There is a fairly substantial group of highly disturbed characters at the center of most abusive relationships and who pose the greatest threat to social order. These are the pathological fighters who resist all attempts to socialize them.
One reason people get manipulated is because commonly accepted psychological principles about why people do the things they do actually set a person up to be victimized!
Skilled manipulators are expert at making more subtle, implied or veiled threats to intimidate others into seeing or doing things their way. Sometimes it can be no more than a particular “look” or a glance.