funkymbtifiction answered:

Sure you’re not. But if you take over the world, I want in.



(Notice how my brain immediately switched to “villain” after you said “popular” simply because you used Voldemort as an example. I love my INTJ villains, so if you were hoping for something other than villains, it sucks to be you.)



Many INTJ villains fail because they have to; fiction usually dictates the good guys win (unless you are George R.R. Martin), so the INTJ has to make some stupid nonsensical mistake that their Te would probably not make in real life. Such as: leaving the hero alive (so he can cause trouble later) rather than shooting him in the face. Or stopping to boast about what a genius you are, which gives him time to figure out how to stop your maniacal plan.



If Te-using villains were like actual evil Te’s and had zero moral foundation, the movie or television series would be short, because they would simply “deal with the problem” (Te) and kill the heroes right out of the gate. Like, for example (because I love using him as one) – the cardinal in The Musketeers TV show. The series does an excellent job of establishing him as a solid Ni-Te thinking villain, where most of his decisions and evil actions are motivated through Te.

But then, there’s Lady deWinter.



As my INTJ friend pointed out, from a detached “villain” perspective, she is a loose cannon and if this were real life, and the cardinal really was a narcissist incapable of mercy (thus without any moral conscience), killing her would be the most rational solution (Te), because she endangers him at every turn. He cannot control her, she frequently screws up his plans, and threatens to ‘out’ him through association. She’s a psychopath, which means she could turn on him. Any evil INTJ would know this right out of the gate.



But because the screenwriters “like” her, and want her in the plot, the INTJ villain lets her live, in a colossal betrayal of his functional development.



That’s just an example of real life villainy vs. contrived writing. ;)



(If you want to avoid your villain murdering your hero, but still have an NTJ villain, make damn sure it’s not a “convenient” out unworthy of strong Te. Either he never managed to get his hands on your hero, or he has a rational reason for letting him live. Your hero has to be smarter than the evil NTJ villain.)

Anyway, side trip, back to the main point: INTJs fail because of poor Se.

Se is what grounds a Ni into reality. Unless an INTJ develops it, their futuristic vision or expectation lacks realistic expectations. Their perception about people, situations, or ideas will be wrong. They can become so obsessed with their dream of what the future will be, that they neglect to look around them and see what’s happening right now. And, a poor Se will make them “lazy” and “unmotivated,” so they may sit around and scheme or dream or plan and never actually get up and do anything to make those visions real.



(Example of extreme inferior-Se laziness: the cardinal telling deWinter to plant evidence in someone’s room, when he could walk upstairs and do it himself. :P)



OR… they will act irrationally and impulsively with Se, and ruin the entire thing, because FOR ONCE they didn’t think first and then can’t scramble fast enough (more poor Se) to cover their tracks (see the Musketeers season one two-part finale for a great example of the cardinal doing this).



Voldemort failed because of his arrogance. He was intelligent enough to assume he had covered all his bases and that no one could beat him. He failed because he could not adapt to his environment (bad Se). He failed because he was so fixated on making his personal vision of the future real (I will never die, I will be invincible) he did not look around or bother internalizing the meaning of Potter. He focused on the threat and missed everyone’s motivations. Because he is poor at Fi, he made a mistake common to Te users (good or bad): he underestimated how much people care.

Voldemort murdered Lily Potter, which turned Snape against him. He assumed it would not matter. He was wrong. That killed him long before his actual death. He was dead the minute he discounted Snape’s feelings.



You see this in a “good” INTJ character in the Wolf Hall books who makes the same mistake when he arranges a rational marriage for Henry VIII (a foreign princess, an alliance, everyone wins!) and then forced him to hold to it, due to diplomacy, even though Henry hated her. Cromwell signed his death certificate the minute he did that.



What is RATIONAL is not always good for people’s feelings.



Almost all INTJ villains fall into one of these traps: bad Se (misjudging situations, being delusional, failing to adapt in a dangerous situation, or acting impulsively at the wrong moment, because they cannot sense the right moment) or Te devaluation of others’ emotions (killing someone another person cares about, which causes them to turn on them later).

Non-villains still make these mistakes, but there’s nothing vindictive behind it.

Now, how as a sane, moral human being can you succeed?:

Develop your Se. Stop just trusting your hunches and look for evidence. Stop fixating on the future and engage with the present. Stop standing on the sidelines and physically engage with the world once in awhile. Stop being so intellectual that you are a physically lazy human being.



Develop your Fi. If you dismiss and belittle people, sneer at them, etc., they will not like you. To get anywhere in this world, people must like you. Healthy Te understands the world is “give and take” and unnecessary drama, insults, sarcasm, etc., is unprofessional and immature. You need not engage with people’s feelings, but you must respect them and the power they have over other people, even if they seem silly.

Don’t be afraid to take a chance. Sometimes, you have to stop thinking and try. If you fail, you recoup and try again. We are not defined by our failures, but by our willingness to keep trying.



Give yourself reasonable goals. Ones you can work toward in the short and long term, which will allow you to see you are moving forward. If you develop your Se enough, your goals will be achievable, because you will have a sense of how much you can do. Using Te too much will wear you out, so pace yourself.



Go forth INTJs and be awesome! :)

- ENFP Mod

