Norman Bates

presented as a complex, initially gentle and intelligent teenager whose personality is gradually destroyed under the influence of a mental disorder and a toxic relationship with his mother.
Here are some key facts about his character:
Psychological portrait and disorders
Diagnosis: Norman suffers from dissociative identity disorder. In moments of intense stress or threat, his consciousness "shuts down" (blackouts), and his alternate personality, "Mother," takes over.
Hallucinations: He often sees and hears his mother, even when she is not around, and in the final seasons, he communicates with her image after her death, continuing to live in a fictional world.
Triggers: Outbursts of violence are often triggered by sexual attraction to women or the threat of his exclusive relationship with his mother, Norma.
Relationship with mother (Norma Bates)
Codependency: Their relationship is described as unhealthy and suffocating. Norma convinced her son that only she truly loved him and that the outside world was dangerous.
Defense Mechanism: The "Mother" personality within Norman developed as a way to protect him from trauma (he witnessed his father's abuse of Norma as a child) and to allow him to commit murders without feeling guilty, shifting the responsibility onto "her."
Hobbies and talents
Taxidermy: One of Norman's main hobbies is creating taxidermy of animals. This symbolizes his desire to "freeze" life and preserve things unchanged, which would later manifest itself in his attitude toward his mother's body.
Intelligence: He is a good student, loves literature, and has polite, almost old-fashioned manners, which helps him hide his true nature from others for a long time.
Differences from Hitchcock's film
The series (a modern-day prequel) portrays Norman as a more human and sympathetic character, whose descent into madness unfolds before the viewer's eyes over the course of five seasons.