Seven Deadly Sins: Meliodas (ESTP)

Se:

“I guess we’ll learn the answer when we get there.”

“Less talking, more drinking.”

“Well… I’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.”

“Nope. Just sounds like fun.”

Meliodas is the epitome of a dominant extraverted sensor. He’s laid back and presents a seemingly nonchalant attitude about life. He’s not one to plan, but instead, approaches life in a more spontaneous way. A perfect example of this can be seen when he says “Nope. Just sounds like fun” in response to whether or not he has a plan. That example is typical for how he deals with situations. He handles situations as they come and reacts when the moment arrives. There are many examples where he opts to not think about a situation until it happens. He’s not one to speculate about future situations (at the very least not openly), which is counter to that of an Ne dominant. He’s also extremely quick to react in the moment, which is shown when King pops out of a portal in front of him, and Meliodas hurls him instantly before he manages to even register who it is.

Meliodas’ extraverted sensing comes out strongly whenever he is around Ban. The two of them bond over this shared dominant function. Whenever they meet up after having been separated a while, they instantly launch into fighting, arm wrestling, pounding each other through walls, slapping palms, arm wrestling, and etc. These are all very Se driven responses/activities. He appears to get a thrill from fighting, and thoroughly enjoys duking it out with Ban in tournaments or really any situation that presents itself. He generally tends to do physically risky things for the fun of it, which is shown over and over again in the series.

Ti:

“I don’t know what made them carry out an idiotic plot like that, but the men I know were holy knights.”

“Probably.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. But you could be wrong too.”

“Doesn’t sound like something I’d say.”

“Mmm, kinda doubt that.”

Although we considered Fi, Meliodas appears to actually be a Ti user. The first giveaway is his speech patterns. He rarely ever speaks in definite or absolute terms. Rather, many of his statements are qualified in some way, or stated in an open-ended way. He leaves many of his statements subject to change, and keeps most of his reasoning to himself. Some examples can be seen in the quotes above this section. In addition, he rarely phrases things in terms of right or wrong, unless he’s coming to the defense of someone close to him. Otherwise, he focuses on the logic or rational. When discussing the wrong doings of Dreyfus and Hendrickson with Gilthunder, Griamore, and Howzer, Meliodas doesn’t concentrate on what they did, but rather how “idiotic” the plot was. He also doesn’t hone in on what he saw them do, but rather ignores the objective evidence (Te), and focuses on how their action didn’t make sense with who he had known them to be – holy knights. He states this in front of a large group of people, and when thanked by Griamore later, Meliodas responds with “I only said what I knew to be true.”

In addition, Meliodas has a tendency toward appearing emotionless or blank (which Ban has mocked him over). He keeps his feelings completely to himself, even when Ban is accusing him of not understanding his pain over having to lose Elaine a second time. Meliodas never gets indignant, offended, or angry. (This in spite of the fact that he has watched his own love die in front of him many many times.) As a whole, Meliodas doesn’t prefer to focus on emotional matters at all, which is further supported when Ban tries to apologize for attempting to kill Meliodas and tries to discuss what happened. Meliodas essentially refuses to discuss it all or even address the apology. He says he’s happy for Ban, but then tries to shift the conversation as quickly as possible.

Fe:

“Well, I appreciate that, but I got it.”

“I had no choice, cause you hurt someone who means everything to me.”

Meliodas puts forward a friendly and polite temperament, with exception of when he’s being impish. His boldness to act the way he does around Elizabeth does fall in line with a tertiary Fe user, although it’s not necessarily exclusive to tertiary Fe users. Bottom line though, he’s openly bold about doing something that bothers her, which is common for mischievous tertiary Fe, because they enjoy getting reactions out of others. Note that he doesn’t feel compelled to follow through whenever Elizabeth makes the first move.

However, onto the more positive use of Fe, as stated above, Meliodas is typically friendly and polite. The emotions that he displays tend to be very surface level, as he plays to those around him and puts on a friendly face. He’s quick to come to other people’s defense, while for the most part, ignoring insults to himself. A good example can be seen when Dreyfus and Hendrickson are openly insulted at the award ceremony for their misdeeds. Meliodas doesn’t speak up until they are insulted, having ignored the insult dealt to him. As a whole, he doesn’t appear to hold onto past emotions (other than extreme situations like with Elizabeth) which is demonstrated by how nonchalantly he moves on from Ban’s attempt to kill him, rather than feeling hurt or angry. He’s also very protective of his team, especially Elizabeth.

Ni:

Meliodas is not one to do much future planning, which is a sign of an inferior introverted perceiving function. He doesn’t think things far out in advance, but would rather act more on impulse. When Elizabeth first joins up with them, they basically wander around somewhat aimlessly looking for the sins, rather than operating on any kind of strategy. Meliodas gets ideas and hunches, but there really isn’t much thought being put into it. In addition, he doesn’t take his own injuries seriously later on in the season, and ends up collapsing as a result. Meliodas generally appears to avoid planning unless it’s absolutely necessary, hence his comments about crossing “that bridge when the time comes.”

Lastly, his tendency to make in-specific statements and keep his reasoning to himself is a sign of his Ti-Ni combination, since people with those two functions are the least likely to want to explain themselves.