History Main / FriendToPsychos

* On an episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'', Creator/LiliTaylor played a blind woman who shared a one-way PsychicLink with a serial killer[[note]]who turned out to be her father[[/note]] and cleaned up his crime scenes after him.

* Shinra Kishitani in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. His only friends are Shizuo; a man with incredible strength and [[HairTriggerTemper rages]] known for causing mass damage, and Izaya; a complete psychopath who expresses his love for humanity (minus Shizuo) by manipulating everyone to gauge their reactions. Shinra is the only person Izaya genuinely cares for and one of the few with a slightly lower likelihood of Shizuo hitting them. However, despite being friends with them since childhood, Shinra couldn't care less if they died as long as Celty was there.

** With the exception of Harley Quinn, most of the Joker's henchmen didn't seem to share in his psychosis; they largely seemed to [[OnlyInItForTheMoney be in it only for the money]], or because they were too scared of the Joker to refuse. The series and its spinoff comics seemed to be aware of this discrepancy sometimes, having the Joker operate alone or with only Harley. In "The Last Laugh", they partially solved the problem by having the chief henchman be literally a mindless robot, which [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman makes it okay for the animators to show Batman "killing" the thug onscreen]].

* Speaking of the Joker, one of his most reoccuring allies in crossovers is none another than ''Lex Luthor.'' Despite the bickering and the two being on rather opposite ends, they work commonly well together and oddly get along. For Lex, it is partly pragmatic, knowing that not including the Joker may offend the Clown Prince of Crime and have him [[SpannerInTheWorks mess with your plans]], hence why to have him on board.

On the other hand, if the [[ReluctantPsycho psycho is trying their best not to be]] then a Type III is a very helpful ally to have -- such steadfast loyalty can help give the psycho the critical support they need to keep on the path towards dealing with their unwell mind Types I and II become dangerous obstacles in the psycho's quest to stop being one. Type IV would be more of a crapshoot in this regard, since the motivations of the Friend could be anywhere from benevolent, to well-meaning but in over their head and letting love/infatuation blind them, to just selfish.

Whatever the case, expect the Friend to Psychos to be responsible for throwing the police off the trail, disposing of bodies, giving the psycho a place to hide, and fighting TheHero when they come to take the psycho down. If the character is a Type I or II, expect him to be secretly manipulating the psycho as much as, if not more than, the psycho is manipulating him. Types I and II are ''extremely'' unlikely to undergo a HeelFaceTurn, and might even play the SmugSnake, taunting the heroes by explaining that [[LawfulEvil since they haven't done anything outwardly illegal, they can't be punished]]. In fact, villains of these first two types might be so cunning that they won't hesitate to [[FalseFlagOperation have the psychos stage attacks on]] ''[[FalseFlagOperation them]]'', the better to distance themselves from the psychos in the public mind. Types III and IV are much more likely to be complete dupes of a psycho's machinations and to be pitied by the audience: they're bound to either change their ways after [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing what they have helped to bring about]] or to be killed or betrayed by the psycho along with everyone else (because, hey, he's a psycho). On the other hand, if the [[ReluctantPsycho psycho is trying their best not to be]] then a Type III is a very helpful ally to have; a Type IV would be more of a crapshoot in this regard, since the motivations of the Friend could be anywhere from benevolent to well-meaning but in over their head and letting love/infatuation blind them to just selfish.

* Whenever [[TheBrute The Great Khali]] is cast as a heel, he's accompanied by a normal-sized man in a suit ([[Wrestling/ShawnDaivari Khosrow Daivari]], Ranjin Singh, Jinder Mahal) who is even more evil than Khali is but [[WickedCultured outwardly respectable]]. This man's job is basically to give Khali permission to go on his rampages. Singh was revealed to be actually Khali's [[UnrelatedBrothers brother]], so at least he had an excuse.

* This forms the main plot of the third season of ''Series/{{Dexter}}''.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Beauty & the Beasts," Debbie tries to cover for her boyfriend Pete when he starts going through a JekyllAndHyde situation. She's not very good at it, though. The inevitable contrasts are drawn with Buffy's relationship with Angel, who's just come BackFromTheDead after his murderous rampage in Season 2, a fact that Buffy is concealing from her friends.

* [[MeaningfulName Kreig the Psychopath]] can ally with any of the non crazies in {{VideoGame/Borderlands 2}} to murder the endless number of foes that you face. The psycho {{mooks}} that Kreig is based off of also have allies that range from being just as crazy as they are, to relatively(no one on Pandora is all there) sane. Most notably, Kreig is in love with Maya, one of the other characters. Due to him being a nutjob, he finds it hard to convey his feelings, but he gets "close enough."
** Actually, most of the people on Pandora are {{axe crazy}} one way or another including your NPC allies.