fictional characters you strongly identify with

[Joy]

I know I've made a thread like this before, but it was a while ago. Let's do it again.

[Joy]

(I suppose they don't really need to be fictional though.)

[Ritella]

the main charachter from Dostyovesky's short story "White Nights." He says things that I've said my entire life practically verbatim.

[FDG]

Martin Eden from the novel Martin Eden (Author: Jack London)

[Mr Saturn]

Speed Racer (Wachowski Brothers, 2008)
Naruto Uzimaki (TV Series)
Luke Skywalker (Lucas, 1977)

[Joy]

Naruto? Interesting.

[Mr Saturn]

Naruto? Interesting.

Yeah, his unsettled past, his eagerness, his destiny, his happy-go-lucky attitude, his maverick ways and the fact he is a lot more than people give him credit for is something I very much enjoy.

[implied]

she thinks it's interesting b/c naruto is said to be ESFp/SEE.

[FDG]

she thinks it's interesting b/c naruto is said to be ESFp/SEE.

Just like 343254235345345 percent of the human population

[Joy]

Yeah, his unsettled past, his eagerness, his destiny, his happy-go-lucky attitude, his maverick ways and the fact he is a lot more than people give him credit for is something I very much enjoy.

I admire his strength of will and his general outlook. This whole Sasuke thing is annoying me though.

she thinks it's interesting b/c naruto is said to be ESFp/SEE.

Yeah, and because he's so different from Vash.

At the same time though, there are a number of characters that I identify with that aren't all that much like me.

[Joy]

At the same time though, there are a number of characters that I identify with that aren't all that much like me.

For instance, Scarlett from Gone with the Wind (when I was a teenager, not now though) and Mustang from Full Metal Alchemist. Ones that I'm more similar to include...

Anime characters that come to mind:

Nami from One Piece (I actually see myself on something of continuum with Nami at one end and Robin at the other, and I'm about 3/4 of the way towards Nami's end.)
Tsunade from Naruto
Miroku from Inuyasha

Non-anime:

Lex Luther from Smallville (sort of)
Octavian from Rome



I'll add more as I think of them.

[Expat]

Ben in Night of the Living Dead
Scrooge McDuck
Dr. Strange
Julian in Gore Vidal's Julian
Octavian in Rome
Odysseus in the Odyssey
T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia
Gully Foyle in The Stars My Destination
Richis in the Perfume movie
James Coburn's character in The Great Escape

etc

[Joy]

Yeah, I actually identified pretty strong with Octavian from Rome. He seemed to repeatedly say and do what I would say and do in the situations he was in (especially immediately after Julius Caesar died). There are very, very few characters I can say this of (I can't really think of any, actually).

[Logos]

From ze Bookz
Paul Atreides (Dune)
Jon Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Ender Wiggin (Ender's Game)
Ged (A Wizard of Earthsea)
Peter Parker (Spiderman)

From ze TV Showz and Moviez
Dr. Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1)
John Crichton (Farscape)

From ze Cartoonz
Keiichi Morisato (Oh My Goddess!)
Prowl (Transformers)
Ashitaka (Mononoke Hime)
Kira Yamato (Gundam Seed)
Zelgadis Greywords (Slayers)

While I do not think that all of the above are probably LII, I must say that LII must not be popular characters to depict in fiction at least in stand-out roles.

[Expat]

I don't necessarily think that all the characters I listed are of my own type.

[Logos]

I don't necessarily think that all the characters I listed are of my own type.

That's also good to know. That was more a general disclaimer in case someone thought my statement about LIIs not being common primary characters (or at least standout) in fiction should be interpreted in light of the above characters I said I identified with to mean that those characters somehow were all characters I thought were LII.

[marooned]

Octavian in Rome

Yeah, I actually identified pretty strong with Octavian from Rome. He seemed to repeatedly say and do what I would say and do in the situations he was in (especially immediately after Julius Caesar died). There are very, very few characters I can say this of (I can't really think of any, actually).

Interesting. I thought Octavian was a good portrayal of an ENTj (and Livia even seemed somewhat ISFj). What I liked about his character in a Socionics sense was I could easily see as the first function.

He seemed really cold to me (though not so much as boy).

[Joy]

Te dominants are cold from a Beta perspective. (The show was written from a Beta perspective.)

[marooned]

Te dominants are cold from a Beta perspective. (The show was written from a Beta perspective.)

That could/would make sense.

[ScarlettLux]

Scarlett O'Hara for sure (that's where part of my username comes from!)

Her grit, determination and must I admit, selfishness, resonate fully with me. Also the extent of her selfishness ... the way she learns over the course of the novel how insanely unselfish others can be, and how much she is secretly ashamed of herself.

Lux Lisbon from The Virgin Suicides (Movie) - Other part of my username, lol

Her outer cheerful appearances hide a serious melancholic, destructive inner nature. She falls in deep love with a guy, is jilted, and resorts to sexual escapades to fill that empty hole. Like how I would get.

[Expat]

Te dominants are cold from a Beta perspective. (The show was written from a Beta perspective.)

That could/would make sense.

The show's original creator, John Milius, is almost certainly a Beta and probably SLE in my opinion. Still, I think that there was some Gamma input since the historical consultant, Jonathan Stamp, is LIE (very obvious from his interviews in the DVD).

For an account of the same events from a Gamma-biased point of view, there is the novel Antony & Cleopatra, just published, by the ESI Colleen McCullough. She wrote a whole series of very accurate novels on that period.

[UDP]

I don't know. I haven't really read a lot of fiction, either.

[Gilly]

Both Narcissus and Goldmund from Herman Hesse' novel Narcissus and Goldmund. I identify with Narcissus in the sense of living a relatively solitary, acetic lifestyle, with a primary focus on intellectual matters, while Goldmund resonates with me on the level of being a wandering romantic, always in search of his true purpose, choosing to learn about the world not through books or the advice of others, but by living his own life and learning almost solely from his mistakes and experiences, becoming hardened and jaded and (eventually) having an epiphany about the meaning of his life.

I also identify with Ged, the main character in Ursula LeGuin's first novel of her Earthsea Triology, A Wizard of Earthsea. Ged is ambitious and hotheaded as he begins to learn the secrets of magic as a young mage, and when he goes away to school to become an official wizard, he unleashes a dark spirit when trying to impress his friends and outdo his rival by raising the dead. This leads to a long journey during which he is obligated to be alternately in flight from and in search of this spirit from beyond the living world. He is only freed from his curse when he recognizes that the dark spirit is a shadow of himself, his own death, and is able to name the spirit as his own and accept the inevitability of death and the evil consequences he has wrought on those around him through his arrogance.

Howl from Howl's Moving Castle is a big one for me, too. He has a lot of potential but always seems to be "on the run" from the obligation he has to others as a result of his power. He lives a solitary life with only a few cohorts who he deals with in a relatively aloof manner. He uses his dual nature as both a man and monster to walk a fine line between the worlds of love and violence, and disregards the effects it might have on him personally in order to further the greater good. He hides from authority and needs the impetus of another to face it head on and deal with problems that he is otherwise in constant flight from. He also experiences frequent spells of self-absorbed depression over small matters and turns them into big personal issues.

[thePirate]

McLovin

[munenori2]

McLovin

[Gilly]

McLovin

ugh I couldn't even finish that movie, it just hit SO close to home

[Logos]

I also identify with Ged, the main character in Ursula LeGuin's first novel of her Earthsea Triology, A Wizard of Earthsea. Ged is ambitious and hotheaded as he begins to learn the secrets of magic as a young mage, and when he goes away to school to become an official wizard, he unleashes a dark spirit when trying to impress his friends and outdo his rival by raising the dead. This leads to a long journey during which he is obligated to be alternately in flight from and in search of this spirit from beyond the living world. He is only freed from his curse when he recognizes that the dark spirit is a shadow of himself, his own death, and is able to name the spirit as his own and accept the inevitability of death and the evil consequences he has wrought on those around him through his arrogance.

Incidentally, Ged was also on my list, but I removed him since I already thought that I had enough on my list and that having too many main characters would perhaps give the misrepresentation that I just identify with main characters in general.

[Joy]

You worry too much about the appearance of a lack of objectivity. I've never heard of most of the characters on your list. Is it so strange to think that an LII would be drawn to fiction with LII/Alpha main characters? There's enough fiction in the world for all of us.

[Logos]

You worry too much about the appearance of a lack of objectivity. I've never heard of most of the characters on your list. Is it so strange to think that an LII would be drawn to fiction with LII/Alpha main characters? There's enough fiction in the world for all of us.

I suppose not, but it is something which I know that I would be suspicious of if I saw it. I will add Ged back to the list then.

[Joy]

I suppose not, but it is something which I know that I would be suspicious of if I saw it. I will add Ged back to the list then.

I know you would. That's why I said that what I did.

[Gilly]

Why would you be suspicious of being drawn to characters from your own quadra? That confuses me, or perhaps I am misinterpreting.

[Joy]

I don't fully get it either, but he's criticized me for typing characters as Gamma too often, and I've explained that I'm simply more likely to make topics about shows I like, and I'm more likely to like shows with Gamma main characters. I've never even heard of most of the stuff he likes, so I don't see what's so strange about thinking that the characters each of us exposes ourselves to the most are ones from our own quadras.

Anyways, there are only 16 types... given the amount of fictional literature on the planet, I'd say it's likely that there is a very large selection of stories with each of our identicals as main characters. And this topic is about which characters you identify with.

[Logos]

Why would you be suspicious of being drawn to characters from your own quadra? That confuses me, or perhaps I am misinterpreting.

But that's the question. Am I projecting myself on these characters and saying that they are Alpha or are they really Alpha? I am worried about the possibility of the subjective bias in making judgments in which self-identification is inherent. (Perhaps this comes from weak Fi.)

[Mea]

shikamaru?(from naruto) he dislikes trouble as much as i do.

[Expat]

Hmmm. I'd say that all of the characters with whom I clearly identify must have many characteristics in common with myself. Not necessarily the type, but probably the quadra, or the base function, etc. Still, while I identify with Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, for instance, I'd guess that his type there (never mind that of the historical person) is probably more like EIE.

It also depends on what we mean with "identify with". I can identify with a character based on the situation they find themselves in, even if I also know they're not really much like me.

[Joy]

shikamaru?(from naruto) he dislikes trouble as much as i do.

Interesting. Salawa thought he was ILI, if I'm not mistaken, and I had thought LII. I don't really have a problem with ILI though.

Hmmm. I'd say that all of the characters with whom I clearly identify must have many characteristics in common with myself. Not necessarily the type, but probably the quadra, or the base function, etc. Still, while I identify with Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, for instance, I'd guess that his type there (never mind that of the historical person) is probably more like EIE.

It also depends on what we mean with "identify with". I can identify with a character based on the situation they find themselves in, even if I also know they're not really much like me.

Exactly.

But that's the question. Am I projecting myself on these characters and saying that they are Alpha or are they really Alpha? I am worried about the possibility of the subjective bias in making judgments in which self-identification is inherent. (Perhaps this comes from weak Fi.)

I don't generally worry about that kind of thing. I do try to be objective (that's a given), but I don't worry about being wrong. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. It's not a big deal. I see what I see. If I see something else later that gives me reason to question my initial impression, oh well. That's what's supposed to happen.

Socionically speaking, it would make sense for a Ti ego type to feel the way you do though. My attitude is probably partially due to Ti ignoring, and I don't have Fi in my super ego to complicate matters of self-identification (beyond what they already are just for having weak Fi). I mean, seeing similarities betweens oneself and another could be largely a Fi thing, depending on the factors used to determine who they identify with.

[Logos]

Okay, there are two more characters to add:

James McKay (Gregory Peck's character in The Big Country): the movie was a dual criticism of the Cold War and the overly romanticized Se of Western movies. I definitely identified greatly with James McKay's character and feel like I have been in his situation and mindset many times before. Towards the very end of the movie, he agrees to be in a fist fight with Charleton Heston's character (Leech), who has been aching for one since the beginning. Afterwards, McKay asks Leech what exactly did they prove, to which Leech does not have an answer. I've also felt in between two disputing sides to which I understood both sides of their own situations and arguments. But a memorable portion was with a wild horse that the ranch hands try to trick James McKay into riding. After being thrown off the horse he does not try to get on the horse again in front of the ranch hands. But later when no one else is around he repeatedly tries again until the horse is so tired of fighting that it is successfully ridden by McKay.

Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff's character in Garden State): the feeling that you want to be a part of the world but are too sedated and your senses are numb to do anything about it. You want to shout or some emotional outburst, but you can't.

[Expat]

James McKay (Gregory Peck's character in The Big Country):

When I saw that movie, I also totally identified with that character, especially that scene when the ranch hands refuse to believe that he hadn't been lost as he was using a map and a compass. I think he was rather LSE, but in the context of the movie he's more like a representation of "rationality" in the non-socionics definition.

[Gilly]

Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff's character in Garden State): the feeling that you want to be a part of the world but are too sedated and your senses are numb to do anything about it. You want to shout or some emotional outburst, but you can't.

:/ agree ftw

[Mr Saturn]

V (V For Vendetta)



Luke (Star Wars)



Speed (Speed Racer)



Charlie/Edouard (Shoot The Pianist)



Andreas (The Bothersome Man)



Naruto (Naruto)