Fictional Psychopaths

[Fleetfiend]

Who are some of your favorite psychopaths in fiction? Be it in movie, game, or literature.

In case you were wondering, I am doing a research paper on the subject and am looking for examples. The more recognizable and popular the better, so feel free to say things that have already been said. The ones that I have so far are as follows:

Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, etc)
Sylar (Heroes)
The Master (Doctor Who)
Voldemort (Harry Potter)
The Joker (Batman)
Dexter Morgan (Dexter)
Albert Wesker (Resident Evil)

So tell me... who are some of your favorites?

Capcha: goody two shoes. Uhm... not quite what I was looking for...

EDIT: I thought I would add that I AM considering sociopaths in the same group as well, though I know there are a few differences between them.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Jack from The Shining,

Norman bates from Psycho

Patrick Bateman from American Psycho

 

[OneCatch]

Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men
The guy from American Psycho
Mrs Coulter from the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.
Quinn Dexter from the 'Night's Dawn' trilogy. Not a nice person.

Also Silar, but he's already been mentioned!

 

[Sixcess]

Tom Ripley (though there have been several film adaptations, with The Talented Mr Ripley being probably the best known, I prefer the original novels.) If he qualifies as a psychopath, that is - he comes across as quite rational, even if he does murder people.

John Doe (Seven)

Hannibal Lecter. Preferably as played By Brian Cox in Manhunter. Lecter is described as 'disarming', but Hopkins never came across like that, and the books and films following after Silence got rapidly worse, with the writer apparently forgetting that Lecter was supposed to be the bad guy.

 

[Fleetfiend]

Jack from The Shining,

Norman bates from Psycho

Patrick Bateman from American Psycho

All three of those movies are on my to-watch-for research list.

Mrs Coulter from the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.

Ooh... good one.

 

[OneCatch]

Mrs Coulter from the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.

Ooh... good one.

Arguably Asriel as well, thinking about it

 

[DoPo]

Mr. Teatime from The Hogfather. Him being a bit...odd is a little of an understatement. He is, well, efficient. He even followed the assassin guild protocols and used a mirror under his victim's nose to make sure they were truly dead. Only the head wasn't really near the body at that point.

Johan Liebert from Monster. That guy is...he's just messed up, OK? He is more messed up than Mr. Teatime.

 

[Fleetfiend]

]Arguably Asriel as well, thinking about it

Eh, I think Mrs. Coulter could be more easily identified as a psychopath, which is what I'm really aiming for.

 

[Lilani]

Personally, I adore River Song from Doctor Who.

Also Stein from Soul Eater.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Spoiler: Recently this guy has grown on me.

He is batshit insane.

 

[Lilani]

Spoiler: Recently this guy has grown on me.

He is batshit insane.

OH GOD, I knew I was forgetting somebody but I just couldn't put my finger on it. LOVE Ladd. So much. Have you gotten all the way through the 15th and 16th episodes? They are a blast.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Spoiler: Recently this guy has grown on me.

He is batshit insane.

OH GOD, I knew I was forgetting somebody but I just couldn't put my finger on it. LOVE Ladd. So much. Have you gotten all the way through the 15th and 16th episodes? They are a blast.

"Thank you! Fuck you! A villain has arrived!"

[sub]Yes, I've watched it all. Marvelous anime.[/sub]

 

[twistedmic]

I'd have to say that Brick Top from Snatch and Frank Costello from 'The Departed' are at the top of my list of favorite (and scary) fictional psycopaths.

 

[Vault101]

ehh...I dont know

do you psychopathy gets a little..."glorified" with thease things?

 

[CODE-D]

Claire Stanfield trumps Ladd Russo.

 

[OneCatch]

]Arguably Asriel as well, thinking about it

Eh, I think Mrs. Coulter could be more easily identified as a psychopath, which is what I'm really aiming for.

Whatever you say Boss, it's your research project!

I also just though of Sherlock Holmes in certain adaptations, Moriarty in many of them
Also, the Terminator, by definition!
Equilibrium features a society of psychopaths.
The Operative from Firefly (possibly River as well)

 

[Fleetfiend]

ehh...I dont know

do you psychopathy gets a little..."glorified" with thease things?

Yeah, I spend quite a bit of time in my research talking about how "Hollywood psychopaths" are generally not at all the same as real-life psychopaths.

 

[Vault101]

ehh...I dont know

do you psychopathy gets a little..."glorified" with thease things?

Yeah, I spend quite a bit of time in my research talking about how "Hollywood psychopaths" are generally not at all the same as real-life psychopaths.

I guess certain charachters are really facinating..like the Joker or Hannibal lecter, and that they don;t play by societys rules

but I don't know, they somtimes make psycho/socio pathy look "cool" and "whacky"

 

[MammothBlade]

My two favourites are both Bond villains.

Max Zorin from A View To A Kill. He's a freaking comedy genius!

Xenia Onatopp from Goldeneye.

Also, James Bond himself may be a sociopath.

 

[Fleetfiend]

I guess certain charachters are really facinating..like the Joker or Hannibal lecter, and that they don;t play by societys rules

but I don't know, they somtimes make psycho/socio pathy look "cool" and "whacky"

I didn't think that either of those guys looked cool or wacky... they both seemed like messed up -- albeit glorified -- killers to me.