So I was watching an educational video on psychopaths, and I’d like to make a controversial argument.

I don’t think Negan is a psychopath.

Yes, he has murdered people, and I’m sure there’s definitely mental illness involved somewhere down the line, but his empathetic moments that we’ve seen glimpses of (i.e., him crying over his wife, apologizing to Carl when he began to cry, “apologizing” to Olivia, etc) feel too real to me.

Maybe I’m biased and he’s acting like he cares. That’s what psychopaths are known for—the ability to fake empathy. But I truly believe Negan hasn’t completely lost that part of himself. I think he wants everyone to think that part of him is gone, when it isn’t.

It’s part of why I fell in love with this character. As much as I rolled my eyes and got grumpy at his line in Season 8 where he says he loves to kill people, I don’t think he was being honest. I think he makes himself do it. He pretends to enjoy it.

If he was a psychopath, he wouldn’t have cared Carl cried or Gabriel made him think of Lucille. And in comic Negan’s case, he would have never apologized for killing Glenn or felt remorse.

I can’t defend his heinous actions, but he doesn’t show almost any of the signs of being a psychopath. Sociopath, maybe. But I personally think his conscience is still there.