ISTP 9w8 Characters

ISTPs are highly intelligent, analytical, and adaptive to their environment, but also struggle with emotional detachment (in the eyes of other types). They are men of decisive action, formed by logic – and there’s no better example of this than when Simon finds the demon-possessed man and confronts him. The man begs Simon to kill him and put him out of his misery, but Simon says that since he is lucid, he still has a measure of control over the demons – he can hold them back, but if he were to kill this man, the demons would be “free to wander, and possess someone else, who might have less control.” Though it might be merciful to end his life, it would be irrational – because this man serves as a vessel to contain the demons. It feels callous to the man, that he should suffer, but it shows a rational conclusion by Simon, who later only attacks him because the demons attempt to hurt Mary and her companions. Simon earns much praise among the Zealots, because of his unique planning abilities – he looks for unexpected opportunities and builds a plan he intends to carry out around them (Ti/Ni), but is also ready and willing to take immediate action. When Andrew gets upset that John the Baptist has been arrested, Simon says, “Why don’t we just break him out?” He also thinks it would be good to act on Jesus’ behalf and rescue him, suggesting that him telling them to stay behind perhaps was a secret code to come for him instead. He was about to knife a man in the chest, when he noticed his brother walking for the first time in twenty-five years – and immediately abandoned him to pursue a new path. Emotionally, he isn’t responsive; he wants to be part of something larger than himself, but finds his feelings hard to locate. He deeply loves his brother, but avoids him for a long time, not realizing the emotional affect his abandonment would have on him.

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Z is an interesting combination of total chill, calmly telling Judas how to beat the soap out of his garments, and stepping forward to check Johanna’s box for safety before allowing his friends to handle it, and aggression; he joined the Zealots to fight for a cause and had trouble laying down his weapon for peace. He is ready to fight and to defend, but also knows how to take instruction, to submit to Jesus, and when to make no move which could get them into trouble. When the demon-possessed man finds him in the desert, Z doesn’t hesitate to confront him, assess him, and move away from him, seeing him as something over which he has no control and nothing to do for him. Z is somewhat avoidant; he didn’t connect to his brother or check up on him for years, and only believes after he sees him walking again after being crippled for so long. But when he does submit to Jesus, there’s no thought involved—just pure instinctual awareness that this is his new path, and he must follow it with his whole heart, mind, and body.