Guest Post by Andrew, ENTJ

Pokémon Anime Franchise

Dominant Extroverted Intuition (Ne): Cilan’s interests are many and varied. He is a Pokemon Connoisseur, a science connoisseur, a fishing connoisseur, a railroad connoisseur, etc. Cilan likes to explore connections between trainers and their Pokemon, and, seemingly at random times, he will put forth his analysis of such relationships (he even interrupts battles to do this). Cilan decides to travel with Ash on the spur of the moment, all because Ash shows him (by example) new possibilities in trainers relating to and working with their Pokemon. He doesn’t count his chickens before they hatch, either in battles or in anything else, and he tends to clash with people who have pre-ordained and/or narrow views on anything.

Auxiliary Introverted Feeling (Fi): While another Pokemon Connoisseur would pair a trainer with the best-looking Pokemon that seems compatible with him or her, Cilan considers the feelings of both the trainer and the Pokemon in his pairings. He has a strong personal sense of right and wrong, and to him, pairing a trainer with a Pokemon for superficial reasons when they don’t share an emotional connection is wrong. Much like Ash (another upper Fi user), Cilan tends to befriend Pokemon prior to catching them, and gravitates toward Pokemon who are loners and/or individualists.

Tertiary Extroverted Thinking (Te): Although Cilan mainly uses his morals and feelings to make evaluations, he uses facts as well. He finds that strong results in battles and tournaments tend to follow strong relationships between Pokemon and their trainers. Cilan distrusts any theory that can’t be proven scientifically (i.e. with empirical evidence), and he makes frequent forays into the world of detective work, where he searches for physical clues such as fingerprints. Cilan can sympathize with others who are having troubles, but he would rather do something about their problems than talk about them.

Inferior Introverted Sensing (Si): Cilan has had traumatic experiences (especially relating to the cat Pokemon Purrloin) that have had a profound impact on him, but he absolutely refuses to tell anyone about them. After leaving the Striaton City Gym to travel with Ash and Iris, Cilan still considers himself to be one of the Gym Leaders. He keeps in touch with his two brothers, who run the gym in his absence; he is loyal to them, and they (as well as Ash and Iris, eventually) keep him grounded.