MBTI Type: ESFP

Galadriel is an unlikable and rather unhealthy example of an ESFP in a permanent Se/Te loop. She devalues everyone else in pursuit of her own beliefs and alienates people by coming on too strong and making demands rather than working together with them to accomplish her goals. She acts immediately to get what she wants, whether that is to demand the humans abide by ancient laws (which she respects) and support her quest to return to Middle-earth by supplying her with ships and men, or to break out of the prison and get caught in the armory. She leaps into battle, takes enormous risks, and lives largely in the moment on a regular basis, with no thought to how her actions are going to affect the outcome (in a belief that she’s supporting the end result that she wants). Examples of this include insulting the humans rather than asking for their help, breaking out of their prison, being belligerent until she sees into the pilantir, and even jumping off the ship to Valinor in the middle of the ocean, with no clear way of getting home (is she going to swim?). She’s an adept fighter, and doesn’t mind putting herself at risk—she is even reckless in doing so at times. She is unaffected by emotions other than her own—she’s deeply hurt by the loss of her brother, and that motivates all she does, but she shows no concern for the humans around her, or attempts to help any of them when the volcano implodes the town. She only respects others who prove their courage. She always tries to use force and demands to get her needs met, rather than persuasion, and Halbrand tells her she would garner more support if she didn’t alienate everyone with her fierce opinions. Galadriel is an effective general who teaches others how to fight by showing them how, and relying on her extensive knowledge of the orcs, but who also doesn’t know when her own Elf-warriors are getting sick of the quest, or how to win them over to her side. Intuition is, by far, her blind spot. She is single-minded, convinced that she’s right about Sauron’s survival, and driven to accomplish her goals—but her actual intuition sucks. Her insights were often wrong or late to the game; Halbrand deceived her easily and she never thought about him being Sauron (in spite of her searching for Sauron, and being the only person in Middle-earth convinced of his survival). She believes what she wants to believe, and leaping to conclusions, rather than being careful with details—she assumes Halbrand is the lost king of the mortals simply because she sees him carrying a significant sigil, and pressures him to become that king in order to help her defeat Sauron. Galadriel is so sure of all of her convictions and assumptions that she never checks the lineage or does any research, a major oversight on her part. She also does not tell the Elves Sauron’s true identity, which will cause him to take over Middle-earth.

Enneagram: 8w9 so/sp

Galadriel comes on much too strong most of the time, by implying that people are wrong, stupid, foolish, or cowards. She asserts herself against everyone she meets, sometimes to her own determent, such as when she insults a queen whose ships she needs to return to Middle-earth. She refuses to listen to anyone else or take their council, while seeing her revenge as justified because of what Sauron did to her brother. She threatens to torture the Elvin leader of the orcs in one episode, then lectures a young man about not pursuing revenge or wanting to kill his enemies in the next. Because she is objectively Right (in her own mind), she insists on having her way, and doesn’t compromise with people as much as she should, until Halbrand reminds her that being nice to people, and being liked by them, gets her further in life. Galadriel makes decisions through her gut instincts—when she knows her role in Middle-earth is not yet done, she jumps off the ship, with no way home other than to hope someone comes along and rescues her. She thinks her motives are just, so others should cater to her, and bulldozes her way through them. She can also be detached and unaffected by others’ needs, numbing herself to their plight.

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