12: “What’s Your Type?”

“So do you agree with the ENFJ type for Finrod?” Max asked Vorondur as the two, along with Sunshine, sat in the office munching on pizza, taking a break from analyzing the tests. It was nearly eight in the evening and they had been working for the last three hours.

“Oh, definitely,” Vorondur said. “He’s a natural leader who envisions possibilities in others and mentors them, encouraging them to reach their fullest potential. Unlike your ENTJ types, he’s not at all impersonal in his dealings with others as a leader. He’s focused on the well-being of those around him, rather than on the outcome. That’s why he was able to give up his crown for an oath given to a Mortal. It’s why he sacrificed himself for Beren. All ENFJ.”

The two Mortals nodded.

“Glorfindel doesn’t seem to fit any of the types well, though,” Sunshine said. “I know based on his responses to the questions he comes out as an ESTJ but he seems to have a lot of ENTJ in him as well.”

“He’s a natural administrator, though,” Vorondur pointed out. “He’s very grounded, organized, and socially deft, but not arrogant or intimidating, which is a weakness of the ENTJ types.”

“He seems pretty intimidating to me,” Sunshine said with a snort.

Vorondur smiled. “Matter of perspective, I suppose. He’s assertive, no doubt about that, but there’s a compassion in him for others that normally is lacking in your typical ENTJ. The problem is that all of us have lived for so long that we’ve managed, for the most part, to maximize all of our cognitive functions, but we all started out with a baseline type and that’s what we are seeing here. No matter how fully functioning we may be, we still prefer to revert to type when push comes to shove.”

He paused, and gave the two Mortals a wide grin. “I wish I’d been able to give the Myers-Briggs to Glorfindel before he died. It would be interesting to see if and how death may have changed him personality-wise, and that goes for all the other Reborn.”

Both Mortals shook their heads. “That is just too weird a concept to wrap my brain around,” Max said with some feeling.

“Amen,” Sunshine added. “I am surprised that Dan and Roy did not type the same, though.”

“That is not uncommon, even among twins,” Max pointed out. “In fact, I can’t remember ever having seen a study that showed that twins, even identical twins, always share the same type. Usually one is more extraverted than the other, the way Dan seems to be more openly expressive and outspoken compared to Roy.”

“Yes, that’s certainly true,” Vorondur said with a nod. “They both can be considered protectors and caretakers, which traits characterize both the ESFJs and ISFJs, but as an ESFJ, Dan’s dominant function is Extraverted-Feeling and he likes to test the emotional waters, as it were, gauging the reactions of the people around him, usually by saying something outrageous as a means of deciding on how to act, while Roy, being an ISFJ, tends to use Introverted-Sensing, being more content to use past experiences to dictate present behavior.”

“So are there any surprises here, or did you peg them correctly?” Sunshine asked Vorondur.

Vorondur chuckled. “Oh, for the most part I had them pretty well pegged, at least all of the Wiseman Elves, since I’ve had more time to observe them. Some of the Valinórean Elves show themselves to be not what I expected based on their responses, but that’s fine. I don’t claim infallibility.” He gave them a conspiratorial grin. “I’ll tell you who I would love to have take the Myers-Briggs and that’s the Valar.”

“Really?” Max asked, looking surprised. “Why?”

“Professional curiosity,” Vorondur answered. “Whenever I encounter them or hear about someone else’s encounter with them, I keep wishing Sigmund and Carl were still alive. They would have a field day with them.”

The two Mortals laughed. “Well, if you ever get even one of them to agree to counseling, I would love to be in on it,” Sunshine said, giving Vorondur a wink.

“Well, one can dream,” Vorondur responded. Then he straightened. “Let’s finish up these assessments and decide who’s going to take which group. I imagine you two would like to get home soon.” Max and Sunshine both nodded and the three spent the next hour finishing their assessments and allocating the Elves among them.

“I’ll let everyone know what’s been decided,” Vorondur said as the three got ready to leave. “I suggest holding meetings in the evening. I’ll let you decide where you want to meet your groups.”

“Fine by us,” Max said and Sunshine nodded in agreement. “It should be interesting, to say the least. I just hope I don’t get intimidated counseling all these people. Even the youngest is way older than I am.”

“I’m with Max on that,” Sunshine said as she grabbed her purse.

“Remember that you are the ones in charge and, coming from a hierarchical society, they will respect that so long as you let them know it from the very beginning,” Vorondur said as he turned off the office lights and the three made their way out of the building. “Treat them as you would any group of adults in a support group and you’ll do fine.”

****

Vorondur walked into Edhellond to be confronted by a number of Elves all demanding to know what the results of the test were. He held up his hands to stem the tide of questions.

“You will each of you be given the results when you meet next week,” he told them. “Until then, you’ll just have to be patient. We’ve divided everyone up and here’s the list.” He automatically handed it to Finrod with Glorfindel looking over his shoulder and everyone else waiting for their turn to review the list.

“Except for Finrod and Glorfindel, the others were divided arbitrarily, though we tried to have a mix of Wiseman and Valinórean Elves in each group. You Elves from Valinor necessarily outnumber us Wiseman Elves and that’s why each group consists predominantly of Amanians.”

“And that makes sense, since we are the ones in need of counseling, I think, more so than you of Wiseman,” Finrod said, passing the list to Valandur who happened to be standing next to him.

“But that is not to say that they will not benefit from these meetings,” Vorondur said. “Let me stress again that, except for Finrod and Glorfindel, these meetings are entirely voluntary. Attend as many or none of the classes as you see fit. I would encourage everyone to at least go to the first meeting so you can get a profile of your personality type, but if you feel uncomfortable doing so, speak to me and I will arrange a private time to meet with you one-on-one and we will go over the profile together.”

Everyone nodded and they began to go their separate ways, leaving Vorondur alone with Finrod and Glorfindel. “I just stopped by to give you the list,” he told them. “I need to get home or Holly will forget what I look like.”

Both Finrod and Glorfindel grinned. “I doubt that, Ron,” Glorfindel said. “Thanks. We’ll catch you later. Have a good night.”

“Good night,” Vorondur said and left.

****

“I’m a what?!” Valandur exclaimed as he stared at the profile describing his particular personality type. He now went by Val Landry. “Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving? What does that mean?”

Max gave him a grin as he handed Daeron his profile, which read ‘ISFP’. They were in the reading room of the Academy. Max thought it would be less stressful for the Elves to meet in a more relaxed setting than a classroom. “I promise to explain once everyone’s gotten their results. Uh… Liam Prince?”

Prince Legolas raised his hand and Max gave him his profile. “That everyone? Good. Now you will notice that each profile has a four-letter code, INTJ, or ISFP or the like. These are shorthand ways of describing the sixteen basic personality types and each of us falls into one of the sixteen categories. In your case, Val, you tend to internalize your world rather than seek meaning from external things. So, your inner reflectiveness, that’s the Introversion, enables you to explore all the imaginative possibilities that the Intuition preference provides, and we use an ‘N’ so as not to confuse it with the ‘I’ of Introversion. At the same time, your objectivity — that’s the Thinking function — demands the analysis of all information, and your open-ended and flexible attitude, which is Perceiving, prompts you to be responsive to whatever new data presents themselves.”

Valandur stared at the profile for a moment and then looked up at the Mortal, his expression one of surprise. “You were able to discover all that about me simply by having me take a rather pointless test?”

Max grinned. “Not so pointless if it enables me to describe you more or less perfectly. Does it? Do you see yourself in this profile?”

Valandur nodded, a look of grudging respect on his face. “All too well.”

“So what exactly does it mean to be ‘Judging’?” Eärnur asked. His profile said he was an ISFJ. “I am not in the habit of judging anyone. Indeed, that is a lesson Lord Irmo was at pains to teach all his healers, never to judge one’s charges, especially if they are Reborn.” He flashed a smile at Beleg sitting next to him. Beleg smiled back, looking slightly smug.

“It has nothing to do with judging or being judgmental, Ernest,” Max said. “Judgers tend to be organizers with everything in its place and a place for everything. Unlike Perceivers, who love spontaneity, Judgers generally have a clear sense of how their day is likely to unfold and like to stick to schedules.”

“In other words, they’re stick-in-the-muds,” Prince Legolas said with a grin. His own profile said that he was an ENFP.

“Now… Liam, is it?” Max asked and when Legolas nodded, he continued. “This is not an opportunity for name-calling. Every personality type has strengths and weaknesses. There are no good types versus bad types. Each is valid and valuable. Without all the different personality types available to us, this world would be a rather dull place.”

“But why only sixteen personality types?” Legolas asked and some of the other Elves nodded giving the Man curious looks.

Max sighed inwardly. He had a feeling explaining all this was going to take a while.

****

Sunshine sat back and watched with clinical amusement as the Elves in her group, meeting in one of the upper lounges off the cafeteria of the Academy, began to read their personality profiles, some of them silently mouthing words. One of the Elves in her group was Elrohir, though not Elladan, for Vorondur had decided to keep them separate. Elladan had in fact been assigned to Vorondur.

Elrohir looked up from his reading and spoke. “I’ve heard of this, of course. You sort of pick up things like this when you’re living under the same roof as a psychiatrist like Ron, but I’m a bit confused with this explanation.”

“In what way?” Sunshine asked.

“What exactly is this ‘functional analysis’?”

“There are eight cognitive functions. Four of them deal with perception and the other four with judgment. Perception deals with how we access information about the world around us, while judgment deals with how we organize that information within us so it makes sense. Under perception we have sensing and intuition and under judgment we have thinking and feeling. Now, we all engage in these functions but we do it differently because we’re all different, right? Even you, Roy are different in many ways from your identical twin.”

Elrohir nodded. “Yes. Do you know if Dan typed the same way as I?”

“Actually he didn’t. You’re an ISFJ and he’s an ESFJ. You actually use the same cognitive functions but not in the same order, so you actually complement one another pretty well.” She paused to let that sink in a bit before continuing with her explanation.

 “So, as to cognitive functions, we are either extraverted, in other words, oriented to the external world of people and experiences outside ourselves, or introverted, oriented to one’s internal world of thoughts, ideas, feelings and memories. So, let’s take a look at your profile Roy. As an ISFJ, your primary process is Introverted Sensing. That means you tend to review past experiences, what was, to inform you about what is. Coupled with that is Extraverted Feeling, which tends to consider others and the group, organizing to meet their needs and honor their values and feelings. These two are your main cognitive functions, the ones you rely upon the most when dealing with the world around you. You’re a healer, I believe is the term you use, right?”

Elrohir nodded. “We prefer to use that term to keep us separate from Mortal doctors, since our approach is more holistic, even more so than those Mortals who do practice holistic medicine.”

Sunshine nodded. “And I bet that when you act as a healer, you draw upon your past experiences dealing with illness and disease and what-have-you to deal with the patients you treat today and you are constantly considering the needs of your patients over your own. Am I correct?”

Elrohir nodded again, his eyes unfocused as he thought through what the Mortal was saying. When he refocused his attention on her, she was surprised to see real respect in his eyes. “And these other two functions, Introverted Thinking and Extraverted Intuiting?”

“Your thinking is introverted, turned toward the subject,” Sunshine explained. “You tend to take the information you’ve gathered to fit a preconceived framework or model, figuring out the principles on which something works and checking for inconsistencies, clarifying definitions to get more precision. And because your thinking process is introverted, when it is operative, you appear to others as aloof, as if you find them wanting in some way when all you’re really doing is focusing your energy inward.”

“So Roy isn’t being a snob when he’s thinking hard, then?” Cennanion asked with a smile.

Elrohir gave him a supercilious look. “I’m always a snob, Conan. You should know that by now.”

The others in the group laughed. When they calmed down, Elrohir turned back to Sunshine. “And this last thing, Extraverted Intuiting?”

“That means that as you interpret situations and relationships you are usually drawn to change what is for what could possibly be. You are good at noticing what is not said and evaluating the situation within that context. I imagine that’s a very good trait for any healer to have, don’t you think?”

“Definitely,” Elrohir said with much feeling.

“Now this fourth function, in humans at least, is the least used during the formative years in one’s life,” Sunshine continued. “Usually it doesn’t manifest itself until later when the person is more mature. Sometimes it doesn’t show up even then.” She flashed them a sardonic look. “I suspect that with you lot that won’t be an issue.”

They all laughed. “Well, some of us are more mature than others,” Thandir said, “and some of us never seem to grow up.” He winked at Edrahil sitting next to him and the Reborn, who now called himself Ed, obliged him by sticking out his tongue and making a rude noise.

The others smiled at the byplay. “So, to finish up with Roy’s analysis, putting these four functions together, we get the ISFJ type, someone who likes to work behind the scenes. ISFJs tend to be quick, easygoing, neat, orderly and given to a higher sense of duty and obedience, finding their energy within — that’s the Introversion — and their reality in those things they can see, hear, feel, taste and smell, so Sensing. That energy is then focused outwardly in the service of others, which is where Feeling comes into play, but always in an orderly and timely fashion, hence your Judging preference. So, ISFJs tend to find meaning in life by serving others and making them happy. Does that about sum you up, Roy?”

“Wow! It’s right on the button,” Cennanion exclaimed before Elrohir could answer and the younger son of Elrond simply nodded. All the Elves in the group looked impressed and Sunshine could see the respect in their eyes as they re-evaluated her and her abilities.

“So, who’s next?” she asked and she wasn’t at all surprised when they all raised their hands.

****

“So I’m an ESTJ,” Glorfindel said, perusing the profile Vorondur had given him. “Are there any other ESTJs in the house?” He looked around the library where Vorondur was holding his class.

At the moment, it consisted of all four groups which he had agreed to take, but after this particular meeting, each group would meet separately. With his schedule being so flexible, Vorondur could meet with the groups at any time that was convenient, and for Elves, meeting at three in the morning was no more a hardship than meeting at three in the afternoon. The only consideration was to accommodate the shifts of the healers but again that was not a problem, since, at the moment, all of them worked during the day under Geoffrey Harris’ watch.

“Me,” Brethorn said, raising his hand. He now went by Brian. He flashed Glorfindel a smile. “Must be a Reborn thing.” Glorfindel smiled back.

“Well, it can’t be,” Finrod said with a little bit of exasperation, “because I’m a Reborn and according to this I’m ENFJ. So, what does it all mean, exactly? How do we use this information and what does it have to do with anger management?”

“The key to anything is self-knowledge,” Vorondur said. “Your depression and Loren’s anger are both symptomatic of a larger thing, namely the shadow of the Dagor Dagorath which looms over us.”

“Do you think so?” Finrod asked. “I thought my depression was from getting shot.”

Vorondur nodded. “Yes, but that was simply the trigger, if you will excuse the unintended pun. I may be wrong, but I suspect you’ve had ambivalent feelings about returning to Middle-earth, even about being reunited with Loren.”

“No, you are not wrong,” Finrod said in a whisper, giving Glorfindel a rueful look. Glorfindel simply reached over and gave his arm a squeeze in sympathy.

“And those feelings are perfectly normal and even expected,” Vorondur assured him. “But let’s look at it from Loren’s perspective.”

“His name is Glorfindel,” Finrod said with no little heat, which surprised even Glorfindel. “Do you know how often he had to remind people that he preferred ‘Glorfindel’ over ‘Laurefindil’ when he was living in Aman? So I do not understand why you keep calling him Loren when that is not his name.”

“But it is,” Glorfindel said before Vorondur could answer. “Legally, that is. There is no record of a Glorfindel anywhere here, only of Loren DelaFiore. I’ve been that for so long, I’ve ceased to think about it. And, like it or not, you’re going to have to do the same. You need to start putting ‘Finrod’ or ‘Findaráto’ aside and become Quinn O’Brien, body and soul, or you’ll never make it here. Trust me on that one. And the same goes for all of you.”

“It just seems odd to be accommodating Mortals in this way,” Brethorn said. “It just does not seem… right, somehow.”

“And that is an issue we can certainly address in our classes,” Vorondur said. “But Loren is correct. Until I came to Wiseman, I was more Dr. Ron Brightman than I was Vorondur Calandilion. Even now, that hasn’t completely changed. Now, I want to return to our original discussion with regards to Loren’s anger being symptomatic of the coming war. This past semester at the Academy has been very difficult for you and you’ve had to deal with a lot of unexpected events, such as the accreditation assessment, which was stressful enough, but then there was the blizzard and ice storm. On top of that there was Alex. You were in the unenviable position of having to protect the Academy from Alex and then having to protect Alex from himself.”

He paused, giving Glorfindel a sympathetic look. “Your anxieties have overwhelmed your individual ability to address potential threats, leading to that outburst with Stoner at the hospital when Alex was hurt in the avalanche and now it’s complicated your reunion with Finrod. You are as ambivalent about that as he is and neither one of you is able to decide if reuniting is a good thing or a bad thing, and for whom.”

For a long moment, no one spoke. Glorfindel stared at the profile in his hand, his expression becoming more thoughtful. Finally he looked up at Vorondur. “And you got all that from my being an ESTJ?”

Vorondur laughed. “No, actually because you appear to be a counter-phobic Enneagram Type 6, but we won’t get into that. Let’s just concentrate on these personality types for now.”

“Counter-phobic?” Glorfindel repeated.

“You run toward danger, not away,” Vorondur answered simply.

Glorfindel nodded. “So, what now?”

“We’ll go through everyone’s profile so you understand exactly what it means and why,” Vorondur suggested and when everyone nodded he continued. “So, Loren, you and Brethorn share the same personality type. Why don’t we look at that first? ESTJ types are born administrators and….”

Olórin and Fionwë watched unclad as Vorondur went through the profiles with the other Elves in his group while keeping an eye on the other two groups being facilitated by Max and Sunshine.

*So, what’s your type?* Fionwë asked Olórin.

*Oh, I’m definitely an ENTP.*

*Really? How do you figure that?*

*I don’t prefer to lead unless pushed into it. You know my greatest gift is inspiring others to do the right thing. Also, I’m rather fond of verbal byplays and witticisms and improvisatory one-upmanship. That’s a strong and dominant Extraverted-Intuiting process. Yourself?*

“Oh, ENFP. You know how I like to live dangerously by interacting with the Mortals.*

They both laughed, though none of the Elves noticed.

****

Note: I would like to thank Kevana for helping me type many of the Elves and Mortals in the Elf Academy series. It’s been a lot of fun trying to figure these people out. For those who are interested in learning more, an excellent and very readable book is Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Theusen, TypeTalk: The 16 Personality Types That Determine How We Live, Love and Work [ISBN 978-0-440-50704-8]. You can also find information online. Check out personalitycafe(dot)com.