ISTP 9w8 Characters

Tom is very detached and clinical in how he deals with other people and his victims; he knows the rational thing to do is to get rid of the evidence and play a scene to his best advantage, but because of his inferior Fe, he is very awkward about doing this successfully. He at first is ripping people off by pretending to be from a collection agency and asking them to send him checks for “late” payments. When people start closing in on him for this, he takes Mr. Greenleaf up on his offer to go to Italy and bring back his son, only there pretends to have more money and influence than he does, and gets involved with Dickie. He tends to react to things in the moment. After bludgeoning Dickie to death, he weights down the body and chucks it overboard; then burns up the bloodstains in the boat, and sinks it with rocks. He then takes on Dickie’s identity, a risky move, and lives out his life in various places, by stringing along and abandoning Marge, selling Dickie’s boat (and negotiating for a high price), and even convincing the policeman he is someone else. Later, when a friend of Dickie’s turns up and figures out his scheme, Tom kills him, drags his body out to the car, leaves it in the park, and walks home, only to realize he forgot something, and go back to get it. He then plays a game of cat and mouse with the cops, before finally walking away from the whole thing without a scratch on him. His low Ni shows up when we see him already pretending to be Dickie, speaking in his accent, wearing his clothes, and signing his name, implying that he intends to murder him given the chance. He also has a long term plan that involves the Picasso. But his inferior Fe is obvious. Tom has no real ability to connect to others around him, or relate to them on an emotional level. His feelings are often a second too late, and so he makes people like Marge uncomfortable, or comes across to the audience like a “creep.” He IS a psychopath, but even so, he can’t read the room or adjust his behavior to fit the emotional environment, because he rarely thinks about it and considers it irrelevant. The best he can do is come up with logical explanations that manipulate others, by telling them what they do or don’t want to hear.

Enneagram: 9w8

Tom comes across as highly calm and detached, even after he has just killed someone and has to figure out what to do with the body. He acts as if nothing has happened, and goes about business as usual. Even when others confront him about packing Dickie’s stuff, or selling his boat, or possibly being involved in a murder, he remains distant and unflappable, seeming to assume that it’s all going to work out fine (and for the most part, it does). This enables him to fool most people, who think he is just remote and generally pleasant. He does get a little anxious under intense stress, but it rarely keeps him from pretending nothing is wrong and acting normally / in a way that won’t draw suspicion to him. Yet, he can be assertive, aggressive, and intend to defend his turf. He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty, he assumes what he wants is his for the taking, and appears not to regret any of it (and why should he, it’s made him rich!).