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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"I see no difference between things and people."''
|'''Seishiro Sakurazuka'''|''[[Tokyo Babylon]]''}}
The [[Trope Namer]] is an old edition of the [[wikipedia:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders|DSM]] which used the term to refer to a personality disorder now known as [[Hollywood Personality Disorders|Anti-Social Personality disorder]]. Though the terms sociopathy and psychopathy are still recognized in some circles, they have no official standing. See [[The Sociopath/Analysis|Analysis]] and [[
Compare [[Sociopathic Hero]] and [[Comedic Sociopathy]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Seishirou Sakurazuka {{spoiler|mori}} from [[Tokyo Babylon]]. Although he may or may not have managed to fall in love with Subaru.
* Johan Liebert, [[Monster (manga)|the eponymous Monster]]. [[Complete Monster|The title suits him.]]
* Michio Yuki from ''[[MW]]'', who was the prototype for Johan.
* Yami Bakura and Yami Marik from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''.
* ''[[Darker
* [[Akagi]] has some sociopathic qualities. He has no regard for his own life, can't be threatened, doesn't care about rules, will cheat if he can and generally doesn't really care about other human beings. He isn't really malevolent, however, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4yvpoh78_M#t=3m15s unless you manage to piss him off.]
* Dilandau Albatou from ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'', although he was more psychotic than sociopathic. {{spoiler|Also, remember that he was originally a she. ...And that's the nicest thing about what was done to him/her by the [[Big Bad]] of the series}}.
* Light Yagami, the [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[Death Note]]'', becomes one as the series progresses and his ego expands. By the time {{spoiler|his father dies, Light is more upset that his father failed to do what Light wanted of him than the fact that he's dead!}}
** Mello's also a strong candidate, given his aggression, tendency to put himself and others in danger, and superficial charm. On the other hand, the author has pointed out that he doesn't think Mello was an inherently bad person, because he shows genuine empathy for his accomplice Matt. While he has strong aggressive personality disorders, he probably isn't a full sociopath.
** Light was probably a successful psychopath all along, the kind who make up a large percentage of world leadership rather than the kind that make up a large percentage of the prison population; he degraded into the more antisocial kind with the possession of the [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|nasty book of death]]. He never shows any actual empathy for anyone, even in his relatively nice and highly-socialized period where he'd lost his memories.
*** Misa Amane, too. The histrionic kind. In one of her earliest appearances she's quite calmly contemplating how to kill Rem just because it would probably be more convenient. The fact that she fiercely and insanely pair-bonds to Light doesn't actually make her less of a psychopath, it just makes her one with poor self-esteem.
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* Azusa from ''[[Hot Gimmick]]''. Some have said that Ryoki qualifies as one, but he seems to be more of a Borderline, or perhaps Narcissistic Personality. Hatsumi, meanwhile, seems to have some traits of Dependent Personality Disorder. Actually, most of the characters are probably diagnosable with some sort of mental illness or personality disorder.
* Due to brain damage suffered in infancy, Kazuo Kiriyama of ''[[Battle Royale]]'' cannot form meaningful connections to ''anything'' (a condition known as pseudopsychopathy in real life). The manga shows him mastering painting and the violin... and immediately throwing out both his artwork and his instrument when he's finished with them. He only associates with his "friends" because they won a coin toss; when they lose a second coin toss on the island, he slaughters them.
** Interestingly, he is VERY self-aware that he is a sociopath. One of his lines, is that he sometimes gets 'confused' on right and wrong. When he slaughters his friends, he takes no pleasure in it. It is just something he has to do. Afterwards, however, he becomes a [[Determinator]], dedicated to winning, with few lines.
* ''[[Let Dai]]'': Dai doesn't understand empathy or why Jaehee cares about anyone other than Dai and himself.
* [[Green-Eyed Monster|Envy]], [[Misanthrope Supreme|Zolf J. Kimbley]], [[Creepy Child|Wrath]], [[Smug Snake|Frank Archer]], and [[It's All About Me|Dante]] from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' are all examples of this. Envy, Kimbley, and Wrath are excellent examples of low-functioning sociopathy, while Archer and [[The Chessmaster|Dante]] lean towards the high-functioning end of things.
** In the manga, Shou Tucker and Kimbley are both clear-cut examples, with this Kimbley being an extremely intelligent, extremely self-aware psychopath in the vein of Hannibal Lecter, masking his lunacy beneath a [[Faux Affably Evil]] facade and a [[Even Evil Has Standards|bizarre code of honor]].
* [[Psycho for Hire]] Ali al-Saachez, and siblings Michael and Nena Trinity of ''Gundam00''.
** The same goes for Yazan Gable of ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'', whom Ali is arguably an [[Expy]] of.
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* [[Jerk Jock|Agon Kongo]] of ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' is this, along with having ''every single'' trait that characterizes antisocial personality disorder. Fortunately, with the series' scope being limited to high school football and a shonen jump title, most of his truly horrendous acts are stopped before they could follow through.
* [[Big Bad|Grings]] [[Complete Monster|Kodai]] from ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions]]''. He fits all of the above criteria plus is one of the most sadistic monsters in [[Pokémon]] history.
** [[Psycho for Hire|Pokémon Hunter J]] also qualifies. A heartless poacher of Pokémon, J will commit just about any atrocity in the book if it means she gets a solid paycheck out of it. Murder? Torture? Kidnapping? Nothing's off limits, not even the murder of children as shown by her sending her dangerous Salamence after [[Kid Hero|Ash]].
** Minor villains Damian and Shamus are cut from the same sociopathic cloth. They aren't supervillains trying to seize power or poachers who kill for fun and profit, they're simply abusive Pokémon trainers with no functioning moral compass. They both abandon a poorly-trained Pokémon to die while tricking them into thinking that they love them and will come back for them, and when they realize that they're missing out on a powerful battler, they try to win them back over with honeyed words and fake remorse. Shamus is probably the worse of the two, because he takes genuine ''sadistic glee'' out of emotionally abusing the Tepig he ditched, and doesn't hesitate to have his Pokémon attack each other in order to get an edge in battle.
* Lloyd from ''[[Code Geass]]'' cheerfully refers to himself as a sociopath. An odd version in that he's not really a villainous character; he's very indifferent to all the fighting, manipulating, and killing that goes on around him, but really all he wants to do is fiddle around with the latest high-tech gizmos [[For Science!]].
** Of course, this is a case of [[You Keep Using That Word]], as many have pointed out, he fits the bill for Asperger's Syndrome much better than outright sociopathy. It's even implied that his indifference is just a coping mechanism, and he buries himself in his work to avoid sinking into depression (both from the millions of people who died at the hands of weapons he designed, and from him ''knowing'' that people think he's crazy). So presenting himself as a sociopath is more of a cover than anything.
** A ''true'' sociopathic character from the same anime is Brittanian knight [[Psycho for Hire|Lucciano Bradley.]]
* Muruta Azrael of ''[[Gundam Seed]]''. He's smug, arrogant, condescending, [[He-Man Woman Hater|misognynistic]], [[Hair-Trigger Temper|loses his temper at the drop of a hat]], finds the very idea that he could lose to be inconcievable, and views his subordinates as [[We Have Reserves|expendable pawns]] in his [[Fantastic Racism|personal vendetta]] against the [[Designer Babies|Coordinators]]. His [[Faux Affably Evil|superficial charm]] cannot cover his [[Complete Monster|inner monstrousness]] for long, with continued exposure to him alienating even his staunchest supporters, and while he's bright, he has a definite inability to learn from experience. Even his
** In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', Azrael's successor, Lord Djibril, is a classic example of a low-functioning sociopath. He's short-sighted, has an [[Hair-Trigger Temper|explosive temper]] and [[No Indoor Voice]], and his first reaction to any sort of rebellion or insubordination is to deploy [[Weapons of Mass Destruction]] against the target. He's also a [[General Failure]] and [[Dirty Coward]] who leaves his subordinates to clean up his messes, and generally has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
* ''[[Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest]]'' features quite a few examples, such as Yandere [[Nightmare Fetishist]] Ryuuko Kounuma, the [[Knife Nut]] Kuroda brothers, and ''[[Complete Monster|especially]]'' Haguro Dou.
* From ''[[Naruto]]'' we have [[Psycho for Hire|Hidan]], who unlike most characters in the series literally has no positive traits and ''never did''. He slaughtered his village simply because he was disgusted with their pacifistic way of life, and performed gruesome rituals to attain immortality for himself. He's also [[Axe Crazy]] and cruel [[For the Evulz|for its own sake]]. On top of that, even the series itself seems to posit him as the most unsympathetic major villain, as he's exempt from the [[Cycle of Revenge]] [[Aesop]] pervading the storyline with his [[Fate Worse Than Death]] (though it helps Shikamaru's case that Hidan has nobody who would care about his cruel fate barring potential allies).
* Frieza from ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' fits most of this to a T.
** Cell is every bit as cunning, arrogant, and cruel as Frieza. Makes sense, given that Frieza's cells are a part of his genetic makeup!
** Super Buu and Kid Buu, Majin Buu's most evil forms. Kid Buu is a feral berserker incapable of displaying any emotion beyond the urge to kill everything in sight, and doesn't seem to be able to understand the difference between right and wrong. Super Buu ''does'' have an understanding of morality, however. Too bad he just doesn't care, and would much rather murder and manipulate people purely for the fun of it.
* [[Big Bad]] Naraku from ''[[Inuyasha]]''.
** Note that as a conglomerate consciousness nothing about Naraku's psychology is normal. Also that many characters act like sociopaths when introduced and then receive [[Character Development]]. Including people like ''Kouga'', although arguably he never actually shakes the title.
* An aversion to the normal presentation of
* ''[[Medaka Box]]'': A lot of the characters are sociopaths to some degree (the title character narrowly escaped becoming one herself), but {{spoiler|Ajimu}} takes the cake: not only does {{spoiler|she}} regard people as things {{spoiler|she}}'s basically a ''[[Physical God]]''. There's also Shiranui, who pitted her friends against an Irish wolfhound (a giant dog that [[Captain Obvious|was used to hunt wolves in Ireland]]) [[For the Evulz|because it was funny]].
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'': Gauron is a [[Combat Sadomasochist]] and [[Death Seeker]] with a [[Hair-Trigger Temper]], [[No Sense of Personal Space]], [[No Social Skills]], an utter [[Lack of Empathy]], and [[Stalker with a Crush|an obsession]] with [[Foe Yay|the hero]] that borders on the ephebophiliac. His successor as [[Big Bad]], Mr. Gates, is worse, being an example of psychopathy at its purest. Like Gauron he's a [[Bad Boss]] with a ridiculously exagerated [[Hair-Trigger Temper]], and a total [[Lack of Empathy]]. He's also a [[Large Ham]] and a sexual predator who is implied to have slept with two teenage girls, jacks off to images of squirrels and kittens, talks about the many, many uses for [[I Love the Dead|a dead body]], and takes a completely [[Axe Crazy|insane]] delight in causing as much damage as humanly possible; he's also oddly unconcerned about his own death in the TSR finale. Averted by his replacement, [[Smug Snake|Leonard Tesstarossa]] who's more of a [[Narcissist]] than this.
* In the first couple of episodes of ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'' many of Train's assigned targets seem to posses sociopathic traits.
** [[Big Bad]] Creed Diskenth has many of the characteristics of Antisocial Personality Disorder; it hurts him rather than helping him as he is totally oblivious to his underlings' opinions of him.
* Arguably, [[Troll|Izaya]] [[Jerkass|Orihara]] of ''[[Durarara!!]]'', who has absolutely no [[Freudian Excuse]] for the crap he pulls. Upon first introduction in the novels, he organizes a fake suicide group and talks to two suicidal girls about why they want to kill themselves with a big ol' smile on his face, mocks them for wanting to end their lives, and he's even taken aback when one of them tells him that he's wrong. He then ''drugs them, stuffs them into suitcases'' and asks his courier to "plop them on a park bench somewhere". It's outright stated that this is nowhere near an isolated incident and implied that he's even sold his past victims to loan companies. This scene isn't much better in the anime, where he orchestrates a girl's kidnap and rescue, mocks her thoroughly, holds her over the edge of a building, then watches from the sidelines with a gleeful smirk when she decides to jump (thankfully, someone cared about her safety a little more). It's also likely that he's the one who sent her photos of her father with another woman, which caused the start of her angst in the first place. Throughout the course of the series, he [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulates humans and supernatural beings]] [[For the Evulz]], [[Break the Cutie|breaks many a cutie]], orders hits on his [[Foe Yay|enemy]], manipulates a ''ten year old [[Yakuza]] [[Mafia Princess|princess]] into {{spoiler|attempting to kill said enemy}}'', [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|stomps on a girl's cellphone while laughing like a maniac]] and generally [[Evil Gloating|hurting]] [[Big Brother Bully|and]] [[A God Am I|using]] [[Poisonous Friend|anyone]] [[The Chessmaster|and]] [[Disproportionate Retribution|every]][[Batman Gambit|one]] [[Diabolical Mastermind|who]] [[Green-Eyed Monster|comes]] [[Kick the Dog|in]] [[Guinea Pig Family|contact]] [[Psychopathic Manchild|with]] [[Poisonous Friend|him]] [[Lack of Empathy|and not even giving a shit about who gets hurt]] [[It Amused Me|and sadistically enjoys every minute of it]].
** However, it becomes {{spoiler|[[Subverted]] when we learn about his past and realize that there is at least [[Morality Pet|one person]] he cares for - Shinra. It's so extreme that he's more or less [[Yandere]] for him (though not in the romantic sense) to the point that he's basically stalking the man who hurt Shinra and setting him up for two huge crimes even though he realizes that he could get into trouble too. He even gets close to breaking down at the thought that he might have to betray his only friend to advance in his own goal}}.
** It's also worth noting that Izaya's never said that he is {{spoiler|''unable'' to love}}, just that he {{spoiler|[[Love Is a Weakness|simply has no ''desire'' to]]}}.
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** Nnoitra Jiruga and Kenpachi Zaraki also count.
** And now it looks like Aizen has a contender in the equally [[Affably Evil]] and manipulative {{spoiler|Shukuro Tsukishima.}}
** Incredibly, another contender has come along, with none of the [[Affably Evil]] of either, yet the [[A God Am I]] mentality of Aizen: {{spoiler|Giriko Kutsuzawa. He kills his wife to '''test his ability'''.}}
* [[The Caligula]] Delphine Eraclea from ''[[Last Exile]]'' is a [[The Hedonist|decadent aristocrat]] with [[Lack of Empathy|zero empathy]] and manipulates everyone around her for her own amusement.
* [[Mad Scientist]] Akihiro Kurata from ''[[Digimon Savers]]''.
* The [[Unreliable Narrator]] and [[Villain Protagonist]] Itsuki (Boku) Kamiyama from ''[[Goth (manga)|Goth]]''.
* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|Gihren]] [[Social Darwinist|Zabi]], ''de facto'' [[Big Bad]] of the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' is an [[Evil Prince]] with a [[Lack of Empathy]] so severe it's almost awe-inspiring. [[It's All About Me|Caring nothing for others]], Gihren turns his brother's funeral into a political rally, condescends to his other siblings, isolates his father while plotting to [[Patricide|steal his position]], and uses [[Weapons of Mass Destruction]] to lethal effect. [[Ambition Is Evil|Ambitious]], [[Smug Snake|overconfident]], [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative]], and a [[Rousing Speech|brilliant orator]] Gihren lacks the sadism and [[For the Evulz]] motivation of many psychopaths and sociopaths, but nevertheless profiles as a charismatic, Machiavellian personality taken to such an extreme that there really is no other word for it. He also has the shallow affect, limited emotional range, shamelessness and total fearlessness associated with the most extreme
* Knives, [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Trigun]]'' seems to have developed this as part of his [[Face Heel Turn]] when he [[Go Mad
** As well as completely disregarding human feelings, which doesn't really count since he [[Kill All Humans|hates them]], he mindslaves his psychic 'sisters' into a giant [[One-Winged Angel|million winged angel]] without really noticing they didn't want to, and torments the ever-living hell out of his twin brother.
* Huckebein from ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force
* Shogo Makishima from ''[[Psycho-Pass]]'' is superficially charming, manipulative, and kills as easily as he breathes. He slits a frightened woman's throat while she begs and cries for mercy, murders people who put their trust him, and even {{spoiler|tries to kickstart a nationwide famine}}, all while maintaining an eerily detached sense of serenity. He's so detached from normal human emotions, in fact, that he doesn't even trigger the Orwellian Sybil System's criminal-detecting algorithm.
* 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-headed [[Jerkass]]). He's a black-hearted thug 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 using dirty tricks to win fights, and is a ridiculously egotistical 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|CP9]] 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).]]
** [[Aristocrats Are Evil|The Celestial Dragons]] are a ''collective'' of sociopathic nobles. [[A God Am I|Due to the belief that they're gods in human form]], they have full legal immunity and abuse their unchallenged 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 Arlong 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. He doesn't even ''have'' a reason to hate humans, unlike many other villainous Fishmen. His hatred doesn't come from a place of pain or tragedy, he's just a racist on a power trip. His reckless abuse of steroids and overly destructive plans also show a nonexistent sense of impulse control and strategic planning.
** [[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}}.
** While not an example himself, Kaido of the Four Pirate Emperors has a knack for hiring them. Not only are Caesar Clown and Doflamingo associates of his, but he also has a pair of these among his [[Co-Dragons|Lead Performers.]]
*** [[The Brute|Jack "The Drought"]] is ''ridiculously'' low functioning to the point that he's defined by his [[Too Dumb To Live|suicidal recklessness]]. [[Ax Crazy|Sadistic, irrational, and unhinged to the extreme]], Jack's got a lust for violence that can't be satisfied outside of horribly killing and torturing anyone that isn't under Kaido's protection. He's so psychotic that he's willing to pick fights he can't possibly win, which has led to a humiliating defeat for him on more than one occasion. Interestingly, the Wano Arc ''does'' portray him as a semi-[[Voice of Reason]] among Kaido's men, showing a rare ability among sociopaths to learn from his mistakes.
*** [[Evil Genius|Queen "The Plague"]] comes off as [[Camp|silly, hammy, and just plain fun to be around]]. But make no mistake: [[Beware the Silly Ones|under his flamboyant exterior is a heart that's ice-cold]]. A depraved [[Mad Scientist]] who'd put Caesar Clown to shame, Queen views most of his men as expendable cannon fodder and turns them into a pack of rabid Ice Onis with a deadly bioweapon to get an edge in battle. His [[Lack of Empathy]] naturally goes far beyond them, since he gladly forces the Beast Pirates' prisoners to slave away and die for his amusement, and flies into a murderous rage when a geisha he hits on turns him down. While generally better at thinking things through than Jack, he shows that for all his smarts, he's willing to engage in [[Stupid Evil]] acts of his own by trying to kill Big Mom, one of Kaido's fellow Emperors, because she wanted to eat his favorite food.
** Speaking of [[Psychopathic Womanchild|Big Mom]], she's probably the biggest example of this trope in the series. While she isn't emotionally cold, [[Ax Crazy|she's terrifying mercurial]] and will [[Mood Swinger|flip from one emotional extreme to the next at the drop of a hat]]. [[It's All About Me|She has an ego as bloated]] as her [[Fat Bastard|body]], and any slight towards it will be met with murderous fury [[Abusive Parents|that her own children are in no way, shape, or form safe from.]] And despite having the emotional control of a toddler, she can be [[Consummate Liar|cunning]] and [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative]] when she wants to be, as shown by the effort she puts into keeping pirates indebted to her under her thumb, or the way she tries to orchestrate {{spoiler|the deaths of the entire Vinsmoke family under the guise of a friendly wedding}}. Aside from her maternal figure Mother Carmel, [[Lack of Empathy|she doesn't care about anything or anyone other than herself]], and uses her children as tools and bargaining chips in her pursuit of power and sweets. Even her goal, a seemingly noble desire to establish a world where all the races can live in harmony, comes less from a genuine appreciation of diversity and more from a willingness to keep a collection of interesting creatures under her care.
*** Interestingly, [[Freudian Excuse|Big Mom's backstory shows that she was groomed into being a sociopath by malevolent caretakers during her childhood]]. {{spoiler|Mother Carmel was not, in fact, a kindly old nun, but a ruthless child trafficker who sold kids that she'd take in to slavery without feeling any shame or remorse. Her lies about wanting to create a world where people can see eye-to-eye no matter their differences is what motivates Big Mom's villainy to this day.}} Streusen, on the other hand, saw her as his meal ticket and exploited her powers to help him terrorize the seas and establish a base of power in the New World while actively nurturing her worst impulses. Had it not been for them, Big Mom would have likely grown out of her [[Creepy Child]] phase since she was ultimately a naive and well-meaning little girl whose innocence [[Obliviously Evil|made her oblivious to way her ridiculous strength would hurt others.]]
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[The Joker]], [[Arch Enemy]] of [[Batman]]. He's committed just about every crime in the book whether it be robbery, murder, torture, domestic violence, or [[Ambiguous Situation|(possibly)]] rape, all while laughing his ass off and treating his atrocities like a big joke. He can be charming when he wants, as shown by the way he corrupted Harleen Quinzel into becoming the murderous Harley Quinn by taking advantage of her romantic feelings for him. But the Joker can't be assed to truly care about anyone but himself, and the only real emotions he consistently shows are childish glee as he murders and tortures, or seething anger towards those that get the better of him.
** Probably the most surprising example of a sociopath among Batman's many enemies would be none other than the son of Commissioner Gordon himself! James Jr. is completely detached from human emotion. Sure, he can fake it when he wants to, but it's exactly that: fake. Despite being as sadistic as the Joker, he barely musters up ''any'' sort of emotion when he tortures and kills people aside from a smug little smirk. Empathy is a weakness in his eyes, and he's willing to go out of his way to manipulate people into bullying him so he can have an excuse to horribly butcher them later.
*** Even when his New 52 incarnation was hit with some [[Adaptational Heroism]], he's still a sociopath. He's just a sociopath who's aware of the monster he is and has the good conscience to kill himself before he potentially kills anyone in his family, since he doesn't trust himself to spare them from his sadistic urges.
** Basil Karlo, the very first Clayface, started his villainous career by going on a serial killing spree [[Evil is Petty|when a movie he starred in was remade without him, even though he was invited onto the set to consult the cast and crew!]] He'd only get worse from there, usually killing people in brutal ways for the sake of looking scarier to the masses, or getting revenge on people for making fun of his movies. With an ego bigger than the sun and a hatred for sharing the spotlight with anyone else, he played along with an heir to the Clayface moniker and formed a gang of their fellow Clayfaces to take on Batman... only to forcibly assimilate them into his being and boost his strength by stealing their own. While most Clayfaces are among the most sympathetic and tragic villains in the Caped Crusader's rogues' gallery, this does ''not'' apply to the cruel, entitled egomaniac that is Basil.
** The very first Black Mask, Roman Sionis, tends to swing between two extremes: sometimes he's a manipulative chessmaster who strings allies along, plays people like they're pawns on a chessboard, and can keep himself calm and collected enough to work towards a big payday. Other times he's a brutal, hot-tempered maniac with non-existent impulse control. But no matter who's writing him, the uniting thread is that he's a hedonistic, sadistic creep who loves to torture people in the most disgusting and nightmarish ways possible. [[He-Man Woman Hater|Especially women.]]
** Victor Zsasz is as sociopathic as they come, being an unhinged sadist who sees no value in his fellow man aside from being glorified cattle he can slaughter at his leisure. Being a hardcore nihilist, he views himself as a savior who rescues people from the pointless existence that is life... though his killing's also tempered by a genuine sense of bloodlust and an obsessive need to carve tallies onto his skin with every kill. And he's got so many tallies that he has genuine concerns over ''running out of space to carve them on''.
** For a more obscure rogue, there's Flamingo. There's only two things he cares about: mutilating and killing people for the mob, and mutilating and killing people for funsies. He's also a cannibal who literally eats people's faces, as well as a shallow showboater with a flair for dramatic poses and flashy, tacky gear. He isn't a natural-born sociopath though: in the past he was a heroic crusader who ''fought'' the mob. But that changed when he was kidnapped and lobotomized, which forcibly molded him into the psycho he is today.
** Warren White, aka the Great White Shark is another obscure baddie who manages to stand out as a different type of sociopath. Instead of being a mass-murdering lunatic, he’s a Bernie Madoff-style white collar criminal who embezzled millions of dollars from unsuspecting people. Not only is he completely unapologetic and smug in his insistence that it’s his victims’ fault for letting themselves be manipulated, but he’s a complete ''idiot'' who never thinks his actions through, which got him into trouble when he thought that pleading insanity in ''Gotham City'' so he could get sent to Arkham Asylum would be a good idea.
** The [[DC Universe]] also has Kid Karnevil, an adolescent [[Torture Technician]] first introduced in ''Shadowpact''. If certain rumors are believed, he's such a sociopath that he was kicked out of hell for ''scaring the demons'' down there. He claims to emulate the Joker and ultimately wants to kill him. Old Greenhair is unimpressed. While not ''super'' noteworthy outside of these moments, he ''does'' temporarily join the Neo-Nazi Fourth Reich movement and even lead it for a time.
* Max in ''[[Sam and Max]]'' is described repeatedly in story as a sociopath, but ''The Devil's Playhouse'' [[Retcon]]s him into having a conscience ([[Ghost in the Machine|who is highly repressed]] and [[Driven to Suicide|suicidal]]).
** Even before that, his behavior doesn't quite fit; he's more like a violent psychotic with psychopathic tendencies.
* [[Complete Monster]] Gideon Graves of ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]''. Underneath his charismatic mask is a cold, unfeeling madman who can't and won't relate to other people, and views his ex girlfriends as sex objects that he's entitled to use as he sees fit. He specializes in psychological warfare, manipulating people into doing exactly what he wants while literally getting into the heads of others with his power over "The Glow" and tormenting them until they break.
* Alfie O'Meagan from ''[[Nth Man: The
* ''[[Sin City]]'' has Senator Roark and his [[Serial Killer]] son as probably the best examples of sociopaths. There are plenty of crazy people but they show at least some remorse or have emotional attachments here or there.
* The ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' [[Myth Arc]] features the protagonist squaring off against a sociopath who [[President Evil|got himself elected President of the United States]] just so he could exercise his every sadistic whim unimpeded.
* ''[[Lucifer (
* Lex Luthor is a [[Foil]] to [[Superman]] in many ways: Superman fights physically, he fights psychologically (aside from the times he gets decked out in a suit of high-tech armor). Superman is a humble country bumpkin and journalist, he's a smug billionaire mogul who comes from old money. Superman is an all-around [[Nice Guy]] and paragon of justice, he's a selfish manipulator and dangerous criminal mastermind. While Lex's hatred for Superman is often retconned into something or other, it's usually either due to a personal petty slight against him, or pure jealousy of the guy. Sometimes, Lex is genuinely capable of being a [[Magnificent Bastard]] and a [[Noble Demon]], but for the most part he's the kind of scumbag who would endanger thousands, if not millions to prove a point, murder his own martial arts instructors for beating him in combat, and even cure his sister's cancer ''only to reinfect her'' purely because he's that big of a dick.
* Interestingly, ''Magneto'' of all ''[[X-Men]]'' characters manages to fit the bill despite his status as one of Marvel's biggest [[Tragic Villain]]s (at least, [[Depending on the Writer|depending on who's writing him]]). While his desire to protect mutantkind from a potential holocaust is noble, it's tainted by the fact that he doesn't love individual mutants so much as he loves a collective of beings that he views as superior to humans, and he's prone to manipulating his friends and family for his own selfish purposes - at least, when he isn't being an [[Bad Boss|abusive]] [[Abusive Parents|dickhead]] towards them. His arrogance, racial supremacist leanings, and history of mass murder further tick off the criteria, as does the fact that he genuinely seems incapable of understanding how his [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy|many unprovoked attacks against humanity only fuel the flames of anti-mutant bigotry.]]
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[American Psycho]]'': Patrick Bateman. A perfect example. On the starpulse.com article about the most believable sociopaths in film, Bateman scored higher on the APD/sociopathy checklist than [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter]] and [[The Dark Knight Saga|the Joker]].
* Nicky Santaro in [[Casino]]. And speaking of mobsters played by [[Joe Pesci]], Tommy De Simone in [[Goodfellas]] probably counts as well.
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* Aaron Stampler from the film ''[[Primal Fear]]''.
* Frederick "Junior" Frenger from the film ''Miami Blues'' is a textbook example.
* Catherine Tramell of the ''[[Basic Instinct]]'' series is a rare example of a female sociopath in popular culture. A charismatic, seductive, [[
* Geaer Grimsrud from the film ''[[Fargo]]''. A mute, nearly emotionless man with a love of pancakes, he reveals his true colors when he murders a police officer and several innocent people nonchalantly, and later {{spoiler|kills an innocent woman for simply making too much noise and shoves his partner into a wood chipper for mouthing off to him}}. He does all of this [[Dissonant Serenity|without changing his emotionless demeanor whatsoever]].
* [[There Will Be Blood|Daniel Plainview]] is gradually revealed to be one as the film progresses.
* Anton Chigurh from ''[[No Country for Old Men]]''. He seems to view people much like cattle, and shows absolutely no remorse or consideration for any of the [[Complete Monster|horrible deeds]] he performs throughout the movie.
{{quote|
"I don't think that's how I'd describe him."
"Well, how ''would'' you describe him?"
"I guess I'd say he...doesn't have a sense of humor." }}
* Waldo Lydecker from 1944's ''[[Laura]]''.
* Emperor Palpatine from [[Star Wars]] certainly qualifies. [[Lack of Empathy]] ? Check. Manipulates people like
** Grand Moff Tarkin is one of the worst sociopaths the Empire has to offer. Whether it's cities or entire planets, he has a habit of testing the Death Star on civilian populations in order to stamp out even the smallest hints of rebel activity, and he does so while maintaining a stoic, callous demeanor that he never breaks away from. Even at his angriest, he doesn't muster up anything more emotional than mild annoyance and exasperation.
** Jabba the Hutt from ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'' is a repulsive [[Fat Bastard]] crime boss who subjects anyone who earns his ire to truly horrible deaths, often taking joy out of their suffering and fear. He's also a perverted hedonist who enjoys enslaving beautiful women and forcing them to dance in skimpy outfits for his entertainment, often killing them if they reject his creepy advances. The Expanded Universe, however, would go on to humanize him, showing that [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|even sociopathic slugmen have loved ones]] by giving him an infant son named Rotta [[Pet the Dog|that he loves dearly.]]
* James Moriarty is portrayed as such in ''[[Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows]]. People are just pawns to him, employment termination involves life termination ("No loose ends"), has a ginormous ego, has superficial charm, and is completely ruthless.
** Holmes lampshades this by diagnosing him with "moral insanity", a dated term for ASPD.
* From ''[[The Lion King]]'': The two main villains, Scar and Zira, qualify. They also show great contrast between High Functioning and Low Functioning sociopathy, with the more [[The Chessmaster|calculating]] Scar being the more high-functioning and the [[Ax Crazy|deranged]] Zira being more low-functioning.
* Loki in ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' and ''[[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]]'' could qualify as the Asgardian equivalent of a sociopath, at least at first. He uses displays of emotion as a [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative tool]], he lies and backstabs, he shows no remorse when [[Ax Crazy|killing dozens of people]], and he views himself as a [[Fantastic Racism|superior being meant to rule over humans.]] Imprisonment, the death of his mother, and reconnecting with Thor would lead to him growing out of it, which is a lot more than can be said about...
** ...Hela, Odin's true firstborn introduced in ''[[Thor Ragnarok]]''. With a bodycount that could likely be measured in ''billions'', a serious narcissistic streak, and a tendency to stack up corpses at the drop of a hat, she's far worse of a sociopath than Loki ever was.
* ''[[Half Past Dead]]'' has a line from the villain: "You see, I'm a sociopath. That means I could kill everyone in this room and not feel bad about it."
* Hans Gruber from ''[[Die Hard]]''. He's genuinely suave, charming, and fun to be around, but the very ''second'' he finds any sort of reason to do so, he drops the charm and lets his love of casual murder shine through. Presenting himself as an ideological terrorist when he and his men take an entire Christmas party's worth of people hostage, it turns out to be a front for an elaborate heist, meaning that he's willing to kill dozens of innocent people just to satisfy his [[Greed]].
* {{spoiler|Ego the Living Planet}} from ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2]]'' is disturbingly good at wrapping people around his finger, coming ''this'' close to turning Peter "Star-Lord" Quill against his friends and family with a combination of sweet-talk and [[Mind Rape]]. He puts on a ''very'' convincing facade as a chummy, fatherly man, but in truth {{spoiler|he's a massive egotist seeking to assimilate the universe itself into his very being and kill every single person in it out of disappointment for it all failing to meet his lofty expectations. He's seduced and abandoned thousands of women, has murdered every single bastard child of his for not inheriting his powers, and when Peter turns against him he throws a screaming tantrum, ''daring'' to accuse him of being ungrateful before enslaving him as a living battery}}. He thinks so little of {{spoiler|leaving the love of his life, Meredith Quill, to die a slow and awful death from cancer}} that ''this'' is how he responds to Peter finding out the awful truth.
{{quote|[[Lack of Empathy|Okay, I know that sounds ''bad''...]]}}
* ''[[The Talented Mr. Ripley]]'': The movie's central plot essentially is the interplay of two sociopaths. Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) is a rich kid whose bumming around Europe on his plutocrat father's dime. Tom Ripley is a young blue collar musician willing to impersonate a fellow Princeton grad, defraud Dickie's father of a rather nice expense account to "convince" Dickie to come back, then play Dickie off his father to bum around Europe. Both display a great deal of superficial charm, little remorse about lying and manipulating others, quick tempers, a willingness to lash out violently when it suits them, and no qualms with defrauding the old man. Dickie has no problem blowing off a young Italian girl he impregnated, and when she is [[Driven to Suicide]], he seems more upset at how this affects him. Tom lies his way into high society and is willing to lie, steal, and murder to stay there. Marge, Dickie's girlfriend, describes how when Dickie takes note of you it's like being in the sun. This is a common trait among sociopaths. Tom has a similar trait and facility for lying. The few moments where either shows an emotion similar to remorse may seem to break the mold, but even real sociopaths are not ''completely'' inhuman. Sociopathy exists on a sliding scale.
* {{spoiler|Lotso}} from ''[[Toy Story 3]]'' [[Used to Be a Sweet Kid|used to be a good toy]] until a tragic incident caused him to "snap," and now he no longer believes in the concept of love or the bond between a child and a toy; [[Word of God]] even describes him as now permanently believing the love his own owner had for him was nothing but an illusion, which he even yells out at one point ("She never loved me!")
* [[Big Bad|Jafar]] from ''[[Aladdin (1992 Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' is described as "Senor Psychopath" by the Genie, and with good reason too. He thinks nothing of sacrificing people's lives in order to get his hands on the Genie's lamp, enjoys manipulating and lying to others, and views everyone else as beneath him. He even screws himself over by making a careless wish that results in him being {{spoiler|trapped in a lamp}} due to being too impulsive to realize that Aladdin was tricking him.
* The Walrus from Disney's ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' eats a bunch of sentient oysters like he did in the original book. But unlike his remorseful literary counterpart, this Walrus is a shameless glutton who enjoys tricking a bunch of toddlers into letting him eat them, presenting himself as a jovial grandfatherly figure before dropping the act and going in for the kill. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|He's also an incredibly lazy bum who will lie off his ass in order to avoid helping the dim-witted Carpenter with his construction projects.]]
* The Coachman from [[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Disney's take on ''Pinocchio'']] uses superficial grandfatherly charm to manipulate little boys into accompanying him to Pleasure Island, where he slowly transforms them into donkeys by appealing to their love of mischief and letting them indulge in vices like smoking, drinking, and gambling. Once their transformation is complete, he sells them off to be used for back-breaking labor while doing [[Nothing Is Scarier|''something'' horrible]] to the ones who haven't lost the ability to talk. Once he drops the "kind old man" act, he makes it clear that he's nothing more than a child-hating sadist who corrupts and enslaves kids purely for fun and profit. But that's to be expected, given the hints that he's a demon (if not Old Scratch himself).
* Scar from ''[[The Lion King]]'' definitely fits the criteria. Self-centered? Definitely: he murdered his brother Mufasa and tried to do the same to his nephew Simba, purely out of jealousy and spite towards them for being the king and heir-apparent. He's also a terrible ruler who's ready to let the Pride Lands devolve into a hellscape through neglect and mismanagement as long as it means he gets to be in charge, and reacts violently to criticism. Manipulative? In spite of his [[Obviously Evil]] appearance, he plays his brother and nephew like a pair of fiddles and genuinely comes off as likable, sympathetic, and charming, to the point that he successfully manipulates Simba into thinking he's responsible for his father's death. Reckless and impulsive? [[Bond Villain Stupidity]] proves to be Scar's undoing because he simply ''cannot'' resist twisting the knife and gloating about how he killed Mufasa to Simba when he's got him dead-to-rights, {{spoiler|and him impulsively blaming his hyena minions for his failings seals his fate once they corner him after he's been defeated}}. Black heart? The guy's rotten to the core with no redeeming qualities to speak of.
* While appearing to be little more than an obnoxious [[Jerk Jock]], Gaston from ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' is definitely a sociopath (as well as a shameless [[Narcissist]]) . He thinks he's entitled to Belle's affections and won't hesitate to resort to blackmail and murder when she makes it clear that she isn't interested. Thanks to his charisma, manliness, and dashing good-looks, he's got the townsfolk wrapped around his finger to the point that all it takes is one passionate speech (and catchy [[Villain Song]]) to work them up into a bloodthirsty lynch mob. And when he corners a depressed, suicidal Beast, he's more than happy to viciously beat him down and taunt him for his submissiveness.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Kevin Khatchadourian, the eponymous character of ''[[We Need to Talk About Kevin]]''. A teenage school shooter and torturer, he has been a [[Complete Monster]] ever since he was a young child. Kevin has a severe case of APD/sociopathy; his disorder results in him never relating to other people and finding ''everything'' to be dreary, pointless and uninteresting. Every day of his life. By the time he is a teenager, he exists in a constant state of [[And I Must Scream]].
* ''[[Discworld]]'' has Jonathan Teatime in ''[[Hogfather]]''. According to the book, he "sees things differently from other people, in that he sees other people as things."
* Roose Bolton from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' is possibly one. Capable of extreme cruelty and betrayal, while never wavering from his [[Dissonant Serenity]]. Although his lack of emotions and total detachment from other humans is actually more indicative of a psychotic/schizoid mental disorder, while his son Ramsay (who is a sadistic serial killer) is more of a typical sociopath.
** '''Gregor Clegane'''. Case-in-point: he burned and scarred his little brother's face ''over a toy''.
* Somerled from [[Juliet Marillier]]'s ''Wolfskin''. He commits genocide, fratricide and rape, has no empathy, and his only reaction to human pain and sufering is mild curiosity. He also thinks [[Despotism Justifies the Means]]
* [[Harry Potter|Lord Voldemort]] is pretty much a textbook sociopath. In his younger days before he became [[Obviously Evil]], he was a canny manipulator brimming with superficial charm. He [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|does not understand love]], viewing other people - including his own followers - as merely tools to serve his ends. Also, the "persistent killing" part fits him pretty well.
** The book posits a reason for his sociopathy. His mother seduced a Muggle with a love potion, and it was a completely loveless union. Riddle Sr. did not ''truly'' love Merope back,
** Bellatrix Lestrange definitely falls under this category as well. She definitely ''does'' have emotions, but she is unable to extend any of these emotions to anyone outside her own social circle of bigoted murderers. It is questionable whether Dolores Umbridge is also a sociopath (albeit to a slightly lesser extent), but since she completely lacks a conscience and only displays kindness to people to win them over so that she can use them for her cause, she probably is.
* Alex from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' (both the book and the movie). Although considering the [[Crapsack World]] he lived in, the general deconstruction of human morality, and Alex's own status as an [[Unreliable Narrator]], it is debatable exactly where he falls on the in-universe scale of [[Chaotic Evil]].
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* Though many of the supernatural creatures in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' exhibit elements of sociopathy (notably vampires who fully embrace their predatory nature and many of the nastier Winter Court sidhe), the most obvious example is the all-too-human Nicodemus, a man so thoroughly and unapologetically (and yet [[Affably Evil|often politely]]) evil that a ''[[Fallen Angel]]'' works with him as a ''genuine partner''. Nick's wife Tessa and daughter Deirdre are also candidates.
* Henry Bowers in ''[[IT]]'' by Stephen King is a prime example of a sociopath, as he matures from a schoolyard bully to a murderer. Had he not been institutionalized, he likely would have ended up eventually going on a shooting spree.
** In the same book, Patrick Hockstetter is explicitly described as a sociopath, with no grasp of the fact that
* In the gruesome flashback scenes in the ''[[Inspector Lynley]]'' novel ''This Body of Death'', one of the three boys shows most of the listed traits. As an adult and {{spoiler|one of the murder suspects, he turns out to be innocent and eventually [[Redemption Equals Death|dies redeeming himself]].}} Since the author has a degree in psychology, this may well be intentional.
* Count Olaf of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''. He burns down ''a hospital'' to cover his tracks, kills at least one person per book to further his agenda, seems to view violence as rather entertaining, is extremely narcissistic, has a sense of entitlement to a fortune that isn't his and is able to manipulate and charm [[Adults Are Useless|pretty much anyone but the children]]. Oh, and he's perfectly willing to kill children.
** Subverted in book 13 when we find out {{spoiler|he loved Kit Snicket}} and he {{spoiler|he saves her life and is shocked that the Baudelaires would even think that he would hurt their parents.}} Also, he has a Freudian excuse - {{spoiler|it's implied that the Baudelaire parents killed his parents with poison darts.}}
* [[Evil Albino|Ivar]] [[Evil Cripple|Ragnarson]] of ''[[The Last Light of the Sun]]''. He doesn't see people as people, murdered his sister for laughing at him, sheds no tears over his dead brother, has to keep reminding himself to speak to people as ''though'' they were equals, and loses his temper when irritated. At one point he murders a captured earl just to make sure the mercenaries he's hired won't think of just ransoming him and going home; Ivar has lots more [[For the Evulz]] murder and mayhem planned for them. [[Captain Obvious|He's the bad guy]].
* Caine from ''[[Gone (novel)|Gone]]'' is confirmed by [[Word of God]] to be a sociopath. His [[Lack of Empathy]] becomes clear early on, but his status as this is confirmed when he tells a pack of mutated coyotes that they can feed on young (some daycare-age) children because . . . there was no reason ''not'' to. He actually manages to be a nuanced character, though; the ''real'' complete monster is his [[Dragon]], Drake.
* ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'': Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a [[Serial Killer]] and an [[Evil Genius]], and perhaps one of the most famous examples of the inhumanly charismatic and exceptionally intelligent "[[Magnificent Bastard|elite psychopath]]" popularized by Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer.
** Though Dr. Chilton's diagnosis ("Oh, he's a [[Complete Monster|monster"]]) is likely more accurate, it's hardly a clinical diagnosis.
* [[Psycho for Hire]] Anton Chigurh from ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' is a particularly potent example.
* In the ''[[RCN Series]]'' series, Adele Mundy's assistant/bodyguard Tovera is a complete sociopathic monster who knows she needs Adele to act as her conscience to keep her functioning in society, and enjoys, as much as she can be said to, serving Adele (and by extension, Daniel Leary) because it gives her plenty of opportunity for authorized mayhem. For her part, Adele is very scrupulous in ''not'' asking Tovera what she does in her free time for amusement when she disappears into the city's slums.
* [[I Am Not a Serial Killer|John]] [[Mr. Monster|Wayne]] [[I Don't Want to Kill You|Cleaver]] is a deconstruction of a sociopath: he's completely aware that he is nothing less than a nascent serial killer who has yet to kill anyone, but is also every bit as aware that acting out his fantasies of killing would ultimately lead to his arrest and execution. {{spoiler|Having to kill someone to save his mother's life at the end of the first book ''seriously fucks him up'', and leads into the plots of the other two.}}
* In the ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' novel "Last Human", {{spoiler|the alternate Lister}} is a full-fledged sociopath, nicely outlined in his psych profile.
* [[Abusive Dad|Richard]] [[The Alcoholic|Lopez]] of ''[[Ship Breaker]]'' is a drug-addicted, [[Axe Crazy]], [[Archnemesis Dad]] who suffers from massive mood swings and a severe inability to connect to other people. He has no qualms about threatening to maim his son, or cut out a girl's eyes, and eventually tries to sell [[
* In the ''Privilege'' series, Kaitlynn Nottingham is this. {{spoiler|She kills her best friend's dad, who happens to be her lover, and has no qualms with killing one of her classmates so she can get into a secret society. The protagonist, Ariana Osgood, arguably counts as this, since she kills at least 3 people in the book and only feels remorse about one of them.}}
* John Dread of ''[[Otherland]]'' is explicitly described as a sociopath, complete with a psychologist telling the police how he was the scariest person he'd ever attempted to treat, because he could tell that Dread did not see him as a person, but merely an object, to be evaluated on his usefulness and killed without a second thought if he became too inconvenient. Dread is given the [[Freudian Excuse]] of a drug-addled prostitute mother who brutally abused him in order to turn him into a weapon against the world she hated. It worked.
* [[Complete Monster|Razim]] from ''[[Alex Rider]]'' is this [[Up to Eleven|to an unbelievable degree]].
* Jadis the White Witch from ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' is up there with Iago. Superficial charm? Check. Above average intelligence? Check. Pathological egocentricity? You betcha!
* Visser 3 from ''[[Animorphs]]'' is [[Loves the Sound of Screaming|horrifically sadistic]], [[Ax Crazy|murderously insane]], [[Narcissist|outrageously arrogant]], and prone to slaughtering his own subordinates for the flimsiest reasons - and that's when he ''has'' reasons for killing them. He's less a general and more of a psychotic butcher, which is actually what works in the [[Five-Man Band|Animorphs']] favor time and time again. These traits coupled with a refusal to rein in his cruelty and murderous impulses lead to a ''ton'' of [[Stupid Evil]] moments that allow a ragtag group of teen heroes to stand a chance against the overwhelming might of the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Yeerk]] army.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Dexter]]'': The eponymous Dexter Morgan, the most famous [[Sociopathic Hero]] and [[Serial Killer Killer]] on TV.
** The Ice Truck Killer, {{spoiler|Miguel Prado}}, Jordan, Travis, Trinity and Lilah also count.
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* Mr. Rabbit on ''The Kill Point'', who manages to be the [[Token Evil Teammate]] of a ''bank robbing crew''. He beats the hostages unprovoked, psychologically tortures one of them for no particular reason, carries around the severed ear of an Iraqi soldier he previously tortured to death, and tells Captain Cali that he considers the hostages "cattle" and "sheep being led to the slaughter." He ends up {{spoiler|getting beaten to death by the leader of the team}}, because [[Even Evil Has Standards]].
* ''[[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'': Every character is a sociopath. They're frequently doing things that are unethical if not illegal, stabbing each other in the back, and no one in the gang is able to stick to a plan.
* ''[[Smallville]]'': If we are to believe [[Archnemesis Dad|Lionel Luthor]], his [[Bastard Bastard]] Lucas is one of these. Lionel himself, and his son, Lex, both display traits of the disorder as well, but not enough to qualify. A much better example is probably [[Alternate Universe|Earth-2]]'s [[Evil Twin|Clark Luthor]] aka Ultraman. A promiscous [[Career Killers|Career Killer]] and [[Psycho for Hire]], he lies like a dog to everyone he meets, has a violent, [[Hair-Trigger Temper]], and switches between moods quickly enough to give you whiplash. His adoptive father, Earth-2 Lionel is likely an example as well, with a [[Lack of Empathy]] that runs so deep it's almost frightening. The same goes for [[Serial Killer]] and [[Torture Technician]] Desaad.
** Lx-3, Lex's clone and [[Shadow Archetype]] from Season 10's "Lazarus" is a solid example. He spends all his time on-screen committing mass murder, has a [[Hair-Trigger Temper]] and a sadistic streak, seems to actively enjoy murder for its own sake, and hates everyone. He literally tries to kill every person he meets.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has a few among its villains, notably Arthur and Sylar . Elle Bishop was actually diagnosed as a sociopath and displays extreme aggression coupled with no empathy.
{{quote|
** It's also heavily implied that she wasn't naturally a sociopath so much as driven insane after her father had used her in various experiments relating to her power. She seemed to be growing out of it but never got the chance for redemption.
*** Bob Bishop most likely is one. Letting a sociopath raise a child to become a sociopath...
** Sylar's own father is a case. When asked why he murdered Sylar's mother and sold him to another family, he replies that he doesn't even remember because "it didn't matter to me."
* [[Big Bad|Servalan]] of ''[[Blake's
* Francis from ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' qualifies. Early on in his life he deliberately set a teddy bear of his on fire by dousing it with lighter fluid. During his childhood, after Reese and Malcolm were born, he frequently tortured them, stole their toys, locked them in a closet, and presumably scarred Reese on the shoulder with a bayonette. Probably one of his greater joys is tormenting his own mom. During his teen years, he also frequently made destructive revolts for no reason outside of just for the heck of it or simply to spite his mother. One instance of this is his stealing a neighbors car and then proceeding to total it. He also frequently smoked, did drugs, and slept around, also getting four nose pierces just to spite his mom, who said that she'd put him in military school if he goes so far as to get one. He seemed to become more sane when he joined a Dude ranch, but he then reverted back after he was fired, and it was implied in the season finale that the reason why he got a steady job and wanted to keep it a secret was to further anguish his mother about being jobless for his own entertainment.
* Nora Dershlit from ''[[
{{quote|
'''Nora''': The correct term is disturbed, lonely sociopath. }}
** The largest example of this trope would be Sam Puckett. She fits most of the signs without the torturing animals part.
* On ''[[Dark Oracle]]'', Omen appears to be one of these initially, but his genuine liking of Cally and slow development of human emotion keeps him from falling fully into the trope. [[Villain of the Week]] Claudia, who believes "if it feels good, do it," might well be a low-functioning sociopath. And then there's the comic book characters, Blaze (a [[Hair-Trigger Temper|hot-tempered]] [[Jerkass]] who has no qualms about breaking a fellow student's arm), Violet (a [[Manipulative Bitch]] who enjoys scaring the crap out of her victims), and [[Evil Twin|comic!Sage]] (who plays mindgames with Lance, screws around, and tries to off several girls with a poisonous snake).
* The eponymous Sherlock Holmes of [[The BBC]]'s ''[[Sherlock]]'' certainly plays with the trope a lot. [[Lack of Empathy|He doesn't care at all about the people who bring him his cases]], [[It's All About Me|only solves them to keep himself from getting bored]], and then [[The Charmer|charms]], [[Consummate Liar|lies to]] and [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulates]] everyone involved to solve the mysteries. Ends up being a subversion though, since despite having all the other traits of a sociopath, [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|he's missing the black heart]]
{{quote|
'''Sherlock:''' I have been reliably informed that I don't have one.
{{spoiler|'''Moriarty:'''}} But we both know that's not quite true. }}
** Of course, [[Complete Monster|Moriarty]] is as usual an actual one, and [[Evil Counterpart|just as brilliant as Sherlock]].
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* There's a good chance that Mordred from ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' is one of these. He is a rather unemotional child, seems quite apt at manipulating the adults around him, shows no remorse when he kills several armed men, and responds with anger rather than grief when his father is executed.
* [[Self-Made Orphan|Alice Morgan]] from ''[[Luther]]''. She's pretty much Hannibal Lecter in drag, with a healthy [[Villainous Crush]] on the hero, no ability to empathise with others and a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] streak.
* ''[[The Mandalorian]]'':
** Moff Gideon is a shameless war criminal who looks back at his genocide of the Mandalorian people with nostalgia, and is looking forward to finishing the job when faced with survivors of the "Night of a Thousand Tears". He's also fond of psychological warfare and barely hides the joy he feels as he terrorizes Din Djarin and his [[True Companions]] with his intimate knowledge of their flaws, fears, and trauma that they keep close to the chest. And while he talks big about being a loyal soldier to the Empire, he sacrifices minions with the causality of changing into a new pair of pants and schemes against his fellow Shadow Council members while hoping to kick {{spoiler|Grand Admiral Thrawn}} off of his pedestal so he can rule the Imperial Remnant in his place.
** Valin Hess, likewise, comes off as a pleasant (if creepy) [[Southern Gentleman]] until you've talked to him for longer than ten seconds. He firmly believes that people ''want'' to be oppressed by the empire and is willing to execute the vilest war crimes to prove his point. During Operation Cinder he sacrificed millions of his own men without losing even a wink of sleep over it, and when confronted by a survivor from his platoon he doesn't notice (or more likely, doesn't care) that his complete [[Lack of Empathy]] is seriously pissing him off and keeps bragging about the atrocities that he plans to commit until he's shot dead on the spot.
** Elia Kane {{spoiler|turns on the charm and befriends Dr. Pershing with false promises of letting him continue his cloning research in secret while remaining loyal to the New Republic, only to sell him out and horribly torture him with a smirk of cold satisfaction on her face.}}
* Dr. Gorst, the Empire's creepy [[Torture Technician]] from ''[[Andor]]''. He maintains his detached, yet cheery demeanor even as he tortures people with the [[Brown Note|dying screams of genocide victims]] (who are explicitly stated to be children) and treats it with the enthusiasm of a little kid showing off his science project while ignoring the obvious terror of his helpless victims.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[Trinity Universe (game)|Trinity]]'', this is the dirty secret of the main branch of the vitakinetic order. Their powers make them intimately aware of the physical and mental health of people in close proximity to them. Quite a few of these healers find being surrounded by so much pain and decay so overwhelming that they voluntarily undergo a process that turns them into sociopaths, just so they can get on with their jobs without being constantly crippled by empathy with their patients.
* [[Sissy Villain|Sigvald the Magnificent]] from ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' bounces like a ping pong ball between being a darkly hilarious take on a sociopath one minute and being a dead-serious take the next. But no matter what, he's always defined by his vanity, bloodlust, and tendency to murder, maim, and torture anyone for the smallest, pettiest offenses. Usually, it's because the victim's crime is being "ugly" (at least by his standards, which means "less handsome/beautiful than me"), though he did famously slaughter tons of High Elves for ''[[Evil Is Petty|having better hair than him]]''.
* [[Depending on the Writer|When written by writers with a... ''less than charitable'' view of him]], ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'''s very own [[Big Good|God Emperor of Mankind]] himself is a callous and manipulative tyrant who openly views his own sons as tools, commits genocide against xenos on the regular, and can't relate to people or even humanity in general, with his love of mankind being more of a love of his highly idealized version of humanity that lives up to his impossible standards. More even-handed writers do give him genuinely good traits, but even then he's still a ruthless pragmatist whose thoughtlessness and inability to understand the wants and needs of the Primarchs cause more harm than good.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Morinth in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. The mission overview after Samara's loyalty mission even says that her biotic powers would make her an excellent addition to the squad...if her "sociopathic tendencies were mitigated." {{spoiler|Though you can kill Samara and recruit her anyway.}}
** Quarian Admiral Daro'Xen displays several classic signs of sociopathy as well. She especially shows it in matters related to [[Mechanical Lifeforms|the Geth]], whom she plans to, as a race, mind-wipe and return to their "rightful place" as the Quarians' slaves. Tali'Zorah flat-out calls Xen insane when this bit of info comes out, showing that even among the anti-Geth Quarians Xen's stance is seen as radical. Also, Xen apparently used to perform surgery on childhood toys; Tali's [[This Explains So Much|response]] is predictable. Lastly, she shows unhealthy interest in Legion (your Geth squadmate), once expressing the desire to dissect the poor thing to see what makes it tick (which Paragon!Shepard is having none of, by the way).
* Kefka Palazzo of ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', is a particularly over the top example of this.
* Likewise, fellow jester Dimentio from ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' (who is believed to have been inspired by Kefka due to hitting many of the same characterization and story beats as him). Both he and Kefka are [[Omnicidal Maniacs]] who are care for nobody but themselves and don't show much in the way of emotion aside from murderous insanity and the cruel joy they find in hurting and manipulating others.
** {{spoiler|Grubba}} from ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]] '' acts the part of a friendly {{spoiler|[[Southern Gentleman]]}}, but once the mask slips off? He turns out to be a selfish, murderous narcissist who drains the life out of people who trust him so he'll never grow old, and dares to ''laugh'' in the faces of Mario and his friends when they call him out for his callousness. Even when he's defeated he doesn't feel an ounce of shame or remorse for his crimes, and while he comes to respect Mario, it's more for his fighting skills as opposed to respecting the man himself. Since ''The Thousand Year Door'' is where ''Paper Mario'' hit its [[Darker and Edgier]] phase, it's surprisingly accurate to describe him as a kid-friendly serial killer who disguises himself as a pillar of the community.
* The ''[[Suikoden]]'' series has a few, with the most exemplary examples being [[Suikoden II|Luca Blight]] and [[Suikoden V|Childerich]].
* One of the more unstable versions of this trope is Albedo Piazolla from the ''[[Xenosaga]]'' series, particularly in Episode 1.
* {{spoiler|Tohru Adachi}} in [[Persona 4]], {{spoiler|who initially hides behind the mask of a [[Nice Guy]], though when revealed shows himself as a sadistic manchild who finds entertainment in ruining the lives of others with a tendency to violently lashing out at women who spurn his advances}}.
* Vanitas in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth By Sleep]]''. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that {{spoiler|[[Literal Split Personality|he's Ven's personified]] [[Made of Evil|darkness]]. Makes you wonder what he'd be like if he were the darkness of someone less nice than [[Cute Shotaro Boy|Ven]]...}}
** Nobodies are by their very nature sociopaths, since they lack the hearts required to form bonds or experience true emotions. The members of Organization XIII function at varying levels, with the exceptions of Roxas and Xion, the former of which {{spoiler|actually does have a heart; the heart of the aforementioned Ven}} and the latter of which {{spoiler|isn't even a Nobody.}} Another member, Axel, does gain emotional care for Roxas and Xion after hanging out with them, but it's ''only'' for them; he is still a sociopath in regards to anyone else.
*** As of ''[[Kingdom Hearts III]]'', {{spoiler|Vexen, Demyx, and Xigbar}} can also be counted among non-sociopathic Organization members. {{spoiler|Vexen and Demyx, despite their lack of a heart, are genuinely repentant of their evil ways and are moles working to undermine Master Xehanort's True Organization XIII from within. Xigbar, however, is revealed to actually be Luxu, an ancient, world-weary Keyblade master who misses his old friends and wants nothing more than to see them again.}}
** As far as sociopaths with functioning hearts go, there's Master Xehanort, the silver-tongued sadist responsible for everything going wrong in the initial "Seeker of Darkness" saga. He lies to and manipulates his old friend Eraqus before {{spoiler|murdering him with a smile on his face}}, as well as ruining the lives of Eraqus' young apprentices with just as much glee, but not before {{spoiler|grooming and gaslighting Terra into becoming the perfect vessel for his pitch-black, wretched heart}}. He destroys countless worlds, endangers plenty of others, and almost causes two separate universal apocalypses ''[[Mad Scientist|purely out of reckless intellectual curiosity]]''. Even when {{spoiler|he's "redeemed" upon dying in ''[[Kingdom Hearts III]]'', he never truly owns up to his actions and ducks culpability for them altogether.}}
* [[Complete Monster]]s [[Big Bad|Irenicus]] and [[The Dragon|Bodhi]] from ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn]]''. In their case, it's a magically caused condition, though from what we hear, they weren't exactly nice people before.
* {{spoiler|The real Alex Mercer}} from ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]''. {{spoiler|After all, he "wasn't paid to feel."}}
* [[
* [[Hitman]]'s protagonist, Agent 47, is a sociopathic clone who is also the best assassin the ICA, Agent 47's employer, has at its disposal. He tries to avoid unnecessary deaths, but that is only out of professional pride and a desire to avert suspicion; he will murder anybody who inconveniences him.
*
** One of the earliest examples would be Silver, the rival from ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]''. {{spoiler|As the neglected son of Giovanni himself}}, Silver's less than ideal childhood led to him becoming a violent, misanthropic petty criminal with very little impulse control, stealing rare Pokémon at least twice and repeatedly assaulting the player character at the slightest provocation. People and Pokémon alike are treated disdainfully by him, with him regarding the latter as tools for him to crush any "weaklings" who get in his way with. Thankfully, being on the receiving end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] at the hands of Champion Lance would give him the kick in the pants needed to get him to mellow out and become a better person.
** Cyrus from ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' hates emotions and human spirit with every fiber of his being, and is a cold, bitter man who is seeking to kill them on a conceptual level. Despite stifling his emotions, he can turn on the charm and sway hundreds of loyal Grunts to his side while truthfully believing them to be naïve fools, and he has no qualms with endangering and torturing Pokémon to further his ambitions. And he was noted to be detached and creepy even as a child, likely as a result of the emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his cold-hearted parents.
** The true villain of ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', {{spoiler|Ghetsis}}, is a sadistic and power-hungry madman who loves nothing more than to manipulate people with his powerful rhetoric and charisma, before completely crushing their spirits after showing his true colors. {{spoiler|He's also a terrible father to N, who he manipulated into becoming a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] with a Messiah complex with strong implications that he was going to dispose of him once he served his purpose, before throwing all semblance of parental love out the window and treating him like an inhuman freak for failing him}}. And murdering children is ''not'' off the table, as shown by him ordering his Kyurem to kill the player at the climax of Team Plasma's arc in the sequels, and him threatening to kill Lillie with his bare hands in ''Ultra Sun and Moon'''s postgame after being defeated.
** Team Flare from ''[[Pokémon X and Y]]'' is an ''organization'' of sociopaths, aside from their [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] leader. The rank-and-file Grunts and Admins are vapid [[Rich Bitch|Rich Bitches]] who hold anyone not associated with them in contempt, and are downright joyful at the prospect of {{spoiler|wiping humanity out with their doomsday weapon for not being able to afford the organization's steep entry fee}}. Ironically, their vanity, greed, callousness, elitism, and general selfishness make them the perfect embodiments of the flaws in humanity that turned the once optimistic {{spoiler|Lysandre}} into {{spoiler|a genocidal misanthrope hoping to reset the world with the Ultimate Weapon}}.
** Thanks to Nihilego's inhibition-nullifying toxins, the once loving and caring {{spoiler|Lusamine}} has been warped into this by the time ''[[Pokémon Sun and Moon]]'' take place. {{spoiler|She's a cruel and narcissistic madwoman who only finds value in beauty, and views anything or anyone who defies her as ugly and undeserving of her love. This even applies to her own children, who she horribly abused until they had enough and ran away from home. She's also charismatic and manipulative to a fault, and has quite the sadistic side to her as shown by the deranged grin on her face while torturing Nebby to near-death}}. ''Ultra Sun and Moon'' would abandon this angle, but {{spoiler|she's still abusive towards her children and is more of a narcissist with a savior complex before redeeming herself}}.
** Ein, Lovrina, Nascour, Evice, Ardos... many of Team Cipher's higher-ups are sociopathic to some extent in ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]'' and its sequel ''[[Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness]]''. It comes with the territory when your MO is to torture Pokémon with inhumane experiments that warp them into dangerous living weapons without the slightest bit of shame or remorse. Out of all these creeps though, Lovrina, Evice, and Ardos are probably the ones who stand out the most.
*** Lovrina is the protege of fellow sociopath Ein, who created Shadow Pokémon to begin with. ''She improved on his method'', and is ''proud'' of herself for pulling it off. She's a terrible sister who bullies and belittles her brother, shows no empathy towards others, and when she stops hating Michael, the hero? She still turns it into a self-serving thing since all it amounts to is her adding him to her "fan club" as a way to inflate her ego.
*** Evice {{spoiler|puts on a friendly face to the public as Es Cade, the lovable mayor of Phenac City, but he's truthfully a ''literal'' monster of a man who looks downright demonic when he shows his true colors. By using his position as a respected politician to pull the necessary strings, he allows dangerous criminals to terrorize his city as well as the other few bastions of civilization in the rugged Orre region, and his master plan is to build his own colosseum where the rich and powerful can let Shadow Pokémon battle in what's basically a kid-friendly bloodsport. He's such a good manipulator that you're ''very'' unlikely to think he's shady at all until [[The Reveal]].}}
*** Ardos admittedly doesn't do much, but his one crowning moment of villainy is a shocking one: he beats Ghetsis to the punch by trying to murder the player, as well as ''everyone else'' in Cipher's home base once his boss {{spoiler|and father}} Greevil's plans are ruined by trying to convince him to remotely blow it up. Not only is he willing to kill a ''kid'', but his lack of emotion and empathy really set his sociopath status in stone.
** Purple Eyes from ''[[Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs]]'', who is a crazed misanthrope that dabbles in Pokémon poaching before trying to wipe out humanity itself. He's easily one of the most openly murderous villains in the franchise, let alone the ''Ranger'' series.
** {{spoiler|Volo}} from ''[[Pokémon Legends: Arceus]]''. Manipulative? Charismatic? Views his Pokémon as tools to be used? {{spoiler|Befriends the Pokémon equivalent of ''Satan'' before siccing him on the teenaged player character with intent to kill}}? Not only is "yes" the answer to all of the above, but he's also got a ''serious'' entitlement complex. The reason why he wants to destroy the world? It's because {{spoiler|Arceus won't pander to his ego}}.
* The Wasp King from ''Bug Fables'' is a competent villain, but also on the lower-functioning side of the sliding scale of sociopathy. As a result of a traumatic childhood and a [[Friendless Background]], power is the only thing that matters to him and he will happily abuse it to his heart's content. He lives in a well-kept palace while the rest of his kingdom is in ruins, {{spoiler|his soldiers are all brainwashed slaves that he will happily abandon to die the second it suits him}}, and he's a little too happy to hack other bugs apart with his axe when they get in his way. As befitting of a lower functioning sociopath, he's quick to lose his temper when faced with any kind of setback, and his lack of impulse control bites him in the ass when {{spoiler|him leaving Queen Vanessa alive to torture instead of killing her allows her to give Team Snakemouth a charm to protect them from his hellish fire magic.}}
** Mothiva isn't anywhere near as bad as the Wasp King, but still counts. She has enough charisma to fool thousands of excited fans with her facade of a kind, bubbly pop star, but when she's off the stage she's a horribly self-absorbed bitch who is rude and disdainful towards just about everyone around her. When her own exploration team is in danger of being upstaged by Team Snakemouth, she wastes no time in trying to beat them to death with her lackey Zasp, and later in the game {{spoiler|shows a startling lack of impulse control when she tries to derail their attempts at forming an alliance with the Termite Kingdom for a publicity stunt despite knowing that she could doom Bugaria to be crushed by the Wasp King}}. Even Zasp isn't safe from her [[Lack of Empathy]], because if he's the first to fall during their boss fights she's visibly annoyed with having to revive him.
* [[Fat Bastard|Porky/Pokey Minch]] from ''[[Earthbound]]'' develops into one over the course of the game, going from an obnoxious and cowardly bully to a rich and powerful hedonist after throwing in his lot with Giygas. He becomes the alien warlord's [[The Dragon|chief servant]] and is happy to hand over the Earth on a silver platter to his master by the game's horrifying climax. {{spoiler|He'd get even worse in ''[[Mother 3]]'', where he's an iron-fisted tyrant who oversees cruel experiments on innocent people and creatures, twists the good-hearted denizens of Tazmilly Village into selfish and materialistic jerks through brainwashing, and rules over a dystopian city meant to embody the hedonistic desires of a [[Psychopathic Manchild]] who never truly grew up}}. Sadly, it's likely that his sociopathic tendencies didn't just manifest out of nowhere given that his parents were shallow, materialistic, and in the case of his father, physically abusive, and having [[Eldritch Abomination|Giygas]] whispering in his ear probably didn't do his sanity any favors either. He's aware of how lonely he is and on some level ''wants'' Ness to be his friend, but he doesn't truly understand how friendship works thanks to his extremely warped worldview.
** Fassad from ''[[Mother 3]]'', {{spoiler|who turns out to be Porky's right-hand man}} is another example. He gets people to accept the Pigmask Army's tyranny with open arms by distracting them with [[Bread and Circuses|the pleasures of modern society]], and will burn down the houses of anyone that resists while keeping us his [[Meaningful Name|facade]] of a friendly traveling salesman. He's also not only cruel to Salsa, the innocent little monkey that he's enslaved, but he's ''sadistically'' cruel and will painfully electrocute him for the tiniest reasons... or none at all. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|He's also a lazy bum who'd rather goof off and eat bananas than help Salsa fight off wild animals that are trying to kill him.]]
* While many ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' protagonists have a few screws loose and are okay with committing shockingly vile crimes, it's surprisingly hard to find a true sociopath among them. Even the nuttiest ones tend to have [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|people that they care about]], [[Even Evil Has Standards|genuine moral lines that they refuse to cross]], and the ability to feel empathy and even remorse for some of their actions. There is one exception to the rule, though, and that's Claude from ''[[Grand Theft Auto III]]''. Empathy, loyalty, and remorse are completely alien concepts to the guy. He doesn't even talk or show any sort of emotion! He's just a stone-cold brute who will betray and kill even his closest allies if he stands to profit from it.
** Mike Toreno from ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' is an interesting example in that he's a sociopath ''and'' a good guy [[Gray and Black Morality|(or at least a trustworthy ally)]]. Sure, he's a pathological liar, a cold-blooded killer, and willing to press-gang CJ into doing dangerous missions for him on threat of having his brother raped in prison... but he ''does'' keep his promise and has Sweet released once CJ's done working for him, not to mention that he seems to grow genuinely fond of CJ in a way that only an emotionally stunted psycho can be. Goes to show that [[Even Evil Has Standards|even sociopaths can have a genuine moral code.]]
* Many incarnations of [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Eggman]] from the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' franchise are sociopaths to some degree, and that's definitely the case for one who started it all. [[Depending on the Writer|Most of the time, at least.]] He's such a [[Large Ham|hammy]], [[Psychopathic Manchild|immature]] goofball that it can be easy to forget that he's willing to stoop to ''any'' low in order to get what he wants. Turning adorable animals into living batteries for his robots? Turning adorable ''aliens'' into living batteries for an entire ''theme park''? Transforming a planet into a hellscape by messing with the fabric of time? Gaslighting an amnesiac Shadow into thinking he's one of his creations? Using a [[Kill Sat]] to bully governments into complying with his demands? Trying to drop an ''artificial sun'' on the planet to burn a small resistance force to death? He's done all this and more, all without feeling any shame or remorse for his actions. Combine his crimes with a tendency to flip out and throw undignified tantrums over ''any'' setback he faces as well as a ''ridiculous'' narcissistic streak that demands he plaster his visage upon ''everything'', and you've got probably one of the silliest examples of a sociopath in fiction.
** Eggman's descendant Eggman Nega's even more of a psychopath: lacking Eggman's few redeeming qualities and ability to reign himself in when necessary, Eggman Nega's a total nutcase whose lack of impulse control and care for others means he's willing to destroy the entire world, himself included, just to satisfy his destructive tendencies. He's not above manipulating people into helping him get what he wants, but otherwise he's a low-functioning, sociopathic nutbag [[Even Evil Has Standards|whose depravity scares his own ancestor!]]
** Black Doom, not because he's an alien invader who kills humans and revels in his villainy, but because he's essentially a manipulative cult leader and a psychologically {{spoiler|[[Abusive Parents|abusive dad]]}} who treats Shadow as a plaything for his own twisted amusement. He's willing to take advantage of his amnesia and force him to relive Maria's death in order to turn him against humanity, who he views as {{spoiler|little more than a ''food source'' for him and his brethren}}. He's also sadistic, cruel, and arrogant, showing very little concern for Shadow or his soldiers, both of which he'll gladly have killed on a whim.
** Erazor Djinn from ''[[Sonic and the Secret Rings]]'' fits the criteria, given that he's a [[Jackass Genie]] who ''really'' lives up to the "Jackass" part of the trope name. When acting like an asshole resulted in him being punished by the creator of The Arabian Nights, all it did was make him even ''more'' of an asshole who decided to torment the subjects of the book and take over the world purely out of spite. He's arrogant, entitled, petulant, and sadistic to ''insane'' degrees, and loves lording his power over Sonic, who he's cursed into acting as his [[MacGuffin Delivery Service]] on threat of death while manipulating and abusing his lackey Sharha in a way that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to [[Domestic Abuse]]. He doesn't even feel bad about {{spoiler|accidentally killing her, and even ''laughs it off'' before calling her weak}}. If his other crimes didn't convince you that [[Lack of Empathy|empathy is an alien concept to him]], that most ''certainly'' will.
** Infinite from ''[[Sonic Forces]]'' isn't much of a manipulator, but he's still a perfect example of a low-functioning sociopath. A sadistic thug with an ego the size of the [[Kill Sat|Death Egg]], Infinite lives to kill and terrorize others, and takes particular delight in hurting [[Player Character|the Avatar]], whose friends he killed just to scare them. While he's loyal to Eggman, he's still responsible for his defeat because of all the problems he's caused with his refusal to reign in his violent tendencies. By the time Eggman finally has enough and puts him out of commission, his arrogance and obsessive need to terrorize Sonic and the Avatar have done irreparable damage to his plans.
* If you thought a setting as cute, innocent, and laid-back as ''[[Animal Crossing]]'' would be lacking in these, think again! While he may not be a ''dangerous'' criminal, shady merchant Crazy Redd fits the bill as a high-functioning sociopath. He's shallow and manipulative, putting on grand displays of phony niceness so he can sucker people into buying overpriced goods that may or may not be stolen, as well as forged, useless artwork. While he makes a big deal about how everyone he interacts with is "family", he'll rip off his business partners and ditch them, leaving them penniless and destitute while never losing even a wink of sleep over it.
* Calo Nord from ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''. When you first meet the guy, you learn that he's antisocial. ''Ridiculously'' antisocial. To the point that he threatens to kill you for ''making small talk'', [[Schmuck Bait|which you'll discover is no idle threat if you decide to push your luck]]. While being at least a bit ruthless is part of a bounty hunter's job description, he's a violent, remorseless nutcase who either views other people as gnats to swat away, thrilling trophies to hunt, or a potential source of income. And he very rarely musters up any sort of emotion behind muted annoyance no matter the situation.
* [[The Legend of Zelda|Ganondorf]]. In the games where he isn't a [[Generic Doomsday Villain]], he's a vicious psychopath who will murder anyone who interferes with his quest for absolute power, as well as a frighteningly competent [[Chessmaster]] who knows how to make people do exactly what he wants in order to advance his agenda. [[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|Even at his most sympathetic]], he's still a selfish, violent old brute who [[Never My Fault|won't take responsibility for indirectly causing the destruction of the kingdom he was obsessed with conquering.]]
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[MAG-ISA]]—All the villains of MAG-ISA are pretty much this personality type. The higher up the ladder you go, the more evil you are. [http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119829 (1)] [http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119816 (2)]
* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'': Xykon, even before he became an undead abomination.
** And Belkar, of the Comedic sort.
** Tarquin is quite the sociopath
* Angel, the [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[The Good Witch]]'', remorselessly torments and ruins the lives of her friends, family, and anybody unfortunate enough to cross her path with her newfound magic powers. There are hints she is a "made sociopath," not originally being so cruel and self-centered but gradually cracking under an intense amount of bullying, but any sympathy that might have been gifted to her has long since passed; for God's sake, she turns people into articles of clothing, and ''keeps them sentient'' so that they can desperately try to find anyone to help them and eternally despair over their predicament!
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' villains can quite frequently be sociopaths, with characters like J.R. Rizzolo and Jacob Starr being prominent examples of these traits. In spin-off ''The Program'', Brigadier General David Adams has all the hallmarks of being one, given he doesn't seem to care at all about the imminent deaths of the students.
* [[The Nostalgia Chick]], especially with the "not understanding boundaries" thing. What's wrong with installing cameras in your friend's bedroom?
*
** She does not possess the lack of long-term planning, but DEFINITELY lacks empathy.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':
*
** General Zhao has a [[Smug Snake|hilariously bloated ego]] and flies into a seething, frothing rage over the tiniest slights against it. He's motivated to hunt down the Avatar purely for an ego boost, and once the idea of killing the Moon Spirit crosses his mind? He obsessively pursues that goal despite being warned by his colleagues that it's a ''horrible'' idea, {{spoiler|and endangers his own homeland and the world at large once he kills it.}} Oh, and while he's less outwardly sadistic than, say, Azula or Ozai? [[Jerkass|He still ''smirks'' when Ozai scars his own son's face.]]
** Unalaq, Korra's [[Evil Uncle]] from [[The Legend of Korra|the sequel series]] is basically a water-flavored Ozai. An unfeeling madman who wants to seize absolute power at all costs, he hides his cruelty, selfishness, and [[Lack of Empathy]] under the guise of wanting to unite the physical and spiritual worlds for the good of all. He manipulates his own family into giving him what he wants, [[Stupid Evil|and his obsessive desire to screw over his hated brother well beyond what's necessary ultimately sets the stage for his defeat.]]
** Flashback-only villain Yakone was a bloodbending mobster who took sadistic joy in horrifically killing and tormenting people by seizing control over their bodies. While he seemed to settle down after failing to kill Aang, when his wife gave birth to two water-bending sons, he showed his true colors by trying to twist them into weapons of vengeance through abusive [[Training From Hell]] without caring at all at the psychological damage he inflicted upon them. Even when he relented in light of one son running away and died a depressed and miserable wreck, it was less out of regret for how he treated his boys and more out of [[It's All About Me|self-pity over failing to avenge his failures against the Avatar.]]
* [[Jerkass|Eric Cartman]] in ''[[South Park]]''. Let's see, he has no conscience, he's incredibly racist, oh, and he *deep breath* {{spoiler|tried to restart the Nazi movement, joined the Special Olympics and pretended to have Tourette's for personal gain, put a classmate in a ''Saw''-inspired trap, infected one of his friends with AIDS somehow, oh and turned a kid's parents into chili and fed it to him.}}
** He hates Jews and idolises [[Adolf Hitler]]. However he does not idolise Hitler because he hated Jews; he does so because Hitler was one of the greatest manipulators that history has ever known and Cartman is also a manipulator; thus he
** In the episode "Toilet Paper", Stan and Kyle confess to doing something bad, for which Butters had unfairly been blamed. Cartman literally [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|could not understand]] Stan and Kyle's guilt. In the end, he's the one who ends up confessing though... because he realized that he'd get off with a lighter punishment for confessing, not because he felt any guilt.
* Kevin
** Ultimately, it's [[Author's Saving Throw|revealed]] that for Osmosians like Kevin and Aggregor, using their powers to absorb energy (which Kevin did as a kid, and Aggregor still does) induces [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|a sociopathy-like state]]. Kevin stopped absorbing energy before ''Alien Force'' began, which was what allowed him to regain his sanity.
* [[Big Bad]] Slade from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''. He admits as much in "The End: Part 2".
* [[Word of God]] describes the villains Jackal and Hyena from ''[[Gargoyles]]'' as sociopaths.
* The Ice King from ''[[Adventure Time]]'' is a rare sympathetic example, as his sociopathy [[Jerkass Woobie|
** The Ice King is more of a Narcissist than a Sociopath: he's self-centered, but his main obsession is with getting other people to praise him and acknowledge how great he is. Unfortunately, the only way he can think of making people like him is to force them to. The Ice King is also genuinely embarrassed when he appears foolish in front of prospective brides, something a sociopath wouldn't really care about. Really...a sociopath would have forced himself on a princess long ago. As a Narcissist, the Ice King kidnaps princesses...so that he can force them to socialize with him at his castle, "interrogating" them about inane little details about their likes and dislikes.
** Lemongrab is a sociopath by the
* ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' has King Julien XIII. He lies with a smile, he manipulates people, he treats people as objects, he often loses his temper, he lays claim to a job he's clearly not qualified for, and of course he never admits that he has a problem with any of those things. All this is covered by wit and charm and hilarious antics.
** However, he also saves Skipper's life on a few occasions, has proved more then once that his "subjects" are the most important things to him, and has mustered up some empathy on several occasions. He is a case in point that not all sociopaths are monsters, and some may suffer themselves for their disorder.
* Mozenrath from ''[[Aladdin: The Series]]'' is this, much like Jafar. He's selfish, impulsive, sadistic, manipulative, and doesn't even bat an eye when Aladdin points out that his schemes could hurt innocent people.
* Most of the bad guys in ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' have shades of this. The Brotherhood is primarily filled with narcissistic and amoral mutants who, despite often been said to be more 'sympathetic' than normal, they're anything but when you take a good look at it. Pietro was self caring and allowed a train of bystanders be derailed and let it crash into one filled with fuel. Blob kidnapped Jean and showed incredibly creepy, rapist vibes, as well as other violent behaviour. Toad was amoral, selfish, vulgar, and cruel, with his attraction to Wanda being his only redeeming quality. Avalanche was aggressive and violent, and while he looked rather sympathetic in the second season, a number of things made it look like he was faking the nice guy persona he had during that season. Of the Acolytes, Pyro and Sabretooth are the closest we get to text book Sociopaths in a show for kids; the two attempted murder, [[For the Evulz|enjoyed their work]], and are pretty much the definition of why mutants ''may'' be a risk. Averted with Colossus and Gambit; the former a good guy forced to work for bad people, the latter a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Card Carrying]] [[Card-Carrying Villain|Villain]].
* The [[Big Bad]] of Season 1 of ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'', Prince Phobos.
* Jeff, Quagmire's sister's abusive boyfriend from one episode of ''[[Family Guy]]''. As if beating his girlfriend over the smallest things wasn't monstrous enough. The gang has had enough of him and decide to take him to the woods to kill him, but he turns the tables on them, [[Shoo Out the Clowns|knocks out Peter and Joe,]] and [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|beats Quagmire within an inch of his life, seemingly choking him to death]]. {{spoiler|Then it turns out Quagmire survived [[Chekhov's Gun|(since he chokes himself for sexual pleasure)]], and rams Jeff into a tree, killing him.}}
* Starscream from ''[[Transformers Prime]]''. While being a treacherous power-hungry cretin is a given since, hey, he's ''Starscream'', this incarnation of the character is also a monstrous sadist who loves inflicting pain on others.
* [[Future Me Scares Me|Dark Danny]] from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' ''definitely'' counts as this. He feels no emotion, single-handedly caused an apocalypse, and [[Batman Gambit|ruthlessly manipulated all the people who loved his past self]], to their ''[[Stuff Blowing Up|horrible deaths]]'' to ensure he would exist as he did.
* Discord, the villain from the first two episodes of season two of ''[[My Little Pony:
* Despite heavy censorship, ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'' still managed to make their version of Cletus Kasady, aka Carnage, into a bonafide psychopath, portraying him as a [[Laughing Mad]] [[Mad Bomber|Bomber]], who cackles with glee at the possibility of vaporising an entire city
* Miss Power from ''[[Word Girl]]'' counts. She [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulates the entire town into bullying each other]], she teaches [[Word Girl]] to mock the other villains, she throws Mrs. Botsford into jail for a disagreement they had, she [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|severly beats up WordGirl]], and she tries to kill Dr. Two-Brains. This was all her plan to [[Take Over the World]]. Also, she's one of the few villains in the show that do not have any redeeming qualities.
* Harm from ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' ''tries'' to be this so that he can be [[Pure Is Not Good|pure]] enough to wield the Sword of Beowulf. {{spoiler|He murdered his own little sister Greta because he loved her, and that love was the only thing holding him back.}} It ultimately doesn't work out for Harm because deep down it's only an act: {{spoiler|the moment he sees his sister's ghost his repressed guilt gets the better of him and the Sword rejects him.}}
* Dr. Londo from ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'' shows a complete lack of empathy ([[Abusive Parents|especially towards his son]]), and considers morals and ethics to be pointless obstructions of scientific progress. He manipulates people around him to do his dirty work, playing on the Legion's sense of empathy to capture his son, and showing his son how far he can go when he's pushed to the limit a few years later. He is certainly arrogant enough to believe that his works (which involves human and animal experimentation) are masterful creations of life, that people should thank him for these 'gifts', and feels no remorse when called out on how cruel his experiments are. And he is not above using violence (through his creations) in order to enslave people.
* ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' has plenty.
** Palpatine, as per usual. He's as manipulative as ever, and plants the seeds for Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader with his honeyed words and lies. During the rare moments where he's an active threat as Darth Sidious, he has ''way'' too much fun torturing and killing people, as shown by {{spoiler|what he did to Savage Opress and Darth Maul}}.
** {{spoiler|Darth Maul}} himself is a... complicated example of this trope. {{spoiler|[[Dark and Troubled Past|Thanks to Palpatine's cruel tutelage he was molded into a remorseless killer as a boy]], and his defeat and near-death at Obi-Wan's hands back during ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' left him [[Ax Crazy|missing a few screws]], even after his mind was restored post-[[Sanity Slippage]]. Vicious enough to slaughter an innocent village just to lure his hated enemy out and spiteful enough to force him to watch as he murders his [[Love Interest]], Maul revels in his cruelty and doesn't give a damn who he hurts so long as he can have his revenge. He also picked up a few tips from his master in being a [[Manipulative Bastard]], given how surprisingly adept he is at convincing people to do what he wants. ''However'', [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|he's also close to his brother Savage and is devastated when he dies.]] But being as emotionally stunted as he is, he has a hard time properly expressing it beyond a gentler master and student relationship modeled after his own apprenticeship under Palpatine.}}
** While he didn't get much time to showcase it in ''Revenge of the Sith'', [[General Ripper|General Grievous]] is a hilariously low-functioning sociopath here. A notorious Jedi killer and war criminal, Grievous loves nothing more than killing as many people as he can via the carnage of warfare, no matter if his victims are active enemy combatants or innocent civilians. [[Hair-Trigger Temper|He has an awful temper and even worse self-control]], and the slightest provocation will lead to him [[Bad Boss|killing his own Battle Droids as a form of stress relief.]] [[Pet the Dog|The only positive relationship he has is with his pet monster Gor]], but even then, it's far from unheard of for sociopaths to genuinely love animals while lacking empathy in more crucial areas in their lives.
** [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Wat Tambor]] of the Techno Union is your typical greedy separatist leader, except he isn't ''just'' a money-grubbing businessman. He's also a vicious conqueror and heartless [[Mad Scientist]] who views the people he has power over as resources to exploit, whether it's using noncombatants as human shields or primitive tribals as fodder for his twisted experiments. When Anakin and the Bad Batch rescue {{spoiler|Echo, a Clone Trooper-turned tortured living computer}}, he acts as if they're stealing lab equipment rather than rescuing a sentient being.
** Bounty hunter Cad Bane is cold, calculating, and unfeeling, seeing the people around him as targets at worst and tools at best. He has no ethics or morals and will take even the dirtiest jobs if it means he gets a fat paycheck out of it, going as far as kidnapping force-sensitive babies for Palpatine to use in inhumane Sith experiments.
** Another sociopathic bounty hunter would be Aurra Sing, a truly remorseless killer who is willing to execute wounded soldiers begging for mercy as well as abandoning an entire group of clone children to die while mustering up barely any kind of emotional response aside from cold amusement. While she plays the role of Boba Fett's adoptive mother for a time, she doesn't hesitate to ditch him once it's clear that they're fighting a losing battle against the Jedi.
** Moralo Eval, the [[Arc Villain]] of the "Obi-Wan Undercover Arc" became a criminal as a boy, when he murdered his mom "because (he) was bored". He'd grow up to be an eerily detached, egotistical, cold-blooded criminal who impulsively betrays his allies and kills whoever he wishes purely on a whim. While intelligent enough to create near-flawless death traps and well-laid kidnapping plans, [[Evil is Petty|his petty desire to undermine and kill "Rako Hardeen"]] (actually a disguised Obi-Wan Kenobi) ends up costing him the leadership of his own kidnapping plot, which Count Dooku promptly hands over to the higher-functioning, equally sociopathic Cad Bane.
** [[Always Chaotic Evil|The Zygerrians as a whole]] seem to be an entire ''species'' of sociopaths. Their culture is one built on the enslavement and total domination of other species, and just about every single named Zygerrian views the people beneath them as little more than cattle to exploit and torture in any way they see fit. Even their queen, who falls in love with an enslaved Anakin, [[Lack of Empathy|refuses to take his feelings into account]] and [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|genuinely can't understand why he'd be unhappy with the life she forces him to live.]]
** Riff Tamson, the main villain of the Mon Calamari War Arc strings people along with intimidation and false promises of mercy before taking cruel joy out of their pain when he inevitably turns on them. He has no loyalty to anyone aside from Count Dooku, has a sadistic love of murder and torture, and is easily provoked into anger by people who so much as merely annoy him. Regardless, he has a better handle on his basest impulses than most examples on this page and is a ''brutally'' effective [[Genius Bruiser]].
** The villain of the Umbara Arc, {{spoiler|Pong Krell}}. At the best of times he ''merely'' appears to be a stubborn and confrontational [[Jerkass]], but even before he's outed as a would-be Separatist and {{spoiler|aspiring Sith Lord}} he's defined by his refusal to see the men under his command as anything other than disposable pawns that he can throw into the meat grinder until he wins his battles through pure attrition. {{spoiler|When the Clone Troopers under his command realize that he tricked them into trying to kill each other and has been trying to lose the Umbara campaign on purpose, he's happy to finally have an excuse to slaughter them himself and goes out of his way to toy with them during the killing spree that follows. When he's arrested and executed for his crimes, he dies smug and unrepentant to the very end, giving ''this'' as his justification for manipulating and betraying the Clones.}}
{{quote|[[It Amused Me|"Because I '''can!''']] [[Victim Blaming|Because you '''fell for it!''']] [[Fantastic Racism|Because you're '''''inferior."''''']]}}
* Plankton from ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' is an arrogant megalomaniac that suffers from a ''serious'' [[Napoleon Complex]], possessing a grandiose sense of entitlement and an ego as vast as the deep blue sea despite his puny size. While he's good at stringing people along in his never-ending quest to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, it doesn't take a whole lot of prodding for his awful temper to rear its ugly head and torpedo his own carefully laid plans. No crimes are off-limits so long as it helps further his goals, and they eventually escalate in severity to the point that in the movie (which is chronologically the [[Grand Finale]]), he's willing to murder anyone who gets in his way and turns Bikini Bottom into a dystopian hellhole that he crushes under his heel just so he can get a leg up over his hated enemy Mr. Krabs.
* In ''[[The Boondocks]]'', sociopathy seems to be a hereditary trait for [[Big Screwed-Up Family|the Wuncler family]]. Family patriarch Ed Wuncler Sr. is an [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|unethical businessman who happily exploits and abuses the people around him in his pursuit of the mighty dollar]], and is willing to sink to lows such as turning a doe-eyed little girl into a debt slave or endangering his grandson's life without the slightest hesitation just to further his goals. If there's a positive thing that can be said about him though, [[Pragmatic Villainy|it's that he's a high functioning sociopath who knows how to keep himself in check.]] The same can ''not'' be said for his son Ed Jr., [[Ax Crazy|who is an openly violent and murderous loan shark]] who seems to trap desperate people in debt for the sake of terrorizing them as opposed to making money off of them. Even Ed III, [[A Lighter Shade of Black|who is capable of forming genuine friendships with people]], is still an impulsive nutcase whose violent outbursts and suicidally moronic antics make him a danger to himself and others.
== [[Real Life]] ==
''NOTE: Individuals cited in this section must actually be professionally diagnosed with sociopathy''.
* Ted Bundy. He raped, tortured and murdered women for several years, including two 12-year-old girls, while appearing to lead an exemplary life. Yes, this sadistic [[Serial Killer]] was a member of the Crime Prevention Council, a political staffer, and a volunteer at a suicide hotline. If Ted hadn't done "those things", today he'd probably be holding elective office.
* Hermann Göring, the Reich Marshal of [[Nazi Germany]] and the initial second-in-command to [[Adolf Hitler]]. Also the founder of the [[Secret Police|Gestapo]]. He was diagnosed as a narcissistic sociopath, and found to have the highest IQ among the Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials. Cruel, corrupt and self-indulgent, he amassed enormous wealth at the expense of his country, during wartime. Neither did he give two shits about any National Socialist ideals - when they asked him why he joined the Nazi movement in the first place, his explanation pretty much boiled down to "I did it [[For the Evulz]]."
** And yet
*** Not to mention, his first wife
* Robert Hare estimates that around 1% of the population is made up of psychopaths. Other
** It should be noted that those percentages mostly account for
{{reflist}}
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