When conducting research for my novel, Matchmaking for Psychopaths, one of the things that I learned is that psychopaths are much more common than you might think and that arguably, psychopaths can be good romantic partners as they are adept at anticipating the wants and needs of others. Initially, I was skeptical. Then I remembered all of the fictional psychopaths that I’m totally obsessed with. Sure, I might not want to marry any of them, but I have spent copious amounts of time thinking about them. In Matchmaking for Psychopaths, the protagonist, a professional matchmaker, gets a little too close to her psychopathic clients after her fiancé leaves her for her best friend. When body parts start showing up at her front door, she has to figure out if they’re gifts from a client or if someone from her past come back to haunt her. One lesson to take away from the book is that even psychopaths long for a happy ending.
Here are five of my favorite fictional psychopaths. Some of them would make great romantic partners, while others are simply hot.
1. A from Pretty Little Liars
I’m obsessed with A from Pretty Little Liars. A is fully committed to destroying the lives of Hannah, Aria, Spencer, and Emily. In order to conduct their revenge, they need huge sums of money, time, and amazing crafting skills. With A’s abilities, they could be doing anything they want and instead, they choose to torment four girls whose only crime is occasionally being secretive. It’s so petty that I can’t hate. The unfamiliar might assume that Pretty Little Liars is a show for teenage girls, but I argue that it’s an absurdist masterpiece full of unexpected twists and turns. I also love that the main characters continue to persist in trying to have romantic relationships while their lives are being destroyed by a mysterious psychopath.
2. Dexter Morgan from Dexter
A question that came up when I was doing press for my debut novel, Love Letters to a Serial Killer was whether or not Dexter was sexy and everyone on the podcast agreed that he is, in fact, sexy. Dexter is unique amongst psychopaths because he knows he’s a psychopath and throughout the course of the first season, he uncovers the reason for his psychopathy. What makes him endearing is his attempts to be a good person in spite of his desire to kill. In the memoirs that I read by self-described psychopaths and sociopaths, this desire for goodness wasn’t uncommon as the authors described their charitable donations or hours spent volunteering. This shows that being “good” is about more than engrained empathy and is an active practice that anyone can work at. Also, Dexter is very sexy.
3. Billy Loomis from Scream
My favorite thing about Billy Loomis is that he has a motive—kind of—but mostly he just wants to be a serial killer. I once tried pitching something similar to my editor and she promptly told me that my books need to have motive in them. The thing that works for Billy is that he’s so creepy that it makes viewers believe he can’t be the killer like at the beginning of the movie when he tells Sydney that he was watching Halloween and it made him think about her. The thing that I know about myself is that I would’ve absolutely dated a Billy Loomis-type in high school and was frustrated that I was surrounded by dorks.
4. Joe Goldberg from You
Not to be a “the book is better than the movie” person, but I think that Caroline Kepnes’ You book series is way better than the show. Like Dexter, Joe Goldberg became a psychopath through childhood trauma and aware of his murderous tendencies, he’s continuously trying to become a better person. Unfortunately, Joe’s methodology of trying to become better involves finding women that he thinks will fix him and then, when they fail, he murders them. Joe’s other primary motivation (this is where the book series comes into play) is to become a famous author. He is disgusted by the schlock that the masses love to read and tortures one of his girlfriends by making her read a Dan Brown novel and admitting that she likes it. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in literary circles is familiar with this type of pretentious psychopath and that’s exactly why Kepnes’ depiction of Joe Goldberg is so great.
5. Kathryn Merteuil from Cruel Intentions
Kathryn, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, is never outright identified as a psychopath, but it’s clear that’s what she is. One of the defining traits of psychopaths in Robert Hare’s psychopathy checklist is “sexual promiscuity” and Kathryn has that trait down pat along with need for stimulation, pathological lying, and manipulation. This film was my sexual awakening and when I was a young teen, I definitely thought of Kathryn as the villain compared to virginal Annette Hargrove. Now, I appreciate Kathryn. She’s hot, a leader in her community, and knows how to get the pleasure that she craves. It was probably not the best idea for her to play sexual mind games with her step brother or to bring her cocaine cross necklace with her to a school assembly, but hey, no one’s perfect.
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