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 Leontes's origins. But when Romeo is exiled to the countryside, Titus arrogantly blackmails Leontes to make Mercutio his new heir if he doesn't want his past to be revealed. For betraying him, Leontes kills Titus in a duel and claiming his death was accidental. Three characters in Shakespeare's plays have the name "Titus", the most well-known being the title character of the violent Titus Andronicus.