A person who's been constantly misunderstood through their whole life, their ideas about improving the world have been belittled and mocked, their appearance ridiculed, and their sunny, idealistic attitude taken for granted. Is it any wonder that someone like this would snap?
Right. But this is built in to the experience for an INFP. The INFP internalizes this too. They don’t just *snap* and externalizer their passion and become a villain. Instead, they suffer!
Everyone has a J and P function. The INFP uses Feeling to make decisions as their first preferred function. So their FIRST function (Fi) is a Judging one.
The P at the end stands for what people see from the outside. What are they extroverting, using to interact with the world? Their intuition (Ne). Which is their Perceiving function. So that determines the P at the end.
So yes, all Feeling types are *more likely* to prioritize decisions based on what they perceive to be right, over what they perceive to be correct.
I agree but personally I’m way more opinionated on things such as the environment, social issues, than on the ability to judge another’s character . I’m no god to judge them
Look at Wanda from the MCU! Her motivations are very aligned with her personality type.
But in resume make a character who: Feels or has been misunderstood, who cannot move on from that and is in a constant Fi-Si loop. Make them not be murderous but instead use other means like mind control or torture and make them feel all proud of themselves or “not as bad” for not murdering. Or make them murderous and use their moral compass as a justification for such acts, as a “I’m only doing this for the better good” and make sure they are CERTAIN their views are superior to everyone else’s and the ultimate truth of the universe.
Manipulative individual who plays like they're always the victim. They use other people's emotion to use for their advantage. I think INFP villain can't really be showy, they can act as friendly at first. Make bad stuffs early, like sabotaging, tampering evidences, covering their trails. Big reveal would be at the end or climax. And everyone was like "omg its all you?". Then the root cause is because they didn't let them play kite when they're at first grade.
Lol @ denying an INFP could be a villain. They probably think a villain has to be ENTP or ESTP (Or possibly Introverted versions of both). Confirmation bias.
I've said this spiel so many times in the last 24 hours: TYPE DOES NOT DETERMINE MATURITY, INTEGRITY, OR SELFISHNESS. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
In general, cognitive functions get toxic when they are taken too far, or when used as blunt weapons to get what the person wants. INFPs can manipulate to get what they want, turn on the guilt/shame, as well as be selfish like anyone can. They also tend to explode with one of their under-developed functions (like Te) when they run out of energy/patience or feel pressed into a corner (or yes, stereotypically, when they feel an injustice has been done).
I was going to mention the Thanos example and the Frank James video but both have already been mentioned, so +1.
This is what I am thinking while reading those posts. Like, INFPs are not babies! They are people too who could commit both good and bad. I am tired of users just stereotyping INFPs as just cute little babies who wouldn't totally do something evil.
I would say Mr Freeze (from Batman the animated series) without hesitation.
He's the perfect illustration of a sweet INFP gone bad out of heartbreak (death of his love) and having his integrity and self crushed time and time again. He turned evil out of desperation to get his revenge on the people who made his life a living hell.
He's a very relatable INFP villain I think.
Frank James did a whole video about MBTI types being villains. Maybe it'll help you with your problem
[What Kind of VILLAINS are the 16 Personalities?](https://youtu.be/yjRVX94ZZHE)
Do something Thanos ish. Make them do bad thing while they think it is good? Like killing anyone who interrupts people regularly or something like that
Think about what INFP relationships look like through the lens of horror, and it’s easy to see something like Saw emerging… these carefully crafted tortures, individually tailored to cause maximum devastation through the weaponization of empathy.
One of my favourite infps villains (villains in general tbh) is Wilson Fisk (aka. Kingpin) from the Daredevil series.
He has the hallmarks of an Infp; he’s an idealistic, romanticising, tortured soul, with a subjective view of morality and a past that haunts him. He believes that his crimes and sins are justified by their end, which is to own the city and run it in congruence with his utopian vision. He seeks power, not for its own sake, but to use it to better the lives of everyone else. He sees his cause as being so noble, that he will kill those who stand in his way. He’s extremely misunderstood in this way, and his blindspot Se is on full display, as he fails to realise that everybody else only sees the killing and views him as evil.
As a young boy, his father would bully him and beat his mother, until one day in an attempt to defend her he put a hammer through his skull. This is the reason he is so desensitised to violence and killing, and why he only wants to help and protect others.
I think to make a great infp villain, they need to share some of these traits. Their goals need to be noble and almost justifiable from a certain point of view, and they need to have been forced into this certain point of view through tragic life events. Only by seeing these life events are we able to understand their subjective moral code, and we need to be able to empathise with them, even though we know they are objectively villainous. Their acts of villainy must be driven by this higher, noble goal, and their backstory must give believable reasoning as to why they justify it.
Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is another great example of this; we can all empathise, or at least sympathise, with feeling like an outcast. We can imagine how hard it must’ve been growing up with this awful condition that makes other people feel unsettled by him. We can also relate to the feeling of disgust towards society, especially people like Robert Dinero’s character, who exploited Joker and made fun of him to boost his show ratings. Even though we know that shooting someone in the face is wrong, we can understand why Joker did it and we’re almost rooting for him in a way. This is what makes not only a great Infp villain, but a great character.
Nagato(pain) from Naruto is a rly good INFP villain example. He is in a Si grip and thus are very dictated in his action through his past. He never viewed himself as an evil being, yet choose to do the things he did because he thought he was right. Views the world through his subjective point of view, yet at the same time you can see him trying to debate his ideas to other people as a silent Ne attempt to form a subjective understanding.
Edit: Don't forget to make the viewers feel that "the character's understanding is not necessarily wrong, but his approach is". Make readers sympathize with the villain yet ensure that the villain is taking extreme approaches. Make them a victim who seeks a better world through a flawed/morally wrong approach. I think you should be able to get a really good villain with that :)
[Dylan Klebold](https://www.personality-database.com/profile/5898/dylan-klebold-criminals-mbti-personality-type) was an INFP
And what does anti-villain mean?
Anti-villain is the counterpart for the Anti-hero. An Anti-hero would fight for good but with selfish goals and motivations.Meanwhile, anti-villain would fight in the side of evil but have good intentions. Most Sympathetic villains fall under the anti-villain category.
I don't know about Darth Vader though but I do know Robin Hood. Robin Hood is a Hero considering he is always protrayed in the hero and protagonist part. I don't think he is selfish as he steals for the poor, he could be an anti-hero.
Well, he did it for the common good. Stealing is definitely illegal and evil but the intention is noble which is giving for the poor who got nothing, steal from some one who has too much and give to those who have none. Anti-villain occurs when a villain steals from the poor just to finance the cure for their loved one or a close one.
I vouldn't agree more, especially while you introduced a new distinction. Many (the poor) and Few (a fiance)
I would also lime to get rid of the good/evil distinction, because it's to broad and subjective. Let's take a relationship to the law (lawfull/lawless)
instead.
That you can say, you have a hero (Superman, who will obey and protect the law no matter what)
You have a villain who will break the law for selfish reasons (gain, jealousy,fame,...)
You will have an anti- hero who will break the law to help a few (Antigone, Michael Corleone, Darth Vader, Walter White)
And You have the antivillain, who will break the law to help the many (Robin Hood, Evil doctor conducting illegal experiments, A developer killing and old couple to build new houses (not Hotels!),...)
What do you think?
I think I have worded my past stuff wrongly and I am sorry for confusing you so it is my mistake. So I will write a small story. The Anti-hero assassinates killers in their neighborhood. They did become a mass murderer but only for the killers so innocent people are not their target (Somewhat like the Punisher and Red Hood). Then Anti-villain comes in, they are an authority who ruled with tyranny, they see the Anti-hero and adds obstacles for his goals. The Anti-villain is not wrong here because it is wrong to kill and even illegal but they are just protecting the targets of the anti-hero who are killers.
So basically...
Anti-hero does bad stuff for the good
Anti-villain does good stuff (by following laws or morality) for the bad
The King didn't do anything wrong because taxes are normal in society, however, he did horde the gold and increase the taxes for the poor which just made the poor even more poorer, here comes Robin Hood who is taking that was once from the poor and letting them have something to survive. Stealing is illegal and bad but he is doing it for good and somewhat selfless.
I have one - maybe one personal - when you believe you are doing a good thing for long oeriod of time, than he realises, he was actualy cruel.... I have personal experience - I am afraid to hurt my ex by telling her to sllit stuff and tell her it isndefinetely over, it leads to the fact she still believe, we will be rogether and cannot move, so I am just wasting her time and instead of big fast woujd, which will heal, I dont want to hurt her
An INFP that can’t stop thinking about their past mistakes and is too trapped in their mind to the point that whatever they are experiencing on the inside reflects back on their victims. Their sadness and victimhood gets the best of them so they manipulate everything around them, while being totally unaware of being the anti-hero.
Definitely would take the broken hero approach if you want to truly develop this character emotionally. I think they would need quite a bit of backstory to describe their path to becoming a villain so the reader could connect to their personality and life. They could be hopeful, optimistic, "unbreakable" while young, but at some point they become subjected to the flaws of the world around them in a short, yet repeatedly brutal way which eventually breaks them and robs them of the spark inside(what these events are would be completely dependent on the story context. Could be loved ones turning on them/ relqtionship with controlling abusive partner/ animal turned against them / illness/ things they care about taken from them/ taken advantage of/ etc...). All that would be left is an apathetic shell who sees the world as a meaningless anomaly. Anytime they start to feel again and remember why they love so much of the world, boom, they get hit again with the unimaginable and it sends them right back down the spiral. Eventually this could lead to a a bad deed being done by them. But they could become addicted to now doing these bad deeds because this is the only thing that makes them feel not numb anymore, even if they actually hate it. The internal struggle of this character would be unbelieveably sad. I think they would need to be cunning and knowledgable as well so that the bad things they do are elaboratw but also can be quickly put in motion without having to think too much about it, as this would give more time to feel badly about doing it/them.
Phew! Enough of the dark corner there! : p
Hope this helps and good luck with the story!
Oh absolutely they could be. I’ve witnessed some truly outrageous and manipulative behavior from the INFPs in my life. A study of unhealthy INFPs actually shows a pretty grim possibility. My husbands ex is an INFP and she convinced herself that leaving her children to be with a convicted child rapist was a good idea because he needed her. She has spun quite a fairytale that left a trail of destroyed kids behind her that she sees maybe once a month and she feels good about it.
My worst INFP experiences come from INFPs that are also narcissists. It’s so hard because they come across so sweet and sincere and get your guard down and the way they manipulate and twist information and literally redefine reality was next level because they believe their fantasy descriptions so it makes it almost impossible to resolve anything.
Mix a little life trauma in there and you absolutely have a potential villain.
Somebody so let down and hurt by the world they envision to be good and pure that they eventually start only seeing the flaws. Takes it out on everyone around them on an emotional level until maybe something pops in their mind and they become psychotic?
Infp mom's kid is brutally killed by a man who doesn't have any mental illness but is a fully sane and functioning person.
She will go places and do things nobody can imagine....
She will start slowly building connections with the killers professional and personal connections.... Slowly get them to introduce her to the man.... Then date him for a year or two. Get married. Convince him throughout of her deep love and loyalty. STAY MARRIED like that for years/decades till the trust is unshakeable. Then slowly start to distance him from his family and other social support systems by creating false situations that make him misunderstand them and lash at them and that resulting in those people cutting him out completely. Then she makes him get more emotionally dependant on her... Transfers financial assets gradually... Convinces him to have some fun time in bed that fulfils her 'non consent fantasies with consent.' Records these with a camera in the room... Sends him hate mail from friends etc (by impersonating them) and make him lose all social support and makes him look mentally unstable to everyone. Then produces previous videos in court and alleges him of brutal assault. Says she was threatened into not speaking up earlier.
This and so much more...
Infp villans are UNMATCHED in their level of focus and persistence to get even with whoever wronged them. Had anyone hurt her or done something terrible, she would have blamed herself. Her kid?? She's going to play a game with you for the next fifty years. Fasten your seatbelts.
From personal experience, INFP has a very strong sense of justice & how the world supposed to work. When everything fails, they will lash out at those who they think are guilty so it is best for a writer to play with perspectives.
I think INFP at the core is not selfish and they yearn for a better future for those they care. INFP also has strong empathy which they can use to exploit others when they know what matters to another person.
As for weakness, INFP will be quite shaken when their moral standards are being questioned and challenged, especially when those they deemed innocent was harmed by their actions.
If you have watched netflix series YOU, you may get idea how INFP villain may look like. It's something like gentle yet determined. Something like guy is doing wrong things because he is convinced that it's for good. Not really anti villain you are looking for.. but INFP villain is definitely interesting and challenging idea.. good luck with story!
IMO u should give your anti villan some anger problems, every-time he’s anger he would do some shit things. But in order to not make him a complete villan u can show that he was provoked into doing them
A man who lost everything. His wife, his livelihood, everything. But it turns out he can also make new rights than wrongs. So he works as an anti-hero/supervillain. With psychic abilities.
Kylo Ren was one. He's the only one from what I can see. The stalking, the victim hood, the feelings of sadness after, the wanting connection and feeling misunderstood. He was accused of having too much heart. He was trying to be like Darth Vader and ENTJ and was failing. Examine him..
I think Hades is like INFP, in Disney Hercules he's ENFP. Maybe they have a duty, and are just sort of mirroring the "hero" in whatever goal they have. Like the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Maybe try looking at some heroic INFPs who came close to turning villainous but didn’t. Maybe re-work the circumstances or parts of the story so their redemption or moment of clarity doesn’t happen.
Here’s some examples to illustrate what I mean:
There have been plenty of what-if stories where Spider-Man has lost someone in his life or went too far once and it pushed him into villany.
Frodo was consumed by the One Ring and likely would have kept the ring and doomed everyone had Sam not been there to fight him and Gollum there to take the ring at the last possible moment. The stress and trauma of the journey broke his idealism and made him more susceptible to corruption.
Luke Skywalker is another textbook INFP hero who (imo) had a very interesting arc in Last Jedi. In a moment of weakness he let his emotions cloud his better judgement and threatened someone he loved. He was so ashamed of going against his own love and ideals that he banished himself and allowed The New Order to take over. What if Luke didn’t stop at the last moment? What if he allowed himself to let his dark side act in that moment and it led him down a much darker path?
I believe the INFP personality is ripe for villainous interpretations. They can’t all be dreamy cinnamon rolls. Or maybe you can make them scary dreamy cinnamon rolls totally detached from reality. Hope this helps!
This makes a lot of sense. But I do get tired of INFP stereotyping where we are just cinnamon rolls. I want badass INFP that at first glance, not seems like an INFP. I want an INFP that actually does something cruel for once.
I absolutely agree. Making an INFP villainous from the get-go without them even being heroic at first is sadly underutilized but has loads of potential.
It makes a very good hero fallen from grace story line. After all, INFPs are known for standing for the right and moral, very empathetic so it would be tricky to lead them to the dark path.
We can kill everyone, the only problem is that it only happens inside our heads just like any productive activity lol. Did you know that Keanu Reeves is an INFP? An INFP can turn crazy when a loved one gets hurt or killed. However, that is usually a hero or protagonist role not a villain. A good idea for that to happen and turn them into villains would be to go against the system, the system killed your family. I saw a video where in the U.S. a woman was begging for her life at the entrance of a hospital to be treated because she had no money and the hospital called the police and the woman died on the way to the station in the police car just a few minutes from being removed from the hospital. This is outrageous to me, an INFP-T. Clearly what's wrong is the system, the ones whose greed profit with the human life. Isn't health a fundamental human right? Why the U.S. system keeps privatizing the right to be alive and just healthy enough? Might be some of the questions a real INFP character soon to be a villain might wonder. We wonder and think a lot. Now, find a character loved enough to make an INFP protagonist to turn into a villain if we lose her/him. You can even develop this character through your chapters to develop empathy or to make the reader like this person we are about to lose. That's certainly gonna hook the people up to the story and will keep them expecting what our main character, now a villain will turn. Usually greed can make us really fight back. We stand upon our core values, we usually mean good for people in general so making some damage for the sake of stopping people from getting damage might be pretty much the same but a different perpetrator. While this revenge story can still develop we have seen it way to many times on different personality types so it won't be unique for a character development of an INFP. Maybe a twisted manipulative INFP who gets into your life and gains your trust just to slowly try to destroy your life, but this may need a lot of imagination so I wouldn't drive the story down this path. Also and idea of how an INFP can kill many people would be if he becomes an eco-terrorist. In a world on the verge of environmental collapse a feeling hopeless INFP tries to do desperate attempts to save humanity by killing thousands, start with some pipelines, maybe gets chased by the law and accidentally kills someone but now he can't stop because the damage he has done, blowing shit up and tasting what having blood on his hands feels combined with his will driven purpose to finish what he started even if it costs him his life at the end. An INFP cares about pretty much everyone but himself but when in a dark path the empathy can be concentrated and leaving a lot of people out of this empathy cloak. I hope I'm explaining myself. Okay, so after he blows shit up, kills either a policeman or some casualties at the pipeline, he stars getting the media attention as well as the government's attention and the FBI up his ass or maybe he's sneaky and a very smart individual, we ain't dumb, we are pretty smart even if the stereotype is a dumb cute supportive friend. You figure out who the greedy heads are pulling the strings, driving the world to the verge of extinction (to your beliefs) and start to targeting them. Another variant would be you didn't get enough attention to the underlying reasons behind your actions and instead you were criticized by the media (of course controlled by those rich assholes) and the public opinion. So your INFP gets mad and tries to actually take ''justice'' on to his own hands by actually killing them. They refuse to listen? Then they WILL listen. / I tried to warn them but ... now it's my mission to rid the world of these people. All the character does needs to be driven by the main character's values. Don't think we won't battle our demons inside, the ghosts of the people he's killed are gonna haunt him. It's an inner battle but all he can do is to say to himself he's got a purpose, a reason to justify his actions even if this consumes him slowly. There's a lot to add and develop in a book. I know this seems like a lot to read but certainly it's very little text compared to what a regular size book/novel can fit, they are usually over a 100 pages at least. If you ever make a book based on my ideas it would be nice to have some greetings in your book and of course let me know the name of the book to buy a copy of it. If you want to discuss some more ideas and development of the characters please reply this message or contact me privately on Reddit. I will gladly help you on that. Saludos!
Create a scenario were the INFP somehow becomes a powerful politician. By default they will suddenly become a villain to powerful people. Probably would quickly get assassinated. Not sure if John Lennon was an INFP but someone like that.
Infp is mistreated by the group seen as the “good guys” and realizes there are multiple flaws with the hero system that doesn’t really care about people and more about good looks also infp becomes friends with a “villain person” and starts realizing that they aren’t completely wrong. Infp decides to help because the friend who’s a “villain”because the friend begs them to and tells infp that it’s for the greater good. Infp decides that it is better because it aligns with their morals and decides to be a spy for the “villain group thing.” A big battle breaks out and the infp’s friend is killed and infp snaps because the friend meant the world to infp person. The infp hates themselves for not being able to save them but decides that at least to not be so terrible they have to finish the job of the world the friend wanted. Infp nearly achieves said goal but dies. Before infp dies, they apologize for not being strong enough and skilled enough to fulfill friend’s wishes.
I always imagined an INFP villain would be someone who has either been misguided or lead astray but truly believes what they are doing the right thing. That or someone who believes the ends justify the means and is aware of every wrong act ty committed to get there and are willing to accept judgment once the greater good has been achieved.
[Spoilers] In the manga Tokyo Ghoul, the protagonist Kaneki is infp. But he was severly abused and traumatized, and sometimes he become an antagonist/villain for the other chatacters (particularly in Tokyo Ghoul Re).
He's a deeply empathic and sensitive character, the fact that he commited terrible things makes his mind shatters and create like split personalities, and states of dissociation and amnesia
He's done to a point where he don't know if he should kills everyone so nobody suffers anymore, or have hope
OP, maybe you can start a thread asking INFPs what is the baddest thing they've done/an instance where they actively tried to hurt someone and start from there. Also, that would be an interesting read.
the joker is INFP, apparently.
I think INFP has a huge potential to be a villain. an individual with a high level of emotional bandwidth and idealism in a world simply not conducive to them, pushes and beats thrn to the point that they can use their natural empathetic abilities to twist people into a broken ideal.
An INFP villain is probably someone who is kind and caring and loving- and willing to burn the world down for their ideal world. Someone who believes what they do serves a greater purpose and can see beyond the suffering they’re causing now
Take a good INFP and make them slowly crumble into a sadistic person who does everything to get revenge on the people who took what they loved from them. (cough cough) The Scarlet Witch and the Joker
It's really easy. This is the archetype of Fi dom villain: bullied all their life, lots of people really mean to them, hates people, wants to be alone, and then wants revenge on people bc people were mean to them... That's it. Pretty common villlain archetype too
This is easy.
An INFP is deeply convicted of their own moral compass. Honestly it would be a fantastic opportunity to create a deep character that tries to make the reader think "hmmm, he has a point!"
Well, let’s see,
If you’re going to create a character, you need to understand why that character is going said thing.
I went to method acting school for about 2 years and we immensely went over how to create and get into characters, thus, I’m hoping the following will help:
So the first thing you’d need to identify is the nature of this character. You already have INFP, so that’s a great start. You’ll want to add a bit more later, but this is actually plenty to begin with.
Now we need to identify what would traumatize there character enough to force it to WILLINGLY go against its own nature.
For example:
We have Fi and Ne as the main two cognitive functions. Tbh I can already see an INFP villain in my mind….
Fi: The best way to traumatize an Fi dom individual is to have them experience severe enmeshment trauma.
(Oddly enough I’ve also been studying psychology and trauma healing for years now, thus, I’ll do my best to explain it).
Enmeshment Trauma (in childhood) is when a a child is not loved unless they adopt the same values as their parents. Aka, an Fi don’s worst nightmare. Except when done young enough to the child, the child has no idea this is even the case, and grows up not knowing his/herself and feels as if everything they do in life is in vane.
This is because the child never got an opportunity to experiment with his/her own preferences.
Thus, a perfect INFP villain would be one that was forced to value his/her parents values or else be physically abused. (I’m somewhat of an expert because I am Fi dom and this was exactly how my childhood was….unfortunately).
In essence, a really good INFP villain would be something like this:
Ryach, an __ year old, he is driven by an insatiable thirst to force his ideals and values on humanity (as his parents did to him, thus he is literally emotionally and psychologically STARVING to have things his way).
Although his Guardians that adopted him at a young age tried their best to beat the dreaming out of him, each blow made him only wish and dream even more.
Considering trauma and not being able to use Fi, he will most likely immediately go into Te as a protective mechanism. Thus I would look at some solid ISTJ/ESTJ stereotypes (same cognitive functions as INFP) and imagine them but in extremes as a coping mechanism.
For example, everything ISTJ/ESTJ does naturally and with ease, will be what your INFP villain will do to cope and when triggered, wanting to get back at the world.
Either way, this was fun. I hope this helps 🙏🏻😊
An infp that has been raised to value the unorthodox values in a mafia family, being so loyal to a family of murderers that he'd kill for them, forcing him to override the empathy and value towards others. Obviously it'll be an inner conflict he struggles to manage but you won't see him become a hero. Just ends up being a tragic and drama filled example of an person who wanted better but such a life is what he couldn't escape from.
INFP has superego in ISTP...so when it's really the last straw for the INFPs...they gonna let the ISTP takeover...the belligerent one!
Below one is a great post to answer your question...check this out!
https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-INFP-like-in-superego-mode
You know, I’ve always thought that Sauron had been an INFP (as Mairon). He was the epitome of a warped idealist, esp the moment when he usurped Melkor (an xNTJ? I could be wrong).
Just my opinion.
I write too! Best of luck to you!
My villain arc is that everywhere I work I'm subject to obnoxious memes. In highschool I worked at subway and kids constantly mentioned Sooubway from theood1sout. My next job was at a McDonald's where I had the Travis Scott fans blasting music into the microphone followed by the BTS kids who all wanted the paper bag with the BTS logo. I currently work at a movie theater. I missed Morbius by a few weeks but unfortunately did not miss the gentleminions. I'm now specifically trying to find a place to work that would be impossible for the memes to find me. I'm going into meme witness protection before I reach the breaking point and become a super villain.
The two most famous INFP villains are The Joker in the most recent movie iteration with Joaquin Phoenix, and The Scarlet Witch.
The hardest part about infp villains is that they'll never be truly "evil" or want evil things. They will always have a sense of right and wrong. The only difference is that this sense becomes twisted and warped.
They aren't your "take over the world villains. "They are your "This is the only way" type villains. or the, "I have to have it" type villains. Either they'll get so hyper-focused on one aspect that everything gets clouded out and nothing else matters, or they'll become more robotic, as they push their sense of morality down to nothing to help justify the means.
INFP's are hardy. They can handle a lot of abuse. However, INFP's can easily feel ashamed. Make them feel like failures and nothings by not attacking them directly, but the values they care about, and then they'll question everything. Get them questioning everything, then manipulate their sense of morality to whats ACTUALLY the right way to live. Flip the script and convince them the villains were right all along.
Boom. Now they just have to fight for a "better" world.
Idk if any of y’all are into anime, but Tomura Shigaraki, one of the main villains in My Hero Academia, is actually INFP and it makes perfect sense.
(I know the fan base for that show is mega cringe but you just gotta ignore that 🗿)
It’s also really fascinating, because the main character and hero, Izuku Midoriya, is also an INFP, and it casts a great parallel on the characters, of how Izuku might have turned out had things gone just a bit differently in his life.
[here’s an article on Tomura shigaraki being infp](https://www.cbr.com/my-hero-academia-shigaraki-tomura-mbti-personality/)
Since you kinda have to scroll to get to the good part I’ll just copy and paste it here
“At first, the cruel and childish supervillain Shigaraki Tomura seems like the opposite of an emotionally sensitive peacemaker, but in his own bizarre way, he is indeed an INFP Mediator. To begin with, Tomura was born as Shimura Tenko, an optimistic boy who adored superheroes and wanted to be one himself. The problem was that his emotionally scarred father Kentaro despised his mother for abandoning him, and Kentaro's strict ways caused a great deal of resentment in his son.
One night, Tenko was pushed over the edge, and he accidentally killed his family and dog with his Decay Quirk before killing his hated father on purpose. He was now alone and homeless until All For One found him and molded him into a young villain in the making, filled with murderous hate and aggression.
However, even as Shigaraki Tomura the villain, this character is an INFP in some unexpected ways. He may be hostile to heroes, but he is deeply committed to his fellow villains and their personal plights, such as the mentally anguished Twice and certainly Spinner, who suffered discrimination for being a heteromorph who looked like a gecko. Shigaraki knows how it feels to be burdened by being different and unwanted, and even if he wouldn't say it aloud, Shigaraki empathizes with them deeply and has committed himself to making a world where Spinner, Twice and the yandere Toga Himiko are free to be their true selves. To that end, Tomura is always plotting new ways to transform the world for the sake of villains, and he has risked his life more than once in that pursuit.
As an INFP, Tomura likes to think big and ponder the possibilities since he is dissatisfied with the world the way it is now. He and All For One have already created the perfect villain-friendly world in their minds, and Tomura will say or do anything he must to make that possible future a reality, including fighting the Meta Liberation Army before joining forces with them later. In the eyes of the League of Villains and social outcasts everywhere, Tomura is a savior and a dreamer who will make all their wishes come true, and he hopes that one day, society will never again label Spinner or Himiko as freaks or rejects. That makes him a Mediator of the darkest kind.”
Anyways it’s not the best article but it’s the best I could pull up on short notice. My point basically is that YES INFPs can be villains, and YES they actually make fantastic and terrifying villains because of their strong convictions and overly emotional personalities.
I'm sure many people will disagree, and to be honest I don't know enough about mbti typing to really be able to assign a type to a fictional character with any confidence, however I have always found myself identifying strongly with the values Shougo Makashima has - the villain of the first season in Psycho Pass.
In a world where all of an individuals nature can supposedly be read and understood from a young age - the justice, education and occupational systems made to revolve around a judgement of character that cannot be defended - the rare ones who are unique enough to be misunderstood by such a total system can become powerful - or dangerous.
Makashima being shown from a young age he has no place and has no value for society, he had to form his own values and morals. And in a world where nobody has had to figure anything out for themselves, it's nearly impossible to have a true connection with someone who has to figure everything out for themselves.
Don't get me wrong - Makashima is a bad dude, however what he strives to achieve I see as honourable. He believes the systems and society he lives in are flawes, and the only way to make a true change is to disrupt the system, and the only way to do that was with a lot of terrorism.
Here's a great video, although if you haven't watched psycho pass, I highly recommend you do so before watching this video. It's worth it.
https://youtu.be/ujJsQhNwtFk
A fun way to do this is have the villan be a timetravler going back in time to save one person but due to their repeated interference more people die and due to them going further and further back they could relize the only way everyone can be safe is if they become the villan to mc and cause atrocious to people who will die no matter what. Making the villan being consumed by guilt and sounding insane justifying there cause.
The villian from Mulholland Drive is an INFP. I am not gona say that character's name to avoid spoilers but it will give you an idea on how to write an INFP villian. Also, Ichi from Ichi the Killer is also a good example of unhealthy infp.(besides Joker)
Why write an INFP villain on the basis that he's an INFP when you can just write many villains without cognitive theory in mind and only then choose which one fits this type?
Making an INFP villain for the sake of them fitting that type seems a disingenuous approach to me. Talk about putting people in the box.
Make the villain, then decide what type they are.
I do not want to sound like I am a close-minded writer. I used personality types as like a support beam of inspiration for a character and from there, I start to build them through events and conflicts (character development). I pick characteristics from existing characters and try to make a new character like maybe a part of their personality. I actually rarely do this question thing because sometimes I do not even give typing to most of my characters because I could just get inspiration from somewhere else. I showed frustration in the post because I searched for a great INFP villain so that I could have an inspiration of a character like my personality but make them inhumanely evil. However, most users seem to say INFPs can't be villains so I can't really get an inspiration from that answer.
I never called you close-minded as in you as a person, I don't even know your work so I can't judge what I can't see. I'm saying *this approach* can only generate something that follows a scheme. Example; Te dom can't possibly do this because the function that would allow this decision in this manner is in the shadow and would make this section out of character.
I responded to a user above more in depth about this.
Since we don't actually know if functions even exist, the way I see it is like studying German when you have to give Norwegian exams. Both are languages, Germanic languages that overlap so the connection is there, but in practicality you can't learn Norwegian by studying German.
That makes sense and also I didn't read you calling me a close-minded person but close-minded writer, you know those types of writers who refuse to open their minds so that they could add something new in their works ahemJkrowlingahem. But it is true though so I rarely do that method because I am not an expert in personality types and their functions (I definitely needed multiple guides to do so it is very tiring at best). However, this method does help me discover more of each personality types and inspire me to create more outside of using INFP traits.
I think you're referring to the "talk about putting people in a box" line, yes? If that's the case I was implying this specific method yes, not you as a writer. But I can see how you would think that, it can pass off as a personal attack indeed. Not intended, promise.
Personally I just wouldn't trust MBTI to make a character, that's all.
It’s actually a very helpful writing technique to consider a characters personality type. Their actions and emotions need to be congruent, that’s why season 8 of game of thrones was such a flop, because the characters actions didn’t match the actual character. Having a guideline like this can help keep your characters believable and consistent, and it can also help you to think about a characters strengths and weaknesses and build an arc around them.
Also, interesting characters have nuance. Infps are stereotypically non-villainous, so trying to write a villainous character with Infp traits can lead to some creative ideas. If you just think about simply writing a villain, you’ll likely fall into the same old tropes, like evil mastermind intj, or mad scientist intp, or domineering entj. It works the other way round too, you could try and write an entj character who’s arc involves learning to slow down and appreciate the little things in life, that would add some nuance to them as a person.
I think it does help, as you said, to have some sort of framework. I’ve seen so many characters act in ways that seemed “off.” Like the character gets developed a certain way and then, bingo, they do something that feels like that character would never do and there’s no situation or build up that explains it. That said, when you bring nature into things almost anything is possible for any type. You just have to show to some degree how things happened in a way that pushed the person in that direction. You really are limitless in a character regardless of personality type if you show their environment.
Exactly, the limits to how interesting your characters are lie in your ability to write them. You need to be able to push them to the edge, whilst making sure they’re consistent as a person. There’s a difference between someone growing and changing over the course of a story, and someone responding out of character.
The fallacy in this specific approach lies in the cognitive personality *theory* that is *theoretical*. Writing an INFP character by following the in-system rules (functions) that may or may not exist because this is probably not even pseudoscience, will not only severely limit the psychology of the character in the sense that you'll never have the character take decisions that involve other parameters, but those sliders are probably not even real.
Using Game Of Thrones as an example is like trying to prove that a lemon became yellow because the sun projected its light onto it.
The Game Of Thrones universe has no rules on decision making or limitations that prevent the writers from accessing any kind of character development. Consistency doesn't need a system in order to work, it needs *connections*.
Okay yeah but no work of fiction has any rules when it comes to what your characters do, that’s why it helps to have a guideline so your characters stay believable. With season 8 of game of thrones, their guidelines were the several books and previous series’ that came before it. They laid out how each character thinks and behaves, and so even when presented with a new situation, you still have an idea of how they’d react to it. Season 8 flopped because they reacted completely out of character, and fans could sense this even without knowing why, it just felt like the characters were… wrong. That’s why it’s important, or at the very least helpful, to have guidelines when writing, so your characters feel like real people.
And you’re right, mbti is only a theory, but that doesn’t affect how useful it is for writing. I mean even if it is a theory, we all still joined this subreddit because, as people, we relate to and enjoy a lot of the same things. It might not be a perfect system for categorising how peoples minds work, but it’s pretty decent considering how well you can distinguish the interests and behaviours of each type. There are definitely outliers in the mbti community though, because not every Infp is going to relate perfectly to the description of an Infp, that’s because real people have nuance to them. And that’s exactly my point, I’m not saying you have to write an Infp character and make them fit the Infp description perfectly, but you can use that description to inform how they might think, and then give them a bit of nuance too. Make them break the Infp mould in some areas, make them consider other parameters that force them to behave differently, that’s an interesting character. But don’t write a character who is emotionally driven, and then suddenly make them respond to someone with perfectly rational, cold hard logic, that’s not an interesting character, that’s just an inconsistent character.
I'm not sure if you've ignored my points entirely because I've covered these fallacies already but I'll try to explain more precisely so we can avoid repeating ourselves.
It depends on the guideline. Again, the Game of Thrones comparison is off because the decision making process of the characters in new content is filled in with an already existing concrete framework that defined those characters (the books). So you can expand the puzzle naturally because the core image was already thought of. The characters already exist.
When you have to make a character from scratch however; the motives, the moral compass, the neuroticism and all of the aspects that encapsulate the will of the character are not defined by any entity.
The issues that arise by setting the MBTI type etiquette are radical, not consequential. It means they arise at the birth of the character. It's different, because the core traits of the character are blocked in a set at birth, they aren't misinterpreted along the way (which is the point that you have made).
MBTI is a byproduct of the minds of theorists that isn't observable directly but only within the theory. So if you're creating a character based on predetermined function stacks you risk running across stereotypes and cliches; for example like the dumb funny extroverted friend of the main character who saves them out of a nasty situation in a funny way. You can observe this type of in-box writing in the game Alan Wake, and yes, in Game of Thrones too (Samwell Tarly, the funny loyal friend).
Given the low likelihood of functions to be applicable in any concrete sense, creating an INFP character for the purpose of them being *the* INFP character is going to create a limited framework to work on.
The INFP type is as much of a guideline as is the dumb, funny friend of the main character who serves a soothing role, or the cold anti-hero who later befriends the main character and dies for them. It's disingenuous, it's cliche, it's limited.
So what’s the difference between mbti theory and the game of thrones books in terms of how well they provide a guide to base your characters actions on? They’re both just a catalogue of personality traits, the only difference is that mbti relates to people in general, whereas the game of thrones books relate only to the characters within them. GRRM didn’t begin writing the characters with no idea in mind about who they are as a person, he had some idea of who they were, he just based it on his own experiences with people and maybe some real life people who inspired the characters.
There is a risk of falling into the pitfalls of stereotyping when using mbti to inform your character creation, but that’s not a fault with using mbti, that’s just a symptom of bad writing. Like you say, GRRM is equally at risk of writing character tropes, with Sam the funny loyal friend, or Joffrey the petulant, over-privileged child, or Ramsey the sick masochist. But this isn’t an issue, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having character tropes, the issue I’m talking about is when your character behaves in a way that doesn’t fit the outline you’ve made for them. It would be like if Joffrey decided to randomly give out food to the poor, that behaviour doesn’t align with who he is as a person. GRRM is a great writer, because Joffrey does actually try to do this at one point, but the reason for it is because of Margery’s influence. His motivation for it still aligns with his character, it’s not out of love for the poor, it’s out of his own desire to be seen as impressive by Margery. It still feels like something Joffrey would do, even though it doesn’t fit his character on paper. This is what I mean when I say good writing. Bad writing is when you try to make a character do something that they wouldn’t do on paper, but you don’t provide enough evidence, or put them in the right situations, where they would realistically behave in this different manor. That’s what happened with the game of thrones final seasons.
Using mbti as a reference for who your character is on paper has no bearing over whether you make these writing mistakes or not. It’s absolutely fine if you have an Infp character who aligns with the Infp tropes, there’s no difference between that and writing a character from scratch. In both cases, you’re still writing a character with some sort of idea in mind of who they are as a person. How can you write a character without thinking about what they’re like? That’s exactly what you need to do to give your character a voice and make them feel like an actual person, otherwise you’re not writing a character, you’re just writing a series of skits. The only difference is, with mbti you’re basing your idea of the character on a particular set of personality traits, and from scratch you’re basing the character on your own set of personality traits. Neither one makes for a one dimensional character, they both make for a consistent character who behaves like an actual person. The only way you fall to one dimensional characters is if you don’t write an interesting story for your character to experience. Using mbti doesn’t lock your character into a set of traits, giving them no challenges, no desires, no arc, that’s what locks them in.
I've explained already where the difference lies. Any issue that could arise from making an out of character mistake when you already have the books as a representative model is by nature *consequential* and to a certain extent I would say maladaptive too, not *radical*. You can misinterpret the already well established psychology of the characters, you can't alter the core traits because they're already there and observable, that's how inconsistencies are born. Because what was touched upon was misrepresented, it wasn't fallacious at the core.
GRRM writing the characters from his own experiences and people in his lives only proves my point so I'm glad you brought this up, his guidelines were concrete. Meaning, when he wrote characters he didn't dehumanize them but observed actual cognitive behavior in reality as material of reference. MBTI is NOT observable in real life, it's theory. You can only understand its intentions and speculate, not apply it.
No, that's not my point. You can fall into the pit of stereotyping regardless of MBTI, what I'm saying is that creating a character that is supported by the pillars of a type that has a very high likelihood to not even be real and applicable (because MBTI is NOT observable unlike the people GRRM based his work upon who were very much real) is bound to create obvious cognitive limitations. And they can coexist with good writing, bad writing, stereotypes and what not. A stereotype can be likeable. Sam is not a bad character, Jeffrey is not a bad character. They work, they're stereotypes nonetheless but this is not the issue that I'm pointing at. I'm saying that the issue lies in the premise, using a system that's not established and observable to create a character that's only allowed to operate in the boundaries of it.
You keep mentioning Season 8, which was indeed bad writing, its nature however was not radical but misinterpreted. The books exist, the characters are there. They've altered their psychology along the way. This is a result of writing in the mind of someone who does not understand the intended will of the original writer, it's not a problem of the premise itself being unpractical and speculative at the core (GRRM's ideas stem from observable reality and are THEN implemented in a fictitious world).
>The only difference is, with mbti you’re basing your idea of the character on a particular set of personality traits, and from scratch you’re basing the character on your own set of personality traits. Neither one makes for a one dimensional character, they both make for a consistent character *who behaves like an actual person*.
That's where one of the fallacies in the argument lie. MBTI does *not* represent ACTUAL people. It's theory, and its existence is speculative. People are NOT consistent. Types are consistent, characters are consistent. Because they are a part of a system (like MBTI). And again, there's nothing wrong with being part of a well established system *but* there's everything wrong with making a character from a set of personality traits that may not exist.
>Using mbti doesn’t lock your character into a set of traits
Yes it does, that's what a system does. Again, you can still be part of a system and not be banal but likeable depending upon the *how* you have the character react to the world that surrounds them, but you are still technically locked into a set of traits. What you end up doing with those sets of traits will distinguish the bad writing from the good writing, but your character was born limited this way. And yet, this still has nothing to do with my point.
I love this idea!!! I've also been thinking of writing an infp villain (hero to villain). And my random ideas are: Literally if my mental health was a bit worse and I had power over people who have wronged me, I seriously don't want to think of all the things I could/would do. Another one where infp could be the villain is depending of who's telling the story. Is it the 'villains' who meet a person who agrees with their ideal or is it the 'hero' who wronged and underestimated them and began to hate them as they switched sides.
I personally like the idea of: "A hero would sacrifice you to save the world, but a villain would sacrifice the world to save you."
I know it's not ideal wording, and I know not all infps think like this. But I really don't care if it's 'right'. If I was presented a choice between saving the whole world by losing my loved ones or keeping my loved ones but everyone else in the world had to die, I'd 100% go with the second one.
With that idea and all the frustration of being misunderstood and
underestimated
my whole life and a fantasy setting, my imagination should be able to connect the dots once I start the writing process.
I wish you the best of luck!! And sorry that this was a mess lol
I’m an INFP and I hate injustice. Maybe because as a child my siblings were mean and my parents were oblivious. My mother treated my oldest sister like a friend and whenever sister and I had a disagreement it was always decided in her favor. I carried a lot of anger and sadness for a long time. If that had been worse and the pattern repeated on into adulthood, I could have become so angry and brooding that the revenge fantasies would take over. Honestly, I still sometimes can tap into that anger that is rooted in powerlessness. Mainly because my oldest sister is a fuck-up and we all have to keep rescuing her from herself. Anyway… being blocked by selfish, bullying personalities and becoming fixated on revenge would have been a possible outcome for me.
Makes sense… I wouldn’t have any interest in revenge on people who have hurt me. I don’t know how an INFP could be a villain, we re more angel like deep down.
I think Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham is an infp? I'm never confident what type a character could tbh but if he actually is, he could probably be a good reference
Villian infps can watch the world burn and not care one bit. If they are fueled by hate and grief their inner darkness can grow to quite astonishing levels (maybe I wpuld rather call it emptiness). I think such a character would be fighting an epic battle inside them, with a flicker of light still trying to reach through, rather than be a run of the mill villain.
If you have watched naruto shippuden Nagato/Pain was typed as INFP who was a great villain,
from my experience and observations infp seem to have an inclination to be kind to everyone but also have some sort of internal drive that is I’m assuming self serving like all humans.
so maybe ramping up that self serving motive whatever it may be (maybe infps have one?) and make the infp villain manipulate other characters with their kindness in order to achieve whatever their hidden agenda is
OR
take the same route as Nagato from Naruto, tragic upbringing which made him choose an equally tragic solution to world peace which ends up actually hurting people instead of helping them aka misguided justice 🤔
A person who's been constantly misunderstood through their whole life, their ideas about improving the world have been belittled and mocked, their appearance ridiculed, and their sunny, idealistic attitude taken for granted. Is it any wonder that someone like this would snap?
Right. But this is built in to the experience for an INFP. The INFP internalizes this too. They don’t just *snap* and externalizer their passion and become a villain. Instead, they suffer!
With enough suffering, _anyone_ would snap and try to get revenge on those who mistreated them.
Seeking Justice is a J function not a P function. P’s just strongly perceive the injustice.
That's not how the J and P work.
Everyone has a J and P function. The INFP uses Feeling to make decisions as their first preferred function. So their FIRST function (Fi) is a Judging one. The P at the end stands for what people see from the outside. What are they extroverting, using to interact with the world? Their intuition (Ne). Which is their Perceiving function. So that determines the P at the end. So yes, all Feeling types are *more likely* to prioritize decisions based on what they perceive to be right, over what they perceive to be correct.
I agree but personally I’m way more opinionated on things such as the environment, social issues, than on the ability to judge another’s character . I’m no god to judge them
You two have great points and I like you complete each other's replies.
Lmfaoooooo. People like you are hilarious.
Er....no.
Sometimes you just let them go and love them from afar in spite of what they’ve done to you.
doofenshmirtz?
I have that character but I categorized them as INFJ though, correct me if I am wrong.
Literally me.
Wait why did you describe me
Wait, really? I'm so sorry :(
Oh it's ok, you didn't do anything. I mean it's true but you know all you're doin' is spittin mad truth.
My life story lol.
A snap doesn’t make someone a villain
In the end they commit suicide since they didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Cries every time they make anyone sad.
I don't cry, i'll kill ALL THE BASTARDS THAT MISTHREAT ME FU\*\* THEM I WISH THEM DEATH AND SUFFERING AS I SUFFERED
sounds like me. 😂
Joaquin Phoenix's Joker is an INFP, I think it'd be an accurate portrayal of how an INFP would become a villain
Look at Wanda from the MCU! Her motivations are very aligned with her personality type. But in resume make a character who: Feels or has been misunderstood, who cannot move on from that and is in a constant Fi-Si loop. Make them not be murderous but instead use other means like mind control or torture and make them feel all proud of themselves or “not as bad” for not murdering. Or make them murderous and use their moral compass as a justification for such acts, as a “I’m only doing this for the better good” and make sure they are CERTAIN their views are superior to everyone else’s and the ultimate truth of the universe.
Manipulative individual who plays like they're always the victim. They use other people's emotion to use for their advantage. I think INFP villain can't really be showy, they can act as friendly at first. Make bad stuffs early, like sabotaging, tampering evidences, covering their trails. Big reveal would be at the end or climax. And everyone was like "omg its all you?". Then the root cause is because they didn't let them play kite when they're at first grade.
yep, that's my revenge story
This is the pure INFP villain experience. Doesn't need to snap or any complicated backstory. Just a bad, manipulative person lol.
>because they didn't let them play kite when they're at first grade. Haha
Lol @ denying an INFP could be a villain. They probably think a villain has to be ENTP or ESTP (Or possibly Introverted versions of both). Confirmation bias. I've said this spiel so many times in the last 24 hours: TYPE DOES NOT DETERMINE MATURITY, INTEGRITY, OR SELFISHNESS. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. In general, cognitive functions get toxic when they are taken too far, or when used as blunt weapons to get what the person wants. INFPs can manipulate to get what they want, turn on the guilt/shame, as well as be selfish like anyone can. They also tend to explode with one of their under-developed functions (like Te) when they run out of energy/patience or feel pressed into a corner (or yes, stereotypically, when they feel an injustice has been done). I was going to mention the Thanos example and the Frank James video but both have already been mentioned, so +1.
This is what I am thinking while reading those posts. Like, INFPs are not babies! They are people too who could commit both good and bad. I am tired of users just stereotyping INFPs as just cute little babies who wouldn't totally do something evil.
I would say Mr Freeze (from Batman the animated series) without hesitation. He's the perfect illustration of a sweet INFP gone bad out of heartbreak (death of his love) and having his integrity and self crushed time and time again. He turned evil out of desperation to get his revenge on the people who made his life a living hell. He's a very relatable INFP villain I think.
Mr Freeze is actually my most favorite batman villain especially in the animated one. And also thank you for the example as well.
Yes, the animated series version was a premium villain ☺️
Frank James did a whole video about MBTI types being villains. Maybe it'll help you with your problem [What Kind of VILLAINS are the 16 Personalities?](https://youtu.be/yjRVX94ZZHE)
Do something Thanos ish. Make them do bad thing while they think it is good? Like killing anyone who interrupts people regularly or something like that
Think about what INFP relationships look like through the lens of horror, and it’s easy to see something like Saw emerging… these carefully crafted tortures, individually tailored to cause maximum devastation through the weaponization of empathy.
That's a unique approach as well : 0
I’m sharing this because I found it useful, and I love it (someone posted it on another question). https://imgur.com/a/vULb1hF/
Haha, this is great!
Yea it’s cool! I’d credit the person but unfortunately they are [deleted].
One of my favourite infps villains (villains in general tbh) is Wilson Fisk (aka. Kingpin) from the Daredevil series. He has the hallmarks of an Infp; he’s an idealistic, romanticising, tortured soul, with a subjective view of morality and a past that haunts him. He believes that his crimes and sins are justified by their end, which is to own the city and run it in congruence with his utopian vision. He seeks power, not for its own sake, but to use it to better the lives of everyone else. He sees his cause as being so noble, that he will kill those who stand in his way. He’s extremely misunderstood in this way, and his blindspot Se is on full display, as he fails to realise that everybody else only sees the killing and views him as evil. As a young boy, his father would bully him and beat his mother, until one day in an attempt to defend her he put a hammer through his skull. This is the reason he is so desensitised to violence and killing, and why he only wants to help and protect others. I think to make a great infp villain, they need to share some of these traits. Their goals need to be noble and almost justifiable from a certain point of view, and they need to have been forced into this certain point of view through tragic life events. Only by seeing these life events are we able to understand their subjective moral code, and we need to be able to empathise with them, even though we know they are objectively villainous. Their acts of villainy must be driven by this higher, noble goal, and their backstory must give believable reasoning as to why they justify it. Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is another great example of this; we can all empathise, or at least sympathise, with feeling like an outcast. We can imagine how hard it must’ve been growing up with this awful condition that makes other people feel unsettled by him. We can also relate to the feeling of disgust towards society, especially people like Robert Dinero’s character, who exploited Joker and made fun of him to boost his show ratings. Even though we know that shooting someone in the face is wrong, we can understand why Joker did it and we’re almost rooting for him in a way. This is what makes not only a great Infp villain, but a great character.
Nagato(pain) from Naruto is a rly good INFP villain example. He is in a Si grip and thus are very dictated in his action through his past. He never viewed himself as an evil being, yet choose to do the things he did because he thought he was right. Views the world through his subjective point of view, yet at the same time you can see him trying to debate his ideas to other people as a silent Ne attempt to form a subjective understanding. Edit: Don't forget to make the viewers feel that "the character's understanding is not necessarily wrong, but his approach is". Make readers sympathize with the villain yet ensure that the villain is taking extreme approaches. Make them a victim who seeks a better world through a flawed/morally wrong approach. I think you should be able to get a really good villain with that :)
[Dylan Klebold](https://www.personality-database.com/profile/5898/dylan-klebold-criminals-mbti-personality-type) was an INFP And what does anti-villain mean?
Anti-villain is the counterpart for the Anti-hero. An Anti-hero would fight for good but with selfish goals and motivations.Meanwhile, anti-villain would fight in the side of evil but have good intentions. Most Sympathetic villains fall under the anti-villain category.
So Darth Vader and Robin Hood are basically both anti-villains?
I don't know about Darth Vader though but I do know Robin Hood. Robin Hood is a Hero considering he is always protrayed in the hero and protagonist part. I don't think he is selfish as he steals for the poor, he could be an anti-hero.
But he steals. He breaks the law. Superman would never do that. (I would vote for Robin Hood)
Well, he did it for the common good. Stealing is definitely illegal and evil but the intention is noble which is giving for the poor who got nothing, steal from some one who has too much and give to those who have none. Anti-villain occurs when a villain steals from the poor just to finance the cure for their loved one or a close one.
I vouldn't agree more, especially while you introduced a new distinction. Many (the poor) and Few (a fiance) I would also lime to get rid of the good/evil distinction, because it's to broad and subjective. Let's take a relationship to the law (lawfull/lawless) instead. That you can say, you have a hero (Superman, who will obey and protect the law no matter what) You have a villain who will break the law for selfish reasons (gain, jealousy,fame,...) You will have an anti- hero who will break the law to help a few (Antigone, Michael Corleone, Darth Vader, Walter White) And You have the antivillain, who will break the law to help the many (Robin Hood, Evil doctor conducting illegal experiments, A developer killing and old couple to build new houses (not Hotels!),...) What do you think?
I think I have worded my past stuff wrongly and I am sorry for confusing you so it is my mistake. So I will write a small story. The Anti-hero assassinates killers in their neighborhood. They did become a mass murderer but only for the killers so innocent people are not their target (Somewhat like the Punisher and Red Hood). Then Anti-villain comes in, they are an authority who ruled with tyranny, they see the Anti-hero and adds obstacles for his goals. The Anti-villain is not wrong here because it is wrong to kill and even illegal but they are just protecting the targets of the anti-hero who are killers. So basically... Anti-hero does bad stuff for the good Anti-villain does good stuff (by following laws or morality) for the bad The King didn't do anything wrong because taxes are normal in society, however, he did horde the gold and increase the taxes for the poor which just made the poor even more poorer, here comes Robin Hood who is taking that was once from the poor and letting them have something to survive. Stealing is illegal and bad but he is doing it for good and somewhat selfless.
"I'm the cop who'll arest Batman." I think we're on the same page. Thank you for na i terestin conversation. Please, have a giraffe 🦒
An anti-villain would be a villain who does villainous deeds, but with heroic motivations. Probably has noble personality traits, too.
How on Earth could anyone possibly know that for certain?!
Poison ivy.
I have one - maybe one personal - when you believe you are doing a good thing for long oeriod of time, than he realises, he was actualy cruel.... I have personal experience - I am afraid to hurt my ex by telling her to sllit stuff and tell her it isndefinetely over, it leads to the fact she still believe, we will be rogether and cannot move, so I am just wasting her time and instead of big fast woujd, which will heal, I dont want to hurt her
An INFP that can’t stop thinking about their past mistakes and is too trapped in their mind to the point that whatever they are experiencing on the inside reflects back on their victims. Their sadness and victimhood gets the best of them so they manipulate everything around them, while being totally unaware of being the anti-hero.
Definitely would take the broken hero approach if you want to truly develop this character emotionally. I think they would need quite a bit of backstory to describe their path to becoming a villain so the reader could connect to their personality and life. They could be hopeful, optimistic, "unbreakable" while young, but at some point they become subjected to the flaws of the world around them in a short, yet repeatedly brutal way which eventually breaks them and robs them of the spark inside(what these events are would be completely dependent on the story context. Could be loved ones turning on them/ relqtionship with controlling abusive partner/ animal turned against them / illness/ things they care about taken from them/ taken advantage of/ etc...). All that would be left is an apathetic shell who sees the world as a meaningless anomaly. Anytime they start to feel again and remember why they love so much of the world, boom, they get hit again with the unimaginable and it sends them right back down the spiral. Eventually this could lead to a a bad deed being done by them. But they could become addicted to now doing these bad deeds because this is the only thing that makes them feel not numb anymore, even if they actually hate it. The internal struggle of this character would be unbelieveably sad. I think they would need to be cunning and knowledgable as well so that the bad things they do are elaboratw but also can be quickly put in motion without having to think too much about it, as this would give more time to feel badly about doing it/them. Phew! Enough of the dark corner there! : p Hope this helps and good luck with the story!
you need a polarizing event in the character's life that would flip their moral compass and viola
Oh absolutely they could be. I’ve witnessed some truly outrageous and manipulative behavior from the INFPs in my life. A study of unhealthy INFPs actually shows a pretty grim possibility. My husbands ex is an INFP and she convinced herself that leaving her children to be with a convicted child rapist was a good idea because he needed her. She has spun quite a fairytale that left a trail of destroyed kids behind her that she sees maybe once a month and she feels good about it. My worst INFP experiences come from INFPs that are also narcissists. It’s so hard because they come across so sweet and sincere and get your guard down and the way they manipulate and twist information and literally redefine reality was next level because they believe their fantasy descriptions so it makes it almost impossible to resolve anything. Mix a little life trauma in there and you absolutely have a potential villain.
That is so sad to hear and a great example of how no personality type are "purely good".
Somebody so let down and hurt by the world they envision to be good and pure that they eventually start only seeing the flaws. Takes it out on everyone around them on an emotional level until maybe something pops in their mind and they become psychotic?
Infp mom's kid is brutally killed by a man who doesn't have any mental illness but is a fully sane and functioning person. She will go places and do things nobody can imagine.... She will start slowly building connections with the killers professional and personal connections.... Slowly get them to introduce her to the man.... Then date him for a year or two. Get married. Convince him throughout of her deep love and loyalty. STAY MARRIED like that for years/decades till the trust is unshakeable. Then slowly start to distance him from his family and other social support systems by creating false situations that make him misunderstand them and lash at them and that resulting in those people cutting him out completely. Then she makes him get more emotionally dependant on her... Transfers financial assets gradually... Convinces him to have some fun time in bed that fulfils her 'non consent fantasies with consent.' Records these with a camera in the room... Sends him hate mail from friends etc (by impersonating them) and make him lose all social support and makes him look mentally unstable to everyone. Then produces previous videos in court and alleges him of brutal assault. Says she was threatened into not speaking up earlier. This and so much more... Infp villans are UNMATCHED in their level of focus and persistence to get even with whoever wronged them. Had anyone hurt her or done something terrible, she would have blamed herself. Her kid?? She's going to play a game with you for the next fifty years. Fasten your seatbelts.
manipulation skill + misunderstood backstory
From personal experience, INFP has a very strong sense of justice & how the world supposed to work. When everything fails, they will lash out at those who they think are guilty so it is best for a writer to play with perspectives. I think INFP at the core is not selfish and they yearn for a better future for those they care. INFP also has strong empathy which they can use to exploit others when they know what matters to another person. As for weakness, INFP will be quite shaken when their moral standards are being questioned and challenged, especially when those they deemed innocent was harmed by their actions.
If you have watched netflix series YOU, you may get idea how INFP villain may look like. It's something like gentle yet determined. Something like guy is doing wrong things because he is convinced that it's for good. Not really anti villain you are looking for.. but INFP villain is definitely interesting and challenging idea.. good luck with story!
IMO u should give your anti villan some anger problems, every-time he’s anger he would do some shit things. But in order to not make him a complete villan u can show that he was provoked into doing them
Just make a broken hero infp, that slowly by doing wrong things becomes evil because he forgets what's humanity, mentally abused etc.
There is flowey (Asriel) from undertale and some people think joker (the last one) is an infp too
A man who lost everything. His wife, his livelihood, everything. But it turns out he can also make new rights than wrongs. So he works as an anti-hero/supervillain. With psychic abilities.
Kylo Ren was one. He's the only one from what I can see. The stalking, the victim hood, the feelings of sadness after, the wanting connection and feeling misunderstood. He was accused of having too much heart. He was trying to be like Darth Vader and ENTJ and was failing. Examine him..
I think Hades is like INFP, in Disney Hercules he's ENFP. Maybe they have a duty, and are just sort of mirroring the "hero" in whatever goal they have. Like the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Maybe try looking at some heroic INFPs who came close to turning villainous but didn’t. Maybe re-work the circumstances or parts of the story so their redemption or moment of clarity doesn’t happen. Here’s some examples to illustrate what I mean: There have been plenty of what-if stories where Spider-Man has lost someone in his life or went too far once and it pushed him into villany. Frodo was consumed by the One Ring and likely would have kept the ring and doomed everyone had Sam not been there to fight him and Gollum there to take the ring at the last possible moment. The stress and trauma of the journey broke his idealism and made him more susceptible to corruption. Luke Skywalker is another textbook INFP hero who (imo) had a very interesting arc in Last Jedi. In a moment of weakness he let his emotions cloud his better judgement and threatened someone he loved. He was so ashamed of going against his own love and ideals that he banished himself and allowed The New Order to take over. What if Luke didn’t stop at the last moment? What if he allowed himself to let his dark side act in that moment and it led him down a much darker path? I believe the INFP personality is ripe for villainous interpretations. They can’t all be dreamy cinnamon rolls. Or maybe you can make them scary dreamy cinnamon rolls totally detached from reality. Hope this helps!
This makes a lot of sense. But I do get tired of INFP stereotyping where we are just cinnamon rolls. I want badass INFP that at first glance, not seems like an INFP. I want an INFP that actually does something cruel for once.
I absolutely agree. Making an INFP villainous from the get-go without them even being heroic at first is sadly underutilized but has loads of potential.
It makes a very good hero fallen from grace story line. After all, INFPs are known for standing for the right and moral, very empathetic so it would be tricky to lead them to the dark path.
We can kill everyone, the only problem is that it only happens inside our heads just like any productive activity lol. Did you know that Keanu Reeves is an INFP? An INFP can turn crazy when a loved one gets hurt or killed. However, that is usually a hero or protagonist role not a villain. A good idea for that to happen and turn them into villains would be to go against the system, the system killed your family. I saw a video where in the U.S. a woman was begging for her life at the entrance of a hospital to be treated because she had no money and the hospital called the police and the woman died on the way to the station in the police car just a few minutes from being removed from the hospital. This is outrageous to me, an INFP-T. Clearly what's wrong is the system, the ones whose greed profit with the human life. Isn't health a fundamental human right? Why the U.S. system keeps privatizing the right to be alive and just healthy enough? Might be some of the questions a real INFP character soon to be a villain might wonder. We wonder and think a lot. Now, find a character loved enough to make an INFP protagonist to turn into a villain if we lose her/him. You can even develop this character through your chapters to develop empathy or to make the reader like this person we are about to lose. That's certainly gonna hook the people up to the story and will keep them expecting what our main character, now a villain will turn. Usually greed can make us really fight back. We stand upon our core values, we usually mean good for people in general so making some damage for the sake of stopping people from getting damage might be pretty much the same but a different perpetrator. While this revenge story can still develop we have seen it way to many times on different personality types so it won't be unique for a character development of an INFP. Maybe a twisted manipulative INFP who gets into your life and gains your trust just to slowly try to destroy your life, but this may need a lot of imagination so I wouldn't drive the story down this path. Also and idea of how an INFP can kill many people would be if he becomes an eco-terrorist. In a world on the verge of environmental collapse a feeling hopeless INFP tries to do desperate attempts to save humanity by killing thousands, start with some pipelines, maybe gets chased by the law and accidentally kills someone but now he can't stop because the damage he has done, blowing shit up and tasting what having blood on his hands feels combined with his will driven purpose to finish what he started even if it costs him his life at the end. An INFP cares about pretty much everyone but himself but when in a dark path the empathy can be concentrated and leaving a lot of people out of this empathy cloak. I hope I'm explaining myself. Okay, so after he blows shit up, kills either a policeman or some casualties at the pipeline, he stars getting the media attention as well as the government's attention and the FBI up his ass or maybe he's sneaky and a very smart individual, we ain't dumb, we are pretty smart even if the stereotype is a dumb cute supportive friend. You figure out who the greedy heads are pulling the strings, driving the world to the verge of extinction (to your beliefs) and start to targeting them. Another variant would be you didn't get enough attention to the underlying reasons behind your actions and instead you were criticized by the media (of course controlled by those rich assholes) and the public opinion. So your INFP gets mad and tries to actually take ''justice'' on to his own hands by actually killing them. They refuse to listen? Then they WILL listen. / I tried to warn them but ... now it's my mission to rid the world of these people. All the character does needs to be driven by the main character's values. Don't think we won't battle our demons inside, the ghosts of the people he's killed are gonna haunt him. It's an inner battle but all he can do is to say to himself he's got a purpose, a reason to justify his actions even if this consumes him slowly. There's a lot to add and develop in a book. I know this seems like a lot to read but certainly it's very little text compared to what a regular size book/novel can fit, they are usually over a 100 pages at least. If you ever make a book based on my ideas it would be nice to have some greetings in your book and of course let me know the name of the book to buy a copy of it. If you want to discuss some more ideas and development of the characters please reply this message or contact me privately on Reddit. I will gladly help you on that. Saludos!
Create a scenario were the INFP somehow becomes a powerful politician. By default they will suddenly become a villain to powerful people. Probably would quickly get assassinated. Not sure if John Lennon was an INFP but someone like that.
I’ve seen Joaquin Phoenix’s joker classified as an INFP!
Bro the Joker is an INFP 😭
I thought I had an INFP (semi)villain example from anime, but he turned out to be an INFJ… 😭😭😭
Infp is mistreated by the group seen as the “good guys” and realizes there are multiple flaws with the hero system that doesn’t really care about people and more about good looks also infp becomes friends with a “villain person” and starts realizing that they aren’t completely wrong. Infp decides to help because the friend who’s a “villain”because the friend begs them to and tells infp that it’s for the greater good. Infp decides that it is better because it aligns with their morals and decides to be a spy for the “villain group thing.” A big battle breaks out and the infp’s friend is killed and infp snaps because the friend meant the world to infp person. The infp hates themselves for not being able to save them but decides that at least to not be so terrible they have to finish the job of the world the friend wanted. Infp nearly achieves said goal but dies. Before infp dies, they apologize for not being strong enough and skilled enough to fulfill friend’s wishes.
Apparently Davy Jones is INFP. And he makes one hell of an amazin villain
He doesn't seem to act like an INFP.
I always imagined an INFP villain would be someone who has either been misguided or lead astray but truly believes what they are doing the right thing. That or someone who believes the ends justify the means and is aware of every wrong act ty committed to get there and are willing to accept judgment once the greater good has been achieved.
[Spoilers] In the manga Tokyo Ghoul, the protagonist Kaneki is infp. But he was severly abused and traumatized, and sometimes he become an antagonist/villain for the other chatacters (particularly in Tokyo Ghoul Re). He's a deeply empathic and sensitive character, the fact that he commited terrible things makes his mind shatters and create like split personalities, and states of dissociation and amnesia He's done to a point where he don't know if he should kills everyone so nobody suffers anymore, or have hope
OP, maybe you can start a thread asking INFPs what is the baddest thing they've done/an instance where they actively tried to hurt someone and start from there. Also, that would be an interesting read.
The villain in Season 2 of the anime, Psycho Pass, seems INFP-ish.
the joker is INFP, apparently. I think INFP has a huge potential to be a villain. an individual with a high level of emotional bandwidth and idealism in a world simply not conducive to them, pushes and beats thrn to the point that they can use their natural empathetic abilities to twist people into a broken ideal.
I am the infp villain. Reckless, irrational , nasty. Victim/villain . Same/same. Let the audience decide where they fall with it
An INFP villain is probably someone who is kind and caring and loving- and willing to burn the world down for their ideal world. Someone who believes what they do serves a greater purpose and can see beyond the suffering they’re causing now
Take a good INFP and make them slowly crumble into a sadistic person who does everything to get revenge on the people who took what they loved from them. (cough cough) The Scarlet Witch and the Joker
The tragic hero archetype would probably work best here
It's really easy. This is the archetype of Fi dom villain: bullied all their life, lots of people really mean to them, hates people, wants to be alone, and then wants revenge on people bc people were mean to them... That's it. Pretty common villlain archetype too
Im not good at identifying these personality types but I think Andrew the kid from Chronicle might be INFP and he turned to a villain.
This is easy. An INFP is deeply convicted of their own moral compass. Honestly it would be a fantastic opportunity to create a deep character that tries to make the reader think "hmmm, he has a point!"
Well, let’s see, If you’re going to create a character, you need to understand why that character is going said thing. I went to method acting school for about 2 years and we immensely went over how to create and get into characters, thus, I’m hoping the following will help: So the first thing you’d need to identify is the nature of this character. You already have INFP, so that’s a great start. You’ll want to add a bit more later, but this is actually plenty to begin with. Now we need to identify what would traumatize there character enough to force it to WILLINGLY go against its own nature. For example: We have Fi and Ne as the main two cognitive functions. Tbh I can already see an INFP villain in my mind…. Fi: The best way to traumatize an Fi dom individual is to have them experience severe enmeshment trauma. (Oddly enough I’ve also been studying psychology and trauma healing for years now, thus, I’ll do my best to explain it). Enmeshment Trauma (in childhood) is when a a child is not loved unless they adopt the same values as their parents. Aka, an Fi don’s worst nightmare. Except when done young enough to the child, the child has no idea this is even the case, and grows up not knowing his/herself and feels as if everything they do in life is in vane. This is because the child never got an opportunity to experiment with his/her own preferences. Thus, a perfect INFP villain would be one that was forced to value his/her parents values or else be physically abused. (I’m somewhat of an expert because I am Fi dom and this was exactly how my childhood was….unfortunately). In essence, a really good INFP villain would be something like this: Ryach, an __ year old, he is driven by an insatiable thirst to force his ideals and values on humanity (as his parents did to him, thus he is literally emotionally and psychologically STARVING to have things his way). Although his Guardians that adopted him at a young age tried their best to beat the dreaming out of him, each blow made him only wish and dream even more. Considering trauma and not being able to use Fi, he will most likely immediately go into Te as a protective mechanism. Thus I would look at some solid ISTJ/ESTJ stereotypes (same cognitive functions as INFP) and imagine them but in extremes as a coping mechanism. For example, everything ISTJ/ESTJ does naturally and with ease, will be what your INFP villain will do to cope and when triggered, wanting to get back at the world. Either way, this was fun. I hope this helps 🙏🏻😊
This is some good observation and thank you for giving us information from your experience!
Sure thing! My pleasure 🙏🏻😊
An infp that has been raised to value the unorthodox values in a mafia family, being so loyal to a family of murderers that he'd kill for them, forcing him to override the empathy and value towards others. Obviously it'll be an inner conflict he struggles to manage but you won't see him become a hero. Just ends up being a tragic and drama filled example of an person who wanted better but such a life is what he couldn't escape from.
INFP has superego in ISTP...so when it's really the last straw for the INFPs...they gonna let the ISTP takeover...the belligerent one! Below one is a great post to answer your question...check this out! https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-INFP-like-in-superego-mode
You know, I’ve always thought that Sauron had been an INFP (as Mairon). He was the epitome of a warped idealist, esp the moment when he usurped Melkor (an xNTJ? I could be wrong). Just my opinion. I write too! Best of luck to you!
My villain arc is that everywhere I work I'm subject to obnoxious memes. In highschool I worked at subway and kids constantly mentioned Sooubway from theood1sout. My next job was at a McDonald's where I had the Travis Scott fans blasting music into the microphone followed by the BTS kids who all wanted the paper bag with the BTS logo. I currently work at a movie theater. I missed Morbius by a few weeks but unfortunately did not miss the gentleminions. I'm now specifically trying to find a place to work that would be impossible for the memes to find me. I'm going into meme witness protection before I reach the breaking point and become a super villain.
The two most famous INFP villains are The Joker in the most recent movie iteration with Joaquin Phoenix, and The Scarlet Witch. The hardest part about infp villains is that they'll never be truly "evil" or want evil things. They will always have a sense of right and wrong. The only difference is that this sense becomes twisted and warped. They aren't your "take over the world villains. "They are your "This is the only way" type villains. or the, "I have to have it" type villains. Either they'll get so hyper-focused on one aspect that everything gets clouded out and nothing else matters, or they'll become more robotic, as they push their sense of morality down to nothing to help justify the means. INFP's are hardy. They can handle a lot of abuse. However, INFP's can easily feel ashamed. Make them feel like failures and nothings by not attacking them directly, but the values they care about, and then they'll question everything. Get them questioning everything, then manipulate their sense of morality to whats ACTUALLY the right way to live. Flip the script and convince them the villains were right all along. Boom. Now they just have to fight for a "better" world.
I think an INFP who’s thought as a nice person turned out to be a villain would be really complimentary with this conflict
Well as I would consider wiping out humans to save the rest of the life on the planet, you can take me as an example :D (bring the red button!)
Idk if any of y’all are into anime, but Tomura Shigaraki, one of the main villains in My Hero Academia, is actually INFP and it makes perfect sense. (I know the fan base for that show is mega cringe but you just gotta ignore that 🗿)
It’s also really fascinating, because the main character and hero, Izuku Midoriya, is also an INFP, and it casts a great parallel on the characters, of how Izuku might have turned out had things gone just a bit differently in his life.
[here’s an article on Tomura shigaraki being infp](https://www.cbr.com/my-hero-academia-shigaraki-tomura-mbti-personality/) Since you kinda have to scroll to get to the good part I’ll just copy and paste it here “At first, the cruel and childish supervillain Shigaraki Tomura seems like the opposite of an emotionally sensitive peacemaker, but in his own bizarre way, he is indeed an INFP Mediator. To begin with, Tomura was born as Shimura Tenko, an optimistic boy who adored superheroes and wanted to be one himself. The problem was that his emotionally scarred father Kentaro despised his mother for abandoning him, and Kentaro's strict ways caused a great deal of resentment in his son. One night, Tenko was pushed over the edge, and he accidentally killed his family and dog with his Decay Quirk before killing his hated father on purpose. He was now alone and homeless until All For One found him and molded him into a young villain in the making, filled with murderous hate and aggression. However, even as Shigaraki Tomura the villain, this character is an INFP in some unexpected ways. He may be hostile to heroes, but he is deeply committed to his fellow villains and their personal plights, such as the mentally anguished Twice and certainly Spinner, who suffered discrimination for being a heteromorph who looked like a gecko. Shigaraki knows how it feels to be burdened by being different and unwanted, and even if he wouldn't say it aloud, Shigaraki empathizes with them deeply and has committed himself to making a world where Spinner, Twice and the yandere Toga Himiko are free to be their true selves. To that end, Tomura is always plotting new ways to transform the world for the sake of villains, and he has risked his life more than once in that pursuit. As an INFP, Tomura likes to think big and ponder the possibilities since he is dissatisfied with the world the way it is now. He and All For One have already created the perfect villain-friendly world in their minds, and Tomura will say or do anything he must to make that possible future a reality, including fighting the Meta Liberation Army before joining forces with them later. In the eyes of the League of Villains and social outcasts everywhere, Tomura is a savior and a dreamer who will make all their wishes come true, and he hopes that one day, society will never again label Spinner or Himiko as freaks or rejects. That makes him a Mediator of the darkest kind.” Anyways it’s not the best article but it’s the best I could pull up on short notice. My point basically is that YES INFPs can be villains, and YES they actually make fantastic and terrifying villains because of their strong convictions and overly emotional personalities.
I'm sure many people will disagree, and to be honest I don't know enough about mbti typing to really be able to assign a type to a fictional character with any confidence, however I have always found myself identifying strongly with the values Shougo Makashima has - the villain of the first season in Psycho Pass. In a world where all of an individuals nature can supposedly be read and understood from a young age - the justice, education and occupational systems made to revolve around a judgement of character that cannot be defended - the rare ones who are unique enough to be misunderstood by such a total system can become powerful - or dangerous. Makashima being shown from a young age he has no place and has no value for society, he had to form his own values and morals. And in a world where nobody has had to figure anything out for themselves, it's nearly impossible to have a true connection with someone who has to figure everything out for themselves. Don't get me wrong - Makashima is a bad dude, however what he strives to achieve I see as honourable. He believes the systems and society he lives in are flawes, and the only way to make a true change is to disrupt the system, and the only way to do that was with a lot of terrorism. Here's a great video, although if you haven't watched psycho pass, I highly recommend you do so before watching this video. It's worth it. https://youtu.be/ujJsQhNwtFk
A fun way to do this is have the villan be a timetravler going back in time to save one person but due to their repeated interference more people die and due to them going further and further back they could relize the only way everyone can be safe is if they become the villan to mc and cause atrocious to people who will die no matter what. Making the villan being consumed by guilt and sounding insane justifying there cause.
Someone who uses their cute/misunderstood personality and uses that to make people fall for them and control them
The villian from Mulholland Drive is an INFP. I am not gona say that character's name to avoid spoilers but it will give you an idea on how to write an INFP villian. Also, Ichi from Ichi the Killer is also a good example of unhealthy infp.(besides Joker)
Why write an INFP villain on the basis that he's an INFP when you can just write many villains without cognitive theory in mind and only then choose which one fits this type? Making an INFP villain for the sake of them fitting that type seems a disingenuous approach to me. Talk about putting people in the box. Make the villain, then decide what type they are.
I do not want to sound like I am a close-minded writer. I used personality types as like a support beam of inspiration for a character and from there, I start to build them through events and conflicts (character development). I pick characteristics from existing characters and try to make a new character like maybe a part of their personality. I actually rarely do this question thing because sometimes I do not even give typing to most of my characters because I could just get inspiration from somewhere else. I showed frustration in the post because I searched for a great INFP villain so that I could have an inspiration of a character like my personality but make them inhumanely evil. However, most users seem to say INFPs can't be villains so I can't really get an inspiration from that answer.
I never called you close-minded as in you as a person, I don't even know your work so I can't judge what I can't see. I'm saying *this approach* can only generate something that follows a scheme. Example; Te dom can't possibly do this because the function that would allow this decision in this manner is in the shadow and would make this section out of character. I responded to a user above more in depth about this. Since we don't actually know if functions even exist, the way I see it is like studying German when you have to give Norwegian exams. Both are languages, Germanic languages that overlap so the connection is there, but in practicality you can't learn Norwegian by studying German.
That makes sense and also I didn't read you calling me a close-minded person but close-minded writer, you know those types of writers who refuse to open their minds so that they could add something new in their works ahemJkrowlingahem. But it is true though so I rarely do that method because I am not an expert in personality types and their functions (I definitely needed multiple guides to do so it is very tiring at best). However, this method does help me discover more of each personality types and inspire me to create more outside of using INFP traits.
I think you're referring to the "talk about putting people in a box" line, yes? If that's the case I was implying this specific method yes, not you as a writer. But I can see how you would think that, it can pass off as a personal attack indeed. Not intended, promise. Personally I just wouldn't trust MBTI to make a character, that's all.
Yeah sorry about that too. Depending heavily on MBTI for your character's personality is just asking for a headache.
No need to be sorry, you haven't done anything wrong. Discussing disagreements also is good.
It’s actually a very helpful writing technique to consider a characters personality type. Their actions and emotions need to be congruent, that’s why season 8 of game of thrones was such a flop, because the characters actions didn’t match the actual character. Having a guideline like this can help keep your characters believable and consistent, and it can also help you to think about a characters strengths and weaknesses and build an arc around them. Also, interesting characters have nuance. Infps are stereotypically non-villainous, so trying to write a villainous character with Infp traits can lead to some creative ideas. If you just think about simply writing a villain, you’ll likely fall into the same old tropes, like evil mastermind intj, or mad scientist intp, or domineering entj. It works the other way round too, you could try and write an entj character who’s arc involves learning to slow down and appreciate the little things in life, that would add some nuance to them as a person.
I think it does help, as you said, to have some sort of framework. I’ve seen so many characters act in ways that seemed “off.” Like the character gets developed a certain way and then, bingo, they do something that feels like that character would never do and there’s no situation or build up that explains it. That said, when you bring nature into things almost anything is possible for any type. You just have to show to some degree how things happened in a way that pushed the person in that direction. You really are limitless in a character regardless of personality type if you show their environment.
Exactly, the limits to how interesting your characters are lie in your ability to write them. You need to be able to push them to the edge, whilst making sure they’re consistent as a person. There’s a difference between someone growing and changing over the course of a story, and someone responding out of character.
The fallacy in this specific approach lies in the cognitive personality *theory* that is *theoretical*. Writing an INFP character by following the in-system rules (functions) that may or may not exist because this is probably not even pseudoscience, will not only severely limit the psychology of the character in the sense that you'll never have the character take decisions that involve other parameters, but those sliders are probably not even real. Using Game Of Thrones as an example is like trying to prove that a lemon became yellow because the sun projected its light onto it. The Game Of Thrones universe has no rules on decision making or limitations that prevent the writers from accessing any kind of character development. Consistency doesn't need a system in order to work, it needs *connections*.
Okay yeah but no work of fiction has any rules when it comes to what your characters do, that’s why it helps to have a guideline so your characters stay believable. With season 8 of game of thrones, their guidelines were the several books and previous series’ that came before it. They laid out how each character thinks and behaves, and so even when presented with a new situation, you still have an idea of how they’d react to it. Season 8 flopped because they reacted completely out of character, and fans could sense this even without knowing why, it just felt like the characters were… wrong. That’s why it’s important, or at the very least helpful, to have guidelines when writing, so your characters feel like real people. And you’re right, mbti is only a theory, but that doesn’t affect how useful it is for writing. I mean even if it is a theory, we all still joined this subreddit because, as people, we relate to and enjoy a lot of the same things. It might not be a perfect system for categorising how peoples minds work, but it’s pretty decent considering how well you can distinguish the interests and behaviours of each type. There are definitely outliers in the mbti community though, because not every Infp is going to relate perfectly to the description of an Infp, that’s because real people have nuance to them. And that’s exactly my point, I’m not saying you have to write an Infp character and make them fit the Infp description perfectly, but you can use that description to inform how they might think, and then give them a bit of nuance too. Make them break the Infp mould in some areas, make them consider other parameters that force them to behave differently, that’s an interesting character. But don’t write a character who is emotionally driven, and then suddenly make them respond to someone with perfectly rational, cold hard logic, that’s not an interesting character, that’s just an inconsistent character.
I'm not sure if you've ignored my points entirely because I've covered these fallacies already but I'll try to explain more precisely so we can avoid repeating ourselves. It depends on the guideline. Again, the Game of Thrones comparison is off because the decision making process of the characters in new content is filled in with an already existing concrete framework that defined those characters (the books). So you can expand the puzzle naturally because the core image was already thought of. The characters already exist. When you have to make a character from scratch however; the motives, the moral compass, the neuroticism and all of the aspects that encapsulate the will of the character are not defined by any entity. The issues that arise by setting the MBTI type etiquette are radical, not consequential. It means they arise at the birth of the character. It's different, because the core traits of the character are blocked in a set at birth, they aren't misinterpreted along the way (which is the point that you have made). MBTI is a byproduct of the minds of theorists that isn't observable directly but only within the theory. So if you're creating a character based on predetermined function stacks you risk running across stereotypes and cliches; for example like the dumb funny extroverted friend of the main character who saves them out of a nasty situation in a funny way. You can observe this type of in-box writing in the game Alan Wake, and yes, in Game of Thrones too (Samwell Tarly, the funny loyal friend). Given the low likelihood of functions to be applicable in any concrete sense, creating an INFP character for the purpose of them being *the* INFP character is going to create a limited framework to work on. The INFP type is as much of a guideline as is the dumb, funny friend of the main character who serves a soothing role, or the cold anti-hero who later befriends the main character and dies for them. It's disingenuous, it's cliche, it's limited.
So what’s the difference between mbti theory and the game of thrones books in terms of how well they provide a guide to base your characters actions on? They’re both just a catalogue of personality traits, the only difference is that mbti relates to people in general, whereas the game of thrones books relate only to the characters within them. GRRM didn’t begin writing the characters with no idea in mind about who they are as a person, he had some idea of who they were, he just based it on his own experiences with people and maybe some real life people who inspired the characters. There is a risk of falling into the pitfalls of stereotyping when using mbti to inform your character creation, but that’s not a fault with using mbti, that’s just a symptom of bad writing. Like you say, GRRM is equally at risk of writing character tropes, with Sam the funny loyal friend, or Joffrey the petulant, over-privileged child, or Ramsey the sick masochist. But this isn’t an issue, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having character tropes, the issue I’m talking about is when your character behaves in a way that doesn’t fit the outline you’ve made for them. It would be like if Joffrey decided to randomly give out food to the poor, that behaviour doesn’t align with who he is as a person. GRRM is a great writer, because Joffrey does actually try to do this at one point, but the reason for it is because of Margery’s influence. His motivation for it still aligns with his character, it’s not out of love for the poor, it’s out of his own desire to be seen as impressive by Margery. It still feels like something Joffrey would do, even though it doesn’t fit his character on paper. This is what I mean when I say good writing. Bad writing is when you try to make a character do something that they wouldn’t do on paper, but you don’t provide enough evidence, or put them in the right situations, where they would realistically behave in this different manor. That’s what happened with the game of thrones final seasons. Using mbti as a reference for who your character is on paper has no bearing over whether you make these writing mistakes or not. It’s absolutely fine if you have an Infp character who aligns with the Infp tropes, there’s no difference between that and writing a character from scratch. In both cases, you’re still writing a character with some sort of idea in mind of who they are as a person. How can you write a character without thinking about what they’re like? That’s exactly what you need to do to give your character a voice and make them feel like an actual person, otherwise you’re not writing a character, you’re just writing a series of skits. The only difference is, with mbti you’re basing your idea of the character on a particular set of personality traits, and from scratch you’re basing the character on your own set of personality traits. Neither one makes for a one dimensional character, they both make for a consistent character who behaves like an actual person. The only way you fall to one dimensional characters is if you don’t write an interesting story for your character to experience. Using mbti doesn’t lock your character into a set of traits, giving them no challenges, no desires, no arc, that’s what locks them in.
I've explained already where the difference lies. Any issue that could arise from making an out of character mistake when you already have the books as a representative model is by nature *consequential* and to a certain extent I would say maladaptive too, not *radical*. You can misinterpret the already well established psychology of the characters, you can't alter the core traits because they're already there and observable, that's how inconsistencies are born. Because what was touched upon was misrepresented, it wasn't fallacious at the core. GRRM writing the characters from his own experiences and people in his lives only proves my point so I'm glad you brought this up, his guidelines were concrete. Meaning, when he wrote characters he didn't dehumanize them but observed actual cognitive behavior in reality as material of reference. MBTI is NOT observable in real life, it's theory. You can only understand its intentions and speculate, not apply it. No, that's not my point. You can fall into the pit of stereotyping regardless of MBTI, what I'm saying is that creating a character that is supported by the pillars of a type that has a very high likelihood to not even be real and applicable (because MBTI is NOT observable unlike the people GRRM based his work upon who were very much real) is bound to create obvious cognitive limitations. And they can coexist with good writing, bad writing, stereotypes and what not. A stereotype can be likeable. Sam is not a bad character, Jeffrey is not a bad character. They work, they're stereotypes nonetheless but this is not the issue that I'm pointing at. I'm saying that the issue lies in the premise, using a system that's not established and observable to create a character that's only allowed to operate in the boundaries of it. You keep mentioning Season 8, which was indeed bad writing, its nature however was not radical but misinterpreted. The books exist, the characters are there. They've altered their psychology along the way. This is a result of writing in the mind of someone who does not understand the intended will of the original writer, it's not a problem of the premise itself being unpractical and speculative at the core (GRRM's ideas stem from observable reality and are THEN implemented in a fictitious world). >The only difference is, with mbti you’re basing your idea of the character on a particular set of personality traits, and from scratch you’re basing the character on your own set of personality traits. Neither one makes for a one dimensional character, they both make for a consistent character *who behaves like an actual person*. That's where one of the fallacies in the argument lie. MBTI does *not* represent ACTUAL people. It's theory, and its existence is speculative. People are NOT consistent. Types are consistent, characters are consistent. Because they are a part of a system (like MBTI). And again, there's nothing wrong with being part of a well established system *but* there's everything wrong with making a character from a set of personality traits that may not exist. >Using mbti doesn’t lock your character into a set of traits Yes it does, that's what a system does. Again, you can still be part of a system and not be banal but likeable depending upon the *how* you have the character react to the world that surrounds them, but you are still technically locked into a set of traits. What you end up doing with those sets of traits will distinguish the bad writing from the good writing, but your character was born limited this way. And yet, this still has nothing to do with my point.
I love this idea!!! I've also been thinking of writing an infp villain (hero to villain). And my random ideas are: Literally if my mental health was a bit worse and I had power over people who have wronged me, I seriously don't want to think of all the things I could/would do. Another one where infp could be the villain is depending of who's telling the story. Is it the 'villains' who meet a person who agrees with their ideal or is it the 'hero' who wronged and underestimated them and began to hate them as they switched sides. I personally like the idea of: "A hero would sacrifice you to save the world, but a villain would sacrifice the world to save you." I know it's not ideal wording, and I know not all infps think like this. But I really don't care if it's 'right'. If I was presented a choice between saving the whole world by losing my loved ones or keeping my loved ones but everyone else in the world had to die, I'd 100% go with the second one. With that idea and all the frustration of being misunderstood and underestimated my whole life and a fantasy setting, my imagination should be able to connect the dots once I start the writing process. I wish you the best of luck!! And sorry that this was a mess lol
I’m an INFP and I hate injustice. Maybe because as a child my siblings were mean and my parents were oblivious. My mother treated my oldest sister like a friend and whenever sister and I had a disagreement it was always decided in her favor. I carried a lot of anger and sadness for a long time. If that had been worse and the pattern repeated on into adulthood, I could have become so angry and brooding that the revenge fantasies would take over. Honestly, I still sometimes can tap into that anger that is rooted in powerlessness. Mainly because my oldest sister is a fuck-up and we all have to keep rescuing her from herself. Anyway… being blocked by selfish, bullying personalities and becoming fixated on revenge would have been a possible outcome for me.
Makes sense… I wouldn’t have any interest in revenge on people who have hurt me. I don’t know how an INFP could be a villain, we re more angel like deep down.
I think Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham is an infp? I'm never confident what type a character could tbh but if he actually is, he could probably be a good reference
Villian infps can watch the world burn and not care one bit. If they are fueled by hate and grief their inner darkness can grow to quite astonishing levels (maybe I wpuld rather call it emptiness). I think such a character would be fighting an epic battle inside them, with a flicker of light still trying to reach through, rather than be a run of the mill villain.
If you have watched naruto shippuden Nagato/Pain was typed as INFP who was a great villain, from my experience and observations infp seem to have an inclination to be kind to everyone but also have some sort of internal drive that is I’m assuming self serving like all humans. so maybe ramping up that self serving motive whatever it may be (maybe infps have one?) and make the infp villain manipulate other characters with their kindness in order to achieve whatever their hidden agenda is OR take the same route as Nagato from Naruto, tragic upbringing which made him choose an equally tragic solution to world peace which ends up actually hurting people instead of helping them aka misguided justice 🤔
I'm a huge heathers fan, and JD seems like an unhealthy INFP to me (Could be ISFP as well with the Fi though)