:3

Let me start this off, to avoid confusion, by stating plainly that I myself have NPD as well and that’s why it was so easy for me to recognize.

This post is going to be relatively long. I’ll add a “tl;dr” after every text-heavy section. That will also be bold for convenience.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder’s most prominent and defining trait is the genuine belief that one is superior to all of those around them. Often narcissists will have a sense of entitlement, a need to be recognized for things they have done, and an outright obsession with control. It can develop from many different things, or it can be genetic. Since none of the other Strilondes display serious Narcissistic traits, I’m assuming it was something that developed. 

What we know about Dirk is that he grew up alone. Without adult supervision and, well, without anyone. Human beings are social creatures, this can’t be helped. The lack of human interaction he had as a young child could have easily prevented him from growing out of the self-centered nature humans have in early childhood. So, yeah. Neglect is assumed to be one cause of NPD. 

tl;dr: Dirk grew up alone and being left alone/neglected as a child is one reason NPD develops.

Beyond that, we can see Dirk has an absolute craze for control. We can see this in his interests as well as in his friendships. 

Dirk seems to be a man of a few interests, but the three that stand out the most are puppets, robots, and philosophy. I don’t think much needs to be said for puppets and how that relates to his need for controlling other things, so I’ll move on to robots immediately. Dirk’s use for robots is basically “sparring partner that I will spend months crafting and destroy in days”. This might not seem to say much, but really what it means is that Dirk puts himself into these machines- so much of his own time, energy, resources, etc.-  just to inevitably destroy them. Why? To make himself feel as if he is constantly growing and improving as a person? As a plain old power trip? To prove to himself that he is better than even his own creations? 

Personally, I think it’s the last one* (I’ll be getting back to this), but any way you look at it Dirk’s controlling personality is seen best through how he treats/views his robots- if not there then in the fact that he makes them at all. Robots are complex, difficult things but they are something created by Dirk that he can control, something easy. 

His third major fixation is philosophy. If I had a nickle for every Narcissist who was into philosophy, myself included, I’d be the richest and best person in the world. This relates to his control obsession in that one of his biggest problems with himself is that he can’t control his own thought processes- that he can’t control his own brain. An interest in philosophy is, at its core, a desire to understand brains; and, in this case, an innate desire to control them. For Dirk, I’d guess his interest comes mostly from wanting control over his own brain/body, but that’s not to say he seek to control his friends as well.

tl;dr: Dirk is obsessed with control. This shows in his interests in puppets, robots, and philosophy.

Moving on to concrete textural evidence that Dirk has NPD:

We can see here not only an obsession with control, but a desire for his friends to be flawless. This one doesn’t require much explaining; he wants both Jane and Jake to be better people. For people with NPD, it’s entirely normal to only surround oneself with “special” people (people who are worth our time) and to, at times (or often) suggest ways for them to be even more deserving of having a narcissist in their lives.

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people

Now, lets go back to what I said above about Dirk’s desire to understand his own brain, shall we? The fact that he made Lil Hal in his own image is honestly proof enough of his narcissism, but then we have the fact that he frequently talks to him in what I assume to be a way to see how other’s see him, reflect on that, and better himself. 

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Exaggerating your achievements and talents

What was that I was saying about an obsession with control? In this case, it’s because Dirk is the only person Dirk trusts in this position and assumes it’s his and only his decision to make. 

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations AND Having a sense of entitlement

Not only is Lil Hal a literal copy of Dirk, meaning he would also have NPD (Which is prominent here as well), but Dirk gets agitated quickly when Lil Hal tries to “one-up” him in any way- whether it be with jokes or with solving pi. Also, with Lil Hal, we see he is rather pompous about what he feels are “victories” over Dirk.

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Being envious of others and believing others envy you

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Taking advantage of others to get what you want

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others AND Requiring constant admiration and attention

Dirk assumes things that others do are done specifically to attack him, and that because Lil Hal is an extension of himself he would see Dirk as the “inferior iteration”.

Dirk was extremely clingy in the relationship with Jake, as Jake was/is someone Dirk sees as an equal (the NPD equivalent of a ‘favorite person’). 

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Requiring constant admiration and attention

I can’t explain this one well, and of course there’s nothing related in the goddamn DSM, but this is it. This is the core of NPD. This is what NPD in its entirety is built on, and when Dirk is alone with “himself” (Lil Hal) and his own thoughts, it shows.

Avoiding discussing his own issues to ensure that his friends continue to see him as the perfect person he is.

Dirk puts his own feelings for Jake above Jane’s, personally believing them to be more important and within his own mind even invalidating her feelings for Jake out of either a lack of empathy or envy. 

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others OR  Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate OR Being envious of others and believing others envy you

Lastly, and possibly most telling, we have this:

This is after the whole “[S] Game Over” shit, mind you, When literally everything went to shit? Dirk’s initial response to everything going awry is to assume “it’s all about him”, so to speak. To assume that because he was entirely in control of the situation at hand, everything that went wrong was his fault. And this, having in his eyes failed everyone he cares about and loves and even himself, is what literally breaks him. 

DSM-5 Criteria that relates: Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance

uwah so kawaii