars to the child of a low-ranking Waystar employee if the kid hits a home run. He comes close but doesn’t quite get there, so Roman gleefully tears up the check in front of him.

Later, Roman enters into a bizarre business partnership/sexual obsession with Gerri, the company’s general counsel, sending her uncounted dick pics even after she asks him to stop. Gerri leverages Roman’s obsession with her to her advantage, but we should remember that their relationship began with Roman, the son of Gerri’s incredibly powerful boss, masturbating during a phone call with her. Normally, this kind of behavior would immediately get someone fired. In the case of the privileged Roman, Logan wants to fire Gerri instead, and as much as he doesn’t like the idea, Roman goes along with it.

Underneath all of the emotional scar tissue, Roman has a sharp mind and a desire for love, but unless something big changes, it looks like he’ll keep suppressing his better instincts in favor of climbing the ladder.