Lack of Empathy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Empathy is the ability to share in another person's emotions. The capability to be happy because someone else is happy, sad because they are sad, and so on. It is closely linked to love and compassion. Guilt, too, comes from the ability of a character to put themselves in the shoes of someone they've hurt.

 

 

These characters may feel fear, but not the fear of others, regardless of the situation. This kind of guy can walk calmly through a crazed mob. For good or ill, these folk are not susceptible to social panic.

On the flip side, just because a character has empathy does not mean that they possess one ounce of compassion or sympathy, though the lack of either usually coincides with at least a diminished sense of empathy. This is where [[The Sociopath]] should not be confused with someone with Aspergers or another form of autism; the former usually has perfect cognitive empathy, but utterly lacks emotional or compassionate empathy; the latter on the other hand has defective cognitive empathy, but normal or even hyper-effective emotional or compassionate empathy. [[The Sociopath]] is generally superficially charming and polite, a social chameleon, but this pretense of empathy is simply that, a pretense, a mere ruse to attain a tangible end.

 

 

Not to be confused with [[No Sympathy]], which refers to characters who supposedly ''do'' have an ability to empathise, but completely fail to demonstrate it. Overlaps with [[The Sociopath]]. [[Kids Are Cruel]] and [[Teens Are Monsters]] often have this trope.

 

{{examples}}

* The homunculi of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' are a perfect example, with the possible exception of [[Anti-Villain|Greed]]. They either enjoy harming humans or simply don't care, and even in cases where they have a [[Morality Pet]], have no empathy towards anyone else.

** [[Mad Bomber|Solf J. Kimblee]] too, who seems to have been written as after a serious look at real-life sociopathy. He seems to be aware of his differing mentality from others and therefore goes to great lengths to [[Affably Evil|disguise it]], but at the end of the day he's still an ammoral guy who honestly doesn't believe that there's any moral difference between [[Sociopathic Soldier|slaughtering people as a soldier]] and saving them as a doctor; to him both are just doing their job (which, if they do well, he applauds equally). Essentially, Kimblee defines his entire code of morality (or lack thereof) based on how much a person follows through on their beliefs or occupation, regardless if it's saving or killing others; his psychopathy is too extreme for society's rules to matter to him. While he ''can'' demonstrate a certain amount of respect for another person, it's always in a very detatched way, and he's completely incapable of feeling genuine empathy. There's a reason both Pride and Envy like him.

** Pride ''literally'' is this. He is so devoid of empathy that he views the other homunculi as lowly as the other homunculi view humans. And while Father shows a measure of affection for his "children", he has even ''less'' empathy for humankind then they do. As a comparison, Envy has, on multiple occasions, laughed openly at the "foolishness" of humanity. When Ling Yao accuses Father of doing the same, his response is roughly:

{{quote|''Do you look at insects and worms on the ground and think them foolish? No. Your position is so far above theirs that you cannot feel one way or the other about them, right? That is how I see humankind.''}}

* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' is filled with these kind of villains. Examples include [[Psycho for Hire|Tao Pai Pai]], [[Evil Counterpart|Piccolo Daimao]], [[Ax Crazy|Broly]], [[Blood Knight|Cell]], [[Space Pirate|Turles]], [[Squishy Wizard|Babidi]], [[Omnicidal Maniac|Majin Buu]] and ''especially'' [[Evil Overlord|Frieza]].

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'': Satoko's [[Evil Uncle]] Teppei and her aunt Tamae, Rina, and ESPECIALLY {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Miyo Takano]]}}.

* ''[[Death Note]]'': Light Yagami starts out as a fairly nice guy who wants to change the world for the better, but that all changes as soon as he gets his hands on a Death Note and he eventually becomes so unhinged that he is all too willing to kill and manipulate pretty much anyone who gets in his way, or whomever he believes is a threat to him.

** His "[[Stalker with a Crush|girlfriend]]", Misa Amane, is arguably even worse. With the sole exception of Light, she never cares about or even acknowledges the pain of others (applies both to pain she witnesses and pain she ''causes''). Even when {{spoiler|Sayu Yagami, Light's little sister, is kidnapped, she is as cheerful and happy-go-lucky as ever, apparently not understanding that something like this would naturally upset Light.}}

* Mukuro from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', although he does have his [[Pet the Dog]] moments.

** Hibari is a much more straightforward example.

** The Unknown Man from the manga, Mayu's mother and stepfather, Mariko, and the cruel kids from Lucy's childhood.

* The titular [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Haruhi Suzumiya]] starts out this way, but [[Character Development|she gets better]]. Ryoko Asakura, on the other hand, doesn't.

** Also Grimmer and Bonaparta, both of whom end up as subversions

*** It's suggested, even more chillingly, in the semi-sequel ''Another Monster'' that Johan may actually possess empathy. [[Complete Monster|He just also has the ability to efficiently ignore it.]]

* Seishirou Sakurazuka of ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'' and ''[[X 1999|X]]''.

* [[Blessed with Suck|Comes with the Contractor package]] in ''[[Darker than Black]]''.

* The entirety of the ''[[Ranma ½]]'' cast fall into this trope at one point or another due it being a series built on [[Comedic Sociopathy]]. The exceptions being ''maybe'' Kasumi and Tofu.

* Paul/Shinji from the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime. He's the biggest jackass of a character the series has yet produced, short of a ''few'' of the villains. It makes sense, given that he's an [[Expy]] of Silver from the ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]''/''Crystal'' games.

* Haguro from ''[[Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest]]''. Also, Ryuuko has little empathy and lusts after whoever seems to have even less than she does. Haguro is convinced Inugami is this as well.

* Izaya Orihara of ''[[Durarara!!]]'' could definitely be interpreted as a sociopath. He likes to proclaim his love of humans (in a way that suggest he doesn't consider himself one), and spends his time manipulating others for his own amusement. Sometimes his actions are funny when viewed from the outside, especially when done to nasty people, but he has no compunction about harming innocents. While some people like and indeed fawn on him (generally girls), it's only because he's a convincing liar. Other than that, he has no friends to speak of.

** {{spoiler|Mikado shows shades of this as of volume 6. Aoba can't pinpoint what emotion Mikado has except that it's cold and emotionless. How dark Mikado is will be up for interpretation until later volumes.}}

* A good amount of the characters in ''[[Texhnolyze]]''. Even the most sympathetic characters in Lux skirt close to being Villain Protagonists at times. Yoshii is definitely this. He came down from the Class in order to instigate a massive war between the groups. He states that his goal is to awaken the people from their sleep in order to build leaders of them, or in other words, to help them realize their full potential, even if they don't want him to. This involves him murdering innocent people and starting gang wars because he finds it "interesting", all with a [[Dissonant Serenity|pleasant smile on his face]]. While he may have an ideological purpose behind it all, it is so obscure that it only makes him look all the more hysterical.

* [[Code Geass|Prince Schneizel]]. At first he seems to be a kind and understanding gentleman who sympathizes with the plight of his subordinates. Then he's revealed to be a cold [[Manipulative Bastard]] who uses [[Dissonant Serenity]] to hide his detatchment from humanity. Whether he truly did care for anyone is up for debate.

** Schneizel is an interesting case, because he ''does'' honestly seem to want world peace... but at the same time, this is a man who can talk about {{spoiler|''nuking'' '''''millions''''' ''of people''}} without so much as blinking.

* [[Villain with Good Publicity|Muruta Azrael]] and [[Diabolical Mastermind|Lord Djibril]] of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' and ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]''. They're a pair of [[Fantastic Racism|Fantastic Racists]] with a [[Final Solution]] for the [[Designer Babies|Coordinator problem]], and no ability to empathise with anyone else. They subscribe to a [[We Have Reserves]] style of fighting, firmly believe [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]], and have no qualms about using [[Weapons of Mass Destruction]] in the pursuit of petty, personal vendettas. [[The Sociopath|Azrael]] sees his men as equipment, and regards other Naturals as expendable, [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Djibril]] orders the Destroy to kill half of Eurasia because their governments threaten to rebel...needless to say, not a lot of empathy going on there.

** Their [[Tyke Bomb|Tykebombs]], the pre-Extended and Extended are almost as bad, albeit for more sympathetic reasons. The [[Psycho Serum]] they're forced to take has left them all in varying states of [[Sanity Slippage]], with no ability to empathise. [[BFG|Orga]] doesn't care who he shoots at, [[Sore Loser|Clotho]] sees it all as [[Not a Game|some kind of game]], [[Sociopathic Soldier|Auel]] and ''especially'' [[Axe Crazy|Shani]] take a sadistic delight in slaughtering their enemies, [[Only Sane Man|Sting]]'s just utterly cold-blooded, and [[Cloudcuckoolander|Stella]]? The most [[Tragic Monster|sympathetic]] of the group? She doesn't even see people as ''people''. They're all "Scary Things', and need to die because of it.

* From the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'': Char Aznable has [[Ace Pilot|many]], [[The Chessmaster|many]], [[Badass|talents]]. The ability to see other people as anything other than tools is not among them, although there are one or two people (Lalah Sune, his sister Artesia) whom he seems to care about. [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|Gihren]] [[Social Darwinist|Zabi]] plays this trope very straight, [[Self-Made Orphan|killing his father]] [[Evil Prince|so that he can usurp his position]], turning his little brother's funeral into a ''political rally'', and never showing an ounce of regard for anyone [[The Sociopath|who isn't himself]].

* Desil Galette of ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' doesn't give a damn about anyone who isn't himself. He views the entire war as one big game, and the soldiers he kills as toys to be thrown away. This attitude is chilling enough in a child, but it persists well into his adulthood, and he eventually begins plotting against his own brother when the latter dares to upstage him.

* Griffith from ''[[Berserk]]'' upon becoming {{spoiler|[[Demon Lords and Archdevils|a Godhand.]]}} His very first action as {{spoiler|Femto}} pretty much says it all, as he {{spoiler|viciously raped his former commanding officer Casca in front of her love and his former comrade Guts [[For the Evulz|just to spite and hurt him]] ''[[Kubrick Stare|while smirking at him the entire time.]]''}} The evidence just gets more damning after he is {{spoiler|reincarnated into the physical world as a human}}, where he went to the Sword of Hills, a memorial to the Band of the Hawk {{spoiler|[[Deal with the Devil|whom he sold out during the Eclipse in order to become a Godhand]]}} just so he could find out if he could still feel anything about all that he did to his former friends and comrades. Turns out he doesn't. And says it with such a straight and rational face that it's scary.

* Arguably, the Huckebein of [[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force|Nanoha Force]] tends to become this.

 

* A vast majority of Supervillains from [[DC Universe|DC]] and [[Marvel]] comics.

** Norman Osborn, a.k.a. The Green Goblin, is probably a notable case. This trait is highlighted in "The Green Goblin's Last Stand", [[Spider-Man]]'s (original) showdown with his arch-nemesis, where Spider-Man destroys Osborn's prized glider. Gobby fights with renewed anger, vowing to make Spider-Man pay for this travesty, while pointedly brushing off the fact that he just ''murdered'' someone an hour ago.

* During the ''New Krypton'' storyline, there is a scene where two Kryptonians take a walk down the street, discussing [[Superman]] and [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|his bizarre desire to protect these]] [[Puny Humans]]. A car crashes. The bystanders, recognizing them as Kryptonians, beg them to help. The duo don't even react to them and continue their talk, eventually flying away.

* The Indigo Tribe, a relatively new element in the ''[[Green Lantern]]'' mythos, represents the emotion of compassion. While on the side of the good guys, they're mysterious and kind of creepy. It's eventually revealed that the tribe is made up of those who ''lack'' compassion and need it ''forced'' on them.

* This is an [[Enforced Trope|enforced]] biological trait of the Brood race. All brood are screened for compassion at birth, and those who "fail" are killed. However with the recent mass extinction due to [[Annihilation|The Annihilation Wave]] this policy was dropped. It's also possible for Brood, such as [[Planet Hulk|No-Name]], to learn compassion, but to gain it suddenly (such as by psychic projection), is such a shock that it is instantly fatal to the Brood in question.

 

* Jame (sic) Gumb from ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]''. A good example of this is the "It puts the lotion in the basket" scene; when his victim realizes there are human fingernails embedded in the walls of her cell from failed escape attempts, she starts screaming. He just starts screaming along in sort of a grotesque parody.

** Hannibal Lecter would also count if not for sequel decay.

* ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween's]]'' Michael Myers never displays any sort of emotion. This even goes so far as to make him seem impervious to his own pain.

* Freddy Krueger from ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]''

* Darth Sidious, aka Senator/Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine, in ''[[Star Wars]]''.

* Angel Eyes of ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]''. In a movie filled with people who are empathy-impaired, he's unquestionably the worst, lacking all emotions and desires save perhaps, [[Greed]].

 

** Being [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness|hard sci-fi]], Watts ties a variety of their traits to known [[Real Life]] lacks of empathy mentioned below. Arguable [[Unfortunate Implications]] here...

* ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'': Alex. He starts out being set up as a [[Complete Monster]], but once he's arrested and has everything taken from him piece by piece, including his family and free will, he becomes a bit more sympathetic. However, this doesn't change the fact that everything Alex does is about Alex.

* [[Discworld]] [[The Fair Folk|Elves]] are explicitly described as lacking empathy. They would break the universe if they thought it would make a pretty noise.

* [[Dark Magical Girl|Alisa]], the [[Villain Protagonist]] of the first part of ''[[Night Watch|Day Watch]]'' not only lacks empathy toward others, but is pretty casual about doing things like causing her mother to miscarry in an attempt to repair her parents' marriage. While the philosophy of Dark Others (celebrating individualism/selfishness) explains some of her behavior, it's also true that Others in general no longer think of themselves as being like [[Muggles]], and so she can't really care about them. What makes her character interesting is despite all of the loathsome things she does, the reader gets the impression that she actually does have normal human feelings, but they are deeply suppressed, not to mention that she is in her [[Teens Are Monsters|late teens]], and her behavior is pretty much what you'd expect when someone immature and with an unhappy home life is given massive amounts of power.

* [[Battle Royale]]-Kazuo Kiriyama. See Anime & Manga example above, as Kazuo's lack of empathy in the original book is pretty much the same as in the manga.

* While several of the characters in ''[[And Then There Were None]]'' fit this to some extent, Anthony Marston is a particularly good example: he's [[The Hedonist]], totally devoted to his own pleasures but unable to consider the wishes of others. Interestingly, the murderer generally kills from "least guilty to most", and while Marston committed a pretty terrible crime (running over and killing two children), he's actually killed first on the logic that he's totally amoral and has no comprehension of right and wrong.

* Dominil from ''[[Lonely Werewolf Girl]]''

* From ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', vampires have to a degree the ability to empathize with each other, but almost all lose the ability to empathize with humans- even the comparatively nice White Court see mortals as little more than walking snacks, and the other two Courts are if anything worse. Lack of empathy is also pretty much a requirement to join the Denarians, and if you do still have any after joining up, your brand-new [[Fallen Angel]] bond creature will fix that in no time...

** Drake is an even worse example, being so psychopathic that even Caine is nervous around him.

* Most if not all the antagonists in any [[Dean Koontz]] novel in addition to being complete monsters.

* [[Archnemesis Dad|Richard Lopez]] and [[Dark Action Girl|Blue Eyes]] of ''[[Ship Breaker]]'' have no empathy for anybody. Richard more or less profiles as a [[The Sociopath|sociopath]] while Blue Eyes is an emotionless monster.

* Max Barry's ''Machine Man'' has Dr. Charles Neumann. He has virtually no empathy whatsoever at the start. This goes further as he {{spoiler|starts replacing his body parts with Better Parts}}.

* The narrator of spoof self-help book ''Oh, the Humanity'' definitely qualifies. The general impression is that he understands empathy in an abstract sense but has no ability to actually experience or apply it. Mind you, during his [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]] he considered "empathy" to involve a bully trampling his science fair project and saying "That must suck for you, dorkhole", so at least it's kind of understandable that he has trouble with it.

{{quote|''"That reminds me, I've been meaning to call you and tell you how much you have to live for. I'm sorry, I've just been doing so much gardening as of late."''}}

 

* ''[[Oz]]'' has a few characters like this. There's Chris Keller though it seems that he acts this way in part because of his twisted affection for Beecher. Claire Howell, who has no qualms about physically assaulting/harassing men who refuse her lustful advances, practically rapes a few of the male inmates, and murders one by {{spoiler|dropping a hairdryer into his bathtub}}.

** And of course, one must mention Schillinger and the Aryans.

* Also shown in an episode of ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'', which seemed to express the Scientologist view points of the lead actor.

* Reese from ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' needs to have empathy explained to him by his father after this exchange:

{{quote|'''Hal:''' ''How do you think that made [a rival cook-off contestant] feel when you sabotaged her recipe?''

* [[Dexter]] ''likes'' to think he's one of these, and keeps claiming as much in his narration. His actions, on the other hand, prove otherwise.

* Some of the killers in ''[[Criminal Minds]]'', although a number of episodes have subverted it by having a killer who profiles as psychopathic, yet shows some evidence of caring about at least one other person. They even had one killer who once showed all this signs of fitting this trope, yet actually had a [[Heel Realization]] and tried to make up for what he'd done, which the show points out as being virtually unheard of.

{{quote|'''Sherlock''': People have died.

'''{{spoiler|Moriarty}}''': That's what people ''do''! }}

* The Daleks, from ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

** Aside from the Daleks already being [[Omnicidal Maniac|omnicidal maniacs]], there's a perfect example in the episode "Doomsday" where a scientist is willing to tell the Daleks everything they want to know and instead they just suck his brain dry of the information while turning his head into a pile of ash.

** There's also a good example of a Dalek actually developing empathy and being utterly horrified at the feeling.

** And later:

* A rather large portion of the cast from ''[[The Shield]]'' at one point or another, but most villains fit this trope (especially Armadillo Quintero.

* In season 6 of ''[[Supernatural]]'' {{spoiler|Sam totally loses his empathy as a result of losing his soul. He'll still put himself at risk to help Dean, but he'll also risk his life if it's advantageous. Helping him is clearly either a habit or because he's aware that he ''should'' care and goes along with it. In one episode while Dean is being panicking while being attacked by (apparent) aliens, Sam casually asks him over the phone what's going on, then when he loses connection checks out a waitress, has a beer, and calmly goes to look for him.}}

{{quote|'''Fran:''' Question: When they shot [[Bambi]]'s mother, did you find that a sad moment?... At all?

'''C.C.:''' (''almost gleefully'') I'm sure she's mounted on a nice wall in a fine home somewhere. }}

{{quote|I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants: a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow man. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.}}

** Evan Coker, the man who murdered a tow truck driver in order to retrieve something from his repossessed car, and also nearly caused Karen Stottlemeyer's death as a result, was shown in the ending while being arrested by the police as chuckling and smiling after Stottlemeyer almost went [[Unstoppable Rage|ballistic]] and beat him down due to the fact that his wife was almost killed by him.

* Frank and Dennis from ''[[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]''.

* ''[[Dark Oracle]]'': [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Blaze]], [[Manipulative Bastard|Violet]], and [[Axe Crazy|comic!Sage]] all fully subscribe to [[It's All About Me]], and have no empathy for anyone but themselves. [[Smug Snake|Omen]] starts out this way, but gets better. As Cally notes they're all "ink on paper" and as such, have no innate ability to care about others.

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* A common trait for Osirans in ''[[Promethean: The Created]]''. As their humor is phlegm, which embodies logic and calm, they tend not to think in emotional terms. ''Strange Alchemies'' mentions how one Osiran encountered a dying homeless man whose last words were "Help me"; rather than assist him, the Promethean moved on, and spent a long time wondering why the man thought a stranger would aid him.

** Mind flayers are this trope on steroids. They literally learn their emotions from specially enchanted crystals, not from each other. They don't learn how to feel based on others, they learn how to feel from rocks. Other creatures are basically no more than tools to them, and it's only their devotion to the elder brain that really allows them to have a society.

* [[The Fair Folk]] of ''[[Exalted]]''. Due to the nature of the Wyld, where they can summon up and dismiss whole countries full of people with but a thought, many of them have difficulty grasping the idea that people in Creation are independent and sentient beings.

** The Yozis, too. Malfeas genuinely doesn't understand that people even ''have'' opinions, let alone that they might act on them, and it took quite a while for the Ebon Dragon to convince him that the Infernal Exalted would need a source of motivation other than Malfeas shouting at them and slapping them around when they failed. The Dragon himself is a sociopath whose sole ability to relate to others is based upon figuring out how best to a) get what he wants, b) ruin their lives or c) do both at once (usually ''c''). Kimbery cares ''deeply'' about others, but this doesn't extend to e.g. not destroying their lives "for their own good", and as soon as they object or fail to live up to her arbitrarily high expectations she quite literally hates them to death. Adorjan is very generous, but this is performed through such charming things as murdering her victims' loved ones to teach them the folly of attachment, or simply killing her target horribly to give them the greatest gift - silence - with no concern for whether or not they actually want this enlightenment. The closest She Who Lives In Her Name gets to empathy is a kind of icy and emotionless pity, Cecelyne exists solely to enforce her [[Social Darwinist]] views on the universe, Isidoros is willing to not trample people...if going to trample some ''other'' people would be more fun, and Metagaos is far too hungry to care whether what he's eating can feel or not.

 

* When empathy is lacking because the targets are just characters in a game, expect it to lead straight into [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]. The potential effects of this on empathy for ''real'' people is still a point of heated debate.

* Pick any ''[[Capcom]]'' villain.

** [[Resident Evil|Albert Wesker]] is one finest example, [[Chronic Backstabbing Organization|having betrayed]] every organization he worked for like Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S.

*** Somewhere on that path he strayed to [[The Dark Side]], and [[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget]]. After all, he wound up making things even worse for his race. This is what happens when [[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|a guy embodying an ancient demon's death curse tries to help people]].

** In Roxas's case, it helps that he no longer trusts Axel or considers him a friend after realizing just how much Axel hid from him concerning Xion.

* In ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'', {{spoiler|the real Alex Mercer}} is actually described ''in-game'' as being a sociopath {{spoiler|which kind of turns him into a [[Complete Monster]].}} This made him very effective as a [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]].

** "I wasn't being ''paid'' to feel."

* Genevieve Aristide from ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon]]''. Doesn't care that her actions would send the world even further into hell from what Harlan Wade did, she's got a job to protect. And it leads to her out-[[Complete Monster]]-ing the two actual people who could be considered monsters, which is incredibly difficult considering the people-melting, cannibalism, possessing, {{spoiler|[[Rape as Drama|raping]]}} and other stuff they do.

** Relius Clover exhibits this as well, but he doesn't revel in it like Terumi does. He instead [[The Sociopath|sees everyone and everything as pawns to use]] or [[Evil Genius|as guinea pigs]] [[For Science!|to experiment on]].

* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'': Hojo, Hojo, Hojo, HOJO!!!!

*** He understands others' feelings post-madness as well. [[Manipulative Bastard|Unfortunately]] [[Mind Rape|for Cloud]].

*** His [[Character Exaggeration]] in sequels tends to remove this trait, however.

* ''[[Street Fighter]]'' - BISON!!!! (flames suddenly spring up from nowhere)

* Johnny Gat of ''[[Saints Row]]'' doesn't just lack empathy, there's a good chance he shot it for looking at him funny. He demonstrates his ruthless nature at {{spoiler|Aisha's funeral, brutally beating Ronin leader Shogo, and burying him alive.}} He seems to become even MORE ruthless after this point. Yeah.

{{quote|'''Victim''': "AAAAAAAARRRGGHH!"

'''Irenicus''' (indifferently): "The pain will only be passing, you should survive the process."

* In ''[[Jade Empire]]'' {{spoiler|Master Li}} is incapable of viewing people as anything but tools.

** Even his own {{spoiler|daughter, Dawn Star}}. When he learns of the connection, he simply doesn't care.

** [[God Is Evil|God Almighty]] himself has a [[Oh Crap|severe case]] [[Paranoia Fuel|of this]] in [[Shin Megami Tensei]] games.

* Dimentio, the true [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Super Paper Mario]]''. He clearly sees his boss's feelings for his lost love as a weakness to be exploited, and does the same with Nastasia's feelings for Bleck.

* In the ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' codex for Ardat-Yakshi ([[Green-Skinned Space Babe|Asari]] with a neurological mutation that makes them [[Horny Devils]]), the syndrome is stated to cause the affected Asari to be hard-pressed or even outright incapable of feeling empathy, and even those who don't kill are said to drift constantly through abusive or manipulative relationships. This could admittedly just be propaganda, given the Asari are deeply ashamed of Ardat-Yakshi and imprison them all upon confirmation of their existence, killing those who resist... but then again, Ardat-Yakshi not only [[Death by Sex|kill those they mate with by burning out their nervous systems and neural tissue]], but [[Cannibalism Superpower|increase their biotic powers by doing so]], and it's such a pleasurable experience that they become addicted to doing so. Case in point, according to Liara, the Ardat-Yakshi Morinth was actually "only just hitting her stride" when it came to preying on others.

* Among the many murderers in the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series, {{spoiler|Matt Engarde, Dahlia Hawthorne, and Quercus Alba}} probably demonstrate this trope the best. [[It's All About Me|They all care for no one but themselves]], and anyone else is just a tool to accomplish their goals.

 

 

* [[The Nostalgia Chick]]. Apart from a couple of [[Pet the Dog]] moments, she's not keen on showing that she cares.

 

* Vlad Masters from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. He doesn't care if Maddie is already happily married with children, because he wants her to be his wife and her son Danny to be his son. He spends much of the show trying to accomplish this.

** Dan Phantom, Danny's [[Complete Monster]] future counterpart, is even ''worse'' in this regard.

* Slade from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''.

* Eric Cartman from ''[[South Park]]''.

* A majority of the cast from ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' with Ren being the most blatant example.

* ''[[Invader Zim]]''.

* Van Kleiss from ''[[Generator Rex]]''. Is willing to kill EVO henchmen who displease him without a second thought, kidnap a little girl so he could force her EVO father to go on a rampage, and messes with Rex's emotions simply because he can.

** White Knight also counts. Despite dedicating himself to wiping the threat of EVOs from the earth, he's just as ruthless and uncaring as Van Kleiss. His disregard towards Rex as a mere weapon, willingness to sacrifice his own forces and millions of innocent people to stop one EVO (he even openly states that "Soldiers are replaceable" to the group of soldiers Rex rescued), and use of Dr. Holiday's mutated EVO sister as blackmail to keep her in providence are proof of this.

* Eustace from ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]''. Throughout the series the only moment he ever showed true empathy was when he hallucinated Courage as a version of his younger self, and gave him his hat out of pity. It makes the audience wonder what worth his kind wife Muriel sees in him.

** He ''did'' have one other instance of empathy though, when Muriel was [[It Makes Sense in Context|possessed by a haunted mattress]]. He excused it as wanting her to cook him dinner, but [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other|would he have dressed up in a witchdoctor outfit and done a stupid cheer]] if he didn't really care?

* Even though he's justified by being [[Surrounded by Idiots]], Squidward from ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' himself is often shown to be indifferent in later episodes such as refusing to help a man who was handcuffed by Mr. Krabs for not paying. But Mr. Krabs tops the cake more than the Aloof [[Small Name, Big Ego]] type, as his greed takes over his empathy and even common sense.

* [[Moral Orel]] has both {{spoiler|[[Abusive Parents|Clay and Bloberta]], Clay who accidentally shot his son and not only refuse to take responsibility for it, he ''mocks'' Orel for crying in pain. Bloberta herself is just as bad, if not worse, as she had shown no concern for her son's well-being.}}

* Lucius on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''. Heloise on a lesser level, but at least she cares about [[Morality Pet|Jimmy]].

* [[The Joker]] was pretty much insane and [[Kick the Dog|kicked the dog]] on several occasions, but what really cemented him with this trope was during the infamous flashback in ''[[Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker]]'', where Joker mocks Batman after learning his [[Secret Identity]] from torturing Robin enough to drive him insane ''while showing Batman that he filmed it all''. When Batman manages to crash through a window and beats him to a pulp, Joker nonchalantly tells him, "If you don't like the movie... I've got slides!" When Batman threatens to "break [Joker] in two", Joker is unafraid, saying that if Batman really wanted to "have that kind of fun", he would have done it years ago.

** He's not even ''capable'' of empathy: He's the embodiment of [[Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad|Disharmony]], and one of the [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|Elements of Harmony]] is Kindness; therefore, Discord is quite literally the ''embodiment of cruelty'', the opposite of Kindness.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Emotion Tropes]]

[[Category:Lack of Empathy]]

[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]