[Other] Do crazy people make great characters?

[Shinzai]

As someone who used to play Vampire: The Masquerade, I can tell you that a lot of crazy characters can be utterly terrible, stupidly designed, pointless, inane and irritating. It takes real effort and thought to make a genuinely interesting 'crazy' character. It's far too easy to make a really bad 'crazy' character.

[Logonov]

I've quite enjoyed the reinvented Master from the new series of Doctor Who. The old series defined him very differently from the most recent appearances. He still possesses the calculated and cruel mindset, but now it borders on unhinged, but it all comes together in a semi-sane form.

[Deleted]

Sociopaths have become increasingly popular in TV and Film in recent years.

House, Sherlock Holmes(Sherlock), Sheldon Cooper etc. They are often portrayed as brilliant minds which probably adds to the element.

[Hyve]

I consider the Joker to be a bit overrated to be honest.

Leave, now... NOW!

[D3athsting]

Jigsaw, Kaiser Soze, Hannibal Lecter just to name few...

[Adam Jensen]

I've quite enjoyed the reinvented Master from the new series of Doctor Who. The old series defined him very differently from the most recent appearances. He still possesses the calculated and cruel mindset, but now it borders on unhinged, but it all comes together in a semi-sane form.

Hell, sometimes the Doctor himself is kinda crazy.

I mean seriously . . . custard and fish sticks?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I've quite enjoyed the reinvented Master from the new series of Doctor Who. The old series defined him very differently from the most recent appearances. He still possesses the calculated and cruel mindset, but now it borders on unhinged, but it all comes together in a semi-sane form.

For reference

[Mnevis]

Well, it only makes sense that insane/eccentric/unstable characters are entertaining. They think, act, and speak differently from normal people so they tend to stick out. It's our lack of understanding of how they operate that probably captivates us.

I disagree. As galluk pointed out, if you pay attention to real crazy (like poor Florida Man), you might find it a curious diversion but not really all that interesting. A 'crazy' villain like The Joker obviously acts far differently than the average civilized person, but I'd posit that it's largely that we do in fact understand the motivation of a good villain or other 'crazy' fiction character that interests us, not that we don't. They tap into the id or some archetype or something. Crazy is an entirely different scale than interesting, and being that we're interested in patterns and understanding, incomprehensible crazy is repulsive rather than interesting to us.

OP putting Sheldon Cooper up as an exhibit for the 'interesting 'crazy person'' trope really only underlines that a lot of people have a very flawed conception of insanity. Perhaps some of his neuroses border on maladaptive behavior but he's really quite sane.

[The Small Hours]

Captain Jack Sparrow