List of Romeo x Juliet characters

This is a list of characters from Gonzo's Romeo x Juliet anime series. Although the series is loosely based on Shakespeare's original play many characters that were based on Shakespeare's original characters in Romeo & Juliet have gone through drastic changes concerning personality, relationships, role in the story and final outcome.

Main characters

 * Juliet (ジュリエット)
 * Juliet Fiammatta Ars De Capulet is the last member of the Capulet family. She disguises herself as a boy, Odin, in order to avoid being caught by the usurping House of Montague, who still actively look for the Capulets. An excellent swordsman, she also masquerades as a vigilante, the Red Whirlwind (赤い旋風), in order to aid the people oppressed by the rival Montagues. She unwittingly falls in love with Romeo, which leads to several complications for her in the series.


 * In the series, Juliet is presented as a strong and intelligent young woman, with a strong sense of justice and determination to lead the Capulet faction against the oppression of the corrupt Lord Montague. She falls deeply in love with Romeo and is stricken with the decision of being with Romeo or destroying Lord Montague. In the original play Juliet is shown as a shy, meek, and emotional young woman who immediately falls in love with Romeo when she meets him and does not care that he is a Montague. Her series counterpart backs away from Romeo after learning who he is, despite being deeply in love with him.


 * Romeo (ロミオ)
 * Romeo Candore De Montague is the son of Lord Leantes Montague and Lady Portia and heir to the throne of Neo Verona. For political reasons, he has been forced into an unwanted engagement with Hermione, a young noblewoman. As a nobleman, he rides and owns a ryūba named Cielo whom he later freed. In contrast to his father, he is obedient and kindhearted, often disapproving of his family's tyranny. He is ostracized by the nobility save for his friend, Benvolio. He falls in love with Juliet at first sight.


 * In the series, Romeo is the crown prince of Neo Verona, and a confident, polite young man. He has little respect for his Montague heritage because of his father's tyranny. Unlike his counterpart in the source material, Romeo first encounters Juliet at a party hosted by his family, whereas in the play, he had secretly gone to a Capulet party in hopes of seeing Juliet's cousin, Rosaline. He holds nothing against the Capulet family and falls in love with Juliet, wishing only for them to be happy and safe.

Capulets

 * Cordelia (コーディリア)
 * Juliet's best friend since childhood and another survivor of the Capulet massacre. She tends to Juliet as a maid, acting as her private confidante. She marries Romeo's friend, Benvolio late in the series. Her name may be a possible reference to the fiercely loyal daughter of King Lear. At the scene of the last episode, she and Benvolio are seen with a child of their own.


 * The character of Cordelia appears as a stand-in for Juliet's unnamed nurse. She is much younger than her counterpart in the source material and has been Juliet's best friend since childhood, acting as an older sister figure rather than the mother figure she appeared in the original play.


 * Conrad (コンラッド)
 * Captain of the Capulet Guards who saved Juliet and Cordelia from their family massacre. Now a priest, he looks after Juliet and is exasperated by her antics. He is often the one to urge Juliet to take arms against Lord Montague. He later plans an assassination attempt on Lord Montague and barely survives betrayal by his friend, Camio. In Shakespeare's plays, a Conrade appears as a villain, a servant of Don John, in Much Ado About Nothing.


 * Francisco (フランシスコ)
 * Childhood friend of Curio and the more refined of the duo. A ladies' man and expert archer, he also takes part in underground sabotage and intelligence. Out of all of Juliet's comrades, he is the one who openly vouches for Romeo's love for Juliet. Though in episode 18 it is implied that he is in love with Juliet. At the end of the series, he becomes a member of Neo Verona's new parliament.  His name may be a reference to two minor characters from Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet and The Tempest.


 * Curio (キュリオ)
 * A close friend of Francisco and Juliet's fencing teacher. His scarred visage originated from protecting a younger rebellious Juliet from receiving punishment from members of the Carabinieri; her frustration at the time gave birth to her alter ego, The Red Whirlwind. It is hinted from episode 16 onward that he may have romantic feelings toward Juliet. His preferred weapons are axes or polearms. At the end of the series, he settles down as a grocer of his own vegetable store.  His name may refer to the attendant of Orsino in Twelfth Night.


 * Tybalt (ティボルト)
 * A mysterious warrior later revealed to be the son of Leontes Montague. The series depicts Tybalt as a vigilante with a bubbling hatred for Lord Montague and sympathies aligning with the Capulet faction; he is the son of Lord Montague, making him Romeo's older half-brother, and a Capulet woman who had been used by Lord Montague. When in battle, Tybalt is a ruthless assassin using two daggers to fight, usually killing his opponents in one hit without regret, and is seen to be able to manipulate the shadows of society easily. He continually tests Juliet's resolve and sends Romeo to chase her after she goes to Escalus, eventually acting as an intermediary between Juliet and Romeo.  At the end of the series, Tybalt is seen wearing brighter clothing and giving a ride to the two younger siblings of Petrucchio on Cielo, fulfilling Romeo's final promise to Petrucchio for him. After Juliet and Romeo's death, he is the last person with "pure" Capulet and Montague blood running in him; he can be considered as the last "pure Capulet and Montague".


 * He is based on the same character in the original play, though he is Juliet's maternal cousin rather than Romeo's half-brother. In the original play, Tybalt is an arrogant, selfish but loyal ally to the Capulet family, as he is Juliet's maternal cousin and Romeo's sworn rival. He is eventually killed by Romeo, enraged and seeking revenge for Mercutio, who was killed by Tybalt.


 * Antonio (アントニオ)
 * Conrad's grandson and a sidekick to Juliet. His arsenal of choice revolves around trickery including various bombs and firecrackers. After the formation of the new Capulet faction, Antonio works as a spy and helps Curio and Francisco rescue Juliet when she is captured by Montague. He has a crush on Balthazar's granddaughter, Regan. His name may be a reference to several characters in Shakespeare's plays, the most prominent being the hero of The Merchant of Venice.


 * Emilia (エミリア)
 * An actress infatuated with Juliet's disguise, Odin. Pretty and youthful, she invites Odin as Juliet to the Rose Ball where Juliet meets Romeo for the first time. She remains unaware of Odin's true identity until much later in the series. Her name may be a reference to several characters in Shakespeare's plays, including Othello, The Winter's Tale, and The Two Noble Kinsmen.


 * William de Farnase (ウィリアム)
 * A flamboyant playwright whose works have not been well-received by audiences. He's nicknamed "Willy" by his actors and stagehands. He allows Juliet and her entourage to use his theater for shelter. He knows that Juliet is deeply and painfully in love, calling her "the maiden who gave up on love", and wants to make a tragedy where both lovers die. The character itself is a caricature of William Shakespeare, and there are several allusions to the work of his namesake in his own plays.


 * Ariel de Farnase (エアリエル)
 * Present head of the noble Farnese family. She is William's mother. She is also an old friend of Conrad's and one of the few outside her party to know Juliet's secret. She offers her home in Mantua as a sanctuary for Juliet, Curio, Francisco, and Antonio after Juliet is rescued from Montague, where they are attended by Ariel's butler, Balthazar, and his granddaughter, Regan. Her name may be a reference to the sprite from The Tempest, who acts as the eyes and ears for one of the sorcerer Prospero.


 * Balthazar (バルサザー)
 * One of Ariel's butlers, he passes on information from his master to Juliet and company. Like any loyal butler, he is apt to serve his guests and never questions their orders.  His name is a possible reference to several minor characters in Shakespeare's plays, including a manservant to Romeo in the original play.


 * Regan (リーガン)
 * Balthazar's granddaughter and frequent helper around the mansion. Unlike other girls her age, she cares little for aesthetics and is blunt to those who offend her. She likes to bully Antonio when she drags him along on chores. Her name may be a reference to King Lear's second daughter from the Shakespeare play.


 * Lancelot (ランスロット)
 * A doctor who is an ally of the Red Whirlwind, whom he attends and counsels after each skirmish with the city guards. Posing as the Red Whirlwind, he dies via self-immolation to avoid capture and to free wrongly accused victims. He leaves behind a wife (who knows Juliet's secret and doesn't blame her for Lancelot's death) and two daughters who have yet to be told of his fate. His name may be a reference to a the servant of Shylock in Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice.


 * Lord Capulet (キャピュレット)
 * Lord Capulet was Juliet's father. Along with his family (excluding Juliet), he was killed in Lord Montague's coup d'état fourteen years before the story starts, as a part of Montague's scheme to take over Neo Verona and achieve revenge on the whole Capulet clan for the suffering and pain he and his mother went through for them.


 * Although Lord Capulet was only seen at the beginning of the series before he was murdered by Lord Montague, he was mentioned several times by other characters. He was depicted as being a kind, wise and fair ruler over Neo Verona, before the murder of his family. In the original play Lord Capulet and his wife live through the entire play; while present, he appears as a loving father to Juliet, though he also acts stubborn and controlling. At the end of the play, he makes peace with Montague after the death of his daughter and son-in-law.

Montagues

 * Lord Montague (モンタギュー)
 * Leontes Montague is the ruthless, tyrannical, Machiavellian Duke of Neo Verona. He, an illegitimate Capulet offspring, and his mother (a prostitute) was born and raised into poverty. The death of his mother sparks his unrelenting and ferocious grudge against the Capulet name and his ambitions for being Duke. He acts coldly to all around him, only seeming to care about the Great Tree Escalus. His main goal in the series is to find Lord Capulet's surviving child and kill her before the people still loyal to the Capulets can rebel. He is killed late in the series by a mad Mercutio, moments before surrendering to Juliet.  His given name, Leontes, is also shared by Ophelia's brother in Shakespeare's Hamlet.


 * In the play, Lord Montague is a only a minor character appearing in only a few scenes of the play. While present, he is shown as an being a caring and overprotective father to his son, showing no interest in destroying the Capulets but desiring for them to leave the Montagues alone instead. In the series, he is shown as the main antagonist and acts as Duke of Neo Verona instead of just being the head of his own household. He acts as an uncaring, ruthless, and power-hungry father and leader, as well as an illegitimate relation of the Capulet family.


 * Lady Portia (ポーシア)
 * Portia Clemenza di Ebe is Romeo's mother, who reluctantly left him and the Montague name to live at a convent to avoid associating herself with the bloody and cruel ambitions of her husband. She's a kind, intelligent and understanding woman who prays for Romeo's happiness. Her name is possibly derived from the clever and wealthy heiress of The Merchant of Venice and the wife of Brutus from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.


 * Romeo's mother is known only as Lady Montague in the original play and appears only a few scenes; she is depicted as an overprotective and loving mother who dies of heartbreak when she learns of her son's suicide at the end of the play. In the series, Lady Montague is named Portia and remains a loving mother who wishes for her son's happiness; however, she holds no loyalty to the Montagues, having left her husband to join a convent when she saw how power-mad he was, and harbors no hostility to the Capulet faction, and shows sympathy and kindness to Juliet.


 * Benvolio (ペンヴォーリオ)
 * Benvolio di Frescobaldi is one of Romeo's close friends. He is the son of the mayor of Neo Verona and one of the few people concerned with Romeo's well-being. He often acts as Romeo's voice of reason and moderation. He and his family are later stripped of their nobility and go into hiding with the help of Juliet and her friends. Late in the series, he falls in love with, and weds Cordelia. During the epilogue to the last episode, Benvolio is seen with a child in his arms.


 * Benvolio's character has changed little in the adaptation and remains a level-headed and well-mannered friend to Romeo. However, he is not Romeo's cousin and a member of the Montague family, like in the play.


 * Vittorio (ヴィシトーリオ)
 * Vittorio di Frescobaldi is Benvolio's father, leader of the House of Frescobaldi,the mayor of Neo Verona, and an old friend of Conrad's, who held reservations concerning Montague's rule. He was a member of the moderate faction of the Montague dictatorship, with a large amount of administrative authority as the mayor of Neo Verona. He is later stripped of his title and nobility and even slated for assassination by Duke Montague, for allowing the Red Whirlwind to create civil discontent throughout Neo Verona. He is restablished as the mayor at the end of the story.


 * Mercutio (マキューシオ)
 * An ambitious and sly noble who wishes to become Montague's heir due to his apparent resentment of his father. He is contemptuous of the common people and is charged by Montague to spy on Romeo. Late in the series, he is adopted as Montague's new heir but is unprepared for the bloody initiation, whose climax was Titus' death at the hands of Montague. His inability to act in his father's defense traumatizes him and later leads to insanity.


 * In the series, Mercutio is a sly, disrespectful, and spoiled version of a younger Lord Montague. He acts as a spy for Lord Montague to unearth why Romeo is acting oddly, and is trying to ensure that Montague will disown his son for loving Juliet so he can become Montague's heir (being Romeo's only male relative apart from Tybalt, whom Montague abandoned). In the play, Mercutio is not Romeo's rival but his and Benvolio's mutual best friend, and acts as reckless free spirited jokester, who truly cares for Romeo but lets his own hot-bloodedness override his weariness of the feud ('A plague on both your houses!')


 * Titus (タイタス)
 * Mercutio's father who is an alcoholic degenerate of the court. He earned his position by secretly ordering the assassinations of nearly everyone with knowledge of Montague's origins. He is killed in a sparring "accident" with Montague. Three characters in Shakespeare's plays have the name "Titus", the most well-known being the title character of the violent Titus Andronicus.


 * Hermione (ハーマイオニ)


 * A young noblewoman of the House of Borromeo, who is betrothed to Romeo in a political marriage at the Rose Ball. Sweet, sheltered and gentle, she appears to be genuinely in love with him though he doesn't reciprocate her feelings for him. However, she's also very passive-aggressive, having the tendency to keep her negative feelings or thoughts for herself, only to unleash them later. Thus, she expresses mild yangire traits during Romeo's banishment. She seems to be a stand-in for Count Paris from the play, though she is female and is a Montague ally and Romeo's fiancée instead of a relative to Duke Escalus and Juliet's suitor. Hermione could also be lifted from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale; the Hermione of that play is entangled in a conflict over adultery, which almost parallels her situation in RxJ.

Other characters

 * Ophelia (オフィーリア)
 * A mysterious woman who tends to the Great Tree Escalus. She has a sad, doll-like face with some marks on her forehead and cheeks, and speaks in a rather polite and mysterious manner. She appears to be ageless as she looks the same as she did fourteen years ago. She reveals that since Montague's reign over Neo Verona began, the Great Tree Escalus has been slowly decaying, particularly since its companion tree died when Montague took the throne.  When Juliet is captured by Montague, she encounters Ophelia during her escape; Ophelia plants within Juliet the means to save Neo Verona, though at the cost of Juliet's life.  She mortally wounds Romeo shortly before being vanquished by him. Her name is likely a nod to the heroine of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Hamlet.


 * Camilo (カミロ)
 * Conrad's good friend who betrayed him by giving information regarding the Capulets' hideout to the Montagues. He is later found by Juliet, Francisco, and Curio to be in luxurious housing alongside a disgruntled Tybalt, whom he helped to raise. After being threatened by the latter, he flees from his mansion. Camilo's name is likely a nod to the character from The Winter's Tale, a character who defected from his liege King Leontes after Camilo was ordered to kill King Polixenes.


 * Petruchio
 * A thin boy who works in one of the Montagues' mines and is saved from a beating by Romeo. He and Romeo eventually become friends.  Originally sent to the mines for stealing bread for his starving family, he is desperate to return to Neo Verona because his younger brother and sister are still there.  Petruchio dies from sickness and leaves Romeo visibly distraught. After Montague's death and his self banishment from Neo Verona, Romeo asks Tybalt to find and care for Petruchio's siblings. Petruchio's name is likely a nod to the character from The Taming of the Shrew, one of Shakespeare's early comedies.


 * Giovanni (ジョヴァンニ)
 * A miner who looks out for Romeo during his stay at the mines. While he admires Romeo's idealistic dream of creating a world where people can live together without sacrifices, Giovanni also believes that Romeo has chosen a long and difficult path to pursue. He often acts as leader for the village in Romeo's absence.


 * The Old man (老人)
 * A mysterious yet sage man who frequently smokes from a long pipe, he is suggested to bear some connection to the Great Tree. He acts as Romeo's spiritual adviser, mentioning that the noble will have to someday shoulder Juliet's fate.