Hiram Lodge

Hiram Lodge is an upcoming main character and an antagonist set to appear in the second season of Riverdale. He is also the unseen, hidden secondary antagonist of the first season. He is portrayed by Mark Consuelos.

Hiram is the husband of Hermione, and the father of Veronica Lodge. He is a powerful businessman and the CEO/President of Lodge Industries. Prior to the start of the series, he was incarcerated at Yonkers Penitentiary and is currently awaiting trial for multiple counts of embezzlement and fraud. Despite his imprisonment, Hiram still runs his business and criminal empire from behind bars. He is soon to be released from prison, and will be taking up residence in Riverdale.

He was also business partners with Manfred Muggs until he no longer needed him, resulting in Manfred and his family almost losing everything including their house. As a result of their partnership Manfred was hospitalized.

Character description
''A ruthless, handsome, charismatic businessman who is coming back to Riverdale after weathering a financial scandal that almost destroyed him. He is there to reconnect with his wife Hermione and, especially, his daughter Veronica, who is the apple of his eye.''

Early Life
It is currently unknown if Hiram grew up in Riverdale, but he did at least spend some time there, long enough for him to form a rivalry with Cliff Blossom. He eventually went on to steal his current wife, Hermione Lodge away from Fred Andrews. The two of them moved to New York, and some time later got married and had a daughter, Veronica, and they all lived together in New York living a luxurious lifestyle. However, their fancy life and luxurious living didn't last forever as Hiram was arrested for fraud and embezzlement.

Before getting arrested, Hiram had an on-going arrangement with the Southside Serpents, a local gang in Riverdale. He hired the gang to decrease the value of the Twilight Drive-In, so that Lodge Industries could purchase the land for a low price.

Before his arrest, Hiram had an incredibly strong bond with his daughter, Veronica. She was daddy's girl. Whenever Hiram did something wrong, he'd bring her gifts home as a way to make up for it, such as Givenchy bags.

Throughout the Series

 * -|Season 1=

Season 1
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Compensating the Serpents
Roughly three months after his arrest for fraud and embezzlement, from prison, Hiram sent Hermione a duffel bag filled with money, leaving her to wonder what it was exactly that he had gotten himself into.

Hermione would later discover that the money was meant to complete payments to the Southside Serpents for a job well done in de-valuing the Twilight Drive-In so that he could purchase it at the cheaper price using an offshore LLC. Initally, no one knew of this dealing other than Hiram, that is until he told Hermione, who went on to tell Fred, and so on.

Anonymous Buyer of the SoDale Project
Unbeknownst to Hiram at the time, Hermione was seeking to award the construction contract for the SoDale project to Fred Andrews. However, two out of three signatures were required, and with Hiram looking to give the contract to a less than legit company, Hermione needed Veronica's signature in order to grant Andrews Construction the contract seeing as Hiram made Veronica a legal officer of Lodge Industries after he was arrested. Unfortunately for Hermione, Veronica refused to sign. Although, with no other option, Hermione forged her daughters signature to move forward the contract.

According to Veronica, when Hiram got arrested, the police, lawyers, judge, and the courts took everything from him and his family, including their houses, cars, club memberships, yacht, and even the clothes off their backs. As Hiram would later come to discover, Hermione was having an affair with Fred Andrews, and she claimed that this was a result of Hiram making certain decisions that distanced him from the family. So, from that point on, Hermione would be making decisions that would benefit her. Soon thereafter, Hermione called Hiram from prison and confessed about forging Veronica's signature in order to award Andrews Construction the land contract

Warfare; Lodges vs Blossoms
It was revealed through Hermione that the Blossom family was making a play for the drive-in land, and that if they found out that Hiram was the anonymous buyer, it would be open war. They were looking to stop construction on the SoDale project, leaving many to believe that the Blossoms were responsible for the attack on Andrews Construction. However, FP Jones and Hermione would later come to find out that Hiram hired several guys from Montreal to come down and trash the work site after discovering that Hermione was having an affair with Fred.

With his trial quickly approaching, Hiram's lawyer would be visiting Hermione and Veronica to take their statements. This left Veronica questioning what she should say, and if her father even deserved to be released. To further complicate the situation, Veronica learned that one of her friends, Ethel Muggs, was having problems at home. Her family lost all their funds due to their investments with Hiram, thus intensifying Veronica's anger towards her father. The Muggs would be testifying against Hiram during his trail, which Veronica agreed they should as he was a bad person that was ruining lives. To make matters even worse, Manfred Muggs attempted to take his own life. At that point, Veronica decided that she was done lying for her father.

After weeks of keeping this secret, Hermione finally decided to tell Fred that she and Hiram were the anonymous buyers of the drive-in land, and that he was working for Lodge Industries. She was hoping to turn the business legitimate, which meant partnering with businesses like Andrews Construction. She then revealed that it was Hiram that sent the thugs to attack the work site after learning of their affair. It was later discovered by Archie that Hiram was set up and sent to jail by Clifford Blossom, leaving many to suspect Hiram of killing Clifford's son, Jason Blossom.

Upcoming Trial
As expected, the ladies received a visit from Hiram's attorney to take their statements for the hearing. Even though Mr. Sowerberry only asked that Veronica speak to Hiram's character in order to humanize her father, she refused. After learning from her friends that Cliff Blossom was responsible for Hiram's imprisonment, Veronica took it upon herself to do some investigating. She found a spreadsheet of monthly payments dating back 75 years from Blossom Maple Farms to Lodge Industries until about five months ago, just after Hiram was arrested. Veronica believed that Clifford implicated Hiram to get out of paying the monthly fee. She suggested that they inform his lawyer of this, however, Hermione decided against it as it may lead people to believe that Hiram was involved in Jason's murder as retaliation.

Aware that she was feeling conflicted over testify during his trial, Hiram sent Veronica a letter, in which he essentially threatened Veronica and Hermione. Although, it was never explained how she knew, and whether or not the rest of her family knew, Cheryl Blossom exposed Hiram as being the anonymous buyer for the drive-in land to an entire party worth of students. It seemed as if Veronica decided to heed her father's warning as she testified on his behalf. Afterward, he sent her a pearl necklace to show his gratitude.

Thanks to Veronica's statement, Hiram would be returning home soon. The Judge ruled on time served, he'd be free within a few months at the most. Upon learning that her father was begin released, Veronica felt conflicted. She still suspected that maybe he was involved in Jason's murder, and she was dead set on proving it. However, just as she was ready to give up, and accept that he had no involvement in Jason's death, FP Jones was arrested for killing Jason, leaving Veronica to believe that her father might have hired him to commit the murder.

Hiram's Involvement in Jason's Murder?
Almost immediately after learning of FP's arrest, Hermione began to panic as they were known associates of the man that killed Jason Blossom. While she was still unsure if Hiram was involved or not, Hermione wanted to be prepared to run should the time come. Inside the motel room of a deceased Southside Serpent named Mustang, the police found a duffel bag filled with money, with the initials "H.L.". Initially believed that it belong to Hermione, Veronica told Sheriff Keller that it in fact belong to her father, and that he had business with the Serpents. Following the discovery that FP's confession was false, and that Clifford killed Jason, Veronica apologized to her mother for ever considering the possibility of her father killing Jason. However, had Hiram been involved, both Veronica and Hermione were willing to cut all ties with him. Hermione then revealed that Hiram was coming home.

With Hiram returning home soon, Hermione fired the Serpents working for Andrews Construction as she couldn't have the project associated with criminals. After talking it over with Hiram, the two of them decided that it would be best to buy Fred out of his contract, which Fred considered but ultimately declined despite the way that he and Hiram felt towards each other. }}
 * -|Season 2=

Season 2
TBA

Personality
Although Hiram has yet to appear on screen, the series has managed to paint a fairly detailed picture of his overall personality. Hiram is a dishonest and underhanded businessman. He is quite ruthless, willing to step on and double cross anyone and everyone in order to achieve his own selfish goals. He has even gone as far as to threaten his own wife and daughter.

Relationships

 * Hiram and Hermione
 * Hiram and Veronica