#ok who is willing to give out phds in lucifer analysis

[tarysande]

I was curious do you think Cain was a sociopath I read an article about how a sociopath 'loves' and it reminded me of him do you think this is what the writers were going for or am I way off?

I think there’s a lot of evidence to support that read on his character and I feel with at least some small amount of confidence that his character description probably included the word. In fact, I think Pierce may even have been a psychopath. (Pysch researchers tend to think psychopaths are born, while sociopathy results from childhood trauma. More on this later!)

Sociopaths and psychopaths fall under the shared umbrella of antisocial personality disorder.

According to the DSM V (psychiatry’s diagnostic bible), the following criteria is listed for antisocial personality disorder: 

Persistent patterns of disregard and violation of the rights of others, present since the age of 15 and consisting of at least three of the following resulting in hurting, mistreating, and/or stealing from someone:

Disrespect and failure to conform to lawful behavior resulting in repeated arrests.

Persistent deceitfulness, using aliases, and lying to con others for personal gain.

Impulsive and unable to plan.

Easily irritated, aggressive and prone to repeated physical altercations and assaults.

Reckless, disregarding the safety of others and one’s self.

Persistently irresponsible, inability to maintain consistent work behavior and/or honor financial obligations.

Indifferent rationalization without remorse.

I don’t know about you, but I see a lot of Cain/Pierce/Sinnerman there, no?

So, let’s try to parse Cain a little given what we know because we were told and what we can infer by observation or reading between the lines.

Biblically, we know Cain killed his brother Abel because he was angry that God liked Abel’s sacrifice better. Cain then lied about it (to God; ballsy, but ultimately a bad choice). I want to talk about something, though, that people who didn’t once win Sunday School Jeopardy! (it’s true) might not know: Cain wasn’t marked and punished because he killed his brother. Because Cain was a farmer (and proud of it), God punished him by cursing him so the soil would no longer give him strength. He could no longer do what made him happiest and brought him the most satisfaction. Dying is easy; living without being able to fulfill your purpose is harsh. To this, Cain replied, “Well then, I’ll just hide from your presence and wander until someone kills me; life’s not worth living without farming,” and God said, “Y’think it’s that easy, do you? Have this mark so everyone’ll know that, in killing you, they bring My vengeance upon them sevenfold.”

Murder is bad. Trying to wriggle out of what God deems to be appropriate punishment for it is far worse. Defying God’s judgment is the crime for which Cain is punished with the mark.

(Where have we seen that before? But that’s the subject for a different essay.)

So, if we assume that Lucifer’s writers were pulling from Biblical ‘canon,’ we’ve already got a little sociopathy happening. Cain kills his brother because Abel got a better report card from God and he can’t stand that (he’s the elder brother, after all). He feels no remorse, no guilt (and Pierce says as much to Lucifer; it’s a driving part of his personality from the beginning), and no empathy. He lies to protect himself. His response to being punished is not “I’m sorry for what I did,” it’s “How dare you take my things away from me.” It’s selfish and self-centered.

Also from the DSM V:

Persistent pathological personality traits:

Antagonism

Manipulative - frequent use of deceit, subterfuge, charm, seduction, and ingratiation to achieve personal goals.

Deceit - lies and fraudulent representation of self, embellishment and lying when relating events.

Callous - cold, uncaring, and indifferent to the feelings of others, lack of remorse for the hurt they cause to others, aggressive and sadistic.

Hostile - aggressive and angry at perceived slights and insults, vengeful and mean.

Disinhibition

Irresponsible - failure to honor obligations, lack of respect for promises made and agreements.

Impulsive - acts on momentary stimulus, no planning, inability to plan.

Risk Behavior - denies personal danger, engages in dangerous activity to one’s self and others, engages in risk behaviors to stave off boredom.

Now, here’s where Pierce appears psychopathic: psychopaths plan. They engage in criminal behavior in a way that minimizes personal risk. They have plans and contingency plans to ensure they are not caught. (SINNERMAN.) A psychopath is better able to dissociate from their actions (”It was an accident. He deserved it. He was an asshat.”) ((Sidebar: that Abel’s in Hell proves Abel felt guilt and remorse, unlike his brother. It’s not that Abel ‘deserved it’–he just had deeper feelings than Cain.)

I don’t think it takes much to see these actions and responses paralleled in Pierce’s behavior, right from the beginning of the season when he doesn’t care about anyone in the precinct; he only knows about them in the context of what they can do for him. He lies constantly and always to protect himself. He throws Chloe (multiple times) into danger to test his theories. He shows no empathy for anyone at at any point (remember, if any of the post-Abel grief was real, it was because he still thought Abel was going to help him get what he wanted; it wasn’t about loving his brother). He rejects Chloe until he witnesses the moment between Chloe and Lucifer at Lux. Pierce had several opportunities to start a relationship with Chloe earlier but he didn’t take them because a relationship wasn’t necessary for his plans.

Cain is utterly and entirely focused on himself. When he does enter into a relationship with Chloe, it’s for selfish reasons; he says as much to the waitress. To a sociopath, true love is focused on the self, power (seen in the Sinnerman), and playing/winning his game of life. When Pierce decided to “woo” Chloe, he relied on every cliche in the book: romantic dinner, roses, declarations of love. It was like he looked up “romance” in the dictionary and awkwardly followed the steps laid out. Or, in this case, asked Ella and she told him what Chloe liked, what Chloe wanted, and what Chloe felt was missing from her life (especially vis a vis the heartbreak with Lucifer). And Chloe, because of said heartbreak and because she has some serious love-related self-esteem issues (different essay!!) fell for it. Because she wanted to feel loved, wanted to feel lovable.

Several of Pierce’s behaviors in “love” often occur with sociopaths and one of them is moving quickly: declaring “love,” wanting to get married very fast. Another is resenting time spent with family and friends (or, I suppose, wearing a bullet necklace); sociopaths are often possessive and demanding. Did he ever love Chloe? I don’t think so, personally. I saw no indication he was capable of real love, sacrificial love, love that puts someone else first sometimes. I think he loved feeling like he’d “won” the game of stealing Chloe from Lucifer (Cain is often shown emulating Lucifer, such as with providing favors, but I don’t think he ever cares about what he’s giving to the other person: he’s entirely focused on how beholden the person will have to feel to him. It’s about power. Chloe is about power. Being a Lieutenant with friends in high places is about power. Being the Sinnerman is about power). Perhaps, yes, that moment he lost his mark was the first time in thousands of years he felt bad, a pang of momentary guilt. It did not, however, take him long to return to manipulating Chloe and improvising a plan so he could “win” again.

Finally: look guys, that rock collection was serial killer creepy AF. Okay? The rock he killed his brother with was definitely there. Those were trophies. He took them with him to his creepy sewer/warehouse hidey-hole. 

So, before I leave you, here’s something interesting for people to think about: the Lucifer we meet in Season 1? Go look at that list of pathological personality traits again. Lucifer’s a walking checklist for sociopathy/APD (the Cain & Lucifer parallels are definitely material for more thought!). As the show goes on, we start to realize that a lot of Lucifer’s issues are rooted in early (and extremely extended) trauma (which is what psych researchers believe is the root of sociopathy; Lucifer wasn’t born that way, while it’s implied Cain was). Only, Lucifer changes. He learns. It’s slow and he takes steps backward as often as he steps forward. Only his active choices and steps toward change, only the fact that he slowly begins to see things from a little outside himself, only the fact that he is willing to admit he makes mistakes or doesn’t actually know everything and work with an actual therapist, and that he is doggedly devoted to not lying is what sets him apart and allows him to be someone sympathetic and capable of change—it’s why Chloe, and the audience, can love him and hope the best for him. Though they may seem small, that Lucifer is making changes at all is monumental. Psychologically speaking, the deck is really stacked against him.

What I’m saying here is that Dr. Linda Martin is going to write the most epic case study in the history of psychology at some point. She’s gonna make millions. And she deserves it!

(Speaking of different essays, someone remind me to talk about the parallels between Amenadiel & Lucifer and Cain & Abel at some point because they’re fascinating… and also they illuminate why Amenadiel can be redeemed but Cain couldn’t.)