The Myers-Briggs® Types of the Star Wars Characters

When Susan reached out and asked me to write a guest post about the Myers-Briggs® Types of Star Wars characters, I immediately pulled up my soundtrack playlist and started writing. After all, I’ve been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember and I have a whole blog devoted to typing Star Wars characters (it’s a work in progress, but here’s the link).

There are a lot of Star Wars characters, so to keep this post a manageable length I’m reluctantly leaving off any that are not main characters in more than one of the nine Skywalker Saga films. If you don’t see one of your favorites on this list, I apologize. There are just too many great Star Wars characters to fit them all in one blog post!

Want to find out which Star Wars character has your Myers-Briggs® personality type! #MBTI #Personality #INFJ #INTJ #ISFJ

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Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader – ENTJ

One of Anakin’s personality traits is that he likes to find effective solutions to problems (“Life seems so much simpler when you’re fixing things”). He’s a brilliant, innovative general during the Clone Wars (which is a great series, by the way), and he backs up his Extroverted Thinking with an intuitive process that isn’t worried about sticking to Jedi Order tradition.

Like many Thinking types, Anakin has strong emotions but isn’t quite sure what to do with them. They’re a weak point for him that Palpatine twists and exploits. Unfortunately, he never learns how to handle his darker emotions in a healthy way. As Vader, he bypasses the questioning Intuitive process and ends up in a “loop” with his dominant Extroverted Thinking and tertiary Extroverted Sensing. He doesn’t want to go inside and question himself or the choices he’s made.

Ben Solo/Kylo Ren – ENFJ

There aren’t many NF villains, but I think Kylo Ren is one. Most of the time we see him on screen he’s a very unhealthy version of this type. Driven by an ENFJ‘s need to connect and desire to create an idealized (for him) future, the damaged and misguided Kylo Ren wrecks havoc on those around him.

Immature, angry FJ types easily tear others apart because understanding how people work means you know exactly what to use against them. Kylo plays on Rey’s emotions when interrogating her and on Han’s when when he asks his father for help and then kills him. Ultimately, though, his desire and capacity for connection help bring him back to the Light.

C-3PO – ISFJ

C-3PO is a bit of a caricature of the ISFJ personality, especially their tendency to get caught up in worse-case “what if?” scenarios. According to Naomi Quenk, ISTJs and ISFJs are the types who most often report their inferior function showing up constantly in daily life, and this stress response can lead to some developing a reputation as “worry-warts.” C-3PO also displays some of the best qualities of an ISFJ, though. He’s endlessly loyal and thrives in settings where he gets the chance to relate to human beings.

Finn – ISFJ

Like so many real-life ISFJs, Finn finds himself in a complicated relationship with authority. He wants to do what he is right, stick with what he knows, and follow the rules of his society. But in his case, that society is the First Order and they’re in conflict with his desire to keep other people safe.

In the book Before The Awakening, Captain Phasma talks about indications that FN-2187 displays a “dangerous level of empathy.” It’s this side of Finn (his auxiliary Extroverted Feeling function) that prompts him to leave the First Order, help Poe escape, and risk his own safety to help rescue Rey. As his story continues, he continues to display the traits of a loyal, brave, smart, and reliable ISFJ doing his best to protect as many people as he can.

Han Solo – ISTP

Susan wrote a post a few years ago about Why ISTPs Make the Best Action Heroes, and Han Solo is one of the best examples To quote her article, “These cool, collected types have the sharpest tactical abilities of any of the 16 types. They’re called ‘the crafters’ but really they excel at anything that involves quick-thinking, and hands-on tactical intelligence.” Sounds exactly like our favorite scruffy nerf-herder, doesn’t it? Most of the time Han doesn’t even have to make a plan because he’s so good at making things up as he goes and adapting to the situation at hand.

Leia Organa – ESTJ

Princess-General Leia Organa is a brilliant leader whether it’s in the halls of diplomacy or on the battlefield. She’s a take-charge sort of person who is fiercely loyal to family and values, and expects the same level of commitment from others who choose to fight alongside her. Leia is a practical person who puts aside her own needs for the good of others and sticks to her principles no matter what. She leads with Extroverted Thinking, much like her father Anakin, but supports this function with Introverted Sensing. Her focus isn’t on innovating the future so much as it is on shaping the present in a practical way.

Luke Skywalker – INFP

The last time I wrote about Luke Skywalker it turned an article that’s nearly 2,500 words long. I’ll try to keep it to a more reasonable length for this post. INFP types lead with Introverted Feeling, which makes decisions based on what feels right and authentic to the individual. Even when his choices don’t make sense to the people around him, and often in the face of strong opposition, Luke holds fast to his inner convictions. This stands him in good stead when he’s tempted by the Dark Side.

His auxiliary Extroverted Intuition helps explain how Luke learns to use the Force so quickly, since strongly intuitive types are comfortable taking leaps that aren’t well-supported by their past experiences. Ne is also a mental process that likes to look to the future and ask questions no one else will, such as “What if there’s still good in Darth Vader?”

Obi-Wan Kenobi – ISFJ

Obi-Wan is often typed as an INFJ, but much as I’d like to claim one of my favorite characters for my own type I don’t think that’s the case. He is an introvert — comfortable working and living on his own, unlikely to seek out groups of people, and introspective. He’s also an FJ type, and his Extroverted Feeling makes him a charming diplomat and a good teacher. He’s not a Intuitive, though. He’s a Sensing type who prefers to focus on the problem at hand, stick with traditional ways of doing things, and relies heavily on the past to determine his future course of action.

Padmé Amidala – ENFJ

Diplomacy is one of the greatest strengths of an NF type personality, and we see that clearly in ENFJ Padmé Amidala Naberrie. One of the defining aspects of her character is her constant insistence on trying to find peaceful, mutually beneficial resolutions to conflicts. It’s part of her harmony-seeking Extroverted Feeling, as is being a little too quick to forgive the faults of the people she loves.

Like so many real-life ENFJs, Padmé excels in leadership roles and is very popular with the people she works with both as queen and senator. She has an intuitive sense of things that are going on behind the scenes and is the first person to spot that Count Dooku is one of the people behind the plots to start the Clone Wars.

Poe Dameron – ESTP

ESTP types make wonderful action heroes, and Poe is just one example of this in Star Wars (Lando Calrissian is also an ESTP). Poe thrives in the fast-paced outer world of piloting starfighters, leading battles, and bantering with enemy commanders. He’s decisive, stubborn, and great at improvising. I once read a description of ESTPs that said they tend to act first, then fix their mistakes as they go. This often works well for Poe, but not in The Last Jedi. When his plans backfire, he learns the value of stopping to think and plan and starts growing his auxiliary Introverted Thinking process.

R2-D2 – ENTP

This little guy could probably rule the galaxy himself if he wanted, but I suspect he’d get bored. It’s hard to type a character when we never hear his dialog directly, but it seems that R2’s primary focus is on the external world of patterns, ideas, and possibilities (Extroverted Intuition).

That’s not really much of a surprise since an astromech who couldn’t notice and troubleshoot a problem quickly wouldn’t be much use. R2 is a fiercely independent thinker who isn’t shy about sharing his unpredictable thoughts on everything, whether or not his listeners can understand. He’s also highly intelligent and adapts quickly – hallmarks of the ENTP type.

Rey – ISTJ

Rey exemplifies the practical, dutiful ISTJ type with their stubborn insistence on doing what they believe is right in the most efficient, logical way. She has a practical way of looking at the world and (like other Introverted Sensing types) filters new information through the lens of past experiences.

Once swept up into the galaxy-wide conflict between Light and Dark, one of Rey’s most important concerns is to figure out where she belongs in all this so she can fulfill that role to the best of her ability. She also likes to measure and test things for herself (as any TJ type would) as she solves problems like fixing the Millennium Falcon. She balances out her auxiliary Extroverted Thinking with her tertiary Introverted Feeling, which prompts her to act in alignment with her values.

Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious– INTJ

Emperor Palpatine is a great example of the classic INTJ villain. He has a long-term plan to take over the entire galaxy, and eventually beyond. As we learned in the latest movie, he even had a plan to keep controlling things after he died. Long-term, big-picture plans are a key aspect of Introverted Intuition, and it doesn’t get much more big-picture thinking than that. In addition, though real-life INTJs don’t have Force-powers, their pattern-recognizing intuition can make it seem as if they “foresee” future outcomes much the same way Palpatine does.

Yoda – INFJ

I just had to include Yoda on this list. He’s the only Star Wars character that I type as an INFJ (which is my personality type as well). These types lead with a function called Introverted Intuition, which has a unique talent for picking up on patterns and putting yourself in other people’s perspectives. It can also make us seem a bit eccentric. Yoda’s tendency to make cryptic plans and speak in riddles can frustrate the more straight-forward, practical types around him. But they also know that he’s usually right and have come to respect this strange little space wizard and his perspective on the universes.

What are your thoughts?

Do you type any of these characters differently than I did? Were there other characters you wish were on this list? Share your favorites (and which type you think they might be) in the comments!

About the Author:

Marissa Baker #MBTI Blogger

Marissa Baker is the author of The INFJ Handbook (available in the Amazon Kindle Store). You can find her online at LikeAnAnchor.com where she blogs about personal growth and development from a Christian perspective.

Find out which Star Wars character has your Myers-Briggs® personality type! #MBTI #Personality #INFJ #INFP

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