#npd representation

I wanted to look through them until I can gather enough thoughts to ask about a character concept of my own, but I can't find a tag or anything by searching "npd", "narcissistic" or "narcissism" in this blog's search bar

Hello!

There may have been a few in the past but it's not a topic we get asked about a lot and I can't think of any off the top of my head.

If you haven't already, I'd suggest taking a look at the pinned post (specifically the helpful posts section). I don't think we have any posts specifically about NPD but you may find some of the more general posts useful.

If you're just in the brainstorming phase right now, I'd also suggest looking through the general #npd representation tag or similar ones. These kinds of tags are pretty hit or miss so I'd be careful about using them for research or deciding more concrete aspects about your character but they can be helpful for inspiration!

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

You can check the #personality disorders tag, but I don't know if there's much about NPD specifically in there.

Adding this at the top because I wrote a whole ass long rant to answer:

Pw/NPD, you're welcome to give your own answers here, OP is looking for as many perspectives as possible.

I'm gonna try to be as broad as possible here because I'm aware that my co-morbid AvPD greatly affects the way my NPD presents and my experience therefore isn't the 'typical' NPD.

This might be a bit messy, it's late and I'm tired, apologizing in advance. Hope it makes sense anyway.

What I see way too rarely in NPD representation is my own way of handling confrontations and criticism: Instead of the stereotypical denial, I recognize when there's no use in that anymore and switch to complete admission of whatever I've tried to deny, often asking for forgiveness if the situation requires it, in order to regain at least some sort of admiration from others (as in "damn that must've been so hard for him to admit, especially as a narcissist"). I do this all the time, and it completely defies the stigmatized image of the narcissist who will try to gaslight and manipulate people. Because let's be honest, what would I get out of denial and gaslighting? Nothing, except people hating me, which is exactly what I don't want.

The fear of being perceived in any possible negative way accompanies me in every situation in life. Many pw/NPD will do everything they can to hide that, delude themselves instead into believing that they're perfect, will do everything they can to appear perfect and might not be willing to accept criticism because of that. Ironically, narcissists gaslight themselves way more than they gaslight other people. We refuse to see what's right in front of us because it hurts too much. And if we can see it, then others might see it too, and start disliking us, which triggers kind of a fight or flight response in me, for example. Fight would mean to try and fight the accusations, prove them wrong (or at least convince everyone). Flight can go as far as physically running away from the person or pushing them away, shutting them out. I frequently isolate myself to avoid lashing out at others and ruining my reputation, and also to protect myself from their criticism.

Narcissists don't love themselves. That's the biggest misconception out there. NPD is always developed to cover up an extremely low level of self esteem. They might convince themselves that they do, but I don't think I've ever met a narcissist who genuinely loves themselves. They might however love the image they present to others and believe that image is them, which is another layer of self deception.

Which leads me to the shame/pride experience. Those are emotions we experience intensely and almost constantly. I will take pride in the most stupid things and convince myself they're amazing and make me a better person in the eyes of others. And if that fails? Then there's the shame. I failed as a human being. I don't actually deserve all that I think I do.

Ego death. Or whatever you want to call it. One of my alters experienced it very recently. He built his entire identity around something that'd gain him admiration and respect, that made him feel invulnerable and powerful and untouchable. Then someone saw through that persona within five minutes of talking to him. And that entire image fell apart and he was left with nothing, having to completely rediscover who he actually is and if he is still lovable and worthy without this fake persona (and especially if being caught acting as a persona erases his worth entirely). That is a thing for most pw/NPD. We struggle with our sense of self because every self we ever convinced ourselves we had was unrealistic. To us, it feels incredibly dangerous and vulnerable to have our image poked at or doubted or even just mildly criticized or joked about, because it's the only sense of self we have. We might immediately go into fight or flight if something touches it. Which we did with that friend, too, but regulated ourselves enough to not let him notice.

Your character will likely try to impress others. Either academically or physically or sometimes even by excessively supporting others. Just anything to gain admiration and love, and the character will likely fixate on that method and make it their entire identity (as mentioned above). Our alter used his moral apathy as a way to gain admiration, which is odd because that's not a good trait to have, but he reframed it as "a necessary trait to protect the system" and "the others in the system are too soft/too easily taken advantage of". Reframing things is a huge part of our self deception as pw/NPD. Anything so that our ugly traits look less ugly to others.

If such an "identity" is broken through, your character might frantically look for something new to build their identity on. Our alter very much did that. And it doesn't matter if it might be the exact opposite of what it was before. Whatever will regain them the admiration they were getting before.

Everything can be misinterpreted as criticism. Maybe that's my AvPD coming through, but that's my experience. I feel offended and criticised all the time when people make neutral, sometimes even positive statements. Brings me straight into fight or flight.

"Love bombing" is real, but it is not a manipulation tactic. It happens when we get to know a new person who we really want to keep around. We try to impress them, cater to all their needs, keep them happy and satisfied. We are terrified of rejection so we try to erase every reason why the person might choose to reject us. Obviously that is exhausting, and if the other person starts to rely on it and expect it, we might grow easily frustrated and feel like they are not respecting our own need for space (which by the way existed from the start, we just sacrificed it in the name of avoiding rejection). Then the other person grows frustrated because suddenly we stop being the way they got to know us, and often feels betrayed or neglected, or believes we don't actually care about them and just wanted to use them. In fact, however, we do not actually know how else to convince someone that we're worth being around because of our low sense of self worth, so we use material ways to enhance our worth in the eyes of people (even if they might like us without that; we have a very hard time believing that).

We have very high standards for not just others but also ourselves. If we can't meet them, that can lead to a crash. That's why some pw/NPD actively set their standards ridiculously low and expect praise for meeting them/praise themselves for it.

Pw/NPD are frequently described as egocentric. I can confirm that this is true, at least for me. I am autistic which means I struggle by default to understand that others don't think and feel like me (note: autism is a spectrum, this is my personal experience too). As a child I was unable to understand that other people were actual people, and not just "NPCs" who lived in my world (I still struggle with that today sometimes). I have an egocentric world view and need the help of other people to gain a different perspective. Sometimes I can rationally understand a different perspective but will struggle to align it with my world view.

Selfishness and entitlement are things that are connected to NPD. I can explain the "motivations" behind my experience of them. My selfishness is an act of self protection and self defense. I do not give, I do not allow others to take, I keep others at arm's length or further, because it genuinely terrifies me to open myself up to potentially being taken advantage of. I'm scared that if I do give, I'll have nothing left. And I'll always choose my own survival over someone else's, that is a fact. I do not know if I can learn to be less inherently selfish and to feel less fear around the concept of selflessness. When I think about it, images of extreme people pleasers come to mind and I can't imagine to ever survive like that.

Entitlement comes from the perceived perfection and grandiosity. I personally was grandiose since childhood due to being a quick learner before and in school and my parents always showing me off wherever they went, telling me I'd be famous one day, et cetera. I internalized that and convinced myself that that was my destiny, nothing could change that and therefore I deserve to be treated "like the prodigy I am".

Empathy. There are different forms of it: cognitive, affective, and compassionate empathy. I personally experience moderate cognitive empathy and am low in the other types. That will be different for each pw/NPD. From what I know, most pw/NPD are low in at least affective empathy. For context: cognitive empathy is understanding someone else's emotions on a rational level. Affective empathy means to feel their emotions as if they were yours (I was genuinely convinced that was a made up thing for most of my life). Compassionate empathy is the urge to help someone else who suffers (which would lead to compassion, which is the act of helping). It's important to understand that none of these are needed to be a good person and the lack of these doesn't make you a bad person. You don't need to feel anything to do the right things. That's what many people tend to get wrong, they think that a lack of empathy automatically leads to choices that harm others. But that's not true, I don't need to feel an ounce of care for someone to decide that I want to help them (or not hurt them). In fact, I frequently help others not because I care about their well-being but because it'll get me ahead in life, they will like me more, I will get something back. I have never in my life related to being happy for when others are happy, so helping others for their well-being doesn't give me anything back in itself.

Trauma. I've seen a bunch of people on the internet claiming that pw/NPD don't get traumatized/can't develop C-PTSD/other bullshit. Which is wrong. Your character will have childhood trauma that made it necessary to develop the specific symptoms of NPD in order to survive and (pretend to) thrive. Some pw/NPD develop it through being spoiled and elevated by their primary caregivers because they never knew anything else, but I can't speak for them because I had a different upbringing (that may have included being elevated by my parents but a ton more different things that also contributed to my development of NPD).

I have written a few NPD characters in the past, some before self awareness, some after. All to cope with my own way of thinking and feeling. They have all had the traits I've described above.

I guess what I want to say is that the internal monologue is crucial when you write a character with NPD. They'll always be trying to figure out how to maintain/save their reputation, how to erase everything that poses a danger to that, because their reputation and image is all that they have to hide their own insecurity and emptiness. It is like a protective shield without which they feel exposed, vulnerable, and deathly afraid (maybe slightly exaggerated). They will frequently try to gaslight themselves, try to reframe negative things about themselves, will try to elevate themselves over others (which they don't necessarily actually act out towards them, it can be a purely cognitive process).

I wish I could give advice on how to write a character with NPD who is healed or at least started to heal, but I genuinely do not know how they would feel or think, since I have not yet found a therapist who could work on my NPD with me and the only step towards healing I've been able to take so far is trying to become as self aware as possible (which, by the way, if your character is self aware, they might use that to boost their reputation, just saying, I did it for years and still catch myself doing it).

I hope this makes sense and is somewhat insightful for you, if not, feel free to ask follow-up questions (for example how pw/NPD react to specific situations, then I can say how I think I'd react, how the characters I've written would react).

Once again, feel free to ignore this ask if I'm overstepping at all, and I hope you have a wonderful day <3

Hi!! ♡ Apologies for the late reply, I wasn't on tumblr for a few days, then my alter was out for the next couple days and I wanted to be the one to respond-

I really appreciate that you're taking the time to research and create thoughtful representation, and I'm glad my posts could offer some help with that!

My first two thoughts are:

Characters whose symptoms present differently than the common portrayal of NPD

It's super common for people to not recognize NPD because they have this very limited view of what it is and how it can present - so it would be nice to see representation that shows variety in the way it can manifest.

For example, it's actually very common for someone with the disorder to primarily "lash in" rather than "lash out", but I never see that represented (intentionally, at least).

There's also a very limited perception of narcissistic characters being blatantly arrogant, grandiose, braggy, selfish, power-hungry, etc. But really, there's an unlimited number of ways someone can present outwardly, because the only thing that's crucial to the diagnosis is the internal experience - how it affects the person who has it. How they appear outwardly to others can vary wildly.

(I'll admit, some of these "stereotypical NPD" characters feel very relatable due to shared symptoms and vibes and power fantasies. To the extent that I have one of them as my pfp on some accounts lol. But if you met me IRL, my vibes are just "confident and bubbly, polite, quiet and distant, fashion-oriented, straight A student, cutesy, braggy, adventurous", and I always make the effort to be kind to people even though I can be somewhat distant and goal-oriented.)

It's also common to think of someone "flying into a rage" when they feel criticized - but anger (whether external or internal) isn't an inherent part of it. The issue is that someone perceives criticism as a threat, so their fight/flight/freeze/fawn response kicks in, and there's a large multitude of ways that can show up.

(Personally, I go into either fight or fawn mode. But the vast majority of the anger I've felt has been entirely self-directed, manifesting in the form of self-criticism, self-hatred, self-destruction, overworking, eating disorders, etc. I will occasionally feel outwards anger, but when I do, I give myself time and space to process it by myself so that I don't upset anyone. And even for those who feel external anger much more often than I do, it doesn't mean they'll express it in an aggressive or harmful way.)

tldr; I'd love to see a variety of outwards presentations, with the NPD being shown via their internal experience, rather than only displayed through stereotypical external behaviors.

2. Humanization for characters with NPD who make mistakes

People with NPD are human just like everyone else, which means that mistakes happen. Everyone accidentally fucks up, hurts someone, lacks self-awareness in certain areas, etc.

The level and type of interpersonal struggles, and the reasons behind these struggles, are all across the board. That's understood with any other disorder (or any sort of identity), but there's so much extra baggage and stigma applied when NPD is involved for some reason.

So for characters with NPD with higher interpersonal conflict, I'd want them to be humanized in the same way that anyone else with any other identity would be humanized. And I'd also want it shown that characters who don't have NPD can have high interpersonal conflict as well, that it's not limited to this disorder.

"what sort of aspects of npd would be comforting for you to see reflected in a story?"

In terms of specific aspects-

Personally, I'd love to see a character who like... tries to be perfect. Is externally very put-together in some way - maybe they're very kind and soft-spoken and sweet, or they're silly and happy and energetic, or they're quiet and serious and protective, or calm and mysterious and self-assured, doesn't matter. But everything seems okay on the surface.

But internally, they put so much pressure on themself. They hold themself to impossible standards, and feel like they HAVE to be seen a certain way and never show weakness. They have to handle everything perfectly. Just... so many symptoms and struggles that are hurting them internally, and overtime it ends up bubbling out in small ways, or like. Tbh I'd love it if someone would just... notice.

Notice the perfect bubbly happy straight-A student who's always kind and never shares their own opinions. Notice the quiet, highly-skilled protector of the group who somehow always knows the right thing to say and the right way to act.

And give them permission to be imperfect. To be human. Show them that they aren't their reputation or their skills or how impressive they are, they're so much more than that.

They can see the pain they're in, and instead of treating them as this untouchable perfect being, they treat them in a human way.

The super bubbly character seems completely unaffected by recent tragedy? Okay. Their friend doesn't ignore that. They don't push and prod, but they don't ignore it. They sit with them, spend time with them, hold them, they know it affected them.

I'm imagining a scene where the character w/NPD fucks up somehow, and they seem fine, but someone close to them suddenly Realizes and they just. Go to find them. And they're just having a massive breakdown, but the moment they see their friend, they quickly try and shove everything under the surface and act cool and unaffected and "normal", but their friend goes over and just holds them and. Ungh. 10/10

Couple months ago I did actually see an episode of a show like that, and both times I watched it, I bawled my fuckin eyes out lol.

Different people may have different answers in terms of what they'd feel most comforted by, but for me personally, I'd love this so much, because this is how I present and I desperately want to be Seen and Loved and have someone see my self-worth as being inherent and not tied into how "perfect" I am.

Closing thoughts:

Personally, there's not much that I'd feel offended by. To be honest, in addition to characters who fit the above points (various presentations, average-level interpersonal conflict, etc.), I also write characters who have that "stereotypical" presentation. I don't think there's anything wrong with it as long as it's not done maliciously, especially if there's other types of characters shown. (Similar to having both gay villains and gay protagonists or side characters, y'know)

The only thing I'd dislike / that would hurt my feelings is like... seeing a character be heavily demonized for their traits*, or the only characters with NPD being horribly abusive, or the usage of stigmatizing language (aka, if the character is spoken about the way buzzfeed articles speak about us).

*aka, demonized for the symptoms. Totally fine if someone does something shitty and it's pointed out as being shitty / if people dislike them for that lol.

Hopefully this isn't getting too long, but to give an example of what I mean, something I saw that did hurt my feelings was like-

There was an episode of a show where a character got super braggy and confident, and was relishing in the praise and admiration she was getting. Hinging her self-worth on that recognition and success. And her friends got annoyed and pissed off, simply because she was braggy. There were a couple of things here and there she did that were kind of insensitive, but that was never really pointed out or seen as the main issue, it was only her bragging that was being demonized for some reason.

And then her friends all ganged up behind her back and did something to intentionally trigger a crash and make her feel insecure and terrible about herself, all to "knock her down a peg". And the narrative framed that as being justified, framed her friends as being correct in this situation. They never once showed concern for her mental health or the fact that she was hinging her self-worth on other people's opinions of her, they tore her down for her bragging instead of either a) supporting and uplifting her, or b) showing concern for unhealthy mindsets, and they never even tried to approach her or communicate with her about the things she was doing that actually were insensitive.

Hopefully that wasn't too much of a tangent lol, but that's the type of thing I mean by "being demonized for their traits". Hate when all a character is doing is bragging and feeling good about themself and the narrative frames them in an extremely negative light for it :(

sandford has NPD! if anyone has npd or knows a lot about it and could tell me how to write a character with NPD, it would be helpful! he is unaware of what hes doing sometimes yet some people dont point it out that often

Community as a series was mid, but Jeff Winger was great narcissist rep and not just because his character growth was about learning to navigate through his egotisticalness rather than being able to get rid of it.

There are quite a few episodes where he experiences narc crashes over things that seem miniscule (like his cholesterol being a bit high), but the characters then learn why it matters so much to him and sympathize with him (he had been obsessing over being "fit" and "healthy" since he was 10 yrs old and based a lot of his superiority on it.)

They successfully show through out the series that although Jeff seems to have a good grip on his charming personality & self-importance, he actually has to fight with it constantly in order to keep it under control. And he has a lot of anxiety surrounding not controlling it.

There's been a few times that episodes feature or are based around his maladaptive daydreaming

We see in flashbacks that Jeff has a childhood history of being overpraised, with his mom putting extra emphasis that he is inherently "special". And we can see how this actually does negatively affect him and his ability to learn/improve rather than frame it as Jeff being some "spoiled brat".

Jeff has a lot of shame surrounding his image which stops him from participating in things he enjoys, and there are episodes where Jeff overcomes some of this shame and gets to participate in those things. (There was a table pool episode where since pool is technically a sport, he has to wear the college's gym clothes - which he thinks makes him looks stupid and makes him want to quit altogether.)

Again, Community as a show has aged a bit poorly and is really only worth watching if you're rewatching it for nostalgia (and you skip the last season all together). But I could do a character study on Jeff. I have a lot of joy over the fact that they portrays Jeff as the typical narcissist, but wrote him with such compassion.

canon/implied neurodivergent characters in my fav medias: The Pink Corruption: -Circubit (Plural, PTSD(canon), autistic(implied?)) -Cubic (Plural(canon))

Epithet Erased: -Molly (misphonia(canon)) -Mera (chronic pain(canon)) -Giovanni (AuDHD(implied))

GD Fanmades: -The Obscurity (BPD(implied), PTSD, factive(canon)) -The Gatekeeper (Plural(canon)) -Octocube (Plural, neurodivergent, BPD(canon)) -The Darkness (ASPD(implied)) -The Keymaster (neurodivergent/autistic(implied)) -Scratch (autistic(implied))

Portal: -GLaDOS (PTSD, HC-DID, factive(canon), NPD/ASD (implied)) -Doug Rattmann (Schizophrenia(canon), depression(implied)) -Wheatley (AuDHD(implied)) -Chell (Mute/Non-Verbal(canon))

[That newgrounds animation about the dog that I will not be naming for huge TW reasons]: -Alfred (DID, CPTSD (canon)) -Dictator Pickles (DID, CPTSD, factive (canon)) -Schoolgirl Alfred (DID, hypersexuality (canon))

TCOAAL: -Ashley (PTSD, BPD(canon), hypersexual(implied)) -Andrew (neurodivergent(implied), PTSD(canon))

Inanimate Insanity: -MePhone4 (PTSD(canon), AuDHD(implied)) -Yin-Yang (Plural(canon)) -Bot (Factive(canon)) -Cabby (autistic(implied), memory issues (canon)) -like literally almost everyone in the cast is neurodivergent in some way fr

Undertale: -Crystal, Shyra, Endogeny/Muttler, Reaper Bird, Memoryhead (Plural(canon)) -Sans (depression(implied)) -Papyrus (neurodivergent/AuDHD(canon)) -Alphys (social anxiety, depression (canon)) -Asgore (PTSD, depression(implied)) -Toriel (separation anxiety (canon)) -Napstablook (depression (implied))

Deltarune: -Berdly (NPD, ASD (canon)) -Noelle (PTSD, musophobia, anxiety (canon)) -Kris (non-verbal (canon)) -Susie (PICA, AuDHD (canon)) -Ralsei (Social Anxiety (implied)) -Queen (STPD/ASD traits (canon))

I hc Seto Kaiba to have NPD comorbid BPD traits. He’s actually a pretty good example of someone who experienced C-PTSD in childhood and adjusted those traits of trauma and coping throughout the series in alignment with these cluster B personality disorders, and grew from it (considering that earlier in the series he has a mind crush that means that the Seto Kaiba he have now throughout the series is actually the best version of him we have).

This man has such a strong sense of seeing things 'good' or 'bad' (especially concerning dual monsters, a title and area of his identity that he holds very dearly) that he decides to blow up an entire island he made just because he lost a tournament to Yami Yugi. Each time he wins he feels on top of the world, each time he loses he has to do something (anything) to control his environment in an effort to reestablish his ego. For me, I interpret this as a sign of splitting.

Heck, I saw a comment that jokingly stated that he doesn't make efforts to socialize, he sets up tournaments to do that. The more I think about it, the more I feel that actually rings pretty true. His supply he seeks out from recognition, attention and respect from others in a large scale in general, so I think that is rather appropriate.

This ties into the complex but nuanced way he gradually establishes a complicated but closer connection to Yugi and his friends.

When Jonouchi (Joey) was in very critical condition and in a temporary coma due to a bunch of the participants (Yami Marik) rigging the card game tournament with dark magic to be capable of killing people, he refused to park the zeppelin for medical aid and was more annoyed that the Istars interfered with his tournament. He didn't even care that Jonouchi could have died.

He does not spare any remorse or sympathy for Noah, (his adopted step sibling from Gambino in season 4) in the anime when he knows he was used and abandoned by the same father figure they shared and just tries to push him aside to secure Mokuba and escape the virtual world. He literally has the perspective (especially post mind crush) that he is a very important person that takes himself seriously and that people who get hurt (and are not in a few particular range of people he knows and respects) are just not worth caring all that much.

This, and not ignoring the fact that he didn't really hesitate to show any remorse (pre-mind crush) about Yugi's grandpa getting to be hospitalized or that he literally made an entire amusement park to kill Yugi and his friends or even put a lowkey torture device on his brother (literally the only person he likes and enjoys being around) in the manga before the events in the anime series just tells me he has low empathy. He doesn't try to do this to be a sadistic person or a general asshole (the only instance where he is is comedical with Jonouchi concerning the dog jokes he jabs at him with or making snide comments to Zigfried or other things of that nature) but it mostly treating others in the cost by cost basis concerning his goals regardless of the stakes at hand until it is extremely personal to him.

When he is presented situations that where he would be unable to secure his brother due to Pegasus keeping him hostage if he doesn't succeed to the finals of the season 1 tournament, he doesn't even hesitate to goad and attempt to guilt trip Yami with suicidal ideation when he knows he will lose the duel otherwise. He stands on top of the edge of the castle they are dueling on states "Oh I might stumble from the tremble of your attack and die of the ledge of this area and die :(" to goad him to give up, regardless of what extreme it will take to secure his goal... He isn't even threating to end himself because he is suffering or that he generally is interested in doing so by any measure, it's a manipulation tactic that would ensure he could save his brother while not having to compromise and beg or even explain his situation to the others and not seem desperate to bother and ask for help.

Now, is this okay and justified? Obviously not. But it explains why he acts the way he does, especially the hyper-independence he displays from his childhood trauma and abuse he suffered from Gambino. Which, yes, that also explains a parallel in which he didn't feel remorse for Gambino (as horrible of a father figure as he was) ending himself by jumping out of a window due to Seto basically stealing his company from him as literal child to later mirror him as well. Treating his brother Mokuba badly (temporarily in the beginning) for failing him earlier in the manga with the electric zapping device, pushing others hard to the extremes to could kill them to the extent that he does (notably when his ego and reputation have been compromised) especially earlier in the series are just things he picked up and replicated from his childhood and the efforts he had to endure to survive in a environment that operated only with cold hard respect.

I don't believe he actually has no empathy though, he has strong cognitive empathy and the possible small amount of emotional empathy/sympathy for the situations he find himself in he fosters and gets better at as he exposes himself to Yugi's friends that (thankfully!!) do not foster extreme resentment for what he did to them and offers a relatively good amount of unconditional support to him regardless of his status of the king of games or his wealth.

He saves Anzu (Tea) from a life or death card duel where she was held hostage later in the series when this would have been unheard of for him earlier in the series. He provides a extensive amusement park for the younger children to experience duel monsters ( in modern graphics) in a healthier and safer environment than his generation had and enriched their childhoods alongside extending his brand and company. (Aka, things he never experience as a child concerning his love of games.) Yes, it is for profit and a part of his plan to establish his range of influence for his company, but I do believe he really does want to give others a better experience of things he wasn't afforded to as a kid, and did that through the very same Duel monsters he took over and improved over time.

He balances out his behavioral traits to be less self focused over time to help out Yugi, his friend, and by in large society with the technology the literal advancements technology that is unprecedented and advanced humankind in a large scale degree. I'm not kidding, check out the video below concerning his large scale breakthrough contributions he did to the field of physics and by extension the entirety of civilization in the process of fulfilling his personal and sometime absurd/petty goals.

And, he comes around to actually befriending and confiding in Yugi (and somewhat his group of friends) as his own person and especially as a duelist at the end of the Dark Dimensions movie with not only respect, but general companionship concerning the entire ordeal they went through concerning their mourning over Yami.

Also, I think it's appropriate to assume that Yami wasn't only Seto's rival at a certain point, but as his FP. The fact that in season 5 of the anime and by extension the Dark side dimension movie of how he was willing to witness the ceremonial duel and try to obsessively resurrect Yami tells me (other than the strong platonic or romantic infatuation he could harbor for him, take your pick) that he was the only person he could place his "favorite person" designation to out of anyone he has known before. He is the only person that Seto respects probably more than himself (than he would publicly care to admit), likely fell into somewhat of a depression when he was brought back into the afterlife and focuses his mourning by building stuff to meet him again, and in every instance Yami Yugi does not meet those expectations or is close to giving up in his duels due to terribly high stakes in the series Seto sets himself straight very crudely (in his own Seto way of expressing disappointment to encourage him ironically enough) in a way that seems like extremely strong personal inclination to do compared to the other characters.

I would hazard a guess that Seto Kaiba secretly finds his personal time with Yami in life or death ordeals as a somewhat of a strong bonding experience platonically that he wouldn't really be able to share that comradery with anyone else and seems to enjoy.

Again, this is not a shipping sort of post. I simply think that these examples signify toward those traits that would make sense to justify why he utilizes a FP (in this case Yami Yugi) in my hc of BPD along side the narcissistic traits he displays as well.