In the latest entry, the types of the characters from the TV show Game of Thrones, based on the book series, was investigated.
In this next entry, the MBTI types of the characters from Breaking Bad will be investigated.
Walter White is one of the most well developed characters on TV today. Walter White is a token example of an INTJ type gone bad, and there is much evidence to support this. Walter White is introverted, as seen especially in the first season in which he prefers to isolate himself from others and only talks when necessary. This creates problems, as Skyler is an extrovert and wants him to speak more to her. He is also intuitive, due to his advanced complex knowledge of chemistry. He is a thinker, with a disregard for other people’s feelings making all his decisions logically (Te), and making them all with long term visions in mind (Ni). This makes him an INTJ.
Skyler is an ESFJ, representing the typical wife who is loyal to her husband until her trust starts to fade. When she finds out that Walter is in the drug business, she is absolutely disgusted due to how immoral it is; she values his trust, and wants to help him throughout the first two seasons, but as she discovers more, we see her emotional state deteriorate. She values structure and order (Si) and when she finds out the truth, she begins to fear the power that she realizes her husband possesses, as evident by her noticeable reactions (Fe).
Jesse Pinkman is an ESFP. He is often impulsive and takes risks, and is not very organized. This occurs with many ESFP’s who are not interested in schooling. He enjoys thrills (Se) but is still motivated by morals (Fi) and often questions the ruthless decisions Walter makes.
Gus is much the same as Walter, only more powerful to begin with. With the death of Gus at the end of season four, many fans argued that Walter was going to become the new Gus. This is due to the similar personality that they both possess. Gus is controlling and cautious, and devious and introverted, another prime example of an INTJ gone bad.
Other characters:
- Hank- ESTP
- Marie- ESFP
- Walt Jr- ISFP
- Mike- ISTJ
- Saul- ENTP
Which MBTI Type... 
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Skyler is ESTJ.
Nope! Definitely ESFJ.
Because she’s a “typical wife”, right?
Lol. Nothing at all sexist about typing all mom’s as feelers.
Uh, okay, whatever. https://zombiesruineverything.com/2013/10/01/mbti-skyler-white-esfj/
women suck, yo
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Wasn’t she a writer in season 1? Isn’t it more common in Intuitives to create stories?.
Yeah it is more common. In my opinion, she is the exception to the rule regarding creating stories. If you look at other traits about her- her lack of open mindedness, her difficulty in understanding situations out the normal, her SJ job in later seasons with Ted Beneke, her representation as the modern house wife often associated with modern culture and her Si function in explaining small details/stories, I believe she is Si.
No. That’s not even remotely what an intuitive is. Enough with this intuitive bias nonsense. My dad and I write (fantasy for me, horror, sci-fi, and historical fiction for him). We’re ISFP and ESTJ. Skyler clearly uses her Ne and Si for writing.
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walter is INTP and skyler is infj IMO
INTP? But don’t you see the drive he has to achieve his vision in the empire business? His calculating persona? It seems very Ni to me
IMHO, WW’s incredible attention to detail – which is why he is such a great chemist – makes him predominately an ISTJ and not an INTJ. Especially when you consider also his abysmally wrong-headed big-picture thinking during the first three seasons (try to become a meth kingpin, even though I have no criminal background, no connections, no clear plan, and my partner is a drug-addled schmuck? Sure! What could go wrong!). He becomes more of an INTJ as the series progresses and he learns from his mistakes, but I think he remains on the ISTJ side up until the end. His obsession with providing for the welfare of his family is also more ISTJ than INTJ. The urge to pigeon-hole him as an INTJ I think is mostly a product of the assumption that all fictional criminal masterminds are such.
I think you’re right. INtuitives rarely have that patience for detail or meticulousness. Which is not to say that they can’t, if well-motivated, but it would be unlikely. If it were Walter’s ambition from the start to run a drug empire, I would have no problem with his INTJ diagnosis, but without that, I definitely see him as an ISTJ too.
I still agree with INTJ, though. He doesn’t so much own an attention to detail as he does an obsession with his passion. He isn’t triggered all the time, only when his half-cooked plan has to change. When he isn’t about chemistry he’s about protecting his potential to do so. Jesse is his symbol/mascot/idol of his new “life” in chemistry that he “should have” had In the past. Hence his overprotective attitude with him.
You make a point about his attention to detail. Don’t you think it has to do with his judging function though as well?
Also, what type do you think Gus is? Because I believe Walt and Gus behave very similarly.
No, that is his lower Se. He’s an INTJ.
First I would like to say that Myer Briggs tipology is flawed, very few people can be just one type.
I think the most predominant type of Walter White is INTP.
He was a genius of Chemistry but never accomplished anything.
As he evolve in the series he develop more the S and J factors.
Maybe his secondary type is ISTJ.
No system is perfect, but for an attempt to fit all people into just 16 groups, MB typology is very good. People are rarely “multiple” types, per se (The Doctor from Doctor Who being a notable exception); but they can be “strong” or “weak” on any of their preferences.
I would say Walter White is definitlely J. His decisiveness, his planning and leadership skills, and his near inability to accept other people’s suggestions once he has made up his mind (think of all the times he has ignored Mike’s or Saul’s advice) all point to J. I agree with the ISTJ assessment for the reasons Phil gave. (I’m the Anon who replied to him too.)
Thank you, you just summed up how I describe Walter White! I appreciate hearing the perceiving perspective of Walter White, although I personally am leaning far more towards the judging side! 🙂 And agreed, the MBTI typology system is great!
Hi. I disagree.
I’m not saying that WW had no the J typical traits you mentioned.
I think he was mainly an INTP for most of his life. He was a teacher, an intellectual, a creator of knowledge and theories.
This was what WW was for most of 50 years.
Once he entered in his existencial crisis, he was forced to ACT, PLAN AND TAKE DECISIVE RESOLUTIONS.
An INTP can’t do it? Of course he can, even if they are not his natural tendencies.
Again, nobody can fit just one type. Just search for typologies of famous people. They are different depending on the analyst.
Even the people change his typology over the time as the brain is malleable.
What I’ve seen is that people has the charateristics of at least 3 types. Hard to fit just one.
I see where you are coming from! You said people have the characteristics of 3 types. What would be Walter’s third type?
he can’t be a J as we have seen so many times he is forced to take inventive/creative actions throughout the series (especially the end). Its not like he planned every single thing and it went exactly accordingly. The show starts off with this theme too – his cancer forcing him to break bad then all his mis-guided forays into the drug world, all the action sequences where he is involved in or any kind of decision making and so on. You can for sure say that he plans everything last minute in the heat of everything. This is a typical P trait. Hence I think hes a very turbulent INTP from the start till the end except a few moments of spontaneously achieved victories.
Oh my goodness. That is so very much not what a judger means. You are typing incorrectly anyway, by the preferences, in lieu of the functions, the reliable way. And all you’re doing is going by stereotypes. My ESTJ dad was in a rock band and writes steampunk historical fiction and horror stories, for crying out loud. That’s his Ne and Si working together.
INTP? Interesting, I’ve very rarely heard anything other than a J type for Walter! I can understand where you are coming from- his Ne could of kept him from having a real vision in life and spontaneously he decided to enter the drug business. I dunno though, I’m not fully convinced! Convince me 😉
I think you are analyzing to Walter White AFTER his existential crisis.
He was 50 years old, and he just was a genius scientific and an underachiever.
Very INTP by the way.
As an INTP, a thinker, he found the necessity to begin to MAKE things and FINISH them. As a natural INTP we watched him very dubious along the series. Killing the first guy, or almost delivering himself to the police at the end.
Well, that’s what I think.
Best regards.
So do you think he was more INTP at the end or INTJ? Coz in your other comment you argued he became INTJ as the show progressed 🙂
Walter is definitely an INTP. He is about the theory and attempting to perfect this…the power side of things emerges as a function of his inferior Extroverted Feeling, which is attempting to protect those he loves. Gus is an INTJ – it is about power for him, not the perfection of the formula or system. Although he is able to appreciate this in Walter, Gus is a pragmatist – it is about making money and weilding power. Walter is NOT a pragmatist! This is, I believe, what distinguishes INTJ from INTP – pragmatism versus theoretical/conceptual beauty.
This thought occurred to me in the night: is it possible that Walter has a different personality type than his alter ego Heisenberg? Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Empire-building, kingpin-assassinating, fulminated-mercury-bombing Heisenberg does sound like the perfect INTJ gone bad. But elsewhere, (mild-mannered?) Walter the chemistry teacher, who only makes drugs to provide for his family, strikes me more as an ISTJ. He’s “consumed” by his Heisenberg persona at the end, but through most of the show, I think ‘normal’ Walter White has a different personality altogether.
I definitely agree that Walter and Heisenberg seem to have different personalities. You know another example- Spiderman and Peter Parker. Peter Parker is an introvert, doesn’t really take risks, etc. Spiderman is basically like his opposite. In some ways it seems some characters (whether or not in real life) take a different personality as like a sense of identity. What do you think?
Mwaaa, going for InTJ. I’m sorry to burst anyones bubble, but in this case it’s not about what he literally says; the ‘fulfilling the duties of my family’ part is only partially true, I think he rather hides behind this to come across as morally correct. Even the audience falls for this ( arg he’s clever). In the end he admits that he needed all this shit to ‘feel alive’.
At the other hand, he’s clever (like I said before), but more interested in factual than abstract knowledge. So he still could be an istj, but not because he ‘needs to fulfill any of his duties’.
Note: This also reminds me of the often made misinterpretation of lyrics which seem to be about drugs, but I cannot imagine anyone just writing a song about drugs. It’s never only the drugs, even if it looks like it (i.e. it could represent someones boredom, pain or thrillseeking and so on).
I would consider Jesse to be more of an ISFP. He’s prone to emotional outbursts, don’t get me wrong, but I definitely consider him more of a wounded puppy type; one to keep it locked inside.
I completely agree! Also, after season 2 Jesse is way more introverted.
I feel that Skyler is more similar to ESTJ. As does have an emotional part(which everyone does), it seems to me that the rational part of her is more apparent in the most critical plots.
Skyler is an ENFJ. She is organised and family-focussed…not an an INFJ, because her focus is outward first, and secondly inward (you can see her turn more inwards as the series continues).
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Walter White is no INTJ, he is a very typical ISTJ. There seem to be many people thinking that he is an INTJ but this is not the case. Gus is a INTJ, that’s for sure.
The absolutely best evidence for WW being an ISTJ is the phone message he has recorded on his service “… please leave your name and number and state your reason for calling…” INTJs tend to expect other people to understand what they should do in order to get the show on the road without actually saying it out loud.
Then we have the chemistry that has very little to do with big picture stuff. It is on the contrary very much about details, facts and numbers. Ni people tend to not waste time in fields like chemistry or any other like it, because they get bored with numbers and details that is not part of a bigger system. High school chemistry would bore the shit out of an INTJ. Si people then again go crazy for shit like that. They usually indulge in nitpicking and hair splitting, and chemistry is perfect for just that.
WW has focused on small details in arbitrary matters many times and this is typical for Si, not Ni. INTJs don’t get hung up on how to cut the crust on bread.
Keeping Jesse around after all the mistakes, errors and stupidity that Jesse has presented is also in direct contrast with the pragmatic side of Ni. Si then again might feel the need to be loyal different from the pragmatic psychopath tendencies of an INTJ.
After making the decision to cross the line and become a drug manufacturer, an INTJ would have a plan, organize the whole thing, think of alternatives and make a kind of a SWOT chart and prepare for alternatives. An INTJ would expect a pro like Gus to check him out -that’s what he himself would do, An INTJ would understand that there is a lot to learn and figure out. WW is like a small kid learning by trial and error, collecting facts about the process and learning that way. This is why WW is such a shitty drug lord, it’s all about having the info on drug shit form a book or empirical data, just like a true Si. And then when you don’t have access to that info, you fuck up like WW did. An INTJ would have the intuition to figure stuff out without books or empirical data.
WW got upset with Flynn when Flynn did not pedal the car in the “correct way”, typical for ISTJs. An INTJ would not give a shit one way or another as long as the vehicle moves.
After Sky is showing the typical traits of a woman, you know behaving like a bitch and being difficult, an INTJ would get the message and move on. An ISTJ would be hung up on family values and being totally clueless about a marriage falling apart.
An INTJ would focus on the empire business and not on bragging rights. An INTJ would not tell Hank that Gale was not Heisenberg, at least not until he really is on the top.
WW has showed many, many times a total illiteracy for the game and how it should be played. INTJs have a nack for shit like that. INTJs would study and make charts and lists and get every piece of the puzzle right so that the BIG PICTURE is complete and working. This is something that Gus is doing or at least trying to do for 20 years. WW manages to fuck it up immediately and every step of the way. Many of the issues are WWs last minute solutions out of sheer panic and desperation because he is very much lacking in the planning and organizing of shit.
To jeopardize the train robbery with the last couple of seconds of filling is a typical Si thing, INTJs would once again focus on the pig picture and realize that enough is enough.
WW has much more in common with Hank Hill, Dwight Shrute and other ISTJs compared to Gus, Michael Corleone, Hannibal Lecter and other INTJs.
When you look at the story from the beginning to the end, the journey is full of errors, stupidity and a lack of understanding how shit works. It’s full of fatal errors in thinking and there is a shit load of moments were WW is clueless to what’s coming next, like with the situation when Mike was going to kill WW and Jesse had to rush to kill Gale in pure panic and desperation. An INTJ would be paranoid enough to not rock the boat with Gus at this point in time.
I myself am a true INTJ and I get Gus and the way he goes about his business. WW is the opposite of that. Heisenberg had some Ni qualities but WW did not. WW was pure Si.
When I imagine INTJs on the internet I usually get an image of some fat, greasy nerd.
Jesse is really only extroverted in the first season though. After that he gets progressively more introverted. I can see him as an ISFP too.
Jesse didn’t want to be in that position of inflection. He continually reached out to Walt for deeper reasons incessantly, which Walt notice and deflect. He tried with “His people” but as he was sober at the time he understood their position in his little world and the fact they were dead ends emotionally. By the time Mike came around Jesse developed a more defiant, defensive, protective nature which were defined by things no one would let him understand. Once he was steady With that one girl from the NA meeting he evened out and regained his helpful attitude.
Sorry…Walter is most definitely NOT an INTJ. Walter is most certainly an INTP. Gus is an INTJ. Walter’s concern is with the purity of his idea/product (the abstract nature of Introverted Thinking); he becomes obsessed with power out of a failed sense of competence related to his past experiences as a researcher. Gus, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with power (Introverted Intuition coupled with the pragmatism of Extroverted Thinking). He could be selling any product but his primary aim would be to build and maintain his empire.
jesse is enfp