Tangled: Flynn Rider (ESTP)

Flynn Rider from Tangled is most commonly believed to be an ESTP. Based on the evidence, we also believe him to be an ESTP, but we did consider ENTP as well. Apparently, there are quite a few people that lean ENTP for Flynn rather than ESTP, so we tried to address the arguments for Flynn being an ENTP in the analysis below. Hopefully it makes sense. If you’re interested in reading about other Tangled characters, check out Mother Gothel and Rapunzel. (For the record, we did not take into account the Tangled series when typing these characters, only the original movie.)

Se:

“Something brought you here, Flynn Rider. Call it what you will… fate… destiny…” – Rapunzel
“A horse.” – Flynn Rider

“I have dreams like you, no really. Just much less touchy-feely. They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny. On an island that I own. Tanned and rested and alone. Surrounded by enormous piles of money.”

Flynn lives a fast-paced, life of adventure. He’s a thief that appears to live life one day at a time. He has no perceivable long term strategy or plan, other than a vague idea of where he wants to end up. This is shown when the customers of The Snuggly Duckling force him to explain his dream. Flynn reluctantly describes wanting piles of money and his own island. He doesn’t describe what he wants in much detail, nor does he leave it open-ended or share multiple possibilities.

Generally speaking, Flynn is realistic, which plays into why his dream isn’t anything very grandiose. It also partly why he can seem so cynical. When Rapunzel suggests that fate or destiny brought him to her, Flynn flatly points out the literal thing that did bring him to her: “a horse”. He also spends most of the movie referring to Rapunzel by the color of her hair, rather than coming up with anything more creative or varied.

Flynn values freedom above all else, which causes him to live life “in a blur”, as his lines in the song “I See The Light” explain. Flynn later explains that he got the inspiration for his lifestyle from a character in a book he used to read to the other children at the orphanage. We’ve seen people use this as evidence for Ne, but nothing about it is specific to Ne. Anyone can be inspired by a book that they’ve read, especially a child who just wants a life better than the one he has. He didn’t make up the character, the book, or the stories, so there isn’t anything particularly creative or idea-driven from this instance.

We saw people argue that Flynn is an ENTP, using his lines in “I See The Light” as proof. (“All those days chasing down a daydream, All those years living in a blur, All that time never truly seeing, Things, the way they were”) However, the context for those lines specifically has to do with the fact that he always lived life at such a fast pace, failing to recognize any deeper meaning or purpose. Once he realizes his love for Rapunzel, he understands where he’s meant to be. Outside this context, there’s no indication of him not seeing things the way they are, or in a literal and straightforward way.

Ti:

“You’re way overthinking this, trust me. Does your mother deserve it? No. Would this break her heart and crush her soul? Of course. But you’ve just got to do it.”

“I have dreams like you, no really. Just much less, touchy-feely.”

Flynn appears like a thinker, in the sense that he avoids personal subjects or anything that might display his genuine feelings. While he enjoys being a thief, he’s not one that is very passionate, and certainly not idealistic. This is pretty obvious by the content of his dream, which he tries to avoid sharing altogether. He’s actually rather critical of Rapunzel because of her naive, dreamer mindset.

Flynn uses subjective logic to try to convince Rapunzel to let him out of their deal. After observing her internal conflict, he tries to twist her thinking back around on her, so that she’d change her mind about wanting to disobey her mother. Of course, this attempt fails, and he’s forced to proceed with what they originally agreed on.

A good example of Flynn’s Ti can be seen when he’s escaping prison. One of the criminals helping him tells him to put his head down, arms in, and knees apart, in preparation to be launched via catapult. However, Flynn doesn’t know this, so he can’t help but stop to ask why when realizing how absurd the directions sounded.

Fe:

“You can’t tell anyone about this, okay? It could ruin my whole reputation… A fake reputation is all a man has.”

“I can’t believe that after all we’ve been through together, you don’t trust me? Ouch.”

Flynn relies on charm and a fake reputation to carry him through life. His weak attempts to emotionally manipulate are clear right from the beginning of the movie, when he acts hurt that his partners-in-crime don’t trust him. However, his failure to be charming enough to get his way, doesn’t typically trip him up, because it’s not something he usually overly relies on. For instance, he still manages to steal the crown back from his partners, when acting hurt fails to convince them to let him hold onto it. Although, in the case of being tied up by Rapunzel, he’s rather dismayed when his last resort, the smolder, fails.

Flynn’s refusal to be genuine, instead relying on a persona that he openly admits is a lie, indicates Fe rather than Fi. He finds reputation to be incredibly important, which is why he’d rather make people believe he’s something that he knows he’s not.

Ni:

Flynn has a vague idea of where he wants to end up, with little detail and no specific plan as to how he’ll get there. He just steals to gain wealth, hoping to one day score big enough to get what he wants. His failure to think long term is indicative of inferior Ni.

Flynn is also shown getting rather paranoid when he sees Rapunzel’s hair glow for the first time. He freaks out, exclaims that he never saw that coming, and questions how it’s possible. In that state, he immediately reads into a smile the chameleon gives him. Of course, Flynn further freaks out when Rapunzel’s hair heals his hand.