Guest post by E.J., INTJ

Inception

Dominant Ti: Ariadne is a very logical person whose talent for puzzle-building earns her a place on Cobb’s team. Her attraction to building dream architecture draws her to join, despite her initial reluctance after seeing Cobb’s disturbed mental state. She generally does not discuss her ideas at length–when she describes the dream architecture she has planned to other people, her explanations are brief. Ariadne rarely overreacts to situations. Even when she shows initial alarm, she is ready to move on to a rational solution as soon as someone can suggest one. When their mission goes wrong, Ariadne (unlike Cobb and Eames) does not give up. Instead, she proposes a rational solution based on her mathematical knowledge of their situation.

Auxiliary Ne: Ariadne learns new concepts quickly, easily adapting her architectural knowledge to the dream setting. She has a great deal of curiosity and enjoys casually playing with the physics of the first dream she shares with Cobb. The dream settings she creates for the inception attempt are all very different from one another in appearance, layout, and function. Ariadne appreciates new experiences, as evidenced by her decision to attend college in a foreign country. She maintains a relatively unique clothing style, however, rather than simply adopting the styles that would be common among her classmates.

Tertiary Si: Although she enjoys trying new things, Ariadne remembers the past and avoids making the same mistakes twice. She respects Arthur’s experience with dream architecture and implements his suggestions. Unlike Eames, she does not look down on Arthur for his more traditional approach to life, and she shares Arthur’s concern for detail. Ariadne believes in the influence of the past on the present, and when she realizes that she has walked into a maze of Cobb’s memories, she acts quickly so that she can understand them as well as possible.

Inferior Fe: Ariadne gets along well with the other members of the team–in fact, she is the only team member who never seriously irritates any of her companions. She identifies the source of Cobb’s emotional problems very quickly, piecing together Arthur’s explanations and her own experiences with Cobb’s subconscious. Despite her intrusion into some very sensitive memories, Cobb accepts Ariadne’s assessment of his problems. He realizes that she understands him astonishingly well for someone who has known him for only a short time, and he accommodates her demand that he either be honest with Arthur or allow her to go on the mission. Unlike the other members of the team, Ariadne also shows a great concern for Robert Fisher as a person. She worries about what their attacks on his projections might do to his mind, and she uses her understanding of Cobb’s subconscious to develop a plan to save Fisher–despite the risks involved.