CNPD King Dice
Recently I learned that apparently there are categories for Narcissists. Such as Unprincipled narcissist, Amorous narcissist, Elitist narcissist, and the one I think fits King Dice from the cuphead show a compensatory narcissist. Now for those who don’t know what compensatory narcissist personality disorder (a.k.a CNPD) is it’s a mental disorder characterized by narcissistic qualities that cover underlying emotions of inadequacy. The symptoms for cnpd are the following:
Now as seen throughout the series it’s clear that he (at least seemingly) has a high opinion of himself. Then I remembered how dd said king dice was deeply insecure and noticed how a lot of his behavior kind of aligns with this type of narcissism.
Like for the most obvious one seeks fame and prominence in order to compensate for a lack of self-worth. As seen when he lost his job, his fame, and fortune he became a wreck of a man as seen in down and out when he was living on the streets. DD even said that they thought of giving him a new job as a car salesman, but that idea was scrapped because it was out of character for him not to be depressed. He even said himself without his show, or audience he’s nothing. He also returned to having a feeling of superiority when he got back into the spotlight calling the audience in cuphead’s club “the little people”.
The next symptom that’s fairly obvious is driven by a desire for glory and status. It’s pretty clear that one of King Dice’s main goals in life is to be famous or to be the devil’s number 1. He clearly desires to be the best and have a high status in life.
I also think that experiencing sadness and self-disgust as a result of his or her extravagant expectations not being met is also a symptom he shows. In down and out he was extremely depressed after he lost everything. He said he was all washed up. He also didn’t have any faith in himself to regain his stardom. Saying he couldn’t do it on his own since his falling out with the devil.
Enjoys illusions of greatness, striving for perfection, genius, or popularity at all times. That one is pretty self-explanatory and also fits King Dice to a t.
Uses pseudo-arrogance and pseudo-grandiosity to mask feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency. This one I think could be more implied when dd said that King Dice was deeply insecure. But I still feel like this one fits when looking at canon. When King Dice said that without his show or audience, he’s basically admitting he needs them to feel some form of superiority. This is also kind of shown when after performing at the club King Dice calls the audience (little people) regaining a sense of arrogance.
Now those are really all of the symptoms I could find in canon the rest are more headcanons I have for him. But I digress, I am also aware I did something similar to this but that was before I was aware there was an actual type of narcissism like this and what it implies for king dice. This narcissism implies KD needs the approval of others and he masks it with an inflated sense of superiority that’s very easy to take away from him as he has no sense of self-worth or adequacy that all comes from how other perceive him.
