Frank Frink is one of the most volatile and emotionally driven characters in The Man in the High Castle, making his personality type difficult to pin down at first glance. Portrayed by Rupert Evans, Frank shows clear traits of an ISFP personality type with an Enneagram 6w5 core. His intense personal values, reactive decision-making, and struggle between fear and defiance reveal a character driven not by strategy or ideology, but by deeply internalized emotion and a desperate need to respond to injustice.
ISFP 6w5 Characters
Why is Frank Frink from The Man in the High Castle an ISFP? Continue reading for my argument using cognitive functions! The headers for each section are clickable, so you can easily access more information about the dominant function and the Enneagram type, or discover more characters who share the type.
The only ads you will ever see on this page are for my books. If you want to learn more about MBTI or Enneagram types, please support my work. Book sales are how I keep this site ad-free!
Introverted Feeling
Frank showcases the best and the worst of Introverted Feeling. The worst is, unless he has a personal, emotional investment in someone, he does not care what happens to them, and winds up callously using them to further his own agenda. When Ed McCarthy takes the blame for the gun Frank created, Frank saves his life, but also endangers Robert Childan’s by outing him as being complicit in a forgery that he designed. This gets them all into hot water with the Japanese mafia, and ruins Childan’s business, which he cares nothing about, other than a source of revenue. He cares deeply about a few folks, but is morally blind toward others, making his empathy highly selective.
Ed multiple times warns him their actions could get other people killed, but Frank doesn’t care as long as it gets revenge on the Japanese for the murder of his sister and her children. His rage comes from a personal vendetta, rather than being rooted in a genuine desire for freedom. When the Resistance first asks him to join, Frank refuses, because “what has that got to do with me?” He only cares and wants to be involved if it affects him on a personal level. He doesn’t question if his actions are justified, but reframes them as necessary, showing how his Fi can rationalize away cruel actions if it aligns with a personal moral narrative (I am good, they are bad, they deserve whatever I can give them).
Eventually, however, his Fi shifts in a new direction and takes responsibility for liberating the Occupied States. He develops a strong interest in helping and saving people. For a time, when in the Neutral Zone, after blowing up a Japanese high command building and almost dying in the fire, Frank becomes something of a pacifist, who even accepts his eventual death as having come to terms with his life and his choices.
His values are so absolute, he refuses to hand over information to the Japanese that might hurt Juliana Crain, in exchange for getting his sister and her children freed. He suffers tremendous emotional pain but not once does he turn to anyone else for emotional support; Frank quietly deals with his inner anguish and comes up with ways to “avenge” past wrongs. He is emotionally intense and once he divides from someone in his mind, it is hard to connect again. He is just “done” with them after that point, since his values operate in absolutes.
Extraverted Sensing
Frank initially works in a very hands-on job; he is an artist who creates jewelry in his spare time, which reflects his inner self (FiSe) and is meaningful. He does not want to create anything that he doesn’t feel connected to on some level. He also works in a factory making faux guns. He impulsively bores out one so it will fire bullets, then buys them from Childan on the black market, and intends to kill the Crown Prince on his visit, after losing his sister and her kids.
He knows he is walking to his death frequently, but gets caught up in the moment; shooting Inspector Kido when his cover is blown just before the building blows up, almost revealing his cover when spying on the Japanese, exposing Robert as an accomplice in a forgery scheme for immediate effect, etc. He wants to design two of Lincoln’s cufflinks to bring in as much quick cash as possible, even though Robert insists that is too risky and could get them exposed (“two are better than one”). He escalates any situation he is in, in real-time, by reacting instead of stepping back to evaluate the consequences.
Even in his forgeries, Frank pays attention to minor details; he adds a rubbing to the Indian breastplate he makes, saying that it would have worn down against the man’s clothing over the years he wore it; it’s these minor details that help convince the Japanese his forgeries are real. He is willing to bore into a bomb to steal the crystals and create a new one, a risky task that he must do by hand, on his knees, in a hole in the ground where at any moment, they could be discovered. Frank is at ease with risky, hands-on situations, rather than wanting to avoid them (unlike an intuitive).
One way Frank deals with his pent-up energy is to have a one-night stand with a woman in the Resistance, but much like Ed in the Neutral Zone, he intends it as a physical pleasure and release, rather than any long-term investment on his part or a desire for a relationship.
Introverted Intuition
Where Juliana is full of hope at seeing what’s on one of the forbidden cinema tapes, Frank has a completely bleak, negative reaction to it… because he knows what will happen next: the Japanese will do anything to suppress that information, including killing people he cares about, and he is right. He warns her not to do anything stupid or dangerous, because he knows where it will lead. He accepts that the negative outcome is the most likely scenario and becomes resigned to it, a tendency of low Ni.
After Kido murders his family and shrugs it off as an honest mistake, Frank loses all of his former objectivity and locks into a narrow perspective and goal for his life; he wants revenge and to destroy the Japanese, and he becomes so fixated on this, his behavior escalates into reckless levels. This is Ni, locking onto a single goal that has to be realized at any cost.
Extraverted Thinking
Frank winds up falling into a Te-grip, where his upper functions cease to behave as they should, and he over-uses his callous inferior function to “think badly.” One example is that he starts seeing people as tools to use to get what he wants, rather than as human beings with value; he doesn’t care about them, except to use them to further his agenda or achieve a goal. He blows people up, shoots them, involves them in dangerous situations without their consent and without thinking about the risk to their loved ones. He betrays Ed, and tells him to get lost, that he doesn’t want to be friends anymore, after finding out Ed did what he had to do to escape (it’s fine for Frank to deal with the Japanese, but not for Ed to do so).
He is logical enough to know his actions will achieve what he wants them to (assassinating the Crown Prince will be a huge win for the Resistance, and send a political message), but it’s all motivated from a place of resentment, anger, and emotion. Although Frank thinks his plans are logical, they are often ineffectual or poorly structured, causing more problems than they solve. (He cannot shoot the Crown Prince, because a child would see him do it, and then has to go on the run when he is blamed for the attempted assassination, for example.)
The Enneagram 6
Frank starts off as sensible, cautious, and respectful of what the Japanese could do to them. He cautions Juliana not to do anything reckless, to run off with the tapes, or to become involved with the Resistance. When she goes missing, he covers for her, is aware that the phone is bugged and careful what he says to her on the line (“Have fun camping!”). Loyally, he does not tell Inspector Kido anything about her whereabouts, the films, or where he might be able to find her, even after they bring in his sister and her kids as leverage. For a long time, he is respectful of his authority figures, until they prove themselves to be unreasonable and callous (killing his sister and her children, even though he insisted he knew nothing, and then refusing to apologize for it).
Even though Frank makes some dumb choices, he is never unaware of the risks when doing so, and he starts off with a healthy sense of superego (6s are obedient to their beliefs, which involve a lot of “should” – he should not betray his friends or benefit while they suffer, which leads him to turn himself in for Ed). After he survives a few encounters with the Japanese, he becomes angry enough to cease caring about his personal safety as much and engages in increasingly risky behaviors, out of a higher moral 6 obligation to do something about the “bad people” in their midst. He just wants Kido to pay at first, but it later expands into a broader need to be a part of the Resistance, and to fight against their unreasonable oppressors. Anger is his second response to fear; he sees what threatens them all and wants to attack it, where he used to avoid it and stay hidden in a small life.
Though he still risks his life many times, Frank also is aware of wanting to protect Ed; he tells him no, he will not be going into the Reich to find Juliana, that “they kill people like you and me there” (Jews). He is also suspicious of Juliana’s feelings for Joe, and doesn’t believe her when she says nothing happened. When he meets Joe Blake, he is antagonistic toward him, but still hands over his money to save his life, because Juliana asked him to do it.
The 5 Wing
Where his friend Ed voices his thoughts and argues and pushes back against people, Frank shuts down, locks into a narrow way of thinking, and insists on doing things even when people tell him no. He does not need their approval or want it, because he trusts his own thinking and insights. He doesn’t seek their support or want their help, and sometimes defies the Resistance, in insisting he will be the one to take on a dangerous mission.
Frank copes with any overwhelming emotions by drawing inward and processing it on his own terms, or compartmentalizing it into actions that must be taken, rather than allowing himself to experience the full emotional impact of what he must do in a time of war. Like John Smith, this makes him appear callous to others, particularly Ed, who has a more moralistic 6ish tone. Frank can emotionally detach in ways that allow him to make cold decisions, in sharp contrast to his emotional nature (being fine with casualties of war, and innocent people dying, provided they hit their target).
He would rather rely on himself than on others, even when their support could help him succeed.
Read other Man in the High Castle character profiles.
