Psychopath

Psychopaths and Sociopaths are villains associated with antisocial personality disorder, specifically a subset/personality construct known as psychopathy. They lack and/or have an absence of empathy, guilt, moral conscience, and/or emotional connections, as well as an egocentric worldview; as a result, they tend to be violent, twisted, manipulative, and with rare exceptions, they are unable to feel remorse. They are rarely in love, because they are mostly incapable of true love, although some of them are protective towards a select few while still being ruthless and uncaring toward everyone else. More often than not, Pure Evil villains tend to be psychopaths (though not all; it's a specific list of traits) due to their lack of remorse and ability to feel love. Because of their inability to feel remorse and lack of moral compass, they are unlikely to redeem themselves, unless they are high functioning and softening toward others to an extent, they leave their villainous career despite themselves (e.g. Beverly Hofstadter, Alie Peters, Laina The Killer and Tony Stonem). For this reason, it is very unlikely for anti-villains, extremists, morally ambiguous villains, villains by proxy, redeemed villains, affably evil villains, vigilantes, comic reliefs, and/or incompetent villains to be psychopaths, though exceptions exist (e.g. Hisoka Morow, Solf J. Kimblee, Black Suit, Tom Ripley, Sakyo, Henry Stickmin, Alastor, Scaramouche, Judge Wargrave, Sho Minamimoto, the Winter King, Makima, Tohru Adachi, Herrscher of the Corruption, Raymond Sullivan, Spooky, and Alice Morgan).

Psychopaths are NOT crazy or psychotic and are often mistaken for being so, as psychopathy and psychosis are considered mutual exclusives. However, they are still considered unstable and highly capable of hurting others without hesitation and compunction due to their lack of restraint and empathy; they are merely emotionally detached, not mentally. On the other hand, psychotic people could be thought of as their polar opposites; they sense things that aren't there, suffer from violent and/or delusional episodes or breaks from reality, and often do not fully understand or are aware about what they are doing.

In fiction, it is common for psychopaths to come in two different forms:

• High-functioning: The cold-hearted and, in theory, more dangerous kind of social predator. If a villain is consistently apathetic towards other people's feelings but is capable of using a façade to blend in with society, they will usually fall here. These kinds of psychopaths maintain high impulse control and are able to recognize the consequences of their actions, but are generally more cunning, calculating and manipulative. They exercise superficial charm to adapt to society and tend to be expert liars. When committing wrongdoings, they may plan them in advance to avoid getting caught easily or at least carry them out when in a situation where they are guaranteed to not get caught. Though they try to make themselves look normal to the public, they are often emotionally hollow, callous, possess a grandiose sense of entitlement and care little for anyone but themselves, seeing people as tools to use for their own benefit. Emperor Palpatine, Dimentio, Hans Gruber, Lalo Salamanca, Iago, Light Yagami, Griffith, Louis Bloom, Frank Underwood, Emperor Belos, Amy Elliot-Dunne, and Masayuki Kaneki are examples. In the uncommon cases where a psychopath redeems themselves, they are almost always from the high functioning type.
• Low-functioning: Usually, low-functioning psychopaths do not conform to basic social standards. They are eager to flaunt their pride, act on destructive impulse and have very little regard for the consequences of their actions. As such, these variants are hot-headed villains who seemingly live without shame and may or may not bring harm to others or themselves depending on the circumstances of their situation through careless misdeeds. While some symptoms of a high-functioning psychopath may be present in a low-functioning one, such as a constant need for stimulation; displaying some intelligence; emulating emotions and innocence when necessary; grandiose self-importance; or habitual lying, these kinds of psychopaths are quick to lose their whole façade and become openly hostile (or even violent) when things do not go their way. If caught or confronted for committing villainous deeds, it is very easy for them to show no genuine remorse and outright refuse to accept responsibility for their actions (e.g. Ramsay Bolton, Joffrey Baratheon, Eric Cartman, Kilgrave, Kurt Kunkle, Big Jack Horner, Alex DeLarge, Dandy Mott, Evelyn Claythorne, Monty de la Cruz and Calvin Candie).

NOTE: It isn't necessary for a psychopath to specifically conform to the high-functioning or low-functioning categories. Sometimes a psychopath can have traits of both types (e.g. Dio Brando, Bill Cipher, Syndrome, Anton Chigurh, Lord Voldemort, All For One, Dark Danny, Rick Prime, Micah Bell, Mark Hoffman, William Afton, Dick Hardly, Harley Sawyer, Yomi Hellsmile, and Doma).

Psychopathy, especially high-functioning forms, is usually a persistent condition from birth caused by genetics, though it can also be caused by a succession of horrific events that warped the moral center of said characters (e.g. Johan Liebert, Prince Hans, Mr. Skinner, Herrscher of the Sexual Desire, Vincent, Michio Yuki, Jason Dean, Makima, Apollyon, Prince, Monaca Towa, Evil Morty, Vicious (Netflix), Hela (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Drolta Tzuentes, Kwon Jae-Sung, Oh Sangwoo, Donatello Versus and Petyr Baelish). Furthermore, psychopaths may have redeeming qualities (even if it doesn't lead them to redemption), as long as the aforementioned qualities don't contradict their lack of empathy.

Just because a villain is vengeful or wrathful and therefore adapts violent tendencies or has antisocial tendencies does not necessarily make them psychopaths unless they exhibit most or all signs of the disorder.

Notes[]

• Do not add this category to organizations or species. It is an individual affliction, and thus only individuals can be diagnosed with it.
• As mentioned above, DO NOT categorize psychopathic villains as also mentally ill, dissociative, or psychotic under this category because, as mentioned above, those types of villains are not completely aware of reality or their identity and suffer severely from various other mental health issues while psychopaths though they have a twisted moral center are completely aware of their reality at all times and don't present the crippling effects of mental illness associated with the other neurotype categories.
• Supernatural beings, aliens, monsters, demons, plants or artificial Intelligence (e.g. It, Skynet, The Mimic, Valak, Mind Flayer, Overlord, Invictus, Orb, Vaatu, and King Ghidorah) normally do not count because their psychological mindset may often differ from that of humans. They could count if it is explicitly and clearly shown that their minds function and behave in a similar manner to humans (e.g. The Lich, General Lunaris, The Singularity, Ghirahim, Randall Boggs, Thrax, Eleanor, Cell, Aku, the Dark Lord, and AM). Anthropomorphic characters can also count if they display all the requirements (e.g. Scar, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, Dawn Bellwether, Hopper, Jimmy Crystal, Katz, Dag, Feathers McGraw, and Steele).
• Of course, as it's a personality construct, psychopathy can only apply to villains with defined personalities and characterization. Insufficiently characterized villains (e.g. MegaBug, Dharkon, Zalgo, Clammadon, Wither Storm, Drip and Ooze, Big Brother, Tangle, Evil Alien Jellien Overlord and Tabuu) can never count.