Hello I m Darren Magee and today s topic is looking at the character, The Riddler , as
portrayed by actor Paul Dano in the 2022 movie The Batman . Now this video does contain spoilers
that we haven't seen the movie already you might want to watch that before watching this.
But just as a reminder, this is not about trying to diagnose anybody. I am not in a position to be
able to diagnose anyone, and besides, he's not real. So in this video, I'm going to give some
reasons for and against certain mental health conditions before saying what I really think is
going on with the character. So first of all, let's have a little bit about his background.
Edward Naston had grown up in a badly run, dilapidated children's home in Gotham City.
The home had been funded by the Project Renewal Fund, which had originally been set up by Thomas
Wayne, Bruce Wayne's father just prior to his death. Edward later finds the Project Renewal
fund had been corrupted by gangsters, by leading politicians and senior police officers. And Edward
blames his childhood abuse and neglect on them and on Thomas Wayne. But since Thomas Wayne is dead,
he decides he's going to punish his son Bruce Wayne instead. Edward s a forensic accountant.
He is very intelligent, but he's very damaged. His persona, The Riddler we see something of an
anti social personality there, which can incorporate many things including sociopathy.
So is he a sociopath? Well, firstly sociopaths are a product of their environment. He does seem to
live on the edge of society. He isn't necessarily impulsive though, and nor does he show any kind
of distress whenever the police capture him. So is he a psychopath? While he's very methodical, he's
calculated, he s remorseless over the killings. There are a lot of strong indicators. However,
his motives for what he's doing are specific. He targets those associated with the renewal fund,
those that he believes hurt him. That being said at the end of the movie he just wants to flood
the entire city which is going to bring a lot of death, destruction and chaos to many people.
Even those who are perhaps in as much pain as he is. Is he a narcissist? Well we see no empathy.
He believes he's entitled to do what he's doing. The victims deserve his wrath. His persona The
Riddler is grandiose, justified, and is the centre of attention. We also see a lot of envy
of Bruce Wayne, a fellow orphan, but one who had it easier, one that he believes the whole
city felt pity for it while he was just forgotten about. Does he have borderline personality? Well,
throughout the movie he's leaving messages riddles personally addressed to Batman. As a vigilante,
it seems that Batman has inspired him. We also see though, a lack of emotional regulation at the end,
especially when Batman rejects him. This would be a very strong component of borderline personality,
the fear of being abandoned, of being rejected. What they I think is going on with The Riddler?
Well, he's intelligent. He's also being hurt, he's been wronged. However, what we didn't see with him
is when he got the evidence of the corruption, he didn't make it public. He didn't send it to
any news stations. He didn't post it online. Instead, he took actions into his own hands.
He reacted violently. He reacted violently to what he believed was a huge injustice. I
think what we see with Edward Naston is someone who is on what's known as the Dark Tetrad. Now
the Dark Tetrad, these are four sub clinical mental health conditions. Now sub clinical
meaning there is not enough in one particular area for a clinical diagnosis. But those four
components come together, they are co occuring in one person. The first component being psychopathy.
As I said, he is remorseless, he's methodical, he s calculating. The second would be in narcissism.
He is self absorbed, he is highly disagreeable, he lacks empathy and he believes he is justified.
He believes he is entitled to his vengeance. The third component is Machiavellianism. Now this is
the manipulation. The riddles, the threats all about manipulating Batman and the authorities.
He has 500 or so online followers, people who are every bit as hurt and wounded as he is and
manipulates them into attacking the city. And lastly, the fourth component is sadism.
Sadism is characterised by taking pleasure in inflicting pain onto others. In this case,
the sadism would fall into the category of enforced sadism . Now that's hurting others
through a sense of self righteousness, believing others need to be punished, and he is the only
one or the best one to do it. Past evils that were inflicted on him are being repaid through further,
more aggressive acts of evil all in the name of what he believes is good. And all of this has
led him to become obsessive, consumed by revenge, and only a shadow of what he perhaps could be. So
they're just my thoughts on The Riddler. I would be interested to know your thoughts if you've seen
the movie, I've only seen it the once, so haven't been really able to look into it in any great
depth, there may be things I may have missed. By all means please use the comment box below.
I m always interested to read your thoughts. And until next time, thanks for watching.