#how to write a character with aspd

[antisocialsharky]

Hello! I just wanted to say that I've been using some of your posts talking about ASPD to help me better understand it to write an OC I'm writing. I have a question though, do you mind talking about more symptoms of ASPD that I should keep in mind when writing her?

Hi! Very glad to hear that my posts have been helpful and its cool that you are aiming for good representation!

When it comes to how ASPD symptoms should be written and which ones should make it into literature, theres different opinions, so this is gonna go a bit beyond your question I guess? Just to get a roundabout view.

1. Recovery Position

• First thing to rly keep in mind is that the intensity of the symptoms, the way they present and the way the character would deal with them, absolutely depends on where they are in recovery.

• It also depends on what you understand as recovery, be that the reducing of overall symptoms so they are less often present, the act of reducing the harm that is done by your symptoms (ex: trough redirection, or actively learning prosocial behavior) or just learning to find a way to live in society the way you are. No ones view on recovery or the way they go about it (or if they decide not to) is in any way better or superior, but it is an aspect that does change how many symptoms you show in which way, so its important to think about when writing a character.

2. Covert/Overt Symptom Presentation

• Another thing to think about, depending on what fits into your story, is the question as to whether your character is very obviously antisocial, or whether they go about it in a more covert secret way. Can they control which symptoms they show when? Or are they lost to their impulses and emotions? Do they come from a background where hiding their symptoms was essential, or were they able/forced to present obviously?

• Theres also a more mixed presentation where some symptoms are more obvious and others are not, depending on stuff like what meets your needs best, how much control you have and whether or not you've done any active work on the symptoms yet, etc.

• Then you can also think about the personal opinion of your character on symptom presentation. Do they believe that they should get to just be themselves? Are they of the opinion that people just have to deal with their symptoms and accept them that way? Or do they think that they have to hide some symptoms in order to fit into society better? Have they potentially adopted some prosocial ways of thinking and model their presentation after that? Depending on what it is, it will obviously look different.

3. The Causes of their ASPD

• Depending on the type of trauma they went trough that made them develop ASPD, presentation will differ. Its highly individual of course, but theres some themes, like people who come from violent households often being violent themselves, people who were neglected struggling with the social aspects like empathy & remorse, people who were lied to/manipulated/berated all the time adopting similar manners, people who had to commit crimes and/or witnessed those often continuing to do so because its normal to them, etc.

• The other aspect is genetics, where certain tendencies can be given from parent to child or grandparent to grandchild, such as impulsive tendencies, the type of temper someone has, access (or denied access) to certain parts of the brain that are responsible for prosocial emotions, etc. Those genetics mix with the trauma and sometimes push the presentation in certain directions, so its a thing to keep in mind.

• Some CD/ASPD symptoms can also develop/be made worse trough bullying, intense experiences in childhood/teens, hanging around with people who engage in/normalize certain behaviors, etc. (ex: kids with delinquient tendencies who hang around other kids with those, may be more likely to develop that as a continous behavior). So its also worth thinking about who your character was around while they grew up, who influenced them how and what was normalized to them.

4. The Current DSM-V ASPD Criteria

• When it comes to the core symptoms of ASPD, theres 3 out of 7 DSM criteria points your character should meet. It doesn't matter which ones, but it has to be at least three! Your character should also be older than 18, have shown conduct disorder symptoms before they turned 15 and have their ASPD symptoms even in absence of other comorbidities, substances and/or episodes (Criterion B-D which I am not quoting, but thats it summed up)

• The 7 criteria points recognized in the DSM-V are (and I quote):

A. A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of rights of others, occuring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors, as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are ground for arrest.

2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.

3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.

4. Irritability or aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults.

5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.

6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations.

7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated or stolen from another.

• Everything after "as indicated by" is an example of a possible presentation. The DSM-V acknowledges that there are other possible ways in which symptoms can show up.

5. The Alternative ASPD Model in the DSM-V

• This is not used to officially diagnose people with ASPD, but is one idea, as to how personality disorder classification could work in the future. It looks at the symptoms as dimensions, under which possible experiences could fall and mentions quite a few things the current criteria doesn't, so I'll quote it below as well:

A. Moderate or greater impairment in personality functioning, manifested by characteristic difficulties in two or more of the following areas:

1. Identity: Egocentrism, self esteem derived from personal gain, power or pleasure.

2. Self direction: Goal setting based on personal gratification, absence of prosocial internal standards, associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behavior.

3. Empathy: Lack of concern for feelings, needs or suffering of others, lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating another.

4. Intimacy: Incapacity for mutually intimate relationships, as exploitation is primary means of relating to others, including by deceit and coercion, use of dominance or intimidation to control others.

B. Six or more of the following seven pathological personality traits:

1. Manipulativeness (an aspect of antagonism): Frequent use of subterfuge to influence or control others, use of seduction, charm, glibness, or ingratiation to achieve ones ends.

2. Callousness (an aspect of antagonism): Lack of concern for feelings or problems of others, lack of guilt or remorse about negative or harmful effects of ones actions on others, aggression, sadism.

3. Deceitfulness (an aspect of antagonism): Dishonesty and fraudulence, misrepresentation of self, embellishment or fabrication when relating events.

4. Hostility (an aspect of antagonism): Persistent or frequent angry feelings, anger or irritability in response to minor slights and insults, mean, nasty or vengeful behavior.

5. Risk taking (an aspect of disinhibition): Engagement in dangerous, risky and potentially self damaging activities, unnecessarily and without regard for consequences, boredom proneness and thoughtless initiation of activities to counter boredom, lack of concern for ones limitations and denial of the reality of personal danger.

6. Impulsivity (an aspect of disinhibition): Acting on the spur of the moment in response to immediate stimuli, acting on a momentary basis without a plan or consideration of outcomes, difficulty establishing and following plans.

7. Irresponsibility (an aspect of disinhibition): Disregard for - and failure to honor - financial and other obligations or commitments, lack of respect for - and lack of follow trough on - agreements and promises.

Note: The individual is at least 18 years of age.

6. Other Common Experiences

• Theres a few experiences that quite a few people with ASPD report, that have not explicitly made it into the criteria. Sometimes these are examples for certain symptoms and/or are implied, sometimes these have been studied but haven't been written as a requirement for diagnosis and sometimes these are not supported by science/still debated by science.

• Apathy, a total lack of emotion, overall muted emotions or having trouble to access certain emotions, is something some people with ASPD talk about a lot. There is no scientific consensus yet, as to whether this is an ASPD symptom. Some theories suggest it falls under PTSD (absence of positive emotions & tendency to experience negative ones and/or having dissociated away from the emotions and/or having put up a sort of non permanent barrier as a form of protection), depression (common comorbidity, anhedonia & apathy can both be part of it), other PDs (schizoid, borderline episodes, etc.) or something else entirely. While its not sure whether its caused by ASPD, or not, a lot of people with it seem to report differences in their capability to feel a full range of intense emotions.

• The criteria talks about aggressiveness and physical fights, which is not the only way in which this symptom seems to commonly present. Harming animals, homicidal ideation, dealing with aggressive thoughts & urges without actually acting on them, verbal aggression, taking out aggression on self or property, etc. are also often reported.

• The current criteria doesn't mention it at all and the alternative talks about a complete inability to form bonds, but community consensus seems to be, that while forming emotional bonds is harder & happens more rarely, it is still possible. The intensity differs (some describe the bond as a logical construct, some only do platonic bonds, some only do romantic bonds, some describe deep obsessiveness, etc.) as does the number of people they find themselves bonded with. Theres also a significant amount of people in the community that describe a phenamenon similar to BPDs FP (aka a bond to a person that is defined by the symptoms of the personality disorder).

• There is some debate on whether or not an absence of prosocial inner standards makes it impossible or more difficult to define personal morals and understand how morality works. Some people with ASPD say they have no difficulties, some report that they struggle with the understanding part, some say they struggle with upholding those norms and others struggle with both. It seems like ASPD could make it more difficult to understand and/or respect the way societies morals work for some, which makes room for conflict.

• Personality Disorders are what we call egosyntonic, which usually means that they are in alignment with what we as people think is the correct way to feel, think and act. This doesn't mean that its inherently impossible to change the way you think/feel/act and that recovery is impossible, but it may make it more difficult to break out of the patterns (if that is what one wants). Some people show little problems in this area, some need a lot of outer assistance and others either can't or don't want to change.

7. Other Things To Keep In Mind

• You should probably think about whether your character fits the psychopathy subtype & if yes which definition of it you want to use (theres different theories)

• ASPD can influence every aspect of your life, so it may interfere with things in such a roundabout way that you wouldn't even think about it at first (ex: Disregard for safety of self => Disregard for your own health => You get ill carelessly => You dont take ur meds responsibly, or put off a doctors visit for months/years => You end up with longterm damage => You don't treat it responsibly => You get more ill => Death. Which happens to ppl without ASPD too, but can indeed be a presentation of that symptom.). Additionally comorbdities interact & interfere with ASPD symptoms and may alter/add onto presentation!

• You could also always add the ASPD stigma into the mix and how your character responds to it/how it influences them. Does it make them not wanna recover? Does it make them wanna recover even more to prove everyone wrong? Are they trying to get into therapy but no therapist wants them? Is it on a court record and causing problems that way? Do they lose relationships/friendships? Does it change the way they see themselves or others? etc.

• The key with ASPD characters is not to just make them into good people or portray them as angels and also not to always make them into the cruel villain. The key is to show that they are an individual, a human being, a single example for what this disorder can present as. If you can somehow portray that the presentation of ASPD in your character is just how this specific character is and is not how the disorder inherently presents itself, you nailed it! Cus u'll have ASPDers who want to just stay the way they are and who are exactly what you'd imagine a cruel villain to be like, you have ASPDers who you couldn't ever distinguish from a prosocial person, cus they learned to blend in and you've got ASPDers who decide that they wanna do a 180 and behave in the most prosocial way possible and then you have everything in between and beyond. So as long as your character would meet criteria, as long as you're not spreading misinfo and as long as its clear that its just one example of a possible presentation, you're good in my opinion (but this is indeed just my opinion and others may disagree).

Note: If you need examples for the specific symptoms, you can ofc send another ask, this is more of a general overview of what exists, cus going into detail on each would make this post wayyy too long.

[enlightenedfeline]

Differences in writing a psychopath vs sociopath:

I'll start this post off by saying that I am in no way an expert on ASPD, I'm just a girl who has written psychopath and sociopath characters and done some research, so take what I say with a grain of salt, and I recommend doing your own research before writing a character!

If you wanna skip the parapraphs, there's bulletpoints of the differences at the end of this post.

First off, what is ASPD? Anti-Social Personality Disorder is described as a personality disorder where the person exhibits a chronic pattern of behaviors that disregard the rights and well-being of others, their behavior conflicts with social norms, and affects their interpersonal relationships.

Something I've seen written into many iconic psychopathic characters is sadism, which is when someone feels pleasure when they humiliate and hurt others. And while yes, based off of these descriptions ASPD and sadism seem to go hand in hand, this isn't the case. Not every psychopath/sociopath is a sadist, and this is important to keep in mind when writing ASPD characters.

Another important thing is that ASPD characters, psychopaths in particular, are not smarter than your average person, as in - someone isn't smart because they're a psychopath.

ASPD characters, as you could've guess, generally have low emotional intelligence, meaning that it's very likely that an ASPD character would struggle with hypothetical scenarios, or putting themselves in others shoes, because the ability to comprehend a hypothetical scenario is associated with empathy, which is associated with general intelligence.

Now for more specific differences.

A distinction that I like to personally keep between my characters is that they can be born psychopaths, but a sociopath is created by ceratin enviroments.

This means that a psychopath can be rehabilitated and taught to follow certain social norms, the same does not apply to a sociopath. Going off of this fact we can also say that a psychopath can be aware of the fact that they are a psychopath, a sociopath cannot.

Now let's take a step back, just because they can be aware of their personality disorder doesn't mean they will suddenly be able to experience empathy or feel love, it just means that they can follow the necessary steps to be able to live and function normally.

Both psychopaths and sociopaths are impulsive, but I've noticed that sociopaths tend to be a lot more egotistical, they generally care more about what people around them think, psychopaths do not. Which furthers my belief that sociopaths are created and not born.

Both psychopaths and sociopaths are able to understand the feelings of others, but in a much more scietntific way. For example, if someone is to get hurt, they would not be able to empathize, but they would be able to understand that right now this person is hurt because they stubbed their toe, and toe-stubbing is generally described to hurt.

This may seem like a normal thought process, but it's not, to understand this let's quickly dive into mirror neurons.

Mirror neurons, from what I've read, are described to be in charge of making us feel emapthy. You, as someone who can feel empathy, will not go through your logical understanding of why toe-stubbing hurts, but instead you would feel - mirror - what the toe-stubbing victim feels, maybe you wince in pain even though you haven't felt it, maybe you say ow then ask if they're alright.

Psychopaths and sociopaths are unable to experience this instant understanding of someone being hurt, and that is one of the most important details to keep in mind when writing one.

Now that I've yapped, let me add some bulletpoints before I conclude this post: - Sociopaths are prone to emotional outbursts, psychopaths are not. - Sociopaths have the (small) capacity to feel empathy and guilt, psychopaths do not. - Psychopaths can be made aware of their disorder, sociopaths can not. - Sociopaths are generally more impulsive. - Sociopaths tend to display more criminal behavior than psychopaths. - Psychopaths have more manipulative tendecies, but both can be manipulative. - Psychopaths can generally control their behavior better than sociopaths. - Violence is always high in sociopaths, but varies with psychopaths. - Sociopaths try to rationalize their wrong actions, psychopaths do not. - Sociopaths are generally a product of their enviroment, psychopaths are born with the disorder. - Psychopaths feel no remorse, sociopaths are capable of feeling little remorse. - Psychopaths are able to remain calm under pressure, sociopaths are not.

While writing characters with ASPD always keep in mind that they are not monsters, they can be horrible people or the best friend of your protagonist, characters with ASPD can be very fun to write and read if done well. Do not make them monsters, do not make them one-sided, they are human beings, write them as such. Be creative, give them motivations, give them quirks and personality traits unrelated to their disorder.

Maybe some of this advice will help, maybe it won't, either way, I hope this feline has enlightened you!

[secular-czar]

Give them to your hero, your protagonist, make it a part of their character while keeping them a character that's being written to be loved.

Make them real, give them depth, give them attention and love without judgment, show the struggles and the bad sides real as they can be don't necessarily make them bad just as it doesn't with real people.

Everyone deserves to see themselves represented. If in doubt do more research, its worth it! Its always worth it. Meet people who have the disorders and disabilities, ask questions, see them, they're real too.

Don't keep neurodivergency to what's palatable and light, and god forbid childish, that dehumanizes us too.

not many know this but you can actually headcanon neurodivergencies other than adhd and autism. yes, even the Big Scary disorders like DID, schizophrenia or narcissism. no, not only for villains. yes, for the main characters, the important characters, the characters that you love. yeah!!!

[elcucuylover]

People with ASPD(or a LOT of understanding-personal or professional idc-) I need advice!

So to keep it short I have a character w/ ASPD, i did research and i would like to know if what i wrote(specifically how the character is written) is shallow.

This is his personality description(if it’s confusing im sorry I wrote it in a way my ahh would understand)

(HAS ASPD, HIGH FUNCTIONING ASPD)- Callous and disrespectful, sense of superiority, extremely opinionated, likes to intimidate, impulsive(makes rushed decisions w/o telling anyone or planning ahead), hostile off the bat, unfriendly, easily irritated(steer clear), likes taking risk, thrill seeker, failure to consider consequences, constant boredom, lack an understanding of his own emotions(w/o analyzing them), lacks empathy but knows when situations call for it and how to fake them-(ITS MAINLY GENETIC FROM HIS MOTHER BUT THE NEGLECT AND PRESSURES FROM HIS FATHER ALLOWED IT TO FESTER, STRUGGLES WITH HEALTH REALTIONSHIPS(RELATIONSHIP IN GENERAL) SPLITTLING IS RARE FOR HIM, IS EMOTIONAL UNSTABLE), Creative, can understands peoples pov easily(analytical), DGAF, can be easily convinced-not gullible-, knows when to stop, hardworking/likes to become enthralled in work, gives best advice, jack of all trades, even tho he dgaf he chooses what morally right-most of the time, shameless.

Is the types of person to…”survive a reckless situation bearly and say let’s do that again”, “stare at someone crying and wait a bit before doing anything”, “to watch something disturbing unfold and not interfere unless he’s personally involved/ the situation is becoming beyond immoral”, “respect the animal that gave me food than the feel bad for eating”, “be disrespectful ‘unknowingly’-think people are doing too much when they get offended or slight insults-“, “back up his cockiness every single time”, “forget to eat for some days + night because he’s fixated on a project”, “he hates being stuck in awkward conversation w/ people that are of a higher standing than him”, “use the phrase, “you didnt ask” unironically AND ironically”, “be called an annoying motherfucker for just standing around-think hobbie/punk Spider-Man-”, “accidentally instigate a fight the first 5 minutes of entering a room(he enjoys it+ he’s an instigator)”, “become slightly possessive with a person their interested in despite having never talked to them(happens specifically to his “exception” person-she ends up being an absolute nightmare and traitor���)”, “give advice like he’s giving a reality check”, “seem forcefully/ extremely forward when trying to make friends”, “prefer things over people”, “get frustrated over feelings(to the little extent he does feel them) he’s not used to and doesnt know how to explain it”, “have a “lack of self awareness’- no filter”.

His backstory is-too keep as short as possible- essentially:

he’s trying to fill the shadow of his older brother(who is gone from the pic and technically never was part of it becuz he’s a bastard child) whom his father cared for in a way that was never shown to him-his father is mainly distant to him becuz the dislike he has for his mother is projected onto him and also he’s disturbed by him for his ASPD-there’s not really a term for it in his world and his of nobility so (nobles=assholes who dgaf abt others)- he trains to become the perfect heir mainly from pressure from his mother, and his passion towards inventing/ engineering(they lived in a highly mechanized world w/ magic-magic is not looked upon kindly) is pushed away. He becomes a jack of all trade- fighting, amazing diplomat, great strategist, very smart, good looks etc..- but he is still disappointed becuz he has not gain the “validation” of his father that he had for his older brother. So he figures he’s gonna become the heir- becuz A)is the oldest-by noble blood technically- B) has most of the support of advisors and other and C)he’s literally perfect- so he goes and decides to just indulge in his passion and go into a program from invention and engineering. After some years he’s called back and its to help set up a party with lots of guest-on some coronation type shi- and he figures it must be for him nothing suspicious so he sets it up to his liking and its great. Turns out it’s to say his younger less qualified brother is becoming heir. Pissed of(and rightfully so) he crashes out challenges his father to a duel, losses(in front of everyone aka publicly humiliated) -this would be his first time splitting- he quite LITERALLY tries to backstab his father. Everything is kept under wrapped and he was punished-obviously- full strip of titles, is sent away- he keeps his name, the budget they send him and he just stays where he was before and enjoys peace alone and his inventions. Till his older brother forces him into the plot.

IF IAM MISREPRESENTING YALL PLEASE TELL ME AND HOW TO FIX IT!

[the-psychopathist]

Is Agatha Harkness a sociopath?

I wanted to make this post ever since I finished Agatha All Along, specifically after Agatha was referred to as a “sociopath” in the series. Now, “sociopath” is not an actual diagnosis and most of the time, what people refer to when it comes to sociopathy and psychopathy is actually anti-social personality disorder (ASPD). In this post, I’ll attempt to “diagnose” Agatha with ASPD and see if she fits the criteria for a diagnosis.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional, I’m only “diagnosing” Agatha because she’s a fictional character. Do not attempt to do the same for any real person. This post isn’t meant to stigmatize any real person with that condition, this is simply a character study. None of what I’m writing should be used in a real-life context. 

1) Failure to obey laws and norms by engaging in behavior which results in criminal arrest, or would warrant criminal arrest

Agatha is quite literally a serial killer. She has been luring witches to their early graves for centuries. We don't know exactly how many people she has killed, but her body count is definitely quite large. I don't think she was ever arrested for her crimes but it definitely warrants a criminal arrest. If it wasn't for Wanda trapping her in the Agnes persona at the end of WandaVision, she would have most likely been arrested, especially since she attempted to kill multiple S.W.O.R.D. soldiers. 

2) Deceitfulness, indicated by continuously lying, using aliases, or conning others for personal gain and pleasure.

This one is a given. Her primary means to steal magic was through a con. She deceived and manipulated unsuspecting witches who trusted her with the intent of stealing their magic and killing them. And even before that, she used her own son to lure witches and do the same. She does it primarily for profit, to get more magic, but she does seem to genuinely enjoy deceiving others and gaining pleasure out of it.

In both WV and AAA she was lying, deceiving and manipulating the rest of the cast from the very beginning for her own benefit. She infiltrated Wanda’s hex and posed as her nosy neighbour “Agnes”, graining Wanda's trust with the intent of stealing her magic from the start. She did it primarily for profit but there was also some enjoyment for her when she revealed the truth to Wanda, so much so that she created her own intro song. She was enjoying putting up a show almost as much as getting Wanda's magic.

This pattern of behaviors is seen throughout AAA too, especially upon rewatch. On your first watch, you might not notice but after rewatching a second time fully knowing the end, you can notice how much Agatha has been lying the entire time. Not only did she lie about the road and always intended to murder the cover in her basement, but when the hex road appeared she kept the lie that she went to the road before going. One could say that she had to keep the lie going because she never intended for the road to appear, so those weren’t lies she intended to tell, but at the same time, we can see how easily she can lie and deceive others. She knew all along that Billy created the road and that said road was deadly, yet made no attempt at stopping him. She knew people would die but she kept the lie going because she hoped that she could get back her powers at the end. So she lied, deceived and manipulated the group the entire time for her own gain.

3) Exhibiting impulsivity or failing to plan ahead.

Agatha is someone who likes to be in control, and does give off the illusion of being in control. But the truth is, she isn’t as much in control as she thinks she is, and is quite impulsive. Lots of her shortcomings are a direct consequence of an impulsive decision (fuck around and find out). Being impulsive doesn’t mean she can’t make elaborate schemes, because she sure does. But a lot of those are made impulsively. She sensed Wanda’s magic and decided to join her hex without knowing exactly how Wanda’s magic worked. She even started messing with her without knowing how Wanda’s magic would respond. Then in AAA we see more of her impulsive nature. She doesn’t think through whenever she makes a decision and ends up needing to improvise in order to compensate for her reckless decisions. She told Lilia about how her ability to steal magic worked, she picked a bound witch to be part of her coven, as well as a non-magical woman. The only one in the group that seemed to have the ability to blast was Alice. Not the greatest group if she needed to steal as much magic as possible. On the road, she made a lot of impulsive decisions that were quite reckless, like attempting to break the window and throwing her wine glass during the first trial, suggesting to summon another green witch, pretending to be possessed by Sharon, or messing with the tarot cards. There’s also the way she provoked Billy right after he nearly killed her. Those were all decisions she took without thinking about the consequences, out of impulsivity. But she’s not only impulsive when it comes to being reckless with others’ safety. She was also shown to be impulsive when it comes to helping some of her coven members. When Rio first emerged from Sharon’s grave, Agatha’s first instinct was to get in front of the coven as if she wanted to protect them. When Billy got thrown into the window, Agatha rushed to go check on him, or when Lilia was about to get impaled she jumped to push her out of the sword’s trajectory. 

4) Irritability and aggressiveness, indicated by repeatedly getting into fights or physically assaulting others.

Once again, this one is a given. Agatha is easily irritated and very aggressive, she’s quick to anger, losing her patience and snapping at people. She had no issue hurting Wanda when she had her captive in her basement, slamming her against the wall when she got irritated with her. I’d argue that the mass murdering she did over centuries also count as frequent assaults. She’s also quick to engage in physical fights with Rio (although those are mutual on both sides), and there was a moment at the end of episode 3 where Agatha randomly kicked Jen when she was already down after they all went through the water slide. 

5) Reckless behaviors that disregard the safety of others.

Agatha did not care how her actions affected the resident of Westview when she was purposefully messing around with the hex. She did not care either on the road. She knew from the beginning that it was a hex and even after seeing they could actually die in the trials, she made no attempt to try telling the others the road was fake. She could have tried to let Billy know he made the road but she didn’t. Because she didn’t care if some of them might die. She had no concern for their safety. She endangered the coven in the first trial by trying to break the window and by refusing to drink the wine. She did so too in the third trial by pretending to be possessed, making the group lose precious time. Same with the fourth trial by messing with the tarot cards and not stopping even when the swords were dangerous dropping on both her and Billy. 

6) A pattern of irresponsibility

This is probably the only criteria I’m not sure would apply. There are instances of Agatha being irresponsible, but I don’t think we have seen enough of her personal life to establish a pattern. So until further notice, I’ll consider this criteria doesn’t particularly fit. 

7) Lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating another person.

Agatha does not seem to have any remorse for all the people she murdered. She may have some remorse regarding her original coven, including her mother, but that was a much younger Agatha. The Agatha we know now does not seem to feel bad for the people she had killed for centuries. It’s even something she will be really flippant about whenever she talks about how many people she has killed.

She didn’t feel remorse when Sharon died either. Agatha might not have directly killed her, she is still responsible for her death by recruiting her into the coven. And it’s not like Agatha didn’t intend from the start to put Sharon in harm’s way. If her initial intention was to kill the coven, it’s very likely she would have killed Sharon too, or Sharon would have been killed by the Salem Seven. Billy may be indirectly responsible for Sharon’s death because he created the road, he was not aware of that nor did he intend for this to happen. Agatha on the other hand always intended for Sharon to die and did not feel bad when she actually did die. She acted extremely callous after Sharon’s death and never bothered to learn her name, even forgetting who she was later on.

And it’s not just about murder. She didn’t feel bad when she got Alice fired, nor did she feel bad when she learned she was the person who got Jen bound for a hundred years. She didn’t feel bad either about attempting to kill the coven from the beginning and had no qualms about using them to get to the end of the road even if it meant sacrificing them.

The coven’s members aren’t the only people who suffer because of Agatha’s actions. If we go back to WandaVision, Agatha orchestrated Sparky’s death. And she seemed pretty proud about causing a dog to die. It may have been revealed in AAA that Ralph poisoned the dog, but it was under Agatha’s order. He was under her magical control, so the blame is entirely on her. She did not feel bad at all for killing a dog. Speaking of Ralph, as much as his character is played for laughs, what she did to him was also pretty atrocious. She took control of his life, stole his house, and forced him to commit awful acts, causing psychological damage to him to the point he is completely paranoid now. It’s unlikely Agatha knows how Ralph ended up after what she did to him, I highly doubt she’d feel an ounce of remorse for that. 

Now, lack of remorse does not mean lack of regrets. Agatha does not feel bad for hurting others and how her actions affected them, but she does have regrets. She does feel bad if her actions negatively affect her, like personal loss or missed opportunity. She did seem to feel regret about killing Alice, but I don’t think she felt remorse. She did not feel bad for Alice, she felt bad because of the consequences she had to face after. She did not intend to kill Alice at that time, and now she has lost any potential trust she could gain from the coven. Not only that, we know Agatha became a ghost because she couldn’t face Nicky in the afterlife, so the regret might also be that she thought her son had seen her kill Alice. I don’t think she felt remorse for what she did to Jen either. When Jen did the unbinding ritual, getting told over and over that she “holds nothing” worked on Agatha possibly because deep down, Agatha knew it was true. She no longer has her son, she has no magic, and she has driven away Rio. She did hold nothing anymore. 

Having ASPD does not mean Agatha is incapable of love, or caring about others. She undoubtedly loved and cared about her son. So much so that she developed a soft spot for Billy because he reminded her of Nicky. She loved Rio too. Same for her pet rabbit. Unlike popular belief, lack of empathy is not a criteria for ASPD. It does usually result in low empathy, and that can vary from person to person. Agatha probably has little to no empathy for most people except the rare people she does manage to bond with. You can see it as a selective empathy for those she did love and care about, which included Nicky, Rio, Señor Scratchy and later possibly Billy.

If Agatha does have ASPD, how did it start? Even if sometimes genetics can play a role in developing that personality disorder, you aren’t born with it. Most of the time, it’s caused by the environment, mostly trauma experienced as a child. We know Agatha’s mother hated her. She thought she was born evil. She, with her coven, attempted to have her executed when Agatha was only 18. I do believe the accusations made at her were mostly true. She probably did steal knowledge and practiced dark magic. But Agatha did beg her coven to teach her, so I think it’s very likely that since her mother thought she was born evil, she didn’t allow Agatha to properly learn magic. If Agatha wasn’t taught magic and had this power she couldn’t control (siphoning), it’s not surprising that she would have to steal knowledge in order to learn. Agatha learned from a young age to break the rules in order to get what she wants or needs. And without proper guidance, it’s reasonable to think she might have practiced dark magic.

So yes, even if the accusations were true, her coven and mother are not blameless. Agatha is the way she is because of how she was raised, how she was treated as a child and growing up, and what she had to do in order to learn magic. She never had a healthy support system growing up, there was no possibility for therapy at that time, she was a witch living in the worst era for her kind, and she couldn’t even rely on her fellow witches to protect herself. After accidentally killing her original coven (including her own mother), which was definitely a traumatic event for her regardless if it was self-defence, she kept doing what she did so far to survive; steal, lie, deceive, kill. All the antisocial traits she exhibits as an adult are learned behaviours. Of course, it does not justify her crimes and horrific actions she later committed, but it does explain why she is that way. She wasn’t born evil, she became evil. She’s the product of her environment, experiences, circumstances and era.

[thousandyearphantombunker]

"we want more mentally ill/disabled characters with ugly symptoms!"

You guys can't handle lapis lazuli tony stark or hank pym! You guys can barely contain your ableism toward the hulk! You guys hate the good doctor for all the wrong reasons! You made fun of his speech patterns and his meltdowns wtf like I'm sorry the only autistic person you've supported have been the perfect non annoying type- but too many of especially as children are like shawn- they talk weird and don't understand what's so offensive about what they said

You guys keep saying Lapis should just be rewritten into a villain! I don't like how the show handled her but like your really gonna make the girl who shows ugly bad symptoms of ptsd into villain? You guys keep trying to make hank into a villain or rewrite his past- god forbid a character have really sevre ugly symptoms that causes them to make decisions that permanently effect the story but have them still be heroes! God forbid Ironman have npd and be a hero! Let's shame MCU Bruce for his mental illness for being unable to do things because of it! God as soon as a character with a mental illness or developmental disorder or low IQ shows actual symptoms and behaviors (ei: acts like how someone with the disorder in question acts- you know the main part of having a fucking disorder) you get pissy and pile on the shame- yeah jen you do control your anger better than bruce- you can also stand better than Charles fucking Xavier! Yeah your smarter than a guy with a low IQ want a cookie?

I'm never gonna be one of those people who tell others to stop writing disabled villains or that writing a character that deals with internalized ableism (disabled people like any group of people can be total prices of shit, and I'm sorry not everyone is content and accepting of their disabilities and some of us take comfort in characters that struggle with being angry because of their problems) but Jesus Christ when a heroic character with ugly symptoms who makes cruel decisions or has 'bratty' or 'immature' moments can we let them stay heroes? Can we let them have a disorder without piling on the shame that we are inferior because we can't do something everyone else can- because that's literally what a disability is! Can they still be heroes?

Do we have to use intellectual/developmental disability as a shorthand for anti intellectualism and being a gross annoying psycho

Do we have to make every heroic character with aspd or npd into a villain or change their disability to autism because it's 'more sympathetic' as if lack of empathy isn't a goddamned symptom of many disabilities like PTSD and autism- You can headcanon tony as having autism- that's cool by me but it's clear some of y'all do it to make him a 'woobie'- which is infantalizing btw but also it's because some of y'all are ableist toward people with npd

I hate that the only acceptable 'ugly symptoms' are things like forgetting to shower or brush your teeth every once in a while or being a bit irritable and not stuff like burning bridges or having explosive outburts

Also it's not a mental illness unless it effects your behavior?

Im not saying that we should just accept and allow mentally ill/intellectually disabled people/characters to get away with bad behaviors unpunished but can they stay heroes? Can they still be respectable?

"we want more characters with ugly symptoms"

Yet

You people get offended by low functioning autistic people existing! You get mad at them for being incontinent or nonverbal/making strange noises or having scary anger issues or IQs low enough that they will never be independent you get mad at them for not showing the 'appropriate' reactions to things they may or may not fully understand- you hate people with sensory issues -

You don't want mentally ill/disabled characters- you want characters with the labels of mental disabilities without any of the ugly strange or off putting behaviors mental/intellectual deficiencies/issues cause- you want a romantic tragedy!

You shame people with Alzheimer's for FORGETTING stuff and LOSING SKILLS 'yeah yeah you are superior to your uncle because you can remember stuff but can you remember it's a fucking disease! you people are cruel

Yes you are technically superior to disabled people because you are capable of things we aren't and you have better character and you can control yourself but guess what? Those people you hate for being incapable of that shit have disabilities it's not our faults! It's the fucking definition of a disability! Like yeah it is a skill issue and we're just 'worse' than nondisabled with us lacking self control and having lower IQs and bad mental processing- yeah it is because we're lacking in some capacity that's like the definition disability you can't say you support disabled people and then turn around and say shit about how your better than these people because you can talk or take care of yourself

Hank Pym and Lapis Lazuli should get called out for acting like assholes and pieces of shit but I am firmly against turning one of few heroic characters who actively struggle with psychosis and delusions into another 'psycho' villain and I'm firmly against saying Lapis is just as bad as Jasper and using symptoms of her PTSD as signs she should be rewritten into a villain- I want them to be held accountable not turned into straight up evil guys or dear god washing out their problematic qualities until they're palatable/relatable to a neurotypical audience to make them good guys when they are already good guys!

Can people who do bad things because of their disabilities still be heroes? Can they be allowed to get better or do they have to accept that having ugly symptoms means being the bad guy? Fucking hell this is why I side eye anyone who acts like mental illness/developmental/cognitive or mental etc disabilities are more destigmatized than physical disabilities (trust me they aren't)

Tldr let characters with ugly symptoms be heroes let your characters with mental disorders act like they have a disorder and let said characters be heroes inspite of it!

[redd956]

Writing & Worldbuilding Good Disability Representation

Unsurprisingly many people have struggled to write disabled characters, while others worry about making mistakes when trying to nail good representation.

In all honesty writing disability can be complicated, because disability itself is so broad. Eventually everyone once in their lives will be disabled in one way or another, whether temporary, from old age, due to mental illness, or simply born that way.

There's so many different kinds of disabilities, and so many different ways they can affect us. The levels of impairment is drastically different from person to person and disability to disability.

Importance of Good Representation

One of the questions I hear the most from older people when it concerns the "oddly diverse" casts of modern shows, is , I explain kindly to them the importance of representation from the perspective of the represented.

I always ask them when you think of Indian-Americans what characters do you think. Due to the Simpsons most pull up Apu, but when I ask if they think Indians like being represented by Apu their mood of the situation changes.

I tell them subconsciously we naturally recall other forms of representation we've seen of a group when encountering someone from said group, good and bad. These characters we see in media are subject to be what we recall, and when they're poor quality people get things wrong or support bigoted stereotypes.

Now when it comes to those disabilities, representing someone wrong can give people the wrong impression how those disabilities work. I would know, I've been told a many times that I'm too young for Fibromyalgia.

When a certain type/variant of disability becomes more prevalent in representation people come to believe it's the only type. Ambulatory wheelchair users, non-limping cane users, and those not completely blind face obnoxious individuals all the time, people who are convinced that the disabled individual is faking because it's not what they're used to hearing about.

If every representation of those with a disability is negative or villainized, then we have issues of demonization forming (think those with ASPD, DID, Bipolar Disorder, or Borderline Personality Disorder)

Avoiding the Inspiration Porn

One of the most annoying tropes of all time, in not just writing, but in reality television, game shows, documentaries, and so much more when concerning those with disabilities is the dreaded "Inspiration Porn"

You've very likely seen it before.

A story about a person with disability so impairing or disabling overcoming all their hardships so that they do one highly specific thing, and isn't just so inspiring, aren't they so cute doing the thing, you should feel inspired right now, you don't have that disability so now it's your turn, alpha red-pill grindset rhetoric, blah blah blah-

Almost every time a disabled character is the focus in a show they are simply there to be something for the audience to feel inspired off of. It tells the lesson of "no matter how bad your life is, it can always be worse."

It's dehumanizing for disabled people to just be a ploy of inspiration for non-disabled people.

It covers up the real struggle in the story, claiming that disabled people are compliant, never complain, and can never be shot down. Disabled people let their pain and problems stop them all the time. Hell! So do non-disabled people.

Not everyone has these resources, or mental resilience, and there is so much more to a disabled character than the arch of achieving something despite a illness.

Disabled people are achieving something despite a illness, they're just achieving something. They're people. I wouldn't say, "Wow Mary got a STEM masters, even though she's a girl."

Sounds sexists doesn't it? Well now think about how disabled people feel when the yearly America's Got Talent season plays inspiring over the top music as a person with a disability does something talented (only to never win anyway).

Common Stereotypes

Ooooooo a disabled villain, a classic. Oh it's the overly innocent childlike Autistic character. And here is the wheelchair bound engineer-

There are many stereotypes for the many disabilities out there. When it comes to disabled characters in general an classic was the disabled villain, often hand and hand with queercoded notions too.

Two major reasons why the disabled villain happens

Writers want a character to look tough or resilient, so they add things like an eyepatch, disfigurements, mechanical arms, etc.

The ugly metaphor of one's inner quality being equal to their monstrous outer qualities. Their broken nature shows in their broken appearance.

The first one is not as annoying, and is much easier to ignore or even explore, creating a more interesting villain. The second...

Although an interesting recurring metaphor, like in James Bond books, if you think about it longer you realize it's ableist energy. Does this mean that all disabled people are also evil on inside?

Having a villain who is disabled isn't bad on its own, however make sure they're not just an extension of the minority-villain.

The same goes for all other disabled characters. Do research on the common stereotypes. Is every psychopath a murderer? Is every wheelchair user calculating and highly intelligent? Does every Autistic person speak with altered distinct speech?

Tons and tons of media, well received and hated, have made use of harmful stereotypes in a mindless way. Even more I hate when I see this trope in fandom.

One of my all time favorite FPS characters is Jager from Rainbow Six Siege, but almost every other depiction of this powerful soldier, part of an international anti-terrorist team, proven to be highly intelligent and adaptable, is shown as innocent-minded and childlike.

Like c'mon people, really?

Cheating Representation

If I show you a disabled character, except they're never hindered by their disability, it's rare ever mentioned, and plays no role in their character ever you'd feel cheated in representation.

If I showed you a character who was only their disability, you'd feel annoyed that they're devoid of personality and are just there to be like, "Hi my name is Fibromyalgia."

Writing a disabled character is a balancing game. They are dynamic like all other characters. A character is not just their species, sexuality, or gender. They are apart of the world you're building.

Many disabled people feel cheated when a disabled character gets a magical or technological cure that basically removes the disabled aspect of the character. I think a good example of characters who have sci-fi/magical additives to their disabilities, that act as aid can be found in Arcane, Avatar the Last Airbender, Adventure Time, and also Steven Universe.

Blending In With The Worldbuilding

An easy mistake everyone can make when writing a disabled character, especially in a fantasy setting, is forgetting to blend them in with the worldbuilding.

Is that a modern wheelchair in a clockwork setting? How come magic isn't included with these kind of things? Can eyepatches be enchanted? Hear me out

Are there disabilities unique to the fantasy species present, in the magic system, or even one you made up solely for worldbuilding's sake?

Why hasn't healing magic or sci-fi medical technology prevented an amputation? Maybe there's rules that play a role here. Let's take for instance some wordbuilding examples from my SOA series.

Although healing magic is prevalent, any healer, cleric or chromatic magic caster, needs just as much medical knowledge as a modern surgeon to get their job done right. The greater the injury the more difficult it is for the magic to work properly, and for the caster to have enough mana or even skill to attempt it.

Amputations are very common to this factor, on account of Castellian warmongering, magic backfiring, and widespread aggressive mercenary groups.

No one's head has ever been reattached successfully by even the most skilled of healers throughout history, cases of so being moments of divine intervention or inexplicable magical wonder.

Amputations are usually replaced by robotic prosthetics in Projectian planets, and Castellite. In Okiea, technology inspired off of the Quinn (a species) has allowed for the popularity of the versatile but fragile Quinn-Style prosthetics. In nations with clockwork deposits, clockwork has always been popular.

Other nations simply buy these prosthetics or designs off of each other from other planets. From most expensive to least- Projectian - Mondiean - Castellian - Quinn - Clockwork - Arethian

Due to expenses, impoverished communities rely on rudimentary prosthetics, such a hooks, still hand molds, and similar.

It is both more difficult and more dangerous to cast through the majority of prosthetics. You have higher chances of magic backfiring, blowing the prosthetic apart and potentially more remaining of the affected limb. It is like they've never casted before with that arm, leg, or tail. Most materials used don't take to casting well anyway, except for the Quin and Clockwork prosthetics.

Sci-Fi, Healing, and Medical Technology

A lot of times, especially for things like amputations, and other injury-acquired disabilities, the immersion can be broke when the disability isn't supplemented by medical technology or magic in high fantasy settings.

If androids exists why doesn't realistic prosthetics exists? If we have floatation devices why don't wheelchair float so that they can better go up and down terrain? Can I have a madmax style battle wheelchair? Why didn't magic just fix the problem?

When worldbuilding with magic and technology I play by the rule- ALWAYS REMEMBER INNOVATION

Intelligent species, like us humans (if you can even call us that anymore), have a natural drive to innovate upon everything we find. We get a new invention, discover a new resource, or come up with a new technology we worked hard to find every single thing we put it into.

In a fantasy world the same would be done with magic, and the technology available. If I see a versatile hoverboard, a floating city, or platform elevator I might wonder why a character would appear with a regular everyday wheelchair, unless there's a worldbuilt explanation for it.

If there's bionic creatures, why no replaceable eyes for eyepatch wearing characters. What magic or technology can make the lives of those who face mental challenges easier?

Are there creatures similar to service dogs about? Or are service dogs a more universally accepted thing than our own world. When worldbuilding you can really play around, making things both better and worse for the disabled characters at play.

Magic, Species, and Casting

When fantasy species and magic are present I wonder if certain disorders are unique to them, and how disorders I'm already familiar with might affect them differently.

What does a orc with dwarfism look like compared to a dragon with dwarfism? Is it even called dwarfism at that point? Can elves be born with extra ears like some cats? Can batfolk have a disability that makes their echolocation impaired?

As for magic is it rare, but well known, that some people are unable to cast? I personally hate the trope of a magical world except there's one character who doesn't have any powers. I don't mind it as a concept itself, but I've just seen it so many times, and often in cheap poorly done settings.

There's so many other ways one could be disabled in the sense of magic, in a world where everyone else has powers. I think D&D wild magic is an amazing example of this.

There's also the conversation of curses acting as a disability themselves. With magic be so widespread, especially in a setting where we have spellcasters like witches and warlocks, why aren't curses widespread?

Does one not grumble every time someone in public has to ask about the story of how they got cursed just like a burn victim explaining their traumatizing past?

Don't Be Afraid To Explore The Bad

All the time I discover people incredibly nervous to work with themes of discrimination, war, torture, and similar things. I think it's important to explore settings where not everything is kittens and rainbows. I also think it can be equally as fun to explore a setting devoid of certain kinds of hate. Both are fun, and have advantages in their storytelling.

But often times stories need conflicts, and one of the most easiest to pull from, is discrimination.

I don't think anybody is terrible for enjoying a sort of angsty or whumpy aspect of writing disabled characters either. We all write and read different kinds of things for many many reasons. Maybe a story filled with darkness and hopelessness evokes a strange somber feeling of hope.

Grim darks, dystopias, and whump stories have come around for a reason. Just try to make sure that any hidden lessons you accidentally form in your writing don't give the wrong impression (I'm looking at you Saw)

[antisocialsharky]

what's a respectful way to write a villain or killer that has ASPD without villainizing the discord

Well that depends! Do you want your villain to not be redeemable and still write him as ASPD, thus your story line being one where they really are the bad guy and they don't get a redemption arc that would make them lovable => put a disclaimer at the front of your book, that you do not seek to demonize/villanize the disorder itself and that not everyone with ASPD is a bad person/that having the disorder doesn't make you inherently bad, etc. Sometimes certain disorders and/or symptoms and the way they can be portrayed fit really well for what you have in mind for a character and theres no way to really write them non stigmatizing and thats okay, as long as you still communicate it clearly to your audience, that its not your intent to demonize. Disclaimers really are your friend here!

If you have a villain that can/will be redeemed, putting them in therapy and/or having them proclaim they'll work on themselves in order to not harm people, usually works rather well to show that ASPDers are capable of that and that its not inherently the "bad people monster disorder".

Next to that its sorta important, that villains with ASPD aren't necessarily potrayed as being said villains just because they happen to have the disorder. You need an agenda/a motive/something that pushes them onto the villain path. Something that is maybe sorta relatable to people and possibly makes people like your villain, as this reduces the likelihood of demonization. Since ASPD usually stems from trauma, portraying the character as someone who went trough something so horrible, that they not only developed that PD, but also didnt see any other way than rise to be the villain, makes for a sorta accurate portrayal that highlights the causes of it and the severity with which trauma can impact you. Which is what you kinda maybe want to include, as this will sometimes prevent people from being like "oh they're born sick" or "they're just a bad person". It gives a tangible reason and further makes people sympathize (which is how the best villains are written imo).

You can also write villains that are proud of their ASPD and find comfort in being sick/twisted/bad/etc. but again, you might want to include a disclaimer for this one, so people know what you're doing!

Long story short: If redemption can be written into the story, thats your ticket! If not, just put a disclaimer in front of the book and make sure that you portray ASPD accurately troughout your book (or be clear in the disclaimer about how you're deviating).

[enlightenedfeline]

Tips for writing a sociopath:

While I've already made a post about the differences in writing psychopaths and sociopaths, I found it might be more helpful that I expand on each individually.

Do keep in mind that I am in no way a professional, I'm just a writer who's done her research and have written characters with ASPD before.

1- Conscious Sociopaths do have a conscious, a very weak one, that is often overshadowed by ego or impulse. So they are capable of feeling empathy and guilt.

What does this mean for your character? It means that while they lie and cheat, they can feel bad for their victims, it's just that they're able to ignore this feeling or it's overpowered by other feelings, often a need to be the best.

2- Ego Sociopaths are more often than not, fueled by ego, and a need to be liked and admired. They care what people think of them, and require praise for the things they do.

Sociopaths often look at more shallow methods of being the best, they don't try to be the best in how good they are to others, rather they try to be the richest, the smartest, the most attractive, etc.

3- Lying Sociopaths don't mind lying, more often than not, it's the easier option for them. They have little to no moral opposition to it, if it benefits them, they'll do it.

This applies to other things that someone without ASPD would consider wrong, cheating, betraying, and so on.

If it benefits a sociopath, they will do it.

4- Consequences. On that same note, sociopaths care how they appear to others, so they will try to keep any moral wrongdoing hidden from the public, to maintain their image and reputation.

5- Self-awareness A sociopath is not aware that they are a sociopath, maybe they can be made aware of the fact, but more often than not, they will be enraged if a label like that is put on them, because it can ruin their image.

Your average sociopath doesn't know that they're a sociopath, they'll think they're simply better than those around them, or more dedicated to things.

They will view themselves as the standard, making them very distrustful of people. Because if they lie and cheat, obviously everyone else does too, right?

6- Impulsiveness How impulsive a sociopath is depends on many personality factors, some people are just better at evaluating the future than others, this applies to sociopaths as well. But more often than not, a sociopath will be more impulsive than your average person, craving instant validation over long-term commitment to something.

7- Why? As far as my knowledge goes, sociopaths are the way they are due to factors in their childhood, often abuse.

Unlike psychopaths, who are born with the condition, sociopaths develop it in childhood.

This could explain the existence of a conscious, while psychopaths lack one. They still feel bad because inside them is a child who still feels, but a child who was hurt and abused enough to lose all hope in the world and the people in it.

This causes sociopaths to be distrusting of everything and everyone, making them incapable of forming geniune connection with people, which turns into loneliness.

Remember that sociopaths are not evil, no one with ASPD is, this tip post is of general information that I like to keep in mind with my characters. Your character may choose not to lie or cheat, they may be more or less impulsive, etc. At the end of the day, just make sure not to make the fact that they're a sociopath their entire personality.

That's all for this post, feel free to ask me questions in the comments about the specific character you're writing cause I always love answering those!

Maybe some of this advice will help, maybe it won't, either way, I hope this feline has enlightened you!

[mad-hunts]

both matilda and barton were keenly aware that joker was watching them like a hawk. so, although she was tempted to pull away from him, his daughter decided she had just one more thing to do. matilda very subtly tilted her head in such a way that their 'unwelcome guest' wouldn't be able to tell that she was very quietly whispering to him; and at such an audio that even barton barely heard it, in fact. but the important thing was that he'd caught it for she had told him something in code that meant 'just say the word' in relation to joker. it didn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out that there wasn't something quite right with their new comedian friend, barton thought.

and how ironic that was for him to think, because unbeknowst to him, arthur was talking about how weird he was acting with what could potentially be one big thorn in his side: the batman. a sigh came from him as the only thing he could think about right now was that the unruly golden ringlets atop his head were going to get so poofy because of the rain. it only appeared to be getting worse and one way this was illustrated was by how the light teal of the also almost doll-like dress matilda wore was becoming a darker hue of teal, which was kind of bad news for her, as it wasn't a cheap dress. it was made out of satin. but between holding onto barton a little longer to maintain the façade that she was upset, or pulling away early and thus breaking the illusion, she chose the first option.

by this time, barton was fully hugging matilda back and looked down at the ground, trying to just listen to her to see if any of this distress could be genuine or whether it was all an act. he maneuvered a hand up to cradle her head then with a shocking amount of gentleness. barton didn't let his guard down, though, as the image of joker's service animal in the corner of his eye reminded him that he wanted something from them. he didn't know what, but if it wasn't obvious before, then it was now. ❝ hey... you're acting like something seriously bad happened, lovebug. you've got to tell me what's going on, ❞ matilda finally pulled away from barton and she covered up both sides of her face at first, before rubbing her hands down it.

matilda silently listened to joker for a moment. no one's threatened you... well, that was pretty untrue, actually. she had one hell of a shiner around her left eye. ❝ honestly, from my friends leaving me stranded in there and ending up with this from some jackass who wouldn't leave me alone, i guess you could just say that i'm... really glad to be out of there. i mean, i tried to leave as soon as you texted me earlier, but this guy stopped me on the way out. i think he must've been as drunk as a skunk or something because he accused me of stealing from him, which i obviously didn't do, ❞ barton knew that that whole story was probably a lie, but he did know that he wanted to kill whoever hit his daughter; no matter what circumstances they were under.

barton was basically seething with anger when he saw the bruise around matilda's eye. ❝ oh? so, you're telling me someone hit you, in there? what'd he look like? and before you say anything, i just want to talk to him, ❞ that was a lie if matilda had ever heard one. she chuckled in feigned surprise at that, raising both of her eyebrows at once. ❝ oh my god... dad. i took care of it, so you don't need to do anything. in fact, please don't. he can get really scary when he's mad, ❞ matilda directed this comment towards arthur before she finally noticed the small puncture wound on his palm. from there, she forcefully took his hand and she barely looked up at him to say, ❝ it seems like you have a big family. what's that like? is it as chaotic as it sounds, or it is nice? ❞ she offered him a small smile. ❝ eh, well, you know that saying ' packed like a can of sardines? ' it's pretty much like that. mm, the dancers up on stage tonight were good, i'll give them that. ❞

matilda was lying through her teeth about the dancers. but the less that arthur knew, the better. his daughter finally opened up the umbrella that had been loaned to her by barton and gestured towards the other to take it. ❝ your makeup's running, so you can go ahead and borrow this, if you want. as for the drops — sadly, yes. the drug problem here just keeps on getting worse and worse, ❞ barton ever-so-slightly squinted his eyes at joker as if he was trying to read him. he'd let his nails get out of control, that much was for certain, but he had been 'taking a break' from practicing for about a month now... which really only meant he wasn't seeing any patients outside of surgery. and when he did surgery, it was with precautions taken so that his nails wouldn't breach the gloves ( though usually they were shorter and less sharp. ) the thing about gotham metropolitan was that he'd actually worked there quite some years ago, and they did have strict policies about how long your nails could be. but now that he had his own clinic, he could set the hygiene standards for it.

that didn't mean that he wanted it's existence to be known to the public, though, as his main clientele was criminals. forging some documents to make it appear as if he was working at the hospital like he had years ago was his solution to this. and it always helped to have someone on the inside who could quote unquote ' make that official. ' a micro-expression of displeasure seemed to flash across barton's face for just a second as he made prolonged eye contact with him. all the while, matilda wrapped his hand with a roll of bandages she'd taken out of her purse.

the corner of his lips curled as if to say ' i may not even know you that well yet, but i already hate you. '

Joker expects a gruff burst in his ear once his focus settles on Dr. Mathis’ pocket. Matilda dropped something in there. What exactly, Joker can’t tell. Neither can the younger Wayne heir from their family’s defunct terminal. Squinting won’t help, but it does relieve his red-streaked eyes. How tree pollen has managed to swamp the city is beyond him.

Werewolf slips the cigarette from his mouth to cough into his elbow. He resists the urge to paw at his nose. MAC Chromacake pigments dry down matte, but mist already has begun beading on the surface. A pale blue streak trickles from Tragedy’s eye, down his cheek, and into the margins of his scarlet simper. It has no taste.

Blaring horns don’t distract him, though incoming footsteps while his back is partially turned compels Joker to glance over his shoulder. The line remains wrapped around Paradise’s facade and around the corner. Overcast keeps bruising the night sky.

Sokol side-guards Joker on the left. The black wolf-dog’s ghoulish eyes remain locked on the father-daughter duo before them. One of the doctor’s palms bleeds. Joker hones in on it while accounting for both sets of hands. Those hands could never touch a patient. Something isn’t right. A chill rolls the length of Joker’s spine. He rears his chin, tucks the damp cigarette to his lips so he can inhale as it’s dying, then force himself to breathe.

Without moonlight to transform under, the lycan is left to shift from sole to sole; dipping his shoulders and carrying his torso on that subtle current. Each time he blinks, Bruce loses focus. He has more than plentiful clear frames to screenshot and print, but it’s the jostling of the cameras that unnerve him most. 

“Stand your ground and stay in plain sight,” Bruce’s instruction is calm as, ‘MATHIS, MATILDA’ appears alongside the young woman’s perfect face. No place of employment listed, however. She’s in every way proportionate; a living doll. Scars from cosmetic procedures to achieve such a flawless veneer might dent her skin here and there, but Joker isn’t close enough to know for sure. Those low-resolution lenses certainly can't reveal if any cosmetic procedures have taken place. “No one’s threatened you,” his reminder’s gentle enough to soothe one of his little nieces, “No one’s gonna hurt you. Just hold steady.”

A gradual drop of Joker's left hand settles over the bracelet tucked under his cuff. Three quick taps onto the moon-shaped charm with his thumb are followed by three longer taps, then three short taps. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Again. The moon symbol lights up once. Joker covers it with his thumb, then allows his damp sleeve to fall back down and resumes smoking. The Chief’s Special carves his hip. Joker rakes his left hand-heel over the revolver’s snout and remains in position. 

“I’ve got three,” Joker speaks in reference to daughters, but scrunches his face and clarifies, “They’re all little, though. My oldest is five,” youngest has yet to be born, “And my son’s a baby.” His chin nudges toward the doors guarded by Dalí’s long lost twin, “How packed is it in there, Ma’am?” Joker asks Matilda, though his voice might be swallowed by the rain’s hiss. “My wife's on her way. We were just waiting on our sitter,” he’s doubtful Gary had evening plans, “She likes the cabaret.” 

“That was smooth,” though Bruce knows his older brother can’t comment aloud, Joker preens in a fashion that opens his chest up enough for the little brother to know he’s gloating. “Nothing about this guy’s behavior is right. Not hers either. I’m gonna look up his medical license and see if he’s really still in practice. It’s against board regulations to have nails like that. Unless Gotham Metropolitan’s nixed its scalpel budget…” Bruce thinks he’s funny. Joker’s stomach knots in a bow. For that, he paws at his eyeballs and rattles the image Bruce is seeing enough to intentionally trigger a migraine or motion sickness on the younger brother's end. “Do you think they retract like that X-Men villain?”

Joker would roll his eyes if only he could. Instead he puffs enough smoke for a veil to float over his eyes. The rain won’t let it last. Droplets thicken and fall like little guillotine blades. They cut past polyester and soak the satin sleeves of Joker’s dress shirt so they cling to his skin. His chest cinches, leading Joker to cough again and expel any smoke that might remain in his chest. Once more he checks both father and daughter’s hands, then winds Sokol’s light blue lead tighter around his own hand. 

“Are they still slinging Drops around like candy in there…?” Joker speaks to Matilda again, though Dr. Mathis hasn’t left his eyeshot, “Last time, we were practically stepping over bodies just to get to the bar.”

“Try to figure out what she does,” Bruce speaks in reference to Matilda, “I don’t have an employer for her…and she’s being just as weird as he is.” Before Joker interrupts him with some canned, ‘You can’t just tail people because they’re weird,’ Bruce stresses, “He practically admitted to killing that cop, then tripped over it once he knew he couldn’t take it back. Worst comes to worst, have Nix give him a shake-down and see what falls out of his pocket.” Joker slackens his jaw, but isn’t certain if his brother’s joking. “Maybe it is Drops.” Certainly wouldn’t be a body.

[kouyou-arc-when]

ON DAZAI AND EMPATHY: A character study Before you read: Obviously diagnosing any character in fiction seriously is a fool’s errand, but I am a fool, so let’s just do this for amusement. The main thing I desire is to discuss is the extent to which Dazai is capable of various types of empathy, as well as how that influences the way he sees and interacts with others. It will be chaotic and all over the place because I just sat down and wrote this in a fit. Let me explain some factors in analyzing Osamu: The author's intention is clearly to make Dazai's internal world a mystery. Since we don't have enough information, all we can do is hypothesize based on external elements. Generally, across all novels, the only time we’ve seen anything of Dazai’s perspective is in “The Day I picked up Dazai” (Beast continuity) – where he “saves” Oda and tortures that random dude. We don’t hear his thoughts narrated from first-person perspective, unlike many of the other novels.

Now, the crux of the issue. For years, it’s been discussed whether Dazai is a “sociopath”. If we disregard that sociopathy is a very loaded term that can mean a lot of things depending on which specialist you consult, at the very least, Dazai does strike me as someone with a unique expression of empathy, who could qualify for Anti-social personality disorder or a related condition. I will abandon the idea that Dazai is a sociopath, and use actual concepts that have legitimacy within this post. Whether Dazai could qualify for ASPD or any other disorder is something I've seen discussed for many years within the fandom. I'll try to analyze how these concepts could apply to him. In regards to mental health and Kafka (since it is a contentious matter) and the validity of any of this: I understand that a lot of people are resistant to the idea that any of the characters could have conditions more complex than depression, anxiety, and PTSD. This is my counterpoint. I have noticed that Asagiri emulates a lot of characteristics commonly attributed to “geniuses”, without confirming or potentially even intending to write these characters as having a specific condition.

A great example is Ranpo – who will read as autistic to any decent mental health professional (Untold Origins). Did Asagiri intentionally sit down and say “I am going to write an autistic character”? Maybe not. However, the “genius” stereotype is profoundly connected to visions of autism, even if people aren’t aware of it. Take people like Sherlock, House and L from Death Note – they’re commonly believed to be autistic by fans. All of these characters borrow from the same group of traits, that just happens to correspond with a certain condition - savants have always been popular in fiction. It's been known that the favorite type of character for Asagiri is the “prodigy” type, and he has used geniuses across fiction for inspiration of most notable intelligent characters within BSD. For Ranpo it was Sherlock, for Fyodor it was Joker from the Dark Knight (a classic sociopath), for Dazai it was Patrick from The Mentalist.

What I’m trying to say is, you can see various personality disorders connected to the portrayal of these geniuses, and even without confirming their state, it is clear they are either intentionally or unintentionally coded to be that way. Extremely intelligent characters not being able to read social cues, lacking empathy, disregarding rules etc. is something we commonly see in fiction. Basically, a lot of people don’t even know that these stereotypes are based on certain personality types, disorders, and illnesses. It’s sort of like drawing a character and dyeing their hair a certain shade of blue that you don’t know the particular name of: it doesn’t change the fact that you used that color, and the fact it has a name. Most authors are not mental health experts anyways, so they may not be entirely aware of every detail of the psychological framework they write the character to possess. They also may not write it consistently, as they're mostly emulating stereotypes. I mention Ranpo and autism because a character can embody traits of a stereotype without the author even necessarily having the intention to do so, however, to anyone who knows a thing or two, it is clear Ranpo is on the spectrum. If Ranpo were to express a few traits that go against this, it would not necessarily take away from the large-scale portrayal he is meant to exude: an autistic coded genius.

Why am I saying this? It is entirely possible for the author to write Dazai as a person with anti-social personality disorder, to “code” him in that way, but to not be entirely aware of how an individual with ASPD realistically tends to act.  Because he may be emulating a certain "stereotype" of a genius, he may also end up emulating specific psychological states, without making them entirely consistent in a realistic way. Writing the way individuals with ASPD tend to deal with empathy can be extremely difficult for anyone. It's easy to emulate a sociopath on a superficial level, but beyond that, it gets more challenging. How would a person with limited empathy act when they're hurting someone? That is an easier idea to handle. But how will they act in a friendly relationship? This is where it gets tricky. That is likely why someone like Dazai can never be consistently compatible with a very specific disorder: but, he can come very close. Besides, concepts such as anxiety and depression are pretty well-known, but more niche mental health conditions are not as well understood. So, BSD Osamu was written with specific attention to mental health issues because the author himself was someone who spoke heavily on the topic. I’ve read a lot of real-life Dazai Osamu, with special attention to No Longer Human (the main inspiration for BSD Dazai was Yozo) – and neither RL Dazai nor Yozo gave me the impression they could qualify for ASPD at all.

I know BSD Dazai is the opposite of the RL author in so many ways, but I guess it’s relevant to mention this because we know so little of BSD Dazai’s internal working processes, and Asagiri's main inspiration can tell us a lot about the intentions behind Dazai's portrayal. Generally, an intention or idea behind a character can give a lot of clues to us - more than anything, I am under the impression some of the main ideas behind Dazai's creation was that: 1) He doesn't feel like he belongs among humans 2) He has mental health issues However, we have difficulty defining the exact source of why all of this is in more realistic terms.

Naturally, since Dazai, an extremely socially intelligent person, sees himself as "othered", it is logical to assume he is not capable of fulfilling some emotional function most people can in a successful enough way. If he were just mentally ill in more typical ways (only depression), I theorize he wouldn't feel that "othered". He specifically is not meant to feel human. Obviously, his extreme intelligence is one of the things that isolates him, but the question is what else?

We are led to believe Dazai "sees" something the rest of us don't, and that is one of the reasons he wants to die. However, there is something more to it, as I believe it to be. We have two characters who are as intelligent as Dazai: Fyodor and Ranpo, and neither of them is suicidal, as far as we know. I believe Dazai "feels" a certain way, and then finds a way to logically justify it. Due to his intelligence, he likely falls into a complex loop which leads him to existential nihilism: but you usually don't end up in a place like that if you tend to feel alright in the first place, regardless of how smart you may be. While Dazai is certainly isolated due to his extreme intelligence, most of the people who made an impact on him are nowhere near him in that respect. In fact, I'd argue Dazai isn't even looking for someone equally intelligent to him, unlike Fyodor (this would take another post to explain).

The man who means the world to him, Oda, is more emotionally intelligent and full of common sense, but definitely not his cognitive equal. You can tell a lot about a person depending on what they value: and due to this I believe that Dazai's main issues relate to emotional matters. He primarily feels isolated due to his emotional state, and his intelligence pushes the problem further. Otherwise, he would treasure people like Ranpo and Fyodor over guys like Oda and Atsushi: he's looking for something to ease his emotional pain. Dazai doesn't seek out raw intellectual stimulation as much as comfort/excitement. This post will be an analysis of how Dazai compares to the "average" psychologically and some of the reasons he may feel so othered. Basically, my theory is that the feeling of being "othered" comes from his emotional profile, as much as it comes from his intellectual capacity. Those two take equal parts in his psyche.

Why would Dazai feel so emotionally "othered"? I believe it may have to deal with a specific personality disorder or condition, and mainly how he experiences empathy. One of the possibilities is ASPD. Anyways, let’s look into common ASPD symptoms, and then we'll look into common behavioral patterns the character shows. Dazai is equal amounts portrayed seriously and in a “jokey” way, but his worst traits and moments are usually described without humor. To preface: Keep in mind that you can have any or all of these traits without it qualifying you for a certain disorder. It is the extent to which you show it that makes a person, like Dazai, out of the norm.

1. Repeatedly breaking the law: This one goes without saying, he was in the Mob as Young as 15, and seemingly a violent criminal even before that age. To differentiate him from other members of the Mafia, it is stated by tons of people throughout the story that Dazai was practically born for this job.

Oda in Dark Era:

He was openly murderous before the age of 15, according to both The Day I picked up Dazai and Fifteen:

Dazai and Oda interacting in TDIPUD When talking to Kyouka, it seems that he has an “interesting relationship” with murder as a whole:

One thing is for sure, Dazai is much calmer, calculated, and more Machiavellian than most criminals in BSD, and this all started at an extremely young age. Many people kill when they're young, but they're not this casual about it.  The age at which he was this cold about would be of diagnostic significance.

2. Lack of remorse: Everything mentioned above, it is clear that Dazai has an even more complicated relationship with guilt and empathy. I’m pretty sure anyone in real life would consider him out of the norm, as it’s explicitly stated Dazai doesn’t feel remorse for all sorts of things he does, but there are some hints he is either ashamed of the way he is, or regrets his nature, but accepts it. What is particularly significant here is how young Dazai is when he shows a marked level of these traits. A key event that stuck with me is from the Dragon Head event in Mayoi (from my understanding it was written by Asagiri), where Shibusawa mentions Dazai will regret something (to me it sounded like he meant that killing Shibusawa will end poorly for Osamu). However, Dazai’s reaction was interesting – it was like he was almost amused that anyone would believe Dazai “could” feel regret for anything.

Mayoi Later down the timeline it’s quite questionable whether Dazai feels regret for some of his actions because he hides his feelings like a snake hides its legs, but there are implications he is somewhat remorseful if you read between the lines. More on that later. Dazai has changed compared to his past self, but to talk about that, and the extent to which he has changed would take a whole other post.

More on his lack of remorse, In “The Heartless Cur” Dazai is very young when he gets some randos from the Mafia killed in front of Akutagawa, yet his main emotions are amusement and boredom. This is not the “typical” emotional range of most people, even practiced criminals. For example, Chuuya kills people just like Dazai, but his reactions to it are entirely different.  

from The Heartless Cur Murder tends to not be the preferred or first solution Chuuya goes for: there is an expected amount of hesitance if you read into Chuuya. He put a bomb below Chuuya’s and sabotaged Ango’s car without much bother. I’d say even if you do see It as a “means to an end”, the way he did it was really cold. Usually, when people of all kinds do bad things, they have remorse and empathy they need to suppress, but with Dazai we don't see much of that. It's like he can just "do it'. He’s also really great at torture, in Side B at age 15-16, he already describes himself as a “specialist”. This is also touched upon when he speaks to Kouyou:

No matter how "grey" a character is, torture is a very specific process that takes a particular psychological profile to pull off. To be a "specialist" at it, you definitely need to possess dented empathy. Lack of remorse and empathy does not mean a person is going to be a criminal at all - it simply opens the opportunity that they may get lost in those waters more easily compared to the average person.

3. Repeatedly being deceitful I’m pretty sure we don’t have to cover this one. Yozo, the character he was loosely based on, is a big liar, and commonly uses “clowning” to distract from his real personality. Even the real Dazai Osamu wrote extensively about the concept of “lying”.   There is a lot to talk about Dazai and “masking”, and I’ll get to that in the second half of the post. Generally, Dazai lies a lot, one can’t even be sure what his personality really is. He lies by omission, manipulates, and intentionally deceives people without any issues. There are so many quotes about this that I’d probably reach the image limit right there if I wanted to reference them all. 4. Being impulsive or incapable of planning ahead Does not apply

5. Has difficulty sustaining long-term relationships: Dazai is famously a hoe. From “All women are his type” (and it seems he has zero issues getting together with any woman, young, old or even taken) to being known as “the enemy of all women” (said by Chuuya), it’s clear he is very promiscuous. Wan is in the gray area of canon, but in one of the earlier chapters he has so many love letters by different women that Atsushi burns them all. Kunikida said he hits on any woman he sees in the Entrance exam novel, which is further supported by random Wan! Chapters, silly crossovers, and everything else (literally anything female).

Not only that, but Dazai sounds like a consistently manipulative and toxic romantic partner. In an Otomedia interview, written by Asagiri, Dazai’s real type was basically something like: “Any woman is fine, because he is confident he can shape her to suit his tastes” which shows a remarkable lack of care for the personhood and individuality of his partner.

When answered what he’d do if his partner cheated or betrayed him, his answer was even more concerning. Depending on the translation, it goes something like: “He has not been cheated on, but he has cheated on others” or “he set up women to cheat on him/betray him” where both are a lot, just in different ways.

Either he is compulsively unfaithful, putting all above together, or he plays mindgames with his partners. He’s also told Kunikida that: “And from my experience, it takes only a smile and some kindness to get a woman swooning over you when she's fallen on hard times” painting an image of someone who takes advantage of people’s weaknesses to get what he wants.

Regardless, it’s clear he is very manipulative and likely emotionally abusive. I won’t even touch upon his obsession with double suicide. There’s also the fact that he seems to use sex to get what he wants – insert scene where he fucks the nurse to get his phone back.

Other than that, Dazai appears to be rather solitary. Ango and Oda are said to be “the only ones close to him” because they respected said loneliness. Even in ADA, Dazai seems to be professionally close to people, but very few people seem to know him on a personal level. I’d say he keeps people at a distance intentionally – before it was violently, later it is by being avoidant. For as much of a womanizer he is, there was that early comic where he spent Valentine’s Day drinking at Lupin “with Oda”, instead of going out with any particular person. I think this demonstrates how emotionally distant he is from all the people he interacts with

6. Being irritable and aggressive:

Dazai is not particularly aggressive, nor irritable, but he has moments where he slips. Tbh, reading back, it says a lot about Dazai’s character who he gets angry at and why. It’s important to say that when Higuchi calls him out on “Hollowing out the hearts of his opponents” in incredibly brutal ways, Dazai replies that he thinks “Sadism is just a method, and how it’s boring”.

Akutagawa is the receiver of a lot of his violence to a disproportionate degree. He beats up Akutagawa beyond what could ever be “just training”. There’s something that ticks him off about Akutagawa, which is interesting, since Dazai tends to not react this way to anyone who doesn’t touch him “intimately” in some way. A lot of people justify Dazai’s physical abuse by saying it is “training”, but it stood out to me how he kicks Akutagawa in the stomach even the first time he meets him in “Beast”, when Akutagawa is just an extremely traumatized and deprived kid he refuses to recruit. There is not much utility to that kick, to me. It felt personal.

Another example of him expressing anger is when people “called him foolish for wanting to die” – clearly he did not take it well since all of those people ended up dead. This is from “The Day I picked up Dazai” when Oda tells him he is a fool for wanting to die.

Other times Dazai expressed rage was in relation to Ango and Oda, particularly anything that related to Oda’s wellbeing.

He snaps at his subordinates when they tell him he shouldn’t be friends with someone “of such low status”, and the only time we really hear Dazai say he hates someone is when he’s torturing one of the guys who put Oda in trouble in the Beast timeline of “The day I picked up Dazai”. Obviously, he is resentful towards Ango and incapable of forgiving him. “Dead Apple” guidebook touches on it.

“Though they were once good buddies who used to drink together, to Dazai, Ango is one of the persons who caused the death of Odasaku. He still holds that resentment up to now, and is unable to forgive. Ango also seems to feel Dazai’s silent wrath towards him.”

Harukawa has said to pay attention to how cloudy the eyes of a character are to accurately interpret their psychological state. I don't think there are many times Dazai's eyes are drawn in such an extreme way - there is no "light" she talks about here. His eyes are pure black when he talks to Mori during the Guild arc.

He also agrees with Fyodor on “Malice being the best fruit that God Bestowed upon Mankind”

There is also this with Jouno:

Basically, Dazai rarely gets angry, insults don’t work on him (as he tells Chuuya), nor does beating him up, but when he does get irritated he flies off the handle and has no issue crossing any normal boundaries.

That detail is what stands out to me – usually, people have a line they won’t cross when getting mad, but for Dazai it’s like most moral lines disappear. Imo, his anger is for social standards over disproportionate in how far he’ll go and how he'll act on it– he usually has a clear intention to harm the individual he's mad about. In comparison, Chuuya is someone who gets angry more than Dazai, but Chuuya clearly has a line he won’t cross. There is also no pointed sadism in his reactions. Dazai will likely do almost anything.

Basically, it's not how much Dazai gets angry, but the way he gets mad that sticks out to me. Most importantly, Dazai only ever gets enraged if it concerns something very personal and intimate: Oda and his death, his suicide attempts etc. At this point, for me, It’s safe to say that if Dazai gets extremely angry, it means the topic affects him on a deep level (a hint to whatever Is happening between him and Akutagawa, I could talk a lot about that). 

More on Dazai’s unpredictable and violent nature:

Stormbringer I think there is a valid argument in seeing Dazai’s aggression as just a tool he uses to keep others at bay, something to hold over people and control them – but even then, it shows a marked disinterest in social norms people usually respect.

7.Having a reckless disregard for their safety or the safety of others This one builds upon all the others. However, it’s always been interesting to me how it’s clear something flies over Dazai’s head when it comes to regularly empathizing with others.

This is often seen with Chuuya. In my opinion, most of the bullying Dazai gives Chuuya is not motivated out of rage, but rather some form of spite. He goes at length to Rimbaud about planning Chuuya’s murder in “15”, then he also lets Chuuya be tortured in “Stormbringer”.

I am under the impression he sees these moments as “amusing” and doesn’t fully emotionally understand why this is something bad, even if he does on a rational level. I’ll say that Dazai did seem to show some rage whenever anyone hurt him physically in the past (seems likely to be a hint to a traumatic past), which Chuuya did when they met, but I don’t get the impression he is generally angry with Chuuya, it’s more like he just enjoys fucking with him. Ironically, for how rarely Dazai gets angry, it seems he reserves his rage/irritation exclusively for people and things he cares about, so Dazai being specifically irritated at Chuuya is just a sign of how much the guy gets to him.

If Dazai were angry at Chuuya, it is in character that he would try to hurt him a lot more than he does. However, I'd say Dazai has a blurry space for what's ok between "keeping someone purely safe" and "deeply hurting them". There is some lack of emotional empathy there - to him, it is more amusing than anything to see someone he finds interesting struggle.

Dazai sees boundaries differently. He’ll put people into danger or through discomfort without worrying much, especially if he’s sure they’re going to walk and live after it, but sometimes not even that. (there’s so many examples of it). I’d say it’s not that Dazai doesn’t care, he just cares about people differently compared to what we’re used to socially.

Regarding personal safety, it’s pretty obvious: he’s a suicide maniac, but even more, he also puts himself in harm’s way all the time without any anxiety present. Examples are when he provokes that sniper in Dark Era (when Oda gets angry at him and wants to punch him), knows he is going to get shot by Fyodor, but lets himself get hurt anyway. When he “dies” in 55 minutes, he seems “lightly” surprised, but there’s no strong reaction to it.  To me, it seems that the only physical harm he dislikes is pain he suffers from another person (when he doesn’t plan it). Dazai apparently doesn’t feel much “anxiety” – I remember many different times when he comments on another character’s timidness or meekness, seeing it as something unusual.

8. Behave irresponsibly and show disregard for normal social behaviour He’s extremely eccentric, and even Ranpo says he doesn’t get him. Dazai asks women to commit suicide the moment he meets them, and often attempts suicide around people even if it distresses them (Entrance exam).

While I think he made this excuse in Dark Era to Taneda because he didn’t want to work with Ango, I do believe he believes what he said: “You’d lose your job if I did that.” Dazai wryly smirked. “I don’t like places with lots of rules.” Not being able to accept conventional rules is very often a telltale sign of a personality disorder. Clearly, Dazai fits many of the criteria necessary for having ASPD, so let’s look at some other details that are common for people with ASPD.

Masking: In psychology and sociology, masking is the process in which an individual camouflages their natural personality or behavior to conform to social pressures. Masking is common with many disorders, such as autism, ASPD etc. I am pretty sure it’s canon Dazai masks – on a BSD exhibit, the key element Asagiri wanted to talk about in Dazai’s personality was related to this.  

“When I describe Dazai to the staff, there is a phrase that I always use, “an unworldly being with a mental age of two thousand years.” Dazai has far surpassed the mental dimension that human can reach, thus no-one can even tell if the emotions he shows are the real things or not.

There are rare moments when that Dazai shows his very “human” side. That is when he talks to another superhuman who is on the same level with him. The other is when he talks about his old friend who has passed. This is the scene when Kyouka wondered “Maybe I’m, after all, just a murderer at heart.” and refused to be saved. And Dazai’s reaction to that. When he said “Don’t give me any of that!” here, he really meant it. That was an outburst from Dazai, as a 22-year-old boy, in this scene.” Light novels often describe his smile as fake, mask-like, and I could probably find 20 panels where Harukawa clearly drew him to intentionally seem like a fake smiler. From “15” to “Entrance exam”, Dazai often drops his mask, and then goes back to acting silly just to make the other person relax. He does this with everyone, Mori, Kunikida, Atsushi, etc. Chuuya also mentions that Dazai’s “happy-go-lucky” personality in ADA is something new, and he believes it doesn’t fit him.

Kunikida says this in the Entrance Exam: "For someone so full of eccentricities, there is something about his behavior that makes it seem as if he has an unobstructed view of the world. I don’t know exactly why, but all his emotions strike me as an act to some degree. Is he just playing dumb? Could there be more to him than he’s letting on, lurking behind his ambiguous mannerisms?"

More than anything, Dazai himself says that Oda was the person closest to seeing his “real” personality. That pretty much confirms he keeps his real self hidden away. I’d say that there are several possibilities to why this is: He hides it because he dislikes being vulnerable, he doesn’t know how to act “normal”, people are unable to understand him, so masking makes it easier for him to communicate with others…there’s a lot of theorizing I could do here.

Dazai also tends to have interesting thoughts about personalities as a concept.

You’ll commonly see Dazai say something serious, followed by a severe reaction of the other character, ending with Dazai changing his demeanor and saying “just kidding” to lighten the air.

Manipulation: Dazai is extremely Machiavellian – he is prone to manipulating everyone around him, regardless of how much they care about him or not. He manipulated Chuuya into joining the mafia, he does the same with Akutagawa even today: Here we have him preying on Aku's insecurities to sabotage his self-confidence

He seems to be able to cut off his emotions from any situation, seeing people in a raw, factual sense.

There are several moments throughout the novels where Dazai talks about people as if they’re purely resources or pawns. An example of this in Dead Apple (where Chuuya gets angry because he doesn't respect people or show enough sympathy)

The way he speaks of Atsushi, when asked what he thinks of him in a guidebook, is something like “developing as expected”. Especially in the original, it sounds extremely factual, mechanical, and cold. To me, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about Atsushi, he’s just the type to compartmentalize his emotions in opposition to his thinking. This is very common for a few personality disorders and mental health conditions: the capacity to totally cut off your emotions from the equation.  Obviously, many people are capable of doing this to one extent or another, but the amount to which he does it is what makes it significant.

Lack of traditional empathy: Personally, I think everything comes down to this. Dazai's experiences with empathy are one of the main themes of his character arc. I believe one of the things that makes him feel othered is his lack of emotional empathy.

People with ASPD tend to have issues experiencing what a lot of people consider “typical” empathy – however, ASPD is also on a large spectrum, so experiences certainly vary. Keep in mind that "lack of empathy" is common for all sorts of disorders, but since ASPD seems to be one of the most popular choices for Dazai, I decided to start there.

Before we continue, there are 2 types of empathy: Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognize and understand someone’s feelings and experiences and imagine yourself in those scenarios. Emotional empathy is experiencing shared emotions with someone or feeling emotions as though the experience is your own.

People with ASPD can commonly do the first type easily, and struggle with the second one. It does not mean they cannot experience emotional empathy, it’s just rarer for them to feel it. In my opinion, Dazai heavily relies on Cognitive empathy compared to Emotional empathy.

You can see often that he seems to not entirely understand “why” something is wrong on a personal level, but he can logically see it. This is a running theme, and you can commonly see that Dazai doesn’t fully understand “normal”.

“15” Asagiri seems to be writing Dazai as someone who has gone “beyond the human dimension” in his skills and intelligence, so other people can’t fully understand him, but I think this goes both ways. Dazai has lost touch with what’s the standard human experience.

One of the times Chuuya specifically calls out Dazai for not "acting human-like" is when he's not expressing empathy and respect. It is clear that Dazai's lack of empathy is one of the aspects which make others see him as "inhuman".

There is another situation with Kunikida  during the Azure Messenger arc where Dazai seems to apologize for not getting something “is normal”, it slips by you very easily. It is framed as a joke, and it can be read as him making fun of Kuni, but Kunikida asks himself why Dazai apologized. It does read a bit unusually.

To me it seems like Dazai doesn’t fully emotionally understand other people, so when his mask slips you can see that he struggles a ton with getting what’s exactly “typical”.

Because Dazai is extremely intelligent, he masks in order to fit into society, and he does it successfully since he can intellectually understand most social and emotional functions and processes. However, he slips up like everyone does. This is why he got along with Oda well – since Oda just let him act like himself without having ulterior motives. Dazai didn’t have to “mask”. He didn't see Dazai as "just anyone", but he also realized Dazai was human. Basically, to Oda Dazai was a kid that had empathy issues, but he was struggling much like everyone else.

Personally, I feel like Dazai doesn’t feel entirely “human” because he doesn’t feel “emotional empathy” on the same level as other people, and this is one of the key issues of the character (as it's clearly stated in the Dead Apple manga, where Dazai does seem a bit upset by Chuuya's reaction)

. The reason he felt “seen” by Oda is because Oda fully recognized this and still believed Dazai could do “good”. In our society, it is common for people to think that "empathy" and "sympathy" are conditions for being a good person, but it isn't so simple. The possible complexity of Dazai's moral state is why I find the character so interesting - a person without traditional empathy choosing to be good is really fascinating. (more on this later).

Boredom and general emptiness: “Boredom” is an extremely common complaint for people with ASPD – in fact, intense, non-standard boredom, along with other symptoms such as atypical experience with empathy, is one of the easiest ways to recognize ASPD. A “numbed” emotional state is common for people with ASPD, and due to their different emotional range and inability to connect with others in a more typical fashion, they are prone to “boredom” and seeking out extreme experiences.

Alcoholism/Substance abuse is common for people with ASPD, and it’s pretty much canon Dazai drinks a lot (alcohol is even in his likes). Aside from that, Dazai often cites boredom as one of the main reasons he wants to die, and I remember so many instances where he complains about it in bizarre circumstances. This is common for people with ASPD: depression/suicidality is comorbid, and I have heard people with ASPD mention they wanted their life to end once they no longer have enough stimulation. Dazai is often stated to be “bored”, or look bored even when extremely horrifying things are happening (people dying around him/telling their life stories..).  An example with Mori where he talks about wishing to die (from 15):

Another really funny thing, a lot of people with ASPD I have seen tend to dislike “dogs”. Obviously, this hatred comes from the real life Dazai being scared of them and thinking they can attack at any moment, but it’s a funny coincidence. They tend to dislike dogs for an entirely different reason than Dazai does, to be fair.

How Dazai seems to see himself and morals in general

Generally, to me it seems like Dazai is not entirely happy with his nature. He admires Oda and doesn’t understand why he wouldn’t use his talents to rise up in ranks within the Mafia, simply because that is logical to Dazai – perhaps it is that difference between them that he enjoys so much. He is frequently attracted to displays of empathy:

Examples: 1. Ango documenting the deaths of people within the mafia even if it’s “just a waste of money” 2. Almost everything Atsushi and Oda do

He often describes altruism as “interesting”. I am also under the impression that Dazai has a tendency to project his nature onto others, which we can gather from his “Evil expects evil from others” quote to Mori. Furthermore, he sadly remarks in Dark Era that he is “a man despised by righteousness”. so I feel like there is something up here, some sort of guilt, distaste or shame.

This tells me:

a)Dazai sees himself as “evil”

b)He is constantly assuming the worst in others or is prepared for the worst

Another thing this tells me is that Dazai is someone who is likely extremely wary of people’s intentions. This is a ubiquitous theme all across BSD, especially when we see him as a kid. Osamu tends to be skeptical of everyone and everything, as if he’s waiting for people to betray or fuck him over at any corner. In TDIPUD, he keeps getting upset that he can't figure out Oda, since it makes no sense for him to be so charitable for absolutely no reason. Oda said “good and evil are the same to you” – personally I interpret this as Dazai being largely amoral rather than immoral.  Whether Dazai can be described as “good”, “evil” or “neutral” largely depends on your view of ethics. Just because someone lacks traditional empathy, it doesn't mean they are necessarily sadistic or bad at all. Immoral and Amoral are two words that sound similar but have different meanings. Immoral is an adjective that describes “something against pre-established morals, ethics, or standard societal practices.” Amoral, on the other hand, is an adjective that describes “something or someone completely lacking morals.” In common society, if you’re not “good”, you are often automatically “evil”. Basically, a person who has "no morals" is just as bad as a person who has cruel beliefs, but those two fundamentally differ. However, in a technical, utilitarian fashion – this is often seen to be true. More or less, “good” is the neutral state, and the more you step away from it, the more “evil” you are perceived to be. The more moral conventions you break, the more "evil" you are, regardless of your intentions. The results of the actions matter more than the source and motivations. In the end, a person is dead, regardless of why you killed them or how you felt about it. The reasons why people do conventionally moral things can be all over the place too - people aren't always kind because they have sympathy. When I hear “evil and good are the same to you”, it sounds like Dazai has no need for either, meaning, yes, he has no inherent need to do good, but no need for bad, he is simply not opposed to either of them. Regardless of what he's doing, he feels the same way. They're both tools to satisfy particular needs. Many people read this and say "aha, so if he sees no difference between the two, that means he is evil", but I think the truth is in the middle. I always say that to estimate Dazai's moral framework, you need to judge him outside of normal conventions. Basically, his starting point in making decisions is different. He begins his process likely by thinking "what will this bring me?" Most of his “evil” is not out of pure sadism, it’s just that he feels no need to stop himself due to moral conventions, he mostly cares about practical results. This is opposed to Kunikida who cares about ideals and morals in a vacuum and pursues them in their most idealized version (and it's well known Asagiri writes duos as opposites). Entrance exam as a novel was about how idealism can lead people to ruin when it's unrealistic.

He’s naturally immune to socialized pressure that forms the moral frameworks of most people on an emotional level. All of this is very common for ASPD, and a few other conditions. The more I see Dazai talk about how he sees the concept of personality, murder, morality – the more I am convinced his ethical framework is focused on results rather than the inherent morality of said actions. Example: He's going to lie to you to make you happy, even though "lying is bad". There is no inherent value in staying honest if it makes an individual miserable in the long run, even though society sees frankness as a virtue. That way, most actions are “open” for Dazai to undertake, he has no qualms most people have against them, since he doesn’t have socialized morals. A lot of the time, we only see certain things as "unconditionally bad" because we've been socialized to see them that way, even if it's not necessarily logical. He simply lacks socialized morals, leading to a tendency to be amoral. Everything is a means to an end, every action is alright if it's a tool that has more pros than cons. Oda's death was a useful character arc, since it led Dazai to taking Oda's moral framework as his own. He doesn't believe he is better than others, nor does he enjoy hurting random people, he doesn't kill or rob randos to get something and believes he is justified in it. Things of that type would make him “immoral”. Most of Dazai’s evil actions seem utilitarian, rather than committed for the pure act of pleasure or cruelty. When I say “amoral”, I mean this from Dazai’s point of view. Since he has no “moral boundaries”, all actions are open for him to undertake. He can go as far as he wants to any extreme largely depending on his subjective worldview and feelings (as seen in Beast, where he breaks all sorts of ethical codes of being "a good man" so Oda could get a decent life). However, since he is aware that there is a fight between good and bad in every person, and that evil tends to win out compared to the good, under enough pressure, he admires people who selflessly continue to be kind. That is why Oda, a highly moral person even beyond what is logical (his insistence to not kill even if it harms him) is the opposite that pushed him to change. Ulterior motives tend to be something Dazai is worried about in people, perhaps because he is possibly projecting all he is, or can be, on others. He describes Oda specifically as:

"a man who has no ulterior motive". Oda is obviously being a good person partially out of self-interest ("people live to save themselves"), but this self-interest is not destructive. I think for Dazai, it was difficult to find people who didn't have an ulterior motive that was ultimately hurtful, and he projected that onto everyone. Oda acting in his self-interest was ultimately beneficial to everyone. All in all, while Dazai does admire Oda's morals - I think a lot of this appreciation comes from an intimate and subjective place, where he feels comforted someone like Oda even existed. Continuing Oda's work is likely an extension of this as well. Keep in mind, any person has the right to see Dazai's actions as bad, as they often are. I am more speaking of Dazai's internal mental framework. Conclusion: Dazai has no inherent need to do good or bad, for the most part. He just goes as far as he needs to to satisfy his emotional needs.

Oda saved Dazai’s life in the day I picked up Dazai, and listened to him, but expected nothing in return. I feel that Oda saw this struggle within Dazai, and the way “good and evil don’t mean much to him” due to his disorder, but recognized that Dazai perhaps didn’t want to be this way.

Since Oda saw Dazai’s “irregular” nature, and still believed he could be a good person, Dazai was touched and decided to change his life. I believe Dazai had some distaste for himself, regardless of his lack of empathy, he could recognize what he was doing was not entirely right. As Asagiri mentioned, Oda told him exactly what he needed to hear, and the fact that these words were so life-changing to Dazai tells us a lot about what he had on his mind.  In my opinion, to see who Dazai is, you need to follow exactly which words got to him.

In my opinion, it likely meant a lot that a person he actually admired wanted to be in his life, especially a person he considered so kind like Oda. He often says that Oda is “the most interesting person he knows”. Imo, this is because “empathy” is one of the things Dazai doesn’t fully understand. He had to learn it. Since he understands human nature so well, cognitive empathy comes easy to him, but he still fucks up sometimes.

Here, I also feel like he is talking about himself – he sees himself in Kyouka. It doesn’t come naturally to Dazai to be “good”, but he is trying his best, that is his ideal now. (Asagiri said this was one of Dazai's rare human moments). For that reason, I think Dazai admires empathetic people and tends to dislike those who are naturally violent, or even choose to be violent out of sadism.

On the BSD exhibit, Asagiri said Atsushi was "an empathy user", and how that is the key to his character. During one interview, the author mentioned that Dazai keeps testing Kunikida's ideals, but Osamu secretly hopes that Doppo will prove to be right, and Dazai wrong. This to me paints a picture of someone who hopes that "good" is worth it, at least from an intellectual point of view. When talking with Fyodor, he seems to admire people who live emotionally, thinking god doesn't prefer perfection, logic and harmony.

"The ones who actually make the world run Are those who scream in the storm of uncertainty and run with flowing blood"

Dazai seems to reject the idea that him and Fyodor and better because they are more calculating and cold - like I mentioned earlier in this god-forsaken post, this to me says Dazai believes empathetic and emotional people are better than him.

"I've come to see it many times, his gimmicks are the accidental and illogical that's a weakness two of us have in common" He suffers because he is not like them, and that contributes to him feeling "othered".

Negative emotions and Akutagawa

My guess is that one of the reasons Dazai has so many issues with Akutagawa is because he is projecting his own issues with his lack of empathy onto him. This makes him relate to Akutagawa, but also dislike him beyond how he usually treats people. Akutagawa questions why Dazai's acts of violence are justified, while Osamu is judging Akutagawa: to me it sounds that Dazai sees his actions as at least partly justified because they are "logical" and utilitarian. He puts a difference between him and Aku, as if Dazai's natural instinct is not to mindlessly hurt others. However, it's interesting he needs to draw this line.

I believe Dazai sees a lot of the hurt he enacts on others as either "justified" or subconsciously defensive. "If I don't hurt others, they will hurt me", and he uses this against all kinds of people to keep them in control. In the Dark Era novel, Dazai speaks of Akutagawa like this:

“When I first saw him over in the slums, I was horrified. His talents are extraordinary, and his skill is extremely destructive. Plus, he’s stubborn. If I’d left him to his own devices, he would’ve ended up a slave to his own powers until he destroyed himself.” Interestingly, Dazai was "horrified" at what Akutagawa was capable of, where most things don't seem to exactly phase him. I think something about Aku's capacity for violence even scares him, and he "lashes" out in response to control him.

Later on Oda calls out Dazai's thinking indirectly in Beast, saying that hurting Aku is still bad no matter why he did it. (more on this in the next section) However, it’s very clear he cares for Akutagawa in “Chopsticks and a Spoon”, so I do feel like he’s likely aware of it. In fact, that story contains one of the gentlest expressions Dazai has pointed at anyone, so I think he partially sees Akutagawa as "innocent" in nature, and more like a wounded animal. I'll likely write a post about it. Since Dazai has expressed some lament or even shame regarding him being a person "hated by righteousness", I do think he is a bit ashamed of who he is. This part is a theory: When talking about "No Longer Human", Asagiri mentioned that he felt the book was about "embarrassment". Since Dazai is canonically famously based on Yozo to some extent, I feel that we can guess that Osamu likely does feel some shame - the question is about what. The rare times we see BSD Dazai express something similar to shame is when talking about his moral nature (when he beat up Akutagawa in Dark Era), but it's a "blink and you'll miss it" type of thing. Yozo and RL Dazai's relationship with his father was one of the cornerstones of his work (NLH even ends with him mentioning how he would have been alright if he had a better relationship with his father). Within the book, Yozo feels all sorts of things which make him feel "inhuman", but he is terrified about being open about it due to his strict father who sees him as somewhat strange. Since the theme of "fatherhood" was lightly touched upon when Atsushi's orphanage director died, I do think this is potentially a sore spot for BSD Dazai too. My guess is that Dazai likely had a poor relationship with his father figure, who saw him as "strange" or "inhuman" due to the way he acted: leading BSD Dazai to feel shame over his nature. Perhaps one of the things that made his father see Dazai as inhuman was his lack of typical ethics and empathy. Osamu internalized this - and ended up becoming a criminal at a very young age, perhaps in an attempt to confirm what hurt him, seeing himself as someone who could mostly do bad (which could be one of the reasons he wanted to die so young). Perhaps Oda making a way for him to "act good" was life-changing because of that too - it targeted a specific wound. All of this is speculation, but Dazai did mention that "self-pity leads you to living a life that is an endless nightmare". My guess is he was talking about himself there: and his own experiences with shame. To extend this: I think one of the reasons Dazai is so harsh on Akutagawa is because he is possibly projecting his relationship with his father onto Aku. Akutagawa is violent and troubled, and Dazai was shamed for the same thing. (but it would take a lot of time to work through this theory, so moving on..)

Dazai exhibiting empathy However, Dazai does show empathy for Oda, and a lot of it. I’d go as far as to say that he over-empathizes with Oda, while he underempathizes with everyone else. His relationships with the people closest to him tend to be why some people think he may have BPD. Especially due to devaluation and the "favorite person" concept. For someone with this type of BPD relationship, a “favorite person” is someone they rely on for comfort, happiness, and validation. A FP is a person who someone with BPD relies heavily on for emotional support, seeks attention and validation from, and looks up to or idealizes. For Dazai, this is Oda. On the other hand, In the context of BPD, “devaluation” refers to a psychological defense mechanism or coping strategy that individuals with BPD may employ in their interpersonal relationships. Devaluation involves a shift in the person’s perception of others, where they view someone they previously idealized or held in high regard as unworthy, flawed, or worthless. They become unworthy of their affection and praise. The person with BPD may engage in behaviors such as intense criticism, verbal attacks, withdrawal, or even cutting off contact with the person they have devalued. These actions are often driven by the individual’s fear of rejection, abandonment, or a desire to protect themselves from potential hurt or disappointment. For Dazai, the clearest example of this is Ango. However, a person can exhibit the "favorite person" and project the phenomenon of devaluation without having BPD. In my opinion, Dazai does show heightened polarity in his feelings toward others, but I am not sure if BPD would be my choice for him. It's very difficult to say, as many conditions mask as BPD, and Dazai's expression of empathy is unique.

Dazai idealizes Oda, and deeply sees his pain as his own, while he always frames Akutagawa in a negative light, even though he is likely one of the people Dazai cares about the most (next to Oda, Chuuya, Ango, Atsushi, especially according to Beast). Another example of his heightened negative emotions are Ango, and Chuuya to a much lesser extent. My guess is that Dazai doesn’t deal with caring about people well, especially when they are any sort of “threat”: which is why he tries to “bully” them down. The reason he goes easier on Chuuya than Akutagawa is because he feels Chuuya is in his nature more sympathetic.

In my opinion, the moment Dazai warmed up to Chuuya was when he realized that The Sheep were pushing Chuuya around: he was no “King of the sheep”, he was acting out of empathy and care. Since Chuuya is so powerful, it was likely admirable to Dazai that he didn’t abuse his abilities for self-gain. This is when he decided to isolate Chuuya from the Sheep: and I think the reason above is specifically why

I'd say Dazai is likely "spikey" to anyone he cares about but has less confidence they won't hurt him. There are two camps of people: 1. Atsushi, Oda, Kunikida, Sigma (generally upright, meek, moral at the end of the day) 2. Chuuya, Akutagawa, and lastly Ango (people who are aggressive, challenging, and need to be put down in Dazai's eyes).

He cares about both camps (Sigma is debatable, I spoke of the type of personality Dazai seems to deal with easily in his case), but he likely feels "less safe" with the second type. Mori could potentially go into the second camp - there is some respect and resentment there at the same time. He even talks about this with Kunikida in Entrance exam.

"“I guess. But you, Kunikida, I’ve got a good idea of who you are now, so nothing you do will ever surprise me. I mean, compared with me, you’re just a simple man with a simple mind, after all.”

See? You wear your heart on your sleeve. You don’t hide how you’re really feeling. It’s nice. You know what else is nice? Just knowing that you’re going to be worrying later to yourself, ‘Am I really that simple?’”

“Why, you—”

But I refrain from arguing. Whatever my response, he’s just going to end up telling me, “I knew you’d say that.”

I suppose that being around Kunikida comforts him since he is predictable, yet kind. On the other hand, someone like Chuuya excites him, because he is wild and challenging enough, but is still a good person when it comes down to it. Basically, Dazai is hypervigilant of pain.

Akutagawa is “off the chain” in comparison to all of them. I am under the impression that Dazai can care about people without treating them well at all, and 2 of the people who are at the top of his list (Chuuya and Aku) are people he “seems” to dislike (In Chuuya’s case rather openly in his profile).

It appears that the more “intense” and “unpolished” parts of Dazai’s personality are strictly reserved for people he cares about, but he is extremely selective about who he shows emotional empathy to as it’s such a rare experience for him. He may capable of "cutting off" empathy to protect himself emotionally. It is quite clear some aspects of empathy miss him broadly in Beast, when he appears shocked that Oda would react so strongly to endangering Akutagawa since “it’s all supposed to end well if he survives”. That sentence itself is totally tone-deaf, yet Dazai is acting as if Oda is supposed to take that normally. It’s quite clear that Dazai doesn’t treat Atsushi all that well in Beast either, as he exploits his fears for Atsushi to be totally obedient to him.

I really like this moment, because it demonstrates that even if Dazai does have some point regarding Akutagawa and the way he goes about things, the way he has treated him is still too much – and Dazai can’t exactly convince Oda, a decent person, why this is ever justifiable under any circumstances. There is an aspect of regular empathy that misses Dazai – it doesn’t cross his mind why his actions are inherently bad. Perhaps it is possible that Dazai was treated with little to no empathy growing up, so he accepted that as a model for acceptable behavior. A lot of the time, cruel actions don't seem to even register to him as bad, in an almost innocent way. It's like it doesn't cross his mind that stuff is out of the ordinary. When talking to Oda about this, he was described as "childlike".

However, Dazai shows a lot of extreme emotional empathy for Oda, which tends to be rare for people with ASPD (obviously, all traits of it are on a spectrum).

Dazai clearly feels as if he himself is being beaten when Oda suffers. Furthermore, “Beast” shows that he is willing to endanger multiple people he cares about so Oda could live and write his book. In his words “the me from other worlds doesn’t care about the world” – showing that even though he may “care” about people, it’s really hard for him to fully emotionally connect with others.

This leads him to severe feelings of loneliness and isolation, but it’s quite clear Oda is the exception to this.

Dazai has multiple anxiety attacks when meeting with Oda in Beast and TIPUD:

“I see.” Oda says after he gives it a moment of thought. “I’ll do so then. That is very kind of you. You are a good guy.”

Dazai’s expression becomes distorted.

He opens his mouth, and closes it again, as if he can no longer breathe.

If he tells him everything now, maybe things will go back to how they were. The two of them will go to the bar together and have a toast. Just like that night.

“Odasa…”

Just as Dazai is about to say that name, a train passes by. The express train passing through that station cuts through the silence of the night, right next to where Dazai and Oda is."

and obviously the whole showdown at the bar. Earlier, Oda mentions that Dazai looks like he is about to cry:

 An interesting part here is that Dazai gets shocked that Oda would even consider that Dazai could hurt him:

It almost sounds absurd that Dazai, who is known for scheming even against people he likes, would be that surprised someone would expect this from him. This, to me, shows that Dazai does have that underdeveloped, childish emotional side to himself, where he doesn’t understand everything he does. It’s quite logical why Oda, or anyone else, would be consistently doubtful of Dazai, yet he is so used to not caring about anyone, that when he does feel things he is remarkably unpolished and just as illogical as anyone else. I’d say his heart is like a knife that went blunt from lack of use. Since he has no experience dealing with people he feels strongly about, it always comes across very messy – and Asagiri himself often describes him as childish at his most vulnerable.

Furthermore, the lyrics of the song for Beast have these words to say: “Loving you to death won’t kill me Because I don’t love this world enough” And in the Beast novel, he mentions all he has to give to the world is love. I think we can certainly see that Dazai is not emotionless.

To me it seems like Dazai is capable of selective emotional empathy. I feel like one of the reasons Oda was “the one” Dazai attached himself to the most, is because Oda was a struggling man who was also depressed (rather clear the more you read), but he was empathetic and accepted Dazai for who he was.

Him and Dazai had difficulties in common (the guy was a killer as a kid too), yet Oda did his best to be a good person – that is one of the reasons, as Asagiri mentions, why he had an “outburst” when Kyouka implied former killers can’t be good people. Oda was a good person in his eyes, and his role model of “empathy”: someone he wished to emulate. I am pretty sure that Oda became the blueprint for the moral compass he strives towards.

Most importantly, Oda didn’t really judge Dazai when he showed his lack of empathy, while he remained firm in what he believed in.

“Odasaku is the type of person who will never lecture anyone. Because he does not consider himself a superior person who can teach and guide others. However, it doesn’t mean that he has nothing he wants to say. The sentiments that he couldn’t convey in these two scenes were finally delivered to Dazai in the last scene through the words “Become a good person.” Very meaningful scenes when read as a set.”

is how Asagiri described Oda during the exhibit. As Asagiri says, one of the reasons he didn’t tell Dazai anything when he provoked the sniper was his modesty. Since Oda didn’t look down on him, yet showed concern and fully understood Dazai wasn’t just a struggling depressed kid, but someone with serious issues who also happened to be a child – Dazai grew to deeply care for him. Oda didn't shame him, likely avoiding Dazai's hypervigilant sensor for pain.

Selective empathy is common for many disorders – and Dazai, after not feeling “seen” his whole life, ended up making a true connection with Oda. I guess, in that sense – Oda was the one who really reached Dazai’s heart, and since he was the only one who came that close, all of Dazai’s emotional empathy is reserved for him.

In my opinion, the reason Dazai was so difficult to “get to” was that even people who had good intentions toward him never truly saw him.

To see Dazai as a depressed woobie who just needs to be saved is to idealize him – which wouldn’t exactly help him. They’re talking about a version of him that doesn’t exist. If the only way he could be seen as worthwhile was someone seeing him as more “traditionally good” than he truly is, it’s not going to work. He needs to be seen for exactly who he is, and still given a chance to be better.

Likewise, it had to be someone who wasn’t helping him in order to get something from him. I would say that one of the main reasons why Dazai got so attached to Oda was because his friend had no reason to save him, he gave him space, and didn’t even force himself into Dazai’s life.

It was purely altruistic, and for Dazai, who expects the worst from others and seems to fear people’s intentions, this was perfect. One of the main aspects of Dazai's character is his anxious-avoidant attachment style, where he is likely so afraid of potential pain, he pushes others away, or punishes anyone he cares about who might hurt him preemptively. A lot of this is not impulsive, but calculated, which is why he feels a natural resistance to Akutagawa (but relates to him and cares all the more because of it). He understands the self-destructive nature of Akutagawa.

"If I’d left him to his own devices, he would’ve ended up a slave to his own powers until he destroyed himself.”" I believe Dazai likely allows himself to fully empathize with Oda because he feels only Oda is "safe" in this world. The fact that Oda is dead and gone perhaps makes caring for him even safer, as his image of Oda will never change.

Conclusion: I'd say Dazai is someone who is probably extremely traumatized, with a specific emotional profile that doesn't allow him to experience empathy like normal people do - and this is one of the defining traits of the character for me. He is able to isolate himself from normal social pressures and boundaries - and because of this and his extreme intellect, he feels like an alien in this world. A lot of his struggle likely deals with the fact that he dislikes the hurtful person he is, but has difficulty seeing why he should be better - all while he has a distaste for sadism, cruelty and senseless violence in others. In my opinion, a lot of his own cruelty is "reactive": he acts "evil" because he expects the same from others ("evil expects evil from others), and decides he wants to beat them to the punch. He is comforted when he is in the presence of altruistic and empathetic people, because he doesn't have to be what he dislikes (as "enemy" evil will always make him react since he is threatened). In the end, he rationally sees that cruelty is negative, but he still feels it is an effective tool. If Dazai weren't this way, he wouldn't consistently choose empathetic people for his company throughout the story, while acting callous himself most of the time.

A lot of things Dazai does to me feel like he is avoiding hurt, or attempting to "control the pain" he gets in his life. Notably, Dazai mostly lets himself get "bullied" by people he sees as innocent and simple like Kunikida, since "Kunikida will never surprise him" - he knows that Doppo won't cross the line. Ironically, he famously says he "dislikes physical pain", but often gets himself into physically dangerous scenarios.

It's like he doesn't mind pain if he's the one in control (when Fyodor let the sniper shoot him, when that dude from Mimic shot him point blank). Avoidance of pain and control are other keys to Dazai's character. In that sense, I think Dazai was possibly traumatized and learned to almost completely disassociate from empathy early in his life. There are so many theories I could think of here that we'd get nowhere.

It is clear that Dazai is capable of extreme emotional empathy due to his relationship with Oda, and it's possible he doesn't allow himself to feel it in most scenarios due to his avoidant nature regarding pain. However, whatever the reason behind it, it is clear he doesn't feel a ton of emotional empathy in his day-to-day life, and this disassociation from empathy has crafted him into a person who doesn't fully understand "normal humans".

That is why he sees them as fascinating after Oda dies - he reaches Dazai's heart and opens him up to the idea that not all people are unempathetic and cruel - meaning Dazai doesn't always have to be on guard. Does Dazai have ASPD, or is his lack of empathy a result of other things: PTSD, CPTSD, is he perhaps autistic? I can't say for sure, as it could be so many things. Personally, anyone could make an argument for any of these in my eyes. Above, I mostly analyzed his displays of empathy and tried to study which emotional patterns he appears to follow. I think Dazai's character arc has a lot of worth specifically because we see someone for whom emotional empathy may not be natural trying to be good. It's a unique ethical dilemma, and that's one of the reasons I feel in love with the series. Since it isn't natural for him, his efforts mean a lot, and the struggle feels real and genuine.

Thank you all for reading if you made it this far <3 I've taken a lot of posts and translations I've gathered over the years, and I am sure I won't be able to thank everyone, but, I'd like to show appreciation for popopretty, aja154ever and many others for sharing info from exhibitions, databooks and so. Have a nice day !

[crownedhades]

I agree with you on Sasori having szpd a 100%. Drop the reasoning pls tho🙏🏻 Sasori is not talked about enough

in my view, sasori (as a human) was in the middle of developing szpd + conduct disorder. possibly possessing autistic traits as well, though i will have to rewatch shippuden to get the full picture.

the reason i specify conduct disorder (rather than aspd) and "developing" szpd is because sasori is permanently a 15 year old after he made himself into a puppet. his brain never developed enough for his condition to be fully matured.

keep in mind that the information i am pulling from is solely from memory, and that i plan on writing a more thorough analysis essay on his character once i finish rewatching the anime. so there may be inaccuracies within this post.

let's begin with his past. his parents died in a war by the hands of sakumo hatake, leaving sasori alone at a very young age and without proper guidance. alone even when he was taken under chiyo's care due to her emotional neglect and general distant behavior. the most significant thing she did for him was introduce sasori to puppeteer (remember, chiyo blamed herself for not being there for sasori when he needed her the most).

sasori made puppets of his parents, craving love and affection. although this is not typical schizoid behavior, it is important to note that sasori is still a very young child who is struggling to cope with the loss of his parents. his symptoms are only beginning to develop, especially when he dropped his puppet parents and realized that these replicas weren't what he truly craved.

those replica puppets of his parents weren't enough for him, and this is where we see his first developing symptom of schizoid personality. he hates the yearning and vulnerability that came with craving something more real and organic.

now, most children end up spiraling in a pit of self-blame whenever they feel unloved or not properly cared for, even if its the caretaker's (chiyo) fault. continuously questioning their self-worth and trying to prove themselves to that caretaker.

if i remember correctly? we do not see this behavior with sasori outside of him trying to "fix" his loss through puppets. instead, he takes on the schizoid trait of severe emotional suppression. he doesn't try to form a connection with chiyo, even if there is a possibility of him wanting to. rather, they coexist under the same roof without actually "living" together.

chiyo's actions are considered to be severe emotional neglect that heavily damages sasori's way of processing, handling, and viewing his own emotions. and since he lacks a proper role model, his sense of morality and perception of the world grows to become heavily skewed. thus he develops conduct disorder or antisocial traits through his usage of developing his puppets and his lack of sensitivity towards life itself.

how he's more willing to turn his only friend into a puppet than to allow that friend to die as a person with his own will. the lack of empathy for another person's conscience; desperately trying to hold onto object permanence rather than the person themself.

vulnerability is something that sasori fears and resents more than anything. from his obsession with trying to eliminate as many physical vulnerabilities in puppet users once found by enemies, to his dislike for his own humanity.

the fact that sasori chose to become a puppet at the age of 15 feels like the snapping point of schizoid personality that only fiction can capture. the true elimination of feeling and heart. to live dissociatively and watching life pass on through the screens of our eyes.

for schizoids, we feel as though we live life mechanically. that our very own eyes are similar to that of our phone screens; the gateway to the external world that we otherwise contempt and feel threatened by. the schizoid personality is characterized by the severation of the external and internal world.

and sasori turning himself into a puppet feels like a very literal interpretation of these descriptions.

it doesn't help that there are many psychologists who theorieze that schizoids resemble borderlines during emotional crisis. how he almost "splits" on those he views to have left his sacred control or "system." splitting also occurs with schizoid individuals, though in a very different way since most of the time it is not emotionally recognized or processed.

speaking of his relationships with other people, he really doesn't associate himself with anyone willingly. he only worked with the akatsuki because he lost the fight against konan.

as for his puppets... they almost feel like a defense mechanism. protecting himself from the trauma he endured as a human as he isolates himself at a steadfast pace.

schizoids are human beings: so naturally, we, too, need community on some level in order to remain healthy. even if it's surface level.

but sasori takes this "surface level connection" to a whole new way when it comes to his puppets. because his puppets are his people, his object permanence that brings him a sense of security. many of his puppets were real people.

it's almost like his puppets are a barrier between him and the organic, external world. his verison if an internal world, solely owned and controlled by him. his space where he feels like he can control, eliminate, and control threats to his autonomy and safety. an enternal self-preservation without any outside interference.

i genuinely believe that with his track record of emotional suppression and general isolation, sasori's brain would have developed szpd upon entering adulthood if he had remained human. instead, it feels more like he buried himself into that disorder by force when he became a puppet.

i feel like i have more to talk about... but nothing else immediately comes to mind. thank you for reading.

[ihopesocomic]

Thank you guys for laying down a boundary of stopping people from being ableist via “wow this character is EVIL they must be mentally ill”. As a reader with multiple b-spec disorders, I have met neurotypicals that act identical to the villains in this. I already trusted yall to be normal with that kinda thing but it rules that youre telling people its shitty :D!

Being something such as psychotic or delusional or anything heavily stigmatized already paints a giant red target on our backs. Its nice to see authors and artists show their allyship :) you guys have gone out of your ways to write realistic abuse and trauma and mental illness and it means a lot! Have a good day!

Couldn’t agree more, anons! I’m schizophrenic myself and that’s like… THE disorder that’s applied to evil or eccentric individuals next to ASPD so yep, I’m tired. lol

And it’s not like we haven’t had to have this convo before with Storm because of how she acted during one scene a few chapters ago. This is a pro disability comic so this means we’re not playing into y’all’s negative perceptions of certain disorders and applying them to “bad” or w/e characters.

But anyway, this is the last we’re saying on this. Back to lions just being chaotic because it’s what they chose. lol

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hello! I was wondering if you had any advice/sources on how to write relationships between siblings where one has ASPD (specifically sociopathic-inclined)?

Writing Notes: ASPD Relationships

Antisocial personality disorder - a pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others, criminality, impulsivity, and a failure to learn from experience.

In order to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, an individual must show a continuing pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since age 15, with three (or more) of the following:

Failure to conform to laws and social norms (repeatedly breaking laws).

Deceitfulness (repeated lying or conning others for personal profit or pleasure).

Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.

Irritability and aggressiveness (repeated physical fights or assaults).

Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.

Consistent irresponsibility (repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations).

Lack of remorse (being indifferent to having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another).

In addition, the individual must be at least age 18 years and there must be evidence of conduct disorder before age 15.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Hi! Here are some signs and symptoms of ASPD you can use to guide you in writing scenes involving sibling relationships of your character with ASPD. Make them more specific to fit your story, so for example (#4), write about repeated fights with their sibling.

Here are more notes, mostly focusing on interpersonal relationships, from different sources that can guide your writing to show your character's relationship with their sibling (sources linked above). Choose which ones are most appropriate, and alter as needed for your story:

A person with antisocial personality disorder may...

exploit, manipulate or violate the rights of others

lack concern, regret or remorse about other people's distress

behave irresponsibly and show disregard for normal social behaviour

have difficulty sustaining long-term relationships

be unable to control their anger

lack guilt, or not learn from their mistakes

blame others for problems in their lives

repeatedly break the law or take part in criminal activity, but if they do, they are not sorry for their hurtful deeds

be inconsiderate of the rights of others

be deceitful and intimidating in relationships

not value "playing by the rules." They do so only if they are threatened with punishment. This attitude leads to a tendency to exploit others. They take advantage of the fairness or softheartedness of others, and they feel indifferent toward or even contemptuous of their victims.

have little, if any, ability to be intimate with another person. Any lasting relationships are likely to involve some degree of abuse or neglect.

sometimes be charming and can be good actors who use lies and distortion to keep relationships going. Some with antisocial personality disorder have no goal beyond the pleasure of deceiving or harming others.

appear to care for no one but themselves. They may be able to understand the emotions of others. But they don't suffer any shame or guilt about the pain they may be causing. Instead, they use their knowledge of others' weaknesses to gain favors or to manipulate an outcome.

not take responsibility for any of his or her own suffering. He or she may blame others when things go badly. Many with this disorder do suffer, because they can be self-defeating, and never get to enjoy the many pleasures that come to people who are better able to have mutual and satisfying relationships.

[t1wl1ghts]

Character Guide!!!!

I've decided to write all this down for y'all to get a better understanding of the boys and how I interpret them especially since my blog is empty at the moment. This way you know what you're getting into when you ask for one of the boys! This will continue to be updated the more boys get added!!!

TW: SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, SELF HARM, TOXIC BEHAVIOR, EATING DISORDERS, HORRIBLE COPING MECHANISMS, no one is truly happy...the only somewhat normal one is Sans

꩜ Sans: low self esteem, emphasis on humor as a defense mechanism, strong sense of loyalty, relaxed and easygoing attitude, low tolerance for bullshit, protective instincts,reluctance to confront his feelings directly, tendency to procrastinate, clever and quick-witted, deep rooted jealousy from insecurities, lazy, lack of motivation unless fixated on something, strong sense of humor and playfulness, apathetic mindset, prankster, shame in voicing his feelings romantically, emphasis on holding on/doesn’t easily forgive, prone to laziness or lack of effort in the relationship, downplays serious issues with jokes, tends to avoid confrontation, keeps emotional distance to protect himself, can be unreliable or inconsistent, prone to procrastination and inaction, internalizes his struggles instead of sharing them, prefers to keep things casual, struggles with open communication, capable of deep loyalty but struggles to express it,fears disappointing his partner, tends to be low-maintenance and doesn’t demand much, gives his partner space and freedom,

꩜ Dust: emphasis on bitterness and resentment, a heavy burden of guilt from past actions, murderous jealousy, loneliness, self destructive and suicidal tendencies, black and white views, relentless focus on revenge, tendency to isolate himself emotionally,feelings of helplessness leading to aggression,struggles with his identity, almost non-verbal, sensitive/easily triggered psychosis, Schizoid behavior, tendency to stalk, tendency to stare, alcoholic tendencies, fierce loyalty, sharp wit, small moments of self-reflection where he wishes for peace, capacity for immense love, rare moments of tenderness, ASPD traits/behavior, deeply conflicted about love, craves closeness yet fears it, tendency to push others away out of fear of hurting them, intense emotional attachment, fear of abandonment or betrayal leading to jealousy, prone to brooding and internalizing his feelings, emotionally distant but yearns for someone to understand him.

꩜ Killer: emphasis on twisted loyalty and manipulation, extreme detachment from empathy,deep-rooted trust issues, sadistic behavior, a need to suppress guilt by rationalizing violence, extreme shame in expressing genuine emotion, a tendency to bottle up feelings, constant underlying rage, fear of vulnerability, reliance on violence to solve problems, craving validation, overwhelming sense of emptiness, struggles with identity and purpose, clever and quick-thinking, easily triggered hallucinations/PTSD flashbacks. slight schizotypal behavior, charming, dark humor that can lighten tense moments, hidden capacity for love and affection, touched starved, hidden desire for connection, opioid abuse to cope with overwhelming emotions, potential for deep emotional bonds, lack of shame, tendency to self harm, lack of hygiene, prone to fits of rage, may prioritize violence and aggression over emotional connection, struggles with guilt and shame/manifest as self-sabotage, project insecurities onto his partner, willing to go to great lengths to ensure partners safety, passionate, expressing love through acts of service, potential for deep understanding, shows vulnerability in private, playful.

꩜ Error: schizophrenic behavior, homicidal tendencies, periods of catatonia, kleptomania, fear of intimacy, haphephobia, delusions of grandeur, BPD behavior, extreme paranoia, extreme memory loss, childish behavior, obsession with control over his environment, deep-seated feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, overwhelming sense of isolation and loneliness, inability to form meaningful connections due to mistrust, deep-rooted self-loathing masked by arrogance, compulsive need to destroy to maintain a sense of purpose, fear of failure, internal struggle between wanting connection and pushing everyone away, remarkable intelligence, sharp wit and dry humor, paranoid of betrayal, tendency to stalk, refusal to touch ,sensitive/easily triggered neurosis/paranoia, appreciation for structure and predictability, autistic traits, potential for emotional growth, creative in expressing affection, often finding unique ways to show love, values honesty, potential for deep emotional connection if he learns to trust.

꩜ Nightmare: overwhelming bitterness and resentment, fueled by betrayal, intense jealousy, manipulative and deceitful, deep craving for power and control, deep hatred for his own vulnerability, extreme distrust of others, need for validation through causing pain and chaos, isolation due to self-loathing, sharp intelligence, narcissistic behavior, extreme sadism, deep sense of loyalty to his allies, immense potential for growth, opportunity for deep emotional bonds, strong sense of purpose, hidden traces of compassion, intense with his affections, possessive or controlling behavior, craves deep emotional connection struggles with vulnerability, drawn to relationships where he can feel in control or powerful, struggles to express love in healthy ways, prone to jealousy and mistrust,fears rejection, capable of intense devotion, need for reassurance and validation, secretly craves tenderness, tendency to show love through acts of protection or dominance

꩜ Dream: struggles with self worth, vulnerability to disappointment, overly accommodating, forgets his own wants and needs, difficulty confronting harsh realities, passive-aggressive, strong sense of loyalty, takes on too much emotional burden, matured too fast, tendency to prioritize others happiness over his own, a need maintain a positive facade at all costs, and a desire to avoid conflict, nurturing and supportive, deep empathy, patient and encouraging, tendency to be overly idealistic, playful sense of humor, ability to create a safe space for vulnerability, desire to fix his partner’s problems at the expense of his own well-being, dedication to harmony in the relationship, patience and willingness to grow, encouraging of his partners dreams, capacity for deep emotional connection.

꩜ Horror: remarkable resilience, resourceful and adaptive, sharp problem-solving skills, pragmatic and realistic, emotional detachment, struggles with eating food, often feels guilty/body can't handle it so he pukes, prone to violent or aggressive outbursts, struggles with trusting others due to past, cold and distant in an attempt to protect himself, prone to extreme paranoia and distrust, capable of acting as a guardian, surprisingly compassionate, capable of offering tough love, ruthlessly pragmatic, desensitized to violence and suffering, deep fear of loss, extremely controlling,emotionally withdrawn/numb, pessimistic outlook on life, tendency to isolate himself,difficulty maintaining healthy boundaries, prone to emotional burnout, struggles with long-term planning, harsh/unforgiving, prone to mania, fiercely protective and devoted to partner, tender and caring in private moments, emotionally distant due to C-PTSD, prone to shutting down emotionally when overwhelmed,struggles to communicate his feelings, prone to bouts of paranoia and distrust, can become overly dependent on his partner for emotional stability, fears abandonment and may become clingy or overbearing, BPD behavior and traits, values emotional intimacy and trust, comfort in the presence of his partner.

꩜ Fell: extremely cynical and mistrustful of others, prone to aggressive or antagonistic behavior, Clingy behavior, Flirts but shy when it comes to genuine intimacy, uses sex as coping mechanism, fiercely loyal, willing to defend friends/partner at all costs, capable of deep understanding and insight, pragmatic and realistic, dark sense of humor, hidden sense of justice and fairness, shows care through subtle acts of service, offers practical advice, reliable and steady, willing to make sacrifices for the greater good, can be surprisingly compassionate, capable of forming meaningful bonds with those who prove their loyalty, struggles to express/acknowledge his feelings, quick to anger, harbors deep resentment/bitterness,possessive or overly controlling in relationships, avoids emotional closeness, black and white views, missing opportunities for deeper connections, resistant to change or personal growth, clinging to negative patterns and habits out of fear or pride, can be emotionally volatile

WHOOO that is everyone for the most part! I did add some romantic/relationship stuff in there but i didnt wanna go all out yet, the more boys I add for asks they will be listed on here! Ofc this isn't everything but its the major parts of their personality, or at least my views of it. Hope you enjoyed <3333

[ominouslemonnade]

random thought dump lol

The reason why mike is always this cold guy or just the way he is "emotionless" (at times) is because he has a tricky time articulating his feelings or emotions coupled with also having difficulty expressing since he grew up in a household that doesnt allow excessive displays of emotion (the canon fact that his mother or father dont really have much involvement with his wellbeing during childhood), he was taught to always put up a strong front and not express "weakness", they dug that mentality in his head so much to the point it affected how he carries himself , the only way he can express himself is through violence just to be heard or seen. A bonus— mike shows symptoms of ASPD , his behavior fits the criteria and the authors are ignorant enough to antagonize/demonize that aspect of him and it just pmo. I will forever die on this hill, just my personal take on mikey because good lord do i feel bad for his character writing.