posted
Aside from mental disorders, I would guess events that lead a person to be callous and insensitive would help. In childhood, this could be parental divorce, frequent relocation, distant parents or foster homes, and abuse.
If they've been in a particularly nasty war situation, that would help too, I imagine. It would deaden the horror of killing and seeing death.
Of course, there is always justification. As Marty says in Grosse Pointe Blank, "If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there." No one is innocent.
posted
I know a lot of people such as military brats who go through a lot of moves and don't turn into killers. And my parents were divorced as well as being distant which didn't make me into a hit woman.
It might depend on whether the hit man is a mercenary or devoted to a particular cause. One who is cause oriented is easier to explain. The Bourne series is a good example of the devoted to a cause hit man, although he turned against the cause.
I have seen studies showing that exposure to violent behavior is an explanation, such as what children experience in war zones. There have been plenty of those in the past few decades.
Keep in mind that many conditions that were once blamed on moves, etc. are now considered to exist at least as a vulnerability from birth. So you might not need any explanation. Someone who is incapable of feeling guilt, for instance, may have always been that way.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited December 23, 2007).]
quote:I know a lot of people such as military brats who go through a lot of moves and don't turn into killers. And my parents were divorced as well as being distant which didn't make me into a hit woman.
I didn't say those made a person into a killer, Jeanne. I specifically said they might help--nothing more. Nothing in my post indicated that it was a certainty.
Those ideas came from my wife, who has a degree in child development. They don't turn a person into a hitman, but they can contribute to low empathic development, which can make a person capable of entering such a field.
posted
I would think that there would be several things that might bring somebody to that particular profession.
Humans are the most dangerous game, so one approach could be a hunter. A kid who had blood roses (the dabs of blood from a fresh kill, worn as a rite of passage) on his cheeks by the time he was ten, and who found that the stalk and the hunt of lesser game had slowly palled.
The other would be some of military training, but who had little to return to after their term of service. Most modern snipers hunt in pairs, with one spotter and one shooter. Earlier snipers (up through Korea, perhaps Vietnam) often hunted alone. If you had a highly trained professional sniper who had little else to return to, or who ended up through a series of misfortunes to believe that taking that kind of work was the only choice, then that would be another motivation.
I suppose another would be some kind of psychopathy, but (at least from what I've seen on TV), most psychopaths are very unorganized, and I would assume that an assassin would actually have to be a consumate business person. I'm guessing it takes a good deal of skills in marketing, sales, and contract completion, as well as understanding highly complex logistic planning.
Perhaps a child soldier from a war-torn country, as others mentioned, but from what little I've read about most child soldiers, they are less trained than just used as shock troops and cannon fodder.
posted
I don't think it would have to be a child soldier, necessarily. It might be one who later got more education and training though. More likely would be someone who say grew up in the midst of the Belfast violence (or the Lebanon violence, the Afghan violence, etc.) and feels that violence is the norm.
I have to agree that psychosis seems a less likely explanation.
posted
A socio-path or as they used to be called a psychopath. A person who is incapable of empathizing with another human being and merely sees them as walking talking objects devoid of the inner-life they know exists within themselves.
Many people are sociopaths, some say as many as 1 in 4 people are 'to varying degrees'. Apparently having a dominating mother (cliche) can lead to it. Being a sociopath doesn't mean you are unable to participate in the world or that you will end up a killer. Intelligent sociopaths will still recognize that they risk imprisonment if they break the law. They may realize that other people have feelings even if they can't empathize. This means the majority will act as though they aren't sociopaths--some my even believe they are not until a situation shows them they are.
If a sociopath is exposed to violence, say in the army. He may find he experiences little problems when it comes to sending a round of high velocity ammunition through an enemies skull--no remorse. This may surprise him. He may also be surprised at how easy it is to evade the enemy and get away with it. After the war he may realize that these skills are transferable. Money is always handy, and hey, hey he did it for the army in a war he thought was being fought for bull**** reasons (not morally outraged--just doesn't like the lies HE is being told). It would seem cleaner and more truthful to kill for money.
I think we can seperate this into two categories: Realistic and Organized.
Realistic contract-killer would be probably be a young man in his early twenties. Drug addict. Convicted felon. High-school dropout. Current or former gang member. Typically the same profile as someone who would rob a gas station by gunpoint.
From the little research I did it appears that the average contract killer asks for somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000. That's not a lot of money to risk jailtime.
Organized contract killer would be the highly-paid employee of a cartel. Someone like this could be a current or former assassin.
Motivations Someone with a secret-service background who has a god complex, or someone who's background allows that person to be unaffectedness by killing a specific group of people (KGB agent in United States [especially in the 80's], ex-Marine in Russia).
I think the best option would be to start with how you want this character to act and then move into the background.
Character 1: The killer. This guy would gun down an old lady, a child, anyone for a price. For a character like this I would start with the same profile of a serial killer mixed in with some military experience.
Character 2: The killer with a conscience. This guy would be someone that does it only for money and only specific targets. A KGB officer working at a Russian mafia in the United States would probably have no problems taking out any of the drug-runners that fail to make payment but he's probably not cold enough to kill an entire family. I would pick someone with military experience, a god complex, depression, and a drug habit.
Other possible backgrounds could be a former IRA member or ETA
[This message has been edited by halogen (edited December 23, 2007).]
posted
Maybe the character obsesses over controlling others. When the hitman heard about the tsunami in Asia and all of the hundreds of thousands dying, he got excited. Not necessarily because of the death, but because of the control God exerted on the people. He has a grim respect for God and his might. By killing people, he feels like he has the power to control people's lives, just like God. Perhaps eventually he would consider himself a God as he continues to kill.
Also, I think the blueprint of how somebody becomes a killer is perfectly set up in stories such as the Count of Monte Cristo and the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber from Fleet Street (lucky for you, a brilliant rendition of my favorite musical just hit the silver screen. Go see it!). Many times a man just becomes so bitter and angry that killing seems to become his only option.
posted
You're missing an entire segment of killing-oriented "society" - gang members. They sometimes have to kill someone to gain entry into the gang. From psychological stuff I've read over the years, some people just enjoy the sense of power over someone else, so they don't worry about who they've killed. Some will be narcissistic (it's a psychological disorder, look it up), some will have a psychological lack of empathy (another disorder, and part of many others). Others are more interested in money than morals, and probably grew up in that kind of environment (drug-related or gang or mob-related).
You asked about a "profession." Security consultant, security specialist, bodyguard all spring to mind as "legitimate" businesses for those who are trained assassins looking for a "cover" job. But think about ways to hide in plain sight. Your killer may have a very mundane job, such as working as an accountant, while he takes weekend trips to do his "other" job. Or perhaps your assassin is a model, or a magazine writer. It can be whatever you want - just make it logical, so he has the free time to do the other jobs (which will be done away from his home base).
posted
I see what you're saying lehollis, I think those things could contribute in some cases. Not all rectangles are squares but that doesn't mean all squares are only sometimes rectangles.
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posted
He/she could've just been raised to hunt people, as part of another society or a warped parentage. Maybe the hitman doesn't have any kind of mental issue, maybe his/her mother and or father were insane and raised him to hunt people--like rats--in the slums.
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