No, I don't think they were an accident. I mean, I'm accident prone myself, and yet cults and abuse have never just spontaneously happened around me.

But I think the cults and abuse are secondary to the self-loathing and re-invention. A kinder person, or even just a less self-absorbed one, would have followed the easier path to reinvention; thousands of people do, I'm sure. But a narcissistic, damaged, entitled person will just...lie, lie, lie, and make use of whatever comes to hand, including people.