The Enneagram of Personality

One of the greatest challenges for writers of any skill level is to realistically portray how characters with very different points of view act under pressure and - most importantly - how they interact with each other under that pressure. It’s hard enough to cook up vibrant, well-motivated characters, but it’s even more difficult to create believable chemistry between them.

To help give you an idea of how people in the real world respond to different points of view and personality types, consider using the Enneagram of Personality.

For years I had thought that I was the only person using this tool to help shape narrative fiction, but more recently I’ve been really excited to hear more and more people refer to it in books and seminars as an excellent tool for literary writers and I’m happy to tell you it works fabulously when screenwriting as well.

NOTE: Some give the various categories different names, but the NUMBER is likely to be consistent between sources if you happen to read more on the subject.

In their book The Road Back to You, Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile introduce the Enneagram like this:

“The Enneagram teaches that there are nine different personality styles in the world, one of which we naturally gravitate toward and adopt in childhood to cope and feel safe. Each type or number has a distinct way of seeing the world and an underlying motivation that powerfully influences how that type thinks, feels, and behaves.”

Each personality type listed features a detailed description of their natural state and also a brief description of what these personality types are like when taken to both a “good” and “evil” extreme.

BUILDING CHARACTER ARCS

Because of the Enneagram’s talent for pointing a finger at painful motivations arising from our past (especially our childhood), it’s perfect for figuring out the backstory ”WOUND” motivating your character’s goals in your main story.

THE WOUND is a hole in your character’s self. It’s the hole where THE LIE THE CHARACTER BELIEVES first started growing, and it’s the hole they must climb out of if they are to grow into wholeness by the end of their story and specifically their arc.

BUILDING BETTER BAD GUYS

It’s also incredibly useful when fleshing out your antagonist. Writer K.M. Weiland shared her thoughts on why she loves using the enneagram to “build better bad guys”:

For me, bad guys have always been one of my challenges. A large part of this was a struggle to find suitable motivations for their evil deeds. “Oh, they’re just crazy” is an easy out that doesn’t give due diligence to what should be one of the strongest characters in the story.
UNDERSTANDING CHARACTER MOTIVATION
Yet another reason I was psyched by Riso’s “health charts” (Don Richard Riso, author of Personality Types: Using The Enneagram For Self-Discovery) was that they immediately grounded my understanding of what would motivate a deeply unhealthy person to commit deeply unhealthy acts. At the bottom level of psychosis for each type (which is almost never reached without either deep-seated childhood trauma or a physiological catalyst), Riso suggests the “ultimate end” each type is most likely to fall to.

In the end, the Enneagram can be incredibly insightful and helpful when crafting a dynamic and unique cast of characters. This is merely scratching the surface of the information it can furnish you with, but here is a basic profile of each of the nine personality types as described in the Enneagram:

1. THE REFORMER

Images and fictional examples credit: bookriot.com

The Reformer focuses on integrity. Their greatest fear is to be flawed and their ultimate goal is perfection.

Ones are highly principled individuals who value ethics above all else. They have a very strong sense of right and wrong and are often advocates for positive change in their communities. They have high standards and, if they are less healthy, can be critical and perfectionistic. Ones’ deepest desire is to be good and to have integrity. Their greatest fear is of being corrupt, evil, or defective.
- bookriot.com

Ideal: Perfection
Fear: Corruption
Desire: Integrity
Vice: Anger
Wound: Mistakes are unacceptable
Psychosis: Punitive Sadism

+ Positive Reformers are wise, discerning, responsible and idealistic.

- Negative Reformers are judgmental and hyper-perfectionistic. They can dissociate themselves from their flaws and are hypocritical and hyper-critical of others, seeking the illusion of virtue to hide their own vices.

Fictional Examples:
Hermione Granger, Professor McGonagall, & Percy Weasley (Harry Potter), Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird), Peter Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia), Bruce Wayne (Batman), Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility), Steve Rogers (Captain America), Ned Stark (Game of Thrones), and Claire Fraser (Outlander).

2. THE HELPER

Above all, Helpers want to be loved and needed, and fear being unworthy of love.

Twos are generous, empathetic, and demonstrative. They are people persons and they love to support and take care of others. At their best, they are unselfish and altruistic, but when they are less healthy, they can be people pleasers and overly possessive of those they love. Twos’ deepest desire is to feel loved and their greatest fear is of being unwanted or unworthy of love. This drives them to make themselves indispensable to others.
- bookriot.com

Ideal: Empathy
Fear: Unworthiness
Desire: Love
Vice: Vainglory (arrogance, condescension, cockiness, egoism, smugness)
Wound: I am not lovable
Psychosis: Hypochondria and/or Martyr Complex

+ Positive Helpers are compassionate, thoughtful and astonishingly generous.

- Negative Helpers are passive-aggressive, intrusive, needy/cling-y and manipulative.

Fictional Examples:
Fictional twos include Molly Weasley, Dolores Umbridge, Bellatrix Lestrange, & Hagrid (Harry Potter), Samwise Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings), Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games), T.S. Garp (The World According to Garp), Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra), Sidney Carton (A Tale of Two Cities), Emma Woodhouse (Emma), and Esther Summerson (Bleak House).

3. THE ACHIEVER

Highly adaptable and changeable, Achievers fear being worthless and strive to be valued.

Threes are self-assured, pragmatic, and image-conscious. They care about status and are concerned with what others think of them. Their deepest desire is to feel valuable and worthwhile, and their greatest fear is of being worthless. This drives them to be high achievers. Healthy threes are self-accepting and authentic but less healthy threes may cut corners or deceive others to appear better than they are.
- bookriot.com

Ideal: Hope
Fear: Worthlessness
Desire: Being valued
Vice: Deceit
Wound: I am what I do
Psychosis: Murder (!)

+ Positive Achievers walk the world with confidence and unstinting authenticity. They are productive and very adaptable.

- Negative Achievers wear a series of public masks, acting the way they think will bring them approval and losing track of their true self. They are overly image-conscious and out of touch with emotions.

Fictional Examples:
Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Professor Lockhart, & Professor Slughorn (Harry Potter), Gaston (Beauty and the Beast), Boromir & Gimli (The Lord of the Rings), Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray), Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind), Judy Martin (Emma in the Night), and Odysseus (The Odyssey).

4. THE INDIVIDUALIST

Individualists are driven by a fear that they have no identity or personal significance, the angst-ridden musician or tortured soul is often a stereotypical Artist type.

Fours are sensitive, creative, and deeply in touch with their own emotions. Fours’ feel like they have no identity, so their deepest desire is to find themselves and their personal significance. A disproportionate number of actors are fours, because acting is a way to explore and “try on” various identities. Unhealthy fours can be moody, self-conscious, and self-indulgent, but healthy fours are singularly unique individuals.
- bookriot.com

Ideal: Originality
Fear: Commonness
Desire: Authenticity
Vice: Envy
Wound: No one understands me/there is something wrong with me
Psychosis: Suicide

+ Positive Individualists embrace individualism and are often profoundly creative.

- Negative Individualists internalize, searching desperately inside themselves for something they never find, creating a spiral of depression. They are self-absorbed and unrealistic.

Fictional Examples:
Fictional fours include Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Frodo Baggins & Faramir (The Lord of the Rings), Liesel Meminger (The Book Thief), Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby), Madame Bovary (Madame Bovary), Esther Greenwood (The Bell Jar), Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility), Catherine Morland (Northanger Abbey), and Loki (Thor).

5. THE INVESTIGATOR

Believing they are only worth what they contribute, Investigators fear incompetency and want to be capable above all else.

Fives are cerebral, insightful, and curious. Their deepest fear is of being useless, helpless, or incapable, and this drives them to accumulate vast amounts of knowledge. They also love to play with complex ideas and, at their best, are highly perceptive individuals. Unhealthy fives can become nihilistic, isolated, and emotionally detached from life.
- bookriot.com

Ideal: Omniscience (infinite knowledge)
Fear: Uselessness
Desire: Competency
Vice: Avarice (insatiable greed)
Wound: I am not competent to handle the demands of life
Psychosis: Schizophrenia

+ Positive Investigators are perceptive and self-reliant. They have learned to withdraw, to watch with keen eyes and speak only when they can shake the world with their observations.

- Negative Investigators are emotionally detached and cynical. They withdraw from the world, becoming reclusive hermits and fending off social contact with abrasive cynicism.

Fictional Examples:
Klaus Baudelaire (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Sherlock Holmes (Stories of Arthur Conan Doyle), Smaug (The Hobbit), Elrond (The Lord of the Rings), Beetee Latier & Haymitch Abernathy (The Hunger Games), Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, & Arthur Weasley (Harry Potter), Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs), and Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

6. THE LOYALIST

Loyalists long for stability above all else.

Sixes are unique among the enneagram types because they can present in two very distinct ways. Sixes fear being without support or guidance and they deal with this fear in one of two ways. Phobic sixes are cautious, indecisive, and tend to follow an established authority. Counterphobic sixes rebel against authority and tend to be defiant and reactive. In this way, they resemble and are often mistaken for eights. Sixes often vacillate between phobic and counterphobic behaviour. A great example of this is the narrator of Fight Club, a phobic six, whose alter-ego, Tyler Durden, is counterphobic.
bookriot.com

Ideal: Faith
Fear: Isolation
Desire: Safety
Vice: Fear
Wound: The world is not safe
Psychosis: Masochism

+ Positive Loyalists are engaging. They exhibit unwavering loyalty and responsibility and tend to attack or confront their fears.

- Negative Loyalists are reactive and fearful. They exhibit extreme anxiety and passive-aggressive behaviour and can run from or hide from what they fear.

Fictional Examples:
Fictional sixes include Bilbo Baggins & Thorin Oakenshield (The Hobbit), Narcissa Malfoy (Harry Potter), Alexei Karenin (Anna Karenina), Logan/Wolverine (X-Men), Hamlet (Hamlet), Carrie White (Carrie), Faith (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Eleanor Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility), Marilla Cuthbert (Anne of Green Gables), and Tyler Durden (Fight Club).

7. THE ENTHUSIAST

Eternal Peter Pans, Enthusiasts flit from one activity to another. Above all, they fear being unable to provide for themselves.

Sevens are adventurous, spontaneous, and optimistic. They are often playful and high-spirited but can become scattered and undisciplined if unhealthy. Sevens’ deepest desire is to have their needs met and their greatest fear is being deprived or suffering in some way. They love nothing more than exciting new experiences. At their best, they work toward their goals but have a lot of fun along the way.
- bookriot.com

Ideal: Work
Fear: Boredom
Desire: Experiences
Vice: Gluttony
Wound: I can’t count on people to be there for me
Psychosis: Addiction and Manic-Compulsive Behavior

+ Positive Enthusiasts embrace life for its varied joys and wonders and truly live in the moment. They are optimistic and fun.

- Negative Enthusiasts are impulsive and undisciplined. They dash frantically from one new experience to another, being too scared of disappointment to enjoy what they have.

Fictional Examples:
Fictional sevens include Sirius Black, Fred Weasley, & George Weasley (Harry Potter), Meriadoc Brandybuck & Peregrin Took (The Lord of the Rings), Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), Lydia Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), Peter Pan (Peter Pan), Captain Wentworth (Persuasion), Kitty Fane (The Painted Veil), and Jamie Fraser (Outlander).

8. THE CHALLENGER

Challengers worry about self-protection and control. Challengers seek control over their own life and their own destiny and fear being harmed or controlled by others.

Eights are decisive, self-confident, and confrontational. They fear being harmed or controlled by others and so they preempt any attempts to do so by taking charge of situations and people. Healthy eights are magnanimous leaders who take great pleasure in defending the oppressed. If they are unhealthy, they may become intimidating, lording their power over others instead of using their strength for good.
- bookriot.com

Ideal: Truth
Fear: Loss of control
Desire: Autonomy
Vice: Lust
Wound: Only the strong survive
Psychosis: Megalomania

+ Positive Challengers are (naturally) natural leaders; bold, decisive, capable and passionate.

- Negative Challengers are manipulative, ruthless and willing to destroy anything and everything in their way. They are domineering and combative.

Fictional Examples:
Johanna Mason, President Coin, & President Snow (The Hunger Games), Alastor Moody (Harry Potter), Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind), Erik/Magneto (X-Men), Sauron (The Lord of the Rings), Othello (Othello), Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland), Jeanine Matthews (Divergent), and Inspector Javert (Les Misérables).

9. THE PEACEMAKER

Peacemakers are ruled by their empathy. They fear the conflict caused by their ability to simultaneously understand opposing points of view and seek peace of mind above all else.

Ideal: Love
Fear: Loss
Desire: Stability
Vice: Indifference
Wound: I don’t matter
Psychosis: Dissociative disorders

+ Positive Peacemakers are reliable. They are perceptive, receptive, gentle, calming and at peace with the world.

- Negative Peacemakers are passive-aggressive and unmotivated. They prefer to dissociate from conflicts and indifferently go along with others' wishes or simply withdraw, acting via inaction.

Fictional Examples:
Harry Potter & Remus Lupin (Harry Potter), Kellan Barfoot (All the Ugly and Wonderful Things), Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz), Jane Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), Mrs. Moore (A Passage to India), Fanny Price (Mansfield Park), Edward Ferrars (Sense and Sensibility), Rue & Prim (The Hunger Games).

SUMMARY

Reformer, Caretaker, Performer, Artist, Observer, Loyalist, Enthusiast, Leader, Peacemaker

Because this real-world diagnostic tool has proven to work, you can be confident that every one of your characters will fit neatly into one of these 9 archetypes. And, using the additional notes of each, understand the tendencies of how each will act when they are healthy and when they are deranged.

With that in mind, it’s great at helping you visualize what a “good” character might act like when doing bad things or when placed under too much pressure or what a villain with evil tendencies might act like when comfortable and in a good place.

The Enneagram of Personality