Guest Post by Fanta, INTJ

Murdock Mysteries

Dominant Introverted Sensing (Si): Detective William Murdoch is a very serious, by-the-book, conventional man who is deeply attached to his Catholic religious upbringing. He has a strong sense of duty guiding him when he has to make difficult and personal choices: he chooses justice over stopping the marriage of the woman he loves. He upholds the law to a tee, always tells the truth (even when it leads to freeing a guilty criminal), and minutely follows criminal and scientific procedures. From very early on, Murdoch has developed a keen interest in scientific knowledge, spending so much personal time absorbing all kinds of information through this hobby that he became an expert without consciously wanting to.

Auxiliary Extroverted Thinking (Te): As a detective, Murdoch has a systematic approach to organising and analysing facts, usually by writing them on a board, which he always references to explain his progress to his peers. He has a hard time dealing with the fanciful theories Constable Crabtree often throws at him, preferring physical evidence at all times. Murdoch can voice his disagreement to authority figures, although he will keep it respectful and within the boundaries of their defined roles (SiTe). He takes responsibility when he makes mistakes, and walks the extra mile when pursuing as trail, until the crime is solved. Murdoch uses many of the gadgets he invents to make his investigations more effective.

Tertiary Introverted Feeling (Fi): Murdoch rarely displays his emotions and deals with emotional distress on his own. There are conflicts between his inner definition of righteousness when it clashes with his traditional Catholic values (he turns Dr. Ogden down after learning about her abortion) or with established rules (he violates police procedures to find evidence in order to exonerate Dr. Ogden from murder). When he decides to violate established (external) rules, he uses Fi to defend his actions.

Inferior Extroverted (Xe): On rare occasions, Murdoch decides to explore new things, although he does so within the confines of familiar structures (for example, when he gets drunk on absinthe ‘for science’). He also demonstrates innovation by using inventions and new technologies as forensics tools. Caught in the Ne inferior grip when he fails to stop the wedding of Dr. Ogden, he starts over in the Yukon, abandoning the comforting life he had built for himself in Toronto. He doesn’t read criminals very well and relies on facts alone to determine their motives.

Author’s Note: I saw Murdoch typed as an INTJ but he is not a Ni user. Unlike Sherlock Holmes or Gregory House, when he solves a crime, it is rarely through instantaneous or random associations. It is triggered through the discovery of new, detailed empirical evidence, which prompts Murdoch to re-imagine the past and add to the memorized crime scene this new element. His being a detective is not part of a personal long-term goal to see justice done, but rather how he objectively works towards expressing his traditional values, and using his scientific knowledge. Murdoch is also too respectful of all authority figures, social norms, and regulations to be INTJ.