ISTP 8w9 Characters
Dominant Introverted Thinking—striving to understand how things work to hack existing systems: Neil is all logic where Christy is pure emotion; he is rational, detached, analytical, and determined to create his own cure for blindness. He performs a lot of experimental work in secret in his cabin, so no one knows what he is up to and accuses him of being a “Dr. Frankenstein.” Whenever Christy pushes him to do anything based on sentiment, Neil points out all the logical reasons it’s a mistake, ranging from the impracticalities involved to the racism, bigotry, feuding, and other problems rampant in the Cove.
Auxiliary Extroverted Sensing—acting on what exists by living in the moment and hands-on learning: He eagerly helps Christy teach classes on science and physical education, where he enjoys challenging the kids to take up the old Scottish games of strength and camaraderie (it also lets him show off how strong he is). Neil spends all of his time when he’s not mending broken people, fishing, hunting, hiking, exploring, reading, and staying in constant motion; he fills his cabin with herbs and things of interest, and learns mostly by “doing.”
Tertiary Introverted Intuition—specific insights and premonitions, and a singular state of mind: He sometimes has low Ni insights into people or their motivations, and zings Christie once or twice with a sharp barb that exposes her real intentions and what she hopes to get out of the interaction.
Inferior Extroverted Feeling—an awkwardness around emotions and little desire to meet others’ expectations: Unlike Christy, Neil works with the society he is in, tolerating it, respecting it, and placating people who believe in the old superstitions rather than dismissing them as nonsense. He uses racism as an argument not to teach Dan until Dan earns his respect; saying if Dan makes a mistake, they’ll lynch him for it—and they won’t trust Neil anymore, after he spent decades trying to convince them he’s still one of them. His low Fe also erupts into meltdowns from time to time, where he becomes emotional in public, loses his temper, or gets into fierce quarrels.
Enneagram: 8w9
Enneagram 8 – defiant and strong-willed, with a need to control their environment and assert themselves to get what they want: ?
7 wing brings in a heady secondary influence, where positive re-framing and optimism takes flight: Neil is hot-tempered and opinionated, and doesn’t like to be told what to do or to make compromises. The more Christy tries to get him to accept Dan Scott and teach him medicine, the more he resists and pulls away from her. He has almost constant fights with David over their strongly opposed worldviews; Neil is a militant agnostic / atheist and believes in evolution, whereas David argues for a faith-based, literal approach of scripture. Whenever Neil gets upset, he shouts at people, and comes to regret it later, such as when he angrily lectures Christy about the children sharing a drink dipper during an outbreak of scarlet fever. It’s hard for him to admit to being wrong, to apologize, or to let his feelings show. His first reaction is often anger. Neil isn’t afraid to stand up to anyone and tell them off, or to defy them and do his own thing instead.
9 wing brings in a desire to mediate conflict by being the top dog whose peace nobody disturbs, with a gentle side: When his “dead” wife shows up and admits she let him think she was dead, but really just abandoned him for a decade, Neil cuts her off mid-sentence and rejects having much more to do with her, then rethinks it later and comes back to hear her out. He is much more tolerant of people’s flaws than Christy and argues that she needs to cut them slack. His 9 wing is willing to make space for people if they don’t push him too far, and he feels bad later about his hot temper if it makes Christy feel upset at him or he knows it hurt her feelings. He can be gentle with certain people (kids), and in one episode, Christy marvels at how he soothed a hurting soul just as tenderly as Fairlight would have in his place.
