Dragon Ball Series: Tien (ISTJ)

Si:

“Why?! Why did he lose on purpose?! Why would someone devoted to fighting willfully choose to lose?! Is it because he feared me?! No! He was composed! His techniques, his mental state… What was that composure?! Where did it come from?! I can’t make sense of it!”

“I appreciate the offer but we’re still the Crane Hermit’s students even if we did betray him. We can’t audaciously go with you.”

Tien appears to be an Si dominant. Some of this may be anecdotal, but character development in Dragon Ball tends to be a bit lacking. One of the clearest examples of his Si use can be seen after Roshi loses to him in the Tenkaichi tournament on purpose. After the fight, he’s shown speculating why Roshi would have done that. (See the first quote in this section.) Some of it points to low Ne, which will be discussed later on, but the part to specifically hone in on is when he’s replaying that Roshi was composed in both his mental state and techniques. He’s essentially replaying what just happened and trying to analyze it after the fact to figure out what happened. In a similar fashion, he also replays certain conversations that he has with Roshi after the fact. This all suggests Si use, since it’s a very specific recall rather than vague abstractions or intuitive leaps.

He’s very loyal to his school and his master, which is also a result of his Fi. However, he struggles to go against his master’s orders, even when he morally disagrees with them. You see this struggle happen up until the point when his master finally goes too far. This could potentially be due to Si fearing the consequences of betrayal. (Ultimately, Roshi handled the situation for him.)

Te:

“He’s a formidable fighting master. I’ve never fought anyone as strong as him… I can tell from the way he moves. His movements, his breathing, his energy… There’s no inefficiency in any of them.”

Tien is a to-the-point no-nonsense person. He is very direct when speaking and confident in his own skills. In addition, when trying to persuade the villagers that he and Chiaotzu are not in league with the ino-shika-cho (after Goku had confronted them about their scam), Tien uses objective external proof that they are not working together. He does this by throwing a torch under the beast and asking the villagers if he would do that if he were in cahoots with the beast.

His Te also comes out in the way that he arrogantly goads and antagonizes Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha during the tournament. He later comes up with a rather extreme (and what he perceives as foolproof) solution to beating Goku by completely vaporizing the win. This is an example of Si-Te trying to remove any possible chance of losing (partially due to inferior Ne). He is also seen being very bossy and protective of Chiaotzu. This can be perceived as Te wanting to look out for and control him.

Fi:

“Insult my master and I’ll make you pay.”

Tien’s Fi comes out in the way that he reacts to the news of Tao’s death. He becomes very visibly upset and then bitter, proclaiming to Goku that he would pay for it. He later stops his master from killing Goku, as he wishes to do it himself. Furthermore, he also wants to see Goku be humiliated in the ring. He continues by saying that he believes it is what Tao would have wanted. This last part exhibits a bit of Si-Fi as he is thinking back on and then projecting someone else desires into the situation.

His Fi is also displayed in his duty oriented nature. He is upset to find out that his master and Chiaotzu are cheating for him. When he finds out, Tien demands that they stop, proclaiming that he wants to win the match on his own merit. He also becomes visibly torn when his master’s wishes start to conflict with his own moral compass. Ultimately, his own sense of morality prevails and he defies his master, but doesn’t go so far as to deal with him. Tien’s Fi is further displayed as he lets Goku land a bunch of blows to even out the damage that he had unfairly been able to inflict, and later tries to pay Goku half of the reward due to Tien not feeling as if he’d won the battle via skill.

Ne:

Tien’s inferior Ne is shown the strongest when he’s trying to figure out what Roshi’s motivation for losing to him is. He’s shown asking one question after another, in an attempt to speculate about the possibilities. Otherwise, he’s not typically shown speculating in any more positive or recreational sense.

Lastly, he has one attack in particular that appeared to be low Ne use, his Haikyuu attack. He essentially reuses volleyball moves to (hopefully) finish his opponent. In this situation, he mimics and repurposes a technique/concept already in existence, and really gets into the act while doing it. It seems very random and quirky, and generally speaks to low intuition since he is completely copying something else he’s seen rather than producing from scratch.