Jughead Jones

"Hope. A word so close to home, and as tricky. As much as we wanted Jason’s killer caught, and the town, our home, to feel safe again, every day that passed, our hopes dimmed more and more. There’s that old, cliched saying, “It’s darkest before the dawn.” But sometimes… There’s just darkness."

- Jughead in narration

Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III is a main character on Riverdale. He is portrayed by Cole Sprouse.

Jughead is a student at Riverdale High School and a close friend of Archie Andrews, as well as the son of FP Jones, leader of the Southside Serpents. Jughead is the narrator of the series who started writing a novel about Jason Blossom's mysterious death.

Character description
''A heartthrob with a philosophical bent and former best friend of Archie Andrews. He is still smarting from the rift that took place between the two.''

Early life
Jughead grew up in Riverdale, alongside Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper. He is the son of FP Jones, the leader of the Southside Serpents, a gang located on the south side of town. FP had been fired from Andrews Construction for theft, which led him to begin drinking heavily, and Jughead's mother to take off with his ten-year-old sister, Jellybean. The two of them currently live with their grandparents, while Jughead took up residence in the projection booth at the Twilight Drive-In.

Six years prior to the series, he was playing with matches outside Riverdale Elementary School, and accidentally set the building on fire, which resulted in him spending some time at Riverdale Juvenile Delinquent Center. On top of this, Jughead was routinely bullied throughout High School by the football team and, consequently, Jason Blossom as well.

Prior to the summer of 2016, he and Archie were best friends, they had even planned a road trip, one that would later be cancelled. The two of them had a falling out, the reason for which is currently unknown. Jughead would come to find out that the reason for Archie's cancelling of the road trip was due to his liaison with Ms. Grundy. This trip was intended to take place on July 4th, the same day Jason Blossom mysteriously disappeared on a boating trip at Sweetwater River with his sister Cheryl.

Season 1
In Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, Jughead began writing a novel about the events surrounding Jason Blossom's apparent death. In it, he described how the town of Riverdale is often presented as safe, decent and innocent, as many other small towns around the world are, but if you look close enough, you can see the shadows underneath. When he returned to school the next day, he attended the memorial for Jason at Riverdale High School's gymnasium, sitting on the top of the bleachers. He was in the Chock'lit Shoppe again later that evening, when Archie came in looking for Betty, and they discussed Jason's death. Jughead also told him to talk to Betty, because it could go a long way and it would have gone a long way with him as well. Jughead was later present at Sweetwater River with the rest of the town as Jason's body was discovered.

Jughead came across Archie and Ms. Grundy in a close embrace, leading him to confront Archie about their affair. Archie revealed that he was with Ms. Grundy at Sweetwater River on July 4th when Jason was ostensibly killed, and Jughead urged him to go to the police with what he knew. Archie resisted, having been manipulated by Ms. Grundy into keeping this information to himself for fear their relationship would be discovered. Eventually, however, he came to the conclusion that Jughead was right, and the two repaired their friendship. They went to Pop Tate's for milkshakes, where they were joined by Betty and Veronica.

With the Twilight Drive-In closing, Jughead was sure that it was just another nail in the coffin that is the American dream. Furthermore, he was furious, the drive-in was very special to him, the residents should be trying to save it, which he tried to explain to Betty, Veronica, and Kevin. Jughead struggled over which film he should play for closing night, he asked the group, who he had already invited to attend, he went with Betty's suggestion "." As Archie, Fred, and Ms. Grundy entered the diner, Jughead pleaded with Betty and Veronica to not get involved, but neither listened. The next day at school, Jughead explained to Archie that not getting involved in the situation with him, Betty and Grundy was the most moral, apathetic choice he could've made, he also mentioned that Archie had nothing to worry about as Jughead assured him that Betty would never do anything that could possibly hurt him.

After school, Jughead went down to Town Hall, hoping that he could persuade Mayor McCoy to save the drive-in, a futile attempt it turned out to be, the deal was done, and Andrews Construction already had the contract for demolition. Jughead told her of the special connection he shared with the drive-in, how he practically grew up there with his family, yet there was still nothing the Mayor could do. In another attempt to save the drive-in, Jughead approached Fred Andrews, in effort to convince him to at least hold off on the demolition until he can track down the anonymous buyer, sadly, Fred could not afford to give him that time. Jughead grew increasingly angry, he reminded Fred how he already put his father out of work, so he might as well do the same to another Jones. That night, Jughead sat in the booth then entire night as Rebel Without a Cause played on the big screen, one last time.

The next morning, it was revealed that Jughead was living out of the drive-in, and with it's demolition in motion, he would soon be homeless. Before leaving the drive-in, for the final time, he spray painted his name and signature crown hat on the side off the booth, then having a brief run-in with his father, who told him that they'd tear the booth down, and them with it. Jughead hoped that maybe they'd save the booth, store it in the town hall attic, and rebuild it in a hundred years, so people could wonder who the hell they were.

At school, Jughead, Betty, and Kevin reconstructed Sheriff Keller's murder board that had been previously destroyed. Unfortunately, the police had no suspects in the break-in, there weren't any fingerprints, and the files, background checks, and video and audio tapes of police interviews were stolen. That evening, after learning from Betty, that Polly attempted suicide, and that Jason Blossom began selling drugs shortly before his murder, Jughead began to not only question why a rich kid would do such a thing, but what would make him want to run away from his parents, since they couldn't ask Jason or his parents, Jughead decided they would raid his room during Jason's memorial, which they had earlier been invited to by Cheryl. Following an emotional eulogy from Cheryl, Jughead and Betty snuck away during the commotion, and made their way to Jason's room, Jughead suggested that they check in such places as under the mattress, in the drawers, under the headboard, and in the closet, all locations where teenage boys would hide things.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Rose Blossom, Jason's grandmother is also in the room, she startled them both, however, she mistakenly took Betty for Polly, her older sister, Jughead remained quiet, and listened as the two of them conversed. Rose Blossom unknowingly revealed to them that Polly and Jason were engaged. As more secrets from Betty's family came to light, Jughead believed that her parents knew more than they're letting on, if Betty's father would be willing to do anything to protect Polly, the next logical question would be, how far would he go. Whoever broke into Sheriff Keller's house wasn't at the Twilight Drive-In, and coincidentally, Betty's father wasn't at the drive-in, with that being said, they added the Cooper family's name to the board.

In an attempt to find Polly, Jughead was invited over to the Cooper house for breakfast with Betty and her mother. He distracted Alice by asking to use the bathroom, which she then proceeded to lead him to, and while those two were off, Betty went through her mother's purse, and took several photos of her check book. Upon further investigation at The Blue and Gold, they discovered that one of the checks were made out to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, a home for troubled youths. Over lunch Betty and Jughead quietly discussed Polly and finding her, which subsequently led to the two of them catching a bus over to the group home, where Jughead was told to wait in the entrance hall while Betty would be taken to Polly, who turned out to be pregnant with Jason Blossom's child.

From Betty, Jughead learned that Polly and Jason had planned to run away together on July 4th, but the Coopers found out and sent her away. Before the days end, the duo were caught by Alice, who was then confronted by Polly over Jason's death, which caused a big scene, that led to Polly being pulled away by two orderlies as Betty told her she loves her and promises to get Polly out, Jughead stood there helpless as another orderly prevented him from interfering. Back at the Cooper house, he climbed a ladder to knocked on Betty's window, happily surprising her, Jughead commented "Hey there Juliet, nurse off duty?". After discussing her worries over her parents and Polly as well as herself, Jughead calmed Betty down and reassured her that they are not their families. Visibly nervous, Jughead kissed Betty, and she smiled just before remembering that earlier Polly had mentioned a car Jason had stashed for them out by an old maple farm sign on Route 40.

They skipped the Variety Show that night and went out to find the supposed car, which was hidden under a tarp away from the road. Inside the vehicle they found a number of Jason's belongings, including his varsity jacket, as well as copious amounts of drugs. Jughead took photos for evidence while, unbeknownst to either of them someone watched from the woods. They immediately contacted Sheriff Keller and told him about what they'd found. Unfortunately, the vehicle was up in flames by the time the authorities had arrived. Jughead and Betty then raced to rescue Polly from the group home but by the time they arrived, her room was empty, the window broken and blood coated the glass.

Archie learns, after bumping into him in the boys' locker room early that morning that ever since the drive-in closed down, Jughead had been living out of a forgotten closet under a staircase at the High School. Jughead explained that things weren't good at home. His dad had fallen off the wagon after Fred Andrews fired him, and his mother had left with Jellybean to live with their grandparents a while back. Archie invited him to stay at his place, but he declined, saying that his situation was only temporary. Archie then spoke with his father about the situation and Fred offered to call FP about getting his job back.

Jughead visited his father at his trailer to talk about the job, and FP was happy at his return. Jughead insisted on FP getting rehired at Andrews Construction and start rebuilding their family, to which FP seemingly agrees and speaks to Fred. To celebrate FP returning to work at the Andrews Construction, Jughead, Archie, Fred and FP go to Pop's for dinner where the two fathers told stories about their younger years. When it came time to pay, Fred and FP got into a dispute over the check.

Later that night, FP and Jughead practiced music with Archie, where FP complimented him on being better than his father. He then revealed the truth about why he was forced to resign from Andrews Construction to Jughead and Archie, much to their horror. This left FP very upset and he began drinking. Jughead took his father home and put him to sleep on couch where he mentioned to his father that he spoke with Jellybean over the phone. She wanted to be addressed as 'JB', instead of Jellybean because she thought it sounded cooler. He remarked that she's a "ten-year-old who listens to Pink Floyd on vinyl, how much cooler could she get?" Jughead also mentioned that his mother now worked at a call center and is taking online classes in the hopes of finally getting her GED, which Jellybean helps her study for. However, Jughead then noticed that his father had passed out while Jughead was helping take off FP's boots and hadn't heard a word he'd said.

The next morning Jughead was brought to the Sheriff Station by Sheriff Keller as a suspect for Jason's murder. His and Betty’s fingerprints were found on Jason’s torched car as expected, but Jughead had a surprising juvie record from six years prior when he almost burned down Riverdale Elementary School, which, according to Jughead, was an accident; he was just playing with matches. Sheriff Keller unfairly suspected him as the killer due to his background and being from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’.

Fred came to his aid and told Sheriff Keller that Jughead was tearing down drywall for his construction company on July 11th, which Fred and Archie later falsified a time card to prove. Jughead’s father showed up to the station just as everyone was leaving and caused a scene in front of Fred, Archie and Betty. FP was furious and angrily demanded to see Sheriff Keller for making accusations against his son and even lashed out at Fred, who tried in vain to calm him down. FP angrily pushed Fred and stated that Jughead was his son and Fred would do the same for Archie. Jughead convinced him to let it go and before he left, FP tearfully promised he would get his act together and that they would have their family back, it would just take some time. Jughead looked angry and resigned as he told his father he believed him. In the end, Jughead went to live at the Andrew’s house.

Physical appearance
Jughead is a lean young man of medium stature with pale skin. He has black hair and blueish-green eyes. He isn't very flashy, his choice in clothing tends toward darker colored layered shirts, that often have an "S" on the center of them, jeans with hanging suspenders, and a denim jacket, along with his trademark crown-shaped knit beanie.

Personality
Jughead is most accurately described as a sort of creepy, wise-cracking, sleuth. He's crafty, intelligent, and well known for his cynical wit and sardonic humor. Fairly perceptive, Jughead looks at Riverdale from a point of view that no one else has. He can surely be passionate at times, there aren't many things than catch his attention, or that he would consider as being worth his time, however, those that do manage to draw him in, he puts all effort and care into, such as the Twilight Drive-In, it was like a home for him. Besides his passionate nature, Jughead is fiercely loyal, even to those who have done him a great wrong. He was willing to help Archie in his dilemma with Ms. Grundy and the gun shot that possibly killed Jason Blossom, despite the fact that they were no longer friends, proving that even in spite of their strained friendship, he could never sit back and allow his friends to suffer.

Relationships

 * Jughead and Archie
 * Jughead and Reggie
 * Jughead and Veronica
 * Jughead and Betty
 * Jughead and FP
 * Jughead and Jellybean

Trivia

 * He is writing a novel based on Jason Blossom's disappearance.
 * Jughead was living at the Twilight Drive-In until it's closing, then in a forgotten cupboard under a staircase at Riverdale High School.
 * Born on October 2nd, 2001.
 * Six years prior to the series he lived at 3021 Norlin Cresent, Riverdale, USA 68247, as listed on his juvie records.
 * Jughead has been bullied at school because of his name, most especially by the football team.
 * In the episode "Chapter Seven: In a Lonely Place", Jughead appears in the first minutes in his iconic clothes.