ENTJ 8w9 Characters

ENTJs are formidable not only for their quick-thinking solutions but also their insight into others’ motivations and intentions. As his superior at the CIA tells him, Jack has been right about all of his ex-wife’s behaviors and motivations from the start. It’s about time they listened to him. Jack has no problem taking over any situation with no advance notice; he is quick to leap into action, to organize others, and to take quick action for a desired result, whether that includes trying to get Sydney and her boyfriend out of the country before an assassination transpires or in undertaking a rescue operation in SD6. He has a brisk, businesslike manner about him that puts others ill at ease (“I will not be part of a charming little anecdote you use to convince your friends of what an old-fashioned guy you really are”). Jack is objective in his observations and oriented toward success. He’s able to compartmentalize and do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals and protect his identity as a double agent, even if it means hurting someone to save them. His eye is always on the bigger picture and the eventual implications of their actions. Jack has a keen ability to anticipate the moves of his enemies and friends alike, and to determine what is really going on in a situation based on minimal evidence (such as predicting that the hit on Sydney was a test, to determine her status within the agency). Jack trusts his gut instincts enough to lay everything on the line for them. He is invested in a long-term commitment, as a double agent within SD6, with ties to the CIA. He admits to an idealistic view of his wife before he discovered the truth about her identity. Jack is opportunistic and quick to react in his environment, thinking fast on his feet and springing into action with little prior notice. Jack has expensive taste and does not mind high-risk operations; he doesn’t seem to mind life or death situations and has more interest in experiencing new things than in thinking about the past. Jack brings up previous information objectively, without a hint of sentiment or emotional retention; he tells it like it is, and how it happened, with no kind of personal bias. Though he wants to connect to his daughter emotionally, Jack is awkward in doing so and finds it difficult to articulate his feelings. He tells her he sincerely knows how she feels about betrayal, having experienced it himself. Jack goes to great lengths to protect her, although he cannot find the words to tell her he loves her. He becomes intensely uncomfortable in emotionally heightened situations where she needs affirmation from him (inferior Fi).

Enneagram: 8w9

Enneagram 8s are confrontational, confident, and quick to act to protect themselves or their loved ones. They also draw firm lines in the sand. We see this in Jack in the pilot, when his future son-in-law calls him up for permission to ask to marry Sydney, and he retorts Sydney doesn’t care what he thinks, and neither does her fiancé; this is not a phone call to ask permission, but to pat himself on the back about what a down to earth, good, old-fashioned ‘respectful’ guy he is, ergo, he won’t give permission. This hyper-aggressive stance catches her boyfriend off guard, but continues throughout the series—we see him integrate more toward 2 in his dealings with his daughter and desire to connect to her, but his go-to is always assertiveness, handling things immediately, expecting the worst from others, and reacting against it defensively. He doesn’t believe in being weak, offering forgiveness, or giving people second chances once they have betrayed him. His 9 wing makes him withdrawn—he has had nothing to do with Sydney for a long time until he becomes her contact within the CIA. He remains calm at all times, a useful skill when he has to fake his way through difficult situations and/or pass lie detector tests. Under stress, he becomes more reclusive and suspicious, distrusting Irina and her motivations, while being overly confident of his own thinking (a move to 5).