Attack on Titan: Armin Arlert (INFJ)

Ni:

“There’s so much beyond the walls, not just Titans. Water that glows like fire. Fields of ice. Giant rocks that take days to climb. I joined the scouts, so I could see all those things someday.”

“If we constrain ourselves to normal tactical reasoning, then we will never be able to gain the upper hand.”

“I don’t know, but something tells me that’s a big part of the picture.”

“People are crazy for believing that these walls will protect us forever. Even though the walls have been intact for the past 100 years, there’s nothing that can guarantee they won’t be broken down today.”

Armin is a good example of a dominant Ni user. He’s cautious and naturally focuses on anticipating the future. At the beginning of the series, he declares to Eren and Mikasa that the Titans will inevitably break through the walls, in spite of the fact they’d held up fine so far. In this situation, as far as Armin is concerned, the past is irrelevant. They could not be safe forever behind the walls, and to believe otherwise is dangerous.

As a child, Armin dreams of seeing the spectacular sights beyond the walls. He reads books which fuel his imaginative nature, and ultimately, he joins the Scouts, so he can actually see all the sights for himself one day. This vision drives him forward and inspires his close friend, Eren. He’s generally one that is prone to speculating and reading between the lines. Even after killing one of his enemies, Armin later takes time to speculate, wondering what type of person she was, ultimately concluding that she was probably kind and more empathetic than him.

Armin is good at thinking outside the box, adapting his strategic mind to the unknowns they are often threatened with. He gets an idea to have the Scouts look for a small cavity inside the walls that the enemies might be hiding in, but he frames this idea as a “hunch” when asked. Similarly, when he sees Eren emerge from his Titan’s weak spot, he recognizes this to be a vital piece of information, even though he’s unsure of the significance. This knowledge later gives him the idea to stab the surrounding area to wake Eren up (when Eren in his Titan form had frozen and collapsed during a critical mission).

Armin excels at forming well-thought-out plans and strategies, which is often a strength of intelligent, dominant introverted perceivers. He often analyzes what’s going around him in an attempt to perceive the possible implications. This actually allows him to notice things that others miss, such as Annie presenting the wrong gear during inspection.

Fe:

“Sorry. I know it’s not my place to interrupt. I mean no disrespect.”

“Forgive him, I beg you.”

“I may be naive, but there’s one thing I know beyond all doubt: Genuine harbingers of change must be able to do what others won’t dare. Sacrifice their heart. Accept the burden of doing the unspeakable. Whether we’d like to admit it or not, the fact is this: to rise above monsters, we have to abandon our humanity. That’s the irony, really. If you can’t let it go, it’s not worth holding onto.”

Armin often falls into a diplomatic role, especially where Eren is concerned. Generally speaking, Armin is polite and respectful. He tries to avoid getting into trouble, and is not very good at asserting himself, which is common for auxiliary Fe users. When they’re discussing the strategy to seal the hole in Trost’s gate with a boulder (a plan which Armin came up with himself), Armin interrupts a superior because time is short, but he instantly feels the need to apologize and state that he means no disrespect.

Eren causes a lot of trouble throughout the series, and Armin, on multiple occasions, steps up to intercede on his behalf. For instance, he begs a guard to forgive Eren for his brash behavior within the first couple of episodes. Armin also advocates for Eren’s life and usefulness as a Titan when him and his friends are surrounded by a horde of soldiers who are eager to eliminate this new potential threat.

Armin tends to adapt his values to the external environment, and believes that one may have to sacrifice who they are in order to win. This is decidedly anti-high Fi. He believes in giving up everything for the sake of the cause, or the greater good. At one point, he counsels Eren to match Annie’s heartlessness.

Lastly, Armin uses emotional manipulation as a weapon, especially when dealing with their traitorous former friends. He messes with Bertholdt’s mind by inventing a scenario in which Annie is being tortured. Armin describes her screaming, the various methods of torture, etc. He uses this strategy on multiple occasions.

Ti:

“A good person? I don’t know. Actually, I’ve never placed much value in those sorts of labels. The way I see it, good is merely a word applied to people who are convenient to our needs in some way. It’s purely subjective. Anyway you try to look at it, labelling people dehumanizes them. Regardless, if you still choose to say no to this request, then at least in my eyes, that makes you a bad person.”

Armin’s tertiary Ti shows up a decent amount through the show, primarily in the way he reasons. Armin is hesitant to draw clear lines between good and bad, or place labels in that way. He sees such things as subjective, based on the perspective of the individual. The way he describes a “good person” as someone who is convenient to someone else’s needs comes off somewhat cynical. In his mind, no one can just be universally good or bad, but instead good or bad to someone else.

Lastly, Armin is prone to overthinking, which can sometimes be a side effect of low Ti. He gets caught in analyzing the moment at one point, and Mikasa feels the need to tell him to stop. In addition, when forming plans, he can be somewhat hesitant to commit to them. At one point, he shares a potential strategy, and shortly thereafter, follows it up with “I’m willing to be talked out of this.”

Se:

Early on, Armin is prone to freezing up, which could indicate an inferior Se struggle to react in the moment. He also seems to struggle to focus on the moment, at times. In the first few episodes, he focuses heavily on how the Titan’s will inevitably break through the wall. After they do, he obsesses over the idea that they’ll do it again. As a result, Eren to tell him to stop focusing on the past.

Armin also tends to be somewhat vague in the moment, when he gets an idea. He risks the lives of others occasionally on what he declares to be a hunch, because he can’t give any concrete information to explain himself. A good example can be seen when he suggests they lure a Titan to HQ, and those involved declare that he’s risking their lives over a gut feeling.

While usually calm and level-headed, he does briefly drop into an inferior Se rage. In the final season, when Eren tells Mikasa he hates her and showers her with insults, Armin get so angry that he acts completely out of character by suddenly and unexpectedly lashing out at Eren in a physical way.