History TheSociopath / Literature

** IT itself is a sadistic interdimensional predator who, despite feeding on children, also takes its time to instill as much fear into its potential victim for as long as it could to make their meat taste sweeter. In addition, It has a grandiose sense of self-importance where it views humanity as below him and even the Turtle, another being from the Macroverse that it begrudgingly accepts as an equal, is nothing more than an old fool.

* ''Literature/{{Under Suspicion|Series}} has a few villains with sociopathic traits.

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* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil'', we have the titular character herself, who has virtually zero empathy for others and makes no acts of kindness that aren't meant to further her own career in some way; the few moral conflicts she has in the light novel have minimal impact on her actions and are cut entirely from the manga and anime. She casually sends upstart soldiers under her command to their death without a second thought, and tries using her childish demeanor to guilt trip and manipulate a captain into retiring early to eliminate him as a competitor. Everything she does comes back to her goal of climbing the ranks and landing herself in a safe rear-line position, and she never looks back on her actions with remorse. Interestingly, this and the fact that her mindset effectively comes from almost a century ahead of the setting also result in constant miscommunications and misinterpreting the actions of others.

* ''Literature/TheDinner'': Rick murders a homeless woman for no other reason than she was a) in his way and b) smelled really bad, [[spoiler:Michel kills his cousin Beau because he tried to blackmail them, Paul has some violent tendencies himself, and none of these people show much- or any- remorse or guilt over their actions. Claire may also have some sociopathic traits, if her attack on Serge is anything to judge]].

** [[DarkActionGirl Bellatrix Lestrange]] and Barty Crouch Jr aren't far behind Voldemort. Both are unrepentant serial killers and torture tacticians, fanatical racists, mentally unhinged, both having murdered family members of their own (Bella killed her cousin Sirius, while Barty killed his father Barty Crouch Sr) utterly devoted to Voldemort who they seem to revere as a deity and may be their only true "attachment." Case in point, Bellatrix is married but does ''EVERYTHING'' she does for Voldemort, whom she is said to "love." Barty on the other hand, is not stated to have loved either of his parents, completely disregards the fact that his mother sacrificed herself to get him out of prison and immediately sought to rejoin Voldemort. Upon re-entering the services of Voldemort, he begins torturing, manipulating and killing again. It can even be construed that his tears during his trial were a farce in an attempt to manipulate his dad to not throw him in jail.

* ''Literature/FreakTheMighty'': Kenny Kane also known by his nickname “Killer Kane” is a psychopath who murdered his wife when his son Max was very young causing him to have PTSD and survivors guilt. Years later when he is released from prison [[FalselyReformedVillain pretending to have reformed himself]] he violates his parole and ignores the restraining order by kidnapping his son Max from his grandparents house. He sees his son as “dumb animal” and isn’t above [[AbusiveParents psychologically and physically abusing him]] by tying him up and claiming that [[BlatantLies he didn’t kill his mother]] despite Max witnessing the act. When one of Kenny’s friends tries to help Max escape he tries to strangle her to death the same way he did to his wife right in front of Max, when Max finally confronts his dad he tries to kill him and would have succeeded if not for [[BigDamnHeroes Freaks arrival]].
* ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'':
** Averted with Prince Hans in this TieInNovel to ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', an adaptation that fleshes out his backstory and gives a strong reason why he becomes a miserable person in the first place. While he does show aspects of sociopaths and is confirmed to be one in the movie by the creators, this PerspectiveFlip makes him a more three-dimensional TragicVillain. This is mainly through a strong FreudianExcuse and having people that he genuinely cares for, his brother [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Lars]] and [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas their mother]], on top of the self-loathing and InferioritySuperiorityComplex that he's been harboring for years. It's implied his decision to act like one are him mirroring his family's abrasiveness [[WellDoneSonGuy in order to earn their respect]] and to hide his perceived shortcomings.
** Played straight with [[spoiler:Hans' father, the King of the Southern Isles]]. He cares nothing for neither his family (including his wife and 13 sons) nor his subjects, as he's a petty tyrant who uses DisproportionateRetribution against anyone who refuses to pay taxes or insults him. He also sees his family as disposable tools he can abuse on a whim, using emotional manipulation to warp his sons into his sycophants and deliberately picking favorites amongst them.
* ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'': Gauron is a CombatSadomasochist and DeathSeeker with a HairTriggerTemper, NoSenseOfPersonalSpace, NoSocialSkills, an utter LackOfEmpathy, and [[StalkerWithACrush an obsession]] with the hero that borders on the ephebophiliac. His successor as BigBad, Mr. Gates, is worse, being an example of psychopathy at its purest. Like Gauron he's a BadBoss with a ridiculously exaggerated HairTriggerTemper, and a total LackOfEmpathy. He's also a LargeHam 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 [[ILoveTheDead a dead body]], and takes a completely [[AxCrazy 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, [[SmugSnake Leonard Tesstarossa]] who's more of a {{Narcissist}} than this.

* Franchise/HannibalLecter, a SerialKiller, an EvilGenius and a MagnificentBastard {{Ubermensch}}, is arguably the TropeCodifier for the stereotype of TheSociopath as an exceptionally charismatic supergenius who is simply just ''perfect''. In Real Life, most sociopaths have been shown to have low [=IQs=], though the "Hannibal Lecter archetype" has been so ingrained in popular culture that everyone thinks all sociopaths are Hannibal Lecter. Ironically, Lecter is actually a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]. In ''Literature/RedDragon'', it is pointed out that, although Lecter has some characteristics typical of sociopaths, such as lack of remorse or sense of guilt, he does not exhibit many others such as shallowness of emotions or being a drifter. Will Graham states that "they say he's a sociopath, because they don't know what else to call him".

* O'Brien from ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. He takes the "deceptively charismatic" aspect of the trope so far that Winston finds himself feeling a begrudging admiration for the man ''even as O'Brien is torturing him''. The ultimate goal of the Party is to create a world entirely of sociopaths, where any attachment between individuals will be eliminated and everyone will care for nothing except what benefits the Party.

* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' has Keifer Porter. Very vain, charming if he wanted to be, good at manipulating people, even though he was rather stupid otherwise, and ready to do horrible things with little or no provocation. He is also implied to have been easily bored. While he did [[spoiler: sleep with his sister]], he seems to have been unable to form emotional relationships, seeing as his wives adored him and did everything to keep him happy, which didn't stop him from torturing their little sister. [[spoiler: And killing her father, and taking part in a conspiracy to kill them.]]
* Kazou Kiriyama from ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' has no qualms about letting a simple coin toss decide whether he'll play the game to win or try to fight it, killing multiple classmates of his in very painful ways and even seems impervious to a lot of pain that would cripple other people. He even ''cut his own arm open and taped a tendon differently'' so he'd regain usage of his index finger. [[spoiler: It's revealed that his behavior likely came from a birth defect.]]
** The movie version depicts him as more of a sadist, having ''volunteered'' for the program, relishing every moment of his violence. One moment in particular has him gunning down two people trying to call for a truce, broadcasting their screams of pain through a megaphone.
** [[TheVamp Mitsuko Souma]] is equally ruthless and seemingly remorseless as Kiriyama when it comes to killing her classmates, although she turns out to have one hell of a FreudianExcuse, as it's later revealed that she has, [[spoiler:among other things, been raped and sexually abused multiple times since the age of ''nine''. [[RapeLeadsToInsanity As a result]], she feels dead inside and doesn't care about anything but protecting herself.]]
*** [[ZenSurvivor Kawada]] even compares the two, and correctly identifies that while Kiriyama was likely born an EmptyShell, Mitsuko's cold-blooded nature likely developed as a response to her DarkAndTroubledPast.
* ''Literature/BloodMeridian'': Judge Holden is a charismatic mass murderer and (probable) child rapist who charms and muscles his way into leading a gang of scalp hunters through TheWildWest. He has a pathological obsession with domination to the extent that he compulsively documents everyone and everything around him as a way of exerting power ("whatever exists without my knowledge exists without my consent") and justifies his various atrocities with a BloodKnight moral system [[BlueAndOrangeMorality in which war and murder are the ultimate good]].
** The Glanton gang in general seems to be comprised mainly of sociopaths, of which the judge is merely the biggest one and as such their "spiritual leader" in a way. They regularly commit horrible acts of violence first for profit, then for pleasure, and finally just out of nihilistic habit. Near the end it is shown that they have become so warped, they dont even seem to know how to function in civilized society
* Hugo Lamb from ''Literature/TheBoneClocks'' is a textbook example. Outwardly charming, his inner monologue reveals him to be a womanizer, a consummate liar, a thief, and an expert manipulator, who has no qualms about using others for his own ends. Hugo eventually takes a level in evil by [[spoiler: joining the Anchorites, an ancient brotherhood who [[ImmortalityImmorality make themselves immortal by destroying other souls]].]]
* Creator/TheBrothersGrimm: The WickedStepmother from ''Literature/TheJuniperTree'' decapitates her stepson and psychologically manipulates her own daughter into believing that she was responsible for her brother's death. She then forces her to help her hide the body by making a stew from it.
* Works by by Creator/CSLewis have some villains who qualify.
** ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''
*** Jadis the White Witch from ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' is up there with Iago. Superficial charm? Check. Above average intelligence? Check. Pathological egocentricity? You betcha! Incapacity for empathy or remorse? "So much for love."
*** [[TheCaligula Prince Rabadash]] in ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' might well be a clinical psychopath. He is brave enough in war (even reckless, in fact), fairly intelligent, and can apparently be rather charming when he bothers to be, but this last is only a mask of sanity. When free to behave naturally among his subjects, he is unrestrainedly abusive both verbally and physically, insulting and casually kicking his father's kneeling advisors. He also [[ConsummateLiar lies and betrays people]] very casually, is implied to be a rapist about as strongly as can be done in a children's book, and his reaction when Queen Susan rejects him is to launch a genocidal war on one of Narnia's allies to punish her. Throughout, he is never shown to care about anyone but himself.
** ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'':
*** In ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'', Major Hardcastle, head of the Institute's SecretPolice, is a sadist, with a pathological need for stimulation (which she admits, saying it helps her willingly do her job), and in fact on the very evening [[spoiler:Merlin sabotages the Institute]], was looking forward to running another torture session.
*** Whichever devil possesses Weston's body in ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}''. Charming enough to nearly sway the Lady, and when not tempting it tries to drive Ransom insane with a verbal variant of the water torture or else tortures as many Venusian critters as it can get Weston's hands on. And when Ransom finally confronts it, it asks, "Do you know who I am?" Ransom's ShutUpHannibal reply:
---->"I know what you are. Which of them doesn't matter."
** ''Literature/ThePilgrimsRegress'': Mister Savage. Lack of empathy? Looks forward to drinking blood out of the skull of one of the three silly Pale Men John and Vertue had met earlier in the chapter. Grandiose sense of self-importance? Sees himself as the greatest philosopher ever. And is compelling enough to win the loyalty of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans fanatics.
* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado'' has Montresor. It takes a special kind of screwed-up to kill someone who seems to consider you a friend over an insult. (It's worth noting that we don't even find out what said insult was.) And it wasn't an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment thing done in a burst of rage, either -- this is something that took a lot of preparation and planning, meaning Montresor thought this over for a good long time, and still went through with it. The killing itself is a truly horrific way to die, and anything but quick and painless. And he does this all with only a hint of remorse.

* [[{{Troll}} Izaya]] [[{{Jerkass}} Orihara]] of ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', who has absolutely no FreudianExcuse 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 [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates humans and supernatural beings]] ForTheEvulz, [[BreakTheCutie breaks many a cutie]], orders hits on his enemy, manipulates a ''ten year old {{Yakuza}} [[MafiaPrincess princess]] into [[spoiler: attempting to kill said enemy]]'', [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking stomps on a girl's cellphone while laughing like a maniac]] and generally [[EvilGloating hurting]] [[BigBrotherBully and]] [[AGodAmI using]] [[FalseFriend anyone]] [[TheChessmaster and]] [[DisproportionateRetribution every]][[BatmanGambit one]] [[DiabolicalMastermind who]] [[GreenEyedMonster comes]] [[KickTheDog in]] [[GuineaPigFamily contact]] [[PsychopathicManchild with]] [[ToxicFriendInfluence him]] [[LackOfEmpathy and not even giving a shit about who gets hurt]] [[ItAmusedMe and sadistically enjoys every minute of it]].

-->'''[[MeaningfulName Attila]]''': [[IronicEcho You stupid girl, what can I say? You should have kept out of my way.]]

* ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'' provides an example that encompasses an entire race. The goblins are born without any empathy or ability to self-reflect; they do not, will not, and more importantly ''cannot'' recognize the pain they inflict on their victims. They see themselves as the superior race against common sense, and feed into that sense of superiority by degrading others through deception and assault. At the same time, they are blind as to why some people would hunt them down as a result, [[NeverMyFault instead vowing to continue raping and murdering as revenge for something that was their own fault to begin with]]. Not that goblins need much more motivation anyway, because their short-term thinking and inability to delay gratification means they will almost never pursue anything beyond their destructive impulses. They don't even care for their own brethren, backstabbing and abuse being commonplace within their ranks. Most damningly, like any cornered sociopath they will default to [[WoundedGazelleGambit cheap sympathy-ploys]] akin to slipping a mask on -- there's no genuine sorrow present, just the hope that someone falls for their lies. The rank and file goblins act like low functioning sociopaths, while the smarter and more cunning classes of goblins act like high functioning ones.

* Steerpike from ''{{Literature/Gormenghast}}'' is played completely straight with absolutely no effort to humanise him. Peake manages to write the character so well that he becomes strongly likable to the reader even though they can hear his inner monologue and know exactly how monstrous he is. His crimes include [[spoiler: very effectively faking emotion to flatter his way up through society, burning down a library to emotionally cripple the duke (said burning also inadvertently kills an old man and he barely seems to notice, only pausing to steal the man's skull in case it might come in useful), rewrite the ancient law of the castle to benefit himself (which in universe is a lot more serious business than it sounds) and conspiring to kill the new duke (a child), burning and drowning his teacher to death, leaving his two co-conspirators to starve to death trapped in a single room and finally making the duke's sister fall in love with him purely for the power such a union would give him. He manages to do all this whole only arousing mild suspicion from other people in the castle because he's simply that good at it. When he eventually is outed as a monster he retreats into the depths of the castle and a giant manhunt is commenced to find him. He proceeds to kill any guards who find him alone and proves to be an incredibly dangerous force based purely on his willingness to kill others]].

* [[Literature/IAmNotASerialKiller John]] [[Literature/MrMonster Wayne]] [[Literature/IDontWantToKillYou 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.]]

* ''Literature/{{Julian}}'s'' brother Gallus can mark every square on the checklist. [[TheCaligula He gets far worse when he becomes Caesar.]]
* Creator/StephenKing:
** Randall Flagg from ''Literature/TheStand'' reads like a bullet list for antisocial personality disorder. He [[LackOfEmpathy has no concern for the wellbeing of others]], [[ItsAllAboutMe cares only about amassing more power for himself]], [[FauxAffablyEvil is able to feign politeness towards others]], [[ConsummateLiar sounds completely sincere when he's lying through his teeth]], and [[ManipulativeBastard effortlessly manipulates others into doing his bidding]].
** ''Literature/TheGreenMile'' has Percy Wetmore, a sadistic prison guard who only got the position out of a morbid curiosity at seeing live executions. He then deliberately botches an execution by keeping the sponge dry. Besides him there was also William "Wild Bill" Wharton, a psychotic death row inmate who establishes his unpredictability by pretending to be in a drunken stupor before attempting to choke one of the guards to death. He spends the remainder of his time trying to cause as much mischief as he could before his execution. His worst crime is the rape and murder of the two girls John Coffey had been accused of killing.
** Henry Bowers in ''Literature/{{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 others are, in fact, real, and at five years old killed his baby brother for disrupting household routine. [[spoiler:IT even has trouble finding a humanoid form that Patrick will comprehend and become frightened of, briefly turning into a writhing, amorphous blob.]]
*** IT itself is a sadistic interdimensional predator who, despite feeding on children, also takes its time to instill as much fear into its potential victim for as long as it could to make their meat taste sweeter. In addition, It has a grandiose sense of self-importance where it views humanity as below him and even the Turtle, another being from the Macroverse that it begrudgingly accepts as an equal, is nothing more than an old fool.
** ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': In both the book and all the film adaptations, Chris Hargensen is a particularly vile AlphaBitch whose EstablishingCharacterMoment involves tormenting Carrie (who's having her first period and thinks she's bleeding to death because [[TheFundamentalist her mom]] never told her what a period is) by getting all the other girls to [[KickTheDog throwing tampons at her and chant "plug it up".]] After she's given detention and later banned from the prom for her cruelty, she wants to get "revenge" on Carrie, even though it's [[NeverMyFault entirely her fault to begin with.]] The book also mentions that she had other victims besides Carrie such as a [[BullyingTheDisabled girl with a cleft palate;]] Chris put a firecracker in her shoe and [[AgonyOfTheFeet blew half her toes off.]] In all versions, she never shows any remorse, and seems to [[CardCarryingVillain outright enjoy how cruel she is.]]

* Kennit from the ''Liveship Traders'' trilogy by Creator/RobinHobb is a textbook example. Superficially charming, extremely manipulative, a grandiose sense of self-worth and he views everyone around him as playthings to be used for his own personal amusement. When he is psychically connected to Wintrow, he does start caring about him, but mostly because he views Wintrow as an extension of ''himself'' that he wants to keep safe as his own personal prophet.

* Creator/SimonaAhrnstedt has Edvard Löwenström in her debut novel ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}''. He was a sadist, who enjoyed hurting women for pleasure. He made a deal with a fellow sadist that he would get his cousin, even though he knew that she would suffer. He made a 14-year-old girl pregnant, but still abandoned her. When she died after an abortion, he felt no remorse. And when his sister was seriously ill, he felt no sadness about it. He practically wished that she would die, so his parents would think about something else other than his atrocities. He made sure that his cousin was separated from her love interest, which gave her no other choice but to get married to the disgusting man, to whom he and his father had promised her. When his cousin [[spoiler: was raped and almost killed on her wedding night]], his response was that she only had herself to blame! And he also raped at least one woman, even if that was off screen. Edvard never felt any remorse for anything he did, and he was unable to feel love even for his family. Neither could he feel gratitude. He was too easily bored, which actually is another sign of sociopathy.
** Roland Birgersson in "Betvingade" seems to fit into this trope as well. He has already murdered a woman and now plans to murder her son (who happens to be Markus Järv, the story's male protagonist) as well. And he's prepared to also murder Markus's wife and/or let Markus's 6-year-old daughter drown to get his way. And to make things worse, it also turns out that [[spoiler: Roland is Markus's father]].

* In ''{{Literature/Rebecca}}'', [[spoiler: the titular character, the deceased woman the narrator has been constantly comparing herself to after taking her place in her estate, is revealed to have been a cruel manipulator who cared for no one, building up her house and reputation while tormenting her husband and cheating on him and threatening him with an heir from that relationship. He killed her and sank her body on a boat, but this revelation brings a great relief to the narrator, who now knows she was never being negatively compared to Rebecca by her husband.]]

* The young adult series ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures'' has BKR, a villain who thrives on inflicting cruelty (the worst crime in existence by galactic standards), to the point that he's willing to [[spoiler: use a literal time-bomb to ''destroy time'', simply because everyone else [[AndIMustScream would be frozen alongside him for eternity]]]].
* In the YoungAdult novel ''Literature/{{Rosebush}}'', it turns out that [[spoiler: Langley Winterman is this, as she's the mastermind behind the hit-and-run and she casually uses and manipulates people to get what she wants.]]
* Count Olaf of ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''. 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 [[AdultsAreUseless 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 [[spoiler:he saves her life long enough for her to give birth, even as he himself is dying.]] Also, he has a FreudianExcuse -- [[spoiler:it's implied that the Baudelaire parents killed his parents with poison darts.]]

* [[AbusiveDad Richard]] [[TheAlcoholic Lopez]] of ''Literature/ShipBreaker'' is a drug-addicted, AxeCrazy, ArchnemesisDad 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 [[DamselInDistress Nita's]] organs on the black market. His attitude towards his son, Nailer, is especially volatile, shifting from almost fatherly affection to an attempt at OffingTheOffspring at the drop of a pin. He kills without remorse, and no one, not even Nailer, is sad when he dies.
* '''Dr. Hannibal Lecter''' of ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' and [[Franchise/HannibalLecter the rest of the franchise]], a SerialKiller, an EvilGenius and a MagnificentBastard {{Ubermensch}}, is arguably the TropeCodifier for the stereotype of TheSociopath as an exceptionally charismatic supergenius who is simply just ''perfect''. In Real Life, most sociopaths have been shown to have low [=IQs=], though the "Hannibal Lecter archetype" has been so ingrained in popular culture that everyone thinks all sociopaths are Hannibal Lecter.
** Ironically, Lecter is actually a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]. In ''Literature/RedDragon'', it is pointed out that, although Lecter has some characteristics typical of sociopaths, such as lack of remorse or sense of guilt, he does not exhibit many others such as shallowness of emotions or being a drifter. Will Graham states that "they say he's a sociopath, because they don't know what else to call him".

* ''Film/TheWoman'':

* '''Dr. Hannibal Lecter''' of ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' and [[Franchise/HannibalLecter the rest of the franchise]], a SerialKiller, an EvilGenius and a MagnificentBastard {{Ubermensch}}, is arguably the TropeCodifier for the stereotype of TheSociopath as an exceptionally charismatic supergenius who is simply just ''perfect''. In Real Life, most sociopaths have been shown to have low [=IQs=], though the "Hannibal Lecter archetype" has been so ingrained in popular culture that everyone thinks all sociopaths are Hannibal Lecter. See [[Analysis/TheSociopath Analysis]] for more.

* Creator/TheBrothersGrimm: The WickedStepmother from ''The Juniper Tree'' decapitates her stepson and psychologically manipulates her own daughter into believing that she was responsible for her brother's death. She then forces her to help her hide the body by making a stew from it.

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Princess Malty Melromarc, the corrupt princess of Melromarc who framed Naofumi for attempted rape, ticks all of the boxes:
** '''LackOfEmpathy''': She has no true emotional connection to anyone, nor does she feel shame or regret for her actions, though she will act like she does to [[VillainsWantMercy beg for mercy from the people she screwed over]]. This even extends to her family and allies, including her sister Melty (Not only did she marked her for death, but also tried to burn her alive with fire magic), her parents (Who she tried to kill off during the second Three Heroes Church uprising), and even Motoyasu (Who she abandoned without hesitation during the Spirit Turtle Incident, and even falsely accused of him attempting to rape her just like she did to Naofumi).
** '''[[DidntThinkThisThrough Lack of Foresight]]''': She never stops to think about the long-term consequences for her actions, [[StupidEvil always acting out]] of [[{{Sadist}} pure sadism]] or [[EvilIsPetty petty spite]].
** '''{{Compulsive L|iar}}ying''': She lies so much that she had to be branded with a [[LieDetector slave crest that shocks her every time she fibs]].
** '''[[ManipulativeBitch Manipulative]] and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Treacherous]] Tendencies''': She manipulates people around her without care for their safety and well-being and will even [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard them the moment she decides they're no longer useful to her]] ([[LaserGuidedKarma which comes back to bite her more often than not]]).
** '''A Need for Stimulation''': [[ForTheEvulz She practically lives to ruin other people's lives out of selfish gain or petty amusement]], [[TheHedonist spends the country's treasures frivolously, and it's even confirmed by her mother she had slept with countless men before she met Naofumi]].
** '''[[ItsAllAboutMe Self-Centeredness]] and [[NeverMyFault Inculpability]]''': Clearly cares only for herself as shown by how she threw away even her most devoted allies, and [[RevengeMyopia whines about "revenge" against people who retaliate against her cruelty]] (if you pay close attention to when she begs for mercy, you'll notice she [[TheUnapologetic never once apologizes for her actions, a clear sign that she's completely remorseless]]).
** '''Excessive {{Pride}}''': She thinks she is meant to be queen of Melromarc despite obviously ''not'' having the kingdom's best interests at heart, leading her mother to choose Melty as her heir instead, and even going so far as to refer to herself as the future queen in her magical arias ([[BlatantLies while flimsily deny it]]).
** While Malty does seem like a high-functioning example at first, it's only because she has her father, Motoyasu, [[spoiler:the Three Heroes Church remnants and Tact]] protecting her from the consequences, and she's nowhere near as smart as she thinks she is. Once she loses all her remaining support, she's doomed.

** '''[[ManipulativeBitch Manipulative]] and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Treacherous]] Tendencies''': She manipulates people around her without care for their safety and well-being and will even [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard them if she sees no more use for them]] ([[LaserGuidedKarma which comes back to bite her more often than not]]).

** '''Excessive {{Pride}}''': She thinks she is meant to be queen of Melromarc despite obviously ''not'' having the kingdom's best interests at heart.

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Princess Malty Melromarc, the corrupt princess of Melromarc who framed Naofumi for attempted rape, ticks all of the boxes: She has a severe LackOfEmpathy[[note]]She has no true emotional connection to anyone nor does she feel shame or regret for her actions, though she will act like she does to [[VillainsWantMercy beg for mercy from the people she screwed over]]. This even extends to her family and allies, including her sister Melty (Not only did she marked her for death, but also tried to burn her alive with fire magic), her parents (Who she tried to kill off during the second Three Heroes Church uprising), and even Motoyasu (Who she abandoned without hesitation during the Spirit Turtle Incident, and even falsely accused of him attempting to rape her just like she did to Naofumi).[[/note]], [[DidntThinkThisThrough poor planning skills and impulsiveness]][[note]]She never stops to think about the long-term consequences for her actions, [[StupidEvil always acting out]] of [[{{Sadist}} pure sadism]] or [[EvilIsPetty petty spite]].[[/note]], {{compulsive l|iar}}ying[[note]]She lies so much that she had to be branded with a [[LieDetector slave crest that shocks her every time she fibs]].[[/note]], [[ManipulativeBitch manipulative]] and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder treacherous]] tendencies[[note]]She manipulates people around her without care for their safety and well-being, and will even [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discard them if she sees no more use for them]] ([[LaserGuidedKarma which comes back to bite more often than not]])[[/note]], a need for stimulation[[note]][[ForTheEvulz She practically lives to ruin other people's lives out of selfish gain or petty amusement]], [[TheHedonist spends the country's treasures frivolously, and it's even confirmed by her mother she had slept with countless men before she met Naofumi]].[[/note]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] and [[NeverMyFault inculpable]] tendencies[[note]]Clearly cares only for herself as shown by how she threw away even her most devoted allies, and [[RevengeMyopia whines about "revenge" against people who retaliate against her cruelty]] (if you pay close attention to when she begs for mercy, you'll notice she never once apologizes).[[/note]], and excessive {{Pride}}[[note]]She thinks she is meant to be queen of Melromarc despite obviously ''not'' having the kingdom's best interests at heart.[[/note]]. While she does seem like a high-functioning example, it's only because she has her father, Motoyasu, [[spoiler:the Three Heroes Church remnants and Tact]] protecting her from the consequences, and she's nowhere near as smart as she thinks she is. Once she loses all her remaining support, she's doomed.