Attack on Titan: Erwin Smith (ENTJ)

“There are times to be strict and times to be flexible. Uphold the principles of your vows. Do what it takes to win. Follow the chain of command, and keep your eyes fixed on the path to victory.”

Te:

“Let’s cut to the chase here. The Scouts need you. We need all the warm bodies we can get.”

“No, we don’t have time for a detour. We’ll forge ahead! Soldiers, prepare to fight!”

“I’m not your objective. Don’t waste time on someone who’s replaceable.”

Erwin’s most prominent cognitive function is his Te. As an extremely confident person who also happens to be in a leadership role, Erwin displays his Te in the stereotypical fashion. He’s commanding and straightforward, focused on the goal rather than catering to the feelings of individuals. When it comes time for the military cadets to choose their regiment, he doesn’t mince words in any way. He doesn’t really sell the Scouts, but rather tells them that most of them will die within 4 years. Afterwards, a fellow Scout expresses concern about his approach, saying “Commander. I think that you may have overly intimidated the cadets, sir. None of them are gonna stick around.”

Unlike some other military leaders, Erwin views soldiers as assets for the purpose of achieving his goal. This includes even himself. (See last quote at the top of this section.) Pixis makes a comment that Erwin takes more risks than him, and I believe this the main reason why. In many instances, he’s shown charging straight into battle, risking countless lives and even mutually assured destruction, because it’s only the way forward that he can see. The way he catches the female titan is a good example of this. He enacts a plan right in the middle of a densely populated city, willing to sacrifice civilians for the sake of achieving his objective. While Erwin is calculated and reasonably cautious, he time and time again proves that getting results now is far more important (Te > Ni).

Erwin is decisive and forceful. He naturally makes decisions in the field, and enforces them without struggle. Levi periodically attempts to argue with him, and Erwin usually shows no sign of yielding to him. He emphasizes following the chain of command, not wasting time, and doing whatever it takes to win.

Ni:

“Quite soon this tiny world of ours will be changed. Will that change bring hope or despair? Can we trust the crown with the future of humanity? Who should decide? Who has the right? Who will you trust, Nile?”

“Should a certain hunch of mine prove to be correct, it may be possible for us to carry out this plan without military force.”

“Not quite yet, Levi. A little more insurance.”

We considered ESTJ for Erwin, but ultimately came to the conclusion that he is an ENTJ, or a Ni user. Erwin is extremely strategic, but I’d like to state plainly that being strategic does not make someone a Ni user. Anyone can be strategic. However, Erwin specifically appears to rely heavily on hunches. Levi even states at one point that “Erwin’s hunches are rarely wrong.” This would be much less common for a Si user, since relying on a hunch implies relying on information that isn’t concrete.

In addition to this, Erwin is willing to risk everything on a singular plan, with no backups or contingencies. (He does occasionally have backups, but his willingness to operate without one is telling.) This shows that Erwin lacks Ne, and also that he has complete faith in his Ni perception. After all, he places his trust fully in whatever single plan he produces, believing it is their best and only chance to bring about the outcome they desire. Many people essentially call him a gambler because of this, but that’ll be discussed further in the Se section.

At the top of this article, I placed a quote that demonstrates Erwin’s entire cognitive function stack rather well. However, when I initially heard, the Ni stood out the strongest. He speaks about the “principles” of their vows, showing that he’s less concerned with following rules to the letter, and more concerned with staying true to the abstract meaning behind it. This is further supported by his push to “do what it takes to win.” For Erwin, the priority is to achieve the end goal as envisioned by his Ni, and the exact steps they must take to get there are flexible.

Se:

“And of course your strategy for getting us through this battle comes down to a gamble, just like every other plan that you’ve come up with.” – Levi to Erwin

“I’ll make a gamble, same as always.”

Erwin appears to have tertiary Se. We briefly considered the ISTJ and INTJ types, but his extraverted perceiving is far too good. He’s willing to take risks, a fact that he demonstrates often. Erwin frequently throws caution to the wind for the sake of gambling it all on a plan that he believes will be successful. Both Pixis and Levi makes comments about his reputation for being this way. Erwin leading his army of scouts outside the walls and risking all of their lives to rescue Eren from Reiner and Baritold is a good example of his tertiary Se.

Another way his tertiary Se manifests is in his desire to be in the middle of the action. Later on in the series, Erwin is still injured from a previous battle, yet he’s determined to join the mission to retake Wall Maria. Levi confronts him about this decision, and tries to convince him to stay behind, but Erwin refuses to yield. He wants to be part of the battle, and he wants to see the outcome.

Fi:

“Of all my brave comrades, only one was fighting for himself. They bled and died for each other, while I fought for a selfish dream. Then I came to lead my comrades, gave them orders and inspiring words. Be brave. Give your hearts to humanity. I played them all for fools, myself too, and now, standing on this mountain of brave corpses, I have quite the view.”

Toward the end, Erwin’s inferior Fi surfaces as he begins to regret or question past decisions. He’s shown reflecting on how his ambitions (Te) got so many scouts killed. At one point, someone refers to him as a devil, and Levi comments that Erwin became a devil for them. This shows a potential way that inferior Fi can manifest: trampling over one’s own values or morality in an effort to achieve their goals.

The quote at the top of this section demonstrates his inferior Fi insecurity quite well. Erwin questions if his past decisions had been right or moral. He wonders if he had gone too far and sacrificed too much for a “selfish dream.” He also states that he not only played them all for fools, but he played himself too. In other words, he fell prey to his own lies and lost touch with himself. This suggests inferior Fi, due to his weak connection to his own identity.