Yu Yu Hakusho: Hiei (ENTJ)

It was actually rather challenging to identify Hiei’s personality type, mostly because the writing for that character seemed inconsistent. He starts out as a comically cartoonish villain, and then switches to a brooding loner with a sense of justice and honor. Not only that, the show gives mixed messages about his goals and backstory. However, we took everything into account, and we believe the most likely personality type for Hiei is ENTJ. We’re well aware that most people type Hiei as an ISTP, or an INTJ, but we couldn’t really find a case for Ti dominant, nor for dominant Ni and inferior Se. ENTJ is the middle ground between these two types. Hopefully this makes sense.

Te:

“He rarely thinks before he acts, and yet he always seems to get the result he wants. Most of the time I don’t understand the things he does, but I’ve seen the humiliation of those who underestimate him far too often for me to doubt him.”

“If that happens, all we have to do is kill everyone else on the boat before we reach the island. We’ll say we’re the right team and no one will complain.”

“Once inside the castle, I suggest you let us do the work. As far as I’m concerned, we’re babysitting.”

“We can’t afford any priorities to rank above victory.”

“Quiet fool. I don’t need to be told to hurry up. It’s in my nature.”

“Not my responsibility. You should have learned by now. This is a kill or be killed world. If you’re too weak to help yourself, you deserve to fall.”

“It wouldn’t obey when I gave it a specific command, so I decided it needed to be punished.”

Hiei primarily views the world through the lens of results and power. When he sets his sights on a goal, Hiei does little more than plow toward it, preferring to use displays of absolute strength and dominance to get what he wants. Similarily, he assesses people based on how capable they are and not much else. Hiei has little patience for those he considers weak. When going to the castle to face the Saint Beasts, Hiei dismisses both Yusuke and Kuwabara as a handicap rather than an asset. He has no interest in working with them, preferring they just leave it to him and Kurama. This indicates his lack of patience for what he perceives as incompetence in others.

His outright rejection of weakness even applies to himself. He constantly attempts to shrug off injuries and act as if he’s perfectly fine, even when sustaining life threatening wounds. When his first use of the Dragon of Darkness leaves his arm in excruciating pain and substantially weakens him, Hiei goes straight to training. He uses the ability even more in an attempt to force his body and the technique into submission. He even states that his arm wouldn’t obey when he gave it a specific command, so he decided it needed to be punished.

Hiei also has little patience for those who do not understand how the external structure of the Demon World works. On many occasions, he spouts the mantra of ‘it’s kill or be killed’, and that only the strong deserve a place while the weak deserve to fail. This type of structure seems to suit him, since he’s naturally ruthless, even to the point that it consistently drives away any form of ‘family’ he has known in the past.

As noted in one of the quotes above, Hiei focuses on the speed of which he can accomplish what he sets out to do, typically leaning toward the fastest solution, even perhaps over the best solution. If killing to him seems the most effective means of accomplishing what he has set out to do, he has little qualms about slaughtering others. He is, by far, the most openly cold-hearted and brutal of the group. In the tournament of power, he makes ample effort to kill every foe he goes up against; and in most cases, he succeeds.

Ni:

“Countless masters trying to harness the power of the Darkness Flame. Only I have had the courage, the strength, and the abandon to realize it’s glorious potential.”

“Fight by their meaningless rules, and you’ll be pulled down with them. There’s only one real law of the Dark Tournament. The strongest man prevails!”

“I certainly won’t make the same mistakes. My plan is too good for that.”

“We’d best assume him dead and plan for the next fight.”

“Kuwabara was ill prepared for them, and look what happened to him.”

Hiei prefers to have an overarching plan. He’s not one to plan out far in advance to the extent that he delays action, like a Ni dominant would. (Note: He found Kurama’s approach in this way to be “obnoxious”.) However, Hiei does prefer to formulate plans, and plan out the next few steps. For instance, when he initially went after Yusuke, he had what he considered to be an unbeatable plan, that took into account the failures of his former teammates. Similarly, during the Dark Tournament, he’d see how a match was playing out, and then make comments as to what would happen next, or what they should do next. For instance, he sees Kuwabara failing, and states that they should assume him dead and start planning for the next fight. In another instance, he stops Yusuke from being too hasty in his quest to rescue Kuwabara, pointing out that Kuwabara had been kidnapped in the first place because he was ill prepared.

Hiei‘s single-minded focus when it comes to getting what he wants causes him to follow paths that are less certain, and more risky. For instance, he decides that he needs the power of the Jagan Eye to find what he’s looking for. The process is risky, and exceedingly painful. In addition, he’ll lose a large portion of his strength, having to basically restart at rock bottom. He doesn’t care, though. He sees the potential for it to give him what he needs, and takes the leap. Similarly, he’s the only one able to harness the power of the Darkness Flame and realize it’s true potential, something which he proclaims quite dramatically to his opponent in the Dark Tournament.

Se:

“After all, we’re both only capable of expressing ourselves through our violence.”

“I know as much of games as I do of hugs and puppies, and care for them even less. Wake me for the end of the world.”

“No three-letter word can rule my fate…HOT!”

Hiei expresses himself best through action rather than words. When he initially shows up in the series, he’s much more vocal with Yusuke, but after that point, he relies more on action. This is a similarity which he claims to share with Mukuro. Hiei states that they’re both only capable of expressing themselves through violence. Koenma then observes that their fight seems more like a conversation than an actual fight.

Hiei doesn’t struggle significantly to sink into the present moment, and discard future strategies or plans. This was one of the strongest indicators that he is not an inferior Se user. For instance, he decides to take a nap while trapped in the Gamemaster’s territory once he’s unable to find a way out. He doesn’t continue thinking, or strategizing, or speculating. He just tells the rest of the team to wake him for the end of the world. Of course, his ability to respond quickly to the moment can make him act impulsively, such as when he brazenly stated the outlawed word within a psychic’s territory.

Fi:

“End your search. The real one, and find yourself.” – Mukuro

“They’re just afraid of justice.”

“Your weakness and his honor make him go easy on you.”

“One must never let emotions enter the ring. That was a mistake.”

“Friends are just a crutch for the weak.”

Hiei’s inferior Fi surfaces primarily in his relationship with emotions and feelings. From a value standpoint, his Fi is reasonably developed given its placement. For instance, he has a sense of honor and justice, which restrains him from acting in certain ways. However, he does mock Yusuke during their first fight, calling him a “save the day superhero” and claiming to hate people like him. However, later on, he tries to kill a villain, but Yusuke stops him. Frustrated, Hiei proclaims that “they’re just afraid of justice”, which demonstrates his Fi interpretation of the situation.

Hiei often devalues emotions, seeing them as weakness or a hindrance. The most obvious way this manifests is in his harsh or abrasive dealings with others. In addition to that, though, he criticizes the others for allowing emotions into their fights. He also approaches friendships the same way, viewing them a weakness or a crutch.

At the end of the show, Mukuro points out to Hiei that hate was never his motivation, something that he failed to realize himself. In that way, Hiei is disconnected from himself, because he’s unable to see what’s truly driving him. He hides behind goals and hate, failing to go after what he truly wants because he doesn’t know what that is. So, Mukuro tells Hiei that he needs to end his search, and find himself.