Once Upon A Time: Peter Pan (ESFP)

Se:

Peter Pan appears to be an Se dominant. In his original form as Malcom, his primary focus appears to be freedom and indulgence. He has no desire to be responsible, and resents Rumpel for weighing him down, although he doesn’t say this until later. He essentially cons people in town through a gambling game “Find the Lady” in which he cheats to ensure he’ll never lose. Afterwards, he typically blows most of the money at a local tavern. When Rumpel starts to get in the way of this, he drops him off at the home of two older ladies, with the false promise of amending his ways, and then goes right back to what he was doing before.

When Rumpel gets a hold of a magic bean, Malcom suggests they go to Neverland. They open the portal and Malcom readily jumps through, in spite not knowing for sure if Neverland is even a real place. Upon arrival, he instantly begins searching for a means to fly there like he had been able to as a boy. Once the shadow approaches him, and explains that his son is the one thing preventing him from being able to do so, and from being able to become a boy once again, Malcom ditches him, effectively becoming “Peter Pan.”

As Peter Pan, he’s all about the game and the thrill of whatever he’s doing. He’s fairly flexible with his plans, and adapts as necessary to make whatever he needs to happen happen. He doesn’t tend to appear concerned or bothered when things aren’t going exactly according to plan, although he may occasionally appear surprised.

Fi:

Pan demonstrates the unhealthy, selfish side of Fi, although any type can be selfish. Pan is all about himself and what he wants. While he’s ultimately not an empathetic individual, he tends to initially act like a close friend, like he cares about the whomever he’s focused on. He is similar with Rumpel, where he acts like he genuinely cares for his son in his one-on-one interactions with the boy, but then ditches him without hesitation later. As Pan, he connects with the boys that he pulls into Neverland, and makes them initially feel wanted and special. He plays the role of the “Pied Piper” to pull in those who are lonely, and offer them what they are missing. He acts similarly with Henry, and makes himself and his cause appear sympathetic to Henry, ultimately convincing the boy to give up his heart.

In addition, the way he convinces Henry to help his is under the false pretense of completing a deeper, far more important mission: to save magic. In doing this, Pan appeals to Henry’s Fi, or sense of purpose. This seems to be a major way in which Pan motivates people to serve him. He does the same thing when creating the fake organization called the “Home Office”, in which he convinces a couple of people to help him with the fake mission to rid the world of all magic.

I considered ESTP for this character, but his behavior as explained above appears far more in line with Fi than Fe. In addition, when Rumpel runs into him as the Pied Piper, Pan openly states that he’s gathering unloved boys because he’s lonely in Neverland. Stating that motivation openly is more typical of a feeler than a thinker (Note: a thinker could easily feel lonely and thus gather a group of boys, as Pan did. I’m focusing on the fact that he easily admitted this to someone else.) In addition, his default behavior is to act personable and relatable, in comparison to high Ti users who’ll more often demonstrate that characteristic Ti sharpness.

Te:

While Pan initially draws people in with his friendly manner, once in, Pan ensures they fear him enough to never leave. In the end, the Lost Boys struggle to betray him because their loyalty is driven by fear. This is essentially Te intimidation. He makes sure they understand that he is powerful, and that there will be consequences if they disobey him.

While I mentioned in the Se section that he’s fairly flexible with his plans, he severely dislikes when his rules are broken, which is a manifestation of Te’s desire to enforce order and maintain control. When he gives Emma the map, he tells her what she must do to unlock it, and then makes sure to explain that they have to play the game his way, “no breaking the rules.”

Naturally, Pan is determined to achieve his end goal: to acquire eternal youth. He is dedicated to this, and ensures that his actions remain in line with that ultimate goal. The point I mentioned in the Fi section about giving people purpose and missions as a means to get them to do what he wants also plays into Te, since Te is a very goal oriented. Therefore, Pan motivates and controls other people through ultimate goals as well, albeit fake ones.

Ni:

While apparently ENTJ is a common theory for Once Upon A Time’s Peter Pan, he doesn’t seem to enact any very complex long term plans. Naturally, being really old, he should have decent use of his Ni in spite of his it being inferior. His long running end game is to find the heart of the truest believer so he can gain eternal youth. He has the shadow randomly take children from the real world toward that end (comparing the stolen children to the picture he has), until he finally happens to learn of Henry. None of this appears very calculated. Once he learns of Henry, his movements get more strategic, but not necessarily overly thought out.

He can be very manipulative when it comes to people, but most of his games are short term. For instance, he plays Baelfire and Rumpel against each other on multiple occasions, once in Neverland and once in the Enchanted Forest when Baelfire is a teenager. In both instances, he plants seeds of distrust between them, but in a fairly simplistic way. Similarly, with Henry, he has Wendy acts as if she’s sick, knowing it will motivate Henry to help him. Essentially, these are all short term games either for his own amusement or to keep his plan generally moving forward.