#but for storytelling purposes i support letting lucrezia be either an anti-hero or complex villain

[frankenshane]

also, while i'm only 82% through it, g.j. meyer's the borgias is really compelling! it's focus is on dispelling the legends of the various members of the borgia family and providing context to their political maneuvering which reveals that, at least in comparison to the italian noble families of the time, they were kind of ordinary in that they weren't spending their time planning incestuous orgies or intricate poisonings alongside drawing up battle plans for gaining control of the papal states.