Guest Post by Kerissa, INFJ, Justice and Writeousness

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke

Dominant Introverted Intuition (Ni): Childermass is perfectly content playing the long game, waiting for Strange’s and Norrell’s disagreement to pass before surfacing as a magician. He’s good at knowing when someone’s lying or not, like believing Vinculus’s five wives when they said they didn’t know about the Book and disbelieving Lascelles’s story of Drawlight. When with Vinculus, he’s the one trying to figure out the one right answer to something while Vinculus sees all the possibilities.

Auxiliary Extroverted Thinking (Te): Childermass is very practical, directing Norrell to join parties, befriend Drawlight, and do whatever else it takes to become respected. He usually devised the methods to meet both his and Norrell’s goals in assignments. He tried to find the practical meaning of the Book once it changed and wasn’t distracted by Vinculus’s Ne possibilities.

Tertiary Introverted Feeling (Fi): He completes tasks in his own way, sometimes disobeying orders like when he learned invisibility or visited Vinculus. Norrell didn’t know of their disagreements over magic despite how closely they worked. He dislikes Lascelles for his lack of respect for himself. The servants’ emotional reactions to his leaving surprised him.

Inferior Extroverted Sensing (Se): When he sees that the time has come to act, he does so, like when he challenged Lascelles and left Norrell. He doesn’t always notice his surroundings, so Strange can see him pretending to be a shadow. He tends to look past how his environment affects him, like not minding rain or a knife to the face, as long as he reaches his goal.