#chtype:p5hero

ENFP

Functional Order: Ne - Fi - Te - Si

Disclaimer This article will cover our process in typing the Hero of Persona 5. Royal will be taken into consideration as well, so please be warned of the spoilers for both games before progressing further.

Premise This typing is a very atypical one. The Hero of Persona 5 falls into the ‘silent protagonist’ category, so he’s not a proper character per se. For this exact reason, we proceeded a bit differently with him: given how his personality is left to the player to a certain extent, we came to our conclusion by process of elimination instead of by confirming evidences. Therefore this article is structured following a dichotomous approach, instead of our usual perceiving/ judging functional axis one. This is obviously our own take on the Hero, nonetheless we firmly believe that the starting point with his typing should be in any case ExxP. 

Why E instead of I?

Aside from him being silent, there aren’t really much other clues that speak about Introversion. He’s quiet and reserved, and we see that his answers are always short and straight, but that’s all. Of course this is partially influenced by gameplay mechanics, but despite him being a quiet type, he makes friends and acquaintances incredibly fast. The game is based on wandering through Tokyo all day and night, talking to people, striking deals, gaining intel and leading massive group infiltrations. Between these many things going on at the same time, his assertiveness and his leading position, his attention is directed much more toward the outer world than to his inner one. An Introvert would surely be able to do all those things, but not without taking time for himself in the middle, be it for self-reflection or simply to recharge their ‘social batteries’. Obviously and Introvert could as well be a leader or be in a leading position (you can take a look at our Griffith analysis), but we find that there are more clues that point to Extroversion than Introversion for the Hero.

Why N instead of S?

From how other characters describe him, the Hero appears to be not only smart, but very perceptive and quick witted. This isn’t to say that a S can’t be smart (look at Makoto), but a high Si user would do things much more ‘by the book’ (which the Hero doesn’t) while a high Se user would maybe be more impulsive, restless and grounded in everyday life. It is true that the number of activity you have to manage is huge and that the Hero must be a very flexible person, yet being a sensor means that one is focused on the sensorial, the direct experience and the practical over the intangible. We instead believe that him always spacing out during lessons and conversations, as well as him being a reflective planner more than a pure doer, are all things that lead to N more than S. Every time the Phantom Thieves need to find evidences about a new target, the Hero has an approach based on the evaluation of the possible clues and possibilities. He takes nothing for granted and finds underlying patterns in apparently unrelated events. We know that this is mostly for a gameplay purpose, but it is still how the Hero manages to solve problems. Royal does, in our opinion, a more in-depth job of showing his reflectiveness, especially in matters regarding the third semester, but overall we think it can be seen throughout the entire game that he can react fast if needed, but he tends to ponder and reflect more than he tends to impulsively act.

Why F instead of T?

‘Scheming’ is certainly a way to describe the Hero, but he also is a caring person who tends to take problems by heart and fight moved by emotions more than logical thinking. Even if the Hero establishes a give-and-take bond with the various confidants during the game, his actions aren’t exclusively opportunistic. Sure, by helping confidants the Hero gains useful perks and skills for his second life as a phantom thief, but he also genuinely assists people affected by difficult problems and in need for help. What he does isn’t charity, but at the same time he hasn’t a pure opportunistic view of people and he values what he does for them. As an ENFP, this means that he his well aware of how many benefits he can obtain from confidants through his tert Te, but he’ll only pursue them in a win-win context in which he deeply cares about their problems and their emotional well-being, because that’s aligned with his personal moral code (auxiliary Fi). Why have we excluded Fe? Because Fe, even in a lower position, makes one interested in the emotional environment and its balancing. It is true that the Hero can be a social chameleon and he does a really good job of making himself liked by others, but from what we learn from the game and the way others describe him, it’s more of a natural consequence of his actions than a goal he has. It must also be said that being loved by people and doing that on purpose isn’t a trait exclusive to Fe - think about Akechi (ENTJ).  In our opinion, aux Fi suits better Hero’s independency,  his reserve, his free spirit and his moral compass.

Why P instead of J?

J means searching for structure and closure, and the Hero is far away from that. He’s responsible for the Thieves planning and he’s the one who paces progress, but this doesn't necessary mean he’s a J. Actually, he’s a very open and versatile person, who can change and adapt based on what the situation requires. We see him moving from his supposedly little hometown to the metropolis of Tokyo, literally thrown out of his life from day to night - yet he’s capable of organising back his routine from scratch and get used to his new life in Leblanc’s attic as a Shujin student and phantom thief. Thieves’ heists and plans are always affected by a certain degree of uncertainty (the biggest bet being their plan to thwart Akechi’s murderous plot) but this doesn’t seem to affect their leader, who keeps a calm and cool composure, and can always turn the twist of events for the better.

Conclusion You can find the Hero also typed as: ENTP, ESFP, ESTP. We can see the reasoning behind them, even though we prefer ENTP as the alternative to ENFP. Even if we see ENFP as the more suitable one, we’d also like to discuss it with others who may have a different opinion. In the end, as we stated, the Hero hasn’t a solid and unambiguous personality, so we believe that ExxP (with a preference for ENxP) is what can get everyone to agree on - the E and P being his most definite traits. 

PS: the real reasons why we think he’s an ENFP, courtesy of mbtinotes (1) and funkymbti (2) here on Tumblr :P