John Wick (ISFP)

John Wick barely talks, which makes his personality type extremely difficult to determine, because cognition determines type, not behavior. The best way to understand how someone thinks is to listen to them speak. Regardless, after really thinking through this character, we believe ISFP for John Wick makes the most sense, and we’ll attempt to lay out the case as clearly as possible. However, we recognize that it’s not extremely strong, so take it how you will. For the record, we also read the comics to gain deeper insight on the character, since those are cannon.

Fi:

“I’m not that guy anymore.”

“We’re not the same.”

“But I’ll be alive, and I can remember her.”

John Wick appears to driven by feelings. Granted, his wife just died, so anyone would be emotional. However, vengeance is the predominant theme throughout all three movies, and even the comics. This character is always seeking revenge, for one reason or another. He uses it as fuel, and it keeps him moving forward. We can see that he needs it as his motivation when Santino tries to convince him to do a job, and Wick refuses. He claims that he isn’t that man anymore and that he literally is incapable of doing it. However, with the proper motivation, we quickly see that change. This suggests someone who is more in tune with their emotions, and excels at utilizing them. In the movies, someone even describes John Wick as being addicted to the vengeance, which lines up with his struggle to do jobs when he doesn’t have that emotional motivation.

The third movie reveals that John Wick specifically wants to live so that he can remember his wife. Once again, this is an emotional motivation, which is understandable given the fact that he truly loved her. However, with moments like this in mind, we never see any sign of John Wick trying to suppress his emotions, which would be a common coping mechanism for someone with an inferior feeling function, like the ISTP.

As he begins utilizing all the resources and perks that his reputation as an assassin allowed him, John Wick struggles to answer people when asked if he’s back. Finally, somewhere toward the end of the first movie, he mentions this to Viggo Tarasov, and vehemently proclaims that he’s back. This suggested Fi to us, because of his initial struggle to “commit” to being back. Ti users, like the ISTP that many believe Wick to be, often have an easier time admitting to a temporary affiliation, because they don’t associate such things with their identity. They don’t need to be emotionally on board, or fully committed. They just need to see a use for the group, and they’ll remain for as long as that use is present. John Wick takes this association much more seriously. Even though he utilizes all of their resources, he initially refuses to admit that he’s returned.

As a few final notes, John Wick rejects the idea that him and another assassin (from the third movie) are the same, which points to having a high identity function (Ti or Fi). However, it’s specifically common for Fi users to have a hard stance on things like this, because they see themselves as unique, and quickly reject labels that they don’t agree with.

Se:

“Let’s do this.”

“Never one to waste words.” – Santino D’Antonio

John Wick let’s action do all the talking for him. People know exactly what is going to happen based more so on his reputation and actions rather than his words. He seems primarily focused on the present, on the here and now. For instance, he appears to make decisions mostly based on what makes sense in the present moment. Of course, this gets him into tight spots throughout the series. For instance, he will initially refuse to do something, or he will break some rule because it appears to be the most advantageous move. However, while it often proves effective in the short term, he almost always has to pay some long term penalty for his immediate actions.

The movie never fully explains why John Wick makes the snap decisions that he does. However, it stands to reason, given what happens, that he either isn’t really aware of the long term consequences or is just flat out isn’t concerned by them. Either way, he isn’t entertaining the potential consequences very heavily. We never seem him entertaining a bunch of possibilities like you might expect from a Ne user. Rather, he seems firmly focused on what he is doing right now, and his next few steps.

Ni:

“You don’t want me owing you.”

Being a man of very few words, John Wick condenses everything he says into a few short, impactful sentences. In most conversations, he ends up conveying a wealth of intentions in only one or two short sentences. He communicates mostly through his body language, doing a lot of implicated meaning through his reactions rather than through spoken words. On numerous occasions, he answers the phone and hangs it up without saying a word at all. Yet, that silence speaks volumes to the person on the other end. It ends up being far more intimidating than any long threat could have been.

John Wick seems to have fairly linear goals throughout the series. He keeps his focus on his primary objective, whatever that may be, only deviating when necessary. For the most part, though, he sticks to his unspoken plan. This all tends to point toward Ni use, due to his single-minded nature. He latches on to singular goals, but appears to keep the plan fairly high level and vague. For instance, he’ll ask a weapons dealer for a general category of weapon, rather than stating a specific preference.

His ominous quote at the top of this section exemplifies his Ni pattern recognition. For whatever the reason, John Wick often ends up killing those who call in a debt from him. When he makes this statement, he doesn’t intend it as a threat, but merely a warning, based on everything that had happened up until this point.

Te:

“You are bound, and I am owed.”

“No, John. This is where you belong. Still, you’re not like Calamity or the Bills, are you? You want a little structure. Rules. Order. Anything to make it a little easier to justify what you were made to do.”

John Wick’s inferior Te comes out in his stubborn, in-the-moment decisions, which then quickly get reversed upon suffering certain consequences. He is very heavy-handed when he metes out his revenge, taking an eye-for-an-eye approach. In addition, while he prefers staying unattached, John Wick does lean on different relationships within the system, and expects that people will abide by the rules of that system. He expects people to honor their agreements and fulfill their duty. For example, he returns to the school where he was trained, demanding that they honor his ticket, in spite of his bad standing within the sister organization.

The graphic novel series actually shows a very clear example of Te. Although, A character named “Maria” observes that John Wick actually wants some rules and structure and prefers things to be more that way, provided it makes his life easier and justifies what he is doing.