Lack of Empathy: Difference between revisions

{{quote| ''Do you look at insects and worms on the ground and think them foolish? No. Your position is so far above theirs that you cannot feel one way or the other about them, right? That is how I see humankind.''}}

** The [[Big Bad]] of the anime, {{spoiler|Dante}}, is almost as bad as Father. {{spoiler|She's been [[Body Surf|Body Surfing]] through different bodies for more than two centuries and mass sacrificed humans, not to mention caused dozens of wars, disease outbreaks and worse, just to keep her Philosopher Stone fix going.}} Unlike Father and the Homunculi she doesn't even have an excuse as she's 100% human, just a completely selfish sociopath who believes [[It's All About Me]].

* ''[[Candy Candy]]'': Candy's step-siblings Eliza and Neal Reagan, but most specifically Eliza, who seems to hate and pick on Candy [[For the Evulz|for no real reason at all]].

* Ulquiorra from ''[[Bleach]]'' mostly because he doesn't understand what it means to be human and the human emotions that come with it. Some more straight examples are [[Big Bad|Aizen]], [[Psycho for Hire|Grimmjow]], [[Death Seeker|Nnoitra]], [[Token Evil Teammate|Mayuri]], and [[Mad Scientist|Szayel Apollo Granz]].

** Notably in Mayuri's case, he describes in horrific detail the experiments he carried out on the souls of the Quincies, and then proceeds to complain about the difficulty of getting specimens.

* Yuno from ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'' is this and a [[Yandere]] to boot. More to the point, she only has empathy for Yukiteru, even though her definition of empathy is quite twisted.

* Mukuro from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', although he does have his [[Pet the Dog]] moments.

** The Unknown Man from the manga, Mayu's mother and stepfather, Mariko, and the cruel kids from Lucy's childhood.

* The titular [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Haruhi Suzumiya]] starts out this way, but [[Character Development|she gets better]]. Ryoko Asakura, on the other hand, doesn't.

** Also Grimmer and Bonaparta, both of whom end up as subversions

*** It's suggested, even more chillingly, in the semi-sequel ''Another Monster'' that Johan may actually possess empathy. [[Complete Monster|He just also has the ability to efficiently ignore it.]]

* Most of the villains in ''[[One Piece]]''.

* Seishirou Sakurazuka of ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'' and ''[[X 1999|X]]''.

* Kazuo Kiriyama from the ''[[Battle Royale]]'' manga. He's revealed to actually ''physically'' be unable to feel empathy, as he got in an accident when he was young and apparently lost all of his emotions. Of course, from the way this is presented, quite a few people consider this completely [[Narm|Narmy]]. There are some effective moments, though - at one point he chooses to let some kids befriend him on the results of a coin flip; on the island, he flips a coin again (at their urging), and when they lose the flip he slaughters them without a second's hesitation.

* The entirety of the ''[[Ranma One Half]]'' cast fall into this trope at one point or another due it being a series built on [[Comedic Sociopathy]]. The exceptions being ''maybe'' Kasumi and Tofu.

** As of the sixth arc, {{spoiler|Battler and Beatrice are now [[Mistress and Servant Boy|marr]][[Mind Game Ship|ied]]}}.

* Medusa from ''[[Soul Eater]]''.

** Medusa's claim that she'd simply dispose of Crona as a failed experiment got an angry reaction out of both Spirit (obviously) ''and'' Stein. Which knowing her was likely her [[Manipulative Bastard|intention]].

* Muraki from ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]''.

* Haguro from ''[[Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest]]''. Also, Ryuuko has little empathy and lusts after whoever seems to have even less than she does. Haguro is convinced Inugami is this as well.

* Izaya Orihara of ''[[Durarara]]'' could definitely be interpreted as a sociopath. He likes to proclaim his love of humans (in a way that suggest he doesn't consider himself one), and spends his time manipulating others for his own amusement. Sometimes his actions are funny when viewed from the outside, especially when done to nasty people, but he has no compunction about harming innocents. While some people like and indeed fawn on him (generally girls), it's only because he's a convincing liar. Other than that, he has no friends to speak of.

* Katsuragi, Souma, and Sakurako of ''[[Sakura Gari]]''. Initially, it seems as if [[It's All About Me]] with them, and that they'll do whatever it takes to get what they want even if they hurt/kill others in the process. Also, every one of Souma's lovers are shown to have horrible endings. He even notices and mentions it himself. Of course, this doesn't stop him from continuing to take lovers and he shows no remorse over their deaths. While he does develop a little empathy as a result of his interactions with Masataka, whom he had genuinely fallen in love with, his actions eventually end up driving Masataka away for good.

* Ryoki Tachibana from the manga ''[[Hot Gimmick]]''. Although he's utterly obsessed with Hatsumi, the series' doormat female lead, he's usually far too up himself to ever do anything as pointless as care about her or anybody else, including his family. His response to most of her (considerable) problems is "forget it, just focus on me" and he gets pissed off at her for worrying about her family. In another scene, shortly after she had her heart broken and was ''almost raped'' he berates her for crying about it, comes on to her too strong and forcibly kisses her despite her protests. Later, however, he begins to develop genuine feelings for her, but still retains his possessive and inconsiderate nature. In the novel, {{spoiler|his actions result in her dumping him for the more compassionate and caring Shinogu}}. It's later shown that Ryoki's family is disjointed and loveless, which is why he finds Hatsumi's devotion to her family incomprehensible, and cannot sympathize with her for it.

* {{spoiler|Dufort/Dufaux/Dyufo}} of ''[[Zatch Bell]]''. Then again, {{spoiler|Justified with all the hell he went through as a kid. I mean, he was sold off by his mother to an evil scientist who did nothing but make him unhappy or angry to see the effects on his Answer Talker. And then he got blown up. At least Zeon, the supposed [[Complete Monster]] saved him from certain death. Yes, the [[Complete Monster]] got sold off by his [[Complete Monster]] of a mother, got tortured, and then was saved from the [[Complete Monster]] torturing/attempting to kill him by the [[Complete Monster]]. Don't worry, [[It Got Better]] eventually. 50% less [[Complete Monster]].}}

* Osamu Tezuka's ''[[MW]]'' uses this as its main theme in concern to the villain protagonist Michio, who as a little boy inhaled a gas that damaged his brain and turned him into a sociopath. His homosexual lover's (who also happens to be a priest) attempts to justify or curve his behavior is met with tragedy.

** Schneizel is an interesting case, because he ''does'' honestly seem to want world peace... but at the same time, this is a man who can talk about {{spoiler|''nuking'' '''''millions''''' ''of people''}} without so much as blinking.

*** Scneizel's psychology is so detached from the idea of empathy that some fans have suggested from how people talk about him that he willed himself to be a blank slate that responds to the surroundings rather than actually being able to grasp people having ambitions or an actual sense of self; he aims to take over his father's throne because his society's values indicate he should do so as the stronger of the two, not because he cares in the slightest about being Emperor. {{spoiler|He doesn't even have the [[A God Am I]] reasoning behind nuking millions of people from orbit until ''Cornelia suggests it'', and barely reacts when she is gunned down trying to stop him. Even when Lelouch finally defeats him, Schneizel appears to legitimately not care when he thinks he's about to die and this entire war was for nothing.}} [[Word of God]] confirms that he lacks ambition -- and that's exactly why he is so dangerous, since he honestly doesn't have any long-term interest in any of his undertakings.

* {{spoiler|Black Mage Zeref}} of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' actually ''needs'' [[Lack of Empathy]] to control his vast magical powers. If he develops compassion for other people, he suffers deadly [[Power Incontinence]] that ''drains the life out of everything around him''. For centuries he placed himself in self-imposed exile {{spoiler|on Tenrou Island}} to avoid hurting other people. Unfortunately, by the end of chapter 249, the machinations of Grimoire Heart cause him to forget compassion again {{spoiler|and Master Hades becomes his latest victim. The formerly kindly Zeref then derides his victim as "trash" that should just fall into the abyss.}}

** Their [[Tyke Bomb|Tykebombs]], the pre-Extended and Extended are almost as bad, albeit for more sympathetic reasons. The [[Psycho Serum]] they're forced to take has left them all in varying states of [[Sanity Slippage]], with no ability to empathise. [[BFG|Orga]] doesn't care who he shoots at, [[Sore Loser|Clotho]] sees it all as [[Not a Game|some kind of game]], [[Sociopathic Soldier|Auel]] and ''especially'' [[Axe Crazy|Shani]] take a sadistic delight in slaughtering their enemies, [[Only Sane Man|Sting]]'s just utterly cold-blooded, and [[Cloudcuckoolander|Stella]]? The most [[Tragic Monster|sympathetic]] of the group? She doesn't even see people as ''people''. They're all "Scary Things', and need to die because of it.

* Most of the villains in ''[[Zeta Gundam]]''. Bask Om, Jamitov Hymem, and ''especially'' [[Psycho for Hire|Yazan Gable]] wouldn't know empathy if it snuck up and bit them in the ass. Congratulations on making [[Jerk Jock|Jerid Messa]] and [[Dark Messiah|Paptimus Scirocco]] look like the reasonable ones, [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]!

* Desil Galette of ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' doesn't give a damn about anyone who isn't himself. He views the entire war as one big game, and the soldiers he kills as toys to be thrown away. This attitude is chilling enough in a child, but it persists well into his adulthood, and he eventually begins plotting against his own brother when the latter dares to upstage him.

* Arguably, the Huckebein of [[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force|Nanoha Force]] tends to become this.

 

** Hannibal Lecter would also count if not for sequel decay.

* Another example, the Voight-Kampff machine in ''[[Blade Runner]]'' is a test of empathy used to separate replicants ([[Ridiculously Human Robot|Ridiculously Human Robots]]) from humans.

* Freddy Krueger from ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]''

* The late [[Heath Ledger]]'s summation of his role as the Joker in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

** [[Jack Nicholson]]'s Joker in the 1989 Batman film also lacked any empathy. This is especially apparent in the climax when, after Batman {{spoiler|revealed that The Joker [[You Killed My Father|murdered his parents]], and thus was responsible for creating him}}, started to mock Batman's choice of words of explaining this fact, and even dares say "How childish can you get?!" when summing it up.

* Darth Sidious, aka Senator/Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine, in ''[[Star Wars]]''.

 

 

* The vampire subspecies' in Peter Watt's [[Blindsight]] most disturbing personality trait is a complete lack of empathy. Because they needed to [[I'm a Humanitarian|eat fellow humans]] to acquire necessary proteins, they would have never evolved if they felt bad about doing it. Every last one of them is a sociopath. If you're still in one piece around one of them, it's just because you are being more useful this way at the moment.

** Being [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness|hard sci-fi]], Watts ties a variety of their traits to known [[Real Life]] lacks of empathy mentioned below. Arguable [[Unfortunate Implications]] here...

* ''[[Harry Potter]]''

** [[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Characters|Lord Voldemort]].

* [[Discworld]] [[The Fair Folk|Elves]] are explicitly described as lacking empathy. They would break the universe if they thought it would make a pretty noise.

* [[Dark Magical Girl|Alisa]], the [[Villain Protagonist]] of the first part of ''[[Night Watch|Day Watch]]'' not only lacks empathy toward others, but is pretty casual about doing things like causing her mother to miscarry in an attempt to repair her parents' marriage. While the philosophy of Dark Others (celebrating individualism/selfishness) explains some of her behavior, it's also true that Others in general no longer think of themselves as being like [[Muggles]], and so she can't really care about them. What makes her character interesting is despite all of the loathsome things she does, the reader gets the impression that she actually does have normal human feelings, but they are deeply suppressed, not to mention that she is in her [[Teens Are Monsters|late teens]], and her behavior is pretty much what you'd expect when someone immature and with an unhappy home life is given massive amounts of power.

* [[Battle Royale]]-Kazuo Kiriyama. See Anime & Manga example above, as Kazuo's lack of empathy in the original book is pretty much the same as in the manga.

* While several of the characters in ''[[And Then There Were None]]'' fit this to some extent, Anthony Marston is a particularly good example: he's [[The Hedonist]], totally devoted to his own pleasures but unable to consider the wishes of others. Interestingly, the murderer generally kills from "least guilty to most", and while Marston committed a pretty terrible crime (running over and killing two children), he's actually killed first on the logic that he's totally amoral and has no comprehension of right and wrong.

** Drake is an even worse example, being so psychopathic that even Caine is nervous around him.

* Most if not all the antagonists in any [[Dean Koontz]] novel in addition to being complete monsters.

* [[Archnemesis Dad|Richard Lopez]] and [[Dark Action Girl|Blue Eyes]] of ''[[Ship Breaker]]'' have no empathy for anybody. Richard more or less profiles as a [[The Sociopath|sociopath]] while Blue Eyes is an emotionless monster.

* Max Barry's ''Machine Man'' has Dr. Charles Neumann. He has virtually no empathy whatsoever at the start. This goes further as he {{spoiler|starts replacing his body parts with Better Parts}}.

** And of course, one must mention Schillinger and the Aryans.

* Also shown in an episode of ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'', which seemed to express the Scientologist view points of the lead actor.

{{quote| '''Hal:''' ''How do you think that made [a rival cook-off contestant] feel when you sabotaged her recipe?''<br />

'''Reese:''' ''I dunno... fat?'' }}

* [[Dexter]] ''likes'' to think he's one of these, and keeps claiming as much in his narration. His actions, on the other hand, prove otherwise.

* Some of the killers in ''[[Criminal Minds]]'', although a number of episodes have subverted it by having a killer who profiles as psychopathic, yet shows some evidence of caring about at least one other person. They even had one killer who once showed all this signs of fitting this trope, yet actually had a [[Heel Realization]] and tried to make up for what he'd done, which the show points out as being virtually unheard of.

** Wholly contrasted when {{spoiler|Moriarty finally shows up, and jests at Sherlock about their [[Criminal Mind Games|"game"]]:}}

{{quote| '''Sherlock''': People have died.<br />

** And when he can't seem to find him, he {{spoiler|shrugs, gives up, and picks up a chick. He doesn't understand why Dean is upset to return and walk in on Sam having sex instead of looking for or worrying about him.}}

* [[Rich Bitch|C.C. Babcock]] on ''[[The Nanny]]'', as demonstrated by this exchange:

'''C.C.:''' (''almost gleefully'') I'm sure she's mounted on a nice wall in a fine home somewhere. }}

* In the TNT miniseries [[Nuremberg]], the psychiatrist Gustav Gilbert (played by Matt Craven), is tasked with talking with the defendants (including Hermann Goering) to try to figure out how they, seemingly civilized men, could commit the terrible deeds of the Nazi Party. Talking with the prosecutor, Justice Robert Jackson ([[Alec Baldwin]]), he lays it out:

** Evan Coker, the man who murdered a tow truck driver in order to retrieve something from his repossessed car, and also nearly caused Karen Stottlemeyer's death as a result, was shown in the ending while being arrested by the police as chuckling and smiling after Stottlemeyer almost went [[Unstoppable Rage|ballistic]] and beat him down due to the fact that his wife was almost killed by him.

* [[Big Bad|Lionel]], [[Arch Enemy|Lex]], and [[Axe Crazy|Zod]] all demonstrate degrees of this on ''[[Smallville]]'', with [[Alternate Universe|Earth-2]] [[Evil Twin|Lionel and Clark Luthor]] doing them all one better, but the show's crowning example of [[Lack of Empathy]] would have to be [[Robotic Psychopath|Brainiac]]. Totally void of emotions, he manipulates every member of the Season 5 cast without batting an eye, and later attempts to destroy the world in Seasons 7 & 8 out of a more or less intellectual dislike for people. Post-reprogramming he {{spoiler|gains emotions as Brainiac 5 and is quite [[The Atoner|horrified]] at his previous incarnation's actions}}.

* ''[[Dark Oracle]]'': [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Blaze]], [[Manipulative Bastard|Violet]], and [[Axe Crazy|comic!Sage]] all fully subscribe to [[It's All About Me]], and have no empathy for anyone but themselves. [[Smug Snake|Omen]] starts out this way, but gets better. As Cally notes they're all "ink on paper" and as such, have no innate ability to care about others.

 

 

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'''s Ganon.

** Debatable in Wind Waker, where it is hinted that the reason why Ganondorf intended to invade Hyrule was for his race's survival and benefit.

* Organization XIII of [[Kingdom Hearts]]. Perfectly willing to do horrible, horrible things to anyone and everyone (even each other) without so much as a hit of guilt if it means getting their hearts back. As Nobodies, they aren't supposed to be able to feel anything, which explains some of that. Even the most "emotional", Roxas and Axel, had no conception of the desires of one another, as Roxas ran out without thinking a bit of Axel, and Axel has no conception of why Roxas ran out, and just thinks of his own personal benefit from being with Roxas.

** In Roxas's case, it helps that he no longer trusts Axel or considers him a friend after realizing just how much Axel hid from him concerning Xion.

** "I wasn't being ''paid'' to feel."

* ''[[Blaz Blue]] [[All There in the Manual|Setting Material Collection]]'' reveals that the Nox Nyctores weapons remove "unnecessary" emotions from their users in combat to make them more efficient. Yukianesa removes Jin's compassion, which explains a lot.

** And [[Blaz Blue]]'s [[Big Bad]], Hazama/Terumi, is pretty much a living manifestation of this trope. Not only does he [[Faux Affably Evil|gleefully revel in his complete lack empathy]], not only does [[Complete Monster|he get his KICKS out of crossing the]] [[Moral Event Horizon]]; being hated by others NOURISHES him.

* ''[[Street Fighter]]'' - BISON!!!! (flames suddenly spring up from nowhere)

* Johnny Gat of ''[[Saints Row]]'' doesn't just lack empathy, there's a good chance he shot it for looking at him funny. He demonstrates his ruthless nature at {{spoiler|Aisha's funeral, brutally beating Ronin leader Shogo, and burying him alive.}} He seems to become even MORE ruthless after this point. Yeah.

{{quote| '''Victim''': "AAAAAAAARRRGGHH!"<br />

'''Irenicus''' (indifferently): "The pain will only be passing, you should survive the process."<br />

* In ''[[Jade Empire]]'' {{spoiler|Master Li}} is incapable of viewing people as anything but tools.

** Even his own {{spoiler|daughter, Dawn Star}}. When he learns of the connection, he simply doesn't care.

* Sektor from the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series. And no, this isn't a case of [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]] -- he was like this even ''before'' he was turned into a cyborg.

* "[[Digital Devil Saga|Since when did people start expecting]] ''[[Science Marches On|science]]'' [[Mad Scientist|to be]] '''''[[Complete Monster|humane]]'''''?"

** [[God Is Evil|God Almighty]] himself has a [[Oh Crap|severe case]] [[Paranoia Fuel|of this]] in [[Shin Megami Tensei]] games.

* Dimentio, the true [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Super Paper Mario]]''. He clearly sees his boss's feelings for his lost love as a weakness to be exploited, and does the same with Nastasia's feelings for Bleck.

** However, [[Mass Effect 3]] also shows that at least some of the Ardat-Yakshi who accept their forced seclusion can be perfectly moral individuals with strong emotional bonds, with some of them eventually being judged fit to re-enter society, and diary recordings suggest that a lot of them aren't any worse than normal teenagers would be if they were locked up in a monastery. However, it should be noted that the ones in the monastery are denied the addictive deadly sex that increases their power, so it's possible that all Ardat-Yakshi have the potential to become as evil as Morinth if they give in to it. How this differs from any normal person's capability to morally degenerate due to an addiction is never explained, and after the monastery mission it seems likely that Ardat-Yakshi in general are the victims of propaganda that is strengthened by the crimes of those who do become [[Serial Killer|Serial Killers]].

* Among the many murderers in the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series, {{spoiler|Matt Engarde, Dahlia Hawthorne, and Quercus Alba}} probably demonstrate this trope the best. [[It's All About Me|They all care for no one but themselves]], and anyone else is just a tool to accomplish their goals.

 

== Web Original ==

 

 

*** Well, Dan Phantom ''is'' the result of [[Fusion Dance|Danny and Vlad's ghost halves merging together]].

* ''[[Family Guy]]'': Stewie and Peter Griffin. Lois may fall under this trope in the later seasons. Quagmire is sometimes accused of this, but outside of [[The Hedonist]] sleazebag situations, actually seems a lot more considerate even than Brian in later seasons, just less of a hypocrite about his bad side.

** Her [[Abusive Parents|abusive father]] [[Complete Monster|Ozai]] even more.

* Eric Cartman from ''[[South Park]]''.

* Shows up in, of all places, ''[[The Land Before Time]]''! ''Sierra from LBT VII: The Stone of Cold Fire'' shows some traits of this.

** Not entirely - in one episode, when he thinks he's hurt [[Robot Buddy|GIR's]] feelings, he grudgingly apologizes. So, it's more like he has ''some'' empathy, he just doesn't show it most of the time.

** [[Creepy Child|Gaz]] is a much better example. She just doesn't give a damn about anyone but herself.

** Vilgax was originally this in Ben Ten, then he became a sort of ''[[Noble Demon]]'' in Ben Ten: Alien Force, which was quickly revealed to be an act.

* Van Kleiss from ''[[Generator Rex]]''. Is willing to kill EVO henchmen who displease him without a second thought, kidnap a little girl so he could force her EVO father to go on a rampage, and messes with Rex's emotions simply because he can.

* Eustace from ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]''. Throughout the series the only moment he ever showed true empathy was when he hallucinated Courage as a version of his younger self, and gave him his hat out of pity. It makes the audience wonder what worth his kind wife Muriel sees in him.

** He ''did'' have one other instance of empathy though, when Muriel was [[It Makes Sense in Context|possessed by a haunted mattress]]. He excused it as wanting her to cook him dinner, but [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other|would he have dressed up in a witchdoctor outfit and done a stupid cheer]] if he didn't really care?

* [[Moral Orel]] has both {{spoiler|[[Abusive Parents|Clay and Bloberta]], Clay who accidentally shot his son and not only refuse to take responsibility for it, he ''mocks'' Orel for crying in pain. Bloberta herself is just as bad, if not worse, as she had shown no concern for her son's well-being.}}

** {{spoiler|Clay is pretty much a psychopath/sociopath - or maybe a narcissist. Bloberta, on the other hand, proves to have some capacity for empathy. In the last episode, when Clay says that the family is going to sing Christmas carols, Bloberta says that Orel should be involved in it too. Some might ask when she started caring about Orel. There was an episode that went into her childhood. Her mother would not let her sing with the rest of the family because they already had a soprano and they did not need another one. [[Fridge Brilliance]] sets in when you realize that Bloberta remembers the humiliation she suffered when it came to families singing songs and does not want to put Orel through that.}}

* Lucius on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''. Heloise on a lesser level, but at least she cares about [[Morality Pet|Jimmy]].

** He's not even ''capable'' of empathy: He's the embodiment of [[Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad|Disharmony]], and one of the [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|Elements of Harmony]] is Kindness; therefore, Discord is quite literally the ''embodiment of cruelty'', the opposite of Kindness.

 

{{reflist}}