Tom Riddle / Voldemort: INTJ

Arvid Walton 8 Comments

Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

Dominant Ni: The moment Voldemort knows what he wants, he’s already going after it in a methodical, complicated fashion. At the same time, he’s patient enough to do the research (horcruxes!) necessary to accomplish what others would think impossible. He has one goal (immortality and total control) and his every action leads him towards that goal.

Auxiliary Te: Tom Riddle is action-oriented. All of his feelings come out in what he does, rather than what he says. He organises and manipulates others to achieve the ends he needs, saving his personal energy to completing the most necessary tasks (horcruxing!). He develops plans and puts them into action without hesitation. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself and cannot be insulted.

Tertiary Fi: Voldemort doesn’t really have much of a moral code –internal or external. What he has is a how-will-this-benefit-me conundrum. He thinks of himself as a victim to abandonment and reacts with revenge. He doesn’t care about anyone else’s feelings and doesn’t want to listen to them. He doesn’t know how to love because he’s so consumed by hate that he can’t imagine anything else –and he can’t understand other people’s feelings either. The only people he can relate to are those who have similar experience.

Inferior Se:  Voldemort doesn’t always think before he acts and ends up creating long-lasting negative consequences (Harry survives his attempt to kill Lilly and becomes a flaw in his plan). He likes theatricality about as much as Batman does, but has much stronger tendencies toward instant, self-indulgences. The result, Harry survives again and again…

8 thoughts on “Tom Riddle / Voldemort: INTJ”

  1. V’s obviously INTJ…

    I can understand ppl’s views on movie one being ENTJ…

    But book one… undoubtedly INTJ…

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  2. Voldemort is difficult to type, because both in the books and in the movie flashbacks of Tom Riddle he appeared to be rather introverted, and with a strong Ni (literally guessed his teacher’s favourite fruit based on “Intuition”), which would imply he were an INTJ. But later he shows no signs of introvertion at all and uses ENTJ functions.

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  3. Voldemort is difficult to type because both in the book and in the Tom Riddle flashbacks he appeared to be rather introverted and using Ni rather than Te as a dominant function (e. g. guessed that pineapple is his teacher’s favourite fruit based on literally “Intuition”), which would imply he’s an INTJ. But as an adult he’s more using ENTJ functions and shows no signs of introvertion.

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    • Strongly disagree on later on, Voldemort showing no signs of introversion. I’m sorry to say this but that is absolutely incorrect.

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  4. I previously thought Voldemort is INFJ, but…

    Can Fe be directive and manipulative to achieve an end, like Te? Wouldn’t Fe and Te both directed to change and shape what’s beyond one’s self, of the outside world?

    I thought it like this: In his childhood, when he suffered from abuse and neglect due to abandonment, we did not see/hear about a reaction from Tom Riddle. He did not cause trouble in the orphanage nor at school, he suffered silently and few knew about his pains (Dumbledore included). I would say the pain carved a hole in Tom’s heart and twisted his vision of the world (“I am nobody, I will be somebody in the future and all will fear my name.”) – Ni, the futuristic, abstract, visionary function is proned of a real failure, producing dark visions as the outside world as fed by Se seems to only have dark colors. Tom’s Fe allowed him to hide his pain (which he was not really connected with, not in a deep, personal, emotional way, instead it set roots in his world visions), Fe let him set up a better, perfect persona: intelligent prefect, liked by all Professors, enthusiastic for classes, high scores all around, one that he wanted to be, but Tom still felt bogged down by his origin.

    Voldemort’s Ti is not very prominent, yet rather well developed especially later on: Tom devised his own (very intricate) plan of being great Dark Lord, first to be immortal, as he sought out the Horcruxes, one plan that not many thought of, not even Grindelwald. One may argue that Horcruxes are proof of Te’s ruthlessness, but from his way of finding them, and how elusive he is about his idea to Dumbledore, I suggest Ti over Te (secret planning, overly intricate details, reluntance to talk about his path and thoughts even when he had became powerful and cannot be threatened). In addition, Tom did not devise the entirety of his path to his vision, while a TJ would have made at least a draft. Tom solved his problems as he came across them, in his own sense. His followers never did see a fraction of his thoughts (while Voldemort did think and plan a lot!), but they can clearly see if he is pleased or angry. When he’s angry, Voldemort needs an outlet, sometimes, it is the murdering of an innocent, or breaking things. Therefore, I decide Fe-Ti with Fe > Ti is better a pair of functions for Voldemort than Te-Fi.

    Finally, Voldemort’s Se decided some of his personality traits, also kicked in at the worst moments to affect his chance of victory over the light. First of all, it is his attention to theatricality: What should be made into Horcruxes? The best and monumental things. How should he kills Harry when he’s already got a firm grip of his prey? After throwing out every worst insults he’s got, and making Harry suffers in every way possible. Not a quick death, no, even if it means check-mate. No, it must be grandiose.

    Yes, therefore I suggest INFJ with a lot of pain-cracked holes.

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    • I would also have thought that at first, as Dumbledore says Voldemort does “like to operate alone”, but his Se looks too good to be inferior, while his Fi is definitely a weak point.

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