Villanelle is NOT a psychopath and I can prove it!

So I decided to turn those 3 am thoughts into a video essay. Let me know if you agree with me or not in the comments. If you haven't seen Killing Eve yet go watch it!

[@anti.grounder_stick6584]

A review from a professional : Everything You Need To Know About Villanelle's Empathy and Psychopathy Why is it that Eve is so convinced that she alone understands and can “fix” Villanelle, or at least crack her? “We took advice from a criminal psychologist who was fascinating. He said the mistake everyone makes is, you meet a psychopath and you think they’re a person so you add traits on to them - selfish or violent or whatever. But that’s completely the wrong way to look at it. He says you have to take it all away because they’re not quite fully human. They’re missing empathy, they’re missing all these things which we take for granted, and the danger is you think “I can heal them! I can cure them!” It’s like having a lion, a wild animal in your sitting room. You can tame it for a little bit, you can keep a psychopath interested and feed them treats, but they will eat you eventually. [Laughs] And, of course, the really fascinating thing which has always been at the heart of the show is that Eve is not listening to any of that, because it’s always been at least in part an exploration of herself that Villanelle brings out in her, this dark side that she’s kept latent.” (x) I want to clarify some important concepts and hopefully offer insight into Villanelle’s psyche because I’ve noticed a lot of people misunderstanding or simply not knowing concepts. Additionally, I think these concepts are especially important to understand because Villanelle’s feelings in relation to Eve are eventually going to become an even greater point of concern. First of all, there is a difference between a sociopath and a psychopath. I’ve seen them used interchangeably to refer to Villanelle and it irritates the hell out of me. Simply put, a sociopath is capable of understanding, differentiating between, and choosing “right” or “wrong.” They are capable of morality and have a conscience (albeit a weak one; they may feel remorse, but it doesn’t prevent them from taking action). A psychopath is not capable of morality and does not have a conscience. Villanelle can understand the concepts of right and wrong (i.e. talking to Konstantin’s daughter Irina and agreeing that she is a “bad” person; calling Konstantin a “good” person). But she has no moral compass herself, no conscience, and no remorse. And to be more precise, VIllanelle is a psychopathic Narcissist (ASPD/NPD). Oh, she does have feelings. And she does realize that other people (i.e. EVE) have needs and wants. But it takes her a very conscious effort to realize this, and momentous willingness to acknowledge them. Unless Villanelle is affected directly by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others, especially someone she cares about, then she will not have any strong emotions in relation to them and that particular context. Secondly, and most importantly, there is a startling lack of specificity regarding the concept of Empathy. The showrunners, cast, and majority of the fandom have repeatedly said that Villanelle lacks any empathy (hence, she is a psychopathic Narcissist). They are only half-correct. As a concept, Empathy is the feeling and ability of you understanding and sharing another person's experiences and emotions. Affective Empathy (or “hot” empathy) is your automatic, unconscious, sort of “instinctive” drive to respond to another person’s emotions and experiences; it is driven by your own emotions. It's the compassionate kind of Empathy, the most readily understood kind, the one lauded and praised above all others because it’s taken for granted since it is supposed to come “naturally” to us (we are born with Affective Empathy). Of course, sometimes that’s not the case. In Villanelle’s case, she does not, and cannot ever, have affective empathy. People often cite the example of Gabriel being a moment of compassion for her, or a “mercy kill”, but this is not true. Villanelle thought through his predicament, from his own perspective, and thus empathized on a logical, intellectual level with his situation. Her attempt at problem solving was to snap his neck, which is of course wrong. She also talks about understanding Eve better than anyone, better than Eve knows herself, in S2x01, and this crucially demonstrates character development. along with her exceptionally high cognitive functioning This brings me to the second type of empathy. Cognitive empathy (or “cold” empathy) is where you can intellectually and logically understand another person’s feelings and experiences, but you do not feel them within yourself. The feeling is not shared because it is not correspondingly generated within you. Villanelle does have empathy, and it is this Cognitive Empathy. Think of it this way: the difference between Affective Empathy and Cognitive Empathy is the difference between me describing what a nice, warm hug feels like versus you actually being hugged and feeling what a nice, warm hug is. People with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and/or Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) have exceptionally high levels of Cognitive Empathy, but cannot have Affective Empathy (they cannot actually feel + share your emotions, although they can understand them). Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong about Cognitive Empathy. The heart of the issue is simply that this is a different functioning of empathy. Sometimes that can make it hard to understand how to communicate and behave in a situation where Affective Empathy is needed (having good manners helps because it offers scripts and roles to politely adhere to). Again, Cognitive Empathy is predominant in NPD and ASPD. Does this mean that people with NPD and ASPD have no feelings? Of course not! Narcissists are just as emotionally sensitive, intelligent, and intense as any personality disordered person belonging to Cluster B. Both Narcissists and Psychopaths are capable of a varied and deeply felt range of emotions. Therefore, Cognitive Empathy also means that when a personality disordered person claims “I don’t have Empathy” or when the statement “people with NPD and/or ASPD don’t have empathy” is thrown around, it is factually inaccurate. The ability to have Cognitive Empathy is evidently present; hence, a type of Empathy is present and consequently, people with NPD and/or ASPD do have Empathy. Let’s take this important fact a step further. Compromised Empathy means that you express Empathy only in certain situations and to certain people, in a very limited degree. It is a kind of measure for the level of the type of Empathy (Affective or Cognitive) that you have. When it comes to understanding psychopaths and Narcissists (i.e. psychopathic Narcissists like Villanelle), Compromised Empathy is the most integral component of Empathy. For example, Villanelle demonstrates vulnerability, honesty, and deeply felt emotion only with Konstantin and Eve (mostly Eve, especially Eve, and this will only continue to grow). The thing about Compromised Empathy is that it’s never about emotional lying or deception. It’s about choice; what to reveal and whom to reveal it to. It’s about not being at the mercy of Empathy, Cognitive or Affective. It’s about self-control. Significantly, it’s also about emotional decisions: when to be happy, when to be sad, when to be angry, when to be quiet-but the feelings are very much there. They are all true and honestly felt and expressed feelings. In other words, people with pathological narcissism or NPD have compromised and fluctuating empathy, but they do not lack empathy. (x) When it comes to Empathy types, Cognitive Empathy is a learned skill. It requires a nurturing and validating environment which allows emotions to be processed and expressed in a healthy way. Affective Empathy, by definition, cannot be learned; it is simply felt. So the bottom line for Eve and Villanelle is this: Yes, Villanelle, as a psychopathic Narcissist, can and does have feelings for Eve. Yes, Villanelle, as a psychopathic Narcissist, can and does have Cognitive Empathy, at a Compromised Level, which she only shares with Konstantin and Eve. Yes, Villanelle can say “I love you” (or some variation thereof) to Eve and mean it. When if comes to reciprocating Eve’s feelings, this can occur only in very specific contexts (i.e. Compromised Empathy). On top of that, Villanelle heavily reppresses and compartmentalizes her feelings, so whereas a healthy person would be able to logically recognize, identify, express, and/or act on (reciprocate) their feelings as they’re feeling them, Villanelle has to separate emotion from cognition. Now it’s already been strongly established that Eve and Villanelle share an obsessive love. They like each other and they understand one another deeply. There is mutual respect and attraction. It still wouldn’t be “love” in the way that a non-ASPD/NPD person would experience it, but that doesn’t mean the emotion isn’t present or that it isn’t genuine in the grounded reality of the show and the character’s arcs. So, if there was ever a point where Eve and Villanelle confessed more (romantic) feelings to each other, then I think we should take them as being true, real, and heartfelt. I hope this helps ppl understand her.

[@gtpatricio370]

Very good and detailed assessment, thank you!

[@isabellegustafsson6913]

Super explanation! Thank you!

[@spoopylawyer1716]

Brilliant analysis, thank you

[@sofiavillamizar2981]

I think Eve has borderline personality disorder. She's addicted to adrenaline and danger

[@JennPaciocco]

Eve's a whatever V is.🤣

[@ace_bean7011]

She's obsessed! 😂 She'd actually checks all the necessary symptoms for an ocd diagnosis (4/8 in DSM5 + the ones for ICD-10). She's completely obsessed with psychopaths

[@missmizer]

People with BPD aren't addicted to adrenaline or at least I'm not. People need to stop misdiagnosing characters and people and realize you're not professionals here

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

she is a person affected by chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. so yes, a psychopath

[@hilm20]

thats pretty predjudice. and offensive :D eve is probably in someways an antisocial personality. and it is well seen in the way the story progresses, she becomes more like she actually has always been.

[@StefanThiesen]

After the "therapy session" with Martin. Eve: "So did you have any breakthroughts?" V: "Maybe... they trained me into it, maybe I can be trained out." And Martin previously asked her something along the lines of "Do you know how many psychopaths have been sitting in front of me not wanting to be a psychopath?" V shrugs her shoulders. Martin: "ZERO". Villanelle was a pressure vessel of bottled up emotions on the brink of exploding through the entire show. Actually both, E and V, were.

[@Macbrookepro]

this was so well done! --lately I've been thinking villanelle might just be Cluster B personality disorder in general she shows so many things that lean toward BPD(borderline) which is in the same cluster with ASPD and NPD. I think its all trauma response, and eve is the hyper fixation and manifestation of hope and change for her, and villanelle that for eve...

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

psychopath. she is a person affected by chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. so yes, a psychopath

[@phillipjames5365]

Villanelle changes her identity to accomplish her murderous acts throughout the movie . She even try to cover it up as she attended church but it came out of her as she murdered the priest and his daughter

[@check7737]

It would probably be better if they just ended the show in Season 3. and I agree Villanelle is not a psychopath because psychopaths doesn't feel any emotion at all and it cannot be cured as they are born with it.

[@ace_bean7011]

You are not born with psychopathy. You can have a genetic disposition that makes it more likely but a child usually gets psychopathy because of an abusive or neglective childhood. So it can have an early onset where children abuse animals for example

[@xxxnarurto5747]

@@ace_bean7011 dude you’re literally talking about sociopaths not psychopaths 🤦‍♀

[@xxxnarurto5747]

@@ace_bean7011 you can literally be born psychopath 😂

[@ace_bean7011]

@@xxxnarurto5747 there is nature and nurture. Genes have an effect yes but it depends on the nurture that specific genes get activated. Same goes for schizophrenia. There is no sociopath diagnosis so no I'm talking about psychopathy.

[@ace_bean7011]

@@xxxnarurto5747 we call them sociopaths but psychologically they are psychopaths who lost control. When psychopaths feel endangered they can lash out. That's basically what society calls a sociopath. Don't mix this up with antisocial personality disorder. Just because psychopaths fall under that diagnosis doesn't mean that sociopathy is a separate thing. We have a specific checklist just for psychopathy but in the end bureaucracy just wants ASPD as the diagnosis. It's different though. Psychopaths have low empathy, less emotions and are controlled (unless they loose control). People with ASPD are impulsive, reckless and aggressive. A psychopath can become aggressive (like sociopaths) but that's only the case under specific circumstances. In ASPD it's the norm. Psychopaths also have to have more symptoms than people with ASPD. It's basically a mixture of ASPD and narcissistic personality disorder. So as you can see ASPD is not the same as psychopathy, psychopathy is not the same as sociopathy and sociopathy is not the same as ASPD

[@codeXenigma]

Psychopaths feel emotions for themselves, its empathy they lack. Constantine would overly flatter her because he knew that worked. Psychopaths love the attention and sense of control they have over other people. But that isn't love or caring. She only liked Eve because of the power she had over her. She loved that Eve was obsessed with her and willing to mess up her life for her. If you watch police investigations psychopathic killers will show no empathy for their victims or the impact to their friends and family, they will justify what they did to their victims or talk about it like its no big deal, but they will get upset at the thought of going to prison. Psychopathics are all about the self. Not all psychopaths are dangerous, most will never hurt anyone. Villanelle was also a sadist. She got off inflicting suffering in her victims. The only times we really see her light up is while she is watching others die. Be careful. Its rarely about what people say and all about how they act. Scammers can tell you they love you all day long as they take everything from you. If you want to see if Villanelle is really a psychopath then watch it keeping in mind the words are tools for manipulation rather than being honest.

[@kham7571]

I agree, Villanelle from the first, was so excited that Eve was studying her, trying to catch her.

[@Venusenby]

I LOVED THIS!!! I just finished the show a few months ago and I haven't left it alone since. I'm obsessed and never thought villanelle was a psychopath. I love seeing someone who agrees with me. I'd also love to know your opinion on the thing that sparked a lot of controversies. When she killed the boy in the hospital in season 2. I personally think in her head she saw it as a mercy kill and it was also the first time we saw her kill without looking them in the eyes. I think this is because when Eve stabbed her in the season 1 finale she felt something she hadn't felt in a very long time, betrayal and heartbreak. What are your thoughts?

[@MrAdryan1603]

Yeah that was really interesting to me, knowing how watching the life drain from their eyes is basically her fav part. I haven't heard anyone else point out how different the boy's kill was, especially with her not watching his eyes and how it truly seemed out of pity/her realizing she wouldn't want to live like that either.. traits that are basically compassion and sympathy and simply shouldn't be possible for her. I would love to see someone more knowledgeable than I break that down and what they think is happening to her throughout the show because I think you're totally right.

[@mrittikadas7691]

I agree

[@bluewolfey]

I do think, in her mind it was "mercy-killing", the way people shoot an injured suffering animal. But don't you think, that has some very dark implications? Like...this is how she thinks of human beings: the way we treat our domestic animals and wild animals. And when she likes them: how we treat are favourite pet: that's Eve for her. This isn't remotely merciful in the good sense! It's the mercy of a superior being, how sometimes god(s) act. This is why she definitely is a psychopath/ sociopath! And notice how none of her "mercy-moves" ever just leaving someone alone. Unless it serves her. She is calculating. That's the problem. I want as hell her to be a character we can safely love and indentify with, but you have to remember: that's what she wants too, DESPITE all the deeply evil stuff. The reason, we see her "change" sometimes, as she does have some basic ability to mimic emotion, personality traits, etc. This is what she does for a living! Dresses up and acts as someone else then kill. Her obsession with Eve allows her to not feel frustrated about keeping her alive, and the long time she spends stalking her teaches her Eve's expectations. This Eve knows from the beginning. That's why she never gives in throughout many seasons. Finally, she does, in a "fuck it, what do I have to lose?" Moment, as she has in fact had lost all because of Villanelle. I do think, Eve had some issues too, nothing as extreme as psychopathy, but she has the ability to feel genuine love and admiration for Villanelle. Which makes her vulnerable to her manipulation.

[@juliawright8172]

I think she very clearly has BPD

[@MrAdryan1603]

Okay, I think you've convinced me with this. I know because it's a TV series they had to put some contradictory traits in there for the plot/for any bond relationship between Eve and V, for V to be more likeable, and other reasons.. I guess there is a lot more emotion and info in the details I hadn't noticed or thought much about. I'm very fascinated with psychology and I know a good deal about ASPD in general and she's definitely on a spectrum somewhere. I think you did really well with this video and I'm definitely curious to see more, especially related to Killing Eve. Anyway, subscribed.

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

best comedy on streaming for sure.

[@blk2wite]

I agree she's not a psychopath.

[@erisgro3945]

i think villanelle is on the psychopathic spectrum, there isn't exactly one disorder that encapsulates her unflinching behaviour and chasing of highs and lows in one but i DO think she meets all criteria for bpd.

[@xxevilellisonxx]

I’d say Antisocial PD combined with sadistic tendencies and heavy traits from BPD

[@deebee8844]

Wonderful commentary! Thank you

[@user-ro7kt4te6p]

I’d love to see a video on eve, I feel like she is a the same as vilanelle

[@Chuck_vs._The_Comment_Section]

Well, mental states don't have to be binary, they can also lie on a spectrum. And Villanelle is definitely on this spectrum. How else could she kill so mercilessly?

[@abhijeet3379]

You should never tell a psychopath..they are a psychopath... It upsets them... are you upset ?... ☹️😔

[@NikolasTesla-us5cu]

Psychopath don't care.

[@kbaylor123]

Is she even on the spectrum at all? I though that people even low on the ASPD spectrum have a low level of emotion, I feel like she has a fairly high level of emotion? (I’m trying to educate myself and admit I really don’t know much of anything about ASPD)

[@thepurpleparticle5497]

You can have ASPD comorbid with other PDs!

[@electromagneticuniverse369]

Villanelle is a sociopath 😂

[@kaiq9q8qu1]

Finally! I have a psychopath as a parent and I can assure you, they're not like that

[@juicy_lin7477]

Good video 😄👍

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

of course she is a psychopath

[@phillipjames5365]

Villanelle had no remorse after killings unlike sociopaths do

[@kamickacer5286]

I agree.

[@rebecavlogs5957]

Villanelle is obviously not a psychopath in the show

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

she absolutely is

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

she is a person affected by chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. so yes

[@rebecavlogs5957]

@@user-he6mr6jx7e in the book she is but in the show she’s not

[@TheArtofFlag-waving]

She's a dark empath.

[@lauraboruseviciene3362]

What's that?

[@josiev2286]

LOLOLOL....well...i'm glad you were happy with the end of season 3. NOW GO WATCH SEASON 4....and make another video.

[@nare2316]

hilarious

[@Robertoni7]

Sociopath, how she was influenced/socialized by her environment. Psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made. She’s a sadistic sociopath.

[@ZoeNorea]

I agree with the review but why Villanelle finished the life of the teachers husband? For the first time when she was young? Isn’t that a form of mental illness? Btw I didn’t like the end … I was hoping for a happier end

[@Workinghardorgettinghard]

See not all women i like are crazy

[@madbcbxx3921]

!

[@lalasecretly]

no one on earth knows what a psycopath is

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

the show gets really bad in the last seasons. lazy writing

[@BiteSizeWellbeing]

Not true … psychopaths can change

[@JennPaciocco]

They can just up and feel things ? Lol

[@procura-sefilosofos1526]

What???? Hahahahahahhahahahhahah

[@BiteSizeWellbeing]

@@procura-sefilosofos1526 what are you not agreeing with, that psychopaths can be treated?

[@charlottewolfe9524]

We can learn. It's that simple- most of the time. Bear in mind that a lot of people around you are statistically phsychopathic. You don't normally notice unless it's a weird situation. People being no caring fuck wits is ok but if someone goes that bit further and disposes of someone there are a psychopath..... They both are, just ones smarter nit to get caught so easy

[@xxxnarurto5747]

@Happy Easy Life, what you said isn’t actually true psychopaths only get won’t better 🤦‍♀

[@missmizer]

Sociopath maybe.. but again you're not experts.

[@user-he6mr6jx7e]

a person affected by chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior.