Enneagram – Page 38 – Enneagram and Encaustic

Episode 1

ONE

As the credits roll we see a wireless transmitting a message intercut with a rolling steam locomotive. Immediately we know we’re in an historical period. Whatever is on this ticker tape, the news shocks the clerk.

The house, the grand Downton estate exterior, is established. April 1912.

Inside, the servants awaken. The staff, a lot of people, bustle throughout the house, lighting fires, opening drapes, preparing trays. Different characters get close-ups, and then here come the keys. It’s Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes, our chiefs of staff. I have no idea, but this seems like a huge house of servants for the early 20th century. The sense that Downton is approaching a milestone is evident before we even hear the plot.

TWO

A bicycle messenger approaches the house, meaning the newspapers have finally arrived. “You’ll see why,” he says. The staff all know what the big news is, but we don’t.

Lord Grantham and his dog descend for breakfast. Ah, he knows, too. It’s Titanic. Of course. Someone important to the family was onboard.

O’Brien, Her Ladyship’s maid, gossips with staff and lets us in on what’s important: Mr. Crawley’s dead and Mr. Patrick was his only son. They were heir to the title.

A just-arrived man with a cane is Bates, the new valet. Handshake from maid Anna, stone face from O’Brien (which pretty much tells you what you need to know about each character). Mrs. Hughes wonders how he can manage with his limp. Mr. Carson comes in and smoothes it all, even though he has concerns.

THREE

Grantham again reiterates that his first cousin and the son are dead. Mary, the eldest daughter, will be the most impacted. She was unofficially engaged to Patrick so that the estate could stay in the family, but no romantic feelings were involved.

The Humiliation of Mercedes

Remember, Mercedes is the lady knight with the French accent who escorted the hydra head to the capital. She’s been hanging around court ever since. Now she needs our help.

Daughter to Hearthstone’s lord (a neighboring country, apparently) she will not be “an idle burden on the duke’s hospitality any longer.” Trouble is afoot and she’s off to investigate. We have no choice but to join her.

When we get to the Stone of the North all of the guards fight between themselves. Sedition! The leader of this rebellion is Lord Julien. He has also been hanging around court, looking all manly, and is the Night’s Champion and spy for Salvation. We saw him with Madeleine at her new shop.

He and Mercedes face off while he deeply insults her with misogynistic taunts. They battle.

Big dude with a mace pounds on little woman with a rapier. I could step in — I have in other playthroughs — and kill him during the duel. Instead I let him attack so I can hear his monologuing.

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.

The Blue Spirit

ONE

Fire Nation ships dock at a fortress location.

TWO

It’s Commander Zhao. He’s here for these legendary archers. When he’s denied, a message conveniently arrives that promotes him. What was a request is now an order, and the archers are his.

We see a face, a blue mask, watching this exchange.

THREE

Now we get to our team at camp. Sokka is sick with a fever. His hallucinations are, of course, funny. As we often see in this show, Sokka is the Three. Katara, tending him, starts to cough. Aang needs to find some medicine for both of them now.

PENANCE ADAIR, SEVEN

The Nevers is a new show on HBO/Max. Because I’m really enjoying it I want to contribute to its buzz, so I’m jumping in. It’s a little early, four episodes dropped so far, to judge a character’s Enneagram but I think Penance is fairly settled.

She’s an inventor, specifically for electricity. We know that she was a natural innovator before becoming “touched”, the word for someone (usually a woman) who’s been gifted by events on a certain day in Victorian London. Now she can see the flow of electricity all around her, helping her design mechanics that can shape that pattern.

She’s an incredibly kind heart, a Christian specifically. Helping is important to her. She’s loyal to the other Touched. She and Amalia run an orphanage, a gathering place for the Touched whose families are horrified by them. She would never do or say anything to hurt someone unless they were an evildoer out to torture (which is a plotline).

Although she will join Amalia, the warrior of the group, in battle, her inclination is as more of a Q: the inventor. In some ways her function is to keep Amalia on the right course, knowing what is just and gentle.

Penance is no Body Type. Her inclination for invention is an important trait. She’s curious. Her kindness, her connectedness to all the other Touched, suggests a Heart Type. However, as thoughtful to others as she is, she can also be socially awkward. She’s not averse to interaction, but she’s more of a loner. I think we’re looking at a Head Type.

Her curiosity, her daring, her social consciousness, suggest a Seven. The actress herself, as wonderful as she is, doesn’t physically represent a Seven. She’s too willowy for that. However, as of now four episodes in, I will call Penance as I see her.

I can’t wait to see if my opinion changes as the season progresses!

UPDATE: The writing on episode five became too chaotic and unstructured for me. I’ve stopped watching with much regret.

Farewell, Valmiro

He wants to forgo the fishing life to travel the land and study its wonders. This from the fellow who makes it ten feet past the village gate and faints.

We have to provide him with a bunch of difficult to find things: Sour Ambrosial Meat, which apparently is the byproduct of a dangerous ape monster, and a Pilgrim’s Charm for luck, which I buy off of Fournival! Good thing I saved him from a guilty verdict.

Valmiro has so many crates to go in his boat he needs us to help him load.

Do you see Valmiro carrying a crate? No, you don’t.

And then we have an evening drink on the beach by a bonfire. He seems to be comparing his wanderlust with my fate after a giant dragon ripped my heart from my chest and ate it.

At sunrise he’s off. We get some rare items, like a hydra’s gallstone, to remember him by. It’s possible we’ll see him again, but only if the game decides we love him best. We have a lot of contenders for that position.

MUSCLEBOB BUFFPANTS

ONE

The credits have marching band music running over, then we bubble-wipe to the pineapple house. No peaceful ukeleles for this episode.

TWO

Inside, Spongebob flexes his muscles in front of the mirror. Well, haha, if he had muscles. “It’s time to grow large and wide.” Why? Because that’s the Trouble, that’s why.

Two stuffed animals are impaled on each end of the lifting bar. He strains to lift it over his head, eventually falling sideways from the weight.

Doorbell. “Yay, it’s Sandy!” I actually said that aloud while watching.

THREE

Oh, wow, he shows her his state of the art weight set! My heart. It’s all adorable stuffed animals.

Chasing Salomet

Okay, we’ve got more info about the sorcerer Salomet. Is any of this relevant?

The duke held a council of magick scholars, tasked with ensorceling grimoires and trinkets. Salomet was the head. He fled with the findings of the research. Ooh, and killed everyone else! Now he’s stolen this ring, which must make it important.

We are to track him down and retrieve the ring. This is another must-do quest.

When we find him hiding out at the quarry we battle him and his men. He can’t be killed because he must run away so that we can beat him up again later. Such is gaming life.

KHAL DROGO (BOOK), EIGHT

He’s even less defined here than in the show. He’s powerful, he’s barbaric, and he has affection for Dany. He’s learning the Common Tongue. In a way he’s like Baratheon: we’re all waiting for him to die so that the true leader can come forth. He doesn’t seem vulnerable as Robert does, but he also has less character development. You don’t give so little time to someone who has meaning to the story.

However, we explicitly get the detail multiple times that his long hair has never been cut because he has never known defeat in battle. A naturally gifted warrior is probably an Eight or Nine.

Drogo also gives the speech about conquering the Iron Throne after the poison attempt on Dany. The written words have none of the energy Momoa brings, with his fusion of character and Maori Haka. It’s one of the few times the show is better than the book.

Unlike the TV series, where Drogo is wounded in an argument, here he is cut in battle. He has sent the healers to help the other injured men, as a good leader would. Dany intervenes when she sees his pain and calls the healers back. Instead, though, Mirri the Maegi offers her services. Whatever is in her poultice, he rips it off after six days. It itched and burned. Is that good? Now he has a soothing mud plaster and poppy wine that he drinks heavily. Flies are following him.

After he falls from his horse, Mirri is called. It seems that the poultice was true. Why would someone so very strong, someone who must have been injured before, shy from healing? Ah, because it was delivered by someone he didn’t trust. Eight. His paranoia and aversion to mysterious healing is the tell. Eights, the strongest of the strong, are vulnerable when it comes to understanding sickness.

KHAL DROGO (TV), NULL

He’s a product of his culture. When Dany teaches him to make love differently, he’s fine with that. He’d just never done it that way before.

Mostly Drogo is a placeholder: husband, warlord, savage. When Dany is threatened by the wine merchant’s assasination attempt, though, he comes through with a career-making (for Momoa) moment. This scene where he proclaims he’ll fight for the Iron Throne is astonishing and powerful. Don’t cross Drogo. Something he cared little about will now drive him completely. Family, tribe, love. This is his hierarchy, his core. Threaten them and you’ve called forth the fire.

And then he’s dead. Whatever hint of character we got is now over. He’s big, he’s a leader, and he’s decisive. The Enneagram options are numerous, and we have no more information to glean. I could assign a number to him on the assumption that he’s drawn from choices made in the novel, but I don’t like that. The show must stand on its own feet.