The Umbrella Academy: Diego Hargreeves (ESFP)

Se:

“We don’t have to understand **** about it for it to be real.”

Diego appears to be a Se dominant. Diego is an extremely straightforward person. He says what he means, and does not tend to hide meaning or mince words. He recognizes reality for what it is, and doesn’t need to overthink it. He has a prominent impulsive nature, often leaping into action without a second thought. There are a few obvious examples that come to mind.

The first is when Number 5, Allison, and Diego are breaking into Harold’s house in search of Vanya. Diego jumps through a window, only to find Number and Allison already inside, proclaiming that the back door was unlocked. Another good example is seen when Hazel shows up at the Academy to make a deal with Number 5. In spite of the fact that Hazel and Five are having a calm conversation, Diego immediately attacks him upon noticing his presence. Lastly, when coming upon the infinite switchboard at the Commission’s headquarter, Diego just starts randomly plugging things in to figure out how it works. This action first nature of his strongly indicates dominant Se, since a dominant introvert will often stop to observe first (when possible).

Diego desires action, and essentially chases it down where ever he goes. After leaving the Umbrella Academy, he enters the police academy, only to end up getting kicked out later. However, he later starts invading crime scenes in an attempt to help, much to the dismay of actual investigators. He essentially plays the role of a vigilante. In addition, when dumped into the past in Texas, the first thing he does is stop a purse snatcher. After that, he begins chasing down criminals in other ways, eventually getting fixated on Kennedy’s assassination.

Fi:

“He was a monster. He was a bad person and a worse father. The world’s better off without him. My name is number two. You know why? Because our father couldn’t be bothered to give us actual names. He had mom do it.”

“I’m a hero. Heroes stop crime.”

Diego’s Fi is fairly prominent throughout most of the show. Right from the beginning, we see that even though he left the umbrella academy, he still views himself as a hero and is doing what he can to fulfill that self given role, much to the dismay of his ex-girlfriend, who is a detective. As the second quote above shows, he views being a hero as part of his identity. Naturally, he is going to try and stop crime whether his interference is wanted by the police or not.

Diego gets especially irritated and nitpicky when it comes to what he perceives as a lack of identity or character in his other siblings. He is quick to berate Luther for his lack of autonomy and loyalty to their father. He seems especially frustrated by Luther’s claims that they all abandoned him and the academy. He argues back to Luther that he left at 17 because that’s what 17 year olds are supposed to do. He further states that they are supposed to become their own person and make their own decisions. This independent mindset and wording is a good example of the high Fi mindset that he holds.

He acts much more personally hurt and offended at the treatment he was subjected to by their father; and he isn’t shy about sharing his poor opinion of him. When they were holding his funeral, Diego states the first quote listed at the top of this section, which shares his very strong negative opinion of their father. Even though the rest of the siblings would find it hard to disagree with what he said, they hold back for varying reasons (mostly out of decorum and respect for the dead.) He is the only one to actually verbalize it. Unlike the others, he is emotionally honest enough to share his feelings about his father even when no one else would.

Te:

“I’m in charge, remember?”

“Alright, so what’s the plan?”

Even though Diego is quite impulsive, he still recognizes at times a need for a plan. This can be attributed to his tertiary Te. While he is perfectly fine at improvising for the most part, there a certain scenarios where we see him get frustrated with the lack of planning and coordination that happens between himself and his siblings. He gets frustrated with Luther for having nothing more than a vague ‘we go in and stop Vanya plan’ toward the end of the first season. Throughout the show we see numerous occasions where he is the one calling on the group to produce something so that they are at least somewhat on the same page.

He also has a desire to be the leader himself. He has a very open disdain for Luther because he was given the designation of Number One in the academy. He, on various occasions, tries to assert himself as the leader of the group, although the others still mostly ignore him and rarely take it seriously. In spite of his desire to be in the lead, Diego, like the other siblings, isn’t all that great at planning which speaks to his underdeveloped Te.

Ni:

Diego’s tendency to not consider consequences is indicative of inferior Ni. It has some very real negative ramifications in his life, an obvious one being his failure to graduate from the police academy. Diego very clearly struggles to follow rules and do what he’s told. However, beyond that, a good example of failing to consider consequences or the implications of his actions can be seen when he nearly gets himself killed when rushing in against Hazel and Cha Cha to avenge Patch.

Another manifestation of inferior Ni can be seen in the way he gets a severe case of tunnel vision after getting trapped in the past. He becomes determined to stop the Kennedy assassination, to the point that he gets himself unwittingly committed to a mental facility. He’s unable to let it go, even when learning from Five that the world is going to end again. This also demonstrates his failure to see the bigger picture.