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The Sociopath: Difference between revisions

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* Doug Rosenberg from ''[[El Cazador de la Bruja]]''. A [[The Chessmaster|chessmaster]] obsessed with creating a powerful "witch" under his personal control, he manipulates and even kills people without a care or qualm in order to guarantee that he gets the results that he desires. He's married, but he seems to treat his wife Melissa more like a pet than a loved one, and is manipulating and using her as much as anyone else in his life.
* Oh boy, does ''[[One Piece]]'' have a ton of these. From major [[Arc Villain|Arc Villains]] like Captain Kuro and Donquixote Doflamingo to minor threats like Saint Charlos and Jack the Drought, it's natural that a long-running series jam-packed full of characters would have plenty of sociopaths to spare.
** [[An Axe to Grind|Axe-Hand Morgan's]] the first one Luffy runs into, and a fairly textbook example of a low-functioning sociopath. A [[Dirty Cop|corrupt Marine captain]], Morgan's a tyrant who rules the town he's stationed in with an iron fist and responds to just about any slight with murderous fury no matter if you're a disobedient soldier or naive little girl. He's got an ego the size of a [[Sea Monster|Sea King]], views everyone around him as pond scum, and is willing to use his own son as a hostage in order to escape punishment for his crimes.
** [[Four Eyes, Zero Soul|Captain Kuro]], on the other hand, is the series' first ''high'' functioning sociopath. Posing as the kind-hearted butler serving a girl named Kaya, Kuro's a cold-blooded pirate who wants to kill Kaya, who he secretly hates, so he can get her fortune and retire in peace. When she confronts him once he drops the facade, [[Manipulative Bastard|he manipulates her into letting her guard down by acting as kind and fatherly as ever]], only to reveal how much he hates her with pure ''venom'' in his tone for the satisfaction of emotionally breaking her before going in for the kill. He's just as callous towards his men, [[Bad Boss|who he treats like disposable pawns that he's willing to sacrifice the second it suits his needs.]]
** [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Don Krieg]] ticks off just about every criteria (except emotional coldness: he's ''very'' much a hot-bloodedheaded [[Jerkass]]). While far from the most evil opponent the Straw Hats have faced, heHe's a black-hearted manthug who immediately stabs the chefs that saved him from starvation in the back and tries to gas his right hand man to death for ''daring'' to want to spare them for their kindness. And the reason ''why'' he had to be saved in the first place was because [[Stupid Evil|he stupidly picked a fight with a Warlord of the Sea and ''still'' wants to get payback on him despite the massive power gap between them]]. He's also a big fan of relyingusing dirty tricks to win fights, and is a ridiculously egocentricegotistical bully in general.
** [[Shark Man|Arlong]] is at the very least a borderline example. He does love his crew, but other than that? He's a sadistic, remorseless scumbag who terrorizes human villages that he extorts money from on threat of death, [[Manipulative Bastard|and forces a little girl to risk her life drawing up maps and stealing treasure for him under the pretense of setting her village free while never intending to uphold his end of the bargain]]. Even his love for his fellow fishmen, unbecoming of a true sociopath, is steeped in racial supremacy since he values them for ''what'' they are, rather than who. And even then, he sure as hell isn't fighting to free fishmen from oppression: he's a [[Dirty Coward]] who'd rather squat in a part of the ocean where no one can pose a threat to him rather than get stronger to fight the good fight on the Grand Line and honor the memory of his deceased freedom fighter captain.
** [[Fat Bastard|Wapol]] was this during the Drum Island Arc, where he ruled the titular island with an iron fist and took disgusting amounts of joy out of being a selfish [[Jerkass]]. [[Evil is Petty|He refused to let his subjects receive proper medical care unless they groveled before him]], and had one of his doctors murdered for trying to do the right thing and treat them. His lack of political acumen led to him almost provoking an international incident by slapping the ''6 year old'' princess of a foreign kingdom out of spite for her father scolding him, and briefly abandoned his kingdom when the Blackbeard Pirates attacked in order to save his own skin. An ass-kicking from Luffy did lead to him mellowing out... ''slightly''. At the very least [[Pet the Dog|he genuinely likes making toys for children and has a cute dog he cares for]], but he's still a greedy manchild at the end of the day.
** [[A God Am I|Enel]]/[[Spell My Name With An "S"|Eneru]] is [[Faux Affably Evil]] to a fault, appearing cool-headed and friendly while truly being emotionally detached from just about everything. People barely register as people to him, with him viewing them as harmless little ants at best and irritating pests at worst, and his reason for destroying his home island and desire to destroy Skypeia is rooted in utter ''insanity'' [[Insane Troll Logic|(he believes flying islands are unnatural and must be destroyed)]]. His god complex and arrogance ultimately lead to his downfall, because he's just ''that'' convinced that nothing can truly hurt him.
** [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|Sir Crocodile's]] charisma, manipulative tendencies, [[Lack of Empathy]], sadistic love of tormenting and dominating his opponents, and non-existent moral compass made him a textbook example of a sociopath during the Alabasta Arc. He's especially fond of crushing the dreams of idealistic people, and was spiteful enough to constantly batter the town of Yuba with sandstorms due to the mayor's refusal to stop believing that the town's water supply could be brought back after a drought. He's long since developed the ''beginnings'' of a conscience and is genuinely fond of Daz Bones/Mr. 1, but his sociopathic traits are still on full display even after helping Luffy out during the Marineford Arc.
** [[Agent Peacock|Donquixote Doflamingo]] checks off a disturbing amount of the criteria. He can [[People Puppets|literally]] and [[Manipulative Bastard|figuratively]] manipulate people like puppets on a string in order to get what he wants, views his closest friends as easily replaceable tools, has absolutely no empathy towards others, and revels in horrific, sadistic cruelty. Another sociopathic trait of his is that he had a [[Dark and Troubled Past|traumatic childhood]] {{spoiler|due to him and his family often being hunted down by angry mobs of people who wanted to kill them because of their ties to the corrupt Celestial Dragons}}. He also dips into [[Psychopathic Manchild]] territory as well, with the atrocities he commits ultimately being a glorified thirty year-long tantrum over {{spoiler|being denied his birthright as a Celestial Dragon}}.
** [[The Neidermeyer|Spandam]], {{spoiler|former}} leader of [[Secret Police|Cipher Pol]] is cruel and selfish to ridiculous extremes, and loves nothing more than lording his authority over others and crushing them under his heel. Being a [[Dirty Coward|cowardly wimp]] doesn't stop him from having an [[It's All About Me|overinflated ego]], nor does it stop him from [[Never My Fault|trying to make his stronger subordinates take the fall for his own screw-ups]]. And while he can be cunning when he wants to be, he practically wrote the ''book'' on [[Stupid Evil]] and is a frequent victim of his overly awful and poorly thought-out actions coming back to haunt him. It says a lot that his only positive relationship is with his sword, an ''object'' [[Cool Sword|(albeit one that can turn into an elephant).]]
** [[CorruptAristocrats BureaucratAre Evil|The Celestial Dragons]] are a ''collective'' of sociopathic noblemen and womennobles. [[A God Am I|Due to the belief that they're gods in human form]], they have full legal immunity and abuse their absoluteunchallenged authority with glee. Empathy towards others is so alien of a concept to them that they wear special breathing apparatuses so they don't have to ''breathe the same air'' as commoners, and they'll gladly take whoever they want as a slave that they can torture, rape, and otherwise abuse to their heart's content, [[Would Hurt A Child|children included.]] They're so spoiled and stupid that they're completely oblivious to how much people hate them, and are caught off guard anytime someone takes the ultimate risk by attacking one. There ''are'' several examples of non-sociopathic Celestial Dragons such as {{spoiler|Donquixote Homing and post-character development Mjosgard}}, but they're as rare as it gets.
*** Even by their completely low standards, Saint Charlos is a standout among them. Along with the cruelty and non-existent empathy mentioned above, he also shows off a clear need for constant stimulation (shown by him forcing a woman on the street to marry him since his current wives are "boring") as well as a tendency to make poor financial decisions (wasted a ton of money on a mermaid slave so he could feed her to his piranhas for fun).
** Blackbeard, Luffy's [[Evil Counterpart]] definitely seems to fit the bill. While he's [[Faux Affably Evil|ridiculously charismatic and ''seemingly'' friendly]], it's all meant to make you drop your guard before he stabs you in the back the second the opportunity presents itself. [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|He's betrayed everyone he's been a subordinate to]], and wreaks havoc across the sea without caring about who he hurts or what he destroys. And while he seems to care for his [[True Companions|"Ten Titanic Captains"]], {{spoiler|their fight with Boa Hancock shows that he's at least willing to consider leaving them to die if it means he can survive.}} Funnily enough, it's these traits combined with his appearance that make him the most stereotypical example of a pirate in the series.
*** Blackbeard's [[The Alcatraz|Impel Down]] recruits all show psychopathic tendencies, but former head jailer [[Ax Crazy|Shiryu]] embodies this trope in full. He abused the privileges of his position so he could butcher the inmates for fun [[Laser-Guided Karma|(which is what got him arrested in the first place)]], [[Manipulative Bastard|and tricked the current warden Magellan into freeing him so he could help stop a prison riot]] only to start killing his former subordinates before joining Blackbeard. Sadistic, treacherous, and completely devoid of empathy, he's even considered betraying Blackbeard if his plans start going south.
** [[A Nazi By Any Other Name|Hody Jones]] is what happens if you take Arlong's sociopathic tendencies and [[Up to Eleven|ramp them up to eleven.]] He's even more cruel and racist than he ever was, and doesn't even care about his fellow fishmen - he assassinated the queen of Fishman Island so he could make race relations between humans and fishmen even worse than they already were, and happily kills many members of his own race without a second thought. His reckless abuse of steroids and poorly-thought out schemes also show that he's [[Didn't Think This Through|prone to making impulsive decisions.]]
** [[Mad Scientist|Caesar Clown]] has got nothing resembling moral standards or decency, and has dedicated his life to performing sick, twisted experiments on people purely to spite his scientific rival Dr. Vegapunk. Whether they're innocent children or his own men, he suckers people into letting him perform secretly fatal experiments on them without any remorse, and is surprisingly good at pitting his men against each other once they start to realize what a scumbag he is. He's also as impulsive and hedonistic as he is depraved, and puts himself in mortal danger by {{spoiler|trying to swindle the obscenely powerful and vindictive ''Big Mom'' out of her money and immediately blowing it all on hookers and booze}}.
 
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