NPCs are people who have not completed their individuation process as Jung would put it. They have not connected with their "I" as anthroposophists would say. They're not a lost cause but it's up to them to do the work. An egg cracked from the outside kills the chicken on the inside. If you truly love them, just be there for them. Any forceful action will most likely mess them up. They have their own journey through life and death.
Discussion
The body changes all cells every 7 years. The physical changes yet something persists in man - the soul.
0 to 7 - physical body
7 to 14 - etheric body
14 to 21 - astral body
[This is the reason every significant life event has its place; for example: if you start your sex life very early you won't develop to your full potential, let alone the other shortcomings]
Cycles continue further with the individuation ("I") and the development of the sentient, intellectual and conscious soul.
Humanity has a similar development and each of the living have more or less to play by the rules of the game (current level). Eventually man will reach the spirit-man (for most of the remaining this will happen at Vulcan, future condition of Earth in anthroposophy).
Rushing the process will result in madness. There are absolutely no shortcuts here.
I think they are just people who are controlled completely from their egos (ie without using reason or logic).
Knowing how to think is a learned process, that is why the Trivium and Quadrivium has been removed from schools and now public schools brainwashing starts at a very young age when kids are unable to reject the absurd nonsense pumped into them.
As John Taylor Gatto famously saidy handing your kids over to strangers for 8 hours a day to fill their minds with garbage is insane. 