People Who Think They Are God's Gift to Women are Usually Joke Gifts

Echo was a wood nymph who, tragically, was in love with Narcissus, who couldn't give a damn about her. Echo wasn't without her faults - apparently she loved to talk, and at one point distracted the goddess Juno so that her adulterous husband could escape from her. To get back a Echo, Juno cursed her to never be able to speak to someone unless they said something to her first. So when she goes to Narcissus she can't properly communicate the depth of her love to him, and he toys with her while he can. At first it seemed like he was interested in her, but then when she went to touch him he cried out, shunning her. Ashamed of what had happened she ran away from him and hid from him, eventually "dying" and becoming one with the stone. (Presumably that's the origin of an echo but maybe I'm drawing too much from that, idk)

Narcissus the terrible jerk continued to garner the attentions of the various nymphs, and he treated them very similarly to how he had treated Echo. Eventually the gods grew tired of his fickleness (wow, pot calling the kettle black there huh gods?) and cursed him with the absolute worst fate - loving someone who could never love you back. But what I don't get her is that since he fell in love with his own reflection - though he seemed to not realize that somehow - he technically loved himself back because, you know, he is himself. So the real point here is that he was too stupid to realize that was his reflecting. Again, I'd assume that it's all part of the gods' curse but who knows. So anyway, Narcissus fell in love with his reflection in a lake, and assuming that the other person had spurned his affections because he'd always leave the moment Narcissus ever started to initiate anything. Narcissus stayed at that pool, staring at himself until he wasted away into nothing. Truly tragic.

Now I gotta say I couldn't quite figure out how to go about the personal connection of "narcissist you abhor and altruist you admire" so I'm just gonna clump the two into one thing. Because I got someone who fits both of those things, even if he isn't a real person (he's real in my heart, shhhh).

No, one - fictional character - person who fits this description is Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. Most everyone could agree he is SUPER narcissistic. Actually, he's probably the poster child for it. He is the best, he thinks it, he knows it, of course everyone else knows it. Not that he doesn't have some reason to be prideful but wow does he really go a bit far. It's pretty horrible, certainly.


(x)

That last part is important though. Even though he totally thinks that he is the shit he also does things for the world - most obviously in that he's Iron Man, but also through his company, which he turned around and attempted to have some altruism to it. He's not really a perfect example of it, but I'd certainly say he tries. But then again, almost dying and realizing that you're the source of a lot of the world's evils can do that to a man, I suppose?

Also I love Tony Stark and if you don't like him we can't be friends (I'm only a little joking here).