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vampirepunks · 3 months

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Sam Porter Bridges' MBTI + Enneagram Typology (pt. 2)

MBTI: ISTP (Ti-Se-Ni-Fe)

Enneagram: 9w8

Instinctual Variant: sp/sx

Tritype: 963

(part one: mbti deep dive)

(Higgs analysis)

As an ISTP, Sam is not naturally at home in enneagram 9, which makes his character all the more interesting. ISTPs are more commonly associated with enneagram 5, 6, and sometimes 8. While ISTP 9 is hardly a rare sight, this enneagram type does modify ISTP traits due to conflicting cognition and instincts in a few areas. Namely, in the social and emotional spheres. ISTP is innately emotionally withdrawn, preferring to remain detached where possible, while 9 seeks connection. Appropriate, no?

Enneagram 9 Overview Basic Fear: Of loss and separation Basic Desire: To maintain their inner stability and peace of mind Fixation: Indolence Trap: Seeking harmony Passion: Sloth

The first fundamental thing to understand about type 9, is that this personality's position at the "crown" of the enneagram is appropriately symbolic, as 9 wants to be connected to everything. In many ways... 9 is a bridge. (*sad trumpet noise as no one laughs*)

Fear of loss and separation makes perfect sense after Sam's loss of Lucy and his daughter, but of course he was old enough when that happened for his personality to have already developed plenty (21 IIRC) so that incident merely cemented his 9 fix further. Gotta dig deeper to uncover the original source of his issues. (In enneagram theory, it's always psychological or sociological, usually both.) Bridget was largely absent in raising Sam, taking on a detached, avoidant-disorganized parenting style, rarely touching him or spending time with him from the sounds of it, while his closest relationship was with Amelie, who by her divine nature is inherently detached even if she doesn't want to be, separate from the rest of the world. Being closest to a person who doesn't exist in the land of the living is bound to take a toll on a child's psyche, as Lucy reasoned, in a... roundabout way, while assessing his aphenphosmphobia. But let's go back even further. The very start, let's say? Sam was taken from his mother's womb, shoved in a BB pod, connected to and detached from her at the same time, existing between the world of the living and the world of the dead, disconnected from all of it. And so he remained, as a repatriate, an inhabitant of the in-between, forevermore. Lost his life, lost his connection to the natural cycle of life and death, lost his father. He's known nothing but loss and separation since he began. And here's the thing: BB memories stick around, they're just repressed. That leaves a mark.

Enneagram 9 is a universalist who wants to be part of something--everything, ideally--seeking harmony with oneself and one's environment, while stubbornly, paradoxically, asserting independence from it. Thus, 9 is too adaptable. They are resigned, generous, habit-bound, soft-spoken, open-minded, and inclusive. Enneagram 9 goes along to get along. Just like 7, type 9 craves attention, but instead of demanding it, they work to earn it. Again, I have beef with Naranjo but he had some really good type summaries.

"The sense of worth as well as the sense of existence of type 9 is satisfied, not through applause, but rather, through vicarious participation, a living through others: lost identity becomes an identity by symbiosis with family, nation, party, club, team, and so on."

Self-Preservation 9

When sloth invades the self-preservation instinct, the result is... perplexing, antithetical to the instinct's very drive. The sp9 is a personality that doesn't know what they need, so they take the path of least resistance wherever possible and struggle to commit. sp9 is inclined to pursue their most basic survival, but they lack the inner spiritual awareness to know where to begin. This is a passion to sate hunger, to satisfy an intangible, all-consuming yearning, finding comfort in the simple things to stave off deeper reflecting in order to figure out what that longing is for. sp9s crave nurture and safety because, "there is no memory of maternal love in the [sp9's] vocabulary." One cannot identify a need for that which they've never known.

sp9 is repressed, stubborn, reactive, emotionally insecure, voracious without the inertia to act upon desire, conflict-averse, shy, prone to procrastination, impulsive, self-sacrificial, and rebellious. However, Conversely, this 9 is also genuine, kind, easy to please, and highly understanding. sp9 is a paradox, both distant and attached. Higgs sums this part of Sam up very well in observing (novel quote) that Sam "found meaning in survival by connecting people to people without connecting to them himself."

sp9 sees danger in emotion, fears losing control, fears what might be discovered inside oneself by feeling too deeply, and thus sp9 masks intensity with passiveness and self-stifling habits. sp9 needs to know their true inner self but is held back by strong anxiety that they won't be able to cope with who they really are, so they live in fear of being, achieving, and experiencing "too much." Thus, sp9 lives via an awkward sway between indulgence and asceticism, neglecting their own needs in a way similar to the behavior of enneagram 2. Sam is both touch-starved and touch-phobic, longs for connection and fears intimacy, seeks keen understanding and avoids the deeper truth, acts to serve others and resents his role as savior, resists the status quo and does what he's told regardless. He manages to convince himself that walking across the literal entire country to rebuild America and rescue Amelie is, somehow, the easy way out, easier than saying no, easier than taking responsibility for his own beliefs. Hating Higgs is easier than admitting he wants to know him, hating Bridget is easier than admitting the hurt she caused him, hating Bridges is easier than acknowledging his grief. When confronted with inner truth and deep feeling, sp9 runs away and covers it all up with distractions, passive spite, and self-denial. This personality is always on the defense, because going the offense would require taking ownership of their feelings.

sp9 buries everything negative deep, deep down inside of themselves, never to be touched, never to be spoken of, never to escape the void it creates within. Instead of dealing with his grief after losing his wife and daughter, Sam threw himself fully into his work as a porter, lost himself in the simplicity of routine, and self-isolated in the extreme to avoid ever having to talk about it. He made himself into a haunted house with the doors locked tight and the windows boarded up. Not dead, not alive, just existing in the world while living separate of it, making himself invisible by hiding between the lines.

sp9 experiences the world like the flow of a river, going with it as a passive observer rather than an active participant. The voice inside screams, "I want," howls, "I need," and sp9 ignores it, taking what they're given, afraid to show it affects them. Sam is a bridge, static and unmoving as the world flows around and beneath him. In that, there is an illusion of harmony through inaction. Just like sx7, sp9 is not of this world, but he wants to be. So, sp9 Sam simply endures until he can endure no more. A significant difference between sx7 and sp9 is that until confronting themselves, the latter will never choose themselves above another, never accept that their dreams are important, never embrace their desires. sp9 makes choices on impulse and compulsion, because "choosing supposes the need to take a position, to place oneself, and this would mean being aware of an “I” that desires."

Sexual 9 (secondary)

Sexual 9's yearning becomes that of a need for another to define themselves by, someone else to facilitate identity, asking a partner to tell them who they are. At the same time, it is a total loss of the self through symbiotic merging with the other; there is no "me," only "us." The other becomes a compass to direct their heart and mind. This instinct lends both patience and lust to the sp9 personality, a tolerance for others and an intolerance for the self, a burning desire cloaked in that same self-effacing asceticism.

sx9s are more prone to acting out and lashing out, resisting authority from all others besides a trusted partner. sx9 finds peace in the nurture of being possessed by someone else, allowing themselves to fall back completely into blind faith in said individual. sx9 cannot tolerate being alone.

Lucy: "[Sam] needs someone he can be close to, be intimate with[...] Someone to whom he can reveal the whole of himself, someone who'll devote themselves to him."

The sp/sx 9 is a peacemaker, compensating for their lack of inner harmony by creating harmony outside themselves, building up others' relationships to vicariously sate their desire for their own, addressing their hatred of conflict by settling others' conflicts for them. sp/sx 9s are also defensive of their own personal space; in general, they don't like to be touched, which of course goes triple for aphenphosmphobic Sam. The sp/sx 9's conflict is that of stubborn resistance to change and authority versus docile agreement and altruism. This is a personality that says "ugh, fine" when asked for something. The accommodating, empathetic spirit of this subtype exists in contrast to their drive for freedom and independence, which is especially true of the ISTP sp/sx 9. This is someone who will agree to weekend plans they don't want to attend and then go out of their way to achieve a good enough excuse not to go. That is, if their sense of duty and noble self-sacrifice doesn't force them to go anyway. sp/sx 9 experiences profound shame, denying that deep emotion is safe and permissible, often due to past experiences of being made to feel ashamed by authority figures; in Sam's case, this appears to have been a teacher that impressed upon him a sense of guilt for being a repatriate, but more on that when discussing his emotional center in enneagram 3.

8 wing

The 9w1 is among the most passive personalities of the entire enneagram, but by contrast, the strong aggressive pull of enneagram 8 draws the 9w8 away from this, creating a solid backbone and a significant stubbornness.

Most people think of enneagram 9 as "very zen," describing them as chill, easygoing, and aloof, which in the 9w8, is an illusion brought on by their self-repressive tendencies. 9 is rooted in the behavioral triad, based in a foundation of anger. Type 1 idealizes and directs their rage, type 8 embraces and expresses their rage, and type 9 denies and rejects their rage. This repression causes 9's anger to build, and build, and build, until it inevitably explodes outwards. <- That's a video of all of Sam's dialogue during the fistfight with Higgs. Note that none of his grievances have anything to do with Higgs; it all relates to Bridges, to Amelie and Bridget, to his childhood, to society at large. In that moment, Higgs is just a target for the decades of buried rage and resentment Sam has been holding onto all along. All that hatred overflows and spills out the moment he's pushed past his limit and given a willing target. And Higgs just... takes it. Sam gets the outlet he needed... at the cost of Higgs' poor sweet face. In the book, Sam broke his nose and beat him to the point that he could no longer see by the time Sam pulled him out of the tar. So yeah, notably not "zen," especially in light of the 8 wing's influence.

Enneagram 8's primary concern is preventing being controlled or influenced by others. They're total anarchists of their own autonomy (hiii I'm so/sx 8) and thus, 9's intense difficulty with saying "no" struggles under the anti-social traits borrowed from type 8 and the self-reliant nature of the ISTP. In most circumstances, the frustration this creates is expressed through moodiness, passive-aggression, stubbornness, and quiet discontent. When the 9w8 can no longer contain their anger, it boils over with devastating force. See above video.

On the bright side, the pull of 8 gives the sp/sx 9 a beautiful depth of passion and a heightened potential to embrace their own intensity, making them fierce protectors, devoted parents, dynamic lovers, and loyal friends. 8 traits lend the 9 personality an unshakeable courage in the face of adversity. When it comes down to it, Sam doesn't falter or hesitate, he charges ahead and stands tall, willing to fight for what he cares about. See: Sam shielding Lou with his own body when Higgs shot at her (angel, pls don't, that was uncool), feeling "righteous" when he fought the BT in Port Knot City, his steady resolve in the final act of the game, and the way he knelt between Die-Hardman and Cliff with his hand held up to the barrel of the gun when reliving his BB memories. Sam is powerful.

Secondary 6 fix, and why Sam is not a core 6

Now, PDB almost unanimously agrees that Sam is enneagram 6, and I'll die on the hill of saying they're dead wrong. Sam is the very embodiment of the kind of trauma that creates a type 9 and he exemplifies some of the best traits of what a 9 is capable of. (Also, I'm married to an sp/sx 9, I'm good and familiar, but I digress, I won't rely on anecdotal evidence. I can back this one up.)

Every enneagram type has a path of decay and a path of growth. Under stress, a given personality deteriorates along their decay path, and in times of happiness and self-reflection, they improve towards their growth path. Enneagram 9 decays towards 6 and grows towards 3.

Type 6 is the heart of the fear triad and is therefore the most fearful of all types, anxious and paranoid in many ways, living in terms of securing their own survival, especially the sp6. 6 is flighty and scattered, seeking assurances and security from outside themselves. They find comfort in routines and contingency plans, which they share with type 9. However, the way 6 handles this fear is direct and honest; they acknowledge it to themselves and move away from whatever threat they're facing, protecting themselves by whatever means necessary. Type 9, on the other hand, abstracts from fear and responds to it with stone-faced rage due to their basis in the anger triad. If Sam were a 6, he wouldn't have had a problem saying "no" to Bridges, he would have been out of there as soon as they started experimenting on him without medical consent and boxing him in, especially given that he's an ISTP. ISTP 6 has few issues walking away from a situation they don't want to be in. Type 9, however, often lacks the fortitude of self-affirmation to do so.

Sam shows many 6-adjacent behaviors throughout the game, in his displays of fear, doubt, skepticism, and general aversion, due to the fact that he's in a state of stress, actively deteriorating towards 6 and has a secondary 6 fix in his tritype.

6 is defined by uncertainty, which is a natural pairing for ISTP's primary Ti. The passion of 6 is fear, and their fixation is cowardice. They are security-oriented and risk-avoidant, seeking external guidance and support, approaching the world in a critical lens, questioning everything and searching for evidence and insight before forming conclusions and taking action. Sam displays positive 6 traits through responsibility, strategic thinking, and loyalty.

A distinguishing feature of type 6 is their nature as team players. Like sp7, type 6 finds safety within a "tribe," endearing themselves to a group to satisfy their survivalist instincts and secure protection for themselves. They do so from a basis of logic, determining what a given person or group needs, contrasting it with their own needs, and finding a role to fulfill accordingly. This is where they're most comfortable: being invaluable in they space they occupy. They're similar to type 9 in this affinity for group belonging, but they often lack the people-pleasing tendencies of type 9 in favor of a more pragmatic view about their place in the world. Type 6 prefers to know what's expected of them, whereas type 9 quickly gets lost in uncertainty and accordingly exhausts themself through doubts about whether they fit in others' lives.

Type 6 is mentally insecure and type 9 is emotionally, physically insecure; 9's anxiety drives them towards bodily comforts. 6 couldn't force themselves to stop caring if they tried, nor deny their attachments, but 9 finds it easier to abstract from attachments and achieve a state of being comfortably numb to their emotions. 6 can't do this. Herein, we see Sam. Sam found peace with the idea of the world ending, and at the same time, personal meaning in doing his best to save it, embracing the value of fighting for a little more time, "so we can say we had a good run, that we lived." Type 6 wouldn't be so easily satisfied with such a notion, and would call it surrendering or giving up, but type 9 knows there's harmony in acceptance of the way things are as long as you try.

Tertiary 3 fix

Sam's dominant center is behavioral, in 9, his secondary center is mental, in 6, and his tertiary center is emotional, in 3. With this 963 tritype that matches 9's paths of growth and stress, Sam is what we call "true to type."

The passion of 3 is deceit and their fixation is vanity. This is not a literal deceit, but a symbolic one; type 3 deceives themselves about their worth and deceives others by presenting the world with the best picture of themselves that they can imagine. Type 3 fears that they have no intrinsic value within themselves, that they are worthless apart from their material achievements. They long to feel worthwhile, accepted, and desirable. This fixation with external recognition is similar to neighboring emotional 2.

"The characteristic mood of enneatype 3 is one of neutrality or feeling control—where only “correct feelings” are acknowledged and expressed."

This shares 9's tendencies towards self-censorship and repression. As an emotional/heart center type, 3 is based in shame. Shame in perceived deficiency, shame in one's own neediness, shame in all things that aren't measurable accomplishments.

Type 3 is ambitious, hardworking, rigid, capable, and efficient. They can do whatever they set their minds to, and if they can't, they'll destroy themselves trying anyways. 3 has a sarcastic edge, high expectations of themselves and others, and a need to develop and live up to an idealized self-image of what they could be, rather than embracing what they are. Enneagram 3 pursues attention through service, proving themselves worthy to others and basking in the praise it earns. Through this behavior, 3 compensates for imagined inner worthlessness.

Sam carries a heavy burden of guilt and self-imposed shame. He remains conflicted about being a repatriate and considers himself someone who "owes" the world everything he has to give. At the same time, his ISTP nature and sp/sx 9 fix creates a resentment for his role as presumed savior. In the novelization, when George Baton thanks him for his work, there's that pang of guilt, as he deems himself unworthy of the compliment because he's taken on the journey out of self-preservation, out of a desire to be free, "in this for himself." It doesn't matter if he actually helped, in his mind, doing the right thing isn't enough; he has to do the right thing for the right reasons. Another example is shown in the first time he moves through BT territory with Lou, and finds himself afraid, rationalizing that he hasn't earned the right to feel fear. Here's his inner monologue:

"You’re so conceited. How could someone who can’t die possibly know the fear that BTs bring? That’s what was driven into Sam when he still worked for Bridges."

His former instructor drilled a sense of responsibility into him as a repatriate, creating the idea that he wasn't allowed to experience fear or doubt because he had this rare gift. This shame is made worse by the fact that he resents that very "gift," seeing it as a curse, as he's "immortal in a cruel sense." Sam hates being a repatriate. Another excerpt:

"He would keep walking until all of humanity had disappeared from the Earth. Eventually, his body would wear down, and once he had delivered the last piece of cargo to the last human being, maybe then he would finally be able to rest in peace. It was all just a step toward the death he longed for."

And another:

"It hadn’t even been for something altruistic like saving mankind. The only reason he had taken part in this ridiculous plan was because he wanted to save Amelie and Lou. And underpinning all that was nothing but a selfish desire of wanting to prove his own self-worth as a repatriate. He just wanted to know why he had been born this way. In that sense, he was also a parasite, just one on America and this expedition."

Get the picture? In many ways, Sam is Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, pleading, "father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." Sam never wanted to be anyone's savior, has no desire to be a grand hero, finding small comfort in the one-on-one moments where he helps someone because he decided to, but instead, he's had the world betting on him since Bridget first chose him as a sacrificial lamb, when she decided he was special, and stole him from his family. "Why me?" he asks. Mother Mary, did you know your womb was also a grave? Sam was robbed of his chance at a normal life, handed down impossibly high expectations, and thereby developed a complex that he had to live up to all that and more. Where Higgs open-heartedly made the choice to "offer [his] soul to this world," Sam never had a different option. In the above video of his fight with Higgs, one of the lines Sam says is, "He ain't human." Because that's how people have treated him; with the entitlement shown to the detached divine. Just like Will Graham in Hannibal, Sam also says, "Wind him up, watch him go." Higgs constructed his own performance, while Sam's mask was forced upon him, so what could he do but dance as expected? What was there, but to march forth unto sacrifice, all while hating himself for hating it?

Such is the burden of a messiah.

Conclusion

The ISTP personality is significantly softened by the instincts and needs of Enneagram 9, as 9 traits uplift the potential of the inferior Fe function. 9s are more approachable, friendly, emotionally intelligent, and empathetic than most other ISTPs. ISTP sp/sx 9s are skilled negotiators, opinionated individualists, and good listeners (oh boy, do people ever love to talk at Sam). Sam's soft side is well-guarded but significant, as he's sentimental, passionate, loyal, and sensitive. Sam is a man that wants, nay, needs a soft place to land at the end of the day, a partner who understands and protects him (somebody who doesn't let him run away when his instincts tell him to), the freedom to be himself and pursue adventure according to his whims, a group of close friends who give him both support and space, and a sense of belonging in the world as a worthy individual who has value simply in being himself, appreciated for who he is rather than solely what he can provide.

Now that I've written this, I have ceased to be normal about Sam Porter. Thank you.

Tag list: @goldenbridgessss @pylonium

#god what a beautiful man. i need him biblically now. this write-up was a horrible idea lmao. i'll never recover #i love him so so much #if anything bad happens to him in ds2 i'm taking up arms. kojima i am in your walls #why is this an essay on sam and higgs being soulmates though #truly they are made for each other i tell you #their needs align so closely and it drives me i n s a n e #felt bad for a minute thinking i was defining sam by higgs but then i realized. his time with higgs is the most real and himself he ever is #if anyone needs me i'll be in the center of a samhiggs polycule fantasy thanks #...mmm. samwich.#mbti #enneagram #personality typology #sam porter bridges #character study #death stranding #logan.txt

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