I have an idea for an anti-heroic sci-fi character whose character arc runs from spoilt rich girl, to a refugee in the rubble of human civilisation after an alien invasion, to crewmember and then captain of a pirate spacecraft, and ultimately to empress of all mankind.
Running through all of this, I have the knowledge that this character is a successful sociopath. She doesn't care even slightly about the people around her, but she is highly intelligent and self-disciplined, perhaps unusually for sociopaths, and is good at pretending to care, yet when circumstances allow, she can revel in her ability to kill, maim, torture (both mental and physical torture) or otherwise discard people who are of no further use to her or who have become inconvenient, with the justification that the situation made it necessary.
Now, I have the idea to conceal from the readers - at least until the end - the detail that this character is in fact a sociopath.
In the end, I am writing about the first Empress of Mankind in a fairly realistic, gritty style, and she is no saint. She kills people - or uses them and disposes of them in non-lethal ways - whenever she can justify doing so according to the persona that she tries to project, that of a "nice girl" when amongst regular people. The pirate crew she joins gives her the opportunity to act more as she chooses than she can when amongst law-abiding people. While ultimately mankind ends up in a better state because of her presence, that isn't her goal, but a side-effect of her tactic to remain popular and to not be regarded as someone who is dangerous and who should be avoided or eliminated.
How could I best write about this protagonist without giving away the fact that she is a sociopath, and only ever pretends to care about others in order to gain sympathy and co-operation... and should I want to conceal this fact?
Answer
You don't need to label your characters for the reader. And you shouldn't. Just describe them as they are, and as they act, and let the readers make their own decisions about them. The main character of The Talented Mr. Ripley is a charming, likeable sociopathic killer. The writer doesn't need to spell this out, you see it in his actions. The same is true for the --much less likeable --protagonist of Woody Allen's Match Point. Readers may be rooting for your main character to have a heart, but if you've depicted her honestly and consistently, they won't be shocked when she turns out not to have one after all.
Part of what makes these narratives work is that the anti-heroes --like the nebbishy antagonist in Fargo --are initially relatable. Their motivations --love, social status, a way out of financial difficulties --are familiar and understandable. But when the chips are down, they make decisions most people wouldn't be willing to make. Putting a label on all of that isn't helpful --it doesn't do anything but provide an excuse for the reader to distance themselves from the character. It may be helpful to remember that the insane don't realize they are insane --that's a key part of their insanity. In their own heads, all their actions are completely sensible and justified.
It's also worth noting that --unless your narrative is utterly nihilist --your readers will expect some kind of punishment/consequence for sociopathic behavior. The aforementioned movies are good examples because the main characters apparently get away with their bad behaviors --they aren't discovered by the people around them. But they experience the more profound, internal, intrinsic consequence of destroying the only people who truly love them.
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