It’s finally here! The baddest evildoers to ever oppose animated Disney heroism — now with Myers-Briggs types. There are a lot of villains that show up in Disney stories so I had to whittle it down to a fairly short list. Here’s my criteria:

• All Primary Members of the Disney Villains franchise show up here, except Chernabog.
• I then added a few other popular villains, paying special attention to the villains from films where I’ve already typed a Disney heroine.
• To keep the number of villains manageable, I decided not to type any of their side-kicks or secondary villains.
• I’m only typing the animated versions. This is mostly to maintain consistency, since sometimes the type changes in live-action reboots (such as Maleficent becoming more INFJ when she got her own film).

If you compare this chart to the ones I made for Disney Princesses, you’ll see they’re almost opposite each other. The spots on the chart that stood empty for the Princesses (ENFJ, INTJ, INTP) now have at least one occupant and some of the spots bursting with princesses don’t have any villains at all. The biggest trend seems to be Feeling types equal “good” and Thinking types equal “evil” (which really bugs me, but that’s a rant for another time).

There’s not much to go on for typing some of the villains. They’re often caricatures of personality types rather than fully-fleshed out characters. By necessity, associating a villain with a certain types means looking at the most negative stereotypes of that type. But Disney typing is fun, so even when we don’t have much to work, I’m going to take a guess at the character. You’re welcome to shout-out in the comments about what you do and don’t like! Have fun 🙂

• Please note: there were so many villains to type that I split them up into two blog posts. Part One covers the Sensing Type villains and Part Two will cover the Intuitive types.
• One more note: I mostly type by function stacks, so if you’re not familiar with that part of Myers-Briggs theory you can click here to read The Simplest Guide To Myers-Briggs Functions Ever.

Lady Tremaine — ESTJ

Most people type her as a TJ type (at least in the animated version), but beyond that there isn’t any agreement about her I/E or S/N preference. I’m pretty sure she’s a Sensor, but I’ve gone back and forth between introvert and extrovert. I’ve gone with extrovert because she’s very inclined to take-charge in the outer world and we don’t really see her spending any time alone.

• Te: The opening narration describes her as “cold, cruel, and bitterly jealous of Cinderella’s charm and beauty.” While not a fair representation of TJ types, “heartless” is an accusation stereotypically leveled against them, especially women. She’s very outwardly judgemental and her communication consists of authoritative orders.
• Si: My guess is that Lady Tremaine married Cinderella’s father for security. She already had a “good family” so she wasn’t social climbing. While we do see her trying to forward her daughters’ interests, it’s not really as part of a N-type’s long-term planning. She’s working within traditional roles to control and manipulate people.
• Ne: A pattern-recognition function, Extroverted Intuition helps Lady Tremain put the pieces together and realize Cinderella was the mystery woman at the ball.
• Fi: As an inferior function, Introverted Feeling can show up as outbursts of emotion and a fear of feeling. Lady Tremain is a very detached character, never showing her feelings for the people around her unless it’s in an angry outburst.

Queen of Hearts — ESTJ

The Queen of Hearts is one of the more exaggerated Disney villains. ESTJ nicknames include Supervisor, Executive, Overseer, and Enforcer. Take that to a villainous extreme and you just might get someone who lops off subordinates’ heads when things don’t go as they ordered.

• Te: The Queen of Hearts is very much concerned with making the outer world fit her idea of what it should be. Once she’s decided something is logical and right, well that’s that and she has no patience for dissenting (a.k.a. wrong) viewpoints.
• Si: SJ types are typically the most traditional in the Myers-Briggs system. That’s a side we see the Queen of Hearts demonstrate when she demands Alice fit her idea of what a little girl should be (“Look up, speak nicely, and don’t twiddle your fingers”).
• Ne: not readily visible in her character, though I suppose it could contribute to some of the leaps in logic that she makes when issuing sentences.
• Fi: Emotional outbursts are one of the key traits of inferior Introverted Feeling. I think it’s safe to say she fits that.

Mother Gothel — ESTJ

I was very tempted to type her as an ESFJ because the defining characteristic of Gothel’s personality is constant emotional manipulation (which could indicate dominant Fe, albeit an unhealthy variety). However, like Ursula, her manipulation is dispassionate and motivated by it being the fastest way to get what she wants rather than any real interest in other’s feelings (contrast ENFJ Hans, who does lead with Fe).

• Te: Gothel is all about control. When she does have to take action, she does so with careful and logical planning which neatly traps Rapunzel and Eugene. She also spends much of her screen time literally extroverting every thought that goes through her head, even when she has to go back and say, “I’m just teasing,” to keep Rapunzel happy.
• Si: Like other SJ types, Mother Gothel prefers her established routine. She has decided how things are supposed to be and doesn’t like it when others upset the balance or challenge her rules. While raising Rapunzel was a plan with long-term implications, her entire plot is focused on keeping things the same for her. It worked in the past, so why bother coming up with a new idea?
• Ne: Though it’s not very high on her function stack, idea-generating Extroverted Intuition helps Gothel quickly come up with ways to implement her plans and keep people under control.
• Fi: Introverted Feeling users can be tempted to think that only their feelings matter and morality is subjective to their own sense of “right.” It’s the least developed function for ESTJs and considering how selfish Mother Gothel is anyway it’s no wonder she’s using the darkest side of this mental process.

Captain Hook — ESTJ

Hook is characterized by his obsessive focus on Peter Pan. I’ve tried to just stick with the film for this typing, but I’m sure part of my read on his character is colored by the book as well.

• Te: Though obsessed with Peter, Hook demonstrates a systematic, logical way of going about his search. We’re introduced to him as he goes over a map eliminating places to look for Pan’s hideout. When he comes up with the idea to use Tinkerbelle, he lays out straight-forward plan for Smee to follow (go ashore, pick up Tinkerbell, and bring her to me). We also see him choose the most efficient way to deal with immediate problems, like shooting the man whose singing annoys him.
• Si: Hook is concerned with traditional notions of honor and “good form.” He’ll logic his way around things like giving “his word not to lay a finger … or a hook on Peter Pan,” but is still careful not to break a promise. Introverted Sensing is nicknamed “Memory” because Si users tend to rely on past experiences when approaching new situations. For example, when tricking Tinkerbell Hook relies on his past experiences with “jealous females” to tell her what she wants to hear.
• Ne: Hook falls pray to the temptation to toy with people by making Peter wait to open the bomb (disguised as a present from Wendy) and making sure all his prisoners know about it his plan.
• Fi: According to Naomi Quenk, stressed-out ESTJs in the grip of their inferior feeling typically demonstrate “Outbursts of emotion” and “Hypersensitivity to inner states.” Hook is just barely in control of his temper, often “losing it’ with an angry outburst (“Did Pan show good form when he cut off my hand?”). He’s also on the verge of a nervous breakdown from being stalked by the crocodile, actually jumping into Smee’s arms and begging him “save me.”

Ratcliffe — ESTJ

Governor Ratcliffe isn’t the easiest character to type and I haven’t seen many other people trying. After quite a bit of going back and forth on his type, I decided to try taking an online test “as” him and got the result ESTJ (which was one of the options I’d considered). So even though that slot on the chart was already over-crowded, I scooted people around to make room for him.

• Te: Though he can deliver a rousing speech, Ratcliffe doesn’t care what other people want and isn’t in touch with their feelings. Of his men, Ratcliffe says, “I’ll need those witless peasants to dig up my gold.”  The only reason he’s dealing with people at all is because they’re a means to an end. Similarly, his song “Mine, Mine, Mine” inspires people to dig gold even through he’s not at all subtle about the fact that he sees it all as “mine.” But though he’s ambitious, Extroverted Thinking isn’t a particularly endearing trait. He doesn’t know how to “play the game.” Ratcliffe complains that he’s “never been a popular man” and Wilkins says people describe him as a “pathetic social climber who’s failed at everything.”
• Si: At first, I thought Radcliffe might be an ESTP. However, he doesn’t really take any action in the outer world himself. In fact, his men start seeing through his act because he walks around eating while they work saying, “I share your fatigue.” SJ types aren’t typically lazy, but Si is a function that’s turned inward rather than concerned with the outer world.
• Ne: Though it would have been logical to build a fort first, Ratcliffe lets his long-term planning take a vacation until after the first Indian attack. Extroverted Intuition isn’t the most practical function and he’s most concerned with exploring his theory that there’s gold here. This function also shows up in how quickly he’s able to respond when Smith is taken, jumping in to manipulate the situation by stirring up his follower’s racism and suspicion with the song “Savages.”
• Fi: Underlying Ratcliffe’s personality is a strong commitment to being authentic to himself. Like Clayton, he chews another character out for not “being a man” and knowing how to shoot. And because that’s part of his definition of manhood, Radcliffe himself knows how to shoot. However, this function isn’t strong enough for him to feel comfortable with his own feelings. He defines himself by how others see him, and I suspect that’s the weak spot that keeps sabotaging his logical side.

Gaston — ESTP

Remember what I said about Disney villains being caricatures? Gaston is one example — an exaggerated version of ESTP charm, sensory indulgence, and live-in-the moment mentality.

• Se: Extroverted Sensing types are connected with their bodies and their physical environments. That’s one reason they make great action heroes and why villainous ESTPs think they’re the hero. Gaston likes to be the center of attention, lives for the moment, and doesn’t even want to think about not indulging whatever sensory pleasure he wants.
• Ti: Gaston makes decisions based on what makes logical sense to him. And then he expects everyone else to fall in line with his ideas. For example, he thinks “it’s not right for a woman to read” and refuses to accept outside evidence to the contrary (e.g. his perfect woman is a reader).
• Fe: Inferior Extroverted Feeling helps make ExTP types incredibly charming. As villains, they’ll use it to manipulate other people while ignoring their own emotions that might otherwise lead to a guilty conscience.
• Ni: Long-term planning is not Gaston’s strong suit. He’ll come up with plans to achieve long-term goals, but the function that helps villains like Scar and Jafar mastermind complex plots doesn’t work so well for him. Every one of his plans to ensnare Belle back-fires quickly.

Shan Yu — ISTP

He doesn’t have much screen time, but I think the scenes and dialogue we do have to a pretty good job of revealing Shan Yu’s type. Especially because he explains exactly why he’s making the decisions he does. Could also be an ESTP type, I suppose, but I feel like he leads more with Thinking than with Sensing.

• Ti: Cold logic defines his decision making. For example, he sees a little girl’s doll as a clue to his next move rather than something symbolic of a child’s life.
• Se: He views his invasion as a game — his response to the emperor’s challenge of building a wall.
• Ni: Shan Yu shows forward-thinking and long term planning in how he traps the Chinese army
• Fe: As his inferior function, feeling is Shan Yu’s “blind side.” His plan falls apart because he didn’t account for the human element.

Cruella De Vil — ESFP

I really enjoyed re-watching 101 Dalmatians to type Cruella. She’s one of the biggest personalities in the Disney Villains line-up and it’s refreshingly different to see a Feeling-type villain used to such good effect.

• Se: She clearly leads with a strong extroverted function that exhausts the introverts around her (one describes her as “a vampire bat”). She lives in the moment and thrives on sensory experiences (such as fast driving). She’s also in-touch with her body and the world around her (exaggerated body movements, making herself welcome in Roger and Anita’s house, noticing the puppy prints as she drives by even though she’s speeding). Whatever she’s obsessed with is the most important thing in the word, and in her case it’s a sensory thing (“I live for furs, I worship furs”).
• Fi: Cruella never seems to have learned the world doesn’t revolve around her own ideas, thoughts, and feelings. She assumes her subjective, inner decision-making paradigm should be obvious to everyone else. So she skips explanations, assuming everyone is already on her page because her inner world is the most important. Cruella also takes everything personally (like hanging up on Jasper when she hears him say “shut up” even though it’s meant for Horace), which is a temptation for unhealthy Introverted Feeling.
• Te: Some things seem obviously logical to her and she’s not shy about sharing whatever pops into her head (“You can’t possibly afford to keep them. You can scarcely afford to feed yourselves”). She also assumes everyone will do what she wants just because she orders them to.
• Ni: Long-term (but warped) planning for how to “get even.” Also demonstrates quick idea generation when suggesting how to kill the puppies.

The Evil Queen — ISFP

As her name indicates, the Evil Queen’s most defining character trait is her wickedness. That makes it hard to type her, since no one type is inherently more evil than the others. So we need to look at her scenes and try to figure out how her mind works as she moves her plot forward. I was initially inclined to type her as an INTJ, assuming that she shows Ni long term planning in her power-grab, Te logic in getting rid of Snow White quietly, and tertiary Fi in feeling insecure about how she defines herself. But if we stick to only what we see on-screen and try to limit our assumptions there’s an alternate explanation with a type that uses the exact same functions in a different order.

• Fi: The Evil Queen’s number one motive is to remain the fairest of them all. There’s no indication from what she says that her motive in getting rid of Snow White is to hold on to power. Rather, she’s motivated by a consuming insecurity about something that has to do with her self-definition. Introverted Feeling types are very concerned with how they view themselves. And since “fairest of them all” is her core self-definition she’s insanely committed to protecting it.
• Se: The Evil Queen’s hands-on approach to magic indicates she uses Extroverted Sensing comfortably. It’s not her dominant function, though, and she initially opts for having someone else take care of the messy task of cutting Snow White’s heart out of her chest.
• Ni: Introverted Intuition plays into the Evil Queen’s ability to act with long-term goals in mind. Though blinded by jealousy and fueled by rage, she still plots Snow White’s death rather than flying off the handle and killing her. Similarly, she delays executing the Huntsman even through she’s angry so she can deal with the more long-term threat of Snow White being alive.
• Te: While she completely trusts her own plans (the mirror has to tell her twice that the Huntsman failed before she accepts it), her logic is actually pretty terrible. Even when she decides to take care of Snow White herself she still doesn’t use a poison that would just flat-out kill her, opting for the more dramatic “Sleeping Death.”

 

Click here to read Part Two: The Intuitive Villains.

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