"If you were to cultivate ambition, fear and hatred are the secret kings of men. The rest is up to you."
Leontas Van DeMontague(Portrayed by Sean Hennigen) was Romeo Candore DeMontague's father and one of the primary antagonists of Romeo X Juliet. Leontas was born as the illegitimate son of a Capulet. Cursed to a life of poverty and loneliness due to his father's abandonment and his mother's death, Leontas was filled with an unquenchable hatred toward the Capulet family. Leontas spend the next years of his life killing, manipulating and lying his way into the nobility of Neo Verona. Eventually, Leontas became the head of the prestigious Montague family. Leontas also married a fellow noble, Lady Portia, and had a son, Romeo. He also had an affair with one of the Capulet Princesses, begetting a son named Tybalt. Then, one night, Montague lead a violent coup d'etat against the Capulet family. Montague slaughtered the entire Capulet family, save their only daughter Juliet. Montague, now prince of Neo Verona, ruled with an iron fist for fourteen years. However, Montague's new power did not come with promise of love and peace he desired. Montague's wife Portia left him, horrified by his violent slaughter of the Capulets. A great distance grew between himself and his son, Romeo. He also discovered Neo Verona's darkest secret, the truth of Escalus. Fourteen years later, a rebellion against his tyrannical rule emerged. This rebellion was led by Juliet, the Capulet daughter he had failed to kill. Montague succeeded in capturing her, however, she was freed by his own son, who had fallen in love with Juliet. As his power began to collapse, so did his fragile grasp on sanity. He became increasingly violent and unhinged, murdering his own supporters. Ultimately, Montague was abandoned by his armies and forced to surrender to Juliet's rebellion. However, he was killed by a poisoned knife by Mercutio, whom Montague had chosen to replace Romeo. Montague died shunning any love or pity from either Romeo or Juliet.
Connection to Shakespeare's original works []
In the original Romeo and Juliet, Lord Montague is a kind and loving elderly man, who plays a relatively minor role in the overall story. Ironically, the play's Lord Montague is actually the less aggressive of the two heads of the families. Furthermore, the play version of Montague, while still having a high social standing, does not possess the same kind of political power as the show Montague. Leontas Montague's title, "Prince of Neo Verona", alludes to Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona in the original play.
Leontas, the name, is taken from Leontes, king of Sicily, in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. King Leontes is similar to Leontas Montague in that both show irrational obsessions with being loved and are quick to believe that others have betrayed or abandoned them. However, King Leontes comes to deeply regret his actions. Furthermore, King Leontes is shown to be driven by a mad jealously and his irrationality passes. Leontas Montague is consistantly ruthless throughout the serious and shows little to no regret for any of his actions. Furthermore, his mental instabiity is hidden and only comes out toward the end of the series.
In terms of actual personality, Leontas Montague is most similar to Edmund from King Lear, Richard III from Richard III, and Macbeth from Macbeth. Both Edmund and Montague are illegitimate children who believe themselves to be spited by the world and seek to rectify that through obtaining power. However, Leontas' mindset of fear and hatred being preferable to love is evocative of Richard III. Richard, due to his physical deformity, feels rejected by the world and unable to be loved, as such he seeks power and causes general mayhem and destruction until he obtains the throne. Finally, Montague's gradutal loss of sanity and ruining of his relationship with his wife upon gaining and losing power is reminisnt of Macbeth's descent into madness upon becoming king of Scotland.