Ender’s Game Saga, Orson Scott Card
Introverted Intuition (Ni): Ender Wiggin masterfully predicts future dangers and devises and enacts strategies to prevent them from happening. He beats and kills a boy at school in order to prevent all future bullying and eventually does the same with his ‘enemies’ in the bugger-war. Ender has a quick and rapt understanding of how people think and he uses this to his advantage, allowing him to negotiate his way past his superiors whilst in the lower ranks of battle school. Ender processes information from a wide set of logical and ethical angles before making a choice, but once he settles on a decision, he is unwavering in his course. He views the world through a wide lens, and consistently compares individual details and situations to the big picture. He recognizes patterns where others see chaos and is able to isolate problems with current strategies and thereby improve upon them. Ender is rapid in his ability to pick up new skills and understand complicated concepts, enough so that he does not have to pay attention in school back on earth.
Extroverted Thinking (Te): Ender is extremely goal oriented and devotes the entirety of his energy to achieving his desired outcomes. He puts every moment of his time to good use and doesn’t leave much time for laughing and joking like the other children at battle school. He is focused on getting things done, but refuses to move forward with a decision until he is certain of its outcome. Ender is incredibly rational and immediately pin-points errors in both his own and other people’s logic. Although Ender is relatively private and reserved, preferring to work alone, he is willing and able to step into positions of team leadership when he sees an urgent necessity for it. Ender has no difficulties setting aside impulses and emotions in order to accomplish his aims and is relatively unaffected by personal criticism. He is easily able to zero-in on a specific course and follow his plans efficiently to closure. Ender sees and recognizes the need for most rules, but feels no qualms breaking the ones that seem unnecessary in his eyes.
Introverted Feeling (Fi): While Ender experiences deep emotions, he does not allow these emotions to dictate his decisions, but rather allows his logic to set the course. His principles are firm, and stem from deep within him rather than from the external values that he is being taught. He has an intense desire to be true to himself and dislikes the prospect of being ‘used.’ When Ender is younger, he doesn’t consider how his actions will affect others, but as he matures, he grows to empathize with others on an intense level (outwardly, he doesn’t show this empathy). As is common among INTJs who have suffered abuse, Ender becomes increasingly concerned with ethics and does not want to hurt others. Ender wants his life to have meaning and so he applies himself to helping other outsiders become something greater. Though he empathizes with many, Ender is loyal to few (and to those few, his loyalty is undying).
Extroverted Sensing (Se): Ender notices details in his environment that need to be pointed out to other children at battle school. He pays close enough attention to his environment that he is able to adapt to surprises. He uses his environment to his advantage in fights, often utilizing pieces of it that have been overlooked by his enemies (such as a hot shower head). While Ender typically does not shy away from social interaction, he does not seek it out either because he is subconsciously aware that the stimulus would distract him from his intense focus. He is perfectly at peace with solitude and being treated as an outsider.
To inexperienced typers who think Ender is an INFx, please read the following post and stop stereotyping everyone. Thanks.
Book ender is INTJ, movie Ender is easier to mistake as an INFJ.
Ender wiggin is not an intj he is an infj he doesn’t fit in intjs he takes into account the People Too Well and their emotional states intjs are thinkers not feelers INFJs on the other hand are feelers but they also very close to thinkers their top cognitive function is actually the same as the intj which is interesting at their feelers with a thinking cognitive function as their first but research it yourself and find out if he is an infj or an intj because I guarantee you if you look it up you will find he’s in infj I wish these guys would get it right because I’ve seen lots of things telling me he’s intj but I’ve only found one telling me he’s not infj but it’s much more accurate
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[…] young INTJs often become extremely mature for their age, and this can readily be observed in Ender Wiggin, whose introspective and ethical reasoning well surpass that of his […]
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[…] young INTJs often become extremely mature for their age, and this can readily be observed in Ender Wiggin, whose introspective and ethical reasoning well surpass that of his […]
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Ender in the books was definitely INFJ. He understands the emotions and motivations of others with ease (Fe), then analyzes why they feel that way (Ti). Like when he killed Stilson, He knew he needed to defend himself, but it was only later after analyzing his actions did he realize that when he used excessive force he was preventing future confrontation by scaring the other kids. Similarly he felt the Buggers were no longer a real threat, but he didn’t immediately know why. He feels first, then investigates that feeling.
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What about movie Ender made him an INFJ as opposed to an INTJ?
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I don’t think I fully completed that thought when I wrote this article. Probably what it ought to say is “movie Ender is easier to mistake as INFJ.”
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This book in particular stood out to me when I read it while I was younger because I felt like it connected to me more than the other books out there (many happen to be INTJ characters). I also agree with you that the book Ender is INTJ. However, the movie ender definitely strikes me as INFJ, and I’m fairly certain I’d act parallel to him if I were in his position. His ability to connect strongly at an emotional level is much higher than most INTJs (stereotypically), and from personal experience (I have two close INTJ friends). At any rate, I don’t know if “mistaking” the movie Ender as INFJ is necessarily the right word– maybe “interpret”?
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I do find it rather comedic that each human is different on countless levels and yet some seek to define and categorize individuals into personality types as though we’ll see mirror images of ones self. Between this post and article, there seems to be a lot of emotional over analysis about what defines an INTJ and the different abilities thereof. My favorite INTJ’s in history are the lead characters in the biblical texts because instead of bickering about who is what and who is who, they sought out to define peace, love, righteousness etc. If you consider yourself an INTJ, I recommend analyzing the characters in those stories.
p.s,
I’m not seeking to “convert” anyone into believing anything nor am I assuming that no one hasn’t already read it in its entirety. Just recommending a credible book to read for furthering research.
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You’re a really good writer!
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Thanks, I would hope so after so many years of practice
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