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Fictional detectives & MBTI types?

Aleksei

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That does seem a little like F, though I think (I don't always know what he's talking about) that they usually seem more logically based. He is stubborn, yeah. Though I think that's more of a "I won't accept that I'm wrong until you prove it" which I think is more like too much Ne to Ti, so it isn't as controlled. Whenever he is proved wrong, he immediately draws another conclusion.
It actually takes a monumental effort to get House to see he could be wrong about something -- particularly something related to his general misanthropy. He simply cannot accept the idea people could possibly be decent, because if people are all miserable assholes, it makes his own misery tolerable. In other words, he holds on to certain viewpoints not because they make sense, but because they make him feel better. That's Fi to the core.
 

Thalassa

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Sherlock Holmes: INTJ
Hercule Poirot: ISTJ
Jane Marple: INFJ
Auguste Dupin: INTJ


I'll also add here that Special Agent Dale Cooper is INTJ.

Oh, and so is FBI Agent Clarice Starling.

I took a Detective fiction class in college...Holmes and Poirot are both loosely based upon Dupin...hence their IxTJ similarity. Poirot is just a lot more Si - more observant and obsessive, less bizarre and innovative - and he's very much a part "The System" whereas Dupin and Holmes decidedly were not.
 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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Also, I disagree with Holmes being a J. After analysing him in an earlier thread, I think he is an INTP who has found his niche.
 

Thalassa

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I read that Poirot was primarily inspired by Holmes.

There was Dupin...then Holmes...then Poirot. The subsequent two were inspired by Poe's original invention of the conceited, eccentric, brilliant detective.
 
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Epiphany

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You are forgetting someone.

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Totenkindly

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Oh, and so is FBI Agent Clarice Starling.

Lecter's an INTJ... but I'm not convinced Starling is N at all.

It's not like she made connections among anything right away, and the ones she made were not rocket science. Lecter had to nudge her along the entire time, and then she figured out Jame Gumb was the killer because an exotic moth unique to the killer was flying around in his kitchen in Ohio? Wow, that's a tough one. A true iNtuitive would have probably had warning signals going off as soon as the guy opened the door, but she didn't.

She's reasonably ISJ... and might even be ISFJ. Lecter's J is driven by underlying arrogance and belief in his own insights into the world and people around him; Starling's J seems like pure, bull-headed perseverence. She's not going to quit, simply because she has chosen not to quit, and she's going to plod her way forward until she figures things out; Lecter respects her because she has a kind of unnuanced but raw honesty about her (although he's kind of wow'ed when she unpredictably comes up with the Anthrax Isle ruse... he did not see that in her).

From her childhood in West Virginia, she certainly gets the social mores and uses those effectively and instinctively, but in other ways is very unsophisticated and rough around the edges, so she's not going to be a cliche. Where she seems more T is when she can tell Kathryn she can't save her right then and she needs to wait until backup arrives; but that's more a practical issue. ISJs can be both appropriately warm and yet practical and to-the-point in working through issues, when they want to be and have suitable experience.
 

Aleksei

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On further reflection, I think Patrick Jane is actually INTJ. His ethics seem very personal (he's driven for a thirst for bloody revenge, and sees nothing wrong with vigilante justice, even amongst a ridiculously lawful good environment), and he makes no effort at all to fit in or accommodate other people. That, and his logic seems somewhat objectively derived (no such thing as psychics and the like).
 

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

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On further reflection, I think Patrick Jane is actually INTJ. His ethics seem very personal (he's driven for a thirst for bloody revenge, and sees nothing wrong with vigilante justice, even amongst a ridiculously lawful good environment), and he makes no effort at all to fit in or accommodate other people. That, and his logic seems somewhat objectively derived (no such thing as psychics and the like).

I haven't seen any more than 15 minutes of the mentalist, but based on that, he seemed, XNTP, probably E, and the other thing is that wouldn't deriving things objectively be accurate for any NT? Although you're probably drawing INTJ as opposed to INFJ from that more than as opposed to any NT. Still, I wouldn't say that it's impossible for an INFJ to be against the idea of otherworldly happenings. That is increasingly the norm these days as the world becomes more atheistic.
 

Aleksei

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I haven't seen any more than 15 minutes of the mentalist, but based on that, he seemed, XNTP, probably E, and the other thing is that wouldn't deriving things objectively be accurate for any NT?
He's certainly Ni-dom. He's somewhat quiet and reserved and (more importantly) never needs outside input to confirm, refine or correct his ideas. Most people think he's INFJ based on the fact his skillset is more reminiscent of Ti and Fe use than anything else -- he's a master emotional manipulator, and very deductive. However, type isn't really related to mental skills; it's related to where one derives his values and worldview from. Patrick Jane's logic seems externally-based (Te) and his ethics seem internally based (Fi). I think he was an ENTP, before his wife and kid were killed by Red John, but shifted into his shadow afterwards.
 

Thalassa

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Lecter's an INTJ... but I'm not convinced Starling is N at all.

It's not like she made connections among anything right away, and the ones she made were not rocket science. Lecter had to nudge her along the entire time, and then she figured out Jame Gumb was the killer because an exotic moth unique to the killer was flying around in his kitchen in Ohio? Wow, that's a tough one. A true iNtuitive would have probably had warning signals going off as soon as the guy opened the door, but she didn't.

She's reasonably ISJ... and might even be ISFJ. Lecter's J is driven by underlying arrogance and belief in his own insights into the world and people around him; Starling's J seems like pure, bull-headed perseverence. She's not going to quit, simply because she has chosen not to quit, and she's going to plod her way forward until she figures things out; Lecter respects her because she has a kind of unnuanced but raw honesty about her (although he's kind of wow'ed when she unpredictably comes up with the Anthrax Isle ruse... he did not see that in her).

From her childhood in West Virginia, she certainly gets the social mores and uses those effectively and instinctively, but in other ways is very unsophisticated and rough around the edges, so she's not going to be a cliche. Where she seems more T is when she can tell Kathryn she can't save her right then and she needs to wait until backup arrives; but that's more a practical issue. ISJs can be both appropriately warm and yet practical and to-the-point in working through issues, when they want to be and have suitable experience.

She seems pretty tough, also in Hannibal, and I'm thinking ISTJ if not INTJ. All people from West Virginia (and I think most people from the South) have some of the Fe culture rubbing off on them but it doesn't make them SFJs.
 

guesswho

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Cal lightman is NOT ISTP. I think he's ENTP.
The guy in the mentalist looks pretty surreal to me.
 

Aleksei

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Cal Lightman certainly has a Sensing preference, and is far too linear a thinker to be Ne/Si rather than Se/Ni. At this point I agree he's not ISTP though... he doesn't seem to have a filter between his brain and his mouth.

He's probably ESFP. I'd say ESTP was a possibility as well but he seems to not be very good at understanding human emotion (that is to say, no Fe). He's naturally good at picking up little details of human expression, but needed training to actually figure out what they mean.
 
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