MBTI Type: INTJ

Dr. Brenner sees potential where others might see problems or threats; he took in 001 and said he had died in the hospital, when in reality, he wanted to study him, learn from his abilities, and then set up a system of finding similar kids and training them for… unknown missions, possibly among the military. He has always ‘known’ that Eleven is special, that she has something important to do, and that somehow, everything will work together for a greater end. His single-minded pursuit of his vision means paying no attention to how safe he is being in his experiments; he puts everyone in the building at risk, by keeping around and abusing 001 (rather than locking him up) and allowing him access to the children as an orderly. He is training a bunch of kids, in the assumption none of them will turn against him and use their powers to destroy him, and is willing to use whatever force is necessary to scare them into obedience (even shock collars). He sets up a training system in which they go over the same sorts of intellectual, mental-power games each day to train and strengthen them. He hires people to do things that he doesn’t want to do himself (including shooting innocent people in an attempt to get El back without causing the public to become suspicious of his intentions). He understands that he must maintain order to be safe, so he imposes it through strict rules. Dr. Brenner is impervious to others’ feelings, but also believes in what he is doing. He won’t back down or listen to other people easily, since he always assumes he is right. But he isn’t very proactive in doing things for himself that require strenuous sensory activity, and can be reckless when pursuing El in the first season, showing impulsive Se under stress.

Enneagram: 5w6 so/sp

Brenner’s idea about using psychic children to reach into the minds of others and discern their whereabouts, or even kill them across a great distance, is morally dubious, but also wholly unique and rational. He treats the kids kindly except when they disobey him, when he shows a severe lack of attachment in how he electrocutes them to teach them obedience or to punish them for bullying each other. He also is willing to put El through incredibly painful memories to trigger her psychic powers, as he lets her relieve the traumatic experiences of her childhood in season four, aware that only that can restore her abilities to full power, and even surpass them. He is far less affected by her emotions and pain than Dr. Owens, who wants to pull her out of the machine. Rather than simply attempt to close the link into the upside-down, he wanted to know more about it (presumably), and continued to dabble in dangerous experimentation and psychic phenomena, despite the risk – but he also put protocols in place to restrain anyone he could not control (he implanted 001 with a device that prevented him from using his powers against them; he feared what El could become and attempted to restrain her, etc)… but ultimately, his fascination with the unknown, and his total faith in his ability to handle problems, causes him to be incautious and dangerous.

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