Hunter X Hunter: Gon Freecss (ESFJ)

Yep, this is an odd one, but hear us out.

Fe:

“He’s not concerned with whether something is good or bad. When I came clean about making counterfeits or when the men in the store were talking about the vault, I didn’t see a hint of disapproval or greed on his face, not one… If something impresses him, he doesn’t start judging whether it’s good or bad, which means he’s walking a fine line.” – Zepile

“So whatever they’re feeling so upset about is really important to them. It’s up to them now. Nothing we can do but stay out of the way.”

“Let’s work together and figure it out!”

“Being a hunter was the most important thing in the world to my dad, and I want to know why.”

“That’s why I wanted some company. I wanted to find somebody I could help I guess.”

“Because the pressure of risking my life isn’t nearly as bad as letting down a friend.”

Gon is group-oriented, compassionate, earnest, and helpful. Most people type him as an auxiliary Fi, but we see far more evidence for dominant Fe, including evidence that is counter to Fi.

First, Gon’s focus appears to be on others, rather than himself. Right from the beginning of the series, we see him frequently offering encouraging and reaffirming statements to those around. He offers herbs to a random sick man on the ship, while on the way to the Hunter’s exam location. He’ll also take small thoughtful actions, such as offering his boiled Spider Eagle egg to one of the exam participants who had failed that phase. He’s always looking out for others, and will go well out of his way for someone else’s sake. (Examples such as risking his life to visit Killua after the Hunter exam incident, heading back to help his friends during the 4th phase of the Hunter’s exam, stopping for Leorio in the endurance phase…) Of course, some of this could be attributed to an Fi user. However, when Killua attempts a reckless action in order to save Gon (while being held by the Phantom Troupe), Gon gets very angry, unable to respect Killua’s conviction. He claims that only he is allowed to talk about dying, which demonstrates an Fe dom’s overly protective nature.

Second, Gon does not appear to hold to an internal Fi ideal. For starters, his desire to be a hunter stems purely from a longing to understand and connect with his father, rather than a personal goal. He tends to set aside his own personal standards for the sake of the group. A good example of Gon’s lack of Fi can be seen during the arm wrestling venture in York New City. Gon voices his opinion that the entire endeavour is dishonest, but doesn’t put his foot down or refuse to participate. He just goes right along with it, since that’s what the others are saying. You don’t really see him promoting his own ideals. He is mostly triggered when others are in danger, or have been harmed.

Third, Gon is shown to have a team spirit, and shares credit wherever possible. He’s not one to bolster himself or his image. The first example where this shows up is on the ship on the way to the Hunter’s exam location when he jumps off to save someone’s life. Another friend has to rush in to ensure the act is a success. Gon instantly brushes off personal credit when thanked later, and emphasizes that it was a group effort. This desire to work as a team is further exemplified in the final phase of the Hunter’s exam, during his duel with Hanzo. When Hanzo finally decides to forfeit the match, Gon gets incredibly frustrated and declares that they need to work together to find a way to complete the match that would work and benefit the both of them.

Four, Gon desires harmony, and struggles with discord. When two of his friends get into an argument and try to get him to choose a side, he looks worried and avoids taking a stance of any kind, which is counter to what an Fi user would typically do. (Usually, we see the EXFPs either take a side (Fi) or declare the whole thing to be stupid and then walk away (Te).) Instead, Gon freezes until he is essentially ‘saved by the bell’, and then looks incredibly relieved. Whenever anyone does anything for Gon, no matter how small, his first response is to thank them. This will include tense interactions with those of a darker or villainous nature. Once they give him what he wants, he usually reflexively thanks them afterwards, even if the entire conversation had been hostile or strained. Oftentimes, he doesn’t owe them pleasantries of any kind, yet still reflexively offers them up.

Si:

“You know, I got a lot of help to get this far, and I owe a lot of people a bunch of favors. Once I’ve paid everyone back, then I think I’ll be ready.”

“Yeah, but Killua, your house is like 3700 meters up, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think I can win yet, but that’s ok. I just need the experience.”

“I knew this would happen. That’s why I told you we should stick to the reputable sites.”

Gon is a very straightforward individual, and takes things very literally. When attempting to open the box his father left him, Killua asks him what he has now that he didn’t have before, because that is how he is supposed to open the box. Gon grabs his physical license and starts looking for a way to insert it into the box instead of jumping to the fact that they had learned nen. Additionally, when in the arena, Killua tells him to “just push hard” to get through the early rounds quickly. Gon literally executes a powerful “push” attack to shove his opponents out of the arena. In general, Gon appears to have a more literal, and less creative approach to things.

Gon is prone to observing and practicing techniques in advance, in order to refine the technique before using it in action. For instance, practicing with his fishing pole tirelessly during the 4th phase of the Hunter’s exam in order to gain the skill to snag Hisoka’s badge. He practices varying difficulties. He observes the animals around him in order to gain clues as to how to refine his technique. He ultimately practices thousands of times, which demonstrates Si repetition and desire to be well-prepared in advance. This tendency of his to learn by seeing someone else do it first is shown in other places as well. He learns to hunt during the 4th phase by watching someone else hunt down their target.

When attempting to understand something, Gon tends to consciously relate whatever it is back to a past experience or understanding. For instance, when learning Nen, he relates the life energy surrounding him to the steam of a kettle. When fighting in the arena, he relates his opponent tops back to a specific game that he knows.

As some final evidence, we see some Si specificity in language and detailed memory. When learning Nen, he relates the feeling of the life energy surrounding him to being in a viscous liquid (while Killua just says that it feels like wearing weightless clothing). Another example can be seen when he states how far up Killua’s house is in meters. He’s also quick to recognize the intricate pattern from the promise thread later on another object, claiming that it’s exactly the same.

Gon can be impulsive and jump head long in situations where he feels confident, making some see him as an extraverted perceiving dominant (Ne or Se). However, he is careful about risk in other areas where he is less skilled. For instance, when Killua and Gon are trying to make money reselling items online, Gon chides Killua for using risky sites, stating they should have stuck with reputable ones. (See quote at the top of this section.) Gon also listens to everyone, and doesn’t appear to get bored or distracted in conversations, which seems to suggest that he’s not an extraverted perceiving dominant.

Ne:

“I thought about it a lot. I even ran a bunch of simulations in my head.”

“I know that, but what if, you know, well what if that really happens to me someday? If two people are in trouble, and I can only help one of them. Then what? It wouldn’t be right to pick one over the other, but like it or not, that’s a choice I might have to make.”

Gon’s tertiary Ne comes out in a couple of different ways. His low Ne specifically tends to surface in his tendency to worry about unrealistic things and consider different potential outcomes. For instance, while hunting Hisoka, the first opponent Hisoka comes across offers up their badge to him. Gon then begins to worry that that’ll happen again, even though it was an incredibly unlikely event from the start, so the likelihood of it happening again was incredibly low. In another example, Kite tells Killua and Gon to not help if he’s ever in trouble (regarding the Chimera ants). Gon gives this a lot of thought, and talks to Killua about it later. In addition to sharing his thoughts, Gon informs Killua that he had run a bunch of simulations in his head. This specifically points to being an Ne user; although for reasons that will be explained below, his Ne appears to be low.

Gon has a strong desire to explore new subjects, which allows him to get distracted. An example of this can be seen when they link up with Zepile, the appraiser. Gon asks to learn some of his techniques. Killua gets frustrated with Gon, because it is unrelated to the task at hand, and therefore unnecessary. However, Gon is curious and thinks it sounds fun. There are other situations through the show where Gon gets distracted by some new thing, frustrating Killua as a result.

Gon tends to use very simplistic metaphors for the sake of his own personal understanding. This was mentioned briefly in the Si section, due to the conscious tie to his past experiences, but it’s worth mentioning briefly here in support of low Ne specifically. Otherwise, we don’t typically see Gon come up with any off-the-wall or unexpected analogies.

We also see him struggle to produce creative ideas. Bear in mind, we’re not saying sensor’s can’t be creative, but high Ne tends to be good at producing ideas and struggles to narrow down options. Gon tends to struggle with producing ideas at all, which is shown when him and Killua start developing their own specialized techniques. Gon is stumped for a while, until he finally gets advice from his Nen master (who specifically tells him not to mimic Kurapika). He ultimately bases his techniques off of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Ti:

“Besides if you cut my legs off, I’ll probably just bleed to death. Mr. Masta, he’d be disqualified for that, right? See? And that’d be bad for the both of us so let’s think of a better way.”

Gon is deeply bothered by inconsistency of actions, while he himself is also rather inconsistent. Of course, this suggests weak (or inferior) Ti. A good example is when Gon watches a Phantom Troupe member shed tears over the loss of one of their own. Gon is deeply angered by this prospect, because the Phantom Troupe cares about members of their group yet doesn’t mind mercilessly killing others. This is also anti-Fi because an Fi user that valued loyalty would be able to respect the Phantom Troupe in regards to this. However, upon learning it, Gon’s previously neutral attitude toward the Phantom Troupe suddenly turns hostile, as if perceiving the Phantom Troupe as worse due to their internal loyalty which led to what Gon saw as inconsistency.

Gon’s logic also tends to be highly inconsistent, ultimately serving his Fe desires. When Hanzo tries to surrender the match to him during the final phase of the Hunter exam, Gon demands that they come up with a method that allows him to win properly, without the surrender. He phrases it as if it would benefit Hanzo for them to have a proper match. Of course, this is extremely illogical because dragging out the match would in no way benefit Hanzo, and Hanzo had already proven himself to be far superior, so it would have been impossible anyway. We generally see him prone to Ti rationalizing though, as a means to convince people to work together or act in a different way. An obvious example can be seen in the quote as the beginning of this section.