Hi there :). First of all, I'm so happy I've found your blog! All of your asoiaf meta is amazing and super interesting to read. I was just reading through your personality type tag and I was wondering if there are any asoiaf characters you would type as INFJ?
Thanks so much! And, oh, INFJ, thatâs a tricky one. You can see the basic type description here:
Beneath the quiet exterior, INFJs hold deep convictions about the weightier matters of life. Â Those who are activists â INFJs gravitate toward such a role â are there for the cause, not for personal glory or political power.
INFJs are champions of the oppressed and downtrodden. Â They often are found in the wake of an emergency, rescuing those who are in acute distress. Â INFJs may fantasize about getting revenge on those who victimize the defenseless. Â The concept of âpoetic justiceâ is appealing to the INFJ.
âThereâs something rotten in Denmark.â Â Accurately suspicious about othersâ motives, INFJs are not easily led. Â These are the people that you can rarely fool any of the time. Â Though affable and sympathetic to most, INFJs are selective about their friends. Â Such a friendship is a symbiotic bond that transcends mere words.
INFJs have a knack for fluency in language and facility in communication. Â In addition, nonverbal sensitivity enables the INFJ to know and be known by others intimately.
Writing, counseling, public service and even politics are areas where INFJs frequently find their niche.
And you know, that sounds a lot like Dany. The trouble is that some will look at the type description as its parts â Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judger â and go, âwhat, Danyâs not introverted!â (But see here for actual meanings of MBTI terms.) Or theyâll look at the primary function of the INFJ, Ni, Introverted Intuition, and say thatâs not how Dany primarily interacts with the world. Some will even claim she doesnât have Ni at all, and that her 4 functions include Si, Introverted Sensing â only doing things because theyâve been done before, based on traditions and history â which is generally a sign theyâve never read the books and only go by the show. (Iâm sure the difference between the dreamy insecure Dany of the books and the shouty âwhere are my dragonsâ Khaleesi of the show is why you can see her typed in such varying ways as INFP, ESFJ, ENFJ, ENTJ, and others.)
But anyway, back to Ni. It is very important to Dany, and is instrumental in her most character-defining decisions â such as the intuition-spurred ritual that led to the birth of her dragons. But I think the reason why it doesnât appear obvious to people (besides the fact that Ni is hard for others to see in action) is due to her childhood with Viserys, an unstable abuser who punished her whenever she expressed any thought that didnât align with his interpretation of what a Targaryen princess should be like. Thus she learned early to rely on her Extraverted Feeling, to predict his emotional state and prevent âwaking the dragonâ whenever possible. You can also see how she uses Fe frequently in her adaptation to other cultures, like the Dothraki and Qarth and Meereen. (And again the showâs âmy way or the highwayâ Dany is what causes a lot of misreadings here, like with the arguments with the Thirteen and the lack of the âfloppy earsâ in Meereen etc, so youâll have people actually claiming she canât possibly be Fe because sheâs not empathetic at all. *rolleyes*)
Anyway. Iâm going to stop with the functional analysis for now, because I know it can look extremely incoherent. (I didnât understand it myself for ages.) Instead Iâm just going to provide a ton of links:
Portrait of an INFJ - see also INFJ relationships, INFJ personal growth
Personalityjunkie.com INFJ - also their The Other Side of the INFJ is excellent for Dany
and so many more INFJ links here
As for other characters in the books, I honestly canât think of any offhand. Some have suggested Jon Snow (I say no, heâs much more S than N), some Melisandre (again nope, talk about empathy problems), so youâll just have to take Dany for now. :) I hope that helps!
