Master Flea is a novel by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, published in 1822 (with some censorship). It is a fantasy work (and has a decent portion of SF for the time), with the protagonist, Perigrine (or Perigrinus) Tyss, being in his mid-thirties, and living alone in his big house with an old female servant, Alina. The description is a loner who doesn't like company, and really fears the thought of marriage or female company (Alina is described to have an appearance that would have gotten her burned as a witch a couple of centuries earlier).

Now, after saying that, the novel goes into his background. He was a son of a rich merchant, very much wanted, and seemingly weird even from birth. Here are quotes describing his early life:

After he had cried night and day uninterruptedly for some weeks, without their being able to find out any bodily ailment, he became on the sudden quite quiet and as it were stupified into a motionless insensibility: he seemed incapable of the least impression. The little brow, which appeared to belong to a lifeless puppet, was wrinkled neither by tears nor laughter.

...

At last an old gossip hit upon the lucky thought of bringing Peregrine a very motley, and, in fact, a very ugly harlequin. The child's eyes quickened in a strange fashion, the mouth contracted to a gentle smile, he caught at the puppet, and, the moment it was given to him, hugged it tenderly. Then again he gazed upon the manikin with such intelligent and speaking eyes, that it seemed as if reason and sensation had suddenly awakened in him, and with much greater vigour than is usual with children of his age.

...

the time had long since gone by in which children usually begin to speak, and yet Peregrine had not uttered a syllable. The boy would have been thought dumb, but that he often gazed on the person who spoke to him with such attention, nay even showed such sympathy by sad as well as by joyful looks, that there could be no doubt not only of his hearing, but of his understanding, every thing.

In the meantime his mother was mightily astonished at finding what the nurse had told her confirmed. At night, when the boy lay in bed and fancied himself unnoticed, he talked to himself single words, and even whole sentences, and so little broken that a long practice might be inferred from this perfection. ... Mrs. Tyss was far from letting the boy see he was observed, or from wishing to force him to speak; she rather contrived to bring it about by other dexterous means, that he should of himself no longer keep concealed the beautiful talent of speech, but should slowly, yet plainly, manifest it to the world, and to the wonder of all. Still, however, he evinced a constant aversion to talking, and was most pleased when they left him in quiet by himself.

...

it was no use thinking of any systematic learning with him; he had understanding for that only which happened to chime in exactly with his genius; all the rest passed over him without leaving any impression: and that which suited his genius was the wonderful,--all that excited his imagination; in that he lived and moved. So, for example, he once received a present of a sketch of Pekin, with all its streets, houses, &c. which occupied the entire wall of his chamber. At the sight of this city of fables, of the singular people that seemed to crowd through its streets, Peregrine felt as if transported by some magic sleight into another world, in which he was to become at home. With eagerness he now fell upon every thing that he could get hold of respecting China, the Chinese, and Pekin; and having somewhere found the Chinese sounds described, he laboured to pronounce them according to the description, with a fine chanting voice; nay, he even endeavoured, by means of the paper-scissors, to give his handsome calimanco bed-gowns the Chinese cut as much as possible, that he might have the pleasure of walking the streets of Pekin in the fashion. Nothing else could excite his attention--to the great annoyance of his tutor, who just then wished to instil into him the history of the Hanseatic League, according to the express wish of Mr. Tyss; but the old gentleman found to his sorrow, that Peregrine was not to be brought out of Pekin, wherefore he brought Pekin out of the boy's chamber.

In the end, the father's attempts to teach his son business all fail. The young man goes to travel for a long time, and by the time he returns, his family is dead. He starts living as a recluse with the old servant, Alina. Several holidays a year are celebrated alone, but with Perigrine pretending the room is full of guests, and the food distributed to the poor afterwards. At Christmas, he gathers the presents afterwards and plays Santa for some poor family.

Do you think this is an early attempt to describe autism? And if so, how successful?

This is probably my favourite short story of all time and I wanted to hear somebody analyse the story and especially the main character.

If you want to read the story, it's in the public domain so you can easily find a free PDF online (try to get the Constance Garnett translation).

She is completely emotionless for the vast majority of the film and displays some sociopathic tendencies, so she clearly has some kind of antisocial psychological disorder. However, she has standards and a moral compass, even if said compass isn’t the same as most people’s. For instance, she has no problem killing someone for the right reasons, like if the world would be better off without person in question.

Some quotes from her:

"It's not that I'm a bad person. It's just that I have to try harder than everybody else to be good."

"You cannot hesitate. The only thing worse than being incompetent, or being unkind, or being evil, is being indecisive."

I think that maybe Vriska Serket from Homestuck and Nagito Komaeda from Danganronpa might have this combination.

This is a question for those that has a major in psychology. What would you diagnose him with?

I imagine this question may have come before in here, but does anyone know if Dexter Morgan (from the TV series, the original show, original sin, new blood, and resurrection; but NOT the character from the book series) can technically be called a psychopath or would his diagnosis be slightly different?

I’ll do my best to give as much into as I could remember, because I really am curious what a life like his would do to a human brain.

So, he was raised without parents. Mom died at birth, father practically absent, acting as another researcher. Sephiroth is considered genetically enhanced, so it could be assumed he feels things more intensely. He was raised by research scientists in a clinical environment. It is presumed that before the age of 10, he was being made to exercise, hone in various combat skills and practice with military training modules daily. In one of the games it is mentioned he "believed that his father would kill him with the modules", AKA being worked to the brink of
collapse. At the age of 10, he was put out into the army within the game, made to be a poster boy and key propaganda piece, and sent out on various missions in which it is assumed he has taken lives, destroyed property, and been injured without comfort beyond first and medical aid.

At the age of fifteen is when he has made his first
"friend", though he acts very cold, silent, "stoic", and initially rebuffs any interactions outside of missions. He heads a genocide against a race of people opposing the evil government in the game, and is comfortable frisking the corpses for items he was looking for. Sephiroth didn't care about the age or gender of his opponent; only that he neutralized them. By this point in his life Sephiroth is incredibly famous, "to the point where nobody in the world doesn't know his name". Micheal Jackson levels of both fame and infamy. People are terrified of Sephiroth, and this follows him into adulthood where he made a total of three friends. Sephiroth eventually learns the origins of his birth
(experimented on as a fetus), and goes insane as he believed himself to be "special", and now considers himself a monster.

After this initial break, a couple months pass before he resurfaces. He smiles a lot, something he never did before. Sephiroth believes himself to be the
"chosen one" to slaughter the planets living beings and use the planet to travel the cosmos in look for
"monsters like him". He enjoys mentally, emotionally and physically tormenting the main protagonists with violent, vivid hallucinations and painful headaches, repeatedly showing up over the course
of around five years.

That's all I could remember off of the top of my head, but im really curious about the science behind this fictional psycho.

i'm supposed to do cbt conceptualise a core belief for a fictional character and I chose Paris specifically her Harvard outburst where she doesn't get into Harvard and she's upset that she failed her family, that her future is ruined and she's worried about telling her boyfriend cause she thinks he won't think she's special anymore but I'm not sure if she is the I'm useless core belief or the I'm unlovable core belief

hellpp

I'm doing a paper where I have to diagnose a fictional character with a psychological disorder. I actually want to have some fun so I'm doing my favorite movie character, Jack Sparrow. The requirements are that it has to be in the DSM-5, there's more to it but I don't want y'all to write the paper for me.

I saw a post here that asked similarly but they made it a poll and there weren't many responses.

Thanks!

What mental disorders does nickelodeon doug have where he not only has vividly real hallucinations yhat he acts out physically in real life but is unaware of when they do it?

One unsettling aspect of Oshi no Ko is how Hikaru Kamiki interacts with people.

He doesn’t seem to rely on obvious charm or intimidation. Instead, he appears to understand what someone is missing emotionally and reflects it back to them.

For some characters, that might be validation. For others, attention or understanding.

Because the response feels so personal, it creates a powerful sense of connection. The person believes they’ve finally been “seen,” even though what they’re seeing may just be a reflection of their own needs.

That’s what makes Hikaru difficult to read in the story. He doesn’t impose himself strongly. He adapts to the emotional gap in front of him In that way the influence feels almost invisible.

Do you think Hikaru’s impact comes from manipulation or from how easily people trust someone who seems to understand them?

I’m working on a class assignment where I have to use DSM‑5 personality‑disorder criteria to analyze fictional characters, and I was assigned Tangled. I already have a pretty solid direction for Flynn Rider, but I’m still trying to figure out how to frame Mother Gothel and Rapunzel from a diagnostic or differential‑diagnostic standpoint.

Since the DSM‑5 focuses on long‑term, consistent patterns, I’m trying to decide what actually fits each character versus what’s just a reaction to their environment. Flynn feels fairly straightforward to me, but Gothel could fall into a few different categories depending on how you interpret her behavior. Rapunzel is the hardest, because so much of what she does seems tied to trauma and isolation rather than a personality disorder.

If you were doing a DSM‑5 differential diagnosis for these three, how would you approach it? I’m especially curious how people would classify Gothel and whether Rapunzel should even be considered for a PD at all.

Would love to hear how others would break this down.

This is a video I made about a speculative diagnosis for Finn from Adventure Time. It’s just for fun.

In Monster, Johan almost never forces anyone to do anything.

What makes him unsettling is how little direct pressure he uses. Instead of threatening people or giving orders, he introduces doubt into something they previously believed about themselves or the world.

Once that belief starts to crack, behavior changes on its own.

A person who once felt certain about who they were suddenly isn’t sure anymore. The identity that kept them stable begins to shift, and the choices they make start reflecting that uncertainty.

That’s why Johan often feels invisible in the story. He doesn’t appear to control events directly. He changes how people interpret themselves and their decisions follow.

It’s less about manipulation and more about destabilization.

Do you think Johan’s influence comes from persuasion or from how fragile people’s sense of meaning can be once doubt enters it?.

In Jujutsu Kaisen Toji stands outside the system that defines everyone else.

Sorcerers measure power through cursed energy. Toji has none. In a world built around that metric, he should be irrelevant but that absence ends up reshaping how he fights.

Because he isn’t bound to the same abilities or expectations, he approaches conflict differently. He relies on preparation, timing, and tools rather than techniques that others depend on.

What makes Toji interesting isn’t just strength. It’s perspective.

While sorcerers compete within the rules of their hierarchy, Toji operates from outside it. The system that organizes everyone else doesn’t fully account for him.

That’s what turns his weakness into something unpredictable.

Instead of matching power directly, he attacks the blind spots created by the system itself.

Do you think Toji succeeds because he’s exceptionally skilled or because the system he’s fighting wasn’t designed to deal with someone like him?

I had this video idea: The Broken Man - Fantasy literature

Have you ever felt too tired after a gruelling task? So you listen to your own breath in silence, all burned out, with the only question in your head being… why do I do this? Feeling that the passion and joy that you once had has long-forsaken, leaving only a fragmented-husk of who you once were: but right now you are… a broken man

In fantasy fiction many such characters share the same grievances, the same struggles as us. Serving as a means to relate with, so we can get going when the going gets tough.

By hoping to bring you whatever entertainment left in life - I'm not a nihilist this was just a joke, let us indulge… in the broken men of fantasy.

Our first entry is Colonel San Dan Glokta.

This character was once a handsome nobleman, full of arrogance, and caring about nothing but himself, with his only useful quality being a master swordsman,which lets him rise high in the military.

However, in a battle, he goes on a suicide mission which he thinks will make him the ultimate glorified hero. Though it goes as wrongly as it can. Causing him to be captured and tortured by the enemy forces for 2 whole years.

Specificaly, he gets his back broken, all his teeth plucked out, and most importantly, his leg goes limp. After which, he is unable to walk, or eat anything that’s not porridge. Every moment of his life is excessive suffering.

He begins hating everything, constantly pitying himself and becomes more like Tyrion Lannister after the storm of swords even though he started out more like a young Jaime Lannister. Eventually he joins the inquisition -which is like their police force- and ironically becomes a great scheming torturer.

But even though he might think himself a monster his actions state otherwise.

Joe Abercrombie describes his irregular walk pattern as “Click.Tap.Pain” repeated multiple times to perhaps portray his pain as melodic and pure. Reflecting on how it has brought him not just cynicism but humility and heart. He lets a woman he was supposed to murder escape, believing herself to have been forced to commit her past crimes. He helps the condemned natives of a city, and restores the power that was stripped from them, wherein everyone else saw them as lowly scums, he sees everyone as the same.

Glokta does best what the his superiors tell him to, but he doesn’t even trust them completely. Glokta is a man of many remarkable talents, but without a mission in his head, that probably involves violence, he is just an idle man trapped in a lonely void.

Next we have someone who is arguably the greatest human in his entire world: Qvothe.

Qvothe is an brilliant jack of all trades, a spontaneous actor and musician, a remarkable sympathy user - which is like the main magic people use, a masterful artificer - which is like being an engineer in this world, skilled even in medicine, martial arts and sword fighting.

He is possibly the quintessential man (or the performative male) of his era. Always having a knack to learn and grow as a student in the university.

But that was Qvothe in the past. Now he has gone in hiding, posing as a a quiet bartender faking a new identity and calling himself Qote.

The prologues and epilogues of the books are titled a silence of three parts, the third silence referring to Qvothe’s own silence and how he has become “a man waiting to die”, more on that later . You see when the story begins the Qote’s depressed with his fake life and another man named Chronicler finds him, asking Kvothe to share his backstory.

As he is telling his own story, Kvothe’s sunken and depressed personality begins to cease, and he starts being more joyous and full of life. As is the power of nostalgia. However Qvothe's past isn't all sunshine and lilypads, as he always had overtones of a kind of darkness inside of him. That being vengeance.

You see Kvothe belongs to a tribe known as the Edema Ruh, his family being a merry band of troopers and actors. However a song his father composes reveals information on these cursed demons known as The Chandrian. The general consensus on these monsters is that they are fairytale, however this is proven entirely false as days after the song is sung, The Chandrian arrive and slaughter Qvothe’s entire family. As their mysterious goal involves them wanting to keep any public information on them to a bare minimum.Luckily he was off in the woods when this happened so he survives as the sole witness. The moment is the very backbone of Qvothe’s motivation. He’s learning to be so knowledgeable and skillful to one day be strong enough to defeat the Chandrian.

So does he defeat them? Well this series was suppposed to have 3 books only 2 have come out yet. But there is a theory, that once you kill a Chandrian, you inflict a curse upon yourself. Some say that Kvothe in the future has done just that, and resultantly has obtained a miserable curse. That being the curse of silence. Throughout the story Qvothe exclaims his love for playing music, and how free he feels as he escapes his trauma through it. But now all of Kvothe’s passion, and arguably his will to live is all stripped away from him. The man who once was the paragon of charisma in his prime, is now not so different to a lifeless corpse.

He is just a patient man waiting to die. Frank Herbert, the author of Dune famously wrote “greatness without the acknowledgement of the sardonic, even occasional greatness can destroy a man.” This is exactly the tragic result of that statement.

There’s no surprise in why the next character’s on this list. Theon Greyjoy, from The infamous ASOIAF series

Theon is arguably the most mentally distorted of them all. A boy who was taken from his family -the Greyjoys- due to the war that his father started - and was thus to be raised as a ward by the Starks. Although he felt as if he never truly belonged there and saw himself more like a hostage.

When the war between the lannisters( another powerul family) and the Starks begins, Theon goes to seek allegiance of his own family to the Starks, the family that raised him. however his father much offended, decides to instead invade Stark territory. This leads to Theon betraying the Starks as well thinking that this will lead to his family and the land of his people to finally accept and glorify him as a neighborhood superhero. Unfortunately even that backfires, as in his mission, he’s manipulated, captured and then tortured by Ramsey Bolton, the bastard son of Roose Bolton, another enemy of house stark. Ramsey Bolton is an absolutely diabolical person, chopping off Theon’s fingers, destroying his sanity, forcing him to live and behave like an unwashed dog, and allegedly even cutting off Theon’s privates. This shatters Theon’s identity causing himself to live only as a gollem-like creature of Ramsey known as Reek.

Theon wasn’t a pure and completely righteous person, and he does kill 2 kids to ironically maintain the morale of his people, but ultimately, he was just a boy who thought he was doing his best to be a man they would follow so that he can go back to his family and be welcomed with warmth and love that he never got.

Not even Theon deserves what happnes to him. Theon was known for being skilled with the bow, and being popular with the ladies. But now he can never be capable of using such a weapon, and he’s so mentally and physically demented that he can’t even comprehend the concept of love and passion.

This is a story that tells of the consequence of immature actions by a person who truly thought, that by doing so he would finally receive the love he never got from his people, but instead being broken and bent into a shell of the man he once was.

Throughout the last book of the series Theon keeps chanting poems like Reek Reek it rhymes with weak to constantly degrade himself.

The nonstop repetion of this poem being symbolism for Theon's nonstop irreversible trauma. Some wounds never heal.

But we live in real the world and fortunately for us, we live in an era wherein things like flaying and mutilation are absent from our ordinary lives, at least I hope so, but what we can completely share is our minds.

Even though our body may not be crippled like Glokta, cursed like Qvothe, or tortured like Theon, we may still feel the same apprehensions as them. We may doubt our potential, feel tense in boredom, hate ourselves for not spending our day more productively and the list goes on.

We feel this feeling of uncertainty of whether what we’re doing will ever have a meaning to our life by the end. So even if we may not be a broken man in body, we most definitely can feel like a broken man in the mind.

And if we do feel like this, we musn't punish ourselves but instead be even more motivated to fulfil those goals that are still possible to achieve, before life hits the the end button. Only when we feel hurt do we realise the power of happiness.

The reason why and range would be appreciated

Victor Von Doom isn’t driven by simple ambition What makes him compelling is how deeply he rejects vulnerability. After early failures and humiliation, Doom doesn’t just pursue power he constructs environments where his authority can’t be questioned Latveria isn’t just a nation. It’s insulation.

Doom prefers certainty over collaboration. Stability over openness. In his worldview, doubt isn’t healthy it’s dangerous. If no one can challenge you, no one can expose weakness.

That’s what makes him tragic. His need for control grows out of a fear of being wrong. The more absolute his authority becomes, the less space there is for correction. And when correction disappears, so does growth.

Doom isn’t obsessed with domination. He’s obsessed with invulnerability.

Do you think Doom’s tyranny comes from arrogance or from fear of ever being humiliated again?

Violet Evergarden the hardest transition isn’t from war to peace It’s from command to autonomy.

During the war, Violet’s identity is clear. She follows orders. She executes. She exists within structure. Her value is defined externally.

When the war ends, that structure disappears.

What’s striking is that freedom doesn’t feel liberating. It feels destabilizing. Without commands, she has no framework for decision-making. Peace isn’t comfort it’s uncertainty. Her work as an Auto Memory Doll becomes transitional. It gives her a borrowed structure while she slowly develops internal grounding. Instead of receiving directives, she learns to interpret emotion. Instead of executing, she translates.

The series isn’t just about trauma recovery. It’s about identity reconstruction after losing the system that defined you.

Violet doesn’t become “softer.” She becomes self directed.

Do you think Violet’s real growth comes from understanding emotions or from learning to exist without external command?

Death Note Light doesn’t become a villain in a single moment.

What makes his arc compelling is how gradual the shift feels His actions escalate but internally he believes he’s staying consistent The change happens in language first He redefines words like justice criminal necessary Each adjustment feels rational in isolation Over time those small reframings create a moral structure where his actions no longer feel extreme they feel aligned.

What stands out is how doubt becomes the threat. Once Light fuses his identity with being right, questioning himself would mean questioning who he is At that point protecting the idea of justice becomes more important than examining it.

The tragedy isn’t that he gains power It’s that power shields him from contradiction.

He doesn’t see himself as corrupt He sees himself as consistent

Do you think Light truly changes over time or does he simply remove the parts of himself that disagreed with his decisions?

For those who have played the game like myself in my opinion, I think that Trevor has textbook BPD. It is mentioned multiple times in the game that he was abused and neglected by his parents and was never given any love. There are specific examples of his symptoms. First, identity disturbance. With Patricia, he is calm, sad, and emotional, but normally he is chaotic and violent. To Jimmy, he is the cool uncle. The second symptom is idealizing and devaluing people. This can be seen multiple times in the game. In a specific scene in the mission Fresh Meat, he idealizes Franklin, calling him “Wassup, homie,” and once he trips and falls, he immediately flips, devalues, and lashes out at Franklin and also he says fuck michael i hope he's dead but a mission later he saves him at the kortz center, a classic BPD symptom. And for him his biggest symptom of BPD is chaos and intense rage. Finally, there is the fear of abandonment. In the mission after The Third Way, he becomes extremely emotional and uncontrollable when meeting his mom, begging her not to leave and trying to find the drugs. The final symptom is dissociation, as his mother was never there all along. In my personal opinion, Trevor has borderline personality disorder.

I can’t be the only one that feels that Ilya Rozanov from Heated Rivalry and The Long Game likely has BPD right? The 9 criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder are below with my thoughts, 5 are necessary for diagnosis:

1. Fear of abandonment - Ilya seems to fear that Shane is suddenly going to wake up and realize he could have someone better than him.
2. Unstable or changing relationships - Alexei/Andrei and his father, but he also seems to keep intentionally doing things that are likely to upset Shane. He also holds his entire family and Shane (at first) at a distance.
3. Unstable self-image; struggles with identity or sense of self - He doesn’t seem to have much sense of himself apart from Shane and hockey/his family when he still had them.
4. Impulsive or self-damaging behaviors (e.g., excessive spending, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating) - Ilya uses lots of sex to cope, and owns a big collection of cars. He also seems quick to indulge in alcohol.
5. Suicidal behavior or self-injury - while he doesn’t exactly have this The Long Game does mention some suicidal Ideation briefly.
6. Varied or random mood swings - Ilya appears easily upset, but also just does seem to have mood swings.
7. Constant feelings of worthlessness or sadness - yes, very evident in the books.
8. Problems with anger, including frequent loss of temper or physical fights - yes, he is easily angered, quick to pick fights, and not afraid to throw fists in the rink.
9. Stress-related paranoia or loss of contact with reality - Thankfully no, that would suck on top of everything else he’s dealing with.

I wouldn’t be surprised if his mother Irina had it as well, creating a genetic link. Especially since 1 in 10 people with BPD die by suicide.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any more examples to add to mine? I may try to do a project on this for one of my college courses.

In Monster Johan rarely forces anyone to act What makes him unsettling is how little he appears to do.

Instead of giving orders, he introduces questions. Instead of threatening he creates uncertainty The shift isn’t behavioral at first it’s perceptual.

Once someone begins doubting their own moral framework or sense of meaning, their decisions change on their own.

What’s striking is how small the catalyst can be A single reframing. A quiet observation A question that lingers.

From a psychological perspective Johan’s presence highlights how identity depends on stable beliefs When those beliefs are shaken, behavior doesn’t need to be pushed it drifts.

He doesn’t overpower people. He destabilizes their internal structure and lets them respond to the instability.

Do you think Johan’s influence works because he’s persuasive or because people struggle when their sense of meaning becomes uncertain?

In Classroom of the Elite, most leaders try to control people directly commands, pressure, status. Ayanokoji uses a different method: condition design.

He rarely pushes decisions in public. Instead, he adjusts information, timing, and roles so that other people make the moves he already predicted.

What makes this effective is low visibility. Visible authority attracts resistance. Invisible influence redirects behavior.

He studies incentives, not personalities. Once he understands what each person protects or wants, he routes situations through them. The result looks spontaneous, but the structure was prepared earlier.

It’s less about domination and more about environment control shaping the board so outcomes narrow on their own.

Do you think Ayanokoji’s advantage comes more from intelligence or from staying intentionally unseen?