Why are NT's so rare as the main characters?

[Poki]

NT's are critical thinkers who utilize logical analysis. Only certain genres can really showcase a MC with these strengths in an entertaining fashion. Mystery and sci-fi have been mentioned already. I'd like to add "psychological" to the list, as Lelouch has come up and also what I perceive as an allusion to Death Note. Not to say NT MC's do not or cannot exist outside these genres, but they'd definitely be the minority. So, I'd attribute the rarity of the NT MC to their being more of a genre dependent or niche type character.

If you're looking for an INTP MC, Oreki Houtarou from "Hyouka" fits the bill. Mystery seems to me the best fit for NT's in general.

You defined Introverted Ts actually...IxTJs and IxTPs. IxTPs are actually the heaviest user of critical thinkers using logical anaylsis. IxTJs tend to use it more as support based of Dom Pi as opposed to a more direct critical thinking through logical analysis. Its a tool to IxTJs and a way of life for IxTPs.

 

[Forever_Jung]

You defined Introverted Ts actually...IxTJs and IxTPs. IxTPs are actually the heaviest user of critical thinkers using logical anaylsis. IxTJs tend to use it more as support based of Dom Pi as opposed to a more direct critical thinking through logical analysis. Its a tool to IxTJs and a way of life for IxTPs.

Yeah, NT's definitely don't claim sovereignty over critical thinking and logical analysis.

On sort of a sidenote, I find it irksome any character who is into science is instantly typed NT. Especially because I think a lot of (maybe even most, it's too hard to say) scientist/engineer types are ST. The scientific POV benefits greatly from strong S data paired with T judgment.

I sometimes find certain fields of science a bit too sensate and practical to interest me much. I feel like a bit of an intellectual hippy-mystic, compared to my ST friends.

 

[FemMecha]

What about Walter Bishop from Fringe?
Scully from X-files started out as ISTJ, but moves towards INTJ in later seasons.
Charlie from Numb3rs
Catherine from Proof
etc.

If you watch sci-fi or science/math oriented movies and TV, you have plenty of NT main characters. In action films it makes sense to have strong Se dominant or aux characters. That would be the main issue for main characters not being NT (or NF for that matter), if you have a high physical action show it does imply Sensor prowess.

 

[Metis]

Another reason why I think Rick is an ENTP and not an ESTP is because he says too many off-the-wall-ish, random-sounding things that the ESTPs I know wouldn't make any sense out of. I mean, if you say them in a goofy way, they might laugh, but if you say them deadpan, or if you just forget to show with your affect that you're joking, they're going to say, "Okayyy..." or something like that. An ENTP might think you're being a dork, or they might not, but at least they'll probably be able to tell that you're screwing around and not just flat out delusional.

 

[Metis]

Could it be that fictional NT characters are just consistently mistyped? It's almost as if NT characters only get an NT typing if they have a glaring flaw that indicates low feeling/low sensing. Granted the NT stereotype is the least superficially likeable, with ENTPs getting the biggest pass here because they are somehow more tolerable, people are quick to avoid putting protagonists in the NT box. I'd argue that this is also the case for SJ characters, except replace "likeable" with "interesting".

Yes.

I would bet that a lot of NT characters get S-ified just for the sake of showing action and conflict.

Easy, most writers aren't NT themselves, thefore they are unable or uninterested in having their characters mimic the NT ways of going about life.

If you take a screenwriting class (Hollywood-style, anyway), a lot of emphasis is placed on showing conflict, both external and internal. "No conflict, no story," as they say. Showing a lot of Se and Fe/Te serves that objective. But a lot of French movies show more Ji than Je, and there are some Iranian movies that are more like that as well. It's a subtler style. Obviously, some US movies do that too, but the main style seems more E.

There is no way for everyone's opinions on type to be consistent enough to know the real typologoical percententages , much less in the fictional realm. No offense, but the methods of determining thevrarury if types are flawed. I mean who thinks phone serveys are reliable?

Good point. I'm not so sure about the thevrarury. I generally go by (1) who they remind me of the most, especially if they remind me of multiple people, then (2) functions and stuff, and then (3) I second guess myself until I'm tired of it. That's my rubric. "Thevrarury" is an apt word for it.

I think NT characters can be cool of the writer is good, but the in their head thing like someone else here said could make them boring if not done well.

The dude in Pi (1998, Darren Aronofsky) was extremely in his head. The movie did a great job of telling the story, in spite of that. That guy had schizophrenia, though. Not your average NT, whether he was an NT or not.

I wonder if the percentage of NT main characters in books is higher than the percentage in film/tv. Probably easier to show in a book.

a genre dependent or niche type character

I am not a niche-type character! And neither is my evil fictional movie twin.

Yeah, NT's definitely don't claim sovereignty over critical thinking and logical analysis.

We really don't even claim consistency at it. Unless some of us are fibbing.....

I think a lot of (maybe even most, it's too hard to say) scientist/engineer types are ST. The scientific POV benefits greatly from strong S data paired with T judgment.

Agreed

I sometimes find certain fields of science a bit too sensate and practical to interest me much. I feel like a bit of an intellectual hippy-mystic, compared to my ST friends.

Likewise. Science is mystifying and romantic, until it gets too repetitious. :bookish:

In action films it makes sense to have strong Se dominant or aux characters. That would be the main issue for main characters not being NT (or NF for that matter), if you have a high physical action show it does imply Sensor prowess.

Yeah. Also, I think, Ji. That might be why some people are saying that NFs aren't often main characters or are the victim, or whatever--those are more likely INFs, and there might not be a lot of ISF main characters either... Easier to show Fe/Te than Fi/Ti if you're showing conflict, dialogue, and action.

Actually, Ni might be more common than Ji, as well. But that's when a Cassandra-like archetype is used. I don't know if it's used for a lot of other characters, but it's certainly used for that.

 

[FemMecha]

We were just watching Terminator 2, and I think Sarah Connor is likely an INTJ. She has visions of the future, is always planning, and her action could be described as Te-Se.

 

[Pentarius]

The ENTJ would be too busy telling the villain how to be more villainous, so he could triumph over him more triumphantly. The ENTP would adopt villain strategies because heroic ones aren't good enough and nowhere near as fun. The INTP would spend the whole time coming up with and perfecting multiple strategies to defeat the villain instantly. The INTJ would enact his plan and the villain would be defeated 10 minutes tops.

So, normal hero vs. villain stuff is right out. NT's are just too badass at being villains and supporting characters; what better way to make a hero shine?

 

[Totenkindly]

We were just watching Terminator 2, and I think Sarah Connor is likely an INTJ. She has visions of the future, is always planning, and her action could be described as Te-Se.

All due to the fun of typing and creative works and behavior over time on a spectrum.

Watch the same character throughout most of "The Terminator" and she's not very INTJ at all. So is her behavior in Terminator 2 her actual personality, or is it a role she has taken on herself due to the severity of what she is facing, that has demanded she has become less of a well-rounded person in order to survive?

I would say Sarah's behavior in T2 is portrayed as her becoming inhuman and more "machine like" -- a human terminator -- rather than expanding into who she naturally is. John even calls her on this, and she eases up a bit by the end, but it looks like control behavior on her part in order to deal with her paranoia and PTSD.

 

[Metis]

I would say Sarah's behavior in T2 is portrayed as her becoming inhuman and more "machine like" -- a human terminator -- rather than expanding into who she naturally is. John even calls her on this, and she eases up a bit by the end, but it looks like control behavior on her part in order to deal with her paranoia and PTSD.

I'm not familiar with the Terminator movies, never having been an action movie fan, but I like this "control behavior on her part in order to deal with her paranoia and PTSD" comment, because I relate to it. It's hard to tell what my "real" personality is like, because it's overshadowed by control behavior--in the sense of suppression of my own output to mitigate backlash from others, as well as any possible harm that I could cause, albeit inadvertently, to another, although neither of those outcomes is very practical. That makes enneagram even harder to figure out than MBTI, because MBTI can be broken down into components, more or less, in a couple of different ways (although the function stacking method of breaking it down is controversial); enneagram doesn't have that.

Totenkindly -- What would you say her regular type is?

Another thing is that even if a character is NT, the story is likely to skew more towards the character's physical actions and feelings about the plot EVEN IF the character him/herself isn't skewed to S or F. So in that case, it's not that the character isn't NT, or even necessarily any less NT than they hypothetically would be irl. It's just the POV of the story itself that's non-NT-driven. It's the invisible and silent narrator of the movie. Eg.: some movies are dominated by long, lingering panoramas of beautiful landscapes (more S); some are full of moody ambience and surprising cuts that suggest certain frames of mind (well, the former suggests a frame of mind too) and are designed to make particular connections between ideas, which might be a more N way to film (well, obviously any way that you cut a movie, you're going to be making connections between ideas, but the S connections would be more... S Like Brokeback Mountain vs. Black Swan--both of which are at least as typable as their individual characters are, and I think moreso.). There are movies with a lot of foreshadowing and symbolism, a more Ni way of filming. Etc. So a character's type can be overshadowed by the personality of the film, and what it focuses on.