The Sociopath: Difference between revisions

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[[The Sociopath]] is a character with a marked [[Lack of Empathy]], a [[It's All About Me|self-centered disposition]], a disregard for social norms and ethics, a propensity for using [[The Charmer|charm]], [[Consummate Liar|lies]], [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulation]] or [[Blood Knight|outright violence]] to get his way, a reckless and shamelessly impulsive streak, and [[For the Evulz|a heart black as pitch]]. They show no remorse and can describe gruesome events in a nonchalant manner that many find creepy. When many people hear the term "[[Complete Monster]]" they often think of this personality type.

The [[Trope Namer]] is an old edition of the [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/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 [[Useful Notes/Lack of Empathy]] for more detailed information.

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 [[Useful Notes/Lack of Empathy]] for more detailed information.

Compare [[Sociopathic Hero]] and [[Comedic Sociopathy]].

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"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 chesspieces and only emitting shallow emotions? Check. Experiences extreme rage and is uplifted when hurting enemies? Check. That's just in the movies. The expanded universe has him being a sociopath even when he was a kid (including [[Self Made Orphan|murdering his parents and siblings]]), and is incapable of feeling regret when committing heinous actions and various misdemeanors (including manslaughter when driving like a maniac). His cloning attempts only make his sociopathy even worse.

* Emperor Palpatine from [[Star Wars]] certainly qualifies. [[Lack of Empathy]] ? Check. Manipulates people like chesspieces and only emitting shallow emotions? Check. Experiences extreme rage and is uplifted when hurting enemies? Check. That's just in the movies. The expanded universe has him being a sociopath even when he was a kid (including [[Self-Made Orphan|murdering his parents and siblings]]), and is incapable of feeling regret when committing heinous actions and various misdemeanors (including manslaughter when driving like a maniac). His cloning attempts only make his sociopathy even worse.

* James Moriarty is portrayed as such in [[Sherlock Holmes (Film)|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.

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*** 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 Seven ~~(TV)~~|Blakes Seven]]'' is another rare female example.

* [[Big Bad|Servalan]] of ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]'' is another rare female example.

* 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 ''[[I Carly]]''. The only thing she cares about is [[I Just Want to Have Friends|to make friends]], but her perception of what counts as "friends" is so horrifically skewed that she believes ''locking the iCarly gang in her basement against their will'' qualifies, ignoring their repeated expressions of the fact they don't even like her, believing she can ''force'' people to be her friends. She has absolutely no remorse for holding people against their will and outright tries to ''murder'' Gibby when he comes to save the iCarly gang. In her second appearence, she once more holds them against their will by ''holding Spenser hostage'' and torturing him on a giant wheel to keep the iCarly gang under control, even implying she can and will ''kill him'' if it comes to it. She also shows the [[Manipulative Bitch]] qualities of the trope, feigning remorse for her actions to trick the iCarly gang into agreeing to release her from prison and luring them into her trap again. She's also confirmed to be a sociopath [[In Universe]], even referring to herself as one.

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** Of course, [[Complete Monster|Moriarty]] is as usual an actual one, and [[Evil Counterpart|just as brilliant as Sherlock]].

* Charlie Harper from ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'' probably qualifies as a sociopath. For starters, he often shamelessly sleeps around and manipulates women (and the only time he doesn't try to sleep with a woman is if that woman is married, although sleeping unknowingly with a married woman happens as well) and some of the instances possibly could also qualify as statuatory rape or require him by law to get registered as a sex offender had it been real life, and he doesn't seem to have any remorse for what he did. He's also extremely dispicable around those near him.

* The Master from ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]]'' is this with a generous helping of [[A God Am I|megalomania]].

* The Master from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' is this with a generous helping of [[A God Am I|megalomania]].

* There's a good chance that Mordred from ''[[Merlin (TV)|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.

* [[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.

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* 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 monsterous 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.}}

* Jeff, Quagmire's sister's abusive boyfriend from one episode of ''[[Family Guy]]''. As if beating his girlfriend over the smallest things wasn't monsterous 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]]''.

* [[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: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''. He loves to [[Break the Cutie|break ponies]] [[For the Evulz]], [[Lack of Empathy|feels no empathy]], finds anything [[Good Is Boring|non-chaotic boring]], [[Manipulative Bastard|is very good at controlling everypony]], and cares only about himself and his own amusement, and is also suppose to be the perfect opposite of harmony. It's a shock they not only got a villain this scary, but [[Vile Villain Saccharine Show|such a graphic example of a Sociopath in a TV-Y show that looks very sugary at a glance]].

* 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 block--himself included--in his first appearance. He shows no remorse for his actions, and after becoming Carnage is downright eager to get back in action and start stealing souls for Dormammu (an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] who will consume the souls of everyone in the world if he is unleashed). He displays no regard for human life (least of all his own) and goes out of his way to injure anyone who tries to help him, including his psychiatrist, Anne Kafka.

* 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.

* 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.

* [[Spongebob SquarePants|Squidward Tentacles]]. He's arrogant, and doesn't seem to care for pretty much anyone but himself. An example would be when Mr. Krabs handcuffed someone [[Lack of Empathy|he refused to help uncuff him]]. Most of his paintings and statues are of himself, he genuinely calls others imbeciles, and in a few episodes he crosses the [[Moral Event Horizon]] by being elated that [[SpongeBob]] or Patrick would be leaving, and in a flashback he tried using voo-doo dolls on them.

** Of course, this is mostly after [[Seasonal Rot]] and Flanderization. In the seasons preceding [[The Movie]], he was largely a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]].

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[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:The Sociopath]]

[[Category:Trope]]