Someone called me a Narcissist and A Machiavellian recently. As a rule, if I have to check the dictionary to know the meaning of something you called me, then I cannot be that thing.

For the purpose of learning these new words, I did a little research, and it turned out that I am very right.

I am neither a narcissist nor a Machiavellian by nature or behaviour. I am full of the goodness of God, and all you see in my life is the evidence of God’s divine goodness at work at every level.

Because I would really like to educate the person who called me those names so that he wouldn’t make the same mistake again, I decided to write something about the topic and how to handle people who are really narcissists and Machiavellian by nature.

People throw around the word “narcissist” to describe an ex who took too many selfies or a friend who talks too much at brunch. But if you have actually survived a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), you know that definition is a joke.

A narcissist is not just self-absorbed. A narcissist is a predator.

If you want to understand their behaviour, stop reading soft psychology blogs and start watching National Geographic. They operate on the exact same primal, ruthless software as a beast in the jungle.

Here are 5 chilling behaviours that prove you are not dealing with a difficult personality, but a psychological predator.

1. It’s About the Blood (The Resource Extraction)

A lion in the savanna does not chase a gazelle because it wants to control the gazelle out of “love.” It hunts the gazelle because it needs its blood to survive.

A narcissist hunts you for your “blood” — which, in human terms, is money, sex, career opportunism, admiration, and validation. Narcissists famously lack the discipline for hard work and delayed gratification, yet their hunger for wealth and status is bottomless.

So, how do they bridge the gap? They steal from you.

Take your narcissistic boss, for example. He didn’t get the corner office through merit and late nights. He got it through flattery, manipulation, and stealing other people’s credit.

Deep in his subconscious, he knows he is a total fraud. To silence his own imposter syndrome, he needs to feel powerful.

This problem is quickly solved by stepping directly on your neck. You are just the protein he consumes to keep his fragile ego alive.

2. The Predatory Sixth Sense (Smelling the Blood)

If you want an accurate animal metaphor for a narcissist, look at the great white shark.

They can smell a single drop of blood from a mile away. Narcissists possess something called “cold empathy.” They do not feel for you, but they can feel out your vulnerabilities.

They scan the room to find the chinks in your armour, your deepest insecurities, and your softest spots. They don’t want to know your fears to comfort you; they want to know where to aim the sniper rifle when they finally decide to pull the trigger.

A narcissist often knows their victim better than the victim herself.

3. The Mimicry (The Camouflage)

In the beginning of the relationship, the narcissist engages in aggressive mimicry.

“You love obscure 70s rock and putting hot sauce on your eggs? Oh my god, me too! We are soulmates!”

No, you did not just find your twin flame. You found a chameleon in a human suit. In the jungle, predators use camouflage to blend into their surroundings and get close to their prey without setting off the alarm.

The narcissist mirrors your hopes, dreams, and values perfectly, just long enough for you to drop your guard and unlock the front door.

4. Zero Empathy (The Guiltless Feast)

Does the lion care about the gazelle’s suffering while it is eating it? No. And the narcissist does not care about yours.

An NPD individual feels zero pain for their victim. They attack, drain you of your resources, ruin your peace of mind, and then go to sleep and log a solid eight hours.

There is no guilt.

There is no remorse.

There is no “What have I done?”

There is only a predator licking its chops and looking for the next meal.

5. They Don’t Attack Other Predators (Selective Accountability)

Have you ever noticed that toxic people instinctively protect other toxic people?

A narcissist who is guilty of severe abuse will never strongly condemn other abusers. You will not see a predator leading the charge for justice.

In the jungle, lions do not typically hunt other lions. Sharks do not hunt other sharks. They hunt the seals. Narcissists maintain a sinister, unspoken brotherhood, protecting their own interests while feasting on the empathetic and the kind.

The Human Clause: Why They Have No Excuse

But here is where the animal metaphor officially ends.

A shark is an animal operating on instinct. A narcissist is an adult human being with a frontal lobe.

Narcissists love to use their past as an excuse: “This is just how I am, my parents messed me up, I can’t help it.”

Let’s dismantle that pathetic excuse right now. When a person is born into crushing, inescapable poverty in a slum, they don’t say, “Well, my parents were poor, and this slum offers zero opportunities, so I guess I’ll just lay here and die.”

No. Even if they go days without finding food, most poor people still struggle to survive rather than lay in bed or resort to looting. Poverty does not automatically absolve a person of their basic human responsibilities.

If a person facing extreme, agonising poverty can still push a cart in blistering heat without resorting to evil, why should a narcissist get to use their “personality” as a permanent, free pass to abuse people?

They don’t. Improving their character is 100% their responsibility.

Becoming the Narcissist’s Nightmare

If the narcissist is the predator, does that mean you are condemned to a life of being the gazelle?

Absolutely not. You are a human being, not a helpless animal. You can learn and adapt.

Humans are superior to animals because of their extraordinary ability to learn and adapt. We once lived in caves, and look how far we’ve come!

Narcissists prey on Naive Empaths — people whom society has taught to be indiscriminately kind, peace-loving, and willing to equate love with sacrifice. These people often know little about manipulation, power dynamics, or abuse.

But you can become something else entirely. You can become the Empath Strategist.

An Empath Strategist is someone who still feels deeply but possesses a cold, clinical understanding of manipulation and power dynamics.

They have been shaped by betrayal, but instead of using their intuition to comfort their abusers, they use it for absolute self-preservation. They firmly believe in their right to self-defence. They don’t care about an abuser’s “noble” intentions; they care only about the consequences of an action.

When a narcissist runs into an Empath Strategist, they hit a brick wall. They suddenly face:

• A mirror they cannot crack.
• A soul they cannot drain.
• A light they cannot dim.
• A person who sees them not through the lens of pity, but through the lens of brutal, absolute clarity.

Control only works in the absence of truth. Once you see the predator clearly, their unravelling begins.