Dragon Ball Series: Piccolo (INTJ)

Ni:

“This is ridiculous. I won’t be kept in the dark any longer!”

“No, Piccolo would never fight unprepared. He always senses out his opponents strength…Don’t you get it? I’m saying he wouldn’t do this unless he already knew he would win.”

“I’m glad one of us is relaxed. A pair of glorified tin cans ought to be child’s play. I can’t shake this feeling we’re somehow in over our heads.”

Piccolo shows a clear preference for planning before action throughout Dragon Ball. While other characters like Goku want to launch straight into battle, Piccolo likes to observe his enemies and form a strategy before engaging in combat. You frequently see him carefully paying attention and narrating his observations to the others while the others are battling. He is also far more cautious than some of the other Z fighters. His preference for developing strategy is something that he taught to Gohan as well.

While Piccolo does have a tendency to narrate his immediate observations while others are fighting, when it comes to more long term recollections, he has a tendency to explain things in a more vague fashion. When going to check out the androids with Goku, he expresses concern over their appearance. He declares that, for some reason he can’t explain, he feels they are in over their heads. Later in the show during the Buu saga, Piccolo gets similar bad feelings about the Supreme Kai when he has to face him the in world martial arts tournament, opting to resign his match rather than fight a battle he wasn’t prepared for. These moments, where Piccolo seems to recognize a pattern that leads to a bad conclusion, seem to more closely align with Ni than Si, since he is unable to explain how he knows because of the absence of retained details to fall back on and only the pattern and conclusion available to him.

Te:

“Tell me what kind of creature you are. Make it quick. Talk or else!”

While not nearly as impatient as Vegeta, Piccolo is one of the more commanding of the Z fighters. He is quick to take charge of the group during the Android arc, coming up with a plan of action and telling the others what to do. His nature is harsh and critical which is pretty common for those with a high thinking function. He is rather blunt with the others, not wasting time when speaking with them. His rigid nature can be seen in the way that he forcibly takes Gohan, after Goku’s death, in order to train him. He drops Gohan on top of a mountain leaving him there to fend for himself and learn how to survive. He only deviates slightly when he realizes how truly pathetic Gohan is, leaving him some apples to eat. He quickly regrets this, however, due to Gohan’s whiny attitude.

As a high Te user, Piccolo is often critical of characters like Goku. He tells Gohan that Goku would make a terrible teacher as Goku lacked the gift to command respect. This shows the importance Piccolo puts on external status (such being respected) and ties those attributes to success.

Fi:

“Let that human go free. However measly, his life has value.”

“My life is my own. I have no intention of ever merging with Kami.”

“I don’t much like the idea of losing myself.”

Piccolo’s Fi can be most clearly seen in his relationship with Gohan. While he initially acts cold toward the boy, he eventually starts to form a bond with him and care for him. While he is very hard on Gohan, he is not without a certain level of sympathy. As mentioned in the Te section, Piccolo does secretly provide Gohan with some apples toward the beginning of his training out of pity. He cares deeply for Gohan and even acts as a shield to protect him from enemy attack.

As is common for low feeling types, Piccolo frequently keeps his emotions and values to himself and is not quick to share them with others. He is very resistant to the idea of merging with Kami and states as much declaring that his life belongs him. He also states that he doesn’t like the idea of losing himself which aligns with the fixed state of identity common in tertiary Fi users. It is only when he realizes that he cannot defeat the androids at his current level of power, that he finally accepts the fact that he and Kami need to merge. However, he still insists that he will be the one in control and that he merely is going to absorb Kami for his power while maintaining his identity and control of himself. He does soften a bit after his merging with Kami, but still stays largely stoic when it comes to his emotions.

Se:

“The peaceful life of my brethren would have bored me out of my skull.”

There are a few places in the series that display Piccolo’s inferior Se. He shows both a lack of it in some instances, failing to act in time. In others, he displays a level of impulse consistent with falling in the grip of the function. For instance, when fighting Cell before he has evolved, Piccolo wastes time trying to probe Cell for information even though he is fully aware that he can defeat him at his current level of power. His plan to gather information ends up back-firing because Cell escapes. Piccolo then regrets his failure to act in the moment and take advantage of the opportunity to defeat Cell.

Another example is in the Buu saga when Piccolo decides to kill Babidi even though he knows that he is the only one who can reseal Buu. He rationalizes that Buu will still rampage regardless of whether Babidi lives or dies, so opts to kill him. This points away from Piccolo having inferior Ne as he is not entertaining any what-if situations in which they may need to keep Babidi alive.

Piccolo also shows some other mild evidences of Se in that he can’t imagine living the peaceful boring life that the rest of the Namekians lived on his home planet, stating it would bore him out of his skull. He also shows a similar thrill for battle as Goku and Vegeta, but it is much more controlled and mild. He, for instance, is excited by the idea of the Tournament of Power in spite of it’s high stakes.