As you get older you run into people who are more skilled manipulators. These people realize that in order to be good at it you need to be able to hide your intentions and seem like you’re doing the opposite. This fakery can get so elaborate that sometimes it can turn into a quasi genuine relationship. The contradiction only comes to the fore at crucial moments when you realize what’s truly going on.
The first thing skilled manipulators realize is the need to mask your true intentions. If you’re ambitious you need to seem like you’re the opposite. This means an insane amount of attention given to charm and appearances. An extremely charming and soft spoken manner can go a long way in concealing ambition / motives.
The next thing one can do is to use moralistic principles to stymie your rivals instead of open opposition. This can mean using arguments about morality, code quality, loyalty. The point is that it should seem like it comes from a concern for the greater good. Which it might be but people won’t notice how this is wielded selectively.
The best tell for such people is usually an obsession with power. They will usually spend a lot more time networking with the powerful than their peers. This is often done discreetly.
Another tell is how they treat their friends and family though it’s hard to find out.
The next thing that is often done is to find people who are emotionally vulnerable because of what’s going on in their life. Some people have a very good nose for this.
Dark and Light are just labels for the extremes of the spectrum.
In general be very careful in your dealings with people who are high up in the world / extremely popular. There’s a reason they’re there and it’s not just their aptitude for the job.