#badger snake

For details on sortinghatschats analytical personality system, see @sortinghatchats and @wisteria-lodge

Doctor Slump is about two brilliant doctors who used to be biggest rivals in high school. They meet again years later when they both hit rock bottom for different reasons and help patch each other up, falling in love on the way.

For it being a show with a very realistic depiction of depression, trauma, PTSD, insomnia, betrayal and forgiveness, it's incredibly heartwarming with lots of funny and fluffy moments.

Hannul Nam is such a fun Lion Bird. I have rarely seen on being a main character like this. Even funnier, she fits the Bird stereotype of being studious and smart because that'd her Lion goal—to study. Hannul enjoys studying, collecting, preparing and she loves it in such a feeling way, she adjusts her whole life around it. It's her ultimate goal without any higher noble or deeper motivation. She enjoys studying, being prepared, being the best with the grades, and aims for a professor of medicine career because that will allow it again—she will be studying and reading articles with all the prestige that comes with it.

Hmm. Loyalist primary for sure. Holden spends The Catcher in the Rye in free-fall, and the only touchstones that ground him are people: his crush Jane, his little sister Phoebe, his little brother Allie. When he's heavily in crisis, Holden starts actually praying to Allie, asking for protection. (In terms of *structure* this is mostly a book about Holden processing Allie's death.)

So I thought Snake primary at first. That's a short list of people. But on a read-though... I was struck by how much Holden thinks about groups. He's extremely class conscious. He angsts about the wealth divide. He doesn't know what to do about it (that's one of his problems) but dwells on it constantly. Situations where he might have to potentially out himself as a member of a different group than the person he's talking to stress him out. A really clean example is when he's all worried that the nuns might ask him if he's Catholic, out of the blue.

Holden is also super concerned with etiquette. He will judge people for doing things like ordering a Tom Collins in December, or not having a handkerchief with them. He is very aware of and will comment on the correct thing to wear in any situation. "The father had on one of those pearl-grey hats that poor guys wear when they're trying to look sharp" is a very nuanced fashion critique. This focus on the way things should be done also feels very Badger primary to me.

I think Holden has this cultural reputation of being a lone wolf, a rebel-without-a-cause, on-the-road type. But he's been retroactively colored by the characters he inspired. He's running around in the late forties, not mid-fifties like James Dean and Jack Kerouac. Holden Caulfield is a contemporary of like, Steve Rogers. And this kid is the absolute opposite of a lone wolf - always striking up conversations, always trying to make friends, offering to buy a drink for practically every person he meets. Cab drivers. Piano players. Tourists. Random people he doesn't like but thinks might be in town. His older brother's ex-girlfriends.

So anyway. Holden is a Badger primary who doesn't have a community, and is desperately trying to either find one, or make one. His fantasy is running away to either work on a ranch, or work in a gas station. He's been shipped away to four boarding schools in three years (away from his family and his support systems) and it's kind of been the worst thing for him.

*

Holden's secondary is hard, because he spends the book in crisis mostly trying to avoid things and distract himself. And he very much needs to eat a sandwich, drink a glass of water, and have a nap. Can't live on cigarettes and daiquiris, Holden baby.

So his secondary is definitely burnt, and he also definitely has PTSD. But underneath that... Holden has a really weird relationship with honesty. He reacts very, very badly to anyone who he perceives to be acting (including like, actual actors in movies.) Holden Caulfield hates it when people are "phony." It's his catchphrase.

But. Holden lies a lot. He tells multiple people that he's going to have a semi-serious operation the next day. He fakes a leg injury to get past a doorman. He deliberately lowers his voice to seem older. He gives fake names (Jim Steele lol) He pretends that he knows people to keep a conversation going. And he's super aware of this -"I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on the way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and someone asks where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible."

There's also this bit early early on where he's saying goodbye to a teacher, and I bring it up because it's the closest thing to baseline Holden I think we ever see. And... he's doing some Snake secondary arms-length shifting. He's deliberately using a mask to charm somebody, but also not really feeling it, and not at all bothered by that. This is easy for him.

Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. (...) I told him how I would've done exactly the same thing if I'd been in his place, and how most people didn't appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull. The funny thing is, though, I was sort of thinking of something else while I shot the bull. (...) I'm lucky, though. I mean I could shoot the old bull to old Spencer and think about those ducks at the same time.

Since my recent announcement identifying as a Badger Snake (don't @ me if I change my primary at some point lol still going back over that one,) I've looked up some characters that have been identified as Badger Snakes, and found two things:

1) There weren't very many in fiction and

2) most go through the same personal journey I had described in my previous post.

By that, I mean, a very similar feeling of self-loathing or feeling as though you have some dirty secret to hide, AKA the Red-Stained Ledger Natasha Romanoff refers to. The two main ones that have been agreed upon I'll be focusing on are Woody from Toy Story and the aforementioned Black Widow, but I'll also be bringing two new characters into the fray, one that's been sorted as such based on the portrayal, and one that I've discovered on my own. They are Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman and Dewey Finn from School of Rock.

It's interesting to find the similar plotlines that certain sortings are given consistently in media, and The Power Behind the Throne AKA Badger Snake seems to pretty much only have the one: They fight for the group that they are loyal to, but they can't seem to help but do so in a way that they aren't proud of, one that they're sure would lead said group to shun them.

I'm sure someone could point out a character I'm not referencing here that doesn't have that plot, but at the very least, this plot dominates the sorting.

Woody in the first movie goes through exactly that issue. He only wants to fight for Andy's toys, and in many ways, all toys he comes across. He makes choices that he believes will benefit everyone, and prides himself on being able to make the "tough choices." But, he ends up having to do so in a "duplicitous" way, when he seeks to manipulate Buzz Lightyear out of his group. This is a horrible, dirty secret to him, and he feels almost as if he could never return to them, never show his face again because of how he chooses to fight. In the end, he reaffirms that his actions come from a good place, a place of love for his group, and finds ways to use his crafty talents that are slightly more constructive and a little less "cloak and dagger."

Natasha Romanoff has given me the namesake for this Badger Snake element: the Red-Stained Ledger. She describes her desire to fight for her country, for her family, but struggles with what she knows she's good at. She believes she's inherently a bad person and is determined to remain a loner due to her "badness," due to the "monster" she is. Good people don't lie or manipulate. Good people... uh... I dunno, bake cakes or something? Work humble jobs? But, her contribution to the world, her ability to be clever and tricky, means that holding her group, her country, her family, the Avengers themselves, only in her heart and not in her hands. But, her true colors are shown in her never-ending dedication to the cause, down to her being willing to give her life so that no one else has to do it. In a way, it's sad, because she died believing she in some way deserved it. But, none of her teammates felt that way about her. She may have been crafty, a master manipulator, and a skillful liar, but she was the farthest thing from bad.

Now, onto the two newer additions. I've seen Selina Kyle sorted as Double Snake, and I would agree that there are many interpretations that could fit the bill. But, if you ask me, the truest interpretation of her is as The Power Behind the Throne, the Robin Hood with no loud cause to shout from the rooftops; only a desire to help the people of Gotham. She uses her skills as a thief to act as a sort of "guardian angel" to the poorest in Gotham, but she has no grand statement to make. She sees people hurting, her group, the underdogs of Gotham, and came to their aid. But she does so quietly, secretly, because she believes in her heart that the way she has done so is not worthy of praise. She's a con and a thief, but, she places people above all else. She, in some interpretations, is one of the main people to open Bruce's eyes to the fact that not all criminals are necessarily bad people. Some of them are just in terrible situations they can't get out of. And yet, she won't afford that benefit of the doubt to herself, believing she is simply a broken toy not worth fixing. Her occasionally lackadaisical attitude towards killing may seem to make Badger primary unlikely, but Badgers are not always loyal to ALL humans. Her group is the poor and downtrodden, and those who act against them are less than human in her eyes.

Now, we come to my personal favorite, my own personal discovery: Dewey Finn from one of my favorite movies, School of Rock.

Dewey is a fabulous example of a Badger Snake, in my personal opinion. His chosen group is Rock with a Capital R and "the band," whichever band that may currently be. He may have some sort of Burnt Snake primary performance/model going on, wanting to play the part of a "rock star" that truly only cares about himself, but his true loyalty is very clear. He is worried about doing his chosen group justice in every way, making sure that Rock is being well-represented and that he's serving his current band the very best he has to offer. Being kicked out of his band at the very beginning is earth-shattering to him, not because he has a Snake primary style devotion to only them, but because they told him he let them down, and implying that he wasn't representing Rock the way he should. His Snake primary performance/model melts away as he bonds to his new band, the kids he teaches. He brings them into his chosen group of Rock and creates a new bonded group with them in particular as they form a band. He actually finds himself liberated by taking a backseat to the children (a very Badger primary thing to enjoy,) allowing Zack to play his song, guiding Freddie away from making bad choices, helping Tamika find her voice, encouraging fellow Snake secondary Summer how to use her shrewdness, and, using a method I believe is best utilized by Badger Snakes, helping Principal Mullins find her chill. Lol.

Badger Snakes, more than any other Snake secondary type, will rely on the "we aren't so different you and I" approach to get what they want. He finds out Mullins also enjoys Rock. This is something they have in common! Let's create a situation where we "naturally" find out we have this thing in common, placing us both in the same group. Although other primaries don't glorify groups as much as Badger primaries do, all people are more likely to listen to or help out someone they feel is like them in some way. So, Dewey puts some Stevie Nicks on the jukebox and gets Mullins on his side.

In a similar fashion to the characters listed above, Dewey believes he is truly a loser and has nothing of any actual value or goodness to provide. But, the children help him see he's wrong, and he finds a way to utilize his talents in a way that truly fulfills him.

In conclusion, although seemingly unrepresented, I think there actually may be quite a few more Badger Snakes hiding in media, and, perhaps, they can be outed by looking for the Red-Stained Ledger plotline. Badger primaries are more likely, in my opinion, to be disturbed by their actions than say a Lion primary, due to where their loyalties truly lie. Although Lions may fight for the right thing, and that right thing may involve people's rights or serving a group, they serve that right thing before any of the people they may steamroll over to achieve it. Badgers, by definition, serve things. And, usually, lying, cheating, or otherwise being crafty is viewed as the worst possible way to serve someone or something. They do care about the things they may hurt or damage through their actions, and how they use their talents does, in fact, matter to them immensely.

So, to my Badger Snakes out there struggling with their own so-called "Red-Stained Ledgers", just remember that Dewey Finn would think you're kick-ass.

EDIT: Sorry, was thinking about it, and had to put an edit. Another way to think of this plotline/character archetype is mentioned in School of Rock as well as in a musical I know very well. I wouldn't use this moniker as the name for this plotline, only because it describes a very specific Snake secondary, one that is playful and light-hearted, and not all Snake secondaries are like this.

Zack's song refers to Dewey as The Magic Man, a person that swoops in and, almost by magic (in actuality, manipulation) brings out the best in the people around them. In the aforementioned musical, this character is called The Music Man.

Harold Hill may very well be another Badger Snake, although one more heavily disguised than Dewey Finn. I won't go too deep into his characterization here, but know he's a conman who claims to be a band instructor, while he has no musical talent himself, planning on taking the money for the uniforms and instruments and running. Instead, almost without realizing it, he encourages and manipulates the people of the town he enters into becoming better versions of what they are now. And, the most tragic part of his character is revealed once another character, one of the children he's conned, points out that there isn't a band, and never has been one. Harold tells him "I always think there's a band, kid."

It's interesting that, in both of these cases, they are associated with music and an almost mystical ability to bring out the best in others. I might do a more in-depth look at Harold Hill at some point, since I've been planning on doing some musical characters for a bit.

Thank you for the ask anon! I wanted to do this so bad. Of course a disclaimer that any bashing I do of your particular sorting isn't meant in any malicious way. It's not my fault your sortings are unsexy alkgvljrsf. No but seriously this is all meant in good fun and more at characters than real people. I guess we're going in ascending order once more.

5. Badger Snakes - Badger Snakes aren't UNSEXY per se, however whenever I look at the word it makes me think of an ugly green like chartreuse or vomit. Actually I can tell you exactly what it reminds me of it reminds me of the Yellow Wallpaper. Badger Snake when it is written out makes me think of an ugly old fashioned wallpaper that's an ugly vomity chartreuse color. It doesn't fit the sorting at all being the power behind the throne (which always makes me imagine a throne room sans the ugly wallpaper) but that's what it reminds me of and for that it is UNSEXY! I'm sorry Lucifer I think you're very sexy but your sorting just doesn't sound nice.

4. Lion Badgers - Lion Badgers also face the same problem as Badger Snakes as they also don’t give me a nice image when I think of them. They make me think of a clashing red and yellow and remind me of ketchup and mustard, not a pretty image. But also Lion Badgers have different variants of unsexy. Some of them can be just so deeply boring or they can be so insecure it kills any sexy vibe they might have going on. Or they’re Castiel and they just...do not convey any sex appeal despite REALLY trying. (and clearly I’m the minority since a lot of people DO find Cas sexy-I just can’t for some reason. It’s probably Misha’s face) However irl Lion Badgers have rights.

3. Bird Lions - The only sorting that has no Badger lmao. Bird Lions once again are not necessarily unsexy (physically) but oh my GOD they can be so fucking annoying and whiny. Like my guy I’m not looking for a Hamlet I want an Oberon. Bird Lions are like “I have a strict code and I have to follow it forever with full force” like they didn’t grow out of that immature stage of their sorting and then be shocked and sad when they find out one part of their system was wrong or not perfect and break into a million pieces. Baby girl let’s get you some therapy and maybe you can be a sexy Joe from the Old Guard type.

2. Badger Lions - It was between this one and Double Badgers for a little bit, but ultimately Badger Lions was slightly sexier than Double Badgers because I quite like plenty of Badger Lions and find them massively sexy. You may say “Oh but I’m the protagonist sorting” yes and you deserve to be taken down a peg you unsexy sorting you. Badger Lions do consist of the two most annoying and unsexy sortings. I love Badger primaries but you explode way too much and way to easily, and Lion secondaries are just fucking annoying. Truth be told Burnt Badger primary Badger Lions are the hot ones.

1. Double Badgers - EW SO UNSEXY!! Bleh! Sorry, but you are very unsexy. Stop exploding and maybe I’ll consider your sexiness. I looked at the list of characters that are Double Badgers, and I didn’t know most of them, but the ones I did know aren’t exactly dripping in sex appeal. Get your shit together, I want peace and peacemakers to be sexy, but y’all keep being so boring and sweet or fucking EXPLODING, btw you are the worst sortings to explode because I HATE exploded Badger secondaries and primaries. Get sexy!!

Congrats for figuring out your sorting, nonnie! But I am sorry you are burned. I am actually the one who came up with the idea that Aang might be a burned Badger Snake, and sorry to say, he's gonna be on this list. Hope you don't mind.

1. Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars) - Her primary is also burned, but she behaves in a very different way than Aang. I think you might like her, actually.

2. Aang (ATLA) - Yeah, he's gonna be here. Because, frankly, I like him. Especially compared to other Badger Snake protagonists (Elena Gilbert, Daphne Bridgerton), he's a breath of fresh air.

3. Madison Simons (This is Us) - I think Madison might be double burned? Anyway, I feel so protective of this woman. I loved the storyline she got in season 5 and how it explored her.

4. Howl Pendragon (Howl's Moving Castle) - I think I saw book!Howl sorted as a Badger Snake who thinks should be a Double Lion ...and yeah, it fits. Howl is a delightful character and I really reccomend the book.

Have to do the sorting for the show I'm obsessed with for the past week - the legal drama Suits. Check out @sortinghatchats and @wisteria-lodge for explanation of the system in detail.

Suits is an amazing character dynamics study, fuled by relationships and personal conflicts, with the legal world drama cases as interesting and intelligent backround, testing the characters, pushing their limits and their loyalties to the brink while keeping a light-hearted banter tone.

Let's start with the most prominent influence character the legal world is apparently turning around, the famous lawyer legend Harvey Specter. Harvey represents the best of the double snake sorting - he is charming, confident, self-serving, enjoying luxury and wealth his job gets him. He is obsessed with winning, with walking away from every situation as the top dog and getting the deserved credit for it. And he is sneaky. You don't meet a better schemer than Harvey, who will get you on a space between lines, who will convince you he will lie even though he would not. Who can switch from being the serious trustworthy lawyer for the business meeting and the funny playful tease at work, to the predatory confident blood smelling shark at court. Changes faces like his suits and enjoys it. He is in it for the game of it all, and he is the greatest at it.

I love this movie. And I was ready to sit down and give it a clean bill of health - Frank Abagnale Jr is a Double Snake, easy, next. After all he is a con artist (the Double Snake archetype) and Neal Caffrey of White Collar, who is fanon Frank Abagnale Jr, is most definitely a Double Snake.

But I’m watching this movie, and I'm seeing a movie about secondaries. It’s a movie about method. BUT it likes its Built secondaries way more than Improvisational ones. In Catch Me If You Can, it’s not enough to be clever and brilliant and quick on your feet. The film is constantly asking - where is the foundation, where is the process, where is the prep work? If the foundations aren’t solid, the whole thing is going to inevitably come toppling down.

This is the anxiety of a Built secondary desperately modeling an Improvisational secondary, which is ultimately what I think is going on with Frank Abagnale Jr. The true Snake secondary is his father, Frank Abagnale Sr. He’s the shape changer, who can use his environment on the fly, who improvises stories and seems to love doing it. Frank Jr at his sneakiest is just modeling (or even performing) his father. At one point, Frank Sr does little move with a necklace in order to get a lady to do him a favor, and I get the impression that he just happened to have a necklace on him and thought this would work. But Frank Jr repeats exactly this move, preparing his necklaces in advance and using exactly the same wording each time. I see prepwork there, and I see Actor Bird.

Frank Jr has the Actor Bird love of costumes. He watches doctor and lawyer movies in order to prep those roles beforehand. He has a moment where he models himself after specifically James Bond, down to the exact suit and exact car. He likes multi-step plans, he likes decoys, he likes doing his research. He can definitely act like a snake secondary, and can even think like a snake secondary... but it’s stressful for him. He does it when he’s in a bad emotional place. And he’s doing it because he’s a young Snake Primary, trying to please his father through imitation.

When you really break it down, this is a movie about transitioning from an unreliable father to a better one. Because Carl Hanratty - the FBI agent who eventually catches Frank Abagnale and becomes his father figure in the process - now he is a Built secondary.

I actually did consider Lion secondary for Agent Hanratty, because he is defined by his inability to lie. He won’t do it. He has a very in-your-face, abrasive manner, and he is that way with everybody. BUT he doesn’t solve problems like a Lion secondary. He catches Frank because he does his homework, he works constantly and steadily, and he puts together a cohesive picture out of the tiny crumbs of information left behind. One of my favorite details is how Hanratty can tell if Frank has been somewhere recently, because he knows Frank has a nervous habit of picking the labels off of bottles. This isn’t even presented in a Sherlock-Holmes-Bird-secondary way. Hanratty isn’t making brilliant deductions, he’s just very diligent, and dedicated, and follows up on every single conceivable lead until one of them pans out. And that is SO Badger. Hanratty cares so deeply about his consistency of method that it gets an almost spiritual importance, so much so that he just kind of looks Lion. He also had a pretty loud Lion primary, and I think that helps. He is the only FBI agent in the film who takes his job deadly seriously.

Honestly, I think that’s why I love this movie so much. I housematch Hanratty, and just generally vibe with him. His badger secondary is both interesting and flattering, and framed extremely positively and comfortingly by the film. Hanratty’s inability to lie is what allows Frank Jr to adopt him as his new Person. Because in the end, Frank's not working for the FBI, he’s working for Carl Hanratty.

Catch Me If You Can keeps coming back to a story about two mice. ‘Two mice fall into a bucket of cream, one of the mice thinks it’s hopeless and quickly drowns, the other keeps swimming so long that he churns the cream into butter and is able to climb out.’ And that... is a story celebrating constant consistent effort without a reward in mind. It's a Badger story. Frank Sr tries to make it work as a Snake secondary story (if you commit to the lie hard enough and long enough you can make it real) but ultimately, his lies catch up with him. Frank Sr will also describe his methods by saying that “the Yankees always win because the other team is blinded by the pinstripes” (ie, distracted by the flash.) But both Frank Jr and Carl Hanratty question this, saying that the reason the Yankees always win is because they have Mickey Mantle. They win because they have the best player, so they’re built on a solid foundation.

The film ends with the revelation that Frank didn't cheat on the Louisiana Bar exam. He studied, and he passed. And that moment is treated as his redemption, because here is substance to Frank that the viewer can tell will make him a good fit at the FBI.

(Incidentally, although I’m not factoring this into my sorting, the real Frank Abagnale Jr comes off as really, really birdy. Definitely more a forger than a con artist, his book gets really technical about different types of paper, different inks, the relative difficulties of forging different identification documents, the intricacies of different countries’ extradition policies, all that fun stuff. He also definitely reads as a fairly unsympathetic Glory Hound Lion who matures over the course of the story. He works on anti-identity theft measures now, and more power to him.)

tl;dr

Frank Abagnale Jr - Snake primary / Bird secondary, Snake secondary model/performance that he borrows from his father. It’s effective, but using it stresses him out.

Frank Agagnale Sr - Badger primary I think, considering how enamored he is with joining clubs and maintaining his status in the community / Snake secondary

Special Agent Carl Hanratty - Lion primary / Badger secondary