Category: Character Enneagrams

TYWIN LANNISTER (BOOK), THREE

Before we see him we know that he or his men have killed the red-toothed tavern keeper. She was just a woman running an inn. What a shame, and I believe that’s what we’re supposed to feel at recognizing her corpse on the gibbet. Tywin is not nice.

Cool under pressure, Tywin is so focused. He never smiles. Problems thrown at him barely register. He intends to break Robb Stark, and then focus on Stannis. He is the most mentally and physically disciplined person in the story. Diplomacy and persuasion are as much a part of his arsenal as tactics and might. No wonder his children are, at least, intimidated by him and, at most, terrified.

His armor is described in great detail. It’s amazing! I wish they’d included it in the show. Gold, lions, rubies, a heavy cloak long enough to drape the horse’s hindquarters. You can see him glisten from afar. What kind of man indulges in something so practical and yet so artistic? When the battle is mostly won, Tywin rides forward, shiny and majestic, surrounded by banners and spears. It’s epic. The man knows showmanship.

However, he misjudges Robb’s tactics. He calls Robb green, which he is, and assumes Robb will act rashly, which he doesn’t. It’s a great, fist-rising moment of victory for the Starks. Does he guess wrong because his pride blinds him? Is he just unlucky on this day? Or is there something about the Starks — a leadership based on camaraderie rather than dominance — that a Lannister can’t understand?

Well, his success at everything suggests a Three. He’s got it all. An imp child would particularly cause such a man to feel shame. Cersei, a medieval-era woman with a ruthless mind and a willful ambition, would baffle and embarrass him. And Jaime, the golden lion who fights hard in whatever direction his father points him, would please Tywin most.

RENLY BARATHEON (BOOK), THREE

He’s quick, funny, and light-hearted. Honest. And he dresses well with no apologies.

Strike while the castle sleeps. Renly knows exactly what’s happening in the moment Robert dies and the branches of its outcome. Take the children and Cersei will cave. Of course, he’s correct.

I like Renly! He’s easy-going and not quick to feel aggrieved. His encampment is beautiful, lively, and fun. All who follow him are at a party, it seems. He enjoys fine things but doesn’t overindulge. He’s nice to everyone, high and low. My God, he’s such a Three. If Stannis hadn’t resorted to magic and trickery Renly would’ve ended up King. He was golden and unbeatable by normal means.

BRIENNE OF TARTH (BOOK), NINE

She wins the melee tournament, defeating Ser Loras at the end. She’s large, strong, a trained warrior, and ugly. Catelyn pities her for this, but even more for the look Brienne gives Renly when she asks to be named to his honor guard. Young. Naive. A heart to be broken.

It goes without saying that she’s a Body Type. She’s a medieval superhero. To fight this well, especially in an era when every social convention would contradict you, you must need it in your bones. This is a Nine. The strength and competency combined with her personal gentility are the key traits.

Brienne is a wonderful character, and it’s a shame to cut to the chase so soon, but her Enneagram number is easy to spot with only one chapter of information. I am distrustful of George R. R. Martin’s skill in writing women. I have found the main characters — Catelyn, Daenerys, Arya — contradictory and arbitrary at times. I’m going to peg Brienne here, mostly because I don’t trust the rest of the writing about her to be consistent. At this point, she’s very clear.

JOFFREY (BOOK), FOUR

He’s tall, handsome, and next in line to the throne. He’s got it all and he knows it. Why should he be nice?

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt at the beginning. He’s spoiled and privileged. That doesn’t mean he’s intrinsically awful. When he rides out with Sansa he shows her a lovely day in a beautiful countryside. It’s only with Arya that his dark side emerges. 

For a while he seems like a rich boy, petted and selfish. Underneath, though, is a liking for cruelty. He’s not that different from little Robert Arryn, the breastfeeding lordling. He wants to see people fly through his own version of the Moon Door just because he can.

Benefit of the doubt officially over.

He’s a monster, but here’s what’s interesting. When he becomes king he immediately behaves as a tyrant. There’s no warm-up, no testing the waters of power. It’s not politics for him. He just is this way. The only difference is that now no one can tell him to stop. Before this he seemed possibly juvenile. But he’s a sadist. He enjoys the pain.

He’s passive until the throne is brought to him by his father’s death. He doesn’t engage in politics and he makes no effort to learn. When he sits on the throne and rules, cruel whim informs his decisions. Law and justice mean nothing to him. He’s no Head Type.

And he’s no Body Type. Little Arya beats him up. Weapons training is not something he pursues with passion.

So, Heart. Two, Three, or Four?

He’s not clever. Sansa talks rings around him. So does The Hound. He’s not nice enough to be a Two and not successful enough to be a Three. (His mother got him the throne. And no one likes him there.) That leaves a nasty Four. That explains his ability to misdirect people with his prettiness. Smoke and mirrors.

STANNIS BARATHEON (BOOK), FOUR

Why did Stannis leave? He was going places — investigating? — with Jon Arryn before his death, and now Stannis has abandoned King’s Landing. Apparently he’s either too careful to succeed or he’s a coward. Also, he’s quite a prude and no one likes him. So there.

Seat Stannis on the throne and the realm will bleed.

My God, he’s bitter. He’s steeped in poison of his own thoughts. He’s a resentful person, envious of Renly. And Ned. Wow, is Stannis a horrible, small-minded tyrant. However, he’s not kind, he’s not successful, and he’s not witty. None of the Heart Types fit him.

One goes to Four in weakness. The WHAMming (What About Me?), the envy, are part of that slide. The obsession with rules and details are the One side. He’s petty and selfish, with none of the charm of either number. A turn toward Seven would be a strength move. You can see how if he considered his options — join with Renly, join with Winterfell — he would improve his chances. Instead he chooses the Red Woman, the occult, which narrows his odds even further. Why in the world did Ned consider this man a possible monarch? No bloodline is strong enough to make Stannis worthy.

BRAN STARK (BOOK), NINE

He’s young, and the chapters from his perspective reflect a child’s understanding and interests.

He’s a knight-stan. It’s logical that a youngster in a medieval era would love the warriors and know their names by heart. This child, though, is clearly a Body Type. He climbs because he must.

When he and Robb receive Sansa’s letter proclaiming Ned a traitor, Bran cuts to the chase: Sansa lost her wolf. If the children and their wolves share a bond, then Sansa’s was broken, she was broken, against her will. (Nymeria runs free with Arya’s permission.) What a great insight — and a glimpse of the wisdom Bran will have — as to why Sansa would weaken.

He has a chance to study as a Maester, a vocation he’d excel at, but turns it down. It has no magic, and that’s what he wants. He wants to fly. Again, Body Type. He wants to ride out like Robb and hear the cheering. It’s the image of trotting rather than accolades that moves him. More than his body is broken by the fall. His inner self, his connection to life as a Body Type, is broken. If that can be rebuilt it will take a while.

I don’t think he has the vitality of an Eight. Nine or One? He’s a natural diplomat with no love of accounting. Nine.

CERSEI LANNISTER (BOOK), EIGHT

She’s insightful, but is it a natural diplomacy or is it keen self-preservation? She sends Joffrey to a frightened Sansa (on the trip south), which is exactly the right thing to do at that moment. It’s a kind and attentive act. It also stops a potential scene. It stills the waters. Impressive, but what underlies it?

When Arya is held to account for her attack on Joffrey, Cersei is determined. She knows all the angles to get some kind of justice, or revenge, for the sake of her son. It’s as if she’s followed all the branchings in her mind, all the permutations of reactions, and decided what to do in response. Either that, or she’s incredibly quick-witted. She has an iron discipline.

Ned confronts her in the godswood. She’s so calm, so straightforward! She doesn’t flinch or dissemble. Whoa! She had an abortion rather than bear Robert’s child. That’s different from the story TV Cersei tells Catelyn. She hates Baratheon. Quite a choice by the showrunners to make Cersei . . . more likable? Weird. Robert called her Lyanna on their wedding night. Another moment when the ghost changed his life and he didn’t even know it.

And Cersei makes a pass at Ned! An orgasm for a favor, for forgetting who fathered the children. When he tells her to flee, that Robert will chase her with his wrath, she asks, “And what of my wrath?” To underestimate Cersei, to not see her as a power broker, is a fatal mistake.

Only Tyrion can annoy her enough to make stupid mistakes. Or is Tyrion the only one who looks closely enough to see them? What is she?

She acts from her gut. Her heart and her head don’t hold sway. She’s too manipulative to be a Nine and too dull to be a One. An Eight, then. Hmm. It would explain why she and Tyrion rub each other wrong: they are each other’s strength and weakness number. As much as I love Lena Headey I wouldn’t have cast her as this Cersei. She’s playing (and is written to be), probably, a Four. A true Eight portrayal would’ve been magnificent.

THE HOUND (BOOK), NINE

He’s Joffrey’s dog. Mean and biddable. At the beginning he’s just a tool, and that’s how he sees himself. His will is not his own. Just because he’s a servant, though, he’s not a simpleton. He sees The Game around him and understands it. It amuses him. Killing and laughing, really, are the breadth of his range. He’s quite interesting as a character study.

Ah, he’s the first person to challenge Sansa, to point out that she’s a puppet. She has not begun to discover herself but only behaves as she’s been trained. Why does he care enough to confront her with this?

And the story of Sandor’s burning is told to Sansa by him, not by Littlefinger’s gossip, here in the book. Why diminish such a powerful story, such a powerful moment between these characters, by giving this speech away? He threatens her to secrecy later, not that she would tell anyway, afraid possibly at the vulnerability he’s shown. His behavior is a wonderful mystery that makes him very interesting.

When he jumps in at the tournament to rescue Loras from the Mountain he’s magnificent. Brave, obviously, but he’s also a kind of watchman on his brother, who’s a truly evil creature. Stop Gregor from hurting anyone else might be Sandor’s only motto.

Now he’s part of the Kingsguard, standing watch over Joffrey. At the “gnat’s” tournament he takes Sansa’s part, although with a stone face. He won’t hit Sansa, the only guard who isn’t challenged to do so. He doesn’t care about anything, it seems, yet he interjects himself so effortlessly at key moments.

The ironic detachment, the physical competency, the lack of will to create his own destiny — what number? Nine, of course. He avoids conflict by not caring about anything. Only Sansa, through innocence, vulnerability, or naivete, can get him to engage.

TYRION LANNISTER (BOOK), FIVE

When Catelyn captures him Tyrion is most offended that he didn’t see it coming. She successfully tricks him and it galls. When Cat is cornered, though, and against his own reason, Tyrion steps forward to fight. After the battle he takes the time to observe their foe. Poor weapons and thin bodies. He’s always gathering information. Afterward, he rides armed and free, with Bronn beside him. He can convince anybody of anything, it seems. Cat takes him to the Vale and claims he’s her prisoner, but that’s not how it looks.

He sees himself as the brains of the Lannisters. Cersei has “low cunning” and Jaime is rash. For all of Tyrion’s smarts, though, justice will not let him shut his mouth to save himself pain. He antagonizes Lysa when he should lay low. His mouth — his wit and his ability to craft an argument — is his strength. He’s stronger when he takes his time rather than reacting in an instant. Planning and the nerve to carry the idea to fruition as he does on trial in the Vale, that’s Tyrion when he’s successful. Risk, gamble, and study. 

“A Lannister always pays his debts.” That phrase is particularly poignant when Tyrion uses it as part of his telling of his wife, the maiden who ended up to be a whore Jaime had hired. It’s a great story, moving and character-revealing, and when Bronn says he would’ve made Tywin pay for what he did, Tyrion comes out with the motto, giving it a whole other meaning. Lovely writing.

He might be the greatest player of The Game. His observation skills, his poker face, his ability to think outside the box, his clarity in understanding the greatest threat. As Hand he’s perfectly situated to use his strengths.

So, which Enneagram number is he? Head Type, without a doubt. Everything is about deducement and plotting. Interestingly, we can’t use his build as a clue. 

He’s no Six. Rules are more like guidelines to Tyrion. He has a great love of the sensate pleasures of life, suggesting a Seven. I’m going to say Five, though. It’s his attention to detail. He misses nothing and he notices everything. I also kind of love the notion that if he were a full-sized man, he’d be tall. It’s so perfectly Tyrion.

AMALIA TRUE, EIGHT

She’s an absolutely marvelous character with a lot of mysteries to her. Who was she before? Why was she drowning herself? Is she really a widow? How did she learn to fight so well?

That’s our first clue to her Enneagram. She’s very physical. Although she obviously has a sharp mind, Amalia really likes to hit things. She’s also very quick to react. The immediate assumption is she’s an Eight.

Her blunt speaking — truths about herself and others don’t intimidate her — suggests an Eight. She only tells secrets that are hers to tell, and only if she wants to, but embarrassment won’t hold her back. 

Her detective work is excellent and she is a loyal friend. Her impulse to action, though, is what defines her. In episode four we learn a little more about why she is this way (no spoilers). A lot more unravelling lies ahead for Mrs. True. If I call her Enneagram now there’s a high possibility it will change with more information. However, Laura Donnelly is killing it in this role, and I must speak about her now. This show deserves eyeballs.

UPDATE: Episode five, sadly, shows that the writers have no idea of the marvel they’ve created. No shade to Donnelly, who is masterful, but Amalia has lost her core. I am done watching and am hesitant to recommend any of it.