Maleficent (2014): Maleficent (ENTJ)

Original Maleficent was undoubtedly an INTJ, however this version of Maleficent took a little bit of a different turn. We’ll throw in a few comparisons to the original version as we write this one so you understand the contrast going on.

Te:

“Contain your animal or I will.”

“Stop complaining. I saved your life.”

“I like you begging. Do it again.”

This version of Maleficent, unlike the original, has a consistent pattern of taking things into her own hands and doing things herself, which is more indicative of her being a Te dominant rather than an Ni dominant. While, the original would rely heavily on minions and her crow to do much of her bidding, this version takes on a majority of the action herself. This spans from finding Aurora and watching over her personally to leading the charge against invaders of the moor. The major distinction here between both versions of Maleficent can be seen in how cautious and physically detached the original version is. She magically appears at the christening, and then just as quickly disappears. She primarily operates from the castle, sending her minions to do the work for her. It isn’t until the end, as a last result, that she turns into a dragon and actually physically fights her own battle. These are all signs of dominant Ni and inferior Se. Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent is not like this.

Furthermore, we find that this Maleficent has a tendency to act on whatever decision she has made in decisive ways. She tends to be authoritative, and prone to asserting her power. She very quickly seizes control of the moor, going from it’s guardian to it’s queen after being betrayed by Stephan. She did so by force and not by any peaceful or persuasive means (which points away from using Fe). In addition, the way she marches in to the christening at the castle is an obvious display of power, meant to intimidate everyone in the room. Of course, she throws in a little comment about enjoying watching Stefan beg.

Of course, there are many other examples. When dealing with Aurora in the second movie, Maleficent always takes a very stern and authoritative stance. She immediately rejects the idea of her getting married. She very flatly tells Aurora “No” when she brings it up to her, and then further pushes her position when Aurora tells her she wasn’t exactly asking her permission.

Another example of the very rigid Te nature can be seen during the dinner with Philip’s parents. She does very little to mask the hostility between the two parties, and the fragile civility between them is easily broken. When their cat goes to leap at Diaval, she freezes it in mid air demanding that they control their pet or she will.

Her relationship with Diaval is also very Te in nature. She initially saves him partly out of pity and part out of utility. She is not shy about telling the bird that he owes her and turns him into whatever she practically needs in spite of his protests.

Ni:

Maleficent is a long term thinker. When she seeks revenge against Stefan, she doesn’t just walk up to him and kill him. Instead, she enacts a curse that won’t take affect for another 16 years. As a result, Stefan slowly loses his mind from the dread and desperation to prevent the curse from coming to be. Maleficent is also extremely dedicated to ensuring her “vision” for revenge comes to pass, and watches the girl to ensure she makes it to her 16th birthday.

Maleficent is generally not very easy to read, and keeps most of her thoughts to herself. She tends to be vague on the details, and not one to provide much explanation, if any. She tends to give short, final responses, as a result of Te-Ni just saying what is specifically relevant and getting to the point. For instance, she flatly tells Aurora that she can’t marry Phillip, without relaying any kind of reasoning or attempting to convince her. Similarly, when another Fey in the second movie tries to convince her that peace is possible between them and humans, she simply tells him that it’s impossible. Of course, that is also an example of Ni tunnel vision, or an unwillingness to open herself up to other possibilities.

An example of her being Ni vague can be seen in an interaction that she has with Prince Philip’s mother. When the queen says, “If I didn’t know better, I would think you were making a threat.” Maleficent doesn’t directly confirm or deny the accusation. She instead simply asks, “Do you?” with little context as to what she is asking about. Inevitably, the queen asks, “Do I what?” to which Maleficent replies somewhat smugly, “Know better.” This captures the more enigmatic nature of Ni rather well, as she is both insulting the queen while still undercutting the accusation, leaving things just as uncertain as before. She leaves the possibility of the threat on the table without being explicitly hostile.

Se:

Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent has good enough Se for it to not be inferior. Her Se is not her weakness. She always seems to be fighting her battles personally, and unafraid to do things herself. The Raven, Diaval, provides a wealth of examples of her higher Se, especially in comparison to the original Maleficent. First, her means of obtaining him seemed more opportunistic rather than strategized – she just happens upon him, and then saves him. Second, while she recruits the Raven to be her wings, she rarely seems to actually use him to do things in her place. He mostly follows her around, performing tasks as immediately necessary. She easily could have had Diaval watch over Aurora for her. Instead, Maleficent personally watches over Aurora, stepping in as she feels necessary. The original Maleficent simply sends the Raven to check up on Aurora, and never specifically goes herself.

This version of Maleficent is also more prone to improvisation. When she marches into the christening, we see her utter a curse that is not fully rehearsed, which is in stark contrast to the original Maleficent. The reason we know this is because as she is uttering the curse, she pauses, looks over a spinning wheel, and then produces that portion of the curse which implies that it’s inclusion was improvised instead of planned.

Of course, other demonstrations of her Se can be seen in the way she plays physical pranks on the fairies who are taking care of Aurora, pranks which she finds to be absolutely hilarious. There’s also the way she marched into the christening, essentially making a grand show of it. She doesn’t just pop in and out cautiously. This is the result of her Te-Se combination – putting on a display of power.

Fi:

“You are no king to me!”

Malificent’s inferior Fi comes out mostly through her relationships with Aurora and Diaval. Her biggest struggle through the show seems to be in expressing any kind of emotion. Obviously, part of this is due to damage, but it is a result of her suppressing her inferior function once damaged. While Maleficent cares for Diaval, she rarely expresses this. Instead, she’s more prone to making verbal jabs at the bird, and acting like she doesn’t care about him. She reluctantly admits otherwise near the end of the second movie. In addition, when it comes to Aurora, she nicknames her “Beasty” which isn’t exactly an affectionate nickname. She also quickly assumes that Aurora is betraying her in the second movie, making no attempt to reach an understanding in spite of the years they had spent together prior.

In addition, the way she accidentally gets attached to Aurora seems to be a pitfall a thinker (and someone extremely detached from their feeling function) would have. If she had thought there was even the slightest possibility of that happening, she would never have allowed herself to get that close. Instead, Maleficent naively follows the girl around for her entire life, and even interacts with her in a semi-friendly manner. We would speculate that a feeler would be more aware of this risk, and thus have maintained a greater distance. (After all, she had cursed the girl to sleep eternally.)

Other examples of her inferior Fi can be seen in the second movie, in her struggle to make any kind of small talk, or fake emotion. She attempts to smile but can’t seem to produce one that looks in the least bit sincere. This all shows an extreme detachment from her feeling function.