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| - A hired agent who is in it for the sadism. They may have other motivations, like money or power, but these are incidental to the sheer joy they get from torturing and murdering people. Hey, at least they love their job. Instantly identifiable by their Evil Laugh, at least one unusual signature weapon, a flashy style, and a tendency to play with their victims like a cat. Many of them are Ax Crazy. When on Team Good Guys they are invariably the Token Evil Teammate. No Real Life Examples, Please. Examples of Psycho for Hire include:
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| abstract
| - A hired agent who is in it for the sadism. They may have other motivations, like money or power, but these are incidental to the sheer joy they get from torturing and murdering people. Hey, at least they love their job. Instantly identifiable by their Evil Laugh, at least one unusual signature weapon, a flashy style, and a tendency to play with their victims like a cat. Many of them are Ax Crazy. When on Team Good Guys they are invariably the Token Evil Teammate. Most are mercenaries, the handful who aren't are summoned and controlled with Applied Phlebotinum. They are almost never the Big Bad, because unstable maniacs don't make good or interesting plotters. The Big Bad often has contempt for them for precisely this reason. Note that the Evil Overlord List discourages hiring such individuals, as they "tend to do dumb things like even the odds to give the other guy a sporting chance." In fact, it's hard to understand why any intelligent Big Bad would hire these guys, given their tendencies to attract attention by killing vast numbers of innocent bystanders, turn down easy chances to kill the hero because "it wouldn't be fun", and turn on their bosses because of trivial or imaginary "insults" or just For the Evulz. The Blood Knight also enjoys himself without much purpose, but he just loves the fight. The Combat Sadomasochist also enjoys hurting others, but differs in that they also enjoy being hurt. The Sociopathic Soldier can be extremely similar to this trope, but is retained by a single employer, usually his nation's armed forces. Contrast the more realistic Serial Killer, who doesn't flaunt it, and the less realistic Heroic Comedic Sociopath who hangs around heroes and whose sadistic games are treated as wacky hijinx for the sake of comedy. As various examples of the latter may testify, it is all too possible for a character to sit on the fence. If two Psychos For Hire are paired together, they might be Those Two Bad Guys. If the Psycho For Hire is not for hire, he's doing it For the Evulz. The all but canonical alignment for these type of characters are Neutral Evil; Chaotic Evil characters of this type are usually Types 2 through 4, but others usually go freelance; and Lawful Evil is typically more professional. No Real Life Examples, Please. Examples of Psycho for Hire include:
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