Dragon Ball Series: Future Trunks (INFJ)

Ni:

“I apologize. The thing is the past I’ve traveled back to is so different from what we expected that it throws a wrench into all of those plans.”

“He’s such a selfish short-sighted fool. I have to stop him from fighting the androids whatever the cost.”

“I thought I had prepared them but I don’t even know what they’re up against!”

Future Trunks appears to lead with Ni. While being a time traveler makes it a little difficult to separate what is his own natural tendencies for looking ahead and what is his literal knowledge of the future, there is still a lot of useful information to take into account.

First, Trunks emphasizes caution, wanting to take the safest and most sure path to success. In addition to this, his severe struggle with any changes or deviations from his intended plan support him being an introverted perceiving dominant (Ni or Si). Trunks is often shocked and concerned when other events of the current timeline do not line up with his own timeline due to both his and Cell’s meddling. Trunks struggles to reconcile the current reality with his own future and the way he had foreseen things playing out. In a way, this essentially breaks him on multiple different occasions, leaving him lost and uncertain of what path to take going forward.

However, Trunks displays a mistrust in his knowledge of events from the past which points away from him being an Si user since he is mistrusting the known details, and instead, trusting his own predictions of how things will play out.

A good example of Trunks using his Ni to project into the future rather than relying on his knowledge of the future happens immediately upon his debut into the show. He projects that it will be impossible for Goku to arrive in time to stop Frieza and his father, which ultimately provokes Trunks to intervene unnecessarily. He does this in spite of knowing how history stated it should play out: with Goku defeating Frieza. Instead, Trunks uses his own projection to conclude that things are not going to play out the same as they did in history. Later, Trunks is shocked to find out that Goku did have a way to arrive on time via instant transmission. He then realizes the error that he has made, and the potential ramifications it could ultimately have on the timeline, considering that the entire ordeal had exposed him to the other Z fighters and compromised him.

Along with the information explained in the previous paragraphs, another thing that made us lean Ni rather than Si was his returning to the past with only one general plan for how to proceed. He doesn’t produce backup plans or place value on the details. This is why he ends up so confused every time something doesn’t go according to plan; he hadn’t considered other possibilities. A rather simple but straightforward example of his lack of an Si/Ne mindset can be seen when Bulma asks him for his name. Rather than quickly producing a fake name as a cover, to keep his secret in tact (which would have been extremely easy to do), he directly states that he can’t tell her, and then proceeds to share what he can instead.

Fe:

“I’m not gonna risk humiliating him by letting him see how much stronger than him I’ve become.”

“You know how proud my dad is. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him I surpassed him.”

Trunk’s Fe shows up largely in the more diplomatic way he deals with the Z fighters. When he first appears and defeats Freiza, he turns around and invites the Z fighters to come with him to wait for Goku. When they arrive at the location, he pops a capsule and offers everyone refreshments while they wait. This seems to align more with the mentality of an Fe user. Given the circumstances, it is unlikely that an Fi/Te user would have it cross their mind to offer that level of hospitality.

Another example is that he has a tendency to try and convince the group of what they should do rather than trying to take charge. Even though logically it would have made sense for him to be leading the group (seeing he was supposed to have foreknowledge of how things were going to play out), it is usually either Vegeta or Piccolo deciding what they are going to do. In spite of his pleas frequently falling on deaf ears, Trunks does little to nothing about it, only physically intervening in the most extreme situations, like when Vegeta lets Cell achieve his final form. This is one of the few times that the foolhardy actions of Vegeta causes Trunks to oppose him.

Otherwise, Trunks remains extremely conflict avoidant. This extends even to the point of not wanting to reveal his own belief that he had surpassed his father. He tells Krillin that he won’t jump into the battle with Cell unless Vegeta is soundly defeated and knocked out. He is more concerned with keeping his father’s emotional state in tact than he is with keeping him alive.

Ti:

Ti was the hardest function to pin down for Trunks. It is primarily evidenced in his struggles when he can’t rationalize the current reality with the timeline he came from. Every time things start to deviate from what he knows to be true, Trunks is forced to re-evaluate the current set of circumstances in an attempt to make things logical again. This is highlighted when he is with Krillin, and he keeps obsessing over the things that are different, trying desperately to make sense of them. Krillin, on the other hand, tells him that there is no point at this stage trying to make sense of it.

His Ti is also demonstrated when they discover the second time machine, which is proof of Cell’s intervention. Trunks displays both excitement and relief when things click into place and start making sense to him again. Being able to pin all the changes on Cell’s arrival from the future allows him to make sense of all the large, unexpected deviations which had been deeply bothering him.

Se:

Trunks struggles with improvising and adjusting plans when things don’t play out in the way he expects them to. This is primarily due to his low Se. Finding out that there are more androids in the timeline than expected puts Trunks into a state of panic, and he often finds himself at a loss as to what to do. When chasing down Dr. Gero, he initially insists that they must find the hideout and destroy it before 17 and 18 get activated. When they finally reach the hideout, he frantically pleads with the group to destroy the lab before it is too late, but fails to take that action on his own. Upon hearing Gero arguing with someone else inside, he assumes the androids have already been activated and immediately changes gears, now pleading with the others and insisting they must run before the androids find out they are there. This unstable, rapidly changing behavior coupled with his own failure to act is all consistent with weak Se use. Trunks consistently fails to act in time, preferring to plead with others or stall rather than taking immediate or decisive action.

He’s also shown struggling to account for the physical drawbacks of his new Super Saiyan form, which can be interpreted as a low sensing weakness. He incorrectly assumes that he has surpassed his father in strength after their stint in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. He is able to gain a massive power boost through becoming bulky and slow. However, Vegeta also discovers this form, but he quickly dismisses it due to it’s drawbacks. Trunks, believing he has the upper hand, then faces Cell only to be soundly defeated, due to his tunnel vision and failure to anticipate the drawbacks of his new form.