Not all Villains are Psychopaths

Don't take the easy way out with a label

The diagnosis of sociopath and psychopath are often used interchangeably, but they have a distinct difference. A psychopath understands that they lack something normal people have—empathy. Sociopaths, however, do not understand what empathy even is and cannot pretend to be normal. Not without coaching, anyway.

I bring up this distinction because there’s a habit of lazy thriller writers to just call their villain a psychopath in lieu of giving him/her any motivation for their crimes or even an inner life. Great villains don’t have to be psychopaths. But they can be, if you want, as long as they’re drawn just as richly as the non-psycho villain.

A good example of the difference between a sociopath and a terrifying, non-sociopath villain can be found in Netflix’s Daredevil, season 3 (Now on Disney+) in Kingpin and Dex.

As played by Vicent D’onofrio, Kingpin is as Big and Bad as they come. Obey him or he will kill you. Though keep in mind, he might kill you even if you do obey him. Hypothet…