#hufflepuff primary

I did not write this, this is an original from @sortinghatchats. I found it on the wayback machine like two years ago and have had it saved in my notes. So this is my contribution to y'all's recovery efforts! Not sure whether to give credit to Inky or Kaden, let me know :)

OK, so I sometimes give speeches on long road trips about the Slytherinness of Percy Jackson. THAT KID. His fatal flaw is canonically that, forced to choose between the world and his friends, he would choose his friends. Slytherin Primary, all the way. Kid’s almost running around waving a banner with his hair dyed silver and green. 

He’s also a Slytherin Secondary. Yeah, I know, the kid’s loud and coarse and a bit of a bro (he is. I love him, but he is). But Percy thinks rapidly on his feet, adapts to dangers by snapping up whatever weapon (physical, godly, mental, emotional) is nearest at hand, and is shamelessly, easily comfortable with using others for his own gain. 

When the chips are down, the only thing he cares about are his inner circle: Annabeth, his mom, and sometimes Grover and Tyson. He’s content to use and sometimes destroy useful bystanders like Nico and “Bob,” to keep his people safe. He may like Nico and Bob, even empathize if someone like Annabeth isn’t in immediate danger, but at the end of the day he would (and does) trade their happinesses and safety for their utility. 

But Percy doesn’t look like a traditional Slytherin/Slytherin. The boy is not smooth. The kid is not slipping around corners and cleverly avoid ruffling feathers while he steals his victories out from other peoples’ pockets. Percy lives almost always in his neutral state— this is something we talk about more deeply in our Slytherin Secondary post. But the neutral state is when a Slytherin isn’t using the code-switching and ease that is inherent to this secondary. Most Slytherin Secondaries only do this at home, when they are safe, relaxed, and in the company of only their most trusted people. It is literally dropping your guard. And Percy leaves his emotional guard hanging pretty much all the time; he’s bluntly and rather uncouthly on his sleeve. But the moment physical danger sets in, he goes full torpedoes ahead with a guile that is rough-edged but certainly present. 

I’ll sort the rest of the Seven, Nico, and Reyna under the cut, hopefully with a little less verbiage. Slight spoilers forBlood of Olympus, but I did try to be a vague as possible. 

Annabeth, my brash, bright, idealist darling, whose greatest desire is to rebuild a broken world anew, and whose fatal flaw is hubris and pride, is a Ravenclaw Primary. She is right, certain, and willing to sacrifice herself for the things she values. Clever, studious, prepared, she’s also a Ravenclaw Secondary. 

Piper literally has the Slytherin Secondary as a superpower. Now, her charmspeak wouldn’t actually have any effect on her actual Secondary (your skills don’t matter as much as the methods you want, or respect in tactics). But Piper uses her charmspeak like her lungs by the end of the series, and even in flashbacks we find her conning people into giving her cars.

She House shares with Percy, actually: Slytherin/Slytherin, though she has a Hufflepuff Performance where Percy just… doesn’t… bother. Piper’s Slytherin Primary is most apparent in her dedication to her friends, and her decision over the course of The Lost Hero to sacrifice even them to save her father (a decision I’m not sure she’d make by the end of the series, when she’d bonded further to them). 

Jason is a Hufflepuff Primary raised in a world of Gryffindors—so, yeah, the kid looks really Gryffindor. But he learns to shuffle off the righteousness and rigidity of Roman life, and to embrace his own quieter service, empathy, and thoughtfulness for not only his crew, friends, and two camps, but also each of the forgotten gods. He’s at his most comfortable with a community to call his own that doesn’t demand his Heroism, and cause to dedicate his life to that involves serving and supporting people, not fighting for or leading them. 

His Secondary is Gryffindor—he earnestly and honestly charges his problems (his straight forward attempts to reassure Nico during the Cupid thing; the honesty and integrity Piper appreciates in him). Because his internal drive and motivations aren’t Gryffindor, he doesn’t look that obvious— his goals are often things like keeping the peace aboard ship, making sure everyone else has the things they need, and getting knocked out during fights. 

Leo reads a bit like a Slytherin, but i think he’s just a burned Puff Primary. Clearly a loyalist House, he’s guarded and sarcastic, bitter and a bit jaded, and doesn’t throw himself out with sacrifice and service the way Puffs like Jason might. He builds little communities, and big dragons. But while he likes Piper and Jason, or Hazel, his bonds aren’t anywhere near the intensity of true Slytherin Primaries like Piper or Percy. This suggests what he actually is is a burned Puff, a Hufflepuff Primary who’s been hurt enough that they keep their warmth close. When Leo does make decisions around people, it tends to be need-based rather than value-based— he’ll give up some of the people he loves because someone else who he loves, someone lonely and left *cough*, needs him more. 

Ravenclaw Secondary for the kid, of course. Leo Valdez, my tiny engineer friend, you tinker on. 

Hazel’s got a lot of layered-on traumas, losses, guilts, and misplacements that make her a little hard to sort*— her curse, her first death and her almost bringing Gaea’s apocalypse about early, her rebirth in a century not her own. But as she becomes more comfortable and confident throughout the second series, she begins to fall into a validating system of action, justice, and bravery. Her morality seems to be felt, and she is most at home with her weapon in hand, on Arion’s back, charging a clear foe with a clear conscience—she read, to me, like a Gryffindor who has stubbornly pulled herself out of a “stripped” state, with the help of some big hearts like Frank and Jason. 

(*Note: traumas do not make you less of your own House, or even less obvious of a House, exactly. What I mean here is that it’s harder to Sort someone burned as much as Hazel has been from the outside. Hazel’s got so much jammed inside of her, and even her POV is secretive enough in the first book, that she’s not obvious until she relaxes and confides in the reader a little more). 

Frank, dear Frank, with his willingness to burn himself out (literally) on Alaska’s icy plain, is a warm and solid Gryffindor Primary. That wasn’t about who needed him or who he loved; it was about right and wrong, and he was going to do right or die trying. A kind and worried rule follower, he seems to have Hufflepuff Secondary he feels like he should suppress. The Roman Legion is very much a Gryffindor-present-or-go-home kind of space— both Frank and Jason put on Gryffindor Models to fit in and feel at home. But where Jason is secretly a warm ball of Hufflepuff Primary, Frank actually is a Gryffindor Primary. The problem is, he doesn’t think his Gryffindor, his honestly strong and staunch sense of right and noble sacrifice, is good enough. So he models a more “brave” Gryffindor on top. Frank’s ascension to praetor, as Jason gives it up, was a beautiful step in both their journeys. 

Reyna’s Hufflepuff Secondary manifests itself in her dedication to doing things right, her (if stiff) kindness, her strength-sharing powers, and the care and emotion that earn her Pegasus’s honor. It’s her Gryffindor Primary, however, that earns her Athena’s respect—her refusal to stand down and her dedication. 

Nico di Angelo is a stunning Hufflepuff Primary. He loses his time, his world, his sister, any sense of safety at the camps of in his “friends,” any sense of home but perhaps a squat beside the River Styx— and when the world needs him, Nico doesn’t even think twice before running himself ragged trying to shut the doors of Death and defy Gaea. He’s not even part of the prophecy. He’s not liked, respected, or even wanted by almost anyone. But he shows up. He does what he can. He disappears without any expectation of respect, gratitude, or care. Thank goodness for people like Hazel, Frank, Jason, and Will. 

Nico’s not even quite a burned Puff. He doesn’t build himself a community (except for arguably Hazel), but he still takes it on himself to save and serve the world. 

It’s his secondary, more than his primary I think, that takes the brunt of his losses. He might have been a very young Ravenclaw secondary (cards! stats!) in his first appearance, and no matter how “dark” demigod he might be, the boy’s no Slytherin Secondary, but what his secondary actually is is rather unclear. He’s been beaten, stripped, and disillusioned. No tools feel comfortable in his hands. He’ll do whatever he has to do get the job done, and he doesn’t like any of it. The blossoming way he responds to Reyna and Hedge’s companionship, mutual respect, and affection however suggests he might be growing into a Hufflepuff Secondary once he finds a place or hearts safe enough to lay down roots. 

(I hope so. Kid needs a break). 

tl;dr

Percy and Piper are both Slytherin/Slytherins– deeply, sometimes destructively loyal, and masters of thinking quick and sideways on their feet. 

Annabeth is the sole Ravenclaw Primary. She shares a Ravenclaw Secondary with Leo, who’s a burned Puff. 

Frank, Reyna and Hazel are all Gryffindor Primaries, with Jason the odd Hufflepuff out. Frank and Reyna have Puff secondaries they try to cover up with Gryffindor models (hello Rome), while Hazel and Jason both have Gryffindor’s charging Secondary. They’re both most at ease facing their problems head on and with honest integrity. 

Badger Primary // Hufflepuff Primary

“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.” - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Yeah, that's a Birdpri thing, especially the fear of living in an echo chamber.

Badgers can get a little edgy disagreeing with their community--not because they think they should leave, but because they might wonder if their community is right.

Snakes tend to pick people who are similar to them in terms of moral code. There are plenty of exceptions, of course, but generally Snakes avoid giving their loyalty to people who might turn out to go way against them on issues they care about. That's a potential clash of priorities and they usually screen those out early.

Lions are probably the most likely to drop people for holding beliefs that oppose their Causes. It's a very individual thing, though.

Birds sometimes feel more stable having people around who disagree with them, honestly. It depends heavily on the Bird whether they keep those people particularly close, but a Bird needs at least some access to different perspectives and opinions or they'll start to feel itchy. Restless.

The other day, I realized I’m a Hufflepuff Primary.

Back when I was trying to decide between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, I reasoned that my faith is my everything and I default to it automatically when making decisions. It’s always been that way.

However... you find out your primary by what you identify with and can understand in other people and recently, something happened that made me realize -- I throw beliefs under the bus instantly when it comes to humanitarian concerns. I started a few months ago when a fellow Hufflepuff said she read and enjoyed the book Silence, which is about a (Ravenclaw) priest feeling angstful about denying his Catholic faith in public to save villagers from being tortured. The Hufflepuff priest he has gone to find had no such internal war or crisis of faith when he did the same thing, because “it’s about people,” not words. When I heard about the premise of the story, I was like, “Well duh. Of course you’d lip-service deny your faith to save people. That’s what Jesus would do. God knows your heart. He’d know if you denied Him for a good / moral / just cause. :P” The thought caused me no angst whatsoever, the same as when a wise-ass once asked me if lying is a sin, and you lie to protect a Jew from the Nazis, is that a sin? Would that cause an internal debate? They were shocked when I said, “Nah, in that instance not lying would be the sin.” Cuz this is not about “dry” impersonal theology, this is about an actual living HUMAN BEING.

But it struck me that... this is the Puff attitude. People are people. To not treat them right would be wrong. Unfair. Bad. You put people ahead of impersonal things, always. Even religion. Or you expand your beliefs to include them. So what I thought was me drafting a system that includes people is really just... being a people-person. An automatic “you treat everyone fair” Puff.

It made me laugh, because I argued fiercely against being a Puff on previous occasions and one of you readers had said in the beginning that I seemed really “warm and like a loyalist House.” Well, you were right. Not about which House, but I’m a people-House for sure. ;)

I don’t even think I have a Ravenclaw Model. I’m just... Puff to the bone. And that explains why I clash with my Slytherin father (why should “family” come first? Leave that roll of toilet paper on the shelf in case someone else needs it!) and Ravenclaw brother (it doesn’t matter what that scripture verse says, if it devalues a human being!). And why now thinking about it, I have so many Puff friends. And even all of my novels are extremely Puff in tone (even though I arguably write the most Slytherins, haha)!

Some of my initial rejection was -- I didn’t want to be a Puff. That House that Rowling never talks about or elaborates on that isn’t as cool as the other ones. Well, I must thank Sorting Hat Chats for writing good things about Puffs, because I am one. And I’m now willing to admit it.

I had to be ready to accept myself rather than wanting a different answer, which ties in to MBTI and Enneagram as well. Often, our egos can get in the way of us learning the truth. There’s a lot of “ego” that wants us to be something we are not -- a type we are not, because it seems more glamorous than our own, or a fix that we are not, because it is less cringe in our mind than the other one. But the longer you learn about yourself and these things, the more acceptance comes to you. You reach a point of just wanting the truth, and finding yourself at “home” in it, rather than wanting what sounds cool. This sort of... relaxed self-acceptance and reflective moment where everything came into focus has happened to me each time I landed on the right answer. When I knew I was a 6, a lot of my life and my decisions made sense. When I figured out I was an ENFP, a lot of my life and my decisions came clear. When I realized I had a 9 fix, tons of things about me made sense. And when I accepted 2 instead of reaching for 3 or 4, everything clicked. Now, being a Hufflepuff is so obvious to me, I don’t know how I couldn’t see it until now. But... you see the right answer when you are ready to accept it. Just like when the pupil is ready, the master will appear.

So, hi! I'm back!

I've been doing fun stuff off in the real world, but I decided to talk a little bit about my own Sorting Hat Chats sorting journey, and how it says a lot about self-acceptance, and how understanding who you really are can sometimes only come from being an active participant in life. Here we goooo...

The Beginning

So, my initial sorting was a Burnt Badger/Bird. This had struck me, because I'd never considered myself a Badger in ANY media. I was seen by my friends as a borderline loner, someone who didn't need anyone else. And yet, all the signs were there.

Looking back on my life, I've always migrated in groups, always looked for a nesting ground, and truly that's all I want. A place to nest, a place to rest, where I can feel safe and surrounded by people who love me. But, after a childhood filled with bullying, I found myself embarrassed of my bold face need for friends, and, for some reason, decided getting too close to people for too long was unwise, so I could probably never have a permanent home. And yet, I always found myself in these little "groups," little packs of people that all travel together.

I've always had these friend groups, where everyone knows each other, we all hang out together, and yet it always manages to eventually fall apart. I asked one of my friends how this keeps happening, and who keeps setting up these groups. She blinked sort of vaguely and said, "uh, you do." It was such a strange realization to look back and see myself as the "shepherd" I was, always creating a flock wherever I went. I had always been the spoke of my friend wheels, the only one that was friends with everyone, or actively tried to be friends with everyone. And I would attempt to hold it together, but it would always ultimately shatter, and I'd leave to find and form another. Family is important to me, and it isn't enough for me to bond with one person. I like for all my friends to be friends with each other, for us all to hang out together and enjoy each other's company.

So, although I still struggle, Burnt Badger came out on top, and I believe is still at the top to this day. I still search for belonging. I still search for family. And, yet, my heart seems to have no intention of unburning. Until recently, I had no idea why.

On the other hand, the secondary I received, Bird, seemed to fit like a glove, and was very obvious to me. I've been called the Encyclopedia before, I was made fun of for being caught reading the dictionary like it was a book, and I always seem to have a "fun fact" for every occasion. And all of this seemed to flow directly into me trying to use these facts and this knowledge to win people over, to get to see me as someone that could be their friend, or that I could be reliable as a member of their "group." So, Burnt Badger/Bird simply made sense. The reasons for me avoiding unburning my primary were irrelevant.

The Now

I'd been gone from this side of Tumblr for a bit, and decided to return on a whim. Saw @wisteria-lodge still posting as much as ever, and saw a lot of my posts had been passed around in the meantime (thank ya by the way) and decided to dive back in, because since then, so much of my life has changed. I've had certain people out of my life for a while that were a hindrance on my self-acceptance, I've moved out of my childhood home, and left a job I've had for the past 5 years. I've been forced to constantly LIVE, to make choices, actual choices, and have been offered the chance to be who I truly am, unapologetically.

So, I took the quiz again, curious if I would come up any different.

I got Burnt Badger/Burnt Snake.

This time, I was almost insulted. A flush of memories, of past feelings came to me, most of all the need to push back, to insist in exasperation I'M NOT A LIAR, as though I was tired of defending myself. As hard as I tried, I somehow couldn't seem to get Bird secondary to reappear.... at all. Which was so crazy, because before, that was pretty much all I could get.

So, I went to the experts, the aforementioned wisteria-lodge and @sortinghatchats .

I looked through the Snake secondary tags and found myself lost in memories I had pushed down, so far down even I couldn't find them, wracked with shame and a need to hide this side of myself, something I'd hidden so well I'd pretty much convinced myself it had never existed.

Being a Bird had always been a choice for me. I decided that was what people must want, becoming intelligent, knowing all of these things, showing off, that would make people like me. But, although I can devour books like nobody's business, and I tend to worry and whinge before every major decision, feeling unprepared, I would always find myself falling short of my own expectations. The amount of times I'd promised myself and others to create a plan and study hard, ultimately fail to do so, and then lie to everyone about it was astounding. My public image continued to be "air-in-words the smart girl" but my private image was still LIAR and FAKE.

I would still somehow get all A's. I was very good at remembering facts and excellent at taking tests. I always thought of them like little tricks themselves, meant to trip you up, but if you paid attention, you could figure out the patterns and be able to bluster your way through stuff you might not even fully understand. You can figure out certain words through context clues, and I was always very comfortable trusting my memory with little preparation beforehand. And yet, I still lied and told everyone I'd studied, at least as a child, before high school.

Math was what eventually messed me up, and sent my self-image whirling into the ground. My grades suddenly went from straight A's to D's and F's. My parents were aghast, what had happened??? I was so intelligent, so smart, such a good student. What had gone wrong?? And, although I never admitted it outloud to them, I knew the answer. With math, you can't trick your way out. You either know how to do it and give the right answer, or you don't. And I had never studied a day in my life, never practiced, never worked hard at all. It was my horrible little secret and math had outed me. It continues to out me, because rather than actually work at it and get better, I managed to keep my grades through high school afloat by leaning on my other grades and taking remedial math courses with a teacher who loved me very much and would let me off easy. To this day, honestly, I can barely count. I might actually have some form of dyscalculia, but I know that if I were willing to try a little harder I could get better. But, why would I do that, when this way works just fine? Just coasting through? But, again, no one could know. Not even myself.

Through high school, I began letting people in on my secret Snake, because being a "slacker" was suddenly cool. I still couldn't let my parents know, or the teachers, but coming clean about not being a keener was what earned me new friend groups. I wasn't some weirdo who actually studied all the time: I was a kid who maybe did 60-70% of my homework and slid by on my good memory and general interest in learning. And my reputation. My reputation was key to my success.

College would be the thing that completely threw me to the ground. There were simply too many sirens singing at me, distractions pulling me away from my work. I'd never looked less like a Bird than in college. I was always skipping class, always not studying, and in fact, would openly fail most of my courses. And I just didn't seem to care. I slid into what I guess must have been a sort of neutral zone, but I wasn't happy. The mask was slipping off and I needed out. I couldn't keep up this charade anymore. It was stifling, trying to be a Bird, going to college for a very Bird degree, surrounded by actual Birds, it was all very much what I didn't want. I wanted something less "academic," less, well, boring. Maybe more Snake like.

And, so, here we are. Currently dropped out of college, living in an apartment with my friend, away from my parents' prying eyes, and with a new job that I chose for myself. On the brink of finally understanding myself, and maybe accepting myself as I am.

My Badger primary is burned because of my Snake secondary. Because I thought I was a sham, a liar, a con, and I didn't feel like I deserved to have people close to me. Those traits are bad, and I was a bad person. No one should be tricked by me.

But, after reading some of the stories from the experts and other Snake secondaries, I found this crazy thought, that perhaps being this way isn't a bad thing. Maybe I'm not a bad person. Maybe it's okay to be who I am. Maybe I can use these "powers" for good, and they aren't inherently evil.

So, at least for now, I'm choosing to identify as Burnt Badger/Burnt Snake with Bird Model. Seeing how it feels to accept myself and not try and force myself to be who I think I should be, or who others want me to be (which is a Snake secondary thing in the first place. Lol!)

For Fun, Here's Some Crazy Actual Snake Secondary Things I've Done That I'm Trying to Be Less Ashamed of Now

When I was little, I used to make up crazy stories about things I'd done to seem more interesting. The one that makes me cringe the most is that my uncle has a statue in his backyard that comes to life and goes on adventures with me. My uncle DID have a statue in his backyard that I really loved but no, it didn't (and still hasn't) come to life.

Some of these, I can't explain, like this one, where I somehow had more than one teacher convinced I'd handed in every piece of homework before the one I was giving them the sob story about that day. I literally had a teacher look me in the face, tell me I'd been handing in my homework really well thus far and knew I was trustworthy, so they'd let me slide with no mark against me. Meanwhile, I had missed the homework for the past THREE WEEKS IN A ROW. I just smiled and let it go. Variations of this situation happened throughout high school and college. And, no, I had no good reason not to do the homework. I just didn't want to do it. Lol.

I usually live in the "neutral state" around my close friends, since I think it's disrespectful not to be straight with them, but I have had to turn it on to help them occasionally. One of my friends was having issues with an ex of hers, she was thinking that maybe she should go back out with the guh, and I had been my blunt, neutral self the whole time, telling her flat out that that was a bad idea. But, it wasn't working. "Neutral state" isn't like a Lion's forceful natural state, I guess. So, I decided I would have to push her in a certain direction to help her get through it. I told her she should go back out with him, and although she did sort of call me out for lying, knowing I didn't actually want that, I told her she should if she really think she should. The dude didn't last one date without showing his ass again, and she thanked me for making her do that. Lol.

So @sortinghatchats is brilliant. Absolutely my favorite character (and person!) analysis system. Instead of one house, you get two - a PRIMARY (your motivation, why you do things), and a SECONDARY (your toolbox, how you get things done.) Here is a very stripped down refresher, and here is my explanation for why I am saying Lion, Bird, Badger and Snake instead of the names of the Hogwarts houses. 

IDEALIST PRIMARY Lion - I do what I feel is right. (MORAL) Bird - I do what I decide is correct. (LOGICAL) LOYALIST PRIMARY Badger - I do what helps my community (PEOPLE MATTER) Snake - I do what helps me/my inner circle (MY PEOPLE MATTER)

IMPROVISATIONAL SECONDARY Lion - Charge! React! Smash the system! Snake - Transform, adapt, find the loophole. BUILT SECONDARY Bird - Plan, make tools, gather information. Badger - Community-build, caretake, call in favors.

Now let’s talk Pirates of the Caribbean! I’m mostly focusing on the first film because it’s the best and my favorite, but I do mention 2 and 3.

***

Jack Sparrow is the classic Snake secondary. He’ll improvise an escape, improvise a weapon, wait for “the opportune moment.” He’s never fought fair in his life and doesn’t feel the tiniest bit bad about it. He’s silver-tongued. When he’s in a tight spot, he’ll tell you exactly what he thinks you want to hear. And if he knows you don’t trust him, he’ll reverse-psychology you on purpose.

It’s hard to see past his theatrical, charming, over-the-top way of doing things, and that’s on purpose. The last time Jack told someone what he actually wanted, he got himself marooned. No wonder he “plays things close to the vest now,” living in his secondary, and making people guess his motives. 

At first he appears totally pragmatic, always on the side of the person who can give him the most stuff. But I don’t buy it. Jack Sparrow has a weird code of honor. Maybe not one he’s comfortable with (“you can never predict when an honest man is going to do something incredibly… stupid.”) But it’s there. The way he’s introduced - alone, respectfully saluting hanged pirates – that’s letting us know it’s not just his own freedom he values.

I like that little moment after he rescues Elizabeth when he makes it clear that she doesn’t owe him anything. “I saved your life, you saved mine, we’re square” implies that there’s a right way to do things, and that the wrong way is making people feel obligated. Jack has similar moments with Gibbs. Every time he says “keep to the Code,” he’s reaffirming that no one has to save him. When his crew abandons him, Jack shrugs and says, “They’ve done what’s right by them. Can’t ask for more than that.” 

This means that Jack Sparrow has a Lion primary. But he’s a pirate, so his felt morality is less right vs. wrong and more free vs. trapped. Apart from that he’s actually kind of a classic Lion - perfectly happy on his own, so long as he doesn’t have to compromise his morals. In a deleted scene we learn that he turned pirate because he refused to be a slave ship captain, and that’s in character. He only wants the Black Pearl because the Black Pearl is freedom. That’s the message he teaches, as an unconventional mentor. He cuts Elizabeth out of her literal corset, and prods Will out of his figurative one.

(and a magic compass that points to whatever Jack wants most is a gorgeous metaphor for a Lion primary, guided by their feelings and intuition. Their internal compass).

Elizabeth Swann has a pirate’s soul. She ends the story as Pirate King. But when we meet her, she is a high-class lady deeply suspicious of the rules. She’s not on board with the latest fashions, eager to ditch her table manners, and she’s real friendly with Will - even though it makes her father bluster, “The setting is not entirely proper!” Miss Elizabeth Swann is stifled by her situation (her corset is too tight.) She’s got a whole life planned out for her, and it’s a nice life. Port Royal is a nice city and Norrington is a nice guy. But still. The thought that this is where things are going makes her uncomfortable. 

Elizabeth wants to be able to act based on her gut responses. And as long as the pirates are also doing this, she’s on board. But she ditches the Pirate Code the moment it contradicts her own internal felt morality.

ELIZABETH: All of you with me. Will is in that cave and we must save him! (…) GIBBS: There’s the Code to consider. ELIZABETH: The Code. You’re pirates. Hang the Code, and hang the rules. They’re more like guidelines anyway.

She’s been using the pirate way of life as a way to justify and explain the way she’s always felt. And when you put things in that order (I like this system because it supports what I already know to be true) that’s a Lion primary. Also, the advice her dad gives her is just so perfect for a Lion: “Even a good decision if made for the wrong reasons can be a wrong decision.” You’re doing the smart thing Elizabeth, not the thing you feel is right. It’ll make you miserable. Stop it.

When it comes to secondaries, Elizabeth definitely has some Bird skills. She collects data (about pirates), and can put a plan into action. But it’s a model. When she’s in trouble, when things are serious, she goes improvisational Snake secondary all the way. Elizabeth lies to Barbossa, tells Norrington what he wants to hear, pretends to be drunk to put Jack off his guard. She improvises weapons, and she plays into “proper lady” stereotypes so people underestimate her. Gibbs actually recognizes this, and calls Elizabeth “daft like Jack.”

Elizabeth and Jack do house-match, which is why they always seem to get each other. Elizabeth can pin Jack down and make him give her a straight answer. She’s the only one who can consistently trick him. And when she kills him – well, he forgives. Easily. It’s never even a thing. If he had been in Elizabeth’s place he would have done exactly the same thing, and he knows it. And he knows she knows it.

(it’s kind of neat how at the end of the first movie, the two of them are trapped by Norrington, then freed by Norrington, and go off to form the core of their respective pirate crews.)

Will Turner is a charging Lion secondary who deals with challenging situations by laying all his cards on the table and throwing his sword at something. This makes him a really good foil for the Snake secondary leads, and I will never get tired of watching Jack make faces, and say variations of “how about this time we don’t just run in screaming, yeah?”

JACK: Do us a favor. I know it’s difficult for you, but please, stay here. And try not to do anything… stupid.”

WILL: Let her go! BARBOSSA: You’ve only got one shot, and we can’t die. JACK: Don’t do anything stupid… WILL: You can’t. I can! JACK: … like that.

JACK: So what’s your plan then? WILL: I row over there, search the ship until I find your bloody key. JACK: And if there are crewmen? WILL: I cut down anyone in my path.

To be fair, Will does start off with a Badger secondary model. Badgers care about things being fair, and Will gets annoyed at Jack for cheating, and annoyed at Elizabeth for stealing the medallion. He’s also really leaning into the hard work aspect of the Badger secondary by practicing sword fighting three hours a day. But this doesn’t seem to be a secondary that’s especially good for him. It makes him tense and uptight, and by the end of the first film he’s completely thrown it off.

I really considered a Snake primary for him, based on how single-mindedly he goes after Elizabeth. Movies 2 and 3 just keep throwing Loyalist conflicts at him. (Will can stay with Elizabeth or save his father, but he can’t do both!) But I think he’s actually a Badger primary.

This boy cares about his communities a lot. He doesn’t think he can be with Elizabeth (even though she clearly likes him) because of “propriety.” He believes society when society tells him she’s out of his league. He covers for a boss who spends most of his time passed-out drunk, probably out of a sense of loyalty, or because he feels that’s what he’s supposed to do. He starts off the film completely dehumanizing pirates, but slowly learns his lesson –  a very Badger primary character arc. And then, when Will rescues Jack at the end, it’s not because Jack is his (the way a Snake primary would parse it) but because Jack is a good man who isn’t being treated right.

(also the “part of the ship, part of the crew” refrain that Will’s new crew chants as he takes over for Davy Jones is very… dark Badger magic. You are becoming part of the whole.)

Hector Barbossa is the definition of a Burnt Primary. He can’t want. He can’t allow himself to want. Wanting is off the table. (because he is an undead skeleton.)

However, I do think that when Barbossa is healthy and y’know, not cursed, he’s a Snake primary. His beloved monkey is a little nod to the sorts of Snakey bonds he would like to form, but isn’t able to at the moment. Apart from that, he values self-care, and is a bit of a hedonist. He likes pretty things. He likes putting Elizabeth in pretty dresses. He likes elegantly prepared food, antique furniture, and nice hats. (Things start getting serious in the sword fight after Jack cuts off his feather.) This is why I think his redemption arc is so funny. Once his primary unburns, and he’s able to want things safely, he pretty much becomes a happy-go-lucky good guy overnight. And you know, I completely buy it.

As for secondary, I’m going with Badger. Barbossa community builds (he’s a much better captain than Jack.) He gives morale raising speeches. Leader of a mutiny is pretty classic dark Badger stuff. Marooning Jack, and dropping Bootstrap Bill into the ocean tied to a canon are both very ruthless, very public acts that are all about weaponizing community as a way to dehumanize your enemies and cement your power.

James Norrington starts out very Establishment (like Elizabeth.) But unlike Elizabeth, he seems to enjoy the way he can just see his life all laid out. Work his way up, become Commodore, marry the governor’s daughter. He proposes the second after he gets his promotion, it really is like he’s working from a checklist. It’s a very rigid Bird primary.

And he follows the law: “One good deed is not enough to redeem a lifetime of wickedness.” But more than that, he is comforted by following the law. When Jack tempts him into going after the Black Pearl, Norrington is clearly feeling it – but says there are things he values more than his own gut responses.

JACK: Think about it… the last real pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up? NORRINGTON: By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself.

This is such a great illustration of the difference between a Lion and Bird primary. A Bird’s higher power lives outside of them (and as we see here, that can make them really hard to tempt, bribe, or corrupt). But a Lion’s higher power is inside them, always. At the end of the film, Norrington adapts his system into something that looks a lot more Lion primary (this is a universe that likes Lions, and Norrington likes Lions too). But he’s still very, very Bird.

Governor Swann tells him that “perhaps on the rare occasion that the right course demands an act of piracy, piracy itself might be the right course,” and Norrington takes that in, sees the actions of Elizabeth, and says - okay. Maybe hunt all pirates always isn’t the perfect system I thought it was. Jack Sparrow tends to leave the world better than he found it, so it’s best to let him go. This change doesn’t seem upsetting to him, he doesn’t need to justify or explain it. It’s just obvious. Norrington reacts exactly the same when he learns that Elizabeth is not in love with him. He absorbs this new information, tells her that he understands, and walks away. When Lions change their minds, the process is a heck of a lot more emotional.

Then in the next film, the people around him don’t support his new Truth, and force Norrington to continue doing things he has discovered that he finds morally objectionable. And so he resigns his commission, burns, and goes into freefall, grasping at the systems he sees around him, trying to find something to hold onto. He seems like he might be beginning to build a more stable Truth – but dies before he can manage it. The sequels did Norrington dirty.

I actually want to say he’s a Badger secondary. At his most desperate and lost, his instinct is to join Jack’s crew. At his most powerful, he’s quietly calling in all his favors and getting the entire Royal Navy to look for Elizabeth. These are both versions of the same thing – leveraging community and connections to get things done. 

tl;dr

Jack Sparrow – Lion primary that sees “freedom” as the ultimate good, with a bit of an amoral, pragmatic Snake primary performance so people don’t find that out / Snake secondary

Elizabeth Swann –  Stifled Lion primary living in a situation where she’s not allowed to act on her instincts. Runs after pirates every chance she gets, because the ‘pirate life’ allows her to do just that / Snake secondary, Bird secondary model 

Will Turner – Badger primary / Lion secondary, Badger secondary model that Jack gets him to drop.

Hector Barbossa – Burnt Snake primary that un-burns when the curse that doesn’t allow him to want things is lifted / Badger secondary