An Appetite for Darkness

Understanding evil, confronting the Jungian shadow, and becoming whole

I’m a fan of psychological thrillers and I’ve always thought, “isn’t is strange that I love making myself feel nervous, scared, or haunted?” Paradoxically, I think the voluntarily confrontation of evil is actually what makes me feel safe.

“She was charming in the way a cub is charming, a small cub that will grow up to be like one of the big cats. One you can’t play with later.” — Dr. Hannibal Lecter

Understanding evil

A while back, I tweeted about why I like the intelligent villain trope. In classical mythology and fairytales, the good is represented by the light and the evil, by darkness. Mufasa has a golden mane and sits proudly in the sun while Scar has a dark mane and dwells in the graveyard with his hyenas (i.e. animals that feed on rot). The reason why the intelligent villain is so unique is because it does not conform to the expected archetype or psychological profile of good vs. evil:

The intelligent villain is disciplined (Hannibal Lecter), educated (Dr. Octopus), and principled …