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"One day, you'll realize that everything I've done has been for your own good."
―Juan Borgia to Lucrezia Borgia[src]

Juan Borgia (Rome : 1474 - 1498 [1]) is a main character in the first and second seasons. He is portrayed by David Oakes, and makes his debut in the series premiere. His story revolves around his deep-seated insecurity, the affection-seeking from his family, the constant fear of failure and his rivalry with his older brother, Cesare.

Juan is the second eldest child and son of Vanozza Cattaneo and Rodrigo Borgia. He is the brother of Cesare Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia and Joffre Borgia.

Information[]

Season one[]

As the head of the papal armies, favored son Juan is filled with swagger and bravado, but it's part of his façade as he always felt he's beneath Cesare. He's conscious of his own inferiority and is aware that their father trusts and confides in Cesare and terrified of losing the position that finally made him someone, despite trying his best to fulfil the massive expectations that he cannot begin to fulfil. as Rodrigo threatens Juan with Cesare's abilities and reputation etc. Juan nonetheless when he bravely lead the Papal troops into battle against the far superior French forces who took his sister, Lucrezia , as hostage and told her to go on with him because won't surrender even knowing he had no chance since he watched his troops being torn to shreds by the French's spiked canons, he was willing to die to protect Rome and make his family proud, but retreated because of his love for Lucrezia since the prospect of him getting killed would upset her.

Season two[]

The tension between Juan and his brother, Cesare, went sour, it’s not just a typical sibling rivalry anymore, as Cesare's jealousy from Juan has heavily escalated, he attempts to mock and humiliate him. Juan felt pushed away and distanced from the family, and it drove him more insane. After Juan killed Paolo, thinking he did right thing to protect the family, he gained resentment from his family, went to Spain to "fix" himself, then came back a changed man who tries to be better, gifting his father and Lucrezia stuff etc. After his father sent him to Forli, Juan almost succeeded making a siege, but Cesare jealously refused to let Juan know about the Ludovico's army coming his way, deliberately to humilate him since he still envies the fact he's a soldier. However, Juan was severely injured by a crossbow bolt to the leg and suffers from syphilis, which his physician instructs him to medicate with mercury and opium; Juan soon becomes addicted to the latter, frequently visiting an opium den. After several heated confrontation with Lucrezia in which he drunkenly endangers the life of Giovanni, Cesare finally found a motive to get rid of Juan, although Juan’s envy towards Cesare wasn’t to the level of hatred as he still does love Cesare, while for Cesare it was deep-seated envy and hatred towards Juan as his power hunger and his need for the Papal army increased. He wanted Juan out of the picture. Cesare plotted to kill Juan as he was out from the opium. While both Juan and Cesare were walking together at the Tiber bridge, Juan saw images of himself and Cesare sharing a bond and loving each other made him realize how having closeness with Cesare would end his pain. He vulnerably opened up to Cesare; reaching out to him, confessing how miserable he was all his life and giving him a brotherly embrace, but Cesare wasn’t even listening to him as he had one motive and it’s to kill him purely out of jealousy. He stabbed Juan and pushed his body off a bridge after he stabbed him with his sword; ending their brotherhood with fratricide.

Appearances[]

Season one appearances
The Poisoned Chalice The Assassin The Moor
Lucrezia's Wedding The Borgias in Love The French King
Death, on a Pale Horse The Art of War Nessuno (Nobody)
Season two appearances
The Borgia Bull Paolo The Beautiful Deception Stray Dogs The Choice
Day of Ashes The Siege at Forli Truth and Lies World of Wonders The Confession
Season three appearances
The Face of Death The Purge Siblings The Banquet of Chestnuts The Wolf and the Lamb
Relics Lucrezia's Gambit Tears of Blood The Gunpowder Plot The Prince

David Oakes's insights about Juan[]

There are moments where [Juan] manipulates other people in a similar the way they’ve been manipulating him. The scene between Jeremy and myself with the dagger is a last ditch frantic attempt at trying to win [Rodrigo] over.” Do you think Juan was genuine in the knife scene? Do you think he would have killed himself? “Yeah I think so. He always does what is true inside him…It wasn’t simply about the eventual confrontation, but all about the richness of this twisted family make-up.

"He’s spent the entire time being picked upon and bullied by the family. I think personally from where Juan stands he sees the hypocrisy in the family, how they can do one thing and say another. As far as Juan is concerned he’s always had the best interests of the family at heart, however misguided that might be and doesn’t quite comprehend why nobody understands that. Nobody seems to understand that what he does, he does for the betterment of the Borgia clan and never waivers from that. He does that in ways that perhaps aren’t sanctioned by the church or sanctioned by family law.”

“You got this wonderful meeting between what [creator] Neil Jordan wanted initially for Juan to be, and what they ended up with having cast me in the role. I don’t try to make him likeable. I try to just make him human. It goes beyond that. I was always trying to show Neil that behind the arrogance and uselessness, there sort of was this true human being that desired to impress people.”

“I think what’s kind of fun is that from Cesare’s perspective, I’m the younger brother, I’m a bit rubbish, I’m an upstart, and he begrudges the fact that I’m the favourite. So that’s kind of as far as he goes, and obviously I get worse and that pisses him off. From my point of view, what I think is brilliant is that at the beginning of the series I don’t realise what’s going on and just love being the favourite, and I love the fact that I can wind [Cesare] up like nothing else. So it starts off like that - quite jovial, quite fun, quite charming, quite light and frothy. But through the nature of the positions that the family find themselves in, I become a figurehead for the country and suddenly it’s not just family rivalry, it’s a war. I let down the nation, and I start to envy the fact that my brother may have been able to do it better. I start to hate the fact that I’m the underling, and I hate the fact that my family starts to loathe me. That hate starts to boil, and it gets great!”

“One thing that I’ve always said about Juan is that every action that he does is heartfelt and genuine. When it was the war against the French, he was there and he was going to go to war, even though he knew he was going to die. He saw them getting ripped apart, but he was there and he was going to do it. I believe if Lucrezia hadn’t come over, he would have led all his troops into death. I don’t think there’s anything that he’s done which was through general cowardice. In terms of his survival, he died how he lived, and that’s laudable, in itself.”

“It’s interesting that Juan’s attempt at relieving pain is through closeness and hugging and love. When he forgives Cesare at the end saying how they’re brothers and wants to be together, I think that’s genuine. That’s the first time you realize what he’s always wanted.”

“You’ve got this boy. And he is a boy at that stage still. He’s confessing that he’s always been quite miserable and been quite harsh on himself. He’s given them every opportunity to change their mind and see him for what he is. He finally gets things in order. He finally starts to work well. He gets a whole siege together and it’s working. Then it all turns around because of Cesare. And he gets shot in the leg (laughs). How many times must he try to get something right before someone ruins it for him? He has the worst luck. He never gets the good break. But every now and then when he gets it right, he still gets it in the end. He does a successful siege. He loses. He apologizes to his brother and gives his heart to him. And he still gets stabbed and thrown off a bridge.”

❝Because of the opium addiction and because of what he’s saying and because it’s so heartfelt and emotional, for the majority of that speech, it was quite singularly focused upon him. It was this torrent of thoughts rushing out of him that he’d been wanting to say for such a long time. And then finally, in that hug, everything comes to a head. That was quite moving. But, I’m not sure [Cesare] will reciprocate that. Through all of that walk, he was so rigid and just preparing himself to do it that he was not really listening to [Juan], I thought, on the day, but intentionally, in character. If he had listened to what he was saying, perhaps Cesare would not have gone through with the act of killing his younger brother, especially when they are apologizing for their bad habits and trying to help them become more comfortable with themselves.❞


“I had an amazing personal journey to go on with that character and hopefully I presented it with a sense and reality and hopefully you will feel a bit sorry for the guy. I don’t think he’s useless. Everyone says he’s a useless coward. He’s just placed in some shit situations. I mean he would have won Forli. He would have kicked ass at Forli if his character had let him know the other Sforza was coming to cut him down from the rear...I mean what’s [Cesare’s] beef? He makes me lose a war, then he blames it all on me and then he kills me, but I’m not entirely sure why he kills me...I think out of jealousy sometimes. Huge jealousy. I also believe if Lucrezia hadn’t come over in the first season during the first war, he would have led all his troops into death. He’s not afraid of dying in that sense, he’s afraid of not being liked or loved and being left by his family. If Jeremy (Rodrigo) disowned him he would have done it. I don’t think he’s a coward in that sense. I don’t even think he’s that much a coward. It’s just his entire family, whether they know it or not, has been ganging up on him from the very beginning of the first season. What’s the problem with him? I think he’s lovely. I think he’s really kind and compassionate and cuddly.”

Photos[]


Family tree[]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
RodrigoBorgia100px
Rodrigo Borgia
 
VanozzaCattaneo100px
Vanozza Cattaneo
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CharlotteofAlbret100px
Charlotte of Albret
 
CesareBorgia100px
Cesare Borgia
 
LucreziaBorgia100px
Lucrezia Borgia
(b. 1477/1478)
 
 
 
Paolo100px
Paolo
Deceased
 
MariaEnriquezdeLuna100px
Maria Enriquez de Luna
 
JuanBorgia100px
Juan Borgia
(d. 1498)
 
SanciaofNaples100px
Sancia of Naples
 
JoffreBorgia100px
Joffre Borgia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
GiovanniSforza100px
Giovanni Sforza
Deceased
 
AlfonsoofAragon100px
Alfonso of Aragon
Deceased
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
GiovanniBorgia100px
Giovanni Borgia
 

Historical notes[]

  • Juan never besieged Forli and Ravaldino castle. The city of Forli was taken and Ravaldino besieged by Cesare Borgia in December and January of 1499. (The new year of 1500 did not start until March prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar many decades later.)[2]


References[]

  1. Due to the events of Girolamo Savonarola's death, Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso of Aragon's betrothal, and Cesare Borgia resigning from the cardinate all happening in 1498, it's safe to say that 2x09 World of Wonders and 2x10 The Confession were set in 1498.
  2. http://sharetv.org/shows/the_borgias/goofs

5. https://swordshut.com/borgias-juan-fantasy-sword-36/

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