This is a copy-paste of one of my posts at TRP I sent in response to someone. Enjoy.

Contrary to a lot of the bullshit misinformed posts in that thread about DTs, yes they may not be down for you in a fight (depends on threat assessment and current mood), yes they will lie to you, yes they are calculating but the same can be said for beta men, fuck even the average man on the street who will also possess these qualities who are not DT at all, rather than fear (the reasoning the average man will sell you out/lie to you) a DT will be disloyal for more respectable purposes, they value their own self-preservation above sacrifice for others, that is not malevolent per se, just selfish, selfishness is something we advocate here on the path to self-improvement, DT's possess this trait INNATELY.

If you've had good and bad experiences with DTs (I've been friend and foe of the sociopath) and a DT is not gaslighting you or exploiting you harmfully in any way, they probably like you, contrary to the bad rep they get and some of the crappy comments in here, DTs want friends too, they want to like people, they just don't like most people, they view them as disposable and with contempt, if a DT keeps you in their life for 10 years or whatever extended period of time, you are not disposable to them, especially if they don't keep you around for financial or sexual reasons, but for psychological ones. Psychological bonds are overvalued by DTs because they rarely form them, mainly because they don't trust or value most people, being DT is a lonely existence which is part of the reason many DTs fill the void with distractions in the form of superficial and essentially disposable, shallow relationships with people. DTs however, like normal people, will form affinities for people they become repeatedly familiar with that do not upset them or violate them in anyway.

You don't understand DTs unless you are one yourself, borderline, or have been friends with one. DTs do not value anyone more than themselves, but they do value loyalty and closeness, just due to their character they have immense difficulty forming trust/loyalty/closeness and meaningful friendships, this doesn't mean they don't want these things, it means they don't know how to get those things without giving up their identity and very few people will trust them enough (unless they are good at covering up the fact they are DT) and likewise, they will trust very few people enough in order to allow that sort of relational intimacy to flourish, and yes, I'm talking strictly platonic here.

A male DT may know a lot of people on a superficial basis and even socialize with them, but that is often as a means of self-improvement, a way to gain social capital, they see it as necessary because they are tactical in nature, but unlike the social climbing neurotypical woman, they don't take pleasure out of all the nuances of socialising, (female DTs tend to vary on whether they like to socialise or not, my experience suggests they can perform adequately, but do not necessarily enjoy it, they feel obligated to do it as a survival mechanism.) DTs part and parcel are not very sociable people, socialising usually a machiavellian chore rather than a pleasure for them (unless they are sadistic types who can mock someone) and although it is something they can succeed at (being seen with high smv people and networking) they don't really enjoy it because they despise most people they come into contact with, as well as harbouring pretty negative views of humanity as a whole.

They hardly EVER let anybody in, if a DT considers you a close friend and keeps you around for a long time, they like you, and shit, sometimes they'll even do good things for you because they know you're going to owe them for it later and they like the sense of control they have over you knowing you owe them, again that is not necessarily malevolent (although it can easily go that way if you fuck them off), but DTs are insecure people when it comes to relationships, they may be excessively confident about many things but trust isn't one of them, knowing someone owes them is like an insurance policy for a DT, they like that sense of security, having the upperhand as to speak "just incase." Funny because, non-DTs are exactly the same in this regard.

As long as you know what you're getting yourself into with a DT it's not that bad, they can be pretty cool people. I'd take a 10 year friendship with a DT guy than with a bluepill mangina anyday, shit I'd take a 10 year friendship with a DT over the average guy, they are intelligent people as long as they are on the functional end of the spectrum, if you don't walk in expecting some intimate friendship where you pour your hearts out to each other and have undying loyalty you can have a lot of fun with them, shit they will even improve your life if improving your life improves their life (eg: pay for you to come out with them because they enjoy your company vs. the average person.) A weakness of the DT is they have less options than non-DTs when it comes to meaningful friendships, if you have a meaningful friendship with one they will ascribe it more value than the average person because it is a rarer occurrence for them. If you are however, a face in the crowd, you are entirely disposable to them, DTs are very "all or nothing" type of people.

A lot of people on TRP have black and white views on the dark triad, which tells me you've never known any actual sociopaths and just go off scripted stereotypes out of movies and shit that you've read, let me say it really simply and this will sound hilarious: not all psychopathic, narcissistic, machiavellian people are the same, they have unique likes and dislikes, various different intelligence levels, very different ratios of M:N:P and some traits are more pronounced, or otherwise more dominant in their psyche than others, someone with 70 psychopathy will care about some things some of the time, whereas someone scoring 100 psychopathy is the equivalent of a man emotionally dead from the high T of steroid abuse.

There's a lot of nuance involved with a DT, DTs aren't all one and the same in personality despite their personality traits, female DTs like normal females are more impulsive prone to neurotic outbursts/betrayal than male DTs (even the functional females), a female DT is like a DT on roids, a female DT with high P has no logic except machiavellian logic (which is supercharged), at least male DTs have the capacity to reason and will listen to that reasoning in some decision making processes, they are not entirely governed by machiavellian logic, although, that does factor heavily, especially if they feel they're going out on a limb. Sometimes DTs will help you and then apply machiavellianism retroactively, but in the moment, "do a good thing because they like you." DTs can be influenced by others too, they just tend to be more psychologically aware and self-aware than the average person. You see, you can't caricature a DT because they are fucking complex.

Basically and quite hilariously you cannot generalise a DT very easily, DTs by nature are unpredictable, sometimes they will do things that seem quite benevolent, we can agree they care less about most things, are generally more negative than positive, are quite manipulative and have a form of superiority complex, but how they govern morality and what their personality is aside these traits like any other human, varies vastly. Most of the DTs I have met have been VERY different people who have fuck all morals for somethings and then are incredibly moralistic (with a self-interested spin) about specific things they feel passionate about, the thing that sticks out most is how good they are at manipulating people, DT doesn't necessarily mean unreservedly evil all of the time, but they do possess a capacity for evil should the situation demand it. Another nuance: some DTs, particularly men, are manipulative in nature, but not very intelligent with their manipulations, this is to say: they want to be manipulative but the sophistication of their manipulation is limited hence why they like the company of advisors/consultants and the like, they take immense pleasure in discussing strategy and honing strategy and sharing these discussions with people they respect enough to have such discussions.

Picture this: a dark triad person who uses their power to help people, there's a mind fuck for you. That is someone who is high mach, high N but borderline P so a 2/3 DT. There's enough nuances to write a book on this shit, but if you want to engage in reductionism so it falls down to "DTs are the boogeymen of humanity" then so be it, DTs aren't all bad, but when they're bad, yes, they're very bad, it can get intense and that intensity of relationship can be very addictive to both men and women alike, hence the attractiveness of the DT. When so many people are unequivocally boring, the intelligence and intensity of a DT can be a breath of (potentially carbon-monoxide filled) air.

As this post may suggest, DTs are full of contradiction, that is part of their charm and equally, their mystery. Rationalising DTs is like rationalising the universe, it's the astrophysics/quantum mechanics of human psychology.

Edit: typos